It has been far too long since I last blogged - so sorry about that.
But I have come across a blog post from a colleague of mine that I loved SO much that I thought this was the best place to share it. Emily is deputy machinery editor on Farmers Weekly and has her own blog called Talk Torque (geddit?)
She's a busy lady who is constantly jetting around Europe on launches for new bits of farm machinery - so sometimes she's writing under pressure.
Which perhaps explains why she managed to mix up Gurkas with Burkas. Her apology for the slip is priceless.
I have to confess that things have been so busy in recent months that I haven't been as diligent as I might at moving threads into the right places and tidying up the forum. But all that is changing! 
Over the next few days I will do a bit of housekeeping, moving forum areas that have not been used for some time into the new archive section and trimming down the number of different areas so FWiSpace is simpler to use and less confusing for new users.
If you have any suggestions or requests then let me know. I might make a few errors along the way - but bear with me. Apologies in advance if I confuse you by moving a thread to a new section. It may be a pain for a day or two, but in the long-term I am sure it will be an improvement.
Let me know what you think.
PS I will not remove any threads from the board. Even if they are in archives you will be able to access them.
Got some exciting news for you all. You've just picked up a nice award. Confused? Let me explain...
Last night FWi won a gong at the annual Association of Online Publisher's Awards. It was an award aimed at sites - like us - that have been finding ways to get readers talking more to us journalists and each other through things like forums and blogs.
The judges said they liked what we were all doing because we were showing that traditional business journalism can have a fun, social side (Farmer Frank must have bunged them a tenner or they realised from the forums that farmers must have a sense of humour to keep farming )
They were also impressed by the way you are helping us to do our jobs better. I guess a good example would be this summer's wet weather. Thanks to the tips and photos everybody sent us to Harvest Highlights etc, we were able to do a better job at reflecting the fact that farmers were experiencing the worst harvest in living memory.
Anyway I just thought I'd let you know. It's a publishing award so probably doesn't quite generate the same excitement for you all as the Farmers Weekly awards . But it is one that - quite literally - we wouldn't have got without you.
PS I might treat you to a picture of us at the event later on. If nothing else, it will give you a laugh! [:D
What do you reckon. Think it looks anything like me (no - but be nice )
Thought I'd draw your attention to the website Face your Manga where you can design your own avatar so it looks something like you. You don't have to have stars in your hair either!
If you want to upload one - you do it through edit profile. If it doesn't appear after 5-10mins then it is because it needs approving by me. Drop me an email and I will do it for you.
The eagle eyed-among you will notice that a couple of regulars on the site have gained an icon next to the name. That's because we've created the role of a member-admin on FWiSpace. These are people who will have the ability to help edit posts if required and can also see any posts that have been reported as being dodgy. They also have a hotline to me so they can prod me when needed (OK that bit is not true, but it sounds good).
The idea behind the move is so that that there are more people around who can offer assistance when needed. The first two in the hot-seat are Peter Wells and Jacobus - who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Royal Welsh Show. But I am sure that more will be joining the ranks pretty soon.
Thought I should share some exciting news with you. Andrew (the man who helped get FWiSpace up and running and posts under the name 'admin') took first prize last weekend at the Lambeth Country Show with a scuplture of Amy Winehouse fashioned out of a swede, potato and aubergine. Inspired or what?
You may have noticed (I hope you have anyway!) that today marks the first birthday of FWiSpace. To celebrate we've revamped the logo with a candle and are offering £100 for the best post or photograph submitted in the next seven days. I hope you all put yourself in the running by joining in the fun.
It may seem a bit strange to some people to be celebrating the birthday of something like a website. But as someone who has been heavily involved over the past year, I do think that it is an occasion worth marking. We've come an awful long way in the past 12 months - 2262 additonal people have signed up to the site and more than 26,000 posts and 5500 pictures have been posted.
Over periods such as the foot-and-mouth outbreak of last year, FWiSpace proved invaluable for swapping advice, feeding back the latest news and sharing concerns. But there have also been plenty of laughs over the past 12 months - with our regular caption competition proving a particular favourite.
There are a number of improvements to FWiSpace that I would like to bring to you all over the coming months. Things don't stand still and neither will this site. Things don't always go to plan and I sometimes get told that the alternatives are 'better'. My response is that FWiSpace is vastly superior to what it replaced and is growing every day. We're now on the right track and that is surely cause for a celebration!
