WildGuernsey guests sharing wild food at Pouquelaie Vinery (click image to expand - image courtesy of WildGuernsey)

12 February 2012

WildGuernsey at Pouquelaie Vinery, Rocquaine Road, St Pierre du Bois, Guernsey offers an ‘Introduction to WildFood Foraging‘ on Sunday 12 February 2012 from 1 pm to 4 pm.  The £30 course includes tapas.

11 March 2012

On Sunday 11 March 2012 we offer a workshop on an ‘Introduction to wild sea shore foraging‘ from 2 to 4 pm. The workshop costs £25 and includes tapas.

Sea beet, Beta vulgaris maritima, growing at Perelle on Guernsey's west coast (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

7 April 2012

On Saturday, 7 April 2012 we offer a workshop on ‘Seaweed for your soil, skin and soul.’ The workshop from 1.30 pm to 3.3o pm costs £25 and includes tapas.

14 April 2012

From 11 to 12.30 pm on Saturday 14 April 2011 we offer a workshop on ‘Nettles and nutrients…not only good for soup!’  The workshop costs £20 and includes lunch.

21 April 2012

From 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm on Saturday 21 April 2012 we offer an ‘Introduction to WildFood Foraging‘  The workshop costs £30 and includes tapas.

Sea lettuce, Ulva lactuca, off Lihou Island (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Advanced booking is required. Please book ahead of time to avoid disappointment and to secure a place at these workshops by email to wildguernsey @ yahoo.co.uk or telephone 01481 263153 or 07781 122420

For more information please visit the WildGuernsey website.

The book encapsulates Guernsey’s food culture with gorgeous recipes and lovely vignettes of island life.

(click book cover to go to Tony Leck's Pavillion on a plate website)

Guernsey is a mere twelve miles long and yet this small island is up there with the big names when it comes to producing and cooking the best food.

The book highlights recipes from the kitchens of Tony’s award-winning The Pavilion restaurant, and delicious Guernsey farm food.

Tony blends the natural bounty of the island with 30 years experience as a chef to create more than 100 illustrated recipes, some of them unique to Guernsey.

Guernsey's famous cow produces wonderfully rich dairy products (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

There is the meaty and satisfying Guernsey bean pot, the heart warming ormer casserole made from a molluscan shellfish, the abalone, which is found in the British Isles only in Guernsey and Jersey, and a modern twist on a dish, Potato Peel Pie, dating from lean times during the World War II German occupation of the island.

The cookbook has numerous dishes familiar to home cooks that are simple to prepare and bursting with natural flavours.

‘Pavilion on a Plate’ tells of Tony’s journey from his boyhood home in Cumbria to Guernsey, which the second-largest of the beautiful Channel Islands.

“Good food has been my passion for as long as I can remember. But it was in Guernsey that I found inspiration,” he writes in the introduction to the 224-page fully-illustrated hardback book, which is now available in bookshops or direct from the The Pavillion Restaurant.

Tony places great emphasis on the quality of his ingredients, the vast majority of which come from Guernsey farms and specialist producers.

Porky's pig farm is one of the suppliers featured in the book (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

The book introduces us to James Meller who runs the island’s cider company. Tony tells us the story of Fenella Maddison whose unique variety of cheese rivals France’s best. He takes us to visit Siegi Moherndl who produces, in his view, “the finest herbs in the world”.

“I came to Guernsey in 1987 and loved the place from the start,” Tony said.

“There was a genuine thrill in discovering the delights of fresh produce of such a remarkable standard. We take these raw ingredients and turn them into something that satisfies all the senses. We aim to create something that is pleasant to look at and also makes the most of the natural flavours,” he said.

Although small by mainland standards, The Pavilion, tucked away in the lovely countryside in the parish of St Saviour, has won widespread acclaim.

Tony Leck’s skills in the kitchen have been praised by celebrity chef Brian Turner CBE, who personally writes the foreword to the new book.

