Thursday 18th March 10

Up early enough to be ready to get to St Nicks soon after 10am, where there was a meeting of the Federation of City Farms.

My talk on 'Extreme Composting' was on the agenda for 10.45. I had 8 of the 11 attendees, the other talk/workshop was about organising events.

I started with the basics of composting as there were a few people from a new project in Scunthorpe who claimed to know nothing, and I soon moved onto how to compost cooked food, the 'unofficial' way (just bung it on your heap!) and moved onto Bokashi, the official way home composters can recycle cooked, processed and fleshy food. A quick mention of Rockets and Big Hannah technology, and then onto humanure. Then I told them about what used to happen in New York state, where there are thousands of deer killed on the roads every year, and these created pollution problems etc just left on the side of the road. So the solution now is to compost them in windrows of sawdust and woodchip. This led on to how to dispose of human carcasses, and a discussion of Promession, the yet-to-be implemented compost burial method. Finally, a quick tour of the compost bins and wormeries.

The talk went down well, and I enjoyed it too. Next we all went for a walk down to the Tang Hall allotments where there is a newish project called Garden Able. This is an accessible allotment, with pavers and raised beds made of tyres. Unfortunately there is a huge amount of resistance from the council, and they have declared the tyres unacceptable (no reason given, as they don't leach toxins and are extremely stable) so these will be replaced with raised beds made of wood.

Then back to the centre for lunch. I chatted with the proprietor of a restaurant from Scunthorpe who has land and is hosting a Community Supported Agriculture project. We chatted about composting all types of food waste. I told her about the Ridan, hope she contacts me as I'm sure I can help.

Lunch was awesome... delicious soup (tasted like a mix of squash and carrot, with lentil) plus baguettes, cheese, salads. Yummy!

In the afternoon there was a talk about a project called OPAL, which is all about wildlife, animals and plants, and I need to research more about it as it seemed really interesting. We then did some pond dipping with Sarah from OPAL, and found a few nice beasties... this took me back to my childhood as I haven't done pond dipping for so long!

I left after 3pm to get back home before our eldest, got in just 5 minutes earlier than him.

I did a load of housework before I got changed out of my tidy clothes and the went into the garden til 6.45 when I came in for tea... cauliflower, potatoes and a Gilly nutloaf.

Quite a peaceful evening, watched my favourite politician on Question Time.

Thursday 22nd October 09

A lie-in. Awoke with a phone call, then got up and got my huge ladder to start removing the Wisteria which is trying to eat the house. I need to do this to allow the builders to replace the fascia boards and to get access to the roof to put the solar panels on, and defunct chimney off.

This took most of the day. I got the shredder out too, and shredded all the stuff I took off, making 5 sacks of shredded Wisteria for composting.

At 5 I stopped and got myself ready to go to work. I'd been booked to go to Bishopthorpe Beavers and do my show. They are like CubScouts but smaller! So, maybe 20 six and seven year old boys who loved my show and participated fully. I made it quite science-heavy but also with maximum fun, including the gag I do with the Indian club and banging it on my head which makes my eyes go wonky. Oh I do love my job! And I get paid to have such fun! Amazing!

Home by 8pm, had tea (Gill had made rice tonight) and then enjoyed Question Time with the idiotic Nick Griffin who showed himself up as many people had hoped he would. I think appearing on this programme has actually been a good thing, as people have been able to see what a vile piece of work he is.

I had a good chat with Ali on the phone at midnight, and then did the washing up, bed after 2am, as usual.

Thursday 24th September 09

A very quiet day in many ways.... nothing much happened in the morning, apart from me washing up and Gill cleaning the fridge, and in the afternoon, again, not a lot to report. However, at 3.15 we had visitors... the solar panel people, Harris Construction, with a rep from Solarwall who will supply the panel.

So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.

Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.

Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.

This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.


We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.