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| Farmer's Under Pressure Harvesting at Night. |
Man-made Climate Change is undeniably upon us, and the evidence is easy to find. It's not just a hot summer, it's significant change. This is now, finally, being treated as a serious threat to national security. Only time will tell if the governments are acting quickly enough. I am compiling a page for reliable information, including help and support for Climate Anxiety (see below).
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| Hosepipe Ban and Empty Water Butts |
At home, we should be thinking about our own resilience, and water butts are a good place to start, especially during a hosepipe ban. Naturally we should all be preserving water and not wasting it, there are multiple ways to do this. On a basic level you can make simple choices such as, should I wash my car or water my garden? We also save all our washing up water in buckets, to use on the garden.
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| Beautiful Free Blackberries |
Fortunately there are still plenty of juicy, free Blackberries to pick and eat. It's a joyful activity to get on a bicycle, pedal to a local hedgerow, and fill your Tupperware boxes for later, whilst scoffing as many as you reasonably can - that's what I call living in the moment.
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| Blackthorn Early |
I recently spotted a tree, full of early Sloes, the fruit of the Blackthorn tree, I noticed them partly because they were unexpected but because they were very large. Anyway, as a forager, you need to be opportunistic, so I picked a bag-full and will make Sloe Gin early this year. Traditionally, you should pick after the first frost of the year, but that seems a long way off at the moment and sticking them in the freezer will perform the same job.
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| Big Fat Sloes |
Earlier this year I thought about growing squash upward, they tend to take up loads of space, plus I'm only designated a small space in our garden veg patch. I got some 5m bamboo branches from a friend's garden and began to create a rather Heath Robinson trellis and frame contraption for the plants to grow up. With a little encouragement they seemed to enjoy their elevated position and some fruits are now forming. However, I need to keep watering regularly.
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| Squash and Cucumber Growing Up |
I was concerned that the watering cans were not penetrating the parched ground and was evaporating too soon. I laid a sheet of cardboard over to suppress weeds and cut holes for the plants. I then got a couple of used 2 Litre milk bottles, perforated the base a bit and buried them in the ground up to their necks. I can now unscrew the caps and fill them from my watering can ensuring that the water is deeper in the ground and less likely to evaporate in the burning sun. The next time I do this, I will make smaller perforations to slow the water dispersal, it's just trial and error.
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Thinking ahead to Autumn (some trees are so stressed by lack of water they are already shedding leaves), I checked out a Walnut tree and spotted Green Walnuts. Some people like to make Green Walnut pickles, I tried this once but it's quite a process. I really like the spicy smell of green walnuts but leave them to lose their husks and mature in to Walnuts, which can be kept easily for later use over Winter.
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| Green Walnuts |
Man made Climate Change is now a fact of life and the more you know about the facts, the more terrifying it can feel. Even if it can feel daunting as an individual, knowledge is better than ignorance. Denial is a knee jerk reaction for some, either because they feel helpless to change the situation in any significant way or simply because they have not been furnished with facts. However, talking with like minded people can help and reassure you that you are not alone. Taking positive action in groups can also help, such as signing well thought out and managed petitions can force even governments to listen to your fears and feelings. It is through our large institutions that we can affect significant change.
