Energy saving day

Nothing to Dream

Sadly. the information about eday must have been really well hidden as human beings with an interest in saving energy may have wanted to know about it. The principle is an excellent one yet with sad results so far.

So what is eday?

The bishop of Liverpool has urged people to give up a light bulb and turn off lights as an act of giving up something for lent. Usually people will choose chocolate or something else they feel they cannot usually do without. Giving up something is hard as any dieter will know and can put us in rebelling mode. Just like children stamp their feet when you take their favourite toy away, so too will we stamp our feet at giving up light, energy and peak oil.

On a personal level, I can observe changes in the conversations of my children. They are acutely aware of the situation. My oldest son had homework which demanded that the children work out their carbon footprint ( a difficult thing to do without asking your parents for exact figures on energy usage, car mileage). It gave us an opportunity to discuss why we do the things we do. Today he reported that although his footprint was lower than the average person, there were people in his class with double the average which was mainly caused by long haul flights.

My youngest son, remarked on the price of a gallon of diesel and wondered why it kept going up. Again, an opportunity to talk about energy and its use. We debated about gameboys, WII gamestations and how as children they found them very attractive and addictive to how wonderfully useful energy can be when you go for an MRI scan and have pictures taken of your brain.

For me it is not that we are giving up things but that we are creating differences with the choices we make ; yes they have an impact if you deprive yourself from them immediately such as crash dieting would do or giving up smoking immediately. If however you start to make different lighter choices, you suddenly find that you no longer crave electricity or whatever it is that is your energy addiction and you can find other pleasurable alternatives.

My youngest son realised that he could choose a game of cricket in the fields against a game about cricket and that in that way he would be saving energy and using a different sort of energy; a physical energy that would revive him and challenge him in a different way.

Eday....will it make a difference? See for yourself

Life as we know it

Milk for You and Me


Sadly today we had half our milk supply stolen. No idea why anyone would need about 40 litres of milk, but very little we can do about it. Guess it is a sad reflection of life as we know it. In relative safety, in a small village that mimics life as it used to be 25 years ago, we have not reached crime statistics and we do not intend to have security cameras installed. We decided to report the incident not because it will get us the milk back, or its value, but mainly because such acts do no always happen in isolation.
I am not angry with the person, I guess they had a need for it in one way or another. What interests me is the timing; I had literally finished entering all the accounting data in the fab accounting programme supplied by the accountant and realised that maybe, just maybe we should be able to take a small wage each month for the many hours put in. I have not yet managed to find a way to write off stock so that will be explored next.

Three months have passed since we moved in and started life in the village shop. I have mixed feelings about the intense changes that have happened but I know that this is a way of life for us that reflects our values and beliefs and that will be sustainable in the future.

Working for yourself is a leap of faith : you take the idea and run with it into the unknown. You have a backpack with skills, ideas and expectations and no idea how the journey will pan out. Last year, we had plenty of time and very stretched monetary resources; now we are in danger of tipping that balance by living, breathing and using every minute of the day and thought on the business. Being employed leaves someone else that worry. What you gain is being at the helm of your life and taking it in both hands and steering it the way you want to go, instead of being a passenger on someone else's business journey.

Gladly we have a pub 2 doors down and when we end the day, we go and check reality with the community, raising a glass to life as we know it.

DH reckons I must be anticipating a plague as the stock room is full to the ceiling with toilet paper and kitchen roll ; life's essentials you would not wish to be without. Not perishable though like cheese!

Drivers in the passenger seat

Buddy the Little Taxi

Life in the shop is getting busier and my DH is working 11 hours a day, 7 days per week which is a challenge to the conventional way we think about work. February is a good time to take stock of what is in the shop, on the shelves and in the stock room. The decluttering process that happens in a household is ongoing in a shop environment. There are however items with a short lifespan that need to be sold or wasted and there is paperwork that cannot be destroyed for a period of 7 years.

Saying that, the shelves are still groaning with stuff that either does not sell, or is not ours.

We now have an idea of the space the shop provides and the clients that frequent our business and thus trying to find variety to keep them interested is an additional task.

We have staggered delivery days . Most stock gets carried through to the stock room where it is unpacked, priced and stored away. The packaging also gets packed away : plastic in a bag to be sent away, cardboard boxes for local businesses or recycling. Wooden boxed get used in the garden or broken up for kindling. Our aim is still to have only 2 bags going to landfill each week. I am pleased with that bearing in mind that my shopping list each week is for about 800 people.....

We have not yet ventured into the stockroom behind the stockroom which is the equivalent in the shop to your garage or loft ; a dumping ground for anything else you can think of that you do not know how to dispose off or display units that are no longer contemporary. Its a dark room, a bit damp, so anything that stays there is not likely to be in good condition either.

We have plenty of space. Our next job is to clear the stockroom behind the stockroom to make it into a better stockroom; that will release some space in the shop to extend the products we carry.

Starting a business is a huge investment in time, energy and commitment as well as the occasional pep talk to keep going. At times it is a tough existence but the plus points are that you really are able to make your own decisions and no one tells you when you can have a tea break.

What is the impact with regards to downshifting and carbon lighter living?

• no commuting
• we are not supporting supermarkets as consumers; no 20 mile round trip and no plastic bags
• encouraging people to shop locally and use their car less
• Buying locally means people get to meet people and this may reduce loneliness.
• supporting local food producers
  

After 3 months, we realise that 2 cars are no longer a necessity and we are finally committing to having just one car. Our mileage has reduced from 20,000 miles per year to 8000 . Having one car will cut the cost of repairs and maintenance, road tax and insurance. Selling a car may also release some capital invested in it to spend on the house.

I have to add that I am the one giving up my car : my DH is quite partial to keeping his. I have no longer a need to own a car; I am quite happy to share ownership and just top it up with fuel when I need to and be a passenger.

I am amazed at the change in my attitude : I loved my little car, polished it when I could and treasured the speed it could work up when required. I have debated about giving up the car before but it seemed just like depriving myself of local transport. When I started to live really locally, I realised that it is not a car I need to own but I need to look at my transport requirements and the way these can be fulfilled. I am happy to share and let someone else do all the polishing, car tax paying, road tax costs etc. I am going to become the driver in the passenger seat.

After all, would you spend £ 10,000 on transport over 3 years......

Shelter

The Sun Sets Over Flooded Coastal Wetlands

To be protected from the elements we seek shelter. Over the years we have created elaborate shelters but how do we view our shelter in preparation for changes created by global warming and unpredictable weatherpatterns. The 2 factors presented in many cases are flooding caused by flashfloods and higher temperatures which may cause drought.

Berry Cottage was situated on a bank protected from one side by a cliff of sandstone. 20 yards below, a small brook runs alongside the road and although very pretty has the ability to flood when heavy downpours occurred. Berry Cottage was in no danger of flooding, but 50% of the cottages in the hamlet were and are. The risks of flooding are not simply the flooding of your shelter, but also being cut off from the main road. The speed of flood waters is also a consideration.

Moving to higher ground is an answer and easier to do currently than when and if waterlevels rise in your area.

To find out where you are positioned with regards to possible flooding, the environment agency provides a searchfacility called what is in your backyard; this will give you a small map showing areas that will flood when sea or river levels rise. Such knowledge will enable you to decide whether you want to live with that risk factor or whether you do not and you can act accordingly.

The position of the shop and our house does not pose a risk on the floodlevel scale neither by rising sea levels or river beds but within 2 miles there are hamlets and farmland that will be affected. At worst these would be cut off, have powercuts etc and if a garden were created which provided a large proportion of food supply, that too would be lost.

It is for those reasons that deciding where you live will have an impact on your ability to work with the uncertainty that climate change may present.

The opportunities here are to try and capture rainfall so that it is available during drought seasons and also to prevent damage caused by flooding.

