Christmas

Led services in Wichenford on Christmas eve and Martin Husingtree on Christmas morning.
Otherwise I've been using the time for family, reading, catching up with admin....

Check back in the New Year for updates on what the free range vicar is doing.

Carols for the Countryside

Yesterday evening there was a service of Carols for the Countryside and Pershore Abbey was packed.
Representatives from NFU, CLA, Young Farmers, Countryside Alliance and Farm Crisis Network were all part of the service.
Of all the people in all the world God could have chosen to be the first to hear the good news of Jesus' birth, it was the shepherds. First century Palestinian shepherds were not noted for the religious observances, in fact quite the reverse, and were looked down on by the religious people of the Temple. Yet the temple depended on the shepherds for the supply of lambs for the Passover. Today we still depend on those who work the land, yet they are pushed to the edge

• financially - average income per farmer last year was £13,800

• socially – many farmers are strangers in a village of incomers

• personally – suicide rates in farming are 1.8 times the average

Those who work the land today as much as then need to hear the news that God loves and values them. We need to show that love and valuing in action.

Carols at the Chapel

Knightwick is so small as to be easily missed and Knightwick chapel is half a mile out of whatever centre the village might have. But Sunday afternoon saw a couple of dozen people aged from 3 to 83 singing carols, listening to the Christmas story, reflecting on the readings and praying. Christmas refreshments followed. Illness meant one or two people hadn't been able to be there. A shame, but we would have struggled to fit many more in!

Thanks to the Wyre Forest Pony Club

Wyre Forest Pony Club recognise that they their success depends on the generosity of farmers letting them use their land . Because farmers have had a pretty rotten 2007 with floods, bluetongue, Foot and Mouth, Bovine TB.... WFPC made a donation to Farm Crisis Network (see links) I received the cheque at their Christmas party on Saturday evening.
Thanks to them all.

Prices better - but why????

Wednesday's market was a "fat" market. The animals had been fattened and were ready for the abattoir. Today's market was a "stores" market. The animals were being sold on to other farmers to be finished before slaughter at a later date. Yet the sellers were happier with the prices they were getting for an unfinished product today than they had been for finished animals on Wednesday!
Was it (as some suggested) because there is a rise in confidence about prices with the lifting of the export ban imposed with Foot and Mouth? Or was it (as one cynic suggested) because the buyers on Wednesday were dealers who knew exactly how much money they could make, whereas today's buyers were farmers who (if they had done their sums) wouldn't have paid so much!?!

Worcester Market

Lots of interesting conversations at the Worcester market today.

The significant feature of today were the number of cull ewes - these are sheep that have reached the end of their breeding life and are going for slaughter. Because the resultant meat is older it has a stronger flavour and is tougher. Typically such meat is used in curries and so there is a large demand from ethnic minorities for cull ewes.

Today there were hundreds of them. Some people said it was because Id was coming soon which increased the demand from the Muslim community. Others said it was because of bluetongue and the movement restrictions. Sheep that would have gone to Wales can't be moved there and so farmers, fed up with low prices for lamb, are sending good breeding ewes for slaughter. One farmer at the market said a number of the ewes were in lamb.

In one conversation a farmer just back from New Zealand told me that 15 years ago in NZ there were 80 million breeding ewes. Now is down to "only" 28 million. If farmers are getting out of production, world wide, who is going to produce our food?

"What about slaughter methods?" another farmer asked. Lamb gets slaughtered using humane methods. Cull ewes bleed to death with halal slaughter.

One pen of ewes sold for as little as £7 per sheep. What does that say about the value we place on animals?

Farmers Market for Christmas

Teme Valley Farmers' Market is every second Sunday of the month. Today's market was a Christmas market and so, to help make it Christmassy, a small group of us went and sang and played carols. Some people stopped and sang with us. Some stopped and talked. Some stopped and gave a donation.
Asked "What are you doing it for?", one of the carol singers replied "For the enjoyment of people at the market."
Taking my fiddle back to the car as we were finishing, a stallholder came up to me , shook my hand saying "Thank you. God bless"

Food - more than just fuel

Saturday I was with an area meeting of Quakers.

We talked about food. It's much more than just fuel. God could have desinged us to be likle cars, running on the same fuel time after time, but we are created to enjoy a wide diversity of different tastes, textures aromas....

In the story of faith, food features at key times. God meets Abram at Mamre & they share a meal. The Israelites eat before escaping Egypt. There's manna & quails in the desert. The promised land flows with milk and honey. In the New Testament Jesus eats with saints and sinners. The risen Jesus is recognised at Emmaus by the away he handled food.

Food should be valued. But in this society it is not. One third is thrown away uneaten. The lack of value given to food means that the prices are poor and farmers get poor returns. The average income per farmer is £13,800. Lack financial returns result in cheap labour being imported from overseas.

We can respond by buying fairly traded food and supporting farmers.

State of the Countryside 2007

At a conference today about the Commission for Rural Communities report "That State of the Countryside 2007". It's on their website at www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/projects/stateofthecountryside2007/overview

In among all the facts and figures, Stuart Burgess, the Rural Advocate said words to the effect that if the churches could stop concentrating on their own "internal" concerns and work together to address the real concerns of rural living, that there is a real opportunity for them. Issues of disadvantage, housing, sustainability are all issues that ought to concern the churches and if together we address them then there is a real potential for a significant impact.

Thank You buffet

Saturday we had a "Thank you" buffet for people who had been involved with the Stories from the Stones project. Many folk have given freely of their time to the project.

Not the best photo I've taken. It was a lot more cheerful than the picture suggests!

BBC Food & Farming Awards

Yesterday evening I had the privilege of being at the BBC's annual Food and Farming awards. It was an excellent occasion with a whole range of different organisations working in different ways to produce and promote good wholesome food. What pleased me was that one of the finalists in the "Best Farmers' Market" category was a church. St Giles in Shipbourne runs a farmers market in the nave of the church every Thursday morning from 9-11. An excellent way for the church to serve the needs of the village

Students' visit

Yesterday we had the pleasure of students from Queens College Birmingham having a brief introduction to rural life. After a trip round a dairy farm and walk round a village they visited the parish church where they were able to use the "Listening post" - a recently installed facility as part of the Stories from the Stones project (more information at www.temevalley.org.uk ) which allows visitors to the church to hear the story of the building and the community it serves thorough the centuries

a bit about me

I'm the Agricultural & Rural Chaplain for the diocese of Worcester, and this blog is a little about the work that I do. I am essentially a "free range vicar" who ranges over Worcestershire & Dudley, tying to help churches understand what is going on in agricultural & rural life and working with agricultural & rural organisations (folk like the National Farmers Union, Country Land and Business Association...) so they know the church is involved and interested in rural life .
I "roost" in the Martley area and if I'm not ranging elsewhere then I'm available to the local churches.
I hope this blog will help folk to be in touch with what I'm doing. I'm open to suggestions.