SOW meeting on Wednesday 31 July – meet at the church hall, Oakington, at 7:30pm for a quick tea and biscuit then we will set off on a walk through Mansell Wood and beyond, led by SOW member John Terry. Learn more about nature and our local area and find out how farmers can encourage wildlife.
All welcome. Wear suitable footwear and clothing! We expect to be back around 9pm or not too long after, depending on the group.
Notes from the SOW talk on 26/6/24 by Lou Ellis. Here is a link to her slides.
23 people present.
Lou started by saying she has changed how she gardens in the last few years. She started gardening at the age of six, helping her grandfather. Having witnessed the “Percy Thrower” era of peat and pesticides she’s seeing gardening practice come full circle to some of her grandfather’s old-school methods.
Composting is a way growers mimic natural processes to sustain or improve production.
It increases biodiversity – Lou had noticed a drop-off in bugs over the years but has seen an improvement since using new practices. Soil ecology is overlooked – above ground we only see 40% of the biodiversity around us. Soil life underpins the food web.
It enables closed-circle sustainable gardening by reducing resource use – she does not buy bagged compost any more
It also increases your awareness of garden ecology and helps adapt to changing conditions resulting from climate change
Soil is a mixture of inorganic molecules (eg sand, silt) and organic matter: bacteria, fungi, animals, decomposed plants plus water which binds to the minerals to create soil crumb. The soil crumb can persist for 50 years but is damaged by walking over it and by agricultural machinery. The organic matter is important to prevent soil erosion, which is a serious problem globally.
The composting process needs water and air. Fungi and moulds need it damper, cooler and dark; once the biomass has started to break down, the bacteria like it drier and a little warmer. We just need to create the conditions to help them “do their thing”.
For this you just need a container, eg one made of pallets, or a commercial plastic bin. Create warm and dry conditions by covering the top and sides (eg with old compost bags; Lou re-used some black plastic sheeting.) The bigger the bin the better (but you need at least two.) To aerate, start the bin with large woody material in the base. Traditionally you speed up the process by turning the compost but this is time-consuming and not great for the wildlife in it so Lou doesn’t do it.
After being closed for 12-18 months:
Lou then sieves it. What goes through she uses instead of bought compost, and what doesn’t she uses as mulch.
An ambient bin on steroids! Lou had hers as a Christmas present. It composts more efficiently (90 days in summer) and you include food and kitchen leftovers (“it chomps chicken bones and beef ribs”) in a mixture with other green biomass, shredded unprinted paper, thin cardboard packaging and hollow woody stems (instead of woodchip), adding material three times a week. Some guinea pig bedding. Not grass clippings as these block air flow. She’s kept hers going two years (it runs down a bit in winter.) It smells faintly cabbagy when working aerobically as it should be, if it goes anaerobic it smells more.
This is what it looks like at the end:
Lou uses the results as rich compost, eg instead of growbags for tomatoes.
It also produces a leachate (a “compost tea”) – about a litre a week – which can be diluted 1:10 to use as a liquid fertiliser. It’s best used immediately and can be hard to get just right, but you can tell by the smell -will be OK if it smells OK!
Some examples of how Lou uses compost:
Adding compost increases soil biodiversity. The compost heap itself contains lots of wildlife (eg Lou has seen bumblebees nesting in it) so Lou advocates leaving bins/heaps untouched until Autumn – as you would hedging and ponds.
Mulching: Lou says this has been the single most impactful change in her gardening. It’s essentially direct composting by putting leaves, moss, twigs, and broken-up dry material directly on the ground. It benefits wildlife, retains moisture, adds nutrients, warms and protects soil and is less work too! (But if you want to grow wildflowers you need bare soil for the seed to germinate.)
No dig versus low dig (ie digging as little as possible): Traditionally vegetable plots were double digged but this is not good for soil or wildlife. Instead with a fork just turn the top layers (spades chop earthworms.) But her front garden is no-dig and is working well.
Another example of reduced-resource sustainable gardening is bedding: a lot of things sold by garden centres as annual bedding are actually perennials which can be kept going for years and propagated on by cuttings.
Lou has ongoing experiments testing other improvements, “it’s really fun.” Eg. which tomato varieties are best outside, discovering that French beans tolerate hot, dry conditions better than runners.
As a result of her improved practices Lou has seen more wildlife in her garden including foxes, hedgehogs and grass snakes.
