Another good day... Up early enough to help the kids get out of the house peacefully and then persuaded Gill to spend some time with me which was really nice.
Later, we were downstairs and we had the conservatory door open and we heard a pretty distinctive noise, so we looked outside and yes, it was a thrush breaking a snail shell on the path, to get a bit of escargot lunch.... that's a first right outside the back door. Over the past few weeks, we've had a family of blackbirds coming into the conservatory through one of the top-light windows, which have been wide open... and they've been eating assorted fruit which I've brought back to the house for drying. The first one to come in was a young one with a big bald patch on it's back and a lump on the side of it's beak, and it has brought the rest of the family with it, so we've had up to 4 in there at once! The nicest thing is, that one of them sits and sings loudly in there! We feel so lucky with our wildlife-friendly garden.
After lunch I decided to go to Country Fresh to get fruit and veg... but as I'd be halfway to Cycle Heaven, and I was rung up about them having a leather saddle with springs in the shop for me, I decided to go and get that, as my plastic saddle has begun to seriously fall to bits. The busy people at Cycle Heaven couldn't find the black Brooks saddle mentioned in the phone call... but found me a brown one which was old stock and therefore cheaper! Yay! Still expensive though, but it ought to last for years. I was told that it might be uncomfortable at first as it moulded to my shape, but it wasn't, it was fine. I'm very pleased with it.
I did some work in the garden, assorted compost-based stuff, until 3 when Gill went to school, and I got ready to go to St Nicks for a meeting with John and Edward to catch up with the progress of rehabilitating me into York Rotters, as the current situation is still causing me anguish. Yesterday I attended a private meeting with a friend and two of his neighbours, but was told beforehand that I wasn't allowed to be a volunteer Rotter, but to go as 'John the Composter', because I am currently banned from doing the core Rotters work of giving home composting information to groups as I upset a couple of people at a stall we had late last year with my over enthusiastic and inappropriate humour. It is important that York Rotters is seen to be a professional group offering mainstream messages, and talk of compost toilets or composting funerals is strictly a no no. So today was an update on where St Nicks had got to in helping me back into the role I'm really good at, and due to some staff changes, they haven't got very far in finding me a 'buddy', but they have set a date for some 'diversity training' which will help people understand about disabilities including Aspergers, which should be interesting. Also, the Rotters newsletter has got a section 'meet the Rotter', a chance for people to introduce themselves, a mini autobiography . I've submitted mine and I sincerely hope they will print it word for word, as I was very careful to put stuff in which will help people understand my, ahem, 'special needs'! There was also a suggestion that I should perhaps concentrate on my (paid) John the Composter work, rather than the voluntary York Rotters role. However, Edward saw how passionate I was about the group and the work we do, and how proud I was about how successful it is, and he made it clear that he could tell how much I really love York Rotters, which I hope helps the other managers and volunteers welcome me back soon.
I added a small sack of goodies to the public composting area, which hasn't had any deliveries of sawdust from the pet shop for a while, which is a pity, and cycled home. I then spent a good two hours dealing with an old heap which has had 'visitors' and I bagged up all the mature compost and will rebuild the structure in a way to make said visitations much more difficult, ie on a pallet with a solid base, and up on top of another pallet to make lodging underneath less attractive.
I came in after 7pm for tomato soup. Then went and spent an hour doing Ben and Jill's compost bin, scooping stuff out from the base and putting it through the rotasieve, removing uncompostable 'contraries' and putting uncomposted sticks and bits of Yellow Pages back in the top. I'll get paid in Yorkys for that, which is nice.
I spent most of the rest of the evening with Glastonbury Festival on BBC2, and it brought back really good (albeit hazy) memories of 10 Glastos I attended or worked at when I was younger. Those were the daze!
Showing posts with label home composting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home composting. Show all posts
I got up at 9am to get myself ready for work, a gig starting at 11am in Haxby. So I set out with all my circus and balloon stuff at about 10.30, and got to the private house at 10.55, in costume, and just managed to get my bike and trailer down the passage at the side of the house to the marquee set up in the back garden.
The birthday girl had about 30 friends there, most of her age (she will be 7 tomorrow) and so this looked like the perfect party for me; a good-sized audience and the perfect age for what I do.
But there were also a good sized group of grown-ups, which I like too, as some of my humour is aimed over the heads of the children to the adults whom I like to sit on chairs behind the kids who are usually on a carpet or rug in front of my 'stage' area.
The show went well and absolutely as it should do. Afterwards several adults also said they enjoyed it, which is always nice. I got paid and got everything packed up and set off towards home. I called in on Robin on the way back as I wanted to talk to him about a possible job removing a dead tree but he hasn't got a decent chainsaw at the mo so that's off for a while.
Then, when nearly home, I spotted a big lump of Chicken of the Woods on a Cherry tree, so I with much glee used my penknife to slice that off and bring it back. This is my favourite edible mushroom and I'll do something special with it tomorrow.
I picked up one small sack of compostables at Freshways and about half a dozen loaves.
I needed to rest a bit when I came in, but then Gill started going on about buying some potatoes for tea so I cycled down to Country Fresh and got spuds, carrots, broccoli, bananas and eggs.
Then after a coffee I went down the garden to do a load of compost management. I started to move the compost heap from where the bee hives will be going, putting the contents into two empty daleks for it's final sit. I'm also going to reposition the Sun Mar 400 tumbler as it has moved away from being horizontal and I want it to be more level, as it should work better.
Gill cooked the potatoes and broccoli for tea and made a nutloaf with bread, baked beans and grated carrot. Very orange and delicious.
Lots of emailing and facebooking tonight, following the mega social weekend. I took the dressing off my ripped up knee to let the wound scab over: it is hideous. And still painful.
The birthday girl had about 30 friends there, most of her age (she will be 7 tomorrow) and so this looked like the perfect party for me; a good-sized audience and the perfect age for what I do.
But there were also a good sized group of grown-ups, which I like too, as some of my humour is aimed over the heads of the children to the adults whom I like to sit on chairs behind the kids who are usually on a carpet or rug in front of my 'stage' area.
The show went well and absolutely as it should do. Afterwards several adults also said they enjoyed it, which is always nice. I got paid and got everything packed up and set off towards home. I called in on Robin on the way back as I wanted to talk to him about a possible job removing a dead tree but he hasn't got a decent chainsaw at the mo so that's off for a while.
