The Introduction to Permaculture course Darren and I both took part in last weekend was brilliant and for those of you wishing to find a positive path in the heavy chaotic business of worrying about what the future holds for ourselves, our families, our friends and our societies and lifestyles this course delivered by Ruth O’Brien in Bristol comes very highly recommended by both of us..

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Ever since I started my beginner’s cabinet making course I’ve been intrgiued by the differences between modern woodworking techniques and the the more traditional methods such as Green Woodworking (like chair bodging).

Why use green wood?

Well Mike Abbott who is, as you’ll read, the guy that ended up teaching me explains in his article of the Summer 2009 edition of Permaculture Magazine that:

Green wood is wood that has not dried or seasoned. Green woodworkers usually start with a fresh log rather than a dry plank for a host of very good reasons. They can be categorised as follows:

• Enhanced strength and quality.
• Better workability.
• Simpler and faster seasoning.
• Much lower cost.
• Numerous advanteges to society.
• Many environmental advantages.

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I found out today that I’ve been accepted onto the Renewable Energy and the Built Environment MSc course at the Centre for Alternative Technology Starting in Sept. I’m really chuffed as I don’t have a degree so I had to rely on my commercial experience to be accepted onto it and it’ll also allow me to right the wrong of dropping out of my Computer Science BSc course many moons ago.

I’m doing it over 2 years part-time so I can juggle it with community work, family life, some fee earning external work too.

If all goes well then this qualification coupled with what I learn as we try to take Trelay off-grid should give me enough experience to set-up as a renewable energy consultant in the coming years. I suspect it’s the sort of role that will become more and more in demand as time goes on…

I am feeling very inspired after attending a LILI course on Low Impact Smallholding over the weekend. It was held at the LILI HQ which is a community called Redfield in Bucks and was run by Simon Fairlie of Chapter 7 and author of Low Impact Development.

It was a very detailed course covering things like planning law, how to choose a plot, what to do when you’ve got it and how to derive an income. All very essential information and delivered by someone with intimate knowledge of the subject in a very relaxed and informal manner. It was also good to hang out for the weekend with other people also looking to do similar things to us.

It was quite frankly superb and my heart has come away urgent for us to move onto our own plot of land and start planting. Head says that having three kids one of whom isn’t one year old yet it’s probably best to wait.

Either way it has become much more of a feasible option now with the biggest challenge being to find somewhere in this country that is even mildly affordable…

If you’re seriously considering setting yourself up with a  smallholding I’d highly recommend this course.