Just reposting this from our time at Treflach Farm in Shropshire - ten years ago now! We're planning to start composting courses at Perth Community Farm and it reminded me of our almost zero waste life at Treflach... thanks to our access to land...
5th August 2016
Ruth and I are really proud of everything we've explored here on the farm. I do take issue with people who say or write words to the effect: "Oh dear, everything's going down the tubes but there's nothing we can really do, it's a hoax, it won't happen in my life time, scientists shouldn't frighten us, the government will sort it out etc etc, so I'll just carry on with my unsustainable life style anyway. Sorry about our kids and grandkids." The solutions are there plain to see and have been for decades, we just need to get off our backsides and get ready for change, like it or not.
I feel we've done a lot of what we set out to do here, demonstrating that it's possible to get back on the land without spending much money and for ex-townies to work in partnership with farmers, exploring together what exactly a sustainable future might be like.
Between composting, (inc composting toilet), growing more and buying less, re-using, re-purposing, and using farm waste plastic as insulation we've got our waste, if not down to zero, down pretty low.
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BEFORE... 2012
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| AFTER... 2016 |
It has been just a wee bit challenging at times... old static caravans like this one have almost no insulation and lots of single glazed windows. This one even has two single glazed doors as well, so the first winter we struggled with the cold, damp and condensation, ending up using lots of electricity to run heaters and a de-humidifier to back up the log-burning stove. It's taken a few years, but last winter was much better thanks to all the work we have put in making a second roof and doing lots of insulation. We've managed to do this without spending much by using waste plastic from the farm as insulation and using poles from the nearby woods and reclaimed materials to make the roof.
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| Bubble-wrap double glazing |
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| We framed the outside of the caravan then insulated between that and a new outer wall |
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| Burning Logs - if we were heating this way again we would set up a system which burned fuel really hot to minimise toxic emissions, and use some kind of mass to store heat. Really good insulation is the first step though. |
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| Mixture of woodland poles and reclaimed wood for the trusses |
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| Plastic waste insulation |
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| The Log Cabavan is born |
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