Organic-Ally

Last week was a tough week. One of the mothers who is such a rock when it comes to organizing PTA events like Quiz Night was suddenly taken ill, very ill. So I had to make alternative arrangements. The lady who was supposed to arrange food notified me of the new prices and I nearly choked. I had to make alternative arrangements. Fortunately the school cook stepped in and catered for us at very reasonable prices. Last Wednesday was very long as we had a parents' evening at school and we were able to see what son has been doing in class. He was very keen to show us his books. I was a bit perturbed that he had been doing little more than adding three digit numbers together. He was complaining that this was far too easy. He wanted something more challenging. Friday and we were told to collect our boys at 4pm instead of 5pm after their trip to the theatre. But this class returned very late and so the whole bunch of parents were standing around, getting impatient. When the hall was free

The slow boat from Canada docked a short time ago and the hankies and face cloth and tea towels arrived this afternoon! Yay! Some of the items now come with even less packaging. Yay, Yay! We now also have the once discontinued Radical Primitives Box of Eight back in stock. Forgot to mention we now also have Fairtrade organic cotton table napkins in four beautiful, beautiful colours. These are now being sold at an introductory price here . Back to Organic-Ally .

This is another gripe about Nigella's cookery programme. She seems to love putting food into plast-c bags to marinate when using reusable bowls and other receptacles would do. And disposable aluminium trays. And what's the point of transferring cooked food into brown cardboard boxes when reusable pla-tic boxes could be used? Back to Organic-Ally .

This happened a few weeks ago but I never got round to blog this. I discovered a hole in a shoe. It's not really a shoe, but a 'mule', I suppose you could call it that. It's Marks/Sparks Footglove. I showed my son the shoe, "Guess how long Mum has had this pair of shoes." "Hmm. Seven years?" "No, had these much longer than you've been around." "Longer than you've been married?" "Yes." "Ten years?" "At least." More like eleven, I think. I remember using those when I was doing my PhD fieldwork in a city "up north". I remember my 90-something neighbour (then only 80-something) saying how comfortable she found those shoes. She had a similar pair in black. Mine were an adventurous beige. I remember spilling tea on my nearly-new mules and tried very hard to rid them of the stains. No luck. Ah, well. No one's going to notice. These shoes/mules/whatever stayed with me, tramped all over S

I've run out of some of my Hankettes supplies. I placed my last order back in May. I know sometimes there was a lead time of a four to six weeks, so I always worked with plenty of time buffered in. They didn't have the flannel to do the hankies. There was delay. Then the machine needed repairs. They bought a second machine to keep up with the orders. Then finally I got the message that said the order was filled and it would be shipped. When the order did not arrive in a few days I asked for when it was shipped. Then I got a message that said it was shipped by a different method than they usually did. I waited, and waited, and waited. When still no box arrived I emailed, "Where is my order?" Then a message came to clarify that when they said "International" they meant "International via sea freight". Instead of the 10 to 16 days I expected -- which was instead of the normal three to five days -- it was now going to take four to six WEEKS! Weeks! I w

As the writer of Ecclesiates says, "There is nothing new under the sun." Years ago as a full-time Christian worker with university students I had to read up on "New Age". I could not, for a long time, understand why it was called "New Age". What is so new about this "New Age", I kept asking myself. So much of it sounds like old hat to me. Then it tweaked. I'd been living the New Age for as long as I could remember: New Age was "Old Age" as far as the oriental person is concerned. "New Age" is new only to the person who has to learn a new non-western philosophy as the basis of his worldview. Having grown up Chinese, there was nothing very new in it for me. Sorted. Second week back at school and I still find myself sewing name labels. It has not been easy trying to procure organic cotton trousers for my son. Finally they arrived this morning at seven-thirty on a Saturday morning. Typical. Because son suffers from eczema, I d

It came on after University Challenge, so we just sat there and watched. It was a certain Nigella telling us how to cook 'express meals' after a long hard day at work. I have seen a certain impressionist making fun of Nigella and this was the first time I've ever watch the real McCoy myself. And boy! Did it give me a pain in the neck. The rate at which she -- how do you describe it? -- flick her hair (head?) back at the neck was so -- how does one describe it? -- annoying after the first few minutes. She went on and on about her "busy work day". And many hard-pushed stay-at-home mothers and working mothers who come home to work a second shift want to shout: HELLO! Why do you bother to work when you are married to a very rich man? We don't grudge her marrying a very rich man. But the point is she COULD choose not to work at all. The fact that she does -- whatever 'work' she actually does -- means another person (probably a woman) who needs a job does no

