Permaculture Magazine and Flowers & Birds, etc.

Thanks Crafty Green Poet for your kind comment on the last post.

Just been reading Rebecca Hosking's blog on the Permaculture magazine site (here). Very interesting article on holly. Lots of holly around where my mum lives in Wales, and we have a big shrub in the front garden, and it's nice to know that there are some brilliant uses for such a common plant that I once thought was only for decoration (and wildbird food - they love the berries, particularly the blackbirds). The Permaculture magazine site (here) is full of inspiring stuff. Check it out!

Also been reading the magazine, and considering whether to buy Sepp Holzer's new book about his permaculture practice. He's a self-taught expert, absolutely inspiring guy. But I have no money, and want to invest in a LegMaster (probably not terribly eco-friendly, but at least it doesn't plug in and waste leccy, like so much gym equipment), so it will have to wait. Holzer's hugul beds - big sloping raised beds full of organic matter - are a really interesting idea, and one that when (in a million years) I have my dream permaculture smallholding I will definitely try. Highly recommend Permaculture mag - always something interesting, and full of really inspiring articles by inspiring people, who are practising permaculture in all different ways and on all scales. Reading the magazine is like connecting with like-minded people and sharing good ideas and exciting news. Every issue brings a smile to my face and renews my optimism for the Big Scary Future.

The garden is looking lovely, I will post pics tomorrow. Birds singing at the tops of their voices - pigeons getting jiggy with it on our roof, and sparrows nesting under the eaves for another year. Things are in flower - forget-me-nots, violets, lilacs, the viburnums have just finished, aubretia, dandelions (NOT a weed, NEVER a weed! Tortoise fodder!), currant bushes, primroses, citrus bushes just forming litte creamy-white buds...and every apple tree we own (around 13, I think) is just popping its magenta buds to reveal beautiful snowy white blossoms. I predict a bumper crop this year.

Pabi Bach and I went for a walk today along a canal, too. Lovely weather. On our way there we saw a whole bank absolutely covered in cowslips, and along the canal the banks were studded with primroses and violets. I absolutely love these spring flowers.

Interestingly the blossom has all been late this year. It means that we've all been having to keep on surviving the winter for a bit longer, but there are up-sides. For example, the bees are well and truly buzzing now, especially with today's warm weather, and the blossom being a bit late has meant that they get all the benefit of it.

More Spring Stuff including Bees

The viburnum bush that I photographed for the last post is now well and truly in flower. It's one of my favourite plants because it flowers so early and really heralds the end of winter. Also it has the most beautiful smell in the world, and is very pretty. And I love the fact that the blossom comes out before the leaves do! Here it is as it was when I photographed it earlier today.

Apart from this and the other little spring things I couldn't help but stick in above, the bees are being prepped for another year. I haven't been to see them yet, but Dad has. There have been a couple of warm sunny days recently when other people we know have seen their bees flying, but we haven't been to see ours on a warm sunny day yet. Therefore we haven't opened them up yet - still way too cold - but Dad has checked on all 3 hives. One is looking very fragile, and he says that it probably won't make it as it is so weak. He still fed it though, so they have a chance. The other two however - a nuc and a full OSB - are thriving!! Apparently they have wintered very well and are still very populous colonies! All three hives have had some runny syrup and some commercial pollen patty, and hopefully these will give them a really strong start to the season.

We have also splashed out on a new style of feeder that we think might work (we haven't yet found one that suits both bees and humans!) and a queen rearing kit....so it promises to be an exciting year.

But even more exciting is the fact that a while ago we went to a meeting with some other members of our beekeeping assoc to discuss natural beekeeping. It's really interesting to contrast different beekeeping methods, and some members of our association are even using Warre hives now. I'm very interested in all this. I reckon that the bees have been around for 6 million years doing fine, and it's only been the last century or so that they've started having real problems, i.e. with human intervention and our delightful inventions of pesticides, the rise of monocultures, etc. Coincidence? Probably not.

It was a really enjoyable little meeting, although I was quite surprised by the air of rebellion - it felt almost as if we were meeting in an underground bunker discussing a very embarrassing problem or a secret outlawed religion, which would be frowned on by senior beekeepers who practice traditional beekeeping! I learned such a lot though. We were discussing how Warre and OSB hives work, and comparing them to more traditional hives and methods of beekeeping, as well as the importance of temperature and air flow in a hive, and colony balance (worker:drone ratio, e.g). But what most interested me was the fact that different plants give bees different pollens and carbohydrates. This seems like common sense, but I had never thought of it before. So bees need a varied diet, just like us humans. No wonder beekeepers in America who do the almond crop are having so much trouble with supposed-CCD - their colonies are just not getting the right nutrition.

More evidence to support my suspicion of monocultures. Everywhere I look, particularly at this time of year, there is evidence that nature doesn't support monocultures. Everything is mixed up, and as permaculturists would argue, although it looks like a mess to us, it isn't to nature. Time maybe to start planning my horticultural purchases/indulgences for this year. I still haven't got my Nepalese raspberry... ;)

More recycled dress

The dress has worked out really well so far, and I still haven't used most of the fabric - should be enough to make a nice poufy skirt.

The really great thing about recycling textiles is that there is so much you can do with them. Any off-cuts from the dress can be spun into a yarn, used to strenthen some felt or can go to Mammabert for her to hook into a rug. And if it all goes wrong you can use it to stuff a cushion or whatever.

Also it's so satisfying to be able to wear something different to what everyone else has got. It makes me sad when I see girls the same age as me slapping on make-up in the wrong shade and wearing ridiculous unflattering get-ups just because it's fashionable. They look like clones. Sometimes I honestly cannot tell them apart. I have certain style rules that I go by - I go for practicality (why are so many ladies' clothes completely devoid of pockets? Some of us have handbags that are too full of food and literature to fit our phones in!), elegance, and the hippy-ish quirky look that suits my personality best. If in doubt I ask my mum, who likes all the same stuff as me and whose style I admire, or my dad who (surprisingly, as he's a fairly blokey bloke - rugby, DIY, anything vaguely computer-related, cheffy chopping in the kitchen) who has unfalteringly excellent taste and always chooses amazing gifts - he just understands what makes women look nice. So they are my style gurus, along with Lord Bath - who else can work yellow and rainbow colours so well?

So yes. I am enjoying this project. Who knows, I might (eekk...probably won't though!) get it finished in time for the Winter Solstice or New Year.....? ;)

Recycling Insulation!!

My Mum has an elderly friend who buys readymeals made my a local company that delivers to her door. To insulate the food they package it with this - WoolCool, insulation made from wool.

Sheila never knows what to do with the packaging once she has got her delivery. The WoolCool is expensive and the p&p is expensive accordingly. Usually she would just throw the packaging away, but luckily for me Mum suggested she donate it to my spinning and felting efforts, so I have just been given a load of free fibre!!

The wool is clean - no dags or anything, except a bit of plant matter here and there - but uncarded. The fibres are quite short as it's off-cuts. It's all natural colours, with everything in there from white to black. It's coarse but not unpleasant. So I am experimenting with it...

