Woke at 9 and rushed downstairs to have breakfast as I'd promised Frank at the allotment that I'd help him out at 9.30 with putting the roof on the new shed... shed is not really the right word, it's a substantial building for the shop and store. It has a flat roof which is designed to be 'living', ie have plants growing on it... so it needed some special preparation. There had been some rain during the night so the first thing was to sweep off as much water as possible... not easy as I only had a tiny broom, but did my best. Then a few bits of plastic sheeting to protect the butyl rubber sheet from splinters, then the very heavy butyl sheet, the sort of thing that's used to line ponds.
This had been cut to the right size and covered the roof perfectly with just a tiny overhang over every edge. On top of this went some felt geotextile and when that ran out, a volunteer went to get some more, but this was much thinner, althought still protected the butyl from the next layer, which was limestone chips, for drainage. This was mainly bucketed up (we did try using builders bags but they were too heavy with more than 3 buckets worth of stones in) using buckets and ropes. The stones were spread thinly, about 1cm thick on average, and on top of this was spread a good thick layer of a mix of loam, vermiculite, shredded softwood and the limestone chippings. Again, this was bucketed up with a team of perhaps 10 mixing, shovelling hauling up and spreading. I worked from 9.40 til 12.40, ended up knackered but having helped do the job. The roof will be planted up with sempervivums, or houseleeks, a lovely hardy rosetted succulent with good drought resistence, places for wildlife to hide, and super flower spikes which are a nectar source for bees etc. Should be lovely.
Got home to find Gill had made bread, so enjoyed sandwiches, then did emails and encouraged the boys to do their homework. My eldest finished his diagram of the water cycle so he was rewarded with coming down to town with me on the bikes, and we went to Cycle Heaven and I bought him a loud bike bell, which he's wanted for a bit since his last one fell to bits.
After this we went to Out Of This World, which is sadly closing today, and picked up some recyclables and then did a last shop there, for assorted stuff including the delicious vegan ice cream we all love. Met up with one of the directors and chatted with him, he's sad too as this business venture, started in 1995, has been put out of business by the main supermarkets, who can sell organic and fair trade goods more cheaply than the little co-operative with just a few shops.
A good cycle home, and the boys tea was nearly ready, but just enough time to have a game of picture consequences with the boys. All draw a head, leaving a neck available for the next person to continue, and fold the head back so the next person cannot see it, then pass it on. Each player gets a sheet with a neck to continue with a torso, leaving a pair of leag tops sticking out for the next player to do. Finally the drawer of the head gets their paper back and it can be unfolded to much hilarity.
I had my tea... some rather old nutloaf and two slightly out of date calzone pasties with leek and tomato sauce I made on the stove... filling and delicious.
A warm evening with the stove drying grapes into raisins!
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Friday 9th November 07
I took the kiddies to school and then cycled on to Cycle Heaven as my new bike has a bit of a problem with the front light getting knocked when the front wheel turns right round and contacts the frame, which happens when the bike falls over. The light has got knocked several times and last night, it happened again and the fitting got broken.
Anyway, the mega chilled and multi talented Ashley fixed it by putting the light onto a lower bracket, which means when the wheel turns right back, the light misses contacting the frame.
Came back via Martin's and collected a couple of sacks of biodegradables, and came home for 10am, Gill just leaving for her art class. I kept my sacks on the trailer and cycled to St Nicks for the York Rotters research session with the Open University and the New Economics Foundation, a project funded by DEFRA.
This meeting was very interesting, as the aim was to find out about the benefits of community composting groups, the environmental, social, health and other benefits, and how to measure these. At the meeting there were several volunteers, several 'managers' and one recipient of composting advice, my friend Debbie whom I got a compost bin and she's still using it.
The session lasted til nearly 3pm, used loads of post-it notes and was good for us Rotters as a planning session too, as it helped us look at what we were doing and see where we need to go now.
