Tatnam Organic Patch Newsletter – May 2005

ERIC BIRD 1946-2005 remembered by Melanie

I often think how lucky we are to have such a mix of characters at the TOP garden. Even the rhyming names make me smile. There’s Gary and Barry, Derek and Eric…

There’s Mark with his knowledge of the secret life of insects and very spicy casseroles. There was Barry (now moved to Kent) with his ability to invent and make anything from scrap, most notably the toilet cistern irrigation system in the greenhouse, and his enthusiasm to taste any plant, leaves, flowers and all.

Then there was Eric. He was, in his own words, an eccentric and this is what people most loved about him. He was easily recognisable with his pencil in his beard. He always entertained us at TOP gatherings with his guitar and sea shanties. He had knowledge and interest in so many subjects from green living to sailing, canoeing, marine wildlife, boat building, beer making and bees.

At his funeral we were amazed to hear about other parts of his life. You only seem to know someone in the context in which you see them. For most of us this was through Friends of the Earth and the TOP garden. But he had worked hard as skipper to enable less able people to experience sailing and played his guitar with the AMP group, an organisation to help people with head injuries or similar problems, which Eric wanted to call the Head Cases!

He had been on some amazing canoe trips. One of his canoeing friends called Andy, told me that on one trip they had been canoeing around the Cornish coast for several days and stopped off to buy food supplies. Eric looked a little worse for wear, covered with 3 days of sea salt, beard and hair dishevelled, elbows sticking out of holes in his sweater.. He went into a local bakers and commented how lovely the buns looked. The lady in the shop took pity of what she thought was a waif and stray and gave him a large bag of buns and said “there you go dear, have them on me.” Eric thought this was very amusing.

He was excited that the television programme on memory loss, that he had wanted to make for so long, was finally happening. In fact Sally from Channel 5 interviewed and filmed Eric shortly before he died. (Sally hopes that the programme will still go ahead).

Eric followed his beliefs and principles, even if it wasn’t the trendy thing to do. Him and Jo lived “the good life” keeping sheep, chickens and bees, long before Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers made it popular

Eric will be missed for his sense of humour, enthusiasm for life and the way he led his daily life, always with least impact on the environment.

TOP – The View from the Chair, Mark Spencer

I’m sure that we have all been through the loss of Eric Bird in our own way and for me I will never forget him because every time we have a brew up I will think of him and at TOP that is very frequently!

I must say I have been very pleased at the number of young and enthusiastic gardeners that have visited the site in recent months and at the considerable progress we have thus made with the intensive beds. Full marks to all involved! We are also progressing well with the new raised pond (we need a bung – preferably cork – any offers?) and with any luck we will be well organised in time for the 1st school visit on Tuesday 14th June. If there is any one who could help with this please contact myself, Gary or Jan, we need a minimum of 3 TOP helpers to make the school visits a success.

Gary arranged for a Permaculture group to visit the site on 3rd May which was very good. They were very interested in the site, saying that they found it very inspirational and they even did some hands on practical work and constructed an interesting edible micro-garden.

If any one wishes to visit TOP and is not sure what to do please ask myself, Gary or Andy if available or check the To Do sheet that Gary has hung in the Greenhouse.

Thanks to everyone for your keen hard work on the site and here is hoping for a good growing summer.

Permaculture at TOP? A request from the secretary

I have just successfully completed a 90 hour course in Permaculture design and intend to go on to do the Diploma in Applied Permaculture which involves a minimum of 2 years work on 10 projects in order to show that I can apply Permaculture principals to a range of situations (For a brief description of Permaculture see below). I would like to do some of this work at TOP and am respectfully asking all of you for your support in this. It would involve TOP members putting forwards some ideas for different areas of the site and asking me to implement them (I would quite like to include the AGM approved composting toilet as a part of this work). There is a short interview process regarding visions and long term goals and some follow up work before seeking the group’s approval of the final design. This is then implemented, observed, reviewed and tweaked for problems including any maintenance work. If any of you have any questions, objections or would like to be involved then please do not hesitate to contact me on 01202 679517

“Permaculture Explained” (Briefly!)

Permaculture is working with nature to make a better world for all. By observing the natural world we can see that there are a set of principles at work. Permaculture design uses these principals to develop integrated systems to provide for our needs of food, water, shelter, energy and community in ways that are healthy and efficient. Through Permaculture design we can improve the quality and productivity of our individual lives, our society and our environment.

