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

why aren’t all bikes like this ?

On the streets of India and China these types of bike are common place. Cheap utility vehicle options are born more out of economic reason rather than an ethical or environmental one, thats understandable but why have we not adopted the same route?

I must admit I’m a bit bias because I love these things, but also I can’t see why more bikes arn’t built this way over the conventional bicycle style. I want to see a larger range of utility bikes on the market at affordable prices. It’s not just that there useful the environmental impact speaks for itself. Being a non car person I still often have to rely on car owners to move anything bigger than what will fit in a rucksack, which is very annoying but one of these would make life much easier as well as giving me back a sense of independence.

What bothers me most is that it’s probably the western fear of looking odd. The last thing most people want to do is stand out. How many times have you heard people say “I’m not walking down the street carrying that!”

I know you can get trailers and panniers for conventional cycles, which from a permaculture point of view I have to say is better than having to scrap an old bike for a new one but I want custom built utility cycles to replace conventional cycles. I’m sure the environmental impact would be staggering. I know that I don’t go shopping on my bike for two reasons, one is that everything on my bike is quick release so it’s easy to pinch bit’s off it even when it’s chained up. Two I’ve nowhere to put my shopping! A trike with a box on the front would solve all my worries and it would’nt fall over!!

Here are the ones I like that are on the market at present. I’ve not posted links as this is not an advertisement.

I want to make one similar to this one above.

The main hurdle at present is that they are on offer but not at an affordable price, most start at the £1000 mark! The solution then is to customize existing bikes to what you need. Last month I was given a lift through the centre of london on a customized bike. It had a seat on the front which could also double as a box and a smaller seat at the back, so you could have two passengers. I’m in the process of doing this myself, any tips are welcome and I’ll post the results, even if they are a shambles!!. I see so many scrap cycles just dumped and they are always going on freecycle.

turning an old demijohn into a cloche

I discovered this method by accident a few years ago while trying to clean an old bottle. I found an old demijohn outside and well past being able to clean it and more wanting to try this out!!

It’s dead simple, get a washing up bowl and add really cold water enough to cover the bottom of the demijohn, about a couple of inches. Leave it in there for a while to make sure the base is nice and cold. Then just boil the kettle and pour in the boiling water. If your lucky it should crack instantly and the bottom just drop out. If not give it a twist.

There you have it instant mini green house, the best part is you recycle something thats otherwise useless and it won’t blow away like plastic bottles.

april in the vegatable patch

Right no hints and tip’s this is just a list of things that have gone in. I was going to say it’s all from seed this year but someone just gave me some onion plants, which apparently are going to be more expensive this year. So thats a win win. Everything is probably too close together but most of the seed packets are well out of date so I thought I’d put everything in that I’ve got. For now this is what’s in.

Parsnips gladiator F1
Carrot Autum king
Beetroot bolt hardy
Spinach Beet perpetual spin
Lettuce little gem
Raddish Scarlet Globe
Broad Bean bunyards exhib
Early Pea Kelvedon wonder
Purple Sprouting Broc
Salad Leaf Rocket
Oriental Salad Leaves
Roob Cima Di Rapa

Don’t you just love the names? All seem to be doing OK apart from the early pea which despite it’s name is nowhere to be seen. It could be that the seed is too old. Below is a picture of my notebook, which I love. I wish I had kept one ever year too compare the years by, I think it’s more of me being a geek than anything useful though.

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?

Eco house video

Nottingham Eco-Home - Penney Poyzer

check out her TV program no waste like home too.

taking the garden with you

As I’ve previously said due to me and my wife separating I no longer live at home, this is also the reason that I have no been keeping up with posting. Anyway over the past few days I’ve been moving out my stuff books, tools and stuff. Today however I’ve been looking at the garden, it’s awful to think but I think I miss this the most.

Of all the things that I own and have put a lot of time into, the garden is something I wish I could take with me. I know it’s not possible and also even though plants can be moved etc the design as a whole only works because over the past eight years I’ve learned what grows where and all of the other little micro climates that you can only become intimate with over time. even if I could pick it up and put it somewhere else it could never be the same garden.

There are some certain plants however that can be moved, some that can be split and some were planted very recently and so have not yet become established. The question though is not can I move them but should I ? I’ve tried to create a garden which works in harmony with it’s surroundings so by takings things out I risk upsetting the balance.

I think more of my problem is this idea of ownership, I feel a great attachment to my garden and also don’t want it to become overgrown and unmanageable. At the end of the day the garden was deigned for this site and should stay as it was designed, I’ll just have to give it up and keep my eye on it from time to time. The thought of having to start all over again is exciting though so at least there is a positive in all this.

today is buy nothing day

http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

Saturday November 24h 2007 is Buy Nothing Day (UK), It’s a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

It’s buy nothing day and I can say that I will not be buying a thing not because i agree with the whole idea but more for the fact that I don’t have a penny!!

First organic garlic

After all thats gone on in my life and subsequently effecting the garden, I am very proud of this garlic. The other reason is that I try every year to grow garlic and it never produces anything, so it may be due to the fact that I have always tried to grow it from supermarket bought garlic, where as this season I ordered organic bulbs. I think that there must be some manipulation going on in the garlic from the supermarket, all the reason to go organic!

It’s not all quite ready at the moment but if the rest is as good as these then I’m on a winner. It’s a great crop for a small space as you can plant quite a lot which will keep you in garlic for ages, well unless you get a lot of vampires where you live.

trees for the future

50 Million Trees and Counting: Trees for the Future