2014 season in a nutshell

Thas been a very productive season for us here in Clacton but with some challenges.  We are used to having very dry summers here but this year there has been enough rain and we have hardly used our large rainwater tanks.
We have had a massive harvest of apricots and peaches this year which we have bottled, jammed and dried, we gave away about one third of the fruit.
Tomatoes in the poly tunnel have been great but in the greenhouse all the plants have been killed by a mosaic like disease that makes the leaves dry up and fall off.
Four trees have died very quickly from unknown disease (only a week from full health to death!)
Lots of chicks hatched, we are still waiting to see how many are cockerels!
Two of our large grapevines have suffered badly from a white mildew like disease on the fruit with brown patches on the leaves, the grapes become leathery and crack, we had to cut off the grapes and feed them to the chickens.  The grapes in the poly tunnel are already sweet and being enjoyed as desert grapes.

Surplus honey bees in North Essex

I have a surplus of bees and am passing them on in the way I have done for a number of years. I sell the bees not the equipment . Prices start at £30 for 5 frame nuke. All bees with laying queen. people bring me their hive and frames, I transfer the bees to their hive and keep the appropiate number of frames in exchange.
Contact me on chris@ecodiy.org if you are interested.

Self sown Poppies

Self-sown poppies between our vegetable beds, we will harvest the heads for the seeds when they dry (great in our home baked bread)

Dealing with aphids without chemicals

 Its worth looking at the pictures of these aphid eaters as some of them look surprisingly like slugs but are 'goodies'

http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/beneficial-insects/

Wwoofing with a baby

Here is a picture of our wwoofers Anouk, Damien and baby Anae.

As you can see children are no obstacle to wwoofing! Our experience of small familys wwoofing is very positive.
More information about WWOOF here WWOOF UK

Sun shines on Eco-house open days

Sun shines on Eco-house open days

Clacton Eco-house EcoDIY attracted more than 80 visitors on a sunny Sunday and bank holiday Monday.  Visitors came from as far as and includes included Green party MEP candidate Rupert Read.

Rupert met the leader of the Clacton Food bank which feeds up to 80 people each Monday from food which they collect from supermarkets and other shops.   Rupert Read is campaigning for more food self-reliance in the UK and praised the movement towards growing more vegetables in gardens and allotments as happens at EcoDIY in Clacton

Attached picture is Rupert Read meeting people at EcoDIY

Left to right David Egar, Rupert Read, Peter French (Foodcycle volunteer)

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.