December 2007 Archives

Right, that's it: the fightback starts today.

I'm determined to have less of these...

And the winner is:

The Full Monty.

And, in reverse order, from four to two....

4 Happy Days.

3 In praise of pooches.

2 Rubbish - it’s cats any day.

More of the stories I've enjoyed writing about in 2007.

7 Hanging on the line.

6 Tea anyone?

5 Aga Saga.

It’s only natural at this time to reflect on the year that’s just passed.

I’ve loved writing this blog – it’s been a great way of keeping abreast of all the countryside’s quirky news, so over the next four days I’ll be remembering the 10 stories that I’ve enjoyed covering the most in 2007. The countdown begins here:

I've got a bit of a conundrum.

I've been promising myself a break from the computer because I spend far too much time staring at the screen. I've been telling myself I'd have a break over Christmas and try to avoid turning the computer on once. But then what about this blog?

I’m rubbish - most of the Christmas cards I send end up arriving late.

So here’s one that won’t, seeing as it’s still only December 21. This one’s from me to you.

Dairy farmer Clive Keam is about to become a tv star.

The 63-year-old from Cornwall will appear on January 4 on the hit C4 afternoon show Deal or No Deal, which gives contestants a shot at winning £250,000.

“I loved it – it was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever done,” Clive told me yesterday about his stint filming.

You know I’ve said I get sent a lot of books to review.

Well some are fantastic (like this one), some are pretty good (like these two) and some are positively bizarre – like the one that arrived today, Advanced Transport Phenomena – Fluid Mechanics and Convective Transport Processes.

I can only assume they sent it into the office because farmers use chemicals and it’s about chemical engineering. At least, I think it is, I couldn’t really understand the blurb on the back. Or even the title, for the matter.

Rural youngsters in Yorkshire will soon be getting lessons on how to keep their hearts healthy, thanks to the efforts of Yorkshire Federation of Young Farmers Clubs.

The YFYFC has been awarded more than £5,000 from the national charity, Heart Research UK, to run an innovative project called ‘Hearts of the Countryside’.

Like most people, I've got lots to do today. There's work, Christmas shopping (starting it), calling in to see some friends, planning some farm visits for the New Year... and now there's a big problem.

A nice lady called Sarah Todd has just sent me a bottle of sloe gin. Seeing as it's such a cold day, I might try some. Apologies if my blog posts are infrequent or insensible today!

After gushing about the lovely robin Christmas card I've received, I was never expecting to see one of these: a white-breasted robin.

I hope this doesn't come across like I'm trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs - so if you're a good photographer then ignore the rest of this!

It's just that one of the experts on the FW photo competition judging panel kindly gave me a few tips (I need all the help and advice I can get when it comes to photography!) and I reckon they're very helpful so I'm including them below.

We've now picked the best six in each of the six categories of the Farmers Weekly photographic competition. The categories are: livestock scenes, arable scenes, children, humour, general farm scenes and nature. You can see all 36 in this gallery.

The Yorkshire Post has been attempting to answer this very question. Hope the reporter at least got a kiss out of his investigative work!

Seeing as I’ve been in trouble for being smutty (it’s not the first time, and I doubt if it’ll be the last) over this business of naked calendars, I thought I better make amends.

How about this then – another calendar, but one featuring a serious farming subject and one particularly beautiful photograph to boot.

Now I know I'm in danger of sounding a right curmudgeonly old git here, moaning about Christmas cards (I knew the merriment sparked by the singing wouldn't last) but the other thing I get sent a lot of is calendars.

Now I don't want to sound ungrateful here - but, let's be honest, some Christmas cards are lovely and some aren't.

The one above (thanks Grant and Hannah) is lovely.

The one below, from the people at DEFRA, isn't.

Remember the two women who run the rural dating agency, Muddy Matches, and their road-trip?

Well their travels are now coming to an end (I hope you spread lots of love, ladies!) but there’s obviously a big demand for services like this in the countryside - another new online friendship and dating services, Country Couples, has recently been launched.

My pathological hatred of rats has just intensified. This article in The Daily Telegraph is terrifying - the creature looks more like a beaver than a rat.

Look closely at this bag of salad. Look very closely.

Just beneath the word 'lavado' is a frog!

I’m coming over all Christmassy.

Two things have been responsible for this uncharacteristic display of festive mirth (I’m usually in the bah humbug camp at this time of year).

One is news that a Wurzels tribute band (yes, someone’s formed a tribute band to The Wurzels!) has released a Christmas farming song. The video is hilarious. Maybe this could reignite my campaign to make The Wurzels number 1 again!