Some of my customers ask: what do I do when I run out of pl--tic bags to line my bins? I've not run out yet. Here's why: we host visitors and 'open houses' often. People come with their p-astic bags and leave them with us. Sometimes I collect a whole load of these from the other community groups I work with because these are choking up their storage space. If we are really stuck, really, really stuck, some old newspaper folded into a 'cone' makes a good bin liner. Back to Organic-Ally .

Because we don't collect pl-st-c carrier bags any more (except for the rare occasion when we get 'caught out') I now find myself keeping bags from loaves of bread, potatoes, etc for re-use. I'm afraid some of the organic staples we buy come in pl-st-c because the supermarkets want to make sure we pay the premium for them Our meat and fish also come in pl--tic trays. Sometimes these are recyclable, sometimes not. Whichever way, if they are left in the kitchen bin, the kitchen would start ponging very soon. So we put these out in the bin as soon as possible. But I also do not like the meat/fish juices to run into the bin as that means a long-term pong problem, or water wastage to clean the bins. So the bread and potato pl--tic bags are kept for such occasions. And I see pictures of my mum carefully washing out pla-t-c bags and hanging them up to dry. I'm getting to be more like her every day!! Back to Organic-Ally .

We recently came across a TV documentary in which a British-born Indian actor/comedian went on a long trip to India and Pakistan to find out something of his own roots. It is quite funny viewing. I could not understand why he was surprised by the man who was shouting at the foot of the apartment block he was staying at for people to bring their rubbish down to him. This is the rag-and-b0ne man. In Singapore the 'garang-guni' was also a familiar sight when I was growing up. Mum saved every bit of newspaper and tin, etc, and whatever she could not use, she would sell to the garang-guni man. He came round with his little hand-held weighing scale and would pronounce how much paper or tin would cost, etc. Sometimes old electrical objects like broken irons, clocks, etc, were also sold for a much higher, specific price. When life was not so 'cheap' and we paid real prices for real goods, especially when there were no government subsidies keeping prices artificially high for so

I know the story of cotton in and out -- or so I thought -- until I came across this site which gives some really dire information on cotton being grown in Uzbekistan. Or check out the film here . If buying cheap cotton clothes does not yet make you cringe, take a look at some of the information here and see what your reaction is. Back to Organic-Ally .

This time last week I was settling happily into the meeting room at The Warehouse, home to Friends of the Earth at Birmingham. I was meeting with a group of 'Sociologists Outside Academia'. The train journey there was a bit fraught as the deluge we had on Friday meant trains had been cancelled and suspended and right up till late Friday I was uncertain whether I would actually get on the train. As it turned out the train arrived early, having made an unscheduled stop at Coventry (picking up another one of our group), and it looked like an unbelievably good start. Except that a couple of people had had their trains diverted from Basingstoke/Winchester area to (believe it or not) London. One was too frail to consider completing the journey via London and gave up. The other persevered and reached us at about 2pm! Another, a wheelchair user, planned to drive from Bristol but the roads were not very friendly and decided against making what could be a perilous journey. So it was a sm

I don't remember how long I've been working with teenagers and children as part of my church ministry. Since my husband acquired a chronic disease I've resigned from working with teenagers but continue my work with the children. Well, I finally got my piece of paper -- the official approval from this UK government -- that says I have been cleared to work with children. Yippee! Back to Organic-Ally .

For some reason my husband left the following article on the desk-top. Why are lawyers miserable: want a list? I read it and had a good chuckle. I could identify with all that misery and money mentioned in the article. No, I was never a lawyer. I was worse than a lawyer back in Singapore. I was a management consultant, and more specifically, a change management consultant. While working with what was one of the top Accounting firms (we were an off-shoot of their 'Management Information Systems' off-shoot) it was not unusual to clock 80 hours a week. On days when a deadline loomed, we worked 'back-to-back' and managed to clock 100 hours. We were fastidious about time-sheets and time-keeping. It was part of our 'company culture', so it has to be true. It meant working from 8.30am to a minute before 12 midnight (because the doors locked electronically at midnight), seven days a week. We would take a booked taxi (waiting for us at the bottom of the office block) hom

At what price "development" in China? 750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution Back to Organic-Ally .