^ Thick and knobbly yarn spun for Mum to try rug-hooking or peg-looming with

I suppose it's good that wool is now used for insulation, as otherwise it would just get thrown away - apparently it is now actually classed as a useless animal by-product!! What waste! So at least it is getting used. But there are still so many things it could be used for before being put to insulation. Even if it isn't nice enough to wear as clothing, it could be used for furnishings, rugs, bags, slippers, stuffing for soft toys...and then used for insulation when the item was worn out. But at least I now have my hands on it and can try making some woolly wonders.

On the plastic bag around the wool, it says "it is totally sustainable, recyclable and biodegradable". Well, they got the last two right, but sustainable? Really? Last time I looked current global meat (and therefore by-product) production was absolutely UNsustainable, and we are heading for a future where people will have to settle for eating less meat and meat production methods will have to change drastically.

So, I'm happy, I've got wool ^^. But it makes me sad how a useful commodity - a commodity on which so much of our civilisation has been built! (Just look at Britain's medieval wool economy!) - is wasted, or at the most mislabelled and used once, still probably destined for landfill.

Green Brighton

I've just returned from a week's holiday in Brighton, a city that is increasingly leading the way in moving towards a more sustainable way of life and which has just elected the first ever Green Party MP to parliament, Caroline Lucas. My holiday was more of a fish-n-chips and tourist-souvenirs kind of affair, but driving (on the bus) past a community garden plastered with "Boycott Tesco" slogans every day inspired me to look a little deeper at the eco stuff going on in the city.

First of all, let's take transport, something which the authorities seemed to be working really hard at. The bus network is fantastic in Brighton, and as the side of each bus will testify, they seem to be seen as "essential transport" for the city. There are cycle paths everywhere also, all over the city and right up to the beach. The smaller streets of the centre of town are really pedestrian friendly, although crossing the roads was an absolute nightmare! Luckily though the Transition Brighton & Hove's Transport group are committed to changing this, and on the plus side getting around on foot also opens up the possibilites of visiting the many small local businesses and whole food shops and restaurants to be found. (In fact I was totally surprised by how many vegan restaurants I saw - it was really amazing, but unfortunately the friend I went with loves MEAT and so I didn't get to try any).

In terms of food, Brighton is bustling and it seems that local businesses really work together - there's a food festival, a market, and loads more...but on my trip I didn't see any allotments or much evidence of people growing their own. However, Brighton has plenty of green space and parks, so hopefully as the Transition movement there finds it feet we'll start seeing beautiful green gardens instead of parched grass!

However, best of all I think is the sheer number of individual projects and organisations at work in Brighton. The Brighton Permaculture Trust has a fantastic programme with events such as Open Eco Houses and family-friendly Apple Day, and projects to renovate orchards or involving local schools. There's also the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, which has a 'Scrumping Project' (sounds great to me!) and Harvest Brighton & Hove, which runs local courses in growing your own and eating locally. And just on my skin-the-surface trip I encountered a photographic exhibition near the peer highlighting conservation issues...even the most superficial of tourists couldn't fail to notice some of the city's many inspiring initiatives, events and projects.

In all, as a tourist town Brighton has to balance the needs of local businesses and tourism with their eco-aspirations. It has its problems - litter left by lazy tourists and no doubt huge amounts of electricity needed to power the pier and other attractions. On my visit I didn't see a lot of direct hand-to-earth action, but the atmosphere of cooperation and working together between local organisations and businesses was really noticeable (even on the pier, with the milkshake ladies providing cups of tea for the people in the henna tattoo hut) and the range of initiatives going on is enviable. Keep it up Brighton, you're an inspiration!

Being Young & Eco-conscious: Re-using and Recycling

I guess I'm quite unusual in being so interested in green issues at such a young age, and I've been pondering this lately. In many ways I'm a typical young adult in that I like partying, shopping and hanging around with my friends. But equally I somehow need to find the time to maintain my garden, look after my animals and bees and learn more about sustainability and permaculture. Unusually I know how to spin my own yarn and weave it, which local wild plants are good to eat and what to do with them, how to brew wine, beer, and cider (proper booze, not the chemical rubbish most people my age drink!) and how to make paper, my own cosmetics and to some extent, clothing. I see these skills as essential to my future survival - I am beginning to see that we cannot halt climate change, etc, and instead we need to focus on how to adapt to new living conditions. But at the same time I want to be able to go to electricity-rich gigs, enjoy foreign holidays and my regular Costa order, and buy fashionable shoes, at least while I still can. How to reconcile all these things?

In some ways the recession has helped me to do this, particularly in terms of re-using and recycling. Let's take fashion, for example (something that I'm very interested in, but can't afford and have doubts about in terms of green-ness). Now 90% of the clothes I buy come from the local charity shop. I'm lucky in that Mum volunteers there twice a week, and so I often get first dibs on any interesting bits and bobs that get donated. It's amazing what people will throw away - Aquascutum suits, beautiful Italian leather boots, Jaeger dresses, leather satchels...a large portion of my wardrobe now consists of perfectly wearable designer cast-offs from other people, some of them unworn with the labels still in! My favourite buy recently was a matching set of scarf, T-shirt and skirt in a wonderful Indian block-print fabric, good brand etc, no marks, tears, perfect condition.......and it all cost me £1. It seems that people will often throw something away the minute it gets a tiny stain or gets a bit too last week; the waste is unbelievable, but I certainly benefit from it. And anything too raggedy to sell still makes money for the charity shop, as they sell it all as rags. Recycling and re-using at its most basic perhaps, but I think it's fantastic!

^ Recent charity shop purchases; my wardrobe, full of second-hand goodies :)

Charity shop and clothing tips:

• Go to more up-market areas - this is where you will find higher quality goodies
• Support a particular charity or your local shop, or shop around to find a charity shop with the best selection
• charity shops have got a little more trendy recently, and some have hiked up their prices. Good for the charity, so if you're feeling generous go for it, but personally, I wouldn't spend more than £10 on a posh dress, and for basic things such as jeans or a nice second hand top, I'd stick to the pound rail unless for something really special! If something has been sitting there for weeks, you may be able to get it at a discounted price, and if an item is out of season (e.g. you buy a jumper when it's summer) it's more likely to be cheaper, too. Don't be afraid to shop out of season!
• it helps if you're a creative, quirky dresser who can see potential in seemingly redundant pieces. Think about combining and layering different things. If you're good at sewing etc, look for interesting fabrics - even if you don't like the item as it is, you might be able to transform it into something else.
• don't discard an item if it has a stain or a rip - it could be easily fixed by you or a crafty friend. In my experience even things that say "dry clean only" can be washed successfully at a low temperature or by hand
• don't donate disgusting items. Volunteers don't want to trawl through smelly, sweaty, cigarette-stinking, stained, grubby clothes, and nobody wants to buy these either. Wash everything first, and if something is a little too far gone, check that they have a rag bin, or go to your local dump and see if they have one there.
• share clothes and other items between friends, neighbours and family. In this way we've been lucky enough to get a greenhouse, potential duck-pond, bins to keep animal feed in, furniture, clothing, books, etc.
• keep a look out also for interesting jewellery and accessories, as well as furniture, knitting needles, books, DVD's etc...especially titles that are now out of print
• try Freecycle, swapshops, car boot sales, and sharing/hiring shops etc. too! (particularly good for furniture, tools, plant seeds etc)
• also - USE YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY for books, DVD's, even toys and games, and for finding leaflets about days out, local producers and events, and courses. My one even showcases the work of local artists and jewellery designers.

