Monday 5th July 10

I had a busy and enjoyable day.

My first job was to try to finish the notes from last night's YiT meeting, so I got up before 8am and started transferring stuff from my notebook to an email, to send it to the others who attended the meeting so they could check the notes before they are sent out to the rest of the group.

But I got distracted by wanting breakfast and in order to do that I needed to wash up....... so I did a batch and had breakfast, and I didn't get the minutes completely done before I had to go to St Nicks to attend the Rotters Management meeting, starting at 10.

I really enjoyed this meeting; the current team is working really well together and I really like Sara our Council Waste Minimisation person, as she's very positive and easy to work with. We had a brief talk about Edible York and the possible development of a Master Gardener scheme. We reviewed the recent York Rotters events and some forthcoming ones. One thing we want to do is to make a video about our work, so we watched a couple of local films from local film-makers and discussed why we wanted it, what message, who it is aimed at, how it would be used. I volunteered to do an initial script, to work out how much info we can fit into the time available. We discussed the future of commercial waste recycling and whether we can promote composting in commercial premises. Again, I have a bit of work to do to find some info about this. Finally, it has been suggested in some parts of the media (Telegraph) that teabags should be torn up before adding to the compost heap, as some bags are made of non-biodegradable materials (ie certain sorts of plastic). We think that the advice is not necessary and might become a barrier to recycling these items, and lots of people don't have a problem with teabags. I do find some uncomposted tea bag 'ghosts' in my finished compost and I either ignore them or take them out along with other 'contraries'.

The meeting finished at about midday and I came home for an early lunch as my next appointment was at 1.40 at the Hospital, to have my plaster cast taken off and something else put on. I didn't have more than 15 minutes to wait before I was invited into the inner sanctum and 10 minutes later had the temporary pot cut off. My ankle and foot was quite swollen, and I admitted that I hadn't managed to take it easy. She asked if I'd elevated my foot at all, and I said that I'd had it up on a chair. She pulled my foot right up in the air and said 'like this?'... well I hadn't been told to do acrobatics! She said to reduce my swelling I had to raise it right up in the air, above my head! Then she explained about the two alternatives, and looked at the X-rays and prodded my foot. She decided on a removable plastic 'walker' with an inflatable inner to immobilise the ankle. This would allow me to exercise my foot with it off, and wash, but support it when up and about. I was very happy with this decision, and only had another 15 minutes wait for chap to fit it, and show me how to inflate it.

So I left the Hospital and cycled into town, popped in to see Dylan at Millers Yard, (seven sacks of oranges and coffee grounds!) went to the Guildhall to see about the hire of the Mansion House for a York in Transition Energy Event, and walked across town to cycle home.

Near the Barbican I noticed that the old compacted beds near the cycle track had been given low sides (raised beds) and filled with sand, which was a bit odd. A few yards further on, there was a queue of traffic on Kent St, pointing towards Fawcett St, and there was a female cyclist coming down the 'off side' of the line of traffic (nearer the centre of the road, presumably because the nearside, next to the kerb, was blocked by a thoughtless driver) and suddenly, a 4x4, I think it was a land rover, pulled out and did a U turn, very nearly knocking the cyclist flat. I was quite near and had a word with the driver and he was horribly abusive towards me. I wish I'd got his number plate as I would have reported him to the police. The lady cyclist was stunned and couldn't continue on her way for a few tens of seconds.... she must have been in shock that her life was so very nearly snuffed out. This kind of motorist behaviour makes me very angry.

