Comments for Grow Organic Food

Comment on Dustbin potatoes by Potatoes in a Box: the Results Show « Foxflat's Blog

Potatoes in a Box: the Results Show « Foxflat's Blog — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:08:27 +0000

[...] potato harvest is disappointing, but not surprising. Other container gardeners – Grow Organic Food and Imperfect Urban Farm – logged similar results. So did my friend in Portland who grew [...]

Comment on Moth to kill Japanese knotweed by Moth to kill Japanese knotweed | Grow Organic Food :Japanese Knotweed Eradication

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:25:31 +0000

[...] Continue reading here: Moth to kill Japanese knotweed | Grow Organic Food [...]

Comment on Site upgrade by Colin

Colin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:13:32 +0000

The site update has been completed. There may be further changes in a while but for now all the work has been done.

If you have any problems with logging on or accessing particular pages please email admin@organicgarden.org.uk

Comment on Supermarkets at root of vegetable supply problem by Colin

Colin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:24:12 +0000

I totally agree about GM. Not only is it still unproven it is a dangerous distraction from the real issues. We could grow a lot more food in the UK but it seems that the supply chain, AKA the supermarkets, have such a stranglehold on the growing and distribution of fresh food that they effectively make it almost impossible to develop smaller more reliable systems.

I photographed vegetable growers in the Vale of Evesham 25 years ago and spoke with them again a few years back. They had both stopped growing veg and gone to other jobs because the wholesale markets had closed so there was nowherefor small growers to sell their produce. The question that bugs me is that what the government wants? Have they abdicated all responsibility for food to less than a handful of large multinational companies? I think the answer is yes!

My conclusion is that we have to take care of ourselves by growing food and learning other skills like how to make cheese and yogurt and, of course, how to preserve food for winter. That might seem daunting but it is also a lot of fun and gives a real sense of well being and independence.

Comment on Supermarkets at root of vegetable supply problem by John Walker

John Walker — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:52:49 +0000

Thanks for posting this Colin. The precarious state of our food supply chains after just a bit of bad weather rather puts the ongoing debate around genetically modified (GM) food into perspective. Perhaps we should concentrate on being able to feed ourselves reliably, whatever the weather, on ‘normal’, unadulterated organic food, before we start putting so much faith in (and energy into promoting) GM crops.

I’ve written an article exploring the question of resilience in food gardening terms, which can be read in the current Kitchen Garden magazine, and on their web site:

http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/soil3.php

Comment on Garden Organic sells Ryton retail arm – the end of an era by mattappleby

mattappleby — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:43:08 +0000

Myles called me to apologise for his incorrect comments about ‘misrepresentation’ and ‘unfairness’.
This is my latest on the issue.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/6710354/What-does-your-plot-say-about-you-Organic-gardening-in-trouble-free-trees-at-the-BBC.html

Comment on Misleading food labels by Colin

Colin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:00:24 +0000

UPDATE: Sainsbury’s response to my letter was that they were sorry that I was not happy and that it was difficult to finds organic spreads. They noted what I said and would refer my comments to their supplier. Meanwhile the 4% olive oil spread is still on sale. In other words they just are not bothered as long as it sells.

Comment on Misleading food labels by Colin

Colin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:54:54 +0000

Thanks for the comment, very useful. When you start looking palm oil is everywhere. Agree on why is used so much in spreads. Found a Biona one last week that uses organic palm oil which you would hope is grown in a sustainable way.

One quick way of making your own spread is to pour some olive oil into a container and then freeze it. Take out of freezer and store in fridge which makes it just about spreadable. It’s not the same of the harder spreads but has the advantage of being oil at room temp which is much better.

The recipe looks good. I would drop the salt though as Americans seem to include far too much salt with everything.

I should also have said that we use Pure organic spread. The main oil used is sunflower 37% then palm oil 22%.

Comment on Misleading food labels by penge

penge — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:06:37 +0000

Hi there
thanks for the warning about the palm oil – I’m looking for a spread that is low in saturates – sadly palm oil is not. Many of the spreads I’ve found just list the main ingredient as vegetable oil – which could be anaything and I suspect it will be palm oil, as it is cheap! I too, have complained to sainsburys but at least they come clean that its palm oil I suppose.
As I understand it the problem is that palm oil is hard, so it gives the spread some “body” – otherwise if it had more olive oil it would be too runny. Even the Biona spread which has an ethical rating of 15 from the Ethical Consumer site has is mainly palm oil.
I think I’m going to have to revert to an old recipe from an american veggie book: Laurels Kitchen – basically you blend 1 cup butter, 1 cup oil of your choice, 2 tbls spoons of water, 1/4 tsp of lecitin and 1/2 tsp of salt and keep in the fridge

Comment on Food inc. by Colin

Colin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:29:33 +0000

Thanks for your comment. One of the most disturbing parts of the film for me was the shots of huge US feedlots and how they handle cattle. We don’t have anything like that in the UK, yet, but here are rumours about two 5000 cattle dairy farms where the cows will never see a grass field. Most other parts of the film apply to the UK. We are dominated by a few very large supermarkets groups who dictate how food is produced and distributed. There are farmers markets and other outlets which are good but it is hard to really challenge the power of the supermarkets especially as government seems to do exactly what they say.

I hope that Food Inc gets a wide showing in the UK, it does for food what The Age Of Stupid does for climate change.