Woke at 10. I got myself ready to go to the Low Moor Allotment Association AGM, which was at midday. I left home at about 11.25 and went to see Richard at Country Fresh, got some veggies and a big bag of cabbage leaves and sprouting onions.
Then I went round to the allotments, and as I was still too early for the meeting, I popped in on the People and Planet allotment where Dora greeted me loudly and warmly as 'Compost John', and yes, I was bearing a gift for their heap... all the cabbage leaves, etc.
I told them about the AGM and she and Zak came with me to the meeting which was outside as it was a lovely day.
A good meeting, left me feeling positive and buoyed up. I cycled past my old plot on the way back and it has been rotavated! The new allotmenteers look like they mean business!
I visited Debbie on the way back and chatted for 10 minutes, and got in for 2pm, for lunch and Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4.
Then I got busy in the conservatory... I planted LOADS of seeds... courgette, pumpkin, squash, yams (in the cups rescued from the Ceilidh, punctured at the base with a hot wire) and sweetcorn plus one or two other things. Lots more to do though...
Then it was tea time, I had the last pastie and the cauliflower/pasta bake which Gill threw together, followed by a slice of cake.
Then it was yet another meeting... down at Anna's, the York in Transition 'events' meeting, which was quite well attended and very upbeat.
I got in just after 10pm and wasn't sleepy til 3am.
Showing posts with label Low Moor Allotment Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Low Moor Allotment Association. Show all posts
Well, an early start, not sure why. I had to go to the allotment shop before midday, but that didn't necessitate such an early start.
However, wasted time til 11 and then cycled off to Low Moor to get seeds for the forthcoming York in Transition Seed Swap at St. Nicks next Saturday. It was suggested that we'd get maybe £15 worth of seeds as a starter, so there was something to swap even for the first person who arrives. I volunteered to get some as I'm a member of the Low Moor Allotment Association (£2 per year) and this gives me access to cheap gardening supplies.
So this is what I got:
4 Mizuna, 4 Sorrel, 10 Basil, 4 Chives, 4 Coriander, 5 Lollo Rosso Lettuce, 5 Iceberg Lettuce, 5 Little Gem Lettuce, 5 All Year Round Lettuce, 4 French Breakfast Radish, 4 Bright Lights Chard, 5 Spinach, 5 Calabrese and 5 mixed Broccoli. 69 packets of seed for £14... brilliant!
I cycled round to Country Fresh and got a big bag of veggies plus two sacks of compostables, plus had a laugh with Richard who was in a jolly mood.
I popped in to Freshways on the way back home and they just had some out of date sliced bread, some of which we eat (ie today's haul has a best before date of 13th March, and is perfect for toast for a couple of days) but there's always too much to eat, so it gets dried by the stove and when completely dry, it makes great kindling. (really!) I'd rather it didn't end up like this... but the alternative is landfill, or I could compost it in a tumbler, but they're all full at the moment. Gone are the days when out of date food could be fed to pigs... now they are fed with foodstuffs specially grown for them. If our omnivorous meat animals could be given 'pigswill' (out of date and waste food, mixed and brought to the boil) their carbon footprint would be considerably less. But due to the stupid policy of feeding herbivores (cattle) rendered down protein from other animals, including bovines, and this causing the prion disease 'BSE' to develop and spread, causing the 'mad cow disease' outbreak, the practice of giving commercial food animals waste food was banned. Now it mostly goes to landfill. Madness. Additionally, the BSE problem led to the most ridiculous composting legislation, the 'animal by products regulations' which mean that processed food which might have been in the vicinity of some animal-based food may not be commercially composted in, for instance, council windrow systems. This material now has to be composted in 'in vessel' composting equipment, despite there being no proof that this treatment destroys all prions. The only beneficiaries have been the producers of 'in vessel' composters.
Fortunately home composters are not affected by the ABPR, and may freely compost kitchen waste in their compost bins, as they should.
