Meet the Wiggly team

This week we get to meet one of the newest members of the Wiggly Team, Pam, our office manager. The offspring of an agricultural contractor and Welsh hill farmer’s daughter, Pam has lived in the small village of Preston-on-Wye in Herefordshire for the last 40 years. Pam, and our very own Heather, met on their first day at Madley school and have remained firm friends ever since. It was at this point that I asked if Pam had any funny stories to regale, but she said that some of the scrapes were too risqué to repeat! However, she did recollect Heather going through a slightly strange phase when our, now older and wiser, Mrs Gorringe decided it would be good to wear her dad’s antique stripey pyjamas to college – “It’s art darlings!”

Pam is married to Pip, who also works on the farm making composters and bird feeders for Wigglys. They share their home with one daughter and a rescued Labrador called Max. Whilst admitting that she isn’t the greatest gardener around, Pam does like her flowers and continues to use her late Grandad’s cherished gardening tools to this day.

Outside work, Pam sits on various village committees and helps to run Cowpats, the Preston-on-Wye Community Access Point. Her latest adventure was to pose, as Miss June, for “A Year with Billy”, a nude charity calendar which is a Preston-on-Wye fund raising initiative for the Donor Family Network and Heartlung Transplant Fund. It’s the quiet ones you have to watch!

As a result of giving Max a new home, Pam is now involved with The Labrador Rescue and not only helps to fund raise, but also contributes to their newsletter. Not one to be left out, Max too was selected to appear (nude!) in The Labrador Rescue’s 2008 calendar. In her spare time Pam likes ringing bells and running away! Only joking! She is a keen campanologist and can be regularly found in the towers of two local churches ringing out the odd peal or two. Pam’s idea of a perfect break from work is a skiing holiday with her family and she is looking forward to their next trip to the slopes of Italy.

The Rowan: The story of the demon, the witch and the walking stick

The Rowan (Sorbus Aucuparia) is widely distributed around the British Isles and today is equally at home in suburban parks or gardens and the Highlands of Scotland. This tree is also known by several folk names, such as the mountain ash and, in Scotland, the Gaelic name of caorunn. The rowan is quite a graceful tree that sports cream flower heads in May or June, followed by clusters of bright red berries in the autumn. Not only do these berries look attractive they also provide a valuable source of food for birds and are rich in vitamin C. However, it is not only the birds that enjoy the berries. In Scotland rowan berry jelly is traditionally eaten with birds (of the feathered variety)! Rowan berries have also been on the list of ingredients for various Celtic drinks over the centuries, including Scottish wine and spirit, Welsh ale and as flavouring in Irish mead. Historically these versatile fruits have also been used, with the bark, to dye garments and the bark on its own for tanning leather. The wood too was prized for its strength and durability, making it particularly suitable for walking sticks and tool handles and it was often used in the construction of spinning wheels.

In addition to the Rowan's many practical uses, it appears in Greek mythology in connection with fighting off demons and in folklore it was said to guard against witchcraft. With regard to folklore, it is believed that the berries were the key to it all, as red was said to offer the best protection, and the five pointed star at the opposite end to the stalk to resemble a pentagram, which is an ancient protective symbol. It was thought that trees planted close to dwellings afforded protection to the inhabitants and crosses fashioned from twigs, bound with red thread and either sewn into the linings of coats or carried in pockets provided personal security. A branch placed in a bed was thought to ward off evil spirits, but must have proved a slightly strange and uncomfortable sleeping companion. In Wales the rowan was considered to be sacred and was planted in churchyards to ward off evil spirits, with coffins often being rested under them on the way to the funeral.

So all in all the humble Rowan has played its part in folklore. The next time you pass one you might just want to break off a couple of twigs, but whatever you do, don't use a knife to cut the wood…

Meet the Wiggly team

This week we get to meet Hannah, part of the Wiggly sales team. After leaving school Hannah read Zoology at Aberystwyth University, but it was her holiday job that inspired a career change. During her breaks from Uni she worked on an organic vegetable farm near her family home in Herefordshire where she picked up a host of invaluable skills and an insight into large scale vegetable production. Hannah says that the best part of her job was attending the famous Borough Market in London every other weekend to sell the farm’s organic produce. She even did a bit of “celeb spotting” while she was there and her main claim to fame was selling a cabbage to Jamie Oliver! In fact she loved working on the farm so much that her next brush with education was to study for an HNC in horticulture at Pershore whilst working as a gardener.

