Sun is shining and the wind is breezing by, perfect for us. It’s funny how a change in circumstances alters your perception on everyday stuff. I always found windy weather a bit tense making, especially at this time of year when the impending dark winter days loom together with all the associated issues that present themselves at this time of year. The reducing sales and cash-flow panics, short days, colder temps, leaking roofs and still lots to get sorted before Spring sales kick off again in January. The autumn wind blasting by was often the last straw in focusing the tension but now I’m watching out for them with glee, checking on the meter to see how much we might generate. This week has seen a big jump in production with just under 3000 units over 7 days which is nearly half of the months anticipated amount. This is now helping catch up with the shortfall of the first month and the next few days look promising too. At times it was too windy and the turbines production started to fall slightly where the efficiency falls away slightly in the stronger winds. This is a feature of our inshore turbines where they reach peak efficiency at relatively low wind speeds to make the most of the lower speeds experienced inland and that efficiency tails off very slightly at the higher speeds experienced in stormy weather.
It was a very busy week with plenty of orders whizzing out and several box collections made which was great. I also managed to squeeze in a PLATO Sustain meeting, a trip to Mums, a day at Four Oaks trade show and a morning in Wem (Shropshire) picking up our new hand held rugged computer (like a big smart phone) and learning how to make it fit on our system. I haven’t been to Four Oaks for years and saw lots of interesting stuff. Unfortunately Caroline has confiscated the cheque book so I didn’t come away with anything other than a handful of brochures and a few ideas lined up for next year’s improvements. Philips lighting were showing their range of LED lighting for use in growth rooms which looks promising for the microprop lab, I expect we will get a trial going in there soon to test them out. They can reduce the direct energy cost by 60% and lower the requirements for cooling on top of that (it’s cheaper to heat than cool with air source heat pump systems like ours). If the plants like them it will pay back within 3-4 years. I must admit they look odd as the lighting arrays are made up of a mix of just blue and red lights and look quite dark. They only add white lights (if needed) to help us see what we are doing!
It was noticeable on several stands that sustainability was shooting up the agenda although it is still shocking to see some of the lack of thought and amount of waste created at this sort of event. One example was the lunch boxes delivered to the exhibitors of which there were hundreds. Organised by Four Oaks and sponsored by Horticulture Week, they were corex (corrugated plastic) suitcases holding the sandwich, apple, crisps and possibly a drink. They looked wasteful, dated, out of touch, and dominated the rubbish bins. Luckily I am now so old I can make a fuss without embarrassment, well not to me anyway, so I stirred it up with most of the exhibitors I spoke to and went to the Hort Week stand to see if they had registered what a poorly thought out promotion this was. The two youngsters on the stand had differing views, one asked if they were really that bad and the other hung his head in shame admitting that they had paid for these and perhaps they could have done a better job. There is still a long way to go in this world to get things going in the right direction and it gets a bit scary when horticulture, a fundamentally green industry, still has such a blinkered view. Luckily I do get to hear from some of you about how much you are doing at work and in your own homes to move things forward so well done you lot, keep it up.
Nature notes
House martins still in the nests but feeding well. Although our swallows have gone I still saw lots in Shropshire so it might not be too late.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Showing posts with label PLATO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PLATO. Show all posts
Monday, 12 September 2011
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Slightly more organised this week and sending this a day early in preparation for a day off to visit my Mum & Dad in sunny Stafford tomorrow. This is a trial run because in 9 days time we are going to have a whole week off, and we need the practice in taking time away from the nursery.
This will be the first full day off since the middle of March so we are really looking forward to it. All the usual pre-break sorting out still has to be done, fitting in all the jobs we usually leave until the weekend but it all looks promising for an early start at the moment.
The potting machine has been pounding away all week as we get stuck into producing some of next spring’s crops and we have been putting together quite a few orders again which is great.
Friday marked a special moment when we completed the final plant despatch processing of our last ‘high street multiple’ plastic pot contract. The last trolleys actually get packed and loaded on Wednesday but it does mark the end of an era. We have supplied several of these customers over the last 20 years and this one for 10, each year it has got tougher and tougher to make it work financially let alone get any sort of personal satisfaction out of the relationship, so it is quite a relief to be able to ‘let them go’!
This winter we will have the entire pot production area on the nursery down to hairy pots, hurrah. This means that we will have changed the nursery production from all plastic pots to all hairy in 4 years, let’s hope the sales continue to grow and soak up the extra capacity, it certainly shows all the signs of doing so at the moment. As the last pot was cleaned and priced there was a slightly bizarre, but touching, spontaneous round of applause. I think a round of cakes and sparkling grape juice may be in order for later in the week!
No resting on laurels here though. We have a whole load of further projects aimed at improving the hairy production system combining quality improvements, labour saving and improving overall sustainability. Several irrigation developments to introduce a wet/dry cycle naturally improving plant quality and reducing liverwort growth on the compost, beds and pots, rainfall harvesting, wind turbine installation (one day!), energy and resource saving, tunnel renovation (replacing gantries with trolley paths) and wildlife enhancement. It’s all go, not really got time for a break, still when you work on a nursery life’s one long holiday really, as we trundle about in our clogs carrying our trugs and secateurs!