Then, when nearly home, I spotted a big lump of Chicken of the Woods on a Cherry tree, so I with much glee used my penknife to slice that off and bring it back. This is my favourite edible mushroom and I'll do something special with it tomorrow.
I picked up one small sack of compostables at Freshways and about half a dozen loaves.
I needed to rest a bit when I came in, but then Gill started going on about buying some potatoes for tea so I cycled down to Country Fresh and got spuds, carrots, broccoli, bananas and eggs.
Then after a coffee I went down the garden to do a load of compost management. I started to move the compost heap from where the bee hives will be going, putting the contents into two empty daleks for it's final sit. I'm also going to reposition the Sun Mar 400 tumbler as it has moved away from being horizontal and I want it to be more level, as it should work better.
Gill cooked the potatoes and broccoli for tea and made a nutloaf with bread, baked beans and grated carrot. Very orange and delicious.
Lots of emailing and facebooking tonight, following the mega social weekend. I took the dressing off my ripped up knee to let the wound scab over: it is hideous. And still painful.
A late start to the day, but as soon as I was awake I got busy with the Novaterium website, modifying some of Rory's map pin information and making the pages more usable. I didn't add any more woodland burial sites but I need to, to populate the UK map more completely.
But the rain stopped and I decided to cycle down to Country Fresh to deliver some more compost and to pick up the two boxes of 'resources' that I didn't take yesterday, due to my trailer being full of Fiddlesticks stuff.
Then I spent time down the garden loading up the smaller Compostumbler and a pallet bin, also doing some weeding - docks, before they set seed, and ground elder flowers, and then I decided to cut the Privet hedge at the front, and I put all the cut material through the shredder, making 3 sacks of good compostable stuff.
I had some leek and sweet potato soup, which Gill had let down with some soya milk, with some boiled potatoes and a blob of hommous.
Enjoyed 'The Sky At Night' as it is always just a bit too complicated for me to totally get my head around.
But the rain stopped and I decided to cycle down to Country Fresh to deliver some more compost and to pick up the two boxes of 'resources' that I didn't take yesterday, due to my trailer being full of Fiddlesticks stuff.
Then I spent time down the garden loading up the smaller Compostumbler and a pallet bin, also doing some weeding - docks, before they set seed, and ground elder flowers, and then I decided to cut the Privet hedge at the front, and I put all the cut material through the shredder, making 3 sacks of good compostable stuff.
I had some leek and sweet potato soup, which Gill had let down with some soya milk, with some boiled potatoes and a blob of hommous.
Enjoyed 'The Sky At Night' as it is always just a bit too complicated for me to totally get my head around.
Up early as lots of protests about school starting today. I wish children didn't have to go to school and could just play. Life might (or might not?) be simpler and more peaceful.
But both boys did go to school today, and I spent most of the day doing housework. Gill did some accounts. I washed up and tidied. I spent some time relaxing and playing Scrabble on facebook, but interspersed with chores.
In the afternoon, I made a nutloaf for tea, which all the family enjoyed. We had it with purple sprouting broccoli from the garden.
At teatime I did a bit of chainsawing, the pallet planks I prepared the other day. I did a bit of weeding too, the raised beds which I hope I'll get some crops into soon. I also did a layer or two of compost in the metal-sided bin, and riddled some leafmould.
In the evening I chatted to Lorna on the phone and found out that she managed to get an invite for both days of the Spencer Tunick event! Even she's not sure how she managed that!
A quiet evening, actually quite a boring evening. Tired.
But both boys did go to school today, and I spent most of the day doing housework. Gill did some accounts. I washed up and tidied. I spent some time relaxing and playing Scrabble on facebook, but interspersed with chores.
In the afternoon, I made a nutloaf for tea, which all the family enjoyed. We had it with purple sprouting broccoli from the garden.
At teatime I did a bit of chainsawing, the pallet planks I prepared the other day. I did a bit of weeding too, the raised beds which I hope I'll get some crops into soon. I also did a layer or two of compost in the metal-sided bin, and riddled some leafmould.
In the evening I chatted to Lorna on the phone and found out that she managed to get an invite for both days of the Spencer Tunick event! Even she's not sure how she managed that!
A quiet evening, actually quite a boring evening. Tired.
Woke slowly at 10 and had breakfast whilst watching things about Permaculture on YouTube.
It was a lovely sunny day so got out before lunch and started taking the large pots from the conservatory down to one of the raised 'radiator' beds down the garden, ready to put the old growing media through the riddle into this bed, alternated with other assorted compost and soil, to raise the level right up so I can grow stuff in it this season.
Came in for a late lunch at about 2pm, and Gill was wanting to do something with the large numbers of oranges which are all over the place. So I washed a load and we both peeled them and removed the seeds and put the bits of segment into the juicer bit of our blender, which we haven't used much. This has a central section in the goblet, above the blades, and perforated walls which allow the juice to flow out into the outer bit of the goblet, but keeps the solids in the centre. It's a good gadget, and we made over two litres of the most delicious orange juice.
At about 4 I went back into the garden and riddled the old growing media into the raised bed. I found quite a few yam tubercles just beginning to grow, from where they had fallen into the tomato pots from the yam vine above. I replanted these in individual little pots. The tomato roots and other bits which didn't go through the riddle went on the compost heap as a layer of mainly woody bits.
I also managed to do a bit of compost heap loading and finished digging out the metal-sided bin.
I came in at 7pm and Gill had made a potato and broccoli quiche which was really nice, had this with baked beans, followed by the last of the apple crumble and some chocolate ice cream.
Today my card came which confirms that I'm a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. I am John Cossham FRSA. Amazing!
It was a lovely sunny day so got out before lunch and started taking the large pots from the conservatory down to one of the raised 'radiator' beds down the garden, ready to put the old growing media through the riddle into this bed, alternated with other assorted compost and soil, to raise the level right up so I can grow stuff in it this season.