If you can't find what you want second hand, or want something special, then there are still loads of places you can go. Look at local producers' cooperatives, and sites such as eBay and Etsy. Supporting smaller and local producers is still a valid option, and many smaller companies still have better eco-credentials than high-street brands. I like Etsy for jewellery, and eBay is good for everything. Recently Dad bought an old stainless steel basin which we will turn into a solar wax extractor, and we even bought a whole greenhouse once. Look for unusual options too. We buy old blue mango chutney barrels for £10 each and convert these into vessels for growing veg and producing compost. And don't forget that you can learn to make and re-use different items for yourself - learn to knit, make your own furniture or propagate your own plants from a friend or one of the many professionals and teachers out there who are happy to share their knowledge.

Bee Garden

After a kind request from Beth, I thought I'd give and overview of how we have (part intentionally, mostly unintentionally) created a bee and wildlife friendly garden, that also produces food and looks pretty.

We have 2 gardens, one large one at the back of the house (north facing, deep shadow cast by the house, south-facing fence, large nutrient-greedy ex-coppice ash trees that we're not allowed to cut down / coppice) and a long, narrow garden at the front (a real sun-trap, poor soil, shady corners, nice warm wall space). We live in a village that spreads over clay, chalk and sandy soils, and we seem to get the worst of all of these - mostly heavy clay, with loads of sandy ants' nests in the summer (it seems our whole estate was built on a giant ants' nest).

Over a number of years, the back garden has transformed. It used to be all lawn, with flower beds and 2 apple trees, and kids' toys. Now it has raised beds for our vegetables, compost heaps in a corner, room for the animals, a green house, and small trees and shrubs around the edges, including cider apples, hazel, crab apples, a hop vine, hawthorn, and ornamental shrubs such as lilac and viburnum. All of these plants produce flowers, and are usually teeming with bird and insect life throughout the summer, as well as providing food for us and our animals, and looking beautiful. But because we are lazy gardeners, there are also plenty of nettles and weeds, and intentional piles of sticks and logs - these too attract wildlife, as do the pond and compost heap. Some of the wildlife we've had over the years has included: hedgehogs, frogs, newts, butterflies, lizards, all kinds of birds, mice, rats (unfortunately!) and even a rare grass-snake.

^ 2007 - homemade polytunnel, raised beds growing squash, sweet corn, salads etc, ornamental and fruiting trees against the back wall

^ May 2010

The front garden however is my real baby. When I was younger, it used to be a strip of neglected lawn with a sparse hedge of rosemary bushes, with my mum's herbs and flowers growing between. There was a patch of wild (Alpine) strawberries, which were treasured treats for my sister and I on summer afternoons once we'd finished school, so sweet and soft, sun-warmed and full of spicy, tangy, sugary deliciousness. The ants tended to be in the front garden, often invading the house, and I remember my parents vainly trying to get rid of the nest right outside our front door by pooring boiling water down between the paving slabs, which formed the bumpy, uneven path I used to play hopscotch on.

However a few years ago, Mum was inspired by Beth Chatto's book 'The Dry Garden' and decided we should revamp the front garden. A couple of corners of it were already beautiful despite being very neglected, and chief among the plants were clematis, ceonothus, a Japanese quince and Phormium tenax. The rest of the garden was dug up and changed however. We had the path rebuilt, tried desperately to get rid of the perpetual weeds and improve the soil, and spent many hours building a wooden trough that ran around the edge of the garden. Although we deviated from the 'Dry Garden' inspired planting scheme eventually, we ended up with an ornamental garden that also gave us so much more - somewhere to sit and enjoy the evening sun, somewhere to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and even green manure, and somewhere that would provide shelter and food for all sorts of wildlife.

^ June 2008

^ May 2010

2008 was the year that both gardens really came to life. I lived and breathed gardening for a while, learning about the uses of herbs from my mum, growing vegetables and gardening sustainably, eventually leading me to discover Permaculture. I created all sorts of plans for the gardens - useful plants to grow, pretty things picked up from my trips to garden centres, and planting schemes inspired by my new-found love of beekeeping, started by my Dad in 2007 (we got our first bees on May Day of that year). We got a greenhouse for free from some neighbours, allowing me to do some 'proper' gardening.

All our new ideas about gardening and wildlife, bees and animals, sustainability and Permaculture synthesised, and we have created a garden that is never quite the same from one year to the next, but remains a pleasant place to be and somewhere full of life. But onto how to create bee garden...

CREATING THE BEE GARDEN

When choosing to make a garden that is bee-friendly, it's important to consider the needs of any wildlife:

WATER. Bees, like any other wildlife, need water, and a pond or shallow bird-bath is a great way of helping bees and other creatures. It can be as simple as a shallow dish filled with a thin layer of water, or a huge pond full of plants and pondlife, but a shallow, sheltered area with stones and twigs for the bees to perch on are essential. Remember that some of the pond (usually about a third of it, at least) should always be in the shade.

FOOD. Bees feed on pollen and nectar (which they turn into honey), which both come from flowers. Bees are 'awake' from early spring to late autumn, and will be out collecting food as long as it is not raining, too windy, or too cold. They need lots of food in the spring when they have been cooped up all winter, and lots in the summer too, so they can provide enough stores for the coming winter. In Britain we have something called the 'June gap' where there is about a month when most common feed plants aren't in flower and the bees can starve. In the bee-friendly garden therefore, it's important to have plants that flower all year round.

Early Spring:

tree pollen and nectar - hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, fruit trees

crocuses, other bulbs, dandelions,

viburnum (Himalayan species - flowers very early)

Mahonia, berberis (also edible!)

Mustard

Primrose

Late Spring:

Horse chestnut (v. good source),

Comfrey (excellent green manure too)

Field beans (braod beans)

Oil seed rape (brassica)

Ceonothus (bees love it!)

Holly flowers

Gorse

Brambles

many flowering evergreen shrubs

Lupins, peas, legumes (for bumblebees)

June Gap:

sainfoin (if you manage to make it germinate, please let me know how!)

