Permablitzing advance, will you join the dance? (Blog 14).

 

      'Detail of 'Elements', by Merav,' (Oils on board) ©

 In the vision of universal interpretation we have a basic insight into our relationship with nature. This vision is exemplified in the simile of Indra’s Net :

“High above in heaven, on the roof of the palace of the god Indra, there hang innumerable jewels interlaced in a great network. As the light reflects off these multifaceted gems not only does each jewel reflect the whole cosmos, but also every other jewel in the net, including all the reflections from all the jewels, the reflections of the reflections, and their reflections”.

 Woodland artwork by Claire Rhydwen.
"What good are trees when danger is near?
 well, they have a good bark!"

Phew! .., Eureka!  &…. Yeeehaaa! – looking towards the future now that Karuna’s planning application has been approved, (December 2011). Life is a little less stressful ,(but still cold and damp) knowing that our home is secure and that the Permie lifestyle and business that we have invested so much time and energy into will now be able to receive our full attention. It’s been quite a struggle developing the project these past few years mostly due to all the ‘bureaucrazy’ stuff. “The odds were against us but we have turned it round, it feels good”

It is by no means going to be easy for us to achieve the next step – building our ‘Low impact’ Affordable self build dwelling. We are seeking help with finances, assistance with building and further detailed design. (Donations and advice are most welcome, please click here to donate )

We’re well aware of our need to comply with building regulations. There is a clear distinction between our approved, ‘unusual’, low impact design and a conventional building design. Naturally we hope that throughout the building process flexibility and awareness will be applied. We hear that room is being made for new sustainable building solutions in some departments.We know that Lammas are pioneering changes. Barbara Jones of ‘Amazon nails’ has worked on so many straw bale buildings that she has lost count, she states… “we have never experienced any problems that couldn’t be overcome by discussion”.

A big thank you to all who have offered to come over and get involved at certain stages of the development where many hands will undoubtedly make light work (lots of fun and cider of course), we look forward to that.

At last we have experienced some forward thinking from within Shropshire county council and we hope that future dealings with the council will be met with mutual respect and understanding.

                Unfinished Straw bale Office In Shropshire.

This week we visited an interesting new build Straw bale office  just a few miles from Karuna at Plox Green. Ian, the owner kindly received us and discussed various aspects of the development with us. Ian didn’t find the building regulations too much of an obstacle, in fact he found the officer quite responsive to the buildings ‘Special needs’. Though not yet complete, the internal energy of building felt very comfortable, quite a pleasure standing just chatting and feeling the space.

Planning committee meeting.

We received an abundance of e-mails from supporters who sent their apologies for not being able to attend the Shire hall meeting due to work commitments. However all wished us well and promised to channel positive vibes in our direction that afternoon.

Again the parish council took all the trouble to turn up to speak out against the application along with an objector who represented the 7 objectors. Clearly these speakers did themselves no favors. Neutral members of the public and supporters expressed their astonishment at the aggressive tone, bigotry and prejudice of the objector’s speech. Quite inappropriate at such a serious council meeting.

Supporter Mary Napper represented the 102 people that had submitted letters in support of the application. Mary mainly highlighted the positive points from the case officer’s report.

The report recommended our application for approval. Mary came across as the genuine, concerned, sensible and intelligent person that she is. I also had 3 minutes to speak, a race against the clock. I tried to condense as much factual information as possible within the limited time span. I was feeling nervous sitting before the committee with my Red, Mohican hairstyle. One friend suggested that perhaps I should keep my hat on, but I removed it in case it was considered disrespectful. Besides, what difference should it really make? I don’t imagine that what either Mary nor I said made any difference to the votes, but it’s all part of the game that must be played out, so we both made an effort to do our very best, sincerely and with facts.

Plans for roundhouse at Karuna, by Philip Pool.

Extracts  from Janta’s Committee Speech.

We may not look like everybody’s Idea of a farming family, but our knowledge and experience of small scale multi functional farming systems has earned us respect from people who have taken a close look at our work and been inspired.
We merge best practice of many traditional horticulture methods, practices that actually helped bring villages like Picklescott into existence.
In the 1930’s Karuna used to be owned by Southams Brewery Ltd.
We have established orchards with over 90 varieties of apple at Karuna, we sell around 40 varieties.
We have a thirst to sell our cider to a few local pubs in the not too distant future. We enjoy partaking in the regeneration of local history.

This planning application helps bring a balance and resolution to the difficulties both the council & ourselves have faced in respect of our caravan accommodation.

102 letters of support have been received for this application, 40 from residents in Shropshire, 2 from Picklescott. Many of the letters mention rewarding experiences gained at Karuna and most of them talk about why on site residency is essential to enable the project to grow in a rational way – by providing an example of ‘Permaculture in action’.
The achievements at Karuna have only been made possible due to our onsite residence. Living on site allows us to manage visitors, protect the site, physically work and care for our nurseries and poultry. It also means we can operate and respond accordingly to unpredictable weather, thus maximising productivity and minimising our ecological impact.

The AONB raise no objection to the dwelling. Their management plan supports..quote ‘Low impact forms of development’ especially where they are associated with sustainable lifestyles including low energy and resource use /small scale land management using sustainable approaches to food or wood production and with community or educational uses’ unquote.

Karuna- Ticks all these boxes, supporting Tourism, education & Small scale agribusiness.
Straw bale constructions create a lot of positive interest.
For example, Nottingham University have just completed a landmark straw building – one of Europe’s largest – with a value of 5.2 million pounds.

Karuna contributes to the well-being of us all whilst serving as a beautiful edible landscape destined to support research, education and local food production.

                                                                                ENDS.

*“To Kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact” – a most fitting quote by Charles Darwin.

*The above seemed to fit perfectly, still I thought it could be a little distracting on this occasion, so I left it out.

Lively discussions followed between the council committee members .Councillors voting against our application ‘claimed’ we had been living at Karuna ‘illegally’ all these years. This was a false allegation.An attempt to have our eligibility questioned. The reality is we have been ‘funneled into’ & trapped within a lengthy appeals process, magistrates & high court appeal’s ‘n’ all. So this approach against us, which wasn’t even real, seemed to be their main point of objection. Some Councillors inability to grasp planning law demonstrated that…

A) They feel comfortable to discredit us/people and brand us/them criminals in public,(to sway votes). *

B) They have not properly even read and understood the application they are voting on. *

C) They are unfit to make important decisions that seriously affect people’s lives, in this case not just the applicants, but a community who wish to continue to benefit from the project. There’s a D), E), F) & G) there too…you can probably work them all out for yourself. *

Would it come as any surprise to learn that it was the Tory Councillors who voted against us?- Undermining the very idea their own party leader claims to champion. (Would a Blue Mohican have made any difference?, hey we’d have lost it!).

In reference to the big society Party leader Mr Cameron had said… “What this is all about is giving people more power and control to improve their lives and communities.”  & “We do need a social recovery to mend the broken society and to me, that’s what the Big Society is all about.”

Is Karuna not an example of social / rural recovery? We’re getting on with it, best we can, whilst their ilk merely pays lip service and tries to obstruct hard working people from getting on. I find such perverse contradictions enigmatic!

People were astonished that any Councillors would still actually be prepared to support the few NIMBY objectors at all, what with no reasonable, genuine objections and a history of  acts of criminal damage against Karuna.

With 102 genuine, relevant letters of support from experienced, intelligent, responsible -professionals, volunteers, farmers, academics, community group leaders etc, how the hell can half the council still vote against?… It just goes to show how ‘Rigged’ and ‘unbalanced’ these political games get to be, ugh!

What of ‘Local cooperation?’…sadly, they just don’t get it!

A friend said to me ‘When you are doing good in a broken but beautiful world you find you start stirring things up’…Mmm unfortunate, but true, reminds me of a quote by Orwell “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.

But not all the Councillors have been unreachable. One of the committee Councillors said he just didn’t understand why our application had even been brought to council committee at all. Neither did we! Of course Karuna has a planning history but this is a fresh planning application, with tremendous public support and a recommendation of approval from the case officer.

So,….

Why Oh Why ???????????????????????????????????????

When it came to voting on the application the Councillors were split-4 were in favor and 4 against. So it was decided that the chairman would take a casting vote .At the end of the day wisdom and luck prevailed. Chairman Vernon Bushell voted to go with the case officers recommendation for approval and so…eh eeh!…we got it! Hoooray! And a great relief to learn they’re not all dirty rotten scoundrels.

“Anyway, politics just isn’t our bag at all, it’s great to have it all behind us and move on with far better things, like research and working compassionately and creatively with the land”.

Our 4.5 year planning saga has been both depressing and traumatic, a great cost to our health. Victimization & wearing procedures have affected the health of both Merav and myself, our amazing kids have suffered through it too. The lengthy procedures,  legal fees, on both sides is a total waste of public money.

     The above depicts how I have been feeling,from time to time
throughout our planning difficulties.
Churning & burning-Sincerely folks!

We have received several letters from people who view us as a great inspiration. In relation to our work on the land and our development of an educational resource… that’s great!, but *we do not  recommend that anyone follows our tortuous route via the Planning system.

Basically we became entangled, through forced circumstances and ‘naivety’ (Janta being a gigantic dreamer, much absorbed in nature and somewhat disconnected from Babylon, do you think I have some kind of illness?).

Obviously we believe that Low impact development is extremely important to the future.

During the AONB’s public consultation period In 2009 I submitted a 2 page letter along with a report on ‘Low impact policies for sustainable development’. CLICK  to download in four parts : part 1   part 2 part 3   part 4

Merav and I were delighted to see that a small part of this was embraced by the Shropshire Hills AONB. Note from my committee speech above, we were later able to use this small but important document to support our own planning application- What goes around- comes around!

Together we can create our future!

Wherever you live please consider taking action by contacting your MP, local Councillor, your Planning department your AONB manager etc . Discuss  ways of bringing  low impact policy into the local and national plans. As food prices soar ,food security is now at the top of the world agenda. Planning policy is an essential tool to help build up small scale, truly sustainable food supplies in the U.K., we need rapid change within a coherent framework.

