I received a letter from Humfrey Malins MP this morning, replying to my email of yesterday.  I can say one thing for him, he’s on the ball when it comes to dismissing constituent’s concerns.  Here is an excerpt from his letter.

The Conservative Party believes unwanted mixing of GM and non-GM crops should be minimised, ensuring that producers and consumers can choose between GM, conventional and organic products.  Clean labelling is key here.

So far so good.  Our local Tory MP then had this to say:

GM materials are identifiable to a 0.1% threshold, and we regard this as an appropriate benchmark.  Our principal concern is to protect against cross-contamination, and any risk to bio-diversity.  The Government has taken the 0.9% figure which is proposed for produce and is seeking to apply it as an acceptable level of cross-contamination in cultivated crops.  This poses a threat to consumer choice and to the integrity of organic and conventional crops.  If GM crops are to be grown in the UK, it is essential to put in place adequate firewalls between them and conventional crops.  It is equally vital to put in place a robust legal framework to deal with liability, which does not at present exist.  I would be concerned that many local authorities would not have the scientific expertise necessary to make appropriate decisions about GM crops.  With levels of cross-contamination yet to be clarified, it could also impact on boundaries beyond their own jurisdiction.  Therefore, I am unable to sign EDM 396.

I’m disappointed.  Mr Malins has a point about possible lack of scientific expertise in local authorities, but I feel that sidestepping this EDM is a mistake, as it is so important that the government doesn’t think that we don’t care.  How I wish we had a Green Party MP in place. 

I’ve just sent an email asking my MP to sign Early Day Motion 396 to show his support for local decision making on the subject of GM crops, safeguards to prevent contamination of organic (and other) crops, and to make sure that biotech companies are made liable for damage they cause.  If you are concerned about GM in the UK, Friends of the Earth are conducting a campaign encouraging us all to "Say NO to GM contamination".  They make it easy to contact your MP and even give you a template letter to personalise and make your own.  Come on guys, let’s stop them before it’s too late!

As wild fish stocks wane and over-fishing becomes a real concern it seems ridiculous to be trying to increase the amount of fish in our diet, but that is what I’m trying to do.  Call it instinct, call it desperation, call it anything you like really.  The fact is that I "feel" that we don’t eat enough fish, and because we have cut meat out of our diet so much in the past few years, that we need an alternative, healthy source of protein in our diet.  I’m also trying to shift the last few stubborn kilograms of baby-weight from my body now that my "baby" is well over two years old.  Sigh!

I’ve been taking stock of the supermarket fish counters in our area over the past few weeks.  I don’t even bother going into Morrisons anymore because they have no sustainably caught fish.  Sainsbury’s offer some MSC certified Pacific caught cod and Alaskan wild salmon, as well as line-caught yellow-fin tuna, and  it seems that Waitrose fish is all considered to come from well-managed waters or fish farms. 

Hmmm!  We could really do with a local fishmonger.  I haven’t been able to find one in the two years that we’ve been here.There is an article in The Ecologist about traditional fishmongers that is worth a read, and now I must take my leave and scour the net for a fishmonger within a reasonable distance of our little green house.  Toodle-loo!

I am one of five women featured in the Allaboutyou.com article entitled: How green is your lifestyle?  I’m honoured to have been included along with the likes of Penney Poyzer of "No Waste Like Home" fame.

I like country music.  Not all country music, and not all of the time, but country music strikes a chord, so to speak, with me.  Could be because my Dad used to listen to it when I was a child, but I think what I like about it, apart from it being laid-back and chilled-out, is that the lyrics speak to me.  They seem to be less romanticised than most song lyrics, and are often just about everyday things.

Anyway, I just heard a song on the radio that brought a tear to my eye and gave me one of those moments of clarity, just as complacence was setting in.  Kenny Rogers (don’t laugh) singing My Petition, a song about a little boy out there doing something to make the world a better place, while the grown-ups are just sitting around being lazy.  I include the lyrics below for your reading pleasure.  Please have the tissues ready.

I just sat down to watch the game when I heard the doorbell ring
An’ I wondered who in the world it could be
Through the peephole, all that I saw there
Was a crooked cap on curly hair an’ some kid squintin’ back at me
I said, "If you’re sellin’ somethin’, well, I ain’t buyin’ nothin’
But I appreciate you stoppin’ by."
Said: "I ain’t askin’ for a dime, just a minute of your time
An’ your name here on the dotted line
Could you sign my petition?"

Had a spiral notebook in his hand
Handed me a chewed up pen
An’ I ask you: "What am I signin’ up for."
I scrolled down that wrinkled page
Saw a couple of neighbors names
I kept readin’, then I sat down on the porch
It was a letter to the President
With a list that numbered one to ten.

It said: "Make a law where Daddy’s don’t work late
Keep Uncle Joe an’ those soldiers safe
Give those kids on TV all they want to eat
Put a stop to bullies on the bus
No crime, no waits, no hate, no drugs
Give a blanket and a job to people on the street."
I said: "Son, sounds like a world I’d like to live in."
And I signed his petition.

He thanked me for my time
I headed back inside, grabbed my beer
An’ got back to the game
Thought: "By now that boy he’s three doors down
"Here I am just sittin’ round
Waitin’ on the world to change."
Must’ve blocked the whole game out
All that I could think about was.

"Make a law where Daddy’s don’t work late
Keep Uncle Joe an’ those soldiers safe
Give those kids on TV all they want to eat
Put a stop to bullies on the bus
No crime, no waits, no hate, no drugs
Give a blanket and a job to people on the street."
An’ I thought: "Man, ain’t that a place I’d like to live in."
And I thank God for that boy that’s out there fixin’
The world with his petition…
 

I will be trying to make the world a better place with more vigour after that! 

I nipped outside between thunderstorms this morning to plant Spanish Roja garlic in our back garden.  Going in now it should be ready to harvest in July, and by planting it in the back garden instead of at the allotment, I’m hoping to avoid the rust problems that have beset my last two year’s garlic crops.

I’ve recently got involved in supplying the "green links" content to our village community website.  I’ve only made a start and will be adding to the links as time goes by.  Here is the Knaphill Village Green Links page.

The last week has seen a bit of action down on the allotment plot, after a number of weeks of allotment avoidance.  Since I planted the Xmas potatoes back in early September, a combination of rain and laziness has kept me away, until last week Monday.  I am "giving" one of the beds on our plot to a friend who can’t plant any vegetables at home for big dog reasons, and also because I quite fancy the idea of having a friend to weed and water with sometimes.  So we headed down to the allotment last week Monday for her to take posession of her bed, and I started with clearing the sweetcorn, horrible celery, courgette and cucumber plants.  Pete mowed the paths on Saturday, and I planted Autumn Champion onion sets and White Lisbon onion seeds to overwinter.  I also put in some winter hardy Chinese cabbage to harvest in December, and some mustard greens.  Along with the winter lettuce (can’t remember which now) that is doing pretty well, we should have lots of greenery on our plates for the next few months.  We also still have some of our Kilaxy and red cabbages, as well as chard and perpetual spinach ready for harvesting now.  This is the first winter that we’re trying to keep our crops coming through the cold months.  Why not?