Rent a tree and urban farms



Well suddenly it’s Christmas so for all of you who are celebrating Christmas I wish you a very happy Christmas. Well there are lots of Christmas trees everywhere, I was pretty shocked when I read that if the trees are not reused or recycled they end up in landfills.
It costs the UK approximately twenty two million pounds to put about eight million trees into landfills. So I was delighted to read about a father and his fourteen year old son in Scotland, who came up with a business idea that benefits the environment.
They rent Christmas trees and then collect them and replant them. Each tree has its own Christmassy name, many families get very attached to their tree and rent the same tree each year. Clever idea.
I was also very interested in an idea that is gaining momentum in USA it’s called agrihoods short for agricultural neighbourhood. In Detroit they have 1,400 community gardens. There is one called MUFI the letters stand for Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. Detroit is known as a food desert fresh food hard to find and expensive. The founder Quran Blunt felt poor people have the absolute fundamental right to eat affordable fresh food. Food matters good food he says is vital for mental and physical well being. Over time the project acquired three acres of derelict land and with volunteers and members the land was transformed. They wanted it to be nonprofit making but able to sustain itself. They grow a lot of peppers and make a hot red sauce which is popular and provides income. They grow a huge range of vegetables. Every Saturday they have a free market people can come and harvest what they need. They also run educational programs, there’s a cafe cooking school and meeting places. Wonderful vision.
Keep warm bloggers see you in 2023. Over and out London.




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Light and dark

I do hope that you are all keeping well and keeping warm. The cold spell in the UK continues, it snowed last Monday and hasn’t yet melted layers of clothes and hot drinks required. Well Christmas is nearly here and in many churches all around the world Nativity plays are being performed. Some churches put on productions using real animals.
In a Baptist church in Brisbane Australia they even had camels to bring the three kings. However the cheeky camels had a different idea, they escaped before the performance . They are called Cyrus, Morgy and Benjamin, they were led to freedom by Cyrus. He opened the gate and the camels went for a wander across three suburbs in Brisbane. They were caught when they stopped for a grass snack. Drivers were said to be stunned when they saw the camels wandering along the highways. They did return in time to make their entrance in the Nativity.

The days are getting shorter so it’s lovely to see all the Christmas lights. Some people are very enthusiastic about putting up lights, many people do so to raise money for various charities. I was wondering where the custom of decorating places with lights came from. So I reached out to Google. Apparently the tradition began with Thomas Edison who invented the incandescent light bulb. He strung up lights outside his laboratory in New Yorktown to draw attention to his invention.

Lights are very cheerful, however lights are also detrimental to a number of animal species especially bats. Light sensitive bats are going hungry as they need darkness to feed, leading to their death. Bats are very important to ecosystems they pollinate flowers and keep the number of insects low. Researcher Luke Romaine from an Environmental Trust in Devon is trying to find ways to help the bats thrive. He has set up “dark corridors”, which are bat friendly this idea has been successful and hopefully it will be repeated in many areas.
For those of you who celebrate I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Over and out London.



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Spectacular Nature and the kindness of people

Hello I hope all is well with you. As I look out of the window the skies are a leadened grey and there’s a heavy mist. It’s very chilly here and we had a lot of snow for London. So when I saw a photo of a sky in Wyoming in the USA I was really amazed by the cloud formation. Rare wave clouds were seen, these clouds are called Kelvin Helmotz they must be truly spectacular to see. It is a very rare phenomenon, apparently caused from air moving in the same direction but at two different altitudes. The higher layer of air moves much faster. I had to Google to find this information.
A story I read that really brought me cheer, a baker from North Yorkshire, has shown a great deal of kindness to his local community. Ed Trewhitt has his ovens on for a lot of hours a day, which warms the rooms above the bakery. He decided to furnish the space and open it up as a warm space for people who are struggling with their heating bills. He provided board games and other people contributed items of furniture and books. Teas and coffees are available too. Ed said his offer won’t change the world, but he hopes it will take some pressure off people.
This wasn’t the first time he’s provided service to his community, he provides free school meals for children as well. We need some of our leaders to be more like Ed.
Bloggers keep warm, over and out London.



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