Last Post from Nottinghamshire

This post is on time!

Next Stops

My evenings for the past week have mostly been spent on Trinity Farm office computer planning the next steps of my travels. After calling a couple places and being told that they were all booked up for a few months, I realized that I should get my UK and France placements confirmed as soon as possible. The next stop proved to be the most difficult but I finally secured lodgings at the Scarborough Woodlands Project. Here's the breakdown for the next little while:

17 Apr - 3 May Scarborough Woodlands Project
3 May - 17 May Rose Cottage, Ayr, Scotland
17 May - 7 Jun Living Ark Animal Sanctuary
7 Jun - 21 Jun Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary (awaiting confirmation)
22 Jun - 25 Jun Jules Ferry Youth Hostel

After getting a taste for biodynamics at Trinty Farm, I'm hoping to stay at farms that have a focus in permaculture methods or veganic farming. Permaculture seems to be a necessary practice to ensure sustainable agriculture in harmony with our surrounding environments (and obviously I'd be interested veganic practices because I believe in animal rights).

Nottingham Squat

Yesterday, I decided to get active in local politics, so I participated in a squat in downtown Nottingham. There are several articles about the action on Notts Indymedia but these two contain photos: [1] [2]. I was informed about the action by George, a guy who volunteers at Trinity Farm on Fridays; he was helping organize the squat.

The planning seemed to be crumbling a bit while I was there yesterday due to external and internal complications but eventually dinner was served, beer flowed and films rolled. I spent a good hour sipping beer and contemplating the conventional, top-down, vertical management model to the horizontal, decentralized model seen frequently in grassroots campaigns with George.

It was nice to get and socialize compared to what I usually do in my evenings here. And the vegan food was very much enjoyed!

Talking and reading about squats recently got me thinking about it's relevance to the "homeless situation" in Toronto. A solution proposed by Tash, one of the Notts squat organizers, is to have homeless people learn trades while repairing and building residences on government (city, province, or federal) owned property that is not being utilized. It is a solution that has two benefits: giving homeless people hands-on training in a trade and giving them housing.

I think that type of community project could have more reaching benefits as well including community centres for continued learning and training, community gardens and host of other services to promote sustainability.

The action also got me wondering about previous squats in Canada. The one that immediately comes to mind is the Tent City squat. Unfortunately the residents of Tent City were evicted in September 2002 and that area of land has been left unused for over five years now.


Follow-up on the Ugg Boot Observations

While walking around Nottingham and nearby Ilkeston (catching a bus to Nottingham) yesterday, I realized that the Ugg boot phenomenon witnessed in London is not limited to London. Apparently, this disease is afflicting all of the young women of England. I will continue to observe how far north the problem is occurring as I travel to the Shetlands.


Pictures of Trinity Farm and Surrounding Area

future residence for when I move permanently to Nottinghamshire
a decent portrayal of the local weather (one minute sunny, next minute hail)
area of farm where I clean up garbage every morning
some field and polytunnels at the farm
the greenhouse
my caravan: exterior and interior
front of the Trinity Farm shop

- Kasza