Another good day. Got a lot done. Up early and got busy outside the front to tidy up a bit, chainsawing a pallet and some recently acquired branches. Also started stacking a new next-to-the-front door pile.
Gill went to the library with our eldest and I got a message from Nick, who wanted to come and pick up some riddled compost for his gardening work. There was also talk of growing mushrooms on logs.
So he arrived just in time for a hommous sandwich and then we went down the garden and he picked up about 6 carrier bags of riddled compost. He's bought a load of inoculated dowels from Adrian at Gourmet Woodland Mushrooms, of a native Yorkshire Oyster mushroom, so I gave him two recently felled Ash logs which I hope will make a good host. I think he's going to give me one of them back with dowels in it. I will supply him with more logs as and when they become available!
So he left at 2pm and I got on with more work, digging out a compost heap into sacks, and then doing the same with a builder's bag, which I need to have empty as another compost heap needs turning/emptying as there's signs of life in the base, and I want them not to get too settled!
I came in as it got dark and put the tomato soup on the stove. Gill made toasties. This evening this meal tasted just perfect... the boys both enjoyed the soup and complemented me on it. I did a few apples still looking fine from the garden which had just been left in the preserving pan in the conservatory, put them for drying, and then later, got 5 free onions and a large carrier bag full of tomatoes and made a preserving pan nearly full of tomato and onion 'base'... which I think we'll freeze most of. It can be used for soup, pasta sauce, nutloaves, all sorts. This is the first time I've made so much, but it's because of the large number of over-ripe tomatoes thrown out by Freshways.
So, a productive day. But a late finish, just after 3am. This is when I'm at my best, though.
Showing posts with label Soup making. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soup making. Show all posts
I got up early as I wanted to be useful before going out. So got the stove lit and made a tomato soup with a red onion which had been deep frozen and was a funny texture, but smelled normal and fried in olive oil perfectly normally, plus some big thrown away tomatoes which needed their stem areas cutting out but the rest was fine, and a stick of purchased-at-full-price celery! I also sorted through the second lot of grapes, blanched the good ones and put them in a tray to dry.
I left the soup cooking on the stove and cycled off to the station, where I'd arranged to meet Jackie, my friend from the Northern Green Gathering who lives out in the wilds of North Yorkshire, who wanted some company. So she came with me to Manchester to the social group that I sometimes attend. At Piccadilly we met Janie, and walked down to Night and Day to have a bit of lunch and lively conversations. I was pleased to see Sean, the organiser of the Manchester World Naked Bike Ride, Christine, one of my facebook Scrabble opponents and her partner Simon, Ian, Ellie, Amy and Stephen, Robert, Simon, Laura and Victoria, and several others who's names I can't recall. But we had some good conversations and I was glad that Jackie made some friends. I was very happy to see Janie again, and Sean.
However, Jackie wanted to go to a particular shop called Unicorn but she was so engrossed in conversation that she left it too late... we got on a bus and arrived to find it just closed, with the staff shutting the shop. Bummer.
But overall, the day was lovely. The train trip back was noisy with loads of police dealing with football yobbos. But there was no hassle really.
I got back in at about 8.30pm, and a bit later, on facebook, read something which has saddened me considerably. My good friend Robin, who has often commented on this blog with good humour, posted that last night his wife Stella died in hospital, following complications after weight loss surgery in November. I didn't know Stella very well, I met her about half a dozen times, mostly briefly, but Robin loved her as did their two children. Very sad news. My heart goes out to them. I'm so sorry.
I left the soup cooking on the stove and cycled off to the station, where I'd arranged to meet Jackie, my friend from the Northern Green Gathering who lives out in the wilds of North Yorkshire, who wanted some company. So she came with me to Manchester to the social group that I sometimes attend. At Piccadilly we met Janie, and walked down to Night and Day to have a bit of lunch and lively conversations. I was pleased to see Sean, the organiser of the Manchester World Naked Bike Ride, Christine, one of my facebook Scrabble opponents and her partner Simon, Ian, Ellie, Amy and Stephen, Robert, Simon, Laura and Victoria, and several others who's names I can't recall. But we had some good conversations and I was glad that Jackie made some friends. I was very happy to see Janie again, and Sean.
However, Jackie wanted to go to a particular shop called Unicorn but she was so engrossed in conversation that she left it too late... we got on a bus and arrived to find it just closed, with the staff shutting the shop. Bummer.
But overall, the day was lovely. The train trip back was noisy with loads of police dealing with football yobbos. But there was no hassle really.
I got back in at about 8.30pm, and a bit later, on facebook, read something which has saddened me considerably. My good friend Robin, who has often commented on this blog with good humour, posted that last night his wife Stella died in hospital, following complications after weight loss surgery in November. I didn't know Stella very well, I met her about half a dozen times, mostly briefly, but Robin loved her as did their two children. Very sad news. My heart goes out to them. I'm so sorry.
Not too early a start, but not so late that I had to rush. After breakfast I combed the garden for recent windfalls and put them all in a plastic fruit box, a mix of James Grieve, Cox and Bramley, and took them down to St Nicks. I showed the volunteers who were preparing apples for the grinder and press how to use the fruit press, as it's not that simple, and a 5 minute 'workshop' helps.
Then I raced home and had lunch, washed and got changed into my Fiddlesticks gear and loaded up my trailer with bag-o-tricks, unicycles and pedal-go things, and a bag of balloons to give out as 'dogs with apples in their tummies' as prizes (my usual 'dogs dinner' model!). I got to the Environment Centre just before 1pm, the start time. It was a slow start, as it had rained at about midday, but over the course of the next 3 hours, we had 170 people through the gate. I did a 3 apple juggling workshop at 2 and again at 3.15, helped with the 'apple olympics' (apple bobbing, apple and spoon races, apple skittles) and helped with announcing, as I have a loud voice which carries. My favourite activity was helping with the juicing, and I think we juiced enough apples to get about 10 gallons of lovely juice.
There were more stalls there than previous Apple Days, the 'in house' haiku stall, longest apple peel competition, apple pudding competition and a kids storytelling and facepainting area, one stall from Grace working with Abundance, to make some 'apple butter' using a fire-pit made from a washing machine drum and a huge saucepan. Fulford Community Orchard had a stall, as did Jane Thurlow with a big selection of her apples.
I enjoyed two small portions of two apple puddings after the winners were announced, and especially enjoyed meeting Claire from Grace, and Claire's Mum... and we had some good conversations and agreed some bartering next year... I think my pea beans might very well end up in some Grace pickled vegetables! I was given a jar of hot 'apple butter' and a jar of the delectable Grace onion marmalade.
I spent an hour and a half helping finish off the apple juicing and then the clear up afterwards, so I didn't get away at 4, and helped wash down the fruit press before it went back with Barry Potter. I brought a demijohn of juice back, which I'll let turn into cider.
So back before 6 and I collapsed after putting my circus stuff away and bike away. Later, I made a big saucepan of carrot and apple soup on the woodstove.... inspired to add some apple by today's activities.
Then I raced home and had lunch, washed and got changed into my Fiddlesticks gear and loaded up my trailer with bag-o-tricks, unicycles and pedal-go things, and a bag of balloons to give out as 'dogs with apples in their tummies' as prizes (my usual 'dogs dinner' model!). I got to the Environment Centre just before 1pm, the start time. It was a slow start, as it had rained at about midday, but over the course of the next 3 hours, we had 170 people through the gate. I did a 3 apple juggling workshop at 2 and again at 3.15, helped with the 'apple olympics' (apple bobbing, apple and spoon races, apple skittles) and helped with announcing, as I have a loud voice which carries. My favourite activity was helping with the juicing, and I think we juiced enough apples to get about 10 gallons of lovely juice.
There were more stalls there than previous Apple Days, the 'in house' haiku stall, longest apple peel competition, apple pudding competition and a kids storytelling and facepainting area, one stall from Grace working with Abundance, to make some 'apple butter' using a fire-pit made from a washing machine drum and a huge saucepan. Fulford Community Orchard had a stall, as did Jane Thurlow with a big selection of her apples.
I enjoyed two small portions of two apple puddings after the winners were announced, and especially enjoyed meeting Claire from Grace, and Claire's Mum... and we had some good conversations and agreed some bartering next year... I think my pea beans might very well end up in some Grace pickled vegetables! I was given a jar of hot 'apple butter' and a jar of the delectable Grace onion marmalade.
I spent an hour and a half helping finish off the apple juicing and then the clear up afterwards, so I didn't get away at 4, and helped wash down the fruit press before it went back with Barry Potter. I brought a demijohn of juice back, which I'll let turn into cider.
So back before 6 and I collapsed after putting my circus stuff away and bike away. Later, I made a big saucepan of carrot and apple soup on the woodstove.... inspired to add some apple by today's activities.
A good day for me... up early and then at 10.30 I headed off to St Nicks to meet Peter, whom I met yesterday. He was very interested in our local eco centre, as he believes that to spread the message of how to keep our Planet habitable, we need a network of similar places for people to be educated and be inspired, find information and hold meetings.