Home to an empty house, Gill had gone to pick up the boys, so I spent some time putting together the new compost bin from CompostFlow... this was not particularly easy, but I did it eventually.
Had the broccoli soup I made yesterday for tea... lovely. Then went out to the GreenSpeak meeting at Miller's Yard, which was on The Future of York, and was interesting and quite complex.
Got a phone call from Out Of This World, a phone call I had not been looking forward to, that they will be closing tomorrow. I was told last week by the staff that the whols company, the Creative Consumer Co-op, was in financial difficulty, and now all the stores are closing. Such a pity. Sadness.
Came home via a skip with wood offcuts in it which I had asked about earlier, filled the trailer and brought them home.
Anyway, the mega chilled and multi talented Ashley fixed it by putting the light onto a lower bracket, which means when the wheel turns right back, the light misses contacting the frame.
Came back via Martin's and collected a couple of sacks of biodegradables, and came home for 10am, Gill just leaving for her art class. I kept my sacks on the trailer and cycled to St Nicks for the York Rotters research session with the Open University and the New Economics Foundation, a project funded by DEFRA.
This meeting was very interesting, as the aim was to find out about the benefits of community composting groups, the environmental, social, health and other benefits, and how to measure these. At the meeting there were several volunteers, several 'managers' and one recipient of composting advice, my friend Debbie whom I got a compost bin and she's still using it.
The session lasted til nearly 3pm, used loads of post-it notes and was good for us Rotters as a planning session too, as it helped us look at what we were doing and see where we need to go now.
Home to an empty house, Gill had gone to pick up the boys, so I spent some time putting together the new compost bin from CompostFlow... this was not particularly easy, but I did it eventually.
Had the broccoli soup I made yesterday for tea... lovely. Then went out to the GreenSpeak meeting at Miller's Yard, which was on The Future of York, and was interesting and quite complex.
Got a phone call from Out Of This World, a phone call I had not been looking forward to, that they will be closing tomorrow. I was told last week by the staff that the whols company, the Creative Consumer Co-op, was in financial difficulty, and now all the stores are closing. Such a pity. Sadness.
Came home via a skip with wood offcuts in it which I had asked about earlier, filled the trailer and brought them home.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Thursday 8th November 07
Quite a good day, had a fairly chilled morning, various jobs around the house and then to town to transfer some money from savings to bank, so there's some money in there. I called in on Out Of This World but they had nothing since yesterday so came back via Martin's and then the lottie, where my compost pile got another good layer of veg and fruit. Jo came to chat, as she's off to Whitby over the weekend and wanted to talk before tomorrow's York Rotters event.
I dug out a finished heap and put it into several plastic sacks and a dustbin, ready for next spring. Then dug out a half-finished heap and put it into the newly vacated 'New Zealand Bin', and covered it with a sack for the winter. I will allow some rain to get to it, but not too much or the goodness will wash out.
Got back for a late lunch and tried to get on with preparing some nosh for the kids tea. Made broccoli soup on the woodstove. Gill had been making pizza dough. Gill went to see our little one's assembly, I collected our older one at 4.15 after Drama Club.
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble during the evening and she slaughtered me... I picked rubbish letters!
I dug out a finished heap and put it into several plastic sacks and a dustbin, ready for next spring. Then dug out a half-finished heap and put it into the newly vacated 'New Zealand Bin', and covered it with a sack for the winter. I will allow some rain to get to it, but not too much or the goodness will wash out.
Got back for a late lunch and tried to get on with preparing some nosh for the kids tea. Made broccoli soup on the woodstove. Gill had been making pizza dough. Gill went to see our little one's assembly, I collected our older one at 4.15 after Drama Club.
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble during the evening and she slaughtered me... I picked rubbish letters!
