We learn from our resident retained heat cooking specialists Jane and Seggy Segaran about how to build an off-grid solar slow cooker. Read more …

Calling all London grape growers – you’re invited to join the Community Wine Making Scheme run by OrganicLea. Read more …

This is the transcript of a talk given by Paul Jennings to the recent SBUK Big Straw Bale Gathering. Paul has built his straw-bale family home on a ‘One-Planet Development’ smallholding in Wales (costing £12,000). Read more …

In Part 5 of Jo Cartmell’s mini meadow series, she shares news of a surprise in the mini meadow and new arrivals in the orchard meadow. Read more …

This week we’re talking with Oli Rodker, founder director of the Ecological Land Co-operative and the Landworkers’ Alliance, about his work, and how we might change the nature of land ownership in the UK, where 0.06% of the population own 50% of rural land in England and Wales, according to the Country Land & Business Association. Read more …

On a low-impact holiday this summer, Kate Williams takes the plunge wild swimming in France to discover why so many prefer it to an indoor swimming pool. Read more …

Richard Phillips of The Soap Kitchen shares how you can make your very own scallop shell candles at home with just three simple ingredients and a bit of elbow grease… Read more …

This week we’re talking with Rick Watson, who has been a member of Fireside Housing Co-op in Sheffield since 2010. They’ve purchased and co-operativised 5 adjoining houses on a terraced street. Read more …

I often trawl the web just speculatively looking for new people or new ideas, clicking on links from interesting sites. TEDx talks are a favourite. A few years ago I came across an intriguing TEDx talk by Professor Jem Bendell called ‘the Money Myth’. Read more …

This article is the result of a discussion with Martin Prosser of Sunflower Cohousing in France. It’s the third in a series of articles about setting up alternative, co-operative living arrangements – cohousing, community land trusts, housing co-ops, intentional communities etc. Read more …

In the minds of many people a catapult is nothing more than a child’s toy, or one of the weapons used by the “Beano’s” Dennis the Menace to terrorise the softies (for those of us old enough to remember). Few people these days would ever consider using a catapult for hunting, but not too many years ago catapults were the tool of choice for poachers and anyone else who wanted to “discreetly” hunt small game animals and birds for food.

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