Human Lifestyle

Despite being a very overcast day weather-wise, I had a sunny day!

This was because my friend Janie came over on the train from Manchester with her bike and I took her down the West side of the Ouse, over the Racecourse and to the start of The Solar System.

Janie is not an experienced cyclist, and was already tired by the time we reached the Sun, the start of the ride, so we took it slowly to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars, and then a stop at Brunswick Organic Nursery, where I bought 3 lovely squashes for about £2 each, plus a tub of bean salad and a bag of crisps.  I was also accosted by Clare, who used to live near us in the Groves.  I'm surprised she recognised me, as it's the best part of a decade since we last met, I think! 

Janie and I cycled on to Jupiter, over the River Ouse and to Saturn, and at Neptune, we had a break and I had some bean salad and crisps, Janie had some cracker things, plus a few beans.  I wasn't expecting her to get this far, and the wind was against us, but she said let's keep going all the way to Pluto.

So we cycled another mile, and I was glad that the old path, which used to be a whitish compacted stone surface, quite rough, with puddles and more of an 'off road' feel, has been covered with tarmac and is a really smooth ride, all the way to Pluto.  So, we did it... and on the way back, the wind was behind us and it was considerably easier. We didn't need to stop, although Janie got off and walked a few times, but only for a few minutes at a time.  I stopped in one place to pick up a trailer full of logs from the tree management at the side of the path.  When we got to Naburn Station, I suggested that we go on the road to Fulford and then through Heslington and back to Hull Road. 

When we got back, my family were relaxed and happy, and Gill pleased to see Janie and to hear about the cycle ride.  Over a coffee, I worked out the distance we cycled, using an Ordnance Survey map and a piece of paper and a pencil, which allows the twists and turns to be straightened out, and the accurate distance then measured against the map scale.... and from the station to Pluto and back to our house was 19.4 miles.  Wow, I wonder if that's the furthest that Janie has ever cycled in one go?  For me, that would be a gentle 2 hour trip, but with Janie and the wind, and our stops, it took us from 11.45am til 4.30pm.  A really good day.  Good to be able to have some nice conversations with my friend, and see pheasants and lovely autumn-coloured trees, and to show her the amazing Solar System and Brunswick.

I had some use-it-up tea... pasta shapes, spaghetti, seconds asparagus and cheese sauce, after which I cycled with Janie back to the station so she could catch the 8.10 train back home to her husband and children. 

I came back and collected 3 sacks of leaves to start restocking the leafmould cage.  Gill made a loaf of bread.  I watched the interesting Channel 4 programme about the green movement, which was good, as it echoed some of my views about genetically modified plants; I'm happy for this technology to be carefully explored and used, if it is deemed safe and beneficial.  I'm referring to crops like golden rice, for instance.

Up early as was due to be in Elvington by 10.30, to meet Mike, who responded to my request for an air rifle on Freecycle, by inviting me to borrow one of his.  He'd asked me if I'd had any experience of them, and I said, no, not since my Dad let me have a few goes on his when I was about 14.  He told me that he'd show me how to do it, and asked a few questions about our garden as some places are not suitable for using air rifles.

So I set off soon after 10am and zoomed out and Mike was waiting for me at 10.32... not bad timing!  I locked my bike and he took me, his dog, two air rifles, a bipod and two tins of ammunition pellets out to a farm about 10 minutes drive away.  He's related to the farmer and goes to shoot pigeons in a barn where they roost and foul the straw bedding and hay fodder.  The pigeons he gets are fed to the cats that the farmer keeps.  Mike set up a target using hay bales, a wooden board with an A4 paper bulls-eye on it, and showed me how to use the basic rifle, which has the charge of air put into it by 'breaking' it and flexing it to just past right angles.  It takes one pellet at a time.  I had a few goes and I think he was surprised how good a shot I was.

Then he showed me the multi-shot air rifle, which has a magazine of 12 pellets, and is powered by a little CO2 canister similar to one in a sodastream fizzy drink maker.  This had telescopic sights, which made seeing the target much easier, and the gun was lighter too, and easier to hold.  However, when the canister is full, the pellets go faster and end up higher on the target, and as the pressure reduces, they go slower and gravity pulls then down, so aiming is much more difficult.  However, the ability to pepper the target with holes withing a short space of time makes up for this.

I chose to take the single shot one with me, and when we got back to his place, it went into a plastic sack and into a pannier, and I cycled home.  On the way back, I found a pheasant and a crow which had been killed by motor vehicles, so I popped them in my trailer to add to my compost. I also collected some branches and they went into the trailer too, for the stove.

Had lunch, and then did a load of weeding in the garden, picked beans, and was interested to see the squirrels seem to have lost interest in the walnut tree.  Maybe it's the curry?

In the evening I had problems getting onto the internet, so couldn't finish or publish my blog and couldn't do my usual facebooking.  But I did do a large pile of pears and apples... and the stove is very well laden now. 

A working day so I had a bath after breakfast, and at 11.15 I set off for Strensall Barracks to perform at the playday.

I took just 35 minutes to get to Strensall and had an hour to have my sandwiches, get changed and get my equipment ready for a 1pm start.

The playday was very well attended... I had an audience of over 40 for my show and more than this wanting to participate in the workshop, which was difficult as I usually specify maximum 20 for a workshop... and the last hour, the balloon modelling show and workshop, I think there were about 70 people in the room.... far too many really! But I'm getting really fast at inflating the '260' modelling balloons... I can do each one in one breath now. The times that I needed a balloon pump are long gone! So I blew up about 50 in 15 minutes and the show went well, although I did have a queue of children at the end wanting a balloon, as they didn't get one or had burst theirs. It was a really tough 3 hours, and I was glad to get paid (charity fee) and cycle home. Got in at 5.15.

