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

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.

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.

working at WO-MUD!!

WOMAD 2007 - Charlton Park

Just spent the weekend working at WOMAD festival for event recycling. Even though the weather was bad at first I seem to have escaped the worst of it while working. The event recycling team are a great bunch of people and if you have missed a ticket or just can’t afford festival prices take a look at their website. I’m considering working for them at Bestival if they get the contract for it so if you go I may see you there.

Even though most of the time I was covered in bin juice!! I had a great laugh and it’s nice to feel that you are doing something for the environment and the ecology of the site. You can also find loads of ace stuff that people have thrown away, like beers, food, clothes we even came across a wedding dress which our supervisor insisted on wearing for the whole shift.

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.

when is it going to rain ?

Now coming from an english man it may seem that I’ve lost my mind. I’m not complaining the weather for the last few weeks has been amazing but the gardener in me is getting impatient. I have not been keeping a record but I know that it has not rained here in nearly 20 days as thats when I fixed the water butts so they are still sitting empty. I would also go as far as saying that it hasn’t rained for three weeks.

I’m not saying that this is a sign of global warming I’m just sick of having to use the tap to collect water for the plants and seedlings. The dry weather also means that I’m having to water the rest of the garden aswell causing me to use even more water than normal.

It does make me think about how we would cope if we relied on the rain for all our water or even just for crops without the tap I would have nothing left by now.

If it rains tomorrow don’t blame me for moaning about it and knowing my luck it will rain for the next three weeks non-stop, sorry.

another freecycle bargain

I sometimes get sick of all the freecycle e-mails that I recieve because so many of them are people wanting things rather than offering what they no longer need but I know that it will be worth it in the long run. Like today I picked up 3 demi-johns from just 5 minutes walk away. Thanks Colin.

If you have never heard of it then you are missing out, here’s an explanation of what it’s all about.

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by clicking on the region on the left. You may then go directly to your local group by clicking on “Go To” or you may immediately joining by clicking on “Join.” It will generate an automatic e-mail which, when sent, will sign you up for the local group and send you a response with instructions on how it works. Can’t find a group near you? You might want to consider starting one (click on “Start a Group” for instructions). Have fun!

The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson’s downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to “recycle” unwanted items. One person’s trash can truly be another’s treasure!

HOW DOES IT WORK ?

When you want to find a new home for something — whether it’s a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door — you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of the local Freecycle group.

Or, maybe you’re looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member’s offer, and you just might get it. After that, it’s up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure.

Our main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.

Check out freecycle.org

rain water harvesting

I had to do some repair work today on my water butt, as in the winter the bricks that it was sat on sank and it smashed through the fence. I’ve buit a new wooden frame for two butts as a single one fills really quickly in winter and emptys just as quick in the summer.

I hope that the wooden frame is stong enough, I’ve used all recycled wood from various sources and wanted to try it before building a concrete base. I think that it’s pretty sound as I tested it the usual way, by jumping up and down on it, although with my skinny arse I don’t know if that makes a difference.

If it had been at the top of the garden then I would have made it as high as possible so that I could use a hose pipe or drip feed but it’s at the bottom so I just left enough room for the watering can and to put plant pots under.

All I need now is to attach a connector, from one to the other so when one is full it then overflows into the other, I think that was part of the problem with having one on it’s own as in winter it was always overflowing and possibly caused the bricks to shift. I ‘ll post pictures when it collapses and causes a mini tidal wave.