Spring Planting

Now that spring has sprung, my plants are starting to thrive. This year I’m planting three types of tomatoes: 3 standard size plants in a grow-bag, some miniature/dwarf plants which produce cherry tomatoes and a couple of hanging tomato plants. Underneath the miniature plants I have planted some spreading basil. This is my new variety for this year

Spreading basil

It will be interesting to see how it grows as it is now outside. I still have several kinds of mint (ginger mint, lemon mint and regular mint) from last year which are just popping their new leaves up. Other plants include sage, chives, two kinds of chillis and woad which I bought last year and over-wintered successfully. Also for the first time I’ve planted sorrel, for soup and salads.

The chillies from Wahaca planted last year didn’t grow and I’ve tried them again this year so we’ll see what happens. They will stay inside on the warmest windowsill just to make sure they get the best conditions possible.

Reduced Carbon Cooking: The B’goven

The b’goven (big oven) is my version of the hay box. It is filled with polystyrene beads and cooks a pot of food slowly over several hours without any heat source.

All wrapped up

The instructions below are for a huge b’goven. This is because my husband, Bruce wants to buy a larger cast iron pot so I made it big enough for that plus the pot we have.

The B’goven

For 9 inch (24cms) pans.

For the ‘bag’ you will need:

2 large circles with a radius of 22 inches of fancy cotton material

For the base you will need:

2 small circles with a diameter the same as the pan plus 3 inches or so of either fancy cotton or white cotton material

For the lid:

2 small circles with a diameter the same as the pan plus 3 inches or so in

*It is important to use cotton material because the heat from the saucepan will melt synthetics.

Also needed are cord and toggles/beads, to finish
To make the bag: Take the two large circles and pin them wrong sides together.

Divide into ten or twelve segments and mark lightly with chalk.

Sew together, starting at the centre and working out to the edge of each segment.

segments, with gaps for filling

Then sew along the outer rim of the circle, allowing a gap of 2-3 inches in each ‘pocket’ (so they can be filled).

Fill with small polystyrene beads. A tip: take a drinks bottle and cut the top off to make a funnel. Then use the body of the bottle as a scoop. This makes things a lot easier by reducing the static on beads.

Do not fill too full as the segments have to bend to enclose your pot. Tack the tops shut. It is best to test how full the stuffing is at this point, so that some can be removed before sewing it up. When you are happy with the stuffing, sew it up.

Next, turn over the edge and sew and sew a wide channel to thread the cord through. Leave a gap of about 1 inch to allow it to be threaded easily.

Next sew the base. Place right sides together and sew round edge, leaving about 1-2 inch gap. Turn right side out. Stuff with the polystyrene beads and sew up the small gap.
Repeat with the fancy cotton for the lid section.

Thread the cord through and pop some fancy beads on the ends and its all ready to go.

To use:

Cook your stew recipe to the point where it should go into the oven (about 20 minutes) and put the hot pot on the base (I did not attach it to the bag) inside the bag and then rest the lid on top. Pull the drawstring through to make it snug and leave for about six hours to cook.

Our first b’goven stew

 

Ecobuild 2013

I spent an enjoyable day at Ecobuild today. It is always interesting and I go every year. Every year is slightly different.

Impressions are that green infrastructure is growing! The number of stands selling and informing about greenroofs and green walls has grown from last year. This also seems to be reflected in the seminars too. Good news there.

Biotecture Living Walls

I had a good chat with lots of stand holders. Among them, John Dyer of Biotecture Living Walls, who generously answered all my questions. Apparently, they are installing super-duper indoor green walls in well-lit, well-to-do London homes as well as quite a few in commercial buildings. The photo below is one of their walls which clearly shows the way the plants are positioned.

plug planting on a green wall

Good news for materials, too. It may be that I didn’t pay them much attention last year, but it really seems like there were more stands showcasing materials. And more ‘traditionsl’ ones which are moving to be more sustainable, energy efficient and less carbon-heavy. Lots of concrete, stone and brick. Lots of wood, too, which is almost always thought of as a sustainable material.  Many companies had touch and feel exhibits.

Its all about the concrete

There is also a new substrate in town. PolyGrow were showing a polyurethane foam layer for greenroofs. They weren’t particularly friendly and even though there were three of them standing about doing nothing, I had to actually ask for attention. This is fairly typical of Ecobuild. However, they weren’t too forthcoming with information either and I actually had to ask the person if the layer of polyurethane was lighter than other substrates. (The answer is yes, as I very well knew) No word on how it preforms long term though, whether plants like it or what the carbon footprint of the polyurethane is. I just wasn’t getting any help so I moved on.

