blogging brings about BBC action network closure

This month the BBC’s action network who previously attempted to get like minded people and groups together, has to admit defeat as bloggers take over. The BBC site has been running for five years but can no longer keep up. It’s nice to know we make a difference. Here’s their goodbye speech.

Dear Action Network members,

We are sorry to announce that the Action Network website will be closing on Wednesday 30 April 2008.

Action Network, which helps people get involved in their neighbourhood, has been running for five years. It was one of the first user-generated websites to embrace online democracy and help people publicise their campaigns and articles online.

But in the last few years blogs have led to a revolution in online publishing. Today there are 71m blogs on the web and more and more of our campaigners are enthusiastically blogging or joining social networking sites to get their message out.

At the same time other fantastic democracy websites have launched, such as TheyWorkForYou and E-Petitions, which are being used by our members along with all the other tools available on the web.

Although we’ve continued to update our site with new features, we now feel that the pace and innovation of online democracy means that our members can access a wider range of web tools, and have more control of their campaigns, outside Action Network.

So, sadly, Action Network will be closed at the end of April, and we will be providing information to our members on how they can find new homes for their campaigns (see the link to FAQs).

However in line with the BBC’s public service remit, we will continue our commitment to help people engage in civic life and national debate with two new initiatives.

The first will be to launch a new service which will give people access to all the BBC’s content across tv, radio and online on a range of topical issues. Many of these topic pages will reflect the same issues that have been central to Action Network, from healthcare and schools, to public transport and policing.

Each topic page will offer the latest news stories on an issue, including TV and radio programmes, while linking to the wider debate through people’s blogs, campaigns and websites.

Many of the Action Network guides and briefings will be moved across to the BBC News Online website and will be found in the new topic pages - and will continue to help people understand how political systems work and how to get involved.

The second is a wider digital democracy broadband project, ultimately aiming to provide video of debates and speeches from our main institutions, information on your local and national representatives, guides to issues and the institutions, and easy ways for anyone to plug in and take part.

For more information on the Action Network closure we have provided a list of FAQs which we hope will answer all your queries.

We wish you the best in your campaigning.

turning 30

Well sorry that posts are still thin on the ground but there’s not a lot to report. I ‘ve not lost my way but I’m more preacher than practitioner at the moment. I’m still so surprised at the ammount of interest in my little blog. Had a great e-mail the other week a lady wanted to interview me as part of a piece on green parenting (I think) I would have loved to do it but was busy travelling around.

Anyway this month marks a milestone in my life on the second of October I said goodbye to my twenties. Like many people I did have a sence of panic probably more so as I’m worse off than when I turned twenty!! no house no money well at least things can only get better from here. I also managed to celebrate in full childish style by going away to spain ( yes on a plain but sssshhhhh don’t tell anyone ) had a great time and I think a drink or two? now I feel really positive about the future and ready to move on.

I’m going to promise myself to start posting again soon which means I’ll have to get my arse into gear and do something worth talking about. Thanks for looking.

good karma

Last night I recieved the most amazing phone call out of the blue. Last month at a festival I found a purse outside the beer tent being slightly merry myself I put it in my pocket and wobbled off to bed. The next morning when I looked in it there was £60 driving licience bank card and a ferry pass. Now I’m not saying that I did not consider keeping the money it was very tempting being a skint tramp. My conscience took over and I handed it in with a contact number.

I had almost frgotten about it, so it was amazing to get a phone call from someone with nothing but praise for me and find out how much it helped her and what a problem she would have been in if she did not get it back. I wil be spending today feeling smug.

Seed saving

So all your plants have gone to seed, well good that means free seed next year. All my lettuce and raddish have gone wild but I normally rip them up and compost them, what a fool I have been as then come spring I buy the very same varieties all over again, well no longer. Next years lettuce will be 100% organic and more importantly 100% free.

couch surfing

I think that I have found the ultimate in voluntary simplicity. I have decided to move out but with no real idea where I’am going to live, where I’m going to get money from and what the hell I’m doing with the rest of my life.

You really understand what friends mean to you at times like this and also how much they love you. I have had so many offers from my close friends for a place to stay and a shoulder to cry on.

Also though I have realised that day to day you really don’t need much more than food a safe place to sleep and a bit of company. Rather than me worry about what’s mine and stuff in general, I have enjoyed the fact that I have left behind a lot of objects that where more of a burden than they ever made my life better.