Wednesday 7th November 07
A reasonable day... first thing Gill went to see if the money that CompostFlow had taken out of our account had been put back in... it hadn't. So checked with our bank... and there was no sign of it coming in. So I phoned CompostFlow and informed them that I would be starting proceedings with the Trading Standards as they hadn't contacted me with an apology, or information, and they'd still got money of mine they shouldn't have. The very pleasent telephone operator said he's ask a manager to contact me, and then phoned back and said someone would ring at 1pm.
I had to go out to meet Frank at the allotment, to give him my seed order (seeds, spuds and onions) and then spent some time chopping back brambles and putting them on one of the 4 compost heaps on my lottie.
Gill stayed in, mended the flat tyre on our youngest's bike, and painted some cards for various relatives' birthdays. She did a lovely picture of an orchid and another of an arum lilly. The CompostFlow people didn't ring up, so when I got in I rand Trading Standards and they said get back in touch if the company hadn't responded for 2 weeks after recieving our letter!
I got the kids and there was a booksale on... ended up them both getting a book each, costing £12, then cycling home.
Enjoyed a programme on Silbury Hill on Freeview whilst shelling pumpkin seeds.
I had to go out to meet Frank at the allotment, to give him my seed order (seeds, spuds and onions) and then spent some time chopping back brambles and putting them on one of the 4 compost heaps on my lottie.
Gill stayed in, mended the flat tyre on our youngest's bike, and painted some cards for various relatives' birthdays. She did a lovely picture of an orchid and another of an arum lilly. The CompostFlow people didn't ring up, so when I got in I rand Trading Standards and they said get back in touch if the company hadn't responded for 2 weeks after recieving our letter!
I got the kids and there was a booksale on... ended up them both getting a book each, costing £12, then cycling home.
Enjoyed a programme on Silbury Hill on Freeview whilst shelling pumpkin seeds.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Tuesday 6th November 07
A busy day... our 8th Wedding anniversary and 14th since our first kiss. Gill took the boys to school, our youngest walking as his bike has developed a puncture.
We managed to spend a bit of time together but both had quite a lot to do, so we both got on with jobs around the house.... just the usual housework including washing up, sorting beans which I've harvested, and I had some time in the garden preparing a space for the new composter to sit in. Also rang the Maudsley Hospital in London to check if I really needed to take 'informants' down with me at the end of the month for my diagnosis, and then had a conversation with my Dad, and later, my Mum. Also today got a call from Catherine from York Rotters asking if I could bring a person along who had recieved advice from a trained Rotter and was still composting. I called on Debbie over the road, checked her composter and invited her to come to the Open University research day on Friday. She was delighted to be asked.
Soon after 2pm I cycled down to school to pick up our year 6 child, who has to decide which secondary school to go to next September. So he came out of school early and cycled down to Fulford School, as he missed the main open evening a couple of weeks age due to illness, and we had a guided tour of the buildings. Didn't see in many classrooms as they were still being used, but did get a feel of the school, and it will be the second choice after Archbishop Holgate... Fulford's a lot further away and it's a much bigger school.
We came back via the Co-op which is quite near that, and I found what I think is a beefsteak fungus on an oak tree on the way home.
I popped down to Out Of This World for my 'beginning of the week' pick up, and back via Martin's, where I got 7 pineapples as well as a tray of more readily compostable materials. The only thing wrong with the pineapples is that their leaf rosettes are a bit manky... the fruit is fine, and I spent an hour preparing 3 of them for drying on the stove.
Gill went out to a theatre thing with our friend who is the crossing lady at Lord Deramores. Iput the kids to bed... as a pre bedtime treat we had a game of 'consequences' where each player starts a story and writes a few lines, leaving a half line for the next player to continue, and folding back the finished lines so the next player cannot see what the story is about. The sheets get passed around and when the sheets are full, they are read out, usually with much hilarity.
The boys went to bed with good behaviour and got some reading time as a reward.