There was also much more of an emphasis on water management this year. I enjoyed seeing more rainwater harvesting systems. Like the one below:

Toilets are always a touchy subject. People don’t like to talk about them much. A few years ago, there was quite the craze for Far Eastern designed toilets which had heated seats, washed and blow dried. They offered far more than the bog standard British loo. But I’ve never met anyone who has one. This kind of design on the other hand isn’t fancy and doesn’t do much more than take water from the roof (grey water) and plumb it to the loo. Brilliant.

Speaking of roofs – and why not – what’s perhaps not such good news is that the solar companies seemed sparse compared to last year and they all appeared lack luster. I presume that this is due to Austerity (no-one’s got any money) and the falling market (from the reduction in Feed-in-Tarrifs). There wasn’t such a buzz round the stands. I think this is a shame because if you have a south facing roof and between £4 – 6,000 to spend it is still worth while doing. The cost of the panels has dropped enormously from about £6,000 to £2,000 per kW.

The Forever/Zed eBike

The Forever Zed eBike was wonderful. It is solar powered with its own docking station. The power is stored in a battery. It can be peddled and takes over when you stop peddling. They had a track set up and were offering rides on the bikes. It was a very long queue, so I didn’t get a go on one. The guy was extremely helpful and had lots of information. it would be great for those who aren’t too good going up hills, or have health conditions which could put them off cycling. At about £2,000 its still a bit too expensive, but as prototypes go it has a lot of promise. Here’s the solar array…

solar power for bicycle

This year I didn’t go to many seminars but did catch a talk and a panel presentation. This year they seem to be attracting more celebrities to speak and I caught a small snippet of one chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby (off the telly) with Joanna Lumley but it was so crowed that I couldn’t get near so the screen outside the seminar area was very helpful. She seemed to be praising Marks & Spencer very highly for their sustainability strategy. Then she started exhorting us all to live life to the full. So, I did. I left.

Much more interesting  was a panel chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby (again) called Beating the Performance Gap – Regulate or Educate? And featured lively debate between Don Foster  who is an MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, Bill Bordass, a research & policy adviser at the Usable Buildings Trust, John Tebbit, the deputy chief executive at Construction Products Association (CPA) and Pete Halsall who is the chair of Good Homes Alliance.

And, lastly, here’s my pet peeve with ecobuild. Every year there are those who think that sticking a few plastic flowers on a stand will make us stop to find out what they do. No, it really won’t.

Moving on now ……

The Shard

The Shard is one impressive building.  It is part of London’s drive to see whether a vertical city can be a sustainable city. Set across the river from St. Paul’s Cathedral and designed by Renzo Piano, it is just far away to legally mock the St Paul’s heights rule, by stretching up into the clouds. The website claims it is a sustainable building. Part of this claim is justified by the one-stop nature of the building – housing an hotel, offices, restaurants and residences and being positioned over Tower Bridge rail and tube station, which they suggest will reduce secondary journeys.

Under construction 2011

The website details how 95% of materials are sourced (or recycled) from demolition and it has a combined heat and power plant (CHP), which they claim “make savings of 10% CO2 annually” although they don’t say what the 10% is of or how they arrive at that figure. The most interesting (for me) is the triple skin glass façade which they describe as  “intelligent”. Everything seems to be either smart or intelligent these days. The intelligence seems to amount to the glass being constructed to let in light but simultaneously “minimising the effects of “solar gain”. Now, for the uninitiated (like me) the link to Wikipedia is your friend as it was mine. On reading this, it seems to me that maximising solar gain is what a building should do. That is: a resident might want solar gain in the winter to heat the rooms naturally, but not want this in summer when the sun is shining in through all that glass (like a greenhouse). So my question is this? Does this minimising of solar gain mean that the heating goes on in winter and the air conditioner goes on in summer to compensate for minimising (instead of maximising)? Surely a truly sustainable building might use passive techniques to capture the sun’s warmth and moderate it’s heat at certain times of the year – maximise the solar gain. In other words – how sustainable and energy saving is that actually? I am unable to find the answer anywhere. Maybe one of my readers has the solution?

The website also mentions a winter garden to provide “naturally ventilated workspaces” and again this raises more questions than it answers. Back to the height issue. Bruce and I decided to go an have a look at the “View from the Shard” as the experience is called.

