The Farming Townie

It’s finally time.

I have had 10 years of blissful life in the countryside.

I’ve reared pigs, chickens, vegetables, babies. 

And now the latter are all at school, it is the moment for a new challenge.

So I’ve swapped my wellies for a pair of heels and headed back to the newsroom.

After all the cows won’t pay for themselves. 

I need to earn a crust in the capital to keep this good life country show on the road.

So off I have trotted to become a newsreader and producer for GB News.

I’m so grateful to them for plucking me out of maternity leave obscurity. 

And I could not have come back to the newsroom at a more challenging and fascinating time. 

As President Putin of Russia madly threatens the comfortable stability and mutual understanding we have all taken for granted in Europe for many decades…

I find myself straddling two worlds.

The outside world of geopolitics and office politics.

And the insular world of my family’s care.

Despite now both working full time, Oli and I continue our attempt to steward the conservation of our immediate environment here at Rowan, grow our own grub and raise conscientious children.

The bloodshed in Ukraine is taking a heavy human toll – hot on the heels of the Covid pandemic – and rightly absorbs many of our waking thoughts and my time in the office. 

But the health of our Earth continues to suffer and decline, while we bicker and persecute and view each other as potential vectors of disease.

Our planet soldiers on amidst these human dramas.

How we are going to change this rightly needs big picture thinking.

But it also starts with each and every one of us trying to do our bit.

I see evidence of climate change constantly on the farm.

The epic winds that recently rattled the ancient trees at Rowan.

The winter warmth that coaxes out the bulbs and blossom before hammering them back again with a heavy frost.

The autumnal veg that has freakishly survived an entire winter and we are still eating into the spring.

The chickens’ laying season becoming increasingly extended.

This can obviously be practically useful for us but it sounds a clear warning.

The British climate is rapidly changing.

In just the 5 years we have lived at Rowan Farm, that change has been very palpably noticeable.

And yet, as a species we continue to argue over how to deal with it, or if, indeed, it is even happening at all.

In many ways, I feel trying to reduce my family’s footprint on the planet remains my most important job. 

It’s not glamorous or far reaching.

But it’s doing our little bit.

And my hope is that counts for something.