The book is available on-line and at the following retail outlets in Guernsey:

St Peter Port

• Guernsey Press Shop
• Lexicon
• Market Co-op
• Evie and Me
• Grahams
• Tapenade
• Les Rocquettes Hotel
• Manzur
• Guernsey Tourism
• Candie Museum
• Condor harbour shop
• Paul Brady’s
• Butterfly
• Bucktrouts Admiral Park
• Bucktrouts Quay Shop
• Smith Street Post Office
• Envoy House

Parish of St. Saviour

• The Pavillion
• K Robert Fisheries
• Atlantique Hotel

Parish of St. Martin

• St Martin Grande Marche Co-op
• Goodies
• Maison
• Captains
• Ben Le Prevost Chocolates

Forest parish

• Forest Stores

St Pierre du Bois

• St Peter’s post office

St. Sampson

• St Sampson Locale Co-op
• Quayside
• Flabour of Channel Islands at Oatlands

Vale

• Earlswood Garden Centre

The event was held in the Town Church in St Peter Port, Guernsey on 6 December 2011.

Vauvert Primary school, Melrose Junior School, Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary School, and Amherst Primary school prepared four delicious soups.

Primary school soup creators from Vauvert, Melrose and Notre Dame du Rosaire with Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey Air Marshal Peter Walker and his wife Lynda and Sarah Griffith of Bridge2SriLanka between them in a hat, with school teachers Ms Whitehead (left) and Ms. Lampert (right) (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Vauvert Primary school children assisted by Year 3 teacher Ms. Jerry Whitehead created a beautiful velvety vegetable soup.

Ms Whitehead ran a competition in Key Stage 2 to create a special soup for Vauvert School to sell at ‘The Big Soup Kitchen’.

“Willow in year 6 and Leah and Maisie from Year 5 were the ‘design a recipe’ winners. They worked together to produce Vauvert’s Velvety Vegetable Soup. Willow came up with the idea but it actually had elements of Maisie’s butternut squash recipe, and Leah’s recipe too. Leah’s gran helped us as well,” Ms. Whitehead said.

“Food technology is a part of what we do and is covered through most year groups but particularly further up the school,” Ms Whitehead said. “The design of the recipe, the preparation, and the cooking is part of the curriculum.”

Commenting on their soup, Lieutenant Governor Air Marshal Peter Walker said “first of all can I congratulate Vauvert’s velvety soup with their lovely reindeer antlers. They dreamed up the recipe themselves, they produced it themselves, and they dressed up for the part.  Highly commended.  Well done indeed.”

Vauvert primary school pupils with Ms. Whitehead served their delicious soup (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Melrose Junior School children prepared a Chili Winter Warmer soup and provided the recipe on laminated paper.

Melrose Junior School Big Soup Kitchen Challenge recipe (click recipe to expand)

Lieutenant Governor Peter Walker said “if you look at Melrose, their chilly winter warmer, it was truly something that warmed us. You too dressed for the part. I loved your aprons. I loved your hats.”

Melrose teacher Ms. Lampert explained why the Melrose students chose the Chili Winter Warmer.

“We used Guernsey produce. We chose the Guernsey parsnips, Guernsey butter, and Guernsey butter on top and then linked it with Sri Lanka flavours we had learned about – coriander, garam masala, coconut milk, ginger and chili so we could link it in with our Geography lessons. We learned about the food that is grown there and the food that they eat there, and how their communities are different to ours over here,” she said.

“It has been a great cross curricula activity to do.  We were bridging Guernsey with Sri Lanka in the food we were cooking.”

Three members of the Melrose Junior School team made and served with Ms. Lampert their Chili Winter Warmers soup at the Big Soup Kitchen Challenge (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Notre Dame du Rosaire produced a beautifully tasty nettle soup with the help of Callum Le Noury.

Callum Le Noury of Les Rocquettes Hotel, who is the father of Charlotte from Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary School, came up with the idea of the soup kitchen through Sarah Griffith.

“I decided to ask the Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary school if they wanted to be involved. I got the children together and asked them what soups they fancied making for the soup kitchen,” Mr. Le Noury said.

“The children recommended traditional soups like tomato and leek and potato. I asked them if they could come up with something a little different.”

