Team Green Britain

We are planning a Food Festival for Burnham on Sea.  There are so many brilliant local food producers around us in Somerset - not just cider makers.  They don't get their produce into the supermarkets and it'd be great to help people get to know what they produce.   There's a market already but it's on a Friday and it's difficult for most working people to get there. So we hope to make a fun day out for families, and maybe make it easier for us all to buy local food. I hope that some of the kids thinking about careers might meet successful farmers, wine-makers and cake-bakers and be inspired.   And if it helps the high street stay independent then that'll be something to be proud of. Our high street's not just about food, but it does pull people together.  Everyone's got to eat! It's much easier to make a difference when you're working as a team.

There were loads of heavy metals in the soil: stuff from a tannery, and lots of remains of industrial buildings too. It had a weird beauty in parts - but only if you think that nature surviving beyond the odds is uplifting.  Buddleias growing from every concrete crevice, thistledown on the wind, that kind of thing. And the waterways had dreadful things floating in them. Dead things. It was sad and a bit eerie.  As if the undead were just around the bend.

Now, the whole park is dotted with meadows and banks, all ablaze with golden and fiery flowers, with paths criss-crossing, leading you through in an unhurried way. The planting of millions of wild-looking flowers seems to calm the atmosphere and open it up, so even with the Olympic crowds, it wasn't overwhelming. There were even places to sit where you'd be forgiven for thinking you were the only one around.  Genius. It seemed like a forgotten part of London and now it's a vibrant and inspiring place for families to relax and play. I can't get those fields of golden flowers out of my thoughts - as a by-product of the 2012 Olympic Games it has been such an inspiration. 

The Olympic Park was built as if the Games were just the starting point.  While I was at the park I heard that actually some of the temporary buildings there are so popular and well designed that the authorities are keen to keep them too.

I have been lucky enough to make some derelict sites into gardens, with a group of energetic neighbours.  We were never sure how long the gardens might last but we did it anyway and enjoyed the harvest all the more. We did it because we were fed up with seeing a wasted opportunity and because helping things grow is more fun than watching things decay. And we all had a lot more fun than we expected. The gardens still might be bulldozed any day, but we made them as if they could grow forever, just in case.

When I think about local food there are a lot of positive by-products as well. Less packaging is one of them. If we grew, bought or bartered food locally, we wouldn't need so much packaging. The real disaster is that lots of things ARE grown or made on our doorsteps - we're not so redundant as we think - if only we knew how to find them.  Because they don't advertise on telly or send us spam about our loyalty points, we sometimes don't even see that local farms and gardeners exist. Not only does going local reduce packaging, it also keeps our precious pounds local, it helps use land responsibly, it keeps essential skills alive.

I have been an occasional cyclist all my life but like most people my car use crept up and now I have the motorbike - zooming (in a responsible and law abiding fashion) around the Somerset Levels has been great fun. But seeing my town from the saddle has shown me a different side to the town, saved some fuel emissions and given me a healthy "worked my muscles" feeling.

So if you have been feeling a bit car guilty lately or a little sluggish find your cycle helmet, pump up the tyres and get out on your cycle and see things at a different pace!

The neighbours and visitors are really curious and excited about the plans for more trees and further food growing possibilities on the pockets of land surrounding our houses. 

I have met with the local council and a land search service and both were positive about the possibilities of providing more green space to grow things in Burnham on Sea. 

It is great to be in at the start of a project that is pulling the community together by doing things together because a lot of people making a few changes makes a big difference.

This will be the first play street in Somerset and I think the council will need some hand-holding.

People also plotted their existing fruit trees on an aerial map - we are thinking of applying for orchard status for the street! 

Today was a real contrast in the weather though (yesterday was glorious). I went through two waterproof jackets planting the trees. It was so satisfying walking past them when we had finished; seeing them looking upright and green and full of possibilities.

The Mayor even popped in to say "well done" and unveil a small plaque that we have had made. It was nice to get his seal of approval and support for our play street ideas.

Seeds in the green house are needing so much water as it is so humid and those that I have planted our have either been washed away or dried out (depending which afternoon I risked doing the work on).

My normal rota for sowing and planting out has been thrown out and looking back over my notebooks from previous years shows this year is quite exceptional.

Hey-ho - some things are flying along - rocket, chard and peas. I fear for the potatoes with so much rain, I think quite a few may have rotten and I may have to go for a second round in order to get a crop at all.

We are loaning the eco manager to neighbours now. It is so small and easy to set up no one has had any issues or problems yet. We have started with the group that we work with to organize street parties but we are going to use our Jubilee Street Party as an opportunity to get the eco manager into other people's hands too  

This is a big step forward for us. Although not an ideal time of the year I have been inspired by the Jubilee Wood project promoted by the Woodland Trust's "Plant a Tree for the Jubilee" project and we are planning to hold a planting day over the Jubilee weekend to leave a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.

