Human Lifestyle

Up early despite being very late to bed last night.  Not a bad day... cycled a big load of compost over to Jenny, two sacks of potting medium, one of rich mature riddled.

I delivered 4 carrier bags of container medium to Country Fresh, to see if there was any call for it there.  I bought some sweetcorn seedlings and a cucumber plant.

I was due to go and work for David at 6pm, so I had a bowl of potato and celery soup plus a hommous sandwich before I left. I arrived on time and Linda, one of his friends/cleaners/PAs was there; it was good to chat with her for a bit.  David had been asked if he'd meet Carolyn at 7.15 at The Last Drop Inn, so I took him there and we chatted with a nice couple who have an allotment on Low Moor, and the conversations continued when Carolyn arrived.

We left at 8.10, got home quickly and I warmed up his 'meal for one' and left, clutching my cheque for the past few weeks whilst Richard has been away.  Richard, David's cousin, is back in the UK now, and will probably spend a couple of days a week with David, so I'll probably just have two or three stints with him each week, until Richard goes away again in June.  I finished at 8.30pm, and cycled home via Country Fresh where I picked up 3 boxes of compostables.

Mostly a good day, though it started badly but rapidly got better as I persevered with my parenting duties.

I had a visit from Vanessa who wanted some decorative logs for a ripped-out fireplace in her home.  Good to see her although she had no time to stop, or see the garden.

I did a bit more stuff outside and after lunch did a grand round trip, calling in on Space 109 for a quick chat, then delivering two carrier bags of jam jars to Claire, of Grace Preserves, and met one of her friends, Dani Mitchell who makes delicious vegan chocolate and dehydrated raw vegetable bars.

Then on to Pauline who had requested some sawing, and a chat, and in return, offered a fruit juice and ongoing friendship.  Then I delivered my next 5 bags of compost to Edible York at St Clements, only another 9 to go now!  I've delivered riddled compost this time as I think it's better quality, and I wasn't happy with the amount of plastic litter in the previous stuff.  And it's good to get the big mechanical sifter going and in use!

From here, came home and had a fairly nothingy evening apart from a nice phone call from Nomi, and a visit from Sue to buy a bit of dried fruit off me.  Oh, I had leek and potato soup which I made earlier, using Lynn's leeks. It was lovely!

Another good day, the morning mainly inside and a good bit of the afternoon outside.

At 3pm I went round to see Lynn, who had asked me to help her 'do' her compost bins.  The fullest one needed the top layers taking off, which I'm happy to do by hand... the stuff washes off, and doing it by hand means lumps can be broken up and bits of plastic removed easily.

So the top layers, with bountiful worms, went in the less full bin, and then Lynn found a dustbin with a lid which I filled with more or less finished compost.... I'll lend her a riddle and that will enable her (or her children!) to separate the fine compost from the unrotted sticks and plant stems. 

However I could only spend an hour there as Gill had gone to the Steiner School for a meeting with our lad's teacher, and so I had to get home to make sure our eldest was OK.  But instead of Yorkys or money, Lynn gave me several good sized leeks that she'd grown.  I was very pleased with this barter.

When I got home things were a bit fraught, Gill hadn't managed to get to the Steiner School and was wondering where the taxi was... it came and she got to school on time.  Our youngest came home in a taxi and Gill, after the meeting, took the usual two buses.    However, our eldest was happy helping a friend with his homework, so I went out the front to split logs, and got distracted by a possible chainsaw sound, which turned out to be a strimmer.  However, I collected the last of the sticks from Jamie... except he said there was another load coming, as he'd done a bit of tree surgery work for someone.  Suits me... except I have to sort out a chainsaw!  Argh!

I made myself some tea... the second lot of home-grown Shiitake mushrooms (had some yesterday too) fried up and put with a bit of couscous salad, some olives and a few bits of tomato, alongside a potato and chive salad, and an unwanted hommous sandwich rejected by one of the boys.

Then at about 9pm I loaded up my bike trailer with 4 sacks of compost, and one on the pannier rack, and cycled it down to St Clements.  I was back home 25 minutes later.

Had a peaceful evening, prepared melon slices for drying.

A very full day, enjoyable too.  I got up  early as I needed to get 10 sacks of compost ready for today's delivery, and be back in the house in time for Sue visiting; she had booked to come and look through our Suma catalogue and sort out an order.  She arrived at 10 with her cousin Robert, who's come to stay with her from Devon, where he spends a lot of time sailing.  It was good to meet him; he was curious about the fruit drying and our lifestyle, and we chatted whilst Sue sorted out her order, which always takes her ages  (almost two hours) despite being only 3 items!  But it was a friendly visit and I'm fond of Sue as she's more unique than most, is quite 'off the wall' and unusual.... and anyway, I've known her for the best part of 20 years and I'm fond of her.

