A nice relaxing day in many ways... didn't do much in the morning but after lunch I cycled down to see Simon and Melody who have a glut of redcurrants, and invited us to make them a Yorky offer for a couple of punnets. From here I cycled through the University to Heslington Road, popped in to Richard who had a sack and a half of gubbins for me, and then down to town as I wanted to see the YUMI festival, and I picked up a half sack of halved lemon peels from the lemon juice stall.
I was impressed with YUMI Celebrates event. A good proportion of Parliament Street had stalls with food, crafts and activities from local people who originate from all over the world. York is much more of a multicultural place than it was when I arrived in the 1980s. I had an Asian friend who visited with her European boyfriend, and I have memories of them walking through Newgate Market holding hands and all the market traders staring, and me being embarrassed by this. I grew up in Leicester where inter-racial relationships were common, and the attitude of people in York was very different. I'm glad York is more cosmopolitan now.
I chatted with a volunteer steward called Penny and she expressed a desire to volunteer with YUMI, and a couple of minutes later I spotted Sasiki so I introduced them to each other.
I also went into town to see the city centre cycle races, and I was there as the under 14s race got underway. It was good to see them really going for it! I popped into see Sarah and Matthew in their 'Gluggles' shop, and then cycled home via Freshways who were happy to let me have two sacks of goodies.
I came in for a coffee and then got busy in the garden, coming in at 7pm for something to eat. I was pleased that my suggestion that the boys help in the garden was taken up... I asked if they could smash up an old pallet which they did with gusto. Excellent!
I found more interesting stuff in the pond-to-be area.... another clay pipe and something which might be ivory. It's going to be fascinating to see what else we unearth here.
Showing posts with label YUMI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YUMI. Show all posts
A busy morning... got up soon after 9am to be ready to take the spare seeds from the York in Transition seed swap along to the YUMI Community Garden.
So, after breakfast and a shower I cycled along to the Danesgate Skills Centre on Fulford Cross and arrived on the dot of 10.30. Sasiki and her colleague Helen Hays, a garden designer, were there waiting, and Nick Haines, the organiser of the seed swap, had just arrived. The idea was to hand over the seeds and get some photos of the handover. A handful of users of the garden arrived; a Mexican woman who's been in York for just one week, to learn English and do her MSc, and two Chinese women and a small boy.
The Press didn't turn up, so we took our own photos and will submit these with some extra copy and hope the Press will run a story next week about our two organisations working together.
I came back via Country Fresh, St Nicks and Freshways, getting home at about 12.30, to find a peaceful household.
I spent the afternoon in the garden, taking stuff down from the conservatory which Gill is tidying, and then I got stuck down there, digging out a compost heap. But halfway through the afternoon, our youngest came down and said we had a visitor... it was Alan Leach, who used to live next door to us in Emerald St, with his three children. I spoke to him on facebook yesterday... he asked if he could drop off a bag of kitchen biodegradables. So it was really good to see him, as haven't seen him for a while.
So they all had a wander down the garden, but didn't stay long. I got on with my rearranging my heaps... I dug out one pallet heap and turned it into a 1 cubic metre builders bag which fits into a wooden holder, and dug out both my Compostumbler bins. All the tumbled material needs to sit in a 'New Zealand Bin' (pallets lined with cardboard) for quite a while before it's ready to use as compost. The adverts saying 'makes compost in 14 days' are complete nonsense. Also, I'm going to have to retire the largest Compostumbler as the metal sheet sides have corroded and now flex so much that the door catches bulge out and prevent the cylinder revolving all the way round. I might be able to purchase new metal bits... the plastic end pieces are fine, it's the sheet metal which is rusting. This is a disappointment as it cost a lot and I'd have hoped it would last a decade or so, but it's only lasted about 6 years I think.
Gill had made a nutloaf mix for tea, and using a plastic tub, formed it into rounds and fried them, making home-made burgers, which we had in bread rolls, with baked beans and mushrooms.
Later in the evening I blanched some grapes to make raisins, and chopped up more pears to dry them.
I got a message from the journalist at The Press saying that the story about YiT and YUMI would probably be in the paper early next week.
So, after breakfast and a shower I cycled along to the Danesgate Skills Centre on Fulford Cross and arrived on the dot of 10.30. Sasiki and her colleague Helen Hays, a garden designer, were there waiting, and Nick Haines, the organiser of the seed swap, had just arrived. The idea was to hand over the seeds and get some photos of the handover. A handful of users of the garden arrived; a Mexican woman who's been in York for just one week, to learn English and do her MSc, and two Chinese women and a small boy.
