A Taste of the Good Life

The Soil Association has teamed up with Stony 'Yogurt on a Mission' to launch, A Taste of the Good Life, a series of Master Classes taking place throughout 2008 on over 100 Soil Association organic farms across the UK.

Offering over 20 different courses, farmers and artisan producers are throwing open their land, fields, barns and businesses to budding bee and hen-keepers; candle-stick, jam, butter and sausage-makers; yarn-spinners, hedge-layers and willow-weavers. There’s a ‘new old skill’ for anyone and everyone who’s ever had a hankering for the ‘good life’. And if you join the Soil Association, you get your Master Class for free.

Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association, said:
“This is a wonderful opportunity for people to come onto organic farms, meet artisan producers and get hands-on experience of a huge range of useful skills. More and more people want to know where their food comes from, how it is produced – and for many that leads on to wanting to try it themselves, whether it’s taking on an allotment, keeping a couple of hens in the back-yard or growing carrots in a window-box. The emphasis of these Master Classes is very much on enjoyment and personal satisfaction, but there’s a serious objective too, that will benefit the country as a whole. The skills people learn and the insights they gain into how our food is produced are also essential for equipping ourselves for a more sustainable, less energy dependent food and farming future. “

Gary Hirshberg, Stony CEO and MD of Stony Europe, commented:
“Our mission here at Stony is to save the planet one step at a time, through organic, self-sustaining, and healthy behaviour, and we believe the best way to do this is by teaching people simple eco-friendly skills. We are therefore delighted to team up with the Soil Association, to help future generations learn the skills we previously took for granted.”

The ‘Master Classes’ are also intended to help attract more people into agriculture as a first-time occupation or a career change, reversing the long decline in the UK agricultural workforce, with 12 farmers and 37 farm-workers leaving the land on average every day for the past 60 years.

To book online and for details on all the A Taste of the Good Life courses visit: http://www.soilassociation.org/masterclasses