Anyway, rant over. After lunch I chainsawed up a couple of pallets and soon after 3pm, my visitor arrived, Ansar, and his brother, Amjid (I think) who had driven over from West Yorkshire to see my Clearview stoves. Ansar had been researching woodstoves as he wants to install one in his rather cold and drafty house. He found this blog (I think) and contacted me. I tried to persuade him to use ethical transport, and gave him train and bus info, but like many, he is a petrolhead and preferred to drive here. Hey ho, at least he's wanting to make his house warmer using renewables. It's a start. We had a long chat about how the stove works, chimney lining or not, logs and different sorts of wood, storage and more.
Right before they went I mentioned my environmental education stuff, and mentioned Muslims the York Mosque... and so they headed on down there. I hope they found it. Nice chaps. I hope the visit was helpful.
Not sure what else I did... just a bit more work outside and then inside, more fruit drying and housework, made some tomato and onion base which Gill modified with celery and red pepper, and added some cooked macaroni, and we had this alongside some asparagus.. a Mother's day treat Gill said.
Lots of email traffic to do. I'd like a break, a few days when I had no emails or phone calls, and I could concentrate on my book, which I haven't touched for over a year. But today I did download the 116 replies to my questionnaire, and asked a mathematically inclined friend if he'd like to help me interpret the results.
However, wasted time til 11 and then cycled off to Low Moor to get seeds for the forthcoming York in Transition Seed Swap at St. Nicks next Saturday. It was suggested that we'd get maybe £15 worth of seeds as a starter, so there was something to swap even for the first person who arrives. I volunteered to get some as I'm a member of the Low Moor Allotment Association (£2 per year) and this gives me access to cheap gardening supplies.
So this is what I got:
4 Mizuna, 4 Sorrel, 10 Basil, 4 Chives, 4 Coriander, 5 Lollo Rosso Lettuce, 5 Iceberg Lettuce, 5 Little Gem Lettuce, 5 All Year Round Lettuce, 4 French Breakfast Radish, 4 Bright Lights Chard, 5 Spinach, 5 Calabrese and 5 mixed Broccoli. 69 packets of seed for £14... brilliant!
I cycled round to Country Fresh and got a big bag of veggies plus two sacks of compostables, plus had a laugh with Richard who was in a jolly mood.
I popped in to Freshways on the way back home and they just had some out of date sliced bread, some of which we eat (ie today's haul has a best before date of 13th March, and is perfect for toast for a couple of days) but there's always too much to eat, so it gets dried by the stove and when completely dry, it makes great kindling. (really!) I'd rather it didn't end up like this... but the alternative is landfill, or I could compost it in a tumbler, but they're all full at the moment. Gone are the days when out of date food could be fed to pigs... now they are fed with foodstuffs specially grown for them. If our omnivorous meat animals could be given 'pigswill' (out of date and waste food, mixed and brought to the boil) their carbon footprint would be considerably less. But due to the stupid policy of feeding herbivores (cattle) rendered down protein from other animals, including bovines, and this causing the prion disease 'BSE' to develop and spread, causing the 'mad cow disease' outbreak, the practice of giving commercial food animals waste food was banned. Now it mostly goes to landfill. Madness. Additionally, the BSE problem led to the most ridiculous composting legislation, the 'animal by products regulations' which mean that processed food which might have been in the vicinity of some animal-based food may not be commercially composted in, for instance, council windrow systems. This material now has to be composted in 'in vessel' composting equipment, despite there being no proof that this treatment destroys all prions. The only beneficiaries have been the producers of 'in vessel' composters.
Fortunately home composters are not affected by the ABPR, and may freely compost kitchen waste in their compost bins, as they should.
Anyway, rant over. After lunch I chainsawed up a couple of pallets and soon after 3pm, my visitor arrived, Ansar, and his brother, Amjid (I think) who had driven over from West Yorkshire to see my Clearview stoves. Ansar had been researching woodstoves as he wants to install one in his rather cold and drafty house. He found this blog (I think) and contacted me. I tried to persuade him to use ethical transport, and gave him train and bus info, but like many, he is a petrolhead and preferred to drive here. Hey ho, at least he's wanting to make his house warmer using renewables. It's a start. We had a long chat about how the stove works, chimney lining or not, logs and different sorts of wood, storage and more.
Right before they went I mentioned my environmental education stuff, and mentioned Muslims the York Mosque... and so they headed on down there. I hope they found it. Nice chaps. I hope the visit was helpful.
