Morning all,


Brrrr. A nippy 5C in the office this morning, but with the sun now getting higher in the sky that looks like moving up fairly soon.

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. Just approaching the smug season when we take advantage of all the house insulation we did a couple of years ago. A quick blast from the wood burner in the evening is enough to make a comfy toasty atmosphere and no need for the central heating for ages yet. Being stuck out in the country with no mains gas means we get stuck with an oil fired boiler which has got very expensive to run as a sole heat source over the last 4-5 years. But with the insulation and wood burner we has saved thousands, repaying the insulation cost many times over and we have a warmer house too. The cavity wall and loft insulation were subsidised at the time but the under-floor board was expensive but worth the effort to stop the drafts and cold floors. Since then and up to the end of September the cavity and wall insulation has been offered free in our area under the Insulate Hampshire project and you can still get it done free through British Gas and I believe some other energy companies until the end of November, and you don’t even need to be a customer of theirs. It won’t be the sexiest home improvement you ever do but it makes huge financial and environmental sense so if you haven’t bitten the bullet yet hurry up before the offers all end. This can save hundreds of pounds a year, every year. I know it means making a few calls and hosting a couple of visits (surveyor and installer) but the smug factor for years to come is well worth it.

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. Energy prices are set to rise again according to this week’s announcements and we are glad we swopped suppliers a few weeks ago to a cheaper tariff and fixed for a year although we ended up missing out on a different opportunity which arose on my trip to Eden a few days ago. They have set up a buying group called Cornwall Together which is looking to get groups of individuals and companies together to buy energy. They have set a deadline for people to join up (no obligation) and then they go to the energy companies to get a better deal. Sounds like a good plan and we will have a look at it next year. The deadline is in about 14 days so take a look if you are not already tied into a contract, you don’t have to reside in Cornwall. www.cornwalltogether.com/en/

Must go and finish my draft accounts and cash-flow for the bank manager who visits this week. The fun just never ends.

Naked Coir pots

Our pot supplier is now offering you the chance to retail cartons of empty coir pots (10 pots in a carton). The pots are a smaller size than those we use but the pack looks great and I said I would attach his promo flier to our lists for a while. They would make an ideal stocking filler, if a little scratchy. The whole deal is an entirely separate operation from the nursery, not run by us so please contact Joe not us if you are interested. His details are on the flier.

Sustainability promo

Did my bit this week by speaking to a group of local businesses on our experiences of getting to grips with sustainable stuff .

It was the launch of Winchester Council’s Carbon Smart accreditation scheme and was a sell out. This is not something I do, standing in front of a group of strange people and making sense makes me very nervous, but I didn’t notice anyone fall asleep and no one walked out, so that classes as a result in my books. Trouble is we are now duty bound to go through the accreditation which I believe is free, and hopefully we should have done enough already to at least pass the first stage. I’m just not brilliant at paperwork and hoop jumping, so let’s hope there isn’t too much of that.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries