Home used to be a place where everything that was needed to live well was grown or made on site by family and neighbours.

A place in which food was prepared several times each day and shared by all present.

Many basic necessities were stitched or nailed together by those who used them. 

Home used to be a vibrant, thriving project in self-sufficiency, with what was needed to be bought in, purchased on a rare trip to town, or ordered several times each year, to be delivered and stored.

The new sign at Bealtaine Cottage, alongside a more important one..."No Fracking!"

Time to advertise what it is we stand for!

The power of advertising is immense.

Corporations and governments allocate massive amounts of money each year to get their messages of suppression and control across to the public.

However, we have the access to advertising ourselves, if we decide to use our windows, cars, front doors, entrances to propagate our messages...what a load of free advertising space!

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

The oil spill of the Exxon Valdez keeps on giving
for 18 years it’s kept on giving.
6000 workers along the shoreline sprayed chemicals on the oil,
breathing in the chemicals as well as the oil.
Many have died or have health problems.
The oil fell back onto the shore.

213 rivers have been destroyed—-
no longer can support life or spawn fish.

A client and I went to see a horse this week. He belonged to her in the past, but I have known him through 5 owners, each time given up reluctantly. This horse is 10 years old. Our Boy is a sensitive, athletic horse, smart and honest. In other words, a wonderful horse. In other words, a horse not just anyone can ride.

My toxic couch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvBkVfjcGpc

I’d like to nominate flame retardant chemicals used in our furniture, fabrics and baby products – as well as a host of other products – as being in the running for the “new asbestos”. These chemicals (halogenated flame retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers) are commonly known as PBDE’s. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune, responding to the series published by that paper about flame retardants called “Playing with Fire” (click…

Its just a touch after midnight. You’ve all read about my infamous inability to sleep. Today was a touch different. I got about 3 hours last night trying to push out some orders, get some work done, and stay on track. But, I derailed this morning, pushed myself into something of a corner. I was a bit like a zombie. Glossy eyed and staring at the needles as I worked SLOWLY, much slower than usual.

Over the past few thousand years, humankind has regarded Nature as property.

This concept is rooted in biblical text and has spawned generations who have regarded themselves as having dominion over the Earth.

The feudal system was based on dominion and continues today as a land-grab mentality, based on the principles of ownership and extraction.

Where we are at this point in time is the evolution of that concept, that biblical teaching, where we are now forced to try to manage degradation of the environment rather than prevent it.

What does asbestos have to do with fabrics?

Asbestos has been used in fabrics for centuries – the story goes that Roman soldiers (or, depending on the story, wealthy Persians) would clean asbestos napkins by throwing them into the fire – and they’d emerge clean and white. During the Middle Ages, some merchants would sell crosses made of asbestos, which looked just like wooden crosses, and claim they were from the “true cross” – the very same cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

New Act Makes It Legal for Photographs to Get Used Without Payment to Their Authors

Yes, you did read that correctly. I'm in a state of disbelief and utter disgust with our Government. Appalling behaviour. Before I continue, it's imperative to understand that my post not only applies to professional photographers whose livelihood just got taken away by this Act, but also amateur photographers too.

The EU are trying to ban Heritage Seeds!

There is a new regulation in the making as I type that will ban, yes, BAN, all old and rare varieties of seeds.

Not only ban these seeds of biodiversity and extreme importance to the health of the land and Nature, but will, in effect, threaten the exchange of seeds as I have been doing over recent months.

I describe monoculture  practice as creating "Famine Farms" for bees and wildlife...becoming places of slow starvation for all.

I recall thinking this when first beginning to plant out the permaculture gardens here at Bealtaine Cottage.

As you can see from the place as it looked then, it was bereft of food for anything!

Walking around the gardens of Bealtaine during the Spring and Summer, watching bees forage in the blossom, frogs delight in the ponds and listening to the birds sing out a mighty chorus, makes me think of the dire situation these creatures face in the monoculture world of modern farming.

In 1974, when Edward Heath had lost office, and there began to be talk of Thatcher taking over as Conservative Leader, my English Aunt, Midlands family background of miners and factory workers, and memories fresh of Thatcher's dirty work as Education minister, robbing poor school children of their milk, said to me "If that woman ever becomes Prime Minister I'm emigrating to Australia".

