FARM LIKE A HERO EXPERIENCE an update in these unusual days

So new calves arriving in the nighttime. Vegetable seeding is all underway. Beautiful sunny days we're having at the moment and I just wanted to make a video updating what's going on right now at the farm and a bigger update about the farm, like a hero experience that we will be launching soon. I want to tell you all about that in the wake of the coronavirus outbreaks that are really shutting down Europe right now. Is it tickling? Yeah. What are you doing? That little tiki. Gently, gently with him. Don't squeeze it, Clover. Me things you have to do at night time. This little calf's just been born. But Clover May always kicks up a fuss so we're just making sure he gets colostrum. She's always been a bit jumpy with her calves. Yes. Look at this cutie pie came last night. Looks beautiful. Very big calf compared to the other one. Cows have weathered it out in the old larch plantation during the winter. These two young ones, this is Viola and Clover May's daughters. They've not cuffed before and they're a bit more jumpy so it's going to be interesting to see how, how they go. We've had problems with Clovermay's calf getting on the teat so that's why they've got little halters on so we can help assist them. But they all seem fine now. But it's going to be interesting with these two. But they're looking forward to grass again. We've been bale feeding them in here to give them good protection over the winter. Skansen. So this is the father Skansen for the, the calves here. Skansen. We're very lucky because he actually is called Skansen because he came from Skansen, which is like an old open air museum in Stockholm. It's like showcasing old buildings and ways of life around Sweden. So Skansen's been used to just thousands of people passing him all the time. He's a big softy, aren't you Skansen? And so we're very lucky that both our ram and our bull are so soft. Especially when people coming here that are new to having contact with such big animals. He's a Fyoku thoroughbred. So same breed as our beautiful cows. Then they go and check the calves. Yeah, she's. So right now the calf is. She's still kicking away. So what we're trying to do is just make sure the calf gets to the other a bit. Yeah. So we made sure she got colostrum last night. But we're just making sure that they bond well now so that they settle in together. And so clever. May's always done this with her previous calves, but they tend to get on fine after we just get them joined together nicely. You see her raising her leg a luck. And I don't think she has any discomfort or anything. I think it's just the way she is. She has a little jumpy disposition.

I don't think she's hungry. You know what I do? I can show you how I do it. One trick is to like stand like this, push on the cow to put the weight to kind of be kind of form of like, I'm gonna have milk. Squeeze some milk out. Squeeze milk into your hand and put it to the calf's.

Mouth.

And if he would be. She would be hungry. She would start to suckle my hand, you know, like. And then I can just lead her all the way to the. To the tit. But she's not suckling my hand, which I think she's not really. She's drinking the milk. I think she's been drinking.

