international downshifting week 19 - 25 april

“If you are looking for a little help to slow down your pace and enjoy life more, this is the place for you!

Our campaign was formerly known as ‘National’ Downshifting Week. This year, as a result of the strong support we’ve received from around the globe asking if other countries can officially ‘join in’, we’ve simply decided to rename it
‘InterNational Downshifting Week’!

Now everybody can get involved and form a united and global movement that supports living and working more sustainably and strives for a proper work / life balance!

Our campaign remains packed full of really simple ideas that will help you ’slow down and green up’ and it’s almost time for her 4th outing. I cannot wait to get my teeth into it and this year I’ll be working hard to keep my carbon footprint down to a minimum. I hope to enthuse you with ideas on the many ways you can slow down and green up in your home, community, business and school.

So keep an eye on our website and Green Family Blog for further details and good luck with your own personal downshift!”

Tracey Smith

Creator of InterNational Downshifting Week

herb spiral two years on

Well at least I think it’s about two years old I can’t quite remember now. Anyway seen as this is my most viewed post I thought I would show some photos of even though I’m not still living here anymore.

There is still plenty of room for improvement. There are loads of gaps still which i used to use for annuals but would be better served by more perennials. I wish I’d never put the lemon balm in, other than the beautiful aroma I’ve never used it and it takes over the whole bloody thing by the summer. the rocket comes back year after year and if picked regular is manageable. The borage is also too large but the slugs harvest most of that so I don’t have too. Nice of them.

Other than that though everything does very well with little or no maintenance. I think I’ll shift the tree onions onto the spiral this should help then to not spread all over but then it’s on it’s own. Can you ever really give a garden up?

Ben Law - Grand Designs vote

Hello

Channel 4 is asking viewers to vote for their favourite 25 Greatest Grand Designs.

The programme’s celebrity fans, tv critics and experts all have their view, but there is also a public vote.

If you have seen the programme featuring our author Ben Law we would love you to visit the Grand Designs site today and vote for Ben’s remarkable woodland house design and build.

Visit the link below, which has a summary of each of the programmes, and register your vote for Ben’s home at SUSSEX: THE WOODSMAN’S COTTAGE:
www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/Grand-Designs-Awards/2008/Vote

The results will be unveiled during Grand Designs Live television event on Channel 4 from May 4th-9th.

Visit Ben’s website (www.ben-law.co.uk) for the latest details of his Open Days, courses, books and news.

Eco house video

Nottingham Eco-Home - Penney Poyzer

check out her TV program no waste like home too.

trees for the future

50 Million Trees and Counting: Trees for the Future

safari concession threatens Hadza tribe

This is not directly to do with me but it is something that is close to my heart so if you hav enever heard of survival international then shame on you, no you should really check it out, give it a look and see what you think.

Hundreds of Hadza hunter-gatherers face eviction from their ancestral lands if a foreign safari company is given a hunting concession on their land.

Tanzania UAE Safari Ltd, which is reportedly backed by members of the United Arab Emirates royal families, is negotiating with the government of Tanzania for a concession of 3,975 sq kms in the Yaida Valley, where Hadzabe (‘Hadza people’) have lived for millenia.

If the hunting concession is approved, the Hadzabe will lose access to crucial food sources such as game and wild tubers. They are likely to become destitute, with devastating consequences for their life expectancy and general wellbeing.

Last month two Hadzabe activists were arrested when they attended a meeting with local officials to voice concerns over the deal and its impact on their tribe. They were later released.

The Hadzabe are reported to be trying to seek a sustainable solution with all parties concerned, which respects the tribe’s land rights and way of life.

The Hadzabe number between 1,500 and 2,000 people. They are one of Africa’s oldest tribes and speak a click language like the Bushmen.

As they are hunter–gatherers, adequate land and natural resources are essential to their survival. Until the 1950s they survived entirely by hunting and gathering. Living in small mobile camps, they had no ‘chiefs’ or formal political organisation.

Tanzania’s government has made repeated attempts to settle the Hadzabe in villages and get them to take up farming. Today, most Hadzabe people live in settlements, inside their distinctive grass huts, but they still move off into bush camps to find food.

No Hadzabe farming has been successful, unsurprisingly, since the hot, dry climate is unsuitable for it. One Hadza elder told Survival, ‘No Hadzabe ever died of hunger when we had our land. But now that so much of our land has been taken and is still being taken, many Hadzabe are hungry.’

National liftshare day

water crisis

Got up this morning to find that there is not water!! this is the second time this year, which may not seem much to some people around the world but it the first time this has happened since I’ve lived here for 9 years. It really makes you think about how much we rely on such basic services like water sewerage electric and gas. We never give them a thought untill they are not available.

If the peak oil projections are true will this be the future of our general services? I was totally unprepared this time and I’m the sort of person who knows what should be done and how to do it but for those who are blissfully unaware of the reality of daily life they must be in a panic.

I can flush the toilet with water from the water butt as well as giving some to the dogand cat . I could also spend ages boiling it for us but I think that I’ll just go down to the shop for now. The worst part is my little boy has an awful cold and I want him to drink lots of fluids, it’s just another reminder of how prepared we all could be but never bother to think about.