It appears I've opened a right can of worms mentioning ferrets (or should that be a burrow of rabbits?)

Thanks to Field Day reader Charlotte Fiander for bringing this YouTube clip of ferret-bed-tossing to my attention. OK, it's not a recognised Olympic sport, but one day who knows...

I'm involved with the Farmers Weekly photo competition, so we've been judging the entries over the last week or so. Some stunning pictures have come in - we'll be publishing the winners and commended ones in the magazine in the next few weeks. Here is a sneak preview of a couple.

I'm shocked. This is disgusting.

You've know I've said before that it seems every month or year is a record for something or other weather-wise (it's one of my pet hates, along with 24-hour rolling news and people who try and break every bone in your hand when they shake it).

Small boys dream of becoming lots of things - a Formula 1 racing driver, for example, or an astronaut or captain of their favourite football team.

Not many set their hearts on becoming the World Pie Eating Champion, though. Still, this is a much-coveted and fiercely-fought title.

Read about the recent 'pie-off' here - and watch a funny video, too.

Events are moving on apace with Britain's Best Rural Retailer Competition, for which I'm one of the judges.

The four winners in Wales have been announced in this Countryside Alliance-organised contest. They were honoured recently by Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones AM at a Senedd reception. These winners are listed below - they will now go forward to the UK final.

Remember my friend Robert who found the dead squirrel and in so doing sparked (no pun intended) a huge debate about how exactly it died.

Well he tells me today he's finally grown to love grey squirrels. Out on a shoot the other day, one of the guns pulled out a box of pasties from his car boot and, along with mushroom, potato and bacon bits, they contained the poached remnants of four half-grown squirrels he’d shot and popped in the freezer.

Look at this closely. It's a hand. Amazing, isn't it. It's the work of an artist called Guido Daniele.

There are two more pictures below.

Since I mentioned the other day that I kept ferrets I’ve been bombarded with questions. So, here are some answers to the five most popular questions:

Why did you keep them?
Because a friend of mine did, and I realised what good pets they made. Plus I used to take them out to catch rabbits.

What did they eat?
They loved bread and milk but obviously are carnivorous so they’d tuck into any dead animals (including roadkill). They liked raw eggs, chicken giblets, and sausages. When I was away from home, my poor mum was left to feed them – she’s be too scared to open the hutch so would poke sausages through the mesh on a stick!

The sprout giveaway mentioned yesterday is obviously needed elsewhere in the country, too.

New research out of Harper Adams ag college shows that parts of Britain are "food deserts" where people have little access to fresh fruit and veg.

For those of you who have been following the farm student makeover, you can now watch our short video of the transformation here.

Sprouts gets a bad press. Like the potato, they're all too often prefixed with the word 'humble'. I think they're delicious. I even once went to a sprout festival (that's the kind of wild, fast-living kind of guy I am!)

The countryside has got allies in the unlikeliest places. Like Wrexham Football Club.

A joint message from the Farmers’ Union of Wales and the Club urging fans to buy Welsh Lamb will be read out at half time during the Dragons' home match against Brentford this Saturday.

We like animals with pluck and courage here. British spirit and all that.

First it was the escaping salmon, now it's trout making a dash (well, a jump) for freedom - up, of all things, a metal pipe.

We've now been through the photos of the student makeover - there are 100-plus in this gallery if you'd like to see more.

Land Girls are obviously a bit like buses. I hadn't mentioned them for months and then two stories about them come at once.

First it was the government's new plan to recognise their efforts - then it's that a tv production company wants to hear from them. So, if you were one (or know someone who was) you might want to get in touch with the company...

Must be at least a week since I mentioned cheese (last time was why it gives you nightmares) so if you want your weekly fix, check out this article in Country Life about Stichelton cheese.

This Highland cow looks contented enough here - but a few seconds before it was fighting for its life after going for a swim in a bitterly cold river.

A couple of bits of tv and radio news. I was talking about Pam Ayres the other day - well you can 'listen again' to her on the Radio 4 website (she's about 20 minutes into the Saturday Live recording).

Plus Fenland farmer Rex Sly, who I've mentioned before on Field Day, was on BBC1's Countryfile at the weekend.

The Government plans to formally recognise the efforts of the WWII Land Girls.

DEFRA Minister Hilary Benn has announced the government will acknowledge the efforts of the Women's Land Army by presenting surviving members with a special badge commemorating their service and acknowledging the debt that the country owes to them.

This made me laugh - brings a whole new meaning to the term 'fox hunting', wouldn't you say.