Eco news
No news on bat survey yet.
One of our things to look at on our sustainability list this year was whether to put in a beehive to help out on the bee survival front. But I have just had a walk about, updating the availability list, and I suspect that we are probably already providing a useful habitat for the bumble bee populations and competition from honey bees may put them off. We don’t have enormous areas of flowering stock as hopefully most gets sold before it gets that far but there were loads on the mints and African Blue Basil in particular. I don’t know a lot about bees but there were several sorts and a lot of them, probably over 100 on the basil alone. I shall see if Sparsholt college fancy doing a project on it, we could also do with some input on overwintering facilities we can install in the tunnels to keep the lady birds and lacewings on site too. I will add it to my list.
Went to my Plato Sustain meeting last week and took along a wooden box of hairy herbs and one of our internet delivery boxes (clever award winning recycled card thing). This was by request, as they all wanted to see what we were up to. I’m glad to say they were quite impressed and excited, I think that their image of what a hairy nurseryman gets up to all day has improved and they can see what can be achieved with a bit of thought and application.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm
This will be the first full day off since the middle of March so we are really looking forward to it. All the usual pre-break sorting out still has to be done, fitting in all the jobs we usually leave until the weekend but it all looks promising for an early start at the moment.
The potting machine has been pounding away all week as we get stuck into producing some of next spring’s crops and we have been putting together quite a few orders again which is great.
Friday marked a special moment when we completed the final plant despatch processing of our last ‘high street multiple’ plastic pot contract. The last trolleys actually get packed and loaded on Wednesday but it does mark the end of an era. We have supplied several of these customers over the last 20 years and this one for 10, each year it has got tougher and tougher to make it work financially let alone get any sort of personal satisfaction out of the relationship, so it is quite a relief to be able to ‘let them go’!
This winter we will have the entire pot production area on the nursery down to hairy pots, hurrah. This means that we will have changed the nursery production from all plastic pots to all hairy in 4 years, let’s hope the sales continue to grow and soak up the extra capacity, it certainly shows all the signs of doing so at the moment. As the last pot was cleaned and priced there was a slightly bizarre, but touching, spontaneous round of applause. I think a round of cakes and sparkling grape juice may be in order for later in the week!
No resting on laurels here though. We have a whole load of further projects aimed at improving the hairy production system combining quality improvements, labour saving and improving overall sustainability. Several irrigation developments to introduce a wet/dry cycle naturally improving plant quality and reducing liverwort growth on the compost, beds and pots, rainfall harvesting, wind turbine installation (one day!), energy and resource saving, tunnel renovation (replacing gantries with trolley paths) and wildlife enhancement. It’s all go, not really got time for a break, still when you work on a nursery life’s one long holiday really, as we trundle about in our clogs carrying our trugs and secateurs!
Eco news
No news on bat survey yet.
One of our things to look at on our sustainability list this year was whether to put in a beehive to help out on the bee survival front. But I have just had a walk about, updating the availability list, and I suspect that we are probably already providing a useful habitat for the bumble bee populations and competition from honey bees may put them off. We don’t have enormous areas of flowering stock as hopefully most gets sold before it gets that far but there were loads on the mints and African Blue Basil in particular. I don’t know a lot about bees but there were several sorts and a lot of them, probably over 100 on the basil alone. I shall see if Sparsholt college fancy doing a project on it, we could also do with some input on overwintering facilities we can install in the tunnels to keep the lady birds and lacewings on site too. I will add it to my list.
Went to my Plato Sustain meeting last week and took along a wooden box of hairy herbs and one of our internet delivery boxes (clever award winning recycled card thing). This was by request, as they all wanted to see what we were up to. I’m glad to say they were quite impressed and excited, I think that their image of what a hairy nurseryman gets up to all day has improved and they can see what can be achieved with a bit of thought and application.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm
Monday, 19 July 2010
What a lovely week of cool and damp relief. Looks like warming up again next week, in the south east anyway, so brace yourselves. Feeling slightly sorry for my brother in law and his family who always have a break in Cornwall before harvest kicks in and almost every year it is a wet week. Needless to say last week was their week! Still at least they got away and are back today, they could have been with Gold Whatsit and stuck overseas, covering hotel bills and sorting out a flight home.
We did our stint at the Woking Show on Wednesday which was a great day out. I always try to be better organised than previous years and get away from the nursery, on setting up day, in plenty of time. As usual I failed and didn’t leave the nursery this time until 3.50 (day didn’t start well with a tyre puncture on the big van which needed replacing and it was uphill from then on). We were due to be set up and off the show site by 6.00 and with the help of one of our young eager staff members we just about got it done. The stand looked fresh, colourful and hairy which is just what we were after, although I will have to come up with some new signs for next time to polish it up a bit.
