tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15666417001619957112024-03-05T10:34:49.138+00:00Orchardy HavenMy wife Kasia and I are moving to a smallholding near her family farm in north east Poland. This website will be a kind of scrapbook where we will record the process of our planning, moving and starting to live and work there. We'll be asking questions and hopefully finding answers and friends along the way... So do join us!visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-74143656423467746362014-12-21T10:24:00.000+00:002014-12-21T10:24:14.290+00:00Spring is on the way!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJUdH-u6aVL_RPGBjq0FXr7vt24XxE5u7yraAyVGtwnenKi9i498X9dhTR5Dqa6QoC-HoNUwTsk-KPvRWgFF_PoQ0KPS7a1qTbWZdud0C1ZN0WVDqwiBDosNeo_hBgk2MlDoBZOxvQvDx/s1600/yule+invitation+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJUdH-u6aVL_RPGBjq0FXr7vt24XxE5u7yraAyVGtwnenKi9i498X9dhTR5Dqa6QoC-HoNUwTsk-KPvRWgFF_PoQ0KPS7a1qTbWZdud0C1ZN0WVDqwiBDosNeo_hBgk2MlDoBZOxvQvDx/s1600/yule+invitation+2014.jpg" height="320" width="284" /></a></div>
Today is Yule, the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and the turning point of the year. In some traditions this is the beginning of the new year, as each day from now will get longer and lighter. We have our annual Yule gathering this evening and we'll light a fire and do our bit to keep the warmth and light going for the next cycle.<br />
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So it may seem a bit early to be thinking about Spring coming, but exactly three months from today, on the day of the Spring Equinox, we'll have moved to Poland. We fly out on 20 March. We've bought the tickets. We're packing already.<br />
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With this closeness comes a certain amount more trepidation, nervousness. People keep on asking difficult (silly?) questions like 'Is the house in Poland all sorted then?' (no, we haven't even demolished it, let alone started rebuilding, and we'll be basically camping for the next few years...).<br />
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After all the time spent planning and thinking and working on the permaculture plan, in one way I feel ready to move on and continue this work (and there's so much more to learn, so many details to work out, and now may be an ideal time to work on some of this while I'm still protected from the enormity of being there). On the other hand there's loads still to do here including work at the <a href="http://www.nightshelter.org.uk/" target="_blank">Night Shelter</a>, Christmas preparations, looking after my mum, looking after Maia, sorting and sorting and sorting around the house, finding a lorry to move our stuff, recycling, giving things to friends, taking things to charity shops, selling what we can on eBay and Gumtree, minimising waste as much as possible...<br />
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It certainly seems like a leap of faith at the moment, and it's possible to be overwhelmed by it all.<br />
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<b>But, we have an amazing dream, and it's really beginning to take shape. </b>We get there at the cusp of Spring, the vernal equinox, also celebrated as the beginning of the new year in some traditions.<br />
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We know what we're doing when we get there (as I described at the end of the <a href="http://www.orchardyhaven.net/2014/09/update-september-2014.html" target="_blank">Update, September 2014</a> post), and we're ready for visitors from May. In fact our good friend Andrew is coming with us in March, but by May we should have water and other necessities in place on site to make visiting much more pleasant.<br />
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Soon we'll be working on a schedule, so there will be specific work weeks when we'll invite people to come and help out. We'll update this blog with those dates when we can.<br />
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Keep following us, and we hope to see you in Sadowo soon :-)visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-15826959273451727352014-11-06T13:46:00.004+00:002014-12-26T06:29:35.327+00:00Links and references from my talk at the Leeds Permaculture Network SocialAll sorts of useful stuff here, if you're coming to my talk, if you came to it, or if you missed it...<br />
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<a href="http://www.hydeparksource.org/" target="_blank">Hyde Park Source</a> (I first learned of permaculture back in 1997 through meeting Andy Goldring of the <a href="http://www.permaculture.org.uk/" target="_blank">Permaculture Association</a> when starting HP Source).<br />
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I also did my first PDC taught by Andy, Niels Corfield, Joanna Dornan and others in Leeds in 1997, and there will be another PDC coming up in the spring I expect. Go to the <a href="http://www.permaculture.org.uk/" target="_blank">Permaculture Association</a> website to find courses.<br />
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<a href="http://www.geofflawton.com/">www.GeoffLawton.com</a> is a great source of videos. I especially like the cell grazing, fishponds and biogas videos. You'll also find links and information there about any upcoming online PDCs.<br />
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Back again to the Permaculture Association - the best way of getting a copy of <a href="https://www.permaculture.org.uk/permaculture-association/designers-manual-bill-mollison" target="_blank">Permaculture, A Designer's Manual</a> in the UK.<br />
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I've found some really useful articles and information on <a href="http://www.internationalpermaculture.com/">www.internationalpermaculture.com</a>:<br />
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<li><a href="http://internationalpermaculture.com/2012/06/14/consultancy-who-needs-it-why-do-it-are-you-ready-for-it/" target="_blank">Consultancy: Who needs it? Why do it? Are you ready for it?</a> by Bob Nekrasov</li>
<li><a href="http://internationalpermaculture.com/2014/04/30/woodend-veg-design-process-example-victoria-australia/" target="_blank">VEG Design Process Example</a> by Dan Palmer</li>
<li><a href="http://internationalpermaculture.com/2014/08/26/permanently-improve-sandy-soil/" target="_blank">How to Permanently Improve Your Sandy Soil</a> by Wojciech Majda</li>
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How to use SketchUp and Google Earth to make a contour map: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4J9sWEZR6E" target="_blank">YouTube video</a> (there are loads of resources out there. I managed from this, but it wasn't easy. Let me know if you find a better source.)</div>
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A few soil and compost links:</div>
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<li><a href="http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/hot-compost-composting-in-18-days/" target="_blank">Berkeley Method for making hot compost in 18 days</a> from Deep Green Permaculture</li>
<li><a href="http://www.soilfoodweb.com/">www.soilfoodweb.com</a> - the website of Dr Elaine Ingham</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gardeningwithmicrobes.com/">www.gardeningwithmicrobes.com</a> - a commercial but accessible site</li>
<li><a href="http://vimeo.com/80518559" target="_blank">Soil Carbon Cowboys</a> film </li>
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International perspectives (all sorts of things here, but just a few links):</div>
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<li><a href="http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/" target="_blank">Ben Falk's Whole Systems Design</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.holzeragroecology.com/" target="_blank">Sepp Holzer's Farms</a></li>
<li><a href="http://vergepermaculture.ca/" target="_blank">Verge Permaculture</a></li>
<li>Mark Shepard's <a href="http://www.newforestfarm.net/">www.newforestfarm.net</a> and Restoration Agriculture</li>
<li>Joel Salatin's <a href="http://www.polyfacefarms.com/" target="_blank">PolyFace Farms</a></li>
<li>Regrarians, Darren Doherty <a href="http://www.heenandoherty.com/">www.heenandoherty.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.permacultureglobal.com/" target="_blank">Permaculture Global</a> networking site</li>
<li><a href="http://permaethos.com/" target="_blank">PermaEthos</a> and <a href="http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/" target="_blank">The Survival Podcast</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.permies.com/">www.permies.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.savoryinstitute.com/">www.savoryinstitute.com</a></li>
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<br />visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-19519361013338297892014-10-17T22:36:00.001+01:002014-10-17T22:38:21.629+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFfhx7y8GEg1gHXdiMT_ZsIO07SYWhHnQ5bhVG9mjt0IHqadWrpaZ1FBIxZrrNMhUEqeC5ucSxW-oAuTTvDoUfr1LRFM_5ZJTz2hcXVstOghF-eKKBn3IG3-VPiHCnZQFL3WIvVytYp0E/s1600/Building+on+the+soil+poster+sm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFfhx7y8GEg1gHXdiMT_ZsIO07SYWhHnQ5bhVG9mjt0IHqadWrpaZ1FBIxZrrNMhUEqeC5ucSxW-oAuTTvDoUfr1LRFM_5ZJTz2hcXVstOghF-eKKBn3IG3-VPiHCnZQFL3WIvVytYp0E/s1600/Building+on+the+soil+poster+sm.png" height="400" width="283" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">I'm giving a talk at the Leeds Permaculture Network Social about the permaculture design I've done for our OrchardyHaven. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Called 'Building on the Soil', the talk will focus on our strategies for building amazingly rich and productive soil that will in turn make an amazingly rich and productive food providing ecosystem for us to live in. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">I wish I'd said that on the flyer now... Anyway come if you can, it'll be great!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">6.30pm, Thursday 6 November, at the Friends Meeting House, 188 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9DX</span>visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-13512727166169552322014-09-13T22:31:00.000+01:002014-09-13T22:31:31.794+01:00Update, September 2014So many things to update about... I'll try to keep this reasonably brief and readable.<br />