Gill had made tea so I had that and then had an hour in the garden. The usual compost management stuff.

Later I had a game of Scrabble with Gill; she won. I also had an intense chat on the computer with Janie AND Joanne, although not at the same time.

Up earlyish to get ready for a fairly long day, Crayke Gala. Crayke is a lovely village on a hill 15 miles North of here, it overlooks the whole of the vale of York, and from it's south-facing slope you can see York Minster, and even on a clear day, the cooling towers of Drax, some 35 miles south. It is one of my favourite places.

Professor Fiddlesticks had been booked to perform at their Gala from 12 til 4, so I left the house at about 10am, as I always estimate a speed of 10 miles per hour, so getting there should take an hour and a half. I went along the cycle track all the way to Wigginton Road and then North past Rowntrees, over the York to Scarborough level crossing and then out over the ring road and past Wigginton right up to Sutton on the Forest, where I turned left to Huby. I got to Huby at 2 minutes to 11 and stopped at the village shop as I wanted something to drink. The shopkeeper was just about to close (open 9 til 11) and I got a can of ginger beer and chatted whilst he started to close the shop. Whilst I was there, four small boys came to spend their pocket money and then someone else arrived too... so I hope the proprietor was happy with the extra business just before he closed!

Crayke was just 3 miles further on, and as I turned up the last mile of road, I was joined by an old gent on a road bike with drop handlebars. He was Don Chandler, from Richmond, aged 76, and he was on an 80 mile round trip today. We chatted for a few minutes and then I turned left towards the playing fields and he went up and over the top of the hill. I hope I'm still cycling when I'm his age.

I've worked at Crayke Gala once before, maybe 6 or 8 years ago. So I knew where to go and what to expect, and I met my handler, Diane, and she showed me where she thought I could work, which was in front of the teas marquee. I got changed and by 12 midday I was doing my devilsticks and attracting a crowd. I wandered round, with the devilsticks.... if I hadn't had a broken ankle I'd have been unicycling round. I visited the stalls marquee and bought some plants, a Chocolate Mint, a sorrel with red veins and a weird looking greenhouse plant with flowers like a bottlebrush, apparently!

Then it was my job (alongside Claire, the wife of one of the sponsors) to judge the fancy dress. Only three children had been dressed up as pirates (this year's theme) and so they all won. They were too young to understand, I think!

Then at 1.30 I did my show. This went well... and then I was busy all the way through to 4.30pm with workshops and helping people learn to juggle.... a really lovely afternoon. When I packed up and wheeled my bike to the clubhouse I got a small bottle of cider and sat down for half an hour to rest my legs, before cycling home the same way as I came. I noticed a roadkill deer on the way back and stopped to see if I could remove it's head so I could prepare the skull, as I liked it's antlers. But I decided not to bother as I was tired. I got back at about 6.45pm.

I rested for an hour and had tea, and then had an hour working in the garden, put the bike away and then came in to relax. I watched a film called XXY, about an intersex or 'hermaphrodite' person which was very moving and thought provoking.

Today I went to Durham by train... I got the 8.30 and was in Durham by 9.15, with my bike, minus trailer. I'd been on Googlemaps the previous evening to work out about travel, and had seen that Houghton Le Spring was only 7 miles from the train station in Durham, so I took my bike (but not my trailer, as these aren't welcome on trains).

I'd memorised the route and it didn't take long to get to where I thought I needed to be, but I took a turning off the main road a bit early, and cycled through an office estate before going back to the A690 and going a bit further North. I was looking for a sign to the A1052, but it wasn't advertised on the A690 so I cycled past that exit, thinking it must be the next one! But there was a steep hill through a cutting and I walked up this, and asked a local, who told me I'd overshot the mark, so I went back and soon found Dairy Lane and Houghton Kepier Sports College, where Dan from Ridan was due to install his lovely Ridan Composter. Terry King the Estates Manager met me and proudly showed me round... first to the readout from the newly installed wind turbines. This readout shows how much they are generating now, how many Kwh they have generated, and how many kilos of carbon they have stopped going into the atmosphere. Then Terry took me to see the gardening area, with greenhouse and raised beds, and a few food plants, and then to the field next to the A690 where the wind turbines, capable of generating 6Kw each, are situated. These were put up in February (see Sunderland Echo) and underneath, they've planted an orchard of mini fruit trees, and some soft fruit in a fruit cage.

As we were walking away from here, and Terry was telling me about the automatic light switcher offers in the classrooms, he got a message saying that Dan from Ridan had arrived.

He had driven from Devon with two Ridans, one in the van and one on a trailer. Several Sunderland City Council people arrived, as funding has come from them. I helped carry the Ridan out of the van... it was quite light, just 60kg, and it was placed in the bins area just outside the kitchen door. There was a raised area next to where the machine was placed, which means that access to the entrance hatch won't need a stepladder. The second stage of the process requires a fairly long 'sit and wait' in a compost bin called a worm bin, and one of the two supplied was installed next to the Ridan. The other will go up near the wind turbines in the orchard, although the idea is to fill one, then the other and let the first rot down. I wonder if the school intends to dig out the one nearest the machine and bucket it over to the second one? I'm sure they will work something out!