Not only does Hannah work in the office two days a week, she also looks after the Wiggly garden and the infamous Wiggly cutting patch. She currently has plans to transform a shady area in the garden with native woodland plants and ferns and increase the variety of cut flowers grown for the Wiggly bouquets.

At home, Hannah’s garden is brimming with cottage garden plants, together with a raised vegetable patch and a newly created wildlife pond. In her “spare time” she is also a keen apiarist and currently tends to four hives located at her parents’ home. Not only is Hannah a “bit of a whiz” in the garden her other passion is cooking and her homemade cakes LOOK (as we have yet to taste them!!) delicious.

Do small firms really need a website?

I have recently hijacked the Wiggly Blog as part of my new role within Wiggly Wigglers and ejected our great leader, to the extent that all her earlier posts now appear with my name attached (sorry Heather)!! However, rather graciously, I have now agreed to her let her appear as a guest author AND allowed her speak to the BBC. As you may know, our Heather is rather keen on technology and loves nothing more than getting to those hard to reach places, either from the Wiggly sofa in her weekly podcast, by electronic newsletters (to subscribe click here), the Wiggly web site or, her latest toy, Facebook. You can see exactly what she had to say about the impact technology has had on Wiggly Wigglers by clicking here and how small businesses really can benefit from 21st century tools.

Have YOUR say in PRINT

This is your chance to have your say! ~And for me to experiment with all the things I learnt in the US of A with regard to Social Media and Podchef and Pigs!

As you may well of noticed that old Wiggly company is pretty keen on Social Media, and Blogging, and Podcasting, and Twittering, and wotnotiness.

Well, - me dears this ol farm in rural Herefordshire now wants to be the first to put together a conventional paper catalogue using Social Media!

What does that all mean? We want YOU to get involved, write articles, send in photos and drawings, design product if you are in the mood, and we will use these articles and items in our catalogue and on our website.

Whats in it for me? I hear you cry.

Well, one thing is for sure, you must write whatever you like and I certainly wont want to sway that by any attempt at the old bribery...(!) On the other hand I most definitely will not let any contribution used go by without a good old thank you, and a plug for your cause or your blog or whatever it is you want to promote to our 160k readers. I think this is quite an exciting project and so will be wheeling in the full force of the Wiggly media promotion campaign to enthuse about your contributions from all over the world to help to change the way we garden!

If that sounds fair enough to you here is what I am looking for:

1: Perhaps you have experience of a product that Wiggly Wigglers is selling or could sell (our next catalogue aims at The Farmer in You so extends our growing and harvesting range). Can you review that product? Have you got a piccy of you using it?

2: Maybe you would like to write a "How To" For example we would love a "How to Make your own bird seed fat feed" or similar. What about a "How to make a Christmas wreath using native hedging"?

3: Spread this news. Could you blog this idea, or share this with your facebook friends to see if other folk are enthusiastic about making the first ever collaberative Wiggly catalogue, and have some relevant musing to share to encourage folk to find "The Farmer in THEM!!

If you would like anymore guidance - think the idea is a corker, or a rubbish one, let me know what you think. I'll put this up on the facebook discussion section, or you can message me, or email me heather@wigglywigglers.co.

uk. I dont suppose we'll be able to use every single contribution but we will be doing our best.

Wiggle ON dear groupy

Heather

PS AH HA
The catch:
The deadline for this project is Friday 30th November (sharp intake of breath is audible). Think about it - if I gave you a deadline of next July you'd start the last week in June....you would...you know you would....

Wiggly Wigglers wins the 2007 Rural Enterprise Award for business development

The Rural Enterprise Award seeks to, “champion entrepreneurs working in the rural areas who have succeeded in steering their businesses into entirely new areas of activity and, at the same time, made significant contributions to the community and the economy in which they operate.”

This year’s award was such a closely fought contest that the judges could not separate the two leading companies, Wiggly Wigglers and Deepdale Farm, and opted to split the award into two categories, business development and rural regeneration.

The award ceremony, hosted by James Paice (Shadow Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Affairs), took place on Friday 16 November at The House of Commons where Wiggly Wigglers were presented with a handsome plaque in recognition of innovation, flair and business development skills.

Heather, Chairman of Wiggly Wigglers, said, “One of our key strengths is creating markets, not just finding gaps in existing ones. To do this we use various methods to get our message to all our customers and interact with them, using tools such as our weekly podcast, electronic news and a user friendly web site”. She also expressed thanks to Farm Business and Savills for sponsoring the award and for putting on such a great tea party.

