Earth Gazer

The TV series, " Tales from the Green Valley " (which I seem to have missed) contains some great and not-so-great scenes. If like me, you're vegan or vegetarian, scenes of animal slaughter and animal consumption (and they seemed to consume every part, unlike most of today's society) are not something I especially want to watch, even though I know it goes on. However, I digress, follow the link below to go to a YouTube clip of the 'women' making some herbal medicines for the families winter ailments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pWSASG3sJ8&t=10m53s

OK, I realise that this is rose-tinted glasses material, but from time to time, why not? I'm fascinated by small, portable dwellings, and especially those built onto or into a van etc. In my dream world, I've converted several vans into little 'houses' that I use to have adventures and explore the wonderful countryside in the UK. Whilst this is a wonderfully romantic idea, I know that the reality might be somewhat different and then there's the unhappy grating of my environmental beliefs against using all that diesel to travel with! Anyway, as a nice distraction, I came across a website which featured a really pretty dwelling built onto the back of a 1950's 'Green Goddess' ex-military, decommissioned fire engine. Here, on the first exterior shot you can begin to appreciate the beautiful wood used on the body of the house part, although I'm not sure about the blue and yellow paint they've used on the cab etc. Personally, I think a cream o...

Morning Rays by Tony Armstrong on Flickr Winter is beginning to rise and gently asking autumn to pass. We've still got relatively warm weather at the moment, but a clear night brings in a chilly mist that looks like the finest gossamer between the moon, stars and the land, not blocking the light, but shifting and softening it. The last couple of nights and mornings have been virtually windless too, which together with the mist, can bring an eery, still atmosphere. Unfortunately, one of the downsides to the stillness is that the sounds of the roads and not-too distant motorway appear louder and closer than they should. I don't like it when this peaceful world is invaded and violated in this way. These unnatural noises are now such a part of our lives that we barely notice them. I could never understand how people who live under flight-paths could get used to it, but I suppose even that can just become background noise for some people, but not me, I think. I can remem...

You know the feeling you get when something is wrong, but you can't quite put your finger on it, or maybe you think you know but you can't quite articulate it well enough, or maybe what you think scares you because of the enormity of the consequences of your acceptance of a problem or situation?  Maybe, just maybe, I've found a book which will help me to accept, contextualise and articulate my thoughts and words on something that is on my mind - Derrick Jensen's Endgame : Volume 1, The Problem of Civilisation . So what is on my mind? I'm interested, very interested, in environmental issues. Specifically, there's the issue that most 'developed' and indeed 'developing' countries are fixated on continued and probably endless economic growth in a world where there are finite, and in many cases, dwindling, resources. Nobody, especially our puppet leaders, seem able to mention the unthinkable - that endless growth cannot possibly continue,...

Yesterday evening, we were invited to a 50th birthday party for a friend of my wife. There were 104 people there and I'm sure they are all lovely, but I could not connect at all. The place had no soul, the people were loud, the music was louder (and was more suited to a 21st birthday). It was everything I am not. Am I just getting grumpy as I get older, maybe less tolerant, or is there something else? I felt lost and alone in a crowded room. I felt angry with myself for wasting my time and my life by being here, but on the other hand I felt I should be respectful and thankful that I had been invited. Fortunately, my wife felt the same as I did, and so after a couple of hours and with a plausible excuse, we said our thanks and goodbyes and left. What I am and what I want is becoming clearer. My purpose, my direction, my goals, my path are slowly materialising before me. But the transition itself will still be hard - just because you know the direction you should be going i...

Please read the update at the end :-) Because the British Isles is a relatively small place and over developed (from the point of view of buildings, both commercial and domestic), you don't expect that there are many 'hidden' communities. Those out there are often fighting with the authorities or land-owners for survival. One such place is called 'Carbeth' in Scotland and it was originally set up in 1920, but really came into its own just after the WW2 when it became an 'escape' for some of the people of war-torn Glasgow and Clydebank. A few years ago, the 'hutters' of Carbeth were being threatened with ridiculous rent rises from the landlord (in Scotland, the vast majority of land is owned by a very small number of wealthy estates) who, it became clear, intended to keep increasing the rents until the people moved off. They were also threatened with violence if they resisted. This short film gives a little background to the people, their bu...

One of the issues that I'm exploring and reading about currently, is what would someone do when presented with a fact or concept that they totally accepted, but in doing so, it then exposes a hypocrasy within their current way of life? In other words, what is a person's 'tipping point'? In a previous article, I included a video showing Julia Butterfly Hill talking about Disposability Consciousness , and since then, I've discovered that for 738 days between December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999, Julia Butterfly Hill lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree, called Luna, to help make the world aware of the plight of ancient forests and deforestation. Luna was over 1,000 years old and 200 ft tall. “When I entered the majestic cathedral of the redwood forest for the first time, my spirit knew it had found what it was searching for. I dropped to my knees and began to cry because I was so overwhelmed by the wisdom, energy and spirituality housed in this ...