Lou showed this video about using compost and trench composting and recommends GrowVeg generally for good straightforward advice if anyone wants more information.
Lou showed us round her lovely and interesting garden where we could see for ourselves ambient and hotbins in action.
The irecord app is an easy and effective way to record the plants and animals you see, for yourself, for the Oakington & Westwick Nature Recovery Project and for national data to monitor our wildlife.
Here are step by step instructions for installing and using the app. (Confident phone/app users won’t need all the steps.) Thanks to Kay for putting these together.
Like so much of our wildlife, butterflies are struggling in the UK. That we know this is largely down to
one of the longest running citizen science monitoring schemes running anywhere in the world. The
UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is approaching its 50th birthday and records the trends in 58 of
those 59 species. It is organised by Butterfly Conservation, who have their base in Dorset (one of the
best places in the UK for butterflies, with all of those chalk specialists like Small Blue, Silver-studded
Blue, Chalkhill Blue and Adonis Blues (as you can see, the Blues like chalk!)). As well as the UKBMS,
Butterfly Conservation have their own version of ‘Bird Garden Birdwatch’, the Big Butterfly Count.
https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
The Big Butterfly Count runs from 12th July to 4th August and is open to anyone, no matter your skill
level. The goal is simple; count the number of butterflies you see in a 15 minute period at a site of
your choosing (including when on a walk). You don’t have to be able to identify all the UK species, as
the survey focuses on ‘Wider Countryside’ species. So if for you, a hairstreak is something you put on
your head and a fritillary is just a plant and not an insect, then don’t worry – the survey is focussed
on more common species like whites, browns and the big showy Red Admiral, Peacock and Comma.
You can submit as many counts as you want during the 3 weeks. All of this can be done in a really
user friendly mobile app.
James Heywood
Comma butterfly, taken by James Heywood
A talk by Lou Ellis, SOW member, followed by a visit to her nearby garden. A great opportunity to find out how you can garden productively and help nature at the same time.
All welcome to SOW meetings, whether or not you live in Oakington & Westwick. It’s free but a donation of £1 would be much appreciated to cover costs.
The gazebo we usually borrow for Village Day (Saturday 29th June) has fallen through. We have great ideas for the stall to engage people about climate change but we need a gazebo to house it. Please has anyone got a gazebo they can lend on that date?
More details: Restore Nature Now. There are coaches going from Cambridge.
Together with the EAG (Environment Action Group) we will be running a stall focussing on Nature Recovery. Please come along! If you can spare an hour that day, it’s a good way to promote nature recovery (especially to gardeners!) and the work of both groups. sustainableow@gmail.com.
SOW’s stall will focus on climate change – what people are already doing about it and next steps they can take – with children’s activities too. Plus Nature Recovery (that will also be on the EAG stall next door, we’re working together.) Thank you to all who are helping with this stall – if anyone else can help do get in touch.
SOW/EAG member John Terry will lead a walk around local farmland.
No SOW meeting in August!
Notes from SOW meeting on 29th May 2024. 7 people present.
The statistics that more people are concerned about climate change than many of us thought. And that to have effective conversations with people about it, you have to listen, find common ground and have empathy.
Some highlights from her tips:
The ideas we homed in on were:
Encouraging people to consider the climate when voting – Laura told us about the Greenpeace Project Climate Vote.
Laura is running a stall at Strawberry Fair this weekend (1st June) for Parents for Future – if you’re going to the Fair, stop by and say hello.
On 22nd June, there is a Restore Nature Now march in London. There are coaches going from Cambridge.
The Plant Swap went well, engaged a lot of people and also raised £150 for Cambridge4Ukraine. SOW and EAG are having a stall at the Pollination Festival, Garden Centre 22nd June, focussing on Nature Recovery. Cambridge Nature Festival is continuing.
The next SOW meeting is on Wed 26th June: a talk by Lou on “Composing for Sustainability and Wildlife” followedby a visit to her nearby garden. Don’t miss it!
The following SOW meeting is on 31st July. Thinking of doing something outside, maybe a nature walk through the village.
Following last month’s talk on Communicating Climate Change, we are planning to see how we can use the ideas and inspiration Alana gave us and in particular how we could use them to put together a display for the SOW stall at Oakington & Westwick Village Day on 29th June.
Please bring your ideas/thinking hats and also if you have large sheets of paper, pens, or anything you think would be useful for creating display material bring them along!
You might like to look again at the survey we did at Village Day last year about people’s attitudes and actions.
