We have started to have informal gatherings called ‘Transition Drinks’ in the Brewery Inn in the centre of Ashtead. They start at 8 pm and are held on the second and fourth Mondays of the month and so the next is on Monday 8th February.
A few of us from the Transition Ashtead Initiating Group will be there for informal chat about our transition initiative. There is no agenda, no minutes, just a chance for people to drop in, find out what Transition Ashtead is all about, and decide if they want to get involved. If you want to find out a little more about transition, peak oil, etc, we will do our best to answer questions, and look forward to hearing any suggestions you may have to make us more effective.
Derek Smith
As I write, I’m listening to a really interesting programme on Radio 4, 1:30, called Costing the Earth. Alice Roberts travels across Britain to meet a new breed of growers, guerilla gardeners and part-time farmers determined to make Britain’s wasteland fertile once more. Catch it on Listen again! Let us know what you think!
Transition Ashtead is about to start a home energy group. The first meeting of the group will be on Thursday 14 January. Before we have met we cannot really say what we intend to do, but informally we have mentioned the following possible activities.
- Share success and failures. We could encourage people to put their own energy projects on our website and maybe have open days in their homes. (We have already had an offer to view a local ground source heat pump installation.)
- Bulk buy insulation materials
- Advise on good local suppliers and contractors
- Help people to use the grants available
- Encourage people to measure their personal carbon footprint
If you’d like to get involved in the group or want to know more, we’d love to hear from you. You can either email us using the ‘Contact Us’ link on the Transition Ashtead home page or give me a ring on 01372-378914.
Derek Smith
The Transition Ashtead food group has been launched and has held its first meeting . We decided that our initial aim is to promote food growing in Ashtead. We will encourage organic methods, but not try to insist on this. In due course we may extend our activities to promote selling of locally grown food.
We agreed to look at the following ideas:
- Establish a community garden
- Set up a garden sharing scheme (garden sharing involves linking people with gardens they cannot manage with people who want to garden but need more land)
- Find local experts who are willing to help get started with food growing, or advise when gardening problems arise
- Encourage wild life by measures like:
- let grass grow long
- plant trees
- plant hedges
- find sites for bee hives
If you’d like to get involved in the group or want to know more, we’d love to hear from you. You can either email us using the ‘Contact Us’ link on the Transition Ashtead home page or give me a ring on 01372-378914.
Derek Smith
Midnight munchers!
The carrots that were too small for a badger...
The nibbled remains of the Autumn carrots...
I squelched up to the allotment in my wellies today – the ground was really sodden and everything was looking a bit bedraggled after the snow and cold weather, that droopy, brown look that gardens get in the winter. I haven’t been down there for ages, as there is not much to do at this time of year but it’s Christmas Eve and I wanted to harvest the Autumn carrots to have with lunch tomorrow. As I approached the carrot patch, it looked like the snow had completely flattened the carrot rows but as I got nearer I could see that they weren’t flattened, they were DUG UP! Flippin’ heck, I’ve been plundered! With much muttering under my breath about pillaging scoundrels, I looked more closely. The green carrot tops, with a little shoulder of carrot attached, were scattered around, the sad nibbled remains what had been my carrot crop! Not many human thieves would eat unwashed carrots straight from the ground, I decided. Having decided that the thief was probably not human, I calmed down a bit and a bit of Christmas spirit returned. I guess it must have been some very hungry badger or squirrel, who had pounced on the temping orange morsels as soon as the frozen ground could be dug to yield its buried feast. And there were a few small carrots left (very discerning badger, leaving me the small carrots!), so we will be able to have a little taste of home-grown carrots with Christmas lunch…So Merry Christmas, you feral foragers, have a carrot or 50 on me. We’ll just have to eat more Brussel sprouts…
It’s late notice but I’ve just spotted that “The Age of Stupid“, starring Pete Postlethwaite, is being shown on BBC4 tonight Monday 14th December at 10pm. It depicts the results of failing to respond to the challenge of reducing carbon emmissions – not a barrel of laughs but thought-provoking. Watch it and make your own mind up!
