Seasonal Foods

Nature really does start to show off in June. The sun is higher in the sky, hotter and more intense. In our temperate climate we get a fair amount of rain and so fruit and veg is abundant. As such, this month, you should have no problem creating a seasonal dish full of delicious ingredients, bon appetit!

June Vegetables
artichoke, asparagus, aubergine, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, carrots, courgettes, cucumber, fennel, french beans, garlic, jersey royal new potatoes, kohlrabi, lettuces & salad leaves, mangetout, new potatoes, onions, peas, potatoes (maincrop), radishes, rhubarb, rocket, runner beans, samphire, spinach, spring onions, turnips, watercress, wild mushrooms, wild nettles

June Fruit
blueberries, cherries, chillies, elderflowers, gooseberries, greengages, loganberries, raspberries, redcurrants, strawberries, tomatoes

June Seafood
cockles, cod, coley, conger eel, crab, grey mullet, haddock, herring, john dory, lemon sole, lobster, mackerel, plaice, pollack, prawns, salmon, sardines, scallops, sea bream, sea trout, shrimp, squid, whelks, whitebait

June Herbs
basil, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, elderflowers, mint, oregano, parsley (curly), parsley (flat-leaf), rosemary, sage, sorrel, tarragon, thyme

Why we do, what we do!

We strive to learn skills and to pass on our experiences as it is our responsibility to our future generations to be better stewards of this planet. We've always believed the bullshit fed to us throughout our lives that our world has infinite resources, infinte beauty, infinite sustainability and each new generation has access to a "better" life.

This is demonstrably not the case. If you live life with your eyes open then you can see the mounting problems that we face, not just to sustain our wholly selfish western way of living but to sustain our species. We must face the mounting facts that our current depletion of resources, coupled with our insatiable growth in population will end our time on this earth, fast!

So why all this gloomy talk, well, it takes a new addition to the family to sharpen your focus! Occasionally, i need to remind myself why we need to retrain oursleves, why we need to learn compassion, good judgement, fair share and how to live sustainably... it's for the future generation... it's for my 10-day old daughter Freya Florence... it's for her future.

After Money

I've been resisting posting the likes of The Arch Druid report as it deals with economics and politics, which is all encompassing but a kind of distraction from what i want this blog to be about. But, the interesting and quite prescient details of his recent blog entry i think should get an airing considering we are looking at ways of mitigating the coming (currently happening) descending use of energy.

"Most people won’t have the option of separating themselves completely from the money economy for many years to come; as long as today’s governments continue to function, they will demand money for taxes, and money will continue to be the gateway resource for many goods and services, including some that will be very difficult to do without. Still, there’s no reason why distancing oneself from the tertiary economy has to be an all-or-nothing thing. Any step toward the direct production of goods and services for one’s own use, with one’s own labor, using resources under one’s own direct control, is a step toward the world that will emerge after money; it’s also a safety cushion against the disintegration of the money economy going on around us."(My Emphasis)

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2010/05/after-money.html

Seasonal Foods

"Holy Crap!", I bet you're all saying. Along with, "And where the hell have you been?". Good question! This preparing for the birth of ones first child has become a damn nuisance and a major distraction from a plethora of other things that need to be gotten on with. Pregnant Palmer is now unemployed, extremely large and enjoying the easy life of day-time TV channel-surfing!

We've not been doing nothing though. The back garden is quite the project on it's own... we'll get some photos up for you. It's that awesome time of year when plants just simply want to grow, so we've been spending many an hour seeding, hardening, and planting lots of yummy foodstuffs. We'll get some photos up of that stuff too.

Seasonal foodstuffs for May... and there's a glutt of them this month.

May Vegetables
Asparagus, broad beans, brocolli, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, jersey royal new potatoes, kohlrabi, lettuces & salad leaves (you would not believe how quick these grow), onions, peas, radishes, rhubarb, rocket, spinach, spring onion, watercress, wild nettles.

May Seafood
Cockles, cod, coley, conger eel, crab, john dory, lemon sole, mackerel (wholly sustainable and delicious to boot), plaice, pollock, salmon, sea trout, shrimp, whelks and whitebait.

So come on peeps, eat the bounty :~)

Seasonal Foods

A big thank you to AA (he or she's identity kept strictly confidential) for submitting his or hers very own seasonal recipe.

Potato and Curly Kale Soup
Chop an onion and 5 cloves of garlic and fry gently until soft
Pour in 750-1000ml of beef stock (can use chicken or veg)
Add a sheet of Kombu (Optional)
Peel and cube 4-5 large potatoes, add to stock (I like Vavaldi at the mo)
Simmer for 30 minutes
Chop stalks off 500g of Kale
Remove Kombu sheet
Add Kale
Add a small amount of soya milk - This is the trick
Simmer for 15 minutes
Blend - Add more soya milk or water if overly thick
Add salt and pepper to taste
Will freeze well - You can blend the soup before adding the Kale for an all together different experience.