“A couple of them remembered that they had learned about bushcraft at the Tree and Woodcraft Fair at Fairfield, Castel on 1 October 2011. They remembered David Hunt making nettle soup so the children decided to make nettle soup,” he said.

“We looked into making it and found out it is very similar to spinach. We used just the nettle heads – just the top of the nettles – and collected two black bags full. If you can imagine spinach, nettles are very similar. By the time you start cooking it down, it sweats down to nothing. We added potato, onion, vegetable stock, salt, pepper and a hint of nutmeg. We used it like spinach. Spinach and nutmeg are two flavours that go together well so we added nutmeg to the nettle soup,” Mr. Le Noury said.

Four Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary school children came up to Les Rocquettes Hotel and the chef showed them all the ingredients, and showed them how to put it all together.”

“Ninety-five percent of the feedback we have had today has been fantastic. Unless you’re into foraging its a lot of effort but it is free food,” said Mr. Le Noury.

In describing the nettle soup, Lieutenant Governor Peter Walker said “and then we come to the most interesting part of this afternoon – the nettle soup – I have never tried nettle soup before but it was very well done and the children managed to produce it without anyone getting stung and no tears so congratulations to them.”

From left to right - one member of the Vauvert Primary School team, Melrose Junior School team with their Chili Winter Warmer, Notre Dame du Rosaire with their nettle soup, and Amherst Primary School team, with Sarah Griffith, Lieutenant Governor Air Marshal Peter Walker and Ms Lampert of Melrose Junior School (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Amherst Primary School produced a vegetable winter warmer soup.

It was a chicken soup with lots of vegetables. The soup contained chicken, carrots, onion, celery, leek and vegetable stock.

In commenting on the soup, the Lieutenant Governor said “Amherst, absolutely fantastic vegetable soup. Apparently the teacher said when she came in this morning the children were all crying from cutting up the onions but you have all done spectacularly well.”

His excellency Lieutenant Governor Air Marshal Peter Walker and his wife Lynda judged the soups and announced the winner.

“The unfortunate thing is there has to be a winner and I have had a good chat with Lynda my wife and we’ve both agreed that the tastiest soup of four very, very fine soups that would grace any dinner table, anywhere in Guernsey, this year is going to be Melrose Junior School’s Chili Winter Warmers soup. Well done.”

The Lieutenant Governor explained to Jenny Kendall-Tobias of BBC Guernsey the reason he picked Melrose’s soup as the winner.

“In picking the winner, the challenge is to pick out a soup that is very good from three other soups that are also of a very high standard, and we just felt that Melrose’s Chili Winter Warmer had a little bit of a different kick, which has got that adult flavour, which is a very clever thing for children to produce. That extra bit of spice did it for me.”

Lynda Marshal enjoyed chatting to the cooks. She said “all the children were very enthusiastic. One young lady ran through the whole recipe with me, which was very interesting. The young cooks knew what they were talking about so I commend you all. Well done to you and the teachers and the helpers.  Well done everybody.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

(click on report cover to go to United Nations Environment Programme report download page)

A UN report, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, demonstrates that governments and businesses alike are taking steps to accelerate a global shift towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive green future.

From China to Barbados, Brazil to South Africa, countries are developing Green Economy strategies and activities to spur greater economic growth and jobs, environmental protection and equality.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: “With the world looking ahead to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, the UNEP Green Economy report challenges the myth that there is a trade-off between the economy and the environment.

With smart public policies, governments can grow their economies, generate decent employment and accelerate social progress in a way that keeps humanity’s ecological footprint within the planet’s carrying capacity.”

The report confirms that an investment of two percent of global GDP across ten key sectors is what is required to kick- start a shift from the current brown, polluting and inefficient economy to a green one.

• The report estimates that such a transition would grow the global economy at around the same rate, if not higher, than those forecast, under current economic models.
• But without rising risks, shocks, scarcities and crises increasingly inherent in the existing, resource-depleting, high carbon ‘brown’ economy, says the study.