Some gems of wisdom from the Wiggly Team...

“Ice in November to hold a duck, the rest of the winter will be nothing but muck!”
Alison

To keep cats off your flower beds place teabags sprayed with a muscle/deep heat solution. Cats don’t like the smell so will no longer choose your flower bed as a toilet area.
Karen

Fashion your own seed scoop from an old plastic milk carton (see San modelling her creation above)
San

Be water wise – re-use your soap suds to water your spuds.
Di

Use lemonade instead of water to keep your flowers fresh. You can also use vodka in your to vase to stop algae growing.
Karon

Drink the vodka and lemonade!!!!
Ricky

and finally, for the benefit of our managing director, Rach (a farmer’s wife no less!)

Always release the handbrake on the JCB to enable forward and backward motion!!!
Jodie

To feed or not to feed?

As the weekend draws near, we come to the end of another week where bird flu has hit the headlines once again. I, as a keen poultry keeper, am only too aware of the risks, but take a sensible approach. I like keeping poultry and the benefits, in terms of meat, eggs and the enjoyment I get from looking after them, far outweigh the very small risks involved. I take the view that it is much, much safer than careering down a hillside on two sticks, sky diving, bungee jumping, white water rafting… you are now starting to get where I am coming from!!

This week, on my early morning forays into the paddock to feed and water my stock, the heavy frost has sparkled in the light of my torch (a wind-up one of course!) and looked like a scene from a Christmas card. This drop in temperature has significantly increased the appetites of my hens, ducks and geese, after all, who wouldn’t admit to eating one or two extra comforting, and of course high calorie, “snackettes” in the cold weather. The same applies to the wild birds, so now is the time to give them a little tender loving care in the form of some high protein food, such as sunflower seeds, and, just as important, make sure they have access to water. The risk to the average person in this country of catching bird flu from feeding wild birds is so infinitesimal as to be virtually non-existent and certainly not a reason to refrain from feeding cold and hungry birds. So, go on, top up your bird feeders and drinkers and enjoy watching the wide variety of species that visit British gardens.

Jo's HOT tip to stop grey squirrels eating your bird food

Jo’s hot tip of the week is how to keep grey squirrels off your nuts! She recommends adding hot spices, such as chilli and cayenne pepper, to your bird feed. Squirrels suffer the same way men do attempting to eat the hottest vindaloo on the menu – no long term damage, but plenty of short term burning!!! It can take up to a fortnight for the squirrels to get the message that they aren’t welcome at your bird table, but eventually you should have squirrel free feeders. Birds, however, are completely unaffected by the hot spices as they do not have the same taste receptors as mammals.

Meet the wiggly team...

Karon, our resident florist, started learning her trade at 15 when she helped out as a Saturday girl in a Hereford florist’s shop. On leaving school she studied Floristry for 2 years at college and has spent the subsequent years working in Hereford making a wide range of items ranging from the very traditional to innovative modern designs. A highlight of Karon’s career was being chosen to represent Herefordshire at the Young Farmers’ National Day at Stoneleigh, the headquarters of The Royal Agricultural Society of England. Karon has been part of the Wiggly Team since June and particularly enjoys working with British flowers, especially the ones she collects from the Wiggly cutting patch, and making naturalistic bouquets.

Farmer Phil and the Year of Food and Farming

As part of the "Year of Food and Farming", Farmer Phil went along to the Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls to talk about Lower Blakemere Farm. He had a wonderful day and actually came home shattered (!) He talked about our farm, our beef, and then the chefs ran a ready steady cook where the girls could try the meat. You can listen to our podcast about the launch of the "Year of Food and Farming" (Number 103)In the meantime, here is just a taster of the pile of feedback he received…(I think they liked him) and girls – you can put more comments at the bottom of this blog!

To Farmer Phil…

I really enjoyed the talk. I learnt lots and it was fun, not boring! I was
interested to learn about a cow’s year, I did not know about it. I was glad to
know that cows are killed painlessly. I now feel much happier about eating beef.
The cooking food smells really good.

Very good and detailed and made me realise that a farmer’s life is tough and you
care for the environment. I learnt a lot about good meat. It was good that you
brought in food and showed us the meat.

A very informative talk, lots of detail and I liked the samples of cereals and
the wheat. I learnt that the barley has longer heads than the wheat, I can never
tell the difference on my farm.