Summer:

Lavender, Golden Rod, Rosemary, Thyme

Beans (good for bumble bees), courgettes and squashes

Borage

Honeysuckle

Himalayan balsam (an invasive weed, so be careful)

Calendula

Cardoon

Sunflowers

Hibiscus

Sage (if it's warm enough for it to flower, the bees will be all over it)

Clover (and other flowering weeds found in meadows, etc)

Autumn and Late Sources:

Ivy (very important source)

As a rule, bees and other beneficial insects like aromatic plants and herbs, while pests tend to stay away from these.

Double-headed flowers (e.g. French marigolds, most modern hollyhocks, double roses, etc.) tend to be no good to bees - single flowers are more easy for them to access.

SHELTER. Dead wood, log piles and hollow trees can all provide shelter for many different species of bees. Holes in the ground and in brick work can also be bee-friendly places, particularly for solitary bee species. If you have a sunny, sheltered spot, this is the perfect place to plant your bee-friendly plants, as these are the conditions that bees prefer to collect food in. Hedgerows are good, too. If you want to keep your own bees, you need to find a suitable apiary site, and that needs another blog post of its own! If you find you have a colony of bees that are in an inconvenient place, or find a swarm has landed in your garden, call your local beekeepers' association and see if it is possible to move them to a more secluded area. At the moment we have a small bumblebee nest in the eaves of our house. Luckily they don't cause us any problems, and we're happy to have them there!

Other ways you can help the bees include:

• support or join your local or national Beekeeper's Association. All you need is an interest and passion, you don't have to actually keep bees to join! The British Beekeeper's Association now have a "sponsor a hive" scheme that allows you to get involved even if you don't want to keep bees yourself, and can make a great gift idea
• support local beekeepers by buying local honey
• don't leave empty honey jars outside with leftover honey in - always rinse away any scraps of honey. This helps to prevent the spread of disease
• seed-bombing. Mix up some seeds of bee-friendly, non-invasive plants with soil and water, roll into balls, allow to dry and throw them onto any patches of waste ground etc. that you see.
• don't use pesticides, etc. in your garden
• get to know local beekeepers, etc. If you have enough land you could even let a local beekeeper keep a hive or two on your land

This is by no means exhaustive and there is plenty more to be discovered through your own garden experimentation! But by encouraging bees and generally increasing the biodiversity of your garden by growing a variety of plants and welcoming a variety of creatures, you can do your own small bit in preserving species that are not only good for the environment, but good for the human spirit (and stomach) too!

Bees & Garden

We've had a while of miserable weather but the last few days have been very hot indeed, and this has definitely shown in terms of the number of calls we've had about swarms! We've had 3 in the past week (not all of them turned out to be honey bees however), and have carried out an artificial swarm on our existing hive, and so at present we have 3 colonies and possibly another 1 on the way...

^ Queen with long abdomen (sorry for blurry pic)

^ Artificial Swarm taking place

The first call we got was to a beautiful old house in the countryside which is being converted into flats. The foreman had spotted the bees clustered on a tree trunk in the sunshine. When we arrived the "swarm" had gone and what we were left with was a wild colony living in the dead tree trunk, with only an inch square hole for access. Unfortunately the tree is being cut down and so they will have to move, but fortunately the foreman seemed very reluctant to kill them. We pondered and pondered how we could possibly rescue the bees, as the queen will never leave her home and brood. In the end Dad constructed a cardboard box with a one-way bee escape in, so that any bees flying out would be redirected to a hive on a raised platform. That way we'll the get the flyers at least, and although they'll be queenless, they may be able to start afresh with a few nurse bees and a frame of eggs. The queen and her brood will have to be left there (and destroyed) but that's life, bees and humans don't always get along.

The second call I didn't go to, but I gather it was a straightforward swarm collection and the bees are now installed in the apiary! The third call turned out to be bumble bees, but if the weather continues to be as good as it is there should be plenty more opportunities for us to stock up on new colonies.

I'm a great believer in collecting swarms and the merits of wild colonies; not only do you get a new colony for free, but you can be assured that you're getting bees whose natural instincts are sound. Of course there is always the slight risk that they'll be hideously grumpy or carrying diseases, although swarming is often a good way to minimise disease, and swarming bees tend to be at their most docile. The only hive of ours who survived the winter and have made a good start this year are the wild colony we collected from the wall (see the video blog). And despite being moved fairly late in the year last year, they still made loads of lovely honey and laid down good stores for them and for us. This made me realise that bees that can survive without human meddling are the most likely to survive overall - if they can take care of themselves, they're less likely to produce dud queens, starve to death, be lazy or too grumpy, or freeze to death. They've done it all before in the wild, so of course they'll survive in a nice new hive where the wax is already started for them. Last year we bought a bunch of new mated queens from a local bee breeder. Every single colony failed, and in every case it was because the queen hadn't taken or had stopped laying, and I recently heard that another keeper in our association had the same problem with queens from the same breeder. And while this might just be that one individual breeder, it can't be denied that we humans breed bees that have the characteristics that are convenient for us (docility, good honey production, lack of swarming instinct). But the more I learn about bees, the more I begin to realise that these characteristics aren't good for them - is it any wonder that they're dying out if their natural instincts are being suppressed? With wild or swarming bees, you know that they're following their instincts and are doing what comes naturally to them, and this can only be a good thing. "Natural" bees should be resilient, self-regulating and completely uninterested by human activity. Perhaps by breeding bees to illiminate problems, we are creating more problems? Let me know what you think!

And onto the garden. The first beans have been planted out in a heavy mulch of homemade compost (mulching helps retain moisture, good plant food, no digging required, and also I was too lazy to prepare the ground earlier this year, woops!), but I've run out of canes so the others will have to wait; however, I am now watering them religiously and despite a tussle with the rabbits (evidence: white fur all over munched lower leaves and stems) they're making a good go of it. We've got a few lettuces and peas on the go too, as well as our tomatoes, chillis and peppers, but we need more! So now that I am on study leave, I'm hoping to be able to get out in the garden a bit more (when I'm not studying lol) and sort things out a bit.

As for compost, last year we tried an enclosed compost heap called the "Green Johanna" which allows you to compost cooked food and even meat, dairy and fish. As a result of this we had a rat infestation for a while, although this could also possibly have been because of the building works next door, as the rats disappeared after the building stopped...anyway, we stopped using the Green Jo' and have left it for almost a year...and now it is full of the most wonderful loamy, soft, fine, moist, rich, dark lovely compost! I can't wait to get using it. It doesn't smell at all and has the most wonderful texture, part of me wishes I could roll around in it!

Anyway, I shall leave you with a delicious recipe that Dad made up this evening - wonderful with a slice of toast or good nutty brown rice ^^

Dad's Leek & Bean Summer Stew

Ingredients:

5 dry red chillis, crushed (or your preference, we like things hot ^^)

3 leeks, chopped

2 courgettes, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 tin of black eye peas, drained

1 tin of chick peas, drained

salt and pepper

It's easy - stick all in a pot with a little stock or water, and cook with the lid on until the leeks and courgettes are soft and sweet. Delicious!