So I showed him the various 'bits' of the Environment Centre, the passive solar design, Sedum roof, rainwater harvesting, compost toilets/waterless urinal/strawbale urinal, photovoltaic and hot water solar panels, the energy balance display, woodstove and the York Rotters stuff.
Then we went out onto the nature reserve and looked at the John Lally Wood, the original mature trees in their dips, where the clay cap on the landfill wasn't put. And to the stone circle, the kids playground where a very friendly little boy was playing on a swing with two women with him, and then back to the Environment Centre. Here I had a brief chat with Catherine and left Peter chatting with Ivana.
I came home via Freshways and picked up a sack of wilting greenery and sad foreign vegetables. I had the usual sandwiches for lunch. Whilst eating lunch Gill and I spotted the very persistent squirrel leaping over to the walnut tree and leaving with another nut. It (or they?) has had about half of the crop so far, and I'm getting increasingly annoyed as I really want a crop of walnuts. The live trap is being ignored... fresh walnuts are obviously too much of a pull. A few days ago, last week, I rang the RSPCA about their advice about squirrels and how to deal with them. Drowning them is illegal, as is releasing them elsewhere, as they are officially vermin. We're talking about the American Grey here, introduced as a novelty by the Victorians, and they've pushed our native Red Squirrel to the brink of extinction due to competition for habitat and because of the Squirrel Pox virus that they carry, which kills the Reds. The RSPCA told me that I ought to get a pest control person out to kill the squirrel in the trap. They'd either do this with a gun, or release it into a hessian sack and hit it on the head when it was in the corner of the sack. So it's a bit of a problem, as I don't fancy the clobbering method and I understand why drowning them is inhumane, and I haven't got a gun. Still trying to work out solutions, and a second phone call to the nearest vet didn't get any results either.
But I'd heard that squirrels don't like chilli so Gill mixed up some curry powder with Vaseline, and we spent half an hour wiping as many nuts as we could with this, just a thin smear, to get the taste onto the nut. I have no idea if this will prevent them getting taken.
At about 2pm, a Freecycler called Chris called, and delivered a stainless steel sink which he's taken out of a kitchen he's doing up. Our white enamel sink is horrible and stained and Gill's been asking for a while about replacing it. This one seems to be the right size, although it needs the tap moving so the drainer is on the right.
I did some chainsawing, to keep on top of the bits and bobs I regularly bring home. I also did a bit of compost management, and some weeding, and picked the three remaining Winter Squash.
For tea I had a stir-fry of courgette, home grown sweetcorn and green beans, the pakora from the Sheffield Freegle Ceilidh and a couple of felafel, which Gill bought. Gill had made a delicious chocolate and banana cake so I had a small square of that... yummy!
In the evening I made up my muesli, made some carrot and tromboncino squash soup, and did another large batch of fruit for drying...
So I showed him the various 'bits' of the Environment Centre, the passive solar design, Sedum roof, rainwater harvesting, compost toilets/waterless urinal/strawbale urinal, photovoltaic and hot water solar panels, the energy balance display, woodstove and the York Rotters stuff.
Then we went out onto the nature reserve and looked at the John Lally Wood, the original mature trees in their dips, where the clay cap on the landfill wasn't put. And to the stone circle, the kids playground where a very friendly little boy was playing on a swing with two women with him, and then back to the Environment Centre. Here I had a brief chat with Catherine and left Peter chatting with Ivana.
I came home via Freshways and picked up a sack of wilting greenery and sad foreign vegetables. I had the usual sandwiches for lunch. Whilst eating lunch Gill and I spotted the very persistent squirrel leaping over to the walnut tree and leaving with another nut. It (or they?) has had about half of the crop so far, and I'm getting increasingly annoyed as I really want a crop of walnuts. The live trap is being ignored... fresh walnuts are obviously too much of a pull. A few days ago, last week, I rang the RSPCA about their advice about squirrels and how to deal with them. Drowning them is illegal, as is releasing them elsewhere, as they are officially vermin. We're talking about the American Grey here, introduced as a novelty by the Victorians, and they've pushed our native Red Squirrel to the brink of extinction due to competition for habitat and because of the Squirrel Pox virus that they carry, which kills the Reds. The RSPCA told me that I ought to get a pest control person out to kill the squirrel in the trap. They'd either do this with a gun, or release it into a hessian sack and hit it on the head when it was in the corner of the sack. So it's a bit of a problem, as I don't fancy the clobbering method and I understand why drowning them is inhumane, and I haven't got a gun. Still trying to work out solutions, and a second phone call to the nearest vet didn't get any results either.
But I'd heard that squirrels don't like chilli so Gill mixed up some curry powder with Vaseline, and we spent half an hour wiping as many nuts as we could with this, just a thin smear, to get the taste onto the nut. I have no idea if this will prevent them getting taken.
At about 2pm, a Freecycler called Chris called, and delivered a stainless steel sink which he's taken out of a kitchen he's doing up. Our white enamel sink is horrible and stained and Gill's been asking for a while about replacing it. This one seems to be the right size, although it needs the tap moving so the drainer is on the right.
I did some chainsawing, to keep on top of the bits and bobs I regularly bring home. I also did a bit of compost management, and some weeding, and picked the three remaining Winter Squash.
For tea I had a stir-fry of courgette, home grown sweetcorn and green beans, the pakora from the Sheffield Freegle Ceilidh and a couple of felafel, which Gill bought. Gill had made a delicious chocolate and banana cake so I had a small square of that... yummy!
In the evening I made up my muesli, made some carrot and tromboncino squash soup, and did another large batch of fruit for drying...
I really enjoyed today...
After a slow start, and after lunch, the family went to Scarborough on the train, with one of the boys' friends, and left me to get on with whatever I wanted.
I spent a bit of time tidying the kitchen and then got the shredder up the garden to the front, and organised various sheets and bags to deal with the huge volumes of vegetation that I was due to process. So, I took all the pine tree I cut yesterday and clipped off any twigs, leaving the slightly larger sticks for stacking into a fruit box. I shredded these twiggy bits with all of the Wisteria I ripped out yesterday, and got 5 large sacks of shredded material off it. I did this on and off for about 4 hours, taking a break to make carrot soup (carrots from unsold Alligator stuff, home-grown courgette) and to prepare another saucepan full of Cherry Plums.
I got a nice visit from Debbie who was wanting me to help with a remembrance event for her friend Debbie Fricker, but I won't be able to attend as I'm doing something else. However, I'll be able to provide a little sack of logs for a ceremonial fire she's having.
Gill and the boys got back at 8 and Gill was pleased to have some carrot soup.
I had a really good chat on MSN Messenger with Leonie, a friend of my sister whom I've met once but have become friends with recently through facebook.
So a hard-working but relaxed day, happy that the Scarborough visit went well, and I feel lucky to have such a wealth of friends.
After a slow start, and after lunch, the family went to Scarborough on the train, with one of the boys' friends, and left me to get on with whatever I wanted.
I spent a bit of time tidying the kitchen and then got the shredder up the garden to the front, and organised various sheets and bags to deal with the huge volumes of vegetation that I was due to process. So, I took all the pine tree I cut yesterday and clipped off any twigs, leaving the slightly larger sticks for stacking into a fruit box. I shredded these twiggy bits with all of the Wisteria I ripped out yesterday, and got 5 large sacks of shredded material off it. I did this on and off for about 4 hours, taking a break to make carrot soup (carrots from unsold Alligator stuff, home-grown courgette) and to prepare another saucepan full of Cherry Plums.
I got a nice visit from Debbie who was wanting me to help with a remembrance event for her friend Debbie Fricker, but I won't be able to attend as I'm doing something else. However, I'll be able to provide a little sack of logs for a ceremonial fire she's having.
Gill and the boys got back at 8 and Gill was pleased to have some carrot soup.
I had a really good chat on MSN Messenger with Leonie, a friend of my sister whom I've met once but have become friends with recently through facebook.
So a hard-working but relaxed day, happy that the Scarborough visit went well, and I feel lucky to have such a wealth of friends.
An unhurried morning, and caught the 12.44 train back home, and was back before 3pm, coming via Country Fresh and Freshways; an empty trailer is a wasted journey.
A bit later, after dealing with lots of emails, I had a freecycling trip down the road to supply some mulch to someone and to pick up some wood and plastic carrier bags, which will get filled with riddled compost and go out again to people who want them.
I had two stale onion bagels for tea, with a good selection of fresh moist salads... the perfect complement to the unwanted bagels, which had been rejected by the children.
I did a bit of work in the garden, wormery management and another layer on a compost heap... and I brought in a load of leeks which one of the shops felt it couldn't sell, as they had a woody central 'core', actually the flower stalk. But surrounding this are ordinary leek leaves, and these I made into a soup, with some sweet potato similarly thrown out. So tomorrow we'll have leek and sweet potato soup, which I've never had before. Let's hope it's nice!
I also made up my muesli, using home-dried Asian pears, dried bananas and pumpkin seeds rescued from last Autumn's Pumpkin Day at St Nicks, which I've been trying to find time to de-shell so I get the 'naked' seed, as I don't like the roughage-laden outer husk. I'm still looking for a gadget which I can feed them into and will mechanically do this job, something about the size of a pasta-maker would be good!
