Transition Ashtead

We hope you can come to The Brewery 8pm Monday 13th December for Transition drinks.

Find out about Transition Ashtead Garden Share, how to save money on home energy and all things Sustainable!

An informal evening – a glass of wine, a few beers… no presentations, no agenda, just a drink or two and a chat! Hope to see you there.

We hold Transition Drinks on the second and forth Mondays of every month – so make a note in your diaries!

I’m afraid there is no simple answer to the question – “what insulation and other home energy grants are available?”  It depends on where you live, the age and condition of the house you presently are in, your circumstances, and the time you ask the question because the offers made by the various utility companies come and go.

Luckily help is at hand in the shape of the Energy Savings Trust.  You can find out what grants are available to you in two ways.  One is through this page on their website:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Easy-ways-to-stop-wasting-energy/Energy-saving-grants-and-offers/Grants-and-Discounts-Database.

The other is by ringing 0800 512 012 and talking to an advisor.

Either way you have to go through a questionnaire before they can come up with the offers available to you.  The questions are in the following sections:

• Describe your present house
• What grants and offers are you interested in?
• What is your household?
• Is anyone in household on benefits?

I have tried the service for myself and for someone else and was impressed both times.  One bit of government which seems to work well!

The EST website gives the following information on the service they offer.

“Our database contains details of hundreds of energy saving grants and discounts, including those from the government and energy suppliers. By entering your details over the next pages you’ll be able to find out which ones are right for you and how to apply. Our advisers can also help you identify the best grants and discounts for you, so if you’d prefer to, give them a ring on 0800 512 012 during office hours.

Our database includes grants from a range of providers including government, energy suppliers, retailers and installers. Energy Saving Trust tries to ensure that all installers listed are members of the National Insulation Association (NIA). However, it is unable to offer any other recommendation or endorsement of any of the listed installers or the products they install. Please visit www.insulation.org.uk to find out more about the checks carried out by the NIA on its members. Similarly, the Energy Saving Trust is also unable to guarantee price and “lead times” shown in the database and you should ensure that the written agreement with your chosen installer confirms this information.”

Derek Smith

A big THANK YOU to all of you who brought apples down to the first Transition Ashtead apple pressing at the Craft Fair today!

Thanks also to George of Epsom Apples for the loan of the equipment. We were absolutely overwhelmed with apples to start with but everyone soon pitched in to help with apple chopping, chomping and pressing and we had quite a production line going. Apologies if you had to wait for your juice but the demand was huge!

During the day, we processed an amazing 150kgs of fruit and produced something like 60 litres of fresh juice, all thanks to your enthusiastic help.

It was  a lovely communal activity, with lots of youngsters (young and old) taking turns to turn the wheel on the chomper and push the pole on the presser, burning up lots of energy and making lots of  juice pour out of the apple mash. And the apple-chopping team kept the supply flowing, with many a cry of “More apples please! ” Well done one and all!

I think we might do it all again next Autumn…

Have you got lots of apples on your trees?

Are you wondering what to do with them all?

Come to the Craft Fair at Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall on Saturday 9th October 10am to 3pm, bring a bag of clean apples and a empty bottle and get freshly pressed apple juice! We will charge a small fee for the pressing and you will receive about a fifth of the weight of your apples as juice.

Hope to see you there!

Can you help us in the Home Energy group?  We have three project proposals and have obtained funding from Surrey County Council to meet most, if not all, of the costs involved.  We now just need some volunteers to help us carry them out as widely as possible.  The projects are described below.  Please get in touch if you think you can help with any of these, or if you know anyone who may be interested either as a volunteer or as a recipient of our services.  You can contact us here. 

1.  Helping Ashtead residents get home energy grants. 

Many people do not realise they are eligible for grants for things like insulation and a new boiler.  We want to increase the take-up of these grants by Ashtead residents.   We have developed a one-page questionnaire that asks all the questions that determine a household’s eligibility for grants.  We need volunteers to visit people in their homes, help them complete the questionnaire, and then ring the Energy Savings Trust to find out the grants available.  The volunteer should also offer to help explain the grant offers to the resident and, if appropriate, help them get the work ordered and completed properly.  We anticipate that many of the residents we contact will be elderly and will appreciate this extra assistance. 