In addition to higher growth, an overall transition to a Green Economy would realize per capita incomes higher than under current economic models, while reducing the ecological footprint by nearly 50 per cent in 2050, as compared to business-as-usual.

• The Green Economy Report acknowledges that in the short-term, job losses in some sectors – fisheries for example – are inevitable if they are to transition towards sustainability.
• However, it adds that over time the number of “new and decent jobs created” in sectors – ranging from renewable energies to more sustainable agriculture – will, however, offset those lost from the former “brown economy”.

As a result, a growing number of countries are undertaking activities to accelerate this transition.

China is the world’s lead investor in renewable energy, overtaking Spain in 2009 and spending US$49 billion in 2010. Overall, China is committed to spending US$468 billion over the next five years, more than double the previous five years, on key industries, including renewable energy, clean technologies and waste management.

“China considers the Green Economy to be a strategic choice in an increasingly resource constrained world, and we have made that choice in our development plans,” said Mr. He Bingguang, Director General of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection in China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

“We appreciate UNEP’s contribution in promoting a global Green Economy transformation, which holds the potential for all countries to benefit,” he added.

Some countries, such as Barbados, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and South Africa, already have national Green Economy plans that reflect the report’s recommendations.

Others such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Kenya, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Senegal and Ukraine are focusing on greening priority sectors, such as agriculture, renewable energy, tourism and clean technologies.

Today in Rwanda, East African countries are meeting to explore how laws and regulatory frameworks can help drive a Green Economy at the national and regional level. Participants from Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as Rwanda, will examine case studies and continent-wide initiatives, the latter being led by the African Union.

On the business side, UNEP has teamed up with 285 of the world’s leading investors, representing US$20 trillion in assets, who called on governments to mobilize action on climate change, including investments in emerging industries – like renewables and green buildings. Similar calls have been echoed by the International Chamber of Commerce, which represents hundreds of thousands of businesses in more than 130 countries.

“The elements of a transition to a Green Economy are clearly emerging across developing and developed countries alike. There are now some nations going further and faster than others which is in many ways generating a ‘pull factor’ that, if maintained, may bring others along over the coming months and years,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The recent drive in clean investment is not only benefiting emerging economies, but also other developing countries.

According to the latest Bloomberg figures, global investments in renewable energy jumped 32% in 2010, to a record US$ 211 billion. After the emerging economies of Brazil, China and India, countries in Africa posted the highest percentage increase of all developing regions.

In Egypt, renewable energy investment rose by US$800 million to US$1.3 billion as a result of the solar thermal project in Kom Ombo and a 220 megawatt onshore wind farm in the Gulf of Zayt.

In Kenya, investment climbed from virtually zero in 2009 to US$1.3 billion in 2010 across technologies such as wind, geothermal, small-scale hydro and biofuels.

In the California Mojave Desert, one of the world’s largest solar-thermal power plants is under construction and others are also being built in Spain and other parts of the United States.

“The Durban climate convention meeting from 28 November to 9 December 2011, and Rio+20 in June 2012 are key opportunities to accelerate and scale-up the Green Economy.

Central cooperative actions range from advancing Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), moving on green procurement to switch national efforts into the sustainability space up to a new indicator of wealth that goes beyond GDP and internalizes the costs of pollution and degradation while bringing the true value of the planet’s nature- based assets into calculations of a successful and sustainable economic path,” said Mr. Steiner.

A series of UN-backed regional consultations on the Green Economy have underscored the growing interest in the report. While issues of financing and trade need to be addressed further, there is an acknowledgement that the current economic model, based solely on GDP growth, has resulted in the gross mis-allocation of capital and inequitable distribution of wealth.

The Report shows that investing the equivalent of 2% of global GDP into agriculture, energy, buildings, water, forestry, fisheries, manufacturing, waste, tourism and transport would not only shift the global economy onto a more sustainable growth trajectory, but it would actually maintain or increase growth over time compared to the current business-as-usual scenario.

Policy recommendations on each of the 10 key sectors, as well as on finance and enabling conditions, are outlined in the report.

