Come and help put the polytunnel up! – It’s your farm!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized to her and  explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my  day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day.  Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer  bottles to the store.The store sent them back to the plant to be  washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled……  But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they  walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They  walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300- horsepower machine every time they  had to go two blocks.  But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing  in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s nappies because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line,  not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts – wind and solar power really did  dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room.  And the TV had a small screen  the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of  Scotland. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the  mail, they used scunched up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or  plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an  engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. They used a  push mower that ran on human power.   They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills  that operate on electricity. But she’s right, they  didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank  from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They  refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and  they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing  away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
Back then,  people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi  service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an  entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances..
And they didn’t  need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites  2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza  joint.

But that old lady is right………..
They didn’t need the green  thing back in her  day.

It’s your farm!

Come and help put the greenhouse up, plant an apple tree or a fruit bush or help finish the raised beds. The big push is on to get everything sorted for Spring Planting!

Saturday April 9th from 10 am on…. We will have a shared lunch so we can have lunch there and continue the work so bring something along!

Follow us on twitter: @UnderLancheFarm

The next meeting for the Railway Orchard is Wednesday April 6th in the Bakers’ Arms at 7pm.

Newcomers welcome!

Follow us on twitter: @RailwayOrchard

Jenny managed to get her hands on a smart orange shredder, which was wheeled with huge amounts of huffing and puffing into the orchard, and set to work.  We had quite a crowd this time, including four girls from the IB course at Thomas Hardye’s. Ian began feeding branches and brambles into the shredder, setting a sterling example for all of us, although his cardigan will never be the same again.  Jenny and Kate followed, and found that it wasn’t  as easy as it looked – the voracious orange mouth of the shredder devoured long straight sticks, sucking them down to its whirling blade at the bottom, but brambles were a different matter.  They hooked themselves onto sleeves and threatened to drag less weighty people down towards the blade in an very alarming way.  Then the brambles all got jammed at the bottom anyway and wouldn’t be shredded at all.  Since many of the mountains of waste material consisted of brambles, this looked serious.  Len then took over the shredder, we abandoned the brambles and things went a lot faster.  (Jenny and Kate put this down to the lack of brambles, rather than Len’s superiority as a shredder operator…)  We all kept the shredder well supplied with branches, sneaking in the odd bramble every now and then, but it became clear that a weekend’s shredding was not going to achieve our dream of shifting all the piles of rubbish.  And then the shredder packed up anyway, so we called it a day.  The problem then arose – what should we do with the shredder?  It was too heavy to take anywhere, and we were afraid it would be stolen if we left it in the orchard.  In the end, we had the cunning idea of camouflaging it (what, a big bright orange shredder??)  It was done extremely effectively – one advantage of having so many piles of stuff left over, I guess… – and you would never have known it was there.  As we walked away, some of us wondered what we had spent all day doing…

The following day, since we had hired the shredder for the whole weekend, we assembled again, with some new, fresh (to shredding) faces.  The sun was shining and it was clear it was going to be a good day.  And so it turned out to be.  We uncovered the shredder and apart from a little hiccup when Murray decided to test his strength on the string pull of the engine, everything went smoothly.  Everyone worked hard bringing branches, several hearty blokes operated the shredder and we got through huge amounts of stuff.  The difference was quite amazing this time and we really felt we had achieved something by the end.  The mulch produced by the shredder is all spread out now and is busily smothering baby brambles.  We even had tea this time, sitting round our smart new table, during which we had a serious discussion about the bramble issue.  There were those who momentarily considered tipping over the camping stove in their direction – they were so dry by now that the conflagration would have been brief and immensely satisfying.  But we had assured Network Rail that we wouldn’t burn a single stick, so in the end we reluctantly abandoned that tack.  Jenny said that she would contact Network Rail again to put our case for burning, but later, after several of us had seen a wren, we thought that piles of brambles would make a suitably cat-proof habitat for nesting birds, and since we weren’t going to be using the whole of the orchard area immediately, why not just pile it in one corner and let it rot.  Task for next workday….

