Organic food/Organic Folk

Subject: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 05:28 PM

Tomorrow morning on BBC Radio 4, you can hear "The Saving of Ford Hall Farm", an optimistic account of the recent happenings of threatened (and now reprieved) organic farm in Shropshire, one of the oldest in the country. The big boy they were moving in, but very very young Ben and Charlotte mobilised friends and well-wishers, organised a communal buy-out, and things are back on track for the next century. The documentary features a bit of music(quite little, I suspect) from the Boat Band (which I play with); and we are involved in this, and getting more involved, in food stuff generally.
   Any other folkies overlapping with food matters who would care to chip in with a comment? We in the band find, for example, that our recent CD "A Trip to the Lakes" does kind of so-so in HMV Workington, Carlisle and Lancaster: but our really significant outlets are the foody farms and such in Cumbria. Melmerby Bakery in the back-of-beyond between Penrith and Alston, for example, far outsells any record shop. Basically, traditional folk shares a certain amount of aesthetic with organic food: whether you think this is part of the past, or part of the future, is up to you. I honestly feel we are right up to the minute here, and we also find find plenty of interesting work in other areas of life to do with regeneraton. Folk music can speak about urban matters too.

   Anybody else got any comments to offer? Folk music, let's face it, is penetrating rather wider areas of culture than the game of "who played at Celtic Connections/Cambridge last year?" That' s why it's called folk music, isn't it?

    (PS A nice memory for me, which the older folkies among you will appreciate, is that the documentary was produced by Sara Parker. And her dad, for whom I also worked forty years ago back in the 60's, was the legendary Charles Parker, of Radio Ballads fame. What goes round comes round.)

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Stringsinger
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 05:54 PM

There is something organic about folk music and songs. They are not refined unless rewritten into incomprehension.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: peregrina
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 06:04 PM

When I've written in to my local radio station to protest the axing of the folk show, I've played with an organic/local food metaphor.


Just as we don't want all vegetables shipped in across the globe and out of season, so too, with music: please, not everything from major labels or Nashville. Play, support, listen to, give airtime to, local bands, own-labels, regional/traditional music.

If you don't buy some local produce, then even milk and lamb will only be imported, and that has implications for the entire landscape and ecology as well as diet and carbon footprint. Not quite so, too, with music, but it's only a few steps apart.

Greg--that sounds like a really rewarding thing to have been involved in.

....How about a write-in campaign to Mike Harding to invite him to do a show, or a section of the show every week, devoted exclusively to own-label artists that he hasn't been playing?

No way does the quality have to be inferior. And it's the musical equivalent of choosing the farm stand not agribusiness or McDonald's.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 07:10 PM

Just a suggestion - why not direct the campaign precisely at John Leonard - he is the guy who tells Mike what to do.

But to be honest - I suspect you are wasting your time. The programme is designed to attract Radio 2 listeners to the station - not to cater for folkies. And to be fair they do this very well.

Does **** for folk music though.

Sad, very sad.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 08:42 PM

Well in Athens Ohio USA it's very clear there's a connection-- lots of original music (it's a college town), lots of interest in things like contra dancing etc. Our farmer's market goes on most of the year (if the temp. drops too low it's cancelled because of our outdoor venue, otherwise the hardcore farmers and customers come every week). There are lots of organic farmers in our county and the surrounding ones, and we have a local restaurant that serves only free-range, organic, and mostly locally raised food-- and it doesn't have a fancy price tag. A number of local groceries carry the locally raised products. As far as the music-- well, some of our farmers are folky musicians in their spare time, and there are always acoustic musicians playing if the weather isn't too bad. Everything from Native American flute to blues to Old-Time music...

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: The PA
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 03:30 AM

My only comment is that I remember the campaign to save Ford Hall Farm. It was featured many times on our local evening news, I think they sold shares to raise money to save it. Glad to hear they were successful. We grow organic veg, but not on such a large scale as Ford Hall.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Marilyn
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 04:49 AM

Being interested in folk music and being environmentally aware seem to go hand in hand with a lot of people.