The Press didn't turn up, so we took our own photos and will submit these with some extra copy and hope the Press will run a story next week about our two organisations working together.
I came back via Country Fresh, St Nicks and Freshways, getting home at about 12.30, to find a peaceful household.
I spent the afternoon in the garden, taking stuff down from the conservatory which Gill is tidying, and then I got stuck down there, digging out a compost heap. But halfway through the afternoon, our youngest came down and said we had a visitor... it was Alan Leach, who used to live next door to us in Emerald St, with his three children. I spoke to him on facebook yesterday... he asked if he could drop off a bag of kitchen biodegradables. So it was really good to see him, as haven't seen him for a while.
So they all had a wander down the garden, but didn't stay long. I got on with my rearranging my heaps... I dug out one pallet heap and turned it into a 1 cubic metre builders bag which fits into a wooden holder, and dug out both my Compostumbler bins. All the tumbled material needs to sit in a 'New Zealand Bin' (pallets lined with cardboard) for quite a while before it's ready to use as compost. The adverts saying 'makes compost in 14 days' are complete nonsense. Also, I'm going to have to retire the largest Compostumbler as the metal sheet sides have corroded and now flex so much that the door catches bulge out and prevent the cylinder revolving all the way round. I might be able to purchase new metal bits... the plastic end pieces are fine, it's the sheet metal which is rusting. This is a disappointment as it cost a lot and I'd have hoped it would last a decade or so, but it's only lasted about 6 years I think.
Gill had made a nutloaf mix for tea, and using a plastic tub, formed it into rounds and fried them, making home-made burgers, which we had in bread rolls, with baked beans and mushrooms.
Later in the evening I blanched some grapes to make raisins, and chopped up more pears to dry them.
I got a message from the journalist at The Press saying that the story about YiT and YUMI would probably be in the paper early next week.
A busy and productive day... mainly paperwork type stuff.
I cycled down to town in the afternoon via St Nicks where I picked up the box of seeds left over from the seed swap, which are destined to be donated to the YUMI international community garden on Friday, and in town I got out a pile of cheques, two for advertising (Thomson Directories and Yell), £75 of balloons from Cozmic Balloons and a very exciting one, for RSA Membership as I've been nominated to apply for fellowship of the RSA. This means, if accepted, I will be able to 'label' myself as 'John Cossham FRSA'! I also transferred cash to our current account to pay our annual electricity bill with Good Energy... this is £250 for power (5 units/day) and £60 for the daily admin charge, making our annual bill £310.
I also wrote a press release about the seed handover, and popped into the York Press office to chat to a journalist about it, and request a photographer. I spent quite a bit of time making sure all the people mentioned in the document were happy with what was said, about them and their organisations.
At 5pm I bombed down to the station to get the train to Sheffield, as I've been booked by Ali. I took the laptop and managed to get a few emails deleted from my inbox... but not many as the journey is only 50 minutes!
I cycled down to town in the afternoon via St Nicks where I picked up the box of seeds left over from the seed swap, which are destined to be donated to the YUMI international community garden on Friday, and in town I got out a pile of cheques, two for advertising (Thomson Directories and Yell), £75 of balloons from Cozmic Balloons and a very exciting one, for RSA Membership as I've been nominated to apply for fellowship of the RSA. This means, if accepted, I will be able to 'label' myself as 'John Cossham FRSA'! I also transferred cash to our current account to pay our annual electricity bill with Good Energy... this is £250 for power (5 units/day) and £60 for the daily admin charge, making our annual bill £310.
I also wrote a press release about the seed handover, and popped into the York Press office to chat to a journalist about it, and request a photographer. I spent quite a bit of time making sure all the people mentioned in the document were happy with what was said, about them and their organisations.
At 5pm I bombed down to the station to get the train to Sheffield, as I've been booked by Ali. I took the laptop and managed to get a few emails deleted from my inbox... but not many as the journey is only 50 minutes!
A very late start.... didn't get up til 10 and then spent some time making up my muesli. Lots of dried fruit. A lazy morning, the whole family nice and relaxed.
