Canada Trip 2019 Highlights

We have recently returned from our trip to Canada, being half Canadian and having a large proportion of my family living in Alberta we try to take regular trips to visit everyone there - this was my 29th trip so it’s fair to say that we have our favourite things that we like to fit in while were over there and so I thought I would share some of the interesting places we went to and things we did while we were over there this year - and just some of the interesting things we saw. These were all specific to Alberta (and the Grande Prairie area in most cases) but I would imagine you could find similar experiences across Canada. The Calgary Stampede was on around the time we were travelling to Canada and coincidentally we flew into Calgary before taking a couple of internal flights, so when we first arrived in Calgary International Airport it was full of cowboy hats (more so than the usual White Hat volunteers you would see!). However, the best thing I saw in the airport was this cat called Taz that was dressed up in a cowboy hat. After having a quick snuggle with the most adorable cowboy cat I had ever seen, the lady told us that they were with the Pet Access League Society (PALS) and that once a week they volunteered at the airport for a couple of hours and greeted the arrivals. I thought it was a great idea personally and it definitely set our trip off on a high. Although we didn’t make it to the Calgary Stampede while we were there we caught lots of news about it and it always looks like a great event so would definitely be worth going to, there’s so much to see and do there!Although we didn’t get to the Calgary Stampede, we went out to the Teepee Creek Stampede while we were there. Teepee Creek is a Hamlet with 7 homes and a population of about 20 people, but the annual Stampede draws in up to 4000 people each year. It is one of the longest-running rodeos and chuckwagon races in Alberta. We had a great day at the stampede watching the rodeo events and even seeing some events we had never seen before such as wild milking and mounted shooting. Visiting a rodeo or stampede is a must for any summer trip to Canada, especially if you have never been to one before! I ended up going back to the stampede the same night with my cousin for the beer gardens, this was something I had never done before but we both had a great time. There was some great live music from Dan Davidson too!Another new experience for me this year was going to the horse racing at Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie. I have been to Evergreen Park a few times before at Christmas time for their drive-through Christmas light display but never for the horse racing before. We really enjoy going to point to points at home and generally enjoy any equestrian events so flat racing was sure to be a good evening out. We really enjoyed it so I would definitely recommend it to anyone that was in the area.We also spent a few days at Shaw’s Point which is a resort on Lesser Slave lake. My family has a seasonal lot there where they have a cabin and spaces for a few trailers or motorhomes as well as a full outdoor cookhouse where my Grandma makes sure we are all well fed. They recently upgraded the old boat to a new Lund fishing boat with a live well so we had lots of great trips out on the lake fishing, we got to visit with some family friends too which was really nice. Shaw’s Point has had lots of upgrades in the last few years with the store being remodelled, the restaurant being taken over by some new people and it looks great. There's lots to do for families and they put on family fun days and live music throughout the summer too which is great. 
Another place I wanted to give a special mention too is the Crooked Creek General Store, this is on the way from Grande Prairie to Valleyview and it’s a very unassuming looking store and gas station that sells the BEST fresh doughnuts you have ever tasted. So if you’re ever making that trip I would definitely recommend stopping there for some doughnuts!I hope some of that has been useful or at least interesting to anyone planning on going to Canada! There’s so much to see and do I would definitely recommend it as a travel destination.

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Canada Trip 2019 Highlights

We have recently returned from our trip to Canada, being half Canadian and having a large proportion of my family living in Alberta we try to take regular trips to visit everyone there - this was my 29th trip so it’s fair to say that we have our favourite things that we like to fit in while were over there and so I thought I would share some of the interesting places we went to and things we did while we were over there this year - and just some of the interesting things we saw. These were all specific to Alberta (and the Grande Prairie area in most cases) but I would imagine you could find similar experiences across Canada. 

The Calgary Stampede was on around the time we were travelling to Canada and coincidentally we flew into Calgary before taking a couple of internal flights, so when we first arrived in Calgary International Airport it was full of cowboy hats (more so than the usual White Hat volunteers you would see!). However, the best thing I saw in the airport was this cat called Taz that was dressed up in a cowboy hat. After having a quick snuggle with the most adorable cowboy cat I had ever seen, the lady told us that they were with the Pet Access League Society (PALS) and that once a week they volunteered at the airport for a couple of hours and greeted the arrivals. I thought it was a great idea personally and it definitely set our trip off on a high. Although we didn’t make it to the Calgary Stampede while we were there we caught lots of news about it and it always looks like a great event so would definitely be worth going to, there’s so much to see and do there!