When I decided to mark this date I e-mailed some of our 'regulars' and asked if they would mind explaining why they enjoyed using the site. I had some fanatastic comments back (most of which you can read in today's issue of Farmers Weekly and all I will put up on the site later today). But there was one message, by AllyR, that stood out for me:
“The forum's attractive format is quick and easy to use. It is a very enjoyable experience to take part in, whether debating or just chatting with all the other forum members,- home or abroad. From fun to serious debate, it is all there. I even enjoy the threads where some of our antagonists come in to vent their fury at us - "whinging, subsidy greedy farmers". It is never long before they are put right on the matter and usually exit their thread wiser and more friendly to us than they came in. My wife and I were able to meet Mr and Mrs "Kansasfarmer", when they came over to UK last July, and welcome them to our farm in Scotland. It was a most enjoyable and memorable couple of days and came as a direct result of our joining FWiSpace; surely the best bonus of all that forum membership can bring.”
Thank you AllyR. I couldn't put it any better myself.
I couldn't resist this picture of baby Harvey and his Dad which has been sent in by his Mum, Sarah Stern.
"Please find attached a picture of our newborn baby born 6 weeks early on the 16th of May. This is a picture of Harvey and his daddy reading the Farmers Weekly from his cot on the special care baby unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. We think he may possibly be the youngest reader as he was only a few days old when this picture was taken. I was wondering if there was any chance that you could put this into your magazine. It would make my husband's day after the difficult time that we have had recently with Harvey being in hospital following his birth."
I'll hopefully be able to squeeze it into the mag next week. But until then best wishes to all three of you!
I must congratulate my colleagues here at FW, for being brave (or stupid) enough to get on their bikes at 6am yesterday morning to cycle 55 miles from London to Brighton. The group of 13 has raised a total of £3500 for the British Heart Foundation - and the figure is still climbing.
I was unable to join them due to a family party (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!)
More pictures and information here.
Matthew Naylor isn't the only one with fancy photoshoots. I've been here in Lincs for the past couple of days helping out at the Cereals Event and I'm pleased to say that it gave the opportunity to meet some FWiSpace 'names' (they are like celebrities, but more interesting).
So here it is - and not a squatter in sight, if Matthew is reading - a really cheesy picture of me (I'm the one in the middle should there be any doubt!) Matty S (left) and Sam Harrison (r). Perhaps this should be a caption competition...
Here is an attempt to give you an insight into what happens at FW during the day:
I suspect a few of you have looked at this post and wondered what is going on. Well, so have I - but here is what you are meant to see.
I sometimes get asked for a quick lesson in how to put a photo in a blog post. Feel free to keep doing that - but you will probably find the best answer here.
And here is a picture to prove that I can do it:
I went to a christening over the weekend and was introduced to the baby's great grandmother who is still doing the farm's bookkeeping at the grand old age of 89.
I won't name her (as when we suggested writing an article on her she told me a very firm 'no'! ). But I wondered can anyone beat this?
I've said before elsewhere I think that blogging is finally catching on in the world of farming. Well - now I have the proof. The NFU has just started a blog area on its website which it is referring to as its farmyard bloggers.
They aren't using a blogging platform - but you can leave comments. And what is more - they are running a blogroll of other farmer bloggers. Of course this prompted and email from me and as a result they have kindly included a link to everyone's blogs here.
I know that the US-style date settings on posts and photos have been pretty annoying (except for Kansasfarmer!)
But I'm pleased to say that we've have at long last managed to change the settings so if you come in as a guest then you will find the UK version. If you are already a member - or if you sign up - you need to choose how to display the date in edit profile. Here are some instructions if you need help.
I worked in Melton Mowbray for three years in an office just metres away from Dickinson and Morris' Ye Olde Porke Pie Shoppe. So I'm delighted by the news that the area has won their battle to get protected status for their pork pies.
It was a travesty that people were ever allowed to sell those nasty pink, bounce-them-on-the floor-and-they-won't-even-crack pies as a Melton Mowbray pork pie. Anyone who has eaten the genuine article knows that the meat in a real MM pie is grey, the pastry hand-raised and the jelly is genuinely tasty. There is just no comparison.
