Human Lifestyle

I got up early as was expecting Tracey Smith to be here at about 10am.  The plan was to walk into town and to go to El Piano, and maybe meet up with people who wanted to meet her.. but only one person had responded with a 'maybe', and then I got a message to say she was running late, so I cancelled the cafe meeting and waited for her to arrive.

As it was, I don't think she'd have wanted to go into town... she wanted to have a cuppa, a chat, and a wander down the garden.  She was making a film with her camcorder about people who were either downshifted or in the process of downshifting, so she interviewed me in our front room, and then took more footage down the garden.  I was showing her one of my wormeries, which has some adult drone flies emerging... their larvae are one of my favourite compost beasties... they're 'rat tailed maggots' and they like the wet areas at the base of my fruit and veg rich compost bins, and, apparently, wormeries.  Anyway, I found a newly emerged adult, with wings not yet inflated.  I had it on my thumb... and a robin swooped in and snatched it.  For me, it wasn't that surprising, as the garden is full of robins which follow me around and love me for the invertebrates I uncover and make available.  However, Tracey was delighted, and said she'd like to try to capture it on her camera.  I found another fly (which don't actually do a lot of flying; they seem to prefer to walk, certainly when newly emerged, even with fully pumped-up wings) and put it on my hand... and within less than a second, the robin had had it again!  Luckily (or unluckily for the fly) I found a third, and waited for Trace to get her camera ready... and bingo, she got the shot... followed by the robin very close to her, eating the hover fly.  I really love the way I help turn unwanted waste into robins!

So, we moved down to the riddling machine, and beyond to the radiator beds and the current New-Zealand bin which is running at close to 60 Celsius.  I think she was quite impressed!

I gave her a bag of riddled compost and she took me to her car where she had a present for me... some freshly laid eggs from the chickens belonging to her previous host, Denise Nesbitt.  Near her car was a table top sale run by two young children... they were getting rid of unwanted toys and things they'd grown out of, so  I suggested Tracey add this to her downshifting and recycling film.  I found Jo, their  mum, and Tracey interviewed her and the children.

And soon it was time for her to go.... I'd have loved to spend more time with her, show her St Nicks, and the best bits of York... but another time maybe!

After lunch I cycled up to the house with the shredded wood available, as the owner there had asked if I wanted any more of the shredded tree.  He was wrestling with a huge base of a holly tree, and had quite a bit of root material and other wood, so I took a load of woodchip and on the next journey, the burnable stuff. He hadn't sawn up the huge holly trunk, but said to come back later.

Then I visited Richard at Country Fresh... and he had some tomato plants in; I bought 4 different types.  I got potatoes and tomatoes, and 5 boxes or bags of gunk for the hot heap.

The Press was delivered, and we paid our weekly bill.  I was surprised to see that on page 3 there was a photo of the Easter procession of the cross being taken through the streets of York, with Dr. Sentamu at the front just behind the cross carrier.  I had said hello to him whilst pushing David up Spurriergate... and the Press photographer had caught this and today, the picture was published.  I rang David to tell him... he was about to ring me as he too gets the Press.  He asked if I could get a copy of this picture for him.

Then I did a load more riddling and when it was cooler, I started work on the raised beds which have become a bit neglected, and need planting up with crops.  I have potatoes chitting so I took out lots of weeds (bramble seedlings, goose grass and others)  and I found that the ultra tough winter has killed our fennel, which has been growing really well there for many years.

Just before tea I visited the house up the road and picked up the holly trunk... about a metre long and over 30 cm diameter, I could only just lift it into my trailer, it must have been over 50kg.  And I popped into see Debbie and picked up a load of aluminium cans she's saved for me.

So a busy day, hot and sweaty, so lit the stove and got bathwater ready for a 1am bath before bed...

Gill had offered to sort out a blocked drain at the Steiner School today, as we have a good set of drain rods.  However, I couldn't see how she could get them to the school safely, as she doesn't have a trailer or panniers.  So last night I said I'd cycle to school with our little one and take the rods and do the drain clearing.  But this morning he wasn't very well and so didn't go.  However, the drain was overflowing and needed doing asap, so I cycled over anyway and did it. 

I couldn't get the drain grate up with my hands, so I went back to the office and Maurice took me to the cellar where there were a selection of tools, and I selected a couple of potential levers which looked as if they might work.  One of them did, easily, and then the drain rod plunger did the trick pretty easily.  There was a horizontal drain flowing into the bigger drain, and I shoved four rods up this too, as it seemed to have a lot of muck in it, and that was a good thing to do too, as a lot of muck came out!  A good job well done.

I took advantage of the fact that I was near the waste-land sycamore logs and branches and brought another load home! 

