other folk

I also saw these guys at the show.

Lovely brown dog doing 'flyball'...

Amazing swoopy bird...

As the man called them, little dogs...

One of these guys had calls that consisted of "feeeeeeeesh" and "cheeeeeeeeeps" to ask the dog to go one way or the other.

Pipistrelle bat...

Overall I was disappointed with the countrywide live show. Apart from the animals it was mostly charitable organisations or volunteer groups touting for support. One of the national organisations had big proper signs that only said "FREE activities for children" in their corporate colours. And it was mostly that, naff things for children to rush around and do/grab and a few surly looking smug craftspeople selling things but with no keenness to chat to people. Why is there never things for interested grown ups? All I'd like is nice people who are enthusiastic to talk about the things they are interested in and maybe have ago with some things. It's hard to explain why it was so bad or what would make it better. I can contrast it in a way with our little tree event at my park. A volunteer speaker came from the woodland trust and he was really good. He had a genuine interest in trees and was a proper geek, really enthusiast about them. He chatted to me and the other rangers, the children, the adults and really had proper conversations. It was relaxed and I think that makes it nicer to be part of.

sheep show

Today I had a firm reminder of how fantastic sheep are. I went to the country fair and saw the sheep show.

The guy in waxed chaps is a kiwi. The sheep are either handsome or funny looking. The funniest is the little one on the right, looking at the camera. Dinky sheep, susie the southdown.

This is not susie, but another southdown...

The sheep show was great, the sheep, one by one, after an introduction and to their own soundtrack come out and trundle up to their podium. Fab. I looked for a video but couldn't find a decent one, some showing the dancing at the end if you search on youtube, but none showing the great entrances. We will definitely be having sheep on our 'stead.

good looking

This etsy shop weirdly makes me feel a little odd. Yokoo. The rusty hat with a necktie was on the front page, I went and looked. All the photo setups are fantastic. So well styled. So chic, as wu would say.

I'm not sure why I feel peculiar, maybe it's just so cool I can't manage it. I would just like to have all the clothes. I'm not sure about the acrylic/wool mix though. I prefer full sheep. But I would like a big knitted snood. I planned to make one when I was all into wool before but haven't done it.

I think it might be the combo of super cool and rustic that is 'disconcerting me'.

hand broom

These are on etsy. I'd like one.


catbirdbrooms

What a nice skill to make brooms is. I like things where you have to create a tension in the material, a bit like how doing a plait in hair feels nice. The shop is cat bird, good.

my dreams of toast

Man toast is finally here, I made a little 'eek' sound closely followed by a 'mmmmmm' in a more grown up manner. Man toast.

Ralph was also quite happy about this too, I mean I go on about toast all the time. So, even though it is a small collection it's really nice. We are going to go on an outing to a shop if they have it in one to go and try it all on, but from the pictures we are happy. I am going to keep the actual catalogue that came in the post for bedtime reading. I obviously think ralph would have been a better model, I'm not keen on the sappy looking youth but the older chap is a vision of handsom.

Here are the best bits...

I'm most fond of the half placket (is that right? half buttons) shirts. I'm also hoping that ralph and I can get matching orange anoraks as there is a ladies one also.

suffiently

In our ongoing development of a better way to try and live in the world we have been looking around and learning. I guess our vision tends towards being more self reliant, towards parting with less money for things that we can do or make ourselves, towards having a better quality in our lives, towards only paying money to people or companies that we can respect, towards living in an earthright manner. Much of this comes under terms such as self sufficiency, grow your own, eco friendly etc. We were called hippies by our friends at my birthday dinner.

I didn't mind this, or find it offensive, but I would dispute that it is a fact. I do not think that we are hippies.

Ralph gave me this for my birthday...

In my internet wanderings I think I have come upon an difference between the ways that this type of lifestyle is talked about here in the uk and in america. I may not be seeing straight and obviously I'm biased away from hippy nonsense like the woodland compound with the chive heart that I talked about before. But without trying I have found a few pretty interesting, useful and genuinely inspiring blogs/forums etc and they have all had a much more serious sense about them. They really mean it, they are genuine, it's not a joke. Here it all seems like it's a bit of a hobby. I don't know if it's the type of folk that talk about what they are doing (not me, all the others) but they are all very pleased with themselves.

In the american sites its spoken about in terms of 'the homestead' and urban farming. Much more serious. It seems like it's an extension of the pioneering of the olden days, forging a way forward. No airy fairy rubbish.

I just checked back to the blog that really got me fired up and to my horror and delight, since the day before yesterday, she has put up a post about how she has made a load of winter remedies, lip balms/syrups etc. Crikey. It seems she has it all straight. Angry chicken. I feel ashamed that I managed to achieve so little, but ashamed in the positive inspirational way. I want to borrow a picture but she says she'd rather I didn't, not in person just in faq.

Another place that I'm still trying to work out how to navigate is homegrown. Ralphs friend who farms show bunnies in alaska told him about it. I suppose it's and extended forum with lots of information. You have a page for you so it's a little facebookish. I find it a little confusing as there is so much going on but it's nice to look around. I got some good links to things from there. I think it's mostly american but there is still useful info. Cheese is cheese wherever.