On transport, for example, the report suggests that prices need to take account of the societal costs accumulated as a result of congestion, accidents and pollution, which in some cases amount to over 10% of the national or regional GDP.

In Beijing, China a 2009 study estimated that the social costs induced by motorized transportation are equivalent to between 7.5 and 15% of the city’s GDP.

Globally, the transport sector’s impact on natural resources is wide-ranging, from the manufacturing of vehicles, which uses metals and plastics, to its use of fossil fuels, which involves engine oil, rubber and other consumable materials.

Between 2007 and 2030, the transport sector is expected to account for 97% of the increase in the world’s primary oil use.

With the number of vehicles in China expected to more than triple during this period, the government is promoting low-carbon, energy efficient cars and related infrastructure. In the city of Shenzhen, home of China’s first electric car, plans are underway to build large recharging stations and replace traditional buses with more than 7,000 electric ones in five years time.

The Green Economy Report suggests that over time “new and decent jobs” will be catalyzed in these key sectors. A recent study by ILO and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), entitled, Low Carbon Development and Green Employment in China, confirms that this is the case.

It provides a list of likely winners and losers and the scale of direct and indirect impact involved to identify net gains. It concludes that while 800,000 workers in small coal power plants in China are likely to lose their jobs due to climate mitigation actions, some 2.5 million jobs could be created by 2020 in the wind energy sector alone.

Currently, Denmark is home to the world’s top wind turbine manufacturer in terms of market volume, and China is in second place, followed by the United States and then another Chinese company. Germany ranks fifth. However, Germany has recently committed to scale up its renewable energy, following a decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022, and has thus set a target to source 35 per cent of its electricity from renewable energies by 2022, instead of the earlier target of 19 per cent.

In Africa, despite recent economic gains, there is increasing interest in creating green and decent employment. Representatives from 11 African countries met in June this year with ILO, UNDP and UNEP to look at case studies in the areas of recycling, sustainable construction and natural resource management. As a result, participants adopted action plans for creating green jobs in fisheries, agriculture and forestry, sectors which represent over 70 per cent of the employment in the region.

In Brazil, the ILO recently helped support the construction of 500,000 new homes with solar heating systems, resulting in 30,000 new jobs. In South Africa, a similar project on water ecosystem restoration created 25,000 green jobs for previously unemployed people, and at the same time, restored vital freshwater sources.

Approximately two billion people live on smallholder farms, and despite making a significant contribution to food security, the majority of these farmers are malnourished and live in poverty. Low prices, unfair trade practice and a lack of transport contribute to their dilemma. The Green Economy Report argues that by moving to more sustainable agriculture practices, these farmers could increase their yields and profits.

Globally, an investment of US$100-300 billion per year in green agriculture, between now and 2050, could lead to better soil quality and better yields for major crops, representing a 10% increase over the current business-as-usual strategies. As many of these farmers are also women, any benefits would most likely be shared with their families and communities.

The waste sector is another area that is expected to enhance social equity. Efforts to green the sector are often driven by cost savings, environmental awareness and resource scarcity.

However, the report notes that greening the sector not only requires improving the often sub-standard waste treatment and disposal facilities, it also entails training the workers, providing more equitable compensation and ensuring proper health care protection for them. Decentralizing large scale, capital-intensive waste management operations could also provide more employment opportunities in the community.

Electronic waste (or e-waste) is also a concern, particularly for developing countries. Current estimates suggest 20 to 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated each year, while trade in waste becomes more prevalent, heightening threats to human health and the environment.

As sales in mobile phones and computers continue to grow in China, India, and across Africa and Latin America, the report finds that resource recovery and recycling offer the greatest potential in terms of contributing to a Green Economy.

(click on book cover to go to book website)

Imagine, four generations of a family living on a farm surrounded by verdant fields and blooming gardens; feasting on compost-grown, pasture-raised food freshly picked or straight from the over-flowing basement larder then minimally prepared in the home kitchen; working together in the barn and fields during the day and gathering around the table at night.

You are probably thinking that this is a scene out of the American TV series ‘Little House on the Prairie‘ or ‘The Waltons‘.

