A New Year next week.

So. A New Year next week. 2017

I don't do resolutions and all that stuff...if I want to do something I do it and I do it when *I* want, not on a certain date dictated to by the calendar/the media etc....

BUT I have decided to try to be a little more balanced in the way I work during 2017, so as to spread out my work load. Several friends have commented that I seem to do "a lot" and that maybe, sometimes, just sometimes, I overdo it a bit..(Moi? Overdo it? Surely not?)

Well, actually, yes I do. So much of what I do seems like fun, not work, so I don't notice how shattered I am until I have finished. I am not good at doing nothing and never have been!

But, I am aware that as I get older my health gets worse. My immune system is still pretty poor. I still have CFS/ME and although I am so much better than I EVER thought I would be, if I overdo things I suffer the consequences of days and days of fatigue and I seem to catch the weirdest illnesess. The fact that I am a Type "A" hyper achiever doesn't make resting up any easier, either. Lol.

Losing 10 stone in weight and keeping it off has helped me enormously but I still have to be careful I don't overdo things.

So. I have to recognise these facts. I have to make myself pace myself and factor in some rest time during the day, so as to be able to keep on, keeping on. This is worse during the winter months, of course.

So I am going to try (again!) to only do "One Big Chore" (OBC) a day, either outside or inside, depending on the weather. Obviously I have a family, a house and business to run and animals to feed etc and they need doing everyday, but apart from that I will try to do only do one chore which is the sort of thing that takes a couple of hours to do. Things like spring cleaning one room, or washing all the windows, or mucking out the Mega HenPen or digging out a number of compost bins and spreading the compost. BIG CHORES. You know the sort of thing.

Previously I would do One Big Chore (OBC) and then think "oh still time to do ..." and get stuck in to another OBC, and then another one, even though really I needed to go and sit down with a cup of tea for half an hour and rest. I also want, need to make time to do some of the craft things I so love.

I also now find I need to make time to practice meditation at least twice a day to keep me calm and my blood pressure under control, given all the stress going on around here all the time.

Today my OBC was mucking out the Mega Hen Pen hen house and the three Serama hen shouses in the polytunnel. I also cleaned out all the feeders and drinkers and re filled them and re filled the treat balls with lettuce and cabbage leaves.  

And then I had a sit down, and a cup of tea and I wrote this post. And then I did my meditation :) 

See, I CAN "do" resting and pacing, honest! :-))

I hope you have all had a very enjoyable festive season. I have not, due to illness and other stuff. I hope, this way, I can keep as healthy as possible,

World Environment Day Fri 5th June 2009

On Fri 5th June I shall be in Hereford High Town doing my Compostwoman bit to promote composting at home. I am doing this (with other Master Composters) as part of Hereford Earth Watch, a 2 day event celebrating World Environment Day.

ABOUT World Environment Day

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day's agenda is to:

Give a human face to environmental issues;
Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

This year’s host is Mexico which reflects the growing role of the Latin American country in the fight against climate change, including its growing participation in the carbon markets.

I am at the Earth Watch event as one of a group of Master Composters. Master Composting training is provided by Garden Organic. Garden Organic is the UK's leading organic growing charity, has been at the forefront of the organic horticulture movement for 50 years and is dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food.

I am very proud to be a member and am a passionate supporter all they do, especially their Composting and School Gardening programmes!

And Garden Organic have some very good ideas on how to celebrate WED!

Organic gardeners have a carbon footprint a third smaller than regular gardeners, which is why Garden Organic is urging more of us to go organic in the garden for UN World Environment Day.

Adopting an organic approach to the way we garden, farm and eat could massively contribute to protecting the planet for generations to come. And on Friday 5 June, it hopes more of us will look at how we can be greener in our gardens, for the sake of the environment.

At present, we are living well beyond our means, with the world requiring the equivalent of 3.4 planets to sustain it. However in research conducted by Garden Organic, which looked at the gardening and lifestyle habits of its members, the charity calculated that the figure could reduce to 2.5 planets if we were to simply garden organically and grow more of our own food.

Garden Organic's Dr Gareth Davies, who headed up the research said, “We monitored a sample of our members, some of whom were keen organic gardeners, others that had only just started out. What we found when we looked at each member's gardening habits, was that those who were the greenest in the garden and grew their own organic food, made a bigger reduction to their carbon footprint.”

“There are so many bad practices used in the average back garden, from spraying weed killer, to laying a garden full of concrete slabs, right down to burning rubbish. On UN World Environment Day, we hope to inspire people to think about what they can change to be more sustainable in the garden and in doing so we hope to raise awareness of how growing and gardening organically can help to protect the planet.”

So...some ideas to help you celebrate on Friday :-)

Join the Greenpeace airplot owners party!

I've signed up

Have you?

Greenpeace say

we're now the proud owners of a small piece of land within the site of the proposed third runway at Heathrow.

We're expecting the government will announce that they're going ahead with expansion at Heathrow this week and we now need you to join us. Sign up now to get your own piece of the plot. It's not a financial thing, but you will be included as an owner on the legal deed of trust.

5000 people, and counting! So why not join Greenpeace, Alistair McGowan, Emma Thompson, Zac Goldsmith and a hell of a lot of other folk to stop dangerous Climate Change madness.