This coming Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will flow through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all. ‘The Wave’ is organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.
Green Mole Forum is encouraging people in Mole Valley to go to this event and suggests we all go on the same train – see the poster below. The train stops at Leatherhead at 10:33 and Ashtead at 10:37 and we hope that plenty of people from Ashtead will be going.
The Black Death
The Black Death plastic, just behind the Autumn carrots
Kamekazi weeds on the left, weeds exit, stage right
With the hard-graft digging done, it is a bit galling to see those rascally weeds poking their cheeky leaves up through the freshly-dug. It is a bit surprising that they think it’s worth putting any effort into getting leafy at this time of year, when surely they will be zapped by the imminent winter chill but they seem determined on this kamekazi course of action. And I’m here to give them a helping hand….It is traditional on allotments to cover the ground with old carpets to suppress weeds during the winter but not having a ready supply of this type of “Tufted Weedol” but plenty of black opaque plastic (aka The Black Death), kindly donated by Bryan, I decided to break with tradition and use that instead. It is now spread over most of the dug areas and pinned to the ground with bricks. And there it’s going to stay until I’m ready to plant seeds in the Spring. I didn’t have quite enough to cover two of the raised beds, so I’m doing a bit of an experiment – in those uncovered areas, I’m going to do a careful hand-weeding job and compare the results come spring with the Black Death areas. Will removing all the autumn sprouters mean there are no seeds and roots left to sprout in Spring? It is a very tedious process I can tell you and I’m glad the areas to be weeded are quite small! I did some yesterday and it took ages and it’s not finished – I can look forward to a few more hours of sprout-removal yet…I think I’ll take the wind-up radio next time and listen to Gardeners Question Time as I weed…By the way, hello to all the global blog-followers – hello Agentina (Euge’s Mum), hello France (Pam), hello Wales (Andrew & Wimke) and hello the World! Post me some comments on what’s growing where you are…
On Monday 30th November at 8pm we have an expert in PERMACULTURE AND BIODYNAMICS coming to give practical help on how to use your garden. The meeting is in the Ralli Room at The Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall in Woodfield Lane. It’s a chance to meet us, get some useful advice on your garden, and enjoy homemade cakes.
The Big Tidy
Do you ever wonder why you put off doing things that you know are going to make life easier but are a bit of a bore so they get the mañana treatment? Well, the clutter-infested allotment shed has been getting mañana management ever since I took over the plot at the end of July. How much procrastination can a woman do, you may ask, and the answer is, quite a lot when it comes to things under the heading of “housework”. I mean, for heavens sake, tidying up would use up valuable digging/pruning/planting/composting time, right? But it was beginning to annoy me, every time I needed a tool, it was a five minute rummage to find the required item. As the more interesting jobs outside are getting done, the time had come for the Shed Makeover. So I am pleased to report the following Shed Improvements:
- All tools now hung on hooks for ease of access (hooks = nails, obviously) so no more untangling of hose pipes and rakes to uncover the fork.
- A coat hook (coat hook actually = coat hook! There’s posh!) on the back of the door for anorak and cycle helmet so no need to delve under debris at home time.
- Table cleared of clutter so now available for storing thermos and lunch. (No doilies yet, let’s not overdo it…)
- Poly rubbish bags inside another poly bag, so they don’t obscure any of the above.
- Floor cleared of mud/litter (litter not mine, inherited) /general rubbish. No, I will never use the tea bags left behind by previous occupant.
- Rubber-backed mat found outside in remarkably good condition spread on the floor. Not sure about this, could get very muddy, but adds a touch of luxury at lunch time.
The Big Untidy...
The Big Tidy...
...and even a coat hook!
So there it is, I’ll be super-efficient now, a place for everything, everything in it’s place, an end to rummaging…do you think a few posters on the wall would look silly….? Maybe a “Home Sweet Home” sign above the door…
