The Small Farm Future Blog

Season’s greetings from small farm future

Posted on December 24, 2022 | 5 Comments

Time for a final, brief, seasonal blog post of the year.

Well, the Small Farm Future year began with our 10^th anniversary blog post, before getting down to business with more blogging our way through Small Farm Future: the book.

There were a couple of interruptions. Our editor-at-large Chris Smaje made an appearance at City of London Magistrates Court for protesting government climate inaction. The unwavering brilliance of his self-defence was matched only by the unwavering indifference of the magistrates. But he remains at large, and editing. With the government’s new police bill now on the statute book, giving the courts powers to jail protestors for up to ten years for causing ‘serious annoyance’, encompassing such things as loud noises and unpleasant smells, his present at-largeness would no longer be a foregone conclusion were the same events replayed. Just one minor way among many in which we’re sleepwalking into a more brutal world. The climate protest movement has been an interesting – and quite personally challenging – development over the last few years. More thoughts on that next year, perhaps.

On the political front we had three prime ministers in two months, four chancellors in four months, and two monarchs in a year, but otherwise nothing to suggest that any of it would make much difference to anything of much importance.

On the farming front … well, I’ll talk about that another time. Suffice to say, the sun burned hot and then the rain fell hard. We grew vegetables, chopped wood and inched forwards a few small projects. Next year we hope to do the same. We visited Stonehenge for the first time. People have been farming around here for quite a while.

At the dog end of the year, our editor unexpectedly got the opportunity to write a short book, on which he’s currently labouring. Also, alas, ill health in a family member has taken up much time of late, so one way or another this blog has fallen rather silent recently – but it’s good to see people still upholding its principles of vigorous debate in the comments section while our editor labours elsewhere.

On which note, thanks once again to all the commenters for chipping in over the last year with their thoughts, references, recommendations and almost unfaltering politeness. It’s truly what makes this blog feel worthwhile.

I can’t say the blog is quite so worthwhile on a pence per word basis. So, talking of chipping in, if you’d care to dip into your pocket at this time of goodwill to help ease the small farm future balance sheet and endow our Brussels sprouts fund … well, the yellow ‘Donate’ button to the right still works I believe, although it’s not been well exercised of late.

Hopefully, this blog will spring back into action next year, probably in February, with news of a forthcoming book. This opens up the worrying possibility of having to blog my way through a new book before I’ve finished blogging my way through an older one. Perhaps I’ll do something entirely different instead.

Anyway, it remains for me to wish readers, commenters, farmers, eaters of food, and all things under Creation Season’s Greetings and the very best of luck in the time ahead. Because, by God, we’ll need it.