I have always opened the door for people who needed a place to crash for a while and it’s nice now for me to realize that many others are willing to do the same. Perhaps community spirit is not as dead as I may have thought. So remember next time somebody asks you if they can stay for a few days open them with open arms as one day it could be you.

private and public life

I must apologise for the drop in posts over the last few months, the reason I wanted to post an article is really for all of you who regularly check my blog even when theres not much going on. to be honest the reason is that me and my wife have seperated and it meant that a lot of the time I was not in the mood for talking shop. I also let a lot of things slide especially in the garden needless to say that this years crop will be a little thin on the ground. Even the fruit trees/bushes seem to have reflected my mood looking a bit sorry for themselves. Looks like this years chutney will be made from the grocers veg rather than my own.

One of the things thats anoyed me is that I missed making birch sap wine and nettle beer, bugger. They will have to wait another year. Again…

On the positive side however I have been getting back intouch with old friends and making new ones. I have decided to get back into art again and made some good connections there. The most surprising though is that I’ve met so many permaculture/sustainable living types, in the last few months. This has been great as I don’t know many in my area. I have also applied for a job, “it’s about time” I can hear my family say.

The most surprising was when I got back intouch with a friend who I have not seen for years. We were chatting on the internet and I happened to plug my blog (modest) She then told me that she lives in an Eco home with Penny Poyzer.

She presented ‘No waste like home’ She regularly does talks all over the country and is Metron of the womens environmental network. She also presented the Green awards and writes books on all things green. Check her out. Her husband Gil is a green architect and does sustainable design. My friend said that they could use some help with the garden which would be a great experience and a chance to put my permaculture design to the test. Perhaps I’ll get my own TV show, and be famous, and change the world, sorry I’ve slipped into a fantasy world again!!

hottest summer on record?

Looking back on some of my previous posts I feel a little foolish or but more importantly naive that I understand the world and the weather. We were told that this would be the hottest summer on record and there is no reason why it should not still turn out to be but at the moment we have seen the wettest June for years.

Even in our area where I have never seen the effects of flooding we have experienced burst banks and disruptions. Lincolnshire has experienced twice the average ammount of rainfall for June. The floods have also brought power cuts to many local areas and in usual style nobody is prepared and everyone panics.

I must say that however upsetting it is to find that people have lost their lives due to the floods, it proves the lack of understanding and respect for our natural environment. We are so far removed from nature that we forget how powerful it can be.

This is just the effect of more rain fall than expexcted, it’s not a very assuring considering the the things we may have to deal with in the future, peak oil, sea level change and hotter temperatures. I must admit though that I feel a little foolish moaning about no water the other month, will I ever be satisfied……….me……….never……..

free parties

I spent the best part of saturday evening and well into sunday morning having a great time throwing shapes and having a bloody good time and all for nothing. Free parties are not a new thing but they play such an important role not just for having a good time but showing how people can go out and take control of there own entertainment. They also give you back the right to enjoy yourself where you like and how you like, within reason.

Dancing and partying in the trees is a great experience but it’s also a shame that they need to be so discreet. The last thing we want to do is upset the middle class eh!! What I get annoyed at is the fact that many are stopped or never take place due to the location being not suitable for no other reason than somebody will complain. But what is the complaint? noise? or is it the fact that a group of people are having a good time but nobody is making any money out of it?

People also object to a lack of control and order even though there is hardly ever any bad feeling at these events. Also there can be no objection to lack of care for the environment or litter as mostly the people who put on these events are normally a lot more concerned with the environment than your local night club owner. I have yet to see a night club manager cleaning up puke and kebabs from the streets outside their club.

Having a good time should never cost you a penny.

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.

may in the garden

Finally I’m back to the blog I’ve been really busy for the past few weeks, partly at home and also making a long overdue visit to friends in London. To be honest I ve let alot of thing get out of hand simply because of the weather and not being around to water everything, I’ve lost a few seedlings and nothing has sprouted in my veg patch at my mothers but I guess there is still time, I hope.

Anyway on the upside there are lots of things which are doing well, so here they are.

who said that you need a lot of room to grow veg, here is two types of raddish, various lettuce and garlic. This really shows that you can grow quite a bit of veg in a small space. Even a balcony could support this amount of produce, it will not feed you through the year but you will get a great sence of achievement from it.

This is a raddish and not a beetroot.

Ready for the first of the summer salads.

I may have lost a lot of veg but all the fruit is going well.

Here are my very sorry looking seedlings. I think I’ll be able to save the tomatoes and peppers but the squshes look like they have had it.