Do I want to make lots of money? Yes. But only to give it away. Lofty aim indeed. But a part of me aspires to be the Warren Buffett and Bill Gates of the organic industry so that I could do more for those who need more done for them. This headline Buffett blasts system that lets him pay less tax than secretary really caught my eye. Since when has a rich man ever complained about not paying enough tax? Imagine how different the story of Zacchaes in the Bible would read, "O Lord! These rich people are always demanding to see me to pay me more taxes. What do I do with them?" But of course one could still always give over the untaxed money to a good cause. That way we know exactly where our money goes to and not leave it to fund a war, for example. Is Mr Buffett barking up the wrong tree? Back to Organic-Ally .

I had an annoying experience this morning. Lady from catalogue company phoned. I used to buy from this company when my son was little but have not bought from them for a long time. So she phoned to ask for me. Yeah, that's me speaking. "Could you please confirm your address and post code?" "Why?" I asked. "For security reasons we have to check you are the person we want to speak to to give you some information." "What information?" "For data protection reasons, we're not allowed to say unless we've checked your data." "Well, perhaps I am not interested in that information then?" "OK, thank you for your time." What cheek? To ask for me by name and then to require me to give her personal information so that she could tell me some information I am probably not interested in -- using my time! These checks are not fail-safe any way. Any one (say, a neighbour) could pick up the phone, profess to be so and so. A

I've never been a fan of biofuels. On the surface it is a plausibly greener alternative to fossil fuel. Delve deeper and the same issues about food production being substituted (whether to produce cattle grazing grounds for the hamburger chains or the production of biofuels to run our cars) to the detriment of feeding the poor emerges, and the argument falls apart. So this lot of articles from The Ecologist , together with the following articles from I-SIS, are worth noting: Biofuels for Oil Addicts: Cure Worse than the Addiction Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits Biofuels Republic Brazil The New Biofuel Republics I was watching a TV programme (only because my business mentor mentioned it) where this chap is trying to win a 'tycoon' competition selling a bag to help people manage the plastic bags they carry (so that people would take them back to the supermarkets). Shouldn't the solution be "not use plastic bags" rather than "buyi

The following article caught my attention. Looked down the list to find only the products of one company (Duchy Originals) are regularly found in our household. While we did not buy the Duchy Easter Egg (we found the Divine Fairtrade mini-eggs very tasty and good value) and only bought one Easter Egg for the whole family, we do often buy Duchy sausages which come in waxed paper and just a small band of card round the sausages. We are one of those families that shop with packaging in mind. "It's OK for you," some would say, "if you could afford to buy Duchy." The truth is we save a lot of money simply by cutting out all crisps, fizzy pop, sweets and chocolates. Because what we eat tends to be more expensive, we eat less and appreciate it more. The end-result: a healthier lifestyle. Campaign breakthrough as food giants agree to cut packaging By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Published: 15 June 2007 Timesonline Some of the world's most powerful

It's the not-so-very-nice hay fever season. Thankfully I have yet to run out of hankies as I did last year. Apart from a constantly blocked nose which then occasionally runs like a tap -- but the congestion does not clear up -- this year's effect was felt more in the (teary) eyes and (itching) throat. Basically it's horrid. Worse, son seems to have developed symptoms. He's only seven. A friend said we must move to Spain to get rid of the hay fever symptoms. Truth is, the plan is to spend more holiday time in Singapore. Not so much for the weather (hot, humid, hotter, more humid), but for culture. My son needs to learn more about the culture that his mum grew up in, or at best, some of what she remembers of it. The current Singapore is so different from the one she left 16 years ago. The past two weeks have been horrendously busy. Last week we had a briefing meeting for parents whose sons are going into 'Middle School'. It's a totally new world from Junior Sc

So scientists have established a link between exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's Disease. (See article here .) Am I surprised? I was reminded of this as I was painting a radiator cover for my son's room. The fumes from the paint was giving me a headache. Why was I using this paint? My husband bought it, is my lame excuse. That is another story I shall not go into. There are so many things we use these days which are purportedly for our good, to make our houses look and smell nice. But the cost to human health during its production process and its lifetime cannot be ascertained. As I was painting the walls of my son's room -- this time with more eco-friendly paint -- I was reminded of the scene I witnessed in Guangzhou (China) in the mid-1980s when China was just opening up. There in the middle of a very busy street I saw Chinese workers painting the railings by a kerb using some rags which they dipped into the paint with their bare hands. I dread to think what the effec

The organic movement is often hijacked by large corporations seeking to make profits from what is clearly a fast-growing sector. I was appalled to read about factory-farmed milk being labelled as 'organic' in the US of A. See article here . Back to Organic-Ally .