It is surprising to walk round the show and see how we stand out as the only exhibitor making anything much of the sustainability issues that are set to challenge the way we live. The quality of plants and the displays were fantastic but I do get the impression that only lip service is being paid to the issues that are going to dominate our lives in years to come. I know plants themselves and gardening are pushing things in the right direction because of the benefits of ‘doing it’, but surely we can make more of this.
At the PLATO Sustain (business improvement) meetings I attend everyone thinks that it’s easy for us to ‘go green’ because of the industry we are in and it is quite hard to try and explain why the majority of the trade doesn’t seem very interested in the opportunities that might be out there.
Anyway, the actual show day went well with several new contacts made and existing ones reinforced. Visitors were a bit thin on the ground due, we suspect, to the National Plant Fair at Stoneleigh a couple of weeks ago, which was very well attended. It will be interesting to see how the show adapts and recovers over the next year or two.
Eco news
Bat survey this coming week if the weather is ok. Then it’s on with the turbine application. Each day I see our poplar windbreak rustling & bending in the breeze I can picture those blades turning.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
We did our stint at the Woking Show on Wednesday which was a great day out. I always try to be better organised than previous years and get away from the nursery, on setting up day, in plenty of time. As usual I failed and didn’t leave the nursery this time until 3.50 (day didn’t start well with a tyre puncture on the big van which needed replacing and it was uphill from then on). We were due to be set up and off the show site by 6.00 and with the help of one of our young eager staff members we just about got it done. The stand looked fresh, colourful and hairy which is just what we were after, although I will have to come up with some new signs for next time to polish it up a bit.
It is surprising to walk round the show and see how we stand out as the only exhibitor making anything much of the sustainability issues that are set to challenge the way we live. The quality of plants and the displays were fantastic but I do get the impression that only lip service is being paid to the issues that are going to dominate our lives in years to come. I know plants themselves and gardening are pushing things in the right direction because of the benefits of ‘doing it’, but surely we can make more of this.
At the PLATO Sustain (business improvement) meetings I attend everyone thinks that it’s easy for us to ‘go green’ because of the industry we are in and it is quite hard to try and explain why the majority of the trade doesn’t seem very interested in the opportunities that might be out there.
Anyway, the actual show day went well with several new contacts made and existing ones reinforced. Visitors were a bit thin on the ground due, we suspect, to the National Plant Fair at Stoneleigh a couple of weeks ago, which was very well attended. It will be interesting to see how the show adapts and recovers over the next year or two.
Eco news
Bat survey this coming week if the weather is ok. Then it’s on with the turbine application. Each day I see our poplar windbreak rustling & bending in the breeze I can picture those blades turning.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 5 July 2010
Another week whizzes by and still the relentless sun, wind and lack of precipitation continues, for us down in here anyway. The wind is blowing through the leaves of the poplar windbreak again and I mourn the waste of energy (and cost savings) that another days electric generation is lost, but things are looking up.
It already seems an age ago that we dipped out of the World Cup and the fact that the Germans, who knocked us out, go marching on, makes it easier to justify such a poor effort. We've crammed a lot in since then orders, potting, watering and tunnel clearing so it all seems like a distant memory.
I attended two PLATO Sustain meetings, one local and one regional, both on subjects that were to me a bit scary. One was on current best practice/tactics on sales rep employment and use, and the other on marketing in a recession and social media marketing. Having been a bit sceptical about what would be relevant to us, I was blown away by the how much valuable info I gathered. Although at my age I do suffer from the problem that as extra bits of info go in one ear other bits fall out of the other, so I come away thinking wow what a lot of great stuff and when Caroline asks me what it was all about I can only remember that lunch was great!
It reminds me how good it is to occasionally step away from the day to day stuff and get a fresh view of life, the universe and everything. The social media bit was daunting with so many communication channels available for everyone, especially the techno savvy young. It was generally a room full of old fogies or businessmen, of which a few had dabbled in the area but were all astonished at the scale and potential of the various medias. We had a whistle stop tour of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-in, search engine stuff and a load of more that fell out of the other ear! The amount of time spent on all this by the users and the amount of available info left floating about by individuals and businesses, which we can use, is astonishing. In the very near future it could become a very efficient way for us all to keep our ‘followers’ up to date with all our news and offers if you get the approach right. Mind you it may take a while for our more mature end of the market to catch up but do bear in mind, we do have a younger customer base appearing. The days of the upfront hard sell appear to be over. Oh yes another gem I picked up was, don’t forget that the main aim of marketing should not be to sell more but to increase your product value and sell at a higher profit. Then you can invest in doing it all even better next year (it’s always jam tomorrow!)
Eco news
A very pleasant surprise this week with a letter from the chief planner who says that the turbine application will go to planning committee to discuss, as expected, but that he would be recommending approval, hoped for but not expected, subject to a bat survey being carried out along the hedge where they are to be positioned.
The survey will delay things another couple of months we think, but the recognition of the relatively small scale of the project and the need for change was very reassuring. We have heard that those in Crawley village opposed to the idea are currently trying to drum up support for a petition against it, but hopefully it won’t get too noisy. There were certainly not many who were moved enough to comment on the application in a negative way during the planning application commenting period. So well done and thanks to all those who managed a supportive comment, you did your bit and it helped.