I love natural crafts, although I'm painfully aware that I need to 'practice what I preach' and actually do some myself! These Birch Shrink Pots  shown above are made by the well known wooden bowl turner revivalist, Robin Wood . With a lid, they look like they'd make an incredibly beautiful herb storage container! They're made by taking a smallish 'green' birch log and hollowing out the centre and then carving a rim on the inside towards the bottom. A pre-shrunk disc of wood is inserted into the rim in the base and as the pot naturally shrinks, it grips and seals the base - ingenious! Robin Wood made this 'Porringer' (below) which I've already featured and is, in my eyes, a work of art in itself. Robin runs courses on spoon carving etc:  Carving Courses

Great and passionate video of Julia Butterfly Hill . She talks about 'separation syndrome' as in we are able to think of ourselves as separate from nature, separate from where resources are taken from and separate from where we dump our 'waste', creating a 'Disposability Consciousness'. She spoke with many native tribes and asked whether they had any native words for 'waste, disposable or trash' - they did not, because all traditional knowledge knows that there is no such thing. Some key quotes that I got from the video are: "When you say you are going to throw something 'away' , where is 'away' ?" "It's only called waste if you're not using it properly"  "We cannot have peace on the earth, unless we also have peace with the earth"  "Our disposability consciousness is a weapon of mass destruction"

‎"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~ Anaïs Nin Image source:  http://journeytovenus.blogspot.com/2011/09/fleurs.html

“Our bodies know what is right, if only we listen to them. Beneath the enculturation, beneath the addiction, beneath the psychopathology, our bodies remember that we are meant for something better than this, that we are not apart from our human and nonhuman communities, but a part of them, that what we allow to be done to our landbase (or our body) we allow to be done to ourselves. Our bodies remember a way of being not based on slavery—our own and others’—but on mutual responsibility.” — Derrick Jensen, Endgame I've only read essays and online articles by Derrick Jensen. His book, Endgame, is on my reading list. Whilst I don't agree with everything he has said, or some of the people he associates with, there are some very intriguing aspects to his views that resonate with me and where I am at this point in time.

Do not stand at my grave and weep  I am not there, I do not sleep  I am a thousand winds that blow  I am the diamond glints on snow  I am the sun on ripened grain  I am the gentle Autumn rain.  When you awaken in the morning’s hush I am the swift uplifting rush  of quiet birds in circling flight  I am the soft star-shine at night  Do not stand at my grave and cry  I am not there, I did not die…

Adventures in Wonderland...: simple sundays... : "this morning... There was only a hint of sunshine behind the clouds ... I like the way that sea thrift looks nice even when it's finish..."

Simply brilliant TED talk about flowers and the tricks they use to pollinate. Well worth 15 minutes of your time!

Ed and Will (and sometimes a friend or two) walk around the UK, singing for their supper and a place to stay. Here's a taster of them singing with a friend in a pub car park... A Walk Around Britain

My mother-in-law has been in hospital now for over 14 weeks. Initially at Warwick Hospital and subsequently moved to a smaller, cottage hospital, where the care has been exemplary. We have seen the worst (well, almost) and the best of the NHS. By the way, I feel that the best the NHS offers is when good, qualified, reliable and experienced nursing staff are allowed to do their job with pride and not be 'controlled' by faceless, penny-pushing managers. Despite having radiotherapy for a brain tumour (she's had, and has been treated for cancer for the past 6+ years), the treatments have not worked and we're in that awful situation where the most that can be done is to keep her as comfortable as possible. A reaction to the steroids didn't help, neither did a bout of shingles. We kept thinking she'd be recovering "if only she'd get over the steroid side-effects..." and then "if only she'd get over the shingles...", but the reality th...

When you start getting into herbalism, you do have to start learning some terms which may be unfamiliar to most. You'll probably be able to guess what an 'infused oil' is, but what about a tincture or an elixir as opposed to an electuary? With a good teacher and/or some good books, all will become clear in due course - there's no need to rush! I suggest starting in a small way and make sure you enjoy yourself. Over at ' Whispering Earth ', Lucinda has put up a article about salves, ointments and balms with some useful recipes too, including a basic vegan salve recipe. This does throw up one of the issues I've covered before which is the use of beeswax and being a vegan... In a nutshell, the Vegan Society decreed in 1988 that vegans should not use or consume beeswax or honey. Until then, it was considered OK and in fact I have some old vegan cookery books which include honey as an ingredient in a few recipes. I completely understand their point of vie...

