alex's diary no. 93
http://www.blur.co.uk/site.html -> diary
Chris Gaskell runs the royal agricultural college. You may remember that
he invited me there for lunch a while back, and gave me the run of their
extensive collection of pig literature. Could he come over, he said, with
a group of kids from urban environments who'd shown an interest in becoming
farmers?
They arrived in the afternoon. Wide-eyed and whispering, clasping their packed
lunches, they poured out of the college minibus and assembled obediently,
timidly, in the yard. They looked really cool, hoodies in new wellies.
I would have bought vegetables from them. Ah, youth, so appealing!
I started to explain the history of the farm. Just as I was getting to the
enclosure act of 1801, the exciting bit, I spotted fred. Here was a bona fide
expert, a man of the soil, an award-winning husband of nature to enlighten
them, right on cue. I asked him to say a few words about his sleep.
Well, them ewe lambs just bout last 'em. Got them tups up in the yard 'spose.
Ooh, aren't them buggers, though! Eh?...goh!" Just then, Ray managed to fire
up the circular saw. It had been playing up all morning. Now it was back in
business and Ray was waving it around for Joy. "Maybe we'll go crayfishing!"
I shouted over the din, grabbing the nets and heading for the river. "Bit
of farm business diversification. It's a free crop. It's a nice walk. There
are sheep on the way. You'll see.
The top field had just been cropped for hay, and was looking spectacularly
good. Suddenly it was high summer, one of those bright days that makes you
remember why billionaires have always lived on farms, why pop stars buy them
to live happily ever after, why it might be better mucking about bonfires
and gazing like Fred does than staring at a computer screen and wondering
whether to have a sandwich or sushi. It's a hard sell at the moment,
agriculture, but the butterflies and dragonflies were skipping on the
hedgerows. It was busy. It was beautiful, wherever you were coming from.
"Is dat your tree?"
"Yep, I guess so."
"No way, man. How can you laak, own a tree? Das so cool! Laak. How much is it?
Dis place."
"Well, you can rent the fields for 25 quid an acre a year, at least Fred does.
I throw the trees in."
We build the nets as we munched sandwiches by the waterside. The kids were
enthuasiastic, inquisitive and completely and involuntarily engaged
with it all. They asked professor Gaskell questions that led to more
questions, and he sprinkled his expertise over them like seasoning for
the sandwiches.
We caught four crayfish. Not a huge success, but I think agriculture won
a few hearts today. Sometimes it's hard to see why anyone would want to
do anything else.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.167.74.66
Blur 近期熱門文章
PTT偶像團體區 即時熱門文章