‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ is the mantra of waste management. We’re all encouraged to reduce the waste we produce, reuse things instead of throwing them away after one go, and recycle the stuff we do need to throw away.
Car boot sales are great places to practice some of these principles, especially when you’re trying to give unwanted possessions a new lease of life.
What would you do with a double food warmer, consisting of two glass dishes warmed by tea lights? Or a yoghurt maker? Or a rather large collection of cut crystal that used to just live in the store room?
The sheer volume of stuff was taking up a large proportion of the double garage, and it was getting in the way. We could have spent months photographing each item individually and putting it on E-bay or Gumtree. We don’t have either the time or the patience to make this into a major job, though. It was tempting to just drive the whole lot to the dump, no matter how much waste that would generate.
The likelihood is, though, that somebody will love this stuff and give it a new lease of life. All you need to do is get the people and the stuff together in the most efficient way possible. So thank goodness for car boot sales and the people who make a business out of organising them.
We drove up in the Tardis with it’s trailer crammed full of stuff. It was 7am on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday and already there were people keen to buy. We couldn’t unpack the stuff fast enough. Some people were there to pick up a bargain to sell on for a profit. Others were on a shopping trip, browsing for bargains.
The Westacre pitch
We were astonished that we managed to find people willing to re-use the old two bar electric heater, the spin dryer, the old iron and yes, the yoghurt maker. Many bits of pottery and crystal found a loving second home.
And one lady wiped clean our vintage clothing section all by herself. If it turned out they didn’t fit, she was going to re-cycle the material and make her own unique creations.
We had a great time meeting people of every conceivable variety. We had chats about old children’s books, how cheap good quality old furniture is, and the loveliness of Jess the dog. She had a great day being petted by all and sundry.
If you need to find a second life for some of your possessions, do consider a car boot sale. Here are some handy hints.
– find your nearest car boot sale on line. It pays to be patient and find the good ones.
– wait for a sunny day. There will be a lot more potential customers.
– turn up early to get a good pitch and time to set up properly.
– take some money to pay the seller’s fee, and some change for the buyers.
– have snacks and drinks at the ready. It’s a long morning.
– take a supply of plastic bags. We forgot all about those and regretted it.
– enjoy meeting and watching people.
We’ve got some things left over, and will be going to a boot sale just around the corner from us next month. Hopefully we’ll meet some more people willing to reuse and recycle.
This is a new kind of post for the Westacre blog. I regularly come across articles that are inspiring, interesting or useful. I’m sharing them here with you, hoping you’ll find something you like. Please comment if any of it touches you.
Climate and Environment
Countering the “We Will Adapt” Argument Against Action on Climate Change by Green Steve
An argument for starting to adapt sooner rather than later, if we are to face the changes with some kind of comfort.
Re-design society’s need for ‘extreme’ energy by Nicole Vosper
We are doing irreversible damage to whole ecosystems to get at the oil. Time to re-design our society away from the need for fossil fuels.
Stolen spring by John Walker
There was frost on the grass this morning, Satruday 27 April 2013. If the long cold winter is caused by the arctic ice melting, this fictional evocation could be a possible future…
Druidry and Ancestral connections
Ubiquitous Ash by Jos Smith
A personal relationship with the Ash tree, and a call to write its poetry before it goes the way of the Elm.
Stonehenge occupied 5000 years earlier than thought
BBC report on a dig funded with redundancy money that made some interesting discoveries about the Ancestors of Stonehenge.
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Philip Carr-Gomm, Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, on how he feels about the future.
Bishop Swing interviews Matthew Fox
If it wasn’t for Matthew Fox and his rather revolutionary Christianity, I would not be a Druid now. Some interesting takes on the Church and its teachings.
Permaculture and gardening
Connecting the dots by Jeremy Wickremer
To find solutions to interrelated problems, we need to take a wider view and see the connections between them. Permaculture design can help.
Garlic mustard recipes
We’ve got quite a lot of it in the garden. So we might as well use the stuff. I haven’t tried these recipes yet, but I soon will.
Friends
World Drum at Cae Mabon by Barry Patterson
My friend Barry’s experience with the World Drum in poetry and music
So it begins…
We’re going to call him “Stew” ;-).
It’s Earth Day today. One day every year, millions of people all around the world get together to raise awareness of environmental issues. This year, the emphasis is on the effects of climate change already visible around the world.
At Westacre, we are building a home and a way of life that uses a minimum of resources and is as self-sufficient as we can make it. Our vision is to create a place of peace and beauty where we can live lightly on the Earth.
Our garden was once a fruit orchard, which retains many of the old apple and damson trees. Right now, everything is bursting into life. We have primroses, cowslips and lungwort, and the damson trees are just about to come into flower.
Westacre’s cowslips in bloom
We would love to share this beautiful place with you. If you support our aim of living more lightly on the Earth and reducing our contribution to climate change, there are things you can do to help us.
1) Share our posts
We aim to reach as many people as possible, so that others can learn from what we are doing and get inspired to start their own projects, large or small. You can help us do that by retweeting, sharing, or linking to any interesting post you see.
2) Tell us about your own efforts
Share your own adventures in working for the good of the Earth, great or small. Comment on our blog posts or on the Westacre Facebook page, or tag us in a tweet. The more conversations we can generate, the more people will hear about us.
3) Come and pitch in
We’ll welcome you with open arms at Westacre. We’d be grateful for any help you can give us, from mowing the lawn to helping us remodel the roof. There’s always plenty to do. And there is plenty of time to just hang out, or explore the surrounding countryside.
Rather than being just two people doing an ambitious renovation project, we’d like to grow a community of people supporting each other to do the right thing for our planet. Do you fancy coming along for the ride?
Climate change is happening. And we have already done so much damage that it is going to get worse. At the same time, the production of cheap fossil fuels is past its peak. That much is a given.
At Westacre, we are attempting to build a life that significantly reduces our impact on the environment and cushions us from some of the inevitable changes ahead.
This week I was reading this:
“The peak of conventional petroleum production, by an interesting irony, happened in 2005, right as that report was being leaked to the press. Thus we’re at least 27 years too late, and the massive discontinuities are already baked into the cake. Individuals, families, and communities can still take constructive steps to prepare for those discontinuities and get through them with as little suffering as possible, but one way or another it’s going to be a very rough road down from the peak.”
– John Michael Greer
And this:
“The impossibility of sustaining this system of endless, pointless consumption without the continued erosion of the living planet and the future prospects of humankind, is the conversation we will not have.”
– George Monbiot
A few years ago, the UK government commissioned a report on climate change. It said that the ice on Greenland will inevitably melt, causing a 7m sea level rise. Unable to find maps that show you what that looks like, Alex made Flood Maps. That’s just one of those discontinuities. Where is your house on that map.
Our plans for Westacre are quite ambitious, and we are fortunate to have the luxury to be able to do this. As we renovate the house, we’ll be showing you all the elements of our low-carbon house and how they fit together. In the long run, we aim to show the world that it is possible to live a rich and fulfilled life with a much reduced impact on the living Earth.
Not everyone will be able to do all of this. But some of the things we are doing, and have already done, are very simple:
– move to a renewable energy provider like Ecotricity or Green Energy.
– turn down the thermostat on your central heating.
– put thermostatic valves on your radiators.
– keep your main living area warm with a wood burning stove.
– install a water saving toilet.
– grow some of your own food.
Getting ready to plant potatoes
And you know what? We’re loving every minute of this life. Doing real work on the land, making real relationships with our neighbours, warming ourselves at a real fire. I’d recommend it.
What are you doing to prepare for a future of discontinuities?