So, what is it about the Ridan that I love? It's the simplicity and the sturdiness. It is a plastic tube with a volume of 400 litres. This is double skinned with an air gap between the two... and then surrounded by an insulating blanket about 5 cm thick. Along the length of the tube is an axle with a series of arms which sweep through the material when the handle at the end is turned.

A nice design feature is that this handle is geared, meaning that it is easy to turn, and about 6 turns of this handle gives just one rotation of the inner axle. When the unit is full of a third of a tonne of material, this system should make aerating the material reasonably easy.
For every bucket of food waste... and it will take meat and cooked/processed foods too, an equal volume of woodchip needs to be poured in. Ideally, if it receives 150 litres a week, the material will take about a fortnight to pass through and fall out of the exit hole at the other end. This won't be fully composted but will easily rot down in the static compost bin. The Ridan should easily enable the contents to get to 60 degrees Celsius for several days, pasteurising it and rendering it down to an easy to compost worm food, and thence on to a brilliant soil-improver.

Dan did a brief training session.... it's hardly complicated... and then he had to get off to his next delivery, a National Trust property in the Lake District. I cheekily asked if I could have a lift to as far as the A1(M) so I put my bike in the van and got that lift. From there it was a quick cycle down into Durham, getting to the station at midday, just 3 minutes before a Southbound train pulled in. I was home for lunch just after 1pm.

I didn't do a lot during the afternoon, until the children came home, and then I got busy in the conservatory, filling up a couple of the planters ready for tomatoes and cucumber plants, which will go in tomorrow.

I will do a report for York Rotters and City of York Council about this composter, as I think it is well worth trying out here in York, probably at a school, or perhaps the Environment Centre. Of course, I'd love one, as it would be a lot easier than having all the different smaller tumblers and dalek bins. For me, this composter has overtaken the Rocket in my affections... it is lots cheaper, doesn't need electricity, and can still legally 'do' cooked food.

An excellent day...

First thing we were getting our youngest ready to go with his grandparents to spend a few nights in Sheffield... they were due to arrive at 11am on their way back from a short break in Kettlewell.

Just before 11 we got a phone call... the traffic was heavy and they were the other side of York, and were stopping for a toilet break. But they did eventually get here, and after giving an Easter egg to out eldest, they disappeared off to Sheffield.

I got ready to go to work... loaded my Curver box up with all the circus gear, slipped that in the trailer, put two unicycles and the 'two wheeled unicycle' on top, costume in the pannier, bag of balloons in the other, and at 1pm, I set off for Copmanthorpe via Bishopthorpe.

Nice cycle, took it slowly so I didn't end up sweaty. I got to Copmanthorpe WI Hall before the partygoers but the Dad, Andre, arrived with his three excited daughters, the youngest of which was having the birthday... and the elder two greeted me warmly as they had seen me at the Burton Stone Community Centre a few weeks earlier.

I got changed and Yinka, their mum, arrived, and then the guests started trickling in.

After 10 or 15 minutes, when most of the young partygoers were present, I called them together and got them sat down, with some Mums and Dads sitting on chairs behind them. I always start the show, if I can, with 'warm-up acts' from the audience... one child came up and told a joke, another just came up and didn't have a skill or anything to do... but got a round of applause for being brave enough to stand up. And then it was my hour-long routine... which as well went very well and easily. I, as usual, enjoyed myself a lot.

I blew up all the balloons as they had their tea, and had a cuppa and some sandwiches, and let some of the children have goes on the 'four-wheel-unicycle' before the birthday cake was brought out... which was swiftly followed by the balloon modelling show and workshop... which also seemed to go well. And bingo, it was 5pm and parents were coming to pick up their little ones.

I got paid, got changed, reloaded my bike trailer and cycled home. I'd asked Richard at Country Fresh earlier if he'd like to leave me a box of compostables out for me... and yes, it was waiting so I popped that on my rack, between the peacock feathers and the bag of balloons. I then cycled past Freshways and they had some bread, tomatoes and 5 litres of out of date Cranberry Juice... however, all this was a tad difficult to load up and cycle home, but I'm not a circus performer for nothing, and things got balanced precariously but safely on the crossbar and handlebars, and all came home in one fell swoop... to coin a phrase!

When I got in, Gill was by herself. Our eldest was having a sleepover with our friends in Heslington, Simon and Melody and their son, and tomorrow, Simon is taking them both to the East coast to go fossil hunting. So... tonight was the first time in 12 years that we'd had a night in our house with no children. So.... we watched some telly, had a nice stir fry with fresh shi-take mushrooms from the garden, and a game of Scrabble, which was close right up til the end... but I just won by 10 points.

A busy day planned, so up at 8 so I could be ready for a 9am start... to cycle just over 3 miles to the Folk Hall in New Earswick for the AGM of North Yorkshire Credit Union. I got there in time for a coffee and a chat to my friends, some of whom go back to the early days of getting the Credit Union started.

This AGM is the first since the common bond was enlarged from living or working in the City of York, to the whole of North Yorkshire. The enlargement has been tough for the organisation, but things are looking good.. lots of people needing the services, and membership continuing to grow. I enjoyed the meeting.

I cycled quickly home as I didn't have much time. I had a quick lunch and packed my trailer with a lot of workshop stuff... and cycled the 7 miles to Wheldrake, via Elvington. The roads were very potholed and there was quite a strong wind, so it took 40 minutes. The gig was with some older Guides, aged 15 to 21. The venue was a nice hall, called the White Rose House, and I did a version of my show but less silliness and more showing how things work, then a workshop, which was great as they were so able.

