Thursday, 14 February 2013

8. Our guiding principles

We try to do things without using (too many) machines, or too much power and by re-using materials. We scythe our orchard (even making a little hay), and try to harvest our wood predominantly with axe and hand-saw. We made our compost bins, turkey house and wood bins almost entirely from old pallets, batons and nails from our old roof and floorboards from an old floor (and some screws from Wicks).
We have had solar panels fitted to our roof, and have switched our fuel supply from oil to wood (biomass) (see below for further details).
Future plans (or hopes) include pigs, a large extension of the vegetable garden (in line with the historic 130 year old Cottage Garden), and an outside working area.
Our guiding principles are from Seymour's Self-Sufficiency for Dreamers and Realists, Ben Law's The Woodland Year, Walden's Thoreau and CAT (the Centre for Alternative Technology)'s mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle..
We welcome new ideas, and look forward to discussing both our and your plans and aspirations...

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