Came in for a late lunch at about 2pm, and Gill was wanting to do something with the large numbers of oranges which are all over the place. So I washed a load and we both peeled them and removed the seeds and put the bits of segment into the juicer bit of our blender, which we haven't used much. This has a central section in the goblet, above the blades, and perforated walls which allow the juice to flow out into the outer bit of the goblet, but keeps the solids in the centre. It's a good gadget, and we made over two litres of the most delicious orange juice.
At about 4 I went back into the garden and riddled the old growing media into the raised bed. I found quite a few yam tubercles just beginning to grow, from where they had fallen into the tomato pots from the yam vine above. I replanted these in individual little pots. The tomato roots and other bits which didn't go through the riddle went on the compost heap as a layer of mainly woody bits.
I also managed to do a bit of compost heap loading and finished digging out the metal-sided bin.
I came in at 7pm and Gill had made a potato and broccoli quiche which was really nice, had this with baked beans, followed by the last of the apple crumble and some chocolate ice cream.
Today my card came which confirms that I'm a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. I am John Cossham FRSA. Amazing!
A very good start to the day. I put a high score for 'joy' on my waking emotions questionnaire.
The rest of the day was good too... although I did lots of washing up and jarred up dried fruit, washed the drying racks and refilled them with apples and pears. I also did some assorted paperwork... fulfilled a Good Energy request to send them my gas meter reading, and had several Fiddlesticks enquiries and phone calls.
Towards the end of the afternoon I got out into the garden and dug out a builders sack of very mature compost and put it into a long line of plastic sacks, ready for riddling over the next few days or weeks. The builders bag will be refilled with the material which is currently in the metal-sided compost bin... the sides of which are both corrugated iron in a J shape, from an air raid shelter. I love digging out old compost heaps! I never know what I'll find... although this lot was quite 'clean' with relatively little plastic and glue strips.
I came in at 7pm for tea... Gill had added some macaroni into the chunky veg soup I made a day or two ago, and it was a delicious meal.
Later, after dark, I got a message from a Freecycler who wanted some compost, manure or topsoil. They asked how much a tonne might cost! Well i sell carrier bags of riddled compost for a pound or two or three, and sacks of unriddled for £2 to £5, these sacks might be 20kg or so. Which means that a tonne of unriddled compost, at £2 per 20kg, would be £100. I hope that price didn't put her off! I did say I could do a bulk discount, but I wouldn't want to let it go for much less than that, after all it is lovingly and carefully made!
Several good moves on Scrabble, but my top opponent Gael is on good form and I'm falling behind again.
The rest of the day was good too... although I did lots of washing up and jarred up dried fruit, washed the drying racks and refilled them with apples and pears. I also did some assorted paperwork... fulfilled a Good Energy request to send them my gas meter reading, and had several Fiddlesticks enquiries and phone calls.
Towards the end of the afternoon I got out into the garden and dug out a builders sack of very mature compost and put it into a long line of plastic sacks, ready for riddling over the next few days or weeks. The builders bag will be refilled with the material which is currently in the metal-sided compost bin... the sides of which are both corrugated iron in a J shape, from an air raid shelter. I love digging out old compost heaps! I never know what I'll find... although this lot was quite 'clean' with relatively little plastic and glue strips.
I came in at 7pm for tea... Gill had added some macaroni into the chunky veg soup I made a day or two ago, and it was a delicious meal.
Later, after dark, I got a message from a Freecycler who wanted some compost, manure or topsoil. They asked how much a tonne might cost! Well i sell carrier bags of riddled compost for a pound or two or three, and sacks of unriddled for £2 to £5, these sacks might be 20kg or so. Which means that a tonne of unriddled compost, at £2 per 20kg, would be £100. I hope that price didn't put her off! I did say I could do a bulk discount, but I wouldn't want to let it go for much less than that, after all it is lovingly and carefully made!
Several good moves on Scrabble, but my top opponent Gael is on good form and I'm falling behind again.
A generally quiet day... Lots of work to do inside, child management, washing up, computer stuff.
At about 5pm I managed to get some time in the garden, and I did a lot of work... more tidying of brambles, and shredding them, and for the first time since the cold snap after Christmas, I have NO boxes or bags of compostable materials awaiting their destination on the heap... I have finally caught up with the crap, and I hope that I'll now keep on top of what I bring home.
However, when I came in at 8.30pm, my hands were really cut up with bramble prickles... they really hurt. But as most gardeners will tell you, it is preferable to use bare hands as using gloves just doesn't 'do it' for me.. I even prefer to hand-weed nettles without gloves. Yet, on my bike, I wear gloves all the year round. Weird!
A nice bowl of soup for tea, and a pastie and roast butternut squash.
At about 5pm I managed to get some time in the garden, and I did a lot of work... more tidying of brambles, and shredding them, and for the first time since the cold snap after Christmas, I have NO boxes or bags of compostable materials awaiting their destination on the heap... I have finally caught up with the crap, and I hope that I'll now keep on top of what I bring home.
However, when I came in at 8.30pm, my hands were really cut up with bramble prickles... they really hurt. But as most gardeners will tell you, it is preferable to use bare hands as using gloves just doesn't 'do it' for me.. I even prefer to hand-weed nettles without gloves. Yet, on my bike, I wear gloves all the year round. Weird!
A nice bowl of soup for tea, and a pastie and roast butternut squash.
A funny day, didn't get up til 10 and had a moochy day, various things outside including cutting back some of last year's now dead growth, filling more compost bin with this and greengrocer's stuff, riddling another 9 carrier bags full of good mature compost, cutting up some hedge which our neighbour has taken out so the wall/fence can be constructed... I cut off the tops and whippy bits and they'll be shredded, and the sticks I chopped up into lengths and put them in wooden fruit trays where they'll dry and be ready for kindling next winter.
I did the usual rounds of washing up and home-based things, attempting to be a good Daddy type things... and in fact this did work during the evening as I invited them to watch The End Of The Line with me, and my eldest took it all in and we had some interesting conversations afterwards about algae and oxygen and dietary choices and more. Neither of them have ever eaten seafood, and I haven't since my early 20s when I went to Crete and had octopus. So I watched the programme with some degree of contempt of all the people who eat fish and seafood and don't need to, who don't care that half of it is 'stolen' and falls outside quotas, and that the people who set the quotas ignore the scientists who are telling them to set smaller quotas to conserve stocks. I get quite angry, as the seas and oceans are a shared resource and I want them left in good a condition... but most people don't care, they are selfish. Selfish for shellfish.
