Make the Most of Your Meat (Butchery Workshop and tour of Organic Beef & Sheep Farm)

Michael trained as a land-agent and saw the demise of the small farmer and the farming traditions that they had upheld for generations due to the encouragement from the EU to produce cheap food. He was concerned by the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides on the land and the increased animal herd and flock sizes. Farming was moving away from agri-culture to agri-business. As a result of seeing this change Michael put his hand to the plough and has spent his life farming using sustainable farming methods. Jayne comes from a long line of farmers. Her family's farm was a small dairy farm. When studying agriculture Jayne visited friends farms that were vast. All the hedges had been removed. The cattle sheds were empty. There were no crop rotations. Cereals were grown year in year out. Every year she joined friends on their enormous tractors that had booms that spread over a long distance spraying the crops copious times with herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. Each year she saw the yields drop and the pests and weeds became immune to the herbicides and pesticides. More and more herbicides and pesticides had to be used. Also being concerned by what she saw and experienced Jayne set to and assisted small, traditional farmers in marketing their produce. She also wanted to see more people have a direct link with the food they eat and set up a number of farm shops. During this time she came across a farmer selling organic, raw Guernsey milk. He gave her some of his old-breed organic strawberries along with his organic, unpasteurised Guernsey cream. She tasted them and never looked back. Ever since she has wanted to give people the opportunity to share the same experience by having access to good food.