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Peak soil: act now or the very ground beneath us will die – Posted in: Uncategorized

Article from the Ecologist: http://www.theecologist.org/   The health of our soils is more important now than ever, says the Soil Association’s Helen Browning – especially with the challenges that climate change will bring … We are destroying soils worldwide ten times faster than nature can restore them. As a farmer, my foremost responsibility is to protect and enhance the soil in my care. It can take more than 500 years to generate an inch of…

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Seymour, the Ahimsa bull calf at Spitalfilds City Farm – Posted in: Uncategorized

Seymour is a bull who was born on 13th December 2012. He is Tilly’s son and it virtually all black apart from a little white tuft on his head and on his underbelly. He is very shy, but also very handsome.   Once Seymour had been weaned off milk at about 3 months, he went through a difficult period when he got ringworm. Dermatophytosis or ringworm is a clinical condition caused by fungal infection of the skin, leaving lesions…

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Working with oxen calls to humanities’ ancient roots, but could also provide hope for a green future – Posted in: Uncategorized

As a by-product of the conventional dairy industry more than 100,000 male calves are killed in Britain every year soon after birth. Others are eaten as veal or fattened up to end up on the dinner plate as artery-thickening sirloin steak. What a breath-taking waste and insult to the bounty of Mother Nature. Oxen have played a key role in agriculture since humans first became sedentary farmers, some 10,000 years ago. Whilst cows gave milk,…

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A cow can power a home – Posted in: Uncategorized

Although cow dung has been used for thousands of years to create fertile soils, it also has another use as a fuel. In many countries from China to Kenya, Guatemala to India, cow dung is often dried and burnt as fuel for cooking.  Now in India, small scale farmers are separating methane to be used for cooking appliances and the remaining dung is used as a rich fertiliser. As technology has advanced in the West,…

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