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1. I went to visit our land for three days back in May. I hadn't managed to get there since August 2012 - not for lack of desire. I really felt I needed to do some surveying, largely because of the need for establishing some waterworks on the land, partly because of some missing measurements around the house, but also because of the permaculture principle of observe and interact.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShRFiNF6tdhg-0WaKIoTZ3cbF42rIBROoaUpKNLaATGxCovX7TtdbiwGZtrSRrjrKPRUyZqb87OXYwQSDcNt_pIoNiOnQGS-Ys5j9q3zDMvXTFUbzbwfNxDIjkNXJ0I7jDZs_UtdR4EnS/s1600/Easter2012-May2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShRFiNF6tdhg-0WaKIoTZ3cbF42rIBROoaUpKNLaATGxCovX7TtdbiwGZtrSRrjrKPRUyZqb87OXYwQSDcNt_pIoNiOnQGS-Ys5j9q3zDMvXTFUbzbwfNxDIjkNXJ0I7jDZs_UtdR4EnS/s1600/Easter2012-May2014.png" height="173" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tree bog, March 2012 and May 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was really an eye-opener. I really did need to get back on the land. I realised that although I'd walked round and round it several times, all the research and thinking I'd done had really changed the way I could see. The first thing I saw was the need for animals - firstly because it's such a big space and there's so much growth we need animals to help us manage it, otherwise we'll be forever scything - and secondly because the soil seems so poor and sandy we'll really need the animal manure to help rebuild it's fertility.<br />
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2. I've finished my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course with <a href="http://www.geofflawton.com/" target="_blank">Geoff Lawton</a> and the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia. This was an amazing experience. I'd already done a PDC in Leeds in 2009, with loads of interactive sessions, creative groupwork, local visits, etc. I was initially a bit sceptical that an online course mainly presented in front of a whiteboard and based on the 25 year old <a href="http://www.permaculture.org.uk/permaculture-association/designers-manual-bill-mollison" target="_blank">Permaculture: A Designer's Manual</a> could be really so good. Happily my worries proved unfounded, and by the end of the course I felt really well prepared and qualified for starting my more practical permaculture future (and hopefully career).<br />
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I'm open to sharing my design project, which is an initial permaculture design for OrchardyHaven, so get in touch if you want to see more, but the key image is this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHZusUot4Ts8pRg5oOEgaUyKq-NvEuP9BKrjHoqEKVNH9moNDbkNCaXUsjkkxQwqbJENijORQR4lC9_A8pDToOjAU2RHrpgGbdtigFnXDhLeO3LZPkt4Z_ra1mu6tqeRAv0xEeC4BOHBo/s1600/OH+all+mainframe+elements+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHZusUot4Ts8pRg5oOEgaUyKq-NvEuP9BKrjHoqEKVNH9moNDbkNCaXUsjkkxQwqbJENijORQR4lC9_A8pDToOjAU2RHrpgGbdtigFnXDhLeO3LZPkt4Z_ra1mu6tqeRAv0xEeC4BOHBo/s1600/OH+all+mainframe+elements+med.jpg" height="313" width="640" /></a></div>
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It starts with a swale on the longest highest contour, which is then followed by a new access track. There are swales on contour throughout the land, slowing and managing water. There are planned ponds (see <a href="http://www.orchardyhaven.net/2014/02/planning-ponds-and-water-management.html" target="_blank">my previous post</a>), including one on the bottom right of the image near the high point of the land, fed from a new well with hopefully a wind or solar pump. This will give a water source with 9m of head pressure by the time it reaches our house and kitchen garden. There are loads of young dwarf mountain pine which don't seem very useful on our land except as filling for hugel beds where we'll be doing a lot of growing, especially vegetables and soft fruit but also a lot more hopefully. And it carries on this way down the hill... (I'm sure I'll post more on the other details later.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOF_SwI_jyX0BPdSgk9UGgtlROiMyL0vnHR9gXA3nBcW_uT2IYyNLmPlsH40VHkVr11Ap2zJFm6az4biZYoP1cd7_dTngUhz0K6uT-4Tqx1qpQO3S2stOB0U5R9ztbPXtnPcvgPcwWotrn/s1600/P1050072+-+Well+-+Scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOF_SwI_jyX0BPdSgk9UGgtlROiMyL0vnHR9gXA3nBcW_uT2IYyNLmPlsH40VHkVr11Ap2zJFm6az4biZYoP1cd7_dTngUhz0K6uT-4Tqx1qpQO3S2stOB0U5R9ztbPXtnPcvgPcwWotrn/s1600/P1050072+-+Well+-+Scaled.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
3. With this kind of out of the way we've been planning in more detail what we'll be doing when we get there permanently. We won't be able to live on site straight away, but we'll be close. We can quite quickly get water supply sorted out. We have a pump and a well and a power source. We'll install a temporary tank on the wall above the well and plumb in an outdoor sink. We'll build a rocket stove for water heating and we've got loads of good dry fuel for it. Then we'll get to work on the Goat Shed: digging out, insulating and redoing the floor, insulating the roof and walls probably with straw, bringing in water and electricity supplies and building a rocket mass heater. There's enough space there to make it like a small home, and certainly a comfortable base for us and any volunteers to work on site.<br />
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By September 2015 we aim to have cleaned out the well properly, probably dug it deeper, capped it properly, and have an underground pipe running from it to the Goat Shed to avoid freezing in winter.<br />
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There's lots of work to be done building an outdoor shower and an outdoor kitchen for the hot summer months, getting the workshop into shape, etc. We'll probably aim to get underway on the main house building in the spring of 2016. Can we finish it in a year? It would be nice to think so but I guess it's more realistic to expect two years as we can't afford to pay builders to come in and do the work for us.<br />
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Ok, that'll do for now. Hopefully more soon.<br />
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<br />visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-3702986952772535282014-05-04T07:15:00.002+01:002014-05-04T07:15:39.746+01:00Permaculture Designers in Action!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://permaculturenews.org/2014/04/29/meet-designer-interview-bela-beke-australia/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9UlyPYVBhLgmrFxchyphenhyphenlnUSnbNACqDtODXYplzwQ0TcOjMye8aCsSkmosDEX09_kYqYqGw8CdqvFShiqec2w9afaSGUGS0uJ_NokMgyR-YULX0YEw1McnfRdHNQUoTkfLHI9ffLsuNqgF/s1600/Bela_Beke_02.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is <a href="http://www.foodesigns.com.au/" target="_blank">Béla Beke</a> who's actively involved in loads of permaculture projects in Australia, but still a bit frustrated with the permaculture movement...<br />
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He wants more action! 'People don't feel the urgency,' he says. 'Many people are too comfortable in their own lives.' in his interview with <a href="http://www.wildheartpermaculture.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nicole Vosper</a> on <a href="http://permaculturenews.org/2014/04/29/meet-designer-interview-bela-beke-australia/" target="_blank">Permaculturenews.org</a>.<br />
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It's inspiring to read about people who are so active and still want more. I looked at <a href="http://www.foodesigns.com.au/" target="_blank">Béla's website</a> and there are some really interesting things going on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For me, me life is going to depend on permaculture. I'm going out to the relative wilds of Eastern Poland with few chances of employment, and planning to put all my heart into creating a sustainable living environment for myself and my family. The urgency is certainly going to be there, especially with the threats of climate change and other worldwide problems hanging over us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hope in 16 years I'll be as actively involved in researching and learning and continuing to be as inspired by permaculture as Béla is. </span></div>
visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-80065493613890563902014-04-12T17:16:00.002+01:002014-04-12T17:16:20.125+01:00Permaculture Design Course (PDC)I've now started doing an online PDC. In the end I chose to do Geoff Lawton's one. This has had loads of great reviews, and is very international, so I think it will stand me in good stead when I start doing permaculture 'design and consultancy' (read, work with and help my neighbours) in Poland.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXH_4V_55x2uhReFjNsvfYyV1b_s3s8w98nKN3uvrH-QsMI_fDiUDR7HE6n94dd1pZ95ft_z3EXdIZfPE0On70XsMkje0UTHn8-upghBO6TiLbW3NIk4A84NNzY-WY4upL6pV6nvRGu5F/s1600/Diversity+graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXH_4V_55x2uhReFjNsvfYyV1b_s3s8w98nKN3uvrH-QsMI_fDiUDR7HE6n94dd1pZ95ft_z3EXdIZfPE0On70XsMkje0UTHn8-upghBO6TiLbW3NIk4A84NNzY-WY4upL6pV6nvRGu5F/s1600/Diversity+graphic.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Last week was the introduction, and for anyone wondering I should mention the definition of permaculture. The simplest definition is:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Permaculture is a design system which supplies all our needs and benefits the environment.</i></blockquote>