But, hey, I do my best, and very rarely preach, hardly ever say 'should'. I just do what I think is right. And who's to say who's wrong or who's right on any particular issue?
I did the usual rounds of washing up and home-based things, attempting to be a good Daddy type things... and in fact this did work during the evening as I invited them to watch The End Of The Line with me, and my eldest took it all in and we had some interesting conversations afterwards about algae and oxygen and dietary choices and more. Neither of them have ever eaten seafood, and I haven't since my early 20s when I went to Crete and had octopus. So I watched the programme with some degree of contempt of all the people who eat fish and seafood and don't need to, who don't care that half of it is 'stolen' and falls outside quotas, and that the people who set the quotas ignore the scientists who are telling them to set smaller quotas to conserve stocks. I get quite angry, as the seas and oceans are a shared resource and I want them left in good a condition... but most people don't care, they are selfish. Selfish for shellfish.
But, hey, I do my best, and very rarely preach, hardly ever say 'should'. I just do what I think is right. And who's to say who's wrong or who's right on any particular issue?
Got up at 9 as I'd arranged to meet a Freecycler who had asked for some compost. My response was to offer one free sack, which I could deliver (for free too!) But I said that if he wanted to have more than one sack, then I wouldn't be willing to give him the extra ones for free, and that I'd swap, barter or be happy with a donation for the extra ones.
He emailed back absolutely delighted! And asked when would be convenient to visit. We arranged this morning at 10.30. But when I got up I saw that it had snowed quite heavily overnight. I sent him a message suggesting that it might be best to reconsider this morning's meeting, and postpone it until later in the week. He phoned me back and said he'd been thinking the same thing. We arranged another meeting.
So I had a lazy morning in some ways... watched Country Tracks, which had some info on the new Feed In Tariff (or was that Countryfile this evening?) and did bits of washing up and fruit preparation.
After Gardeners Question Time on R4 I cycled down to see Richard who told me the saga of how he cut his hair, by accident (!), and I bought a large pile of goodies, and loaded up my trailer with 2 x 20kg sacks and 3 x at-least 15kg boxes of compostables, and slowly cycled home, stopping off at the Co-op for hommous, margarine and goats milk.
I was asked to come in to ensure that peace had broken out, and when this seemed to have happened, I had half an hour in the back garden to take the compostables down to the current heap... which has an internal temperature of over 60 Celcius, even though there's snow all around.
I got too cold to continue chopping up green potatoes so I came in.
Gill had made a spaghetti and Quorn mince thing, just as an experiment, but neither child liked the Quorn, although I didn't mind it. The mince version is far better than chunks. I like the fact it's made from a soil mould! Watched Countryfile.
The rest of the evening was peaceful. Thank goodness!
He emailed back absolutely delighted! And asked when would be convenient to visit. We arranged this morning at 10.30. But when I got up I saw that it had snowed quite heavily overnight. I sent him a message suggesting that it might be best to reconsider this morning's meeting, and postpone it until later in the week. He phoned me back and said he'd been thinking the same thing. We arranged another meeting.
So I had a lazy morning in some ways... watched Country Tracks, which had some info on the new Feed In Tariff (or was that Countryfile this evening?) and did bits of washing up and fruit preparation.
After Gardeners Question Time on R4 I cycled down to see Richard who told me the saga of how he cut his hair, by accident (!), and I bought a large pile of goodies, and loaded up my trailer with 2 x 20kg sacks and 3 x at-least 15kg boxes of compostables, and slowly cycled home, stopping off at the Co-op for hommous, margarine and goats milk.
I was asked to come in to ensure that peace had broken out, and when this seemed to have happened, I had half an hour in the back garden to take the compostables down to the current heap... which has an internal temperature of over 60 Celcius, even though there's snow all around.
I got too cold to continue chopping up green potatoes so I came in.
Gill had made a spaghetti and Quorn mince thing, just as an experiment, but neither child liked the Quorn, although I didn't mind it. The mince version is far better than chunks. I like the fact it's made from a soil mould! Watched Countryfile.
The rest of the evening was peaceful. Thank goodness!
Well, a reasonable morning to start with but things deteriorated and after lunch, Gill took both boys to town to buy some Lego, which is one thing which absorbs them completely.
I then had a quiet lunch and did loads of washing up and then got trapped with the Winter Olympics and facebook, and then at 2pm, Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4. Always enjoyable!
As soon as the family came home I went out to start sorting out the conservatory, which has a lot of stuff built up in it. There were lots of potato sacks. There were lots of elastic bands. Lots of drinks cartons (mainly soya milk) which I flattened and put in a potato sack for cycling down to the civic amenity site sometime soon. I took wooden veg trays to the front for recycling into kindling, lots of stuff to the dustbin which is full for the first time I can ever remember, and lots down the garden for composting.
I was really busy for about 3 hours... but the conservatory still looks extremely untidy. Perhaps will do some more tomorrow.
I came in when it was too dark to do any more. Gill had made a rice-based dish which was filling and tasty.
Quite a peaceful evening, watched the exciting Winter Olympics and then Derren Brown who is another great performer.
I then had a quiet lunch and did loads of washing up and then got trapped with the Winter Olympics and facebook, and then at 2pm, Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4. Always enjoyable!
As soon as the family came home I went out to start sorting out the conservatory, which has a lot of stuff built up in it. There were lots of potato sacks. There were lots of elastic bands. Lots of drinks cartons (mainly soya milk) which I flattened and put in a potato sack for cycling down to the civic amenity site sometime soon. I took wooden veg trays to the front for recycling into kindling, lots of stuff to the dustbin which is full for the first time I can ever remember, and lots down the garden for composting.
I was really busy for about 3 hours... but the conservatory still looks extremely untidy. Perhaps will do some more tomorrow.
I came in when it was too dark to do any more. Gill had made a rice-based dish which was filling and tasty.
Quite a peaceful evening, watched the exciting Winter Olympics and then Derren Brown who is another great performer.
