Human Lifestyle: riddling sawdust

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Monday 7th February 11

A good day, as I finally got the last of the sawdust riddled! The huge pile which has accumulated in my logging area over the past 6+ months, on top of a blue plastic tarpaulin, has been separated into 13 sacks of fine damp dark sawdust, perfect for compost toilet cover, for compost heap carbon-rich layer, plus four sacks of larger bits of bark, twig and wood chips which didn't go through the riddle but are too small to try to dry off, and will go in layers on the compost heaps and in the tumblers. Finally I got 4 paper potato sacks full of big chunks of bark, sticks, bigger chunks of wood which will dry over the next year in these paper sacks in the garage (which is well ventilated, unintentionally!) and will end up as kindling for the stoves.

This was the bulk of my outdoor work today. But before lunch I went to Thomas The Bakers and got £2 worth of Yesterbake, ie two loaves and 4 bags of rolls.

After lunch I cycled down to town, battling the wind, to go and get a cheque out for Justin, our 'pet' electrician. I called in to see Dylan and cycled back along the cycle track from Rowntrees all the way to Hull Road. I picked up a few sticks on the way, plus one willow log.

For tea I had the potato salad with a fried egg sandwich, followed by an out of date and therefore free yoghurt. I'd never buy yoghurt, as it conflicts with my 'wannabe as close to vegan as possible' lifestyle, but I'd rather eat the yoghurt than put it on the compost heap or let it go to landfill.

Then soon after 7pm I cycled down to the Seahorse to attend the monthly LETS meeting. I was pleased to meet Melody locking up her bike, and inside already, Will and Kay. We had a fairly quick and very upbeat meeting, and then a good chat to sort out forthcoming social events, which will include a seed swap at Melody's, a possible Equinox party out at Escrick, and a Multicoloured SwapShop party at Kay's in May, on my birthday...

Melody and Kay went, Will and I stayed and chatted, and another two chaps came in to have a drink. We overheard something they were saying, having found a leaflet about the Quilt Museum, so Will and I both had a bit of a story about that, and then they overheard our conversation about my youngest going to the Steiner School. Turns out that one of them, Tom, had gone to the Steiner School and had loved it. He was really positive about it. It also turned out we have some friends in common.

We left at about 10 and I came home knowing that I had to wash up our 'Le Creuset' casserole dish and use the onions and tomatoes I'd saved from the Freshways bags I'd just picked up on the way back from the LETS meeting. So that's what I did between 11pm and 1am, but this made all the rest of my regular evening routine an hour later, so went to bed after 3am. But at least my family will have some delicious wholesome tomato soup to eat tomorrow. Or is that later today?

Saturday 5th February 11

Quite a good day... had no paid work and the weather was mild and initially not rainy, so I riddled yet more sawdust and did quite a bit of chopping stuff up and piling it on a 'New Zealand' heap, and in two tumblers and two daleks. I must have done about 100 kg.

Inside, I finished making the butternut squash soup, by adding bouillon, a dash of cumin and some mixed herbs, then I whizzed it and put it on the stove to heat through. It was delicious! I followed a bowl of that with a slice of nutloaf.

But apart from the sawdust, compost, soup and the inevitable washing up, I had a nothingy day, which was very nice. Oh, in the evening I had a good chat with Nomy who is feeling a lot better than she did a week or two back.

Wednesday 2nd February 11

A hardworking day, dealing with the untidy front garden, riddling more of the accumulated sawdust and sawing up most of the logs and wood that I've collected over the past few weeks. The sawn up logs were split and stacked either on a new stack of 'green' or wet logs, or if dry (like the wood from Mandy) next to the front door for almost immediate use, or on a pile which doesn't need much drying and should be ready by the summer or autumn. The green wood will take a year or two to completely dry.

One of the best things to happen in our son's home education for a while was that today he discovered that there was speech recognition software on Gill's laptop, so he installed that and 'trained' it with his voice, by reading out a load of sentences presented to him on the screen. Then he got on with his science homework from Maria, and finished 8 questions. Had he been writing these, he'd have probably got two done. Yay for speech recognition software!