Water is the worst service to be without, electric and gas I can do without for quite a while but water is hard to substitute. If our future requires a more resilient daily life then today has taught me a valuable lesson and no I’m not one of crazy doom scenario people just a realist who would like to be prepared for all eventualities.

I’m just pissed off that I can’t have a cup of tea…………………..

thinking of doing a permaculture course?

if anybody is thinking of doing a permaculture course then I highly recomend doing Patrick Whitefields course. I have been asked by a fellow blogger to put the word around as the course has a lot of places left.

Ragmans Lane Farm, Gloucestershire
3rd - 16th June 2007

9th - 22nd September 2007

This is the classic permaculture course. It focuses on skills we can put into action in our own lives, in both town and country. It also looks at permaculture in its wider context, as a way of putting many diverse green ideas into a coherent whole. It’s suitable both for beginners and for those in relevant professions - gardeners, farmers, landscape designers, foresters, architects etc - who want to add a permaculture perspective to their skills.
A wide range of teaching methods is used, including talks, slide shows, discussions and exercises, both indoor and outdoor. The main focus of the course is a series of design exercises on the land. Participants can choose between a domestic garden, a smallholding or the farm itself for their permaculture design project.

We make full use of the farm as a teaching resource, with outdoor sessions every day. Some subjects are taught by the people who live and work on the farm, each contributing their own expertise and experience. There’s at least one session of practical work in the farm gardens on each course. To get an idea of the full range of subjects covered by the course, please see the example timetable below.

There’s a range of optional evening activities, including a session on healing, campfires and hot tubs. A favourite activity on the weekend is canoeing down the River Wye amid the beautiful wooded scenery (cost approx £10).

The Design Course is recognised by the international permaculture community, and can lead to the informal Diploma of Permaculture Design. Our Design Courses at Ragmans Lane can also lead to a nationally recognised qualification, because they make up two modules of the five-module Sustainable Land Use course, which we also teach at Ragmans Lane.

Patrick’s major permaculture book, The Earth Care Manual is available to course participants at half price. You can order your copy in advance or receive it on the course. (See below)
Tutors
The main tutors are Patrick and Cathy Whitefield.

Guest tutors include:
Sarah Pugh, urban and community permaculturist
‘Josh’ Joshua, land manager at Ragmans Lane
Matt Dunwell, permaculture pioneer and the farmer of Ragmans Lane

We also make two visits. One is to Oaklands Park, a biodynamic community, to see innovative water and sewage treatment systems and the vegetable gardens, where we’re shown round by Mark Moodie, a pioneer in biological water treatment. The other is to Achitype, a firm of ecological architects, to see their recently-completed office building and a slide show of their work by partner Jonathan Hines.

Venue
Ragmans Lane Farm is situated in beautiful countryside in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, on the banks of the River Wye. A number of interesting examples of permaculture in practice can be seen there. One of these is shii-take mushroom production, in which oak logs from the nearby forest are turned into a valuable food product when they’re inoculated with the mushrooms. Another is apple juice making, a way of adding value to the products of local orchards, giving them a value which preserves them in the landscape.
The farm is also the home of the Willow Bank, which supplies a wide range of willow varieties and installs living willow structures. Many of these can be seen around the farm. In addition, there is an interesting range of ecological building styles on the farm, and there is both mature and newly planted woodland.

For more information on the farm, including a pictorial tour, see www.ragmans.co.uk (Please note that you should use the booking form on this website, not the one on the Ragmans Lane site.)

Accommodation
This is in the bunkhouse, a converted stone barn with many ecological features. Accommodation is basic and there are no individual or double rooms, but if you want privacy you are welcome to camp.
The camping site, with beautiful views of the local landscape, is right beside the bunkhouse. Campers have full use of the bunkhouse facilities and there is no reduction in charge for camping.

Full vegetarian board is provided and the great majority of the food is organic.

supermarket eco wars

Asda anounced this week that it was introducing bagless check outs so that people could only use it if they brought their own bag. Thats a great idea but I would rather they put pressure on supplyers to reduce the ammount of packaging and introduce refill systems. Ecover have refill systems but you only get them in independant health food shops. I would like to see a supermarket looking more like a way and save.

We are less likely to see these changes in the near future as the supermarkets real goal is to win the eco wars and not to save the planet. In the last few years it has become fashionable to be seen to be green.

How can Tesco say that they have an environmental policy when they have reuined thousands of small businesses by pushing then out and by offering a tesco life where you can buy all your food, electricals, phone, bank, insurance and mortgage, they are even talking about introducing GP surgerys! A healthy eco system relys on a polyculture not a monoculture to survive.

All these actions are just token gestures to trick the consumer into thinking that they are the most green supermarket, while they can get away with the slightest action they will continue to do so. A bagless shopping checkout makes the national news, is it realy that big a deal, when they still promote huge food miles, unseasonal produce and continue to buil there shops on the edge of town meaning you have to drive to get there.

I’m still holding out, a supermarket could be such a better place but there is still a long way to go.