Another very full day. Got up at 8.30 as I heard the kids getting ready to go, and said goodbye to them and Gill, and thanked her for taking them as she'll be picking them up too. Got a phone call from Keely at York Rotters advising me that at 10ish this morning she was expecting a delegation from Hull (a visit I'd organised, because of my attending a Recycling Action Yorkshire event in Leeds in Jan where Id asked around if any local authorities might be interested in setting up a Rotters type scheme). She apologised for this being short notice, but she's been unwell and busy on some funding courses. Fortunately I was able to attend, and I'm very glad I could.
The Hullites were the Council's Waste Minimisation Officer, the head of Parks, the organiser of the Environment Forum and a new volunteer from Friends of the Earth, all keen to hear about York Rotters. I was able to give them a mini-tour of St Nicks, explaining about the site history, the passive solar design of the building and its photovolteic panels, hot water panels, sedum roof with drinking water harvesting, compost toilets, waterless urinal for both sexes, kerbside recycling collections, employment of various groups to help sort recyclables and the composting demonstration site, as well as the straw-bale urinal and hibernaculum for overwintering beasties. The mating frogs in the pond were also pretty spectacular!
Keely and I provided lots of useful info about how York Rotters was set up, funded and what it does and has achieved. I have been invited to give a presentation in Hull at the end of this month by Hull Organic Gardeners, and this may be a perfect opportunity to start the process of launching a Hull Master Composter project. I hope so.
That meeting was nearly 2 hours, so I shot home (via the St Nicks communal logpile, always a good place to find a few kilos of free fuel!) and had lunch before my scheduled meeting with Liz Topi at the City of York Council. This went well, she's happy to say yes to the Green Gala on July 29th, and she gave me some very helpful pointers and ideas. Then a quick visit to Out Of This World, to pick up a small volume of compostables.
Then I went to the Merchant Taylor's Hall to give blood as it's been over a year since I did so. This always entails a lot of waiting, but they always have some good magazines, I read Men's Health and Psychologies Magazine, the latter being very good. Actually giving blood only took 5 and a half minutes, the waiting and tests, nearly 2 hours. Worth it, though.
Zoom home via Richard and the veg shop, where I disobeyed instructions to not lift anything and loaded up my trailer and bike rack with about 6 sacks of biodegradables, including loads of grapes destined for raisinhood. Gill had cooked some potatoes and I made a yellow pepper and cheese omlette to go with them, and a simple coleslaw salad and some dead baked beans left over from the boys tea.
Believe it or not, I then went out again, to the Cafe Scientifique meeting at City Screen, which was an interesting talk about English Partnerships work on their (allegedly) zero carbon housing projects. Should be low carbon housing, as they are not counting the embodied energy in the building materials, just the energy used in the use of the house. Good work, though.
A long day, but finished the game of superscrabble I started yesterday with Gill, and then did my blog, finishing at 1.30am....
Thursday, 8 March 2007
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Tuesday 6th March 07
A houseworky morning, with a rude awakening at 8am by my sister Anna on the phone saying can she visit this afternoon? Gill took the boys to school and I got on with lighting the stove, having breakfast, doing the washing up, attending to various post including the lovely Student Loan Company and sending Justin the Ethical Man the Yorkshire Post article.
I had a Green Party election paperwork thing to give in by today, so after an early lunch I bombed over to Bishophill to deliver that and popped into Cycle Heaven to ask about rebuilding my front wheel, which is wearing through at the rim, like the rear was. My personal assistant responsible for my bike wasn't in, so they said could I go in tomorrow. I also popped into Abbey National, who are not YorkLETS bankers anymore, and they're being very slow to send the account book back to me and the closing cheque. We have started the process of opening an account with the Co-operative Bank who have an ethical investment policy, but they need the details of our last account. We left the Abbey because they were inept and made several silly and annoying mistakes. I got home in time to cycle to school and pick up the kids, and whilst there, I pruned some sprawling mallow shrubs that I'd been given permission to do. The alternative is the school (or Education Authority?) employs a company based in Leeds, who come and do grounds work, and take prunings away in a lorry back to Leeds. Ridiculous! All the grounds management waste could be composted on site, helping to compost the volumes of fruit and veg stuff which STILL gets put in the playground bins. I am past angry about this, so I take the fruit, veg and paper out of the bins on a daily basis and pop it in the plastic box provided for compostables (only some of the kids use it, and the kitchen staff, fortunately) and put it all in one of the 3 'dalek' bins I've installed and manage. I'd prefer a larger 'New Zealand Box' system which would take more of the cardboard which clogs up the landfill-destined bins, as well as grounds materials. I cannot get the school to move on this, and the Director of Education at City of York Council hasn't replied to me either. I feel another letter coming, it's one way to release my anger about unsustainable stick-in-the-muds. It sometimes helps get things changed, too.
