As another voice actor does a bunk in the night, is he watching them all with the eyeeeeeee .... of the TIGER? Bring back Matt unadulterated to The Archers NOW.

[PseudoBadger]

This is too much for me now. I need to meditate.

That Grocer article says Aldi & Lidl don't sell organic meat - but I'm not aware that the big stores sell much/any either???

Today's Guardian article on dairy farmers is fascinating but not on the website yet so can't link. But it does mention that farmgate price was 32.5p a litre in May & only 'around 20p' now which is appalling

There's also a graph showing a decline of nearly 50% in dairy priducers from c 20,000 in 2001 to 10,000 now, which is tragic

It's ludicrous that TA hasn't mentioned this

Also, the herd on the farm featured in the Guardian piece has tested positive for TB - remember Lonely Cow?

What a nightmare life. Poor buggers

oh thanks, Araminta!

I searched on all sorts of names & terms & it wouldn't come up (that was on phone mind you )

It is a really good piece (but very depressing)

katie I remember R being there before J and the speculation and the meetings. Including her meeting Hellin. But I was sure there was some conversation where she said Ambridge was so lovely and everyone was so nice and Rob said he didn't want to live and work have his wife and ow in the same place and they should look for somewhere nearby. Was that a place to buy?

Yes, I think so, mink. Rob was panicking about his affair with Helen, although he'd dumped her at that point, and thought that moving farther afield was a good idea.

IMO he's getting to the point where he might lose his temper and thump Helen. Who is as deluded as ever, of course, and basically quite delighted to see Ambridge Organics run into the ground. Even though it was Pat and Tony who put up the cash for the shop in the first place. Granted, Pat has other things on her mind at the moment, but finances must be tight again for them, although that hasn't been mentioned. It wasn't so long ago that they were facing financial ruin and since then Tony's had a heart attack and then been gored by the bull, both meaning long periods of not working. Plus Tom was away for several months. Is Peggy finally going to throw some cash their way?

Can't believe I'm worrying about TA first thing on a Sunday morning. But this:

Is Peggy finally going to throw some cash their way?

has prompted some wondering.

It was incredibly stupid of Peggy to promise money - consequent upon her death - to people she thought were (comparatively) struggling. If BF finds itself short of money they only need to loosen the carpet at the top of her stairs ...

More seriously - I've been missing all those cosy chats that Tom and Peggy used to have. He always came away several thousand pounds richer.

And I'm unclear about the exact source of Tom's income atm. He gave up the pigs. BF must be paying Neil a salary to manage them - so he can't have that. Surely some portion of whatever he earned in Canada must have gone towards paying the wedding debts? What are we supposed to assume?

And where the hell is Maurice? (Answer: bunked up in a hidey hole with Matt - making a bonfire of priceless paintings to see them through the snow, gorging himself silly on burnt sausages and Château Margaux ...)

Is Tom living at Bridge Farm? The finances there are never very transparent, but is he a partner? In which case he could just take 'drawings'. In any case, his food would be coming out of Pat's kitchen, maybe any travelling is done in a farm vehicle, and so he only needs the odd tenner to go to the pub, and we haven't actually heard him go out much.

theonewith yes I think the big 4 supermarkets do sell organic meat, Sainsburys certainly do and I'm sure Waitrose would.

My American friends are always surprised at how much organic food you can buy in an ordinary supermarket. Tesco, sainsburys and waitrose all sell organic meat ime.

I don't think Tom needs an income as he is living at home and he's mucking in to the family business.

Helen's attitude to the shop really annoys me! Shows are to be an absolute idiot. You don't build up a business and then just abandon it to a manager because you have stuff going on in your personal life that isn't particularly time consuming (and angsting with rob about Jess could easily be done in the store room). I know she is succumbing to robs influence but it is daft. Sound like Tom isn't having it though so hopefully he will sort it out v

I was wondering last night where Tom was living. And what happened to all his stuff at the old house.

BF has 4 partners: Tony, Pat, Helen and Tom. They all used to draw a salary - and tony was always moaning to Tom about this and the fact that he spent so much time with the pigs. However, no mention was ever made of the fact Helen took extended maternity leave (while at the same time living at BF and making sure P&T did copious amounts of babysitting). It was seen as wondrous if she made a pot of soup! Helen has now withdrawn totally from doing anything at the farm or the shop (although she may make the odd cheese now and then). Presuably as a partner she is still entitled to her share of the profits even if she doesn't do any actual work?

Which begs the question: does BF make a profit? If so, how?

Oh yes - I agree Tom isn't in need; board and lodging at home, family business, transport etc - but I'm perhaps overly curious about how the SWs see his official financial position. (I'm sure it wouldn't have been discussed at BF while everyone's busy with other things.)