Not sure what else I did... just a bit more work outside and then inside, more fruit drying and housework, made some tomato and onion base which Gill modified with celery and red pepper, and added some cooked macaroni, and we had this alongside some asparagus.. a Mother's day treat Gill said.
Lots of email traffic to do. I'd like a break, a few days when I had no emails or phone calls, and I could concentrate on my book, which I haven't touched for over a year. But today I did download the 116 replies to my questionnaire, and asked a mathematically inclined friend if he'd like to help me interpret the results.
Still feeling quite 'blue' today... not a change of political colour, just my mood is down on usual. But I'm lucky, as I never get down enough to stop me doing things, and today was no exception.
I was woken by shouting and came down to see if I was needed... wasn't really, and I had breakfast and did my emails, and watched a bit of The Big Questions which is often though-provoking. Around this time, Robin arrived with his home-made compost tumbler which he has had to get rid of, as he's reorganising his garden. He's lent it to me on permanent loan. It is a standard wheelie bin, riddled with holes for ventilation, and a centrally-placed pair of holes surrounded by a metal ferrule to strengthen them, through which goes a rod, acting as a pivot. This sits on a wooden stand, allowing it to rotate. The lid is kept shut with some kind of strap and tightener, which took me ages to work our how to use... but I did, eventually. I left this in the front garden for now.
At 11 I cycled off to the allotment, despite my not having one anymore, I've decided to rejoin the Association as firstly I really believe in allotments (despite it not being a religion!) and secondly it allows me to purchase reduced price gardening supplies... so today I spent just £11 on four types of seed potato (£1 a kilo), 'Masterpiece' broad beans, 'Sutton' broad beans, two packets of F1 'Earligold' sweetcorn, two packets of 'Incredible' sweetcorn, mixed broccoli, calabrese 'green sprouting', calabrese 'Chevalier', cauliflower 'Autumn Giant', cauliflower 'Rafael F1', leek 'Musselburgh', courgette 'Bambino', courgette 'Zucchini' ad a packet of 'Early' butternut squash. I also rescued a few bits and bobs from my ex allotment which as yet doesn't have anybody tending it. I might go and rescue my expensive asparagus before they start growing, if I can find them!
As I was coming home, my bike chain, which has been giving me some trouble, broke, so I had to scoot home. As soon as I got in I rang Cycle Heaven and hooray, they were willing to drop everything to have my bike in, as soon as I wanted, and make it better. So I had lunch and scooted/walked back into town and delivered my bike. I was told that I needed a new derailleur mechanism, as mine has been knocked and that's why it has been jumping and causing me problems. So I said yes, and walked into town again to get some money out of the hole in the wall, and then walked on to see if Pauline was in... which she was, and she was happy to see me. She always talks sense and an hour with her made me temporarily forget my woes. We had an interesting conversation about an ethical dilemma. We both have one... hers is sorted, mine hasn't yet happened but I might need to act on some information some time and Pauline had an answer about how best to do that. She is a great friend and in my opinion, a wise woman.
I then picked up my bike and it felt wonderful again! Called in on Country Fresh and Freshways, arrived home very laden. I got home just in time to be useful with the boys, but soon escaped down the garden to install the new tumbler, and filled it completely with assorted garden stuff and greengrocer stuff. I think it'll be a good bit of kit.
A few weeks ago I'd found a bike on the side of the road so I'd rescued it and after a few days, reported it to the Police as lost property. Amazingly, someone had apparently reported it missing and today the Police rang to say they wanted to collect it, so I brought it to the front of the house in anticipation. This is the first time any bike I've found has been claimed. I am very pleased.
Tea was nice.. a rescued avocado, and an experimental pate made by our youngest, who loves cooking (watercress and cashew nut... interesting!), plus a macaroni cheese with cauliflower and broccoli. Good stuff!
However, I still had the blusey feeling hanging over me and I felt quite lethargic during the evening, just no energy or enthusiasm at all. I'm hoping it will blow over.