A bit later, after dealing with lots of emails, I had a freecycling trip down the road to supply some mulch to someone and to pick up some wood and plastic carrier bags, which will get filled with riddled compost and go out again to people who want them.
I had two stale onion bagels for tea, with a good selection of fresh moist salads... the perfect complement to the unwanted bagels, which had been rejected by the children.
I did a bit of work in the garden, wormery management and another layer on a compost heap... and I brought in a load of leeks which one of the shops felt it couldn't sell, as they had a woody central 'core', actually the flower stalk. But surrounding this are ordinary leek leaves, and these I made into a soup, with some sweet potato similarly thrown out. So tomorrow we'll have leek and sweet potato soup, which I've never had before. Let's hope it's nice!
I also made up my muesli, using home-dried Asian pears, dried bananas and pumpkin seeds rescued from last Autumn's Pumpkin Day at St Nicks, which I've been trying to find time to de-shell so I get the 'naked' seed, as I don't like the roughage-laden outer husk. I'm still looking for a gadget which I can feed them into and will mechanically do this job, something about the size of a pasta-maker would be good!
Another basically good day. A busy morning inside, I made some carrot soup. Then Gill went to town and I responded to a phone call from Keith the Freecycler, who invited me to come and collect a load of wood.
So I soon cycled round to Burnholme and Keith had a really good load of wood... all cut to the same length and just enough to completely fill my trailer and panniers. Perfect. I called in on the Co-op on the way home, and got in before our eldest son came back... and he helped me do some stacking for a few minutes, which was nice, unexpected.
After tea... the carrot, onion, potato, red pepper and celery soup with bread and hommous, I went to the upstairs room of the Golden Fleece to the planning meeting for the September 22nd Car Free Day. This was well attended, 11 of us, and Graham Relton proved a good chair, keeping us more or less focused. We started off with some info about the Car Free Cities Conference and then talked around the run up to the Car Free Day and the day itself. A very inspiring meeting.
I offered to try to find a more accessible venue, as it is possible someone with mobility issues might turn up, and having the meeting in an inaccessible room would be embarrassing and quite frankly, wrong. So I cycled to the Black Swan (they have level access but no accessible toilet) and then the Seahorse (level access, not sure about the loo situation) and both can host us on 20th May. I emailed Graham and asked him to choose between the two.
So I soon cycled round to Burnholme and Keith had a really good load of wood... all cut to the same length and just enough to completely fill my trailer and panniers. Perfect. I called in on the Co-op on the way home, and got in before our eldest son came back... and he helped me do some stacking for a few minutes, which was nice, unexpected.
After tea... the carrot, onion, potato, red pepper and celery soup with bread and hommous, I went to the upstairs room of the Golden Fleece to the planning meeting for the September 22nd Car Free Day. This was well attended, 11 of us, and Graham Relton proved a good chair, keeping us more or less focused. We started off with some info about the Car Free Cities Conference and then talked around the run up to the Car Free Day and the day itself. A very inspiring meeting.
I offered to try to find a more accessible venue, as it is possible someone with mobility issues might turn up, and having the meeting in an inaccessible room would be embarrassing and quite frankly, wrong. So I cycled to the Black Swan (they have level access but no accessible toilet) and then the Seahorse (level access, not sure about the loo situation) and both can host us on 20th May. I emailed Graham and asked him to choose between the two.
Spent the morning filling in forms and writing letters.
The rest of the day was similarly an indoor thing... I processed some 'seconds' tomatoes (OK, I lie, they were 3rds) and carefully removed anything I wouldn't eat, and made a large saucepan of soup. Gill made a pizza which was tasty. The soup will be good for tomorrow.
The highlight of the day was that my favourite musician of all time, ever, my ultimate musical hero, Brian Eno, was on TV with a series of programmes about him and his work. I don't know what it is about Eno's music, but nearly all of it transports me to a different mental state.
But, the best bit of this evening's programme was when the bit came on about his collaboration with the computer game Spore, which my children love. Gill called them to come in, and both of them were amazed... they both think the music is excellent on Spore and really adds to it. This was the first time my children have ever taken any interest in the music I like, and it was a really nice moment.
The rest of the day was similarly an indoor thing... I processed some 'seconds' tomatoes (OK, I lie, they were 3rds) and carefully removed anything I wouldn't eat, and made a large saucepan of soup. Gill made a pizza which was tasty. The soup will be good for tomorrow.
The highlight of the day was that my favourite musician of all time, ever, my ultimate musical hero, Brian Eno, was on TV with a series of programmes about him and his work. I don't know what it is about Eno's music, but nearly all of it transports me to a different mental state.
But, the best bit of this evening's programme was when the bit came on about his collaboration with the computer game Spore, which my children love. Gill called them to come in, and both of them were amazed... they both think the music is excellent on Spore and really adds to it. This was the first time my children have ever taken any interest in the music I like, and it was a really nice moment.
A good day.... I got up in time to make my muesli and have breakfast and take my damaged trailer to Cycle Heaven (I managed to break a couple of spokes with a badly aimed attempt at a narrow bridge... the wheel slipped off and I kept going, buckling the wheel). I delivered that and then went to see Pauline, to give her a few more logs and to get my regular bottle of Port, my annual present from her. Mind you, I haven't actually finished last year's bottle yet! That's how little I drink...
But lovely to see Pauline. She had some very good news for me, potentially very good news but I promised to keep it completely confidential, so oh, blog readers, you will just have to wait. But I am very happy.
I then went to the bank, was surprised how little money we have, went to the building society and took a wad of notes round to pump up our account. Then back to the bike shop... and the chap assigned to my wheel was still wrestling with it, so I said I'd collect by the end of the day.
Cycled home and sorted out a large pile of envelopes for composting and put some cheques in the post, assorted memberships (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Equity, Garden Organic).
I finished making the tomato soup in the afternoon, and washed up and did bits and bobs of housework, plus computery stuff.
Then at 4pm, back into town to pick up my trailer and popped into see Dylan at Millers Yard to pick up his unwanted orange halves and chat about York Green Festival. We had a lovely chat and I got a second piece of very good news... but again, this is embargoed until it is ready to be made public. I cycled away happy but with a very heavy load of compostables.
I had soup and an avocado sandwich for tea, and then looked at my emails to try to find out where this evening's York in Transition meeting was. No mention of the venue whatsoever! It could be St Nicks or it could be The Stables, or even someone's house... i cannot remember and it isn't in my diary nor is it in any of the email communications... So I stayed at home and watched an excellent programme on BBC1, called The Human Power Station, a Bang Goes The Theory Special. This is available on iPlayer for a week... it's a must watch! The experiment was to install an average family into a house wired up with cameras and all the normal mod cons... and to ask them to live normally for a day. However, they didn't know that the house was switched to being powered by a bank of 80 cyclists, each on a stationary bike with a dynamo, capable of producing 100 watts if going normally, or up to 200w if pedalling really hard. The cyclists could see a dial with how much was being used versus how much was being produced... and it is a very exciting and interesting result. I loved it anyway, and decided to start a facebook 'fan' page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Human-Power-Station-Bang-Goes-The-Theory-Special/216787805126?ref=ts
So, a happy and productive day, despite my foolishness in breaking a wheel and having a reasonable bill to have it repaired.
But lovely to see Pauline. She had some very good news for me, potentially very good news but I promised to keep it completely confidential, so oh, blog readers, you will just have to wait. But I am very happy.
I then went to the bank, was surprised how little money we have, went to the building society and took a wad of notes round to pump up our account. Then back to the bike shop... and the chap assigned to my wheel was still wrestling with it, so I said I'd collect by the end of the day.
Cycled home and sorted out a large pile of envelopes for composting and put some cheques in the post, assorted memberships (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Equity, Garden Organic).
I finished making the tomato soup in the afternoon, and washed up and did bits and bobs of housework, plus computery stuff.
Then at 4pm, back into town to pick up my trailer and popped into see Dylan at Millers Yard to pick up his unwanted orange halves and chat about York Green Festival. We had a lovely chat and I got a second piece of very good news... but again, this is embargoed until it is ready to be made public. I cycled away happy but with a very heavy load of compostables.
I had soup and an avocado sandwich for tea, and then looked at my emails to try to find out where this evening's York in Transition meeting was. No mention of the venue whatsoever! It could be St Nicks or it could be The Stables, or even someone's house... i cannot remember and it isn't in my diary nor is it in any of the email communications... So I stayed at home and watched an excellent programme on BBC1, called The Human Power Station, a Bang Goes The Theory Special. This is available on iPlayer for a week... it's a must watch! The experiment was to install an average family into a house wired up with cameras and all the normal mod cons... and to ask them to live normally for a day. However, they didn't know that the house was switched to being powered by a bank of 80 cyclists, each on a stationary bike with a dynamo, capable of producing 100 watts if going normally, or up to 200w if pedalling really hard. The cyclists could see a dial with how much was being used versus how much was being produced... and it is a very exciting and interesting result. I loved it anyway, and decided to start a facebook 'fan' page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Human-Power-Station-Bang-Goes-The-Theory-Special/216787805126?ref=ts
So, a happy and productive day, despite my foolishness in breaking a wheel and having a reasonable bill to have it repaired.