Both the children slept downstairs because of the coldness of the house, so I don't know what time they woke up as it didn't disturb me! I woke slowly at 9.30 and came down and both were happily ensconced on the computer, and didn't open their presents til after 10am. I was pleased to get a NewScientist book 'How to Fossilise Your Hamster' and a relative had given me a bottle of red wine... as usual... and I don't drink red wine, hardly ever. I do use it in cooking though...
An hour later I was getting ready to go to work down at the Novotel, just an hour or two of Professor Fiddlesticks, no Father Christmas this year, due to a mistake by the hotel, it seems.
I cycled down in costume, and was immediately surrounded by people gathering for their Xmas lunch, happy to be entertained. I did some circus workshops and balloon modelling... and met the 'impostor', a nice young chap called Andrew who did some close-up magic. He told me he'd never done Father Christmas before; I wished him the best of luck!
So I did a continuous stint from 11.45 til 2pm... had a lovely, fun but full-on time. I came back via Freshways, who open every day... as they are Muslim, they open on Christmas day too, as it's not a holiday for them. I bought batteries for our youngest who has had a K-NEX present which has a motor... but no batteries. They gave me a box of unsold mini-aubergines, which look very much like they'll make a good meal tomorrow, a moussaka probably.
I got changed and watched The Queen's Speech before going into the garden and sorting some of the accumulated compostables into several of my 'dalek' bins. I got very cold, and when it got too dark to do more compost heap building, I took some dry logs to the front of the house so I can start to rebuild the severely depleted front-door logpile tomorrow.
So, warmed up, helped Gill in the kitchen, watched a few minutes of Happy Feet which our youngest was enjoying, and then 'The Gruffalo' which is a book I don't know but I enjoyed the TV version!
We got a phone call from my little brother who is coming over from Sheffield tomorrow with his family, and we had to decide whether to meet up in town and eat out, or to come here and have food at home. Neither of our boys fancied going into town so we rang back and said to come here. So then Gill and I got busy making chunky vegetable soup...
I also sorted out a large pile of pears, definitely in a state where they couldn't be sold, but I tidied them up and got them drying on the stove!
An hour later I was getting ready to go to work down at the Novotel, just an hour or two of Professor Fiddlesticks, no Father Christmas this year, due to a mistake by the hotel, it seems.
I cycled down in costume, and was immediately surrounded by people gathering for their Xmas lunch, happy to be entertained. I did some circus workshops and balloon modelling... and met the 'impostor', a nice young chap called Andrew who did some close-up magic. He told me he'd never done Father Christmas before; I wished him the best of luck!
So I did a continuous stint from 11.45 til 2pm... had a lovely, fun but full-on time. I came back via Freshways, who open every day... as they are Muslim, they open on Christmas day too, as it's not a holiday for them. I bought batteries for our youngest who has had a K-NEX present which has a motor... but no batteries. They gave me a box of unsold mini-aubergines, which look very much like they'll make a good meal tomorrow, a moussaka probably.
I got changed and watched The Queen's Speech before going into the garden and sorting some of the accumulated compostables into several of my 'dalek' bins. I got very cold, and when it got too dark to do more compost heap building, I took some dry logs to the front of the house so I can start to rebuild the severely depleted front-door logpile tomorrow.
So, warmed up, helped Gill in the kitchen, watched a few minutes of Happy Feet which our youngest was enjoying, and then 'The Gruffalo' which is a book I don't know but I enjoyed the TV version!
We got a phone call from my little brother who is coming over from Sheffield tomorrow with his family, and we had to decide whether to meet up in town and eat out, or to come here and have food at home. Neither of our boys fancied going into town so we rang back and said to come here. So then Gill and I got busy making chunky vegetable soup...
I also sorted out a large pile of pears, definitely in a state where they couldn't be sold, but I tidied them up and got them drying on the stove!
Up early, not sure why, had a lot going through my mind.
Immediately after breakfast I rang CVS to discuss whether a volunteer has any protection when it comes to disability discrimination. They don't, not in the same way as an employee. But organisations do often have equal opportunities statements and this might be a way to ask them to acknowledge the unusual and possibly challenging behaviour that people on the autism spectrum might display. And not to just acknowledge it, but to make what they do as accessible as possible.
And whilst on the subject of disability awareness, I'd like to invite readers to take a few more minutes to watch parts one and two of this film, 'Talk', from the Disability Rights Commission.
and
Immediately after breakfast I rang CVS to discuss whether a volunteer has any protection when it comes to disability discrimination. They don't, not in the same way as an employee. But organisations do often have equal opportunities statements and this might be a way to ask them to acknowledge the unusual and possibly challenging behaviour that people on the autism spectrum might display. And not to just acknowledge it, but to make what they do as accessible as possible.
And whilst on the subject of disability awareness, I'd like to invite readers to take a few more minutes to watch parts one and two of this film, 'Talk', from the Disability Rights Commission.
and
I find these very moving and educational, and I'm grateful to my friend Mark Hallam for alerting me to this.
Today I had no appointments or meetings (well I could have gone to two in the evening but I chose not to) so I had a good day doing things in the garden, including some runner bean picking, compost heap piling, log splitting and stacking.
When I was looking for somewhere to put a sack full of greengrocers waste, sorry, resources, I had a look into my fabric compost bin, which was pretty well rotted down. On the top surface, to one side, there were three brown hand-sized spongy blobs... they really did look like bathroom sponges. I've never seen anything like them before. I took one of them off the surface of the compost and took it inside to take some photos.
This is the sponge sitting on a potato sack, the top side.
This is the underside... note a partially rotted tomato skin and grape twigs.
This is the same organism in my hand, to show scale.
So, what is it? Well I believe this is a 'slime mold' which is fairly closely related to fungi, but it's different. It has a really interesting life cycle. It starts as a spore, which germinates and becomes a single celled organism, maybe similar to a bacterium or amoeba. It is motile, ie it can move around. Then, due to some environmental cue, these single celled organisms club together in groups, and start to behave like a multicellular organism, somewhat like a slug. Some cells become the foot, some the front end, etc. They don't develop a mouth or gut though. What happens next is that it settles and starts to grow into what looks more like a fungus, with surfaces or specific parts where sexual reproduction takes place, releasing spores like a fungus. These disperse and become the next generation. So, unless I'm told something different, this is what I think this thing is. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, Gill's camera isn't designed for close-ups.