And Yay! for Richard at Country Fresh who always brightens my day! I cycled down there, via a Freecycler who had bits of used candle to give away, (always good to have a bit of candle wax to help light the stoves), and I popped in on St Nicks to give Ivana a sack of riddled sawdust for their compost toilets, and then on to Richard to buy broccoli and onions, and pick up compostables.

The only other significant thing which happened was that we got a hate letter from someone we know which was full of disgusting slurs and accusations. Gill was so angry and wanted to go and remonstrate with the sender but I persuaded her to leave it. I'm used to criticism and I wasn't too bothered... sad, for the sender, but I've far more people in my life who like me, think I'm doing the right thing and have the right approach to life. I've never said I'm perfect or get it right all of the time, but I don't think anyone should have to receive treatment like that. I am currently composing a 'page' about the assorted criticism I've received and this letter will definitely go in that. I wonder why some people read my blog? If reading something makes them angry, why oh why do they read it? Some people are daft. Or maybe I've missed something? Maybe it's like the thrill of watching a horror film... something else I don't understand, or do!

At 9, I watched a good programme with our little science expert, about the science of waves. Really interesting stuff... I learned lots too!

Tuesday 1st February 11

Up early as Gill took our little one to school and I had to be up for Justin to come and do the second day of sorting out the electrics. He did a few more tests with the power off, and then a load with the power live. One of the problems was apparently our outside lights, which are connected either with hifi speaker cable, or something called 'festoon cable' which is used to string temporary lights up, and the lamps just screw directly into the cable. Ideally we'd need this replacing with proper cable, but we can't afford to do this so Justin has disconnected the most dangerous bits, such as the garage 'spur' and given us a certificate for the bits which are safe.

I worked with our eldest on a project about the Romans, and I think I've suggested something he likes the idea of. So I helped him develop that, chivvied him along. Justin got to the loft where there was a socket which had been damaged by an impact, so he was going to drive up to B+Q to buy another, but I suggested that I went instead, and he said that would be a better use of his time. So I bombed up there on my bike and spent £1.48 on a new 'back box' which was the part which was broken.

At 1pm I had lunch and at 2 I rolled up to St Nicks for a meeting with John and Edward, to review the new arrangements with my volunteering as a Rotter. The meeting was short as all is going well. I had a productive chat with Catherine about the compost training I'm presenting on the 12th February, and then I had 3 things to discuss with Ivana. I was cycling away by about 3, and as arranged, popped in on Maria to discuss the science lessons she's giving our home-schooler. She loves doing it, and can take him up to GCSE in Chemistry and probably physics. In return.... and I'm so pleased with this, she's asked me to dig out her compost heap. I'll bag it up and then either I or she will spread it on her front garden. Woo hoo!

I got back to an empty house as Justin had finished and Gill had gone to pick up our youngest and had taken our eldest with her. I was able to go on the net for the first time today, as for the rest of the day, the power had been on and off, so I hadn't bothered.

Once done, I did a bit of sawdust riddling... I now have about 6 sacks of riddled sawdust, a mix of recently produced white/yellow particles and the stuff underneath, on top of the tarp, which has started to decompose and is dark coloured. This is ideal compost-toilet cover,and is good for any compost heap which has a lot of nitrogen-rich materials, such as grass cuttings, fruit, veg or manure. I wonder if I could sell it?

I had soup for tea, with a pile of pasta shells and broad beans in it. Lovely, and exceedingly simple. At about 6pm I sped off on the bike again to Langwith College to the People and Planet meeting. I wanted to see how the Waste Food Feast meeting went today, but it seemed that maybe it didn't happen today. However, we did some planning for the Go Green week, which I'm going to do some stuff in. Should be good. I was reminded that Phoebe sent me a document about composting at the University which I said I'd comment on, so that was my work for this evening once I'd got home. I did however get distracted by a very good programme about explosives.

Tuesday 16th March 10

Up early and got into St Nicks to talk to John about the talk on Thursday that I'm doing, entitled 'Extreme Composting'. I'd already emailed him with my plans, and he was happy with them, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'd taken in a couple of sacks of greengrocer's 'resources' and my garden spade, and I completed the shovelling out of the old sawdusty compost from the main bay, and filled the second bay... and then started refilling the now empty bay with layers of sawdust/wood shavings from the pet shop and the veg from the veg shop. I did this for just over an hour, and left it tidy.