Beekeeping Talk

I've just got back from a talk by a bee farmer, our association's first event of the year. It was fantastic to see everyone again after such a long, hard winter, and the talk raised a few really interesting points. The bee farmer who spoke to us runs about 300 hives and this year has had less than 10% losses, with just over 10% losses last year. He revealed some hints and tips and snippets of interesting information to us.

• Main identified reasons behind colony losses - starvation was top, with poor management, weather, failed queens, mites etc. behind. CCD and pesticides were last.
• The temperature of feed and its placement in relationship to the cluster is very important, which may explain why some of our hives starved to death even with a hive heavy with sugar and honey.
• Treat for varroa early in the autumn, even as early as August. If you treat later, you may reduce the numbers of mites but any viruses will have had time to build up, and won't be affected by any chemicals you stick in.
• Thymol is a naturally occurring chemical (i.e. in thyme) that is used in treatments such as Apiguard. Ian recommended treating with it, saying that he knew one successful farmer who uses it as his only treatment against varroa and nosema. Ian suggested putting it in the feed, and I wonder weather treating hives with it, e.g. sealing them with linseed oil with thymol mixed in, would help also? And would lots of thyme forage be beneficial too?
• Mesh floors should ideally be able to close (something I had no idea about), to prevent treatments and feed etc. just leaking away. Ian also mentioned how bees survive in old oil drums at 100 degree temperatures in Africa and are able to ventilate for themselves. I was interested to note that the hives he brought along had solid floors with small cirlces of mesh put in, much like a crown board - perhaps to get the best of both worlds.
• I was glad to know that it's not just me that finds Eglu's Beehaus laughable! The Beehaus is based on the Dartington long hive, and interestingly these are said to swarm more often. It's interesting to note that in the wild bees tend to prefer to go vertically, so perhaps horizontal hives aren't necessarily the answer. However this could also explain why they are perfect for beekeeping in Africa, where the bees are migratory anyway.
• The bee farmer requeens around every 2 years. Apparently a New Zealand lecturer says that he finds one of the effects of varroa is that it shortens a queen's lifespan, in the sense that when she's a year old she behaves/is in the condition more like a 2 year old queen, when she's 2 years old she seems more like a 3 year old queen, etc.
• The importance of changing brood combs was stressed. I am determined to finally build a solar wax extractor now! I didn't know that apparently in some EU countries it is now a legal requirement to change brood combs every year. This sounds like a lot of cuffuffle but a simple rotation of frames (made even more straightforward by adding new boxes to the bottom of the hive - as in Warre beekeeping - rather than the top) makes this easier than it sounds.
• The amunt of interesting research to be found on the internet was also stressed. I'll be investigating this from now and will let you know about any interesting finds!
• Bees should be fed little and often. Keep checking your hives, even in winter - around Christmas maybe and as the spring starts to arrive. You can always check my hefting, without opening the hives up. Runny syrup can be fed even in early spring.
• Poly hives - I assume he meant the double-skinned plastic hives - seem to be growing in popularity. Apparently Denmark has the lowest incidence of brood diseases in Europe and they keep bees almost exclusively in poly hives. Ian recommended household bleach, caustic soda or even the stuff they used to disinfect wellies etc. during the foot and mouth outbreaks for cleaning the hives, as unfortunately they can't be scorched. They build up quicker in the spring, but Ian finds that the queen start laying a little later for some reason.
• Records can be kept by screwing a jam jar to each hive and keeping records in there. The hive can become a wooden record by colour-coding frames, being meticulous in marking queens, etc. Mark the queens when you first see them, don't (as we usually do) forget your pen and have to come back and do it later!
• The convenience of using a nail gun for constructing hives and frames!

All in all a really interesting lecture with plenty of food for thought...I'm planning to try out lots of new ideas this year and certainly I'll be looking into some of the suggestions here. We're planning our spring inspection for March 20th or the first weekend of April, weather permitting. Until then I think we'll go and heft the hives and see if we need to boil up any syrup already!

Clear-Out

Recently we've started having a huge clear-out. We've been living knee-deep in pointless clutter for ages and it was starting to get us all down, so we are taking steps!

We've tidied up and rearranged the garden a bit, and have got rid of lots of the pots we don't use. Inside the house I'm in the process of going through all my textiles and crafts items and chucking out the stuff that I don't use any more. We're getting rid of a few books here and there and I'm slowly redoing my bedroom too (hopefully going to be using reclaimed timber furniture!). But until now I have never really realised just how dependent we are on plastics.

Everything we use is plastic. I always thought I was quite careful about avoiding over-packaged goods but everything we eat and buy comes in plastic, from crisps and oven chips to health foods and fruit and veg. Even the stuff packaged in metal, glass or plastic is still printed in a plastic-dependent process or stuck together with plastic tape. I've been rifling through plastic beads, acrylic yarns, nylon pipecleaners and even the bags I use to store them or throw them away in are plastic.

We have always reused our plastic shopping bags and use "bags for life" but even then there is always the odd occasion when you've forgotten a bag and so have to use a new one from the shop. We buy a lot of stuff from the co-op in the High Street, and they use only potato-starch biodegradable bags, but is it really better to use food crops for plastics? I worked at the nursery on Thursday when I had a day off from college and Jim showed me some new very expensive pots he was trialing. He says he wants to give up plastic pots, and these ones were made from rice. He insisted they were made from by-products such as husks etc. but I'm still sceptical: one of these days, we will have a food crisis, and if there's no rice, he won't be able to buy any rice by-product pots either.

The fact is that we are utterly dependent on plastics. The things we use that are not made of plastic are more than likely produced in industrial conditions, and guess what - those industrial conditions rely on plastics. Everything from our cosy jumpers to kagouls and wellies, windows, furniture, and our food packaging is made from plastic. It's pretty scary to wonder what if we woke up tomorrow and all the plastics had gone or had never been invented. We wouldn't have anything.

But I'm also sceptical about the alternatives. If we justs topped using plastics, what would happen to all those plastic goods that are already in existence? They'd either be incinerated (can we really capture all those harmful gases?) or put to landfill. I like using natural fibres in my textiles work, but would it really be better to rely on wool for our clothing, house insultaion, etc? And could we really put precious land down to fibre plants without struggling to produce enough food, and would many of them grow without petrochemical fertilisers? Would, for example, rice by-products really be a realistic option in a world without plastic parts for aeroplanes, ships, and machines?

I'm still not sure what I think about all this but I think the best thing we can do is continue to use plastics, just not make so much of them. I think we're in too deep to stop using plastics, and look at all the good things they do for us - medical supplies, for example. I think we just have to reuse and recycle all the plastic we can. So I'll be trying to throw away as little as possible during this big clear out. Someone out there on ebay or Freecycle will have a use for all my junk, and hopefully that will keep it out of landfill.

2 Grey Weeks Later...

We've had about a fortnight of rotten weather. I'm just hoping it clears up by the weekend so that I can practice taking a sample of adult bees in a match box in preparation for my Basic exam on Monday 27th!