Seasonal Foods - March

Apologies my followers of seasonal foods, I've been somewhat remiss with my writing this month. I have just moved home you know! So I've received no feedback about how you're all doing with trying to source just seasonal foods, let's assume that means you're all doing well :~) Anywho, here's this months delicious seasonal foods.

March Vegetables
Beetroot, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, chicory, cucmber, jersey royal new potatoes, kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb, rocket, salsify, shallots, spinach, spring onions, swede, wild nettles.

March Seafood
Cockles, conger eel, crab, dab, dover sole, eel, hake, john dory, lobster, mackerel, mussels, oysters, prawns, salmon, sea trout, shrimp, skate, whitebait, winkles.

March Herbs, Flowers, Funghis & Nuts
Chives, coriander, dill, mushrooms, parsley (curly), sorrel.

At the moment I'm eating more smoked mackerel then you can shake a stick at in replacement for my huge appetite for Tuna. Mackerel is also certified as a sustainable stock by the Marine Stewardship Council (http://www.msc.org/cook-eat-enjoy/fish-to-eat/mackerel), so go ahead and eat plenty.

Design for Catastrophe

1. What environmental catastrophes have occurred in your region historically?
As is the pattern for our chosen site and our current region, there aren’t many catastrophes that have struck this area historically. This probably explains why the area is hugely popular, potentially too populous to support itself. We have nominally identified Flooding, Tsunami, Coastal Erosion, Tornadoes and Snow as having caused the most problem historically.

As with many coastal towns in England there is always potential for flooding and coastal erosion. There has been particularly bad flooding in Lewes District (the district bordering Brighton & Hove) in the past 10 years:

“The flooding that occurred across much of England and Wales in the autumn and early winter of 2000 was the most extensive since the snowmelt-generated floods of March 1947. Two areas were particularly hard hit. In mid-October, large areas of Kent and Sussex were left underwater as rivers such as the Ouse at Lewes (East Sussex), the Uck at Uckfield (East Sussex) and the Medway at Tonbridge (Kent) burst their banks. Hundreds of homes and businesses were flooded to a depth of several feet, floodwater and landslips closed roads and rail travellers faced widespread delays and cancellations.”
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/autumn2000.html

In as much as these catastrophes do not directly impact on our site, they are close enough to be considered indirect threats as roads are blocked and utility services affected. Flooding can also affect the coast lines too. Without adequate sea defences much of the Sussex coastline would not be as “stable” as it currently is:

“Global warming and rises in sea level are in the news practically every day and in Sussex, particularly at Selsey, there are great worries that eventually the sea may wash away the town. This is nothing new. Thousands of acres of Sussex have been gobbled up by the sea over the last 10,000 years.”
http://www.westsussex.info/coastal-erosion.shtml

Tsunamis, although very rare, have to be considered as a potential catastrophe for any coastal settlement:

“Dr Steven Ward, a geophysicist as the University of California, Santa Cruz, has modelled a tsunami generated by a comet impact offshore western Ireland as envisaged by Haslett and Bryant. The results indicate that flooding described in the historic records from Cornwall, Cumbria, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, North Wales and Holland can all be explained by a tsunami generated by such an impact event.” (My emphasis)
http://www3.newport.ac.uk/displayPage.aspx?object_id=8242&type=SEC

Tornadoes are most commonly associated with the American Midwest, home to Jessica, but surprisingly, the UK in general and the Sussex coastline more specifically is not free of them:

“On average, 33 tornados are reported each year in the UK although the number can vary significantly from year to year. The UK has the highest frequency of reported tornadoes per unit area in the world, although they are nowhere near as intense as those reported in the USA. An example of a tornado that affected southern England is the one that struck Kensal Rise in west London on 7 December 2006. Up to 150 homes were damaged and 6 people were injured in violent winds that lasted less than 1 minute. This was the first tornado to cause significant damage in London since one at Gunnersbury, west London, in December 1954. A further example is the tornado that struck Selsey (West Sussex) on 7 January 1998 causing an estimated £10M of damage to 1000 buildings. This part of the south coast seems somewhat prone to tornadoes, and Selsey also suffered damage in November 1986 and October 2000.”
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/so/print.html

Our final catastrophic occurrence we identified, purely due to the lack of preparedness that the local community displays, is snowfall. According to the Met Office, the least snow-prone areas in the UK are those situated close to the English Channel. Which is great when considering catastrophe preparedness, but historically we can still be “caught napping”:

“More snow hit Mid Sussex tonight only a few days after its heaviest snowfalls for 22 years disrupted services.”
http://www.westsussextoday.co.uk/mid-sussex-news/Snow-returns-after-worst-Mid.4956616.jp

“January and February are the snowiest months in the UK, whilst snow is more likely in March and April than November and October respectively. And really this is where talk of snow might be expected to end. However, having already most likely teased us with some pleasant summer-like weather earlier in the spring May is prone to throwing in a touch of winter, perhaps more often than might be thought...”
http://www.dandantheweatherman.com/Bereklauw/latesnow.html

2. What is the prediction for future catastrophes? Is your home site in an at-risk area?
The Environment Agency produces a detailed map that shows clearly the areas it believes based on historical data can and probably will suffer flooding in the future:

http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?topic=floodmap&layerGroups=default&lang=_e&ep=map&scale=3&x=557847&y=117982

If we consider flooding/coastal erosion as one potential catastrophe for the area, then our site is pretty well protected from this. The site is located approximately one to two miles inland from the coast and at approximately 75 – 100 metre elevation too thus taking it well out of the range of most of the potential flood water range. The recent record snowfall that we had in Sussex didn’t pose too many problems either to the site, with the exception of a slightly more tricky access road.

3. What can you do/have you done to minimise the risks for loss of life and property?
For the most part we are pretty lucky to be in an area with little threat of a major catastrophic event. This could be viewed as prudent pre-planning to identify a suitable site free of risk from these types of unpredictable events. Every element of our design process is building up the armoury of our site. Our planning, then execution of those plans is ensuring the longevity of our home site. By examining each element and how it fits with corresponding elements, we are already building in fail safes and disaster mitigation strategies as we go.

We are slowly building a robust and well-thought-out site, leaving nothing to chance; amending as and when necessary to ensure we aren’t just utilising the site for our own purpose but also strengthening and protecting it as we go to satisfy our ethic of “Care of Earth”. All these design steps should lead to a well-protected site from unforeseen future catastrophes!

Care of Earth

Embarrasing as it may be to admit this, I am more singularly focused on this permaculture principle more then any other. It should not consume me like it does, I should spread myself thinner making sure i am doing all I can about Care of People and ensuring a Fair Share too.

Problem is, fewer and fewer of us are caring for our Earth as evidenced by this recent article by George Monbiot.

"The names alone should cause anyone whose heart still beats to stop and look again. Blotched woodwax. Pashford pot beetle. Scarce black arches. Mallow skipper. Marsh dagger. Each is a locket in which hundreds of years of history and thousands of years of evolution have been packed. Here nature and culture intersect. All are species that have recently become extinct in England."

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/15/the-naming-of-things

The key point made in this article I would like to emphasise... if we, the pampered twenty percent, who, in large numbers, support environmental causes cannot prevent the extinction of 2 species per year in the UK alone, then what hope do we have for a bountiful, rich and diverse future?

Allotment Photos

This picture is looking from the bottom of the allotment or eastern side of it facing west up the slope. If you look real close you can see the small hazel shrubs planted by Andy's fair hand. We hope this will develop into a large habitable bush for all our garden visitors. The rest of the picture shows about half the entire plot covered in card and/or horse pooh, to increase the amount of humus. At the back (top of the picture) the entire bush is one huge Rosemary.


This one is in the bottom (northeast corner) looking Southwest. You again can see the hazels that have been planted along the boundary, the deck that was constructed in order to house our viewing platform and shed is on the top right and if you look carefully the bamboo poles marking out what will be a spiral planting area.


This is the north side looking south. You can just about see the two swales on the east and west side of the cardboard covered area to encourage water to seep down to the water table instead of just running off. The dew pond is clear to see on the right-hand side as well as the spiral planting section (at least the canes marking it). The pile of twigs and other detritus you see in the middle of the card has been left as is as we spotted lots of lizardy, snakey and froggy creatures using it as a habitat.


This view is on top of the decking area soon to have a shed and decking boards down, looking south east towards the sea. This is going to be fabulous come summer with a fair amount of sunshine all day.


This photo is again from the deck area facing due south. This area will soon be covered with card and this spring we plan on planting a typical North American guild of corn, beans and squash (perhaps corgette cos we like it)


This is a close up of what will be a spiral guild of possibly peppers, aliums, tomatoes and carrots. As you can tell from some of these descriptions, we will be experimenting with a number of companion planting schemes or Guilds to see which plant groupings work best together.

My Ethos

On a beautiful sunny March day I thought about what my reason for doing all this was. I could wax lyrical about the future of life, sustainability, climate catastrophe or what it means to be human in the 21st century; but for once i will plaguarise and with good reason.

I couldn't put it better then the venerable Bertrand Russell who died 40 years ago last month:

What I Have Lived For

"Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me."

Beautiful, wasn't he?