I got back in time to say bye to Gill who was heading into town, and I did more work outside as I was fed up with inside stuff. I finished riddling the enormous pile of sawdust... and have about 10 sacks of sawdust, 10 sacks of good-n-woody compost cover, and about 10 sacks of bark, twigs, sticks and other combustibles which I've stored in paper sacks to dry off and be ready for kindling next winter. I am very pleased that I've finished this job... and I celebrated by getting my chainsaw going again and chopping up some more logs. I also did some stacking.

I had a small tea and then cycled round to Tang Hall Community Centre to attend the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel. We had just one application, a small house in a newish mixed estate, wanting to double the size of the house. This generated a lot of discussion, and we eventually decided that we opposed the application, as it was 'over development' and would set a precedent which would mean that the estate would look completely different if more houses did what this one's owner wanted to do. I wonder if the planners will think the same as us?

I came back via the logpile and came back with three large willow logs.

I had two good phone conversations in the evening, one with the organiser of the Seed Swap, with a few questions and suggestions, and then from a trainee journalist researching freeganism, and wanting to come and see some of the things I get up to. I suggested he come on Saturday, and attend the Seed Swap, the Permaculture introductory talk, and then come with me to Country Fresh to see the collection. I'm well pleased... for him, as he'll meet quite a few people who like growing their own food, recycling and reusing, plus he'll see my input to the community.

So a happy day, very positive. I am happiest when I'm active and busy, and outside.

Thursday 11th March 10

A quiet indoor morning until I cycled round to the bread shop, got lots of 'Yesterbake' but also two veg pasties and two 'Yorkshire Pizzas'.

I then did loads of work in the garden... got a lot more sawdust sieving done... and filled several more sacks of fine sawdust, for compost toilet cover, several paper sacks of larger chunks of bark, small sticks, and bits of burnable stuff... it just needs to dry off. Also several sacks of material which is too small to bother drying off for fuel, but too big to make compost toilet cover... but perfect for ordinary compost heaps, which is where some of it headed... and all the rest went into plastic sacks for future use. So, the logpile waste all mixed up is useless, but split into 3 streams it is very useful, and it's worth spending time on (perhaps 8 hours every 6 months) to get it sorted.

Down the garden I tidied up two raised beds, the ones made of bay-window radiators. Both of them need refilling or topping up before planting up for this year's crops, but needed old roots removing and the soil de-compacting... and I found the yams which I put in last spring as tubercles the size of peas, now up to hens egg size. I'll replant them quite near the surface of the soil so they don't head down right to the bottom of the raised bed... they had put themselves about 10 to 20cm down as it was! They are very brittle and need gentle excavation to remove them... any pulling and they just break.

I came in after 6 as it was getting dark, and had a tea made up of leftovers. During the evening Gill and I made a decision about our summer holiday, which will be in South Wales, in a village called Mumbles, near Swansea.

Monday 8th March 10

Woke at 9ish feeling somewhat better and mid morning I'd got both the large cans of water warm enough for a bath... the first one in some while! Shave, hair wash, lovely!

I felt much better after this, not that low mood is necessarily connected with grubbiness...

I did lots of washing up after this and after lunch, did some work in the garden, including a job I've been wanting to do for a while but not had the enthusiasm. I've been chainsawing logs on the front garden on top of a large tarpaulin sheet, to catch the sawdust and other bits... the sawdust is my compost toilet cover material, the largest bits and bobs are bagged up and dried for kindling, and the medium sized bits, wet bark and small twigs etc are a useful 'carbon rich' constituent of my compost heaps. So I got the large flat riddle up to the front garden and put it on a bedsheet, and started riddling the large pile of sawdusty twiggy barky stuff... I filled two paper potato sacks with kindling-sized bits, 3 plastic sacks of sawdust and 3 plastic sacks of compost additives. I am perhaps a quarter of the way through the job, but there is several months worth of cutting and splitting frass which needs putting to good use. Anyone want a sack or two of compost toilet cover material?

At about 4pm I loaded up my trailer with our old television which has been going on the blink over the past few days, and has finally stopped working. I took it down to the repository for dead electrical equipment, the 'WEEE table' at Hazel Court. I also took two loudspeakers that I rescued months ago and didn't find a taker for, and a plastic bag of metalwork from the stove (mainly nails from pallets) and some metal from various street-skips. I had no hassle whatsoever from the nice skip-site workers, who obviously don't give a damn that i use my bike trailer to deliver recyclables to the right place. I approve of this attitude.