She got finished just in time as I got a message from Sam from Sheffield.  She'd contacted me yesterday saying she was coming over to York with Emily and assorted offspring, to visit the National Railway Museum... and would I like to meet up with them.  They were in Wakefield at midday and would be at York Station by half past.  I loaded up my trailer with 5 sacks and dropped them off at St Lawrence's School, and sped off down to the station, where the 5 of them appeared about 5 minutes later.  I persuaded them to walk into York to have a quick look around before they went to the NRM.  They met Purple Man and saw Barley Hall, and we ended up at El Piano for a few drinks; I had my usual vegan hot chocolate.  It was lovely to see Sam and Emily again, this time in happier circumstances.... last time was at Mozaz' funeral, or rather the wake.

We parted company after this, they went to look at the Minster I think, and I put some cash and a cheque into the Co-op Bank, and came home.  I got in at 2.15pm, just enough time to have a sandwich and then load the trailer with the second 5 sacks of compost, plus a sack of sawdust for their compost bins as a free extra.  Laura Potts met me at the gate and took me down to where the school have their raised beds and compost bins, and I met Grace, a teacher there.  They were delighted with the compost, and paid me what I'd suggested, in cash, and asked for an emailed receipt.  Then they showed me the school field, some of which is about to be converted into an orchard, and today they were digging the holes.  I'm so delighted that this is a primary school which is actually addressing the issues, is DOING something.  When I was involved with Green Thumbs at Lord Deramores, we discussed planting a row of trees along the line of School Lane, but there wasn't enough enthusiasm to make it happen.  There still isn't an orchard planted at Lord Deramores, and I must have a look sometime at their compost bins, to see what's happening there.

I came home with an unwanted Christmas tree, and stopped off at the house which is having a conversion and took some more spare waste wood offcuts.

Gill and the boys were heading off to Heslington for Melody's birthday party.  I dealt with two Fiddlesticks enquiries, one a garden centre having a green fun day, so I explained about my other 'John the Composter' hat, and I'm hoping she'll get back to me with a booking.

At about 5pm I got myself ready for the Stockholm Environment Institute Annual Seminar, 'Equality and Ecological Responsibility in an Age of Austerity'.  This was at the Science Learning Centre at the University of York.  I met lots of friends there; I feel very lucky that we have this resource on our doorstep and so many brilliant and expert people in our midst.  The seminar was chaired by Liz Barclay, a very recognisable voice from Radio 4, and had presentations form Professor Kate Pickett, an epidemiologist and co-author of 'The Spirit Level', and Jonathan Porritt, who is perhaps best known for his involvement with FoE and chairing the Sustainable Development Commission, as well as The Forum For The Future.

Professor Pickett's presentation revolved around these slides, which basically show that in societies where there is a big gap between the rich and poor, lots of things are worse.... child wellbeing, reduced levels of trust, working hours are longer, less foreign aid is given, people recycle less.... all sorts of interesting correlations.  So a more equal society is better for everybody, because over a certain income, people don't get any happier.  Unequal societies have higher carbon emissions too, even higher levels of biodiversity loss!  This is a fascinating area of study, and Jonathan Porritt followed up with his take on the importance of dealing with both environmental sustainability AND social justice, or 'fairness' as it might be less confrontationally put.  His talk covered issues such as fuel poverty and doctors prescribing therapeutic interventions, such as retrofitting houses with improvements, or prescribing environmental 'voluntary work', like the BTCV Green Gym, as these often have much better outcomes than prescribing drugs, and are far more cost effective in solving social problems.

The discussion at the end was interesting... I asked about whether they saw Transition Towns as a viable way forward, and later on there was an exchange about how higher taxation had been demonised by the right, but actually it was a good thing as it was a way of sharing, or investing in everybody.  Places with high taxation are not less happy or less prosperous.

I had a chat with Jonathan Porritt afterwards and told him about my interest in green funerals.  He hadn't heard of Promession so I gave him a Novaterium business card and invited him to check it out.  I also chatted with several SEI people and explored whether there might be a way I could do some work with the Institute.

I got home at about 9pm, exhausted but determined to do my blog.  I love sharing what I get up to. 

I was amused/uplifted to get a link to this video which shows protesters invading the York Council chamber to protest at the cuts, and associated media reports including The Press and the BBC. One of the protesters explained why she'd done it, on her facebook page:

I've tried letter writing, I've sat in on lots of smaller cold boring meetings leading up to this, I emailed every councillor (most didn't even reply), I've got more signatures on my petition than the council got responses to their budget consultation, I've been the official service user rep on the future planning of Mental Health services in York, and it's got nowhere - just councillors patronising & ignoring me, and *laughing* and talking about party politics whilst discussing cuts that are going to cost lives. This might be the noisy visible bit, but it's the result of a lot of quiet, polite, patient hard work being thrown back in my face.

