Living Democracy in London Central

This week my blog is from Emma Stoner who has been photographing a peace camp that is taking place under the shadow of Big Ben, largely ignored by the mainstream media.

On the 1st May a group of people gathered on Parliament Square to occupy the space and demand that 'the war in Afghanistan ends and the troops are brought home with immediate effect'. The peace camp is now running into its 7th week, despite the opposition of the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who is pursuing a court injunction against the activists gathered here. The trial is currently underway and looks to wrap up this week.

One of the groups camping at the square are from the Kew Bridge Eco Village, a land rights group with the aim to live sustainably within the urban environment. Activists took over a plot of disused land by Kew Bridge on the 6th June 2009 and formed a community here. The site was evicted in May this year and about 50% of the community shifted to Democracy village. I spent several months documenting the village as it evolved in Kew and have since followed the group to their new home in Parliament Square. Simon Moore, one of the core team who initiated the Kew Bridge Eco Village project, is now based at Democracy village and shared some of his thoughts about the idea behind the urban community in Kew and what their role is here.

Simon believes that you can't be ecologically friendly until you are free to do so and that the option to live sustainably on the land is only available for people with access to capital for the purchase of land and planning permissions. In the UK less than 1% of the population owns 70% of the land, 8% of which is concreted and 90% of people live in these areas. He is calling for the rights to use derelict land for sustainable and environmentally friendly developments "A lot of people do want to live sustainably on the land in a way that is liberating and not damaging to the earth."

Although setting up a community outside the city would give it more chance of success, setting one up in London throws the issues into the limelight. The idea was to bring people together in an urban setting in a very open way to set an example of another way of life. After taking over the patch of land by Kew Bridge the group immediately contacted the land owners and neighbours to say that they were caretaking the space and started community projects to involve and inspire local residents. Every Saturday the village held a permaculture meeting and they were active in greening the space and growing food.


Lou Almond, a permaculture student, was a resident here for 3 months and sees the Kew Bridge Eco Village project as a major achievement in empowering people to be self sufficient. Food at the eco village was cooked on a stove heated by wood, which was also used for heating. Wood and solar power were the main sources of energy here. People initially lived in tarp benders and these later developed into small dwellings made from hazelwood poles which were really well insulated with blankets, keeping out the cold 
during the winter months. 

"One of the main motivations of the project was to create an urban centre to educate people about growing food and other practical life-skills which often aren't taught today. A lot of people lack the basic knowledge that our ancestors had of how to survive - building a fire, building a home, growing food etc."

Although the open door policy allowed outsiders to get involved and learn, because the here land was reclaimed it limited the scope of how far this community could progress. Only a small percentage of the food consumed was grown here and the rest was skipped from the waste of nearby supermarkets and shops. All of the allotments created over the time spent here have now been bulldozed.

One of the lasting impacts of this eco-village development has been to create a movement of people which has now branched out into two different locations - one at a new eco village site in Hounslow and one which is currently based in Parliament Square. The Kew Bridge group were central to founding Democracy Village and brought with them a variety of skills and knowledge of communal living which has been applied here. This space is much more temporary than Kew was so people have not been looking at long term sustainability but they have created a garden with an oak tree in the centre and strawberries, beans and flowers are all growing in abundance.


Through the peace protest at Democracy Village this land rights group have been able to also draw attention to the issue of land-ownership in the high court. Gareth Newman, from the Kew Bridge movement, explained how, although the protest here is focused on ending the war their presence in the camp serves as an example of how to be independent: "If people learn how to be self-sufficient then we won't need to fight a war for resources. We are here to show that it is possible to live a more peaceful and low impact life."

www.emmastoner.com
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Maddy Harland is the editor of Permaculture Magazine – inspiration for sustainable living. To read a sample copy click here. To support this independent publications please subscribe digitally for just £10 (approx $13.40) or subscribe to the printed edition (which will save you at least 20% of the cover price).

Water, Food & Fun - Summer in the Permaculture Garden

In our world of rising fuel and food prices prices, practical life skills are becoming increasingly important. One of the best things we can do with our children is to show them how to grow their own food. Even at an early age it is both fun and empowering and they will never forget these important skills nor the time a parent has taken to pass them on.