Another useful definition is:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people — providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.</i></blockquote>
Permaculture works with complex ecosystems and habitats, including humans and their habitats at its core.<br />
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In order to supply all our needs and benefit the environment we need to capture and store energy at every opportunity - for example capturing water and keeping it in our system for as long as possible, capturing the warmth and energy of the sun in ponds, rocks, greenhouses and of course the plants and animals themselves.<br />
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I've been learning about permaculture off and on since I met Andy Goldring of the Permaculture Association back in 1997 so at this point in the course it's fairly familiar to me. There are still lots of good insights, and my favourite one so far is the definition of diversity that I've included in the graphic above.<br />
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Diversity links to lots of things in permaculture: for example we may want to use cows to help build the soil, chickens can also help in this process and if they go to an area after the cows they'll help process the manure and eat the pests that grow in it, then after the cows and chickens the land is really fertile and ready to grow lots of trees and shrubs and vegetables and herbs and flowers, some of these fix nitrogen in the soil, some of them work symbiotically with pollinating insects, some of them provide food for us or products for market, some of them provide shelter for other elements in the system, and so on and on. Many elements working together in 'complex' ways, storing energy in the system and reusing it again and again, stacking systems in space and time.<br />
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Two more principles of permaculture design:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Each element should have many functions.</li>
<li>Every function should be supported by more than one element.</li>
</ol>
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This rich patterning that permaculture designs and implements creates resilience against potential changes in the future - changes in climate, changes in ecosystems, changes in economics, and changes in what we can buy as transport and plastics become more expensive.</div>
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I'm looking forward to reinforcing all my knowledge about these things, learning a lot, and really cementing it all in good practical design skills. I'll keep you posted.</div>
visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-23380077112334532452014-03-16T19:10:00.000+00:002014-03-16T19:10:12.532+00:00Straw Works, and the dangers of cement in building<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.strawworks.co.uk/technical/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sbvWCi63xvukTQustg-XHJsY22ZeVvjVb75k9DOs41f4B2jWfBINgI5-fwBjVTU7bJhe4gv9E5iAdIuPcy-O1sWG1cSCj2rSCfagJCPe0__TccEbgV5imdJCyGdgdT2uTc1lTWh1ZrPD/s1600/Straw+Works+foundation+detail.png" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
On Wednesday I went to Todmorden for the day to learn first hand about some of the design details of straw bale buildings from local expert Barbara Jones of <a href="http://www.strawworks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Straw Works</a>.<br />
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It was a really good day and Barbara really showed her knowledge and experience - having worked as a carpenter and joiner since the early 80s and about 20 years of building with straw bales.<br />
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I've read her book of course but there were lots of little details that I appreciated, from the banal (but important for me) observation about 10mm graded gravel being excellent for drainage (in a capillary break) because of the gaps that are created between the individual stones, to the slip joint that Straw Works use to attach straw bale extensions to existing buildings.<br />
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Most of all I loved Barbara's little lecture about the dangers of cement in foundations (and buildings generally). It turns out that if you have a well made foundation - particularly one that's self-draining, breathable and flexible - then it doesn't have to be very big and it certainly doesn't need a damp proof course. Barbara stressed that having an impermeable plastic sheet (DPC) in the middle of your wall was a pretty bad idea, because any water in the wall is eventually going to drain down and collect on the plastic. In fact the main reason as far as she was concerned for having a DPC was to protect the house from inappropriate concrete foundations, as the concrete sucks in water and without the DPC it can then help to rot your walls or feed mould on your kitchen walls!<br />
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Lime is the saviour here, as it helps to manage moisture. I'm already a lime convert, but this added insight was very interesting. There are <a href="http://www.strawworks.co.uk/technical/" target="_blank">technical sheets available to download from the Straw Works website</a> that include drawings of different cement- and DPC-free foundations, details for installing doors and windows, and roofing details.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-50878935946923837532014-03-09T21:18:00.000+00:002014-03-09T21:18:47.483+00:00Build a house that can 'love you back'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRC-oEWkF430sx6ONWYFCo_Kgs0BTTcEWZ_fdwK80zVT0DNmkcA19uAXt7wuRQl3asgtsYJQxU1rSUaPo-I4-BtHbHNIMs24YY4TsYbnrHxFlKMJBvNOi2aO2ToU5Fzwv8vu3JKlBiRAl/s1600/elkecole-com.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRC-oEWkF430sx6ONWYFCo_Kgs0BTTcEWZ_fdwK80zVT0DNmkcA19uAXt7wuRQl3asgtsYJQxU1rSUaPo-I4-BtHbHNIMs24YY4TsYbnrHxFlKMJBvNOi2aO2ToU5Fzwv8vu3JKlBiRAl/s1600/elkecole-com.png" height="133" width="400" /></a></div>
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This image was taken from <a href="http://elkecole.com/" target="_blank">Elke Cole's website</a>, and the little inspiration that follows. Elke is a 'Social Entrepreneur in Natural Building' which sounds good to me, and she seems to have been involved in some beautiful projects.<br />
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Elke wrote a list of <a href="http://elkecole.com/services/houses-that-love-you-back/" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">10 ways in which your house can “love you back”</a> which I really like:<br />
<ul>
<li>it offers you shelter from the elements</li>
<li>it keeps you connected to Nature</li>
<li>it supports your health through superior indoor climate</li>
<li>it provides plenty of daylight for all your activities</li>
<li>it helps keep you grounded</li>
<li>it supports your personal flow of daily actions by design</li>
<li>it gives you pleasure through its beauty</li>
<li>it is energetically aligned with you through your participation in the building process</li>
<li>it is easy on your bankbook through smart space design</li>
<li>it stimulates your creativity through organic form</li>
</ul>
<div>
There's more on <a href="http://elkecole.com/services/houses-that-love-you-back/" target="_blank">Elke's original blog post</a> which is worth a read, and maybe you might want to ask for her help, or commission her...</div>
visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-39925329394165817362014-03-03T23:29:00.000+00:002014-03-03T23:29:30.622+00:00Passive Solar Greenhouses - A DIY Design Guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vergepermaculture.ca/blog/2014/02/27/forward-to-the-diy-greenhouse-book/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU2tVKIZiaH_ezGmAJ9H5buTkezTJ4ovImhI2pX1JqYNllz35U1sc7BSE9kgkb73MjWyFfA_twpuarsXv8P26cTHZxGBD0yiswC1nh7_c6Wl-mRM91JsT9Gs-0Xz_vNXQJ-nfGxOaXezX/s1600/Passive+Solar+Greenhouses+cover.png" height="200" width="154" /></a></div>
I'm getting this free ebook in my email by instalments at the moment, and I really appreciate it's insights and quality so far.<br />
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It's written and published by Rob & Michelle Avis at Verge Permaculture in Calgary, Canada. Their website is <a href="http://www.vergepermaculture.ca/">www.vergepermaculture.ca</a> (really good, loads of good resources) or <a href="http://vergepermaculture.ca/blog/2014/02/27/forward-to-the-diy-greenhouse-book/" target="_blank">click here for more info about getting the ebook</a>.<br />
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The two rather random things I really like are:<br />
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1. All the references to dealing with snow, for example the load it can place on the roof, the angle of the roof for avoiding snow build-up, and the design of the knee wall to deal with snow. These are the kinds of details you rarely get in most of the literature I've seen where permaculture sites are in much warmer climes...<br />
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2. There's a real emphasis on good graphic design as well as good content. There's a huge need for permaculture to become more mainstream - for hundreds of millions of people to be using it in their daily lives. For this to happen the material needs to be good, and it needs to appeal to people who've grown up in the age of mass advertising. Of course this isn't the only reason for good design - design makes things more accessible in many ways too.<br />