I was woken by shouting and came down to see if I was needed... wasn't really, and I had breakfast and did my emails, and watched a bit of The Big Questions which is often though-provoking. Around this time, Robin arrived with his home-made compost tumbler which he has had to get rid of, as he's reorganising his garden. He's lent it to me on permanent loan. It is a standard wheelie bin, riddled with holes for ventilation, and a centrally-placed pair of holes surrounded by a metal ferrule to strengthen them, through which goes a rod, acting as a pivot. This sits on a wooden stand, allowing it to rotate. The lid is kept shut with some kind of strap and tightener, which took me ages to work our how to use... but I did, eventually. I left this in the front garden for now.
At 11 I cycled off to the allotment, despite my not having one anymore, I've decided to rejoin the Association as firstly I really believe in allotments (despite it not being a religion!) and secondly it allows me to purchase reduced price gardening supplies... so today I spent just £11 on four types of seed potato (£1 a kilo), 'Masterpiece' broad beans, 'Sutton' broad beans, two packets of F1 'Earligold' sweetcorn, two packets of 'Incredible' sweetcorn, mixed broccoli, calabrese 'green sprouting', calabrese 'Chevalier', cauliflower 'Autumn Giant', cauliflower 'Rafael F1', leek 'Musselburgh', courgette 'Bambino', courgette 'Zucchini' ad a packet of 'Early' butternut squash. I also rescued a few bits and bobs from my ex allotment which as yet doesn't have anybody tending it. I might go and rescue my expensive asparagus before they start growing, if I can find them!
As I was coming home, my bike chain, which has been giving me some trouble, broke, so I had to scoot home. As soon as I got in I rang Cycle Heaven and hooray, they were willing to drop everything to have my bike in, as soon as I wanted, and make it better. So I had lunch and scooted/walked back into town and delivered my bike. I was told that I needed a new derailleur mechanism, as mine has been knocked and that's why it has been jumping and causing me problems. So I said yes, and walked into town again to get some money out of the hole in the wall, and then walked on to see if Pauline was in... which she was, and she was happy to see me. She always talks sense and an hour with her made me temporarily forget my woes. We had an interesting conversation about an ethical dilemma. We both have one... hers is sorted, mine hasn't yet happened but I might need to act on some information some time and Pauline had an answer about how best to do that. She is a great friend and in my opinion, a wise woman.
I then picked up my bike and it felt wonderful again! Called in on Country Fresh and Freshways, arrived home very laden. I got home just in time to be useful with the boys, but soon escaped down the garden to install the new tumbler, and filled it completely with assorted garden stuff and greengrocer stuff. I think it'll be a good bit of kit.
A few weeks ago I'd found a bike on the side of the road so I'd rescued it and after a few days, reported it to the Police as lost property. Amazingly, someone had apparently reported it missing and today the Police rang to say they wanted to collect it, so I brought it to the front of the house in anticipation. This is the first time any bike I've found has been claimed. I am very pleased.
Tea was nice.. a rescued avocado, and an experimental pate made by our youngest, who loves cooking (watercress and cashew nut... interesting!), plus a macaroni cheese with cauliflower and broccoli. Good stuff!
However, I still had the blusey feeling hanging over me and I felt quite lethargic during the evening, just no energy or enthusiasm at all. I'm hoping it will blow over.
No work today, but several possible appointments, the first and probably most important was a meeting at midday of the Low Moor Allotment Association committee, to which I had been invited as a special informant about the possibility of a compost toilet on the site. I was second on the agenda after the community policewoman and security.
I started with the statement that humanure can easily be composted if put with some carbon-rich materials such as sawdust or finely chopped straw, but care should be taken with how the resultant material is used, ie, on permanent plantings like hedges, trees, canes etc, but not salad carrots or lettuce... I then said that as far as I was concerned, there were two possible designs of a 'long drop', one with the chambers at ground level, and therefore the room with the pedestal in it at some height, needing steps and a ramp for wheelchair access, and the other option, which I've seen in a lottie in London, is to have the chambers below ground level, 'tanked out' (lined to make them waterproof) and the room with pedestal at ground level, and this room made of bricks, blocks or strawbales, and a secure lockable door. The chambers at ground level would be very easy to dig out, but the structure liable to vandalism, and probably too large due to needing a ramp. The below ground option is more accessible for users but more difficult to empty, needing a special shovel with the blade at right angles to the shaft, accessed through the opening above, which has the pedestal bolted to it when that chamber is in use, and has a cover bolted to it when rotting down. The below-ground version must also have passive ventilation chimneys to draw air over the pile and help dehydrate the manure and prevent odours coming up through the pedestal.