Summer is a favourite time in the permaculture garden. The weather is usually a big factor though – in the height of summer I tend to garden in the early morning or evenings to avoid sunburn, particularly important with young children. So many vegetables planted in early spring start to grow and there is already much to start harvesting. My favourite early summer feasts consist of cut-and-come-again salads like rocket, corn salad, land cress, spinach, and gorgeous home grown potatoes.

Preserving Water

A vital aspect of summer vegetable gardening is having adequate water. The most obvious strategy is to collect rainwater. Plants far prefer rainwater to chlorinated drinking water and so will your conscience. Over the years we have acquired a variety of water butts. Look out for second hand fruit juice barrels, butts and water tanks at your local recycling centre. It is now possible to buy tanks made out of recycled plastic. They are manufactured in thicker plastic and are more durable as well. Councils sometimes have butts on special offer – well worth applying for. We have four 200 litre butts attached to our downpipes with rainsavers that divert the water down the drain once the butts are full. We also have another one on our greenhouse. These are adequate in a normal year but the drought in early spring this year has left us short of water, so on the cards this year is a large rainwater collector attached to the new garden shed.

Rainwater harvesting isn’t the only way to conserve water. Covering the soil with mulch prevents evaporation. Mulch also suppresses weeds and can be used in between rows of veggie plants and also around larger plants like runner beans, courgettes and squash. Mulch prevents competition and therefore aids growth. Soft fruit bushes and young trees also benefit from being mulched.

I have used all sorts of mulches from commercial exclusion mulch for permanent cover under woodchip paths, hemp matting to mulch around bushes, cardboard, newspaper, carpet made from natural fibres (synthetics slowly rot and disperse plastic fragments), spoilt straw (cheaper than bedding straw), home-made compost covered by a layer of commercial and therefore guaranteed weed-free compost, even sheep’s wool (a great water retainer that doesn’t rot quickly)… Whatever you use make sure it is made of biodegradeable material and mulch the soil when it is damp. That way the mulch retains the moisture. Mulching when dry will form a barrier that the rain will find hard to penetrate.

In times of drought reusing greywater is a good idea. I often simply wash up in a bowl and then water the garden outside the kitchen with the remnants. It’s important to use biodegradable washing up liquid. If you have external piping from an upstairs bathroom, it is easy to fit a simple rainwater diverter and pipe the bathwater directly on to the vegetable patch (called a Water Two Greywater Diverter). Or you can feed it into a water butt and save it too. We recommend adding balls of tights, or plastic pan scourers, in a colander below the output to prevent the majority of the soap particles building up in the bottom of the barrel, making a smelly sludge.

Growing the ‘Right’ Plants

I do struggle to understand why gardeners plant heathers on chalk and add loads of peat to create the needed acidity. Peat is a non-renewable resource that, when extracted, releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – grumble over! Tim and I garden on what once was chalk downland and grow wildflowers like devil’s bit scabious, corn marigolds, ox-eye daisies, lady’s slipper, goats beard, marjoram and knapweed. The flowers require no extra watering, minimal seasonal mowing and are a wonderful attractor of insects from butterflies, hoverflies (which incidentally eat aphids) to solitary and honey bees. Our fruit trees are selected for their preference for chalk where possible (Asian Pear pictured above is very successful) and our garage roof is very definitely drought resistant, being composed of sedums and alpine plants rather than tar and felt.

Whatever the soil, slugs are always challenging in an organic garden and it is important to protect tasty young plants from slugs which love damp mulch. Heritage seeds were often selected because they were relatively slug resistant, an excellent reason to plant them now. If you are having problems, however, the ideal slug and snail predators are ducks. We have kept both Khaki Campbells and beautiful ‘trout’ Indian Runner ducks. They need to be penned and allowed into the vegetable garden in the early morning and early evening while slugs are still foraging. You need to watch them though and protect newly sown beds from being flattened by their webbed feet.

Not everyone has the room for ducks but there are a variety of other techniques of controlling slugs. A small meadow area and wildlife pond without fish (as they eat spawn and young toads and frogs) creates habitat that encourages the amphibian population who predate on slugs. Slowworms love the heat of a compost heap (see right) and will lay their eggs there. They too eat slugs. But if you are in a small urban garden with limited space, nocturnal slug ‘picking’ with a torch is recommended (I also recommend it in all gardens when tender young crops are on the menu).