Up at a much more normal time and got my paperwork together to get three cheques out and to pay one cheque in.
Cycled down to town to the bank and the Building Society to do those chores, back for lunch, via Country Fresh to pick up the recycling. a sack and a box... including a load of reasonable tomatoes which look soup-worthy to me!
Cycled down to town to the bank and the Building Society to do those chores, back for lunch, via Country Fresh to pick up the recycling. a sack and a box... including a load of reasonable tomatoes which look soup-worthy to me!
During the afternoon I spent an hour preparing the tomatoes and made a load of what should be very tasty soup. The only 'paid-for' ingredients are one onion and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. The tomatoes and peppers were thrown out as unsaleable. But that doesn't mean they were unusable!
In the evening Gill did a simple stir fry with cabbage and cashew nuts, parsnips and sprouts. I had mine with a couple of dolmades, or stuffed vine leaves. The boys had a cheese toastie with theirs.
Then I went out to the first York in Transition Directors meeting, at Barry's house, and this went well. I walked some of the way into town with Edward who was very supportive with regards to my difficulties at York Rotters, and offered a bit of a solution. I'm glad that I have so many people around me who think I have wonderful strengths and don't seen to mind my frankness, occasional faux-pas and talkativeness. I'm sad that some people cannot cope with these same qualities!
I got home and did some washing up and watched Channel 4's provocative drama 'Cast Offs' which I'm not sure that I like.
How lovely to have a Bank Holiday Monday with no work!
Quite a lazy morning, and then did washing up and had lunch, and at 1.30 set off with our youngest to Fulford Show. We cycled down together, which was nice, as our eldest said he'd prefer to walk, so he and Gill turned up about an hour later, by which time we'd walked round once and I'd settled in to helping on the Green Party stall, selling books at 5op and tombola tickets, which although I never buy my own, I enjoyed selling.
It was a really good event, with lots of stalls... mainly fundraising with tombolas and the like, but also a little train ride, races, tug-o-war, and in the nearby Social Hall, competitions for best vegetable, painting, kids mini-garden and many other categories. I was delighted to see that our friend Melody won second prize in the mis-shaped vegetable competition, for a green bean which had got itself into a spiral, beaten by a cucumber in a broad smile shape.
The boys had a good enough time as they met friends there, and I was pleased to meet lots of people I knew. Our eldest went back with Melody and family, I cycled back with our youngest as far as Melody and Simon's and left him there, and zoomed down to Country Fresh, rather too fast. My trailer tyre hit something and bounced up, overturning the trailer and bending part of the trailer frame which is a nuisance. I either need to hit it back into shape with a big hammer (back of the axe?) or take it to the welders to have it heated up and bent back, for which they will charge me £10.
Anyway, I returned home with a big box of bananas and a box of mixed compostables and a sack of similar. Collected a sack from Freshways too... so as soon as I got home I went to unload the stuff into the Compostumbler which is now full again. And steaming.
The family came home, with Melody and her family, so there was suddenly a garden full, bouncing on the trampoline and making loads of noise. A lovely day.
We had the carrot soup for tea, with toasties... I've got to say it is one of the best carrot soups I've made. Probably as Gill added some cooked potato and whizzed it up and seasoned it, so it was a joint effort.
I had a very late night preparing 17 red peppers and a large pile of plums all for drying. I love dried plums, and my sweet red pepper paprika makes my soups and stews totally yummy. But having the stove burning on warm evenings makes it like a sauna in here....
Quite a lazy morning, and then did washing up and had lunch, and at 1.30 set off with our youngest to Fulford Show. We cycled down together, which was nice, as our eldest said he'd prefer to walk, so he and Gill turned up about an hour later, by which time we'd walked round once and I'd settled in to helping on the Green Party stall, selling books at 5op and tombola tickets, which although I never buy my own, I enjoyed selling.
It was a really good event, with lots of stalls... mainly fundraising with tombolas and the like, but also a little train ride, races, tug-o-war, and in the nearby Social Hall, competitions for best vegetable, painting, kids mini-garden and many other categories. I was delighted to see that our friend Melody won second prize in the mis-shaped vegetable competition, for a green bean which had got itself into a spiral, beaten by a cucumber in a broad smile shape.
The boys had a good enough time as they met friends there, and I was pleased to meet lots of people I knew. Our eldest went back with Melody and family, I cycled back with our youngest as far as Melody and Simon's and left him there, and zoomed down to Country Fresh, rather too fast. My trailer tyre hit something and bounced up, overturning the trailer and bending part of the trailer frame which is a nuisance. I either need to hit it back into shape with a big hammer (back of the axe?) or take it to the welders to have it heated up and bent back, for which they will charge me £10.
Anyway, I returned home with a big box of bananas and a box of mixed compostables and a sack of similar. Collected a sack from Freshways too... so as soon as I got home I went to unload the stuff into the Compostumbler which is now full again. And steaming.
The family came home, with Melody and her family, so there was suddenly a garden full, bouncing on the trampoline and making loads of noise. A lovely day.
We had the carrot soup for tea, with toasties... I've got to say it is one of the best carrot soups I've made. Probably as Gill added some cooked potato and whizzed it up and seasoned it, so it was a joint effort.
I had a very late night preparing 17 red peppers and a large pile of plums all for drying. I love dried plums, and my sweet red pepper paprika makes my soups and stews totally yummy. But having the stove burning on warm evenings makes it like a sauna in here....
Up early as a house full of children and a day at Knaresborough planned, although I wasn't actually very keen on going.
However, niece Lellie phoned and as the day was wet, Gill decided with her that it might be better to meet up at the National Railway Museum at midday. I went online to check bus times and we had a pretty chilled morning until a few minutes before the bus was due, when it did get a bit hectic and shouty, but then all was quiet and I was alone in the house.
I went to Thomas' and bought lots of Yesterbake bread.
I did a big wash-up, and prepared a nut loaf to add to the soup I made last night. This nutloaf was the standard pattern: breadcrumbs mixed with peanut butter and mixed nuts, then assorted vegetables added... this time I used one raw grated beetroot, one raw grated carrot, one chopped onion, some finely chopped cooked sweet potato, one egg, a slurp of red wine and a dash of soya sauce, some bouillon and herbs. I lined the baking dish with seeds stuck to a wipe of margarine. I microwaved this and when the families came home, turned it out onto a metal tray and bunged it in the oven to crisp up.
I whizzed the carrot soup with the hand-held blender. This I tasted and found it was delicious! I lit the stove despite it being warm and summery as I wanted to cook the soup and I have 11 red peppers sliced up and drying, plus I don't know how many windfall apples (James Grieve) sliced and drying. There are three racks of apple rings balanced on top of each other...
I also had several Fiddlesticks calls... some booking enquiries for the autumn, and a Freecycle visitor to pick up 8 potato sacks. I popped down to see Raj at Freshways and picked up a sack of compostables, and on the way home picked up a lot of recyclable litter, mainly aluminium cans.
The family group came back on the bus and were glad to find a meal ready. Gill made a pasta salad with the remnants of yesterday's pasta, some tomatoes out of the conservatory and the penultimate cucumber from the conservatory.
All the children ate well, despite the youngest (6 years old) not eating anything with tomatoes or courgettes (the carrot soup had tomatoes and courgettes in) and all were rewarded for eating slices of pear afterwards by having chunks of carrot cake that Gill made for our eldest's birthday on Sunday.
Then we discussed what we are doing tomorrow, and everybody settled down to watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. I slipped out at 7pm to go to an informal York in Transition meeting at The Hansom Cab, which was productive. Home before 10pm and another huge load of washing up facing me. I decided to do my emails and blog first though... so the washing up will be done well after midnight.
However, niece Lellie phoned and as the day was wet, Gill decided with her that it might be better to meet up at the National Railway Museum at midday. I went online to check bus times and we had a pretty chilled morning until a few minutes before the bus was due, when it did get a bit hectic and shouty, but then all was quiet and I was alone in the house.
I went to Thomas' and bought lots of Yesterbake bread.
I did a big wash-up, and prepared a nut loaf to add to the soup I made last night. This nutloaf was the standard pattern: breadcrumbs mixed with peanut butter and mixed nuts, then assorted vegetables added... this time I used one raw grated beetroot, one raw grated carrot, one chopped onion, some finely chopped cooked sweet potato, one egg, a slurp of red wine and a dash of soya sauce, some bouillon and herbs. I lined the baking dish with seeds stuck to a wipe of margarine. I microwaved this and when the families came home, turned it out onto a metal tray and bunged it in the oven to crisp up.
I whizzed the carrot soup with the hand-held blender. This I tasted and found it was delicious! I lit the stove despite it being warm and summery as I wanted to cook the soup and I have 11 red peppers sliced up and drying, plus I don't know how many windfall apples (James Grieve) sliced and drying. There are three racks of apple rings balanced on top of each other...
