The Compost Bin features in a list of "must reads"

I am really pleased that The Compost Bin has featured in Mainland Aggregates list of  "15 inspirational gardening blogs that you must read "

From their press release

As you know, there’s no shortage of high-quality gardening blogs online today, endless gardening inspiration, tips and techniques are available at the click of a button (quite literally). But we decided to separate the ones that are good with the ones that are truly great.   Whether you’re a part of the garden blogging culture and everything that surrounds it or simply one who likes be inspired and connect with these people, these blogs will give you the resource, tips and insight to create, educate and inspire you when looking for new ideas for your garden.   Here we present our 15 inspirational gardening blogs that you must read (no pressure though). 

And I get a badge to put on the blog :) Thank you so much Mainland Aggregates  :) There are some really good blogs in the list - many of whom I already follow. Nice to be listed with friends :)

A sad morning but a good day overall

Another fabulous autumn day here at Compost Mansions/Moors Wood smile emoticon Lots of mowing and harvesting done, also all hen houses deep cleaned. Was good to work outside in the sunshine. 

Sadly Astrid Hen died this morning frown emoticon she was improving after a poorly spell and a trip to Uncle Tom the Vet, had been on antibiotics and much improved in health, but Sun evening she looked sad and droopy again and then this morning we found she had died in the night in her house. RIP lovely Astrid hen - who was a beautiful friendly Speckledy Hen,

Astrid update

Astrid is the hen I adopted from a friend as she was sad and lonely. She was egg bound yesterday so had a trip to Tom the Vet , but it was not just egg boundness frown emoticon She is on antibiotics, as is also Algy Serama Cockerel

If anyone is interested in The Harcombe Diet ...

If anyone is interested in The Harcombe Diet then you can hear my story on how I lost 7 stone in 7 months by following the link to my Febuary radio interview, on this website. I have now lost 9 1/2 stone since June 27th 2014 following this way of eating. I am going to set up a Harcombe Diet club locally soon - please let me know if you are interested smile emoticon

Good wishes please for Astrid Hen

Good wishes please for Astrid Hen, a new member of the henny family who is v young and came to us as a result of sadly losing her v old henny flock and being left the "last hen standing" She is v poorly and egg bound and tonight is critical frown emoticon

THD Conference

Had the most fabulous time at The Harcombe Conference on Saturday in Birmingham. Dr Malcolm Kendrick, Dr Aseem Malhotra, Kevin Downey and Zoe Harcombe were the speakers and all of what they had to say was inspiring and amazing. Google them to find out more but I am committed to eating low carb and real food with the fat on it even more as a result. The info on the damage lack of cholesterol does to the human body, in particular, is really frightening 

Given the statins and dietary advice we have all given over the years it was hard (but great) to listen to.

Jesus f**king Christ. The NHS are SO WRONG!

 Had the enormous privilege of listening to Dr Kendrick on Saturday at The Harcombe Diet Conference in Birmingham. Please do have a listen - it may well astonish you and change the way you eat.

lost Seramas?

Thought I had lost 2 Serama hens to something on locking them up - no Millie, no Mollie frown emoticon Did all the rounds and locked up, no Millie, no Molly. frown emoticonchecked all the Serama runs and houses (8 of them, now!)

but then had a hunch - went to Big Hens house again and looked in and lo ! there they were smile emoticon Cwched up in a nest box together smile emoticon No idea why they went in there well before dusk ...
Chickens, huh?

Jackie Morris and Ffion Rees at blue ginger gallery

At blue-ginger gallery listening to Jackie Morris and Ffion Rees talking about Queen of the Skies Hiss the Peregrine. Fabulous event. Wonderful book


They were fabulous, simply wonderful to sit and listen to them talk - a real privilege. Had such a fabulous evening out tonight at blue-ginger gallery in Cradley. Thank you Sue Lim and the rest of the team 

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Jackie Morris and Ffion Rees were wonderful smile emoticon Such a joy to be in the audience and listen to them talk about Hiss the Peregrine ( the subject, with Ffion, of Queen of the Sky) and then, after some delicious food Jackie talked about her newest book The Wild Swans.

I cried during both of the talks. Please, buy the books as they are wonderful smile emoticon

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They were fabulous, simply wonderful to sit and listen to them talk - a real priveligesmile emoticon

Ledbury Refugee Support Group

Today took some stuff ( tent, tarps, shoes, blankets, sanitary towels and toiletries) down to the newly formed Ledbury Refugee Support Group. Heartening to see the amount of useful stuff already donated. Many thanks to all who are involved smile emoticon

https://www.facebook.com/groups/498898986952076/

You can read about it here

I have a drunken Algy Serama chicken sitting on my computer desk.