I had a quiet evening, watched some TV with the children and prepared a load of bananas and melon for drying. Enjoyed the 3D films on Channel 4.
Gill woke me up just before she went to school with our youngest, and again when she came back after 9. So I got up then as I was due at St Nicks at about 10am, and got there in good time.
The school party were late, they'd come over from Harrogate and got stuck in traffic I think.
'Saint' John did intros and split the group into Saints and Rotters. Then he led all of us into the Nature Reserve and along the butterfly walk where he explained about the apple trees which arrived as pips at the tip with the Rowntrees apple waste and some grew on the top, and are now mature fruit-laden trees. Then to the stone circle and back to the Centre, stopping to look at the green roof.
I then took one group and did a half-hour composting session with them, encompassing what happens in landfills, what happens in an aerobic compost pile, we found lots of beasties including centipedes, millipedes, worms, springtails, woodlice, beetles. Then had a good poke around the Can Of Worms wormery. Then an open Q+A.
After a break I took the second group and we did the same again. I was finished by soon after midday.
Home via Freshways where I was given a lot of interesting compostables/edibles, some of which will have to go in a tumbler along with shredded brambles and hedge.
I got our youngest from school and spent quite a bit of time sorting things out in the garden and brought quite a bit back in for re-use.
Excellent day.
The school party were late, they'd come over from Harrogate and got stuck in traffic I think.
'Saint' John did intros and split the group into Saints and Rotters. Then he led all of us into the Nature Reserve and along the butterfly walk where he explained about the apple trees which arrived as pips at the tip with the Rowntrees apple waste and some grew on the top, and are now mature fruit-laden trees. Then to the stone circle and back to the Centre, stopping to look at the green roof.
I then took one group and did a half-hour composting session with them, encompassing what happens in landfills, what happens in an aerobic compost pile, we found lots of beasties including centipedes, millipedes, worms, springtails, woodlice, beetles. Then had a good poke around the Can Of Worms wormery. Then an open Q+A.
After a break I took the second group and we did the same again. I was finished by soon after midday.
Home via Freshways where I was given a lot of interesting compostables/edibles, some of which will have to go in a tumbler along with shredded brambles and hedge.
I got our youngest from school and spent quite a bit of time sorting things out in the garden and brought quite a bit back in for re-use.
Excellent day.
I had a well deserved lazy morning, although I got quite a bit done... Gill took our youngest to school and our eldest had a couple of friends round as they didn't start school til 11am or thereabouts. I did some washing up and tried to reduce the large numbers of emails which have accumulated in my inbox over the weekend.
My neighbour popped round as he'd seen a rat either going into our garden or coming from it... and says there is nowhere in his garden where they could possibly be interested in, or living, or feeding... so it must be my fault! I promised to set my traps to see if I could do something about it. I suggested he too set a trap, but he said that the rats weren't his problem or responsibility!
I spotted a few wasps around the nest that I thought Id finished off... looks like I'll have to continue disrupting it and making it difficult for them to get in and out. The glass bowl is still in place, but there might be another entrance.
Gill went to Poppleton to visit our old friend Kate, who was a friend of Betty Adelaide, Gill's mother. Betty Ad would have been 90 this weekend, so Gill went to put flowers on the grave of both her parents.
Therefore I went out to pick up our youngest from primary school, and had a nice chat with a mum who attended the festival yesterday, who loved it and had a really good time.
When I got back, Gill was just in and our other son was home too. I went to see Ben who wanted to discuss something about this evening's LETS meeting, and Raj at Freshways who was talking with some chaps about the landlord of who had tried to remove a parking meter, firstly by jemmying off the solar panel, and then attaching it to a vehicle and pulling the whole thing out of the ground. The parking meter person told me he'd really enjoyed the festival especially Seize the Day. He loved their harmonies and political lyrics.
I brought back three sacks of stuff, and loaded up a dalek and the composter I'm trialling, a spherical roll-around thing called a CompoSphere. I harvested beans, a squash, a pumpkin and cut back some withering squash/pumpkin vines.
Gill made tea... some pasta parcels with a tomato sauce made with our own tomatoes, beans and bought onion. Delicious. I then went out to the LETS meeting, Ben chaired and we agreed a reshuffle which will hopefully make things work more smoothly. I now have the important task of minutes secretary, which was vacant. We had a wide-ranging conversation about membership fees and admin fees... but came to no clear conclusion. Feedback about the LETS stall at the Green Festival was that it was fab... we got 5 new members and at least one rejoiner. And the rejoiner turned out to be Sue, a friend I've known for about 20 years, so after the meeting we chatted and caught up. Good to see her.
I got back soon after 10pm and prepared windfall apples and pears for drying. And washed up with stove-heated water.
My neighbour popped round as he'd seen a rat either going into our garden or coming from it... and says there is nowhere in his garden where they could possibly be interested in, or living, or feeding... so it must be my fault! I promised to set my traps to see if I could do something about it. I suggested he too set a trap, but he said that the rats weren't his problem or responsibility!
I spotted a few wasps around the nest that I thought Id finished off... looks like I'll have to continue disrupting it and making it difficult for them to get in and out. The glass bowl is still in place, but there might be another entrance.
Gill went to Poppleton to visit our old friend Kate, who was a friend of Betty Adelaide, Gill's mother. Betty Ad would have been 90 this weekend, so Gill went to put flowers on the grave of both her parents.
Therefore I went out to pick up our youngest from primary school, and had a nice chat with a mum who attended the festival yesterday, who loved it and had a really good time.
When I got back, Gill was just in and our other son was home too. I went to see Ben who wanted to discuss something about this evening's LETS meeting, and Raj at Freshways who was talking with some chaps about the landlord of who had tried to remove a parking meter, firstly by jemmying off the solar panel, and then attaching it to a vehicle and pulling the whole thing out of the ground. The parking meter person told me he'd really enjoyed the festival especially Seize the Day. He loved their harmonies and political lyrics.
I brought back three sacks of stuff, and loaded up a dalek and the composter I'm trialling, a spherical roll-around thing called a CompoSphere. I harvested beans, a squash, a pumpkin and cut back some withering squash/pumpkin vines.
