Organic food and drink

Orchard Farmhouse.  Soil Association Organic Caterer.  Land in Conversion.  GM free. What does it all mean?

We believe that to be "green accommodation" or "eco friendly" you need to be passionate about living in harmony with nature.  As a way of being recognised in our efforts by independent assessment we belong to the Soil Association.

A Soil Association caterer has to record all its purchases and comply with a range of requirements so that what is on your plate is freshly prepared, delicious and truly wholesome.  In fact at Orchard Farmhouse we cook your meal in view, so you can see what we are doing.  While you munch the cereal, porridge, fruit salad or yoghurt we prepare tasty mushrooms and tomatoes.  You hear the bacon and sausages sizzling and you choose how to have your egg cooked to perfection.  If it is not perfect, we re-do it.   

What drives us to go to all this trouble to cook organic food?

People choose organic food for many reasons. Animal welfare, to avoid pesticides and for the environment are three key reasons. Anything called organic has to comply with minimum standards and are checked and certified to ensure they maintain standards. We choose local Soil Association or Demeter products where we can because their standards are even higher than normal organic - especially where chicken and eggs are concerned. We also find that organic farmers work harder in all sorts of ways - greatly reducing the use of antibiotics by keeping animals in good conditions, allowing them to live as "natural" a life as possible - such as letting them behave as they normally would.  Pigs being allowed to root around their field, not just roam free range.  You can find out more at www.soilassociation.org or www.biodynamic.org.uk. 

Once you get involved in the movement you discover that Fairtrade, ethical employment and much more is linked in. 

In 2010 Orchard Farmhouse was the first Bed and Breakfast to achieve the Gold Food for Life Award.  We have chosen not to continue with this iniative but we remain committed to local and seasonal food.  In any case the full organic certification that we have is an even higher standard in many respects.

Not only is our organic bed and breakfast certified but we have also put all our small organic farm land, including the garden, into conversion under the Soil Association scheme.  We use entirely organic products in the Bed and Breakfast.  Our land will be organic in the future.  In the meantime, be assured that we have used no chemicals or pesticides on the garden or fields since we arrived.

GM Free

Orchard Farmhouse is GM free.  We do not support Genetic Modification for the following reasons.

The concept of GM farming is that you modify a plant so that it can tolerate a weedkiller.  The weedkiller can then be put on the land to kill everything except the crop.  However we have seen footage of interviews with farmers in America who say they now have to use far more chemicals.  The reason is that seeds from other GM plants get dropped on their land by migratory birds and because they have the gene to resist the weedkiller these seeds become weeds that have to be pulled out by hand.  And then they are finding weeds are becoming resistant to the weedkiller so additional chemicals have to be put on.  Instead of one pass - it can take five passes to kill all the weeds.

The farmers say that if they try and get out of the contract with the companies (who control the market in the seeds and the chemicals) they have a legal battle on their hands.  If any GM plant grows on their land they say they have to pay these big corporations.

We are also not convinced about the health implications and are worried that because GM is not really labelled in the US as we understand it, there is no way to monitor the effects.

Unfortunately GM is getting into the UK in the form of animal feed - affecting milk and meat people buy.  Soil Association organic farming specifically prohibits the use of GM. 

We are very unconvinced by the science of GM.  We believe the science shows that other plant breeding programmes that use selection are more natural - and happen to be more effective too.  Nature can be harnessed but it cannot be modified.

Far from feeding the world, we believe that GM technology may impoverish poor people.  Once they are trapped in a contract with a multi-national GM company we fear they may not be able to gather seeds for replanting.  They will have to buy each year from the GM company.  We believe that perennial plants, trees and shrubs are more sustainable and that farmers should be able to collect seed, reuse it and share with neighbours.  That way their society will be cohesive and self sustaining.

Visit www.gmfreeze.org for more information.

Eco-friendly green accommodation

Part of being environmentally aware is to listen so if you have comments or suggestions about how we can make our bed and breakfast more in tune with nature, more in tune with what you seek please let us know.

Magnolia in blossom - May