Wednesday 11th May 11

A good day as my old friend Glenn came over from Scarborough, mainly to collect some compost worms for his new wormery.  However, his visit coincided with a tour of St Nicks Fields and Environment Centre that my new friend Peter Tatham had booked.  Peter had arranged to come over with a bunch of his colleagues from his gardening project in Bradford, so I suggested to Glenn that he might like to join us.

Before Glenn came I lit the stove as one of our boys needs a bath this evening, and I also had a thrown-away pineapple which needed rescuing, so I sliced that up in the usual way and put it on the rack for drying.  Glenn texted and said he'd be here at 10.30 but that time came and went so I rang St Nicks to ask if he'd gone there instead of here.... which he had.  I bombed down there on my bike and 10 minutes later, Peter and his group arrived.

Ivana led the tour.  We started off with a hot drink in the centre, and we heard the history of the site and how the centre came to be built.  She described the various design features which make the centre use fewer resources than an ordinary building, and some of the activities that happen there.  I learned something new.... the rainwater harvesting system is not providing enough water for the centre.  This is due to a combination of factors.... there are far more people using the centre than originally envisaged, the 1500 litre tank is not big enough, and the roof too small to provide, and crucially, there's been several very dry periods with not enough rain to refill the tank.  So on several occasions, a hose has been used to fill up the tank.  But this isn't a sustainable solution, so a decision has been made to connect the centre to the mains water.  The other news is that when a huge Syccamore tree was pollarded to increase the amount of wind available to the wind turbine, there was a storm and a strong gust damaged a part of the turbine, rendering it useless.  And as it's 10 years old, the repacement part is not 'off the shelf' and is having to be manufactured specially.  What a nuisance!

We then had a walk around the nature reserve.  Glenn is a bird expert and spotted quite a few things including a Whitethroat. At the end of the tour, Glenn drove to our house and I cycled back, and we went for a walk to Tang Hall Lane to collect a prescription and buy bread.

We had lunch and then wandered down the garden to collect the worms I'd collected yesterday.  He gave me some Borlotti beans and I swapped them for some Pea Beans which I'm growing in toilet rolls.

He got off and I did a bit more wood management.

Gill made a tea based on noodles and veg in the wok, I helped a little bit, preparing some of the vegetables.  I then set out for Green Drinks at the Three Legged Mare, which I had to go to as I'm one of the admins for the group and Tom, the other one, wasn't able to go.  I met my old friend Fez or Ferret outside the York Arms and we chatted for a bit.... memories of  his old band the Suicidal Flowers.

However, I had to wait for other Green Drinks people... but no one came for the best part of an hour... but it was good to see folks when they did!

I came home via the cycle path and St Nicks.

Wednesday 3rd November 10

Another good day, despite being woken by sounds of distress.  So, assorted housework in the morning and not getting time to sort out the leafmould which I was really hoping to do before the 2pm rendezvous at St Nicks with the University of York Green Party.  I'd arranged this a couple of weeks ago, to show a group of students around the Environment Centre and Nature Reserve, and to open it up to others, I'd made a facebook 'event' for the tour. 

I got there at 1.55 and there was also a group of University of the Third Age visitors who were wanting a look round, so I ended up taking them round too.  We started with the 'passive solar design' of the building and the two types of solar panels, rainwater recycling and Sedum roof.  I showed them a sample compost bin and wormery, and inside, the cut-out wheelie bin and the energy balance monitor, displaying the energy generated and used by the building.

Outside, we saw the recycling compound, and went up on the bund to see the James Street office and light industrial buildings which could have covered the St Nicks area too, had the local people not made a fuss.  We saw the John Lally Wood and the older trees which were growing on the surface of the landfill when it was capped with clay.  We went via the stone circle back to the centre, where Jonathan the Volunteer Manager gave a 5 minute presentation about the various volunteering opportunities available.

It was a really nice walk round; I always enjoy showing people round St Nicks.  It is a very special place for me.  One of the people on the tour was Emma, who's a mature undergraduate from Harrogate, who had asked if she could interview me for her Dissertation on Transition Towns.  So she walked back with me and once ensconced on the sofa with a chamomile tea, she asked me a list of questions with a tape recorder going.  This was good too.

But it left no time for doing my leafmould cage.  It was getting dark by the time she left, so I didn't do any more outside, just bits and bobs in the kitchen, and after the children had gone to bed, another load of late-night fruit peeling, slicing and balancing on the drying racks.