So those protesters get my respect and thanks for making a stand. 

A nice long lie in, which considering I went to bed after 3 last night, meant that I got 7 hours sleep.

Breakfast with Country Tracks.  Lunch at 2pm, listening to Gardener's Question Time. 

After this, collected a sack of compost which I'd selected for Bronwen and Hector and delivered that, then cycled on down to Peaseholme Green to see the raised bed that the Council have given to Edible York.  Chloe had told me that they'd offered to remove the shrubs, and she'd expected them to be dug out.  However, the bushes have been cut off level with the ground.  This means they will re-grow, and if they are to be taken out, it will be a lot more difficult to do, as shrubs and bushes are MUCH easier to remove if there's something above ground to hang on to!  However, a couple of hours with my wrecking bar, a good sharp spade and maybe a bit of help, I reckon I could get them out... most of them anyway.  I'll tell Chloe that I'm willing to do it, or help do it.  It may be that the Council will respond to her asking to remove the roots.

From here, I cycled up Foss Islands Road to Heslington Road and popped in on Rich, who was feeling positive after last night's gig at Fibbers... which I hadn't been feeling enthusiastic enough to go to.  I bought some groceries and picked up a sack and a box of compostables.

When I got in, I did a small amount of work in the garden, and came in to watch Ski Sunday, and shelled pumpkin seeds.  I did a lot of writing this evening, something on the benefits of growing foodplants for a friend's website, and emails to support two friends who have stopped going out with each other, and the break-up is very painful.

Later on, enjoyed watching Jack Nicholson playing a very unpleasant bigoted OCD sufferer in As Good As It Gets.  Gill and I both think it's an excellent film.

A reasonable day, despite having a headache for most of it... lack of sleep I think.  I need to try to go to bed before midnight tonight....

So, in the morning Gill took our youngest into school... she tried to get ready in time for the bus but missed it and ordered a taxi, but that was late so she was in an annoyed mood as she left at 8.45.  She came back by bus. 

I had a bit of time on the computer commenting on a few websites and news articles about greening funerals, and then did some logging and stacking, and I've built a very good looking logpile.

In the afternoon I got 4 sacks of compost together for Keith, and I cycled down to Country Fresh and saw Shirley, and picked up 4 boxes/sacks of goodies plus a few groceries.

At about 6 I set off for a multiple use ride, taking 4 sacks of compost to Keith in South Bank, and I was let into his back yard and I took them in there for him.  Then I cycled on to Copmanthorpe and found the home of the first Freecycler who had left 4 old feather pillows for me, ones which were too manky to let someone else use.  I'll compost them.  Then I found Adrian's house, quite close, and picked up a saucepan rack thing, which hangs from the ceiling and has hooks and might help free up some space in our cramped kitchen.

On the way back, coming home via Bishopthorpe, I found a freshly roadkilled rabbit on the road, so I picked that up and when I got in, put it on Freecycle in case someone wanted to eat it.  If Freecycle won't post the message (some moderators can be a bit funny about some things!) or if no-one wants, I will compost it.

A much earlier night than usual...

Well the day started really badly; I was going to cycle to school with our youngest but it didn't happen, left me feeling like a completely rubbish Dad.  Gill took him in, and also collected him at the end of the school day.

I had a compost order so I took two medium sacks of unriddled compost in my trailer to St Nicks, participated in the Rotters meeting and then went to deliver the compost to Bronwen, who has converted a bit of lawn into a growing area.  She's a LETS member so I'll get paid Yorkys.

After lunch I went round to Debbie, as agreed yesterday, with the bag of 'Green Light' leaflets... the regular Green Party communication which I deliver... and Debbie always enjoys the walk round too; it usually takes about an hour.

When I got in I did a bit of wood management, and started rebuilding the logpile on the left of the front door (looking out of the house).  When Gill got in she told me about going into Archbishop Holgate's School to pick up various things left by our youngest, and to deliver the letter saying he was now no longer a pupil there.  She spoke to someone there and heard about a recent incident where one child was stamping on the head of another and there were Police and an ambulance, with the victim going to hospital.  We know we've done the right thing taking our boys out as we don't want either of them ending up injured.

We had pasta for tea, plus broccoli and carrot, but the pasta was overcooked and it was really soft and I didn't like it.  I cannot remember not liking something we've cooked for ages... maybe since I tried to eat a stinkhorn mushroom 'egg' which are allegedly edible but utterly disgusting.  I did eat the pasta but I only did so as I didn't want to waste it.

I watched a TV programme on 'The Human Planet' about people living in the Arctic, and then went out to a Green Party party, launching Caleb Wooding's candidacy in Heslington Ward for the May Local Elections.  I met lots of interesting people, most of them had seen me speak at the sit-in, or had met me before, but tonight I got a chance to get to know them better.  Lovely.  I came back after midnight.