As I sat down to write this, I put the kettle on. I rigged up an energy meter by the computer so I know that the kettle uses 2.9kW. And it took 4 minutes. It tells me that, if the kettle were constantly boiling for a month, it'd cost me £178.70.  Blimey, that's before you even count the tea bags.

Put a load on - 40 degrees, cotton cycle. Starts at 2.30. Seems to be consuming 12watts. That's not much - maybe it uses more on a spin cycle? Need to watch this more closely.

It's one of those bright shiny deceptive spring days today, so I dashed outside first thing to get busy in the garden and swiftly retreated for further insulation! [I used to call it scarf and gloves, but my energy-consciousness comes with its own vocabulary].

I checked the meter of the solar PV panels on the way in - the meter is flickering with numbers changing all the time. I guess it is affected by the clouds, directness of the sun's rays, passing seagulls, that kind of thing.  It seems to be around 600W.  I'm not sure what that number means in real terms but it doesn't immediately offend so I'll choose to be pleased. Mildly.

I click through to the 'Total' readings, hoping the numbers might have a few more zeros.  150kWhrs in total so far...hmm...still havenoidea what that means.  How many cups of tea? How many loads of laundry? Before we had solar panels I did the washing assiduously after dark on the off-peak of the eco tariff.  Now I strictly follow the sun, and I can hear the beeping of the last load demanding attention right now.  It's the perfect drying day, so long as I can hang it on the line before losing all sensation in my extremities.  

Clicking through the numbers again I find that the total is equivalent to 88kg of CO2! Yay! For some reason this seems to be tangible, like the bags of sugar that dieters talk about.  I think I'd be really impressed if my weight-watching friends came up with this number. Now all I need is a weigh-in to boast at, a weekly meeting to keep tabs on my carbon target weight.

The street I live on is called The Grove, but there are hardly any trees remaining.  One got knocked over by a rubbish truck last week and within the day the hole had been tarmac'd over.  I want to start with replacing the trees, then the verges.

My neighbours want a green space to get together in, to eat out on, to play in and to sit and watch the birds.  I want to find a plot of land to plant an orchard on so that people can share the harvest and enjoy the space freely.  As it is for the community, and run by the community, then the community can decide what else happens there: fruit and vegetables, an outside kitchen, a space to share skills and stories, a green gym, a pool of bicycles, a vegetable delivery scheme, even piggies and hens...So long as it is safe and friendly and free to the people who live here, then I'll work hard to make it happen.

The Team Green Britain Heroes prize would be just the start of The People's Plot.  I'm confident that together we can find funding, barter skills and beg favours to develop it and make it grow. In fact, it has already started: I'll be updating our progress on the webpage and blog, and tweeting about getting things done in the community, growing things and reclaiming our green space for people to use how we wish.  Follow me on Twitter @thepeoplesplot.

We are planning a Food Festival for Burnham on Sea.  There are so many brilliant local food producers around us in Somerset - not just cider makers.  They don't get their produce into the supermarkets and it'd be great to help people get to know what they produce.   There's a market already but it's on a Friday and it's difficult for most working people to get there. So we hope to make a fun day out for families, and maybe make it easier for us all to buy local food. I hope that some of the kids thinking about careers might meet successful farmers, wine-makers and cake-bakers and be inspired.   And if it helps the high street stay independent then that'll be something to be proud of. Our high street's not just about food, but it does pull people together.  Everyone's got to eat! It's much easier to make a difference when you're working as a team.

We fixed and insulated the roof and walls first, and wrapped the doors with draught-busting tape. We found a local company to install solar thermal panels, so we had hot water even before we had a boiler.  That kept us warm until December, when we thought we should ask our brilliant plumber to put in an efficient condensing system boiler.  We actually only need to for a third of the year - oh the irony.I did lots of research about the most efficient choices - I went to Ecobuild show in London and chatted to loads of manufacturers of boilers, insulation, solar panels, wind mills, rainwater harvesting tanks etc.  We spoke to energy industry experts about which green energy generation methods were cost-effective, and which were actually carbon-efficient.  Some methods for small-scale generation have a higher carbon load from manufacturing and transporting parts than they will ever save in their lifetime. 

 My partner and I try to be as self-sufficient as possible, which starts with reducing our energy usage.  Of course we turn off appliances at the wall but we try to live an outdoor life as much as possible.  We grew up with "Why don't you?" - remember that? - so six years ago we gave away the TV and have been doing more interesting things instead.  We grow our own fruit and veg, and have created a really small-holding in the middle of our street.  We keep rabbits and quail, which the cats guard very well.  We had an allotment near our last house, but now we have space in our garden to grow our own. We have herbs for all purposes and fruit trees to be getting on with, and plans for more.  Did you know it only takes 5 fruit trees to be classed as an orchard?  It all takes a bit of work to maintain, but it beats paying for a gym membership! And it is fun to be in the garden and be aware of how we interact with nature.  So the shed has a green roof which we made and which helps keep it warm and save the rainwater.  And on the south-facing window is our trusty solar radio - we're shameless singers-alongers.