Nature notes
House Martins have hatched in several nests, there are young finches all over the place and the Sparrowhawk looks to be busy. I know some of our ladies here don’t like the number of kills seen at this time of year, but you need to see the bigger picture and hope it is showing a healthy local environment where the food chain is complete and working. The long tailed tit population seems to have exploded after getting a bit thin on numbers after the cold winter, I can hear them tweeting (even they have mobiles now) all over the place.
Still a few tadpoles appear occasionally in the main pond but most have left home I think, we have certainly seen a few tiny frogs in the adjacent tunnels. It must be a tricky time being so small, I did hear someone say that a big one may eat the tiddlers in hard times which may or may not be true, but it does illustrate that it can be a ‘frog eat frog’ world out there. Take care!
It already seems an age ago that we dipped out of the World Cup and the fact that the Germans, who knocked us out, go marching on, makes it easier to justify such a poor effort. We've crammed a lot in since then orders, potting, watering and tunnel clearing so it all seems like a distant memory.
I attended two PLATO Sustain meetings, one local and one regional, both on subjects that were to me a bit scary. One was on current best practice/tactics on sales rep employment and use, and the other on marketing in a recession and social media marketing. Having been a bit sceptical about what would be relevant to us, I was blown away by the how much valuable info I gathered. Although at my age I do suffer from the problem that as extra bits of info go in one ear other bits fall out of the other, so I come away thinking wow what a lot of great stuff and when Caroline asks me what it was all about I can only remember that lunch was great!
It reminds me how good it is to occasionally step away from the day to day stuff and get a fresh view of life, the universe and everything. The social media bit was daunting with so many communication channels available for everyone, especially the techno savvy young. It was generally a room full of old fogies or businessmen, of which a few had dabbled in the area but were all astonished at the scale and potential of the various medias. We had a whistle stop tour of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-in, search engine stuff and a load of more that fell out of the other ear! The amount of time spent on all this by the users and the amount of available info left floating about by individuals and businesses, which we can use, is astonishing. In the very near future it could become a very efficient way for us all to keep our ‘followers’ up to date with all our news and offers if you get the approach right. Mind you it may take a while for our more mature end of the market to catch up but do bear in mind, we do have a younger customer base appearing. The days of the upfront hard sell appear to be over. Oh yes another gem I picked up was, don’t forget that the main aim of marketing should not be to sell more but to increase your product value and sell at a higher profit. Then you can invest in doing it all even better next year (it’s always jam tomorrow!)
Eco news
A very pleasant surprise this week with a letter from the chief planner who says that the turbine application will go to planning committee to discuss, as expected, but that he would be recommending approval, hoped for but not expected, subject to a bat survey being carried out along the hedge where they are to be positioned.
The survey will delay things another couple of months we think, but the recognition of the relatively small scale of the project and the need for change was very reassuring. We have heard that those in Crawley village opposed to the idea are currently trying to drum up support for a petition against it, but hopefully it won’t get too noisy. There were certainly not many who were moved enough to comment on the application in a negative way during the planning application commenting period. So well done and thanks to all those who managed a supportive comment, you did your bit and it helped.
Nature notes
House Martins have hatched in several nests, there are young finches all over the place and the Sparrowhawk looks to be busy. I know some of our ladies here don’t like the number of kills seen at this time of year, but you need to see the bigger picture and hope it is showing a healthy local environment where the food chain is complete and working. The long tailed tit population seems to have exploded after getting a bit thin on numbers after the cold winter, I can hear them tweeting (even they have mobiles now) all over the place.
Still a few tadpoles appear occasionally in the main pond but most have left home I think, we have certainly seen a few tiny frogs in the adjacent tunnels. It must be a tricky time being so small, I did hear someone say that a big one may eat the tiddlers in hard times which may or may not be true, but it does illustrate that it can be a ‘frog eat frog’ world out there. Take care!
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Rain at last. We were getting very dusty down here and a drop of rain is great for freshening everything up. Not brilliant for gardening today, but at least not everyone has gone to the beach this bank holiday.
Just a short one this week as I’m in a bit of a rush and we are going to make the most of a day of no work shifts, and I have got my mum & dad down for the weekend so we need to spend some quality time with them. So anyway, I’ve just spent a couple of hours doing the stock update, then it’s a few hours label counting together, followed by a seed sowing session and trolley wrapping! Hoping to manage a half day and finish by 5.00! They usually come down at this time of year to deliver our bedding plant display to go in the troughs outside the office so are luckily quite used to mucking in at a busy time. We have a big gang in on Monday to get the week started as soon as we can so hopefully the 4 day week won’t be too upsetting.
Hope you all enjoy your bank holiday as well.
Eco Update
So busy this week I missed my PLATO Sustain meeting, so unable to boast about our energy savings and recycling improvements, let alone let them know about my podcast exploits of last week, although that’s probably best kept between you & me.
Wind turbine planning application is in, hurrah. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get it all processed and the public get their chance to have a final say. Overall the responses so far have been very positive which is heartening in itself.