We used to own a (tiny) smallholding near Tarporley (Cheshire, UK) and were all organic. We produced goats milk and cheese and free range rare breed eggs which we sold to a health food shop in Chester (plus farm gate sales). Unfortunately we lost everything just over 10 years ago and now live in a rented house but we still buy local produce and as much organic food as we can.

There are good farmers markets near us and a shop in a nearby village sells local (as in 2 miles down the road) pork and sausages, bacon etc. and it's very good so we buy from them.

Something my husband and I think about is whether we should buy 'organic' from the supermarket or local (but not actually 'organic') from the farmers and smallholders, small shops etc. near us. We tend to feel that it's even more important to buy locally than to guarantee that the food has a Soil Association label on it so our eggs, for example, come from a neighbour and we walk to collect them. They're not, strictly speaking, 'organic' but they are very good and our own eyes tell us that the hens are leading a healthy outdoor life.

Interesting topic, Greg - glad you started it.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 05:54 AM

Our local farmer's market (East Oxford) has recently starting having live music as part of the event, which has a naturally high folk content.

On a wider scale, I guess that people who think about the wider implications of what they buy (other than just what's cheapest) will tend to have similar attitudes to culture and music rather than simply listening to what's most easily available.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 07:38 AM

If you are searching for The Saving Of Hopehall Farm on the replayer, note the spelling.

Before this broadcast I heard composer Judith Weir on Start The Week speaking with particular reference to The English Acoustic Collective about the importance of the trend among musicians to look for their music within themselves, their heritage and culture, their landscapes and communities.

This approach has been echoed and amplified by practitioners in other areas of cultural expression which do not readily appear to be related to trad music, and principle among these is the food lobby which is beginning to convince the English that they can produce high quality ingredients with integrity, and cook them.

The organisation Common Ground is working on the promotion of regional distinctiveness with authentic festivals, local foods and culture, while architecture is looking again at the use of local materials and building techniques to counter the homogenisation of the landscape.

It's marvellous to know that Greg's music is making a determined crossover into good food outlets. I also had the honour of working with Charles Parker when, towards the end of his life, he was taking a Radio Ballads production around colleges and it is excellent news that his daughter Sara is continuing his work.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:05 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-09-20-spinach-main_N.htm

five dead, 205 ill, cow manure in a leafy crop

Why would I want to eat 'organic' food?

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:25 PM

Nowhere does that piece refer to 'organic' food, merely to the inherent dangers of any raw produce. It is merely another symptom of a society which simply picks stuff off a shelf and consumes it without a second thought, whether the commodity be food or music.

If you grew spinach in your garden (oh how much cheaper), you'd wash and prepare it properly. If you know the origins of your music you'll have more respect for it.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: GUEST,Nigel Spencer (at work and cookieless)
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:31 PM

Leeneia, that's a horrible story and one wouldn't wish it to happen to anyone. I can't see, however, how its an argument against organic food. Seems to me its an argument for having and adhering to stringent standards in the food industry. At least here in the UK we have the Soil Association to set organic standards - surely there is similar regulation in the US?

I suppose the inevitable link between folk and sustainable food is that at best both tend to be locally produced on a smaller scale, they taste far better than the alternatives and are more about content than flashy packaging, they both incorporate new ways of doing things whilst not throwing out the accumulated wisdom of the past and they're both an antidote to the bland, tasteless, mass -produced crap we get showered with on a daily basis. Oh, and both are a bit more expensive than the alternatives, but worth every penny...

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: Organic food& Folk/Woody's sauce for radio?
From: peregrina
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:36 PM

All agreed Dave and Nigel.



Hey fellow UK-mudcatters, anyone for a 'Woody's cook in sauce' campaign to Mike Harding, John Leonard or SMOOP asking them them to feature more own-label local, additive free artists? (after this I'll shut up: no point in complaining without doing anything.)

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: GUEST,Nigel Spencer (At work and cookieless)
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:47 PM

Peregrina, could you give us some examples of the sort of stuff you're thinking of? I tend to hear my new folk music on internet radio, websites, myspace etc, so I don't get to listen to Mike Harding's show as often as I should (especially as its on at my little boy's bedtime and I keep forgetting about the Listen Again thingy...). What I'm saying is that I'm not sure what he plays and doesn't these days: I assume stuff like Bella Hardy, Lisa Knapp, Chris Wood, Mawkin, Wild Goose releases, No Masters releases (f'rinstance) all get a regular airing? What sort of artists miss out? Don't mean to put you on the spot, but who would you add to the playlist off the top of your head?

