Apart from exponential increases in heating oil and fuel, I have read that cooking oil (evidenced already in marg prices as it is used in the manufacture) and flour will also be in short supply. I had thought of a trip to Hay market tomorrow to stock up on the Wessex Mill Oats 'n' Bran bread flour I use regularly, then worked out it would cost £5 in fuel. I decided to order my bread flour on-line, including a 10 Kg sack of strong white bread flour. So I should be OK for a good few months, and then we will know which way the wind is blowing.
The really SENSIBLE thing to do would be to encourage farmers in the UK to increase their output so we can be more self-sufficient and import less - and stop paying them to rewild their farms. Or for blocks to be put in place to prevent good farmland being sold off for giant companies offsetting their carbon emissions by planting non-native trees. For heaven's sake, where is the sense in that when we teeter on the brink of what could be WW3? It is too early to predict (if such a thing were possible) what the fallout of the war in Ukraine will be, and how long it will last, so best to do a bit of "prepping" - though not to the extent that many people do it. We are just stocking up the larder as and when, and with fresh vegetables, I will grow what I can here as it is so much nicer and convenient and fresher. It will be a while before my orchard is productive to any degree, but I have a friend with two apple trees!!
A double Primula of the deepest red (Ena Harkness rose red) which I just HAD to have last week when I was at the nursery near Crossgates. Which reminds me, I must get my bundle of raspberry canes planted today.
Thanks for putting me right on my blog though I am afraid the link does not work for me. Things have been going up for a while with out what is happening at the moment. The flour from Wessex Mill is still the same price though I am expecting it to go up. https://www.wessexmill.co.uk/ I only live 12 miles from the place but bulk buy my flour. I get 30 quid's worth a time because I make my own bread in a bread maker each day. Takes me a couple of months to get through along with my wife baking cakes. (There is a bank of solar panels on the roof which pay for it) I get the flour delivered to our house. Not mad about the Oats and bran myself though I do use it. The six seed makes a nice loaf & I use the onion flour for making burger buns and I make the burgers myself. which reminds me I need to make another loaf.
ReplyDeleteI've put up the post for you this evening Billy. Bacheldre Mill flour is also excellent. We used to get stone ground bread flour from the old mill at St Dogmael's, just by Cardigan, and very good it is too. I have a bread maker, but prefer to bake it in the oven for a good crust. Solar panels would have been ideal for here, as the roof is south-facing at the front.
DeleteWe should start paying farmers what it costs to produce the food...for too long bread and milk especially have been loss leaders.
ReplyDeleteFor at least seventy years and probably more, this has not been happening. No wonder we are losing farms and farmers every day.
People are talking about getting rid of field margins and even hedges...that will mean less wildlife to eat the crop pests, more pesticides and more oil based fertilizers. There is no shelter in a barbed wire fence either, for beast or ploughed earth.
It comes back to paying what it costs and buying local.
I agree with you gz. The milk racket is dreadful - no wonder our next door neighbour always milked "off the back" of his cows. The farmers where we lived always took every grant going - remember, we had the hedge eradication before - and land needs to be cherished and fed, not used and used until it is exhausted and good for nothing. I'm with you all the way - buy local and pay the value for better food.
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