Not bad for a night after work, with twin 16 month old boys. 6 Fresh baked rolls for work, Fiona’s yummy sticky flapjack’s, and an excitable yeast starter munching away on some fresh wort ready for tomorrow nights pitching.

The boys up to all sorts around the garden and house:

Well folks, I’ve taken the plunge to save some money and (attempt!) to learn the art of brewing. Partly influenced by a recent brewery tour birthday present (Thanks Kirstin & Matt), and a number of articles I’ve read over the last year or so on the “greeness” of home brewing. Having now read about the process, if all works out well with my first few casks, I might go down the full grain approach! Watch this space. My Dad used to brew his beer a few years ago, but this is the kit I’m using:

Short description of above: 1 Malt & Hop extract supply from Woodfordes brewery in Norfolk. 1 Fermenting vessel with CO2 release. 1 Syphon, 1 Thermometer, 1 Large Spoon, 1 Hydrometer, 1 Tub of cleaning powder, 1 Pressure Cask, 1 Capper, 80 Crimp bottle caps.

So its been a while since I’ve given an update on the garden, so here goes. Fiona did a lot of planting in the late spring and as a result things have been popping up, I’ve also been busy with some garden engineering and planting our new plumb tree. Here are the pics:

Amongst the flowers there are salad leaves and spinach, yum. Salad has been very tasty.

Tomatoes are doing well in the greenhouse, the plants are getting huge. But it looks like it will be Autumn before we harvest.

I’ve been working on a slightly over engineered water capture system (Water Butt to everyone else!). The idea is that I capture water from the garage room, and using water head from the white piece of pipe to the right, push water through to the various tanks at the back of the garden. The idea is that the numerous water tanks are kept away from sight at the back of the garden, and there’s a nice water valve available at the front. The whole system has provision for partial draining during winter. I’ve got various ideas for pressurizing the water at a later date also. More to follow on this…

Rear of garden with new plumb tree in the background. The tire also has a few herbs, and Fennel growing out of it…

Well Folks, I tried my best, and for my small part, I seem to have prevented world domination by the Daleks. But as you are all well aware, they do have a tendency to come back!

Joshua James and Connor Kenneth celebrated their 1st birthday on the 25th of May. They also had a pre-birthday party on Sunday the 24th when many of our friends and family could join us at George Grieve Way. It was a beautiful day, and we even managed to get everyone out in the garden for a little while. The was a food/present frenzy, and I would like to thanks all our friends and family for they hard work in making it all work, and the generous gifts that Joshua and Connor received on their birthday. Here are some of the pics:

Okay guys, this is just a repost of an article from Green Upgrader. But its so cool and simple I really felt it was worth mentioning. I imagine this would be a great green gadget for use in the caravan and for the odd small items at home. The device is NOT yet in production, but the concept was created by a company called RKS, who are based in California. They based the design on work they did on a Salad Spiner. Cool idea. Here’s the cool pics:

I discovered (via Twitter) this really cool blog link to a Gutter Garden, which seems to have so many advantages. I’d be tempted to try out this idea on our sunny fence. Quick Pic:

Fiona’s mother “Rosemary” was up this weekend, and the weather was nice, so we took advantage of the opportunity to work on the garden. Attempting to improve our Eco footprint, we’ve decided to put some permaculature into action in the design of our garden. There will be an ability to grow veg, there will be area to play and relax, some wild flowers and herbs, and facilities to capture water, solar and wind energy. We are attempting to reuse a lot of materials in the garden, and recently I’ve been roaming around the nearby fields picking up junk wood and other discarded items. After a busy Saturday we got our raised vegetable garden put together:

This raised vegetable border sits on top of the existing grass, which is covered with thick cardboard. Fresh soil is then added, and the contents of a layer of our wormery is added as compost. The wood that forms the frame is reclaimed timer that was floating in the nearby pond, and includes 6×3m 5×5cm posts, and a large 1.5×3m pallette. I’ve spent the last three months drying the wood out off the ground, and its very usable for this job. It looks good in the end. The planter (in the background) is from our previous house, it sits on a bed of slate which is reused from our previous house garden. Other than the planter, all wood framing is reclaimed. The bush in the background is a blueberry bush. The raised bed will be used for some veg growing, I think we plan peas first. The bed is designed so that you can reach the back without standing on the soil.

On the Sunday we built this platform for our wooden greenhouse which was brought from the previous house. The platform is made from reclaimed timber and uses internal a large part of the reclaimed palette. The platform (not quite finished yet!) means that the greenhouse won’t be sitting on damp soil, and the palette has been lined with growth suppressor material. It is also anchored to the fence and the ground using 40cm stakes to keep the greenhouse secure in windy weather which we get regularly here. The area is called “Windygoul”. At our previous address we experienced enough wind to lift this very heavy greenhouse (glass) off the ground and onto its side. This is one of the reasons why it has a lot of repairs, and some of the panels are perspex instead of glass! We’ll be growing tomatoes and peppers in here.

The last picture illustrates a star find. This tractor wheel was abondoned in a field close by, and Fiona and I managed to roll it back to the house. It makes a very interesting feature, and we plan to keep it where it is now, and fill it with soil. We will grow herbs in the middle, and the outside also serves as a seat More to follow including diagram of the overall plan. Much more exiciting stuff still to come.