Free-Range Living

Balancing acts-----

Life here on the eco micro-holding (small smallholding) seems to be about getting some sort of balance between meeting needs by money means and the deliberate policy of aiming to meet a reasonable proportion of needs by 'own efforts', which then also leads to activities which 'suit', such as growing healthy produce for home consumption. Work has currently geared up a pace, after a fairly hazy, lazy August - the few days away on the West Wales coast, with no jobs to do, were particularly pleasant. Now it's back to painting one end of the cottage, repairing/renovating a slightly ailing conservatory (best room in the cottage - office, writing room, cat rest room, nap room etc.), getting some new radiators and flushing the new-last-year central heating system all sorted before winter, and of course the sundry jobs that are always involved, and for the most part, are a 'labour of love'. Looking at just one two and a half hour 'work' session, variety, thankfully, is the name of the game:

          - watering leek beds and salads with hose   - clean ing out drain   -reconnecting drainpipe
          - watering raised bed   - picking radish and tomatoes   - storeing hosepipe   - moving wire guards
          - tidying compost area   - clearing septic tank blockage   - cutting spinach for hens  
          - hoeing leek bed   - filling water butt   - collecting broad bean seed   - fixing basket on bike
          - walking with Pip dog (and Tiger Tilly cat).

Life spice---

It's the 'spice of life', variety, they say, although not totally sure whether it can't be overdone on occasions. It's been the driest summer here for a good few years; a reasonably local town, for instance, was apparently the driest place in the UK for August with virtually no rain, and the Uk Midlands in general has had its driest season for quite awhile. It must be at least five or six years since there's been a need to water the veg with a sprinkler in later summer, as has had to happen this year. No year is ever 'standard' but this year seems to have had more quirks here than normal. Swedes and peas, two crops which have struggled here in recent years, have been good this year; parsnips, celery and celeriac virtual failures, and tomatoes, potatoes and runner (stick) beans, only so-so, which seems to have been a bit of a local trend. Ah well, canna win 'em all! Having said that, there's been none of the 'black rotting' amongst the outdoor tomatoes which has happened in the last few (wetter) years, nor any blackfly on the broad beans, and more amazingly still, no caterpillers on the winter veg.

The winter veg has grown up well, and on the half of the veg patch not to have had compost or wood ash this year. Since upping the compost application two years or so ago, now making more of it, the size and quality of the crops has taken a bit of a leap forward, which may well be the reason the swedes, for instance, are doing that much better.

Oh solar----

The new solar panel installation has continued to produce at around 8 to 9 killowatthours per day, and the blue-tooth monitoring device says nearly  a third of a tonne of carbon dioxide has been 'saved' by it since it began, which can't be too bad. The actual rate of electric generation from the solar panels appears to be very closely linked to actual clear sunlight, which gives the best generation rates, although there is still a lower rate of generation in cloudier conditions. Last month's title was 'freerange fightback', alluding to the seemingly mounting pressures and costs being faced by so-called 'ordinary' folk within the large-organisation dominated modern commercial culture.

Sleeve up!

 One move 'up the sleeve' here, could be to move to electric based transport to some extent, making use of the daytime solar electricity to charge up batteries. Changing one of the current two vehicles to, say, an electric bike - no tax, no insurance and no fuel charges - would obviously save a bundle of dough.
Ideally  a little bog-standard cheapo electric pick-up would 'fit the bill', but the 'conventional' electric cars
seem still to cost 'an arm and a leg', even with a £5K goverment grant, so maybe the electric bike, with trailer, is the best option currently.

 
Gee whiz, it's all go!