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You can also see this emphasis on good graphic design on <a href="http://www.overgrowthesystem.com/">www.overgrowthesystem.com</a> which Verge Permaculture are also associated with. Check it out - looks great.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-84360852225912582722014-02-28T23:16:00.002+00:002014-02-28T23:18:59.335+00:00Resiliency and Regeneration PrinciplesI've just written my first review on Amazon. I know I shouldn't really use Amazon, but it is a good resource for checking things out and reading reviews, plus my account with them allows me to earn small referral fees - so if you buy a book after following a link from this site I can get a little closer to my dream (although so far I haven't earned enough in two years for them to bother sending me a cheque!).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1603584447/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1603584447&linkCode=as2&tag=orchhave-21" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1603584447&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=orchhave-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=orchhave-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1603584447" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Anyway I reviewed <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1603584447/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1603584447&linkCode=as2&tag=orchhave-21">The Resilient Farm and Homestead: An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=orchhave-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1603584447" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> by Ben Falk. I mentioned this in my recent post <a href="http://www.orchardyhaven.net/2014/02/looking-forward-to-some-good-eating.html">Looking forward to some good eating</a>, and now I've got the book and I'm loving it. I said in my review that there are big chunks that I want to type out and put in this blog - particularly a piece about dwelling on the land and cultivating nut trees with an understorey of plants and animals - and getting massive long term returns on investment.<br />
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For now I'm going to list Ben's <i>Resiliency and Regeneration Principles</i>. I really need to get these into my head, and do quite a lot of work and thinking through many of them, and this is the first stage for me. Of course you need to <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1603584447/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1603584447&linkCode=as2&tag=orchhave-21">buy the book</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=orchhave-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1603584447" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> to read all his extra notes, I'm just going to list the headings.<br />
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<div>
<ol><h3>
Resiliency and Regeneration Design</h3>
<li>Maximum outputs for minimum inputs</li>
<li>Transform dead matter into living</li>
<li>System establishment vs. system maintenance</li>
<li>Biological complexity, technological symplicity</li>
<li>Resilience = diversity x redundancy x connectivity x manageability</li>
<li>Regeneration metric = biomass and biodiversity</li>
<li>Facilitate the vital force</li>
<li>Human management = primary limiting factor</li>
<li>Stress as stimulus</li>
<li>Responsiveness, not habit</li>
<li>Human resource x site characteristics = ideal site design</li>
<li>All design should be modular</li>
<li>Structural diversity begets biological diversity</li>
<li>Habits of mind</li>
<li>Spread pulses</li>
<li>Disperse and extend fertility</li>
<li>Land as value distillation tool</li>
<li>Multiply functions from single expenditures (always do or get two or more results)</li>
<li>Moving things is entropy</li>
<li>Value across time</li>
<li>Essential functions provided by multiple elements</li>
<li>Simplest solution is the best solution</li>
<li>Efficiency does not equal resiliency</li>
<li>Increase diversity, don't reduce it</li>
<li>Quality-quantity relationship</li>
<li>Scale and proportions are the most difficult</li>
<li>Oil intervention</li>
<li>Probability x impact = risk</li>
<li>Niches in time</li>
<li>Zone 1 site mimic</li>
<li>Past is precedent</li>
<h3>
Resiliency and Regeneration Habits of Mind</h3>
<li>Good design always empowers </li>
<li>Passive vs active observation</li>
<li>Observation action chronology</li>
<li>Two is one, one is none</li>
<li>Character of work over time of work</li>
<li>Immerse in abundance</li>
<li>Maximise site awareness</li>
<li>Embedding skills and practice in daily routine</li>
<li>Skills = most durable resource</li>
<li>Awareness limits action</li>
<li>Environment limits and manifests action</li>
<li>Solutions = alignment</li>
<li>Figure it out: try stuff</li>
<li>Miracles everywhere</li>
<h3>
Food and Fertility</h3>
<li>Constant organic matter accumulation </li>
<li>Paths as biomass producers </li>
<li>Seed often and lightly</li>
<li>Passive forage-ability</li>
<li>Plant as densely as you can afford to</li>
<li>Animals above plants</li>
<li>Pee on plants (or next to plants)</li>
<li>Swales everywhere</li>
<h3>
Ecology and Management</h3>
<li>Disturbance stimulates yield </li>
<li>Succession determined by disturbance and its aftermath</li>
<li>Fill open niches immediately</li>
<li>Systems establishment overshooting management capacity</li>
<li>Biology in place of technology</li>
<li>Annual-perennial balance in system</li>
<li>Modularity and agility</li>
<li>Ecosystem partnering, not stewardship</li>
<li>Partnering with vigour</li>
<li>Sculptable landscape</li>
<li>Native to when</li>
<li>Cheap tools are too costly</li>
<li>Quality of work affects labour and management capacity</li>
<li>Apply present resources now</li>
<li>Storage always runs out</li>
<li>House as water tower</li>
<li>House as dehydrator</li>
<li>Clarity points and leverage points in time</li>
<li>Principles are only useful if actually followed!</li>
</ol>
<div>
There are several things I like about this list. It is fairly familiar and comfortable for me, although it also contains quite a few new ideas, good reminders, and challenges. Some of the headings remind me of the sort of thing Christopher Alexander writes in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0195019199/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0195019199&linkCode=as2&tag=orchhave-21">A Pattern Language</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=orchhave-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0195019199" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> which I also love (and Ben quotes). And I like the mix of fairly obvious headings with some intriguing ones and others that seem wrong on the face of it until you read the notes. <br />
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Now I've typed all of these out I think I'll create a little spreadsheet for myself where I'll go through them and make extra notes that I need to think about for Orchardy Haven. I also need to read through this section of the book again to refresh my memory on some of the points. I'm sure I'll be returning to this book again and again over the coming years for inspiration and guidance.</div>
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visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-68860108683088811602014-02-24T20:17:00.000+00:002014-02-24T20:19:41.387+00:00Planning ponds and water managementFollowing on from my last post about our <a href="http://www.orchardyhaven.net/2014/01/water-supply.html">water supply</a> I've ended up reading loads of stuff about permaculture again. Really sorting out the water supply issues on the land is one of the first things we need to do. I mentioned at the end of that other post that I wanted to dig a well at the top of the land and maybe supply a pond from that - and I certainly want to do that now!<br />
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All the well known permaculture practitioners and teachers seem to have ponds and aquaculture as a key part of their land designs. Water is such an important key for life, for the regeneration of soil, for the transport of nutrients, for the support of biodiversity, for the capture and storage of energy, and much more besides.<br />
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I've bought an old engineer's level from Ebay and I plan to survey the land so we can identify good places to create ponds and ways of linking them together, as well as systems of swales or hugelkulture beds. I can't buy detailed contour maps of our land as far as I know and the image quality from Google Earth isn't great, so it's hard to visualise at the moment, but I've dug out a few images that convey some sense of the lie of the land:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFn99oypZ1NKA_lkgccEvToNbIWTzqU7u0QXszWSV-HjTB6FaFp4phSm-08gkLFnF9wyslwKyKJEuQ1IccNXz0RGgnnymmGr03jsoMqbEMW9naMO3Oh0zm5xYsjhuzyBlTq_Y5fpFwCNwf/s1600/Elevation+from+NE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFn99oypZ1NKA_lkgccEvToNbIWTzqU7u0QXszWSV-HjTB6FaFp4phSm-08gkLFnF9wyslwKyKJEuQ1IccNXz0RGgnnymmGr03jsoMqbEMW9naMO3Oh0zm5xYsjhuzyBlTq_Y5fpFwCNwf/s1600/Elevation+from+NE.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from NE, from neighbour's field. <br />This gives a good image of the S-N down slope of our meadow.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP80gT6OAdzniCvuhs-UJ8QPNrAuwUsRSBoO3GHke2QqEDUHJCpMwgE2cB7pTW3W3ikFLAnMxHIF1Dm3JIJRbdGQD65k3ikI0VpQTjgoT81xqsMjAdOzjpsgh9TIawgCSwI20x9ZGwJYld/s1600/Elevation+from+N.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP80gT6OAdzniCvuhs-UJ8QPNrAuwUsRSBoO3GHke2QqEDUHJCpMwgE2cB7pTW3W3ikFLAnMxHIF1Dm3JIJRbdGQD65k3ikI0VpQTjgoT81xqsMjAdOzjpsgh9TIawgCSwI20x9ZGwJYld/s1600/Elevation+from+N.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is from the N. The seasonally wet foreground isn't ours.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpykUagSfcTH2L7hyphenhyphenz1OUgSyxVxAAbYi8dHMN8p1xN3Igd7RsIr8AdnH1fzwh_NoMzy-NWostICHREqJKGxNVxdfC4ix9GihQyJ4AUO34G7S3TQ_VTpLIrWREykVs2708mYTljXEvW6h_/s1600/N+elevation+from+middle+of+plot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpykUagSfcTH2L7hyphenhyphenz1OUgSyxVxAAbYi8dHMN8p1xN3Igd7RsIr8AdnH1fzwh_NoMzy-NWostICHREqJKGxNVxdfC4ix9GihQyJ4AUO34G7S3TQ_VTpLIrWREykVs2708mYTljXEvW6h_/s1600/N+elevation+from+middle+of+plot.