The second opportunity is to look at how you can stay cool when temperatures rise above levels that are comfortable.

I am making an assumption that temperatures will be more extreme at times and to find ways to respond to that.

Energy - heating the house

Log Burning in Fireplace

Its been a bit chaotic over the last 3 months. Moving house, taking on a business venture and uprooting the whole comfortable existence. At times, I pined after the old house, the old ways of doing things until now.

The vision may appear chaotic but there is planning in this madness. The aim is to engage with the certainty that global warning is changing the weather and growing conditions and to make local changes that reduce our carbon footprint as well as finding new ways of living.

We have now installed the woodstove which is multifuel as we do not preclude using other fuels than wood to keep warm. Wood is still a renewable resource and the woodstove can be independently operated.

Woodburners are easy to fit in existing fireplaces. It took 3 days. The fireplace we have in the house is originally an inglenook fireplace and would have been the hearth of the home. The way these were set up was based on the principle that when you warm the chimney and the bricks in the chimney, the heat rises and in parts warms the rest of the house. That is difficult to maintain with central heating as it heats the air and not the walls which in places are 2 m thick.

I am sure that the fires they lit in 1800 were great, and that they were a lot less sissi about the temperature they could survive with than I am.

To maintain an even temperature in the downstairs kitchen and living space ( which houses a table and chairs and a desk to work on), requires about a load of logs every 6 weeks. At this moment in time, I am burning a type of coal to keep the fire going through the night even though I am up at 6 am. That only takes place when the temperature outside drops to below freezing so is not a necessity all winter long. Using the woodburner will reduce my carbon footprint but I am not quite there with the smokeless fuel used at night. I had initially hoped to keep Mildred the rayburn going but she would not heat sufficiently to cook on and heat the house and released bellows of smoke as she would only heat up sufficiently when you used coal to do so.The firebox was small which precluded larger logs being burned too.

Changing from electric to gas is the first step if that is possible, backed up with wood. The woodburner will not only burn wood that is brought in from neighbouring farms but also burns garden prunings that will be stored in the shed as we go along. Similar to what we did at Berrycottage. After heavy weather it is easy to gather small sticks that have fallen from the trees and keep them in a dry place to provide small sticks to start a fire. Next is kindling. Some pieces of furniture that are discarded can be taken apart to provide raw materials for fuel instead of taking it all to landfill. Next come the larger branches from tree prunings, then logs and as a last resort coal to keep it going through the night.

That is the logic of it all. Wood is plenty in these parts and as it burns it releases carbon dioxide ( thanks for the correction comment !) ( which is the same we breathe out). We continue to obtain our logs from treesurgeons and other local sources. When I have worked out how much we need to keep warm over the next few weeks I will be able to plan the amount of logs I need for next winter and find a place to store them in. The amount will then give an indication as to what I can store, and rotate the fuel storage.

My thinking is that if the climate here warms up, some native trees will die down, and in order to make full use of the resources then on offer, I need to have the ability to store the wood and have some idea of how long it will provide me with warmth for years to come. Where these trees may not survive, other species used to warmer climates will take their place. If the climate gets warmer in winter, the need to keep the stove going will reduce and maybe other vegetation can take the place the trees have stood on. I do not know the answers but I am engaging with a thought process of adaptation that makes change possible.

Ultimately, my basic needs for food warmth and shelter are being considered here. I have shelter( although it is in need of repair), I have been cold lately and my food could still be improved upon. Priorities will change over time but warmth is the key in winter, right now.

I am off into the garden to do some work, more tidying, more pruning and planting a few bushes. The cherry tree is in, the gooseberry and rhubarb are ion as are some currant bushes.
Its cold, sunny and beatifully clear which is likely to create a frost later on.

Crunch time

There are changes afoot in a variety of producing areas which will have an impact on the foodchain.

Our supplier of petfoods has advised us that the cost of peanuts has trebled due to peanuts being in demand as a fuel source and has passed the price onto us. The impact of that is that the kind ladies in our village who have been putting out peanuts for the birds during the winter months are thinking twice about how they will continue to do that and keep warm themselves. Pressure on everyone in that transaction. I was not aware that peanuts were a source of fuel and an ingredient of biofuel.

I understand that there is pressure in the world with sources of oil reducing and demand staying the same or increasing to find an alternative.

The second piece of news that disconcerns me personally is that our local beekeeper, who provides us with local honey is concerned that he has lost some hives and that the bees are reducing the amount of honey they are producing. Thus, honey is going to be a luxury soon. I touched on bees being an indicator of global change previously, and frankly most people would not pay much attention to the loss of pollinators because they may not be aware of its significance.

We continue to offer a local service. A customer amazed me this week; he had made a trip into the nearest town to buy some meat. The cost of petrol was £ 1.00 and then he had had to pay 50 p to park his car. He understood the equation that if he had shopped locally he would have saved money, time and hassle. It makes sense for suppliers to do the travelling once on the country lane instead of 10 cars doing the journey. Hopefully the word will spread......

Generally, the trend of food prices is up, because the cost of raw materials and transport is up. I expect that soon, suppliers will expect a larger minimum order to minimise their transport costs which will have an effect on small shop keepers like us.

Reducing your carbon footprint is exactly about that, reducing it, changing the way we do things, the way we use the resources we have available. If we do not reduce consumption, and resources reduce, then the prices will go up and obtaining basic foods will become more difficult.

Every day we get bombarded with bad news about global warming, or some other strange phenomenon. When the financial markets are volatile, food prices go up, your bank increases its rates, the credit card company stops you from purchasing any more items on credit; there has to be a message in there that things are going wrong somewhere.

The way things seemed to fall into place is changing; if we are all connected and our actions have an effect then, all these vibrations and shifts have to have an impact somewhere. Its a shaky foundation for the moment, a delicate balance.

And yet, the consumer is making different choices. There is support for organic which has evolved into ethical resulting in every high street company now offering a green alternative to make you feel better when you shop.

If you consider being on a carbon reducing diet; if the shops offered you a slimming bar that tastes as good as the real thing, but would not cause you to gain weight, you would buy it right?
If they can produce biofuel and it means that you do not have to stop driving then ofcourse you would go for that. That means no change for the individual and just a change of resources. The thought of giving transport up completely is too hard to contemplate and yet that is the shift that is required in the long term just as giving up sugar would be the direction to go into if you found out you were diabetic.

That sort of shift is unpleasant, probably not for the fainthearted. I want to ask you to take that step with me. This is the toughest thing we will be asked to do.

Moving from Berry Cottage was a wrench for me. I loved the house, the garden; but it was no longer manageable with a lack of resources. Yes I traded a comfortable cottage with all mod cons for an old house that leaks, that is hard to keep warm but that provides an opportunity to not travel, to work from home and to grow a large proportion of our food on the premises.

I find myself wanting a new bathroom, a new kitchen, a warm room and occasionally I also want to just run away, usually when the power cuts out. I am no different, I want all my stuff, I just choose to not want it so much and to start reducing my carbon consumption. I expect it is no different than dieting. Hard, very very hard to do but it can be done.

Anyone want to be my carbondiet buddy?

Garden structure

More and more pruning is being done to the bushes in the garden and the space is opening up. The paved area, where the sun should be shining full blast in summer has rampant climbing plants on the wall. Honeysuckle, clematis and lots of ivy. From talking to people in the village the garden used to boast 1 trained peach tree and greengage tree as well. At some time, previous owners did keep 2 goats in the garden.
In order to get the most edible plants in the garden we are working on bringing the fruit trees in good shape and introducing soft fruits where possible. Underneath the fruit bushes and trees, strawberry plants will nestle so that they can flourish in a woodland habitat.
It still looks bare at the moment with the odd daffodil and primrose bringing colour into the garden.

