Article in the Evening Standard today about a new book "The Rurbanite: Living in the Country without Leaving the City" by Alex Mitchell.
This book is for people with a passion for the countryside coupled with a reluctance to leave the city any time soon. It seems from the review to have a lot about fitting food growing into small spaces (does it take account of shade?!). Also it sounds as it covers how people are meeting together, becoming villages in the cities.
Sounds really interesting, so I will probably get it.
Will "Rurbanite" catch on?
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Finding uses for manual knitting machines
Transition Leytonstone has been offered 2 manual knitting machines.
Ros Bedlow and I had a chat about what we could do with them. There is the option of finding a good home for one or both of them with someone who can make use of them.
I also suggested that we could have the machine at some event (eg one of the recycling ones held at the Hornbeam Centre), asking people to bring leftover wool, and we knit a blanket there and then. For Oxfam, if they still need them, or an animal shelter if not.
There are instructions, so we might be having a session when those interested can get together and learn how to use the machines.
I've also offered my loft to store them, as Ros's house is getting rather full of Transition stuff. We'd need to find someway of getting them to my house - she thinks they are a bit long to be successfully transported in a shopping trolley each. Then I would need Ros's help to hand them up to me while I was up the loft ladder.
I can remember my grandmother had one of these, so it will be a nostalgia kick to see one working again. I will try and resist adopting one myself - I already have a long list of craft projects to get through!
Ros Bedlow and I had a chat about what we could do with them. There is the option of finding a good home for one or both of them with someone who can make use of them.
I also suggested that we could have the machine at some event (eg one of the recycling ones held at the Hornbeam Centre), asking people to bring leftover wool, and we knit a blanket there and then. For Oxfam, if they still need them, or an animal shelter if not.
There are instructions, so we might be having a session when those interested can get together and learn how to use the machines.
I've also offered my loft to store them, as Ros's house is getting rather full of Transition stuff. We'd need to find someway of getting them to my house - she thinks they are a bit long to be successfully transported in a shopping trolley each. Then I would need Ros's help to hand them up to me while I was up the loft ladder.
I can remember my grandmother had one of these, so it will be a nostalgia kick to see one working again. I will try and resist adopting one myself - I already have a long list of craft projects to get through!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Vegetable book that takes account of shade
Permanent Publications are bringing out "Edible Perennial Gardening" by Anni Kelsy in n November, which seems ages to wait.
She has been experimenting with perennial vegetables, including growing some annual vegetables as perennial vegetables. She has undertaken many experiments, including most importantly for me personally, and for those trying to live a green and country living in an urban environment, growing these vegetables in SHADE!
Looking forward to reading this book.
She has been experimenting with perennial vegetables, including growing some annual vegetables as perennial vegetables. She has undertaken many experiments, including most importantly for me personally, and for those trying to live a green and country living in an urban environment, growing these vegetables in SHADE!
Looking forward to reading this book.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The advantage of nothing to watch on catch-up tv
I used to have a small black and white television but I didn't get it replaced when digital came in. (So angry that digital, which uses so much energy, was introduced, when we need to be finding ways of saving energy!). I use the laptop to catch up television* and watch so much more. It used to be when I was out, I missed what was on television. When there was more than one thing on at the same time I chose one thing and missed the others. Now I can watch all that I used to miss, plus BBC4 (lots of good history programmes) and catch up on daytime radio. I have to be fussy though and things I would quite like to watch have to be given a miss - I just don't have the time.
I do however often do other things while I watch, including some paperwork and needlework.
Today I want to watch Time Team from 4 on Demand but they haven't got it up yet. It does mean, however, that I will get a newspaper pattern made for a waistcoat I am going to make out of a old thick wool jumper that got moth. I have been trying unsuccessfully to get this to felt up. It didn't work at high temperatures in the washing machine. This last week I put some pieces in a bucket and poured boiling water I had heated on the wood burning stove and let it soak, but without success. I plan to get out the good bits and make a patchwork out of them.
I have sellotaped sheets of newspaper together and will then make the pattern based on the bought paper pattern for the waistcoat I've just made from a tablecloth I got in a sale.
*Perhaps this uses more energy than a digital television?
I do however often do other things while I watch, including some paperwork and needlework.