However, the below ground option might have a cost of £10 to £30 thousand, depending on how it was constructed, and there are the issues of who cleans it and keeps it usable, and the occasional task of digging it out. This latter task would be every few years, but the former would be at least weekly. The committee agreed to canvas opinion about whether a toilet would be welcomed on the site, to gauge need, and if there was deemed to be a need, then fundraising could begin and designs submitted. I really hope the questionnaire finds that lots of people would welcome a loo on the lottie, and I can get involved in designing and fundraising.
I got home at about 2pm for lunch, and at about 3.30 went for a cycle ride with my eldest son round to Hull Road Park where there was a YorkLETS social planned. Lynn was there with her two offspring, who are at the same school as my son, and Stephen and Alison were there too, with their son. On the way to the park, we discovered a puncture in my son's back bike wheel, so on the way back he had a lift on my rack and his bike went on my trailer. We'll fix it this week...
I did a load of home composting work after this, re-building a pallet bin which I completely took apart a few weeks ago, and riddling a large amount of quite dry compost which has been in a builders bag for a few weeks. The unrotted sticks etc are going back in the bottom of the newly built pallet bin, for drainage.
Came in for tea, I had a couple of reheated dishes from the last couple of days with two stale pitta breads. The rest of the family had something nicer and fresher, but I'm renowned for being able to stomach anything and not liking waste, so I'd rather eat something than compost it.
Later in the evening when the boys were in bed, Gill and I had a slow game of Scrabble whilst watching Blur and The Prodigy on telly, at Glastonbury Festival. I thrashed her this time!
I started with the statement that humanure can easily be composted if put with some carbon-rich materials such as sawdust or finely chopped straw, but care should be taken with how the resultant material is used, ie, on permanent plantings like hedges, trees, canes etc, but not salad carrots or lettuce... I then said that as far as I was concerned, there were two possible designs of a 'long drop', one with the chambers at ground level, and therefore the room with the pedestal in it at some height, needing steps and a ramp for wheelchair access, and the other option, which I've seen in a lottie in London, is to have the chambers below ground level, 'tanked out' (lined to make them waterproof) and the room with pedestal at ground level, and this room made of bricks, blocks or strawbales, and a secure lockable door. The chambers at ground level would be very easy to dig out, but the structure liable to vandalism, and probably too large due to needing a ramp. The below ground option is more accessible for users but more difficult to empty, needing a special shovel with the blade at right angles to the shaft, accessed through the opening above, which has the pedestal bolted to it when that chamber is in use, and has a cover bolted to it when rotting down. The below-ground version must also have passive ventilation chimneys to draw air over the pile and help dehydrate the manure and prevent odours coming up through the pedestal.
However, the below ground option might have a cost of £10 to £30 thousand, depending on how it was constructed, and there are the issues of who cleans it and keeps it usable, and the occasional task of digging it out. This latter task would be every few years, but the former would be at least weekly. The committee agreed to canvas opinion about whether a toilet would be welcomed on the site, to gauge need, and if there was deemed to be a need, then fundraising could begin and designs submitted. I really hope the questionnaire finds that lots of people would welcome a loo on the lottie, and I can get involved in designing and fundraising.
I got home at about 2pm for lunch, and at about 3.30 went for a cycle ride with my eldest son round to Hull Road Park where there was a YorkLETS social planned. Lynn was there with her two offspring, who are at the same school as my son, and Stephen and Alison were there too, with their son. On the way to the park, we discovered a puncture in my son's back bike wheel, so on the way back he had a lift on my rack and his bike went on my trailer. We'll fix it this week...
I did a load of home composting work after this, re-building a pallet bin which I completely took apart a few weeks ago, and riddling a large amount of quite dry compost which has been in a builders bag for a few weeks. The unrotted sticks etc are going back in the bottom of the newly built pallet bin, for drainage.