What seemed an overwhelming space now has some structure to it. I thought I would be starting completely with a blank canvas but a discovering that once, not so long ago, this garden was loved by its owners and tended by a man called Bob Tuckfield who was the gardener. The Tuckfield family go back to 1733 in this area, family history tells us and obviously Bob was a gardener and had a connection with our garden as little ago as in the last 20 years.

Where I garden, so did Bob Tuckfield ( and others), and I wonder what he made from it, and what his plans were for the space, its priorities etc. The garden used to be larger as the house we live in is only a part of a large house, and there was a vegetable garden and space for a horse.

When the woodburner was installed, the men excavated the chimney and told me that the structure was one of an inglenook fireplace. All that remains now is the seats either side on which we have laid slabs of slate. The woodburner gives off some heat and when I look out to the garden I realise that I am the latest of tenants and gardeners in this house. I will leave my mark on it for sure and as there are no plans or stories about the past, I may well discover more.

The power to vote for change

This post is a reflection on the comment left on yesterdays post. The question as to why is it that the elections in the USA and the impact globally on the environment and the economy are not mentioned.


What I would like to do is to reflect on what it means to vote, and what the effects of that are personally and globally.

As a child, accompanying my parents to vote, to the polling station I would always ask them who they were going to vote for. The answer was always. I do not know yet. When they left the building in which we were not allowed to enter I would ask my parents, so who did you vote for and was told, I cannot remember? As a child I felt this was an odd response, thinking they must have a strange sort of memory loss, but it was not until later in life that I realised that your political orientation can in many countries be the death of you.

What would I tell my children about elections? Voting is your ability as an adult to make a choice. Remember that what counts for the candidates is that you vote and vote for them. What happens after the election when they are in office, matters little at the time of campaigning. Such it is when companies want you to buy a new car, a holiday, something that you may or may not want. A picture is created that you buy into and so when you have bought it, you may discover that either it is exactly what they told you it was going to be, or it was a lie and you have been sold something that turns out to be completely different.

How would you choose how to vote? That depends on your values and beliefs and eventually each person who votes is making a choice by matching the things they have been told about the candidate, whether it matches with their values and beliefs and whether in the future they think the person is going to carry these election promises through.

Does voting matter? Yes it does. If the party you would have voted for misses 51 votes to get a majority and 52 people out there did not vote because they felt their vote would not make a difference, then I would say, they made a choice not to vote and therefore the result is one they have contributed to by their action of not voting.

Does voting matter in the USA and its global impact? Yes primarily and foremost to the citizens of the USA and depending on the outcome, it will affect us globally based on the decisions made by the successful candidate on a global scale; for better and for worse.

Making changes globally also starts with me and you, at home and ripples out into our communities, our countries and eventually globally. Whatever small change you make at home will have an effect. There is no way that I can influence a change in the USA by making comments on the election process, candidates etc as it would not be my place to do so.But if you are an Amercian Citizen, then yes, you can make a choice that will influence the future.

What I am saying is that as human beings we are given an opportunity every once in a while to say whether we agree or disagree with this or that, and voting matters wherever you are; whether you choose to vote or not is a personal decision but whichever way you vote will have an effect on you, your community, your country and the world. We are lucky in that we can vote without fear of our lives and that we live in a country where voting is safe; there are other countries where expressing your opinions is not safe. In some countries people make the choice to vote whilst knowing that doing so could endanger their lives. These people are making a very difficult choice. That brings me back to the way my parents reacted to their vote being cast. I am not sure that they had a short memory, but with their actions they instilled a principle within me that voting was important, personal and a matter of choice. As an adult, I am therefore considered able to make my own choice and that may be different to theirs. If you are due to vote next week you are given an opportunity to make a choice. and that is a privilege that many do not have.

Warmth

Stove II

Mildred the Rayburn is suffering from a blockage and has had to be turned off until further investigation. Such it is with older appliances,they need care, love and attention to keep them going.

As a result the house is cooling down dramatically, the walls are getting colder and we have had to speed up the building of a fireplace on the other side of the chimney.

The fireplace was covered up with a Victorian fire surround which will be taken out, the chimney breast explored and within that a woodburning stove will be fitted. The Victorian fire surround will be recycled as an ornament in one of the bedrooms that boast a hole in the wall where previously a fireplace must have been. The aim will be to have an independent, safe source of heat that uses renewable materials as well as recreating the hearth of the home.

We sourced a local company not only for the woodburner but also for the work. As the building is old and listed, we wanted to do the work in keeping with the age and materials used locally. The woodburner will sit on a sheet of local slate and the fireplace will remain exposed stone.

In the middle of the Brendons is a farm where you can visit a woodstove showroom and it requires a small expedition and patience to get there. The people there are very knowledgeable and listened very carefully to my questions : a woodburning stove with ability to heat a pot or kettle, needs to be able to stay on overnight as heatsource, locally made if possible.

The result is that we had to compromise on the type stove as it depends on the chimney you have.

The men doing the work assure me that by Saturday I will be cosy without smoking the house out. I have every confidence in them. They are very polite, hardworking and only ask for coffee when they really want it.

The two notes

Money Tree
Once upon a time, in a country far away, close to you, two small notes were printed. Their currency was good, the pictures were great and they set off on a journey of discovery.

The first note was taken from a cashmachine near the supermarket and taken inside. It was exchanged for goods and felt very important, crisp and new. In the till, at night it was collected, counted with other notes and bagged up back to a large building, where it was reissued to a bank and found itself back again in a cashmachine.

The second note, was taken from a cashmachine in town and travelled by bus to a countryside location. It was accompanied by other notes and coins and put in a small real leather purse. The notes felt important and our little note was carefully laid next to others.
Nothing much happened for a day or two and the notes lived happily together in the purse.
Then one day, the owner of the purse went to the local shop, and exchanged the note for some bread, milk and a banana. The little note was glad to be of some use, and ended up in the village till. Not long after it was given out to another person who walked over to the post office and bought a book of stamps. The post office then gave it to someone who took it to the local pub to have a pint with. The pub owner gave it in change to another person who went to the village shop and bought some cheese. The village shop handed it out again as change to another person who took it home. By now, it was beginning to look a little weary.

The next day, it found itself folded up in 8 pieces in someone's back pocket while they walked the 2 miles to the nearest busstop and handed to the busdriver as fare for the journey. At night, it got put with other notes and taken to a bank.

The two little notes found themselves back together and explained their journeys into the world. One was looking a bit worn and thinner but said it had been worth its value tenfold and the other one, crisp and new still was telling every other note how boring it was to be a banknote.

If you have a banknote in your wallet, and that is a rare thing, go give it an outing, make it feel valuable and spend it locally. It might then have a tale to tell.

What goes around comes around and with banknotes, that is a priceless commodity in village life.

Who moved the cheese?

The Little Shop

At last I can see the fridge empty. The last of the cheese sell by dates was today and apart from trying to shift it on a buy one get one free basis, and having frozen some, we have a clean fridge. What follows will be a thorough clean of the display cabinet and a new order for next week.

Stock management is difficult to gauge. I can understand supermarkets having loyalty cards because they register what you have bought, leading to analysis of your buying habits. Here in the village shop its an alltogether more low key affair. We pay more attention to what the customer says and then purchase some variety. One lady asked for Shropshire blue cheese which sounds lovely but can only be obtained by us in a large quantity and as she told me that she is only allowed a limited quantity per week, it would take months to clear that.

We have brought in more yoghurts, natural and greek yoghurt and cottage cheese for the people following their New Year diet, but I have to say that the Somerset Brie packs a nice punch in a baguette with cranberry sauce on a cold day.

Its still early days for us and in a bid to bring in more healthy options we are researching which wholefood products will suit our clients.