Frank Cook talks about Dandelion

Earlier this year, Amazon announced that they were now selling more e-books than physical books. Is it a coincidence that they make this announcement not long after they introduced their new Kindle 2 e-book reader? Personally, I don't know anybody that owns a Kindle, but maybe I don't enough of the right people! Anyway, everything I say is just conjecture and my opinion! It makes economic sense for Amazon to promote e-books over traditional books - they don't need a warehouse to stock them, they don't need to buy them in advance so cash flow is better, they don't need to pay staff to pick and pack them, they don't need to post them, so no packaging costs etc., and of course you can't pass them on to your friends when you've finished. There are some environmental reasons why e-books make sense of course - they don't consume paper, which for reading things like novels (which you don't tend to keep) and daily newspapers makes sense, there are ...

A few years ago, I decided to 'improve' my shed. I had already installed a small (10 watt) solar panel on it for lighting etc, but I wanted to experiment with insulating it and generally 'pretend' to be building a bigger dwelling, to get some experience along the way. The original shed - note door hinges on the right side - soon to be changed! My neighbour had just had laminate flooring put down and had some of the underlay material to spare - it had foam/polystyrene on one side and foil on the other - I thought that would be OK as a liner. I then bought a large roll of loft insulation and put that between the battens of the walls and roof. Finally, I used tongue & groove panelling to cover it all up and provide a nice finish inside. My shed with insulation and panelling being installed. I built a framework for a bench and even fitted a hand-powered water pump in case I wanted to make myself a cup of tea. I know it was overkill, but I had a great time a...

in con gru ous  |inˈkä  ng  groōəs| adjective not in harmony or keeping  with  the  surroundings  or other  aspects  of something  :  the duffel coat  looked  incongruous with  the  black dress she wore underneath. DERIVATIVES in con gru i ty   |ˌinkənˈgroō-itē; ˌi  ng -; -kä  ng -|  noun  (  pl.  -ties ) in con gru ous ly  adverb

Life tends to give us our greatest gifts, disguised as our worst nightmares.

A friend on Facebook posted a link to this 'cult' French film which is now available with English subtitles on YouTube. The Green Beautiful (La Belle Verte) was apparently banned in the USA and it's easy to see why (watch the film). It's broken down onto 9 parts. I watched the first part and maybe because I was in the wrong mood, I didn't really get where it was going and it all seemed a bit strange, so I left it for a few weeks. Today, I made myself watch the first part again, and then the second and it all started to fit together. Strange, but hugely thought provoking and beautiful.

I've had a weak back for a long time, possibly from lots of driving and bad posture (sitting behind a computer screen) when I was younger -  who knows? Since reaching my 40's I've been aware of how important keeping one's health has been - there are so many things that I want to do with my life, but a lot of them will involve a degree of physical strength, so having something like a bad or weak back was to be avoided. Of course, thinking and doing are different things and when you feel well, you get complacent and end up doing nothing preventative. Until that is, a problem strikes and you realise just how vulnerable you can be. Last week, sciatica struck. I woke up with a twinge in my back and thought that, as usual, it would disappear within a few minutes. Well it didn't, but the next thing I did was rather stupid - I spent 2 hours or so digging over a vegetable patch. I know, I know - I've had the lecture from my Chiropractor today about listening to the b...

I signed the petition to 'Save our Forests' at the excellent 38degrees website . My local MP, Lorely Burt wrote back to me, which was good (she has been a good campaigner on local issues), however, she has voted for the bill to go through and seems to have fallen victim to the governments spin. The 'consultation' she refers to has a number of options. Unfortunately, one of the options is not to keep things as they are. One of the issues that the government seems to have is that the Forestry Commission (FC) is seen as both a regulator and is therefore regulated by itself. OK, this is perhaps wrong, but surely the answer would be to split the FC into two rather than sell off the forests? Here's what she said. I will be trying to get to see her. Lorely Burt MP for Solihull HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWIA OAA   03 February 2011 RE: Forestry Commission  Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding the Forestry Commission. I would be strongly opposed to any ...

Cancer is a word that I had not used until around 6 years ago when my wife's mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. The weird thing was that as soon as I started to talk about it to people, suddenly, it was everywhere - everyone seemed to know someone who had had it or had succumbed to it. She had surgery followed by radio therapy, and despite some complications, she progressed well. At each yearly checkup, we all anxiously awaited the results, and each time she got the all clear. Then in 2009, she began to get pains in her back and hips. She said that in her heart, she knew it was cancer, but didn't say anything at the time to us. Several trips to the hospital, tests and scans later, it was confirmed that the cancer had spread to her bones, with a spot detected on her lungs and liver. A regime of chemotherapy ensued and the prognosis was not too bad. We had to accept the she would never be cured, but the doctors were confident that they could keep things in remission for ...

