Author Topic: Cop 26 (Read 24569 times)

in the hills · « **Reply #15 on:** November 02, 2021, 09:56:00 pm »

That's great Fleecewife.

We've never even noticed them in the 12 years we've been here. I think that's mostly because when we walk the fields we are watching our dogs, birds and so forth and not staring at the ground.

So far we have Ballerina, Snowy, Scarlet, Butter and Parrot and some of the associated grassland fungi. Some wax caps are more tolerant to pesticides and fertilizers than others. The more sensitive Ballerina and Scarlet fungi are in the chapel field that we rent. The field was used to graze the Minister's horse ....... as he travelled by horse between chapels. The chapel is 150 years old so I'm guessing that it has changed little during that time.

Keep a look out for more wax caps, Fleecewife, they tend to come up in fits and starts. They actually like short, sheep grazed sward. Some of their habitat is lost as people try to establish wild flower meadows or plant trees.

Hence my point that stock grazed pasture isn't necessarily a bad thing.
And it seems that old pasture is good at storing carbon too.

doganjo · « **Reply #16 on:** November 03, 2021, 11:42:50 am »

Quote from: Steph Hen on November 02, 2021, 08:55:39 pm

doganjo, your bit of scrub was rewilding.

No it wasn't - it was covered in real weeds like couch grass, ground elder and the like, AND it was bloody ugly!!!

sabrina · « **Reply #17 on:** November 03, 2021, 07:07:11 pm »

Have a look at Almeria in Spain. 64.000 acres oj plastic covered greenhouses growing nothing but fruit an veg. My brother lives near this and he says it is terrible. Workers living in horrible conditions. Plants are hydroponicallydrip fed water laced with chemical fertillizers in grow bags of imported soil. the beaches are strewn with spent pesticide containers and tons of plastic sheeting that has been discatded. If that is what is needed to go Vegan it is not for me.

Womble · « **Reply #18 on:** November 03, 2021, 07:40:02 pm »

We had home grown chicken for dinner last night, with roasted tomatoes (ours), and roasted peppers and aubergine (probably from Almeria). Just because I'm not vegan, doesn't mean I'm not part of the problem!

Quote from: sabrina on November 03, 2021, 07:07:11 pm

If that is what is needed to go Vegan it is not for me.

No, that's not what's needed to go vegan. It's just what's needed to go vegan in Scotland unless you're happy to eat nothing but porridge and tumshies between November and April

.

sabrina · « **Reply #19 on:** November 04, 2021, 11:05:04 am »

I grow our own veg and fruit much of which I freeze so we have over the winter. I do not eat out off season veg or fruit as it has air miles. I was brought up in the early 50's when all we had was Scottish produce and myself and my brothers grew up fine. Mum made lots of soups and stews, chicken was something we only saw at Christmas and things like jam was home made from fruit we picked. Fruit was bottled in large jars. Cakes and biscuits were home made. Things like bacon, pork sausages, beef were all local as were lambs too. There was no need to export these kinds of food but today so many farmers and their land are gone. Mothers have to work full time, cooking from scratch takes up too much time and off course todays diet is far from good. We are all part of the problem and things will not change as the little people don't matter only money does. The powers that be can tell us all that we want to hear but in the end if it cost too uch it will never happen.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #20 on:** November 04, 2021, 11:27:14 am »

Quote from: Womble on November 03, 2021, 07:40:02 pm

We had home grown chicken for dinner last night, with roasted tomatoes (ours), and roasted peppers and aubergine (probably from Almeria). Just because I'm not vegan, doesn't mean I'm not part of the problem!

Quote from: sabrina on November 03, 2021, 07:07:11 pm
If that is what is needed to go Vegan it is not for me.

No, that's not what's needed to go vegan. It's just what's needed to go vegan in Scotland unless you're happy to eat nothing but porridge and tumshies between November and April .

You have a point [member=2128]Womble[/member] not every country is suitable for a vegetarian or vegan diet and others are not suitable for meat eating. This may be to do with climate, latitude, terrain, religion, rainfall, whatever. Having to rely on imports cannot be sustainable. It puzzles me how some vegans don't seem to care where their veggies come from, or the fact that their plastic shoes are made from petro-chemicals. I don't want to bash vegans - each to their own - but we do need to become much more self sufficient in food and fuel in the UK as a whole.