And then there is Valentine's Day and Easter to plan for. We shall be asking all the men in the village whether they have got their card and gift planned. Every little nudging helps, but it will not be in your face. The local florist is on hand to work on surprises.

I rather like the variety of clients ; small children spending pennies gathered together over the weekend, and older people coming out in between rainy showers to pass the time of day and purchase a pack of tea. Halfterm will be soon and we will stock glace cherries, iced lemon slices and chocolate buttons for grandmothers who will be making fairy cakes. Magical.

The pace is gentle with plenty of banter and village chats. Some people are practising a rather Texan accent as the village panto is being performed in a few weeks time. Frought times in the square!

The shop definitely has a rhytm and we do not simply see it as a shop, but a meeting place, a place where you can get information and where the owners care about you as a customer, where there is time to stare and ponder ( even if it is unintentionally!).

That is the snapshot of January in the village shop.

Optimism

Optimism

Did not mean to stun you all in silence with yesterdays post, but thank you all for your good wishes. After receiving some negative news, I reflected on how that news is received by me as a person, by my family and how I can relate that to the bad news we get bombarded with about global warming. I realised that when faced with bad news, I have a tendency to shut down and have a wish to disengage from it and I wonder dear reader if that happened to you too?

When we do, we also close our engagement to any opportunities that this change brings with it.

Personally, I now know that my garden will include a variety of scented plants and a small corner that will be dedicated to reflection with a small solar powered water feature. I sat quietly listening to some choral songs as when my son sings his voice has a clarity that lifts my spirits up. While listening I clearly envisioned a small corner in my garden and began to realise that I have the opportunity to create something peaceful and lovely in a small part of the garden. That idea did not figure before today and thus from my stumbling block a stepping stone has been created to something new and beautiful.

As I looked out of the window at the churchyard, I saw the celandines and snowdrops, a bright sun and a clear frosty day. Things look extremely beautiful today.

Maybe, just maybe this is a stepping stone and not a stumbling block.
How lovely nature can be...

Gaia in the waitingroom

My work as a bereavement counsellor brings me in touch with many people who have difficulties coming to terms with the effects of the loss of a person they loved very much in their lives. My previous work experience lies in crisis management.

Imagine how we would feel if we received a visit from Gaia, turning up rather feverish, wondering what is going on, looking dazed, unsure about the diagnosis. The temperature is erratic, she has definite moodswings and no one seems to take these symptoms to heart. Some dismiss them as mental behaviour that has been exhibited before ( like a case of bad PMT) and because she is the caregiver, and fulfills many other's needs, hers are often overlooked. How would you respond to such a person in your home?

I reflect on this question after a hospital appointment with an unexpected outcome. My health has been precarious just like Gaia over the last few years, and we have symptoms in common which gives me an empathy angle on her scenario.

How do we generally react to bad news; many go in shock and then denial. Others become extremely angry, or think that if they can but keep busy, the pain will go away, the fear will go away too.

So it could be with Gaia and me; we can both sit there and exhibit more moodswings, with the difference that mine are not likely to be of seismic proportions. Mine will be insignificant compared to hers. She has a fever and her temperature gauge is not quite normal. My reaction to today's news is a sort of numbness which will be followed by action ( and the odd moodswing I am sure, accompanied with cries of its not fair). I bet she does that too. although her tempestuous outbursts are noticed more widely.

The solution in managing a crisis from my experience has been not to only look how the symptoms of the crisis can be reduced or made more comfortable but to look at the causes and look for a solution in another level of existence. To work with physical muscle weakness in one side of my body, I have engaged with the creative which involves other parts of my brain that have not been fried as well as using knitting as a mechanism that was automatic to enable loose brain connections to reconnect. This has had some success.

I will continue to work this way even though the news today seems to indicate that another circuit is under threat which may mean the loss of one or other function. Shock, ofcourse, then I want a second opinion and some idea about what can be done to minimise the effects of this breakdown. How does Gaia feel? The strain on some circuits as well as temperature rises are pushing her to her limits too. A second opinion is however useless, she tells me, they have already done that to oblivion. How will she tell the ones she loves that if they do nothing, she will not last and neither will they. I feel another pang of empathy and nod.

The next step will either involve mankind falling into deep depression and gloom and doom about global change while others have the potential to become fearful for the future.

That could be my response too : I could give up now, say so be it and watch as another brain circuit goes out of action. Or, I can acknowledge that it is happening, I can work with the transition it is trying to persuade me to go into. I hesitate, I want things to be the way they were and am still stamping about saying its not fair. Then follows a moment where I wonder what it is that I can do, am reminded of the words :

If you believe that one small living creature cannot make a difference, spend time with a mosquito in a small room.

I have empathy with Gaia, but am hopelessly unqualified to provide her with an instant fix. She knows that the resources she spent millenia saving and preparing are being used up much faster than she can cope with. There is a loss of function, some areas will change and become redundant; some circuits and functions will shut down. We can feel very sad about that and feel helpless. On the other hand we could look at the circuits and functions that are working well ( like how we can capture the energy from a moodswing) and how we can turn that into a positive. Lets be mosquitos and engage with creativity to find another outcome.

For me, a piece of chocolate seems the answer right now as well as a nice piece of music to delight my ears. That way my optical senses will have rest and may not fry as soon as scheduled.

There can be miracles by Leon Jackson

A gift of unconditional love

Today, someone called into the shop, did not necessarily buy anything but went to the scales to weigh the above. ( its about 10 cm wide)After this, she looked me direct in the eye and said, here you go, a gift of unconditional love for you. Rose quartz I said, how lovely, admiring the colour and wondering how and why it came in my possession. DH commented on the fact that it seemed perfectly appropriate to be giving me a gift of unconditional love as he felt that that is exactly what I embody. I felt blessed and very much appreciated at that moment, both by DH and the universe.

This follows a gift bag at the beginning of the week from a customer who brought chocolates because she likes the fact that there are two cheery people in the shop.

Rose quartz is a soothing, calming crystal that is known to promote love and healing. It helps to bring clarity to the heart and is a valuable tool that focuses on emotional release, balance and peace. It helps to clear negative emotions such as jealousy, anger and fear, and also eases heartache and psychic traumas.

Even though all quartz crystals have the ability to transmit and amplify energy, the rose quartz is unique in that it is especially good as a channel for divine energy. It draws and holds the energies of love and healthy release and assists in opening the heart chakra to help promote the healing of past emotional hurts and grudges.

With my cup of tea, sitting in the room that overlooks the garden, I meditated on this gift and its significance, and felt very blessed and peaceful.


The universe and its people never fail to amaze me. Thank you.....

Marmalade and cheese

Marmalade Garden II
Sunshine at last and an afternoon to go and work in the garden. Running a business from home 7 days a week leaves little time for ironing school uniforms let alone time to spend weeding your garden.
The job outstanding from last week was to deal with all the branches we cut off. Smaller items were shredded and some sawing took place this afternoon, preparing some small logs for Mildred the Rayburn. We laughed together at the thought that we must be mad to be cutting our own wood and using small branches to keep warm but checked our words immediately against the commitment we had made to use whatever resources the site gave us.
We could just bunch them up and take them to landfill but that means taking it all through the shop and the idea of the garden is that we would use what is available in the microclimate and increase soil fertility using compost and bokashi. The work gets you warm quickly and provides an excuse to sit down in the afternoon sun with a cup of tea and a slice of slightly out of date cake.

Once the hard landscaping has taken place and the woodash added to the compost heap and fruittrees, the garden will start to open up and provide surprise after surprise. Bulbs are poking through the earth and the birds are singing, even pairing up on occassions which is far too early. I also hung a fatball in the tree that is being feasted on, not that I manage to spot a bird doing that as I am usually inside.