Luckily I have now learned how to get the smoker going: DON'T USE THE RIDICULOUS HESSIAN SACKING WE WERE USING BEFOREHAND. I have never been able to light the smoker so I was doing some practice the other day. I used our spare smoker in case the main one was broken, and it had a roll of cardboard in there already, so I used that and I lit it FIRST TIME. So fuel choice is important, and thankfully I'm not completely incompetent! :-)

There have been bees out and about but it's mostly bumbles - most of the time it's been only just warm enough for honeybees to venture out, and way too wet. However, we did get some beekeeping done at the weekend, and it was fantastic!

We only inspected 2 apiaries out of our 3. In the first one we have 2 hives and 2 nucs. Everyone is getting on amazingly well over there. The nucs need to go into full sized hives ASAP - they're building up so quickly, despite the weather. We also harvested our FIRST EVER FULL SUPER! We haven't done anything to it yet but we'll be getting our extractor cleaned up etc. soon.

In the 2nd apiary we have the hive that we collected from that barn wall (see the video blog, http://alittleisland-tv.blogspot.com/) and they're doing OK. We thought that they might have EFB, but have seen no signs of that on second inspection. However, they're now quarantined and we'll call the inspector in the moment we see signs. In the mean time I may buy in a tester kit just in case. We now also have separate hive tools for each apiary, and a new record-keeping system, all of which should help us to avoid diseases like that from now on.

The new record keeping system is one that I devised myself. It's basically record sheets where you tick the boxes, e.g. queen seen, tick. Eggs seen, tick. etc. etc. You can buy record cards from beekeeping shops but making your own has several advantages: a) you can design your own layout, e.g. I like to have room to jot down notes and draw apiary layouts as well as tick boxes, b) you can just print out more as and when you need them and c) you don't have to pay for them! I might put mine on the net available for download, not sure yet, but I'll let you know if I do :-)

Chicken news: just over a week ago we unwrapped Cleo's bandaged leg and found that her infection had got much worse. It smelled bad, and it looked worse. There was no way she could have survived an infection like that, so we put her out of her misery. We disposed of her last night, and this River Cottage forum snippet should explain how: http://community.rivercottage.net/users/NJ/forums/poultry/viewtopic/topic_id:462

Since the last post we've harvested our first couple of runner beans and first handful of French beans...they were absolutely gorgeous!

My American corner has gone absolutely haywire, especially the Delicata squash (actually an Italian variety) climbing up the bronze elder bush. There are now some small sunny yellow fruits on there. And my Blue Hubbard squash is fattening up nicely, I just can't wait to eat it!

^ Delicata squash; below, the American corner

In the latest edition of Permaculture Magazine (essential reading!) there is an article about Warre beekeeping, an alternative beekeeping method that claims to be more bee friendly. I'm really interested in non-conventional beekeeping methods, such as top bar hives etc. so this was really interesting to read about. One principle behind the Warre method is leaving the hive sealed up all season...I'm really not sure about that. The theory is that bees leading a more natural life get fewer diseases, but I'm a paranoid beekeeper and like to know what's going on with my bees, so I won't be doing that just yet! However I was interested to read how they add more boxes to the bottom of the hive instead of the top, something to do with airflow and maintaining the temperature...now that we're converting to OSBs (One Size Boxes, aka Rose hives - another alternative beekeeping method where supers and brood box are all the same size - just such a common sense idea!) this is something that we could experiment with too. If you're interested in finding out more about these beekeeping methods I've put some links at the bottom of the post.

Did I tell you that I've got a job at a bamboo nursery? It's only part time but it's really good fun! Boss is nice, pay is terrible but we do get some perks. In fact to date we've had 7 perks at the least...FREE PLANTS! The nursery doesn't just do bamboo, it's also other exotic stuff, but now the boss has a website so he's branching out into other stuff too. The things is though that if a bamboo etc. isn't big enough to be saleable after he's had it a while then he just THROWS IT AWAY. Perfectly healthy plants, just too small! I think he should have a discount section on the website and sell them to other silly sentimental people who don't like to think of sweet little plants being confined to the scrap heap, but in the mean time it means that fairly often we rescue poor little plants (and not always little at that) and get to put them in our own garden! So we now have a garden full of hardy palms, bamboos, bottlebrush bushes and a North American trumpet vine. None of them have been planted out yet but have been given a little TLC. Today we were moving citruses too, and they were in flower and they smellt just so WONDERFUL, so I'm secretly hoping that he neglects them so I can take a few home ;-)

^ Bottlebrush flowers

^ Campsis radicans, American Trumpet Vine flowers

This is an exciting week for our family. It's my Grandma's birthday on Thursday, my Dad's birthday on Friday, and my auntie should be giving birth around the same time! I'm really excited and hoping to have lots of delicious home produce for my Dad's birthday meal...I dunno what yet but I'm sure I'll be able to dig up something!

Anyway, I leave you with the promised links:

http://warre.biobees.com/ Warre beekeeping

http://www.rosebeehives.com/ OSB hives

http://hirschbachapiary.com/default.aspx Top Bar beekeeping

http://www.worldgardenplants.com/ and here's the nursery's website.

Legal Drug Cultivation

This evening Dad and I went up to see some old neighbours who moved into a new house with a bigger garden, and have very kindly offered it to us for veg cultivation and apiary! Vicky was asking us if we knew what the weed invading her new area of wildflower meadow was so we brought some back to look it up.

It's sort of thistle-like, with some fine hairs, serated edges and almost dandylion shaped leaves...and it turns out that it is a type of wild lettuce, lactuca serriola, which apparently has some of the same properties as opium! I tried some and it was alright - a bit bitter but more or less edible. I'm not sure I'll be consuming it in any great quantity any time soon but if I end up deciding to "expand my mind" I'll know where to go!

(I think I'd better slip in a small disclaimer here as we live in a mad world: if you do something stupid or pick the wrong plant and poison yourself as a result of reading this blog, it's your own bloody fault and nothing to do with me!).

Dave and Vicky's garden is amazing. They obviously love gardening but as Dave has MS it is of course difficult. But it's so cool that they've offered to share their garden with us and I can't wait to get going. People are beginning to operate schemes like this up and down the country, and teamed up with the increase in demand for allotments it looks like more and more people will be rebuilding their communities through growing their own. Exciting times!

Phormium Fruit Net

We have a garden full of Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax). It's a plant with flat, broad, spiky leaves and my mum loves it, so a while ago when one of our neighbours was getting rid of 5 small phormium plants Mum couldn't say no. It grows fairly large - we have a mature one that takes up about 1m x 1m x 1m, but it's worth the space coz it's so blooming useful!

I think I've already mentioned in an earlier post that I used Phormium fibres to train our espalier apple trees. Well, this week I've gone one step further and made my own Phormium fruit net.

Phormium is such a useful plant, I think everyone should try and grow a bit! I've used it for string, I've woven place mats out of it, and now I've made a fruit net...and the Maori of its native New Zealand traditionally use Phormium to weave stunning ceremonial cloaks. It's all done by hand - no loom - and it's so intricate and delicate...if you look it up on the internet you'll be astounded at the stuff they can do with it!