So I really enjoyed this, and came back the same route... got home towards 5pm. So, parched and tired, I didn't do very much after getting in, apart from lighting the stove.

A good day, I took our youngest to school... most of the way, as yesterday.

I picked up another load of packing case wood and then did some sorting of this and some sawing, but it started raining so I put the stuff away and came in, at about 11am.

But we needed bread and stuff from the chemist so I cycled round to Tang Hall Lane, and then, as I had to take back a carton of soya milk which when I opened it, was curdled like yoghurt, to the other Co-op on Hull Road.

Then some inside stuff, emails and facebook messages, washing up and talking with Gill, and lunch.

I had a few bookings and phone calls to deal with after lunch and all too soon it was time to go to school to pick up our youngest, and he came back home sitting on my bike rack.

I popped down to Country Fresh for groceries and brought back a load of compostables too. I spent about an hour in the garden before it got too dark to continue.

Sad to get a message during the evening that a friend of mine has seemingly tried to end her life and is now in hospital, having been found after a friend reported her missing. I arranged to go and see her in hospital tomorrow.

Nice teatime, quiet evening...

A good day. I walked down towards school with our youngest but left him at Field Lane to walk the last bit on his own. Later this year he'll walk to school by himself, or probably with a couple of local friends. When he goes to secondary school in September, he'll have to walk in either by himself, with friends or with his elder brother.

I cycled back to this end of Windmill Lane (picking up the weekend's aluminium beer can harvest!) and turned right to go and deliver a letter to the other school. On the way back from there, I saw a large pile of packing case wood in someone's front garden, so I cycled in and rang the doorbell. I asked if the wood was unwanted, and if it wasn't, could I have it as some of it would be great for helping to construct the beehives. I have no idea what had been packed in this, but there was loads... in fact, so far today, seven trailer loads of clean softwood pallet-type planks.

At 11.30 I was back at school to have a meeting with the headteacher. We discussed various educational matters, and also how the school is attempting to deal with the green agenda. We spent just over an hour talking, and I went away reassured and feeling a lot more comfortable with going there. I look forward to hearing about the green audit and to seeing how they change their waste and recycling situation, currently poor, and having gone backwards since I was forced to stop composting last year. I made several suggestions including weblinks to some rotating composters and ideas about renewable power generation. I remain optimistic.

Home for lunch, more wood collecting, cycled down to school for a third time to collect our youngest... but he wanted to come back with a friend in their car, so I cycled back and picked up another load of packing case wood.

A simple tea of baked potato and cauliflower cheese, and then out to the LETS EGM, an 'Extraordinary General Meeting' which I chaired. We debated two issues... whether York Local Exchange Trading System needed to change its membership fees structure, and whether we should have a Co-ordinator post at the next AGM. Currently, we charge £5 or Y5 (five pounds sterling or five Yorkys) as an annual membership, plus Y12 as an annual admin fee. But this meeting decided that we would simplify this to an annual fee of £12 or Y12 or any combination of the two currencies adding up to 12, with the membership due in April, with reminders to non-payers sent out with the AGM info (held in July)and if not paid by the AGM, the membership would cease. We agreed that we would have the post of Co-ordinator available at the next AGM.

It was a good meeting, two new members and several old friends. It was a quick meeting, I was back by 9.30.

I had my pudding which I'd helped Gill make, but hadn't had time to eat before the LETS meeting: bread and butter pudding with extra fruit. We had a waste loaf... white sliced bread just past it's sell-by date, obviously still edible but unwanted by one of the shops I help with their recycling. So, a greased bowl. Margarine (or other grease of your choice!) on bread. We put a bit of sliced fruit in amongst the bread slices, and a bit of sugar sprinkled over, only this time Gill used maple syrup, and the fruit was banana and kiwifruit slices. Then Gill mixed 3 eggs with a similar volume of milk, whisked it up and poured it over, and bunged it in the oven on Gas Mark 5 or 6 until it was cooked. Delicious!

I watched the lecture by Sir Terry Pratchett about how his Alzheimer's has made him look at how society deals with death, and arguing for a dignified system for people to be able to end their own lives legally when faced with a terminal/debilitating illness. Having been thinking about my friend Jean's demise, I have to agree that if that is what someone wants, then a civilised society should respect that, and facilitate a way for people to die before they are in such a state to not be able to express their pain, frustration and poor quality of life. I am not scared of death, but certainly don't want to experience the long slow deterioration that affects so many. I'm fearful of that kind of 'pre-death' experience. I would choose a self-induced demise if I could see the inevitable future of incurable cancer, or Alzheimer's, or any other terminally degenerative disease. But I know that many people don't agree with this view, and I understand it is a difficult debate. The programme left me thoughtful.

Woke fairly late after a late night last night and got busy with sorting out the yam tubercles to send to the two yam fans... and after lunch went to get those posted off.

Then I composed a letter to my agent concerning the difficulty we've had and at about 3pm I cycled it down to his house, going via Country Fresh to pick up recyclables.

Later I got ready to go to the station to visit Ali.

So a paperwork-heavy day, interspersed with washing up and stuff around the house.

When in Sheffield I was collected from the station and we all, Ali, her daughter and carer, went to Blue Moon for a meal, which was, as usual, delicious.

A good day, relaxed but seemed to get a lot done. Gill rang me from town and woke me up (!) so I got up and made up the stove and did some woodpile building out at the front.. keeping warm is the priority at the moment!

