News From The Farm: January 2020

Happy New Year! It’s time to welcome 2020 and the start of a new decade; a decade that feels very important for our planet.
The last 12 months have seen societal issues and the way we are impacting our planet come to the forefront, hitting the front pages of the papers consistently for the first time in many a year. It is important that we take this baton and continue to run with it.
I do not write these words lightly: if we do not change the way we are treating this planet in the next decade, it will be too late.

There are many things that we can do individually and collectively to make a difference, and there is no better time to make such commitments than January, the time of resolutions. But, this time, these resolutions are for the coming decade.

Over the festive season, I was asked for the two words that will define my next decade. Change and resilience were my answers. These will be at the heart of any pledges I make. We are facing times during which, if we are to help tackle global warming and create a legacy that will last for generations to come, we will have to make changes that challenge us and our way of life. It will be a hard road to walk, but if we can support each other as we take such steps we can make a difference. There will be times when it feels like we are swimming upstream, and no one is listening, or the impact we are making is a drop in the ocean. This is why resilience will be important. We need to find the strength to consistently challenge friends, family, peers and even governments and big corporations to make changes with us, and we need to recall the victories of the past. Let us not forget: no one thought we’d get CFC’s banned, but, over 30 years later, the hole in the ozone layer has shrunk!

By coming together to create a unified voice we can enable change we never thought possible. That will be my resolution for the next 10 years. I won’t give up when I feel beaten, I will continue to make positive changes and I will work with more people than ever before to shape a decade I will be able to look back on proudly. It’ll be nice to finish 2029 being able to say, “We did it, we brought the planet back from the point of catastrophe.” This is the legacy we must leave for the generations that will follow.

Caring at Christmas
Once again this Christmas we were bowled over by the generosity of our customers. Through the purchase of special Christmas Boxes that included a donation, along with the direct purchase of vouchers that would provide meals for people who are homeless, we managed to raise enough to provide approximately £1,700 of organic vegetables for Caring at Christmas this year. That’s a whopping 30% more than we managed to raise last year! We’re really proud of how you helped us to support this amazing project. If you’d like to know more about how you could get involved with Caring in Bristol, please visit https://caringinbristol.co.uk.

Countryfile
Hopefully you managed to catch our appearance on Countryfile this Christmas (if not, don’t worry, it’s still on the BBC’s iPlayer). The programme did a great job of highlighting the work we do with volunteers and wildlife, and if you haven’t yet had a chance to come and visit us at The Farm then I would recommend watching it to give you a feel for what we are able to achieve here. We’ll also be featured in Countryfile magazine’s podcast this month, and will be sure to let you know when it goes live!