Although we didn’t get to the Calgary Stampede, we went out to the Teepee Creek Stampede while we were there. Teepee Creek is a Hamlet with 7 homes and a population of about 20 people, but the annual Stampede draws in up to 4000 people each year. It is one of the longest-running rodeos and chuckwagon races in Alberta. We had a great day at the stampede watching the rodeo events and even seeing some events we had never seen before such as wild milking and mounted shooting. Visiting a rodeo or stampede is a must for any summer trip to Canada, especially if you have never been to one before! I ended up going back to the stampede the same night with my cousin for the beer gardens, this was something I had never done before but we both had a great time. There was some great live music from Dan Davidson too!

Another new experience for me this year was going to the horse racing at Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie. I have been to Evergreen Park a few times before at Christmas time for their drive-through Christmas light display but never for the horse racing before. We really enjoy going to point to points at home and generally enjoy any equestrian events so flat racing was sure to be a good evening out. We really enjoyed it so I would definitely recommend it to anyone that was in the area.

We also spent a few days at Shaw’s Point which is a resort on Lesser Slave lake. My family has a seasonal lot there where they have a cabin and spaces for a few trailers or motorhomes as well as a full outdoor cookhouse where my Grandma makes sure we are all well fed. They recently upgraded the old boat to a new Lund fishing boat with a live well so we had lots of great trips out on the lake fishing, we got to visit with some family friends too which was really nice. Shaw’s Point has had lots of upgrades in the last few years with the store being remodelled, the restaurant being taken over by some new people and it looks great. There's lots to do for families and they put on family fun days and live music throughout the summer too which is great. 

Another place I wanted to give a special mention too is the Crooked Creek General Store, this is on the way from Grande Prairie to Valleyview and it’s a very unassuming looking store and gas station that sells the BEST fresh doughnuts you have ever tasted. So if you’re ever making that trip I would definitely recommend stopping there for some doughnuts!

I hope some of that has been useful or at least interesting to anyone planning on going to Canada! There’s so much to see and do I would definitely recommend it as a travel destination.

Love British Food at the Universal Cookery and Food Festival 2019

Last week I attended the Universal Cookery & Food Festival as an ambassador for Love British Food to speak to the chefs, restaurants and producers attending the festival. Having attended last years event I was really keen to get involved again and when I was asked to run the Love British Food stand again I immediately agreed. Working closely with the Love British Food team this year as well as one of the chefs involved with the campaign - Ruth Hansom - we were able to offer a meal for two at Pomonas in Notting Hill as a prize draw at the event.

The festival was held at Farrington Oils in Northamptonshire which was a great venue for it. There were farm and foraging tours on offer, as well as clay pigeon shooting. The farm tour was really interesting and great to see how a British product gets from farm to table. Being a LEAF assured farm it was interesting to see how the crops are grown with minimum till and meeting guidelines. I also found it really interesting to see the process of pressing the oil and how the whole crop is used to ensure maximum usage of the plants. The clay pigeon shooting was great and the coaches from BASC were superb with everyone - I thought this was a fantastic way to link a practical and fun activity to the game stage that was there where the chefs covered preparing and cooking everything from wood pigeon to deer. The displays and talks on the stages are great, the chefs are very informative and it provides a great chance to ask questions and get involved.

There were lots of exhibitors this year, I particularly enjoyed the local collective stands as it was a way for a few local producers to get together and showcase their products. The Hampshire Food Fayre - who run a British Food Fortnight event had lots of great stuff to share this year. A local collective - Made in Northamptonshire - had some of the best preserves and cheeses I have tried and it was lovely that they brought over samples to us while we were running the stand as well!

Purbeck Ice Cream brought along their ice cream van to showcase their Dorset made ice cream. They had so many flavours to sample and all of the ones I tried were delicious - the cucumber sorbet needs a special mention as a more unusual flavour but really flavourful and fragrant. I have since spotted that they serve Purbeck ice cream at one of our nearby pubs so I know where I can get it in the future!

There were too many exhibitors to list but there were so fantastic companies promoting British grown and made items which was fantastic too see.

I really enjoyed speaking to all of the delegates that came to talk about Love British Food, there are so many people in the food industry passionate about supporting British farmers and producers which was just great. It was also lovely to chat with some people who have recently partnered with Love British Food, including Hill Farm Oils, about what they can get out of the campaign and how they can work together to promote their British-produced products.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Love British Food you can find more information on the website and get involved with a British Food Fortnight event or event put one on!

http://www.lovebritishfood.co.uk/

NFU Conference 2019

Last Tuesday I headed into Birmingham to attend the NFU 2019 Conference at the ICC. I had never attended before so I had no idea what to expect but with some really interesting topics up for discussion I was really looking forward to it.

