Be Vigilant

I was walking about town the other day, and I saw this sight. Masses and masses of autumn leaves in plastic sacks. This set off alarmbells straight away. The fact that the leaves were packed in heavy duty plastic sacks ,as apposed to compostable sacks, made me realise that the council had no intention of composting these leaves,and were planning to incinerate them instead. .As an organic farmer you can imagine how destressing this was to me 

I rang the council (Ealing London) and had it confirmed that the leaves were destined for land fill or incineration.,the reason being that there was too much  contaminate in the leaves, in the form of heavy metals.and litter.

This reason was in reality only a half truth in as much as A there wasnt much litter in amongst the leasve.B with very little effort the litter present could have been selected out at point of collection.C any remaining litter,of a noncompostable nature could easly be sifted out at the final stage of composting.
then there was the original question Why were the leaves in plastic.noncompostable bags anyway?Even though the council had decided to land fill with the leaves,compostable bags should have been an essential.the reason being that the councils decision to use heavy duty plastic is extremely distructive and poluting to the land fill process itself,inasmuch as,firstly any material that composts in plastic will be anarobic therefore producing a lot of greenhouse gas methaine. secondly the plastic residues themselves pose a long term toxic legacy in the landfill site.and thirdly should the land fill site catch fire ,a not uncommojnn event,then the plastic will release a cocktail of some of the most poisiones fumes known to man ,including the notorious gas dioxin, in famious for causing cancer birth defect, cronic illness and death. Further more the problems of incinerating plastic, has been well documented too.
Again the considerations about heavy metals in the leaves do not really stand up to close examination. It is my fear that all leaves whether they were collected in the vicinity of heavy traffic or not(example parks or relatively low traffic streets)were going to be treated in exactly the same way. What a waste of clean leaves!
Actually incineration of heavy metal contaminated leaves is also a very ill-considered method of disposal as any heavy metal will be released into the air via vector smoke along with a cocktail of cancer stimulating chemicals. or into ground water via vector ash which would contain the heavy metal in an extremely water soluble form, once again along with the cancer inducing chemicals which are an unavoidable result of burning autumn leaves and  especially plastics.

 If the leaves were composted, the heavy metals would be released into the soil slowly over a period of up to five years, as apposed to a couple of hours. during this five years the heavy metals would be exposed to continuous moderating enzymatic influence of bacteria and fungus, which would have an extremely moderating effect, making it much less harmful to people plants and animals.
All in all it is clear that the council has adopted a policy wich is corners cutting. Perhaps one could be a bit stronger.neglent? short sighted? polluting? irresponsible?
What do you thing.? anyway thats what our councils are up to thats how they choose to spend our council tax. and apparently its up to us to insure that they step up to the line. Dont let them get away with it. If we are going to protect our planet we really have to stop interfering with the trees natural service of cleaning up .
 I would like to see this page turning into a Champaign to (A) move the traffic out of our towns and cities (B) move more trees into our urban spaces(C) compost and use all of next years fallen leaves as soil enhancing  plant food.

what is that horrible smell?

A couple of days ago someone queried a horrible smell in the neighbourhood. It was Identified as slurry spreading. It was interesting to read the reaction from various peeps .It ranged accepting it as an inconvenience to living in the country through to being something benefical to ourselves and to wildlife in general No one thought of it as being some thing out of order.

what people dont realise is that there is the world of difference between manure which has a very acceptable smell,and slurry from slurry pits, which has a vile smell. .Not only does it smell disgusting it is the icon of industrial farming. it is the smell of animals being raised in the inhumane conditions of slatted houses.It is the smell of chemically exploited land raped year after year for nothing but profit. It is the smell of genetic modification and momoculture .It is the smell of our bees going extinct. It is the smell of the death of our rural communities. In fact it is the smell of death and in my opinion ,it is not an acceptable smell.

