Small Revolutions: Voluntary Simplicity in Devon

Guerilla Gardening & Mojitos

I love guerillagardening.org

If you're disappointed with the use of public space, neglected patches and you like to spread a bit of beauty through your small beautiful actions, then join in International Sunflower Guerilla Day. I plan to get involved and we'll be planting sunflowers in central Exeter (which we're buying from Tamar Organics professional growers section)

Since moving to Exeter I've wanted to do something about the space underneath our balcony.

It's a space that gets strimmed regularly and so I need something that can hold its own and fight back.

And taste good.

So I've brought in mint to do the job. I've been bringing on some seeds and I've got a small pot (plus there's some at the allotment I can raid. They're not ready to plant yet, but they're coming on.

I'll be planting them underneath the balcony and hopefully later this Summer I'll be able to go down and pick a fistful of mint for a delicious mojito.

I think there is something important about growing. Because you become connected to the earth when you grow something that you plan to eat.

You care about it more.

Mojito Recipe

• 1 fistful of mint
• Soda (about 3 parts)
• Rum (about 1 or 2 parts, depending on your mood)
• Limes (about 1 per large glass)
• Light Brown Sugar, quanto basta (just enjough)

I don't do amounts. It's a taste thing. Go to a great cocktail bar (Cubana in Waterloo, London does a great one) and get a good mojito. Watch them make it, then do it yourself at home to reproduce the taste.

Just don't underestimate how much sugar you need - it's not a health food.

P.S. The sunflower image was taken by my brother who is a professional photographer. If you want to buy it as a poster or see more of his widlife, landscape and architecture photography then go to www.kevynburns.com.

Donkey Powered Cider

There's nothing like traditional farm produced cider. On Saturday at the Fat Pig we tasted a new one - Wiscombe cider.

It's made with a press using horse and donkey power. How marvellous is that?

To find a scrumpy, cider or perry made near you, you'll need to consult The Real Cider and Perry Pages.

Food, Biofuel and Peak Oil: No-one gets left behind.

This is about the coming food shortages.

Well, I say coming. What I actually mean is that it is already happening for some.

There were the Mexico Corn riots where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets because the price of corn had gone up 400%.

Because the price of oil is so high, it is more profitable for farmers to produce and sell corn for the biofuel market where it fetches higher prices.

That's land not being used to feed people.

The rush to produce corn has caused the world price of fertiliser to double in 2007 meaning that the poor farmers in sub saharan Africa who really need the fertiliser to grow stuff, may well not be able to afford it - producing less food in that region.

The price of wheat has rocketed too. Kazakhstan, Argentina and Russia have all put export restrictions on wheat. Source: BBC

The World Food Programme has outlined stark choice of getting more money, or rationing and feeding fewer people (this isn't luxury stuff, we're talking about the basics to simply stay alive and maintain a basic level of health to escape disease and malnutrition). Source: BBC

According to Independent Bangladesh, wheat is up more than 180%, soybeans are up 82% and rice has doubled in the past year. In America, 16% of land formerly planted with wheat and soybeans is now growing corn, most of it going into biofuel.

The price of rice doubling means that a 2kg bag of rice now costs half a day's wages. This is about the margin of survival, not luxuries. (Independent Bangladesh)

We're beginning to see a convergence in food and energy prices. Right now, it's not just because of biofuel, but at heart I believe, we are seeing the beginning effects of peak oil with oil at $100 plus per barrel being the main trigger for all of this.

There are other reasons of course which I will briefly spell out here:

• Inundations in some parts of the world, drought in others (shifting weather patterns are a feature of global warming
• Meat production - growing affluent markets such as China are increasing the demand for beef and more grain is needed to feed the beef animals

If, as I suspect (and I am not an educated commentator, I surf and find things out in my spare time) that peak oil has in fact hit and this is the frontier of what is to come, then it shows a haunting overture to what is to come.

And here’s the central point:

I really absolutely believe that we can all get through it. I really do.

But it's going to be much bigger than a battle for food. It's going to be a showdown between the twin forces selfishness and fear (in all its manifestations, including denial) on the one hand, and love and compassion on the other.

There is a classic line in the kids cartoon movie Lilo & Stitch: "no-one gets left behind" and that's the policy we have to take.

No-one gets left behind. Whatever happens we’ve got to make sure everybody is fed.

How do we do that, and how does it relate to our individual actions, how does it relate to what I can do every day to be part of that change right here?

That’s what I am going to explore in my blog over the next few weeks.

Blatant plagiarist that I am, I am going to call it Digging for Victory.
.

Kites

Was I flying the kite? Or was the wind flying the kite? Or was the kite flying the wind?

Me, my brother, my sister in law and my husband (to be).

A beautiful day a few weeks back.

Love and Compassion

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." - The Dalai Lama.

On the allotment

Spent a few pleasant hours on the allotment, starting to tackle everything that's overgrown and work out what to do with the plot.

We brought back and armful of ruby red rhubarb and some monster leeks for ourselves and our neighbours.

There's a lot of work to do, but I'm tired and happy. This is everything I've wished for.

Slacktivism: an example

I've put up with the emails about polar bears from www.stopglobalwarming.org for quite some time.

I even participated in the "click here to have your voice counted" (but regretted it now I have heard about slacktivism).

But today I got an email newsletter from them. I can't copy what they said (copyright breach) but I can write the email that I sent back to them because I was so appalled:

Okay, telling me a 160 square mile ice cube has chipped off the Antarctic is important.

Then telling me the current green issue of Elle is made from 10% recycled paper is definitively not.

Can you even begin to defend the triviality of the "Elle" item in your email? Have you gone mad? Have you sold out?

What were you thinking?

Rob

Since when was anything 1/10th recycled newsworthy?

Fiddling while Rome burns.

While I'm at it, fashion is planned obsolescence. It's rubbish. Style is about using clothes and clothing styles to define the way you look. They're different things. Style wins over fashion every day. Period.

Slogan

I saw this on a t-shirt surfing the net:

"WE ARE THE PEOPLE WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR."

Damn right we are.

Hope is everywhere.

Hope is always defiant, struggling up through the cracks.

Fragile though it is, it finds a foothold in the most unlikely of places.