Gill made tea... some pasta parcels with a tomato sauce made with our own tomatoes, beans and bought onion. Delicious. I then went out to the LETS meeting, Ben chaired and we agreed a reshuffle which will hopefully make things work more smoothly. I now have the important task of minutes secretary, which was vacant. We had a wide-ranging conversation about membership fees and admin fees... but came to no clear conclusion. Feedback about the LETS stall at the Green Festival was that it was fab... we got 5 new members and at least one rejoiner. And the rejoiner turned out to be Sue, a friend I've known for about 20 years, so after the meeting we chatted and caught up. Good to see her.
I got back soon after 10pm and prepared windfall apples and pears for drying. And washed up with stove-heated water.
Our eldest son's birthday... so there was excitement first thing with presents, and after midday my brother Thomas and his wife arrived, on the way from visiting friends in the North East, with their youngest child who was very shy initially but then suddenly became completely animated and lots of fun.
Had lunch with them and a wander down the garden.
I did some compost management in the afternoon and picked lots of beans for tea.
Had lunch with them and a wander down the garden.
I did some compost management in the afternoon and picked lots of beans for tea.
I went into town in the morning with our eldest son's bike, to get it serviced before out longish cycle ride next week. Also visited the library to get a map, so we can find our way from Weston Super Mare to Cheddar and to the Big Green Gathering. Finally to my building society to get a cheque out to pay a bill.
Had a good day at home, in the garden dealing with compost and logs, chainsawing , splitting, stacking. Very satisfying and enjoyable.
Later, went into town with my eldest to collect his bike... he was needed to get the height right and the brakes in the right position, and he realised that the stand was missing, so they found that and put it back on. So his bike is in tip-top condition for the journey next week.
So, a quiet evening... a nice baked veg tea, aubergines from the compostables, slices of potato, tomato, onion and all smothered with the very delicious sauce I made a day or two ago.
Some interesting chats on the computer during the evening. Had a shave and bath as working tomorrow and Sunday.
Had a good day at home, in the garden dealing with compost and logs, chainsawing , splitting, stacking. Very satisfying and enjoyable.
Later, went into town with my eldest to collect his bike... he was needed to get the height right and the brakes in the right position, and he realised that the stand was missing, so they found that and put it back on. So his bike is in tip-top condition for the journey next week.
So, a quiet evening... a nice baked veg tea, aubergines from the compostables, slices of potato, tomato, onion and all smothered with the very delicious sauce I made a day or two ago.
Some interesting chats on the computer during the evening. Had a shave and bath as working tomorrow and Sunday.
Another work day... shouldn't complain! Lucky to have it!
So, started with a shower as yesterdays hour-and-a-half cycle back from Barmby Moor against the wind had rendered me reasonably fragrant. Gill didn't mind of course, but my employers today would have done and I like to try to make a good impression.
So, got to the station for about 10.20 and bought a ticket to Hull and was on the 10.40, where I wrote out my invoice for the day's work. This was for a community event organised by Tesco Extra in the St Stephen's Centre. As it was raining, I decided not to attempt working outside where the rest of the stalls were, so after I got changed, I set up my stuff in the centre against the Tesco window, and immediately was engaged by some youngsters who wanted to see me ride the unicycle (people often assume that I can't!). About 10 minutes later a security man approached me and told me that cycling wasn't allowed in the centre, so I didn't do any more unicycling at all. So, from 11.55 til 3.50 I worked constantly, except for about 7 minutes to eat my sandwiches at about 2pm. I did mainly devilstick workshops and juggling, and had some lovely successes with this with people who said 'I can't do that' and then, with a few minutes coaching, could. At one point a chap came along who was good with the diabolo, so I let him use Derek and that was quite fun as I was able to talk to Derek with someone else making him do tricks... and misbehaving, as usual! It was an instant 'double act'. There were other entertainers around, including stilt walkers, costumed characters, another balloon modeller, facepainters and various others. So it was a fun day.
The Tesco people seemed to like what was going on and were happy to let me go shortly before my official 4pm finish, as my train was due to leave at 4.01, the next one not being til 5.25.
So I was back in York quite soon, and as I came up to my bike, there was an old chap looking intently at my bike in the station racks. He was obviously admiring it, not trying to steal it or damage it, so I explained about my asking Cycle Heaven to build the strongest bike they'd ever built, and we chatted for a while.
On the way home I picked up two sacks of stuff from Country Fresh... and when I got home and got changed, I put a load of this in the compostumbler with a sackful of the shredded material I prepared last week.
I didn't eat until after 7pm, a plate of rice and vegetables, followed by a raspberry, loganberry and gooseberry crumble. Berry tasty!
I was just finishing off my email/facebook session when there was a huge crash outside and Gill, sleeping on the couch next to me, lept up. I immediately knew it was a logpile falling over, but it was quite a spectacular noise. Gill went back to sleep and I spent 20 minutes partly re-doing it and clearing the way for our neighbours to use the shared passage between the houses. Glad it decided to collapse when I was around to sort it out. It may have not coped with several big rainstorms today... Gill says there was a violent hailstorm here today.
So, started with a shower as yesterdays hour-and-a-half cycle back from Barmby Moor against the wind had rendered me reasonably fragrant. Gill didn't mind of course, but my employers today would have done and I like to try to make a good impression.
So, got to the station for about 10.20 and bought a ticket to Hull and was on the 10.40, where I wrote out my invoice for the day's work. This was for a community event organised by Tesco Extra in the St Stephen's Centre. As it was raining, I decided not to attempt working outside where the rest of the stalls were, so after I got changed, I set up my stuff in the centre against the Tesco window, and immediately was engaged by some youngsters who wanted to see me ride the unicycle (people often assume that I can't!). About 10 minutes later a security man approached me and told me that cycling wasn't allowed in the centre, so I didn't do any more unicycling at all. So, from 11.55 til 3.50 I worked constantly, except for about 7 minutes to eat my sandwiches at about 2pm. I did mainly devilstick workshops and juggling, and had some lovely successes with this with people who said 'I can't do that' and then, with a few minutes coaching, could. At one point a chap came along who was good with the diabolo, so I let him use Derek and that was quite fun as I was able to talk to Derek with someone else making him do tricks... and misbehaving, as usual! It was an instant 'double act'. There were other entertainers around, including stilt walkers, costumed characters, another balloon modeller, facepainters and various others. So it was a fun day.