I spent most of the rest of the morning doing some work in the front garden, and continued my attempt at doing an arty logpile.  Then I came in for a couple of hours over lunch and continued outside afterwards.  At about 4pm, my eldest son came out and helped with the logpile art project, which was really nice.  I worked til after 6 and came in as at 7, I was going to go to Cafe Scientifique with my boy who likes that meeting, but he wasn't feeling well enough so we stayed in.

I had a fairly quiet evening, punctuated by a phone call from Nomy about meeting up next week in Manchester, and I also did some planning for the forthcoming Community Composting Network Conference and AGM in Sheffield over the weekend.

Another good day.... not quite as busy as yesterday though, thankfully.

My first appointment was at midday at the People and Planet allotment on Low Moor, as part of their Green Week. Phoebe wanted me to do a composting talk and demonstration, so I was only too happy to oblige. As she wanted me to do a workshop, I took one of the most recent sacks of 'resources' (about 30kg) and a box (less than 10kg) and bunged those in my trailer, with a knife, secateurs and the Compost Mate.  I got there soon after midday and waited for 15 minutes for the students to come down.  There were four that I knew (and may have heard my talk before) and four Chinese students who I'd not met and who knew nothing about the subject.   I started off with photosynthesis and carbon being fixed from the air, then respiration with that carbon being released by bacteria, fungi and animals.  I covered all the basics, about natural decomposition, landfills versus incineration versus recycling, the benefits of composting food and plant waste, and a bit about the carbon rich vs nitrogen rich ingredients.  I felt this 20 minute talk went well, and was keen to get busy with the 3 heaps, two were mostly finished material, the other was a large unruly pile of brambles and earthy sods and root balls, mostly left from the previous occupant.

We (me and two Chinese girls) moved all the nearly finished stuff into one bay, leaving one bay free to take the stuff from the top of the unruly pile, which we chopped with secateurs, and layered with fruit and veg material.  The bottom of the mature pile will be able to be put through a riddle, and I'll sort that job out with Phoebe soon.  I'm not sure how long I spent there, but I wanted to go and check out a strip of unused land just off Fulford Road where some trees have been taken down and they are just dumped there.  I've been watching this since before Christmas, so I investigated it and found a pile of dumped large Sycamore logs, a trailer load of which I liberated and very slowly cycled home, as I had at least 100kg, including a huge lump on my pannier rack.

When I got in, I made lunch (it was after 2.30) and I got a phone call from my friend Carolyn, who has a friend who would like a bit of help on a fairly regular basis.  She didn't know if I was looking for this kind of work, but she wanted to find out.... and if I was interested, she'd organise a meeting between the gentleman, who's a wheelchair user in York, and me, to see if we got on.  So a bit later, she rang back and I'll be going to meet him on Monday.  This work could come in extremely handy, specifically the money earned!

Then I got a phone call from Christine, a parent at the Steiner School who does some of the gardening there.  I'd rang her this morning as we'd tentatively arranged to meet this afternoon... but this morning there was no reply.  But she was ready to go down, so I said, OK, let's meet at 4pm.

I cycled down via the Sycamore logpile and picked up a second large load, and 10 minutes later, Chris arrived and she gave me a guided tour of the school grounds.  There are two main jobs... keeping bushes trimmed and tidy, and sorting out the compost bins.  There are two large wooden New Zealand bins, overflowing with twiggy bits, and two or three plastic dalek bins with mainly fruit in.  I plan to mix this stuff up and make a good compost.  I look forward to doing a fairly regular stint and to making a difference.

I cycled home and did a bit of stacking and splitting, and came in after 6... Gill had made some tomato soup and fried some boiled potatoes, a simple but filling meal.  Later I made up my muesli and popped out at midnight to collect 3 pallets from a builder who said I could take them.

I got up fairly early wondering if I had a gig today; I'd written 'Goole?' in my diary but no details.  I hadn't got a booking letter... well I don't think I had anyway.  But I did half expect a phone call saying 'see you at 2pm then' or somesuch!

Fortunately this didn't happen and I was able to spend the day doing useful things at home. So first thing I lit the back room stove and watched Country Tracks and did the washing up.  The newly empty bowl allowed me to sort through a carrier bag full of pretty manky tomatoes, thrown out by the two retailers.  I washed them and cut out the bad bits... which ended up as over half of the bag full.  However... I collected a large colander full of trimmed tomatoes.  I used a reject onion, a bought potato, a stick of celery, and fried these up first, then added the tomatoes, chopped with scissors.  I stewed this gently on the stove for several hours, and will tomorrow season it and 'whizz' it to a smooth soup.