The June SOW meeting will be a talk on “Composting for sustainablility and wildlife” followed by a visit to a nearby member’s garden.
Notes from the SOW meeting on 24 April 2024. 15 people present including 3 children.
The speaker was Alana Sinclair of Cambridge Carbon Footprint, whose activities include Open Eco Homes, supporting Repair Cafes, and the Net Zero Now training course which inspired SOW.
She told us about some techniques to use when discussing Climate Change, following lots of research and her own experience. People often feel uncomfortable about the subject because they can feel judged.
She began by asking: In general how concerned about climate change do you think people in the UK are? And how about in Oakington and Westwick specifically?
The answers surprised some of us. 74% adults reported feeling (very or somewhat) worried about climate change. When asked about a range of issues, climate change was the second biggest concern facing adults in Great Britain (74%), with the rising cost of living being the main concern (79%). (ONS 2022).
Globally, 89% would like their governments to do more to tackle warming, and 69% say they would be willing to contribute 1% of their income to addressing climate change.
But, Alana explained, humans are “conditional co-operators” who are more likely to contribute to public good if they see that others are doing the same. So one important motivating message is to let people know that most of the population, like them, cares about climate change and wants something to be done to stop it.
Britain Talks Climate 2024 is research which reveals what people think about climate policy. It shows that only 15% want to see a slow down in Net Zero efforts. Most people think that reaching Net Zero will be good for the UK – even those in the lowest income groups. There is near universal support for protecting nature and wildlife, and reducing pollution and increasing renewables are next highest priorities.
In rural areas like ours, climate change is a concern to 87% of people – ie higher than the national average, and rural citizens are more engaged with environmental concerns in general than urban citizens (although the actions they take may be different.)
Nationally, 75% said they made a lot or some lifestyle changes to help tackle climate change. So a useful engagement strategy is to recognise the efforts people are already making.
Alana had lots of tips, including:
Alana gave some specific examples of engagements:
We had a lively discussion, and the conclusion at the end was that we would postpone the planned May 29th meeting (“Composing for Sustainability and Wildlife” followed by a visit to Lou’s garden) until June (26th) and use the May meeting to discuss what we learned tonight and use those insights to prepare a stall for the Village Day (29th June) – in collaboration with the village Environment Action Group.
Here’s a link to the results of the survey we did last Village Day which may be useful in our discussions.
Email us if you’d like to ask to see the slides for the full presentation, which included a lot more than in these notes.
(Thank you to John whose notes these are based on.)
Don’t forget the Plant Swap on Sat 18 May 10-12 and Sun 19 May 2-4pm, in Coles Lane.
Cambridge Nature Festival runs 25th May – 30th June. Events and activities for all ages, abilities and interests – creative activities, nature walks, live music, bat punt safaris, BioBlitzes and much more. Visit www.cambridgenaturenetwork.org/cambridge-nature-festival for a full list.
SOW will be represented at the Pollination Festival at the Garden Centre on 22nd June and at Village Day 29th June – help on the stalls very welcome.
Kate took these amazing photos on her morning walk recently.
Do you sometimes feel despairing about climate change? Look around you and think that nobody’s doing anything to help? Come to the next SOW meeting and be inspired. Alana Sinclair from Cambridge Carbon Footprint is giving a talk on “Communicating about Climate Change” which is guaranteed to make you see things differently, and positively!
Cambridge Carbon Footprint is the organisation that connects all the local groups in the area, combining small efforts to create a larger impact. For instance, they support the Repair Cafe network, loan out thermal cameras, and run the Net Zero Now course which was the inspiration for SOW.
We’ve all had those frustrating conversations with people who resist doing anything about (even believing in) climate change. And the reality is that things can’t improve if only a passionate minority are taking action. But how do you engage and persuade people? The answers might surprise you!
Wednesday 24 April, 7:30 at the Church Hall.
Free Plant Swap / Stall
10–12 on Saturday 18 May
2–4pm on Sunday 19 May
Outside 36 Coles Lane
Bring some vegetable plants you’ve grown and take away something planted by someone else. Even if you don’t have anything to swap, take some plants anyway – leave a donation (collection for the Cambridge Ukraine Fund.)
Sow some extra seeds now so you can bring along spares to the stall. While the main focus is on veg plants and sustainable food, we won’t turn away flowers!
Organised by OWN & SOW
Sustainable Oakington and Westwick 