Came in for tea, I had a couple of reheated dishes from the last couple of days with two stale pitta breads. The rest of the family had something nicer and fresher, but I'm renowned for being able to stomach anything and not liking waste, so I'd rather eat something than compost it.
Later in the evening when the boys were in bed, Gill and I had a slow game of Scrabble whilst watching Blur and The Prodigy on telly, at Glastonbury Festival. I thrashed her this time!
Another busy day, but most of it around and about.
My first job, apart from making a couple of sandwiches to take with me for lunch, was to carefully load my trailer with a sack of drinks cartons... mostly soya milk which we've used, but also some of our fruit juice cartons, and some smaller drinks cartons from the school bins, as they don't bother to recycle. Then various electrical equipment... a video player which got the video stuck in it, and was thrown away by someone near Country Fresh, and the AVP computer tower, monitor and assorted cables, a bag of scrap iron from various places including nails from the stove and Pauline's stove, some batteries and a wok I found in some bushes...
This I cycled to the Council-run recycling 'dump' (Hazel Court) where I now know that 'officially' bikes are not welcome. There are limited recycling facilities for pedestrians and cyclists at the gate, but not for scrap metal, waste electrical equipment or drinks cartons. So I again ignored the rule which I think is stupid and was delighted to be welcomed by two staff members, who joked to each other about whether I'd applied for a permit for my trailer... I shouted back that my application had been refused. I put all my potentially recyclable items in the right place and cycled off, thanking the staff and feeling really good that I'd been treated with respect and like an ordinary punter wishing to use the facilities like anybody else. I decided to not reply to the letter telling me I do not qualify for a trailer permit, and that bikes are not allowed in the compound. I think that my occasional use of this facility, maybe once every month or two, will continue and that I'll just risk the potential of being told I'm not welcome, and in this eventuality, having to decide to ignore the person telling me I'm not allowed in, or to comply and dump the stuff on the ground at the gate, which is what I've been advised to do! What a complete farce!
Next I headed over to Country Fresh where Richard was just opening up the shop, and he had a small box of compostables for me, which I took up to the allotment and made a layer on the latest heap of mainly bramble stems and dandelion plants with parsnip-sized roots. I met one of my new neighbours, Caroline, who works at St Johns and is doing an excellent job on her plot, and at midday we walked down to the Low Moor Allotment Association Annual General Meeting.
There were about 25 people attending and it was a low-key affair really, just reports about the past year with the new shop building, the seed and potato order, the number of plots available and the waiting list, the kids allotment and various other bits and pieces. I gave out some Age of Stupid leaflets. I chatted to an American couple, Californians with unusual names that I cannot remember (!) who wanted to pick my brains about their composting attempts. They've been using bokashi and putting the material in a fabric composter and they'd brought this to the lottie today to start a compost heap on their plot. I helped them get it up to their allotment and they'd made a couple of pallet bins so I enthused and helped empty the compost out.
I spent another hot hour on the lottie weeding and preparing the soil for onion sets and potatoes.
At 2.20, zoomed off to Bryony's house in Fulford, where Barry was waiting too. Bryony wasn't around, so we waited for her and 15 mins later she arrived with her Mother after a trip to a Freecycler which took longer than usual. We had an hour discussing the meeting on Tuesday, the York in Transition Fulford Credit Crunch Discussion meeting at The Bay Horse. I'm presenting info on LETS, and we needed to work out the order to do stuff in, and who did what. Bryony has done an excellent job organising it.
I then cycled to Pauline's to remove a load of ivy she's taken off a shed. She had four sacks full and some 'matted sheets' of ivy stems from the side of the building, which is being taken down. I loaded my trailer and realised I had a flat tyre. I pumped it up but it didn't last long, going flat in less than 5 minutes. But I got most of the way home with just one stop to re-inflate. But at 2 mins from home the whole tyre/inner tube came off and the inner tube shredded when it wrapped itself round the axle. Very annoying, and I'll have to get a new tube tomorrow.
Shredded the ivy in my lovely Mountfield quiet shredder, a task I really enjoy.
