What's all this then? The culmination of our planning, sawing, chiselling, drilling, dowelling and head scratching. The event of the season… the raising of the compost loo ®
It happened at the September visitors weekend
After months of preparation, the frame of our new compost loo was ready to raise. All it needed was lots of people, some rope and a couple of hefty mallets. "I always knew we'd built the loo perfectly" said Al, the architect of the project. "You'd never find me looking stunned that it fit together first go" The front and back had been previously assembled, pegged together with dowel rods, so now the structure needed fitting together on its base, quite a feat given its height and weight.
Fortunately, we had both human and superhero help for that. The front and back were raised using ropes and held in place by our work posse, so the side pieces could be fitted into place. Once it was in place a bit of action with the mallets was all it took to have it fitting together nicely.
Being a health and safety conscious crew, we had the structure given the once over by a our expert who is used to working (or sunbathing) at height, before allowing people to teeter on ladders to fit the roof. More bout roofing next time….. A big thank you for all who have been involved so far. We still have more to do so if you've not been involved yet, there's still time.
Wiring
We have nearly finished rewiring the house. Hurray! This task became more desirable as it got too wet to work on the loo and too dark to stumble round without lights… we would like to thank Brummie Nick for his entertaining contributions to this project.
A rural community network?
Over the years Highbury Farm has had its ups and downs - as have many rural projects. How do you find and, more importantly keep members? We have been looking at what makes people decide to leave and what can be done about it - and how projects can support each other too. If you're from, or have been part of a rural project and want to be part of this discussion, please contact Jane - contact details overleaf. Thanks
Other News
Now that winter is on its way out, we decided we really should get on with the heating. The house is currently heated by an inefficient and wood guzzling rayburn. We have plans for a super efficient wood boiling system, and solar hot water for summertime. We have a grant to fund around 35% of the cost, but to make it achievable on our budget, we will have to do a lot of the radiator and pipe replacement ourselves.
Visitors Weekends
We've had quite a throughput of visitors this year. Our monthly visitors weekends are in great demand, so we have had to give priority to people who may be looking to join the co-op. In winter we have to restrict numbers to the amount of people we can fit round the kitchen table! As it gets warmer we can host more people as they are able to eat outside and some people are happy to camp. If you'd like to come to a visitors weekend, get n touch, they are a good way to get a taste of what we it's like to live here.
Compost toilet work day & Equinox party Saturday September 22nd
Why not come to help us to finish our new compost toilet then come to our party afterwards? As part of our water saving plans, we decided to build another compost toilet nearer to our homes. Designed by Al, the frame is held together with dowel, avoiding the need for screws and nails. Over the summer we have had volunteers to help us build the base. Now we're ready to assemble the frame and to clad the outside. All of the wood has come from local woodland and was milled by Adrian. If you would like to visit and help, please contact us so we know you're coming.
Sweet Chestnut Coppice
We have been replacing fencing at the farm, using sweet chestnut fencing posts. Sweet chestnut is durable and does not need treating with chemicals. A progression from this was to plant our own patch of sweet chestnut. The aim is to coppice this, so in the future we will be able to provide a local and sustainable source of fence posts. Ade and Glen built a big fence to keep the deer out, reusing some of the netting we've been replacing. The trees are just starting to show themselves above the bracken.
Water
Water shortage has not been an issue so far this summer! though we are still aware that it be scarce if there is a prolonged dry spell. We have discussed what we can do to manage our water use. We decided that to reduce our water use we would build another compost loo, nearer to where people live. We have a great one in the barn, but this can be quite a way to walk. See the front page for news of our building project. The other thing we will be doing is capturing more rain water from the rear of the house and the barn. If we use this in the washing machine and to flush toilets we could reduce our spring water use by nearly half. Watch out for work weekends in spring when we will be doing this.
Our latest new members....
.... are four ducks. They are living in the walled garden, where they can look out at the walkers on the Offa's Dyke path. As well as the ducks, we have 3 cats, 2 dogs and 25 sheep.
Visiting the Farm
We have monthly visitors weekends to give people a taste of what it's like living here. If you would like to visit, please contact us to check if we have space. Unfortunately we are unable to take Wwoofers at the mo.
New Members
We are looking for new members. If you are interested in joining us as a member, coming to a visitors weekend is the first step. Please contact us for more information.
