19th October 2011

I always thought that if i had millions i would pay for giant adverts telling people the stuff i usually just post on facebook – i first remember thinking about it with the whole “your tv wastes energy when on standby” thing. Many years before people actually changed their behaviour on that one it seemed obvious to me that people, at least as a first step, needed to be informed. I feel the same way about the spoon picture i shared a few weeks ago, (you’d think it was obvious right?)

I wonder how much influence the graffiti next to the M40 in the 90’s had on my ideas – “why do I do this every day?” written in huge white letters  along a fence. Anyone else remember that? It must have reached millions.

Looking at it now my whole life plan has been guided by the idea of informing people about the stuff big companies and the government don’t want to tell you. At least let people hear both sides of the story. 

14th May 2012

so, thoughts on my birthday.

i’m quite old now.. eek

at the first event in 2009 the festival was a simple birthday party and on a terribly designed webpage which greg franklin loved to hate, i placed a wish list of birthday presents for me and the land. in the early stages i saw us as the same thing. it was all so exciting that multi-use tools and folding washing up basins were all i wanted.

when the house is more than a pile of concrete i’ll surely enter a new stage of craving furnishings and fancy tiles, but “the boodaville project” has now grown, into something wonderful, but also something that crosses the line from hobby into damn hard work and right now i spend all my energy and savings on rebar, steel capped boots and finding doors. so what i’m trying to say is, if was going wish for presents, i’d want things for myself- clothes, a wallet that isn’t falling apart, fancy shampoo, a 6th string for my guitar, a music mix, a pannier bag, books, dvds, fun (yet eco) things, tickets to fun places…  just saying like…

3rd July 2012

so booda, what IS permaculture?

Alfred Decker set us straight on all this when he gave an Intro course on the last weekend of June – here are my thoughts.

in one word, mulching. the philosophy is summed up by this: you take straw, that is a waste product, put very little energy into giving a fat protective layer around your vegetable garden, this enhances the quality of the soil and the health of your vegetables a disproportionate amount compared to the initial effort, a cracking return on your investment.

but it’s not all about gardening.

in my own words: permaculture is planning your space and lifestyle, whether in a city or a field, using as little energy and resources as possible to achieve your aims, and being imaginative in order to turn problems into something positive – all the time being aware of the effect that your plan has on the health of the planet, on other people, and always considering whether you are working within your fair share of the world’s resources.

does that sound familiar? yes, it turns out that boodaville is permaculture. why didn’t I realise this before??? thanks alfred (there’s a ton of information out there with more definitions and details of what I’ve tried to summarise above)

diary of a permaculture weekend (partly in a heatwave)

during the first two hours of workshops in a serious chunk of shade, we were given some of the key “principles of permaculture” such as:

1) look for beneficial relationships within a systemand make the most of them

2) find the way to have the greatest effect by the least effort/change (mulching!!!)

3) seek, use and encourage diveristy (don’t put all your eggs in one basket)

4) use living systems – bacteria can clean our water just as well as energy guzzling machines, if we re-think it a bit.

(but the great thing is that permaculture is just an umbrella term for many different ways of applying these principles, and there are many more that weren’t mentioned. I mean it basically seems to mean thinking about what you are doing!

after a beans brunch I showed off my parsley forest (demonstrating principle 1) and we took ourselves and a picnic over to the swimming hole.

can you imagine us sitting in the shade by the river, in the peace and quiet, planning the self-sustaining lush utopia that boodaville will be? well it wasn’t quite like that for the last hour when we were joined by a huge shouting family, 4 loud locals – who, to my surprise got naked, and just up the river was the dutch contingent. permaculture is not all about gardening, but our conversations did go in that direction – we covered composting in great detail, and a bit of organic farming and then food forests. the next step is to identify plants and shrubs which grow with little water and incorporate them in to the plan.

on sunday morning alfred left us, but we are very proud to present the compost box, complete with lift up plastic condensation catching lid, and a well mulched veg patch which are fruits of our labour that day:

the glass is half empty

Sep 7, 2012

i slipped on the stairs carrying my bike on the way to my first day back at school, ouch, then got a puncture later that day. after fixing it my tyre went flat again yesterday. i have a seriously bad cough that has kept me awake for some of the worst nights sleep i’ve ever had – including last night in the house at boodaville on my own without a car. i ended up calling friends at 2am for support, then making tea in my outdoor kitchen in the valley at 3am. (which was actually quite pleasant). the big one, however, is that the car cost 1900 euros. mentally i was prepared for somewhere in the range of 1000 – can  you see the difference? the difference is worth the same as labour to build 1/4  of my walls.

the glass is half full

Posted on Sep 7, 2012

i’ve started the walls! the builder is brilliant and today i got my car back which makes life a whole lot easier