Yeah, I think so. Not hungry? She's big. It's already looking quite full in here. Spring onions coming up. That's beautiful. There's quite a lot more seedlings. Come on now. I'm gonna pop these tomatoes up very soon. Get them in 10 by 10 centimeter trays. So all is well at the farm and seems like we'll get a team together in the end. Now the coronavirus situation is just beginning in many ways. And we've already seen huge disruptions to things going on in Europe as well as the rest of the world. And it's very uncertain time. It's already affecting a bunch of our friends, small businesses. And I'm more concerned, to be honest, about the economic impacts, longer term of this problem and who knows where that's going. It's going to be a disaster for so many people, really. I've been thinking a lot about the tour experience that I wanted to do this year. And everyone seems to be very excited about. And there were a few reasons I wanted to do the tour. One was to see the impact of the work we've had helping inspire many people get started and many emulating the techniques and approaches that we have been promoting here. But a big part of the trip for me was to connect people and create community amongst Europeans. Particularly because it seems to be quite lacking. I've mentioned in other videos a lot of people here look to the States for information. But we have so many unsung heroes here in Europe. Who are grafting away, doing amazing stuff. And I know about a bunch of them and I'm sure there are even more that I'm not aware of. And so a big part of what I wanted to do was shine light on people that don't perhaps have such a big platform and to celebrate our farmers, the people who are doing the right thing and farming in a way that builds community, builds soil and habitat and produces epic quality food. And I still really want to do that. So this situation with the virus is obviously changed a lot and it's not clear to me and to anyone what's going to transpire this year. But I have had some thoughts. I want to share a bit about that now. It's obviously been a huge amount of prep already going into creating this trip, and it's been really hard to like come to the reality that it might not happen. So I've been thinking a lot for the last couple of weeks as I watch this situation unfold, what I might do. Now. It's not obvious to me or to anyone, I suspect, how the summer will unfold. And I think the draconian sort of measures, the closures and shutdowns of our European countries are a good idea. And I think it's important that we all take heed of what the governments and science is saying and self isolate and keep distance, etc. I think that's really important. And if we look at countries who have stabilized their, their infection rates, then it's very clear that these measures seem to work. Now, I'm not here to discuss topics that I do not have enough information about, but what I perceive is a possibility that the trip could go ahead later in the year. Now, a bunch of people following the channel have suggested, why don't I just postpone this to next year? But it's not so simple. To leave the farm for a summer is unprecedented for me. And this is my lifeblood and work and home. So it's not so easy for me to just leave for the whole summer. In fact, it's unlikely I'll ever do that again. So it fits in this year in the context of how we've planned. And I don't think it would fit to do that next year, for example. But what I suspect is potentially the actions that people are taking now, as long as people sustain those in a vigilant way, is that come a couple of months from now, we could see case rates really stabilizing. And that's what scientists are hoping we do to keep the pressure off the health systems in our countries. And then it will be a case of leveling out and waiting for some kind of vaccine or whatever it is. I don't want to get into it. I've been following this a lot and I, you know, I'm reading a lot of different sources and I don't want to get into debates about it. I'm not interested. I'm following everything I can about the situation. But what I foresee is that because my trip was split up into multiple parts, the first part was down in Spain and Portugal, and it was quite separate from the rest of the trip. So that's obviously out the question right now. And then I was coming back to the Farm for the Joel Salatin masterclass. Now we've moved that now to August, and it's really great to connect with Joel and just find a way to try and keep that rolling if possible. Now, obviously that's up in the air whether it's definitely going to happen, but it seems more possible then. But then my next part of the trip was starting in about two months from now, and there is a possibility in two months from now it will be possible to travel. And I think that if that's possible and the borders are open, then I might well do that. Now, I don't want to say anything controversial and I don't want lots of response is advising me what to do. I'm paying attention and I'm going to make the right decision. But I am an isolated case where I'll be literally traveling from farm to farm without contacting other people in between. And so if the situation supports that, then I intend to do the second leg of the trip. That would see me going down through Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France, and then over to England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, before taking the ferry back to Holland and driving up home on the Keel to Gothenburg ferry. And then I'm back here for a training, if that can run. And then I'll be going off up on a big loop through Norway, north of Sweden, through Finland, and then back down to the sort of central part of Europe for the rest of the tour. And that runs August until end of September, early October. So I'm back at the Farm. It's planned. I'm back at the Farm for the whole of July. Anyway. Now none of that might be possible. So I've been thinking a lot about what I would do. So right now my intention is, if it's possible to run that part of the trip, I will do so. If it's only possible to run the very last bit, I probably wouldn't. So I've been considering what I would do and how important it is to do, and I really feel like it's super critical now that we really connect up, we really tighten our community up, because as many people have pointed out, food producers are only more important in situations like this. And it really highlights it. And I think the coming economic pressures that are going to face our countries will highlight that even further. And as I said, I'm more concerned about those things than the actual virus itself. And I'm not underplaying the significance and danger of the virus, but I think what's going to happen in terms of long term economic shutdown is going to be far more pervasive through our health Systems, Social Systems, etc. And who knows where that's going. I don't claim to know anything about that, but I can foresee certain things. And so what I've come to is I would like to create the farm like a hero experience and I would like to do that with you all. And I think there's a lot of benefit that can be gained from that. So I've considered starting a podcast and running interviews with all those farmers to share their stories and put that out in a podcast format because I know a lot of people love to listen while they're working. And I really want to shine light on these people that are doing amazing work that you probably won't have heard of Mohsin before. This is not a tour to go visit places that you've all heard of, seen on YouTube before, etc. It's a time to go and connect with people that you haven't heard of, who are doing amazing work, who perhaps you should have heard of. And what I'm doing is collaborating with a Danish lady and we are working to create a package that produces a lot more benefit than I can on my own. So we're going to set up a hub experience that's going to be very low cost. It'll be the price of a coffee per month or something like this that everyone can get involved with if they want to. And we're going to create a book out of all of the different farmers we meet, looking at all their data and the do's and don'ts, so that we have something tangible to share. Certainly amongst Europe, of all the small farms and their different approaches and how it looks in different countries and how people have dealt with regulations and all this important stuff that will be a PDF book is the plan at the moment. It won't be a printed hard copy. And then we're also going to create a hub, like an online forum dedicated for people to connect around country, specific regulations, tool choices, sharing information and sources and all that sort of stuff. And I will be visiting there once or twice a week to do questions and answers, but it will be in a type format. My collaborator is going to help to collate questions and organize and manage that experience to make the learning hub as potent as possible. And so that's going to be a portal where we can really ramp up the connections. And that's going to include the possibility to put out services that you can offer, land you can offer, or land you're looking for, or jobs, offers and all that sort of stuff. Because I feel like that's really missing in the European Community. So we're going to launch more about that soon. It's going to be a low cost way to create something really beneficial out of this project. And the worst case scenario is that I will end up making a podcast series for the rest of the year. There'll be a lot of high quality information and you'll learn about a lot of new places. And I really like the ebook idea because it really brings a visual sense into this. And of course nothing compares with going to farms and filming them because images translate millions of words, as it were, and I'm a firm believer of that. And I will do that from mid May if it's possible. And I will not be naive and not take risks that aren't appropriate. I'm not willing to risk my health for that. But a lot can change in the next month, so we'll see. And that's where I'm sitting with it now. If it's possible to do that part of the tour and then catch up with the people in Spain and Portugal to do on podcasts later, that's fine. If not, we will launch the tour and run it as a podcast all the way through and produce hundreds of hours of really cool information and sharing, as well as the ebook, the learning Hub, and questions and answers really regularly with me. And I feel like this is a good path forward and we're going to do the right thing. But it's a way that we can really connect and stay in touch, especially in these times when people's sales models and strategies are going to have to change quite dramatically. It's unforeseen circumstances for all of us, but it's important we stick together as small business owners and farmers to find solutions. And I think so much benefit can come out of this time, however catastrophic it is in other ways, because it's going to force creativity and innovation, and we want to help support as many of you as we can with that. So that's all for my updates. Let us know what you think if you'd be interested in that, and we'll let you know as soon as we know more about that. Until then, see you in the next video. Bye for now.