Wednesday 6th April 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Had a peaceful evening, prepared melon slices for drying.

Tuesday 5th April 11

An enjoyable day spent mostly in the garden, but also with a cycle delivery and a Fiddlesticks gig which went well.

So, once I'd had breakfast and done my usual round of emails and facebook messages, I got outside and put another load of compost through the rotary soil sifter machine.  This results in 6 streams of material.  The highly desirable (I hope!) riddled compost... small particles, hardly any 'contraries' ie bits of plastic, wire, stones, other bits and bobs, and this I bag up into plastic carrier bags.  Then there's the stiff which doesn't go through the riddle, but out the other side... five streams, oversize sticks, avocado stones, roadkill animal bones etc, for re-composting; small sticks etc which are bagged up for a mulch, or woody layer in new heaps; chunks of compost which I'm bagging up for Edible York; stones and bits of pottery, brick, etc; and finally the stuff for landfill... mainly plastic tape, film and glue strips.  I really enjoy working through this and getting the sacks of mature compost screened and sorted through and cleaned up.

By 5pm I had got 5 sacks of compost ready for Edible York so I cycled them down to St Clements.  Met one friend on the way home, stopped off at Country Fresh, and then showed Will next door my soil sifter, and finally got into the house at 6pm.  Gill had made some little rissoles from yesterday's left-over rice, with assorted veg and a potato and chive salad.  Yummy!

Then I got changed into my Fiddlesticks gear, loaded up the bike with all my workshop stuff and headed over Walmgate Stray to the Millennium Bridge and then onto the Scout hut on Lorne Street.  This was the second gig with these youngsters, so I did a 5 minute intro, reminding them of the 'how to' and some basic rules, and then we did a one-hour free play session.  Then, 20 minutes from the end, we did a show, with individual children coming up and performing their trick, or tricks.  Most of them were awarded the Circus Performers badge, and I was very surprised, and honoured, to be given one as well.  I waited around for the kids to go and then my contact, James, paid me and I signed the receipt he'd prepared.

A nice cycle home and a relaxing evening followed.

Monday 4th April 11

I got up at 9; Gill had taken our youngest to school in a taxi and we were expecting Will to come and do maths with our home-schooler. 

Gill came back and I got busy in the garden, doing more mechanical riddling and filling sacks with mature compost for Edible York.

I came in for lunch and went out for another short time, to load my trailer... 2 big sacks in the trailer plus the little one's bike, and a sack on my pannier rack.

I cycled down to the Building Society to get out a cheque for Jim Semlyen, to renew http://www.novaterium.com/ and delivered that cheque.  Then on to Cycle Heaven to get a new cycle helmet for our youngest, who's grown out of his old one.  He wanted a green coloured one, so I picked the only green one.  However, this was £54, and I'd wanted to pay only half of this!  So he got a red one for £30.  I then delivered the compost to St Clements, and headed off to the Millennium Bridge to go to the Steiner School.  I did 15 minutes of compost heap management there... the new bin is now ready for some fruity stuff from the daleks next to the playground.  So that's my next job.

My son liked the new skid lid, and we cycled home together... but he did the last bit on his own as I wanted to pop in to Freshways to collect compostables.

I did more work in the garden until just after 6 when I came in (with a good crop of Shiitake!) and Gill told me I could do my own tea... so I did.  Rice based, with Shiitake mushrooms, home grown and fresh off the log!

Then it was the LETS meeting.  I took notes, and wrote them up afterwards.  I seem to have a lot to do.  Not an early night.

Sunday 3rd April 11

Woke up with a bit of headache but got up as some of the family were going with Simon and Melody to a car boot sale at Murton.  Melody arrived and loaded up the few bits and bobs we'd gathered together, and our eldest went in the car with Melody, whilst Gill, Simon and Simon and Melody's son cycled up.  I stayed at home with our youngest.

I got my quiet shredder out and mangled-up all the cherry twigs I pruned off yesterday, depositing them into a builder's bag which was easy to haul down the garden.  This will make a good few layers of woody, carbon-rich material for my heaps. My headache disappeared.

I came in for 11am and watched Country Tracks whilst preparing apples for drying.  I lit the stove and did some washing up.  Gill came back and there were tales of assorted sales.  One of my parcels of NewScientists had been bought... by Simon and Melody!!!

During the afternoon I got out my Scheppach rotary soil sifter and put several sacks of compost through it, and this made 10 carrier bags of lovely fine riddled compost, a very large sack of medium lumps (maybe 30kg?) and 2 buckets worth of sticks, peach stones, avocado stones and skin, and other bits destined to be a woody layer in a working heap.  Oh, and loads of bits of plastic from wrapped cucumbers, fruit labels and glue strips.  I worked til 7pm in the garden, loved it, just loved it.

Gill told me to come in then, and sit and have tea whilst watching Countryfile.  Later, I researched how I'm going to get to my Uncle's funeral in the depths of Norfolk the week after next.  I'll need to make it a day trip... I reckon a train to Peterborough and a bus from there. 

