Far West Flowers

18/01/2025

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According to a recent article from the Guardian, sewage sludge spread on farmland is contaminating soils, water and potentially the food chain with “forever chemicals”. While whistleblowers from the Environment Agency say the systems in place to prevent such pollution are “not fit for purpose”.

Huge volumes of sewage sludge, also known as biosolids - essentially human excrement and industrial waste - are spread on UK fields every year. It is regulated by the Environment Agency and treated by water companies before being sold to farmers, but many substances are not removed by the processes.

The Environment Agency is supposed to police the sludge, but whistleblowers from the agency told Watershed and the Guardian that in reality, this isn't happening. Industrial waste enters sewage treatment works every day, as well as human waste, either via the sewerage system or by tanker. Much of the waste tankered in contains leachate – dirty liquid created by landfills – which contains a cocktail of chemicals from a range of industries.

In March 2020 the EA published a strategy for safe and sustainable sludge use, but its implementation date kept slipping and according to the Guardian, an environment Agency insider says little has been done in practice.

While in theory, human based wastes do have great potential to replenish soil, the current processes are not fit for purpose.

What about organic farming? Organic land is subject to tight controls and the The Soil Association bans human based waste, including sewage sludge, due to the risk of contamination.

Instead, organic farmers, including Riverford, use a combination of animal manures, compost and grass and clovers in their fields to add different nutrients back into the soil, which builds up fertility slowly and naturally. So-called green manures are crops like clover, rye or vetch grown specifically for their ability to store (or release) nitrogen, which they release when ploughed back into the soil.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

23/06/2024

This 👇🏻

British flowers? Only 14% are grown in the UK

This week's guest newsletter is by Olivia Wilson, florist, grower and founder of British flower studio Wetherly.

Up until the 1950s most flowers we encountered in the UK were grown in the UK. Then, huge investment from the Dutch government saw the first airfreighted blooms arrive, followed by the arrival of the ‘Flying Dutchman’ flower lorries in the 1980s. Market dominance was set and today 86 per cent of all UK cut flowers are imported. This is a huge change from the dedicated flower trains from Cornwall to London, filled with narcissi and violets. It seems almost inconceivable that the violet nosegays of the early 20th century, so delicate they lasted just a few days, could still be so appreciated for their perfume and beauty.

Flowers grown to be exported must be sturdy enough to survive transit. Many of them arrive in the UK via Holland from places as far flung as Ecuador and Ethiopia. To allow for this, flowers are deliberately bred to have ruler-straight stems (something you don’t find in nature) and be fragrance-free; the biological effort required to smell sweet, using up energy that could otherwise prolong vase life. And so, a system’s been created where forced flowers are regularly grown as monocultures, in places where pesticide use and workers’ rights are less regulated, and corporations continue to prioritise economics over ethics or the environment.

The £1.4 billion UK floristry industry is dominated by the supermarkets (29 per cent of people buy their blooms at Tesco) and British growers aren’t helped by the fact that there’s presently no legal requirement to label the country of origin. Not to mention the fact that according to HMRC, the work I do as an agroecological flower grower is yet to exist. But this lack of governmental ‘support for hort’ gives individuals even more cause to champion the resurgence of British flower farms, many of which are listed at flowersfromthefarm.co.uk.

For me, witnessing a bud burst open is a meditation modern life provides less and less room for. Flowers are scientifically proven to bring happiness and reduce stress. I know, because I co-founded charitable enterprise, Bread & Roses, pioneering the use of floriculture therapy based on the research, and

I have the anecdotal evidence to support it (wearebreadandroses.com). Naysayers may sniff at my nosegays, but I believe in the power of flowers.

➡️ https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/opinion/where-have-all-the-flowers-gone/

09/04/2024

The first of my flowers this season and I’m noticing my tulips are doing something odd already - I’m hoping I did something daft when planting and that this is not in response to the extreme weather we’ve been experiencing because of it is, who knows what the rest of my patch will offer up this year! Looks like I’m going to have to get inventive. Could be an interesting year!!!

Anyhoo, here’s some stubby tulips working perfectly in re-purposed glass diffuser bottles for your viewing pleasure… 🌷

27/03/2024

First tulips of the season 😍
One of, hopefully many, cheery blooms unbothered by the constant wet ..