But when Gill came home, she realised that our eldest had left something at home that he should have had at school, so I cycled it in... only to be told that they were finishing at 1.25 and he wouldn't need it.

So I went down to Country Fresh and then Freshways, and came back with an ENORMOUS load of compostables... just as soon as the snow goes, I'll have to make a new pallet heap for all these sacks and boxes of stuff, which are currently just frozen solid awaiting 'disposal'.

The boys were very excited and hyper as Gill has bought tickets for Avatar tomorrow.

I helped Gill make tea, roast potatoes and nutloaf and broccoli/cauliflower... simple and delicious.

I jarred up more bananas and later put 61 fresh ones on the stove drying racks.

A good day.

Both boys off to school, late, but they went.

Gill went into town to pay in a cheque to the Credit Union. I did some stuff inside and then moved logs from the huge stack of beech at the back round to the front, to build up the pile on the right of the door.

Gill came back from town and had forgotten to get various things... including a book our eldest wants, and is waiting for us in Waterstones. So at about 2.30 I cycled in and visited Alligator for peanut butter and marmalade, Waterstones, my building society and then Sainsburys.

Gill did a spaghetti-based meal... I stir-fried some sliced sprouts to go with it, and soon after 7pm set out on my bike again to go to Millers Yard to have the 'York Festivals' meeting with Dylan. Baz turned up, and Sarah from Kyi-Po. Later, Helgi arrived to give me his Duke of Edinburgh Silver booklet to fill in.

Dylan and I had already had a conversation about York Green Festival and York Peace Festival this year. York Peace Festival goes back over 20 years to when York had a Peace Centre, and it was connected to that. I loved the Peace Festival, and when it stopped happening about 5 years ago (not sure when the last one was actually) I missed it and then in 2006/7 I decided to 'do' a Festival, which became York Green Festival in 2007. We had our third last year. But this year, several of the organisers are involved in organising the World Carfree Cities International Conference in York this summer, so we're taking a break and York Peace Festival can take place. This is provisionally booked for 5th September. Dylan also has plans for some events and activities in the week leading up to this, but this is for Dylan to announce when it is more concrete, and the other partners are agreed.

So we all discussed about these events and some other York Festivals, such as the Carnival, which is on June 5th, and a York in Transition (dance?) event on 17th April which I'm partly responsible for. The meeting wasn't very long... and I got away so I could go to St Nicks where my York in Transition friends were having a meeting. I found some logs on the way there, but the weight in the trailer made cycling in the snow much more difficult so I had to push my bike some of the way along the cycle track. I got to St Nicks just as they were on AOB, so I was able to fill in some of the stuff I'd just learned.

So, got home just before 10pm, banked up the stoves, kissed both my boys goodnight, and settled down to a quiet evening.

I got up as Gill was taking our youngest to school, and got ready to cycle out to Sand Hutton, North East of York, where there is a big complex of buildings which used to be called the Central Science Laboratory, and is now 'FERA', the Food and Environment Research Agency, part of DEFRA, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

I got a phone call just before I was going to leave, from a company called The Power Collective, who are developing a product called Ridgeblade, which is a horizontal wind turbine mounted on the ridge of the roof... it's very discrete and you cannot see any moving parts, and the company are working closely with the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. I had contacted them offering my roof as a friendly place! They are about to go into 'pre production', as all of the models so far have been hand-made, proving they work, and they are about to do a load of trials. So the production models are a bit of a way away, but I'm on their list of interested parties.

Anyway, I got going at 9.40 and cycled up through Osbaldwick to Murton and then onto the A166 for a short while before turning off to Holtby and through to Warthill. I knew I was looking for a road off to the right soon after Warthill, but I didn't see one and arrived at the Snowball Plantation and I knew I'd overshot. I cycled back... and found it wasn't a road but a muddy track. I decided to do it anyway! It led to a farmyard and then to the road near to FERA and I arrived a bit mud-splashed but on time, before the 10.30 start.

The chair, Steve Willis, introduced the organisation and the event, called 'Wellies and White Coats: Science driving excellence in UK farming. FERA is dealing with some of the biggest issues we're facing... increasing population and moving populations, food security, water security, climate change, and is a major dealer in 'knowledge transfer'.

Next was the chief scientist, Professor Nicola Spence, who continued with an overview of what the four FERA centres do. Their roles can be split roughly into three areas:
Regulation , Policy and Risk - with regard to plant health, honeybee health, plant varieties and seeds;
Research and Assurance - scientific research plus analysis and evidence for our government, other governments and commercial customers;
Response and Recovery to emergencies.

The next speaker was Melvyn Askew, inspirational and good to listen to. He described the future as full of challenges and opportunities, and quoted Martin Bell MP 'Politics is far too important to be left to politicians'. He despaired at the lack of co-ordination that the free market has resulted in... he knows carrot producers who every year clamp (store) their crop in straw, but since Drax power station has recently been buying up all the straw to put in it's furnaces, the carrot producers cannot keep their crop.

Melvyn is very interested in biofuels, and talked about a newish crop, Miscanthus. This sells for £20 to £40 a tonne for fuel, but for horse bedding can fetch £45 to £70 a tonne. However, to 'add value' if it's sold as bagged-up horse bedding, it can go for £160 to £200 a tonne! Many other plants can be grown for their fibre... straw and hemp are used in composites (such as
this car), hemp to make hemcrete, nettles are being researched at FERA, and bracken, which grows naturally in many areas of Britain can be harvested and used as fuel (see this pdf). Even beech trees yield 'lyocell' which makes very soft luxurious fibres similar to silk, apparently! Another industrial use of agricultural products is the use of starch in car tyres, which may reduce the vehicle's fuel consumption.