Upon arrival, I signed in and met up with a few of the girls from the Lord Mayors' Show it was so nice to be able to catch up with everyone again after the last few months. From here we headed to the hall to hear from Minette Batters and Michael Gove for the first session. Minette is always an inspirational speaker and was able to get some really hard hitting answers from Gove. I found this political session, with a clear focus on Brexit, to be very informative and made some sense of the current situation of where we are with Brexit and what we are yet to receive decisions on. I'm sure for many, a highlight of this session was when Gove provided the email address of Mike Rowe for anyone still awaiting outstanding ES payments - no doubt his inbox has been flooded with correspondence over the last week. The political session was drawn up on day two of the conference with lots of interesting questions being asked.

The focus of the next session was on where the future of food is going. With the focus of this year's conference on "Our Food, Our Future" there was a range of sessions set to discuss where the market for food is going and how it will require a change from the producers, the retailers and the consumers. This first session left us with lots to think about, especially after Jack Bobo's statement that we will need 60-100% more food by 2050 - but that it will need to be produced with less land and fewer inputs. It was interesting to hear theories about the future of supermarkets and the possibility of them becoming more of an environment to showcase food and give shoppers the chance to see, feel or smell their foods while the weekly shop will become more automated with less reliance on a physical trip to the shops. This was a really engaging and enjoyable session for me, as was the follow-up session on how we can get to this point. There was a reiteration that consumers still really do want to buy British produce and that our high standards play a big part in this - hence we really do need to ensure that our high food standards are kept up through this difficult time for British agriculture. Speakers in this session emphasised the importance of innovation in the food sector as this will be essential if we are to double our global food production in the next 30 years. 

The Workshop I had chosen to attend was "A Taste for the Future" with a focus on the future diet of our society and the impact it will have on the market for food produced by UK farmers. During this session, the impact of an increase of plant-based diets was discussed - the biggest reasons for consumers choosing plant-based diets are health and environment, which linked nicely to a point made by Judith Batchelor that "we don't just need to produce more to feed our growing population, we have to waste less". This session gave a lot of food for thought and definitely left me with lots to think about. 

At the end of day one, we attended the wonderful dinner - as always the hospitality was second to none and the food was incredible. It gave a great opportunity to catch up with friends and discuss the different sessions we had attended. The comedian was excellent and captivated the room. After dinner, a large proportion of attendees headed out into Birmingham for a bit of dancing and a few drinks in Walkabout. It was great to see so many people out and meet some new faces too. 

The Livestock breakout session the next morning was a really interesting one for me, I particularly enjoyed Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss' segment with a focus on the problems that TB and other diseases are causing the UK livestock sector. Lots of the questions that followed this session came back to subjects surrounding TB such as the badger culls and new ways of testing for the disease that haven't yet had approval but could be key for continuing to lessen the impacts of TB and moving towards eradication. 

Overall, my experience of NFU 19 was overwhelmingly positive. I would definitely encourage anyone who is able to go next year as it was a chance to learn a lot about areas you might not follow so closely otherwise and hear from an incredible array of experts in their fields. It really left me thinking and I felt inspired to look further into some of the areas that really captivated my attention.
If you are interested in seeing any of the sessions I have commented on, lots of them are available to watch or read about here https://www.nfuonline.com/news/nfu-conference-2019/nfu-conference-2019-news/ 

The Agrifac Faux Paus

With a female NFU President, an all-female NFYFC Council and the number of women getting involved in farming on the rise, 2019 looks like it could be a really promising year for women in agriculture. However, we're not even two weeks into 2019 yet (Happy New Year by the way!) and there has already been a lot of controversy about the way women are seen in the Agricultural industry.

 

LAMMA took place last week, always a popular event in many farmers' calendars, and I'm sure many of you will have seen the discussion caused by the Agrifac stand, in particular, the two PR girls hired by them to promote and draw attention to the company - and they did just that. The buzz generated by this advertisement tactic has seen a huge response from people in the farming industry and outside of it but not a particularly positive one. There have been lots of people reminding us that it's the girls' choice to be there promoting the company in that way and I'm not one to knock down anyone - male or female - that is trying to break into the agricultural industry. However, I don't honestly think that Agrifac had them there to promote the work that women do in farming and represent that sector of the industry and if they were it definitely wasn't the way to do it. 

Personally, I see it as extremely outdated to have scantily clad cheerleaders in cheap Go-Go dancer boots fronting the stand and this definitely segregates women from the employees at Agrifac who I'm sure were there to answer technical enquiries and do the real selling and promotion. Perhaps Agrifac had some women also working on the stand that were available to discuss the products however this has definitely not been seen by the media - in my opinion missing a great opportunity to promote diversity and modern thinking. 

Women absolutely have the right to have any career they wish, and with that wear anything they want and I support the choice of the girls to follow this career, I just think it was a tacky way for Agrifac to promote machinery at an agricultural event and the attention generated didn't show farming in its best light. As many other industries are making a great effort to move away from this way of objectification to gain attention it may reflect poorly on the agricultural industry at a time when we need all the positive attention and support we can get.

