What’s the point of slugs(Editor – food for your chickens)? What’s in your compost (Editor – rats?)? Why is Alan Titchmarsh (Editor – can we have Monty Don please) so attractive? Get answers in this delightful vegetable cultivation-based show starring two of the UK’s finest musical comedians (and real-life allotmenteers) Jo Stephenson and Dan Woods. When they’re not chitting potatoes, double digging or hiding in their sheds, accordion-wielding Dan and ukulele-toting Jo are familiar faces on London’s comedy and cabaret scene.
Please note this will appeal to non-veg growers as well!

Box office 01823 283244
www.thebrewhouse.net for online bookings.

Thanks to Bridget Newbery of the CSE for the news…..

Fran Hicks and Chrissie Godfrey invite those interested to meet to discuss setting up a study group to work with Carolyn Baker’s book.

“I am currently a member of a group which meets in Glastonbury, but due to leaving a job in the area can no longer sustain attendance. I’ts a great group and we have found working with the material very helpful. We do not, by all means, agree wholeheartedly with Carolyn Baker’s viewpoint but have found the questions for journalling and the discussion have provoked deep sharing which all have found beneficial.”  Fran Hicks

What is on the back cover:

“The collapse of industrial civilizations, well underway since at least 2007, present humankind with unprecedented and daunting challenges in the area of energy, environment and economics.  Just as the Transition Handbook of 2008 provided specific strategies for addressing these changes Logistically, Navigating the Coming Chaos, provides a toolkit of emotional and spiritual preparation for an uncertain future.  It offers us an opportunity to step across an evolutionary threshold in order to become anew hind of human being living in conscious self-awareness of our intimate connection with all life in the universe.”

If you are interested please contact me at  franhicks@phonecoop.coop and I will set up a doodle diary to find out what date would suit most.

Following their example, folks from the Somerset Land & Food Project which for the last 2 years has been researching & connecting the dots between local food webs in Somerset, have decided to launch Incredible Edible Somerset, a new interactive online forum designed to celebrate community food growing in Somerset. People & projects can sign up online and find a one-stop-shop of local land & food news, events & useful resources.

http://incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com/

The latest transition newsletter is out packed with exciting news of grant money we have received for local energy assessment and few other great projects we have been talking about for a long time – we now have the money to run them. 

Also plenty of up and coming events from seed days to new economics; from raw food to growing your own!

http://tauntontransitiontown.blogspot.com/

Wrap up warm, wear willies and remember to bring a torch!

Bring bells, whistles and horns and be prepared to make a lot of noise!

Frieze Hill Community Orchard (path to orchard on Staplegrove Road opposite ‘Making Life Easier’.

5.30 pm

Sunday 15^th January

Help out in re-siting bird boxes in French Weir, and assess the work needed for the pond conservation in Longrun Meadow.

Meet in French Weir by the toilets at 1.30pm on Sunday 15^th. Wear old clothes and stout footwear and some protective gloves.  Bring your friends and have grand day out helping nature along.

Organised by the Friends of French Weir and the Friends of Longrun Meadow.

“The Green Deal is a hugely ambitious 20 year plus framework for a long term solution to improving energy efficiency …  the largest and most ambitious home improvement programme our country has seen since the second world war.”

Greg Barker, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change

You might have heard about the Green Deal that the government is championing.  It is a scheme to help finance the insulation of hard to treat homes like those with solid walls and in the south-west this is vitally important; over 91% of our homes in the south-west are band D or below (read about energy performance indicators here – http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Energyperformancecertificates/DG_177026)

So how does this happen.

If you chose to insulate your solid walls or draughty floorboards you would ‘take out a loan’ to pay for the insulation.  Instead of incurring the debt personally and losing the benefit if you sell the idea is that the loan is taking out on your electric meter and you would pay back the ‘loan’ in your energy bill.  If you sell then the contract is taking up by the buyers.  So say your energy bill is £800 per year and you insulated your walls as part of this scheme then the money you are saving on energy is ploughed back into cost of the insulation through your energy bills.  The loan repayment would be shown in the energy bill and there will be a liability imposed on energy companies to collect this money.

The process for the green deal on your domestic property and for business is:

• Assessment from an approved body (they must be independent of the installers). It looks as though this might be an extension of the job for HIPs assessors though this has not been finalized. British Gas have already said they would do this for free but it is difficult to see how they can operate a totally independent team of assessors.
• Finance – again this would be a body who have been approved.
• Installation by a green deal installer who is accredited.
• Repayments and follow-up.

This has been touted as a scheme that local businesses and community groups can be apart of and CSE are piloting a green deal local incubator to enable local builders and the whole supply chain to compete with the ‘big boys’.

Read more about the Green Deal local incubator  here – http://www.cse.org.uk/pages/information/local-authorities/the-green-deal and here for Simon Robert’s, Chief Executive of CSE, presentation on the green deal - http://www.cse.org.uk/downloads/file/scef_green_deal_introduction.ppt

If you cannot wait for the Green Deal to start up you might be eligible for the Somerset West Hard-To-Treat Homes schemes which offers 25% of your costs paid for and low income households can get a loan on the remaining 75% and very reasonable rates.  Find out from the CSE post – http://www.cse.org.uk/projects/view/1154

What Transition is really good at is introducing schemes that focus on the local and come up with new and credible ways of doing it… There have been many local currencies doing the rounds through the ages and Transition have instigated quite a few in the recent past but here is a group that are revolutionising the way of transacting ‘money’ and keeping it local!

Find out more about it here: http://brixtonpound.org/

Free entry

Quantock Eco are running a Christmas Green Fair on Saturday 10th December….

Here are some of the things on offer:
*Christmas gifts * cards * books * jewellery * good food * chutneys * clothes * paintings *
*photos * cosmetics * recycled goods * crafts * knick-knacks * local green businesses * teas *local artists * green groups * free energy advice* renewable energy installers * on-your-bike checks*

For more information contact Jill Gray on 01823 432017
(Bring your bike with you for a free bike check!)