A greener Christmas

May I wish all the blog followers a merry Christmas. Remember all that recycling and composting.

Relaxing

Im sat here thinking how this year could change me?.I guess my lifestyle will have to change new challenges being on my own and carrying on my green life wherever possible. I hope I can start that new chapter.  A fb friend Naomi suggest a type of mood board for what I want out of life where I want to be in the future. Hope such visualisation will bring fruit as I need to get this greener life back on track and with it a calmer and more fulfilling life.

in reflection

I'm sat here thinking; just before i go to bed in my caravan,about my trip earlier in the year to Morocco. The lifestyle there , for those who have not been is an eclectic mix of ultra modern golf complexes and total poverty , huge castle like hotels to shanty towns and medieval style villages clinging to arid hillsides. The wildlife and scenery is spectacular, to our eyes but to many of the locals it is a place to plunder and dump.The Sahara desert surrounding towns is used as a free tip to many ranging from general household rubbish, to full scale building wastes . Trucks pour out from the cities and towns to just empty their loads onto the dessert, the very place that visitors wish to visit . should these sits be protected or are we just adding to the pressure to build and pollute more ?. The flip-side is the culture of nomads picking through the waste to make ends meet, recycling at its raw best .

A Woodburner and your life

Its a strange world; that the Woodburner takes you into where you are always looking for the next source of kindling or wood, skips are  always worth a look . But by far the most obscure act is measuring a tree or branch by the week rather than by the foot or metre.

Warm and wet

This weeks warmer ,wet weather conditions have helped the last few trees  get into leaf and flower.   I wonder what the Autumn will hold.

BEAMS

HAS anyone noticed that horn/whitebeam trees are struggling to even break bud up gere in Scarborough, is there a problem with these elsewhere and if so is there a problem we don't know about.

Just a note to all you people . Living at the coast as I do I have noticed recently that Herring Gull have gained the ability to drag household waste bags out of wheelybins, something Foxes were always prone to do.I think it is due both to them learning a new food source and the fact that we as a group are throwing more food material out in bags which gulls can drag, and putting too much in the bins so the lid is open giving the gulls access. I ve seen whole roads covered in rubbish with flocks of gulls amongst it. The answer is , produce less waste and don't put too much in the bin to wedge it open.

Time

Sorry for the lack of content time and circumstances are causing issues   try  my Facebook page Greener life Or Bust  until I find more time   thanks

New toy

My new venture and life.   now to start changing this into a little green haven;   plans are in place to use straw bails to cut draft under the base and possibly solar. But for certain. A woodburner.   and Glastonbury Burners have offered to make me a one off. Somewhere between tha Griffin And the Typhon

Today was one of those days that moved me forward on my green quest.Although not everyone's choice but as a meat eater the next step is to gather your own food, in my case pigeons. However there is often a price to pay to give you the chance to catch your own food, the  use of the land to do so; in this case shooting crows on a  free range pig farm. There are thousands of these crows around but shooting them is a different matter very difficult it is, and only two where shot all day. This was the first time i had shot using a shotgun and i was surprised that i even got one. This trip will hopefully be the start of a source of fresh meat that is free , and as freerange as you can get.

although i strive to be as green as i can there are some jobs which just need a bit of power. logging is one of them. My new chainsaw, is 20% lower on fuel. and has much lower emmisions than most , it did a job that would have taken all day with a hand saw in around ten mins the new range of Stihl chainsaws with the CB-E letters are Also much easier to start.Many of the logs were very well seasones oak and Elm. not a job for the bow saw unless you have a long weekend spare.

Its been a long time coming but ive just managed to secure another gardening job , this time in Ripon  about 60 miles away but pay should justify the travel costs in our "Green Car "  very low emission , hopefully will  be looking for a cheap used van or the like and a caravan for another project.
With any luck there maybe other jobs in that village which may come my way from this  : fingers crossed.
 The weather recently has really pushed the growth in the garden, even the rhubarb is sprouting,  this kind of thing happens then along comes a cold snap to halt it all,  good old nature.

May i take this time to with you all a happy new year