In this article, Emily Fawcett and Charlie Loram of the Old Way look at the less visible benefits of harvesting wild foods.

Considering going on a WWOOFing adventure this year? Read this first! Scarlett Penn of WWOOF UK shares her top ten tips for anyone new to WWOOFing.

Today I’m talking with Cath Muller of Radical Routes, Cornerstone Housing Co-op and Co-operative Business Consultants. This is part 1 of our conversation, about her visit to Catalan co-operatives, and hitch-hiking across the Atlantic to visit US co-ops.

A great project to try with kids, natural builder Sigi Koko shares her best recipes for how to make two different natural paints with eggs.

Jo Cartmell of NearbyWild shares her six easy steps to welcome in the wildlife by turning a garden lawn into a native wildflower meadow.

Today I’m talking with Dil Green, who is a member of the Lowimpact.org co-op. He used to be an architect, and was a founder member of Brixton LETS, and is now on the team of the UK Mutual Credit Network. We’ll be talking about how mutual credit and the viable system model can be used to build a new economy.

Natural builder Sigi Koko shares her tried and tested method of making natural non-toxic paint from clay.

When his old computer died, Simon Lennane knew exactly what to do to get back up and running, by building a Linux computer from scratch.

Today I’m talking with Thomas Greco, who taught economics, finance and statistics for 14 years at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and is now an activist and consultant working on alternatives to the current money system. He also wrote the End of Money and the Future of Civilisation. I came across this book around the same time as Matthew Slater’s credit commons white paper and Positive Money’s videos on how money is created. They completely changed the way I saw the world, and certainly how I thought about money.

Working alongside our partners at The Open Co-op, the UK Mutual Credit Network is starting to win support from organisations like Goodmoney and Finance Lab. Matthew Slater shares how you can get involved.

North Kensington Community Energy is the first community-owned energy enterprise in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. They are installing solar panels on 2 primary schools and a community centre.

Today I’m talking with Trevor Hilder of WebofWealth.org, who is a specialist in Stafford Beer’s viable system model (VSM). What I’m really interested in is how we can use the VSM to build a non-extractive, co-operative federation – a federation that’s comprised of a large number of small units, not giant corporations, and not giant co-operatives either. I’m interested in how far we can scale this federation. In March, we’re hosting a meeting of key people working in the new economy, and the aim is to work out how we federate and grow the non-extractive economy in the UK.

Sean Fagan of Pioneer Bushcraft explores 7 great reasons why being outdoors and camping in winter can be fun, challenging and ultimately educational – and will greatly improve your overall bushcraft and camping skills.

Read more …

Wholewoods are continuing their fantastic work, offering volunteers on-site learning on a 2019 build camp to construct a roundhouse for OrganicLea. Adrian Leaman has all the details of how to get involved below.

This is part 2 of an interview with Maresa Bossano, who is the co-ordinator for the Community-Supported Agriculture Network in the UK. Part 1 is here.

Lesley Anderson learns about the ups and downs of life for crofters Beth and Tim Rose at Birchwood Croft in the Scottish Highlands.

Natural builder Sigi Koko of Down to Earth Design shares how to build an adobe floor. In Part 4, we learn how to perfect the final finishing layer.

Today, we’re talking with Graham Mitchell of Cotech about the co-operativisation of the tech sector. It’s part of our series of interviews with people building the ‘new economy’.

Could 2019 be the year you learn how to set up and run a community market garden? Chagfood, a CSA scheme based in Chagford, Devon, is offering two apprenticeship opportunities from April to October. Read more …

So let’s start the year with a bit of optimism. Our last post was about the fact that there is a general lack of understanding of the implications of biodiversity loss, and the contribution of climate change to it. This post is for people who do understand what’s happening to nature, but can see no way to avoid catastrophe. Read more …