England is way behind the times and badly needs a low Impact planning policy. Had such a policy been in place (as adopted in Wales) then much public money, time and energy could be saved. The planning system aught not go trying to stop people living truly sustainable permaculture lifestyles that take stress of the system and support  community , environment and the economy. Most people are not  prepared or able to dedicate themselves to such a lifestyle (though they may still support it, understanding the wide and wonderful benefits).In your local area there is probably someone trying to live Low impact / transition lifestyle and being put through hell by their local authority for doing so, please assist them. During the planning stage please lodge objections to any developments that threaten the community and support those who are genuine in their efforts to bring on positive change.

Public support has been one of our great rewards, through our struggle and our work we have come to know many good folk and become close friends with a broad spectrum of amazing, caring people. It’s really awesome to see the project develop, and to share the forest garden of Eden that we are creating.

Children of the GREEN Revolution…LAND group visit- Sat, 14^th Jan.

A group of people who are looking to start a Low impact Eco settlement visited Karuna.  Naturally they don’t wanna have to suffer the consequences of the outdated , ridiculous English planning system, it’s hard enough making transition a reality in your life without all that resistance stuff weighing you down. One member wrote the following in our visitor’s book…“Even in winter the productivity of this place is so clear and really impressive-can’t wait to come back and see it in the summer!”

Another member, Phil Wildcroft, announced;

“We’re a group currently looking for land in Wales to create an ecovillage under the Welsh Government’s One Planet Development policy. We’ll be using permaculture design and principles and will work with the land, the rain, the wind and the sun to build a low impact and sustainable community. We hope to inspire others to create their own projects in the same way that we’ve been inspired by the wonderful work done at Lammas and at Karuna itself.”

“We’re looking at land anywhere in Wales at the moment but the south west does seem to be the sweet spot – seasonal business, university towns, plenty of rainfall.”

Good luck to all of ya and  may your example inspire others to live lightly.

Karuna, Isle of the blessed.

Here’s to thee, old apple tree,!

Whence thou may’st bud, and when thou may’st blow,

Hats full, caps full!

Bushel-bushel bags full!

And my pockets full too! Hoorah!

(Old Wassailing song)

Through our challenges and times of extreme hardship many new friends have lifted us with their  friendship and support, we cannot thank you all enough.

The greatest strength of all has come to us from our  knowing that working compassionately with the land is the way into the future. Our ‘Inward connection’ led us to ‘insight design’, basically that is the ‘intuitional operation’ that is karuna. Being immersed within this blessed Island (Karuna), we receive helpful energy from the tree spirits. The land itself is an instrument of a most potent form of earthly and cosmic energy, an invisible magnet that drew us into it’s mysterious energy field. Was this by chance? This energy is now manifesting in the form of a tree based life support system that we  will continue working with. Trees have been planted at Karuna for many different reasons, we know their beneficial qualities lend support to our protection, our personal strength and healing, our determination, inspiration and transformation.

‘With the Apple tree it is possible to create paradise!’ The Neolithic and bronze age paradises were called Orchards. ‘Paradise’, is a Persian word which literally means ‘orchard’ or ‘stand of trees’.

We place special attention on food producing trees at Karuna. The apple is the most suited fruit to the British isles, so it makes sense to concentrate on this most precious species of tree.

The wild crab –apple is Britain’s only indigenous apple tree. It belongs to the rose family, along with hawthorn, wild pear and blackthorn. Apples were first introduced here during the Roman occupation. The Romans had discovered the art of grafting and budding and cultivated new varieties from the east. These probably spread through Europe with the occupying forces and ultimately, it is believed, came to England. But it was not until the medieval times that fruit culture became firmly established, monasteries introduced new apples from France, both for production of cider and desert. Only several varieties were established, the Old English Permain recorded in 1204 was the main desert apple in England. The period of prosperity during the thirteenth century was cut short in the early 1300s by successive droughts, the Black death, and the wars of the roses. Apples were then imported for those who could afford them and that continued until the reign of Henry VIII, who instructed his fruitier (Richard Harris) to bring over the best varieties from France. This was an important turning point for fruit growing in England. Think I’ll end the history of apple development here. But I’d like to mention the seasonal ceremony of Wassailing, a tradition whose roots go back into the midst of time.

In Celtic times apples were considered the food of the gods, and by tradition apple trees have been Wassailed over the centuries by Druids and country people to ensure good crops. To encourage them to fruition a toast was drunk to the spirit which inhabits them, songs and poems were performed, and generous libations of cider were poured onto the roots for nourishment. Toast was placed on the fork of the trees to attract Robins, which are seen as the guardians of the trees. At winter solstice and Twelth night Wassailers called back the sun to aid the growth of blossom and fruit upon the trees. In autumn the trees were thanked for their harvests. There are two main kinds of ceremonies. In house with a kind of trick or treat approach towards the lords of the land and another in the orchards, where the wassailers merrily sing and hail their songs, bash pans ’n’ cups, ’n’ shoot guns up into the trees to scare away evil spirits.

Recently Merav and I attended a Wassailing down at the Bridges, one of our local pubs. To make the event a whole coach load of folk had arrived from Bishops Castle, a small, funky nearby town in the hills, We thought we’d probably just observe , however some of the songs felt quite good and we ended up joining in here and there. ‘Anyone want to organise an orchard Wassail at Karuna next year?’

Apples and health. Today I learned that in earlier days the destruction of apple trees bought the penalty of death. And no wonder, the apples is highly valuable, the fruit has powerful healing properties. The mere presence of apples heals our spirit and the trust our ancestors placed upon them for their health of mind and body was later proved when it was realized what they contain; Apples are filled with strong therapeutic agents: sugars, amino acids, vitamins, malic & tartaric acids, pectin and mineral salts. they can be prescribed for infections of the intestine, constipation, mental and physical overstrain, fatigue, hypertension, rheumatism , gout, anemia, bronchial diseases, urine retention, demineralisation, gastric and kidney conditions, hoarseness, coughs and excess cholesterol in blood. Best taken first thing in the morning and last thing at night, when they encourage sleep.

Bach Flower remedies use crab apple for curing self- dislike, despondency, obsessions, over-anxiousness, getting stuck over details, fussiness and as an internal cleanser.

Apple obviously helps us find harmony within ourselves and within the world. So may many come to celebrate upon the isle of compassion…Karuna.

Karuna will be hosting a LAND project ( Permaculture Association), skill sharing and networking event on 7^th July 2012. The event is aimed at LAND managers and LAND learners, but all are welcome. Camping is available the night before and on the night of the event. Keep an eye out for details   www.karuna.org.uk

Please contact Karuna if you would like to lead a workshop or speak.

And finally it’s a Rap, especially for those who are ignorant of Permaculture and the power in Poo- this is for you! Click below..

Permaculture Rap link

               Visiting ecogroup at Basho's pond,Karuna.
 "What matters is how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
 There is another shore you know upon the other side.
 Will you, wo'nt you,
 will you, wo'nt you ,
 will you join the dance?

 Kwak! Quack! Quaaaaack! 

             ~~ ~~    }>>))> 8

Simplicity and Autumn Harvest (blog 13)

Blog 13. Simplicity and Autumn Harvest.

Welcome to blog 13 ♠

It is not just the cuisine at Karuna which is unique but the attitude of mind towards the food itself. We became aware of attitudes towards food on our travels abroad. I don’t mean holidays, traveling becomes a way of life and learning, as a result of sojourns in foreign lands we have grown through experience and self-education. Those experiences permeated into our whole concept of food, from production to consumption,they inspired us to create Karuna. We believe that food (& Drink) is something divine, beautiful, to be respected and that regarding food in this way can change the consciousness and help make life more integrated and wholesome.

For anyone interested in one’s own health, or family’s well-being ,the care of the environment, Low impact living, positive response to climate change, conservation, pollution, self-sufficiency, organic food cultivation, cooking and eating, and much more… then Permaculture is the answer, it is a holistic practice. Karuna is one of the countries more established larger scale Permaculture projects.Participants on courses at Karuna get to directly experience the integration and wholesome aspects of Permaculture in ‘practice’.They are immersed in Forest gardens at different stages of development and directly observe how what they’re learning in class actually works -explicitly. A stimulating and rewarding experience. As Vanessa Spedding discovered this summer during her Forest Garden course at Karuna. click here to read her article   Tasting The  Vision

We are happy to have finally been featured in the Permaculture magazine with it’s worldwide readership. We are really pleased with Vanessa’s article and wish to thank her once more. Ta Vanessa!  Janta should have been credited for all the photography used in the article.

Veranga Quinces make a delicious warm or cold drink, simply slice & boil up with Cinnamon stick or cloves, add a little honey or Jaggery.Recently we visited a friend and made a wonderful ‘Quince & Apple Crumble’ experience,…an explosion of Mango flavour! Says Merav.

Merav taking in the final harvest of Purple French and runner beans.*Note the new young forest floor.

Medium hot Chili peppers with greens, Rainbow chard, Red peppers Courgettes & sesame seeds,delicious!better than any top class restaurant in the country.You can expect some hot reports on our experiences with Chillies in a future bolg.

Karuna has survived the summer drought very well. A local Tree and foot paths warden visited the site before commenting on our planning application, which he supported. He commented that unlike all the rest of the places he’d visited in Shropshire Karuna had moisture retained in the ground. Of course the planting of 9,000 trees on site helps retain moisture; I assume that this is likely to support the farmland around us to some degree,more so in the future. The above picture also shows how well the new woodland floor is developing, this year the grass between the trees was noticeably less, we hardly had to scythe it.I guess from here on it just gets better. To a forest gardener living grass is the enemy, cut & mulched it’s an ally.

Picklescott Parish council meeting.

Karuna planning application.

On 7^th November Merav, our eldest son Caio and I attended the parish council meeting. We were curious to see how the Parish council (P.C.) would be responding to our planning application for a Low impact dwelling at Karuna. P.C.’s comment on applications to the Local planning authority either positively, neutrally or negatively. We had invited the P.C. to Karuna a few weeks before to help them understand exactly what we are applying for, why, and where. We felt that the meeting went reasonably well.

We were quite relieved to see that a few concerned supporters attended the evening meeting at the village hall. There were also half a dozen strong objectors.