We arrived at 9.30am as requested and queued for nearly half an hour. Once in through the door and up the stairs, another queue for the ticket machines which refused to print our tickets, which meant that we had to queue again for the main ticket desk. Once we had tickets in hand, the queue for the entry style was quite long and having got through this, there was another queue for the scanners and security. By this time were muttering “no view but lots of queue” and “Queue for the Shard” quite loudly. Although we were not in a good enough mood to make Star Trek references. (sorry, you either get this or you don’t) Once through security we freaked out the photographers by refusing to have our pictures taken (we weren’t going to buy them anyway) and then we rounded the corner to join the queue for the first lift (elevator). Once halfway up we got out and joined the queue for the second lift and then, finally, we exited onto the floor which led up the stairs to the lower viewing platform.

You could see how the management of the Shard were trying to separate people out into small, easily manageable and controllable numbers by making us go thorough sections and round corners etc. That would be ‘for our security’. By this time, however, the angels would have had to personally serenade me from the clouds, to make me forget the hassle of just getting in.

Infrastructure versus view

Once at the viewing platform it was disappointing because, as you can see above, the whole lower viewing platform is a double layer of glass with much of the Shardy structural architecture visible. This is quite interesting but they had sold the experience on the view and it was the view we wanted and expected. The infrastructure is intrusive and so viewing and photos are difficult. The second viewing platform upstairs had less people on it as it was open to the elements and it was cold. However, while the visibility through the structure was better – it was odd, because you couldn’t see as much.

The view

Yes, this sounds like an odd thing to say, but because it was not a very clear day and the building was so high, you could see very far away but not make out much. The curve of the Thames was impressive but it was difficult to identify anything except very large structures. I’m not even sure this makes sense. However, by contrast, going up Tower 42 which is not as high, provided a much better view of things because buildings weren’t so far away. The video on their website makes this point. We went up Tower 42 with friends and had drinks in the lounge which was much, much better than standing outside 70+ stories up on a freezing February morning trying to work a camera with frostbitten fingers.

The burning question is how much did this ‘experience’ cost? £25 per person. Now, if it had been £10 or even £15 I’d have swallowed the queues and the uncooperative ticket machines and the staff who didn’t know how to direct us effectively. However, at £25, my expectations are higher (forgive the pun). These expectations were not met and I found it disappointing. If anyone wants impressive views over London – go to Vertigo at Tower 42.

View at the top

However, having said all that, it is one impressive building which I have loved watching ‘grow’ over the past couple of years. Bruce and I even went along the Thames to see the opening night light show (above). I still love seeing it revealed from all angles across the city as I travel about. A few months ago Channel 4 showed a very good programme detailing the Shard as the impressive engineering feat it most certainly is.

I made a short video of the experience which is now on Youtube, here:

http://youtu.be/GtYZt_kKwUU

I visited the roof garden at the Brunei Gallery building recently. The gallery is attached to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). See last blog post.

Brunei Gallery Roof Garden

Probably not the best time of year to visit the garden, it was interesting nevertheless. Way above the London streets it was quiet and empty.  It was designed by Peter Swift and built in 2001. I’m not sure exactly what was here before that, but have found reference to the way the structure of the original garden, including the pergola, was kept and it had pools/ponds which were leaking.

The granite water basin has an engraving of the Kanji character of forgiveness. Planting consists of lemon thyme planted in squares in one section, which you can see in the top right hand corner of the first photo (above). And wisteria which climbs up the pillars.

Winter Wisteria

I’d love to have that office at the end of the walkway.

I especially liked the chain drains which hang from the gutters. And the use of materials like sandstone, green slate; silver grey granite chips, basaltic rock, larvikite stones (from Norway), and dark grey pebbles.

It was very calming and quiet and I shall return in the summer when it is warmer!

The World Eco Fibre & Textile (WEFT) Art Exhibition

I visited the Brunei Gallery attached to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) which is part of the University of London recently. They are right next to the Senate House Library where I am often found reading and wandering the halls admiring the architecture. But, shame on me, this was my first visit to the gallery and it was for an exhibition of textile art.

“Sun” Mixed media / bark cloth Ramsey Ong, Malaysia (There was an accompanying “moon”)

This is an astounding display of textiles from 35 countries ranging from Venezuela and Australia to India, the U.S. and Laos, to China and Kuwait. The textiles are hung down the stairs, across ceilings and draped round manikins, in cases and laid on benches as well as hung on the walls.