The House
We still have many renovations to do to the house - it really is an uphill task in such an old, large property. Still, we're getting there. Nick from Fuse Workers Co-op was invaluable in helping us with the finer points of plasterboarding and gave us the enthusiasm to continue by ourselves. As a result, Becky and her two boys, Jack and Harrison are about to move rooms into the flatlet above the kitchen, freeing up her old rooms for further renovation. The first blow has been struck in the kitchen with the construction of a new table from our own timber (ash). Now for the rest of the room…
The Land
The ongoing work for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme takes up plenty of time, but we hope it will be worth it in the end, ensuring the continued survival of Highbury Farm as an important part of the beautiful Wye Valley AONB, both in terms of the landscape value and its extraordinarily diverse wildlife. Sadly, we had three sheep killed by a local dog, and one squashed by a wall which the others pushed over. To partly make up numbers we got two more from over the valley: Tiny Tim (enormous), and Snowy (blatantly not white). We also gained 12 rescued chickens, unfortunately depleted somewhat by some four-legged fiend to a half dozen in number. They eat absolutely anything except veggie sausages and lemons and give us excellent eggs. When they can be bothered.
Membership
Stepping Stones is in the process of searching for more members to make up for recent departures. We have had many enquiries, and quite a few visitors, but as yet this hasn't translated into new residents. However there are a few people thinking about returning for a second visit soon, when there other life commitments allow. In the meantime, if you know of anyone…
The world of work
Just to show the world that we are not a bunch of isolationist cult members, the three of us without babies have branched out into paid employment in the Outside World. Al does local youth work, gardening, and all manner of other things for a living, while selling the best tasting honey and grape juice you will ever encounter. Becky makes breakfast for the stars at Rockfield studios. Adrian, being a complete planker, has started a mobile timber milling business. But we still find time to clip the sheep's toenails and drink cider.
STOP PRESS !!!!!!
We are holding a work week on 26thMarch - 3rd April, for anyone interested in helping us out, whether you be a friend of Highbury Farm, or a potential member. We have interesting things to get on with like stock fencing and hedge restoration (part of our countryside stewardship scheme), work on the house (part of our human comfort maintenance scheme) and any other little project we can think of between now and then. People are also needed to provide kitchen help, etc. to keep all the workers happy! The work itself won't be too taxing and will involve tea drinking, leaning on shovels and frequently looking round at the views. Accommodation is a little short, so it would be helpful if you are interested to let us know as soon as possible; this will also help in planning catering. Also it would help if you could tell us about any special accommodation and dietary needs you may have. If all goes to plan we will get a satisfying amount of work done, eat well, be entertained by all you interesting people and have a party at the end of it all. Please telephone us on 01600 713 942 if you can make it. TA!
Hello!
Welcome to the latest newsletter from Highbury Farm. We hope you enjoy reading about developments here, and get involved in what ever way you feel able.
Work Week Report
We held a successful work week in October 2003. Work done included fencing as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, apple and grape harvesting, pressing and processing, step building, and many other important things, including having lots of fun! We hope to hold regular work weeks, please get in touch if you are interested in receiving details about our next one.
Radical Routes
Stepping Stones Housing Co-op is a member of Radical Routes, a national secondary co-op, which links radical social change co-ops around the country. We received a loan from them to help purchase Highbury Farm in 1999. All member co-ops have a work commitment to Radical Routes, and we are currently involved in the investment and financial side of the organisation. We are also hosting the Radical Routes summer gathering here, at the end of July 2004. If you are interested in learning more about Radical Routes and its work, please visit www.radicalroutes.org, or phone Cornerstone Housing Co-op on 0113 2629365.
Sheep!
Again as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, we have recently acquired 13 sheep. The children have kindly named them with such memorable names as Truffly-bob-bob, Echo, Cotton wool, Bobbin, and Lalaith. The sheep are here to eat our fields to keep them as pasture, and to maintain the delicate ecological balance of unimproved pastureland, a rare habitat in the Wye Valley. So far they seem remarkably keen on getting themselves entangled in brambles and generally not being very bright!
Building Work
The farmhouse at Highbury needs a lot of work doing on it to maintain and improve it. We have currently been working on room three, which will eventually be for one of the teenagers here. There is still a lot of work to be done to make the room water tight, and with sound walls and a door.