Today I want to watch Time Team from 4 on Demand but they haven't got it up yet. It does mean, however, that I will get a newspaper pattern made for a waistcoat I am going to make out of a old thick wool jumper that got moth. I have been trying unsuccessfully to get this to felt up. It didn't work at high temperatures in the washing machine. This last week I put some pieces in a bucket and poured boiling water I had heated on the wood burning stove and let it soak, but without success. I plan to get out the good bits and make a patchwork out of them.
I have sellotaped sheets of newspaper together and will then make the pattern based on the bought paper pattern for the waistcoat I've just made from a tablecloth I got in a sale.
*Perhaps this uses more energy than a digital television?
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Frosty beards and spring sunshine
Freezing fog this morning.
I cycled to my kayak club to help out on a half term session. The nearer I got to the Navigation the more frosty the twigs, plants and grass. I saw a cyclist with a curly beard - and the beard had frost on it. He looked like one of those explorers making for the north pole!
I was expecting to help with kayaking but we took the boys on a bike ride instead, doing the Limehouse Loop. At first I wished I'd remembered my fleece earband, but half way to Limehouse it was clear sky and sunny.
Again appreciated the new bridge over the Navigation allowing us to go under the Bow Road roundabout rather than risk our lives crossing it!
We were a little behind by the time we got to the Limehouse basin, but we took 5 minutes to go and actually look at the Thames before coming back along the Regents Canal beside the Mile End linear park. No sign of the turtles that I often see along there.
Just over 2 miles to go before we were back at base when Ahmed had a chain disaster on his bike. So we put him on the bike Anna was using, sent all the boys off with Eilish while Anna and I walked pushing our bikes. It could have happened at Limehouse with a 6 mile walk, it could have been a cold or damp day instead of lovely sunshine, and Anna and I might have had commitments in the afternoon we couldn't be late for. But luckily it was none of those things, and so didn't spoil a good morning.
We think it was a 12 mile ride.
I cycled to my kayak club to help out on a half term session. The nearer I got to the Navigation the more frosty the twigs, plants and grass. I saw a cyclist with a curly beard - and the beard had frost on it. He looked like one of those explorers making for the north pole!
I was expecting to help with kayaking but we took the boys on a bike ride instead, doing the Limehouse Loop. At first I wished I'd remembered my fleece earband, but half way to Limehouse it was clear sky and sunny.
Again appreciated the new bridge over the Navigation allowing us to go under the Bow Road roundabout rather than risk our lives crossing it!
We were a little behind by the time we got to the Limehouse basin, but we took 5 minutes to go and actually look at the Thames before coming back along the Regents Canal beside the Mile End linear park. No sign of the turtles that I often see along there.
Just over 2 miles to go before we were back at base when Ahmed had a chain disaster on his bike. So we put him on the bike Anna was using, sent all the boys off with Eilish while Anna and I walked pushing our bikes. It could have happened at Limehouse with a 6 mile walk, it could have been a cold or damp day instead of lovely sunshine, and Anna and I might have had commitments in the afternoon we couldn't be late for. But luckily it was none of those things, and so didn't spoil a good morning.
We think it was a 12 mile ride.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Kestrels nesting about a mile from my home!
Really enjoyed the warm, sunny spring weather today!
The Friends of Epping Forest (www.friendsofeppingforest.org.uk) had a walk on Wanstead Flats to look at birds. It only took me half an hour to walk to the meeting point.
We saw a kestrel spending quite some time on the ground and then discovered it was gathering nesting materials to repair a nest. This was the highlight of the walk for me.
The site where the muster point for the police during the Olympics had been is looking pretty bad - standing water instead of turf. But the silver lining was all the gulls. Usually Tim, our guide, usually finds his groups not interested in gulls, but we were. There were many common gulls (though they aren't that common), quite a few black headed gulls (including 2 which already had their summer black heads), a couple of herring gulls and one lesser black backed gull.
We also saw a sky lark, flying high and singing. I have put my name down to help with the sky lark survey. The areas of rough grass and mown grass, including the football pitches, makes this a good area for sky lark nests, despite the disturbance by dogs running though the rough grass where the nests are hidden.
Wanstead Flats is the southern end of Epping Forest and a magnet for migratory birds, with April and August/September being good times to look. I am putting a note in my diary.
