Our first chicks for 2010

Our little black bantam has 5 chicks today including one that is a pretty jet black.  Pictures later.

Open Afternoon in Glebe Wood

We are having an open afternoon in Glebe Wood in Tendring Essex on Sunday 2nd May.  We will offer tea and scones and conversation about such topics as CSA schemes (link) for selling logs from our wood.  If you are interested in coming on Sunday email me on chris@ecodiy.org

Beautiful Survivor!

A Romanesque cauliflower with a beautiful fractal design has somehow survived the cold frosty weather (it is usually a summer plant) to produce a head and give us a surprise meal.  (tasty too!)
My posts are sparse at the moment due to the pressure of election work but soon it will all be over and life can get back to its usual kind of business.

Ben Laws magic wood!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to do a one day workshop with Ben law (of the Grand Designs woodland house fame) It was a great day. Along with 10 others who had woodlands or hoped to own woods in the future we walked around Prickly Nut wood with Ben and saw what coppicing should look like. We deluged him with questions on all topics from; planning problems for living in your working wood, dealing with pests like rabbits and squirrels (tasty apparently!) how large an area to coppice at once and lots more. We sat in his open fronted shelter (where he lived before building his house and drank tea. The shelter was magical enough being made from a living tree with a round brick hearth and clay walls. A wonderful day and I returned bursting with plans and ideas. The forestry commission officer has now sent us forms for our felling licence and I am exploring the grants available to help us re-vitalise Glebe wood.

Tories block Childrens rights

By blocking the Educational Reform Act the Tories put the desires of parents before the rights of children to a complete unbiased education - shame!  This makes for a more divided society and damages the potential for children to develop into balanced intelligent adults.  There will be more unwanted pregnancies, more sexual disease and more religion intolerance as a result.  It makes me angry!!

Happy Estra

 Picture is Druids Well, thanks to Megalithix

EASTER is a time when we used to remember  the goddess Estra, The Anglo Saxon Goddess of Spring and rebirth (fertility). ‘Christianized’ in the eight century.
The symbol of the egg, which was already being used in Easter festivities at this time, had been a pagan symbol representing fertility and re-birth in pagan times.  This was always a time (and still is for some like me) when we can move our thoughts from the harshness of winter to the soft abundance of spring (just a little late arriving this year!)
Enjoy the spring flowers (my bees are!)
Chris