Anyway, I managed to put my violent thoughts aside and got home.... and then found a message on email about the raised beds... Chloe, the contact person for Edible York, had asked the men putting sand into the beds to stop, and had asked if some compost or top soil could be put in. I messaged back saying that if she'd asked for compost, she'd get the YorWaste composted woody waste stuff, which is really an insult to the word compost, as it's only fit for mulch. It is composted green waste, processed hot and quick, and has few nutrients and when added to soil, is bound to rob the soil of nitrogen as it is very carbon-heavy. So I said that I would be happy to supply some rich 3 year old proper compost, to try to make these beds a bit better. So I cycled 7 sacks down at about 5pm, had a bowl of soup at 6 and another 7 sacks there, arriving at 6.30 when the work party was just getting going. My compost was most welcome. We removed some of the sand and bagged that up (I took 3 sacks away) and mixed in the council woody stuff with the sand and my rich well rotted compost.

Lynn Turner arrived as she was going to the LETS AGM, and there was also my friend Bill Eve, a lady called Ann who has visited my composting demonstration garden, Dave Broughton and several other Edible York stalwarts. After half an hour Lynn and I went to the Seahorse to the AGM, which I was chairing. This was a lovely meeting too... better attended than we'd expected.
Meeting details to be continued.......... too late to think straight.

Monday 10th May 10

I got up in time to say bye to the kids.

Then it was paperwork time... I finally managed to get some admin done which I've been avoiding for a while, and posted it off. Went to the bread shop for a large bag of 'Yesterbake' rescued bread... this was baked on Saturday, not sold on that day, and available at quarter price today.

I did a lot more dried fruit, some washing up, a bit of outdoor gardening (OK, composting, I confess!), and some pallet smashing.

Then I tried an experimental tomato planting experiment, inspired by Tracey Smith.

How to do Upside Down Tomato Plants with Tracey Smith from Tracey Smith on Vimeo.
I had rescued 3 large plastic milk bottles last night from someone's recycling on Thief Lane (!), the biggest sort, and washed them out with hot water off the stove. Then today I cut off the bottoms with scissors and carefully filled the first few centimetres around the pouring hole with home made seed compost (not too rich) and then above that, richer soil. I laid this on it's side, and carefully made a small hole in the seed compost. Then I took a side shoot off a tumbler tomato and inserted it into the compost. I'm hoping that these will root and then be able to be hung up. I did this with two bottles and two side shoots, each less than 2 cm long. Then I took the mother plant, squashed the root ball and cut the milk exit-hole a bit to allow the insertion of the root ball... and then I put a load of compost mix in the bottle around the roots. I'd made some holes in the base of the bottle (the top, if upside-down) and used re-used string from potato sacks to make a hanging device... and then hung this in the conservatory. I expect the big one to do fine, but don't know about the cuttings.

I enjoyed Gill's mushroom omlette and asparagus, and then went to Ben's for a LETS meeting... actually a seminar to learn about the new YorkLETS website, which is really good. Ben talked us through what the non-logged-in visitor would see, what a logged-in member would see, and how to use the site. Then he explained about the different levels of access... member, committee member, administrator, and we had a go at uploading the newsletter, doing things to peoples' accounts and doing some trading. Magic... this makes LETS come right into the 21st Century and is a lot more user-friendly. And I enjoyed Jill's home-made ickle cakes... yummy!

Home at about 10pm, to do assorted computery-based activities until my usual bed-time of well past 1am.

Monday 5th April 10

A slow start to the day. In fact a slow day. At lunchtime Gill went into town on the bus with our eldest to see 'Clash of the Titans' at the newly refurbished Reel Cinema which is on the No.10 bus route.

I didn't do very much apart from some housework, until mid afternoon when I went out and split some logs, including a Robin Rawson-type accident when a bit of log hit my shin with great force... extreme pain, but no real damage.

At about 4pm, my new friend Sarah came round with her chap Ian, who wanted to see the assorted low carbon initiatives. We had a chat, tour and cuppa, very nice.

At 7.15 I cycled down to the Seahorse to go to the LETS meeting... and only Ben and Annette turned up. But it was a good meeting and I was pleased to see the new YorkLETS website, which will allow members to manage their own listings, and even do online transactions. I came home and logged in, and sorted out my own page. I am very happy to see this development.