I also had several Fiddlesticks calls... some booking enquiries for the autumn, and a Freecycle visitor to pick up 8 potato sacks. I popped down to see Raj at Freshways and picked up a sack of compostables, and on the way home picked up a lot of recyclable litter, mainly aluminium cans.
The family group came back on the bus and were glad to find a meal ready. Gill made a pasta salad with the remnants of yesterday's pasta, some tomatoes out of the conservatory and the penultimate cucumber from the conservatory.
All the children ate well, despite the youngest (6 years old) not eating anything with tomatoes or courgettes (the carrot soup had tomatoes and courgettes in) and all were rewarded for eating slices of pear afterwards by having chunks of carrot cake that Gill made for our eldest's birthday on Sunday.
Then we discussed what we are doing tomorrow, and everybody settled down to watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. I slipped out at 7pm to go to an informal York in Transition meeting at The Hansom Cab, which was productive. Home before 10pm and another huge load of washing up facing me. I decided to do my emails and blog first though... so the washing up will be done well after midnight.
Quite a busy day.. Both boys feeling poorly so they stayed at home. I had to go to a meeting in town and after that popped into Pauline's, and got back at midday, via Freshways. I sorted out their compostables before lunch, and rescued some leeks and tomatoes, spent half an hour preparing them and made a large pan of what turned out to be soup. I also did some logging, chopped a load of the ones John Bibby gave to me, and split them, stacked a few round the back. I did a lot of washing up... loads of jars for refilling and recycling, also soya milk cartons.
During the middle of the afternoon I cycled down to Foss Islands Road to 'Staples' as my eldest needs a new school bag with no logo. I did find one the right size, right number of pockets, only a small maker's logo, for £35. I bought it.
Probably the most exciting thing to happen today was getting a message via vskips from a York person who was responding to my offer of compost, and wanting to have two tonnes for a new raised bed. I can probably oblige, as this amounts to between 2 and 3 cubic metres of compost, and I'm sure I have this, dotted around. It'll release a lot of space... I hope it happens! Quite a big job, though, bagging up maybe 100 sacks of compost and taking it up to the front. Will take all day. Keep me fit.
Or maybe the most exciting thing was a thunderstorm whilst I was working in the garage?
Loved my tea... leek and tomato soup plus Polish bread, this also just past it's sell by date but made excellent hommous sandwiches to go with the soup.
Worked outside til 10.30pm. Then came in and switched on to Ideal, the last episode. I'll miss it... it is so surreal and funny. I'm not a massive fan of Johnny Vegas but I've grown to like him as Moz, the hero of Ideal. I really hope they make another series.
During the middle of the afternoon I cycled down to Foss Islands Road to 'Staples' as my eldest needs a new school bag with no logo. I did find one the right size, right number of pockets, only a small maker's logo, for £35. I bought it.
Probably the most exciting thing to happen today was getting a message via vskips from a York person who was responding to my offer of compost, and wanting to have two tonnes for a new raised bed. I can probably oblige, as this amounts to between 2 and 3 cubic metres of compost, and I'm sure I have this, dotted around. It'll release a lot of space... I hope it happens! Quite a big job, though, bagging up maybe 100 sacks of compost and taking it up to the front. Will take all day. Keep me fit.
Or maybe the most exciting thing was a thunderstorm whilst I was working in the garage?
Loved my tea... leek and tomato soup plus Polish bread, this also just past it's sell by date but made excellent hommous sandwiches to go with the soup.
Worked outside til 10.30pm. Then came in and switched on to Ideal, the last episode. I'll miss it... it is so surreal and funny. I'm not a massive fan of Johnny Vegas but I've grown to like him as Moz, the hero of Ideal. I really hope they make another series.
A morning of admin and dealing with officialdom. Also went to the Guildhall to sign something for doing Charles' proxy postal vote.
A quiet afternoon, Fiddlesticks enquiry, sorting stuff out prior to the Transition Conference, and WASHING UP!!!
I created a squash soup: I'd got three small thrown away Butternut squashes, chucked because they were starting to shrivel a bit around the flower end, but still perfectly edible. So, chopped a small onion, 3 small leeks and 2 sticks of celery into the heavy pan and gently fried this, then halved, peeled de-seeded and cubed the 3 butternuts and bunged them in, and poured water in til it just came up to the butternut chunks. Then simmered it on the stove for several hours. When it was all soft, I whizzed it with the hand held blender, with a dash of balsamic vinegar, pinch of mixed herbs and teaspoon of low salt bouillon powder. Then simmered it a bit more... will be ready for tomorrow, as we've found that soup tastes best the day after it's made.
Gill made a cauliflower macaroni thing for tea and during the evening I wrote my penultimate column on campaigning. Trying to get people aware of the importance of the Copenhagen talks in December.
A quiet afternoon, Fiddlesticks enquiry, sorting stuff out prior to the Transition Conference, and WASHING UP!!!
I created a squash soup: I'd got three small thrown away Butternut squashes, chucked because they were starting to shrivel a bit around the flower end, but still perfectly edible. So, chopped a small onion, 3 small leeks and 2 sticks of celery into the heavy pan and gently fried this, then halved, peeled de-seeded and cubed the 3 butternuts and bunged them in, and poured water in til it just came up to the butternut chunks. Then simmered it on the stove for several hours. When it was all soft, I whizzed it with the hand held blender, with a dash of balsamic vinegar, pinch of mixed herbs and teaspoon of low salt bouillon powder. Then simmered it a bit more... will be ready for tomorrow, as we've found that soup tastes best the day after it's made.
Gill made a cauliflower macaroni thing for tea and during the evening I wrote my penultimate column on campaigning. Trying to get people aware of the importance of the Copenhagen talks in December.
Kids at school today, Gill making a cake for Tony who is 65 today. She made it in the shape of a narrow boat, as Tony is very keen on canals. She spent ages icing it, making it look pretty and , well, rustic (not rusty).
I did more clearing up in the garden, went to the bakers and the Co-op, made carrot soup out of some very large and mysteriously thrown out carrots (I really don't know what's wrong with them!) and some tomato/onion base for tonight's tea, spaghetti.
But yet again, I didn't get to the allotment to plant onion sets or potatoes. It is getting rather late!
Our eldest did his cycling proficiency training today, but left his bike at school by accident, so after he came home, I cycled up to school and picked it up and cycled back with it.
I really enjoyed the Green Party Euro Election broadcast... if you missed it, here it is:
At about half 7 I loaded the cake carefully onto my bike rack, and the two quiches (one with home-grown broccoli in) and headed off to Tony Martin's birthday party in Clementhorpe. This was a fairly small affair... a Planning Panel member called Dave, John, an ex head-teacher and Labour Party member since the age of 17, now 71, my old friends Rowena and Adrian, Isobel, and Andy Chase... so, not that crowded, but good people to chat with. Tony had organised a curry delivery, and this went well with the quiches. (I thought so, anyway!)
The cake was admired, photographed and devoured, well, most of it!
I did more clearing up in the garden, went to the bakers and the Co-op, made carrot soup out of some very large and mysteriously thrown out carrots (I really don't know what's wrong with them!) and some tomato/onion base for tonight's tea, spaghetti.
But yet again, I didn't get to the allotment to plant onion sets or potatoes. It is getting rather late!
Our eldest did his cycling proficiency training today, but left his bike at school by accident, so after he came home, I cycled up to school and picked it up and cycled back with it.
I really enjoyed the Green Party Euro Election broadcast... if you missed it, here it is:
At about half 7 I loaded the cake carefully onto my bike rack, and the two quiches (one with home-grown broccoli in) and headed off to Tony Martin's birthday party in Clementhorpe. This was a fairly small affair... a Planning Panel member called Dave, John, an ex head-teacher and Labour Party member since the age of 17, now 71, my old friends Rowena and Adrian, Isobel, and Andy Chase... so, not that crowded, but good people to chat with. Tony had organised a curry delivery, and this went well with the quiches. (I thought so, anyway!)
The cake was admired, photographed and devoured, well, most of it!
Woken by kids yelling as if being murdered downstairs, so sleepily rushed down to be met by two laughing boys saying 'April Fool'. Didn't quite know what to say, but all was good humoured!
Gill took our youngest to school and went on to her art class. I did a bit of emailing and Facebooking, and then got dressed and made some leek and butternut squash soup, and started building a logpile of dry wood outside the front. This one isn't going to fall down!
Had a good day, doing bits around the house and garden, nothing very focused but had a productive day. Shredded a load of twigs (mainly from John round the corner) and took apart a large clump of tough grass/sedge which Gill dug up ages ago. The soil had dried so I could crumble that off and pulled out the bits of the plant with roots, and shredded these too. The soil I added to my store of turf/soil/loam in one of my many compost bins. This is used to make potting composts, mixed with rich compost from fruit and veg, and leafmould, in varying proportions depending on what I'm using it for. I emptied one of my tumblers, putting well rotted stuff in a large plastic sack (for continued decomposition and eventual riddling and use) and unrotted sticks, paper and cardboard in a pile, ready for putting back with all the shredded twigs, sedge and a vast pile of cauliflower stalks, bad oranges and off potatoes. All this went straight back in the tumbler, filling it right up in one go. Compost bins are rarely empty in this garden! I took the temperature of one of my recently loaded pallet bins, just over 60 celcius in the centre... a veritable sauna for the microbes in there!