He then brandished a bottle of what I thought was whiskey, but was actually locally grown 'cold pressed' rape seed oil. This is very similar to extra virgin olive oil, the extra virgin bit meaning the first oil which is cold pressed out. More oil can be made to come out of the crushed seeds if it's heated or mixed with hot water, but the first pressing is the highest quality. This is the best oil for health, and to my surprise, when I mentioned it to Gill, she said she'd been using it for a while. The taste is slightly fruity, so it's good for making pastry with for puddings, or in cakes.

But how can we tell it's rapeseed oil, or extra virgin oil? Well that's where the next speaker came in, Paul Brereton, who's an expert in food fraud. Fraud in food is done deliberately, and deceives the customer but also damages the producers, as people lose confidence in the product. When a country discovers food fraud, it is unlikely to shout about it... as this would damage its international reputation, so FERA does a lot of detective work in identifying whether food and drink is genuine or not. He told us about traceability using Terra Creta Olive Oil which has a lot number on each bottle which allows you to see where the olives were harvested, the temperature the oil was pressed at and all through it's processing and packaging through to the point of sale. I learned why the Melamine in Chinese milk fraud happened (and the 'justice', Chinese-style, which has been delivered), and about the Spar Vodka fraud, and others. FERA has developed a system called TRACE, with many European partners. This uses isotope mapping and DNA analysis and many other ways of ensuring 'Food Assurance'.

Dr. Theo Allnutt gave an overview of how GM crops can coexist with conventional crops, and the role of the GM Inspectorate. There's been a lot of research about how GM crops can get mixed with conventional crops, and it's not just through pollen transfer. The same machinery is used to harvest and process the GM and non-GM crops, so with Bishop Burton College, they've been assessing how much crop is left in the machine which might get transferred to the next harvest. The best way to prevent pollen transfer is to keep the crops separated distance-wise, as the transfer is heaviest if GM and non-GM are grown close to each other. FERA have developed a 'best practice' document and a GM calculator tool for farmers. There was some subsequent discussion about people's feelings about GM... after all, these crops have been growing and being consumed in the US and India (amongst other places) for many years. There are many ways of modifying crops... conventional breeding allows a whole bunch of genes to be transferred, whereas cysgenesis is where one gene from one species can be transferred into the same species. This is a long way from some of the Genetic Modification that many of my friends and associates don't like, which is where genes from one species may be put in another organism of a different species. GM is just one small part of the wider biotechnology which is more and more finding uses in agriculture and food production. A lot of what FERA does has biotech and molecular genetics at it's heart.

After lunch, during which I had some chats with other delegates, we had a presentation from Dr. Nigel Boatman on 'Integrating Environmental Management into Agriculture'; this was about 'ecosystem services' like soil fertility, pollination, biological pest control, pollutant breakdown and clean water. You can read about what this team does here.

This led nicely into Dr. Carmel Ramwell's talk on Resource Protection... water and nitrates, phosphates, pesticides, silt and sediment, and soil structure and organic matter content. She concentrated on water and how 'buffer strips' at the edge of fields and at the edges of watercourses could reduce nitrate run-off. She explained how the pathway from fertiliser application to watercourse could be disrupted, to reduce the likelihood of our waterways being polluted by nitrates, which is a big problem.

Then Dr Robbie McDonald, who researches bovine tuberculosis and badgers. The results of some very interesting work shows that where badgers are culled, the incidence of bovine TB goes down, but the surrounding area gets more badger movements and increased contact between cattle and badgers. He had some good videos of badgers in grain stores and nose-to-nose with cattle in barns, and the results of badger-proof buildings... if used correctly by farmers, which is not always the case! Badgers can now be vaccinated against TB, and there is a project just starting to see if this helps reduce the incidence of bovine TB, in six areas of 100km2 where bovine TB is a problem.

The last speaker was Dr. Tony Harrington, who told us about FERA's role in the national seed variety listing and plant breeders rights. More can be learned about this here, and a
gazette newsletter is available.

There was a question and answer session and then I got a tour of the buildings which was very interesting indeed. I'm really glad I attended as I've learned a lot, about what happens at FERA and about modern agriculture and food science generally. I' m glad too, that I'm going to be able to give something back. One of the stallholders on the foyer had lots of jars of stored foodstuffs with infestations of assorted insects... and I'm very interested in invertebrates so I chatted with the stallholder. I told her about my many compost heaps and my role as a compost 'expert'. She told me that when the culture was 'spent', they just threw away the grain or whatever contents were in the jar, and she wanted to know if it was compostable. So I promised to send her an email with an overview of what she could do with this material. I'm excited by this... my helping a Government Agency become more green! WooHoo!

I cycled home a shorter way, through Stockton on Forest, which was just 6 miles whereas my outward journey was 7.75 miles.

I spent most of the evening trying to record this fascinating day, but didn't get it finished, despite writing til past 2am.

Woken by anti-school noise but children did go to school.

However, this got me up and I did some moving of broken bricks from our shared driveway down to where the wall/fence is going to be built.

Pauline rang following an email conversation over the past few days and I agreed to go round today and pick up the Freecycle-request credit card holder she has found for me, and to help her with her wooding. So I got 3 sacks of logs together as this is my 'traditional' seasonal gift to her, loaded up my trailer and cycled round for 12.30.

