Monday 16 February

Bit behind on the blog front, we’ll put it down to the snow. In the end we had thirteen days in a row of the white stuff and I tell you what, we’re never living at the bottom of a hill again! See the pictures here.
I like these longer days and at the moment we’ve gorgeous sunshine, always makes you feel better doesn’t it.
Libby the Golden Retriever has just had a run in with a Ram who thought he’d butt in (pardon the pun) on some free hay, he had the most dreadful pus in his eyes so done my good deed for the day by letting the farmer know. Was never that keen on sheep as they only seem to have one ambition which is to die and the other animal I never really warmed to were pigs, and yet there I was t’other day mixing with outdoor reared Gloucester Old Spots.
I do some work for Heart of England Fine Foods and last week they invited me alongside others from the media to visit three free range pig units following on from Jamie Oliver’s programme. Due to the ongoing snow, I couldn’t get out until lunchtime so only made it to one farm but it was worth it, met a super chap called David who runs Muckleton Meats which rears them the traditional way. Was lovely to see piglets just running everywhere, he even told us of one time when a group of them ended up in his kitchen and not as you think!
Again though, talk about a small world. I arrived at his farm and bizarrely recognized his livestock trailer and sure enough I had seen that very same mode of transport when I used to frequent a certain pub in Cheshire some fifteen years ago, we then discovered that he knew my old College Principal, if that wasn’t enough, who should be in the party of journalists but a gentleman who I first met when I joined Radio Stoke back in 1997 and had not seen him since.
Had a super night last Thursday when St Mary’s Church in Tenbury was full with those marking one hundred and fifty years of farming in the Teme Valley. I was asked to say a few words which I was very pleased to do, and thank you to those who came up at the end for a chat.
Hopefully back to what ever normal is this week, got the God Children coming over which will be nice and it’s the first time they’ll have seen the cows!