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting towards the top of our plot, looking NW down over the farm<br />buildings towards the sloping meadow. There's also a lesser slope down from W-E.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCQhL3pGD_Pi6-mVv-5cYeDSTnWrCeWbMOy2_NWwU4fQKDG3MJTw_m94s_XzPv4keT7SF_8E04aLcbLFp_CNJ9DUmOa0-Ibr97m1zF7wX5y25pl-2r2wo0kUNZNpTbbnfkijmE0VnHuf9_/s1600/Elevation+from+middle+of+plot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCQhL3pGD_Pi6-mVv-5cYeDSTnWrCeWbMOy2_NWwU4fQKDG3MJTw_m94s_XzPv4keT7SF_8E04aLcbLFp_CNJ9DUmOa0-Ibr97m1zF7wX5y25pl-2r2wo0kUNZNpTbbnfkijmE0VnHuf9_/s1600/Elevation+from+middle+of+plot.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the same spot as the previous photo, facing SW. The high point <br />of the land is in the birch plantation, about 200m N of our southern boundary.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The dream at the moment is to have a pond near the top of the land, one or two more near the house, leading down to the meadow where we will hopefully create a series of swales planted with fruit trees and shrubs and nitrogen fixers and perennial vegetables with enough space between the swales to graze animals or cut hay (and more ponds in the meadow too).visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-91036692740960254392014-02-24T18:58:00.001+00:002014-02-24T20:18:57.906+00:00Miracle Farms, a 5-acre commercial permaculture orchard in Southern Queb...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3riW_yiCN5E" width="480"></iframe><br />
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This is great, and in southern Quebec I bet they have cold winters like us in Podlasie...visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-71819971484694357672014-02-12T22:08:00.000+00:002014-02-12T22:16:31.343+00:00Looking forward to some good eating!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpIcvsBY6OFnREBih9z9FZfAOQVLbqIv6o_ac5WkyUiC9ZkeENXhuLlnpjdBf_W1uSCMwuaIUfp82qCyl7Q5Q8grbAU11TOtUgpLh2OsZZ7e5dnLEb8CQuXzqOtInRearf0129vfNpAt9/s1600/WholeSystemsDesign.jpg" height="200" title="Image from Ben Falk - www.wholesystemsdesign.com" width="320" /></a></div>
One of the big aims for our land is to make it a fertile oasis full of fruit trees and vegetables and herbs and lots of things to eat - and probably organic ducks and chickens and pigs too... :)<br />
<br />
I've known about and been interested in permaculture since 1997 when I first met Andy Goldring from the <a href="http://permaculture.org.uk/" target="_blank">Permaculture Association</a>, and I think this is the most effective way to achieve this abundance. Recently I've been enjoying and being inspired by <a href="http://www.geofflawton.com/" target="_blank">Geoff Lawton's excellent short permaculture films</a>, and this has distracted me a little from the housebuilding plans that have been going round my head since the new year.<br />
<br />
Although that's the background to this post (and hopefully more to come soon) the WOW moment was when I followed a link from Geoff Lawton to <a href="http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/" target="_blank">Ben Falk</a>, a permaculture designer and teacher from Vermont. He said (paraphrased from memory a couple of weeks past)...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>"The produce from our land is so delicious and so healthy that we rarely get ill, and if we do we recover quickly"</b></blockquote>
So there's a lot of good new permaculture stuff appearing all over, but my taste buds have been working overtime in anticipation and I thought I'd refer to some other sources of good taste inspiration related to permaculture that I've enjoyed over the years.<br />
<br />
So I'll start with our friends Rachel and Martin at <a href="http://www.oldsleningford.co.uk/" target="_blank">Old Sleningford Farm</a> near Ripon. They are certainly dedicated to good food and good living, and everytime we go there they tickle our tastebuds as well as our enthusiasm. They also have the most established forest garden in Yorkshire which is well worth visiting and volunteering in.<br />
<br />
There's also Alan Carter from Aberdeen who writes the blog <a href="http://scottishforestgarden.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Of Plums and Pignuts</a> which is full of taste inspiration as well as good information and good examples of testing and experimenting in his forest garden. He also has recipes and tips for using ground elder which will be useful as we've got plenty of that!<br />
<br />
I'm now realising that this isn't and area that I've got lots of links for after all, but this blog is supposed to be a scrapbook for starting off ideas and developing them over time... It's also true that there are loads of tips for good food and good eating from lots of different permaculture related places. So hopefully I'll be able to share more tasty treats in the future<br />
<br />
:-P<br />
<br />
<br />visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-40810171261708257482014-01-30T22:41:00.000+00:002014-01-30T22:43:32.943+00:00Family farm growing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/x8tHwQ9Qwzk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
We spend a lot of time singing songs with our little girl these days, and we love this series of animated songs from Barefoot Books.<br />
<br />
Watching this one I was struck by how far we've come from the old practical days when our families also had farms and lived nearby and could bring a sheep or a duck or a horse to help get us going. I know this is a hopelessly romantic notion, but that's one of the lovely things about spending time playing with a toddler - magical creatures appear at will, tea comes out of thin air and always tastes delicious, and we can dream that all the songs we hear can come true...visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-81800652350691196512014-01-23T22:32:00.000+00:002014-01-23T22:32:09.751+00:00Water supply<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF82Im82mdZuazkPM5cKmejQBEJKdfvDW0idLYfgbgdOIi5h37KTLlj5sQ7-QGJfLqPffyxxiqPZa9McWOv5BRu4QtNlmAUWq6e4j3LHl3x41VXWvdL5KNNSzrt-HwA5dn-brdPe0_qZ7U/s1600/P1050072+-+Well+-+Scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF82Im82mdZuazkPM5cKmejQBEJKdfvDW0idLYfgbgdOIi5h37KTLlj5sQ7-QGJfLqPffyxxiqPZa9McWOv5BRu4QtNlmAUWq6e4j3LHl3x41VXWvdL5KNNSzrt-HwA5dn-brdPe0_qZ7U/s1600/P1050072+-+Well+-+Scaled.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
This is the state of the current water supply (we have made a cover since this photo). It does work, but it's a bit sandy, it's a long way down (maybe 12-15m), and it's about 20m from the house.<br />
<br />
Did I mention before that we dropped a pump down it and pumped a lot of water out - and it didn't take long for the water level to be refreshed and for the output to seem pretty clear and fresh (I didn't taste it).<br />
<br />
The basic things we need to do are:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Repair the well top. Patch the hole in the side and make a cover so things can't fall in (I'm thinking particularly frogs, mice, insects, leaves).</li>
<li>Local consensus is that we should dig out the sand at the bottom of the well and make sure it's a good 15m deep. This will also help ensure it's clean and fresh.</li>
<li>We can use a bucket for a while, but we need to get a pump in there, or a pipe attached to an above-ground pump. The system I've seen is a pump in the cellar of the house, but since our house is a building site we may have to look at alternatives in the shorter term.</li>
<li>For a permanent or semi-permanent setup we need to bury any pipes 1.8m deep in the earth to avoid winter frost damage.</li>
</ol>
<div>
We're wondering about:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Maybe we should collect rainwater from our roofs and use that instead of the well supply. That involves more capital expenditure on water tanks.</li>
<li>Could we build a simple wind pump to extract water from the well? This would also require a large storage tank.</li>
<li>What about the need for filtering the water? We filter our water now, but mainly to remove chemicals from the mains supply. We'd be filtering the well water for different reasons - removing small particles and micro-organisms. </li>
<li>Should we dig another well, and where should it be? Kasia's family have two wells, quite close together - one for the house and one in the animal yard. They do run low in the summer and the family is quite careful about their water use. I'd want to do some dowsing and see where the underground water is, aiming to get a back-up supply that was hopefully independent of the first well's groundwater supply. I'd also be thinking of using the second well (maybe with a water pump) to supply a pond system.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-75336338581462140432014-01-12T21:15:00.003+00:002014-01-21T21:16:46.435+00:00Piec deconstruction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KVhReMUMfXUGTRD74q49UeGRla8S86Yw0-cIJI5t4W41sX7mCwyOZ7q3luje_dq46vq-Fz6MkInrbM6PO26si8hfw4IPXgDUi8QUsmVG3n2LJvNI7Fr0V3RdAGEq7c4s8oa1aPzH0tA4/s1600/P1050043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KVhReMUMfXUGTRD74q49UeGRla8S86Yw0-cIJI5t4W41sX7mCwyOZ7q3luje_dq46vq-Fz6MkInrbM6PO26si8hfw4IPXgDUi8QUsmVG3n2LJvNI7Fr0V3RdAGEq7c4s8oa1aPzH0tA4/s1600/P1050043.JPG" height="302" width="200" /></a>Back in July/August 2012 I was doing this, partly with help from my friend Andrew (although he was mainly lime plastering the goat shed). I've been meaning to document it since.<br />
<br />