The waste routine continues as the collection every week is kept to a minimum: recycling paper, boxes get donated and collected, plastic bags reused and brought back. Food waste gets devoured by 3 hungry boys who currently shout ( what cheese again!), and there is a promise that the cheesemountain is reducing.

I have grated the remaining cheese and will be keeping it in the freezer to make cheese on toast, or sprinkle over pasta or other dishes. I also made a note to keep enthousiasm in check next December when I order cheese for the festive season.

The shop is quiet, guess many people are feasting on what they were given as food goodies and others are jogging and on a diet, hence the out of date cake.
Fickle lot these customers, off cake and cheese at the moment but fresh fruit sales are up and celery is in demand.

The last remaining seville oranges have been donated to a willing soul who will turn it into marmalade to be sold at the church fete later in the year.

Work and home

Working from home is great and simultaneously offers a few challenges thrown in.

If the weather is bad, I need not step outside and we can just effortlessly walk from home to workspace. No need to commute either saving fuel, money and time.

In principle we could have as many breaks as we would like, yet in practice getting time to eat lunch seems sometimes a luxury. What is evident is that the boundaries between work and home are less defined. There is no commute to change my thoughts from work to home and vice versa, I am thrown in within a nanosecond. While cooking tea in the kitchen I can hear what is going on in the shop and feel a sense of loss of privacy. It is not unknown for me to be peeling potatoes and being asked when we are expecting a delivery of one or other item which seems odd. That is what I mean about the boundaries between work and home.

Our workplace is our home and our front door is the door of the shop. The children have found this difficult as they like to shout their news out when coming through the door and can no longer do that. The creature that has it sorted in their mind is the dog. She barks at strangers or people who venture a little too close to the kitchen door and seems to know exactly when its time to pick up our son from school ( and she gets a small walk).

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster and a steep learning curve. Working for yourself from home definitely reduces the carbon footprint. We did not know what to expect and in general we are feeling a little more in flow with the rhythm of the shop. Homelife is still unsettled. Where previously a mountain of washing could be found is now a mountain of paperwork to contend with. Which shall I tackle next.....I wonder?

Garden update

After a few days pruning and clearing the overgrown bushes, the fruit trees are showing promise. The plan is to work from the walls back towards the lawn and create plants that fulfill a variety of purposes. The trees will not only provide fruit later on in the year that is edible ( hopefully) but they cast shade and can be used to grow climbing vegetables such as beans and squashes. Underneath the fruit trees I aim to encourage plants that create natural mulches such as rhubarb and comfrey although there are others that might suit. I am looking to create a garden that requires little maintenance and where nature will do most of the work and I will sit and enjoy. Can it be? I base this on the fact that in forests, no gardeners till and work hard, not ones you see anyway. I also would like to incorporate plants that will provide me with dyes to enable me to colour yarns that have been spun on my spinningwheel.

At this time of the year, colour is limited but bulbs are peering through the soil such as the yellow crocus I spotted this morning. In the churchyard, white snowdrops can be seen in small patches in and around resting places.

The aim of the garden is for all elements to live in harmony ; people, insects, plants and wildlife. Instead of a garden that focusses on my needs only, I want to look at the requirements of the plants, the wildlife and the insects in the garden and harness their potential. This means putting myself in the picture not as in control of my garden but as an integral part of its being.

The cuttings are being shredded to reintroduce the nutrients in the garden, and any compostable material is being composted. There are 2 bins already and I hesitate about introducing another one, but currently I am creating a lot of waste material. If I take it off the property I will need to reintroduce resources into the garden by way of bought compost.

This is a labour intensive way of dealing with waste material. I want to see if comfrey, nasturtium and rhubarb can provide a mulch for the fruit trees that provides the necessary nutrients without me having to shred it, slash it, compost it, turn it and put it back on the land. No idea if that will work but we will find out.

Gardening with nature

Bench

Sitting in the garden this week, I noticed how I had tried to dominate the gardens I have had before. I wanted them to be shaped in a way that pleased me, plants that would look nice and honestly never had given any thought as to what would naturally go well together. What do the plants need in my garden, what complimentary plants do they need to be healthy, for wildlife to thrive and work as part of that ecosystem.

My thinking over the years has changed from buying vegetables just as they came in the supermarket to wanting to invest my time in growing them myself. That has made me realise that there is a great effort involved in that. All the tilling, weeding and enhancing the soil structure was probably not necessary or contemplated 300 years ago. There were not as many pests on plants as there are now; was there an ecosystem in place that worked for the benefit of all? Have we missed something in the equasion?

I know that when I clear a patch of land it is guaranteed that nature will fill it up again with weeds. Thus by clearing the land I prepare the exact conditions for weeds to take hold. What if it were possible to work with nature and provide each plant with nutrients that other plants in their shade could provide without effort?

Thus I am not churning the garden up as planned but I am waiting to see what is where and gradually will be introducing more edible plants for my benefit and theirs and watch what happens. The trees that are in situe will be pruned, fed and watered and I will check what is happening.

This comes from a vision that food can be produced on a small scale, in synergy with nature and not entirely under the control of man. As before on this blog, we shall see what happens. Nothing really is impossible. It might even turn out that food can be happily grown beside flowers and respect can be given to all the wildlife helpers who manage to make pollination happen effortlessly. Could this be a possibility?

Hopping for a mate

The north wind has been blowing hard today, dark clouds filled the sky and the friend who turned up to help in the garden looked a little worried. She did a splendid job cutting back bushes and foliage, creating a lovely cutting area; these are bushes and branches that need to be cut small or need to be shredded when I have decided on a shredder. Our youngest son, missing his cricket space, is keen from time to time to destroy the odd thing in the garden so we are hoping to harness that energy and turn him into a shredding machine.
We talked about putting a morello cherry tree in the shady corner as apparently they do not mind shade and it would be a rather pretty tree to have.

In the shop we seem to be rushing about most of the time. The post office counter is now open too and we have had fun sending parcels to all corners of the world as well as marvelling at the many many things you can actually do at your local post office. You can bank, pay bills, top up your phone, send parcels, buy stamps etc etc. If you have not visited one lately, please do. They provide a valuable service in the community that in many parts of the country is under threat.

At the end of the day, DH was doing some paperwork when out of the corner of his eye, in the animal food section he spotted a late shopper; the word must have got around that we are kind to animals and people. Mr Toad has left his hibernating spot early this year to come and do a bit of local hopping, maybe looking for a mate already? That is however not a service we provide. I guess we are on a pathway to the gardens, or.....Mr Toad is trying to tell us that we have a pond nearby. Please, not in the shop. He got picked up and deposited outside on the lawn in front of the church gates. I like wildlife but health and safety dictate that frogs are not welcome.

Now, all I need to do is to go and clean the shop thoroughly.

Fruit detectives

Ginger Jar with Peaches, Apricots and Tapestry

The plan for an edible garden includes fruits and soft fruits. We spent an agreeable wet Sunday afternoon checking the garden and finding some interesting neglected and overgrown trees. Amongst them were :
pear
apple
apricot
plum
quince

We brought the peach tree grown in a pot as well as red and blackcurrant bushes, some strawberries in pots and some alpine strawberries. The wish list includes a patch of rhubarb and raspberries. Amazingly, many are already in the garden, growing against the walls. If space permits, a thorn less blackberry would be welcome.

On closer inspection we also found a vine, which will need cutting and pruning and may give us grapes if so inclined.

I am easily pleased......the fruit garden seems sorted, needs pruning, feeding and training, some additions which can probably be received in cuttings from others.

The work plan also includes cutting back a holly, a large conifer and nameless bushes to give more light and space.