I helped her stack the logs in her outhouse and then used her bow saw to chop a few bits of wood for her Clearview Stove, and brute force to smash up an old chair she found in a skip.

This didn't take long and at just after 1pm I had my sandwiches and Pauline made me a coffee, and we caught up on assorted news. I didn't stay too long as I had to go to the Building Society to put in a cheque from the weekend and take out a big cheque to pay off the last of our Council Tax, which I then went to pay. I cycled back via Country Fresh where I met some fairly old people trying to ineffectively break up a pallet outside the shop. They were happy to accept some help... and I showed them how to do it, by slamming the pallet down on one corner and then on another corner til it falls apart... which i was very glad it did, because it made me look like a veteran pallet smasher (which of course I am!!). Picked up two sacks worth of compostable items and some dryable ones too... includung four 'dragon fruit' which are very expensive and weird, not brilliant to eat but do make an interesting addition to a bag of dried fruit. I'm now thinking ahead to the LETS event in December where I'm going to do a very large number of bags of fruit, and try to do a bit of a clearout.

Got home in reasonable time to load up two of my tumblers with a load of stuff.

For tea I had a veg stew that Gill had done on the woodstove plus half the last slice of quiche and three slices of roast squash. Very filling!

At 8pm there was a meeting at the Yorkshire Terrier on Stonegate to do some planning for the Towards Carfree Cities Conference. This is going to be the 9th international conference run by the World Carfree Network, and it is to be at the end of June 2010 in York. My friend and Green Festival colleague Randall is heading this up (he's been involved in this organisation since their first conference) and Ivana and Richard met in Prague whilst working in the Carbusters office, as far as I gather. I also met Graham Titchener from Cycling City York and Andy from my favourite cycle shop, Cycle Heaven. I think I'll be doing some volunteering with this event, although I don't know exactly what yet.

Home at nearly 11pm, went straight onto the computer to sort out emails and record a good day.

Not a bad day really, certainly started out right with a lie in with Gill who then slept all morning.

I had heard what I thought was a chainsaw so I hopped on my bike to go and find it, but it turned out to be a petrol hedgetrimmer, so I came back home.

I sorted out some fruit to dry on the woodstove, cooked some slices of homegrown squash and then had lunch. At 1.30 the Yellow Pages/Yell dot Com lady arrived and we had some interesting chats before I signed the paperwork agreeing another year's advertising.

Gill went for our youngest and I spent quite a long time preparing potatoes, some knobbly Pink Fir Apple to add to tonight's tea. I did a bit of work in the garden and came in for tea, which for me was a pastie, four slices of fried squash from earlier and a handful of cold cooked potatoes.

I had a meeting at 7 up at Rand's house so I zoomed up to Acomb to meet with other Green Festival core group people to have the post-festival roundup. This was an interesting meeting as we had to analyse not just how it went, but our own role within that. I chaired AND made notes... and have now got these to type up and send out.. aargh! However, it was a good meeting, and there was wine and assorted food.

Quick cycle back, it's all downhill from Acomb! Then a long phone call with my dear old Auntie after which I tried to catch up with some more e-paperwork.

An increasingly busy day with emails and meetings. I spent a big chunk of the day with the laptop on, fielding queries, bouncing them on to the correct Green Festival person, replying, finding solutions. Things are falling into place nicely. I also did quite a bit of log wrangling... building logpiles, tidying up.

At 5 I went round to Lynn's with four carrier bags of riddled compost, which she paid me 10 Yorkys for. Then I went through to see Richard and bumped into my friend Gary Haq who wants me to go and check his compost heap sometime, and needed to know how to reduce the fruit fly problem he is experiencing. I tried to explain that it isn't a problem, that they are a resource, but actually he wants fewer fruit flies. The solution is to put all the day's peelings, cores etc in a wrap of newspaper, which means the little darlings cannot get to their food source... and when the material has broken down enough to rot through the newsprint, they are not as interested in it.

Then on to Rowntree Park where there was supposed to be a stewards meeting, but only organisers turned up, plus the ever-so-reliable Jem from JSS Audio, and his colleague who's name I didn't catch. But several of the park-keepers were there, including John who will be working on Sunday, and we were able to see the electric sockets and water availability. We had a final walk around the park with decisions as to where to put things.

It started to rain as we walked round... it did that last time too. But the weather forecast for Sunday is better. I then cycled off to Leeman Road, where a Freecycler had offered a load of compostables, threatening to lob them in the bin if nobody wanted them. I didn't want them either, but took them to St Nicks for their composting operations. Took then via a chap on Walmgate who had requested a poster for his window.

Then home, via Freshways and a talkative Raj who enquired about having a stall at YGF09. Gill had made a sort of curry with a pile of assorted veg and the carrot soup I made. This was put on a bed of rice and was DELICIOUS!!!

More email stuff when I settled down, but also got a few Scrabble moves in...

An early start as various things to do in town, did most of them (paid cheque in, paid water bill, visited Anti Gravity, picked up mouldy oranges from Millers Yard) but as I didn't take a shopping list, I forgot to go to the Post Office to pick up a parcel. Duh.

So when I got home, and confessed my error, Gill suggested I cycle down again (after lunch!) and get the parcel (it was for the children) and get coffee from Oxfam and Gill-friendly ice cream from Sainsbury's. So I did this.

Fortunately I got back in enough time to do some compost management, filling the old Compostumbler.

We had a good tea... the leek and potato soup I made yesterday, plus assorted bits of quiche and cold pasta leftovers.