I had a short Googlechat with K over in the US of A and finished the 3rd pineapple, peeled and sliced some windfall pears, and whilst watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on Freeview, shelled a load of pumpkin seeds, which is easy and not too tedious.
We managed to spend a bit of time together but both had quite a lot to do, so we both got on with jobs around the house.... just the usual housework including washing up, sorting beans which I've harvested, and I had some time in the garden preparing a space for the new composter to sit in. Also rang the Maudsley Hospital in London to check if I really needed to take 'informants' down with me at the end of the month for my diagnosis, and then had a conversation with my Dad, and later, my Mum. Also today got a call from Catherine from York Rotters asking if I could bring a person along who had recieved advice from a trained Rotter and was still composting. I called on Debbie over the road, checked her composter and invited her to come to the Open University research day on Friday. She was delighted to be asked.
Soon after 2pm I cycled down to school to pick up our year 6 child, who has to decide which secondary school to go to next September. So he came out of school early and cycled down to Fulford School, as he missed the main open evening a couple of weeks age due to illness, and we had a guided tour of the buildings. Didn't see in many classrooms as they were still being used, but did get a feel of the school, and it will be the second choice after Archbishop Holgate... Fulford's a lot further away and it's a much bigger school.
We came back via the Co-op which is quite near that, and I found what I think is a beefsteak fungus on an oak tree on the way home.
I popped down to Out Of This World for my 'beginning of the week' pick up, and back via Martin's, where I got 7 pineapples as well as a tray of more readily compostable materials. The only thing wrong with the pineapples is that their leaf rosettes are a bit manky... the fruit is fine, and I spent an hour preparing 3 of them for drying on the stove.
Gill went out to a theatre thing with our friend who is the crossing lady at Lord Deramores. Iput the kids to bed... as a pre bedtime treat we had a game of 'consequences' where each player starts a story and writes a few lines, leaving a half line for the next player to continue, and folding back the finished lines so the next player cannot see what the story is about. The sheets get passed around and when the sheets are full, they are read out, usually with much hilarity.
The boys went to bed with good behaviour and got some reading time as a reward.
I had a short Googlechat with K over in the US of A and finished the 3rd pineapple, peeled and sliced some windfall pears, and whilst watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on Freeview, shelled a load of pumpkin seeds, which is easy and not too tedious.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Monday 5th November 07
Quite a good day, as woke to a quiet house.... the boys had a peaceful morning before school and so I wasn't woken by shouting. Gill took them to school and I went back to bed, she joined me when she got back. So good to have a lazy morning!
Spent some time building a new logpile and draining a watwerbutt which has developed a leak... I think the tap on the base has been bumped and the seal damaged. Then my new composter arrived..... a 400 litre CompostFlow, made by SunMar who also make compost toilets. I started soring out a place to put it, which meant emptying a 'dalek' into another larger 'sit n wait' container.
I got the kiddies, coming home with another load of leaves.
I had a YorkLETS meeting in the evening at the Seahorse on the Fishergate Gyratory, it was a quick and businesslike meeting, finishing at about 8.30, and the 5 of us who turned up all went back to our homes. A quiet evening. Did a load of paperwork, invoices, forms, cheques to send.
Spent some time building a new logpile and draining a watwerbutt which has developed a leak... I think the tap on the base has been bumped and the seal damaged. Then my new composter arrived..... a 400 litre CompostFlow, made by SunMar who also make compost toilets. I started soring out a place to put it, which meant emptying a 'dalek' into another larger 'sit n wait' container.
I got the kiddies, coming home with another load of leaves.
I had a YorkLETS meeting in the evening at the Seahorse on the Fishergate Gyratory, it was a quick and businesslike meeting, finishing at about 8.30, and the 5 of us who turned up all went back to our homes. A quiet evening. Did a load of paperwork, invoices, forms, cheques to send.