Mum used to have this habit of working on her sewing machine between all her essential chores (buying food from the fresh market, cooking lunch, serving lunch, cooking up the fatty leftovers from my father's market stall into lard -- very popular with the char kway teow sellers -- and going to the bank to bank his takings and getting his float ready for the following day) and cooking the evening meal. When I say 'sewing' I don't mean anything fanciful. Mum used to cut up tiny bits of scrap cloth into rectangles. She would then match these up in size, roughly, and pile them up. Then she sat at her treadle sewing machine to sew these bits two by two together into a long, long line, not cutting the thread in between to save on thread. If two bits did not fit together nicely after sewing, they were trimmed into a rectangle. Now armed with larger rectangles, she again arranged these bits two by two together again into a neat pile. She would then sew another long line of rec

Nice lady phoned to check up on the state of our conservatory roof blinds. We had these installed several years ago when the conservatory was added to give us extra room. This room, south-facing, has been great in being my 'drying room'. I didn't have to wait for sunny days to hang out the washing in the garden or use the tumble dryer any more. Whatever the weather, my clothes dry nicely -- if into a hard thing -- on the clothes-horse in the conservatory. "What about the window blinds? We have new blinds on offer. We are having a special sale." No, thanks. My curtains -- very expensive to make to order -- are doing its job very well. "But there is a special sale on, up to 25% discount." I understand, but what do I do with my perfectly good made-to-measure curtains? I explained to her that it is not eco-friendly just to exchange these curtains for new blinds simply because there is a special offer on. Why buy/use something new when the old ones are servin

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Singapore (and America and the rest of the world). UK's 'Mothering Sunday' follows the (Anglican) Church calendar and comes a few weeks before Easter. Tomorrow would be eight years since my mother died. I'd been married eight months. I had just completed a first draft of my PhD thesis, writing a chapter in two weeks, about nine hours every day, Monday to Friday. I planned to visit her in Singapore in June, but when news came that she was unwell and had been in Intensive Care again, we decided that I'd fly back a month earlier. While I was in Singapore she got well enough to leave the hospital, but only for a couple of days, if that. I soon had to order a private ambulance to rush her back to the university hospital where all her records were. Dialing emergency service would mean her being taken to the nearest hospital on the wrong side of the island and that was no good to her. I spent most days by her side, reading my drafts of con

My husband alerted me to Steve Biddulph's response to the report that nursery places are being shunned by mothers. Back to Organic-Ally .

Someone responded to my last letter in the press and my response was published on 5th May 2007. Spread the 3R message - reduce, reuse, recycle MR CHIA Hern Keng raised a very good question to my letter, 'Live without plastic bags? Here's how it can be done' (ST, April 28) about whether biodegradable bags are any better. I, too, have my doubts. Older versions of degradable bags require light to degrade. So putting these in landfill is no good. Newer bags made from corn starch are touted as a greener alternative. Between the devil and the deep blue sea, however, the biodegradable bag is 'better' than the conventional. But I think it woeful that food that can be grown to feed the starving millions is used instead to feed our insatiable habits for convenience. By the same token, I think it is undesirable that bio-fuels are promoted as the alternative to fossil fuels. It is not ethical that even more (subsistence farmers on little family plots) will starve as their lands

Or boys who know their recycling As I wrote to my customers in our occasional newsletter: "For the first time in a while I had a load of washing plastered in shredded paper. My son quickly owned up. Well, it was his seventh birthday and we had taken him and his best friend to a theme park. Every time they were given something to eat and drink they examined the containers to look for the 'recyclable' sign. "They are studying recycling in their Science topic this term. These little boys can now tell me, 'It says PET and a number one, so it can be recycled.' Not bad. They kept collecting containers to take to the school for their sorting exercise. At some point, son decided to keep the 'recyclable' serviette that was wrapped round his ice-cream cone. "It was my fault really for not checking those pockets." The truth is I take for granted that only cloth hankies are used in this house that I've become quite lax (is that the right word) in che