I then popped round to Lynn with some LETS stuff, and on to the Green Festival meeting in Stonegate, which was very productive.

Well, the train journey yesterday went very smoothly... I cycled down to the station with everything I needed, and bought tickets for my son and me from Birmingham to Leamington Spa. Gill came down on the 4pm bus with the boys and got to the station just in time, with only just over a minute to spare... I quickly loaded my bike on and we waved goodbye and the doors closed!

The journey was very easy, and made more enjoyable by meeting a pair of American tourists, one, Colleen, was a keen photographer (and works as a portrait photographer) and I was able to warn her about the spire at Chesterfield which she got some pictures of, from the moving train. The change at Birmingham New Street was easy too, and we arrived in Leamington at 8pm, and were met by Ulrich and his two sons. We cycled back to their place; I gave my lad a lift on the crossbar which he tolerated. When we got back, there was Katarina with their new baby to greet us, and they'd done some tea for us, an interesting German meal of thinly sliced potato baked with a white sauce followed by blueberries and ice cream.

My son was very very pleased to see his friend whom he met in York before the family moved to be nearer Ulrich's workplace, Ryton Organic Gardens just a few miles North of Leamington.

A fairly non-eventful evening... I used Ulrich's tiny and ancient laptop to do my emails on Tiscali Webmail, and Facebook, but the machine wouldn't let me onto my blog.

SO, TUESDAY... Ulrich cycled off to Ryton at 8.30 and I had breakfast and got myself ready to cycle after him. I had contacted my friend Pippa and had arranged to meet her there at 11am, and Ulrich would have his mid-morning break then too, and give us a guided tour!

So I set off at about 10am up the A445 and was soon at Ryton Organic Gardens, and I showed my membership and therefore got in free, and had time to look round The Vegetable Kingdom which is an excellent exhibition with really huge models of vegetables and some good interactive stuff too, lots of good info.

11am came, Pippa arrived and Ulrich met us and introduced us to his colleague Francis, who is a researcher on soil fertility. After a cuppa, a guided tour with Ulrich and Frances, including a look into a couple of polytunnels where there were trials of rock-dust on tomatoes, to see if it increased production or improved taste. I was impressed with the size of the courgette plants too, they were enormous! We saw the trials field, and Francis' dustbin-sized anaerobic digester experiment, and the reedbeds which clean up the toilet water...

But then the two hosts had to get back to work, and after Pippa bought a birthday card for my sons (she never forgets!) she had to get off too. I decided to have lunch at Garden Organic as it was already past 1pm and I imagined that I wouldn't be in Leicester for at least a couple of hours, looking at the distance on the map. So I had a veg lasagne and a baguette.

After lunch which I finished at 2.30, I cycled off up the Fosse Way to Leicester, going through Bretford, over the Oxford Canal and under the West Coast Main Line and then over the M6 motorway. I was impressed by the number and size of mushrooms I saw on the verges. Some were the size of dinner plates, all ordinary field mushrooms, but all mature and therefore full of insect larvae. At the A5 I turned more Eastwards through Claybrooke Magna, Broughton Astley and Countesthorpe, Wigston and Oadby, which is near where I used to live. I cycled along roads I used to walk to school to, and up Knighton Church Road which is where I lived from 1975 to 1984. I visited my old best friend's mum, Yvonne, and another friend's parents, Irene and Don. I called at the house I used to live in, but there was no-one in... a pity as I'd have loved to see the garden. The trees in the front garden my parents planted are doing well, a Rowan and a Ginkgo. Amazingly, the bell-push on the front door still has our family name in the little plastic box under it! My folks left here a long time ago, and I would have thought that the new owners would want their name in this box! I cycled away, through Leicester and a rainstorm, past the first house we lived in there, and via a circuitous route to Scraptoft Lane where we had our second house, and from Scraptoft I went via Beeby, South Croxton, Barsby, Great Dalby and on to Melton Mowbray, arriving at 8pm. I asked a local chap if there was anywhere in Melton where I could get Bed and Breakfast, and he suggested the Noel's Arms.

I had a quick look at the room and it seemed OK to me, so I paid Jackie the Publican and dumped my stuff which I took off my bike and went to find somewhere nice to eat. I was recommended to go to Mamma Mia's and I had a delicious 3 course meal for £20, including the best Tiramasu I've ever had! Nice chats to the staff too.

I had a pint back at the pub, and went upstairs to plan my route for the following day. However I saw the weather forecast and as it was due to rain heavily and be squally and windy, I decided to get the train from Grantham up to York.

So I went to sleep in Noel's Arms, my first and probably only time.... !

Planning... what to do instead of the Big Green Gathering.

I rang a friend in Kenilworth and I might visit.

I went down to town to pay in my cheques from this weekend and went to the library to get some maps out, so I can at least have the chance of cycling from Leamington back to York, or some of it.

What I do know is that I'll be away for several days, on my bike, with a tent and very minimal stuff, and will be back in 3, 4 or 5 days. I have no idea, it's very open.

There will almost certainly be no posts on this blog until I get back, as I'll be away from everything, and probably won't feel inclined to pop into a cybercafe to do emails and 'tinterwebby' stuff.

So at 4ish I'll go down to the station and get tickets from Birmingham to Leamington, and Gill will bring our eldest down to put him on the train with me and my bike, and wave us goodbye.

If anyone wants to know more about the closure of the Big Green Gathering, you can do no better than to read Derek Wall's blog : http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2009/07/cops-ban-big-green-gathering-so-punters.html