And does Harding do sessions on his show in the way that, say, Peel used to or Maconie and Radcliffe do?

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 04:35 PM

Damn, Countess, I'm going to have to agree with you again.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 06:02 PM

Don't know if anyone heard the Radio 4 "The Saving of Ford Hall Farm" that opened the thread? Not much of ourmusic got through onto the programme, just a bit of barn-dancy background, but a very interesting look at a heart-warming story. Folk puts you in funny places...the music took me to two bright young kids running an organic farm in Shropshire, and the same music led me tonight to a planning session about working with urban black rappers in Liverpool for City of Culture stuff. That, I strongly believe, is the thing about real folk music. It is the WD40 of music, it can penetrate just where you want to get to.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: peregrina
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 12:19 PM

Nigel, when I think about it, just 'own label' wouldn't be enough of a feature to ensure more diverse coverage of the sort that I would like to hear in folk shows. (If you don't listen to Mike Harding by the way, you can always check his playlist online).(Of course a few folk radio programmes have had, or now do have, such diversity--the lamented North Yorkshire Folk and Seffield Live's TGIF.)

But to give an example (or three) of the sort of stuff I'm thinking of--these are not random, but also not just promoting my favourites:

(1) Stanley Robertson (a few tracks on itunes, a few tracks on Fife traditional singing weekend CDs, no CD as far as I know of him singing ballads, though there is one of children's rhymes)--so recordings are hard to find, but he is an amazing singer.

(2)Lizzie Higgins (on musical traditions 'In Memory of Lizzie Higgins')--I guess anyone who appreciates Lisa Knapp's 'A Beggar a Beggar' would listen to Lizzie Higgins' singing of that with great pleasure? (a track from that Lizzie Higgins CD did get played on late junction).

(3) Mick Sheehan's Whiskey Refugees. (I couldn't suggest nothing but unaccompanied traditional singers...)

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 12:47 PM

Mike Harding has said publicly on a number of occasions (most forcefully in an issue of The Living Tradition in 2001) that he won't play this sort of stuff however much "somebody from a folk club in Little Eccleston or wherever" tries to tell him how to do his job. In this sense he is right (if he wants to keep the job, that is).

R2 doesn't have a trad music programme and has no intention of ever doing so. Best look to R3 and 4. What Smoothops do is produce an hour's broadcast with such MOR-blurry edges that no-one would ever be scared into thinking it's NOT R2. That is their remit and the show does what it says on the tin. It is not a tin I wish to open.

It's called "follow through" in BBC-speak. Presenters are there to ensure that listeners stay with the network by avoiding any sharp edges that might make them decide without listening that the next programme is not for them. Obviously, I think this is bollocks and pandering to a Blandsville Arizona mentality.

I never listen to MH nowadays and find it hard to remember even to look at the playlist. When I do it is only to discover that the tracks played that I would want to hear I have on CD already, so where's the point?

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 12:51 PM

To drag my last post onto topic, Smoothops and the MH show personify the worst sort of junk food . . . those squidgy marshmallow biscuits covered in sickly milk chocolate perhaps. Wagon Wheels?

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Peace
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 12:54 PM

After eating eleven of them to either agree or disagree with you Diane, I have reached the conclusion that you are correct. They are terrible.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 01:32 PM

And there are alternatives.

The celeriac and parsnip rosti with cumberland sauce which I prepared for New Year's day dinner for the four vegetarians (including me) was excellent though I says it as perhaps shouldn't.

An alternative to MH.

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: peregrina
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 01:35 PM

A folk show with no e-numbers or artificial colours!

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 03:41 PM

I wished I had thought of that!!

Subject: RE: Organic food/Organic Folk
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 06:08 AM

I am now involved in discussions about a radio programme on this topic, musicians working at the interface between organic food and tradfolk. I'd be grateful for more input from anybody with thoughts and/or experience in the area. Playing at food fairs, busking in farmers' markets, barn dances in organic barns, selling CDs at organic farm shops etc etc. Any information or opinions most welcome.