Due to an element of ‘deep sadness’, possibly a result of a desire for approval and recognition from past objectors, I have seriously considered including this report into the blog. It is not easy being reminded of how out of reach and out of touch some people have become.The crisis that we ALL face only gets worse if we bury our heads in the sand! We work with, manage and teach-groups,associations,teachers,individuals & volunteers.We have many records of their  appreciation and respect for my families example and their rewarding experiences at Karuna.Due to the nature of our work we mostly come into contact with very interested, genuine, aware, dedicated people.So for us this was a terrible, deeply unpleasant experience, especially for our 17 year old son who quietly sat and witnessed some ‘grown ups?’ behaving like obnoxious children.

The chairperson had to warn the objectors that if their riotous behavior was not brought under control the council would have to throw everyone out and send them home.

Without going into the sordid details it should be told that the meeting was not conducted in a proper, civilised manner, despite repeated warnings from the chair.

The Chairperson tried to conduct the meeting in the best way she could. However the antagonists continued to be abusive and insulting  throughout the meeting and there were undercurrents of racism thrown into the air.

All this was in public view, yet can you believe not a single mention of it was included in the minutes of the meeting, as if it never happened.The minutes have since been approved by the P.C. at the following meeting on the 22^nd November. Read the  Minutes here

We reported our dissatisfaction to the Parish Clerk, who in response informed us that the minutes are not a verbatim but an ‘outline’ of the matters discussed and decisions made. I maybe naive and new to local politics, but I feel that in all fairness, if it is an ‘outline’ that is being recorded then the ‘environment’ in which the matters and decisions were discussed and made are intrinsic to the whole, as naturally it affects the outcome. I’m kinda left feeling that  some very essential ‘Outline’ of the meeting has not been recorded. Apparently there is an authorities ‘monitoring officer’ you can approach if you feel the need to do so. Anyway back to the meeting…

We learned that a small clique of objectors simply do not want us to live  at Karuna. Over the years they have become obsessed with their crusade against the project, not only in regard to planning, they take actions against us in other aspects of our lives and simply try to make our life hell.

They do not know us, neither have they visited the project that they so strongly object to. Few of them understand our work, nor do they want to understand it,this was clear from their comments on the application, which they had clearly not read properly, if at all..  Unhappily retired with nothing better to do perhaps!

They have little understanding of our values or the values of the diverse community that support and benefit from Karuna.

One positive result of the meeting was that there were some courageous Parish Councillors who didn’t vote against the application. Hopefully an indication that some of the P.C’s are beginning to take interest,or a more serious view of the project and make a genuine attempt to understand our need to be living on the land in order to make our small business a success and operate effectively.

There have been over one hundred letters of support to the application from a very broad spectrum of the public.That’s allot of support letters! It’s not the quantity that is important here but the intelligent content, the genuine ‘essence’ of the letters.

To read the outcome of the meeting see the Parish councils comments to the planning application.

Wots next?

The application goes to the planning committee on 15th December,all are more than welcome to attend the meeting.

Now let’s get back on track with the beautiful, the simple…

“everything should be made as simple as possible but not one bit simpler”….. who made that very Zen statement?

Simplicity

‘Serving Hanumanji’ ©

This shot was taken back in 1987, on my second visit to Hampi or Vijayanagara as the former empire was once known. Mostly a capital in ruins with a few temples that continue to be an important Hindu center and auspicious place for pilgrimage. Located within an astounding, bizarre, magical natural landscape. Farmers have revived the irrigation channels, so that lush green rice and  banana plantations fill every cultivable spot between the sprawling ruins and mysterious giant boulders peaking out of a desert landscape. The live green contrasts with the yellow browns of the desert, that change at sunrise and sunset, like the Taj Mahal changes by moonlight, is beyond!

I visited Hampi three times during my three years in India, each time it was apparent that the place was becoming more popular with tourists. Sadly, I just learned that these days the central village is now a tourist ghetto.

I befriended this very special man (above) and visited him daily before starting out on my rambles and climbs around the surrounding area. He was living in a simple Low impact structure, a palm thatch roof, with mud and cow shit adobe walls plastered on woven bamboo.Located right by the edge of the Tungabhadra river, where there are fresh water turtles, dolphins and crocs. Nomadic fisher folk cast nets from Coracles and also offer  a ferry service across the river. I have one photo showing the large vessel (coracle) being used to transport a heavy motorbike across the water.

This wise man taught me about simplicity and happiness. I learned how undervalued simplicity is and that it is the real key to a happy heart. Each time I visited him we sat and laughed allot, though we did not speak each others language- we communicated. As we fed his ‘rescue monkey’ with mini tropical bananas we laughed at it’s avarice and its crazy, Ziggy playfulness. I remember how we laughed so hard about the concept of money when I pulled out a few British coins to stimulate communication. He had no use for money, he only took food from passing local people and pilgrims to the area. After my stomach ached from laughter we sat together silently for a while and watched the flow of river surge on by. I then moved on to explore the hermit caves where Sadhus dwell, the temple ruins of the Shiva cult, an ancient ruined civilisation. And yeh, cave bats, and the most amazing kingfishers that I have ever seen. I had utter respect for this man whose simplicity of living was deliberately chosen; to me it implied a compassionate approach to life, a lesson that entered my soul. Charles Mingus once said.. “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity”.

Hampi © - main village, taken from the rooftop where I slept under the bright starlit sky, covered by a cotton sheet to keep mosquitoes from feeding on me. This family house where I slept on the roof for a few rupees ,as there was no accommodation in the village at that time, has probably been destroyed by the government now. All part of the creation of a ‘wonderful’ new tourist programme .The Dravidian temple is a living museum where pilgrims still come from all over India ,sadly it has become a tourist ghetto.

(Above) ©-Away from the main village ruins of complex cities and temples abound for 9 square  Kilometres (if memory serves me right). Shot after a night of sleeping out high upon the rocks, I could base a film on my experience of the unusual energy and the mystical out of body experience I had at this place….even my journey there was weird. The truck driver that I had hitched a lift with got so inebriated on Arrack that I had to take the wheel of the Public Carrier (Large truck) and drive through the night. But that’s another, I’m not going to get into all that here.

Amazing isn’t it?… So why did I stop traveling?

Answer: out of a new awareness and concern for the environment.

Alfa or Omega!?; © -Children of the nomadic fisherman playing by the Tungabhadra river. The Coracle must be one of the most ancient modes of transport. So beautifully Simple!Remember these photos are not digital but taken with my SLR camera,some things have improved ,but not that much eh?

24 years later. Back at Karuna where we are trying our best to live simply…our son Soma is standing behind a Giant ‘perennial cabbage’, probably, actually ‘Dorbenton Perennial Kale’, we’re not yet sure . This plant is now three years old and growing like Audry 2. Small plants will be ready for sale from Karuna in the spring. Even after weeks of deep snow this plant thrives and is always there when you need some greens. It tastes quite sweet and can be nibbled raw as you work in the garden, we often stir fry or add it to Tibetan style noodle soup.  . The surrounding area is heavily mulched with miscanthus.

(Above) Mespilus germanica – MEDLAR.

The Medlar trees are growing well for the past three years and baring good exotic looking, & tasting fruits. The fruit always ripens on the tree in the Mediterranean, in Britain it becomes eatable when ‘Bletted’, that is just turning rotten…but not rotten. As the climate changes more Medlars at Karuna will ripen on the tree, there are many records of trees doing this throughout the U.K. At Karuna some fall to the ground and Blet with the coming gentle frosts others ripen on the tree.

In Stafford they call these fruits ‘Bulls arses’, quite obvious really.

Checking for softness of the dark brown fruits. Split it open down the center with the finger tips, some people eat it with a small spoon.

This is my favorite way to eat this wonderful unusual fruit. It tastes something like a caramel-slightly coffee-fig-date-Chickoo.

Got you wondering wot is a Chickoo? (Saparilla)

(above),we used to eat allot of these in India.

The Medlar fruit was common in medieval times. Possibly fell out of favour due to the fact that you have to spit out the seeds, considered impolite behavior, that’s the British for ya. In many countries spitting out the seeds of fruits is all part of the pleasure of the eating game. See Food security on Karuna website.

More autumn harvests.

This year we have produced more food than ever. We have stored away our usual 20 varieties of potatoes (4 consecutive years now), our apples and our grand collection of various pumpkins. We feed our quality organic food to people attending courses and to our volunteers, and ourselves of course. We are always exploring new ways to use and preserve the food that our forest gardens produce.

Above- shows some new experiments…We have made various pickles in balsamic, cider, and wine vinegar (not our own,- yet).Here we have Chillies, delicious Nasturtium seeds (similar to capers),French beans, Shallots, Garlic, Red Cabbage Sauerkraut, all with various precious herbs from the forest gardens. For the first year Merav has pasteurised some of our quality Apple juice. The Elderflower Cordials and Rosehip Syrup are still very good.  We were inspired by a friend to make some Sloe Gin as well as Hausszewettch Damson Vodka and White Jamaican rum and of course we have lashings of Cider on the go.

Which reminds me- please contact us if you know of a large ‘manual cider press’ (For sale) for commercial use. We would very much like to start supplying a local pub or two with Karuna cider.

I will be giving  ‘grafting workshops’ again this year at Karuna and at

Landmatters, and the Dartington Hall Trust, both in south Devon.

Here’s an inspirational feature on Bamboo Polytunnels.

We are now preparing for winter hermit mode in the hills. Please feel free to visit us at our hovel during the long cold winter which can be most inhospitable, we see few people at this time and don’t get out that much.We would be most grateful for any help with establishing/planting new orchards at Karuna.We will celebrate winter solstice and try to come out of hibernation and be sociable,though there is something special about the stillness and solitude amid the trees here.  Like our ancestors, due to our closeness to nature and appreciation of ‘light’ (Warmth, seed growth, solar power etc) we celebrate the new beginning of increasing light. Sing, dance,share, light candels, create, party, rockaway, be still, experience simplicity, seek peace and inner clarity, and belonging to the whole. Enjoy it & Be happy!

                                                  *Surya shining through- Fargesia robusta. ©

                                                                                             ∞

Wha! Greening With Life and abundance. (blog 11)

 

“If you are green on the inside, your clean on the inside”.

-Dr Bernard Jenson.