Save seeds for the future no1

saving seeds for the future no1

this short video is to encourage you to save seeds from your favourite flowers and veg.Its probably easier to do than you think.There are a number of advantages of allowing your plants to go through their complete life cycle . you will be protecting the genetic diversity of your food plants. you will be attraction a range or beautiful wildlife into your garden. also you will save on the cost of seed purchase for yourself and hopefully your gardening associates.(start a seed swap club.)
Not only that I am sure that seedsaving will deepen your gardening experience,and your relationship with your garden plants

Vulnerable

Vulnerable

When you choose to garden without toxic chemicals your plants become vulnerable to insect attack. If you are at all identified with your crops you can feel under attack yourself. You might find yourself saying such things as “I put a lot of time and effort into that and now look at it “It is your food after all, you might even say something like, “dam it”.

However, before you go marching off to the shop to buy chemicals please look carefully at the picture bellow

I had been away for four days providing raw food cuisine at a festival with muriel and friends. When we came back our Brussel sprout patch was crawling with cabbage white caterpillars. What had been a few small caterpillars had in the few days away become an infestation. I am wishing that I had taken a picture then as it would have been a brilliant before and after study. I was too devastated to think of taking a photo. However, if you look at the scars on the lower leaves in the picture you can estimate how badly the plants were damaged. In fact, the whole crop was skeletal. And it crossed my mind to cut my losses and pull them all up.

I didn’t pull them up, trusting in the amazing powers of recovery that the cabbage tribe possesses. there followed a week of picking the caterpillars of by hand. It is amazing how cleverly they can hide at first it seemed that though I removed loads, they were back next day in undiminished numbers. Gradually though, through persistence they were visibly diminished, then just a few lingers, then the odd one or two then finally gone and my ragged patch began to recover. I guess it was a little over a month later I had that “oh my god” moment when I realised that the Brussel Sprouts had recovered beyond all expectation and We were going to get a crop after all.

The resulting picture is a great symbol of recovery of hope, of not giving up. Not only did they recover but (I don’t know if the picture really shows this) but with such tender new life

Another spin off of keeping to the “ chemical free way” is that I have a growing population of Ichneumon wasps. Look at the picture below. Not just an amazing insect in its own right, but also a valuable ally in keeping the cabbage white under control next year as these wasps predate on them.

If I had poisoned the caterpillars these wasps would have been killed off too, along with a small but highly significant part of myself, and my relationship with the environment, which brings us back to the beginning. Its…. vulnerable.

p.s I have just pulled this couple of photos of the internet. Our Brussels looked like this or worsre.

       

Tips on making and using compost

tips on making and using compost.the second video shows a stand of mixed sunflowers and grazing rye. very mature compost can be scattered in between the plants. Incidentally the sunflowers have reached maturity at such a small size because they were sown after the longest day and they had to race.I will be harvesting the seeds to use as green manure seed next year.I am very curious to see if the sunflower seeds actually ripen to the point that they can grow. will they be very small seeds ?wait and see




Any crop can benefit from this top dressing of mature compost. Although I would be  careful with lettuce or anything else that I was going to eat any time soon Not to get compost into the leaves..It is a great way to feed your growing crops,and improve your soil at the same time.

Tips on making and using compost

tips on making and using compost.the second video shows a stand of mixed sunflowers and grazing rye. very mature compost can be scattered in between the plants. Incidentally the sunflowers have reached maturity at such a small size because they were sown after the longest day and they had to race.I will be harvesting the seeds to use as green manure seed next year.I am very curious to see if the sunflower seeds actually ripen to the point that they can grow. will they be very small seeds ?wait and see




Any crop can benefit from this top dressing of mature compost. Although I would be  careful with lettuce or anything else that I was going to eat any time soon Not to get compost into the leaves..It is a great way to feed your growing crops,and improve your soil at the same time.

The power of push

I am very grateful to my fellow allotmenteers at Stanmore Winchester for having the good sense to have invested in a manual lawnmower. It was such a joy to use. I had to wonder why petrol or electric lawnmowers have ever become so popular, inasmuch as this lawn mower, being so much lighter than petrol ones was just as easy to push. It has the advantage of being fairly quiet. The simplicity of its mechanism makes it low maintenance,and extremely long lasting.

