Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Showing posts with label h Energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label h Energy. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 October 2013

h Energy marketplace event, Hereford


Sat 12th Oct was the start of h.Energy week -, a week long (12th - 20th October 2013) celebration of low impact lifestyles in beautiful Herefordshire



I was there doing my Master Composter and Gardener stuff, along with fellow Master Composter Martin.

I actually got to High Town at  8 30 am to set up the stall and spent all day there, manningthe Compost stall, doing a bit of shopping, looking at the other h. Energy stalls and also looking at the usual Sat market stalls


As usual I had display boards, compost samples, leaflets, information, seeds and seed planting stuff, and some games as well as my Bug eye glasses. These were VERY popular!


This is what it looks like to see the world through insect eyes :)


Same place without the bug eye glasses.


Lots of different campaign and information groups were present. Greenpeace were there, seeking support for the Arctic 30, unjustly imprisoned in Russia 


There were a variety of different events on during the day and it was really good to be involved. The hula hooping was excellent!

The h Energy event opened at 10 am and closed at 4 pm but I got there at 8 30 am and by the time I drove the car round to the square and packed up at the end, it was 5.30 pm so a very long day!

But, I spoke to over 70 people and had a really great time promoting composting, organic gardening and sustainable living. I was also given lots of tea and cake to sustain me during the day by the organisers :)

We are also hosting an Open House as part of h Energy so lots of tidying up is going in here!

Saturday, 1 June 2013

Low Carbon Ledbury event at Ledbury Community Fair.

This weekend Ledbury celebrates The Coronation by recreating the Ox Roast which was held here, in 1953.

The Ox Roast event is happening tomorrow, but today was a town wide celebration of all the good things which happen in our little market town -  the Ledbury Community Day.


I was upstairs in the beautiful medieval Market House doing a h Energy/ Master Gardener stall, fellow Master Composters also had a stall there, as did many other local "green" groups. Lots of other community groups showcased their activities all over Ledbury.




 Nigel Hand from the reptile group was there, with wonderful slow worms, newts and grass snakes.


The Worcester Scrapstore had a stand and did some wonderful activities throughout the event - Compostgirl made an insect out of a plastic bottle top :-)


Herefordshire and Worcestershire Master Composters stand with seed planting activities, composting advice and Love Food Hate Waste information.



Compostgirl went off to do Guides activities in The Walled Garden with Ledbury Guides - very proud to be dressed in her uniform and necker and to be part of the day's events, which were happening all over Ledbury town. (link to map)  :-)

It was great fun; Speaking purely from my own experience -  I spoke to over 40 people on my stall alone; five households signed up to take part in h.Energy Savers and two households signed up to have me mentor them for a year with advice on getting started in vegetable growing - so all in all a very successful event :-)

Judging by the crowds of people and the conversations I had with visitors, the other stalls were equally successful and the whole event went very well.

We finished at 2 pm and packed up; being upstairs in the Market House created some "challenges" getting boxes and display boards up and down the stairs but finally everything was loaded into the car and Compostman drove me home.

And I am now officially exhausted. Compostgirl has gone off for a sleepover with a friend, so I think a sit down and a cup of tea is in order, before I start on the planting and watering routine in the garden.:-)
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