The only downside is that we are not able to take anything out of the garden without going through the shop. We are not allowed a bonfire in the garden. The only options are shredding and composting. I am looking at borrowing a shredder from someone but would like to invest in a shredder that is not too noisy if anything like that exists.

the garden...finally

Its a good time of the year to start planning a new garden. The thought might be a bit overwhelming as is the temptation to rip out everything in sight. Gardens are made up of areas and layers and although our garden might look a mess at the moment and may not be reflecting what we would like to see in it, I am sure that it has some lovely bulbs hidden in the layers of leaves that clutter the earth. I look forward to their surprising entry into the world.

Logs and dead foliage do however provide shelter for small animals, hedgehogs etc so leaving them untouched is not a bad thing either. Some of the flowers have seed heads that birds will love when the weather is cold.

The way we will be tackling the garden will be in sections. That way, we will have areas that can show us what is there, we will have less impact on the residential wildlife and we can feel less overwhelmed.

The things we are considering are as follows:

1. What to keep where it is now.
2.What we want to keep but possibly move.
3.What we definitely want to get rid of and why.
4. Any pictures of gardens we like (from magazines etc): this provides inspiration.
5. Any favourite colour scheme.
6. A plant budget.(If there is one).
7. Do we grow plants from seeds or invest in some bigger plants?
8. Freecycle a list of plants for cuttings and offer any plants we do not want to other gardeners.

We will concentrate on an area that is least sightly and turn it into an edible garden. As it is a rather shady plot it should provide a nice area for salad greens and some herbs.

Changing the impossible

The impossible is defined as :

• not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with ; such as an impossible dream
• something that is totally unlikely
• something that cannot be done
• a term used to describe someone’s behaviour.

“The impossible - what nobody can do until somebody does”

If someone had told you 200 years ago that people would be flying around the world, visiting families at the other side of the world in 1 day you would have answered them that that is simply impossible.

If we challenge our thoughts that global warming needs to be engaged with and that the concept is impossible my reply usually agrees with the quote from St Francis of Assisi :

Start by doing what is necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

When faced with a challenge, a need for change and an outcome in your mind that seems impossible, the very thought of it has to create a response in the universe. There is a response and a choice : it does become possible but only if you make the choice to face whatever impossible challenges are in its pathway. That in itself is a choice.

Yesterday I attended my graduation ceremony. What at 25 seemed like it had passed me by when I was a young woman, with a small child has become possible at 47 with 4 children and a disability. The dream at age 40 to support children in achieving their potential, in all walks of life, in challenging circumstances seemed impossible when a virus changed my health and working with children endangered my immune system. The vision did not go away. The possibility of achieving that ambition seemed however impossible. You can imagine the rolling eyes of my husband when I uttered : You know, I know that I am in bed unable to move, but I have a place waiting at college and I am going to finish that degree. Unlikely, impossible were only words that others uttered. I myself had moments of sheer frustration lying in bed wondering how on earth I would get there. However, yesterday, sitting at the front together with my other disabled friend; ( and having posed together as the ‘ disabled students’), I felt tears in my eyes. I know it was only possible because I refused to believe that it was impossible. At moments where in sheer frustration I felt I would never achieve that essay, that deadline, that placement……..I received help, I received encouragement and support. I could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, the college and the fantastic peers on the course. A place where disability was aired, trashed, discussed and accepted in the end. By opening a conversation about it, by listening to their fears about disability, and voicing mine about vulnerability and frustration, they actually strengthened the resolve within me to achieve the impossible by accepting that I still am the person I am, outwardly changed but the same person with the same dreams within.

If today you are faced with redundancy, a health diagnosis, a family situation, a financial crisis and you think you are facing the impossible…….take a step back, assess your values and beliefs about the situation, check your dream and take one step forward. If you need help with that….ask someone who knows you well.

The same could be said about the challenge of global warming, of the difficulties we face with our climate on a worldwide scale; it seems impossible and my reply will be just the same as Pitbull Dog……just watch me!

A place to live

Castle Combe Village, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom

5 years ago we moved into the countryside which to some of our friends seemed a controversial thing to do, based on the fact that everything you could possibly want could be found in a town environment. In many ways that was true, and in other ways we missed a major component - a sense of belonging as although the town had everything you could possibly want, the element that was missing to us was human contact.

When you go shopping in a supermarket, how often do you engage with that experience? How often do you have a conversation? How often do you have eye contact?

The principles of downshifting and reducing our ecological footprint were based on a desire to do a variety of things in one place without the use of a car if possible.

In buying the village shop we are :

• living in the centre of the village
• we work from home in the centre of the village
• we shop in the centre of the village
• our children go to the village school or use school transport to get to larger schools
  
• we gather as a community in the village and take part, promote and encourage local events.

At the same time, we have learnt that if we reduce our needs to a local level and reduce our desire to buy what we want instead of what we need, we can source many items locally.

Our aim over the next few months will be to gently promote locally produced food ( bread, vegetables and meat) and ask people if they are willing to shop here instead of doing a 3 mile journey in their car, park in a difficult place and queue for their food. The price will be the same but instead of many cars going on the village roads, they could walk, they could buy it here, have a chat and catch up with others. There is no way of knowing what people will do, but in offering the options we will monitor what happens.

The first thing will be to put a notice up , engage and have a conversation with people.

Christmas Cards

What can you do with Christmas cards? Some to treasure? Scan them into your computer.

• Cut off the sides and reuse as notelets when someone phones.
• Make gift tags out of the pretty ones.
• Use the pictures to make cards for next year, sticking them on a white card background
• Use decoupage techniques to decorate a box as a gift.
• Recycle them for the Woodland Trust
• Gift them to your nearest scrapstore for craft projects

At the same time, I check my list for those that I have received and create my address list for next year, note who I have not seen for a long time and who I am going to invite to meet again in person.

Happy New Year to you all.

10 ways to tidy your paperwork

Writer's Desk I

1. Make yourself a cup of beverage of your choice and look at your desk area.
2. Get a large box and put everything in it which will leave you with a clean desk.
3. Only put back what is useful and works for you.
4. Use plastic folders for documents and label them ( in my case to file, to do, to order, to pay).
5. Put all your office tools ( stapler, paper,cellotape, envelopes, ink cartridges etc), in a neat order so you can access them when you need to.
6. If you have a filing cabinet, separate business and personal.
7. For business ; categories could be suppliers, customers, accounts, procedures
8. For personal :utilities, banking,taxation; choose what system works for you.
9. Whatever is left in the box; recycle, reuse or gift away.
10. Organise your computer and email inbox in the same way. It may not work for others but you will know how to categorise it so it works for you.
    

This really reduced my stress levels and when stuff arrives, it gets filed in the plastic folders and I know exactly what to do with them.
More tea.....

For some continuing tips on organising your workspace you could look at the following websites :
flylady
Marcia Francois
Organising your workspace
eliminate chaos in your inbox

Silence

Silence, 1848

To say that the last few weeks have been chaos would be an understatement. I am away from home on a course at the moment to get to know some intricate software and at the same time, take stock of what the last few weeks and the amount of change have meant.

To find myself at the coast in Devon, at a small family run hotel with a room all to myself is a luxury. At the same time, I am gazing out at the most gorgeous wild sea. I am seeking silence, no conversation and time to reflect. What I find is that the coast is anything but silent. The waves are pounding the beach, the palms are waving wildly and the South East wind is hammering the window and sliding through any gaps.

The world today is dominated by noise and often nature's sounds are not heard. At the same time, sitting on my bed, feet up, knitting in hand, I notice that over the last week I also have not heard any noise from the inside. I have been too busy.

When you seek out silence, you hear your breath, your thoughts and above all, you hear your search for freedom and your own truth. What I noticed, is that in the last few weeks, although very busy and reacting to a new business and life around me, I have neglected my inner space, my spiritual space and listening in the silence, I can hear its whispering. I am resting. The reason I need that space, is that within, within the silence, words and sentences are created like the ones you read now. Listening, poised with a pen, I know that the words flow and with it, I know that what is my inner voice, finds a way of expression, silently.