I cycled back with all the Mallow, and will compost it at home. I soon found it doesn't shred well, as it's mucilaginous and stringy, clogging my favourite 'quiet shredder'. I'll do the rest on a 'sit and wait heap' rather than a fast shred and tumble and turn hot heap. Whilst unclogging the shredder Anna (my younger sister) and her hubby Douglas arrived, by car from Sheffield. They haven't been 'up North' for long and one reason the moved was to be nearer family. It is lovely to see them and the boys are very fond of them. A nice tea-time, easy baked spuds and salad with a Gilly rice and bean loaf. We finished the Butternut soup too. They stayed til about 8, perhaps next time they'll be able to stay over. I've been to their new house in Sheffers but the rest of the family hasn't, so we ought to visit them next. They are conveniently close to the end of the tram line.
I had a Green Party election paperwork thing to give in by today, so after an early lunch I bombed over to Bishophill to deliver that and popped into Cycle Heaven to ask about rebuilding my front wheel, which is wearing through at the rim, like the rear was. My personal assistant responsible for my bike wasn't in, so they said could I go in tomorrow. I also popped into Abbey National, who are not YorkLETS bankers anymore, and they're being very slow to send the account book back to me and the closing cheque. We have started the process of opening an account with the Co-operative Bank who have an ethical investment policy, but they need the details of our last account. We left the Abbey because they were inept and made several silly and annoying mistakes. I got home in time to cycle to school and pick up the kids, and whilst there, I pruned some sprawling mallow shrubs that I'd been given permission to do. The alternative is the school (or Education Authority?) employs a company based in Leeds, who come and do grounds work, and take prunings away in a lorry back to Leeds. Ridiculous! All the grounds management waste could be composted on site, helping to compost the volumes of fruit and veg stuff which STILL gets put in the playground bins. I am past angry about this, so I take the fruit, veg and paper out of the bins on a daily basis and pop it in the plastic box provided for compostables (only some of the kids use it, and the kitchen staff, fortunately) and put it all in one of the 3 'dalek' bins I've installed and manage. I'd prefer a larger 'New Zealand Box' system which would take more of the cardboard which clogs up the landfill-destined bins, as well as grounds materials. I cannot get the school to move on this, and the Director of Education at City of York Council hasn't replied to me either. I feel another letter coming, it's one way to release my anger about unsustainable stick-in-the-muds. It sometimes helps get things changed, too.
I cycled back with all the Mallow, and will compost it at home. I soon found it doesn't shred well, as it's mucilaginous and stringy, clogging my favourite 'quiet shredder'. I'll do the rest on a 'sit and wait heap' rather than a fast shred and tumble and turn hot heap. Whilst unclogging the shredder Anna (my younger sister) and her hubby Douglas arrived, by car from Sheffield. They haven't been 'up North' for long and one reason the moved was to be nearer family. It is lovely to see them and the boys are very fond of them. A nice tea-time, easy baked spuds and salad with a Gilly rice and bean loaf. We finished the Butternut soup too. They stayed til about 8, perhaps next time they'll be able to stay over. I've been to their new house in Sheffers but the rest of the family hasn't, so we ought to visit them next. They are conveniently close to the end of the tram line.
Monday, 5 March 2007
Monday 5th March
Today I'm in the Yorkshire Post, as Justin the Ethical Man had given them my details and suggested that they do a feature on me. Gill took the boys to school and then went to buy the paper. I am always amazed how much of a forehead I have, receeding hairline, shiny and large. The Post had published a photo of the untidiest part of the garden and the best view of my forehead. Never mind, it was a good story with only a few mistakes. I'll write in to them with a letter with the factual corrections.
Soon after getting the paper, Justin rang and asked if it had been published and if I was happy with it. He asked me to buy a second copy and send it to him. Then a media company rang up, saying that they'd be interested in doing a feature about our family in a women's magazine, and were we interested? What they'd do is to send a short synopsis of the article to a number of magazines, and if any were interested they'd agree a deal, as we'd recieve a fee if we respected the contract of exclusivity, ie not giving interviews to any other people/papers/media organisations. I said we'd consider it.