This post was published about two years ago, but it's time to re-run it, because Greenpeace has published its expose of the endocrine disruptors (APEOs and NPEOs) they found in garments produced by major fashion brands (like Levis, Zara, Calvin Klein and others). Click here to read their report.
Many chemicals used in textile processing – and elsewhere in consumer products – have been identified as “endocrine disruptors”.

At Milkwood, we spend the majority of our time focusing on positivistic strategies for an uncertain future. This is mostly because the other way of looking at the future has a big flashing 'here be dragons' sign on it.

Like everyone else, we know what's happening out there in the big wide world. We know that there's many gigantic problems, that the climate is changing, and that our granchildren's world will definitely not look like this one.

There are some things about lead that are not in dispute:
1. that lead causes brain damage;
2. that the effect of lead exposure is the same whether it is ingested, absorbed or inhaled;
3. and for children, there is no safe level of lead in blood – any lead will cause some toxic effect.

Lead is just not good for human bodies.

Does any Government have the right, to impose a tax on a selected group, which just happens to have deposited their savings in a particular bank, in order to pass the tax, which has been recovered, into the hands of private individuals, whom could, should they choose, make a contribution to aid the struggling bank themselves?

All of this nonsense is taking place to ensure that the rich lose nothing, that the poor, as usual will be forced to carry the can. 

Sitting here on this very cold and stormy day, writing as the day that is fast descending into a windy evening. 

Much of what I have written about over the past two years has come to pass.

The banks are in their death throes and are now preparing to take money out of people's private accounts.

I refer, of course, to Cyprus and what is unfolding there.

Have I mentioned how happy I am to be back here?

Little things tickle me. It doesn't take much to get me so impressed that I giggle. And life is always better suited up with a smile. It truly is. Try it sometime. Try smiling at the simple and you'll find rewards that overshadow anything material or ambitiously acquired.

I've been stepping about my old corner of Orlando, forgetting little things I had forgotten, or possibly taken advantage of, or even overlooked when I had lived here before.

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

The Sierra mountains
are home to the Kogi,
descendents of the Tairona,
an indigenous tribe of Columbia.

In 1514 a Spanish Conquistador
stood on the shores of what now
is Columbia and said to the Tairona,
“I will kill everyone of you
and bring every bad thing upon you.”

Some Tairona fled
to the high Sierra mountains,

Gosh, you gotta love those scientists. They probably had a quiet chuckle amongst themselves when they decided to create the acronym of WIMP when they came up with a possible explanation to support the theory of dark matter. These theoretical particles are huge and can't be seen by the naked eye (or telescope for that matter).
The only way they can be 'seen' (they don't absorb or emit light) is by viewing their gravitational impact on other visible objects.

The Fallible & the Accused, Colltalers

The past week offered contrasting views of two public figures, one by choice, the other by fate, that if anything sucked us into a swirl. Outrage, disgust, sadness, or fear, were all rolled up into one big whirlpool of questioning and disconnect with the world we live in.
The farewell rites of the prelate former known as Pope Benedict XVI, with its elaborate stage play of ostentation and deception, was the media's favorite, of course.

Keeping Bees and making honey turned into Keeping Bees and making money...on a vast commercial scale, with hundreds of hives being transported all over the world, to ensure pollination of vast stretches of monoculture crops.

There is an Orwellian feel to this scenario.

Something feels so very wrong about this.

Alarm bells should have been triggered at this point, about 20 years ago...monoculture madness would end up consuming all that is sacred about our Earth.

In our ongoing series of looking at the different chemicals used in textile processing, we’re up to the C’s. This week’s topic is chromium.

Chromium (Cr) exists in several forms, which are described by different numbers in parentheses. The most common forms are elemental chromium (0), chromium (III), and chromium (VI). Chromium (III) occurs naturally in the environment and is an essential nutrient for the human body.

I visited Ika, a marvellous friend of mine, a week ago in the forests of Ostrobothnia. There, in a nice and cozy shed adjacent to their house, a group of chickens reside. These aren't just any chickens - they're part of a living gene bank! When the traditional Finnish races of chicken became increasingly uncommon (due to fewer people keeping them), the Finnish agrifood research institute (