In my hotel room, while I notice there is no conversation to be had with anyone, I sit and wait and marvel at the conversations the sea, the wind and the palms are having with each other.

You don't need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Don't even listen, simply wait. Don't even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will offer itself freely to you to be unmasked. Franz Kafka

The pie maker

Fresh Pies

Occasionally I manage to have a conversation over the phone with a supplier who not only sounds authentic but who enthuses about his products and tells me exactly what is happening, what is going wrong and what their plans are for the next year. Today I talked to a man who is passionate about his pies. I know why, they are fantastic, made with real, local ingredients and we had a fantastic conversation about food miles and cardboard boxes.

I basically asked him whether he wanted to have his boxes back and was told that he would love to, but that unfortunately they cannot be brought back into the food preparation area because of problems with contamination of bacteria. I understand that, and I applaud his efforts to make his boxes from recycled cardboard. The only option we have is to either recycle them or offer them to customers who want to send an item in the post. Its a useful box, it packs flat and is very sturdy. When the pies arrive, they are priced immediately and put in the display cabinet and the box is quickly disposed of.

We also talked about the costs of transporting the pies and he was trying to see if he could share transport with another of our food suppliers that was close to him, but there was no match.

I loved this conversation; discussing genuine difficulties and possible solutions to a company that due to its own success is ready to expand into a larger production area and with it, is trying to tell me that in the future, I might not be viable to deliver to as it stands. What a dilemma? I guess the company owes its success in parts to small village shops who enjoy local pies made with local ingredients while at the same time, expanding his business might just mean losing the shops that have sustained him while he was a small business.

I hope not, I hope they find a middle way through this. In the meantime, we shared a passion for the environment and the dilemmas caused when making decisions.

I look forward to seeing him in the future when he comes on a visit as he will do in Spring. Guess the climate for food producers who make a genuine authentic not run of the mill pie are as difficult as remaining a sustainable village shop. I also know that I would not have had such a productive and honest discussion with a supermarket supplier.

Crashing the party

Christmas Tree

The whole holiday period has been a test of endurance in a good sort of way. Not only did we move at the end of November and took over a village shop but at the same time, our usual houseguests arrived, expecting the same comforts they have been getting over the last years. The house did not disappoint; the last of our guests left today and with it some nice memories.

On Christmas Day, my friend Maggie invited us all over for Christmas lunch so this was the first year I managed to open my presents without dashing into the kitchen to check on a turkey. That was an extreme luxury and I am very grateful to my friend for that present. It was a lovely afternoon and the boys behaved really well.

My boys and their Grandad were glued to the computers and had quite a competition going as to who could get in the hotseat; no leaving your place for a minute for a cup of tea...you could guarantee that a child or even Grandad would be on the screen watching something. I am extremely proud of my Dad that he communicates with his grandchildren over MSN although he does not always understand their speak.

My DD helped me with the accounts and stem my little panic over a butter and cheese mountain as well as an ever increasing wine lake in the storeroom; we have had a great laugh about that ( just as well) and if at the end of January it has not drastically reduced we will just have to have a fabulous housewarming cheese and wine party.

On Boxing Day, DD and I left the house for a bit of girl quality time and drove for ages to find a place open to have a cup of tea and a piece of cake. After a round tour of the coast and usual haunts we decided on the pub next door as a last resort but came upon a Manor House we had visited in the summer. It looked hopeful; cars and lights. We had been there before for refreshments and music and were greeted by a lovely man, holding a cup of tea and helping himself to a piece of cake. I enquired politely if we could have a cup of tea and was told that yes, I could, we could but we had just entered a private Christmas music weekend. We could have a cup of tea and cake if we could put up with him telling us about the wailing ghost, the priest hole, the facade and the open fire, the hidden doors in the panelling etc. You get the picture. We were enthralled to have partaken in some intelligent conversation with musical people; we basically had a lot of fun while at home, the folks would be waiting for their next meal to be cooked. Having established that a teaplace on Boxing Day in this area could make a fortune, we did find some fun in the most unexpected place and agreed that there is still some hospitality to be found too. Having told the volunteer where the shop is, I guess it is not inconceivable that one day, I will be entertaining thirsty morris men with a cuppa and some cake. It adds to the merriment and diversity in this area.

Parsnips and roots soup

Hot Soup

If you find yourself with a glut of parsnips after the Christmas break you can either compost them or you could make parsnip soup....yummy and lovely warming soup with a chunk of home made bread.

Here in the shop we were left with about 2 lbs of parsnips and as yesterday we had some chicken I made a chicken stock on the Rayburn and used it in the parsnip soup.

a quantity of parsnip
1/2 its weight in potatoes
1 onion
1 tablespoon of currypowder, and some coriander, just a pinch
salt and pepper
1 litre or 2 pints of chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 or 2 stray apples that are getting wrinkly
a know of butter


Take a pan and put knob of butter with diced onion, on low heat until onion is slightly transparent, add diced potatoes and parsnips, curry powder and cook on low heat for about 5 mins, then add stock and other ingredients, bring to a simmer and cook for about 1 hour until the parsnips and potatoes are soft. Liquidise, put in a bowl, add a dash of leftover single cream, take your bowl and chunk of bread and enjoy.

Lost

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a very strange experience. Sooty, one of our black cats had been missing for a few days and the shop was heaving. People collected the ordered goods including capons and turkeys. There was a capon missing and I argued with the butcher who told me that a chicken would do fine and I argued back that if the customer had ordered a capon I wanted a capon. ( I felt like a toddler having a tantrum). At lunchtime we descended on the pub for a well deserved beverage and then made a simple lunch for the extended family and guests.

After a small nap I decided to listen to the phone message we had not been able to deal with in the morning:

First a panic by the vicar asking whether we knew where Baby Jesus was. ( How many drinks had I had I wondered?)To explain this a little, the village children have Mary and Joseph figures to stay in their homes until Christmas Eve and as we now live directly opposite the church it made sense for us to have them to stay. In reality we gave them very little attention as we were busy but room was found in the store room for them. Indeed we had noticed that Mary was accompanied by a baby which by rights should not make its entrance into the world until after midnight that night. I was asked to bring the figures in and ' discreetly' place the baby somewhere where it could be found later.
The only sensible solution seemed to put the baby back into the figure and we took the figures back before the Carol Service and left a message with one of the choir members:

Please tell the vicar that the baby is exactly where you would expect it to be at this particular period in time.

All went well.....all was well and the usual festivities went ahead without a hitch.

Second phonecall related to Sooty who had been lost...he had wandered back to our previous home but had been greeted by 5 dogs and lived happily in the fields. He had been sighted many times. We eventually collected him in a basket and brought him home on Christmas Eve where his brother sighed........Sooty got all the attention and Magic made a lot of small sounds as if to say:

What about me, I have been good, I have been here all along and you give him all the attention.

Happy endings all around : the lost baby has been found and returned as the black cat. Time for a bit of cider and a mince pie to round the day off and early to bed. A good night's sleep was had by all apart from our guests who were awoken to the sound of churchbells ringing in the village announcing the happy birth of baby jesus. Disaster has been avoided and all is well in the village.

Shopkeepers after all can still create a bit of Magic.

Feet not touching the ground

This a time of busyness...moving 3 weeks ago, starting a business and having family around for Christmas is just madness. My feet are not touching the ground but all in all we are buzzing.
The customers are in a happy mood albeit very cold as the frost descended on the village today and many are staying in to keep warm. The church is being decorated for the festive season and there is a lot of activity around.