Furthermore petrol lawnmowers (obviously)use petrol, which is not just a financial burden ,but a moral one when you consider the strangle hold the petrochemical industry has on the planet.

Maybe a motor mower has the edge for large estates with acres of lawn(horrid)but for us the lightness and maneuverability and quietness of a hand pusher is definitely the way to go.along with a grass hook for longer patches of grass and herbs.

If you are thinking of getting a grass cutter i urge you to be kind to your neighbours ,to the planet,and to yourself, and consider a hand pusher.

Oh another thought .A hand pusher might just save you some gym bills

what can we consumers do about over packaging?

The below is a sample letter I sent to a company in which i suggested that they change their packaging policy.I think it is polite even friendly,and to the point. It is my hope that if enough of this type of letter came from us to the producers it could make a difference.What do you think?


  Dear sir or Madam. 

I am the proud owner of one brand new dorma bed sheets.I am very impressed with the quality of the product,and grateful for the sense of luxury on opening the new package.

What did concern me though,and slightly detracted from the pleasure was some considerations on the plastic covering.

I do appreciate that the packaging added some sense of quality to the presentation, but surly i am not the only one who might be looking for a pure cotton product out of some consideration for the environment and the environmental cost of disposal Surly i am not the only one who realises that whether burned or buried, heavy duty plastic is a real problem? 

I am therefore asking you to consider the following ;please look into the possibility of a packaging which not only looks good but which is also benign to dispose of. (compostable).

i thank you once again for a quality product

please feel free to send this sample letter to all of your friends. And get this thing rolling.Below are two examples of excessive packaging.current practice in the uk for disposal of this material is to incinerate it. which causes massive health problems for local populations of people plants and animals. It is much better to cercumvent the problem and insist on  compostable packaging

Eddie Morgan

                What  is this beautiful old cast iron bath doing on legs?

virtual prize for the correct guess

Overcoming Addiction part 3

Dealing with the Devil

I have been doing some subjective arithmetic on the question.    What are the odds that any particular person with a severe addiction will ever recover?   personally there are two people who I know of whom I can put my hand on my heart and say they have made a recovery, one from alcohol, one from heroin . On the other hand I know of the same amount who have died of related causes and twice as many again who are in their addiction and kind of stuck.so roughly speaking 2 in 10 recovered.

In other words if you are in an addiction. looking at the bare statics the odds are stacked against you and there is a very good chance that you will die from it.

On the other hand and over and above these negative speculations the two guys I mentioned are two of the finest men I know , and have become so through their journey to recovery. Therefore ,if you do take the challenge,its going to be so worth it, not just if or when you succeed but every step of the way.

I find it interesting that what ever else they had to go through both guys did what I call a deal with the devil.

"John" decided he wasnt going rto be a hercin addict , he was going to be a weaver. He bought himself a loom ,some colored threads of linnin ,cotton and wool. where ever he moved the loom came with him and i can only immagine that he went through many a difficult time inthecompany and solace of this craft.Eventually he told everyone that he could weave buitfulfrabrics and that he was infact a weaver.

"Deric"told himself thatin giving up his alcohol addiction and all thet went with it , he would always have music to listen to, no matter what it cost.and indeed every time i visited him we eventually listened to some choice recordings.

 Both these solution, were not in  themselves with out cost..I mean how many weavers do you know?How easy can it be to have amazing music available to you when you live in a caravenon a remote hill side on scotlands west coast?

However they achived it, and it is clear that whatever it cost it was worth it. Interestinglythe weaving and the music became centeralthemes in the lives of each men "Deric for instance went on to become a music teacher. Sure enough they had their quirks they mcarried some scars, but both became exceptional people

 So in the light of these considerations lets return to the  a grim prediction speculations I started with , 10 to 2 death by addiction. Quite a grim prediction .Heres another reality. Every time you take a step to over come your addictoion , every time you take responsibility, The odds become better. Please feel free to contact me on this blogg. I would love to celebrate with you your 25/75 mark, your 50/50/, your 75/25mark your hand on your heart Ive made it moment. 

x

 

     Grow your own Fruit 

Strawberries love leaf mould

                                                                                                                                                                    Growing your own fruit and veg is easy and fun. By growing your own you get to taste sun ripened fruit, quite a different experience from their supermarket counterpart. Furthermore, you can avoid the use of toxic chemicals which are necessitated by large-scale monoculture, but not by small scale local enterprise. The strawberries in the picture are being mulched with leaf mould (rotted down autumn leaves) this is their only fertility requirement so that the mulch will not only suppress weeds but as it slowly breaks down will provide a continuous supply of nourishment.

