Food Miles 26

Educations what you want, or that is what I'm told,
Get on in life and see the world, seek your pot of gold.

Food Miles is such a wide area to cover in a few pages, and is skimmed over to give an overall view of the trends of where were going. This is how far we have got just in my lifetime.

Food Miles

On looking back when I was young, all them years ago,

The horse and cart were still about, a lot we didn't know,

Cars and tractors taking over, plenty of fuel they sup,

Fuel brought in from over seas, and local garages set up.

This has snowballed over the years, cannot comprehend,

Where all the traffic's going to, so fast around the bend,

Miles per gallon's going up, so is car's per mile,

Speed is what's on most people's mind, then end up in a pile.

Everything is carried about and often back again,

Out to distribution centres, finding jobs for men,

Wear and tear on tyres and roads, burning up the miles,

Costs all added onto their goods, customer pays up and smiles.

At one time, veg came out the ground, flour came from the mill,

Chickens walked about the yard, pecking happily to get their fill,

A pig was fattened on scraps, from the house and garden,

Talk food miles, it was food yards, when things were all on ration.

Only thing that Mother bought, was cornflakes in a packet,

Then tins of peaches she would buy, from other side the planet,

Had these when bottled fruit ran out, ate with bread and butter,

Wheat was ground at water mill, bread baked next to the butcher.

Packaging's the thing right now, it's wrapped and wrapped again,

Keep the food clean and fresh, or that is what they claim,

Bin through many hands, and machines to wrap and pack,

Getting older by the minute, a use-by date on pack will slap.

Where do you put all the waste produced, pop it in the bin,

Land fill holes are filling up, rotting down n' methane begin,

It all boils own to negligence, in what were doing to our earth,

How it's changing for the worse, all getting bigger round the girth.

On looking where it's going to, well beyond my years,

Food's way down the list to buy, as" farmers" get the jeers,

Bring it all in from abroad, more transport still is needed,

"Look after those who tend our land", make sure this warnings heeded.

Owd Fred

All this in the name of education, a little more thought should be put into basic living and our ability to feed ourselves in the event of shortages. There must be a few people in power who remember rationing, but I recon those that do were not having to live in real poverty, just shortages, and that's the difference. Not enough emphasis put on self sufficiency.

Wrapped and Wrapped Agen

Food miles are talked about, from all around the globe,

Fresh is what they say it is, but had time to gain microbes,

Chilled and travelled round the world, tired it must be when,

It hits the shelves with sell by date, wrapped and wrapped agen.

Fresh is when its local grown, few miles up the road,

Picked and dug same morning, not long to unload,

To the Farmers market, a stall all well set out,

Fresh from our own fields today, that is what we shout.

Owd Fred

Educations What You Want

Educations what you want, or that is what I'm told,

Get on in life and see the world, seek your pot of gold.

More to life than toil and sweat, let others soil there hands,

Let education guide the way, nine till five, five days a week demand.

Over the years most folk done this, for better jobs they travelled,

Men they left the land in droves, off into town they pedalled.

With better money they bought a car, get about much quicker,

Then travelled even further a field, became the city slicker.

Owd Fred

Learning without thought is labour lost, thought without learning is perilousConfucius (551 BC - 479 BC)