After lunch I did some work outside... I gathered together a load of twiggy bits, trimmed off sticks and branches, and hedge trimmings, and shredded them as I needed some woody stuff for the composting.  I cut back some old brambles and fed those through the shredder too.  I didn't get a chance to put the stuff on any of the heaps though, as I remembered that Mandy Waggett had invited me to collect a load of wood she'd sorted out of her garage (and put on Freecycle) so I went round with some paper sacks to load it up, and filled the trailer and two sacks.

Gill made tea... the left over butterbean and veg stew with some extra bits, and a topping of mashed potato and sweet potato, so a sort of cottage pie.

I went out after this and brought another trailer full of logs home, and decided to call it a day.  But then I sorted out a load of nails and ironwork pulled out of the grate, and put this for recycling (I take it to Hazel Court) and stripped a bit of copper wire, and shelled some pumpkin seeds too.  As usual, I didn't start winding down til about 2am, well after The Sky at Night.

Well I got a lie-in til 10 which was nice, and I planned to go the York Juggling Convention, known as Chocfest. However, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get there til after lunch, as I'd got a few things to do first.  One of the things was to visit a Freecycler called Gary, who works for Andrew Page Ltd at the Raylor Centre on James St, who had offered some pallets, and invited me to go and collect between 10 and midday today. 

So I did that first, and came back with 5 pallets carefully balanced on my trailer, and then Gill asked me to take our eldest to Fulford, to Candy and Eugene's as he's friends with their son.  So we cycled over there, and I had a coffee and chat with the grown-ups before coming home... and I found a large log so I brought that back with me.

I decided that my planned day out to Chocfest wasn't going to happen, but this would mean that I could go to see Anneliese's performance at the Unitarian Chapel. It would also mean that I could chop up the pallets, and some other wood, and continue to build the woodpile next to the front door.  I also visited Country Fresh and Freshways, and met Ivana who was intending to go to the Cabaret Show at Chocfest.  I was tempted to go, but it cost something, so now as we're facing super-austerity here due to the cost of the Steiner School, I decided to go to see Anneliese's show as it was free, and part of the annual Residents' Festival.

So, tea was a butterbean stew that Gill and I had made between us... I'd soaked the beans and cooked them, and prepared a home grown squash and pre-cooked that.  Gill added other veggies, and it was a delicious stew!

And so to town for 7.30; I got to the Chapel on St Saviourgate at 7.15 and was pleased to see my friend Adrian Lovett, who attends the Unitarian Church, and other friends Debra, Keith, Marian, and of course Anneliese, who then performed a whole bunch of poems about the news of 2010.  I really enjoyed this. 

Afterwards I had a glass of wine and some crisps, and chatted to a nice woman called Marnie.  I got home just before 10pm, and helped move the boys towards bed-time, washed up, put apples to dry on the stove, and watched a few videos on Daily Motion.

A much better morning.  And therefore a better day... despite spending most of it doing paperwork!  Gill and I finished off our financial declaration for the Steiner School... we had to work out our gross income, then all our household bills, and other unavoidable costs, such as my Fiddlesticks advertising and travel.  The amount of 'available money' left gives the school the guide as to how much the fee (or donation as they put it) should be.  So, despite our saving money by not having a car, by being really careful with our electricity and gas use, we're going to have a lean few years ahead, because of the large chunk needed to pay for our youngest's education.

I also worked on my CV, which had been requested by a potential employer, and was really happy to get that finished. 

I took the Steiner School paperwork into the school before chucking out time, and Judy checked it over and I agreed (and signed) the annual fee, and agreed to pay a third of this at the beginning of each term.  As I was handing the forms into the office, I asked about the help that's needed in the school that most parents offer.  I said I'd be happiest doing garden-type stuff, and was told that there was a 'gardening teacher' but also a parent called Christine who did most of it.  At that moment, Christine walked past, so the office person stopped her and I introduced myself.  I'll have a meeting with her next week to see what sorts of things need doing.

Then our boyo appeared, I unlocked his bike and we slowly cycled home.  I found some pruned branches and brought a few home.  When we got back, I spent a bit of time with loppers filling a couple of potato sacks with cut sticks... they dry well in these paper sacks, and I use this size of stick for kindling.

Just before dark I popped round to see Tim Jones to pick up the second load of sticks from his garden, and he invited me in for a cuppa, and I met his wife and two daughters. I made a balloon animal for them both. Tim paid me for the half-day's work on Monday.  I now have a large pile of logs and sticks to chop up... again!


A bit later, after tea, I cycled down to Heslington with our other son so he could do his computer graphics lesson with Simon.  I cycled back home via a pile of branches recently pruned back, and got home in time for some washing up and then another cycle back to pick him up again.  I've no idea how many miles I've cycled today but it seems like quite a lot.