An orgy of consumption

I have for a long time been a fan of the Riverford Farm and its organic veg boxes (source of my BatMilk story) which has led to a franchisee called Rivernene Farm which now supplies the Peterborough area where I live. What interested me most was the way that alongside the sumptious box of vegetables we receive every week is a leaflet containing recipes and the latest news from the farm. Now these are simply anecdotal fragments in Cognitive Edge terminology, but over time they give a genuine understanding of the problems and pride our local growers are facing. So much so I have begun to feel a real connection with the local farm, its landscape and its produce. I so like and encourage the idea that farmers should be telling us of the environmental benefits, a job traditionally done by the environmental organisations, but they are doing it locally and on a weekly basis.

One amusing story of emergence recently concerns the ripening sweetcorn crop. It turns out that the local badger populations first at Riverford (back in 2005) and now in Rivernene (2008) cannot get enough of the organic sweetcorn and not only do they devour as much as they can eat but seem to have a bit of a party and a rave in the process. An “orgy of consumption” is how they describe it. A very recent newsletter from the Rivernene Farm suggests that the only way to prevent this is to nip it in the bud before any badger gets a taste of the succulent corn for once they do they will repeatedly come back for more and despite huge electric fences they will tunnel in Colditz style to get have a corn rave.