Where to put your bat box.

With the decline in bat numbers caused by the decrease in the number of suitable roosting sites, coupled with the destruction of insect habitat, more people are now wishing to provide suitable bat accommodation and we often get asked about where to site bat boxes. Bats are particular about their accommodation and dislike cold and wet roosting sites so boxes need to be damp and draft proofed. We recommend placing a bat box in a quiet, sheltered position, as high up as possible (over 2m from the ground), out of the reach of cats, on a tree or wall and ensure that the entrance is clear.

Once you have sited your bat box and you think that the position you have chosen is a sheltered one you shouldn't disturb it. If you are in any doubt as to whether a bat has taken up residence it is best to leave the box, as both bats and bat roosts are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it an offence to disturb, handle or kill a bat. More information is in the bat book if you need it.

Reacting to TB

There was a certain tension in the air on Friday as we had our regular TB testing on the farm, as a neighbour had a reactor which turned out to have TB just a few weeks ago.

The TB tests themselves are quite a palava. Many cattle have to be handled more often and the test is not pleasant for them - they remember the issues, so are not always too keen to go through the handling yard into the crush. In fact there have been several cases locally where farmers have been injured and even killed by stressed cattle that simply have to be handled more often because of the testing.

Anyway, on Friday we got our first TB reactor in more than 10 years. (This could still mean that we dont have TB - dont know that yet).

It’s bad and sad to have a reactor, but Farmer Phil was not best pleased when he found out that Number 17 was the only reactor, - and that this was the cow that had been put out in the field by the house to enjoy her last summer of grass, - when a more commercial outlook would have meant she was down the road last April…. Lately she has been stuck here because of the restrictions themselves for Foot and Mouth and Blue tongue (which I keep calling Blue TOOTH! - cows with phones!?!)

One reactor is not the end of the world, - but now it means that our calves cannot be moved to go to fatten, and that means no income. The main problem is the uncertainty, there's the extra testings which take 2 days every couple of months, and the worry that either the Bull ends up with it, or in the worst case scenario that if more that 30% of the animals get it then they will all be wiped out. There is compensation and insurance for the individual case, but the issues are the ongoing costs of being unable to move animals as well as the worry of having to cull perfectly healthy cattle as well as the breeding stock.

For humans there's no real risks from TB (listen to the Wiggly Podcast for more details here). However Bovine TB is really bad for cattle and the testing is really necessary to keep the disease at bay. But, what about the badgers? The explosion in badger population around our parts are there for all to see, (along with the resulting decline in hedgehog population, and other knock on effects).

Badgers have been a wonderful site for hundreds of years and the sets are marked on our farm maps 200 years ago. We think they are wonderful creatures, and of course it is not their fault that TB is in existance.

Does that mean Farmer Phil wants a “Badger Cull”?
Define Badger Cull.
If you mean does Farmer Phil want the badger population wiped out he says: NO NO NO. If you mean by Badger Cull that the sets that have TB are culled then Yes of course. Badgers have no natural predators so in some areas I'm sure they will need to be managed long term, but looking at the immediate issue just as when a cow has TB it will die itself anyway, much better to cull it before it spreads the disease - this is the same with Badger Sets – for the sake of the badgers themselves, - and for the sake of the cattle.

On Farming Today there was someone who said that they would boycott British Food if there is a badger cull. To me this is an absolutely terrible thing to say. Apart from anything else most farmers I know certainly dont want the badger population obliterated - but the idea of actually boycotting local food on the back of one single without thinking about the balance of the countryside renders me speechless. (and that is something!)

If that person was wearing the farmer’s wellies seeing his stock wiped out – the badger population poorly, (and out of control), me thinks he would sing a new tune.

Eradication of TB is essential for the badgers and the cattle, we dont want the eradication of badgers or cattle.


and the definition of farming is here.

Learn about Bokashi...

You've seen who makes your Bokashi (and its a messy job) but to see more about how you can use it to cut down on your waste production - check out Mark's post at The Green Fingered Photographer.
While you're there if you love Mark's blog as much as I do would you, could you vote for him while you are there for an award he is tickled pink to have been nominated for.

Do your best eh? if he doesn't win I know who he will be getting at!

Vote now!! I've already done it, and no cheating otherwise he gets disqualified!

Wiggly Wigglers Tops the Maniac Charts!

The Accidental EcoManiac says Wiggly Wigglers is website of the Week.

Thanks Eco! Love the Blog.