Tent in Wales or last minute trip to Greece?

OK, now listen to me, God of the weather, I am very happy to be an eco champion and eschew a flight, taking my tent to the Welsh coast but I want some cast iron guarantees here.

1. I want sunshine..especially at breakfast time and glass of white wine time outside tent.
2. I do not want a flood running through my tent.
3. I want beautiful sunsets so I can sit on the harbour wall and breathe deeply
4. I do not want a frozen nose at 3am

Got that?

Then we have a deal.

Showing off our air source heat pump

We showed a young couple round the other day because they were thinking of putting in an air source heat pump. I think we rather overdid the enthusiasm!
How can you not be enthusiastic when you have 12 friends and family who live in big, but drafty houses threatening to move in with you over the winter! We can't help but feel smug when we read about gas prices going up.

I know, it's awful to be this superior but yer know what....


Ya boo sucks!

Anyone know of any rickshaw operators?

We are trying to extend our wonderful Wirksworth Farmers' Market to the top end of town so that the traders up there are more involved. The market is going fantastically well..everyone loves it! We always have music and events and of course, it is known as the friendliest market in the Midlands. On 2nd July, we have

11.00-11.45 Chevrette ‘Early music from medieval to baroque’ (Lesley Clarke 01522-750596 and 07775-685100 lesley.clarke30@gmail.com)

11.45-1.15 John O “Tranquil Autoharp music for pleasant listening”

as well as a fantastic array of local produce and crafts. There's also a cafe being run by the Stoneywood Group.

But we want to open up parking at the top end of town and as we all know, people are lazy, so I was wondering whether anyone knew of anyone who would like to offer a rickshaw service from the car park down to the market and ( concentrate on this word...) UP back to the car park-yes we live in the hills of Derbyshire! It's not a big hill, honestly, but it could be excellent training for someone!

Do let me know

Monty Don-eat your heart out

There is a very vague possibility that I shouldn't be allowed out into the garden. I am an undoubted disaster. So much for my green credentials.

Not only have my cabbages been stripped of any leaves whatsoever overnight but the "peas" I carefully staked have started sprouting lovely coloured flowers! They'll be sweet peas then.

You have to remember that this time last year, I carefully staked out emerging bindweed thinking it was beans.

Maybe I could write a book on gardening disasters. I may get drummed out of the Transition Town Growers' Group.

Talking of the Transition Town Movement, we went to the Green Fair at Regents Park on Saturday and the London branch was there. It's brilliant to see the TT net growing, we will report back to our core group here in Derbyshire tonight, but it was also great to see so many people there. The other thing I noticed was that there wasn't that much litter. That contrasted very sadly with Finsbury Park where we went for a picnic ( I know, blame elder daughter, it was her choice) on Friday night. It was absolutely foul, full of litter and rubbish. What is it about our nation? Why do we have to drop litter. People go to a green space and then completely ruin it.

What do you think? Any gardening disasters you want to share? What do you think about our rubbish problem? Have you seen CPRE's campaign to try to stop people throwing litter out of cars..that would be a start, don't you think?

End of rant, back to sorting out this quasi veg patch.

Il faut cultiver mon jardin

I remember that phrase from "Candide" when I was at Uni and as I sat at the bottom of my garden last week, glass of wine in hand, listening to the stream, the simplicity of nature struck me - and all right, I know I'm totally ignoring Voltaire's deep and meaningful philosophy from the book, but there are times when you need to be simple and shallow!

I've had a difficult time with an ailing mum and I needed to escape down to the bench and just close my eyes and listen to the bees, the babbling stream and the birds. It made me drop my shoulders and I definitely felt better.

Then the next morning, I got a text from the local Growers' Group. They are planting in the Community Garden and the text was all about what plants they were putting in, how the watering was going and what plans they had.

It made me smile.

There are moments, even when life is throwing the book at you that nature can remind you that plants still grow, flowers bud and blossom and spring comes.

Phew.

Voltaire can have his cynicism, thanks, I'll just go and cultivate my garden for real.

We've done fish discard..now let's look at fashion

Have a look at this blog:
http://thiftycouture.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-beginning.html?showComment=1302779014685#c1816337970548205950

We've had publicity about fish discard but what about the fashion industry? They are unbelievably wasteful. This sounds like a really good idea.

Our planet

What is happening to the world? What exactly is going on? Are we going to learn anything from all this?
If we get rid of tree belts, then tsunamis, lava from volcanoes and landslips can power through lands without having their force challenged at all.
If we build nuclear power stations then we run the risk of natural disasters causing a global catastrophe. Even in this country, their "safety" can be compromised by a terrorist attack or a plane crash.

Watch and learn, leaders.
If we work against nature then we will be the the losers.
We are small and insignificant and although there is little doubt the planet will survive, we may not.

All we can do is look after our little bit of the planet, plant our bulbs, grow our own food and walk instead of getting in our cars, but we aren't the ones who look after the bigger picture. Wouldn't it be nice if those in power would do what we're doing on a small scale here in Wirksworth in our Transition Town movement, on a bigger one?

Good job the sun came out today and I could sit on my bench and drink in the sunshine. Sometimes it's hard to be a Polyanna.