From here I picked up a few logs from where tree surgeons had dumped stuff and also a sack of compostables from Freshways.

After tea I cycled round to my Freecycling (and soon to be unicycling!) friend Mark, who had responded to my Freecycle request for a TV. His Mother in Law had upgraded her system and was going to chuck out her old TV and freeview box... so he said, no, I'll put it on Freecycle and someone will be very happy with it. And indeed we are. It is slightly bigger than our previous one, which was £20 from Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre, and had a scratched screen. This one has a really clear picture, good colour and no scratch! Brilliant, thanks Mark. One unicycling lesson as and when you want it!

After I delivered this home, for Gill to install, I went to a friend on Melrosegate who had some sticks for me,and I brought those back home. And I did some more after-dark riddling too, before coming in and sorting out hot water for yet more washing up....

Friday 14th August 09

Another good day... Up early as another phone call, and then at 11 a visit from Harrison Builders who had a chap walking around yesterday trying to interest people in having solar hot water... so today a team of 3 chaps came round and surveyed the place, looking at where the boiler is, and what kind of boiler it is, and the roof space, and they said it would be relatively simple. They were interested in the stoves, and enjoyed samples of dried fruit. I hope for a low quote!

The system they offer is by Alpha Innovation who offer 'flat plate collectors' ('Solar Smart') and I thought I wanted evacuated tubes... but I still haven't looked at all the possible options, and I've only had a couple of quotes so far. I'm keeping my mind open and wallet closed for the while!

Then sometime after 12, whilst I was riddling sawdust for the compost toilet, my next guests arrived, Ania and Lucas (pronounced Woo Cash, as he's Polish... they both are) who had asked if I might have some wood suitable for producing flavoured smoke. Lucas has got together with a friend and is purchasing a recently slaughtered pig, and is going to make sausages, hams and assorted other porky bits, including smoked stuff. Although I'm vegetarian, and have been now for 25 years or so, I am a realist and accept that 97% of the UK population do eat meat, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to change that, apart from being an 'out' vegetarian and showing people that you can lead a healthy and very active life without eating dead flesh.

So, they wanted some of my recently acquired apple, and I agreed to sort some out for them, and they were delighted that I was happy to barter this for some potatoes and other produce. I gave then a tour and Lucas said he'd be back at 6pm to pick up the wood.

Then I had lunch and continued outside, until Ben arrived as he'd asked how I was and I'd told him about my email woes, so he had a poke around Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird and Tiscali Webmail. My problem was that I'd made a second account on T-bird, one with my name and the other with my email address.. so he sorted that. But, there is still a problem. When I delete an email on T-bird, it doesn't delete on the Tiscali server which means I have to go through and delete on Webmail when I've already deleted on my email client. Bummer. Ben said he'd have a poke around and see if he could find more info.

Then Lucas came back, with a large volume of vegetation for me as a swap for the logs I sorted... about 15 kg of home grown potatoes, dug up today, and some leeks, beetroot, onions, courgettes AND a large jar of raspberry jam! He took away a car boot full of green apple logs, cut and split and ready to, well, burn slowly and smokily!

I cycled down to Country Fresh and picked up 2 sacks and 2 boxes of compostables, and had a good chat to Richard, as well as buying veg off him.

Then towards 7pm, Ivana came round and she had a tour, and we sorted out a bit of help from her... what a very busy day!

Later, I watched a good film with my eldest son, and Gill watched quite a bit of it... a 2007 offering I heard about whilst it was being filmed, called 'Grow Your Own'. Set on a Liverpool allotment, it is a 'human condition' story and was a good 90 minutes. I recommend it.

Friday 27th February 09

Woken up at 7 by screaming kids... came down thinking it was 8... but Gill told me to go back to bed, and I came back down nearer 8 when things were quieter. Gill walked into school with our youngest and I got ready to meet a 'Masters' student, Triona, who is doing some research about Freeganism, why people are attracted to those choices, and the public's response to it. I went with her to Country Fresh to see the arrangement I have there, and then on to St Nicks to see the 'free energy' being harvested there, and the other activities and educational material.