Chlorophyll is the blood of  plants, just as haemoglobin is the blood of the body; the only difference between the two molecules is that chlorophyll is cantered on magnesium ,while haemoglobin is cantered on iron. Eating green leafy food is a transfusion of sun energy in the arteries. Only those foods consisting of living cells have the qualities to satisfy the demands of the human body. Food should be eaten as freshly picked as possible. Wild food is, by far ,the best type of food. It always contains the highest complement of minerals. 

                                                                              Above;   ‘Catalogna’ lettuce, as good to look at as it is to eat.

                                                                                       You could meditate on this like a mandala.

Welcome to the end of summer ‘Karuna roots blog’.

Before I start on  id like to mention a few things…..Firstly thanks to all those who attended the Picklescott village hall showing of Martin Crawford’s film ”A forest Garden year”. Around twenty people turned up and we had good feedback, unfortunate that a few more people from the village didn’t show  up and educate themselves  on what Forest gardening is all about. We have tried!….In the not too distant future we’d like to show other educational films, Shropshire’s own  Robert Hart or  Sepp Holzer the incredible  Austrian farmer perhaps.

Planning  Matters.

National Planning Policy Framework consultation open

The draft National Planning Policy Framework is now open to consultation and online here.

This is part of the Government’s radical reforms to the planning system and reflects their pro-growth agenda:

“Planning must operate to encourage growth and not act as an impediment. Therefore, significant weight should be placed on the need to support economic growth through the planning system.”

We urge anyone considering building or a change of land use to read the proposals, consider the implications and submit comments. The consultation deadline is October 17th.

The Association has conducted research to explore how the changes might affect Low Impact Developers. See here.

 http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/draftframeworkconsultation 

In relation to the above and in order to help readers have some understanding of how difficult it can be to get permission for even  the sincerest of projects or businesses based around working and living within the countryside and woodlands have a read of  letters page 14 0f the latest edition of Living woods magazine .  Better still buy the magazine, I can fully recommend it. The content diversity from issue to issue is astounding. In the latest issue see Mike Abott’s article on  welcoming a new approach to planning Law. In his last paragraph he writes…”As I write , riots are spreading across our cities and the stock market is plummeting again. We cannot afford to be complacent about our western lifestyles. The new woodlanders  are showing a way of life that is not extravagantly gobbling up the earths resources, nor is it relying on an ever-increasing debt. If the Governments planning reforms offer a way forward ,then we must lobby hard for them to implement their changes wisely for the sake of future generations”.

Onwards now with my favourite bit…..not the words….but the picture show….

It’s been fantastic dry weather here in Shropshire, perfect for outdoor educational weekend courses, most of our visitors camp  and nourish themselves amid the thriving, lush forest gardens.

Above;  Students who participated in the 3 day Permaculture course- “sowing the seeds of sustainability”, part of the School of  lifelong learning educational programme.

For the second year we have been  fortunate to receive Angie Polkey, a unique permaculture teacher from Aberystwyth University.Angie stated that she had “another magical visit -spiritually, physically, emotionally and sensually-Karuna is a fantastic way of’ ‘pollinating permaculture’ through your passion, vision & commitment”. Thanks  for your appreciation Angie always a great pleasure having you here

Here Jeff  gives his design presentation to the group  as part of  day three afternoon design project.

Jeff is a conventional organic farmer based in Hereford. Jeff started his own Organic Ice-cream company some years ago. In reference to Karuna he told us he was ‘struck by the way in which trees have been made the centre crop of the field and grass the edges .It gives a different perspective, turning our thoughts inside out. I go home to plant more trees!’ Along with two other students he  declared his new found interest in our  livestock and the pleasure he’d derived from the experience of ducks & ducklings wondering about the site. He said ,”I just have to get some ducks now!” 

Soma collecting huge Rosa Rugosa (of Japanese origin) for making quality Rosehip Syrup.

Some years back when group of local school children attend Karuna we researched this mother natures’ superior source of vitamin C. Rose hips have been used for centuries. Rosa Canina were probably first cultivated in ancient Persia and from there taken to Greece and Rome. Native Americans used them to treat stomach disorders, especially stomach cramps. In India Ayurvedic practitioners considered them to be ‘cooling’ to the body and a tonic for the mind. The Romans named Rosa canina- ’Dog rose’, as it was used to cure the bites of rabid dogs. In the first century the Roman ‘Pliny’ recorded 32 disorders that responded well to Rose preparations. During the second world war when supplies of citrus fruits were cut volunteers were sent out to collect hundreds of tuns of them every year. Rosehips have been found to contain 60 times the amount of vitamin C as citrus fruits, about 1700-2,000 mgs per 100g in the dried product. They contain amongst others….EFA’s, Sugar, magnesium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, selenium, zinc, and vitamins B2,B3,B5,C,D,E & K. It has been used as Soap, medicine and food. They can be used to treat Kidney and bladder stones & Rose water is good for tired eyes. Also valuable in herbal medicine to treat Arthritis, especially in old age, it has the ability to re-generate arthritic joints. The tea aids recovery of colds and flu. Somas favourite is the Syrup on pancakes, but it can be used in any puddings, sweets and jams, or even syrup cordial.

The best foragers book we have so far come across is by Roger Philips titled “Wild Food”.

Not so wild-Asian pears have done very well this year at Karuna. Sometimes considered an ornamental tree as it has very attractive leaves, but really it is a consistent cropper ,of delicious golden round mega juicy fruits.

Sea Buckthorn.(Hippphae rhamnoids).This shrub is spread about the site and is doing very well throughout, now fruiting in abundance. Another very good source of vitamin C. Recent research in Sweden has shown that this is perhaps one of the most nutritious fruits that can be grown in the temperate climate zone. It’s a very good Bee plant and nitrogen fixer too.

Merav  observing  the autumn harvest in one of the forest gardens created in liaison with F.G. teacher Chris Evans. Unfortunately  our limited knowledge of  computers limits us as to the size of  picture we’d like  to download here. Hope you have the ability to zoom in and observe the diversity that’s thriving in this picture. The forest gardens created at Karuna with their gifts of fruit, Flowers and leaves enhance our relationship with all life here. It is very clear from the visitors comments book that the powerful healing  energy generated  at this special place is deeply effecting the emotions and wellbeing of guests, volunteers and students.

With the recent full moon I experienced  very wonderful ’mergence’ with all about me, especially the thriving trees which are very happy and now taking the form of a small diverse forest. As I breathe I can feel a relationship  deepen with the trees, especially when I get close to their ‘Aura’, energy fields, and spend a little time in meditation with them. This is most often  spontaneous communication between the trees and myself. It is an ineffable vitalising experience which helps develop my personal visions of a better future which is essentially creative and rewarding as I feel compassion for the land and all life that is dependent upon it.    

Ahoy!!!During spring & summer  many friends old and new come to visit.We came to know these adventurers, Tim and daughter Ester  through the local Shrewsbury transition towns group.

 

I met these two creative colourful warriors from Sweden at the ‘Rebellion’ fest in august……’Where one zone ends another begins!’

Over the 15 years that this festival has been going it has gained much respect and the fact that there were Zero arrests last year at the festival is something to be proud of. I’m not gonna rant on about what a fantastic 4 wild days we had at this massive world famous Punk rockin gig .I just felt like sticking this shot into the blog because for me it connects with the same creative vibrant colour associations that we ourselves create within our world at Karuna. Though I have lived in the Welsh/English countryside most of my life I grew up in  the suberburbs of Nottingham , where as a youth I was very disatisfied with what I whitnessed within society. Taking close note of  lyrics by some of the ‘urban protest folk music’ at the time, which we all know as ‘Punk Rock’ I learned much about, and became interested in sociology. Fortunately the housing estate where I grew up bordered open countryside (originally Sherwood forest)  that was always my medicine,my retreat an access to the natural world.I also used this photo as an excuse to move on to this ……………..On immediate release  I bought  “Germfree Adolescence”- by Punk band X-Ray Spex. This was my very first album ever, an absolute masterpiece, with a saxophone making a completely individual sound, with tracks like ‘Genetic Engineering! ’Identity’  and  ‘The Day the world turned Dayglo’. Unique singer, lyricist and focal point Poly Styrene was a force that drew upon her preoccupations and deep concerns about the plastic age and our consumer society.Scratch the surface of her work and you will see how a young seeker of truth and rights and social justice such as myself would embrace this type of social educational Punk scene when it was all ((((buzzin))))& fresh!.Poly was daughter of a Scots/Irish legal secretary; her father was a displaced Somalian aristocrat. She was no Pop Star, she had no self inflated ego, was a very compassionate woman who never compromised, she refused to conform to conventions of how female performers -punk-or otherwise were expected to appear ,she was loved for her integrity and strength. I mention her here as a tribute, for sadly this great artist passed away as a result of advanced breast cancer on “5th April, aged 53.

Compare  Polys’ song (below) with  ‘Designer Kids’ by  brilliant band  ’Seize the day’ -C.D.- ‘It’s your life…it’s our world’.

‘Genetic Engineering’-from ‘Germfree adolescence’ by Polystyrene, 1978.

 Genetic engineering

 Could create a perfect race

Could create an unknown life- force

 That could us exterminate.

Introducing worker clone

 As our subordinated slave

His expertise proficiency

will surely dig our grave.

It’s so very tempting

Will biologists resist?

When he becomes the creator

Will he let us exist?

Bionic man is jumping

Through the television set

He’s about to materialise

And guess who’s coming next?

                                                                   Above… at Karuna, more celebration of form,colour and food.  

 Making music again at Tims,this time Soma was getting into the groove too.Caio has started College and he’s now studying music everyday.

We went over to New Quay for some sun, sea and piracy. Dropped the lads of at the quayside, changeable weather that day, when Merav and I got back from the pub it was grim ,we called the boys in from the harbour and packed away the inflatable. Was a thrill to see dolphins from the quayside. The rain stayed with us all 4 days but we had a great time visiting our old friends. 