I needed to do some photocopying in town and buy a Yorkshire Post and collect compostables, so I biked it in and did all that, getting back at 1pm hungry for lunch. However, before eating I prepared some seconds butternut squash for soup tonight, chopping out deteriorated bits and steaming the remaining chunks in a pan on the woodstove. Then did some unloading of compostables onto the heap and suddenly it was time for me to pick up the kids.
I had recieved an offer of two bags of logs from a Freecycler the other day, so I cycled over to Heworth and collected them, and elivered a Green Party leaflet requested by the nice lady who gave us the CD player for my son. She seemed very pleased to see me, and I expect we'll meet again.
I enjoyed the squash soup but Gill says that soup is always better a day after it was made, as the texture is smoother and flavour more developed. So perhaps she'll enjoy it more tomorrow!
I cycled off to my monthly LETS meeting, York Local Exchange Trading System has a core group meeting at the Seahorse Hotel near the Barbican on the first Monday of the month, and as I'm on the core group, I had to go.... it's always nice to see my LETSy friends but tonight I had to leave within the hour as I wanted to watch Panorama, as I was on it. The programme was good, and my little bit came accross well. My best buddy Jonathan rang up after, congratulating me! How lovely of him.
Later in the evening I got a good Freecycle message. I had replied to an offer of an old computer that someone was offering, on behalf of a friend of mine who wants to learn computer skills but is jobless, skint, and doesn't have many social contacts. The offerer had had loads of replies but had chosen my message as the deserving one. I rang her number and spoke to her husband, and I'll be able to pick it up on Thursday, and I emailed her with a big thank-you. I popped round to tell my friend, she was very moved and happy.
Soon after getting the paper, Justin rang and asked if it had been published and if I was happy with it. He asked me to buy a second copy and send it to him. Then a media company rang up, saying that they'd be interested in doing a feature about our family in a women's magazine, and were we interested? What they'd do is to send a short synopsis of the article to a number of magazines, and if any were interested they'd agree a deal, as we'd recieve a fee if we respected the contract of exclusivity, ie not giving interviews to any other people/papers/media organisations. I said we'd consider it.
I needed to do some photocopying in town and buy a Yorkshire Post and collect compostables, so I biked it in and did all that, getting back at 1pm hungry for lunch. However, before eating I prepared some seconds butternut squash for soup tonight, chopping out deteriorated bits and steaming the remaining chunks in a pan on the woodstove. Then did some unloading of compostables onto the heap and suddenly it was time for me to pick up the kids.
I had recieved an offer of two bags of logs from a Freecycler the other day, so I cycled over to Heworth and collected them, and elivered a Green Party leaflet requested by the nice lady who gave us the CD player for my son. She seemed very pleased to see me, and I expect we'll meet again.
I enjoyed the squash soup but Gill says that soup is always better a day after it was made, as the texture is smoother and flavour more developed. So perhaps she'll enjoy it more tomorrow!
I cycled off to my monthly LETS meeting, York Local Exchange Trading System has a core group meeting at the Seahorse Hotel near the Barbican on the first Monday of the month, and as I'm on the core group, I had to go.... it's always nice to see my LETSy friends but tonight I had to leave within the hour as I wanted to watch Panorama, as I was on it. The programme was good, and my little bit came accross well. My best buddy Jonathan rang up after, congratulating me! How lovely of him.
Later in the evening I got a good Freecycle message. I had replied to an offer of an old computer that someone was offering, on behalf of a friend of mine who wants to learn computer skills but is jobless, skint, and doesn't have many social contacts. The offerer had had loads of replies but had chosen my message as the deserving one. I rang her number and spoke to her husband, and I'll be able to pick it up on Thursday, and I emailed her with a big thank-you. I popped round to tell my friend, she was very moved and happy.
Sunday 4th March 07
No lie-in today either, as I had a visit from the Yorkshire Post photographer booked and then a Fiddlesticks gig after lunch. So to look good for both of these I got up early and stoked the big stove which had had both the 6 gallon pans on overnight, so they were already warm but for a bath I needed them hotter.
I know showers are greener, using less water and energy to heat that water, but I don't really like showers, and our shower uses gas to heat the water. I find that a soak in a bath of very hot woodstove-heated water is much more satisfying and relaxing, and I usually only have one a week, and wash my hair. So after watching Ski Sunday (vicarious thrills with a lower carbon footprint than flying to somewhere with snow, and then almost certainly having an accident which would stop me doing all the Fiddlesticksing and composting I so much enjoy!) I lugged the pans of hot water up to the bath, trimmed my beard with the rechargable trimmer, and had my low-carbon soak n wash.