Gill made spaghetti and beans for tea, home grown (dried and soaked) beans! Boys watched Robin Hood on their computer before bed time.
My first job, apart from making a couple of sandwiches to take with me for lunch, was to carefully load my trailer with a sack of drinks cartons... mostly soya milk which we've used, but also some of our fruit juice cartons, and some smaller drinks cartons from the school bins, as they don't bother to recycle. Then various electrical equipment... a video player which got the video stuck in it, and was thrown away by someone near Country Fresh, and the AVP computer tower, monitor and assorted cables, a bag of scrap iron from various places including nails from the stove and Pauline's stove, some batteries and a wok I found in some bushes...
This I cycled to the Council-run recycling 'dump' (Hazel Court) where I now know that 'officially' bikes are not welcome. There are limited recycling facilities for pedestrians and cyclists at the gate, but not for scrap metal, waste electrical equipment or drinks cartons. So I again ignored the rule which I think is stupid and was delighted to be welcomed by two staff members, who joked to each other about whether I'd applied for a permit for my trailer... I shouted back that my application had been refused. I put all my potentially recyclable items in the right place and cycled off, thanking the staff and feeling really good that I'd been treated with respect and like an ordinary punter wishing to use the facilities like anybody else. I decided to not reply to the letter telling me I do not qualify for a trailer permit, and that bikes are not allowed in the compound. I think that my occasional use of this facility, maybe once every month or two, will continue and that I'll just risk the potential of being told I'm not welcome, and in this eventuality, having to decide to ignore the person telling me I'm not allowed in, or to comply and dump the stuff on the ground at the gate, which is what I've been advised to do! What a complete farce!
Next I headed over to Country Fresh where Richard was just opening up the shop, and he had a small box of compostables for me, which I took up to the allotment and made a layer on the latest heap of mainly bramble stems and dandelion plants with parsnip-sized roots. I met one of my new neighbours, Caroline, who works at St Johns and is doing an excellent job on her plot, and at midday we walked down to the Low Moor Allotment Association Annual General Meeting.
There were about 25 people attending and it was a low-key affair really, just reports about the past year with the new shop building, the seed and potato order, the number of plots available and the waiting list, the kids allotment and various other bits and pieces. I gave out some Age of Stupid leaflets. I chatted to an American couple, Californians with unusual names that I cannot remember (!) who wanted to pick my brains about their composting attempts. They've been using bokashi and putting the material in a fabric composter and they'd brought this to the lottie today to start a compost heap on their plot. I helped them get it up to their allotment and they'd made a couple of pallet bins so I enthused and helped empty the compost out.
I spent another hot hour on the lottie weeding and preparing the soil for onion sets and potatoes.
At 2.20, zoomed off to Bryony's house in Fulford, where Barry was waiting too. Bryony wasn't around, so we waited for her and 15 mins later she arrived with her Mother after a trip to a Freecycler which took longer than usual. We had an hour discussing the meeting on Tuesday, the York in Transition Fulford Credit Crunch Discussion meeting at The Bay Horse. I'm presenting info on LETS, and we needed to work out the order to do stuff in, and who did what. Bryony has done an excellent job organising it.
I then cycled to Pauline's to remove a load of ivy she's taken off a shed. She had four sacks full and some 'matted sheets' of ivy stems from the side of the building, which is being taken down. I loaded my trailer and realised I had a flat tyre. I pumped it up but it didn't last long, going flat in less than 5 minutes. But I got most of the way home with just one stop to re-inflate. But at 2 mins from home the whole tyre/inner tube came off and the inner tube shredded when it wrapped itself round the axle. Very annoying, and I'll have to get a new tube tomorrow.
Shredded the ivy in my lovely Mountfield quiet shredder, a task I really enjoy.
Gill made spaghetti and beans for tea, home grown (dried and soaked) beans! Boys watched Robin Hood on their computer before bed time.
A very productive day, and for me, pretty peaceful too.
After a civilised start time-wise, I went to the allotment, via Country Fresh where Richard had a little gift for me... an empty cigarette packet!