We visited old friends Sally and Keith and Keith Jnr. It’s been a couple of years since we last visited them at their farm. Keith is editor of the  ’Green building bible’ ,which is a comprehensive snapshot of  the green building movement. Fully aware of our need to live more sustainably and learn quickly they show how we have to remodel our living environments in such a way as to drastically reduce our burden on the planet. They admit there are no easy answers and many different paths ahead. In their books you will find encouraging, practical and immediately useful hands on information from both long term green building professionals and enthusiastic newcomers to the movement. The deep green and mainstream green agendas are both very different  and dealt with, as are the main issues and what needs to be achieved.   They are also editors of Building for a future magazine. We spent a pleasant evening in their company and were put up for the night in their office a converted cottage. Both have a wealth of knowledge and experience within the green building movement. They have been dedicated environmentalists for many years.

 

The heat is rising! On a reasonably warm summer evening (I haven’t experienced a truly warm one in the U.K. for years now) Soma, Merav and Caio light up and release a biodegradable sky lantern. Psychedelic eh!? “Scuse me while i Kiss the sky!”

Ikuko and I visited Mike (Brisbane) for the 3rd time at ”Jungle Giants”. He realised his passion for Bamboo whilst travelling in the far east in 1988.The demand for Bamboo in the past 10 years has resulted in ‘Jungle Giants’ becoming the leading bamboo resource centre in the U.K. With over 200 different species they supply to garden architects and botanical gardens both here and abroad, unusually to Thailand and Malaysia as well as exporting as far North as Finland and Iceland. Bamboos are beautiful multi purpose plants they produce food ‘Bamboo shoots’ and canes for the garden, having your own stock is much better than importing them from China etc. These plants have a reputation for running wild (there are clumped  & running types) however the answer is proper management, the shoots should simply be cut where they are not wanted, or- Rhizome barriers can be set up to stop them spreading For details see the website ,  you can arrange a visit by calling Mike on 01584 856200.

As the risk of late spring frosts decrease due to climate change, crops of Almonds become more reliable. In another 5 years Karuna will have an abundance of  numerous fruits and nuts.. ‘climate change harvests’. It was also refreshingly promising to observe 20 Apricots  on our single tree this year.

Soma setting up a bow drill to make fire, the ancient way .This method uses friction to generate heat which eventually produces an ember in the burnt sawdust. Once formed it is carefully placed into a “Tinder bundle” ,a nest of combustible material which catches alight….Please contact us if you would like to run a “Bushcraft” course at Karuna next year, or if you have a contact that could help us. 

 

Here are the new ducklings which have been located around the workshop area over the summer. They are highly amusing, clumsy, loveable  creatures, over the summer .season several visitors have been inspired to purchase ducks as a direct result of their therapeutic experience of them at Karuna.  

 

Just a week before they were taken down to the pond where they have now joined our other duck troop, on close observation generally they still remain together as a group though they have merged with the rest of the flock.

  Our closing photograph. Allan locates the super on top of the broodbox at sunset, in preparation for more yummy honey. We hope to take a wee bit of honey from the hive, just a sample really, as it is best to support the bees this year through the winter by making sure they have plenty of food.

Communicating with trees in a Forest Garden….(@ Karuna).

There are two dates for your diary either side of ‘Karuna Apple day’ (9th October) which offer you the chance to experience what the Apple and other trees have to teach us. The apples message is to value and celebrate all you have in your life. By affirming what you have in the present, you open up the channels for your own abundance. The Apple is there to help us all to keep our trust in times of lack and teaches us our true power is built up by giving, in open-hearted generosity.

We shall practice two sessions of sitting meditation under the Apple , Holly and Hazel trees. Holly is a tree of protection it  provides us with valuable understanding of the power of unconditional love and compassion and an increased detachment from emotional turmoil. Hazel will bring healing through intuitive understanding the source or essence of any situation, and in acting upon the insights and inspirations gained. Let your creativity Flow!

Dates October 2nd & 16th.

Time 12 Noon, no later than 12.15 as this will disturb the session for others. Aim to arrive early if you need.

End 3.30

What to bring…Cushion/mat, Blanket Shawl…keep warm and comfortable.

Cost….Small donation appreciated, if you like.

Refreshments/snax served.

                                                                                                                            ENDS

A taste of Honey & Change

 After the squelching was over we cleaned all that squidgy stuff off our refreshed, cleansed feet and we were on our way to building around the sand form. 

 

 Always a theraputic session, check out Karuna website www.karuna.org.uk  ‘How we made an earth oven’ to see the complete process from start to finnish.  

 

 

Here amidst the Forest gardens students learn the theory and practice of forest gardening.

Here’s an extract from an article  by  Vanessa Spedding, one of the course participants from Hereford. (You may have the oppotunity to read the full article in the next Issue of Permaculture Magazine if it is published).

“The planting is done according to a time-planned design so there is always a range of plots with different themes at different stages of development, each deliberately planned yet with the wonderful appearance of chaotic abundance. Delve into the thicket and you get an assault on the senses that is visual, textural and aromatic and with the intriguing knowledge that any number of the leaves, berries or flowers is edible or useful in some way. It’s not often the hunter-gatherer in us gets quite such an intense fix.

But no pudding is proven until it’s eaten, to mangle a well-worn saying. Another big upside of the course was the food provided by our hosts, which gave us the opportunity to eat our landscape as well as to learn about it.

I am a compulsive consumer of salads and vegetables but the meals here took me into another realm. There were leaves I didn’t recognise, mountains of them, sprinkled with petals and seeds in a combination that delivered tastes from a different dimension. Not being industrially produced, prematurely harvested, sprayed, refrigerated or packaged, but simply picked from the plants and presented meant that every harmonic of every flavour was available for the delectation, hinting at a much richer and more sustaining nutrient balance than can be had from any shop-bought produce”.

A beautiful description of Vanessa’s personal experience of the forest gardening course!

Thanks Vanessa! 

 The recently built workshop seems to serve very well for small educational groups.

*If anyone has a large unwanted woodburner they don’t need we could make very good use of it and  replace the small chimnea we’re presently using.  

 

 A good job Chris isn’t wearing a green shirt!

Forest garden expert Chris Evens gives an explanation of what’s going on in the forest garden that he’s developed at Karuna with students over the past 3 years.

 

  Amazingly fantastic prime swarm of beez that Allan, our near neighbour spotted hanging from a wild cherry tree at Karuna. He was out in the peace and tranquility of his garden when he heard the crack of the branch that the beez were hanging from.

 

To cut a long story short that same swarm is now in a hive at Karuna.

Here’s Janta welcoming the colony of Beez into their new hive.

 At last we have beez at Karuna!

With the decline of wild flowers in our fields, due to chemical farming methods, the destruction of hedgerows and traditional hay making, plus mites attacking hives and now GMO crops our bees are struggling to survive. Bees have been on earth much longer than humans and the healing gifts they produce by pollinating flowering plants and trees, are enormous! We have so much to be grateful for…..Honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, mead and beeswax all have been used by us since ancient times.

Find out more about how you can help bees from the Britsih Bee keepers association, the Oxford Bee company and local libraries.

Big thanks to Allen our near neighbour, may our fresh relationship grow to be a fruitful one.  

 

 During the summer our Antiguan Minstral friend occasionaly comes over for a Jam. Excellent for our son Caio to get some creative urge release and learn from this gifted diverse musician and teacher who plays R & B, Reggae, Jazz, classical, Spanish freee Styleeeeee!

BIG UP- EVERYTIME ! 

 

 But Caio doesn’t just hang out and play music, he gets fully involved with the numerous tasks at Karuna, here the two of us get started on the poles for the new chicken Shack.

 

 And here are some of the new little critters. The Ducklings had to move out as they were being bullied and pecked by the chickens. They’re growing so fast.

 

 We started the new design around the polytunnel area. As soon as we pulled back the black plastic the full grown ducks arrived to eat the slugs and other pests, yummy.

Quaaaack you!  

  

Working with volunteers on a new drainage system that carries the water far away from the horticultural area. The bulk of the water is run off from the new workshop roof and now runs down to the marsh area which feeds Basho’s pond. 

 Ikuko arrived from a small fishing village on a tiny island in  Japan. She is a very helpful hard working volunteer, now in her 4th week here, no plans to move on as yet.

She has a deep interest in holistic healing work not only through working upon the land but directly through reiki and massage.  

It’s great to experience real working planetary connections on this level.

Merav is the master preserver at Karuna.

Here she turns Blackcurrents, Raspberries and Loganberries into lush cordial for all workers & visitors at K to be refreshed by.  

 We were first introduced to the ‘Mehu Lisa’ at the 2008 Permaculture convergence by scientist, Dr Margaret Linggood. She was so full of passion for the device that we were immediately enthused and full of desire to attain similar levels of productivity that she had demonstrated.

                                                          ‘The Mehu lisa in action’.

Mmmmm Cherries! Not  growing in profusion as yet at Karuna, none the less a delight, we have quite a few varieties at K so the birds don’t get to steal them all, but we do have to be quick to Pick. 

We showed the above documentary film at the Forest Garden course social evening. A few non course participants attended that evening, one of whom is our near neighbour. After seeing the show He said ”The Permaculture thing flys over my head” but he added that he was able to grasp an understanding of forest gardening now that he has seen this film,thus gaining a clearer understanding of what Karuna is about. Between the two of us we have now arranged for a showing of the film at the Picklescott village hall. This is great as it helps people understand our aims at Karuna. We hope to see those of you who are local at the showing….

Must get out now and continue with the new garden design.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support.

Kids,Allies,Friendships and Gratitude.(Blog7)

kids,Allies,friendships & Gratitude.

All you lovers of life,working to sustain & celebrate life,working out in your gardens, allotments & fields you know there is so much going on at this time of year, so please understand that this blog is not probably at it’s best due to other commitments but it just feels right to get some pictures out there, help you all recognise how resolute , persevering action can bring meaningful, fruitful days of satisfaction,Joy,friendship, healing and hopefully some balance. ‘Let the good times roll!’

The intro shot ere(seaside bakery) was taken by Dr Katy Fox or better still Momo, (from Luxembourg, Studied 6 yrs at Aberdeen uni)who visited Karuna last week. She made a special effort to get over  from Somerset where she is doing her Permaculture design course module.She certainly looked like she needed a break from it all and I’m sure she got some space & good rest at Karuna.  Merav is holding some special Tahini from Nablus ,the label reads “Pride of Palestine”.It’s the yummyest Tahini we’ve ever tasted.We bought it in a small Arab Olive’n’ spice shop in Nazareth , it would be grand if it were imported to the U.K. To understand why we were visiting Israel you’ll have to read on.     