But not very relaxing as I couldn't stay in long as the photographer was coming. So a functional bath..... And then Jim the photo rang from his mobile not far away and arrived within a minute.
I'd have given him a £60 fine and 3 points if I could!
Anyway, as an experienced photographed green, I gave him a quick tour of the garden to show him the sorts of activity he could get photos of me doing. I then loaded the trailer with some of yesterdays bags and boxes so he could record my means of transport, and unloaded them into the wheelbarrow. He wanted one of me bowsawing a log and a portrait next to the logpile. Then down to the current heap, where he got snaps of lots of knife-action and pouring gubbins from bags. And another portrait with me wedged into an apple tree. We were finished within 40 minutes, a pair of professionals!
After he went I did some washing up (more woodstove water) and packed my bags with assorted Fiddlesticks equipment whilst I recorded Countryfile, which I watched later in the evening. I cycled to the station and got the 12.18 to Starbeck, eating sandwiches on the train, and was met by the birthday boy's dad who drove me to their house before another short drive to the venue. The party went like clockwork, the usual one-hour circus skills show and workshop followed by balloon modelling, with all the balloons inflated during tea. The 7 year old celebrant enjoyed himself, one little girl guest told me I was the 'best person ever' and the dad was delighted, paying me in the car on the way back to Starbeck station. Another fun day's work, lucky me!
I enjoyed Gill's home-made pizza and spent much of the evening emailing and writing my blog in front of the front-room stove.
I know showers are greener, using less water and energy to heat that water, but I don't really like showers, and our shower uses gas to heat the water. I find that a soak in a bath of very hot woodstove-heated water is much more satisfying and relaxing, and I usually only have one a week, and wash my hair. So after watching Ski Sunday (vicarious thrills with a lower carbon footprint than flying to somewhere with snow, and then almost certainly having an accident which would stop me doing all the Fiddlesticksing and composting I so much enjoy!) I lugged the pans of hot water up to the bath, trimmed my beard with the rechargable trimmer, and had my low-carbon soak n wash.
But not very relaxing as I couldn't stay in long as the photographer was coming. So a functional bath..... And then Jim the photo rang from his mobile not far away and arrived within a minute.
I'd have given him a £60 fine and 3 points if I could!
Anyway, as an experienced photographed green, I gave him a quick tour of the garden to show him the sorts of activity he could get photos of me doing. I then loaded the trailer with some of yesterdays bags and boxes so he could record my means of transport, and unloaded them into the wheelbarrow. He wanted one of me bowsawing a log and a portrait next to the logpile. Then down to the current heap, where he got snaps of lots of knife-action and pouring gubbins from bags. And another portrait with me wedged into an apple tree. We were finished within 40 minutes, a pair of professionals!
After he went I did some washing up (more woodstove water) and packed my bags with assorted Fiddlesticks equipment whilst I recorded Countryfile, which I watched later in the evening. I cycled to the station and got the 12.18 to Starbeck, eating sandwiches on the train, and was met by the birthday boy's dad who drove me to their house before another short drive to the venue. The party went like clockwork, the usual one-hour circus skills show and workshop followed by balloon modelling, with all the balloons inflated during tea. The 7 year old celebrant enjoyed himself, one little girl guest told me I was the 'best person ever' and the dad was delighted, paying me in the car on the way back to Starbeck station. Another fun day's work, lucky me!
I enjoyed Gill's home-made pizza and spent much of the evening emailing and writing my blog in front of the front-room stove.
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Saturday 3rd March 07
Ah, nice to have a day when I'm not expected to do anything in particular. My boys were up early and the noise meant no lie-in, so I got up too and as they had lots of energy I invited them to cycle down to school with me, so I could pick up the plum logs I chopped on Thursday night. Whilst down there, I did a bit of gardening, tidying up, pulling out a few nettles etc, whilst the boys played in the grounds.