Nature notes
Ducks and a Moorhen seem to be attending the nursery regularly again, although not seen any nesting evidence. I suspect the Mallards are evictees from Crawley pond, where only ducks of the sufficient class are allowed. A stunning thatched duck house has been erected on the village pond in the last few months (I suspect that it is actually a property investment and before long it will be on the market as a small contained thatched residence in a lovely rural location) so meanwhile we are supplying the duck version of affordable housing.
Just a short one this week as I’m in a bit of a rush and we are going to make the most of a day of no work shifts, and I have got my mum & dad down for the weekend so we need to spend some quality time with them. So anyway, I’ve just spent a couple of hours doing the stock update, then it’s a few hours label counting together, followed by a seed sowing session and trolley wrapping! Hoping to manage a half day and finish by 5.00! They usually come down at this time of year to deliver our bedding plant display to go in the troughs outside the office so are luckily quite used to mucking in at a busy time. We have a big gang in on Monday to get the week started as soon as we can so hopefully the 4 day week won’t be too upsetting.
Hope you all enjoy your bank holiday as well.
Eco Update
So busy this week I missed my PLATO Sustain meeting, so unable to boast about our energy savings and recycling improvements, let alone let them know about my podcast exploits of last week, although that’s probably best kept between you & me.
Wind turbine planning application is in, hurrah. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get it all processed and the public get their chance to have a final say. Overall the responses so far have been very positive which is heartening in itself.
Nature notes
Ducks and a Moorhen seem to be attending the nursery regularly again, although not seen any nesting evidence. I suspect the Mallards are evictees from Crawley pond, where only ducks of the sufficient class are allowed. A stunning thatched duck house has been erected on the village pond in the last few months (I suspect that it is actually a property investment and before long it will be on the market as a small contained thatched residence in a lovely rural location) so meanwhile we are supplying the duck version of affordable housing.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Another mad week getting shed loads of stock out to everyone, well done on the sales front everyone. It’s nice to see so many gaps on the nursery in some ways, as we are supposed in the business of selling lots of stuff, but on the other hand it is frustrating that we can’t refill those gaps instantly to keep stock levels up. It is often like this when things go potty, life would be so much easier if we had a nice steady flow of sales all year round, I’m sure it must be just as frustrating at your end in the sales areas!
My big adventure this week was to be interviewed for a podcast promoting the Plato Sustain business improvement group I am in. The first challenge was to get off the nursery (Friday not as whizzy as other days), in clean clothes (last job before leaving was moving a few cut back Brunnera plants which turn out to have very sticky sap, now all over hands and trousers), next was to find the venue in sunny Basingstoke (never been into the middle before, so got lost and ended up back out on the M3 roundabout), then find a car park (on top of the whole town centre it seems, with most ticket machines out of order), locate the venue from the car park (completely disorientated by now) and finally negotiate with security/reception to let me through the front doors. So I arrive all cool and relaxed for my bit of the filming, go straight in and record. It was all very pleasant and easy going and after a bit of powder I was ready to go. Having been given the questions in advanced I had some idea what was going on and it all went reasonably well I think, they got rid of me quite quickly anyway! How much of it hits the cutting room floor is anyone’s guess but the results on UTube (or something like that) are out in a couple of weeks. Got home to change and found I had my flies open so maybe more will hit the floor than expected. In fact the combination of dried Brunnera sap and the wayward apparel might end up with more hits than planned, thank goodness I was wearing my own underwear!
It’s not surprising I’m not let out much.
Eco Update
Wind turbine planning application is in, hurrah. Bit disappointed that there has been no official planning response yet and we are not on the planning website at the moment. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get it all processed and the public get their chance to have a final say. We’ve have still had no further responses or visits following my light poaching at the Crawley Parish Council meeting, I suspect I may have bored them into submission! Either that or they are keeping their powder dry for when the application becomes officially public. Overall the responses so far have been very positive which is heartening in itself.
Nature notes
Tadpoles are now getting more active and seem to have stopped trying to hurl themselves down the pond overflow. Adult newts are now in the pond too, so they should get breeding soon, and several damsel fly/ dragonfly larvae have been spotted tucking into the odd tadpole.
It always happens, half an hour after writing last week’s report the first swallow did arrive. It was all on its own until yesterday when a second appeared. The house martins usually are a couple or three weeks later here, so that’s the next spotting target.
Have a good week!
My big adventure this week was to be interviewed for a podcast promoting the Plato Sustain business improvement group I am in. The first challenge was to get off the nursery (Friday not as whizzy as other days), in clean clothes (last job before leaving was moving a few cut back Brunnera plants which turn out to have very sticky sap, now all over hands and trousers), next was to find the venue in sunny Basingstoke (never been into the middle before, so got lost and ended up back out on the M3 roundabout), then find a car park (on top of the whole town centre it seems, with most ticket machines out of order), locate the venue from the car park (completely disorientated by now) and finally negotiate with security/reception to let me through the front doors. So I arrive all cool and relaxed for my bit of the filming, go straight in and record. It was all very pleasant and easy going and after a bit of powder I was ready to go. Having been given the questions in advanced I had some idea what was going on and it all went reasonably well I think, they got rid of me quite quickly anyway! How much of it hits the cutting room floor is anyone’s guess but the results on UTube (or something like that) are out in a couple of weeks. Got home to change and found I had my flies open so maybe more will hit the floor than expected. In fact the combination of dried Brunnera sap and the wayward apparel might end up with more hits than planned, thank goodness I was wearing my own underwear!