Fans of Shaun the Sheep might be interested to know he is one of the playing pieces in a new board game designed by the makers of Wallace and Gromit.

It's called Fleeced! and is all about sheep-rustling. It's available on Amazon - one, I reckon, that might make a good Christmas pressie.

Well I never.

I was only talking recently, wasn't I, about 1970s tv shows - and guess who someone's just sent me an email about? Pam Ayres.

Look at this motley crew.

They’re students at Kingston Maurward College in Dorset which has a record numbers of students studying agriculture this year.

Seeing as we're on the subject of YouTube and the Matthew Naylor-induced ban on all things cute has now run it's course, here's another clip - it's of otters and it's dead sweet. Thanks to Field Day reader, Jill, for sending it to me.

Funny, the diversity of people who are involved in farming. Was reading about a composer called John Eliot Gardiner mentioned in the paper this morning who's got a new CD out (Bach Cantatas Vol 16) and someone's just told me that, other than classical musical, his main passion is farming.

Here's an article about him from The Observer earlier this year.

I used to keep ferrets as a kid (not much of a chat-up line, I know, but it's the truth) so I'm always interestde in ferret-related stories.

You can only find this sort of thing on YouTube - a short video clip of a lion playing with a ferret.

Had some requests for a few more makeover pictures, so here goes.

Proof, I reckon, that working on a farm doesn't mean you can't be stylish.

Look at the size of this beast. Find out more about this amazing bullock here.

I've been let out twice in a week!

Just dashing up to London now for a meeting to do with the Britain's Best Rural Retailer competition, which I'm on the judging panel of.

It's at a restaurant called Browns which looks very posh. Now don't get the wrong idea, I don't get lunches like this very often!

Here are our three agricultural students - obviously after their makeover. Respect!

See below for some more before and after shots.

Remember the tup-a-thon we told you about?

Well it's happened - and it raised more than £1,500 for the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. Well done Towcester Young Farmers. And well done to the sheep involved, too!

Diversification used to be the buzzword in agriculture. Nowadays, it’s more like a necessity.

In the old days, it was a case of either opening a farm shop, offering B&B or, for the more ambitious, building a golf course. Now there is a multitude of many and varied diversifications.

I recently visited an interesting place in Warwickshire, which has found a rather novel use for some spare land.

According to new research from the RSPB, swifts prefer rural housing to urban housing. Don't we all!

Remember those lovely curly-coated pigs?

The first litter of them to be born in Lincolnshire for almost 50 years has arrived at a Wolds village near Horncastle.

Seven of the rare breed animals have been born at Rectory Reserve just outside Fulletby.

"They are about the size of rabbits and stripey grey and cream," says owner Brian Codling, who keeps a small herd.

Today’s been brilliant.

It’s probably the only time I’ll ever spend a day with a world-class hairdresser and fashion stylist.

The day, however, was about our three agricultural students who'd won the makeover. They entered into the spirit of it, had their hair totally restyled and were dressed in clothes worth thousands of pounds (no, they didn’t get to take them home - although one did joke about making a run for it, then flogging it on eBay!)

Just off to this posh hair place in London for our agricultural student makeover.

Heard last night that the stylist has worked in the past with a member of the Royal family, top singers and a famous footballer (I'm supposed to be sworn to secrecy, but let's just say the one concerned has a wife called Victoria!)

It's just as well he doesn't have to give me a makeover - I'm sure the poor guy will despair at the sight of me. I know I said yesterday that I very rarely wear a tie, but you'll be pleased to know I have ironed a shirt in preparation for today's proceedings! Will let you know how it goes.

Just to prove that I was actually in Alnwick last week (I'm putting in an expenses claim for travelling so I don't want there to be any doubt about it!) here's the line-up.

Look at these three. By this time tomorrow, they’re going to look altogether different.

Don't read this if you're of a sensitive disposition - it's a gory story from America about a farmer who ended up having to cut his arm off with a penknife. Makes me go cold, just thinking about it.

Another weekend passes without me having bought a single Christmas present.

Luckily, I’ve been sent two books that will definitely make great presents (is that really mean, giving books away as presents I've been sent to review?)

The Illustrated Wise Words and Country Ways by Ruth Binney is a collection of accumulated sayings, mottos and superstitions – ranging from gardening and kitchen tips to traditional health and beauty hints.

A bit more celebrity news.

This is what most farmers can only dream of - a Russian billionaire desperate to buy some of your land.

Maybe he's in the market for a corner of my garden in Carshalton...