The traditional cooking appliance in this area, and across a wide area of northern and eastern Europe I think, is known in Poland as a <i>piec</i>. It's a wood-burning stove that channels the heat from the fire under cooking pots and through a snaking ceramic tile-clad and clay-lined chimney, storing and using as much heat as possible before the smoke goes up the chimney.<br />
<br />
In our house there is an extension of the piec that stands between the bedrooms and acts as an extra fireplace/heater. You can see it as it was in the photo on the right. I decided to de-construct it to learn how it was put together (and because it all needs to come out anyway).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoY1aZDqWgkeV_gq1gjv6TowgUBtb9iS5SHdMPksFrYbCy__vtt9eIbPjQWiUILdGlxA1dkIWeNXwZWVH_4ldeER9nqJwB4-1bnsspWePu3bFmeoXsorfgPCLWdO0bLuGuYREXvK-ilvEm/s1600/Piec+deconstruction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoY1aZDqWgkeV_gq1gjv6TowgUBtb9iS5SHdMPksFrYbCy__vtt9eIbPjQWiUILdGlxA1dkIWeNXwZWVH_4ldeER9nqJwB4-1bnsspWePu3bFmeoXsorfgPCLWdO0bLuGuYREXvK-ilvEm/s1600/Piec+deconstruction.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a><br />
I've put <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117246706715770513823/albums/5968093719145521121" target="_blank">a full series of 16 photos and diagrams on my Google+ page</a> for people to look at in more detail if they want.<br />
<br />
I've saved the pieces for reconstruction, although I'd want to do a better job than the original. I do need to do more thinking about the similarities and differences between this and the rocket mass heaters. My first thought is that the fuel simply isn't burned as hot in this piec so the soot build up becomes a problem...<br />
<br />
I'll be doing more reflecting on this in the future as I come closer to building my own heating/cooking stoves.<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_2132588760"></span>visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-52489761020326865972014-01-12T15:36:00.000+00:002014-01-12T15:36:41.335+00:0014 months away from the blog, but we're still on trackWow, I didn't realise it had been so long. Obviously all sorts of things have been happening, mainly trying to scrape together pennies wherever possible and spend as few as possible. Last year one of the money saving things we did was to not go to Poland at all - except a short weekend in December when Kasia went alone to the dentist :(<br />
<br />
The good news is the saving has been working a bit (although it's been stressful), and we are planning to move later on this year...<br />
<br />
We've been trying to work out how we're going to move all our stuff, and thinking about other practical issues such as house plans, plumbing systems, water collection and heating, etc.<br />
<br />
I'll try to put more updates on here over the coming months.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-49306806369487328742012-09-08T23:28:00.001+01:002014-03-16T21:20:11.961+00:00Lime PlasteringOne of the things we were looking forward to on this last trip was lime plastering, but we didn't realise quite how enthusiastically we would get into it!<br />
<br />
We'd booked ourselves on to a short lime plastering course about two hours north of OrchardyHaven, on the shores of Lake Hancza, famous for being the deepest lake in Poland.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXNqVQk6hQ0T3h4nTXn1emeQxYdweCn3Mvk8GbGok2iup_hboFi4zyVTbO8jZFPs2SR5o5uDzHvbQobcF5HPrqgz2N3VrSCTi2LQ7-nJ2ir9KfogOWO0_0bHCK-aMmP153qp42P19GWUw/s1600/P7310597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXNqVQk6hQ0T3h4nTXn1emeQxYdweCn3Mvk8GbGok2iup_hboFi4zyVTbO8jZFPs2SR5o5uDzHvbQobcF5HPrqgz2N3VrSCTi2LQ7-nJ2ir9KfogOWO0_0bHCK-aMmP153qp42P19GWUw/s200/P7310597.JPG" width="150" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG1Y62DTuU6ssztRmGDAjDhzMpKowH4M5TDGXAP8MI3G2M3pULF2DiQ6Arq-71pDRezpcDyUMmU7u9WeJAv8kSXEAtqKuy8ZXg9BpOYLL3rB28ayDv-UdMI3TANNiLnmUYj_buSV7x1mBl/s1600/Przelomka+straw+bale+house.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG1Y62DTuU6ssztRmGDAjDhzMpKowH4M5TDGXAP8MI3G2M3pULF2DiQ6Arq-71pDRezpcDyUMmU7u9WeJAv8kSXEAtqKuy8ZXg9BpOYLL3rB28ayDv-UdMI3TANNiLnmUYj_buSV7x1mBl/s200/Przelomka+straw+bale+house.JPG" width="200" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jezioro Hancza
</td>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The straw bale house
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJLafOkwg63eFLtnwKm9u-ytxWplNr8lAbINTr8KdbMVOAkj_6x-gO_rlkjcKSmi9DkBZOE4CA3S8cTQ0f_dzD12ncG5yEZiKHiq1ZR9P3d-HgFz4OybBnlB-T9w7drw1L8-xSSOerdcJj/s1600/Lime+plastering+on+cob+wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJLafOkwg63eFLtnwKm9u-ytxWplNr8lAbINTr8KdbMVOAkj_6x-gO_rlkjcKSmi9DkBZOE4CA3S8cTQ0f_dzD12ncG5yEZiKHiq1ZR9P3d-HgFz4OybBnlB-T9w7drw1L8-xSSOerdcJj/s200/Lime+plastering+on+cob+wall.jpg" width="200" /></a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RmNsSHrFnTcj_inIJubKLKHGHyI-AThI4HSkh1G4lvhH4XXTtMyMuMkBQUifHzxoB0mHdEYdFvyxxy4zyGMzHaA1ON3718O8C2kTK3CD0z0WOr_jufWOxCjLLbUXP-ycXFRFad_r5UXa/s1600/Clay+plastering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RmNsSHrFnTcj_inIJubKLKHGHyI-AThI4HSkh1G4lvhH4XXTtMyMuMkBQUifHzxoB0mHdEYdFvyxxy4zyGMzHaA1ON3718O8C2kTK3CD0z0WOr_jufWOxCjLLbUXP-ycXFRFad_r5UXa/s200/Clay+plastering.jpg" width="149" /></a>
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lime plastering on cob wall</td>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay plastering inside</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We were interested in Lime Plastering for various reasons:<br />
<ol>
<li>Lime plaster is a traditional natural finish that breathes and has various other useful properties (see e.g. <a href="http://www.greenspec.co.uk/lime-mortar-render.php" target="_blank">here</a>);</li>
<li>Our property was built using lime, so we want to keep the tradition and learn more about the material;</li>
<li>We wanted to find out where we could obtain quicklime or natural hydraulic lime (NHL) in Poland;</li>
<li>and we really wanted to meet <a href="http://earthhandsandhouses.org/about.htm" target="_blank">Paulina Wojciechowska</a>, the pioneer of straw bale building in North East Poland (she built the house we visited on our honeymoon).</li>
</ol>
<div>
It was really good to go for these two days in Przełomka. We did meet Paulina and her partner Jarema, we saw 15 people from all over the world <i><b>happily</b></i> camping and working together in difficult conditions, and we got some hands-on experience, although we didn't find out how to get hold of good lime.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This experience made us eager to get back to work on our own place, and thanks to Jarema's encouragement we fixed the roof on the goat shed and got on with plastering the inside walls. Andrew joined us at this time, and despite pushing him to work so hard he quickly started talking about forming the OrchardyHaven Lime Appreciation Society! While I was stuck on the roof a lot of the time, Andrew really knuckled down to the plastering job and we got two coats on each of the three outside walls - pretty good for people with such little plastering experience as us. </div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwviZ5yHVhJRX4m-SjBX7OclixJdmWcjK4exbYwaHs4nn5Qd3kyI9gRoyCOqr6pXe2NHMFLdjoa5CWcBodM-UjnUsZyAqoN5EhVWY7N02Xq2APeFWutfGjJ-q3-mitUiVMkfyvdq6ZUJt/s1600/image115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwviZ5yHVhJRX4m-SjBX7OclixJdmWcjK4exbYwaHs4nn5Qd3kyI9gRoyCOqr6pXe2NHMFLdjoa5CWcBodM-UjnUsZyAqoN5EhVWY7N02Xq2APeFWutfGjJ-q3-mitUiVMkfyvdq6ZUJt/s200/image115.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting free sand from the quarry 500m away :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6X7xeQFWQoQSGIcKv473cHk3mKfRPiFYlS9njGAb-U6HttEUFNGS-fU1npGZXqPbacRQxefte45chXpDALDG7_IQkHc-QUMY9VpVh7EP3KB0vuPUx2k5Tp8LI0u6a92OWkr9m4bVROiZ4/s1600/image117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6X7xeQFWQoQSGIcKv473cHk3mKfRPiFYlS9njGAb-U6HttEUFNGS-fU1npGZXqPbacRQxefte45chXpDALDG7_IQkHc-QUMY9VpVh7EP3KB0vuPUx2k5Tp8LI0u6a92OWkr9m4bVROiZ4/s200/image117.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a sweltering first week it started to rain - a lot! End wall plastered though...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihM20CTT0DPNAL6xFnAQaZItt6YdrtYW-3HAhMuuYdmSnuDwCefx-ajvRIZFjSdlFaTD8HQWdOhMt9mTCZZiQrbp00d8dVBvSHoQmCCyEH59A9dx0-GCyz1u_0sX5L4XRK8wvAVXvjYNe_/s1600/image123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihM20CTT0DPNAL6xFnAQaZItt6YdrtYW-3HAhMuuYdmSnuDwCefx-ajvRIZFjSdlFaTD8HQWdOhMt9mTCZZiQrbp00d8dVBvSHoQmCCyEH59A9dx0-GCyz1u_0sX5L4XRK8wvAVXvjYNe_/s200/image123.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working on the roof</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4xqEj85wwFuiRs7Gr_-p0TdyPNI4Sxwm9xydUhQ2QY-7dh1hLqNAKoEdvbMuhgPyT88nH2NHyMtROHeGbD-iCqLRCHzPdOnqd5MDWqjG48Ks6ytF_ipVAIlLZC1PwHKSuKui8nC_wEOu/s1600/Testing+lime+plaster+outside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4xqEj85wwFuiRs7Gr_-p0TdyPNI4Sxwm9xydUhQ2QY-7dh1hLqNAKoEdvbMuhgPyT88nH2NHyMtROHeGbD-iCqLRCHzPdOnqd5MDWqjG48Ks6ytF_ipVAIlLZC1PwHKSuKui8nC_wEOu/s200/Testing+lime+plaster+outside.JPG" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Testing lime plaster outside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFkH9uXFo6FEH6NjCSn2H9TY5bHcw1TIACoRibO6s5R7Ub69sk59Sm0zvZGHafHkQ2BKgiGTJVp4rXOoatYDzbfmHZm9ZrUdMj29dCnmmJjLLgIzojJ7Z2NAaLaO72N7nSxf58CWE9M37/s1600/The+finished+roof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFkH9uXFo6FEH6NjCSn2H9TY5bHcw1TIACoRibO6s5R7Ub69sk59Sm0zvZGHafHkQ2BKgiGTJVp4rXOoatYDzbfmHZm9ZrUdMj29dCnmmJjLLgIzojJ7Z2NAaLaO72N7nSxf58CWE9M37/s200/The+finished+roof.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished roof, just needs tiling next year </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Lots more notes could go in here: </div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>The sand was sharp but really fine - probably too fine for mortar or render. We didn't clean the sand either - potentially more testing and experimenting to do;</li>
