A hot summer’s day at Rails Farm
As I am writing this article the heat wave is on its way. Will the heat record of 2019 of 38.7 degrees Celsius be broken this year? The chances are very good as we carrying on pumping CO2 in the atmosphere, chopping off ancient trees for HS2 and don’t really change our life style to compensate for the recovery of nature. There was something called Cop 26 last year, does anyone remember it, or even worse does anything happen because of it? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Hence, every one of us in our community has to take action.
Don’t cut the grass so low that it becomes a brown desert, allow it to photosynthesise without watering it. Collect your grey water to keep your plants alive. You can do this by washing your dishes, fruit and veg in a bowl and empty that in your flower or veggie bed. We connected our kitchen sink outlet to a water butt and use it straight away.
The pond
Our pond is fed by the grey water from our sink and bath from our upstairs bathroom. The water flows first into our first pond, planted up with sugar grass to clean it and then overflows into the second which you can see in the photo. The plants flourish and the animal world appreciates it.
Try to cycle instead of using the car. Even the incredibly high fuel prices do not seem to change people’s behaviour of speeding up, or letting the engine run while parking.
Combine meeting with friends doing exercise and walk or cycle to them. Avoid using air conditioning, rather plant trees in the next season (poplars grow easily and quickly) and ensure your loft is properly insulated, important in winter and summer. Share a car when you are going to the beach or to a pub in the evening, only if you cannot reach it by bike. Fortunately, more and more people have discovered the convenience and fun of cycling on an e bike.
All in all, try to think at the environment and how you can make it a better place for all species not just us, the more developed homo sapiens. Please, always remember that we are happy to advise and help, just contact us and come along for a cuppa and we can show you what we did and do.
Don’t forget our monthly Saturday’s ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ German chat session!
Gaby & Christoph