Go Green

 

 

I’m no eco-warrior by any stretch of the imagination, but I do feel that if we all try and do a bit more to save energy, we will all be better off in every sense of the word.

Since moving to Fallowfield over 20 years ago, Mike has planted hundreds, maybe thousands of trees to provide shelter belts around the house and the paddocks.  This might seem to be a bit of an expensive exercise, but there are grants available for this.  Trees not only enhance the surroundings you live in but give shelter to both your animals and your house.

 

As we have a lot of woodland here, we have a plentiful supply of logs for our wood burning stoves – you just can’t get the same quality of heat from central heating especially in a large house.  Keeps Mike fit too chopping and stacking all the logs!  We might seem to have a lot of logs stacked, but there is always the challenge to have a year’s supply of logs there so that they are really dry for burning. Surprise, surprise - we never quite get there!

We love living here at Fallowfield – it’s a very beautiful place.  But there is a price to pay for living in the country - no gas!!  A couple of years ago, Mike got really sick of our high oil bills and decided to install PV’s to generate electricity on our garage roof. I can’t say I was that enthusiastic about them at the time – not sure about the high cost nor their appearance.  However the trade off was that I got a brand-new electric Aga – happy days!!  I wouldn’t have liked the panels on our house roof but they look ok where they are and we use a heck of a lot less oil.  Needless to say we always try and use washing machines and dishwashers when the sun is shining – no washing today then since it is freezing fog!

I know I keep saying it but I am looking forward to Spring.  It MUST be coming because I bought my seed potatoes yesterday.  I’m planting Pink Fir Apple potatoes this year.  They are those little, knobbly, waxy potatoes which look really strange but taste absolutely gorgeous.  You rarely see them for sale in vegetable shops which is another good reason for growing your own.  They are standing in egg boxes to allow them to chit before planting outside.  There is something really good about being able to pop out to your garden to pick something for lunch or supper.  Last year’s vegetable gardening was a complete disaster.  The weather was so weird – hot and dry in March and then wet and cold for most of the rest of the year. 

Fingers crossed for warm, dry days in 2013 – not too dry though as I want some of that green grass!

PS  Hip, Hip, Hip Hooray, the sun is now out today - washing machine here I come!