Not very much happened (apart from a bit of chainsawing and splitting) until about 4pm when Nick came round to pick up some compost... he had a cuppa and we worked on a Press Release for the hand over of the spare seeds from the York in Transition seed swap, which are going to YUMI, who are developing a garden to grow food in, for their cooks to use... and York in Transition likes their ethos, so we're happy for them to have the seeds.
Then we went down the garden and I got him a big sack of very well rotted but unriddled compost, two small bags of riddled, a bag of leafmould and a bag of loam, plus some worms for his new wormery. I really like helping people like this!
During the evening I did some dried fruit wrangling, sorting stuff which has dried, and preparing more fresh(ish!) fruit for the racks. But that was probably the most exciting thing to happen this evening, and Nick's visit was the highlight of the day....
Not very much happened (apart from a bit of chainsawing and splitting) until about 4pm when Nick came round to pick up some compost... he had a cuppa and we worked on a Press Release for the hand over of the spare seeds from the York in Transition seed swap, which are going to YUMI, who are developing a garden to grow food in, for their cooks to use... and York in Transition likes their ethos, so we're happy for them to have the seeds.
Then we went down the garden and I got him a big sack of very well rotted but unriddled compost, two small bags of riddled, a bag of leafmould and a bag of loam, plus some worms for his new wormery. I really like helping people like this!
During the evening I did some dried fruit wrangling, sorting stuff which has dried, and preparing more fresh(ish!) fruit for the racks. But that was probably the most exciting thing to happen this evening, and Nick's visit was the highlight of the day....
The morning was a re-run of yesterday.
Got to St Nicks for 10am, 'Saint' John welcomed them and introduced me (John the Rotter) and the other people helping, took the group on a walk, and back to the centre and split them into their groups, me with the Rotters first and then, after a juice and biscuit break, the Saints.
I had taken in several cakes and quite a few bags of biscuits, all out of date and destined for landfill, rescued by lil ol me in a freegan moment, and gratefully snapped up by the various members of the recycling crew.
I got a phone call from Gladys during lunch asking if I could pop round and help her get some apples from a neighbour's tree which overhangs her property... the neighbours are students and take no interest in the garden at all, so it was good that she had these dozen apples or so. There were also some plums, which Gladys doesn't care for but I really like, especially if dried. So I picked them too and brought them back.
I did a little bit of shredding before 3.30 when I got tidied up to meet Sasiki in town, at the City Screen cafe/bar. I met her at Austin's funeral and agreed then to have a meeting with her to learn about the plans she has for YUMI : York Unifying and Multicultural Initiative, which are to have a centre where people can meet, display art, cook in a cafe (and eat in the cafe!) and have a garden where interesting foods can be grown. We had a wide ranging conversation, including about links with York in Transition, York Green Festival and others. We spent over an hour chatting.
Came home via Country Fresh where Rich was in good form and I came away with 3 boxes and a sack full of compostables... as well as bought potatoes, cauliflower, eggs and a cucumber.
Spent a good chunk of the evening sorting out plums, for drying.
Got to St Nicks for 10am, 'Saint' John welcomed them and introduced me (John the Rotter) and the other people helping, took the group on a walk, and back to the centre and split them into their groups, me with the Rotters first and then, after a juice and biscuit break, the Saints.
I had taken in several cakes and quite a few bags of biscuits, all out of date and destined for landfill, rescued by lil ol me in a freegan moment, and gratefully snapped up by the various members of the recycling crew.
I got a phone call from Gladys during lunch asking if I could pop round and help her get some apples from a neighbour's tree which overhangs her property... the neighbours are students and take no interest in the garden at all, so it was good that she had these dozen apples or so. There were also some plums, which Gladys doesn't care for but I really like, especially if dried. So I picked them too and brought them back.
I did a little bit of shredding before 3.30 when I got tidied up to meet Sasiki in town, at the City Screen cafe/bar. I met her at Austin's funeral and agreed then to have a meeting with her to learn about the plans she has for YUMI : York Unifying and Multicultural Initiative, which are to have a centre where people can meet, display art, cook in a cafe (and eat in the cafe!) and have a garden where interesting foods can be grown. We had a wide ranging conversation, including about links with York in Transition, York Green Festival and others. We spent over an hour chatting.
Came home via Country Fresh where Rich was in good form and I came away with 3 boxes and a sack full of compostables... as well as bought potatoes, cauliflower, eggs and a cucumber.
Spent a good chunk of the evening sorting out plums, for drying.