A couple of weeks ago he'd given me another empty packet, which used to contain 'Natural American Spirit' ciggies which Richard described as 'organic' but in fact, there is no organic certification on the packet. The difference between these and 'normal' fags is that these have no additives and are just cured tobacco leaf, with no 'reconstituted' tobacco and processed stems. Richard reports that it costs about a pound more than normal ones, but has very little taste and he prefers this. Today's offering was a '1st Nation' cigarette packet, which Richard described as 'Fairly Traded'. Actually, these don't have the fair trade logo, although the packet does describe them as 'Ethically Sourced'. Neither of these are safe or healthy, both have tar and Carbon Monoxide and they are an expensive habit. However, I think it'll make an entertaining paid blog post for Community Care. Lots of Social Workers smoke and might, just might, like to have a different sort of 'ethical' cigarette!
Anyway, collected my compostables and a lot of cardboard for mulching. I cycled round along Cemetery Road and down to the bottom entrance of the Low Moor Allotments, so I could go to the lottie shop... and hurrah, I got there in good time, and was able to rejoin the Low Moor Allotment Association, which meant that I could use the shop... I then proceeded to get 10 varieties of potato at £1 per kilo and a collection of seeds, making my bill up to £15.
I had very good session on my allotment... dug out two compost heaps and turned them, did a little bit of weeding and a lot of cutting back loads of marauding brambles. Got back just before 2pm, in time to have lunch, listen to Gardeners Question Time and do a bit of emailing, more stuff on Age of Stupid at City Screen in April.
Then had a good session in the garden, collecting assorted minibeasts for my composting classes tomorrow (kids love minibeasts!) and weeding, tidying, and some shredding too. Dug out my Compostumbler, putting most of its contents in a dalek and some excess in a builders 'dumpy' bag.
Gill made a lovely lasagna for tea, and I lit both stoves , to keep the place warm and as I need a bath tonight as I don't want to smell like a compost heap tomorrow. I watched a good programme on the Keck Telescope with both my boys, which was nice. A harmonious time this evening... and I did my blog on the so-called 'ethical' tobacco.
After a civilised start time-wise, I went to the allotment, via Country Fresh where Richard had a little gift for me... an empty cigarette packet!
A couple of weeks ago he'd given me another empty packet, which used to contain 'Natural American Spirit' ciggies which Richard described as 'organic' but in fact, there is no organic certification on the packet. The difference between these and 'normal' fags is that these have no additives and are just cured tobacco leaf, with no 'reconstituted' tobacco and processed stems. Richard reports that it costs about a pound more than normal ones, but has very little taste and he prefers this. Today's offering was a '1st Nation' cigarette packet, which Richard described as 'Fairly Traded'. Actually, these don't have the fair trade logo, although the packet does describe them as 'Ethically Sourced'. Neither of these are safe or healthy, both have tar and Carbon Monoxide and they are an expensive habit. However, I think it'll make an entertaining paid blog post for Community Care. Lots of Social Workers smoke and might, just might, like to have a different sort of 'ethical' cigarette!
Anyway, collected my compostables and a lot of cardboard for mulching. I cycled round along Cemetery Road and down to the bottom entrance of the Low Moor Allotments, so I could go to the lottie shop... and hurrah, I got there in good time, and was able to rejoin the Low Moor Allotment Association, which meant that I could use the shop... I then proceeded to get 10 varieties of potato at £1 per kilo and a collection of seeds, making my bill up to £15.
I had very good session on my allotment... dug out two compost heaps and turned them, did a little bit of weeding and a lot of cutting back loads of marauding brambles. Got back just before 2pm, in time to have lunch, listen to Gardeners Question Time and do a bit of emailing, more stuff on Age of Stupid at City Screen in April.
Then had a good session in the garden, collecting assorted minibeasts for my composting classes tomorrow (kids love minibeasts!) and weeding, tidying, and some shredding too. Dug out my Compostumbler, putting most of its contents in a dalek and some excess in a builders 'dumpy' bag.
Gill made a lovely lasagna for tea, and I lit both stoves , to keep the place warm and as I need a bath tonight as I don't want to smell like a compost heap tomorrow. I watched a good programme on the Keck Telescope with both my boys, which was nice. A harmonious time this evening... and I did my blog on the so-called 'ethical' tobacco.
