How To Avoid Buying in Organic Materials to Make New Gardens

Many people establishing new garden areas immediately jump to purchasing organic materials such as compost, topsoil or wood chip mulch. But more often than not, it is possible to source materials for free, or even to avoid purchasing materials altogether by using what is already on site. One tool that is very useful for thoseContinue reading “How To Avoid Buying in Organic Materials to Make New Gardens”

Apples – Thinking Beyond Crumble and Pie

As our apple harvest begins, I have started making use of some of our cooking apples. We have six apple trees here, five of which have done well this year, and so we soon tire of traditional recipes like apple crumble and apple pie. To be honest, we don’t very often eat desserts through theContinue reading “Apples – Thinking Beyond Crumble and Pie”

Online Internship Opportunity

A slightly different post today – because I am exploring options for next year. This is by way of an introduction to an idea I am considering for early 2022. I run this small business alone, and next year, I am thinking about offering a part-time online internship opportunity for a young person (Aged 18-25)Continue reading “Online Internship Opportunity”

Sustainability: Winning Over Those Reluctant to Change

The biggest challenge in sustainability is not finding alternative solutions. Many of those alternative solutions to our biggest environmental and social challenges already exist. The greatest issue is generating real behavioural change. Working out how to win over those who are reluctant to change is one of the most important problems of our age. InContinue reading “Sustainability: Winning Over Those Reluctant to Change”

Why Understanding Plant Roots is Important in a Garden

As gardeners, we ignore the rhizosphere at our peril. New gardeners naturally tend to focus on what plants look like above ground when planning their gardens. But plant roots and what goes on below the soil is also very important. It might sound very obvious, but we should not forget that most plants take inContinue reading “Why Understanding Plant Roots is Important in a Garden”

Sustainability: Institutions Can Make a Big Difference

Much sustainable progress in my area is driven by the work at St. Andrews University (where I studied). I live quite close by, and have been largely impressed by the progress on a number of fronts that has been made since I studied there. Their meadows project is one of the latest big things. InstitutionsContinue reading “Sustainability: Institutions Can Make a Big Difference”

Gleaning – A Sustainable Solution for Tackling Food Waste

As I enter the fruit harvesting season in my own garden, with many apples and plums ripening on the trees, I thought this would be a good time to talk about the issue of food waste. I always aim to make the most of all the produce I grow. But every year, an abundance ofContinue reading “Gleaning – A Sustainable Solution for Tackling Food Waste”

Access and Equality

Access to land is one of the key issues of equality. All too often, people live lives divorced from the land, and distant from the natural world. A sustainable future for all involves looking closely at access to land, and thinking about how we can improve matters when it comes to this issue. Issues withContinue reading “Access and Equality”

Sustainable Sources for Household Items

Today, my husband and I took a break from the tiling and headed out shopping. I do not really like to shop, and to be honest, don’t shop much at all. As I have mentioned before, one way in which we always try to be as sustainable as possible is by buying less in general.Continue reading “Sustainable Sources for Household Items”

Long But Rewarding Day

We’ve only just come in after a very long day working on our barn conversion – making the most of the time we have while I am off work to make progress with tiling in the bathroom. It’s a tricky job – especially as in an old building – nothing is straight! There are noContinue reading “Long But Rewarding Day”