I'm quite shocked [member=467]sabrina[/member] to hear about the growing conditions in Spain. I'm like you, grew up after the war, local or home grown produce, all meals prepared from scratch, if we had any sweets we made them ourselves (fudge was my favourite but now I can't eat sugar at all!)
Sustainability includes the need for good working conditions. If the growing place is in such a bad state and the workers' living conditions are so bad, then there can be no attention to personal hygiene. I don't fancy eating raw food handled under those circumstance

. I'm so glad I have the room to grow my own

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #21 on:** November 04, 2021, 01:45:45 pm »

Last year a fungi expert asked if he could look at our fields for waxcaps, was very pleased with what he saw, so came back earlier this year, said if they found 25 different fungi it was classed as really good, on our fields they found 36, he's talking about it being of international importance, and if he can get us grants to leave it untouched, just sheep grazing.
Quite exciting really

in the hills · « **Reply #22 on:** November 04, 2021, 02:53:51 pm »

Wow! That's great Pennine hillbilly.

Would love to know what type of grants might be available as something like that could help secure the future of our chapel field.

If you hear more could you let me know please?

There is a Waxcap app that you can download and use to survey your land. You don't need to be an expert to use it. Guessing that your expert might have used it or similar but it might be interesting for you to have a go at it you have a few spare minutes.

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #23 on:** November 04, 2021, 04:43:09 pm »

The chap approached me through a friend, he now works for the national trust surveying fungi round the area.
He's got good eyesight! They see tiny bits in the grass, he says it's easy when you are zoned in to them, apparently something quite special and rare down there, he did say it's name,

Found his email, this is what they found last year, seemed quite excited about it

Clubs and Corals
Biege Coral (Clavulinopsis umbrinella)
Meadow Coral (Clavulinopsis corniculata)
Yellow Club (Clavulinopsis helvola)
WaxcapsButter Waxcap (Hygrocybe ceracea)
Golden Waxcap (Hygrocybe chlorophana)
Heath Waxcap (Hygrocybe laeta)
Honey Waxcap (Hygrocybe reidii)
Meadow Waxcap (Hygrocybe pratensis)
Parrot Waxcap (Hygrocybe psittacina)
Pink Waxcap (Hygrocybe calyptriformis)
Slimy Waxcap (Hygrocybe irrigata)Pink gillsUnidentified
EarthtonguesGlutinous Earthtongue

I copied and pasted, text came up tiny, hopefully enlarged now.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #24 on:** November 04, 2021, 06:54:18 pm »

[member=22672]Penninehillbilly[/member] you have to engage that pink and blue square top right so we can see the link you sent.

It sounds as if your pasture is amaaazing! Between you and in the hills your ground is special. I'm now embarrassed I mentioned my measly Golden Waxcaps

After tomorrow I'll go and have a good search around. The oldest of our pastures were put to grass only about 30 years ago so I don't expect to see much.

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #25 on:** November 04, 2021, 07:53:36 pm »

FW, I never knew they were there, really pleased, only problem is, it's a tenant that uses that land, and he's had a load of humanure tipped, I have to stop him from spreading it on the lower areas.
Are you ready for tomorrow?

Womble · « **Reply #26 on:** November 04, 2021, 08:19:11 pm »

New Shakesperian insults:

"You slimy waxcap. You Hygrocybe irrigata.
Thou glutinous earthtongue!
Away from me, fungus-faced beige coral!"

in the hills · « **Reply #27 on:** November 04, 2021, 08:33:04 pm »

Ha ...... I like it!

You know your wax caps, Womble?

Fleecewife · « **Reply #28 on:** November 05, 2021, 05:00:30 pm »

Quote from: Penninehillbilly on November 04, 2021, 07:53:36 pm

FW, I never knew they were there, really pleased, only problem is, it's a tenant that uses that land, and he's had a load of humanure tipped, I have to stop him from spreading it on the lower areas.
Are you ready for tomorrow?

That's us just back home. The organisation that went into taking 8 sheep to Govan docks for a single day of COP26 was amazing. I'll try and post some pics when they come through. It was a small event, some people having been stuck while trying to register at COP26 so they never arrived. I met people from Spain, Germany, Ireland, England (many from London with not a clue about the countryside, sheep, anything), Mongolia (comfortably warm in cashmere), Uganda (wearing every layer of wool he owned) and a sheep farmer from Lancaster who had walked up to Glasgow

I spent yesterday making a giant stew from a couple of hogget rolled shoulders and veg and herbs from our veg plot - that went down an absolute treat, although I only had a teaspoonful so I don't really know what it tasted like. My hands were so sore from all the chopping that I couldn't demonstrate spinning.
The publicity for the sheep and pastoralism was amazing. Several people commented that it's less the negotiations going on in the formal talks and more the small conversations taking place in the queues, which are forming links worldwide. Conversations I overheard all involved the exchange of contact details. We were south of the river and too far away to see any of the action, just the police chopper watching the demos. The rain held off and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.