Then back home to see the fruit-drying operation, stoves, compost toilet, other composting and food-plant cultivation. I had found a bike in a skip a few days ago, and the person who put it in there said I could recycle it... I had intended to take it to Bike Rescue (also this article) but hadn't had time yesterday when it was open.. and just as well, as Triona hadn't got a bike and liked the look of this one... small wheels, folding, basket, so I gave it to her. She said she'd get a bike lock first, and have it serviced, which it needs. I am thrilled! How cool is it that a student comes trying to find out about Freegan living and leaves with a bike which was found in a skip! (She didn't actually leave with it, but will come and collect it, or I'll deliver it to the shop she chooses to get it sorted out at...)

Anyway, lunch, and then both Gill and I did some work in the garden. Gill continued sorting out the raised beds which I had started clearing a day or two back, and found quite a good lot of potatoes which she planted last year, and didn't harvest properly! And, amazingly, most of them were still in good nick... one or two had green ends, a couple were slug-damaged, but over a dozen were perfect. I cleaned them up and boiled them on the woodstove... what a treat! Home grown spuds in February!

I finished doing the huge pile of sawdust... I now have six sacks of riddled fine sawdust which can be used as compost toilet cover or in other composting operations. I also have two sacks of larger material... bits of bark, twig, wood chip type material, which again will help with the composting, and 3 paper potato-sacks of big chunks of stove-bound material, once it has dried out. Satisfying.

I then took the riddle to the bottom of the garden to start a large amount of compost riddling. Richard at Country Fresh has had several enquiries from customers asking for my carrier bags of mature riddled compost (which they give a voluntary donation for) so I need to get some of that ready... hopeful I'll take some down tomorrow morning before I go to the St Nicks 5 year anniversary of being a nature reserve at midday.

Gill went down to school to pick up our youngest, and I washed up and did some food preparation.

Tea was potatoes, quiche, peas and some of the stew left over from yesterday. It happened too late for me to go to the York University Green Week Question Time, which I would have liked to attend... but had a nice evening in with the family instead.

Wednesday 25th February 09

I took our youngest to school... last night we got his bike mended and this morning the tyre was still hard, so he cycled, very slowly. I picked up a trailer-load of logs from the woodland the University has destroyed.

Gill went to art. I riddled (sieved) a load of sawdust/woody waste, to get fine sawdust for the compost toilet, and larger bits and bobs, bark bits, twigs etc, for a woody 'carbon-rich' layer in the compost heap. As I was doing this, I had some sad thoughts about today's news that a little boy who had Cerebral Palsy had died, and my friend's daughter who also has CP and is quite fragile... and nearly died last summer. I didn't know that there was such a high risk of death at such an early age (because there are plenty of adults with CP) and I hope my little friend stays as strong as she can and fulfils her potential, which is considerable, as she's got a fantastic personality. It would be a tragic loss, as is any child dying, but I'm glad I know a little bit more about the subject and the possibilities ahead.

I went on the laptop to do some more pushing and shoving about Age of Stupid, trying to get the Peoples' Premiere put on at City Screen and also trying to get a special screening at City Screen with the Director, Franny Armstrong, coming to introduce it and do a Q and A afterwards.

Gill came back and we had lunch. Most of our afternoon was taken up with a visitor and doing some cooking... a sauce with butternut squash in it for spaghetti.

I went to get the little cyclist and picked up another load of logs on the way home.

More work in the garden, visited Country Fresh and got 3 sacks/boxes of compostables as well as 2 'paid for' bags of veg and fruit, one for Debbie and one for home. Dropped off some seconds bananas with Ben and Jill... and when I got in, Ben rang to say he'd got the graphics card for the boy's computer... but when he arrived, he found he'd assumed the computer was an older version, but no, it was only a couple or 3 years old and the newer card was needed. So he had a cuppa whilst I searched for spaghetti (found it eventually!) and prepared tea. Good company. Gill had gone to school for a meeting about a child's fieldtrip, and when she came home the boys were enjoying their spag veg and Gill had some too.

I soon popped out to the University of York Student Union's Green Week event on carbon footprinting, which was quite a good meeting, mostly a workshop.

Home before 9 to a peaceful house. Lovely!

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