In the back ground is a netted frame to protect our blackcurrants grapes gooseberry and goji berries from birds.

Dandelion

As a gardener I have been guilty of throwing thousands of dandelions on to the compost heap. Not any more. Since I discovered the delight of dandelion coffee, I save every one, even going so far as to replant any that are too small.

This picture shows some dandelion roots freshly washed. They can be make into a dandelion coffee at this stage. Also shown are some roots that have been cut into short lengths and dehydrated (not roasted) and stored in jars. If properly dried they will last for a very long time. I also dry and store couch grass roots in the same way and add to the blender at this stage for their health giving properties. 

To make a warm frothy healthy vegan drink, I put a small amount of roots into a blender. Dried roots can be powdered before hot water is added, while fresh roots can just be blended hot water. Allow plenty of time to pass for the roots to brew. You might want to strain out the coffee at this stage, but fresh roots work well unstrained.Then various things can be added and re-blended, I have used from the following list; coconut oil, carrob, cacco, nettle seeds, macca powder, tiny pinch of quality salt and quality honey.The trick is to be creative. I tend to add there ingredients after the brew has cooled a little as some of the ingredients are heat sensitive. Finally fast blend froths it all up. Delicious.

THE BEAUTY OF HERITAGE VEGETABLES

                                                                   

  THE BEAUTY OF HERITAGE VEGETABLES

Leeks and lettuce in their budding stage

This page is to introduce you to the joy of working with heritage plants. One of the pleasures of this pursuit is that you get to work with every stage of your plant's life cycle. The picture above shows some heritage leeks and lettuce, which have been allowed to grow onto the budding stage. What has happened so far is that we had a mixed bed of lettuce and leek which we harvested as a food crop. However, as we were  harvesting we were careful to leave the best specimens in terms of their type to go on to the next stage. 

The picture above shows the budding stage. The next phase (flowering) is very enjoyable, as the whole bed attracted so many pollinators; bees, butterfly, hoverflies, moths and beetles.

The second picture is of the final stage of the leeks life. It had grown so tall that I had to cut the head off to get it into the picture. So what you see here is the seed head and the roots. The seed head is still a little green, but I was running into very wet and windy weather so cut them a little early. They ripened up very well in a dry shed. Only when the seed heads have gone papery dry, and turned a whitish brown can you begin to rub out the seeds. It is surprising how abundantly just a few plants will provide seeds. However when you consider that leek seeds remain viable for a number of years, it is worth growing a good supply to meet your ongoing gardening needs. Furthermore, I like to have a surplus to swap or give away to my gardening associates, and have a few more again to be able to use some as a spice, where they work as onion seeds. Moreover, you need to have a minimum number to provide a viable genetic population. We saved about fifteen plants to twenty plants, which satisfied the above requirements as well as being a visually pleasing stand. It is nice to realise we wont have to bother saving seeds from this variety for a few years so we can save another variety of leek with out risk of cross pollination .Maybe we wont save any leek seeds at all for a year or two and have time and space for other things.

Another point of interest is that this variety of leek (Blu de Sol) was very willing to produce bulblets a couple of which can be seen as white balls amongst the roots in the above picture. I collected all of these bulblets up and have planted them, that was in he beginning of October. They are already very promising young leeks in the beginning of January.

These bulblets, and the abundance and vigour of the seeds speak to me of the determination of these plants to live. It speaks to me of the partnership between plants and our gardening ancestors,year after year, generation after generation, and that is the beauty of heritage vegetables.