Moments to remember over the years

Sailing

We all have moments that become pivotal in our lives.  Setting us on a course that sets us on the journey to …….

Mine was learning to sail around the age of 9 years – well 8 years if you include the first time I went sailing. In what appeared to be a very slow gaff rigged, slow sailing boat.

Being shipped off to boarding school at a tender age. My father was a merchant ships Captain.

The school had a lake with a mixed fleet of dinghies. I learned to sail first in a Cadet – a small but lively dinghy you could race. Of course, we did with some success.

The school also had quite faster ‘Enterprise’s ‘ which provided a very pleasant afternoons racing, not to mention quite a workout…

 

 

Progressing to 420’s a much more modern design and an impressive workout. I preferred to helm, flying around on a trapeze whilst fun was a sure way to get soaked.

 

On leaving school, the opportunity to sail diminished somewhat until a friend who Ocean sailed invited me to crew on a Contessa 32, suddenly sailing became serious, a superb yacht with great handling characteristics, a rather steep new price back in 1979.  A vessel still going strong today..

 

 

Field Hockey

When sailing wasn’t possible I played grass Hockey across London for over 25 years…it was a different level of energetic playing from September until April with tournaments across Europe in the summer, my favorites were trips to Hamburg and Amsterdam, although I did arrange one to Lyon which was a little different.

On moving to the USA in 1999, it took me a little while to rediscover lake sailing.- Lakes here are much larger , with commensurately larger sailing boats. It’s way more fun and convenient.

Sailboat Racing

Sailing over the weekend, a pastime that is both enjoyable, exciting, fun and yet very calming. The winds were as always very variable, around 10 mph gusting to perhaps 20mph – sufficient to heel our boat, driving her forward quickly.

Stiletto - Capri 25
“Stiletto” – our Capri 25

The question is – how long can you keep the cocktail upright?

coctail on stiletto

On a more peaceful run down the lake we talked about ‘Those Moments that stand out in your life”

 

Sedate Sailing

We still own ‘Stiletto’ but have added a rather more salubrious Catalina 28. ‘Quinley’ has many more creature comforts as our ages march onward. A galley, showers, a wheel, bimini, open transom, inboard diesel power, hot and cold pressurized water. all manner of instruments. Recently new sails and a bowsprit…

                                                                                                 

 

Work

When we reached work moments, some were amusing. I was asked to write them down. So here are a few. Let me know what you think ?

During college days we, that is the student committee – I was Social Secretary, liked to produce lighthearted pranks from time to time. Being Social Secretary it fell to me to help create, vet and often implement said pranks..

We often had outside groups visit the college for talks, or demonstrations or even just to visit.

This particular day, the Women’s Institute was coming for some reason, the day was warm and sunny, so the night before we decided to ‘decorate’ a crab apple on the lawn just outside the main house.

When the coach arrived the next morning the ladies were confronted with a new strain of ornamental fruiting tree – “The Spaghetti Tree” was fully covered with over 20 lbs of the very best spaghetti, soaked for 10 mins and boiled until soft enough to adorn the tree.  The tree was also attracting a large colony of birds who took particular liking to the delicious fare.

Many pictures were taken of this phenomenon as a sign explained the tree only fruited once every 12 years !

This spurred on to more things horticultural, so a few weeks later yet another plant was discovered , this time outside the refectory a paving slab had been pushed up and a new strain of oak tree had emerged – Quercus australis inverta was indeed a site to see, this Upside Down Australian Oak Tree had it’s trunk buried in the ground with a full compliment of roots spreading out to a height of 5ft.

Some years later I came across this amazing tree…the Andansonia

Adansonia_grandidieri

As I have time I will add more such escapades.

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Eating fresh local food

It’s time to start growing vegetables and herbs at home, it’s even more important this year here in the USA with the terrible drought in California that has cut water usage by 25%.

The most effective is the Square Foot Garden method invented by Mel Bartholomew. We will be interviewing Mel on our podcast very soon. You can find his book Square Foot gardening – A new way to garden in less space with less work at any good book store.

Square Foot Gardening

For those who do not have a garden space, our latest interview on our podcast at www.growingtrends.org is for you.

Ann and I were privileged to interview Nellie, she is a young mother who is passionate about eating fresh produce on a low budget.

Our interview is inspiring for those who want to find the best way to eat local fresh food.  Nellie will explain how to balance your budget and yet find good healthy fresh food.

This is one very astute lady, who is passionate about food – she happens to be a good cook too.