Personally I have been working in the background at my health and hygiene schedule. ( Oh yes you need one). Every day there are a variety of jobs and chores to be done to keep the place looking clean and tidy and we need a record of it so that if in the future we employ staff to clean the shop they need to know exactly what needs doing and how to do it. It seems common sense but when you get an inspection from the authorities you want to be able to show that at least there is a plan. You need to sign and date every activity to ensure that it is carried out.
It is really no different than running a home, apart from the fact that noone has the authority to check on your cleaning schedule. I therefore have adapted the flylady system to the shop and I am happy with it.

I have way too much cheese. I obviously have a bit of a weakness there and got carried away, but it keeps. The other thing I got wrong was that DH wanted 12 bottles of a particular wine and I ordered 12 cases. We need to work a bit on the communication in our team but the two go well together and there will be no lack of cheese and wine.
Tomorrow we offer mulled wine ( ha.....I can use some of that wine) and mince pies to the customers and we will don our christmas hats with flashing lights. Hopefully I will manage to capture that festive moment for you on camera.

So far so good....feet up tonight with a glass of wine. Well deserved!

Backyard pictures

Found the camera at last and had a few spare moments to go out there and provide you with a tour of the wilderness. As is the case with the house, the garden will need some major attention but that will be soon when there is more daylight to play with and when we have a better routine in the shop.
The above is the only southf acing area and on the right is a shed that will become the greenhouse in time to come.

The above is designated as the salad patch.....use your imagination.

There is little space but with a little planning and magic we hope to achieve a miracle and grow a variety of edible plants, herbs and flowers. Thought you might like to see the pictures before and then follow what happens after.

This week we are taking orders for produce for the holiday season and will be closed on the 25th and 26th December 2007 to play with the children and maybe...just maybe wake up a little later than 6 am ( that depends on the kids but I am not banking on that!)

Green energy

As a business we use an awful lot more energy than merely domestic. We have already started cutting down by using the off peak tariff for doing the washing etc, but nonetheless we are forecast to use some 19000 units in a twelve month period.
With the help of costgard, we have negotiated a contract with EDF on the green tariff because I do believe that where we have a choice we can choose green energy. I had no idea that businesses paid a global warming levy but if you choose green energy you become exempt of that.
We should be getting a certificate we can display in the shop showing what we are doing. Commercial energy rates are different to domestic rates and contracts are negotiated for periods of between 1 and 3 years. We have opted for a fixed rate which will enable us to plan and budget for our energy usage.
The same principles apply than for domestic energy :

• check that renewable green energy is available from your supplier
• choose a rate that appeals
• commit to a contract for a period of time and switch.

Next is measuring the actual amount of energy we use. We have a lot of fridges and freezers which are a must in a food business, as well as electric machinery such as measuring scales and slicers. Over the next few months I will be measuring how much each unit uses and how we can reduce the electricity used in the house.

Mildred in the meantime, keeps us warm and cosy in the kitchen ( that’s the name of our Rayburn, 60 and going strong).

the hearth of the home

Cozy Cabin

I am certain that houses have a soul and a spirit that reflects their history. When we arrived at the shop, it felt like entering a morgue, so cold, so dark and so soulless. It was depressing and when you looked in every corner, there were cobwebs, broken light bulbs, dripping taps and a feeling of neglect and disrepair. There were reasons for this, we know this from the previous occupants, but it made feeling warm within far from a reality.

Every room felt cold, and walking in my nightgown at 6 am to the bathroom as appealing as when you stay in a campsite and you need the bathroom. More light bulbs broken, doors creaked and in general I began to wonder whether it had all been a mistake and had a severe pang of homesickness to Berry Cottage. When on Saturday the water came through the walls, I seriously wondered what would stop this house falling apart and gently put my hands on the walls upstairs and willed it to please be patient, we would get there and give it some attention.

The house is made up of 3 houses, in an odd non linear arrangement and upstairs there is a very long corridor which spans all three upstairs of 3 cottages, with rafters and beams, small doors, different levels and all in all, it resembles a Hobbit home. The houses were built of stone and cob in late 1700 and have plenty of character.

Last week the chimney was swept and the chimney sweep came and removed 3 bags of twigs that the jackdaws have thrown down; today the Rayburn man came. I thought he would condemn the Rayburn,( a type of range) it looked sad, not at all giving me confidence but he looked at it, scratched his head, put on an apron and uttered the words : Well, lets see whether this here beauty can give some soul back to this dim place. She is not at all cosmetic but then if you had not been looked after for about 4 years you would be looking a bit rusty. Any chance of a cuppa? He got his tools out, a mirror to look up the chimney, asked for some paper, kindling wood, and some coal that was lying about and got a flicker of light. A heartbeat he called it, then he tapped it, cleaned it and said, for about 60 years old its doing OK. With instructions, I am going to be busy keeping the Rayburn topped up with logs, and the last remaining coal until we can get some more logs together. The last words he uttered were a bit strange : she is missing some major bits but she will give off heat and I will be back in the spring to put her together if by then you have not given up on her like the last people.

Do I have the time to stoke her up before I go to bed, at 6 am when I get down before we do start the day, prepare the papers, get the vegetables and fruit delivered? You bet. When after hours I walked upstairs through the rooms they did really feel a bit warmer or could that be my imagination?

Hestia, the heart of the home has been restored and when the frost comes up tonight, I will sleep a bit sounder in the knowledge that the soul of this house is awake and well.

Cheesy business

Taking over a shop a few weeks before the holiday season is just like diving into the deep end of the pool, or a steep learning curve. So far we have had and advisory visit from the Health and Hygiene officer to see what we do and with that came a whole book and checks to be made. The shop is a listed building so changes are going to be limited.
We are having a rush on cheese and I am discovering all the other cheeses that are on offer in the UK, together with their lovely names. Roll on Christmas, crackers and cheese will be a must in our shop.
The daily vegetable and bread orders are going well and we are introducing some new varieties there as well. I am keeping a check on what is available locally, fresh and seasonal and there are many new ideas on that front in the pipeline.
Produce prices are up, and I am not certain whether this is part of the growing trend or whether it is just for the holiday season.
Our days starts at 6 am and finishes at 6 pm when we manage usually to sit down as a family and find out whether we are all fine. The difficulties we have dealt with last week were a leaky roof, leaking taps, water running from the walls as guttering was missing in between the two houses that make up the house and shop, cold very cold weather.
The waste collection system is beginning to get clearer. Lots of plastic and cardboard gets folded and recycled although as a business we pay for our collections of waste. We have invited the local people to continue bringing in their plastic bags so they can be reused and are offering the smaller cardboard boxes to people who want to send presents abroad, pack presents or local businesses who send small items in the post.

On a negative, still no internet collection but the camera has surfaced and will post a picture next time. Hang on in there with us please, its about to get interesting.

new start

Still no internet connection......
Running a business as well as running a home make life interesting. Whenever I step out from my kitchen door, I find myself in the shop and as such in public domain. Not that different from when you step onto the street you may say, but when I am in the process of trying to make a casserole for dinner in the slow cooker, I get a knock on the door and a question asked....The children too are not used to being put second to customers and burst through the door at the end of their day with news, only to receive a frown from me, and then being ushered in the kitchen where they can tell at hearts content what has happened.
We are running...not as smoothly as we would hope but then that would be normal. The house is still in need of a lot of care; leaking taps, pipes, hanging drainpipes, no light bulbs in some rooms etc etc. The downstairs does not appear to have any heat at all, which is an added discomfort. Interestingly, the first night in the house felt a bit like going to sleep in a fridge. This was highlighted the next morning at 6 am when I stepped outside the shop only to find that it was warmer there than in the house. It appears that out house has stone walls that are not able to breathe and will need some remedial work. That will be fun.....

The priority items have been unpacked: bokashi bin in place, compost bin in place and pathway to both cleared. Its a long way off from feeling like a home, but at least I can deal with waste in a way that is comfortable.

No iron though.. I wonder how long that will stay hidden in a box.