We wish to thank all those wonderful people who supported the Karuna appeal for help in funding the new approved workshop and polytunnel.In this age of  money shortage it is great that people feel so confident and trusting towards the aims of Karuna.The ’Moonshare cooperative Ltd’ donated the generous sum of £300 from their seed fund.The ‘Dinefwr Green Group’ donated the sum of £500.Old friends Sheila & Alec Ward, previous owners of ‘the Grange’ (Rural Retreat), Ellesmere,very kindly donated £200.Other donors are listed on the ‘Donate page’ of the Karuna website. Above- Donors Cllr Jim Gaffney and Campaigns Coordinator Cllr Tim Shaw visited Karuna for  publicity shots,disapointingly to our knowledge this never got into the local press.We feel it is important to announce that public bodies and organisations are prepared to help support Karuna because the transition work we are doing needs recognition and support.    

 Here’s Tim with one of his special didgeridoos,not quite finished.

He planted the tree from which this piece was taken. Tim has a smallholding in  Near Llandeilo.

Caio my eldest son enjoys making music.His tastes are varied. He plays both Clarinet and Alto Sax in the Shropshire Youth Jazz ensemble (SYJE).In 2010 he won an award for most improved musician at Church Stretton School.He’s a bit of an Earth Rocker & likes to play Bass guitar and Ukulele,practicing,jamming at every given opportunity.He’s always up for a Rock’n'Groove session and though he likes his sleep doesn’t mind occasional late night Jams especially when we travel over to meet with creative friends based in Wales.  

I would say Caio has always been actively creative, and adventurous,ever expanding into diverse interests and developing his skills.He has been part of Shrewsbury Street theatre and performs well with fire Diablo.In fact he’s a master of the Art.These days he plays with 2 Diablos at the same time.Caio and Soma (his brother) enjoy Bushcraft with a focus on wood carving,recently he has started making high quality bushcraft Knife handles for bushcraft blades which he hopes to sell.He is sekking guidance in leathercraft work so he can make his own scabards.

Born a Rocker die a Rocker! Caio’ and I like the occasional Ska/Punk/Rock gig.

O.K we know most of our friends and supporters aren’t particularly interested,but then again like us your all so very diverse, but we feel great respect towards Charlie Harper because he will never sell out.And anyway this is just a blog.

Here is Caio at the Infamous ‘Rebellion fezzy (2010)’ with U.K.Subs vocalist,Punk Rock Bluesman Charlie Harper, now 66 yrs,  still not past it,still almost constantly touring across the globe,still giving out  social education.He performs with the gusto of a kid on his first stint of a gig circuit. I first saw the Subs play at the Sandpiper (in the old lacemarket),Nottm 1978. It’s incredible that I can still go and see this band,’Wild out’, and share the experience with my son who similarly loves this kinda Blues Punk.I suppose it all started as urban Folk really,which got labeled Punk Rock, which later led to birth of New Wave.Charlie doesn’t get the respect he deserves in the U.K.,but he doesn’t care what the media and music biz think-he doesn’t employ a PR ,he just gets on with the business of playing great shows and flying the Punk flag.(he has our full respect) Last year when BBC 6music conducted a punk Rock world cup the subs won  by an impressive margin,beating of the Clash,Pistols & Ramones.This is proof of how much love and respect there is out there for Charlie and his band.His life story should be celebrated as part of the great history of British rock’n’ roll.His friend Rod Stewart taught him to play harmonica back in the 60′s in those days they were both buskers,to date he’s done 23 albums.Go and see them, enter the mosh pit! If you have a fixed stereotyped image of punk your in for a surprise ,realistically speaking, Punk was the seed of creation in a nation of staleness and deprivation.It was and still is a highly creative energy.Subs are touring U.K. right now,it’s always a good rocking Blues Punk show. 

(Above- Green Belt) Soma,Caio’s brother likes a bit of a strum on a guitar now’n'then, but making music isn’t his thing really.He likes Judo, here at his latest tournament he won 3 Gold medals.He’s working towards his Blue belt whilst Caio is now working towards his Brown belt. 

Soma is into computer technology.At the headteachers awards he was the only kid to get an award for Information Communication Technology.,Specifically website design. I wish he could do this blog for me.

Both our lads fully understand the basics of life.They know we need daily exercise,they know they need to spend physical energy on growing healthy food that sustains them,(our true renewable resource).They are not work shy.They have never had a TV,this makes them very different to the majority of  most other kids.They are without all todays media brainwashing.Hence they can think and act creatively for themselves, they’re ever active and always seeking something new to do.

 In our early days as a family we traveled alot.So our kids were home educated for 3 years.My parents would worry.They’ed say they it will not be good for them to stay away from school,but they couldn’t be more wrong.We know that our kids are much happier than most these days, and as far as school goes they did both settle into it without  too much difficulty.The head of their first school in England once called me up to say how valuable their presence was in the class room,they brought so much into the class with them.No wonder ,they had been so ‘Greened out’ growing up in West Wales,where they were both born by an open fire.For two years they travelled and lived in Portugal, in a remote farm house , and on the road in a camper van. Another year they lived In S.E Asia where they travelled Thailand,Myanmar(Burma),Laos,Malaysia and Cambodia.I think their experiences in those countries gave them a great start in life.I know that the smallholder/permaculture lifestyle they have at Karuna feeds their spirit & keeps them well-balanced. They are most adaptable and independent. I know I wish that I had the good fortune to live beneath the trees that I myself had planted,where birds nest and sing-song.           

 A shot of the family run Shropshire mill where we bought the Douglas Fir to build the new Karuna workshop.(see previous blog).

On arrival at Karuna we tried to make a dash through the quagmire but got stuck.So we got our lads to help us carry the timber to dry land ready to build with.

Martin helped Merav & I build the workshop.A local friend introduced us.Martin is 72 years young and comes from a neighbouring village.It was a great pleasure to work alongside him.On learning about the project and coming to understand some of our struggle and strife he very kindly donated some of his work hours free of charge.It is so rewarding to make a special connection with a man who has worked as a carpenter his whole life long and see him gain understanding and respect for our work with the materials that he has had the good fortune to work/play with his whole life long. I must add he gets  so much pleasure in serving the project. Big ‘Thank you!’ Martin!  

By March we had completed the Workshop.But we couldn’t have done it without your support.We are ever grateful to you all,donation big or small.Thank you for believing in Karuna as we do.

Our very good friend Frank Bowman first visited Karuna a few years back.He received much inspiration  to start getting on with more work at his own small holding in Wales.He has been teaching ,Sharing and giving to the ‘Bangor forest garden’ (BFG) for many years.We be gifted him a dozen Karuna grafted apple trees and helped him plant them out at his place. Frank made it possible for us to make a family trip to Israel (along with Lucy Langdon) This made it possible for us to attend  the commemoration of  Merav’s mothers tragic death.Unlike most of the U.K.poulation our lives have been effected  by the realities of War.The increase of  global Wars is linked to Oil and this is one of the main reasons we are trying our best to minimise the consumption of ‘Black Gold’.  

workshop complete, I decide to start teaching grafting the Karuna way.Quite a simple technique that I had taught myself over the past 3 years.Students arrived  from near and as far,Ludlow,Shrewsbury, Hereford, Somerset and London.Whilst teaching I learned how I could run a much better course next year.I got some very positive feed back and several people contacted me to say their two grafting’s had taken and were looking healthy.So everybody seemed quite happy with the result.

When there is plenty of water to enjoy I love the extreme heat.This was taken on a hike to En Gedi sring.This was our first holiday in four years.Much needed due to intensive pressure put upon us by our ‘reactionary’ Local planning authority. Over the past few years we have demonstrated our genuine commitment to this community project and the development of a sustainable rural agricultural/educational business. And that they may now have possibly recognised and understood some of the positive environmental ,social, & economic benefits of a unique Permaculture educational project.We hope so!       

Wot a woman! This is Lucy. Last summer she and Ems, her twin sister Wwoofed at Karuna for 10 days.During their stay both of them displayed a thirst for knowledge, hard work and enthusiasm for all the tasks we set them.Incredible really! They merrily embrace ‘All’ in the most dedicated manner understanding that Grass-roots work is worth their energy.Lucy is a freelance writer, which put her in a position to support us by Karuna sitting whilst we were away.It was a very special experience for her as she lives in central London. She has great experience in Search Engine Marketing having worked at Distilled for two years and has been involved with a few green charities,as well as an events officer at VSO over the last year or so and is now succeeding in turning that into a living! She is also working for ‘Project Dirt’.The wonedrfull thing about Lucy is that she’s ‘Always there’,she is so ,committed & understanding,a great listener & responds at the exact time you need her help.She is one of the numerous special people we have met on the Karuna journey.Perhaps we should do a special Karuna supporters blog,but ho no that would take tooooo loooong!

Bill Kerswell a local smallholder/farmer/local press contributor is the very first local , a ’Picklescotian’,to have attended a workshop at karuna.He has an interest in learning grafting and he tells me that his graftings have taken & are doing fine.This dual variety cleft graft was one of my first experiments of this kind.Grafted onto a slightly mature tree donated by Bill.

(Below)We went over to a regional Wwoof hosts meeting in Worcestershire.The venue was at the ‘Hatch’,a 35 acre Organic Farm with many acres of  cider orchards.There’s even a recording studio at this venue.The owners are amazingly friendly,open and enjoy sharing their place with others.We took some Karuna cider with us to share and ate a spiffing picnic on their terrace in the warm sun.We took scions from their Cider apple trees to graft and establish at Karuna.

(Below).Just a few weeks later we visited ‘Smiling tree’ Organic farm at ‘Chapel Lawn’ Shropshire, it was brilliant to meet people who farm animals with compasion.We have offered Karuna as the venue for next years hosts meeting. 

Overall from observation of the many diverse varieties of apple at Karuna we notice that apples are suffering from pest damage to the leaf.However diversity never lets us down and there are numerous varieties that are doing fine,Scrumptious being one example.

“Never question fortune,the world has too much of its opposite”.

As with apples at Karuna,so with  friends…….. Diversity!

All part & parcel of,or practice of our aim as Diversity specialists and I.D.(Insight design).