Visit HOMEGROWN.ORG

One green generation is also good to read. This is where I learn't a bit about henna and no poo. No poo is washing your hair without shampoo, maybe using baking soda (must be bicarb in england) and ACV (yeah, apple cider vinegar). Bicarb on scalp, vinegar on hair, nice hair, no having to buy stuff. This is the lovely lady that runs it, and her cat...

I think this may have something to do with one green generation, but I can't quite remember. Simple organic and it's sister sites from simple living look to be mostly aimed at women, with lots of 'mom' stuff but I really like the mix of articles on there. I've only just looked around a bit but will be keeping an eye out. I'm not keen on the adverts but they can be ignored. I just read about a plant called stevia which I've never heard of, a leaf to use for sweetening, great.


None of these places have any air of the hippy and it's really refreshing. I struggle with the overt huggyness, induced wackyness and bad taste of the hippy.

herblog

Not her blog. Herb blog.

This tab has been open for months in my firefox so I'm putting it in here. This blog is interesting and lovely. It's a little bit more hippy than I'm inclined but I do have a little bit of guilty hippy pleasure in that. She also posts about animals, the baby seagull that appeared and the zen cat that looks a little bit like our question but is obviously much wiser.

whispering earth

The thing I like about this blog is the mix of information, musing and practical example. For me it's been really inspiring to see a narrative flow of the making. To see 'oh now is the time to make....' is really good for grounding the things that I have learnt in the world.

ladle

I like this, also home.

As part of my ongoing quest to fit out the homestead with wooden equipment, by accident I have come across this. I would like to find a person who whittles.

take it

takeoutwithout

This is a good campaign, one step on from remembering to take your shopping bag with you. I think what is needed is some kind of collapsible, foldable, flexible box that you can carry and ask them to fill up. In my mind I worry about getting soggy fish and chips as newspaper is pretty good at doing the job for that and maybe that is ok, if only they used actual old newspapers still.

I was thinking a bit about how maybe a folding, leakproof container could be made from something like oilcloth. I found this which is nice...

But I had been wondering if having this kind of oilcloth, which is fabric coated with plastic, pvc I think, is very good, I suppose no different to using a plastic box as it is used for a long time. But this is essentially not so good. I looked up how real oilcloth is made, with cloth covered in linseed oil. I'm going to have a go with this. Here are some instructions...

real-oilcloth-and-how-to-make-it

mean mean woman

It has taken me ages to get to writing this but maybe with some distance it's even better to reflect on.

Checking the date on the article it is from a month ago. I'm not entirely sure why the delay but I have been busy doing something.

This is the nasty lady that put the lovely friendly cat in the bin. Apparently she is sorry.

As journalists confronted her on the streets, she released a statement to the press. It said:

"I want to take this opportunity to apologise profusely for the upset and distress that my actions have caused. I cannot explain why I did this, it is completely out of character and I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners. It was a split second of misjudgement that has got completely out of control.

I am due to meet with the RSPCA and police to discuss this matter further and will co-operate fully with their investigations.

I wish to reiterate that I am profoundly sorry for my actions and wish to resolve this matter to everyone's satisfaction as soon as possible."

I do not believe her one bit, I think she is only sorry because she was caught and people want to kill her. I think she is fundamentally mean. I hope the RSPCA prosecute her so she has to actually take some proper responsibility, but I couldn't see anything about it on thier website. Putting a friendly guy in a bin and shutting the lid and leaving it there is not a 'mistake'. Stepping on a snail in the rain is a mistake. This is mean minded and considered, she gave it a little stroke first. If you don't like cats you should ignore them.

I love cats and I love to speak to cats out in the street and I am always happy when it is a friendly one with a ehhhhhe and happy to have a stroke on the head. We have a lovely stray cat that lives in our street, he is so friendly and loves to get some strokes and I feel sad he can't come in (our guys are inside cats and he'd need to be able to go out). We are going to make a kigloo for him to sleep in when it starts getting cold.

Anyway, distracted by lovely cats. This woman is a good example of the undercurrent of meaness that I see around and about. People seem not to care because little mean and nasty things happen all the time and it's not often challenged. I hope this woman is really sorry and that she stops being like this, I doubt it though. Now people have forgotten all about it she probably wont bother. Did I write about how I ran out of sainsburys with a snail I found on some lettuce in the reduced non-fridge shelf because all I could see was someone either squashing it or just throwing it in a bin? People have no care and are disrespectful, particularly with nature, but with everything. I saw a man on Lea Bridge Rd parking a van and a carrier bag had gotten stuck on his numberplate. I though "oh no, he might not notice and he might get into trouble!". But he saw it, and took it off, an threw it on the floor and walked off. What an asshole, what does he think will happen to the bag, what maybe it'll get stuck on someone else's car numberplate? Mean. Or maybe this is not meaness but some other shit thing. Hmm, not sure.