This is the third blog this week for no other reason that silence was created by discovering the fragility of modern life.
The office telephone and broadband connection started to play up a month ago and delivered intermittent or no service over that period. The wonders of broadband have only been with us for a few years but they have become an essential to everyday life. To discover that the infrastructure delivering it is not resilient is frustrating, annoying and results in all manner of friction both within business and home alike. On reflection in the 1980s we lived without it, but the opportunities it has delivered are staggering – lose it and you appreciate it!
There is another aspect of major contributor to modern life under discussion in the farming and political world. Farmers and gardeners use Roundup spray for all manner of weed control. It is a cornerstone. But it is being challenged. The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has said it is safe, but others are not. Farming methods, climate change, food security, feeding a growing global population are all under discussion with big questions unanswered. If Roundup was lost as a tool in agriculture there is current no alternative if we are to produce viable crops with credible yields to keep nations fed. This is a key resource just as antibiotics are in medicine and we need alternatives to provide options for the future.
On more mundane matters – one practical issue out in the field has emerged this winter.
I use a rubber derived soft tape to tie the sea buckthorn plants to stakes to provide support against wind damage through the winter. Being on the coast we have strong winds and an exposed site – even though there are high hedged in the immediate area.
It might be a result of a mild winter and the plants have carried on growing through the season, but some of these supportive cords are becoming trapped and caught in the forks of branches and bark has started to grow over many. It is a minor issue really, but it does mean that as all plants are being weeded and pruned, I am removing all these cords to prevent it becoming a more widespread problem this summer.
That’s it – three blogs is enough for any week.