Planet Savers blog

If you do nothing else today sign this petition! It will be one of the most important things you can do.

It has been suspected for some time that pesticides have been killing off our honeybee. Much research has been carried out and now it looks conclusive.

The Soil Association are collecting signatures for the petition. They are validating the email addresses as well so expect a confirmation request:>)

This morning the clouds looked ominous, they even splashed a little rain on us and I was worried that Bobbie’s new shed doors would warp if they got wet. So, before breakfast I hasten to add, I was in my working clothes, brush and tin of Osmo Coutry Color in hand. By the time the doors were covered, the sun came out and, with the wonderful drying wind, they should be well protected from the next downpour.

Incidentally, Osmo’s main office is in Aylesbury but they don’t have a retail outlet there. You can get it from Town and Country in Chesham on the Amersham Road, just opposite the Red Lion.

Why do I use Osmo? Because it is made from natural oils and waxes and the company have an aim to be environmentally friendly.

I had an update from The Woodland Trust recently telling me about a new Ronseal product thus:

“Following the success of the high performance Eco range in 2008, Ronseal will also launch two new products to the premium woodcare range that boasts low petrochemical content thanks to natural oil and water based formulations; click for information about the full range.”

I’m sad about the “petrochemical content” but at least it is low. Anyone with a bit of an eco-mind knows that all the paints and finishes that we have thrown at us on the TV adverts are not particularly eco-friendly. Just pop into Focus and you will have to ferret around for the eco-products. Homebase now do a range of eco-paints by Farrow and Ball, I used one and found it pretty similar to othe eco-paints I have used, no smell or side effects and it went on a treat.

Osmo are specialists and they are not aiming at the mass market, as such you pay the premium. In my opinion, it’s worth it. But why do we have to ’seek out’ something that is eco-friendly. Judging by the choice these days, it can’t be hard to produce? Why is it not the norm?

Our wildlife is struggling to survive out there. We have disappearing bees, the once ubiquitous sparrow is becoming a rarity, birds and hedgehogs are often poisoned thanks to our insistance on pesticides – such as slug pellets which, in my opinion, should be outlawed – and yet you can still buy cheap eco-unfriendly products to coat all over our fences, our decking, and other garden items.

We need to get the message across that, if we don’t have things in our garden that go buzz and cheap, we won’t have any food either. These critters are amazing at working with us to help us live sustainably – so let’s work with them and use environmentally friendly products.

Here’s a view of our roof at around 21:00 this evening. Solartwin panel at the top with its little PV cell generating all the electrticity it needs. Two solar tubes underneath giving us enough light to work with until around this time of day.

The sun has just about slipped over the horizon and yet the panel is still registering input. We’ve both had our evening shower and look at the temperature of our tank.

Fab, isn’t it – more information gizmos to look at :>)

OK, let’s get the anorak. It’s now 23:15 and we’ve done the washing up. It’s now recording 31.9c. Now, I’d like to know if this is what we should be expecting. Anyone else got some stats?

Over the passed couple (or maybe more) of weeks, Bobbie has been constructing our new shed. When we looked at the price of off-the-shelf offerings, he said: “I can build one of those for less than half of that!”

And so he has:>)

There is still a little bit of trimming to do and we are going to line it with OSB and give it some insulation. Then a good coat of Osmo. So a 7′ by 7′6″ shed with solid frame and lining has cost us around £350. Admitedly, the expertise to design and build it came free!

A friend has just bought us an Efergy Elite Wireless Energy Monitor. He came over at the weekend to fit it.

It clips over the main electricity supply cable and monitors everything. It’ll be interesting to see how it compares with the bill readout but, since I am in the IT logging business, I don’t expect it to coincide.

It shows what you are drawing in real time and calculates your daily average. After four days we are up to 4.62kWh

This has now given rise to a new game:

Every time you turn on (or off) some electrical item, you have to  look at the monitor to see how much the reading has changed. It’s compulsive viewing!

I love Solartubes. Pat has now fitted the second light tunnel in our kitchen. It was a particularly dark area between bedroom and bathroom walls with no windows. Even on bright sunny days, it was too dim to work. Now that the ‘tube is in there, I just don’t think about turning on the light.

The SolarTwin hot water panel has now been fitted it to the roof and Pat  is currently connecting it to the boiler. It’s all getting quite exciting:>)

Our new home has gas central heating and gas hot water. The solar panel will soon replace most of our hot water requirement with top up, if required, from electricity (courtesy of Ecotricity). In Winter we will have the wood burning stove and we can top up on cooler days with electric heating.

That will leave me with an old gas cooker whose evergy efficiency is seriously in doubt! As soon as I can afford it, I am planning to replace it and get away from gas altogether.

I shall, however, be sad to see it go. I’ve got used to its foibles and I have to say that everything I cook tastes heaps better on gas than it did on my previous halogen hob and fan assised oven. So I’m not sue, as yet, what to replace it with.

However, gas is another natural resource we should not be frittering away. If not for that reason, this latest bid by the Russians should persuade us to wean ourselves off the stuff.

We are deeply grateful to all our friends for helping us move into our new home. Bobbie and I were extremely glazed by the end of it and your help was invaluable and much appreciated. With four of us opening up all the boxes marked ‘books’ and throwing them at the empty book shelves, we soon had some room to move around in.

Pat, who has been converting our bathroom into a shower room, was kind enough to make sure our water softener was installed and got us serviceable just as the removal guys arrived:>) We needed to install the water softener before we can set up use the solar panel as we are in a hard water area. We chose one from Harvey as it does not need any electricity to work. They are pricey but Pat was able to get us a much better deal on it than the manufacturers offered over the phone.

Pat has bought my concept into being. I call it contemporary cottage style! A modern shower room with mid height wainscoating which conceals the cystern and pipework and gives extra cupboard space. He did all the plumbing and electrical work as well as the carpentry and tiling. He also fitted out solar tube. I don’t think there is anything Pat won’t turn his had to, which is just as well, as there is some work in the garden I might need him for…! His website is still in the making but I don’t think he’ll mind if I mention it here: PatGlavin.co.uk

…and, once the Solartube was connected, there was! Pat has now installed the tube in the bathroom. It’s fab:>) You can look out of the window and it looks grey outside, but the tube is catching all the light there is and pumping it into the room and it looks really bright. It’s brilliant, really!

I’m looking forward to seeing what it does with a full moon…

We don’t really have a garden as such. It’s more of a meadow. This is extremely good news for me because, in the grand scheme of things, I was going to plant a wild life garden.

When we bought the place, the previous owners said, “Don’t cut the grass until you have seen all the violets and  primroses”. But it didn’t stop there. These were replaced by the purple selfheal and pale blue forget-me-nots. Now we have a blanket of blue speedwell with white oxeye daisies and wild strawberries. Of course, there are buttercups, dandelions and daises. Then there is yellow hop trefoil and magenta clover and… other things for which I do not yet know the names. Cutting some of the more grassy areas the air is suddenly filled with the scent of wild garlic or thyme or organo.

As a result of all this natural beauty, the place is alive with bees and butterflies of all shapes and sizes. And two of the nest boxes have residents. A pair of great tits and a pair of blue tits are very busy cleaning up any bugs, maggots, and greenfly that may be affecting the plants. We also have regular visits from crows, magpies and jackdaws which helps keep the slug and snail population under control, ably helped by robins.

It’s all a joy to behold. Most of all, there is peace here. Watching nature do its own thing, being what it is without any help from me. We are on the edge of the wild and it’s beautiful.