Simply put, I think that Agrifac missed out on an opportunity to make some changes and support the future of Ag and those involved in it and although they may have gained a lot of media exposure, myself and I'm sure many others will now remember their name as one that is not moving with the times.

On a bigger scale... 

Did you know: 

- Female farmers are 8% of the world's population

- In developing countries only 10-20% of landowners are women

- In most countries the share of women with small farms who have access to credit is 5-10% lower than for men which makes it harder for women to buy fertilisers

- Women are less likely to own large farm animals 

- Closing the gender gap could increase yields in developing countries by up to 4% - potentially reducing the number of undernourished people by 130 million

This is why it is so important to support women in farming and encourage new entrants - in all countries. If we start by fixing the small problems the bigger ones will come next.

*This was not meant to belittle or disrespect anyone and I apologize for any offence caused I merely wanted to share my opinion!

Christmas Traditions

It’s Christmas Eve-Eve, our Christmas baking is done, the presents are wrapped and the shops are full of people frantically scanning the aisles for anything they might have forgotten to stock up on for Christmas.

I thought I’d share some of my favourite Christmas traditions for the festive period in case you need something to spur you on into the Christmas mood in these next few days.

In December one of our big Christmas traditions is doing the Christmas presents for the kids in Acorns Children's Hospice. It's always a heartwarming time, we spend the year fundraising with midlandscooters and then take the presents to the hospice with Santa to visit the children, it wouldn't feel like Christmas without doing it now as we have been doing it for so many years. 

In the week before Christmas we have so much to get ready, we usually spend a couple of days baking and preparing the Ukranian food we eat alongside our traditional Christmas dinner. This year we made 6 Christmas Puddings, 36 Mince Pies, 86 Butter Tarts (like Mince Pies but better), 120 Icebox Cookies (like a gingerbread), and 100 decorated Shortbread Biscuits to share with friends and family over Christmas! This always gets us in a festive mood in the run up to Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we used to always have a Christmas party for friends and family but in the last few years with my sisters both getting married and sharing Christmas between our family and their in-laws we’ve scaled down and now just have the immediate family over. We always cook a joint of pork to have in baps and make a spinach loaf as well as lots of other snacks. It’s safe to say that Christmas is heavily dependent on food in our house, but we love to have Christmas Eve together as a family.

Christmas Day is a relaxed one, this year just one of my sisters and her husband are staying with us but we will pop round to visit my other sister and her family after we’ve had breakfast and opened our presents. Then we will have Christmas dinner at home, probably watch some Christmas movies and the Queen’s speech and demolish a box of chocolates.

Boxing day usually consists of a visit to my Aunty’s house, where we sometimes have a cold lunch and have a gathering with some more family, but this year we will be taking some turkey sandwiches and going hunting! I can’t wait as it’s usually a great day out hunting with a big field and lots of followers.

I’m sure that every family does Christmas so differently, so however you’re spending your Christmas, I hope that you have a fantastic time and get some relaxing in there somewhere!

Merry Christmas!

Lord Mayors Show 2018

Last weekend I went to London to take part in the Lord Mayors Show with the Worshipful Company of Farmers, the National Farmers Union, Massey Ferguson and the Red Tractor.

I was selected as one of the 8 Young Farmers chosen by the NFU to represent the different areas of the UK, as a Worcestershire Young Farmer I was proud to be representing the West Midlands. All of the other young farmers that were chosen were really lovely and so passionate about being a part of the industry and the products they produce.

We went down to London on Friday morning and had a briefing to attend in the afternoon at the Guildhall to give us some information about the parade so we would know where to go and what to do at various points throughout the day.

After the safety briefing we had some time before dinner to get ready and have a drink in the bar, we also received our jackets for the parade kindly sponsored by Massey Ferguson and a load of other Massey Ferguson goodies.

Then we headed over to the Paternosters Pub for our dinner hosted by Massey Ferguson. My dinner was delicious and it was great to meet some of the others that would be in the parade with us. We enjoyed a few drinks with our meal before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before the parade.

On Saturday we were up early, ready to carry over the last of the props for our float all decked out in our new coats and accessories. It was quite the sight when we arrived at the spot the Massey Ferguson Ideal 9T Combine and the tractor had been brought to much earlier in the morning. You don't see a piece of kit like that on the streets of London every day! Hats off to the guys that drove them in the parade.

We then had some time for a photo session and we met our Marshall before the parade set off at 11 O’Clock.

The actual parade was an amazing experience, it was so great to see people on the streets supporting British agriculture and to see their faces when the tractor and combine turned the corner. We had great fun communicating with the crowds and interacting with people we saw along the way.

Overall I had a fantastic weekend spreading the message to back British farming and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to take part in the Lord Mayors Show! Thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to be there, including the organizers of the parade that fed all 7000 participants lunch!