Water
Highbury Farm's spring dried up between August and November last year. While we managed, with help from sympathetic local people, this is obviously not a good situation to happen in the long term. We have therefore been looking at various options for alleviating the problem in the future. These include digging a bore hole, accessing mains water, and pumping water from another local farm. All of these have monetary implications, and may involve us looking for more loanstock in the future.
Work on the Land
It's January, and the land work mainly now consists of fencing, and tree work. We have a lot of fencing to do, as well as the restoration of a section of hedge. We are also hoping to start coppicing in Highbury Woods, though this is still not confirmed by English Nature. There is ongoing tree work around the farm, which should yield us lots of firewood for next year.
Co-op Member Profiles
Al - in training to become a gnome in the garden, while powering various small light bulbs with lots of solar/wind power. If you're lucky he'll tell you how to do it too! Currently nocturnal.
Adrian - likes to wander round with a chainsaw taking out unsuspecting trees, listen out for him on a Sunday morning! And listening to weird music late at night. And wearing carpet slippers - weirdo!!!
Jim - working hard on becoming a successful and internationally renowned artist and musician, while getting to grips with the finer points of a computer.
Esta - currently rather large and slow due to impending birth of first child, she has build the most splendid of yurts at the end of the garden, and now needs to convince the midwives it's not a tent.
Cath - carrying on the fine tradition of Stepping Stones being a haven for pregnant women and small babies. Can be seen wandering in the woods with small baby in tow.
Hoossie and Fungus - operating the Scottish branch of Stepping Stones, this year Scotland, next year the world!
Amanda - oh, there she goes in a whirlwind of activity… sorry, just missed her again.
Emma - currently serving 5 years hard labour cleaning out the septic tank at Highbury Farm after writing irreverent and meaningless waffle about her fellow co-operators.
Benefit Cd
Emma, a member of Stepping Stones Housing Co-op, has recently recorded her first cd, 'anywhere else', with £1 of the sale of each cd going to the Highbury Farm Land Fund, to further the work we are doing here on site. If you would like to purchase a copy, please send a cheque for £6 (£5 + £1 pp) to Emma Jackson, at Highbury Farm. The cd features eight of Emma's original songs, with piano accompaniment and has been described as 'late night chill out music'.
Loanstock
Loanstock is the way that individuals can invest money in housing co-ops. We will be issuing loanstock in May 2004, and are therefore currently looking for pledges of investment in the next few months. This money will be used to help further the aims of the co-op. Investing in Stepping Stones means that you know exactly what your money is doing, and that you are directly helping our project. You put your money in for a set amount of time, typically 2, 5 or 10 years, and can receive interest if you so wish. For more information, or to receive a loanstock prospectus, please contact us.
Permaculture Course
We are hosting and co-running a permaculture course with Steve Charter from EcoForest in Spain, which will have a raw food/vegan focus. Dates are 10th - 23rd May 2004. For more info or to book a place, please contact Emma at Stepping Stones.
Esta's experience…
I moved here mid October 2003. Fantastic to be free of the landowner/tenant dynamic which was my last situation. I love the land here, access to the woods, varied walking opportunities. Flo, my dog friend loves it too, has many friends and playmates whom she can never get enough of. Enjoying my posh yurt space, watching the stars through the wheel at night, and birds out the window by day. It's been an easy transition moving here - everyone friendly and unimposing, good balance between individual and community. Looking forward to settling in more, and nesting up in preparation for the imminent arrival of my first baby. Hurrah for land and community!
And finally…
We will be hosting another work week around Easter time this year, if you are interested in coming, please get in touch. We also welcome visitors and prospective members at various times of the year by prior arrangement. Happy New Year, and we all hope that 2004 brings you what you wish for, and moves you nearer to putting your dreams into practice!
Land Management
Countryside Stewardship Agreement
The co-op has arranged a ten year Countryside Stewardship Agreement with DEFRA. This agreement, which will form the basis of our land management plan, will help us to conserve the historic landscape of Highbury Farm and preserve the valuable habitat provided by our pasture. We have put three fields, amounting to almost 20 acres, into the scheme. Highbury Orchard and Long Lease will be grazed as pasture. The Old Quarry Field, which we use for hosting camps and gatherings, will be cut for hay. The agreement also covers the materials cost for re-fencing the fields and some hedgerow maintenance. Although the Countryside Stewardship Scheme has been criticised by some as being too restrictive on land use, we have found that its guidelines fitted well with our intent to conserve the environment of the farm.