I also did lots more weeding, as we have an excess of deep rooted Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) and easy-seeding Geranium species (some type of Crane's Bill) and the always-on-the-make Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) which is perhaps the most invasive thing in this garden, apart from the encroaching compost bins... I pulled out some nettle seedlings, baby brambles, docks trying to sneak their roots way too deep for me to get them and dandelions trying to be as tenacious as docks. My fingers are now tingling pleasantly from the stinging nettles, a feeling I quite like.
I found one of last year's yams, just beginning to grow, and tried to dig it out, but it was so deep, the main body of the tuber was over 60 cm below the soil and it broke off, just giving me 50 or 60 cm of thin rooty tuber hardly worth doing anything with. I'll replant this bit, probably in a pot as it's easier to get the crop! I bought this as 'Angela's Cinnamon Vine', 5 tiny balls which form in the vine where the leaves branch off, it climbs several metres up, and produces a bigger tuber every year if left. So far my biggest tuber was about 70 cm long, after 2 or 3 years growing. The vine dies off during winter.
Gill called me in at 7.30 and reminded me it was tea time... I just get completely lost when I'm in the garden, there's always more to do than I have time for, and eating gets put down the agenda (or falls off the end of it until it's too dark to do anything more). I had a two bowls of leek and butternut soup, seasoned with marmite from a nearly empty jar, washed out with hot water to get the last of it. This with a hunk of bread and hummus and blobs of pesto, and some cucumber out of the compostables... one end was unsaleable, the other end delicious!
An evening not worth writing about, as I spent most of it writing...
Gill took our youngest to school and went on to her art class. I did a bit of emailing and Facebooking, and then got dressed and made some leek and butternut squash soup, and started building a logpile of dry wood outside the front. This one isn't going to fall down!
Had a good day, doing bits around the house and garden, nothing very focused but had a productive day. Shredded a load of twigs (mainly from John round the corner) and took apart a large clump of tough grass/sedge which Gill dug up ages ago. The soil had dried so I could crumble that off and pulled out the bits of the plant with roots, and shredded these too. The soil I added to my store of turf/soil/loam in one of my many compost bins. This is used to make potting composts, mixed with rich compost from fruit and veg, and leafmould, in varying proportions depending on what I'm using it for. I emptied one of my tumblers, putting well rotted stuff in a large plastic sack (for continued decomposition and eventual riddling and use) and unrotted sticks, paper and cardboard in a pile, ready for putting back with all the shredded twigs, sedge and a vast pile of cauliflower stalks, bad oranges and off potatoes. All this went straight back in the tumbler, filling it right up in one go. Compost bins are rarely empty in this garden! I took the temperature of one of my recently loaded pallet bins, just over 60 celcius in the centre... a veritable sauna for the microbes in there!
I also did lots more weeding, as we have an excess of deep rooted Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) and easy-seeding Geranium species (some type of Crane's Bill) and the always-on-the-make Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) which is perhaps the most invasive thing in this garden, apart from the encroaching compost bins... I pulled out some nettle seedlings, baby brambles, docks trying to sneak their roots way too deep for me to get them and dandelions trying to be as tenacious as docks. My fingers are now tingling pleasantly from the stinging nettles, a feeling I quite like.
I found one of last year's yams, just beginning to grow, and tried to dig it out, but it was so deep, the main body of the tuber was over 60 cm below the soil and it broke off, just giving me 50 or 60 cm of thin rooty tuber hardly worth doing anything with. I'll replant this bit, probably in a pot as it's easier to get the crop! I bought this as 'Angela's Cinnamon Vine', 5 tiny balls which form in the vine where the leaves branch off, it climbs several metres up, and produces a bigger tuber every year if left. So far my biggest tuber was about 70 cm long, after 2 or 3 years growing. The vine dies off during winter.
Gill called me in at 7.30 and reminded me it was tea time... I just get completely lost when I'm in the garden, there's always more to do than I have time for, and eating gets put down the agenda (or falls off the end of it until it's too dark to do anything more). I had a two bowls of leek and butternut soup, seasoned with marmite from a nearly empty jar, washed out with hot water to get the last of it. This with a hunk of bread and hummus and blobs of pesto, and some cucumber out of the compostables... one end was unsaleable, the other end delicious!
An evening not worth writing about, as I spent most of it writing...
I took our youngest down to school and when I got back, Gill was nearly ready to go to her art class. I did a big pile of washing up and made some mushroom and leek soup, from fresh leeks and a bag of very out of date and unidentifiable Chinese or Japanese dried mushrooms, which I'd soaked overnight in cold water. I fried the chopped leek and cut up the 'shrooms into this and added some water and a stock cube, and a bit later, once I'd whizzed it to reasonable smoothness, some red lentils to add a bit of thickness. I've no idea what it'll taste like but the mushrooms needed using as they've been hanging around for ages, sealed in their packet, but taking up room. So, tomorrow night's tea will be that, for me... I doubt the boys will have any, but I'll offer it in case! I've been surprised by their ability to enjoy some mature tastes, on occasions.
I popped round to the bread shop and got a big pile of 'Yesterbake' loaves and rolls, and came back to have an avocado sandwich (one which was thrown away as it had a damaged side... this I cut off for composting, leaving t'other half for a mayo and granary deliciousness...) and at half 12 I jumped back on the bike and zoomed over to the home of an AVP facilitator who was hosting the biannual AVP NEEM meeting. AVP is an organisation I've been involved with since 1995, when I found myself having occasional difficult conflict situations which led to me not respecting myself, and at that time a new group had just been set up in York called Alternatives to Violence Project, and they ran workshops on how to resolve conflicts in a creative and non-violent way. The first weekend course I went on was a revelation... I'd never learned anything like it before and I went away feeling like I could deal better with provocation and things which made me angry, and had previously led to me being verbally and physically aggressive and violent.
Anyway, I joined the organisers and started helping to put on more workshops. I did a further three, all 'level twos' where the participants explore a particular subject in detail. I remember them well despite them being many years back. My first level 2 was 'Anger in the parent-child relationship', which was excellent as I was then still angry about the way my parents had treated me (I've more or less got over this now!) and the pivotal point was when I took part in a role play with me being me and someone else being my father. That was when I realised I could only change myself, not anyone else. The second level 2 was quite odd for me, as it was decided at the beginning of the session by the participants, by consensus. The group chose 'Blame and Forgiveness'. I wasn't very thrilled by this topic, as it didn't seem to relate to me much. However, the weekend showed me that many other people are very much affected by both blaming others and blaming themselves, also forgiving others and forgiving themselves. I realised that I didn't think like many other people and didn't use these concepts... I tended to use the idea of 'responsibility' which, for me, encapsulate all the blame/forgiveness areas. But it was a good workshop, and after a gap of a few years I went on another level 2, on 'self development' which by that time I was exploring in other ways too, not just through AVP.
So, 14 years on and I'm still committed to what AVP is doing. In York we hold 4 community workshops each year, in Doncaster we've a partnership with MIND and run 6 a year. We also run them in prisons and occasionally with other groups. AVP Britain reorganised a while ago and now AVP York is part of AVP North East and East Midlands, or NEEM. We had a good meeting, with representatives from Whitby, Sheffield, York and Manchester (a member of one of the AVPB bodies). I always enjoy these meetings and it was productive, with another interesting partnership on the near horizon (with a hostel for the homeless) and news of prisoners from an open prison attending a community workshop, which is good. This meeting ran from about 1pm til just before 5, and I was pleased to meet a new person, just recently trained up as a facilitator, and a facilitator who heard me enthusing about AVP a few years ago and got involved... I didn't know til today it was my talk to her group which caused her to become involved. That makes me happy!
Home via George Hudson St where I got rid of an invoice which I should have done weeks ago... but, better late than never!
Boys playing video games when I got in so I went in the front room where it was quieter.
Tea was nice... more mashed root mix, home made 'baked beans' and toasted cheese on a roll (thanks Richard... better to feed me than feed chickens!!!)
Popped out at midnight once I'd done another batch of washing up to get the neighbours fence which she offered me, and today asked me to take away. I did it quietly.
I popped round to the bread shop and got a big pile of 'Yesterbake' loaves and rolls, and came back to have an avocado sandwich (one which was thrown away as it had a damaged side... this I cut off for composting, leaving t'other half for a mayo and granary deliciousness...) and at half 12 I jumped back on the bike and zoomed over to the home of an AVP facilitator who was hosting the biannual AVP NEEM meeting. AVP is an organisation I've been involved with since 1995, when I found myself having occasional difficult conflict situations which led to me not respecting myself, and at that time a new group had just been set up in York called Alternatives to Violence Project, and they ran workshops on how to resolve conflicts in a creative and non-violent way. The first weekend course I went on was a revelation... I'd never learned anything like it before and I went away feeling like I could deal better with provocation and things which made me angry, and had previously led to me being verbally and physically aggressive and violent.