It’s not surprising I’m not let out much.
Eco Update
Wind turbine planning application is in, hurrah. Bit disappointed that there has been no official planning response yet and we are not on the planning website at the moment. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get it all processed and the public get their chance to have a final say. We’ve have still had no further responses or visits following my light poaching at the Crawley Parish Council meeting, I suspect I may have bored them into submission! Either that or they are keeping their powder dry for when the application becomes officially public. Overall the responses so far have been very positive which is heartening in itself.
Nature notes
Tadpoles are now getting more active and seem to have stopped trying to hurl themselves down the pond overflow. Adult newts are now in the pond too, so they should get breeding soon, and several damsel fly/ dragonfly larvae have been spotted tucking into the odd tadpole.
It always happens, half an hour after writing last week’s report the first swallow did arrive. It was all on its own until yesterday when a second appeared. The house martins usually are a couple or three weeks later here, so that’s the next spotting target.
Have a good week!
Monday, 15 March 2010
Sun is out and only a slight breeze, it’s almost warm, must be spring at last. Over-trousers are out and I have my shorts on today! Mind you that may be something to do with the fact that I have an early hockey game today and had to pitch up today ready changed. Luckily, for all concerned, the amount of extra clobber we wear nowadays means that any upsetting excess flesh is hidden away under long socks, shin pads, knee pads and long shorts. The only daft bit of kit we have, considering this is a winter sport, is short sleeved shirts, there are too many young folk playing these days who are keen to expose themselves, which is fine in the right place but not in old boys games.
New little car going well (mid 50’s mpg) although Caroline did come back last weekend saying she had had a nasty experience in it. Now considering it’s a Toyota, I did wonder if something had dropped off but no, she had gone through a puddle. Unfortunately it was no ordinary puddle, it was coming from a broken and over flowing sewage drain! Although the bulk of it was on the other side of the road she had the misfortune to time her passing at the same moment as someone coming from the opposite direction. The car got covered and the smell was apparently overwhelming. In need of immediate cleaning, I did the decent thing and made sure she was wearing adequate protection with stout gloves and wellies.
Big van went in for MOT this week and passed, hooray, but it did mean we had to hire one for a couple of days. I’m sure it’s just us, but why when we get a hire van do they always breakdown? Our thanks go to those customers who put up with us hanging about waiting to be mended, helped out with forklift unloading, or had their deliveries delayed 24 hrs. It turned out to be down to new batteries being incorrectly fitted and a tail lift with some sort of independent thought process of its own!
We have a new 3.5 ton small van coming in a couple of weeks which will be nice and give us a bit more flexibility for zipping about with local drops.
Eco Update
We have been asked to attend the local Parish Council meeting in Crawley on Monday to answer questions and put our case. I have heard that they are planning to object to the proposals on visual grounds, which is a shame. We were a bit disappointed that they haven’t even visited the site but there you go, we will see how it goes. Whatever happens at the meeting the planning application will be going in next week if all goes to plan.
You can see the outline proposal in our ‘Dear Neighbour’ letter and the full details of the planning backup documentation at http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/ and http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/
10:10 filming got cancelled due to their heavy work-load. Hope they hadn’t read the blog site about removing trousers!
Had another PLATO Sustain group meeting last week which was good. The group has created a ‘toolkit’ for recording lots of info (electric, water, gas, oil, transport, waste (recycled, landfill, hazardous and by type), production of green energy, procurement (main material purchases by type, cost, volume etc) and company background details (turnover, area, employees etc). All the info is combined to produce progress reports on environmental performance (KPI’s), waste percentages and a basic carbon footprint summary. It’s not perfect but it’s a start and does give us some way of measuring progress and gives us indicators to show how we compare with others.
Nature notes
No frogspawn yet in any of our ponds, but have seen a frog in the pond (looking a bit dopey, it was icy)
Birds still chomping through kilos of feed and doing a lot of singing.
Have a good week.
New little car going well (mid 50’s mpg) although Caroline did come back last weekend saying she had had a nasty experience in it. Now considering it’s a Toyota, I did wonder if something had dropped off but no, she had gone through a puddle. Unfortunately it was no ordinary puddle, it was coming from a broken and over flowing sewage drain! Although the bulk of it was on the other side of the road she had the misfortune to time her passing at the same moment as someone coming from the opposite direction. The car got covered and the smell was apparently overwhelming. In need of immediate cleaning, I did the decent thing and made sure she was wearing adequate protection with stout gloves and wellies.