I prefer to germinate plants in the greenhouse and plant them out once they have become more robust. Even then a slug barrier such as a circle of grit or a copper ring is useful. Commercially made copper rings and tape are available but a cheaper option is to cut up an old water cylinder or adapt copper piping that can sometimes be found abandoned in skips. Slugs cannot cross copper – it holds an electrical charge and it is their equivalent to an electric fence! I also garden with raised beds surrounded by woodchip. This deters slugs and snails because they do not like crossing the paths. Human hair can also be used. We save our hair trimmings and place them around delicate, tasty seedlings plus the dust from the bottom of the charcoal bag and the spent coals as well from the bbq. Slugs do not like contaminating their skirts with charcoal.

And then there are beer traps too. They work well. Ask your local for slops from under the pumps.

Is it all worth it, you may ask? I know slug pellets are the norm but I love my garden birds and do not want to risk them eating a poisoned slug. Very young children too can be tempted by colourful pellets. The best way is to design a healthy biodiverse slug and snail resistant garden modelled on nature from the onset and incorporate as many strategies as you can. Then you can savour home grown organic vegetables and fruit, introduce your children to all the creatures that visit your garden and relax in a shady corner with a long, cool drink when the weather gets really hot. 

What to Plant in Summer

June

Continue to sow French beans, peas and salad crops in the soil. Plant out Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages, tomatoes and leeks.

July

Continue to sow salad crops in the soil. Put your feet up and enjoy your abundant veggie garden!

August

Sow early carrots, winter lettuces and spring cabbages.

Maddy Harland is the editor of Permaculture Magazine – inspiration for sustainable living. To read a sample copy click here. To support this independent publications please subscribe digitally for just £10 (approx $13.40) or subscribe to the printed edition (which will save you at least 20% of the cover price).

Home Education – the Permaculture Way

I had an enthusiastic response to last week's blog by my guest, Marian Van Eyk McCain, on the interconnected side of permaculture design. This week Sandie Roach from Australia wrote to me about how she home educates her three sons. A keen practitioner of permaculture, she has spent some time thinking about how permaculture principles apply to bringing up kids. I liked her take and I thought you would too.

Permaculture Principles applied to Home Education

Observe and Interact - Spend time with your kids, learning alongside them.  Watch how they prefer to learn, and then assist.

Catch and Store Energy - Facilitate their moments of enthusiasm, with encouragement and resources.

Obtain a Yield - Watch them blossom and grow into compassionate, strong and intelligent people.

Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback - Listen to your kids.  How do they like to learn? How are they feeling? Set a good example.

Use and Value Renewable Resources - Use your local library and scrap store for educational materials.  

Produce no Waste - Allow learning to become full-time, life-long experience.  Never waste a moment.

Design from Patterns to Details - Every child is unique, but they all need the basics to flourish and grow:  love, encouragement, security and positive experiences.

Integrate Rather than Segretate - Mix with people of all ages, religions, nationalities and abilities.

Use Small and Slow Solutions - Helping three kids with a project is easier, for me, than a teacher having to assist thirty!

Use and Value Diversity - Let your kids learn about everything and anything that interests them. It doesn't just have to be things that they would learn at school.

Use Edges and Value the Marginal - You are 'the edge'; home educating is marginal.  Your positive experiences will offer valuable encouragement for others.

Creatively Use and Respond to Change - Allow your kids to learn skills that will assist them in 'their' future of peak oil, climate change and global financial instability.

About the Family

With three sons, who have never attended school, our home educating family is rarely found around the house. Tomorrow we head off to Kalgoorlie-Boulder for a few days to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service Museum and learn about life in a Western Australian mining town. We often share learning experiences with other home educating families, who come from many cultures, religions and walks of life, and who approach home educating in a variety of ways. The boys learn as they choose, and as adults we facilitate this with resources, assistance and opportunities. We are registered with the Western Australian Education Authority and once a year receive a visit from a really sweet chap (our moderator) who always writes nice things about us in his report!

Maddy Harland is the editor of Permaculture Magazine – inspiration for sustainable living. To read a sample copy click here. To support this independent publications please subscribe digitally for just £10 (approx $13.40) or subscribe to the printed edition (which will save you at least 20% of the cover price).