This is my letter published in the Singapore Straits Times Forum page on 28th April 2007. 'Rubbish chutes' are hollow columns in high-rise flats in Singapore. Each flat has a 'flap-door' in the kitchen wall through which rubbish is disposed. The rubbish falls through these columns/chutes into a bin at ground level and these bins are emptied (usually by foreign workers) every morning. With the advent of plastic bags in the 1970s, Singaporeans have been asked to put their rubbish in plastic bags to reduce the amount of cleaning required in these chutes. Live without plastic bags? Here's how it can be done FROM some letters on the use of plastic bags, it appears that some Singaporeans think the world would end if they didn't get their 'free' plastic bags. And we take our rubbish chutes for granted. Here, in the United Kingdom, where we pay more than £2,000 (S$6,060) in annual council tax (for refuse disposal, etc), I have to sort rubbish into three differe

It's the long-ish Easter break and of course there was no time to blog. But I do know that lots of working mothers have taken advantage of the long Easter weekend to go away with the family. Those who have not been able to take time off, well, their children have been organized to go to Easter camps. Me? I had son about, "Please may I play PSP?" every five minutes or so. He knows the answer is "no, unless ...." but he still tries. Then I have orders to fill, new exciting products to be launched (hopefully), etc. But that is another story. Recent news reports started me thinking -- again -- about the 'to stay or not to stay at home' question. First, an economist EQ in Singapore tried to analyze the cost of mothers staying at home. I found most of his arguments as holey as fishnet tights. But they wouldn't publish my response to his "essay". Then Leslie Bennetts in The Times noted that should a mother decide to stay at home and then face the

Out of the blue a former classmate emailed to say my year group at secondary school has started an online group, please join. So I dutifully did. First I read the posts and was tickled pink by several posts. Us 'old girls' have a great sense of humour indeed. Nostalgia struck as some of us recalled happy and less-than-happy events, but boy! it makes me feel old. But the good thing about the year group is, of course, everyone knows exactly how old you are, and there is no need to pretend to be anything else. It was the Singlish that surprised me. We were in the 'premier school' in Singapore. We were taught to speak 'proper'. And now this bunch of old girls -- 'housewives', teachers, doctors, accountants, etc. -- are speaking/writing a language that we were not allowed to speak. I'm sure these old girls don't speak to their children and business associates like this either. How interesting is that? So I have already been chastised for writing too &

Husband took us to a nice pub for lunch on the Saturday before Mother's Day. He knew we wouldn't be able to get a booking any where for Mother's Day itself. To be honest, I wouldn't like to be stuck at a restaurant on Mother's Day at all. Old couple sat next to us. Old man dropped something under the table. Old wife went, 'O! I guess I would have to crawl underneath there to get it for you.' I wondered if I should have offered to help, but had no idea what he was looking for. (It turned out to be something to do with his diabetes testing equipment, I think.) Finally their family arrived. A daughter came in, 'Happy Mother's Day!' and she never seemed to make eye contact with her mum again. I thought that was a bit odd. Daughter recounted how many awards a son had been given since the last time they spoke. A few of them then disappeared to order their food. Meanwhile Mum was left with daughter's young daughter. And to my horror, Granny made gra

It was good news to wake up to on Monday morning: Today's presenter asked if China was really going green following Prime Minister Wen Jia Bao's pronouncements at the opening of the Chinese parliament. (I didn't actually hear that report as I then had to get on with getting a child off to school.) Critics have often argued: why bother to do anything to 'save' the environment when China and USA do not come aboard? Well, here is a glimmer of hope that something is being done, or will be done, in China. We now await the US to get out of their slumber. The environment issue is a zero-sum game. Something has to give at some time. Resources are limited. It takes a brave politician to go against the tide to say "enough is enough". Sustainaable development requires us to stop plundering and poisoning the earth as we are doing now. Back to Organic-Ally .