These Hamburg grapes vines were donated by a local farmer  in Clun a few years ago,in the new polytunnel they will bear enough fruit in a few years time for Merav to create one of her special wines as well as wonderful juice.

 ”If your after honey ,you dont go killin all the beez!”

Beez aren’t the only busy ones!We have been so very busy ourselves and are along way behind our own set targets.

Courses 2011

Hello all, Here is a list of coming courses for 2011 at Karuna

*Booking essential for all courses and camping available by arrangement

 

12 June (Sunday) SCYTHING COURSE

 Fee : £50 including lunch and refreshments

The scythe has been used in parts of the world since Roman Times. It is still being used in many countries today and is having a revival in Britain. Full details

 

 

 

18 June CREATIVE URGE

 DRUMMING WORKSHOP Acoustic sounds

With Olugbala Kokomo – Solo Artist

Contemporary Composer, Music & Poetry.

 Cost :£30 – 25. Full details    

 

 24^th , 25^th  & 26^th June

FOREST GARDENING

 Led by:      Chris Evans

 www.designedvisions.com

 Cost:  £120  – £ 90(cons) including all meals.

Full details

LOW IMPACT LIVING Led by : Paul Mobbs, date to be confirmed

 

23-24 July

HARVESTING BASKET MAKING

Led by : Pippa Scott

Cost :£ 95 (£85 con)

For centuries willow baskets were essential in the field and garden.  Enjoy your apple or berry harvest even more with a gathering basket you have made yourself!                 Full details

29, 30 & 31st  July PERMACULTURE IN 3 DAYS

Introduction to Permaculture

With Angie Polkey, in liaison with Aberystwyth University

Course fee : £75 (additional  £25 charge for meals provided)

Full Details 

 

20 & 21 August MAKING AN EARTH OVEN

 Led by Merav & Janta, Learn how to build a beautiful earth oven.

Fee : £70 Children above 12 yrs welcome …

Nothing cooks pizzas and bread as well as an earthen oven. The texture and flavor of is out of this world. Not only are the pizza/bread ovens wonderful to cook and entertain with, they’re also works of art. An outlet for your creativity.    Full Details

 

   

Grafting and Bloodsports

Bloodsports and Grafting,

Greetings Permie peeps,

Naturally a busy time at Karuna,we have a helluva lot more than we can actually handle but were doing our very best to develop a business and share the fruits of the land.

The beginning of the new season started rather symbolically with Shiva Yatri celebrations over at Jo & Allen’s in Shrewsbury.This is the time when we celebrate Shiva the Hindu god of destruction which is intrinsically connected with new creation.So we got together for Bahjans. It was nice to get my Tabla out again and knock out a few ‘bols’.,rhythms & chant with some new ’n’ old friends. Unfortunately I don’t have time to make it along to the regular ‘Bhajananada’ group  meetings,but  if your interested at all contact jjoday@gmail.com

After yet another long, hard ,wild winter up in the hills it is so wonderful to see and experience the change of seasons (& more light for the solar panels). And I  know that very soon I’ll be experiencing that overdose of satisfaction  one gets from being immersed within a newly created woodlands. Stepping out of our caravan in to Eden, we experience the reflection of our love for the earth and an affirmation that we are doing our very best to demonstrate a solution to the environmental crisis we are ALL in.

And of course we want to share  with others the opportunity to experience that so, on Sunday 13th March we have kicked off with an “Apple day grafting workshop”.

The positive act of planting trees often leads to deep consideration of the future and a connection to ‘cycles’,true sustainability.

You can’t help but think about the positive benefits of planting a tree, no matter what type of tree, fruit, ornamental, habitat supporting, fuel etc.It’s all long term planning……it’s all positive change.

Planting trees instantaneously alters our consciousness! If you dont believe me just try it!

Nicole, one of the participants on the course has written about her experience.

She travelled from Somerset to make the Karuna experience. It seems to have been very worthwhile for her.Just the kind of positive response & support Karuna needs.    

Apple Tree Grafting at Karuna, 13th March 2011

I don’t know if it was the beautiful view of the surrounding Shropshire hills, or the welcoming smiles of Janta and Merav but as soon as I stepped on the land at Karuna my tummy flipped. There is something so magical about seeing a landscape being healed. To see trees reclaim a hillside, abundant varieties budding with new energy, to know that each one has been planted with heartfelt intent.

I was coming to Karuna to learn how to graft apple trees. To understand the art and science of combining a cutting of my favourite trees to rootstocks, as to grow different varieties to plant in my orchard. The day began with introductions, a diverse group with locals to Londoners, most arriving to learn the skills to care for their own small patches of land.

Janta gave us all an apple, the last of their own, to connect with. After grounding ourselves and reflecting on the nourishment we receive from the land, we were all treated to the taste of Karuna, delicious! The day began with a tour of their stunning site, with Janta showing us their nurseries of fruit trees. We listened to the intriguing descriptions of the different varieties, some from unknown varieties aptly named by the family instead, such as ‘Earthworm Giant’ and ‘Little Red Apple’.

Merav explained how the young trees are mulched with card and straw and other organic material, which helps retain moisture, keep down weeds and strengthen the little trees while they are growing. We walked down to their orchard area, kept pest-free by ducks and fed by their own cycling of nutrients – ‘humanure’ and pee bales. A living example of a truly ‘closed-loop’ system.

Janta talked through the trees that gift them with fruit each year, helping us to decide which two varieties we would choose to graft later on. He also showed us his method of tree planting, describing how each tree at Karuna (and they have now planted over 8,000) has had its own hole dug,(never notch planted,but planted with Karuna/compassion) been fed and lovingly patted in by hand. Perhaps why a local farmer came to Janta for advice on how his trees have done so well on this elevated Shropshire hillside!

We then each planted out a two year old tree and I couldn’t help but be impressed by their vigour for such young trees. These where from the first established nursery at Karuna.We observed and absorbed instruction of how trees are planted at Karuna .And then got on with planting an apple tree each ourselves.

Soon it was lunch and then shortly after it was time for our apple grafting tuition. Janta explained the different known methods and gave us his opinions of which had worked for him. He talked to us about the whip, stab, straddle, cleft & strap techniques and then showed us his own ‘karuna style’ method, which was a lot more simple and straightforward and apparently the most successful for him. He recommended to have no less than three and no more than six buds on the scion (cutting) and also demonstrated the importance of making a smooth cut.

Unfortunately, despite Jantas attentive warning, in all of my enthusiasm to make the perfect cut, I also managed to cut my thumb! The lovely sharp knife managed to slide straight through even my thumbnail. My tummy flipped again, not at the magic of the land, but at the sight of my own blood! Merav took me to clean and dress the wound, sat me down and fed me dates, I certainly couldn’t complain!

After this happening at the beginning of the workshop, everyone else seemed to take even more care with the sharp tools but continued to practice, cutting carefully a short length of rootstock to expose the cambium layer (it’s sappy life force) and binding it to another carefully cut scion. By the summer the tree will have healed its wounds and the tape can be unbound revealing a hopefully healthy little tree.

Janta emphasised the importance of keeping the environment clean, of carefully placing your cuttings so that they are as clean as possible when bound together. As I had managed to put myself out of action so quickly, Janta gratefully grafted my chosen trees. He’d selected one for me however, a juicy red dessert apple called ‘Liberty’. I am now sectioning off my own little nursery bed at home so that when my thumb is healed I can practice grafting and build my own little collection of fruiting wonders.

Each attendee was given Janta’s patient and gentle attention, one on one and I’m sure that everyone left feeling confident that they had learnt what they had came for. Sadly, mine wasn’t the only injury, at the end of the session, a Shropshire community gardener Leila, had also managed to take a swipe of her thumb. However despite the bandages, the day still got the thumbs up from us!

Thanks again to Janta and Merav, and their sons, for having us and making us feel so welcome. Next time I visit I hope to bring my own grafted tree, minus the bandages.

END.

Spiffing little tale. Though I have to admit my concern over her interest in attending the ‘Scything course’ this summer,we don’t wanna see any feet being lopped off at Karuna Nicole. A BIG… Thank you for your article.

Nicole’s website

Janta’s favourite quote of the month;

“sustainability is like teenage sex-everybody claims they are doing it but most people aren’t & those that are, are doing it very badly”

Work in progress

                          View of  Rhydycroesau woodlands on the morning of our timber Pick up.

Rhydycroesau sustainable woodlands are located a few miles out of Oswestry.

Agro forester Ian Room and his son Tim manage these 100 acre woodlands.

There are five miles of forest rides and footpaths.And you can find a wide diversity of vegetation,habitat and wildlife.

One of the most incredible trees in the land can be found here….See ‘Magical Ent’ pictured below with Janta stood beneath for scale.  

The magic of this tree is not it’s size but its location,miraculously growing right inside a crack in a rock.So the tree is very narrow, but wide.I think this is now one of my favourite Yews in the Land. 

 

Would just like to remind you  of the Apple tree grafting workshop at Karuna on 13th March. 

The Tap Blog  Karuna features in the above political blog.

Blitz Blog

                                                     Beautiful Cliff top house In S.W.Algarve.2000.

Greetings all,

This Blitz Blog is basically going out to keep the blog alive ,we don’t have much spare time over here as we have now started building our ‘approved’ Storage/workshop,photos to follow in the next blog.We have now sourced a suply of local timber from sustainably managed woodlands in North Shropshire.

And we are constantly trying to find a  planning solution so that we can get on with our lives here at Karuna.So far the results have been negative and prefer at this stage not to expand on this issue.

Below you can read about the “Government Planning Framework consultation”,very important to the future of Karuna and all similar projects in regard to Low impact living ,as well as new land based livelihoods (smallholders etc).  

 Claire indicated that a picture of the walls I built at our previous home in Wales(previous blog) be shown, so I dug this photo out, although the wall later continued to go another 3ft high with an arch in the centre(Sadly No picture).

Funky Raw magazine have published an article on “Our Raw Life” which gives some explanation as to how we benefited from the Raw food diet and how that experience influenced our decision to start a more creative lifestyle which is intrinsically connected to growing food.The Magazine cover artwork is by Merav. click here to read Funky Raw 

Just like to remind you all that  I am leading an Apple Tree grafting workshop on 13th March at Karuna,

APPLE TREE GRAFTING WORKSHOP 

if you have an old special apple variety that you want to preserve, or there are special varieties you like to cultivate, grafting is quite easy & lots of fun.  

