Organic Futures blog

Some time ago now, I read something that has stayed with me: voting with our purses is far more effective than voting at the polling booth. I have long been plagued and perplexed at not only general voter apathy on the one hand but how that translates too: the seeming indifference on the part of politicians as to what percentage, in real terms, of the population actually vote/voted for them, sheds a whole new light on the idea of politicians as representatives of the people: which people exactly? Furthermore, what does this say about us as individuals and as a society?

Voter apathy isn’t the only outcome of perhaps a combination of a general feeling of political malaise, over-centralised power nuclei or a distinctly crumbling faith in our ‘leaders’, though it is all of these I’m sure, but it is also part of a more sinister undercurrent that tickles at the underbelly of our society. Perhaps I have been jaded by the claustrophobia of my urban surroundings; my bucolic roots melting after too long spent blinking under the harsh city lights, but it seems to me that we are closer to a nation of consumers than we are active citizens. This isn’t self-coined, such an idea is echoed and proliferated in the media in both its mainstream and more radical fringes. If we take food as one example: do we grow our food? If not, do we know who does? Do we cook our food or do we simply buy our food?

I’m determined to be optimistic about this, so let’s flip this one over. Let’s take up the mantle and actively vote with our purses. Let’s spend every penny and pound wisely, in every sense of the word. Be brazen, be bold, be active, be responsible: ask questions. When shopping for food, ask the retailer/producer/farmer/grower how it was grown/reared/produced, where it comes from, how far it has travelled and how, who made/grew/reared it, is it free range, what does free range mean, is it organic… these are just some of the questions to ask, ask, ask and never stop asking. If you don’t get an answer, you soon will. The more people that ask questions about the provenance of their food the more that everyone involved in producing food will take note and crucially take heed. Go that one step further too and choose the food that has answers; that you can trace from your fork back to the garden fork. Money, as unfortunate a paradigm as this may be, does speak and loudly too, everyone from small companies to huge multinational corporations are only in the business of selling things that people will buy, so let’s tell them and let’s show them.

Of course, where we spend every penny of our every pound matters. But if we can begin anywhere, let it be with our food. Food and cooking are a fervent, bubbling over passion of mine and I firmly believe that our attitude to food as individuals and as a society profoundly mirrors our attitude to so many other facets of life. I get excited when we come into Autumn and I can eat pumpkins again, I am frequently and flagrantly seduced by herbs and their taste tantalisingly flirtatious aromas… positively gleeful when the hot Summer days bring with them an array of salad leaves… and I could go on but then perhaps I should leave that for my next blog.

For today, dear reader, just take one little kernel with you and stow it safely in your pocket (or wherever else you may find it again and again): it is important to remember that less is always more and to never, ever stop asking questions.

Our approach to health is very strange. The National Health Service is far from its name, it’s almost purely focused on cure rather than prevention. This was really drummed home to me again recently having visited my Grandad. He’s a very old man and not in good health now, but what’s so frightening is his list of pills for the day.

His doctor has clearly prescribed pills for virtually every ailment he has (which is quite a lot). The approach I found completely counter-intuitive; pharmaceuticals arguably have a place for treating specific ailments, but the modern pharmaceutical industry is a voracious industry that generates huge profits on the back of huge sales.

Why not prescibe health-promoting meals, perhaps some herbal medicine and some accupuncture, for instance? I am in no doubt that the pills my Grandad is taking, is massively contributing to his continuing ill health.

The approach of conventional medicine is very similar to that of the agro-chemical industry, and indeed many of the companies are the same. The approach to life underpinned by organic food should also be complemented by an alternative, holistic view of health as a positive state of being, rather than an absence of disease.

Ultimately in Organic Futures we must help to foster a new vision of healthy people and healthy land - the two are inseparable.

It certainly is a strange spring. There seem to be wild fluctuations between mild, wet and windy conditions, followed by cold, wet and windy, then perhaps cold, dry and windy, interspersed with the occasional lovely spring-like day. Whichever way you look at it, conditions are not very suitable for good early plant growth.

I planted out a lot of salad crops that got a bit of a beating from the wind and aren’t looking very happy at the moment. Then there’s my early spuds, which down here on the Isles of Scilly we can plant very early (January) because of the lack of frost. We do, however, have another problem - strong and salt-laden winds.

Three weeks ago saw Southerly winds over 90mph, which really battered the spuds, then last week over 60mph, both times with lots of salt in the wind. But they must be hardy spuds, because they’ve bounced back and are looking surprisingly good. I aim to start digging the first week of May, but that all depends on what the weather’s like between now and then.

That’s the thing with growing, you can’t predict the weather - and even if you could you can’t do anything about it!