 

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Fracking – is this relatively new method of oil & gas extraction the way of the future ?

WorldWideWEsponsibility

Some of you may know that Ann & I have a new podcast as well as this blog.

Many years ago, whilst at school.I learned to write  ‘joined up’ or ‘cursive’ style with a quill pen , you can imagine in my ripe old age, it takes me a little time to catch on to new methods of communicating.

quillpen

That said Ann & I have made a quantum leap forward by using Internet Radio and Podcasting, we call the show Growing Trends.

Our latest podcast is all about Fracking.

shale_gas_extraction

This newish method of extracting oil and natural gas has caused quite a stir around the world.

Prices at the pumps have more than halved, there are stories of polluting and even earthquakes caused by this method. Then there are the stories of the huge drop in carbon emissions by countries using this oil production method.

We thought it would make a great interview for Growing Trends so we found, with the help of Bill Sosinsky, an expert, Rich Sapienza to talk to us about this oil extraction method, come and listen to the interview.. Growing Trends Podcast

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With Spring around the corner let’s think about water.

A somewhat unusual pathway
A somewhat unusual pathway

We have all rather taken water for granted over the years. Today for some it is becoming a topic of conversation, for others it is a topic of concern, and for yet others they are not sure if or when they will see enough potable water again.

Many European countries have developed system to recapture and reuse water more than once, others have quite simple systems of returning water as quickly as possible back to the aquifer ( it’s still a long process).

North America is waking up to the idea that extended droughts mean much more serious water conservation, something South American countries have been struggling with for quite some time.

As homeowners there are a number of ways to help preserve our dwindling water supplies, some are very effective others not so, but as they say every little helps.

The simplest is, I suppose the rainwater barrel, it will collect up to 40 gallons of water ( which means it just needs about 1/3rd of inch of rainfall for each downpipes to fill one). It’s best to keep out of full sun as in hot areas the water could become rather too hot for use on plants.

water barrels

A slightly improved version of this would be a cistern, as seen below, they were often circular for strength. – this particular one would be quite costly.

Brick cistern

Today  a much more interesting wrapped interlocking framing system has been devised – the ground is excavated and a waterproof membrane is laid on the sub base then filled with rectangular ‘Versitanks’. – These tanks can be from very small single units to many hundreds as seen here.

Underground-Stormwater-Tanks-and-Drainage-Sheets-with-Lighweight-Design-from-Elmich-Australia-406773-l

These can be almost any size or shape.

To get the surface water to these storage vessels requires a few more modifications to the current surface water run off arrangements.

The first is a simple slot drain to divert the water from a surface, such as this car parking area.

Collecting water from a car park area

They can also be used at home to collect water from a driveway, here the downpipes will also be connected to the slot drain and probably then run to a soakaway.

House driveway

So what’s a soakaway? well most folks in England will know this, however my colleagues in the USA are just not as familiar with these simple victorian solutions to collecting water for returning to the aquifer.

brick rubble soaraway

In it’s simplest form all that is required is a hole filled with porous material – such as the brick version above. Drainage pipes run to this and water then is able to slowly seep back into the sub strata. ( Not a good idea in heavy clay soils as it will take way too long)

This much larger version is able to hold a huge amount of water, which can be reused for irrigation or just returned to the aquifer.

Larger version

The collection method from say a down pipe is quite simple, involving a gulley pot .

Gulley pot

A simple gulley pot is used to ‘grab’ the water before directing it to the drainage pipe. Below the gulley pot has a downpipe collector, and a slot drain collector and localized surface drain all in one unit.

Gulley

Once the water has been collected it’s a simple matter to design a recycling system.

In it’s simplest form, often used by early Egyptians a localized storage vessel often made of clay was used right next to say a fruit tree.

localised watering

Next came a slightly larger arrangement, although if you try this remember water can heat up, this might not be healthy for plants…

water barrels

Finally a rather more sophisticated system that addresses many issues and is virtually hidden from view.

Complete system

This next system requires , quite a lot of time, planning and expense, but in warmer climates it is probably the future solution. Perhaps the lawn will need to be re thought as, it would seem to me that growing more fresh produce is a much wiser use of the space.

Complete system

Our web site www.grotrends.com will have details of our upcoming radio shows and podcasts on this subject, you may also visit iTunes for a recent show or www.growingtrends.org

Ann & Chris would love to hear from you with ideas and suggestions for the show, please drop us a line at info@grotrends.com

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