Permaculture has an ethical basis:

  • Earthcare – enabling all life systems to continue and increase
  • People care – enabling access to the resources people need for a good quality of life
  • Limits to population and consumption – to share resources for Earthcare and Peoplecare
    Regards, Gary Try www.permaculture.org.uk/ or www.permaculture.org.au/ or the “Crazy Palestinan’s Permaculture page” – his name for it, at www.thefarm.org/permaculture/ for ideas

    NOWRUZ - PERSIAN NEW YEAR

    It should be no surprise how interrelated festivals are worldwide, and how similar the customs are, especially relating to spring, renewal and rebirth. An Iranian friend sent me a happy Persian new year wish (thanks Zara !), with a link to the following information on an Iranian tourism website www.bestirantravel.com/culture/newyear/newyear.html
  • Ancient Persian New Year, Noruz falls on the spring equinox, around March 21st, on the Gregorian (western) calendar. Noruz is based on solar calendar which is the direct descendant of the Zoroastrian calendars of pre-Islamic Persia. This calendar has 365 days divided into 12 months The start of this calendar is from the first day of spring of the Hegira (622 AD) To convert this calendar to approximate date in Gregorian calendar simply add 621 to the Iranian year.
  • The observance of Noruz leans heavily on the rebirth of earth and its crops. In spring, everything is renewed and reborn in nature. Flowers bloom and trees blossom.
  • The preparation for Noruz starts well in advance and lasts for 13 days.
  • A couple weeks before arrival of Noruz, Iranians clean their house which called Khaneh Tekani, literal translation means “shaking your house”. Like nature in spring, this symbolizes throwing out old things and bringing new things. Also, you buy new things for your house or for yourself. The most enjoyable part of Noruz for Iranian children is probably going shopping and purchasing new clothes. In Iran, shops before Noruz is very crowded, similar to christmas in western world.
  • Another preparation you do is planting seeds. Wheat or lentil seeds are used to make Sabzeh, symbolizing rebirth.
  • On the 13th day of New Year called Sizdeh bedar, everyone goes on a picnic.
  • On the eve of the last Wednesday of the old year, called Shabe Chahar Shanbeh Suri, people gather on the streets in their neighborhood or even in their own backyards and jump over a fire while singing the phrase below over and over.
  • The flames represent good so you jump over the fire to take away the bad luck. You sing “sorkhiyeh to az man, zardieh man az to” which means give me your healthy red glow and take my yellow color away.
  • After jumping over the fire, children usually go door to door in their neighborhood “ghashogh zani”, banging on pots with spoons. Kids cover themselves so they cannot be known, knock on the doors and get treats.

    And there we were blaming the Americans for introducing ‘Trick or Treat’.

    Melanie, Derek and Barry remembering Eric and contemplating tea

    Songs of the Sea

    As Melanie highlighted, when Eric remembered to bring his guitar, sea shanties could often be heard ringing across the patch. Even without an instrument, we have been known to break into song. So in a fitting tribute to Eric, a large group of TOPS members and friends collected on the patch to remember him, and to sing his favourite songs; Maids when you’re young, and Fiddlers Green, which was also played at the funeral (after a panic search). We also had a go at a number of other shanties, Gary read some thoughts Eric had penned in 2001 about how important the patch was to him, and we drank Organic Beer in his honour (sadly not home made – it doesn’t travel).

    There’s lots of lyrics are available at www.jsward.com/shanty/ which groups the songs by their role onboard sailing ships. And if you don’t know the tunes, www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lists/alpha.html has quite a few of them with samples attached.

    Dead slugs leave no trails – Andy wishes them gone

    Every now and again, I get sentimental and suppose that slugs and snails have a useful place in the garden. As I’m not the tidiest of gardeners, someone has to take those old leaves, and turn them into useful compost. In fact the compost heap is for me a sanctuary to these molluscs, if I see them there, they are safe.

    But then when I look to see how my seedlings are doing, and find bare stems where carefully nurtured seedlings had stood, I remember why I persevere with the ‘organic’ control mechanisms – a torch, and a jam jar, plodding around after dusk.

    On the patch it is tricky because we are more rarely there. I remember seeing song thrushes in the garden as a child. I haven’t seen one for years. But hedgehogs, frogs and toads are great predators for snails and slugs, making a pond a must in any organic garden. Sage, Hyssop and Thyme can apparently act as guard plants.

    Beer-traps are a favourite that we have used with some success. Drown them happy. There never seems to be enough beer though to fill the traps with though. Day traps are an alternative. These are nooks and crannies that are favourite for slugs and snails to hide in to sit out the heat of the day. Providing them with known hideouts that can be lifted and emptied at your convenience is a cunning way to avoid nocturnal excursions. But of course if you fail to empty them regularly, you have just provided a convenient hotel close to a food source.

    When we first raised the vegetable beds on the patch, we used fixed boards on the sides. These provided the ideal slug hotel, not accessible by us. We have now changed most of them to ‘removable’ slats. Held loosely in place at 45 degrees by a couple of pegs, they can easily be inspected and cleared.

    I fear that on balance we are still providing more help than hindrance. But some people love them www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/5924/allaboutsnails.htm, and others have made a science out of getting rid of them www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html

    If you have any articles for TOP News, please give them to Andy Hadley poole_la21@yahoo.com 01202 389782 1