In our south-facing front garden we have a cluster of fruit bushes - a red currant, white currant, black currant and gooseberry. They're planted very tightly but so far are doing well. The problem is that last year Mr and Mrs Blackbird beat me to it and I only managed a handful of blackcurrants. Well, this year we have several baby blackbirds too and so this year action must be taken.

Last year we used a plastic net. It was bright green, and broke where you didn't want it to and stayed strong when it would have been more helpful for it to be easy to break. It was also completely useless at keeping Willow out of my celery. It is just the sort of stuff that I hate to see go into the environment. So, while I'm deciding how to dispose of it, I'm opting for a more natural sort of net this year.

To begin with, I cut quite a few phormium leaves at the point where they become stiff, pithy and traingular, rather than flat. I then slit them in half - they're very easy to split along their length, but you need sharp scissors to cut across the fibres! I then split each half into smaller strips - a maximum of about 4mm across.

Next I tied them together using a simple double knot until I had lengths that were approx. 2 armspans long. I made lots of lengths like these.

I then used my bean poles as a frame, tying a long strand horizontally at each end of the frame. I then tied more lengths onto this base length at regular-ish intervals, again with a simple double knot.

I had an odd number of vertical strands.

I then tied the strands loosely into pairs, leaving gaps to give the net and open structure. Of course, as I had an odd number, when I got to the other end I had one left over. I simply tied it onto the strand next to it and worked my way back along the row, so that this time the strand I had started with was the one left over.

I carried on working until I got fed up! And now the net is over the fruit bushes. It might be a bit small but I'm hoping it will act as a deterent in any case.

This is by no means the quickest option, but it only took me an afternoon and in my view an afternoon of tying knots is a lesser evil than that horrible green plastic stuff that will take millenia to rot down. So I'm happy :-) .

Just got to see if it works now!

Campaigning for Allotments

I thought I'd write a post about our campaign for allotments. Allotments are a hot topic in the UK right now. For years nobody's wanted them; so many sites have been nearly empty, and lots of sites have been or are being closed down for new development. (A well-attended site in London is being bulldozed for the Olympic village (something that our country can't even bloody afford)! I read that some allotmenteers' grandfathers used to grow on the same site. Now they have been moved to a new site and have lost the beautiful soil that was built up after generations of cultivation!).

Luckily however, demand for allotments has shot up recently and new alloment sites are being created all around the country. Add to that guerilla gardening and schemes such as Hugh F-W's Landshare, and it seems that half the country want to grow their own! Fantastic!

I first started hankering after an allotment last year, and luckily I eventually managed to get my Dad interested and motivated, and he has worked wonders. There is no allotment site in our village. The nearest ones are miles away in busy towns, and the waiting lists are huge. So we set out to try and get a new allotment site in the village.

When I first started out I was making posters etc. that were all very demanding and pointed the finger at our local councils. Then I read the Transition Handbook, and my outlook entirely changed. I realised that if we were more positive and were nice to the councillors we'd be more likely to get what we want! I think this was crucial as otherwise our campaign would have gone a very different way indeed.

The first thing to do was research legislation etc. about allotments. I found several organisations with great advice (see below for details) and the entire Small Holdings and Allotments act of 1908. Although several later acts added and tweaked bits and pieces of the original act, the 1908 one is the one that has some key information in it: apart from in London, if 6 or more tax payers ask for allotments, the council is legally obliged to provide them. They can even force land owners to sell or rent out land for the purpose of allotments.

Of course, this is no guarantee that it won't take another 15 years for them to get round to it, but it's very useful information to have!

The next step was to find our six. That was easy, as we simply asked friends and neighbours. I don't think we know anybody quite as mad about growing their own and green issues as we are, but several families were pretty interested and agreed to sign our petition. Dad delivered it to the council, and the rest is history, as they say.

We've been really lucky that we're in a rural area with plenty of green space, and that our council have been really positive and proactive since we submitted our petition. Dad frequently emails the clerk to check how things are going, and it's clear that the council are just as keen to make this work as we are. Even if your council is a bit slower however, there are still things you can do:

• Write letters to your councils. For us, the parish council is the most important, but write to your district or even county council if you need to. I'd recommend being positive and persuasive rather than accusatory. Outline why you want an allotment, the possible community benefits, and offer to help.
• Visit your councillors! Dad turned up at a parish meeting one evening (apparently they seemed quite surprised that anyone turned up) and meet them face to face. Again, be nice, positive and inclusive. Introducing yourself helps people to put a face to the name and just generally feels friendlier.
• Get advice from some of the people at the bottom of this post. The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners has some template agreements etc. that are really helpful and can really get the ball rolling.
• Write to your local paper etc. and tell people about what you're trying to achieve and why. Tell as many people as you can what it's all about.
• If your council is unhelpful, why not go to a local landowner directly? Again, there are organisations (see below) that offer template agreements, and organisations such as Landshare can help match landowners to people who want space to grow.
• Alternatively, consider joining or starting a garden sharing initiative. Landshare is also great for finding people open to this, and schemes are already in place in several areas. Transition Town Totnes is a prime example of how these sorts of schemes can work.

Our council were really proactive recently and included a piece about allotments in their newsletter. They invited people to come to the annual parish assembly and register their interest. Even before the assembly, I think another 10 people had registered their interest! According to the latest email from the clerk, we are now up to 30 people wanting allotments, and everyone's starting to think about sites and access, etc. Of course, there will be people in the village who won't be too pleased about having 30 allotments outside their back door. However, with an inclusive approach there should be ways round this. For example, the authorities can always impose rules about sheds, use of old carpets etc. and bonfires, and I think these could make a huge difference to the way an allotment site looks.

After we'd already started our campaign, Mum found an old dossier of my Grandad's from the 1970s. It's the Friends of the Earth "Allotments Campaign Manual", and I wish I'd had it from the start! Apart from it being incredibly precious for sentimental reasons (it's a great feeling when you find out you're basically carrying on the work of your ancestors) it's full of useful information. It mentions the relevent acts of parliament and ways to get round stifling legislation, as well as facts and figures about food security etc. It amazes me that we knew about all this stuff in the 1970s, but still managed to get into the mess we're in today! Luckily however, it seems that growing your own has become a lot more mainstream today, and isn't just the haunt of communist pensioners! So who knows? This time around we might actually achieve something and get all the things that allotments can offer:

• Rebuild communities
• Personal development
• Include marginalised groups
• Offer food security
• Promote exercise and healthy eating
• Reconnect people with the natural world
• Allow people to save money, make friends and generally have fun!

So, we still haven't got our allotments, but things are moving along and it's pretty exciting. Hope this helps anyone else trying to get an allotment! Best of luck and remember the most important thing about campaigning for things like this: be positive and inclusive and you're more likely to get results!

