Boldly going where no Duck has gone before!

welcome to my first blog post!

My inspiration for starting this blog came a few weeks ago after a night out at a comedy club in Haverhill, Sitting in the front at a stand up show is never a good idea, especially when you are (as was pointed out by my good friend and comedy club veteran Mr A,) slightly on the chunky side and wearing shorts and sandals and a purple t-shirt, sure enough within five minutes the opening act asked my profession to which i naturally replied 'farmer' the conversation went a little like this,

C -'what do you farm?'

Me - 'ducks'

C - 'No seriously, what do you farm?'

Me - 'ducks'

- long pause -

C - 'Really?'

Me - 'yes'

- Another long pause -

C - 'Ducks?'

i think you get the gist now. he did eventually recover from his shock and at least the first ten minutes of his set was concentrated on me, in fact each of the three acts managed to include me in some way. the manager of the venue was to later tell me that he had never seen a comedian completely speechless before. I do tend to have this effect on people!

I am for the next four days at least, 29. i have been married for the last 8 years to the long suffering Mrs G. we have four (at times) delightful kids aged 1, 3, 5 and 7.

Over the last few years i have farmed pigs, ducks, livery horses, Tilapia (a type of fish) other business i have or have had are storage units, commercial units, double glazing firm, equine contracting, consulting and i am sure there are others that i have forgotten! this last year i have been awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship which allows me to travel around the world studying farming and to research my particular subject which is titled 'Surviving the Learning Curve of farm Diversification' i have this year toured South Africa and Australia visiting entrepreneurs and farmers.

I am, and it comes as no surprise to those who know me, an absolutely rubbish farmer. Things i look after (apart from ducks) seem to die. My ability to write cars off with a teleporter is legendary, two vans and a clients 4x4 have so far fallen foul my reversing skills, worse still is the fact that i actually parked the vans myself thirty seconds before running them over, imagine filling out that insurance claim form, driver of vehicle A - er.. Me. Driver of vehicle B - er... me again. the box 'who in your opinion was responsible for the accident' was actually surprisingly easy to fill out!

I have found that farming gives me the amazing ability to make myself look very silly without any trouble at all, but it also gives you a very different outlook on life to people who are crammed in an office for eight hours a day, i may have to deal with moaning horsey girls (the idea when i started the equine business of having a farm full of hotties in jodphurs was very quickly dispelled) but i also get to be my own boss and spend my days in the beautiful British countryside.

i will bring you the highs and lows of farm life in my future blogs so please read and enjoy!