A walk in the country

Earlier today, with some family and friends, we took a walk from Bourton on the Hill to Longborough and back again, a round trip of just under 5 miles in the English Cotswolds.

The walk was mainly through the Sezincote House Estate. Sezincote House was built in 1810 in an Indian style and was apparently the inspiration for the Brighton Pavillion. It did look pretty, and the whole estate was well cared for with some stunning mature trees, although I still have some reservations about these large country houses and the origins of the money that built them. There are connections with the East India company and I can imagine the exploitation of people and so on that helped amass the money that built the house. Anyway, I digress!

The route we took is a small part of the 'Heart of England Way' which is approximately 100 miles and links Cannock Chase in Staffordshire to Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire.

One of the largest fields that we walked along had what I imagine was a biodiversity wild-flower/meadow border planted. It did look stunning with Ox Eye Daisies forming the main part, but in amongst them were Yarrow, Poppies, Vetch and much more. The only surprise was the complete lack of bees or butterflies - I would have expected to see loads.

Passing through a coppice, there was an old gate with a particularly interesting handle - clearly someone liked ducks or swans!

The half-way point was the very picturesque cotswold village of Longborough. We had a drink at the pub and admired another pub regular - eagerly awaiting his human partner to return with some food!

And it didn't rain!

Our daily bread

This is brilliant!

Tom is an artisan baker (surname also Baker) and uses a wood fired 'Earth Oven' to bake bread. He runs his business 'Loaf', a bakery and cookery school, from his home in Stirchley, Birmingham, UK,
For more information visit www.loafonline.co.uk

All Music obtained from the freemusicarchive.org, with the exception of 'World of Fox' (www.worldoffox.com) tracks avaiable for preview and download at www.cominrecords.com.

Thoreau

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness"

Henry David Thoreau

More on Thoreau and his ideas etc:

• Wikipedia
• Thoreau Farm

Natural building using Cob

One of my loves is 'natural building', and of the techniques/methods around, the 2 key ones are Strawbale and Cob. Cob is literally clay (from the ground), sand and chopped straw.

Millions of houses around the world are actually made from earth in one form or another, but the technique of cob building is vernacular to many parts of the UK. In Devon, even today, you can still find many buildings that have been standing for hundreds of years, made from local cob.

The advantages of cob is that it is usually local (often dug up from a few feet away), simple to make, highly sculptural and provides a lot of thermal mass. The downside is that construction can be slow (unless there's a large group of helpers!), and cob itself does not provide much in the way of insulation.

Anyway, pros and cons aside, cob buildings can be some of the most beautiful structures around. Hat-tip to Steven Golemboski-Byrne who had a link to this building in Somerset on his blog.

On Earth Day…Commandments for the Earth.

Over on the various blogs that I follow, there has been a lot of wonderful writing about 'Earth Day'. I also have a friend who is very cynical about 'Earth Day' and 'Earth Hour' type events as the feelings, thoughts and actions people feel compelled to take, should take place every day. Indeed, many 'Earth Hour' events were sponsored by large corporations - can't quite see the logic in that, unless the said corporation wants to be seen as more 'green' by sponsoring this type of thing.

Anyway, must be more upbeat as depression is heading my way unless I can stave it off!

Over on Arignagardener's blog, they've listed '10 Commandments for the Earth' first written by Ernest Callenbach in 1990. I hope Arignagardener doesn't mind me stealing them and listing them here:

1. Thou shalt love and honour the Earth for it blesses thy life and governs thy survival.
2. Thou shalt keep each day sacred to the Earth and celebrate the turning of the seasons.
3. Thou shalt not hold thyself above other living things nor drive them to extinction.
4. Thou shalt give thanks for thy food, to the creatures and plants that nourish thee.
5. Thou shalt limit thy offspring for multitudes of people are a burden onto the Earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill, nor waste Earth’s riches upon weapons of war.
7. Thou shalt not pursue profit at the Earth’s expense but strive to restore it’s damaged majesty.
8. Thou shalt not hide from thyself or others the consequences of thy actions upon the Earth.
9. Thou shalt not steal from future generations by impoverishing or poisoning the Earth.
10. Thou shalt consume material goods in moderation so all may share the Earth’s bounty.

What a great set of commandments - be interesting to judge your day and actions against those to see how you fair!

See Arignagardeners site:

http://arignagardener.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/on-earth-day-commandments-for-the-earth/

Woodpecker

This morning, I had one of my regular reflexology sessions with Rob Buckle (by the way, if you live in or near the South Birmingham area of the UK, I can highly recommend him for Reflexology or Reiki!).

At the end of the session, Rob left the room to fetch a glass of water and as I gazed out of the conservatory into his garden, I spotted a Woodpecker. I've never seen a Woodpecker in real life, but the distinctive bright red patch at the bottom of the body, near the tail is a giveaway.

Great Spotted Woodpecker
Image from RSPB

It's a distinctive and impressive bird. My eye was first caught with the colour - that patch of red is almost luminous, but then the way it moved up the tree, keeping the stance like the image above, was pure Woodpecker (from memories of seeing them on TV).

It brought a smile at time when I need a few smiles!

Life, the universe...

All around me, the signs of spring abound. One of my friends, Sarah, has just blogged about her first nettle and root soup of the season - I want to be 'out there' doing stuff, yet I am caged, kept within myself by events beyond my control.

In life, as in nature (because life is nature, is life), there are cycles. Some cycles are perpetual in the sense that summer will follow spring, which follows winter, which follows autumn, which follows summer and so on. Other cycles have a start and an end, and are complete within one cycle, although they are part of bigger cycles that all link up. I am referring to the cycle of life and in particular, to our wonderful canine companion, Albert, who it seems, is approaching the end of his physical days on the earth.

A few days ago, he was diagnosed with degenerative liver disease. He's been put on medication to support his liver, which we are supplementing with some herbal tablets, but the vet's anxiety is that he does not have much good liver left to work with. The vet is understanding, in fact very understanding, and is not recommending further invasive tests on the basis that we would learn little that could benefit Albert.

He might respond the treatment and rally round, or he may not. We'll know in the next 10 days or so where this is heading. I've really been very upset at the prospect of loosing him - he's been woven into the fabric of our lives for the past 7 and half years. He's slept with us on our bed every night, he comes on holiday with us, everything we do, or everywhere we go is centred around Albert not being left alone!

I'm not afraid of death - I understand that it is a part of life, and Albert being 14 or 15 years old has lived the expected life of a dog. But I am afraid of the void, of the loss of company, of the loss of familiarity, the loss of routine that he has brought us. Perhaps these are selfish concerns, but they are the ones I have.

I wish I could explain to him that the tablets he so dislikes taking are for his benefit and will help him. I wish he could tell me how he feels, where his pain is, and perhaps, when he's had enough and wishes to slip away.

Yet, as I focus myself on Albert, the other cycles of life continue, unaffected by my personal crisis. In the grand scheme of what's going on in the world, how small are these events, but depending on where you stand, they can be the biggest thing in the world.