Planking Felled Ash Trees
Almost two years ago large and old ash trees in Highbury Woods had to be felled as they had become unsafe and were in danger of falling on our house and dwellings. After much searching, we have, at last, been able to find a mobile sawmill which can be used to plank this wood. After it has been cut it is being stacked in the barn to season before it is used. We hope to be able to sell some, although we also have plans to refit the farmhouse kitchen in ash and cherry and to make furniture to sell.
Highbury Orchard
After last years bumper crop of apples the harvest this year was considerably less, to the relief of at least some of us, as we had plenty of fencing work to do at the same time. We have successfully learnt how to pasteurise juice to preserve it and hope that we will be able to develop this as a viable source of income for the co-op. Many of the trees in the orchard have been lost through neglect over the years and we are currently trying to identify the remaining varieties and draw up a management plan to restore the orchard to its former self.
Budhafield Retreats
Once again the co-op was blessed by being able to host four retreats organised by Buddhafield. Buddhafield is an order of travelling Buddhist monks; they organise a series of retreats in different places throughout the year, run a café at many mainstream festivals and organise their own gathering. We are pleased that they find Highbury such a good site on which to hold some of their retreats, we certainly enjoy the serene energy that they bring with them. Stepping Stones has a field available in which we are able to host small gatherings and camps, please contact the co-op if you are organising such an event and would like to make use of our site.
House Maintenace
Rewiring
During the summer part of our house's antiquated electrical wiring finally gave up and refused to work anymore. We are now in the midst of rewiring the kitchen end of the house. Like most jobs at the farm, this is turning out to be more complicated than we at first thought; trying to find routes to lay the wires around the house, including through 2 feet thick stone walls, is proving to be a challenge and taking longer than we planed. Once the job is finished half the house will have been rewired and the load on the old circuits will be reduced until we are able to replace them as well.
Decorating
It started as a simple job, laying some new lino that we had been donated in the upstairs bathroom to replace the rather tatty bit that we had on the floor. However, we got carried away…. Three weeks later the bathroom was completely transformed; the old shower which didn't work was gone, the multi-layer step effect floor was reduced to only two levels, cracks in the walls filled and the whole rooms repainted, including a beautiful wall painting of a sunset over a flower meadow.
Radical Routes
The Radical Routes Summer Gathering was held at Keveral Farm in Cornwall. Several of us went and we were also able to take two co-op visitors and introduce them to the wider co-operative movement. The gathering included a day of visioning for Radical Routes and we were able to participate in outlining our broad vision and also planning new activities to help bring this about. We were also inspired by Keveral Farm, a rural community with a seventeen year history, seeing not only what can be achieved in time, but also how much we have already achieved in the three and a half years that we have been at Highbury. Members of Stepping Stones have continued to play an active role in Radical Routes and we have core members on both the finance and communications groups. Radical Routes is a mutual co-op support organisation and relies on voluntary work from its members to keep the wheels turning smoothly.
Loanstock Issue
Membership
Mediation
In April this year we had to seek external mediation to help resolve conflicts between members of the co-operative. This proved to be an extremely emotional and difficult process for all of us and we eventually reached an agreement for one member of the co-operative agreed to resign. We have made arrangements to allow this individual to remain at Highbury for a time in order to find somewhere new to live and to leave the co-operative with as little distress as is possible under the circumstances. The members intending to remain at Stepping Stones are now looking to the future with new confidence now that a conflict which has been troubling us and absorbing a large amount of our energy has been resolved.
Stepping Stones is Seeking New Members
The housing co-operative is now looking to find new members who wish to live at Highbury Farm and to join our project. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in living in a sharing rural community then please contact us to find out more and to arrange a visit.
Visits
We welcome visits from people who are interested in finding out more about co-ops and co-operative living. But please contact us in advance to arrange your visit to ensure that someone will be available to spend time with you and show you around.
And finally…
Thankyou to everyone who has supported us in any way over the past year.