I have a drunken Algy Serama chicken sitting on my computer desk. As you do. He has been at the over ripe fermenting sour cherries which are on the ground. 

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Algy the drunk Serama cockerel snoozing on the desk. He is making little hiccupping sounds now and shaking his little head .  I noticed he was looking a bit dopy and I thought he had blood on his comb - but when I cleaned it off it was cherry juice - alcoholic smelling cherry juice!

Hop Pocket crafts

We had a great afternoon out this week at The Hop Pocket, just up the road from Compost Mansions.

We met up with friends, had an excellent lunch and then did some shopping. I purchased some new clothes (as very little now fits me due to losing so much weight *grin*)






and I also bought Compostgirl a few items in the sale. Wow! She looks so great in them! But ... How did I get such a grown up daughter? Lol. Such a great role model for the younger ones she mentors at school and as a Young Leader at Brownies and

Modelling for The Woolly Pedlar :)

I feature in a lovely blog post from The Woolly Pedlar.

She says

Hi, I’m the Woolly Pedlar, upcycler of unwanted knitwear into fabulous and funky clothes, soft furnishings and accessories. I work from home, a stone’s throw from Hadrian’s Wall, in rural Northumberland.

 When you make one off pieces and sell them yourself at events such as The Green Gathering, each and every sale becomes a personal encounter. It is a joy to get to know my customers, some of whom I’ve forged real friendships with. I want to write about the moment depicted in this photo. It was Sunday night at the Green Gathering, 2015, and we had quite a crowd at The Woolly Pedlar’s tent. It was just beginning to get dark, I had a gin and tonic in my hand, the minirig was playing some good tunes and we were busy with lots of visitors to the stall.

Sue is so  lovely and strangely enough we both already followed each other's blogs but did not realize until we got chatting at Green Gathering! 


Thank you Sue for the mention and the lovely photos! I  LOVE  my recycled wool ponchos and that I have made new friends at Green Gathering due to them. If you go to Sue's blog post you can see some lovely photos she took of us in our finery. 
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Green Gathering 2015

One of the things I did this August was to volunteer to help at Green Gathering, the most amazing green festival ever. Some of you may remember I went to the last Big Green Gathering back in 2007,

Well this is its baby sibling, risen out of the ashes of  the sadly ( due to no fault of its own) defunct BGG which was cancelled at the last moment in 2009.

I traveled down to Peacefield Park, Chepstow during the last week of August, in beautiful weather, to set up camp for a week in the "temporary intentional village" which is the Permaculture area;

 I set up my tent and a spare one for Compostgirl and a friend, who were coming for the first two days of the festival proper. I also had Algy and Mrs with me as I was doing a workshop on chicken keeping during the festival. So my car was full to the brim as you can see! You can just see the pen that Algy and Mrs shared in the lhs tent  (it's the red thing)

I also helped to set up various structures - tents, yurts and helped with the chores in the Permaculture village.

I had fun with fellow Forest School Leaders, we were providing sessions for the festival goers and their children as well as any one else who wanted to have some fun :)



On Wednesday I was pleased to meet up again with John "Compost" Cossham and I spent a lot of time recording the process of setting up his compost waste reduction area.

The recycling areas dotted around the festival site are quite something! The dedicated recycling crew collect the carefully separated resources from the festival and all is recycled.



This is last years compost pile and the composting area on Wednesday morning, before John got clearing it up.

All the festival compostable waste was brought to John in bags and over the course of the week and the festival he (mostly single handedly!) created a huge compost heap which allows the festival putrecibles to compost down rather than going to landfill. The pile remains there unattended until next years GG.










This is a waste minimization process rather than a soil improver process, as the compost made is full of all sorts of stuff which won't decompose.

But is an amazing feat of work from the Recycling crew and John to reduce landfill from the festival site.


The composting area on Sunday








As well as helping John with the compost area and helping in the Permaculture village and with Forest School  I also gave three workshops over the course of the festival, on chicken keeping and composting.





Apart from working hard, I met up with loads of other friends I have not seen for a long time.
I went to some excellent talks, chatted to so many people, bought an lovely poncho from The Woolly Pedlar,

saw some amazing artists and craft people

and of course I partied hard :) Seize The Day, Martha Tilson and Sentient were excellent!




We had two days of terrible rain but apart from that the weather was kind to us - on Wednesday night I was able to watch the meteor showers for several hours lying on my back in the grass :)

I came home Tuesday tired and in need of a shower and with aching knees, but very happy :)