Modern Americans don’t live like this today, but nationally acclaimed farmer Joel Salatin and his family does. For them, this is normal. This is connection, foundation, heritage, and tradition.

Today, the United States now has too few farmers to merit counting on the national census form. As a culture, we don’t cook at home. We don’t have a larder. We’re tuned in, plugged in, addicted to electronic gadgetry to the exclusion of a whippoorwill’s midsummer song or a herd of cows lying down contentedly on the leeward side of a slope, indicating a thunderstorm in the offing. Most modern Americans can’t conceive of a time without supermarkets, without refrigeration, stainless steel, plastic, bar codes, and potato chips.

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, hailed by The New York Times as “high priest of the pasture,” has become the new voice of clean, local, healthy eating by urging people to take a better look at their food: What’s in it, where is it coming from and how did it get the table?

Joel Salatin was the farmer featured in Michael Pollan’s bestselling book, ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma‘ and he and his beloved Polyface Farm was also featured in the critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated documentary Food, Inc. Salatin believes that the answer to rebuilding America and curing some of its ills is to start with the family farm. And, for those farms to thrive, we all need to learn how to eat naturally again. Salatin’s solutions as presented in the book are very simple and easy to implement in any American household—whether in the suburbs of Chicago, the mountains of Colorado, or the metropolis of New York City.

“When it comes to food we can make a big difference by putting our money where our mouth is,” says Salatiin. “All it takes is desire, education, shopping skills, and cooking savvy. Statistics say that 25 percent of all food in America is consumed in automobiles.” Now that’s a statistic that Salatin wants to change!

Ask Salatin how to effect this change and he will answer that we need to seek wholesome, seasonal food that are raised organically, procured locally, prepared lovingly, and eaten with a profound reverence for the circle of life.

Hailed as the modern-day renaissance farmer, Salatin humbly says he is merely a dirt-under-the-fingernails family farmer. Whatever, you choose to call him, his wealth of first-hand experience coupled with his passion for the subject has convinced him that small, diverse farms and real, “slow” food represent the only viable strategies for ensuring a safe, secure, sustainable, and genuinely nourishing food supply for our hungry planet.

Whether praising the plusses of lawn farms and kitchen chickens to the dishing the dirt on Genetically Modified Foods and Tyson Chicken Farms, Salatin’s wit, wisdom, storytelling magic and down-home philosophy shines through in his book ‘Folks, This Ain’t Normal’.

Joel Salatin is a third generation family farmer working his land in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with his wife, Teresa, son Daniel, daughter Rachel and their families.

The Salatin Polyface Farm, an organic grass-fed farm, services more than 3,000 families, ten retail outlets and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs.  Joel Salatin writes extensively in magazines such as Stockman Grass Farmer, Acres USA, and American Agriculture.

Please visit the Amazon USA website for reviews or the US book publisher’s website for more information.

A chicken and chicks by Sausmarez Road on 28 July 2011 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

The evening is completely free and a great way to learn about different aspects of keeping all kinds of poultry.

Please contact Sarah Brown on 07781 108930 or Claire Febrache on 07781 154992 for any queries about this event.

BBC Gardener Alys Fowler joins Forest Primary School children and teachers and Ann Wragg of Floral Guernsey to launch Guernsey school gardening competition (click image to expand - Image courtesy of Bedell Group)

The school gardening competition runs for a year and winners will be announced in July 2012.

The first prize winner will be offered the choice of one of the following: either the David Hunt bushcraft workshop or £1,000 cash. The winning infant or primary school must demonstrate the best development of gardening as an integral part of its culture of all the entries.

There are also two runner-up prizes of £100 and signed books by Alys Fowler, who visited Forest Primary School and St Andrew’s Primary School earlier in the year.

‘The competition is such a great idea to help the children and staff at all participating schools to focus on the progress of their garden and record it as they go. I was pleased to see that St Andrew’s Primary School has recently adopted the ‘no dig’ method – less digging, more compost – for its vegetable garden,’ said Alys.