Useful things to look up:

National Society of Alloment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG): http://www.nsalg.org.uk/

Allotments Regeneration Initiative: http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/

Allotments UK: http://www.allotments-uk.com/

Eastleigh Allotments: http://www.eastleigh-allotments-association.org.uk/index.htm (the website of a group of allotmenteers who have been forced to abandon their allotments in Eastleigh, Hants. Despite a 5 year battle and a long waiting list, the allotments will soon be turned over to development).

A government report on allotments: http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmenvtra/560/56014.htm

Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1908/cukpga_19080036_en_1 (according to Grandad's dossier, other relevent acts include:

• The Allotments Act 1922
• The Allotments Act 1925
• The Allotments Act 1950

Tales from the Allotment: http://allotmentplots.blogspot.com/2007/03/allotments-and-law.html (good summary of allotment law)

More on allotments: http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/WDC/Leisure+and+culture/Parks+and+recreation/Allotments/More+on+allotments.htm%20(notice(notice the Permaculture principles quoted word for word under "Allotments and Sustainable Development"!).

Allotments Law Broken?:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7655556.stm (a BBC article about allotments in Wales).

and of course, the Transition Movement:

Transition Town Totnes: http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/

Transition Culture: http://transitionculture.org/

Transition Network: http://www.transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionNetwork

DIY Fashion

At the weekend we went to Wonderwool and the Mid Wales Mouthful at the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells.

Wonderwool consisted of stalls, demostrations and even a fashion show (the "Sheep Walk") all about textiles, particularly wool, although there was also A LOT about alpacas. The Mouthful was brilliant - lots of local producers showing off their products, from birch sap wine to chilli cheese and white chocolate and strawberry tarts that looked like works of art - as well as cookery demonstrations. It was a really good day out with plenty to see.

My spinning and weaving techer Carol had a stall, and I finally remembered to buy some swing knitting needles off her. Apart from hers my favourite stall was Textile Techniques, who sell textiles and equipment from all over the world. I managed to pick up some amazing beads from Burma, Java, Thailand...gorgeous.

Carol's gorgeous handknits.

The main thing I want to write a post about however is the Sheep Walk - it was really good fun, showcasing all sorts of clothing - modern and traditional, sober and just plain weird. My fave outfits though were from two indie fashion labels, Raggedy and Wench. They make clothes from recycled materials and they are AMAZING. You wouldn't believe the stuff they create from cast-offs that you wouldn't normally give a second glance.

Raggedy and Wench's amazing recycled outfits on the Sheep Walk.

See their websites here: http://www.raggedyrags.co.uk/ and here: http://www.wenchwear.co.uk/. Both are based in Aberystwyth.

So I came back totally inspired and have been making some weird and wonderful clothes ever since! I've always hated dress making but somehow this is actually fun - perhaps because I work without a pattern, don't bother with darts etc. and just go along however I feel like it.

It's quite lucky that Mum hooks rag rugs, because it means that she collects all sorts of strange old garments and scraps. Although lots of them have already been shredded, I have access to a fairly healthy rag box full of goodies. There's everything in there from curtain fabrics remnants to vintage evening dresses...love it! It's great, it's proper recycling, and has the same magic about it as it did when I was little and it was my dressing up box.

Unfortunately my wizzy computerised sewing machine is currently undergoing surgery so I had to get the Old Banger out. This is the machine I first learnt to sew on but as I haven't even touched it for nearly five years I managed to bugger it up within the first five minutes. I think I've got it going again but I'm being gentle with it just in case.

So yeah, here are two works in progress, and some other creations-to-be.

Two dresses-in-progress: the one on the left made from an old top and a polycotton apron arrangement. Eventually this will have a big poofy skirt underneath it in lots of different shades of purple and pink. The blue one is made from old curtain fabric - it's just a length of fabric with a head hold cut in the middle and gathered at the waist...I'm thinking some flowing inserts and fraying fabric flowers.

Everything from old lining to brocade and a felted jumper.

I have an idea for an "intergrated system" too: any off cuts from sewing get rag rugged, any loose fibres/teeny tiny bits and pieces get spun into yarn = no waste! Just got to do it for real now!

We finished up our visit to Wales with an evening walk around Crick...I just love it how the mountains are constantly there in the background. It's just so different to our relatively flat corner of the Hampshire/Surrey border!

Home Made Cosmetics

Recently, I've got quite interested in making home made cosmetics. I think it must be a combination of Grow Your Own Drugs, The Apprentice soapmaking sandalwood fiasco, an article in Permaculture Magazine by Star Khechara, and the idea we've had for a couple of years but have never got round to doing: making luxurious beauty products from our own beeswax. Anyway, recently I've been looking up recipes on the web a fair bit, and today I tried it for the first time!

Of course, being me, I just suddenly decided I wanted to do it now, and went and did it: didn't bother finding a recipe, checking the store cupboard or weighing ingredients. It would either be amazing or a total disaster. "But how hard can it be?" I thought - after all my research it seemed to me that you can make just about anything from soap to lip balm to bubble bath with oil(s), water, and smelly stuff.

The first thing I did was go out into the garden and pick a load of smelly herbs: wallflowers, currant leaves, sage, lemon balm, Boles mint, fennel, chamomile.

I bunged all these in a panful of water and turned on the heat. It heated pretty gently; the water turned a cool green colour. Then I thought I'd add some of last year's lavender crop (dried) and a squeeze of lemon.

As soon as I added the lemon, the water went pink!

Anyway, I carried on heating it. It was smelling LOVELY but unfortunately I left it to boil...a stupid mistake as all the lovely fragrance vanished and I was left with an acrid and overpowering lavender scent. Oh well.

After boiling it for about 2 mins I strained it through muslin and a collander, squeezing all the juice I could from the leftover leaves.

Then I put three small ladlefuls back into the pan, with an equal amount of Tesco's cheapo sunflower oil. I turned the heat back on and melted in a few scraps of our own beeswax. After this came a fairly long period of whisking it, and being unable to decide whether I should be heating it fiercely, gently or not at all.

After a fairly long time whisking and oscillating between the three possible heat settings, I got fed up. It seemed to be emulsifying a bit, as it was turning a sort of even creamy colour, but it still looked horribly liquid. I filled a basin of cold water and put the pan in there, still whisking.

After a while longer I was completely shocked to find that it went all lumpy like curdled milk - I was just getting myself ready to throw it away! Kept whisking it, and it came out as a lovely pale, soft cream. Wow!

The 6 ladleful mixture filled about 2 jars. Having tried the cream I would say that it was a bit greasy - less oil next time perhaps, or a different sort. I'd also like it to smell nice - when the roses are out I'll use some petals, I think. But apart from that, it's pretty luscious! I'll definitely use it before and after gardening - has already completely rehydrated my cracked knuckles, and as I know that everything in it is edible, I may apply it to chapped lips too! Or a foot cream! Whatever, it's not all that bad and it's definitely useable. And the leftover herb-infused pink water concoction could make a nice addition to a pampering bath. Not bad for a first completely madcap attempt without a recipe!