I spent some time later in the day building a logpile, I put a pile either side of the front door to fully dry off before they come in and sit near the stoves. For me, logpile construction is a bit like an adult jigsaw puzzle, as it has to fit together and stand up, and cope with some shrinkage as it dries. It is common for the pile to shift and lean over, and it's quite an art to build a good one. I use a varity of logs in these 'final' woodpiles, taken from several 'single type' woodpiles of ready wood. Different wood has different burning qualities, some burns easily and very hot (ie hawthorn) and some burns quickly and with low heat output, such as poplar. Some pine and most dense wood like oak will stay in overnight, and enable the stove to be lit on the embers in the morning. Split logs dry better than whole ones, and burn better too. This knowledge is important if you cook on the stove, boil kettles, and choose not to use central heating (runs on gas). I love Clearview Stoves, but this week will ring Town and Country Stoves, in Pickering, to see if their model tested recently was deemed to be 'smokefree'. I had a good chat with the son of the MD recently, who told me lots about the testing process that enables a particular model to have a certificate enabling it to be labelled smokefree.
In the afternoon I prepared my seed compost, five parts riddled leafmold, four parts loam from upturned turves and one part garden compost. I then looked for my pepper seeds, and Gill told me that sometime over the past few months, during a clearup (I'm very untidy and chaotic!) she'd put all of the veg and flower seeds in a large airtight plastic box. Unfortunately she'd also put in some onion sets. The moisture from these had cause the whole box contents to rot, including the majority of the seeds. The only ones to remain dry were the ones in foil/plastic sachets, unopened. This was dreadful, as most of our seeds are now no good. However, in a way it was a good way to 'weed out' the old ones which would have had poor or no germination anyway. Fortunately, the most recent seed order from the allotment store was not in this box, it was sitting (untidily) in a bookshelf in an envelope next to envelopes of bean pods and last season's pumpkins. So they were OK, and they included some peppers. So they got planted.
In the evening my LETS friend David called, asking if I could cut a sheet of woody material to size for him, for an art project. I went for a walk with him, as I'd noticed a ripe skip with a holly tree (combustable logettes and compostable twiglets) and some unpainted planed wood and several pallets for building another compost bin, New Zealand type, to replace one which is itself turning into compost. I loaded up my bike trailer and again reduced our overburdened landfill.
Later, gazed at the lunar eclipse with binoculars, totally wow.
I spent some time later in the day building a logpile, I put a pile either side of the front door to fully dry off before they come in and sit near the stoves. For me, logpile construction is a bit like an adult jigsaw puzzle, as it has to fit together and stand up, and cope with some shrinkage as it dries. It is common for the pile to shift and lean over, and it's quite an art to build a good one. I use a varity of logs in these 'final' woodpiles, taken from several 'single type' woodpiles of ready wood. Different wood has different burning qualities, some burns easily and very hot (ie hawthorn) and some burns quickly and with low heat output, such as poplar. Some pine and most dense wood like oak will stay in overnight, and enable the stove to be lit on the embers in the morning. Split logs dry better than whole ones, and burn better too. This knowledge is important if you cook on the stove, boil kettles, and choose not to use central heating (runs on gas). I love Clearview Stoves, but this week will ring Town and Country Stoves, in Pickering, to see if their model tested recently was deemed to be 'smokefree'. I had a good chat with the son of the MD recently, who told me lots about the testing process that enables a particular model to have a certificate enabling it to be labelled smokefree.
In the afternoon I prepared my seed compost, five parts riddled leafmold, four parts loam from upturned turves and one part garden compost. I then looked for my pepper seeds, and Gill told me that sometime over the past few months, during a clearup (I'm very untidy and chaotic!) she'd put all of the veg and flower seeds in a large airtight plastic box. Unfortunately she'd also put in some onion sets. The moisture from these had cause the whole box contents to rot, including the majority of the seeds. The only ones to remain dry were the ones in foil/plastic sachets, unopened. This was dreadful, as most of our seeds are now no good. However, in a way it was a good way to 'weed out' the old ones which would have had poor or no germination anyway. Fortunately, the most recent seed order from the allotment store was not in this box, it was sitting (untidily) in a bookshelf in an envelope next to envelopes of bean pods and last season's pumpkins. So they were OK, and they included some peppers. So they got planted.
In the evening my LETS friend David called, asking if I could cut a sheet of woody material to size for him, for an art project. I went for a walk with him, as I'd noticed a ripe skip with a holly tree (combustable logettes and compostable twiglets) and some unpainted planed wood and several pallets for building another compost bin, New Zealand type, to replace one which is itself turning into compost. I loaded up my bike trailer and again reduced our overburdened landfill.
Later, gazed at the lunar eclipse with binoculars, totally wow.