Infant and primary schools are asked to enter the competition by emailing Nikki Symons.

Schools wishing to enter must register with Floral Guernsey co-ordinator Nikki Symons by Friday 4 November 2011.

Each school must produce a portfolio of photographs and a diary of events through the academic year. This must show progress in their gardening skills and include a summary from teaching staff, which illustrates the value of gardening and the importance of care for the environment in their planning.

Among other criteria is that gardening activities must be part of the curriculum and involve as many pupils as possible, and that the school demonstrates how gardening develops awareness of where food comes from and healthy eating options.

The team of judges will visit each school in June 2012.

David Hunt was in the Bailiwick in September for this year’s Floral Guernsey Autumn Festival Week, his bushcraft workshops were particularly popular with the island’s primary school children.

To volunteer or find out more about Bedell Little Green Fingers Schools’ Project, please contact Ann Wragg at a.hw @ clara.co.uk.

—–

Little Green Fingers aims to give every child, regardless of circumstances, the opportunity to experience the joy of growing vegetables and other plants, raise awareness of where food comes from and of environmental issues, and encourage team and community spirit through competition.

(click on the report cover to download to your computer from the WWF)

A Square Meal, suggests that, despite the inherent complexities, it is possible to achieve the goals of promoting healthier diets, reducing the environmental impacts of food, and supporting British farmers and producers.

The report finds that western-style diets are increasingly unsustainable, both because of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of the food we eat, and because of the pressure on land use and production of other commodities associated with a diet high in meat, such as grains or soya.

However, to achieve more sustainable food consumption, the paper argues that it is essential to ensure a fair deal for farmers and consumers, and make sure that British businesses do not face a competitive disadvantage. WWF and FEC therefore make certain recommendations within the report:

• The UK’s strict targets to reduce emissions from production, though crucial, could drive supply chains overseas and simply ‘off-shore’ greenhouse gas emissions. To help address this, WWF and FEC recommend Government adopts consumption-based emissions targets in the UK, and press for international climate change agreements to do likewise.
• The recent Natural Environment White Paper says producers should pay the full environmental costs of production, but few producers have the bargaining power to pass those costs on to retailers and consumers, and so influence their behaviour. The paper recommends rapidly implementing the planned Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), with the powers it needs to stamp out abuses in supply chain power.
• To send the right message to stakeholders and facilitate a collaborative approach between retailers and producers, government should take a lead in defining the key principles of a healthy and sustainable diet.
• Allowing supermarkets to support sustainable supply chains and consumption through ‘choice editing’, would require supermarkets to collaborate with each other in ways that could be challenged by the competition authorities. (Retailers in particular are nervous about collaborating because their previous attempt to ensure a higher return for dairy farmers was penalised by the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT). In creating a new UK Consumer and Markets Authority, merging the OFT and the Competition Commission, sustainability and health considerations should be formally recognised in the implementation of competition policy.

In addition, the groups call on Government to take a lead on sustainable food consumption. That the new UK Government Buying Standards (GBS) for food procurement are centred on sustainability and nutrition is a welcome step, and the Government has the opportunity to go further by simplifying the advice that it already provides to consumers about food, combining information on healthy eating and sustainability. (The Livewell Plate, developed by WWF-UK and the Rowett Institute, takes a first step in addressing this need.  Based on the Food Standards Agency ‘Eatwell plate’, it proposes a weekly menu that is good for both human health and the planet. It promotes the simple principles of eating more fruit, vegetables and cereals, but less meat and highly processed foods.)

The paper also argues that further support for UK farmers is vital and in this respect backs measures such as clarifying country-of-origin labelling and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Lucy Young, Senior Policy Advisor WWF-UK, said “WWF supports the great strides taken by the food and farming industry to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. But ours and other’s evidence shows that we will not meet greenhouse gas reduction targets through changes in production methods alone – we also need to change the types of food we eat. This report highlights how government can support change whilst protecting farmer’s livelihoods. A key starting point is for them to take a lead on defining a sustainable diet.”

