rural

Social media: a new farming story

I have an odd relationship with my social media accounts (for the record I use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as WordPress). At times I will use all of them regularly, reaching out to people from all walks of life, engaging in conversations, ‘liking’ endless streams of posts and updating my ‘story’ with myContinueContinue reading “Social media: a new farming story”

#FarmerMentalHealth and Considering Online Therapy

It has been brilliant to see the subject of mental health increasingly embraced within the farming and broader rural community in recent months. On twitter there is a hashtag #FarmerMentalHealth which can be used by anybody wishing to discuss the subject or perhaps link to an interesting story or something to inspire or help others.ContinueContinue reading “#FarmerMentalHealth and Considering Online Therapy”

The Rural Youth Project

I came across the Rural Youth Project in this week’s Farmers Weekly, a small paragraph on p.8, and this led me to their website. In short the RYP is a research project that aims to better understand the current ‘aspirations, opportunities and challenges’ of young people (18-28), mostly in Scotland but also in England, Wales,ContinueContinue reading “The Rural Youth Project”

The Thinkingcountry Countryside Review of 2017

2017 has been another busy and momentous year. The Brexit referendum seems a very long time ago now, way back in 2016, but the events of 2017 have certainly fallen within its shadow. This post looks back on some of the big events of this year, mostly within a countryside context, as well as reflectingContinueContinue reading “The Thinkingcountry Countryside Review of 2017”

One fifth of English farms have disappeared in past 10 years

England’s green and pleasant land: a patchwork quilt of green and gold fields with quaint little villages nestled in between and ancient farms run by families who have worked the land for generations. Is this a true perspective of the English countryside? You and I know that this rose-tinted view is not the reality, norContinueContinue reading “One fifth of English farms have disappeared in past 10 years”