Peter Melchett: Methylisothiazolinone, Phthalates, Parabens, PEGs - (polyethylene glycols, Non-natural Propylene Glycol (PG), Cocamide DEA... I could go on. You would wash the floor with some of these, clean your oven with them, find them in antifreeze or use some of them to redecorate your house, some are banned in food or children's toys because of the risk that they are carcinogens, so would you knowingly put them on your skin? It alarms me that all are found in the bathrooms of our homes in health and beauty products, more worryingly some are even found in products labeled as 'natural' or 'nature inspired'.
03 June 2013 |
7 Comments | Recommended by 4
Kathie Auton: Half of all food thrown away - that's the news story I woke up to this morning. And yesterday I was reading about children no longer being taught to cook. Children cooking and using up food: two things that obsess my thoughts daily. I want to get on my soapbox today. I want to say 'get cooking and stop chucking', but these are hardly problems that will be solved by foot stamping and opining.
10 January 2013 |
16 Comments | Recommended by 6
Kathie Auton: My last post was about talking to children about where their veg comes from. About trying to persuade them that eating the greenstuff is a joy, not something to be endured, and about allowing kids to learn about food from a very early age. My city kids, never more than ½ mile from the nearest coffee shop, have a very different life to my own, slightly muddy upbringing in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
15 June 2012 |
6 Comments | Recommended by 10
Francesca Price: I was a bit of late starter on the organic thing - for most of my life I managed to consume an appalling selection of fats, chemicals and toxins without giving it much of a second thought. And then I had kids and in that time honoured tradition, my world was changed forever. After diligently breastfeeding them all for the required time the thought of putting anything but the purest of fruit and vegetables into their little bodies filled me with horror. So overnight I became an organic missionary. Everything had to be organic. I even took a bag of organic fruit and vegetables to Ireland on holiday - just in case their food didn’t come up to scratch. (It wasn’t the best way to win over my new in-laws!)
09 September 2011 |
1 Comments | Recommended by 3
James Kightley: Where to start? Well, hello! This is exciting, I've never blogged before and following in Kate's distinguished ex magazine publishing footsteps it's fair to say I'm slightly nervous. Expect spelling and grammar errors, inaccuracies, and the odd shaggy dog story, but I promise to try my best to stay on topic. I hope this blog is going to try and serve a few purposes, firstly as a bit of a record of the passing seasons, jobs on the farms and what's got me excited this particular month.
27 May 2011 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 7
Phil Stocker: The words ‘The Soil Association’ slip off the tongue very readily. Yet even with the word ‘soil’ so central it is too easy to forget the role that soil plays in all we stand for.
01 December 2010 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 7
Phil Stocker: As the old saying goes, there are three types of people in this world - those that lead, those that follow, and those that wondered what the hell happened. I want to pay tribute to some of those leaders – the pioneers or 'early adopters' – whose contribution to the organic movement is often not recognised or rewarded.
15 July 2010 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 4
Richard Plowright: There have been many changes at Stowey Rocks since March, most notably the arrival of our daughter May on 7 April. There are moments in our lives when events cut through the paraphernalia that clutters our existence and we are laid bare. May's birth was one such life affirming event.
30 June 2010 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 4
Phil Stocker: Transparency, openness, and raising public awareness of how our food is produced: these are all things I fully support and they are implicit within the principles of organic food and farming. So it’s difficult to oppose the recent video clips released by Animal Aid of abattoir malpractices, even though the approach of secret filming may be unethical to some.
14 May 2010 |
2 Comments | Recommended by 7
Phil Stocker: Our latest Soil Association report, Telling Porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production, has already drawn some criticism from within the farming community.
23 April 2010 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 3
Phil Stocker: The Soil Association's loss is the National Trust's gain. Many of you may not yet have heard that, after five years as director of food and farming – and more recently as policy adviser at the Soil Association – Helen Browning is exploring pastures new in a full time post at the National Trust. Helen has had a far longer connection with the Soil Association, as an organic farmer, trustee and even chair of Council around a decade ago.
28 January 2010 |
2 Comments | Recommended by 6
Phil Stocker: Last week finished with a couple of days in Aberystwyth, one of which was at the Organic Centre Wales Producers’ Conference.
23 October 2009 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 3
Richard Plowright: It is four months since I wrote my last organic farmer’s blog which used to inhabit the whyorganic website. Browsing the new Soil Association website yesterday I found the empty space where the new blog is supposed to be and decided that the time had come for me to fill it. Right?
30 September 2009 |
0 Comments | Recommended by 5