We made our annual pilgrimage to the H&R Self-build & Renovation show at the NEC on Friday, and at long last we've got a project to talk about. We tried not to feel too smug as we drifted through the sea of would-be self-builders and renovators as they ambled around the endless stands of shiny building materials, 'instant' houses and 'smart' home gadgets.
Talked to some very helpful people about biomass boilers, hemp insulation (nobody panic if there's a fire, man!), solar hot water heaters and huge sliding glazing panels.
Also talked to a couple of possible kitchen suppliers but the elusive 'green' kitchen still seems very difficult to achieve. It seems that the marketplace assumes anybody wanting a solid wood kitchen wants to show off the wood in a country cottagey way - we want a contemporary look whilst using sustainable solid wood. Contemporary tends to mean foil finished (plastic coated) chipboard or MDF. Okay, so these often use offcuts (and loads of glue) to produce the board but they then wrap them in plastic!
Highlight of the day was being able to get out our extension plans and talk to a couple of timber frame manufacturers about them to see if they could give us a budget cost. A small Bristol based firm have suggested that we send them our plans once we've submitted them for planning so they can quote us. Carpenter Oak (look great but maybe a tad expensive) took our plans away to get a price for us, which should be interesting, or scary!
Quite fancy an EcoPod (not the coffin!) -http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/homesearch/latest/s/237/237717_eggheads_amazing_ecopod.html - think it'd look great by the chestnut tree!
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Still on the To Do list
Okay, so I didn't sort out the compost heap last weekend - was taken to see England beat the French at Twickenham instead!
Things have slowed down on the renovation front while we try to finalise our extension plans with our Architect. Think we're almost there but some technical issues due to the slope make it more difficult. Hopefully we'll have them sorted by the end of the month and ready to submit for planning.
Meanwhile it's time to think about planting seeds for the summer - we've got some lettuce and rocket, must also get some tomatoes. Not sure how much else to get as the garden should become a building site this summer.
Also spent time today doing non-supermarket shopping. Tried out the great farm shop in Frampton and discovered a farm up the road selling their own Gloucester Old Spot pork - tried their chops tonight. Tasty but not the most tender we've ever had - difficult to beat Millsteads pork (when it was in supply!) or the Chatsworth Farm shop. At least it's not intensively reared, with virtually zero food miles and is not expensive. If only we had some space to rear piggies....
Things have slowed down on the renovation front while we try to finalise our extension plans with our Architect. Think we're almost there but some technical issues due to the slope make it more difficult. Hopefully we'll have them sorted by the end of the month and ready to submit for planning.
Meanwhile it's time to think about planting seeds for the summer - we've got some lettuce and rocket, must also get some tomatoes. Not sure how much else to get as the garden should become a building site this summer.
Also spent time today doing non-supermarket shopping. Tried out the great farm shop in Frampton and discovered a farm up the road selling their own Gloucester Old Spot pork - tried their chops tonight. Tasty but not the most tender we've ever had - difficult to beat Millsteads pork (when it was in supply!) or the Chatsworth Farm shop. At least it's not intensively reared, with virtually zero food miles and is not expensive. If only we had some space to rear piggies....
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Little visitors
We've had some little visitors...and I don't mean Lucy & Alistair, although they did visit for the first time this weekend.
The unidentified little visitors have found the compost bin, burrowed underneath and are helping themselves to scraps. Not that we put anything particularly tasty in the compost; mostly raw veg peelings, tea bags and coffee grounds. We try not to put anything that's been cooked in to avoid it becoming a tasty feast!
But obviously something likes the food supply and I hope it's not rats! The thought of a small mouse or even a rabbit (have seen them in the garden) raiding the heap is okay, but not a rat.
So yet another job for the weekend - to relocate the compost bin and put it on some of the chicken wire we've found in the shed to stop our new little friends burrowing up into the heap and cut off their free lunch. Hopefully this will work.
The unidentified little visitors have found the compost bin, burrowed underneath and are helping themselves to scraps. Not that we put anything particularly tasty in the compost; mostly raw veg peelings, tea bags and coffee grounds. We try not to put anything that's been cooked in to avoid it becoming a tasty feast!
But obviously something likes the food supply and I hope it's not rats! The thought of a small mouse or even a rabbit (have seen them in the garden) raiding the heap is okay, but not a rat.
So yet another job for the weekend - to relocate the compost bin and put it on some of the chicken wire we've found in the shed to stop our new little friends burrowing up into the heap and cut off their free lunch. Hopefully this will work.
Monday, 5 March 2007
Ethical phones?
There's not much you can do with a telephone to make it environmentally sustainable, except make it out of wood I suppose. However, it is possible to choose your telecom provider on the basis of how sustainable and/or ethical their operations are.
As with any company, they use up all manner of resources, from electricity used to power the office lights, to tea bags in the cuppas, to paper in the photocopiers. All of these could be purchased using the most environmentally and/or ethical suppliers, can't they?
Of all the providers available to us for a telephone and broadband contract the one we found that seemed to tick all the right boxes on the ethical/environmental front was the PhoneCoop. http://www.thephone.coop/index.html Okay, so they're not the cheapest (since when was making a stand for others and the planet cheap?!), and they took a while sorting out our phone line as it was a new number, hence the delay in starting this blog. But we're now happy in the knowledge that this is another way that we can purchase an ethical service and reduce our environmental impact.
As with any company, they use up all manner of resources, from electricity used to power the office lights, to tea bags in the cuppas, to paper in the photocopiers. All of these could be purchased using the most environmentally and/or ethical suppliers, can't they?
Of all the providers available to us for a telephone and broadband contract the one we found that seemed to tick all the right boxes on the ethical/environmental front was the PhoneCoop. http://www.thephone.coop/index.html Okay, so they're not the cheapest (since when was making a stand for others and the planet cheap?!), and they took a while sorting out our phone line as it was a new number, hence the delay in starting this blog. But we're now happy in the knowledge that this is another way that we can purchase an ethical service and reduce our environmental impact.
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