Anyway, I joined the organisers and started helping to put on more workshops. I did a further three, all 'level twos' where the participants explore a particular subject in detail. I remember them well despite them being many years back. My first level 2 was 'Anger in the parent-child relationship', which was excellent as I was then still angry about the way my parents had treated me (I've more or less got over this now!) and the pivotal point was when I took part in a role play with me being me and someone else being my father. That was when I realised I could only change myself, not anyone else. The second level 2 was quite odd for me, as it was decided at the beginning of the session by the participants, by consensus. The group chose 'Blame and Forgiveness'. I wasn't very thrilled by this topic, as it didn't seem to relate to me much. However, the weekend showed me that many other people are very much affected by both blaming others and blaming themselves, also forgiving others and forgiving themselves. I realised that I didn't think like many other people and didn't use these concepts... I tended to use the idea of 'responsibility' which, for me, encapsulate all the blame/forgiveness areas. But it was a good workshop, and after a gap of a few years I went on another level 2, on 'self development' which by that time I was exploring in other ways too, not just through AVP.
So, 14 years on and I'm still committed to what AVP is doing. In York we hold 4 community workshops each year, in Doncaster we've a partnership with MIND and run 6 a year. We also run them in prisons and occasionally with other groups. AVP Britain reorganised a while ago and now AVP York is part of AVP North East and East Midlands, or NEEM. We had a good meeting, with representatives from Whitby, Sheffield, York and Manchester (a member of one of the AVPB bodies). I always enjoy these meetings and it was productive, with another interesting partnership on the near horizon (with a hostel for the homeless) and news of prisoners from an open prison attending a community workshop, which is good. This meeting ran from about 1pm til just before 5, and I was pleased to meet a new person, just recently trained up as a facilitator, and a facilitator who heard me enthusing about AVP a few years ago and got involved... I didn't know til today it was my talk to her group which caused her to become involved. That makes me happy!
Home via George Hudson St where I got rid of an invoice which I should have done weeks ago... but, better late than never!
Boys playing video games when I got in so I went in the front room where it was quieter.
Tea was nice... more mashed root mix, home made 'baked beans' and toasted cheese on a roll (thanks Richard... better to feed me than feed chickens!!!)
Popped out at midnight once I'd done another batch of washing up to get the neighbours fence which she offered me, and today asked me to take away. I did it quietly.
Gill got up early to make pancake batter for the kids' breakfasts. She got me up at 8 so I could take our youngest to school, and then go into town to deal with the paperwork I failed to manage last night. So got to town just before 9 and waited to get into the Building Society, then waited outside the bank til 9.30 to pay the water bill. Got back home before 10, Gill getting ready to go into town to help Melody celebrate her birthday with a girly lunch.
I awaited the phone call at 11.30 from Shannonside FM who had arranged to interview me about my low cost/low carbon/verging on 'Freegan' lifestyle. The presenter, John, chatted to me for about 10 or 12 minutes and seemed pretty positive about most of what I said. The interview might be made into a podcast... it certainly generated some interesting comments afterwards!
I then had lunch but stayed in afterwards ding various things on the computer and phone. This included trying to get the York City Screen to show The Age of Stupid nice and early after release. I found out that the out-of-town 'Vue' cinema in Clifton Moor is screening the Public Premiere on 15th March. I wish that City Screen had got this... they still might, with a little bit of pressure! The Vue cinema is mainly visited by car users and the Premier tickets are a hefty £10.
I cycled down to school at 3 to pick up our youngest son and again stopped at the trashed woodland to pick up some quite large chunks of Scots Pine which filled the trailer very satisfactorily...
We had a relatively peaceful after-school time. Gill thickened the carrot soup with some of yesterday's mashed potato, and this was eagerly demolished by all... much appreciated, and better with the thicker texture. I had a cheese sandwich which one of the boys hadn't eaten with my soup. And a slice of Gill's cake with an out of date free yoghurt for pudding!
I managed to make time to sort out four bags of seedless grapes retrieved from the compostables, and blanched a big saucepan full for a few minutes before draining them (re-using the water for the washing up of course!) and spreading them on a baking tray to balance on the water can on the stove. The duff grapes and stalks, of course, will be composted....
So a productive day.
I awaited the phone call at 11.30 from Shannonside FM who had arranged to interview me about my low cost/low carbon/verging on 'Freegan' lifestyle. The presenter, John, chatted to me for about 10 or 12 minutes and seemed pretty positive about most of what I said. The interview might be made into a podcast... it certainly generated some interesting comments afterwards!
I then had lunch but stayed in afterwards ding various things on the computer and phone. This included trying to get the York City Screen to show The Age of Stupid nice and early after release. I found out that the out-of-town 'Vue' cinema in Clifton Moor is screening the Public Premiere on 15th March. I wish that City Screen had got this... they still might, with a little bit of pressure! The Vue cinema is mainly visited by car users and the Premier tickets are a hefty £10.
I cycled down to school at 3 to pick up our youngest son and again stopped at the trashed woodland to pick up some quite large chunks of Scots Pine which filled the trailer very satisfactorily...
We had a relatively peaceful after-school time. Gill thickened the carrot soup with some of yesterday's mashed potato, and this was eagerly demolished by all... much appreciated, and better with the thicker texture. I had a cheese sandwich which one of the boys hadn't eaten with my soup. And a slice of Gill's cake with an out of date free yoghurt for pudding!
I managed to make time to sort out four bags of seedless grapes retrieved from the compostables, and blanched a big saucepan full for a few minutes before draining them (re-using the water for the washing up of course!) and spreading them on a baking tray to balance on the water can on the stove. The duff grapes and stalks, of course, will be composted....
So a productive day.
I cycled down to school with our youngest son as the roads were clear, and came back to get going with the large pile of washing up. Then jarred up some dried fruit and did emails, and before lunch took three wheelbarrows-worth of split logs down to the covered logpile, and did a good job of building a couple of self-supporting walls. It's like a jigsaw... there's definitely ways which the different shapes will fit snugly together.. and plenty which will result in the stack falling over. I love doing it!
Lunch was lovely, apart from seeing the distressing scenes over in Australia with the Bushfires destroying so many lives, livelihoods and homes. We should, however, expect more of this as the climate shifts and we experience more droughts and extreme weather. It's not going to be easy.
After lunch I got a phone call from a TV producer up in Middlesborough looking for a 'Freegan' to interview. Spent at least half an hour talking to him about the various ways in which I live cheaply, get things for free, collect aluminium cans and occasional scrap metal and sell it, use the LETS and Freecycle networks, and give stuff for free too, such as composting advice, and many hours voluntary work with a plethora of local groups, and more. It looks like I'll be going up to Middlesborough next week, but nothing's been agreed yet.
I collected our son from school, on the way delivering 5 litres of Ecover Clothes Washing Liquid to one of our friends who participates in our Food Co-op.
I did a final (hahahahaha) load of chainsawing and wooding in the front... and finished the current pile! Just gives more space to put more there....
Ben came round as our eldest had emailed him asking for help with accessing the games bought a few days ago... they aren't loading and neither son knows why. Ben, however, arrived with a large polystyrene box and asked us if we'd like a 'science treat'? Well, we're all up for some science fun... so he opened the box and revealed a thick layer of 'dry ice' chunks at the bottom. This had arrived with a delivery of chemicals to the place he works, and the dry ice was surplus to requirements. Dry ice is frozen solid carbon dioxide, which keeps the temperature of the inside of the container at about -100 degrees Celsius. He showed us several tricks... including putting some pellets of dry ice in a glass of warm water, which then proceeds to bubble away and gives off lots of cold water vapour which looks like smoke or steam flowing out of the glass and down the sides. This could be modified by adding washing up liquid to the warm water... the large volume of bubbles generated can be popped, releasing the smoke-like water vapour. I found some balloons, held the nozzle open wide and slipped a pellet of dry ice into the balloon, and tied it to seal the initially flaccid balloon. As the ice sublimes (changes from solid direct to gas) the balloon inflates, as solid CO2 takes much less space than the same weight of gaseous CO2.
After all this fun, Ben tried to fix the computer problem... the boys computer might need a new graphics card. Ben left with a job-lot of lychees and two banana and chocolate chip buns which Gill made yesterday.
Gill did one of the best evening meals I've had for quite a while. We had a leek and potato soup which was delicious, and she used up some macaroni/cauliflower cheese and some tomato/onion pizza topping by putting the pasta in the base of an oven-proof dish, then a layer of sliced mushrooms, then a layer of tomato stuff, then a layer of wholemeal breadcrumbs and grated carrot, topped with small halved tomatoes and grated goats' cheese... and baked this. Absolutely Fantastic!
I then went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, chaired by the elected Councillors. A good presentation from the NHS Trust, and discussion about the Ward Committee budget and where it should be spent. I did a short presentation about the Planning Panel work, and there was an 'election' where those who wanted to be on the Panel were given the nod by the citizens present. We got three new members and lost two. I remain the Clerk, a role I am now happy with.
