Somerset is famous for its amazing night time carnivals......if you are ever in this part of Britain at this time of the year you really must not miss the chance to see one!
There are several 'circuits' some being dictated by float size and road bends!!! The Wessex circuit includes Taunton and you can see below my attempts to photograph and record some of it last weekend. However the biggest circuit is the Guy Fawkes circuit and the 2 unmissable carnivals on that one are Bridgwater and Glastonbury. We are off to the Bridgwater carnival next Friday night. It starts at 7pm and finishes at about 10.30 after which squibbing takes place.....over a hundred people line the high street with amazing squibs....fireworks that shoot silver rain.....on poles....take a look at this link here to find out all about the carnival and how to get there!

Time! Where does it go? How can anyone ever be bored!
Well lots has happened here....the judges came and went for the awards, and now I must sit and bite my nails! We will know the outcome at the awards ceremony on the 26th November and it seems our category had the most entries and some are HUGE companies.....I am now getting a bit scared.....especially as Taffy my assistant says I MUST wear a frock for the do, which is like the oscars with the envelope opening etc.....I don't actually posess a 'frock' and having lost 2 stone in weight the 2 skirts I do posess look somewhat tent like!! We shall see!
We are now processing wool for an arts project....where they knit a sweater for a bench.....interesting! Some felt shrouds.....!! A load of felt for individual commissions, lots of wool to be sent for spinning....and loads of insulation....its great to be soooooo busy!
At home all sorts going on too. The last of the veg, chillies, peppers, spinach, spuds and stripy aubergines have been cleared from the veg plot by the fab helper Carolyn, who has also painted one of my sheds a lovely greeny bluey colour and my shepherds hut green!
We had a young couple from the USA here for 10 days too and whilst here they did some incredible stuff....took the hedge out at the front of the house to let more light in, redirected the stream back to where it was supposed to go with the aid of a ditch and were stars in the wool cutting dept!
Another friend has been in and built a smashing compost loo for us in return for pulling a caravan back for him......pics to follow when i have time to take some.......phew....see its all go here!
Add to that tons of jam made, elderflower and grapefruit, and rhubarb wine racked off to clear before bottling and 40 pints of home brewed beer about to be bottled as I type....well its no wonder I am tired....but happy.....hic!

Celebration time at Woolly Waste! We have been shortlisted for the Devon Environmental Business Awards!!!
We are now up against 3 other businesses for the Environmental Goods and Services Award!!! I am so chuffed as we have worked really hard to get this far. The next round is on the 20th of October when we get a visit from 4 judges for an hour and then we have to wait until the awards ceremony at the end of November to find out!

What else have we been up to? The Ouessant sheep are happily chomping their way through lots of lush autumn grass and Merinos is enjoying being top ram!
We have some volunteers arriving to do some mass vegetation clearance in the front garden.....and we have just turned half a tonne of waste wool and rugs, some pictured below, into fluff by putting it through our garnet machine. The 'fluff' in the bag is being used to insulate an eco house!!!
The pictures show the before, during and after!

Did you buy french beans beans or flowers this weekend?.....Did you see where they came from.....Did you care? Just look at the result! Just imagine if it was Britain, with water tankers being mobbed by folks desperate for water! Imagine if you will our countryside strewn with starving people and dying cows.....Of course it won't happen here will it?......most likely not to be honest, but neither should it be happening in Kenya. I went shopping in Sainsburys this morning and the African grown flowers and green beans are still there for us to buy and having seen the huge version of the above picture of dead and dying cows in the front of the Guardian yesterday I felt a huge rush of revulsion for a global market that insists that its ethical and fair to import green beans from a drought ridden country......Of course many argue that the bean(and other veg) growing improves lives, brings in foreign capital, uses less energy than freezing beans grown in Britain etc etc..........but at what cost to the lives of those cattle herders, and the Masai people, whose culture and nomadic life are almost at an end.....what of them? What of the cattle and goats that are dying....about 50% of Kenyas livestck are dead....the cost of a green bean or a red rose....thats what. We in the west, who cannot be bothered to salt our beans or preserve them by bottling, we who protest loudly about animal welfare ....... are stealing the lives of people..... mums, dads, grannies and grandads...... and little children by stealing their precious water to grow.......beans!
Progress, international trade, globalisation.....call it what you will its immoral!

Its tough sometimes being a person with a sustainable environmental business because a lot of those who love to use the words and phrases environment, conservation, sustainable, green, save the world, get in touch with the earth, make a difference, transition to a new future etc find the word 'business' sits very uneasily with them.....now before you all bash me I know what the problem is or seems to be....businesses are seen as efficient, occasionally dishonest, pushy, low levels of morality, brash and just a bit to normal....
Maybe I have got it wrong? But its very interesting as I have come to these conclusions reluctantly through reactions to what I do by the folks who need to be the most supportive!
Lots of people want to 'come and pick my brains' about what I do, they come and visit the unit, often because they would like to be involved in a similar project....great! I don't mind chatting and telling it as it is!
Others have wanted to work with me, and a couple have for a bit but have found out that running an environmental business is not 'fluffy' .....that its hard work!