Big van went in for MOT this week and passed, hooray, but it did mean we had to hire one for a couple of days. I’m sure it’s just us, but why when we get a hire van do they always breakdown? Our thanks go to those customers who put up with us hanging about waiting to be mended, helped out with forklift unloading, or had their deliveries delayed 24 hrs. It turned out to be down to new batteries being incorrectly fitted and a tail lift with some sort of independent thought process of its own!
We have a new 3.5 ton small van coming in a couple of weeks which will be nice and give us a bit more flexibility for zipping about with local drops.
Eco Update
We have been asked to attend the local Parish Council meeting in Crawley on Monday to answer questions and put our case. I have heard that they are planning to object to the proposals on visual grounds, which is a shame. We were a bit disappointed that they haven’t even visited the site but there you go, we will see how it goes. Whatever happens at the meeting the planning application will be going in next week if all goes to plan.
You can see the outline proposal in our ‘Dear Neighbour’ letter and the full details of the planning backup documentation at http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/ and http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/
10:10 filming got cancelled due to their heavy work-load. Hope they hadn’t read the blog site about removing trousers!
Had another PLATO Sustain group meeting last week which was good. The group has created a ‘toolkit’ for recording lots of info (electric, water, gas, oil, transport, waste (recycled, landfill, hazardous and by type), production of green energy, procurement (main material purchases by type, cost, volume etc) and company background details (turnover, area, employees etc). All the info is combined to produce progress reports on environmental performance (KPI’s), waste percentages and a basic carbon footprint summary. It’s not perfect but it’s a start and does give us some way of measuring progress and gives us indicators to show how we compare with others.
Nature notes
No frogspawn yet in any of our ponds, but have seen a frog in the pond (looking a bit dopey, it was icy)
Birds still chomping through kilos of feed and doing a lot of singing.
Have a good week.
Monday, 25 January 2010
I hope everyone is well and building themselves up to selling and buying a lot of plants this coming Spring. Hopefully the worst of the weather is behind us now and both the plants and I will start to look happier as the spring sap rises. I reckon that we have now got used to a bit of colder weather as we have geared ourselves up to cope. I certainly am having trouble giving up my second pair of trousers I started wearing during the snow, it’s just so cosy and does confirm, that comfort scores much higher than fashion now(oh no I’m doomed).
We’ve had a very hectic week whizzing about doing orders and setting things up for the spring rush. We have 2 more qualified forklift drivers after they finished their training and passed their tests this week and the eco activity went off the scale (see below)!
Can’t really get through another newsletter without mentioning the terrible trouble in Haiti, the scale of such an event is impossible to imagine. I just think back a week or two, to the fuss made over a bit of cold and snow and the difficulties in travel, water supply and the odd power cut. It does make you grateful that most of our problems and worries are relatively minor to those being experienced over there, but also highlights how easily the whole thing can suddenly change.
Make the most of today, the sun is out here!
I was reminded while watching the news of a very lovely lady, Annie, we know in St Ives who runs an amazing shoe shop. The shoes, made by Jan Jansen, are only sold through 4 or 5 outlets around the world and are a bit mad. Sadly after many years the exchange rate, over the last 18 months, has scuppered the business and she has spent this year selling off the accumulated stock of the past seasons. Although very sad about the shops demise, she was still so bubbly and positive I asked her what her secret was. Rather surprisingly it was that every morning when she watched the news she would have a good cry, which set her up for the day because she recognised how luck she actually was. Mind you she is as mad as the shoes.
Do you feel better now? How about buying some plants!
Eco Update
Big, big week this week, as we went public with our plans for erecting 3 ‘small’ wind turbines on the hill above the nursery. We haven’t actually put in a planning application yet, this is a pre-planning notification exercise to get some of the anticipated questions and excitement sorted out and hopefully some support mustered. We notified the 3 local parish councils and delivered (by bike!) over 400 ‘Dear Neighbour’ letters. I got invited to introduce ourselves and the idea to one council meeting on Thursday, which went ok and we have received some feedback directly already.
Perhaps surprisingly the feedback has all been very positive so far, although it is early days, but best of all, those positive responses have been from our closest neighbours, big and small (by big I mean organisationally (local college), not physically!). I do suspect that any protests will be made via the councils, newspapers and planning departments rather than direct to us. We’ll see.
Anyway, you can find out loads more if you click the turbines on either of our two websites http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/ or http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/ you can even read our ‘Dear Neighbour’ letter and see full details of the planning backup documentation.
At some point this week we will have a specific ‘wind response’ email account running from these web-pages where everyone can let us know what they think, good or bad, and we can then keep them up to date with progress of the project. Obviously we are after any support or input we can get and hope that we can generate a good positive result. Please do bear in mind that those protesting against something, tend to make more noise about it than those supporting it, or are just ‘ok’ about it. Don’t you worry, I will be keeping you all up to date and pressing for your input over the coming months.