At the end of the workshop you will get to take home 2 of your very own grafted apple trees which you can plant in your garden or make it a present to a special friend. you can bring your own cutting or make a selection from the large choice of varieties at karuna. There will be 3 types of rootstock to choose from therefore if you have a small or large garden you can select the size of tree you prefer.  

you will need to bring your own secateurs and grafting knife or craft/ Stanley knife

Fanx to you all.

Janta.

Government Planning Framework Consultation
28th February Deadline

The Government is consulting on a new national planning framework for England until 28th February. All the planning policy statements such as PPS7 on the Countryside, and PPS1a on Climate Change are likely to be replaced by one document The Government are allegedly looking to reduce several hundred pages of guidance into ten or twenty pages.

This is really important for future people involved in low impact development, permaculture projects, ecovillages etc. It is potentially a threat as policies that have enabled projects to get planning permission in the past may be removed. However, it is also an important opportunity to get supportive policies added at the national level.

Chapter 7 has been working with the Permaculture Association to identify planning policies that we’d like to see retained or added. Here in bullet point form are the main points we have identified.

A definition of “Sustainable Development” in the framework that is robust and stringent, and emphasises ecologically sustainable development, not just sustainable economic development.
Retention of a policy to allow agricultural, forestry and other rural workers to build homes in the open countryside. This is currently contained in Annex A of PPS7 (Planning Policy Statement 7).
Introduction of a national policy for Low Impact Development, similar to the “One Planet Development” policy contained in TAN6 (Technical Advice Note 6) in Wales.
Introduction of policies that are supportive of self-builders, particularly where homes are ecologically sustainable and/or affordable.
We would like to see the encouragement of local food production and forestry enterprises on green belt land.
Introduction of policies that provide for people who wish to have part-time access to agricultural land on the edge of existing settlements.
Introduction of policies that make it easier for those who choose to live in a mobile home, cabin or other low impact dwelling to do so — whether or not they are classed as gypsies or travellers.
We need to demonstrate to the government that there is a demand for these kinds of development. If you agree with some or all of these points please write a submission by the 28th February – in your own words – and send it to:

planningframework@communities.gsi.gov.uk

or

Alan Scott
National Planning Policy Framework
Department for Communities and Local Government
Zone 1/H6
Eland House
London
SW1E 5DU

Below is Chapter 7′s draft submission which fleshes out some of these points in greater detail.

NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY FRAMEWORK

Sustainable Development

We welcome the proposal in the Green Paper Open Source Planning to “establish a presumption in favour of sustainable development”. This will require national planning guidance to provide a robust definition of what “sustainable development” constitutes. We submit that any definition should include the following areas:

minimization of resource use (as defined for example by ‘ecological footprints’)
climate change and carbon emissions
minimization of energy use, especially fossil fuels
minimization of transport demand and car use
minimization of waste
enhancement of biodiversity
conservation and enhancement of natural resources such as water, soil quality, woodland etc.
adequate access to land, resources and facilities for all households within a given community.
Sustainable Rural Development

Rural development has been hampered in recent years by restrictive locational policies that have tended to equate sustainability with location on the edge of settlements and required development in the open countryside to be “strictly controlled”. While Chapter 7 agrees that development in the open countryside needs strict control, too often this has been interpreted to mean “no development at all”. There are often obvious transport advantages in siting developments on the edge of settlements, but sometimes, particularly in the case of land-based enterprises, these can be outweighed by other sustainable advantages, such as more effective land management, the opportunity to use natural sources of energy, restoration of moribund rural economies and agro-ecologies, the avoidance of “reverse commuting” from town residence to rural employment etc.

We would therefore support a presumption in favour of sustainable development in the open countryside, provided that the definition of sustainability is stringent, and that its application is strictly controlled. We believe there is a case for expanding the “country house” policy, currently found in paragraph 11 of PPS 7 to include, not merely buildings exhibiting “the highest standards of contemporary architecture” (which anyway is highly subjective) but those embodying the highest standards of rural sustainabi!ity, as defined in national policy guidance.

We also suggest that framers of the new policy guidance should look at the Welsh “One Planet Development” policy in section 4.15 of Technical Advice Note 6 (the Welsh equivalent of PPS7). Whilst we would not advocate that this should be copied word for word, and accept that it is too detailed for the kind of policies envisaged in the new national planning guidance, we submit that something along these lines should be introduced into English policy guidance.

Agricultural Tied Dwellings

We are concerned that the provision for agricultural tied dwellings should not be swept aside in the new reforms. Current agricultural prices on the one hand, and rural house prices on the other are respectively so low and so high that farmers and horticulturalists cannot possibly pay off the cost of a rural dwelling in the open market through a normal agricultural enterprise.

It is therefore vital that some sort of exceptions policy should remain so that farmers, and particularly new entrants into farming, can live close to their enterprise. However the agricultural tied dwelling system has been open to abuse, from people posing as agriculturalists and then abandoning the enterprise that justified the dwelling and getting the agricultural tie removed. This in turn has meant that planning officers are understandably resistant to applications for agricultural dwellings, and bona fide farmers often find it extraordinarily difficult to obtain permission.

The main reason for this is the weakness of the standard agricultural tie, which does not tie the dwelling to the enterprise, even though it is the proposed enterprise which has to justify the dwelling. The moment permanent planning permission is acquired, the applicant can, and sometimes does, sell the dwelling off separate from the land which justified the permission.

This problem could be rectified by encouraging local authorities to impose conditions that tie the dwelling to the land or the enterprise which justified it. We also suggest that England adopt the occupancy condition now used in Wales, whereby any tied dwelling which is no longer suitable for agricultural or another rural industry, should not be released onto the open market, but should become prioritized for affordable housing (TAN6 4.13)

Self Built Homes

Chapter 7 was very heartened to see support for self-built homes in Open Source Planning, and we hope to find this reflected in policy guidance. Self build provides the opportunity for some low income people to house themselves at little or no expense to the taxpayer and it is shameful that it has been given so little support in planning guidance over the last fifteen years. It is particularly helpful for young people in villages and rural situations who face very high house prices, but often have good access to land and neighbours with the necessary machinery and manual skills.

However the problem has been finding land with permission at an affordable price. Even when land is potentially available the rural exception policy is of no use to an individual because it does not accommodate one-off developments (although the former South Shropshire District Council found a way of allowing one-off dwellings under the rural exceptions site policy). We therefore advocate

(a) that local authorities should be encouraged to provide mechanisms enabling one-off self-builders to construct affordable housing, with legal agreements ensuring that it remains affordable over subsequent changes of ownership and occupation ; and

(b) that potential owner/occupier/self-builders requiring one-off affordable housing should be deemed to constitute a “need” irrespective of whether any local housing survey has been carried out.

We would also support a shift away from the allocation of a restricted number of sites for housing in and around villages (which causes land scarcity and hence inflated land values) and towards criteria-based policies which allow for highly sustainable affordable housing on any site within a prescribed wider area (for example, contiguous with the settlement).

Affordable Housing

The definition of affordable housing in PPS3 at the moment restricts the use of the term solely to housing for local people. This discriminates against people who happen to have no historical allegiance to any particular location. It is right that local people should have priority over incomers as regards access to a limited supply of affordable housing. But people who have not been resident in one location for the required amount of time still have need of housing, and if they are on a low income they will need affordable housing, and should not be defined out of eligibility.

Rural Housing

Since its founding in 1999 Chapter 7 has experienced rising demand for houses in rural locations from people who want to “downsize” and establish a closer connection with the natural and agricultural world, without necessarily undertaking a full time profession in agriculture (the boom in allotments and local food growing is part of the same trend). To date the needs of these people have not been catered for by the planning system, and some have opted to buy bareland in the open countryside and try and find a way around the planning system (for example by pretending to be full time agriculturalists, or by trying to obtain a certificate of lawful use through the four year or ten year rule). This has undermined the credibility of the planning system, and made planning authorities unduly suspicious of bona fide farmers and horticulturalists.

We believe it is the function of the planning system to meet people’s needs in a way that does not damage, and preferably enhances, the local and wider environment. We therefore urge that there should be provision for these needs, which, with the application of sensible policies, can be accommodated sustainably on the edge of villages.

We view that Community Land Trusts offer an appropriate vehicle for providing such housing. We also consider that where access to land is required, this is better achieved by providing collective access to a co-operatively owned area of agricultural land, rather than providing houses with large individual plots or paddocks. Individual plots could easily revert to domestic use, or they might become neglected, and they would lead to very low density development that would be unhelpful on the edge of an existing settlement, and unsustainable on a wider scale.

Green Belt

We are pleased that Open Source Planning, states that Green Belts will continue to be protected. These areas, close to conurbations are ideal for providers of local foods, and woodland products, and such enterprises would be invaluable for keeping urban schoolchildren in contact with the source of their sustenance. Unfortunately greenbelt land is mostly inaccessible to growers and foresters, because the hope value makes it prohibitively expensive. We advocate that green belt policies should be adjusted to facilitate the establishment of farms and forestry enterprises providing goods for local consumption – for example by allowing the development of agricultural dwellings tied to productive holdings, farm shops, training centres in land based activities etc.

Caravans, Cabins and Low Impact Dwellings

Caravans, mobile homes, wooden cabins, yurts and other forms of temporary accommodation can be highly sustainable as they are usually compact, easy to heat, have low embodied energy, and have a relatively low impact on the surrounding natural landscape. We would like to see it made easier for those people who prefer to live in caravans, mobile homes, cabins, yurts or low impact dwellings to do so — whether or not they be classed as gypsies or travellers (and we agree that the settled population and travellers should be treated equally). Mechanisms such as rural exception sites should be open to mobile homes and low impact dwellings as well as bricks and mortar. The government would do well to commission research into sustainable and architecturally satisfying mobile home sites, with a view to providing advice on best practice.

Any comments on this are welcome .

Simon Fairlie
Chapter 7
Monkton Wyld Court
Charmouth
Bridport
Dorset
DT6 6DQ

01297 561359

chapter7@tlio.org.uk