<li>We used builder's (hydrated) lime, easily available from any of the local farmers/builders suppliers. We did find that Kerakoll has a Polish branch that appears to sell NHL, but we didn't manage to chase them up and find any local suppliers. We added our lime to water and left it for at least 24hrs as recommended. We mixed the resulting 'putty' with sand 1:3 and after a few minutes looking far to dry it suddenly transformed into a really sloppy mix, although usable. We found that we could still use it even three days after making it.</li>
<li>I also made a lime wash on the last day, mainly to treat our apple trees where I had to do some emergency pruning in August (last October seemed to early for pruning and Easter seemed too late, but I don't know when I'll be there at the right time so I just went ahead and pruned three trees). This was quite strange - really watery as it was painted on, then turning bright white after a minute - I realised I had made whitewash... :-)</li>
<li>Most of our plastering was on the inside of the goat shed, but at the end there was some left and I tried it outside - on concrete blocks a) in a sheltered south-facing spot under the overhang of the barn roof and b) in a more exposed east-facing spot on the gable end (where I also forgot to wet the wall before applying the render). These are experiments to see how the plaster holds up over the Polish winter.</li>
<li>The roof: most of the timbers were damaged by woodworm but after we cleaned them up they still seemed to be strong enough - we pressure washed them and spent quite a while stripping the rest of the bark (under 80% of the bark there were woodworm, stripped wood was mainly untouched); we put a breathable waterproof membrane on top of the rafters and purlins, and then 3cm thick spruce planks from our neighbour's sawmill butted side-by-side over this; we searched for second-hand tiles, but they were too far away and we didn't have time - we'll find some next year to complete the roof but it's easily strong enough to last through this winter. </li>
<li>As you can see from the last photo I built some benches too, from off-cuts from the roof - finally somewhere to sit down (other than the toilet) - what a relief!</li>
</ol>
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visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-30876797751407822062012-09-06T23:24:00.000+01:002014-01-12T15:37:34.248+00:00"The best toilet ever"We've been back in Wakefield for a couple of weeks now and we're finally getting everything back under control in the garden and allotment here, and at home... So finally managing to do some updating on the website :-)<br />
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This is just a quickie - we have lots more to add soon. We have finally finished our tree bog! Yay!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6tGtmKg-lV8L3old1me4LXkOCU73fCBVUYI7t6I-54uz6fRY4Mk9wCMhhx7RcoykADErR4wREQP2aoyLAUVp6KW0LN5CYxjxVaymZBd1iJsuFYgfYyoJT6iffTOiTroMZ3DDSjQWZySx/s1600/Tree+Bog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6tGtmKg-lV8L3old1me4LXkOCU73fCBVUYI7t6I-54uz6fRY4Mk9wCMhhx7RcoykADErR4wREQP2aoyLAUVp6KW0LN5CYxjxVaymZBd1iJsuFYgfYyoJT6iffTOiTroMZ3DDSjQWZySx/s400/Tree+Bog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's a photo collage of its construction: (L-R top) starting with stripping some roundwood poles for the legs; then finding a site; bringing in some old deski (waney-edged boards) Kasia's brother gave us; putting the frame together; the floor and the beginning of the walls; (bottom and middle) a closer view; Andrew helping out; as it was when we left at Easter, in bare space beside the barn; me putting the roof on; back and side walls and roof complete; me and Maia, but no steps yet; Maia happy with work so far; Kasia on steps of completed tree bog next to new flower bed :-)<br />
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We started this last October, did a couple of days at Easter, then finished in a couple of days this August. Probably 6-7 days work altogether, but as this kind of construction was all new to us and we made life harder by using curved roundwood poles I'm quite happy.<br />
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In the end it was a great sheltered cool place to sit - and very satisfying to use too... But don't just take our word for it - our volunteer/visitor Maggi from Venezuela said it was the best toilet she'd ever used!<br />
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Oh, I should add some technical information. It's called a tree bog because the trees around it accelerate the composting with their roots, so it should never need to be emptied. The exemplar tree bog has willow planted around it which is coppiced regularly and we did try to plant some willow but we came back to England and there was a long dry spell so the canes never took root. There are plum trees and sycamores and a large willow and a small oak around the back and sides that should do the job ok.<br />
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We got the inspiration from <a href="http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/loo-view-build-your-own-treebog" target="_blank">Permaculture Magazine</a> and <a href="http://www.living-woods.com/" target="_blank">Living Woods Magazine</a>.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-4910455493927900112012-07-19T14:52:00.001+01:002014-01-12T15:37:50.492+00:00Strawbale 'wrap'During an unexpected, and mostly unwelcome, morning at home, I have managed to come across a couple of useful bits of information online:<br />
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I received an invitation via Barbara Jones of <a href="http://strawworks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Straw Works</a> to a volunteer week in Bridport helping with a conversion of an old bugalow with a straw-bale 'wrap' (cladding) and a load-bearing straw bale extension. The project's blog is at <a href="http://thewoodlouse.blogspot.co.uk/">thewoodlouse.blogspot.co.uk</a>. It would be great to go to join in, both because it's just what we want to do in OrchardyHaven and because I spend many happy days as a child in Bridport, but we'll be away...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVqakATOMCtcN5Px0UbLQt12P-QFMr025JdNfnBxdRTHope1-J8C213Ar1Jg84-xC65JAwTFzI1RCMPQVpk_SN0_pJnP29AT1TyDw1CbuWqfDf5LKzfSCni1B4YQpz94vlXZ9r2ajzBRL/s1600/Brazec-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVqakATOMCtcN5Px0UbLQt12P-QFMr025JdNfnBxdRTHope1-J8C213Ar1Jg84-xC65JAwTFzI1RCMPQVpk_SN0_pJnP29AT1TyDw1CbuWqfDf5LKzfSCni1B4YQpz94vlXZ9r2ajzBRL/s1600/Brazec-02.jpg" /></a></div>
Then I came across Kuba Wihan's name again, as the leader of the volunteer week, from Straw Works. I did a little research into who he was and found his website <a href="http://www.jakubwihan.com/">www.jakubwihan.com</a> where there is another great looking project where an old building was wrapped in straw bales for insulation (see <a href="http://www.jakubwihan.com/projects/Brazec.html" target="_blank">this link</a> and also <a href="http://www.jakubwihan.com/pdf/Strawbale_Wrap_Brazec_amazonails.pdf" target="_blank">the pdf of pictures here</a>).visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-47113023623482281582012-06-02T22:55:00.001+01:002014-01-12T15:39:55.599+00:00Earth Hands and HousesWe're looking forward to meeting a couple of local straw bale builders when we go to Poland this summer. We've booked a place on the clay plastering workshop in Przelomka, 27-29 July, and we may go on the lime plastering workshop afterwards too... If you're interested, there's <a href="http://earthhandsandhouses.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/workshops-for-summer-2012.html" target="_blank">more info at the bottom of this page</a>.<br />
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Paulina built the first straw bale house in North East Poland (as far as we know), and we have a small personal connection because we spent the first night of our honeymoon in the little house in Przelomka.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://earthhandsandhouses.org/rent.htm" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYabe95yxnt4rkTZHCs20YNg3njZEvpDSVxPxBCZ6UyRc-jvbMXENCjPbvFWIAZpcKv3PiH44-N_fmLoKpjnhTm3Y8fVv5sBbCSVBdyy_NTPRi4H8NyZAF0_iHJd2FLEit_KKx3KEpOOTe/s200/Przelomka.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first straw house in Przelomka </td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IytWyy5fSzVncaw4guhkH1D9cHse-5kMVsEHwsJlusdmI54mmZvE2aUHNFChpWxx-NZ11ViFlMXSm3psz_vBmuF9ogixRN0S0CBF6n_hgJ9mDOxaP_t2ogQcOrSIxmVId1cjO08FDdA6/s1600/Przelomka+honeymoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IytWyy5fSzVncaw4guhkH1D9cHse-5kMVsEHwsJlusdmI54mmZvE2aUHNFChpWxx-NZ11ViFlMXSm3psz_vBmuF9ogixRN0S0CBF6n_hgJ9mDOxaP_t2ogQcOrSIxmVId1cjO08FDdA6/s200/Przelomka+honeymoon.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was there :)</td></tr>
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We'll be interested to meet Paulina and Jarema, to practice some clay plastering and to find out more about the realities of building with straw in Poland and working with the local planners and building regulations.<br />
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And who knows, maybe one of the future workshops will be here at Orchardy Haven...visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-38647187382427865382012-05-17T21:55:00.000+01:002012-05-17T21:56:36.457+01:00What is Orchardy Haven?This is an important thing that I've been needing to write down for a long time, and Phil and Andrew kept on asking for a concise description. Well here is draft one, and this is about as concise as it can be for now - it may get simpler later. Any comments appreciated.<br />
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Orchardy Haven is an experiment in sustainable and eco-friendly living and learning. It is an 8ha neglected old farm in north east Poland, purchased in September 2011. There are several aspects to the project:<br />