I am also joining the wren group, the local wildlife and conservation group. http://www.wrengroup.org.uk/
And then time in the garden this afternoon with signs of spring all around me. A good day!
The Friends of Epping Forest (www.friendsofeppingforest.org.uk) had a walk on Wanstead Flats to look at birds. It only took me half an hour to walk to the meeting point.
We saw a kestrel spending quite some time on the ground and then discovered it was gathering nesting materials to repair a nest. This was the highlight of the walk for me.
The site where the muster point for the police during the Olympics had been is looking pretty bad - standing water instead of turf. But the silver lining was all the gulls. Usually Tim, our guide, usually finds his groups not interested in gulls, but we were. There were many common gulls (though they aren't that common), quite a few black headed gulls (including 2 which already had their summer black heads), a couple of herring gulls and one lesser black backed gull.
We also saw a sky lark, flying high and singing. I have put my name down to help with the sky lark survey. The areas of rough grass and mown grass, including the football pitches, makes this a good area for sky lark nests, despite the disturbance by dogs running though the rough grass where the nests are hidden.
Wanstead Flats is the southern end of Epping Forest and a magnet for migratory birds, with April and August/September being good times to look. I am putting a note in my diary.
I am also joining the wren group, the local wildlife and conservation group. http://www.wrengroup.org.uk/
And then time in the garden this afternoon with signs of spring all around me. A good day!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Green drinks
Several green groups arrange a day of the month and a pub where local greens can gather and chat to other people with similar interests.
Transition Leytonstone meet on the 15th of the month. They have been meeting at the Rose and Crown, but that is so noisy and crowded on a Friday night that on Friday nights we will now meet at the Walnut Tree.
There were 7 of us in all, though one person left just as the last person arrived. Our conversation ranged over many topics, including the effect of the weather on our vegetable growing last year. I mentioned how my worms started working so late in the year that I thought they had died and how this would have been a relief from the responsibility of looking after them. Lesley admitted that she had let her worms free in the garden as she had found the responsibility too much!
There is a good range of beers and some draught cider, and cheap too.
And only a 25 minute walk home.
Transition Leytonstone meet on the 15th of the month. They have been meeting at the Rose and Crown, but that is so noisy and crowded on a Friday night that on Friday nights we will now meet at the Walnut Tree.
There were 7 of us in all, though one person left just as the last person arrived. Our conversation ranged over many topics, including the effect of the weather on our vegetable growing last year. I mentioned how my worms started working so late in the year that I thought they had died and how this would have been a relief from the responsibility of looking after them. Lesley admitted that she had let her worms free in the garden as she had found the responsibility too much!
There is a good range of beers and some draught cider, and cheap too.
And only a 25 minute walk home.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Don't cull the fox asleep in my garden!
Day off today and when I got home at lunch time there was a fox wandering around my garden. It is now curled up asleep near my pond.
I have had foxes asleep in the garden in the summer before. Today it is cold, with small patches of snow still not melted, so I am surprised it wants to sleep in the open today.
The attack on another baby is putting foxes in danger of culling which would do no good at all. Foxes control their own numbers, with the lead pair having the cubs and the number of cubs depending on death rates and amount of food available. In cities full of that dirty, wasteful pest, the human species, there is a lot of food so a high density of foxes. Kill foxes leaving the food source and the fox population will not decrease. This is what happened when councils were paying bounties to pest controllers years ago. it cost a lot and achieved nothing.
I wouldn't want a sudden wipe-out of all waste food which would mean a lot of hungry foxes, but a steady decrease of it would help reduce the number of foxes, and rats too.
I don't think a fox would never attack a baby, but the stories of the attacks we have heard in recent years don't seem logical. I did hear on the radio the other morning a young woman who had a fox attack her leg. I believed her, and wonder whether that is one that has been tamed and had then escaped or been let loose, otherwise why would a fox do that?
All those politicians thinking they can win support by damning the fox ought to be careful. We have the problem now of many people feeding foxes. Do they want pictures in the papers of tearful children because "their" fox has been murdered? The feeding of foxes will be a huge stumbling block in any attempt to reduce the food supply to reduce their numbers.
If only they had done something about our messy, wasteful habits years ago, instead of waiting till too late! But that is fairly typical of how society treats problems.