Home soon after 9pm, watched Horizon on dreams. I spent a couple of hours shelling the remaining lychees, then liquidizing the flesh, added 10 bananas, re-liquidized, pushed through a sieve and carefully placed the fragrant liquid in a baking tray balanced on the stove. Within a couple of days, this will be well on the way to being wonderful fruit leather.
Lunch was lovely, apart from seeing the distressing scenes over in Australia with the Bushfires destroying so many lives, livelihoods and homes. We should, however, expect more of this as the climate shifts and we experience more droughts and extreme weather. It's not going to be easy.
After lunch I got a phone call from a TV producer up in Middlesborough looking for a 'Freegan' to interview. Spent at least half an hour talking to him about the various ways in which I live cheaply, get things for free, collect aluminium cans and occasional scrap metal and sell it, use the LETS and Freecycle networks, and give stuff for free too, such as composting advice, and many hours voluntary work with a plethora of local groups, and more. It looks like I'll be going up to Middlesborough next week, but nothing's been agreed yet.
I collected our son from school, on the way delivering 5 litres of Ecover Clothes Washing Liquid to one of our friends who participates in our Food Co-op.
I did a final (hahahahaha) load of chainsawing and wooding in the front... and finished the current pile! Just gives more space to put more there....
Ben came round as our eldest had emailed him asking for help with accessing the games bought a few days ago... they aren't loading and neither son knows why. Ben, however, arrived with a large polystyrene box and asked us if we'd like a 'science treat'? Well, we're all up for some science fun... so he opened the box and revealed a thick layer of 'dry ice' chunks at the bottom. This had arrived with a delivery of chemicals to the place he works, and the dry ice was surplus to requirements. Dry ice is frozen solid carbon dioxide, which keeps the temperature of the inside of the container at about -100 degrees Celsius. He showed us several tricks... including putting some pellets of dry ice in a glass of warm water, which then proceeds to bubble away and gives off lots of cold water vapour which looks like smoke or steam flowing out of the glass and down the sides. This could be modified by adding washing up liquid to the warm water... the large volume of bubbles generated can be popped, releasing the smoke-like water vapour. I found some balloons, held the nozzle open wide and slipped a pellet of dry ice into the balloon, and tied it to seal the initially flaccid balloon. As the ice sublimes (changes from solid direct to gas) the balloon inflates, as solid CO2 takes much less space than the same weight of gaseous CO2.
After all this fun, Ben tried to fix the computer problem... the boys computer might need a new graphics card. Ben left with a job-lot of lychees and two banana and chocolate chip buns which Gill made yesterday.
Gill did one of the best evening meals I've had for quite a while. We had a leek and potato soup which was delicious, and she used up some macaroni/cauliflower cheese and some tomato/onion pizza topping by putting the pasta in the base of an oven-proof dish, then a layer of sliced mushrooms, then a layer of tomato stuff, then a layer of wholemeal breadcrumbs and grated carrot, topped with small halved tomatoes and grated goats' cheese... and baked this. Absolutely Fantastic!
I then went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, chaired by the elected Councillors. A good presentation from the NHS Trust, and discussion about the Ward Committee budget and where it should be spent. I did a short presentation about the Planning Panel work, and there was an 'election' where those who wanted to be on the Panel were given the nod by the citizens present. We got three new members and lost two. I remain the Clerk, a role I am now happy with.
Home soon after 9pm, watched Horizon on dreams. I spent a couple of hours shelling the remaining lychees, then liquidizing the flesh, added 10 bananas, re-liquidized, pushed through a sieve and carefully placed the fragrant liquid in a baking tray balanced on the stove. Within a couple of days, this will be well on the way to being wonderful fruit leather.
I cycled into school with our youngest, and in the playground had a nice chat with a new Dad, Peter from Taiwan. On the way back I collected lots of litter from Windmill Lane... mostly aluminium cans but also plastic bottles... all will be recycled (well, I'll put them for recycling; what the council and metal merchant do with them is their business!)
Gill went to her art class and I was a good househusband and continued the tidying she started yesterday and washed up. Went to Thomas's and bought their excellent value 'yesterbake' bread... two loaves, four packets of rolls, 4 danish pastries and some flapjack offcuts... all for £3.75. Excellent! This is stuff which didn't sell yesterday, and the shops all send the unsold things back to the Tang Hall Lane shop, where it is sold at half price and two for the price of one... so actually, quarter price. So a loaf selling yesterday at £120 would be 60p, but you can have 2 for 60p. Excellent, and they don't have to be the same item, so today for instance, I got a white loaf and a seedy loaf and four different packets of rolls. Good on yer Thomas's of York!
Gill came back soon after 11 and we spent some time together trying to plan the next few days... Gilly got on with some cooking and I got on with something else before Neil the Thomson Local rep came to discuss my advertising package for next year. He was very nice and we went off at a tangent/off topic on several occasions, but we eventually got to agreeing the words and signing the document.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out a new woodpile outside the front door AGAIN... but hey, we've been very cosy during this cold patch and not used any more fossil fuel than we normally do. Just loads of logs.
I picked up our youngest, and as usual managed the compost bins I've installed at school to recycle some of their stuff they throw away and don't bother to recycle themselves. However, children are often really wasteful themselves and throw away fruit they don't want to eat, rather than take it back home to face their parent/carer who would (perhaps!) sternly say 'Why didn't you eat that?' So I often find uneaten bananas, apples, pears and sometimes unopened packets of crisps or dried mango. This is my reward! I bring the fruit home, wash it and mostly dry the stuff for my cereal... or the kids gobble it up as they love the dried fruit so much! I leave dried fruit out on the racks and it just disappears. I've told them they don't ever have to ask to take it... and it just goes. Great!... I bring more home just about every day to slice up and bung on the racks above the stove, and this snack is much more healthy than sweets or biscuits (although they sometimes have these as well).
I went to visit Richard at Country Fresh and he gave me a huge load of seconds tomatoes, so I'll sort them out and make soup for the coming couple of days. Yummy!
Popped in to Freshways too... and oh no, they had tomatoes as well. So, I wish I had a cauldron. I might make a batch of soup-base and freeze it... A busy evening awaits.
Did have a busy evening. The boys kept busy too, on their computer (thank you Uncle Tom!) but somehow the screen went upsidedown and enlarged. I wanted to laugh but had to appear concerned, serious etc or there would have been an outburst. I offered to help but my solution didn't work, so I rang Simon and he talked our eldest through it... and solved it! Well, I think so...
Enjoyed 'It's Not Easy Being Green' but I don't think this series is as good as the first. Not enough Brigit!!! Hahahahaha...
Gill went to her art class and I was a good househusband and continued the tidying she started yesterday and washed up. Went to Thomas's and bought their excellent value 'yesterbake' bread... two loaves, four packets of rolls, 4 danish pastries and some flapjack offcuts... all for £3.75. Excellent! This is stuff which didn't sell yesterday, and the shops all send the unsold things back to the Tang Hall Lane shop, where it is sold at half price and two for the price of one... so actually, quarter price. So a loaf selling yesterday at £120 would be 60p, but you can have 2 for 60p. Excellent, and they don't have to be the same item, so today for instance, I got a white loaf and a seedy loaf and four different packets of rolls. Good on yer Thomas's of York!
Gill came back soon after 11 and we spent some time together trying to plan the next few days... Gilly got on with some cooking and I got on with something else before Neil the Thomson Local rep came to discuss my advertising package for next year. He was very nice and we went off at a tangent/off topic on several occasions, but we eventually got to agreeing the words and signing the document.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out a new woodpile outside the front door AGAIN... but hey, we've been very cosy during this cold patch and not used any more fossil fuel than we normally do. Just loads of logs.
I picked up our youngest, and as usual managed the compost bins I've installed at school to recycle some of their stuff they throw away and don't bother to recycle themselves. However, children are often really wasteful themselves and throw away fruit they don't want to eat, rather than take it back home to face their parent/carer who would (perhaps!) sternly say 'Why didn't you eat that?' So I often find uneaten bananas, apples, pears and sometimes unopened packets of crisps or dried mango. This is my reward! I bring the fruit home, wash it and mostly dry the stuff for my cereal... or the kids gobble it up as they love the dried fruit so much! I leave dried fruit out on the racks and it just disappears. I've told them they don't ever have to ask to take it... and it just goes. Great!... I bring more home just about every day to slice up and bung on the racks above the stove, and this snack is much more healthy than sweets or biscuits (although they sometimes have these as well).
I went to visit Richard at Country Fresh and he gave me a huge load of seconds tomatoes, so I'll sort them out and make soup for the coming couple of days. Yummy!
Popped in to Freshways too... and oh no, they had tomatoes as well. So, I wish I had a cauldron. I might make a batch of soup-base and freeze it... A busy evening awaits.
Did have a busy evening. The boys kept busy too, on their computer (thank you Uncle Tom!) but somehow the screen went upsidedown and enlarged. I wanted to laugh but had to appear concerned, serious etc or there would have been an outburst. I offered to help but my solution didn't work, so I rang Simon and he talked our eldest through it... and solved it! Well, I think so...
Enjoyed 'It's Not Easy Being Green' but I don't think this series is as good as the first. Not enough Brigit!!! Hahahahaha...