When I was interviewed for my job in Melton I recall having to attend a buffet lunch with all the other candidates invited back for second interview. I seem to remember there were three or four of us and, of course, there was some pork pie on the table. Obviously, I ate some - if there's food around I eat it. None of the other candidates touched it. I'm still convinced that my decision to eat a bit of said pork pie, and comment on how good it was, is what got me the job.
Farmers are always complaining (well the ones I know are!) about mobile phones being too small and delicate for their needs. So how about this one:
Apparently despite being 3ft high it is a fully functioning mobile.
This bloke may have too much time on his hands.
We promised a couple of weeks ago that we'd try and help you promote your blogs. After a bit of fiddling I've managed to come up with this handy little thing that will sit at the bottom of every email I send (and that is too many! 
)
It scrolls through every headline of the latest blog posts on FWiSpace and hopefully this will encourage a few others to take a peek! You can add it to your own emails if you like (press the grab link and follow the instructions).
↑ Grab this Headline Animator
I've been browsing some websites to check out if there is anything happening in the farming world that we might have missed and have just come across an interesting piece about a mobile cattle crush that can be hired by farmers in the Penwith area of Cornwall so they can gather their cattle while grazing on heathland. It looks like a good idea and involves a number of key local organisations.
But the headline writer has come up with a headline that makes it seem rather sinister:
Mobile cattle crusher for heathland farmers
Those poor animals....
Those Kiwi's are taking us on at our own game. They have heard british pig farmers' version of Stand by your Ham and have come up with Stand by Your Lamb.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/03/18/109855/new-zealand-comes-up-with-stand-by-your-lamb.html
As promised yesterday we had a meeting today to discuss ways we can help you with your blogs. There's some stuff we can do and other bits that you will need to do (but we can guide you through it).
There are already a few bits and pieces which have gone up as a result but there is more to follow. Please shout if it isn't making sense to you and we'll do our best to explain.
There's a help note and an introductory hello from Adam (our resident blog guru who has volunteered to share his experiences).
I've just spent the past couple of days down in Devon staying with a friend who farms on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. It's a few years since I had been there and I forgotten how beautiful it is - a bit of a contrast to where I work on the outskirts of London. Sutton is not the most glamourous part of the world!
It's got me thinking about which is my favourite county in the UK. Devon has got to be a contender - but then again so is Somerset...and Northumberland...and Pembrokeshire. I can be a little more decisive when it comes to my least favourite county. That's either Surrey (I live there but there are too many people, too many houses and too much money sloshing around) or Bedfordshire (dull - does anyone know anything interesting abour Beds?)
There are some industries where blogging has really taken off. But aside from a couple of pioneers such as - Wiggly Wigglers and the Bovine TB Blog - farming is a sector which has been slower to get into the whole blog 'thing'.
But I am starting to sense a bit of change. The list of farmer bloggers on FWiSpace is steadily growing and we've had a couple of new additions in recent weeks who are well worth a read (Herself's Blog and Zoeshiloh's Blog). We're just waiting for Herself to dish the dirt on He his-self....
I've also been contacted by someone called The City Farmer who is aiming to bring a City view of farming through his blog. He explains that he spends his weekdays on the 28th floor working for a leading Investment Bank in the City of London, but his heart is much closer to the ground, at his 300 acre family farm in Suffolk. I'll be keeping my eye on that one.
And I'll be doing a bit more blogging myself next week. I'm hoping to be posting live from the NFU Conference on the official FW Food For Thought blog.
PS If you find it hard to navigate around all the blogs (which I must admit is a bit tricky now) here's a list:
I hope that everyone likes the idea - but I have set up the blog system so that posts by columnist Matthew Naylor also feed into the FWiSpace area. I thought his posts were very much in the spirit of things and I hope you enjoy them.
At the moment we have a row of five or six on the list but this is just because the feed I have set up has proved over-enthusiastic on its first outing. In future, it will just pop up a post if he has written anything new - so it shouldn't crowd out everybody else's contributions.
I hope everyone thinks this is a good idea. Let me know if you don't.
One of the interesting things about introducing new forum software to FWi has been working with people who work on other magazine titles owned by Farmers Weekly's parent company RBI. As we're all using the same bit of software it makes sense to get together to compare notes every now and then, to see how we can solve problems and improve things (you should see some small tweaks in the next couple of weeks).
We had such a gathering yesterday and was shown this photo by a colleague who works on a website called Flight Global. Nothing to do with farming but very funny!
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