The range of articles displayed was wonderful. There were different textiles: hemp, wool, cotton, silk, bark and a wide variety of techniques for applying paint, ink, thread, texture and dye.

“If you Bloom” by Liang Xuefang, China. Embroidery on silk.

This piece: “If you Bloom” by Liang Xuefang, was my favourite. This photo doesn’t do it justice as in the flesh it is delicate and stunning painting of ducks swimming through the  lotus stems in winter. The depth of field portrayed by the Suzhou embroidery is extraordinary. The whole piece is so fine that it gently flutters in any breeze made by people walking around.

Suzhou embroidery using silk thread – detail for “If you Bloom” by Liang Xuefang.

The textiles are supplemented with crocheted jewellery, felted jackets and there are examples of textiles in the process of being woven on the ground floor gallery. I loved the  contemporary bark belts and handbags (no pics unfortunately).

The whole exhibition was stunning with the sumptuous dyes and the extravagant embroideries and embellishments. Interesting, then that the textiles which I photographed were all muted and delicate!

Silk jacket two-tone “Hsiang Yun Sha” mud silk ladies jacket with cloud motif from China – no creator attributed.

The gallery is in the middle of the busy SOAS courtyard and stepping into its halls, you immediately take on that quiet, church-like contemplation which is required of art gallery visits. What I really enjoyed was that a group of young women turned up and broke that reverend silence we have all been taught to uphold. It was all so exciting they just ran from piece to piece finding the styles and techniques they wanted to replicate themselves. That is the best recommendation for the gallery – that it is inspirational.

The World Eco Fibre & Textile (WEFT) Art is on until 23 March 2013. If you are in London, it is well worth a visit.

 

Bergamot Marmalade

I’ve used bergamot oil (citrus bergamia) for years, as part of my aromatherapy practice and for personal use. However, I have never seen one – in the flesh – so to speak. They  grow in California and round the Mediterranean and have not been available until recently in Britain. So, when I was casually shopping online on Ocado recently and saw that they were offering bergamots for sale, I jumped at the chance to buy some.

In the bag

I bought 6 (3 bags) as I didn’t know how many to get to be able to do anything with. When they arrived, they were green so I left them on the windowsill to ripen. They needed some time to turn yellow.

What to do with a bergamot? An internet search reveals that people are making marmalade out of them. Now that makes sense as they are citrus fruit. A cross between lemons and oranges (Citrus limetta and Citrus aurantium according to Wikipedia), they are extremely bitter like Seville oranges, but with a very complex and interesting taste.

bergamot ‘oranges’

I got 2 recipes and compared them. One from the Saving the Season blog and one from Yum in Tum blog (other blogs are available) and this gave a good idea of how to treat them. Basically, after comparing the blogs I decided to treat them as I would do Seville oranges when making marmalade.

Normally, jam is made with equal quantities of fruit to sugar and marmalade is made with twice the sugar to weight of fruit (because fruit like lemons, grapefruit and Seville oranges etc are much more bitter). The recipes both had different ways of measuring and treating the sugar than I am used to so I just stuck to what I know. Both recipes also recommended leaving the semi-cooked fruit or pips overnight, so I followed that advice. Here is what I did:

Bergamot Marmalade

• 2lbs bergamots. They should be yellow and ripe.
• 10 cups water
• 4lbs (white, Freetraid) sugar

Take about ¾ of the peel from 3 of the bergamots with a vegetable peeler and make sure it is very finely chopped. Or, for smooth marmalade do not remove peel.

Half the fruits and squeeze the juice. Then slice up the squeezed rinds into quarters. Wrap rinds and pips up in a muslin bag and add the juice through the bag to catch any stray pips. Tie up the bag and suspend in the jam pan. Add water and boil for 30 mins.

Cover and leave overnight (or up to 18 hours).

Boiling bergamot

Next day, treat as ‘normal’ marmalade: squeeze and drain the fruity bag and then discard the rind and pips. Heat up the liquid, adding the sugar and stirring it in. Do not boil until sugar is dissolved. Then boil until it achieves a ‘set’. This simply means that a few drops of marmalade on a plate (which has been cooling in the freezer) wrinkles when you draw your finger across it.

Pot up in sterilized pots, cover with wax papers and leave to cool. Pop on some labels and the marmalade should keep for at least a year. The very small jar in the middle is a taster jar for friends and the half filled jar on the right

pots of gorgeousness

is for us to start with.

More detailed instructions on how to make marmalade are available from Delia. She also gives some extra tips for jam and marmalade making.