Magic encounter in the wood

In the wood today (Wednesday) we could hear an owl calling and by chance as we walked through the wood we came across this young owl sitting as still as a branch in the tree.

Our open Days at EcoDIY

Everyone is invited to our open days next Sunday 4th and Monday 5th. We even have (one!) Easter chick born on good Friday.  See the other homes opening in may in North Essex at www.greenopenhomes.net

Using Biochar

We are using charcoal which I gather when I light our wood fires in the morning to create biochar.
The charcoal is used to mix with our growing compost to fill our pots and tomato ring culture.  It needs to be 'activated' or it will pull nutrients out of the compost.  I soak the charcoal in liquid feed (comfrey tea) which we make by soaking nettles and comfrey in a bin of water till it rots down.  The liquid is sieved to remove any nettle seeds.

Charcoal from our fires

Charcoal soaking in comfrey liguid

A slowworm at home in our brascica patch

Home again

Back from our trip to Cornwall by coach!
Rosie survived the 7 hours in a coach (she gets travel sick) and I got to see Bernard Leach's workshop /museum -he's my hero artist/craftsman/green living inspiration from the 1960s in St Ives.  Seeing his old workshop took me right back to potting in the Isle of Man (and a tear to my eye!)
 The Eden center is inspirational as well would need 2 days to see it all!
 5 days well spent and my baby plants/chickens/dog were all still living when we got back home! (Thank you Merry and Laetitia)

Waiting for mum

Broody coup waiting for me to place a broody hen (after dark when the broody hen is dozy and not so likely to object!)

A new electric car

We have added another jigsaw piece to our attempt at a sustainable life here in Clacton with our purchase of a second-hand Citroen C1 Eva electric car which we will fuel (mostly) from our solar panels.
Electric cars pay no road tax.  The main on-going cost will be maintaining the (expensive!) batteries  and replaceing some of them over time as they fail.

The car is 5 years old and was created new by converting a Citroen C1 petrol car
The Citroen C1 Evie, is a pure electric car that has been produced by the British-based Electric Car Corporation. It runs on a 30kw electric engine powered by lithium-ion batteries that are placed where the conventional fuel tank is, and also under the bonnet along with the electric motor. This leaves the interior of the C1 Evie unchanged from a standard Citroen C1, making it the first pure-electric four-seater on sale in the UK.
Energy produced from friction under braking is also stored and used to aid the 60-mile range.
We have been cautiously experimenting to find out the cars range and so far it has been using just over 2% of the battery charge per mile driven.
The amount of battery charge it consumes depends on how many people it is carrying and on how carefully it is driven.
One of our concerns was how to fit in our (large) Labrador dog. I am glad to report that we can carry three people and our dog at once!

Microgreens

We are trying microgreens this year.   Using old brassica seed, spinach seed and marrow-fat peas

Spinach ready to eat

pea shoots ready to eat , cut them high and they re-sprout

Rocket cress ready to eat

Brassica micro greens ready to eat