I often muse on why businesses that are very successful with terrifically high morals and ethics like Riverford and Cafe Direct are often criticized to death by the 'environmental types' and to be honest I just cannot understand it........they are very successful businesses.....is that the root of the problem? Do we all like an under dog, someone who tries but fails, a reason not to be successful, a reason to moan?........... I just don't know!
But its got me thinking a lot! .........and I think somehow its a British thing! We are not radical in an ordinary way......we like to look the part for the lifestyle we choose so an environmentalist is often seen as a person with hippy clothes and hair, several piercings, maybe a tattoo of something celtic..........but never as a bloke in a smart suit with a crisp shirt!!!

At home here we are possibly at our most sustainable but we look very ordinary.....too ordinary at times! I wear very boring normal clothes...most second hand. We shop very ordinarily in supermarkets and local shops but make a point of demanding local produce and buying nothing that is out of season or from the other side of the world. We drive.....and yes we have 3 cars....horror of horrors.....but we use them responsibly and for the purpose intended eg we do not use the 4x4 except for towing logs or livestock or wool!
We do not fly.....at all, and never will.....! We have a tv, the kids have an X box and a DS (those who are in the know will know what they are!) and we have computers.
We grow wood, veg, meat and reuse every last thing we can eg the cereal box insides are used to wrap the packed lunches.
I am not claiming sainthood but just pointing out we do not live in a yurt, a green wood building, nor an eco home, just a house.....we don't wear the 'right' clothes, we don't cycle everywhere because we cannot...BUT we want sustainable and ethical to be normal!
And when it comes to my business we want people to get involved.....come along and help for a day!

Just take a look at this article and picture sent to me by a fellow blogger and friend!

Sheep are the most perfect animal for so many things and this really is brilliant!

Grazing sheep are a practical means of controlling weeds and grasses that otherwise would block the sun from ground-level solar arrays. The practice, begun in Europe, may well become a world standard, and has already spread to America (see below for example).

The requisite fence around the solar farm perimeter not only 'keeps the sheeps,' it fences out peeps who might otherwise steal the sheeps...and panels. So, it's something insurance companies have come to insist upon.

How to keep the wolves at bay, though?

Sheep dogs may definitely have a renewable energy future.

And, by sheer coincidence, wool may become a co-product of solar power generation. Marketer types will have fun branding it.

Why not goats? Because they would eat the equipment.

Solar panels are pricey, and putting them on public display is not without risk. BB&T, the bank that financed the project, required that the $4 million solar farm be surrounded by barbed wire.

To further promote the green theme, Carolina Solar Energy will arrange to have sheep brought in to trim the grass. Jim Stovall, chairman of the Person County Economic Development Commission, said sheep are a natural fit.

A month since I posted....!! I have been sooo busy! We have been to France for a well earned break...however it was not much of a break to start with as there has been an ongoing problem with water getting into the house we own there under the roof....the brand spanking new roof put on by the builder from whom I bought it.....who made it about 6 inches too short at each end! Me not being a roofer meant I didn't notice and thought the water dripping into the fireplace was coming through the wall which was in need of new pointing....but after having it re pointed at great cost to no avail I realised it was the roof! So this time when we arrived we found lots of water everywhere and mould growing on the walls and wet rot!.....which is just not on in a newly renovated house!
Pete spent 3 days in howling gales and horizontal rain (yes it was July!) up a ladder clinging to the roof installing some zinc flashing which now renders the roof watertight....great way to spend ones relaxing break!
The builder has thank goodness admitted liability......
So other than the roof what did we do? Well we went to Vieilles Charrues music festival and saw Moby, The Killers, The Ting Tings, Francis Cabrel, Tambours de Bronx, Bruce Springsteen and lots more!.....and was so tired I slept most of one day after getting home at 3am....we were not camping as Carhaix the town where it is located is about 20 mins down the road!
Later in the week we drove accross Brittany to the Normandy border where we left the boys with the amazing Celia and went off to Mont st Michel for 24 hours by ourselves to celebrate 10 happy years!

Well the holiday was soon over and back to work and we are flat out with lots of woolly work....all machines are working to their full capacity which is nice! and we have produced some lovely things.....mostly beautiful felt!

We are looking for an amazing person to come and work with us, as a volunteer/work experience person to start with and all training etc will be given.....paid work will be available when we have a big rush on too and eventually a possible paid position ! We are looking for someone who is very keen on wool, sheep, using old machinery, who loves getting grubby, working funny hours at times, is any age over 16, who may want to start a woolly based business using our units facilities......in fact we want people passionate about wool, sustainability and more wool! If you think you may be that person or knows someone let me know......and just to warn you its hardand heavy work....!