Enjoying Meals and Social Networking

Me and Mrs Bad were invited to my friends home in South London. To enjoy some authentic Morrocon cuisine. Same firend who I had a goals articulation meeting with back in Nov 2011

We arrived early at Stratford and decided to have a coffee in Westfield. I then decided to defect from the plan and dragged Mrs Bad into the Lebonese cafe on the lowest floor of Westfield shopping centre.

I ordered a mixed platter and some mint tea.
- The customer service was close to abusive
- They didn't have half the things I asked for
- They served the food on a paper plate
- This unforgettable experience cost close to £20

In contrast when we arrived at my friends home.
- we we greeted with warmth and felt welcome.
- we talked and laughed
- got to learn more about each others families
- had the most amazing beef, apricot and prune tagine. Sprinkled with roasted flakes of almonds.
- along with a lovely gorgeous chicken and olive tagine.

After which we drank tea and coffee and I needed a nap.
I wish I'd taken a picture of the amazing food.
I guess this is the difference of experience we can have in relation to food. I know which one I'll be aspiring too.

If we invite other families to dine with our family every so often. They will also invite us to do the same. We then don't need to go through an abusive experience when it comes to dining out.

One part of the goals articulation for zone 0 (home) me and mrs Bad had was 'a place where we enjoy our meals'

As for my 'Increasing productivity' project. Pleasant experiences like the meal I had with K.Z's family are inspiring, heart warming and a form of social networking far greater then Facebook.

Decluttering of zone 0 (home) - books

As part of my Diploma Project for zone 0 (My home) I'll be removing the clutter that's accumulated. My preferred choice is to give as gifts the items I've decided to part with.

I had not completed any fiction book in my life untill my early twenties. The first being Magician by Raymond E Feist. After which I devoured everything he had written. Every one a used pre loved copy purchased on ebay or at an independent store. My younger brother then went through them all.

Now I hoped to re read them all at some point. But decided I'd share his works of fantasy by gifting them all to a work of college who also is a fan of the genre. This act would be covered on the permaculture ethic of fair shares. Also described as returning surplus to people or the earth.

When I decide to reread any of the books. I'll just borrow them from the library.

Money as Debt

While at the guild hookup at the weekend we watched 'Money as Debt'. Some serious viewing for anyone who wants to know how the money system works.

Eco / sustainable alternatives for cotton buds and shower puffs

I need help finding sustainable alternatives to my two favourite hygiene items.

1) the cotton bud. There must be a non plastic version out there.

2) the shower puff, great for making the soap lather up. But again made of plastic. Are natural sponges a possible alternative. Are habitats destroyed in obtaining them, I have no idea.

You Help, and any links to sites which would have alternatives to the above will be very much appreciated.

Diploma Guild Hookup in Bristol

Just on the train back from Bristol (Sunday 8th July 2012) . Been at Adam and April's place in Bristol since Friday night. Joining me was Mrs Bad, who isn't a fan of staying in a tent. Was also with me. Ben and Sarah came down from Colchester.

All 6 of us enjoyed simple organic meals. The non stop rain was very frustrating at this time of year. But as Richard states 'global weirding' is upon us.

For me the purpose of meeting up and paying a ridiculous amount for train fair (£70 return per person) was to decide if I would be dropping out of the assisted diploma route.

Ben woukd have none of it. He sat me down we noted out an action plan on what exactly I needed to do to get on track. Along with the format of project 5 (zone 1: shoe box garden)



What went well:
Seeing how simple Adam and April are living made me put things into perspective.
Ben talking me through a decision making process of my options

What didn't go so well:
Non stop rain, didn't allow us to enjoy the abundance of nature and trees surrounding Adam & April's home.
Lack of a laptop, power source and internet connection limited the type of work we could do.

Lessons learned & action points.
Pack hot water bottle and thermos regardless of weather.
Contact Jesus and ask if he still wants to sell his mobile home.
Request Apple samples from Ben's orchard
Book visit to Ben's in Colchester. Can now identify elder, Hazel, Tried Bulgar Wheat, will add to rotation

BBC's Secrets of our Living Planet

As part of my Diploma project to increase productivity I decided to limit my viewing of media which feeds my mind with information which empowers me on my life long journey.

One great find on BBC's iplayer is  Secrets of our Living Planet in summery each episode looks at a different ecosystem and enlightens us to the independents of the plants and animals in that system. Really interesting stuff as a stand alone show. But when viewed from a permaculture lens it only adds weight to the arguments for maximising diversity to build resilient and sustainable systems.

Food for thought: Our bodies will fail us is solely on a diet of junk food. The same applies for our minds, if all we put into it is pap, our thought processes will resemble such pap.

Work crew on the plot at the allotment

With so much on at the moment the allotment has been neglected. I sent out an request for help to the Jnr squad (all of my younger brothers friends). we started work around 15:00 and paired up in two man teams (total of 6 of us). We worked till 20:00

One teams remit was to clear the long grass. Team two went over the brook to collect leaf mould to add mulch to the beds. Team three was to lay cardboard into the beds after pulling up any weeds.

What's working well: 
-The lasagne mulching system of laying card board, manure, then newspaper then mulch is working extremely well. little to no weeds present.
-The group effort makes for a more enjoyable effort.

Not working:
-The paths in between the beds has an abundant amount of grass and weeds.
-No yields.
-Fire fighting. I'm reacting to what the plot is doing.

Problems: 
-Lack of gravel or wood chip in close proximity to cover the paths.
-Lack of man power. I can't keep asking of others without paying them back in some way.
-Going away from end of July to mid Sept.


Next achievable steps.
- Set up the plug production in my home green house.
- Make 18 compost at allotment to have a high quality medium to plant plugs into.

Long term goals for plot. 
- Set an example of permaculture principles in action for a low maintenance and high yield plot.