I want to know what happened with

Catheridge Hall: how does on the day cancellation work, did it all come out of the £15,000 (?) he had in advance from Peggy? Was Kirsty left in any debt?

The new build mansion: can't recall if they'd exchanged or just paid deposit.

The financial state of the pig business?

Etc, etc. I know we'll never be told.

Sorry x'ed.

Back to milk (omnibus this morning).
I wish someone would market majority grass-fed but otherwise conventionally produced milk. I would buy it as first choice. Grass fed = better welfare & Omega-3s in the milk & conventional = still using iodine on the milking machines (I need more iodine in my diet, anyway). The Milk marketing folk are missing a trick here.

I'm pretty sure Tom's financial position wouldn't have been discussed at BF regardless of the circumstances, because P&T don't really seem to bother about him, pouring all their worry/concern into "doggedly independent" Helen and her general inability to cope.

TBF, Pat was concerned about Tom after the wedding, but Tony was just furious with him. The scripts at the time made it clear Tom was having some sort of breakdown, but Tony was wholly unsympathetic and unsupportive. Tom made it clear he felt he was second to John and never good enough - and now John's son has entered the scene, with Tony being a doting grandfather to him, which seems like it could be setting up a long-term SL for Tom. Then again, it will probably just be forgotten about.

Hello, I'm another ex-mustardlander finally forced out of lurkdom by the current storylines. The David and Ruth thing is just infuriating isn't it? They don't bother to assess the costs of converting the Northumberland farm over to dairy and then throw a tanty when the current owners don't offer to meet all the costs, yet are pushed by their bossy and rude daughter into purchasing a hugely expensive new milking system because they apparently have money to burn! (Sorry, Worlds longest sentence there). I remember Keri Davies getting cross when David and Ruth were referred to as the Dopey Duo, but this story shows just how dopey they really are.

On the other hand, I'm loving Kate. As a pp said, you can see exactly how she has developed from the 'old' Kate over the years. I'm also enjoying the Helen situation, in fact I started listening again because of it (stopped when Helen was pregnant as I couldn't bear to listen to her horrible behaviour). If this storyline was happening to anyone I knew in real life I'd be sad and frightened for them but I reckon the fictitious Helen deserves a bit of angst. I hope it doesn't get violent though.

doggedly independent" Helen and her general inability to cope.

I think Tom admitted when he came back from Canada it wasn't really a breakdown he was just being a selfish twat.

The pigs all went horribly wrong because of the wrong feed thing and had to be sold to cover losses i thought. And then the cows bought.
I think though the BF finances were generally in a good state after sale of herd as they were talking about putting it into a pension and Tom wanted it to buy stuff.

What happened to the ready meals? And the unit?

lljkk check out freerangedairy.org . I think its pretty small at the moment but it is the kind of thing you mean I think. We are grass based but there is no one processor for this kind of producer as yet. I'll let you into a secret though: organic producers are allowed to use iodine based teat dips. Its a welfare / hygiene thing.

Just caught up.All the farming stuff is baffling to me, none of them seem very business like, and yes what happened to the Sausage Empire? I am enjoying the avaricious side of the Archers, mark my words, there will be mass grumpiness. Boop point, I like Plod

thanks for inf about organic meat, dfw - our local Tesco & Sainsburys are both pretty small, so possibly don't stock it (or not much) - anyway I'd never noticed any.

I do hope that the Matt running off with all Lilian's cash storyline is not a weak plot device to throw Lilian and James into the fray jostling for Peggy's cash. Surely she'd have ring fenced her own Bellamy estate money?

BOOP point- Jolene reminding us about Mike and Vicky's dancing skills. And I also liked the Roy/Tom conversation where they both lamented how shit they were with women.

I think they sold off the ready meals business, didn't they? And they lost the deposit on the house but hadn't exchanged contracts.

DFW: Thanks for link.

There really ought to be a way to develop this product.

This story gave me cause for concern. Iodine seems like it ought to be fine with organic processing.

Just caught up as well.
Thanks for new thread
Thanks to DairyFarmersWife who seems to have been co opted on as our official milk marketing board expert ( I hope she doesn't mind!) I really enjoy reading her info about dairy farming, my DD is studying agriculture & DFW's input enables me to have a reasonable conversation with DD.
I have written a Haiku- woke up & jotted it down, it's next to my bed. I'll post on here later.

BOOP point- I like Plot as well, esp his accent.
Kate is well annoying, so this is a boop point too as she makes TA more enjoyable.
Hope whoever mooted that Matt is 'disappeared 'for his & Pusscat's benefit is right- I miss him.
Rob's justification re not having a DNA test makes no sense at all.