http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog A blog about rural life in the UK, our countryside and my country life. It's all here, farming, gardening, wildlife, animals and rural dating. Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:31:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/grow-your-own-potatoes-in-containers/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/grow-your-own-potatoes-in-containers/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:38:01 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=711 You don’t need 50 acres to be able to grow your own potatoes, you can grow potatoes in pots or containers on your patio, along the side of your drive or even on a balcony and growing potatoes is not nearly as complicated as most people think. We use large buckets or tubs placed around [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/grow-your-own-potatoes-in-containers/feed/ 12 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/picking-wild-fruit-from-hedgerows-the-rules/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/picking-wild-fruit-from-hedgerows-the-rules/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:45:29 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=690 Picking wild fruit from hedgerows, or foraging as it’s known, is a past-time I’m sure we can all remember from our childhood. The time honoured favourite fruit for picking has always been blackberries and as they are due to ripen later this month I thought I would set out some un-written rules for picking wild [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/picking-wild-fruit-from-hedgerows-the-rules/feed/ 14 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-food-labelling-animal-welfare-groups/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-food-labelling-animal-welfare-groups/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:03:45 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=650 Why would I include animal welfare groups in this series of articles about UK food labelling? In other articles we’ve looked at this issue from the side of food producers and food processors, both are obvious players in the UK food labelling saga. However animal welfare groups, like Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) and the [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-food-labelling-animal-welfare-groups/feed/ 6 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:15:08 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=371 Have you started planning your summer holiday yet or just fancy a relaxing weekend away? There are many reasons why you should consider a farm holiday in the UK rather than going abroad. We are all becoming more aware of the environmental impact of flying abroad for a relaxing break but at this time of [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/feed/ 25 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:30:05 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=368 The media reaction to the 2009 Organic Market Report by the Soil Association, which was released yesterday, has been quite dramatic. I read the report and felt quietly confident that the UK’s organic food market would survive the recession and yet the first headline to hit the internet, 15 hours ago as I type, was [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/feed/ 15 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:14:39 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=278 For any of us that live or just visit the countryside there are few things more depressing than seeing the amount of fly tipped rubbish and discarded plastic carrier bags clinging to trees, bushes and floating in streams and rivers. I think our addiction to the convenience of plastic carrier bags is well shown on [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/feed/ 10 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/fart-tax-and-sheep-burps/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/fart-tax-and-sheep-burps/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:27:02 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=286 I know it is April 1st but this is not an April fools joke, for those who have not been following the story. We probably all remember the frivolity and jokes surrounding the proposed Agricultural Emissions Research Levy in New Zealand in 2003, after they signed up to the Kyoto Protocol. New Zealands proposed answer [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/fart-tax-and-sheep-burps/feed/ 2 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:33:04 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=294 I’m always on the hunt for new blogs to read, tips to try out and photos to go ooo ahhhh at, so I thought I would share some of my best finds with you. Here are a collection of 5 British blogs about allotments and veggie’s, how to grow them (the vegetables, not the allotments) [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/feed/ 16 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:03:37 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=279 Have you ever tried to calculate how far your food has travelled, what the carbon footprint for your food is or thought about the effect of food miles on the environment? Food miles are simply the number of miles your food has to travel from the place of production to your kitchen. Remember many foods [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/feed/ 5 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:00:44 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=240 One of the issues of living on a remote Cumbrian farm is we have to use a septic tank, rather than a modern waste water system. It’s no big deal really, it just sits under one of the fields and the nice chap comes with his tanker every now and again to empty it. However, [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/feed/ 7