Sunday 4th November 07
I got started fairly early this morning as I had an enormous pile of not-waste from the veg shop, I'd say at least 200kg. I finished unloading the 600 litre 'compostumbler' and immediately started refilling, with alternating layers of woodchips and shredded hedge with dead lettuces, courgettes, carrots, hundreds of apples and pears, and other veg and fruit, all chopped to help them rot quicker. I managed to completely fill the compostumbler in one go, it should go like a bomb! Well, like a hot compost heap actually...
I took a break for an hour to watch Countryfile and have an early lunch, but didn't come back in to listen to Gardeners' Question Time, I think Gill recorded it. I can always listen to it on the web, the 'listen again' service is very good.
I spent all of the afternoon in the garden, and dug out a finished sit n wait heap too, turning it into a neighbouring bay made with pallets. This first turn after a long 'sit n wait' is enough to finish the process, the next time I visit this material, it will be rotted down enough to riddle and use. I remember making this heap, it was at Easter as I recognise some of the bones, from three Xmas turkeys which had been in a shop freezer until then, and given to me for recycling as they were out of date. I've never composted turkeys before, only smaller roadkill birds like ducks, crows and songbirds. But they rotted well in the hot heap conditions, leaving only the larger bones until now, which will be mostly gone by next spring when I'll have the compost ready for use.
The boys spent quite a bit of the day in their pyjamas doing their homework... my 10 year old doing 2 A4 sheets on gases, including a piece on farts! My 8 year old had to prepare a book review so he justabout read a whole book in one day, I think it was 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' or something like that. So because of good behaviour, I made up a 'one log bonfire' for them, on the lawn (well, in the lawn, as you cut out and remove a chunk of turf to put the split log into). We had this after 6pm, whilst neighbours were letting off their fireworks. We had 2 packets of sparklers, one log and two thin-wood fruit trays as tinder for our frugal but wonderful mini outdoor fire. Much better than a big wasteful bonfire! Less smoke too, as the shape of the split log helps it burn cleanly.
During the evening a baby hedgehog visited us and was snuffling round in the undergrowth, very cute. Didn't seem to mind the fire, it came within a couple of metres of it.
A late night doing my paid blog, a second on white poppies, as there was a comment about them from last week's offering.
I took a break for an hour to watch Countryfile and have an early lunch, but didn't come back in to listen to Gardeners' Question Time, I think Gill recorded it. I can always listen to it on the web, the 'listen again' service is very good.
I spent all of the afternoon in the garden, and dug out a finished sit n wait heap too, turning it into a neighbouring bay made with pallets. This first turn after a long 'sit n wait' is enough to finish the process, the next time I visit this material, it will be rotted down enough to riddle and use. I remember making this heap, it was at Easter as I recognise some of the bones, from three Xmas turkeys which had been in a shop freezer until then, and given to me for recycling as they were out of date. I've never composted turkeys before, only smaller roadkill birds like ducks, crows and songbirds. But they rotted well in the hot heap conditions, leaving only the larger bones until now, which will be mostly gone by next spring when I'll have the compost ready for use.
The boys spent quite a bit of the day in their pyjamas doing their homework... my 10 year old doing 2 A4 sheets on gases, including a piece on farts! My 8 year old had to prepare a book review so he justabout read a whole book in one day, I think it was 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' or something like that. So because of good behaviour, I made up a 'one log bonfire' for them, on the lawn (well, in the lawn, as you cut out and remove a chunk of turf to put the split log into). We had this after 6pm, whilst neighbours were letting off their fireworks. We had 2 packets of sparklers, one log and two thin-wood fruit trays as tinder for our frugal but wonderful mini outdoor fire. Much better than a big wasteful bonfire! Less smoke too, as the shape of the split log helps it burn cleanly.
During the evening a baby hedgehog visited us and was snuffling round in the undergrowth, very cute. Didn't seem to mind the fire, it came within a couple of metres of it.
A late night doing my paid blog, a second on white poppies, as there was a comment about them from last week's offering.
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