Saturday, 3 March 2007
2nd March 07... Day out in Burnley
A really early start, up at 6 to be at the station at 7. Met Ivana, one of the St Nicks staff, on the way to the station and as I take longer locking my bike up (I take the panniers off and lock them to the bike) she bought both our tickets, as St Nicks had offered to reimburse the cost of travel, so it made sense to get one receipt not two. And Ivana is the person who deals with that anyway, so it made even more sense!
However, we sat down on platform 3... the train was due to leave from platform 1, and we were so engrossed in talking that we missed it. Oh dear, we both felt silly and both felt responsible. Ivana said she'd thought we were sitting in the wrong place but hadn't said anything, I felt responsible because I was doing most of the talking (as usual!) and was engrossed in the conversation instead of concentrating on the job in hand, ie catching the 7.07 direct to Burnley.
So we got the 7.24 to Leeds and changed there, hoping to catch the original train, which left Leeds at 7.51, but ours got in at 7.52 so we missed it. There's only one train an hour to Burnley Manchester Road, so we had nearly an hour to kill. So we went for a walk round some bits of Leeds that Ivana hadn't seen, and as she arrived from the Czech Republic only 4 years ago, she hasn't seen much. She was impressed by the Dark Arches with the River Aire flowing under the railway station, and then I suggested looking at the Corn Exchange. However as it was only 8.15 in the morning, it was shut, so we walked around it. Amazingly, and luckily, a fire-door was open, so we were able to pop inside and have a quick look. I think it is most impressive when there's no-one in it, and the roof is fantastic. She was so pleased to be able to look inside, but we didn't spend long in there because we weren't supposed to be there! Walked under the railway to the canal which was photogenic enough for Ivana to get her camera out, getting a curious shot of a pair of pink shoes strangely hanging in a tree.
We got back to the station in good time to get the 8.51, supposedly arriving in Burnley an hour later. However it was delayed and we arrived after 10, so we eventually hailed a taxi and that took us to the front of Towneley Hall, where the Community Composting Network was holding a workshop on food waste composting... and they'd only just started the first session. This was on the Animal By-Products Regulations, which have given many composting projects huge problems. However, they have to be abided by and this is why CCN was holding this workshop.
The next session was on Waste Management Licencing and planning permission, and then onto the various system options available to food waste composters, and how to manage this process, which included an old friend 'HACCP' (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) which I have fond memories from my Environmental Health training days.
The buffet lunch was a good opportunity to meet the other composters and hear about their projects. Then we were given a tour of the Permaculture project hosting today's workshop, called 'Offshoots'. This is in the walled garden next to Towneley Hall, and is a garden with several buildings, and a food waste collection and composting operation. They have 3 'Rocket' composters which are horizontal boxes which have a hopper at one end to put compostable materials into, and a motorised axle and blades in an Archimedes screw shape, so that when the axle rotates, the materials are pushed along. The machine is insulated and can be heated, has temperature loggers, and each one can take a tonne of materials each week, spitting it out after 14 days in a 'raw young compost' form, which needs maturation before use. I really like these contraptions and this was the first time I'd seen one close up and working. But what I was most impressed with was the system which used maturing compost to heat up hand-washing water. Basically a pile of compost was placed around a plastic barrel of water, and within this closed barrel was a heat exchanger, a long coil of tubing with one end connected to a supply of rainwater off the roof, under a bit of pressure, and the other leading to the tap and wash basin. The barrel within the compost pile heated up, heating the hand-washing water. The compost had to be replaced every few weeks, to keep the temperature up. Ingenious.
After a cuppa, we went back to the lecture theatre and learnt about different sorts of collections, on-site composting needing no collections, and how to monitor the project and evaluate for the funders and partners.
Ivana and I decided to walk back into Burnley and catch the 5.25 train, so we had lots of time to wander and admire trees and a pond, and visit a little corner shop for a fruit snack. The train was on time and took the allotted 2 hours. As Out Of This World is close to the station, I let myself into the back and collected my compost feedstock (!) and cycled back home, getting in at 8. A full and fun, fascinating and unforgettable day out.
However, we sat down on platform 3... the train was due to leave from platform 1, and we were so engrossed in talking that we missed it. Oh dear, we both felt silly and both felt responsible. Ivana said she'd thought we were sitting in the wrong place but hadn't said anything, I felt responsible because I was doing most of the talking (as usual!) and was engrossed in the conversation instead of concentrating on the job in hand, ie catching the 7.07 direct to Burnley.