The Tesco people seemed to like what was going on and were happy to let me go shortly before my official 4pm finish, as my train was due to leave at 4.01, the next one not being til 5.25.
So I was back in York quite soon, and as I came up to my bike, there was an old chap looking intently at my bike in the station racks. He was obviously admiring it, not trying to steal it or damage it, so I explained about my asking Cycle Heaven to build the strongest bike they'd ever built, and we chatted for a while.
On the way home I picked up two sacks of stuff from Country Fresh... and when I got home and got changed, I put a load of this in the compostumbler with a sackful of the shredded material I prepared last week.
I didn't eat until after 7pm, a plate of rice and vegetables, followed by a raspberry, loganberry and gooseberry crumble. Berry tasty!
I was just finishing off my email/facebook session when there was a huge crash outside and Gill, sleeping on the couch next to me, lept up. I immediately knew it was a logpile falling over, but it was quite a spectacular noise. Gill went back to sleep and I spent 20 minutes partly re-doing it and clearing the way for our neighbours to use the shared passage between the houses. Glad it decided to collapse when I was around to sort it out. It may have not coped with several big rainstorms today... Gill says there was a violent hailstorm here today.
A late start for me; but I was up in the night as I heard noises outside and had to go and check... after which I lay there listening... how annoying! Then the dawn chorus started. Loud.
The broadband internet wasn't working so I made a few phone calls and found that a BT interchange was down and they were attempting to fix it. It was off all day.
So I did a variety of other things including taking some little yam plants down to Country Fresh to let them go to other people... and collected three boxes of compostables.
Cut a hedge, riddled another 9 carrier-bags worth of mature compost. Cut back more brambles. Watered wilting plants. Drank lots of water so I didn't wilt.
However, during the evening the internet started working again so I spent at least an hour dealing with emails.
The broadband internet wasn't working so I made a few phone calls and found that a BT interchange was down and they were attempting to fix it. It was off all day.
So I did a variety of other things including taking some little yam plants down to Country Fresh to let them go to other people... and collected three boxes of compostables.
Cut a hedge, riddled another 9 carrier-bags worth of mature compost. Cut back more brambles. Watered wilting plants. Drank lots of water so I didn't wilt.
However, during the evening the internet started working again so I spent at least an hour dealing with emails.
Gill did the early morning stint and after taking our youngest to school she went to town. I spent some time on the computer and some time in the garden removing a shrub from quite near the house using the wrecking bar. Gill wants to make a raised bed there so the area needs clearing.
At 1pm, a researcher called Triona came round who's looking at the phenomenon of 'Freeganism', and as I am not averse to skip diving, I volunteered to answer her questions. So I spent a couple of hours chatting and responding to some photos she'd sent to me by email. She is also going to talk to some 'ordinary' people, non freegans, about their views of the activity.
Sometime after the boys had come home, I decided to break up 3 chairs which have been sitting in the back garden, broken, for a while, and to allow my eldest son to utilise some of his energy I asked him to do most of the destruction. I took off the upholstery, binned the synthetic fabric, collected the ?natural fibre filler, hessian and other material for composting, removed nails, tacks and springs for recycling, and he smashed the wooden bits up with gusto. Nice to get some help!
Then spent quite a bit of time down the garden, pulling up ground elder and nettles, chopping back brambles and spotting a wasps nest in one of my mature compost heaps. Oh dear. What to do?
Came in at 10ish and went on the computer, played Scrabble on Facebook and was saddened to hear of the death of Michael Jackson. I grew up listening to songs off Thriller, and still think that it is a brilliant album. Every song a hit.
At 1pm, a researcher called Triona came round who's looking at the phenomenon of 'Freeganism', and as I am not averse to skip diving, I volunteered to answer her questions. So I spent a couple of hours chatting and responding to some photos she'd sent to me by email. She is also going to talk to some 'ordinary' people, non freegans, about their views of the activity.
Sometime after the boys had come home, I decided to break up 3 chairs which have been sitting in the back garden, broken, for a while, and to allow my eldest son to utilise some of his energy I asked him to do most of the destruction. I took off the upholstery, binned the synthetic fabric, collected the ?natural fibre filler, hessian and other material for composting, removed nails, tacks and springs for recycling, and he smashed the wooden bits up with gusto. Nice to get some help!
Then spent quite a bit of time down the garden, pulling up ground elder and nettles, chopping back brambles and spotting a wasps nest in one of my mature compost heaps. Oh dear. What to do?
Came in at 10ish and went on the computer, played Scrabble on Facebook and was saddened to hear of the death of Michael Jackson. I grew up listening to songs off Thriller, and still think that it is a brilliant album. Every song a hit.
A quiet day as am unwell, off colour, tired and headachey. I spent a bit of the morning on the computer whilst Gill was at her art class, and went back to bed, and when at 1.20 Gill wondered where I was, she came up to see if I was in and found me asleep. She joined me.
I got up at 2.30 and at 3 went to school to pick up our youngest. He is now a fast cyclist! Wow! That's an 18-geared Specialised for you!
I cycled down to Country Fresh and picked up 3 sacks and 2 boxes, plus the usual range of vegetables and fruit for family consumption.
Gill made tea... butternut, courgette, potato and broccoli with a bit of tomato soup sauce, and a pastie. I was given a veggie samosa by Raj at Freshways when I popped in on him, so I had that too... it was very hot!
After tea I went outside to deal with some of the compost and a few other bits and bobs, got in at 10. Lots of fruit to put on the drying racks. Felt a bit better after some activity, but still need an early night, ideally...
I got up at 2.30 and at 3 went to school to pick up our youngest. He is now a fast cyclist! Wow! That's an 18-geared Specialised for you!
I cycled down to Country Fresh and picked up 3 sacks and 2 boxes, plus the usual range of vegetables and fruit for family consumption.
Gill made tea... butternut, courgette, potato and broccoli with a bit of tomato soup sauce, and a pastie. I was given a veggie samosa by Raj at Freshways when I popped in on him, so I had that too... it was very hot!
After tea I went outside to deal with some of the compost and a few other bits and bobs, got in at 10. Lots of fruit to put on the drying racks. Felt a bit better after some activity, but still need an early night, ideally...