I recently wrote this in my occasional newsletter to Organic-Ally customers: “I write this as my son is being taken to the cinema by another parent at school. Since he first went to the cinema as a three-year-old (as a birthday treat for a five-year-old friend) son has refused to return to the cinema because he finds the sound simply too loud. He only agreed to go today because we sent him off with some cotton wool to stuff into his ears. I wonder if you, too, think that cinemas have become too loud for the good of young children (and even adults) these days. I once researched 'noise tolerance and social classes' and learned that extended exposure to loud noise can lead to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). An audiologist I met in Australia said she would NEVER use a 'personal stereo' type of gadget. Part of me also thinks that noise and violence go together. Excessive noise raises certain chemicals in our body which in turn raise our blood pressure, apparently. Tell m

Husband alerted me to this article by Michael Sheridan on Timesonline . It quantifies what we have known for a long time. To China for the holy grail: a price of 99p I particularly like the comment by Russell Brocklehurst which follows the article. The point is: do we need to buy all those things that are being hawked at 'cheap' shops, websites and auction sites? Who pays the price of the poor health which the young factory girls suffer in return for the pittance they are paid so that we can have our trinkets? We must begin to retreat from living in this disposable world before these non-biodegradable 'disposables' bury us ... literally. Back to Organic-Ally .

Oliver James calls for an effort to "raise the status of the parental role" because presently "being a stay-at-home mother has a lower one than that of streetsweeper". OJ is right in that stay-at-home mothers (SAHMs) have a very low status and possibly even lower self-esteem. And, following from previous post , this is part of the reason middle-class familes are disintegrating. His 'affluenza virus' theory applies most to this class of people, I think. Middle-class families are falling apart because the desire for material goods means that couples often lock themselves into a financial bind which requires both of them to work full-time. A stay-at-home parent (even part-time) is no more an option. Or couples believe that they are so well-trained and well-educated that it will be a real pity should either leave their profession or career (but less so 'job') to concentrate on child-rearing. So childcare is farmed out as much as is possible. Children gr

First there was Jamie Oliver (JO) telling us about what to feed our children -- good on him -- and now Oliver James (OJ) tells us what my husband and I have believed in for a long time: children should be looked after by their own parents. OJ coined the term "affluenza virus" which causes victims to place "a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame" (see Times article here ). He puts this down to the legacy of both Thatcherism and "Blatcherism" (never heard that one before, does he really deserve an 'ism'?) Is there anything new in what OJ is saying? Listen to the writer in Ecclesiastes: there is nothing new under the sun. Or to borrow another cliche: the writing's on the wall. It would seem logical -- to me as a social scientist any way -- that excessive consumerism (that was what we used to call it) would lead inevitably to the type of symptoms now so obvious and making OJ's thesis so credible. Back in

This morning found me trudging off to the hospital again, this time having drunk nearly two pints of water. I couldn't get through the whole two pints. It was making me feel quite ill and I felt like throwing up. Then I found myself shaking, as the cold water made its way into deeper parts. I had been recalled so that the sonographers could decide whether or not I actually do have an abnormal womb (see another post ). Bus journey and a long wait at the waiting room later, and after two other sonographers have had a go at scanning (both external and internal -- ouch!), the opinion was I do not have an abnormal uterus after all. What I have is probably a fibroid growing from where the surgeon had closed me up after a Caesarean-section. I'm not sure if I'm any happier or clearer about the situation. Now we wait for the doctors to decide what could exactly be wrong with me and what therefore should the course of action be. Meanwhile, life goes on. There are customers' order

It's a few cm of snow on the ground and everything grinds to a halt in the UK. Why is it, I ask myself, that if our Scandinavian friends can cope with much more snow and higher summer temperatures, etc, that when weather conditions deviate slightly towards 'extreme', nothing works on this island? Husband had a text from London Underground to say the station is closed due to 'unsafe platforms'. They knew it was going to snow and yet these platforms have not been made safe. Somewhere further down the line a faulty train was holding up the system and had been since early morning for I don't know how long. At his 'alternative' station trains were running late as well due to 'adverse weather'. Knock-on effects? Son's school is closed. We were already warned about this yesterday. The fact is a number of teachers and children depend on public transport to get in. Our roads were also not gritted, making it quite unsafe for children to be walking alon

Suffolk this time. In a factory farm. Am I surprised? Not the least bit. See Bird farms, bird flu Hopefully, more people will begin to realize the dismal conditions that these cheap supermarket birds are reared and think about better animal welfare and stop buying cheap-cheap-cheap all the time. At this factory farm, there's no more chip-chip-chip. See previous blog . Back to Organic-Ally .