Tom MacMillan, Executive Director at the FEC, said: “We challenged environmental groups and farmers to think about the practicalities behind the debates about sustainable eating. How can today’s policies, investments and market development place farmers well to thrive in a decade’s time, when energy prices will be even higher, and household spending further squeezed? Government can take some crucial steps to help without breaking stride from its current priorities.”

A Square Meal was produced as part of the Livestock Dialogues, a process of engagement, coordinated by the FEC and WWF-UK, between producers, policy makers and environmental groups over the role changing livestock consumption has in tackling climate change.

(click report cover to download full report (5 mb))

The report calculates different national and regional ‘land footprints’ – land used domestically plus land used overseas to provide imported products such as crops and wood, minus the land used for exports – and exposes the reasons behind an international rush to buy land.

The study, based on the latest available data (2004), shows Europe imports nearly 60 per cent of the 640 million hectares it depends on for food and clothes.

The UK and Germany each import nearly 80 million hectares per year, making them the fifth and third biggest land importers globally, behind the US (242 million hectares) and Japan (171 million hectares).

Britons use nearly four times as much land per person than people in countries such as China and India, and Europeans use on average more than three times as much land, through their consumption.

The study reveals that Europe’s high and rising demand for meat, dairy, wood and other land-hungry products like biofuels are among the main reasons for our dependence on foreign land.

(click on image to download report's key findings)

The report also shows the UK’s total land-use increased by 16 per cent between 1997 and 2004, well above the rate of population growth. As developing countries increase their land consumption, Friends of the Earth is calling on policy makers in developed countries such as the UK to take steps to reduce theirs.

Friends of the Earth’s Resource Campaigner Julian Kirby said “rich nations like the UK are swallowing huge swathes of land across the world to fuel our hungry lifestyle, threatening local wildlife and the ability of communities to feed themselves.

“The UK is facing competition for land due to soaring demand from countries like China and India – with only one planet to share it’s in the economic interests of densely-populated countries like ours to cut their impact.

“We must tread more lightly on the planet to reduce our massive footprint through measures such as cutting waste, avoiding land-hungry biofuels and switching to less, but better quality, meat and dairy.”

Amherst Primary School gardening club with James Wong (centre) and Mark Helyar (right) (click image to expand - ©Chris George)

Mr Wong visited Guernsey for Floral Guernsey’s Autumn Festival Week, sponsored by Skipton International.

The children nibbled their way through lavender, Nasturtium and lemon Verbena flowers, which they had washed and collected from the fields surrounding the school.

Head teacher Tracey Moore said the children were excited to learn from James and show him their garden.

‘We were delighted to welcome James to our gardening club. He proved a real inspiration to the children who were still talking about him the following day. James made gardening exciting and accessible and I know that he left a lasting impression on everyone he met,’ she said.

Mr Wong also visited the children at the Vale Infant and Vale Junior Schools.

Mark Helyar, Bedell Cristin’s managing partner in Guernsey, said it was great to see that the children were so interested in gardening and meeting James.

‘The aim of the Bedell Little Green Fingers Schools’ Project, which is now in its fourth year, is to introduce all primary-school aged children to gardening and to educate them about their environment. In a world of reliance on convenience foods many youngsters today are not aware where their food comes from,’ said Mr Helyar.

Mr Wong, who visted the island last year to film an episode of Countryfile, was delighted to spend time with the children and answer their questions.

‘I love getting great questions. The children were so enthusiastic and really knew their stuff,’ he said.

The Bedell Little Green Fingers Schools’ Project, in association with Floral Guernsey, has worked with all infant and primary shools in the Bailiwick since its inception and is led by Floral Guernsey school’s co-ordinator Ann Wragg.

‘It was so fantastic to see the children interactiing with James and for them to show him some of what they have learnt in their gardening club.’

For more information about the Bedell Little Green Fingers Schools’ Project please contact Ann Wragg at a.hw @ clara.co.uk

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Little Green Fingers aims to give every child, regardless of circumstances, the opportunity to experience the joy of growing vegetables and other plants, raise awareness of where food comes from and of environmental issues, and encourage team and community spirit through competition.