I have had foxes asleep in the garden in the summer before. Today it is cold, with small patches of snow still not melted, so I am surprised it wants to sleep in the open today.
The attack on another baby is putting foxes in danger of culling which would do no good at all. Foxes control their own numbers, with the lead pair having the cubs and the number of cubs depending on death rates and amount of food available. In cities full of that dirty, wasteful pest, the human species, there is a lot of food so a high density of foxes. Kill foxes leaving the food source and the fox population will not decrease. This is what happened when councils were paying bounties to pest controllers years ago. it cost a lot and achieved nothing.
I wouldn't want a sudden wipe-out of all waste food which would mean a lot of hungry foxes, but a steady decrease of it would help reduce the number of foxes, and rats too.
I don't think a fox would never attack a baby, but the stories of the attacks we have heard in recent years don't seem logical. I did hear on the radio the other morning a young woman who had a fox attack her leg. I believed her, and wonder whether that is one that has been tamed and had then escaped or been let loose, otherwise why would a fox do that?
All those politicians thinking they can win support by damning the fox ought to be careful. We have the problem now of many people feeding foxes. Do they want pictures in the papers of tearful children because "their" fox has been murdered? The feeding of foxes will be a huge stumbling block in any attempt to reduce the food supply to reduce their numbers.
If only they had done something about our messy, wasteful habits years ago, instead of waiting till too late! But that is fairly typical of how society treats problems.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
bikes v cars
The route between the kayak club and home takes me along Leabridge Road. On the way home this afternoon there was lots of traffic in both directions, stop, start; so I was going at least as fast on my bike.
But it was drizzling. My feet had got cold kayaking and hadn't warmed up. I was thinking of my friend's car with its heated seats as I peddled away!
Tonight I have the wood burning stove lit downstairs and only a quilted waistcoat on over my jumper and I feel fine. No heating on upstairs yet, and if it stays as warm I won't need it.
Weather forecast tomorrow heavy rain or sleet. We shall see.....
But it was drizzling. My feet had got cold kayaking and hadn't warmed up. I was thinking of my friend's car with its heated seats as I peddled away!
Tonight I have the wood burning stove lit downstairs and only a quilted waistcoat on over my jumper and I feel fine. No heating on upstairs yet, and if it stays as warm I won't need it.
Weather forecast tomorrow heavy rain or sleet. We shall see.....
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Vintage not fashion
In Clapham today to see Hyde Park on Hudson with a friend. I was early so patrolling the street (so 4 books and one bangle at the Trinity Hospice charity shop) when I passed a vintage store with this lovely sign in the window:
Don't follow fashion
Buy something already out of date
Yeh!
Don't follow fashion
Buy something already out of date
Yeh!
snowdrops and snow in the diary
Noting the snowdrops I saw yesterday in a local graveyard in my perpetual diary I see that on 2 February 2008 snowdrops were already out in my garden (and there had been snow the day before). In 2009 on 2 February there was 6 inches of snow and no buses.
Today such a cold wind that I abandoned my cycle ride after a mile. My Sunday morning ride is supposed to be a pleasure not a penance!
My perpetual diary gets more interesting every year that passes - I wish I had started it earlier!
Today such a cold wind that I abandoned my cycle ride after a mile. My Sunday morning ride is supposed to be a pleasure not a penance!
My perpetual diary gets more interesting every year that passes - I wish I had started it earlier!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Scattered snail shells
I have a bay tree in a large pot. Whenever I find an empty snail shell in the garden I put it on the surface of the soil in the pot and now they cover the soil.
Every now and then the bay tree is blown over by the wind and I have to right it and put back fallen snail shells. This morning I had to lift up the bay tree and collect snail shells from 2 metres away. I think a cat (or perhaps a fox) has been playing with them.
On the way to the shops this afternoon I saw snowdrops in St John's churchyard - not in flower in my garden, though I have a few primroses and violets.
Every now and then the bay tree is blown over by the wind and I have to right it and put back fallen snail shells. This morning I had to lift up the bay tree and collect snail shells from 2 metres away. I think a cat (or perhaps a fox) has been playing with them.
On the way to the shops this afternoon I saw snowdrops in St John's churchyard - not in flower in my garden, though I have a few primroses and violets.
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