Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!
I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.
We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.
To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Thinking of building an Ark
Wow we have had so much wind and rain here recently! We are both rather exhausted as the violent weather kept us awake over the last few nights, with worry about what was happening outside and due to the sheer noise and buffeting.
We have been fortunate enough to escape major damage here; a few trees have come down in the wood (only small dead ones) and there has been a small water leak in the loft around the chimney stack due to a combination of the severity of the rain and the wind direction; not serious and did not damage anything and can be easily fixed BUT it needs the wind and rain to stop before Compostman can go up on the roof to fix it. Apart from that we have not lost anything as we had tied/nailed down or put away pretty well everything which might fly away or get damaged.
Our lane floods at the far end where it joins the main road and so was impassable for a few hours, several times in the last few days. Near to us there has been major flooding, not just impassable roads but houses with their ground floors under several feet of water, so sad for all the people concerned.
The land is sodden, far too wet to do anything on or with it - and we have standing water on the grass, the soil, the flower beds are under water in places and there is even water standing on the surface of the raised beds - that is how waterlogged the soil is.
Compostgirl returned to School today and so Compostman and I have been catching up lots of indoor jobs - but to be honest mainly we have been snoozing in front of the fire as we are sleep deprived. Maybe we are turning into Bears and are hibernating!
I hope you are all safe and not flooded ( if in the UK) or frozen (if in the US of A)
Please stay safe and warm during this extreme weather.
xxx
There are times when we're very glad to live in the driest part of the country. The extent and duration of the wet and stormy weather has been exceptional, so sorry for those who are suffering.
ReplyDeleteHi Z, today it did not rain (!) and was sunny, but so so wet underfoot. Around the hen paddock it is so badly churned up it looks like we keep pigs there.
DeleteThe force of the rain driving up from the south west has been incredible some nights. Hopefully this weekend will start the drying out process. Jx
ReplyDeleteyes it has been bad around us ( you and I) hasn't it - Worcester looked pretty bad - and Tewksbury got it again :(
Delete