So we got the 7.24 to Leeds and changed there, hoping to catch the original train, which left Leeds at 7.51, but ours got in at 7.52 so we missed it. There's only one train an hour to Burnley Manchester Road, so we had nearly an hour to kill. So we went for a walk round some bits of Leeds that Ivana hadn't seen, and as she arrived from the Czech Republic only 4 years ago, she hasn't seen much. She was impressed by the Dark Arches with the River Aire flowing under the railway station, and then I suggested looking at the Corn Exchange. However as it was only 8.15 in the morning, it was shut, so we walked around it. Amazingly, and luckily, a fire-door was open, so we were able to pop inside and have a quick look. I think it is most impressive when there's no-one in it, and the roof is fantastic. She was so pleased to be able to look inside, but we didn't spend long in there because we weren't supposed to be there! Walked under the railway to the canal which was photogenic enough for Ivana to get her camera out, getting a curious shot of a pair of pink shoes strangely hanging in a tree.
We got back to the station in good time to get the 8.51, supposedly arriving in Burnley an hour later. However it was delayed and we arrived after 10, so we eventually hailed a taxi and that took us to the front of Towneley Hall, where the Community Composting Network was holding a workshop on food waste composting... and they'd only just started the first session. This was on the Animal By-Products Regulations, which have given many composting projects huge problems. However, they have to be abided by and this is why CCN was holding this workshop.
The next session was on Waste Management Licencing and planning permission, and then onto the various system options available to food waste composters, and how to manage this process, which included an old friend 'HACCP' (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) which I have fond memories from my Environmental Health training days.
The buffet lunch was a good opportunity to meet the other composters and hear about their projects. Then we were given a tour of the Permaculture project hosting today's workshop, called 'Offshoots'. This is in the walled garden next to Towneley Hall, and is a garden with several buildings, and a food waste collection and composting operation. They have 3 'Rocket' composters which are horizontal boxes which have a hopper at one end to put compostable materials into, and a motorised axle and blades in an Archimedes screw shape, so that when the axle rotates, the materials are pushed along. The machine is insulated and can be heated, has temperature loggers, and each one can take a tonne of materials each week, spitting it out after 14 days in a 'raw young compost' form, which needs maturation before use. I really like these contraptions and this was the first time I'd seen one close up and working. But what I was most impressed with was the system which used maturing compost to heat up hand-washing water. Basically a pile of compost was placed around a plastic barrel of water, and within this closed barrel was a heat exchanger, a long coil of tubing with one end connected to a supply of rainwater off the roof, under a bit of pressure, and the other leading to the tap and wash basin. The barrel within the compost pile heated up, heating the hand-washing water. The compost had to be replaced every few weeks, to keep the temperature up. Ingenious.
After a cuppa, we went back to the lecture theatre and learnt about different sorts of collections, on-site composting needing no collections, and how to monitor the project and evaluate for the funders and partners.
Ivana and I decided to walk back into Burnley and catch the 5.25 train, so we had lots of time to wander and admire trees and a pond, and visit a little corner shop for a fruit snack. The train was on time and took the allotted 2 hours. As Out Of This World is close to the station, I let myself into the back and collected my compost feedstock (!) and cycled back home, getting in at 8. A full and fun, fascinating and unforgettable day out.
Thursday, 1 March 2007
1st March 07
Another packed day, starting, for me, with my wife waking me up and telling me it was 8am and time for me to arise and get ready to take the kids to school. Nice to do this as she will be bringing them back this afternoon AND doing both trips tomorrow as I'm in Burnley, leaving at 7am.
Spent some of the morning preparing soup for tea.... a large load of seconds tomatoes had come my way and only some were so bad they had to be composted. All done on the woodstove, of course! The post arrived and it was a good day as I got my quarterly dose of 'The Permaculture Magazine' and my weekly prescription of NewScientist. Both excellent reads, some familliar and easy to digest stuff and usually some challenging and thought-provoking items. I look forward to my next few nightly reads, as I always read for a half hour or so before sleeping, even if I retire at 1 or 2am.
Gill went to school to help with a school trip that our youngest was going on, they took the bendy bus which was apparently a lot of fun as it has CCTV and every time the youngsters saw themselves on it, they cheered and got over-excited. I cycled to Out Of This World and returned some plastic containers which had come home with me yesterday full of gubbins, and Marianne the boss gave me my month's 'honourarium' (is this how it is spelled? is this what it is?) I am a voluntary composter but the company values my services and gives me £25/month for recycling the majority of their biodegradables that can't be recycled in other ways, like cardboard which gets made into more cardboard.