Saturday 2nd April 11

Woke with a headache again.  But I wasn't going to let that stop me doing what I needed to do, so I got on with stuff, including sorting out the large piles of old magazines from our bedroom, as Gill and the boys are going to a car boot sale tomorrow and I wondered if a few bundles of NewScientists might sell.  I also went in the loft to find a few bits and bobs.  I did quite a bit of hoovering as the dust was impressive, and I had to empty the cylinder twice (well, once before I started, but filled it with stuff from our room!)

I wanted to go to the LETS seed swap and plant share at Simon and Melody's, so did a round trip.  I went first to Country Fresh and bought some veggies, and picked up about 75kg of compostables.  Then on to the lottie, to visit the People and Planet Allotment, which has a compost heap in need of some material, so I spent over half an hour chopping up twigs and woody stuff to layer the fruit and veg I piled on.  From here I went to Heslington, and was the LETS event's second visitor.  It was good to chat with Melody and Simon, we always have a joke and a laugh.  I bought a Yorky's worth of seeds from them, some Butternut squash and purple curly kale.

Although I was feeling grotty, still with a headache and bit of a cough, I decided I wanted to support the York in Transition and St Nicks 'Knees Up' fundraiser, so at 8 cycled over to Dalton Terrace and paid my £5 to go and watch the Ceilidh band and dancers, and have some snacky food.

I was really glad I went, as I had an interesting conversation with an unusual woman called Helen, who popped her head round the door to see the inside of the church hall, as she went there with her granny as a little girl.  There were lots of friends there, Edward, JZ and Maggie in the kitchen, Laura Potts and friends dancing, Kate Lock and her daughter, Rich Lane who as usual gave me some sensible feedback on an idea I'm working out at present, Ivana, the main organiser of this event, and John Brierley of course.  I was really please to meet one of Kate's friends, Pauline, who makes costumes, and she provisionally agreed to consider helping York in Transition with a Clothes Repair workshop, as part of our basic skills series of courses. I chatted to lots of other folks too, and enjoyed the buzz of it.

My headache disappeared completely during this event and by the end of it I was feeling back to about 95% of normal.  I really enjoyed the cycle home; the new brakes work really well... which is lucky as a woman was crossing the road in front of me and I aimed to go behind her, thinking she'd continue crossing, but she froze... meaning that I nearly hit her... but for my brakes and good cycling skills!

Home at about 11pm.  Had a bit of a late night......

Friday 1st April 11

Woke fairly early with headache which lasted all day, despite medication.

Spent the morning doing stuff in the house, including replying to my agent (which I later hand-delivered).

I went to buy bread and got a good 'yesterbake' deal from Thomas the Baker on Tang Hall Lane.  I chatted with the guy who delivers the unsold bread and rolls etc to this shop, where it's sold for half price and two for one, so effectively quarter price.  Anything still unsold after this goes to a dog biscuit manufacturer in Doncaster, I think he said.

On the way back I said hello to Jamie, who had 'news' for me... a tree had blown over in his garden overnight and he was busy chopping it up for me to take away!  He also showed me his petrol chainsaw which he is thinking of selling; he showed me how it worked, which it did first time.... but then it refused to start again. 

After lunch a BT Openreach van drew up and our next door neighbour explained that the cherry tree in our front garden had swayed around so much in the wind that it had pulled his phone line out, as the lines to his house and ours go through the tree's top branches.  The good thing is that since the tree is ours, and the damage to our neighbour's line, he doesn't get charged for the repair.  BUT if our wire comes off due to our tree, we'd get a large bill for the repair.  So I got my big stepladder which reaches up to 9 metres, and spent over an hour carefully lopping back quite a few branches so there were none brushing up against either of the wires.  Then I spent more time pruning these branches down into stove-length sticks and shreddable twigs.  The smaller sticks went into a paper potato sack where they'll sit for a year or more to dry off.

I collected our youngest son, taking his bike down on my trailer, via my agent's house which is near the Steiner School.

In the evening I cycled to the York Open Studios event at Bar Lane Studios. My good friend Jonathan, who is the artist Dexter, was showing his work, as were dozens of other people..... I met loads of my friends and really enjoyed myself.

Came home via Freshways and brought back a trailer full of compostable goodies. 

Aiming for another early night, as feeling ropey.

Thursday 31st March 11

Up quite early to see Liam who was heading off in a taxi at 8.45, so he could get the 8.20 train and get to his interview in Durham.

I made up my muesli, had breakfast and then went back to bed for a doze.  Luxury!  I just had an hour, but I wallowed in it...

Then I had a busy morning doing assorted housework, paperwork, admin and the like.  I wasn't feeling very bright... tired, headachy and I've got a cough which is really annoying.

I did a bit of work in the garden and collected logs from Jamie's house and tidied up after the strong gusts of wind which were blowing things around. Working outside made me feel a bit better.

I got a message from an old friend who wanted to talk, so at 5.30 I went to The Brown Cow and had just over an hour of quite intense but enjoyable conversation, after which I cycled 3 sacks of compost down to the St Clements Church beds which Edible York is doing up.  Dave gave me a tour of the area and there's a lot of soil which could do with improvement.  My 30 sacks will be a minimum.  Volunteers were stripping turf, so I came home with a load of that, which should come in useful.