Next workday:  2nd April

Having got rid of most of the rubbish during the previous workday, we went back to the brambles and various other tasks.  An old gentleman living in one of the Monmouth Rd houses backing onto the orchard had contacted Jenny and offered to donate £20 towards buying fruit trees.  He also mentioned that he was having trouble keeping his back hedge trim, so two of us tackled that, resulting in some rather impressive hedge laying.  Others worked on the bushes outside the fence and cleared up the path, while the rest of us carried on with the endless 20ft brambles.  Further down the plot, those who favour the slash and burn approach (without the burning, obviously…) were busy annihilating everything in their path.  Luckily, a more sensitive soul spotted a couple of currant bushes which were then lovingly unswathed of their cloak of brambles, then our soft fruit experts proceeded to hack them to bits anyway (it’s called pruning – Ed).  We left the site feeling heartened that yet again, despite the daunting scale of the work to be done, we had manage to achieve real results.  All we need now is a shredder

Energy Group Energy Monitor Loan Scheme

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How this FREE loan scheme works:

We only have 2 energy monitors left!… available for households in Dorchester (rented or owner occupied homes). The monitors are a great tool for taking practical steps towards saving money on utility bills and to reduce carbon emissions.

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Remember: your bills won’t go down unless you Change Your Attitude! The sooner you do, the more money you can save!!

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To take part in this FREE loan scheme of an electricity monitor for up to 6 months please complete & return the simple downloadable application form below, email to: energy@transitiontowndorchester.org or by telephone to Sally Cooke on 01305 267758

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Energy monitor Application Form (Microsoft Word doc 56kb)

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The energy monitors are available to Dorchester residents participants who will be able to view their electricity use from a portable display, thereby helping to take steps to save energy, and money.

• All participating households will be offered a free home energy saving advice visit during the 6-month loan period by a volunteer with professional experience in the sustainable energy sector (note: it is not compulsory to have a home energy advice visit in order to participate in the scheme).

• At the end of the project there will be an opportunity for participating households to comment on the energy savings they have made and energy saving tips they believe are worth passing on to others.

• There will be a prize of a local food hamper worth £50 to the household judged to have made the greatest energy savings (including changes in behaviour, i.e. not only based on meter readings).

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Video explaining how the Minim monitor works (TTD has no connection with British Gas):

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Electricity Monitor – How to guide

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Didn't get to tell it all last time so here's some extras. The Pond has been dug - but not quite as planned. It was decided by the Wildlife Team that a slightly* different arrangement would be more beneficial to wildlife and be a little more aesthetically pleasing. The main pond has been moved south about 10 feet and made about 50% bigger than originally planned. And there will now be a properly excavated runoff (which will be lined and seeded as a 'marginal' area) leading into a lower pond about 1/3 the size of the upper one. I'll get Mike to sketch the new arrangement so it can be posted. I think it'll improve that aspect of the project significantly. Work on the chicken house has been suspended until freezing weather is less likely as any foundations for the building need to set normally. We now have a Twitter account. If you Tweet then follow us at @UnderLancheFarm * I understate it a little :) Ian

There's been quite a lot of activity offsite so I thought it timely to say where we're at. Workdays have been a bit sporadic but then its been Celebration Season, and the weather's been pretty miserable. Subject to climate* the next workday is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. the 6th. At present we plan to start on paths and raised veg beds. but if other projects (chicken house) want to turn up we could make a good day of it. Andy has been in contact with his polytunnel contact and will be negotiating the best gift he can get from them for us! Once it arrives it'll be all hands to the mill to erect it. The girls have been hard at work with a bid for some of the Big Lottery Fund money. They've worked hard to get everything in that we might need. Let's just hope the Fund like our application and come up with a few pennies. I've been in touch with the company building the Weymouth Relief road and their contact at DCC Roads Division and have secured a gift of a whole lot** of 20mm chicken wire. They've been using it as temporary fencing. It may not be available until April but I'll keep checking in the meantime. The National Trust have been helpful with the design of a composting toilet. Construction should be simple but we still need a small shed. If you know of one anywhere that is serviceable but surplus to requirements please get in touch. * If it's raining or completely frozen then check first before turning up. Or just turn up on the off-chance. ** There's miles of it in use - without exaggeration - honest. Ian

The next Transition Town Dorchester Energy Group meeting is…

our usual bring-and-share meal and Energy discussion/meeting where we will be putting the final touches to  plans for the Energy Monitors project which goes live soon!  All welcome!

Date: Monday 10th January
Time: 7.00pm
Place: 53 Great Cranford Street, Poundbury DT1 3SQ
Tel: 01305 266548

Please bring a contribution to our meal – a dish or an item of food to share.