{"id":1119,"date":"2009-11-30T13:21:58","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T13:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/astraea.net\/blog\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2009-11-30T13:21:58","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T13:21:58","slug":"bt-notes-good-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/bt-notes-good-times\/","title":{"rendered":"BT Notes – good times …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since our last newsletter we have had some good times.\u00a0 There was the visit of Ed and Mary-Lou from Canada which we enjoyed so much.\u00a0 It was wonderful to share a few weeks with them and we are so grateful for their time here.\u00a0 They pitched in with everything, as usual, and gave us a bit of a holiday from the usual routine.<\/p>\n

As their time in Ireland came to an end, I left for a week or so in India where I visited the Pestalozzi Asian Village in Dehradun.\u00a0 It is more than a decade since I was in India and this was my first visit to Dehradun.\u00a0 When I visited in the mid-90s the population of the country was 850 million; today it is 1.2 billion.\u00a0 In a decade they’ve added the population of the US to a country with a quarter of the land area!\u00a0 It is a country of great contrasts – those making a living in garbage to those living in princely splendour.\u00a0 It is amazing how well the country works.\u00a0 There is great tolerance and adaptation.\u00a0 The best part of the trip was meeting the children and people who make the Asian Village work so well.\u00a0 It was a pleasure to see children who appreciated an education and engaged with life in so many ways.\u00a0 Eventually I’ll get the photos of the others who participated and put them online in the gallery<\/a> which shows a different world to the one we know here.<\/p>\n

In the meantime a video telling the stories of three Pestalozzi scholars was completed by filmaker Dick Roberts.\u00a0 You can see it online here<\/a>.\u00a0 Thanks <\/tt>to Colm McElwee for doing an amazing job of converting the video from NTSC to PAL and producing a number of copies of both.\u00a0 (Colm did an amazing job and I hope he’ll help make the next video.\u00a0 I highly recommend him for any video work from parties and weddings to conversion of tape to disk etc – his website is carlowdigital.com<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

We also had a visit from a couple of new friends – Juliana and Richard Fenn, who visited us on a brief trip through Ireland and then came back for a week or so to pursue a “writers’ retreat” here.\u00a0 They are both authors – Richard being a prolific author<\/a> of academic books on spirituality and religion in society.\u00a0 They gave me encouragement to write a story about changing course from suit to soil.\u00a0 That has turned out to be more difficult than I ever imagined, but fun.\u00a0 Thanks for the encouragement Richard and Juliana.<\/p>\n

On the subject of books, (my hero) Pratchett’s latest is out.\u00a0 Unseen Academicals<\/a> about football!\u00a0 Enjoy.<\/p>\n

It must be winter now.\u00a0 It’s still dark when we feed the cats and birds in the morning.\u00a0 The frost has brought down most of the remaining leaves, though beech trees somehow hang on to theirs.\u00a0 I’m spending more time logging.\u00a0\u00a0 And the “office” has moved next to the stove because the study (ex-garage) is ?!@\u00a3$%& freezing.<\/p>\n

The logging can be quite fun – in the woods, clearing ground, cutting up a fallen tree and bringing it back to the log shed.\u00a0 We got a couple of loads done over the weekend and would have got more if the equipment was a bit more reliable – an engine valve ring comes off every now and then and the last time it was just after sundown in the woods so I fixed it by torch light – a first. If you are interested in logging with me, give me a call to arrange it (9155037).<\/p>\n

The garden looks a bit more under control, mostly because the cold has stopped growth.\u00a0 The last few tomatoes are coming out of the green house and a few beets and chard are still harvesting.\u00a0 The chickens did quite well this summer.\u00a0 Three hens produced about 15 chicks all now big enough to survive winter, provided fantastic mr fox doesn’t call on us. \u00a0 The maintenance list is long and it is not too soon to prepare for next season.\u00a0 Some planting can even start now – allium (and flowering bulbs if you cultivate flowers) can go in, and green house plants can be ordered for seeding in a month so.<\/p>\n

Though sometimes it seems that planning becomes redundant because of the weather – we had a surprisingly wet summer<\/a> and November has been one of the wettest on record<\/a>, though also warm enough to promote some spring blooms in the garden!\u00a0 This kind of fluctuation gives credence to the idea of climate change, but that observation seems to have passed our leaders by, as have the lessons of the recession.\u00a0 We are paying for those mistakes of economic mismanagement, so I wonder how soon the ecological mismanagement is going to punish us.\u00a0 Some would say it’s happening now – as they wade about their kitchen or watch their livestock float across the fields.\u00a0 The Copenhagen Summit in December is billed as a last chance to change human consumption patterns.\u00a0 But its outcome will be similar to that of Johannesburg and Kyoto – too little too late.\u00a0 Until everyone, especially those in developed economies like us, changes behaviour the problems of society, economy and ecology will continue.\u00a0 But Christmas is coming so we must accumulate large amounts of plastic, get more stuff and travel to the melting Alps.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Or if you have your feet in the ground, make something for your family and friends instead.\u00a0 One of our readers, Joe, sent his recipe for Sweet Tomato Relish (see below) which he says is ideal to lift a boring sandwich or great with cheese.\u00a0 Thanks Joe!<\/p>\n

You can look forward to the last few weeks of Pam’s winter yoga classes.\u00a0 Or maybe give a spring course of lessons to a friend as a special Christmas present (call Pam on 9155037 for a voucher).<\/p>\n

As we head towards the longest night (in the northern hemisphere), about 21 December, it is the season to think about new beginnings.\u00a0 Let’s wish for peace and love and getting through difficult times<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Tom<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Joe’s Sweet Tomato Relish<\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/p>\n