I also attended another PLATO Sustain meeting this week inputting loads of data into a mega spreadsheet recording our use of stuff over the last two years (all forms of energy input, transport records, waste and recycling breakdown, company detail (staff, turnover etc) and procurement volumes (for the material items we buy most of)). We are top of the class at the moment on our recycling record with 89% of our waste being recycled (by volume), mainly helped by the fact that we compost all our green waste, of which there can be a lot! We could reduce that further by compacting the waste we do put to landfill but we don’t really have enough to justify it and I suspect it gets quite compacted by the collection vehicle. We are still looking to reduce landfill and are hoping soon to reduce our weekly collection to one domestic sized wheelie bin, not bad for a company employing 22 permanent staff.
Yesterday, I entered our figures into our 10:10 database for our 2009 energy use. It has come up with a calculation of 112 tonnes of C02 produced by the company and given us a target of just over 100 tonnes to achieve by the end of the year. I reckon we are well on the way to achieving that reduction already, despite the cold weather. Check out the campaign website; http://www.1010uk.org/
Please do join in, we are only weenie and can’t make that much difference, but if we can get everyone to think a bit differently and do their bit we can work together to achieve something very positive.
We finished our hedge planting on Tuesday and now have 300 native whips in and raring to go.
Don't forget to do your bit.
Have a good week
PS I will try and contain my excitement next week as I know life is short!
We’ve had a very hectic week whizzing about doing orders and setting things up for the spring rush. We have 2 more qualified forklift drivers after they finished their training and passed their tests this week and the eco activity went off the scale (see below)!
Can’t really get through another newsletter without mentioning the terrible trouble in Haiti, the scale of such an event is impossible to imagine. I just think back a week or two, to the fuss made over a bit of cold and snow and the difficulties in travel, water supply and the odd power cut. It does make you grateful that most of our problems and worries are relatively minor to those being experienced over there, but also highlights how easily the whole thing can suddenly change.
Make the most of today, the sun is out here!
I was reminded while watching the news of a very lovely lady, Annie, we know in St Ives who runs an amazing shoe shop. The shoes, made by Jan Jansen, are only sold through 4 or 5 outlets around the world and are a bit mad. Sadly after many years the exchange rate, over the last 18 months, has scuppered the business and she has spent this year selling off the accumulated stock of the past seasons. Although very sad about the shops demise, she was still so bubbly and positive I asked her what her secret was. Rather surprisingly it was that every morning when she watched the news she would have a good cry, which set her up for the day because she recognised how luck she actually was. Mind you she is as mad as the shoes.
Do you feel better now? How about buying some plants!
Eco Update
Big, big week this week, as we went public with our plans for erecting 3 ‘small’ wind turbines on the hill above the nursery. We haven’t actually put in a planning application yet, this is a pre-planning notification exercise to get some of the anticipated questions and excitement sorted out and hopefully some support mustered. We notified the 3 local parish councils and delivered (by bike!) over 400 ‘Dear Neighbour’ letters. I got invited to introduce ourselves and the idea to one council meeting on Thursday, which went ok and we have received some feedback directly already.
Perhaps surprisingly the feedback has all been very positive so far, although it is early days, but best of all, those positive responses have been from our closest neighbours, big and small (by big I mean organisationally (local college), not physically!). I do suspect that any protests will be made via the councils, newspapers and planning departments rather than direct to us. We’ll see.
Anyway, you can find out loads more if you click the turbines on either of our two websites http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/ or http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/ you can even read our ‘Dear Neighbour’ letter and see full details of the planning backup documentation.
At some point this week we will have a specific ‘wind response’ email account running from these web-pages where everyone can let us know what they think, good or bad, and we can then keep them up to date with progress of the project. Obviously we are after any support or input we can get and hope that we can generate a good positive result. Please do bear in mind that those protesting against something, tend to make more noise about it than those supporting it, or are just ‘ok’ about it. Don’t you worry, I will be keeping you all up to date and pressing for your input over the coming months.
I also attended another PLATO Sustain meeting this week inputting loads of data into a mega spreadsheet recording our use of stuff over the last two years (all forms of energy input, transport records, waste and recycling breakdown, company detail (staff, turnover etc) and procurement volumes (for the material items we buy most of)). We are top of the class at the moment on our recycling record with 89% of our waste being recycled (by volume), mainly helped by the fact that we compost all our green waste, of which there can be a lot! We could reduce that further by compacting the waste we do put to landfill but we don’t really have enough to justify it and I suspect it gets quite compacted by the collection vehicle. We are still looking to reduce landfill and are hoping soon to reduce our weekly collection to one domestic sized wheelie bin, not bad for a company employing 22 permanent staff.
Yesterday, I entered our figures into our 10:10 database for our 2009 energy use. It has come up with a calculation of 112 tonnes of C02 produced by the company and given us a target of just over 100 tonnes to achieve by the end of the year. I reckon we are well on the way to achieving that reduction already, despite the cold weather. Check out the campaign website; http://www.1010uk.org/
Please do join in, we are only weenie and can’t make that much difference, but if we can get everyone to think a bit differently and do their bit we can work together to achieve something very positive.
We finished our hedge planting on Tuesday and now have 300 native whips in and raring to go.
Don't forget to do your bit.
Have a good week
PS I will try and contain my excitement next week as I know life is short!
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