Nature in February – what to look out for
Already there are birds around the garden preparing for nesting. Blue Tits in particular have been checking out a couple of nest boxes that I can see from the house, one of which is right outside a bedroom window. Read more
What to sow, plant and harvest in your polytunnel or greenhouse in February
In your greenhouse or tunnel you may now be fooled that spring has arrived. Your tunnel or greenhouse can easily warm up to 20˚C during sunny spells. You also notice that the days are getting longer and your gardening itch is starting up again. Read more
Fruit & vegetable growing guide for February
February, being the last of the winter months , often has a sting and ends up being the coldest month. So, more than any other month, this one you need to play according to local conditions. It’s best to hold off than try to sow in waterlogged, near frozen ground that will most likely rot… Continue reading Fruit & vegetable growing guide for February Read more
Part-time work available in the Lowimpact.org team
We’re looking for a somebody to work with us – from home, part-time, to market our activities and our publications to more people. Read more
How to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding
Your wedding day is obviously one of the biggest days of your life — but it can also be huge for your carbon footprint. In the UK, the average cost of a wedding is over £20,000. Not only is this a huge amount of money to spend on a single day Read more
Help our off-grid, timber, straw-bale and stone ‘eco-pod’ project happen, then come and stay in it!
Hi, my name is Cassie. My daughter is called Bea, she’s the bigger girls in the picture there. She absolutely loves horses! I also have a son called David, who is going to be an actor; my husband is called Nigel, and our eldest son is called Ted. Read more
Low-impact & the city 8: how to test drive Linux from a datastick, but keep Windows for the time being
A while ago I blogged about the various open source programmes I’m using. I’m absolutely non-techie when it comes to IT. I have no interest in the technical underpinning of what I want to do with my computer, and this makes it difficult for technical people to explain things to me. Read more
What to do if you want to build your home on a spot occupied by an ancient tree
We’ve been contacted several times by people who ask why we’re promoting the building of timber homes and the burning of wood in wood stoves or biomass boilers. Their argument was that timber building and the production of firewood require the felling of trees Read more
Ecology as theology: religion must oppose the destruction of nature
The vast majority of the world’s population subscribe to a religion. According to Pew Research, although the number of people unaffiliated with a particular faith will increase by 2050, as a percentage, this group will fall from 16% now to 13% in 2050 Read more
Timber users and growers: what is ‘timber shake’ and why does it occur?
This article holds some clues to the faults in timber most commonly found in Oak and Sweet Chestnut, but I have also encountered it in Southern Yellow Pine. For the novice, timber shake may sound a bit nautical or piratical, but it is a fault in growing trees Read more
What are the roots of right and left thinking, and can we unite left and right against corporate power?
Why do people who consider themselves ‘left-wing’ seem to embrace a raft of policies that appear unrelated? For example, if you’re of the left, and you believe in (say) progressive taxation, why should that also mean that you believe in gun control, or Read more
Low-impact & the city 7: our experience of a local fishbox / community-supported fish scheme
You may remember that we blogged an interview last summer with Guy Dorrell, who set up a ‘fishbox’, or ‘community-supported fish’ project, called ‘Faircatch‘. After interviewing him, my partner and I signed up to his scheme to try it out. I’m now reporting on how the idea worked for us Read more
Reasons not to buy from Amazon
In 1983, Richard Stallman launched the GNU free software project, on which many people could collaborate, and in 1985 he founded the Free Software Foundation, to promote and assist the development of free software. Here is a page from his website Read more
Is the quest for perpetual economic growth the witch-burning of our times, and could this be the year we start to challenge it?
Johannes Kepler was one of the major figures in the 17th century Scientific Revolution. In his day, people were grappling with the question of whether the earth was the centre of the universe, as the Church said it was, or whether it was just another planet, revolving around the Sun Read more
Nature in January – what to look out for
Anyone who feeds the birds in their garden is likely to have a Sparrowhawk passing through from time to time. I am no different from anyone else – feeling that moment of flinching fear as the small grey male or his larger female mate come swooping past my window with outstretched talons. Read more
What to sow, plant and harvest in your polytunnel or greenhouse in January
January can be the beginning of your creative gardening year in your greenhouse or polytunnel. It’s the first awakening of the year. You can start off new seedlings on your propagator and sow and plant the first vegetables into the ground. Read more
Fruit & vegetable growing guide for January
January is generally a very cold month with hard frosts freezing the ground although there are no guarantees with British weather. Looking through my diaries, snow isn’t that likely for a prolonged period, but you never know. Read more
Building a small home has a big payback
Let’s get one thing straight right away…When I say “small”, I don’t mean living in a shoe box. What I mean by “small” is living in a space that is designed…well designed…for your needs…and no more. A small space doesn’t mean cramped. Read more
Low-impact & the city 6: how we got ourselves a living willow ‘fedge’ (half-fence, half-hedge)
We’ve wanted a living willow ‘fedge’ for a while. We have a firepit and a couple of compost ‘daleks’ at the end of the garden, and we wanted to cordon this area off, and hide the compost bins. A fedge is a cross between a fence and a hedge, and it’s alive. Read more
Monopoly and capitalism: why you’ll lose at both if you try to play nice
Monopoly is obviously based on capitalism, but the biggest difference between Monopoly and real-life capitalism is that Monopoly is just a game. Whatever happens in the game, it doesn’t mean that in real life Read more