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<ol><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AexBHTKmyO5fq87xZ8xT72SRHdLvMrpbWbQuCcx7fIKKcW4qD99IsboKqrZxGpCcOek0ek5SPwQFqVtGJKlGXM20jTmvWZSQukrcSZCZY8JjSiMKs-NnAvqp7ohycJ3IkGeueoupZyL0/s1600/picker_l.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="image from www.wwoof.org of someone picking pears from a tree" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AexBHTKmyO5fq87xZ8xT72SRHdLvMrpbWbQuCcx7fIKKcW4qD99IsboKqrZxGpCcOek0ek5SPwQFqVtGJKlGXM20jTmvWZSQukrcSZCZY8JjSiMKs-NnAvqp7ohycJ3IkGeueoupZyL0/s1600/picker_l.gif" title="" /></a>
<li>To convert the dilapidated farm house to an eco-house.</li>
<li>To grow food and other useful crops on the surrounding land using the principles of forest gardening and permaculture.</li>
<li>To involve friends and volunteers creatively in the whole process.</li>
<li>To embody a culture of open learning: we're learning, we're inviting others to learn with us, and we can teach and be taught by the people who come and interact with us.</li>
<li>To develop the barns to provide volunteer/visitor accommodation, craft workshop facilities, and to meet the needs of the farm.</li>
<li>To create a ceramics workshop and other facilities for traditional crafts.</li>
<li>To build on opportunities that come out of these activities and our other skills to provide financial sustainability for the farm and our family.</li>
</ol>
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Obviously the financial sustainability of the whole thing is a big leap, but it is possible and we'll just have to have a go at it. For now we can't even afford to move there, so it's going to be a while before it's all up and running.</div>
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One question Andrew asked was whether there was a conflict between inviting volunteers to help us and trying to make a living for ourselves on the farm. We don't think that is a conflict. There are lots of organic farms that have <a href="http://www.wwoof.org/" target="_blank">WWOOF</a>ers, and we ourselves have been volunteering in various places where our hosts need to make a living. We think being able to volunteer on a project like this is a great opportunity and is all about sharing knowledge and experience and giving people a chance to go out and get a place of their own to farm...</div>visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-21132807339699470872012-05-17T20:45:00.001+01:002012-05-17T21:24:41.847+01:00Easter 2012 tourist visit...So it's now a month since we got back and there hardly seems to have been time to spend on pleasure and future projects like posting on here. Of course it's always a pleasure spending time looking after Maia who's now 9 months old and already seems much more like a little girl than a baby - but she doesn't give us much time for extras.<br />
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Anyway, me and Andrew and Phil flew to Vilnius in Lithuania which is closer than Warsaw, plus we managed to get cheaper flights. It was great to be in Vilnius and we spent two days sightseeing - an uncommon pleasure for our visits to Poland. Part of the deal with Andrew and Phil was for them to comment on whether travelling to our rural corner of Poland could have an appeal to more ordinary travellers, and not only to keen eco-builders and permaculturists.<br />
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Phil only had a few days around OrchardyHaven but we did manage to explore the local town and library, and we went on a tour to the source of the Biebrza river and near the border of Belarus. There is all sorts of history here, and the Biebrza National Park is the biggest in Poland. The places we went aren't very touristy though - in fact it's not well set up for tourists yet...<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206382645425978917315.0004c02d57abe4f9aadd1&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=53.673934,23.410492&spn=0.244053,0.411987&z=10&output=embed" width="300"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206382645425978917315.0004c02d57abe4f9aadd1&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=53.673934,23.410492&spn=0.244053,0.411987&z=10&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Our driving tour from Suchodolina</a> in a larger map</small>
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In Lipsk we did find a well made camping and picnic area and an old bit of Polish WWII artillery over the road which pleased Phil. Then on the way back we took a detour to an agroturystyka (rural tourist accommodation) in Hamulka where they've done a great conversion of an old chata (small wooden hut) into a really comfortable place to stay. In fact we had our wedding reception in the barn there and they have other facilities for making traditional cakes called sekacz (see picture), having bonfires and rafting on the river. Click on the image or <a href="http://hamulka.pl/" target="_blank">here for their website</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.hamulka.pl/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of modernised old Polish cottage" border="1" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtlsEJ9_PU1j41FTEkX5A9arljqOrNDde7GNUsHAC9ecYMUGYT-J9SH-c_nFRBxP-WeIfiq5J5oNYZ_pbVz4m-8JSIYBK3HKtdJ2E6febrEq1i1qs818scwQbp6vvtrVxr7dkbGZOhuDF/s320/hamulka.jpg" title="The cottage at Hamulka" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaCOAtKUjUy-wWQpnGt0FqrhCvbxNXtmESuScyJQ6yneVGMHCYoPgAspw-h0QhEMeVxPELj5hlT7CPHYqiucD87aqd6ELb_SXDpZ0ZfEIvOhwGM7oZVhY06Zdlj1ZazWfaX03X6vuARTt/s1600/sekacz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="1" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaCOAtKUjUy-wWQpnGt0FqrhCvbxNXtmESuScyJQ6yneVGMHCYoPgAspw-h0QhEMeVxPELj5hlT7CPHYqiucD87aqd6ELb_SXDpZ0ZfEIvOhwGM7oZVhY06Zdlj1ZazWfaX03X6vuARTt/s200/sekacz.jpg" title="Making sekacz" width="192" /></a><br />
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We also found this old ruined windmill on the way which was very photogenic:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBVSnf94YBvuwLpkWv7f5Wf1gctH1jtaEkgrWJIg-TQqHG0nZNtKL97k2S4F-tG-xcmx6oQ7uW4eSVeKFTF_6kqG2alwvQFhaK4HiPNLDr8po7gWb6bUaScSGMzr4VUr4prKpVVHocOgC/s1600/P1090724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBVSnf94YBvuwLpkWv7f5Wf1gctH1jtaEkgrWJIg-TQqHG0nZNtKL97k2S4F-tG-xcmx6oQ7uW4eSVeKFTF_6kqG2alwvQFhaK4HiPNLDr8po7gWb6bUaScSGMzr4VUr4prKpVVHocOgC/s320/P1090724.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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After Phil left we explored Bialystok (the regional capital) a bit, enjoyed the traditional Easter celebrations with the family, and visited Augustow (the most touristy local town).<br />
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Despite the fact that there were no cafes to be found for many miles (except Bialystok and Augustow), Phil and Andrew both say the enjoyed their visit. It is a beautiful spot we've found, although there's a lot of work to do. I'll have more details of the work we did in my next post.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-40668926618579247182012-02-09T21:28:00.002+00:002012-02-09T21:28:54.153+00:00We'll be visiting again at Easter<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh8qKYFQVMGZ-ujGQvcMt6YHVjYEOsizh1yA4bq6lG_gzPJ2EJg8F3Slmo-8ycTpRNU02G3OpPh9LBocrCKQbAhgxIgNSnMVkeTMij2A4HuritAyc_3cv5OqoZTmDB6uW0GY-RxF7SYYt/s1600/PushchairInWinter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh8qKYFQVMGZ-ujGQvcMt6YHVjYEOsizh1yA4bq6lG_gzPJ2EJg8F3Slmo-8ycTpRNU02G3OpPh9LBocrCKQbAhgxIgNSnMVkeTMij2A4HuritAyc_3cv5OqoZTmDB6uW0GY-RxF7SYYt/s320/PushchairInWinter.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter walking round Wakefield</td></tr>
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Yay, tickets are booked and we're on our way back to our land this Easter for two weeks. Sadly the we doesn't include Kasia or Maia this time, but I do have a couple of friends coming with me so it should be a good trip anyway - we'll be looking for some live folk music!<br />
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Most of my time over the last few months has been taken up with family life. Kasia's started working Tues-Thurs (and other days sometimes) so I get to look after Maia all this time which has been great for both of us I think. I've been singing to her so much I've ended up joining a choir, the Merrie City Singers. This will be good in those dark isolated Polish winter nights when we have to create our own entertainment...<br />
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I've also been doing quite a lot of shelf building, decorating and other bits of DIY and being a handyman. Managing to pay the rent and bills at least and get some good practice in for building our new house.<br />
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A slightly more interesting project has been making some flyers and a website for an arts festival in Frome called Celebrate Women (<a href="http://www.celebratewomen.org.uk/">www.celebratewomen.org.uk</a>) for my friend <a href="http://www.lindaking.org.uk/" target="_blank">Linda King</a>.<br />
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Hopefully will get on with more research for OrchardyHaven soon and I'll post it on here.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1566641700161995711.post-38430287608765225072011-12-05T21:36:00.001+00:002014-01-12T15:38:48.868+00:00Ecohouse lesson 2 - toilet maintenanceApparently the seal on the toilet outlet pipe only lasts a few years. Even the best ones are only guaranteed for ten years! So potentially every time we flush a toilet more than say 8-10 years old we're letting some moisture out into our home (and let's not think about what else...)<br />
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So the lesson is, learn to install your own toilet, and then replace the seals every 7or 8 years. Lovely. Thanks.visctrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08851627930669652596noreply@blogger.com0