Then onto the Credit Union to save this money, Mike the manager gave me some very good news which I hope to be able to share with Blog-readers in the future.
Then to Cycle Heaven where they swapped my mended and partly rebuilt bike for £165. Feels like new! Lovely, and a swift cycle to Jean out on Poppleton Rd, where I wrote a letter for her as she's too old to write by herself. She couldn't even sign it. I feel so sorry for her, old age and decrepitude isn't nice. She really wants to die, she doesn't see the point of still being alive. It's not a dignified way to spend the last months/years of her life. I really enjoy being with her, though, and was glad to help her keep in touch with an old couple she's fond of. They used to 'do' YHA trips together.
I spent an hour and a half with Jean and bombed home, it always seems downhill from Poppleton Road to Hull Road! Busy times at home as Justin Rowlatt, BBC Newsnight's Ethical Man phoned and suggested that the Yorkshire Post might be interested in my 'story', ie that I'm a keen composter with a low-impact-lifestyle. Then The Yorkshire Post phoned and I chatted/was interviewed for some time, also discussing how/when/where the YP photographer could get a shot of me/my compost bins. This will be on Sunday morning, the article will go out on Monday and Panorama, with Justin's challenge, goes out on Monday evening, so long as no huge story blows up and takes over. Exciting! I'll do anything to promote sustainability!
I went to school with a trailer-load of chainsaw and shredder at 5ish, to assist the school in disposing of a tree which blew over a couple of weeks ago. They're happy for me to have the logs and shredded twigs, as I can use/recycle both. Thank You School!
I sent 54 emails in the evening, telling people about my forthcoming Panorama appearance.
Bed was too late really, but I did get a bit of NewScientist in!
Spent some of the morning preparing soup for tea.... a large load of seconds tomatoes had come my way and only some were so bad they had to be composted. All done on the woodstove, of course! The post arrived and it was a good day as I got my quarterly dose of 'The Permaculture Magazine' and my weekly prescription of NewScientist. Both excellent reads, some familliar and easy to digest stuff and usually some challenging and thought-provoking items. I look forward to my next few nightly reads, as I always read for a half hour or so before sleeping, even if I retire at 1 or 2am.
Gill went to school to help with a school trip that our youngest was going on, they took the bendy bus which was apparently a lot of fun as it has CCTV and every time the youngsters saw themselves on it, they cheered and got over-excited. I cycled to Out Of This World and returned some plastic containers which had come home with me yesterday full of gubbins, and Marianne the boss gave me my month's 'honourarium' (is this how it is spelled? is this what it is?) I am a voluntary composter but the company values my services and gives me £25/month for recycling the majority of their biodegradables that can't be recycled in other ways, like cardboard which gets made into more cardboard.
Then onto the Credit Union to save this money, Mike the manager gave me some very good news which I hope to be able to share with Blog-readers in the future.
Then to Cycle Heaven where they swapped my mended and partly rebuilt bike for £165. Feels like new! Lovely, and a swift cycle to Jean out on Poppleton Rd, where I wrote a letter for her as she's too old to write by herself. She couldn't even sign it. I feel so sorry for her, old age and decrepitude isn't nice. She really wants to die, she doesn't see the point of still being alive. It's not a dignified way to spend the last months/years of her life. I really enjoy being with her, though, and was glad to help her keep in touch with an old couple she's fond of. They used to 'do' YHA trips together.
I spent an hour and a half with Jean and bombed home, it always seems downhill from Poppleton Road to Hull Road! Busy times at home as Justin Rowlatt, BBC Newsnight's Ethical Man phoned and suggested that the Yorkshire Post might be interested in my 'story', ie that I'm a keen composter with a low-impact-lifestyle. Then The Yorkshire Post phoned and I chatted/was interviewed for some time, also discussing how/when/where the YP photographer could get a shot of me/my compost bins. This will be on Sunday morning, the article will go out on Monday and Panorama, with Justin's challenge, goes out on Monday evening, so long as no huge story blows up and takes over. Exciting! I'll do anything to promote sustainability!
I went to school with a trailer-load of chainsaw and shredder at 5ish, to assist the school in disposing of a tree which blew over a couple of weeks ago. They're happy for me to have the logs and shredded twigs, as I can use/recycle both. Thank You School!
I sent 54 emails in the evening, telling people about my forthcoming Panorama appearance.
Bed was too late really, but I did get a bit of NewScientist in!
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