2.  Energy Surveyors 

We have been discussing with Mole Valley District Council the possibility of training volunteers to carry out home energy surveys.  The surveyors will then be able to carry out surveys in people’s homes, identify the most desirable improvements, and give an indication of the costs and payback periods. 

3.  Practical draught proofing

We are looking for people who enjoy DIY to install draught-proofing products in homes in Ashtead.  We have identified the best products to use and will organise training to make sure everyone is confident in using them.  We will use some of our funds to buy an initial stock of products.  When that is used up, we will ask the householder to pay for the materials used.

We hope you can come to The Brewery 8pm Monday 13th September for Transition drinks.

Find out about Transition Ashtead Garden Share, how to save money on home energy and all things Sustainable!

An informal evening – a glass of wine, a few beers… no presentations, no agenda, just a drink or two and a chat! Hope to see you there.

We hold Transition Drinks on the second and forth Mondays of every month – so make a note in your diaries!

Anniversary!

Before (July 2009)

...and after (August 2010))

Bonus blackberries!

It whizzed by so fast, I missed it! I was slightly distracted by the celebrations for my husband’s 60^th birthday on August 1st, but the allotments FIRST birthday was on 30^th July! The before and after pics tell some of the story…when I took delivery of it a year ago, you could loose small children in the tall grass (I did in fact glimpse Hansel and Gretel at one point…) Now, it is mostly under control and looking pretty organized. A whole year of allotmenting! Do I count as an old hand now? I have learnt a thing or two along the way…like asparagus needs to be protected by netting to prevent infestation by asparagus beetle. And you do need to water potatoes when it’s really dry, even if they are planted quite deep in the ground – I think the crop has suffered from water deficiency, it has been an incredibly dry summer. I went down today to check how the French beans were doing, planted where I had grown the onions and garlic, and I’m pleased to report they are doing well so far, more growing to do but a good start. But it was bonus day on the allotment. – there were loads of blackberries! Not planted by me, just growing wild in the hedge next to my plot. I’ve got blackberry-coloured fingers now and a saucepan full of blackberry & apple (windfalls from the garden) Looking forward to eating those!

We hope you can come to The Brewery 8pm Monday 9th August for Transition drinks.

Find out about Transition Ashtead Garden Share, how to save money on home energy and all things Sustainable!

An informal evening – a glass of wine, a few beers… no presentations, no agenda, just a drink or two and a chat! Hope to see you there.

We hold Transition Drinks on the second and forth Mondays of every month – so make a note in your diaries!

Hello Charlotte…

Jewels in the Ground...

Let the cropping commence… I have dug up the first potatoes, some Charlotte salad ones and they are DELISH! Just plain boiled, with a dash of butter, they are an adornment to any meal…although I say it myself.

They have much more flavour than bought ones (…possibly a hint of rose-flavoured tongue, do you think?)   It’s really good to dig them up, like buried treasure, trying not to spear them with the fork – there have been a few casualties so far but not too many…It’s great to be able to harvest them at all, after they got badly nipped by that late frost.

They’ve made a good recovery. The red onions have also been pulled up- actually they seem to fling themselves out of the ground somehow – once the green tops go floppy, they kind of fall over, out of the ground. I’ve not grown them before, so onion behaviour is all new to me. I have to report that they are not as huge as they looked when they were growing – they had quite broad shoulders sticking out of the soil but are a bit on the skinny side – maybe they haven’t thrived in this hot weather, although I have been devoutly watering them at least every other day. Perhaps that isn’t enough when it’s this hot.

They are currently drying in the shed – I thought I’d tie then in plaits, à la Français…then I can cycle home with them on my handle bars….

Ta-raaa!

Young and tender carrots for dinner...

After the disappointing Autumn carrot crop at the end of last year (see blog of 24^th December…)

I am very pleased to announce a “win” for the human gardener at the allotment. I thought I’d thin out the carrots, as they are looking a bit squished up, and the “thinnings” are quite thick!! Marvelous!

I’d left them to grow without thinning, as I’d read somewhere that you shouldn’t thin carrots, as it  gives carrot fly a sniff of “eau de carrot”, and they come flocking to ruin the roots.

Don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve got no carrot fly! So I’ve beaten the rabbits and the pesky carrot fly…Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight – yep, nice, sweet, young and tender carrots!