Somedays, you have to say bollocks to Twitter, Facebook and Email. Somedays, you need to kick yourself and say 'so what'? Somedays, you just need to look at the trees, or a sunset. Somedays, you are reminded of who you really are. Yesterday, it would have been my mum's birthday. She died, quite suddenly, 7 years ago.  I need to talk to her, there are things I need to say. I'm sure there are things she needs to say to me. Down to earth with a bang. Tomorrow? Back to Twitter, Facebook, Email and all that crap. Keep on smiling.

In my last blog entry , I mentioned Robin Wood and the porringer bowl that I bought from him. Well, here's a photo of it in all it's glory. Actually, this is bowl number 1 which split (just after I took this photo) - the problem in working with natural materials is that there are sometimes defects which don't manifest themselves immediately. Anyway, Robin was really good and sent me a replacement, which I've now had and used for over 2 years and is in excellent condition. I love to use this bowl. The texture and feel is wonderful, as are the ergonomics. I hold the bowl with my left hand cupping it and with my thumb resting on one of the wings for stability. With this type of bowl, the wide rim is of course turned complete and the unwanted sections are hand axed off afterwards. In the YouTube video below, you can see Robin starting with a log and ending up with a bowl, completely made by human power!

Following on from my previous post about ' green woodworking ', one of the assistants on the course I went on was a guy called 'Barn'. Now, renamed 'Barn the Spoon', he has apparently been walking around the UK, making wooden spoons in return for food and shelter. Robin Wood (honestly, that's his name) had him stay for a while in October and blogged about it here , here and here . In fact, whilst I'm mentioning Robin, he has a whole website category on spoon carving which you can check out here . I actually have a bowl made by Robin which was a birthday present from my wife a few years ago - the style is called a 'porringer' - I'll put some images on the blog soon - it's a gorgeous bowl to eat from! Anyway, back to Barn the Spoon - I found a series of 4 videos with him demonstrating how to carve a spoon from a freshly cut branch. Apparently, when he's not being filmed and explaining everything, he can complete a spoon in around 1...

Green woodworking is a traditional way of working with wood that is unseasoned, ie in the green. The fact that the wood will shrink in a pre-determined way (and by a known amount) after the item has been made is used to the advantage of the overall piece. An example of this is when making a chair, the cross rails are pre-shrunk for 24 hours or so in a 'hot box' (ie so they won't shrink any further) and are then inserted in the legs.  As they legs dry, they will shrink and grip the cross rails, meaning that no glue or nails are needed. Chairs and stools made from green wood are also immensely strong because the wood is not cut against it's grain which can expose weaknesses. The people who made the chairs in this way were called 'Bodgers'. Mike Abbott, explaining safety procedures. In September 2008, I was fortunate to spend a long weekend on an 'Introduction to Green Woodworking' course with Mike Abbott . It was a wonderful and inspirational exper...

I'm quite an idealistic person. 20+ years ago, I became a vegetarian - not just the sort of vegetarian who eschews meat, but an avid label reader who avoided all animal products like gelatine and cochineal (a red food colouring made from crushed beetles). Although I kept my old leather walking boots until they fell apart, I didn't buy anything with leather, which was really cool when people used to question my ethics and say "I bet your shoes/belt etc are leather" - which they weren't. With that brick wall in their face, sensible people would shut up and accept me, others would harp on about the cries of the lettuce as it was violently ripped from the ground - 'gosh, I never heard that one before'. About 14 years ago, I got to know some people who were vegan - at that time, they were campaigning against the export of live calves from Coventry airport and I quickly made the connection with milk, calves and the live export, so I became vegan. Being vegan...

One of the herbal blogs that I visit regularly is ' Whispering Earth '. An entry yesterday was interesting as it referred to a January 'no-tox' regime. I've never done a detox as such, they sound like hard work and the whole term has spawned an industry of hype and false-claims, however, a 'No-Tox' diet sounded good! Flower offering at the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire UK In essence, Lucinda writes that although many people think about detoxing after the indulgences of Christmas, it's actually a bad time because we're still in winter and the body needs different food types at this time of year (heavier, winter foods that build us up and allow us to survive the cold!), so a 'fresh greens' diet would a) be hard to get locally/sustainably and b) quite stressful on the body. Lucinda says that it's better to have a 'no-tox' diet, ie one that eliminates/reduces our intake of toxins and focusses on natural, whole and unprocessed f...

Perhaps a little morbid, but when you read this article, you get a view of life that precious and full of wisdom, because when it comes to the end of your life, you can honestly look back at the important stuff. Let's take heed from this and concentrate on the stuff that matters. Calendula flower at Springfield Sanctuary, Nr Stow on the Wold, UK From  http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. W...