Green Gathering

It's been a while since our last blog post, and we've been very busy since then. 3 festivals a big birthday bash, job prospects and job offers. Not to mention some pedalling in between.

Our first event, alluded to in our last blog post was the Green Gathering, just outside Chepstow in South Wales. So a relatively close event... but unfortunately pulling a trailer around in Wales is never easy and there were many hills along the way. Having said that, about half of the route follows the river Wye, which is always a joy, especially for a lover of trees and woodlands such as myself. I was a little wary at first of the fact that the festival was being held on the racecourse. I had expected a flat area, with the only features being white barriers and the viewing stands. In fact the racecourse gives way to rolling parkland and a derelict stately home, and this was where the festival was held - a beautiful and enormous site. Unfortunately for the organisers, the number of festival goers didn't match the size of the site, and it was populated largely by crew. This made for a fun festival but did leave the Green Gathering out of pocket.

Pedallers Kitchen had a good festival though, with a nice pitch in the campaigns area, and all the food we cooked was eaten with relish.

 

We were blessed with weather that was... at least changeable.Lots of short showers followed by bright sunshine. This resulted in an endless show of epic skies and plenty of double rainbows.

For us, probably the most interesting part of the festival was a talk and demonstration from Ed Revill of Swansea Biochar. This was a fascinating hour during which he turned upside down perceived ideas about charcoal use and production and exposed the folly of current methods, gave a great critical rant against modern agricultural practises ("using soil as a substrate for hydroponic growing") and gave a comprehensive introduction to wood gasifer and biochar producing stoves and the use of biochar in agriculture. He had a good selection of these stoves on display including his own hybrid creation, crossing a rocket stove and a biochar producing Anila stove.

Ed Revill's hybrid Rocket/Anila stove

To illustrate his points, Ed had a wood gasifier stove with a vented cast iron hotplate to create a BBQ, that instead of using charcoal to cook, produced charcoal at the end of cooking. This was accomplished by burning off the toxic wood gases that during conventional charcoal production are just sent straight up into the atmosphere. The charcoal in the form of biochar is then buried in the ground to act as a home for mycorrhizzal fungi, a sponge for keeping water and nutrients in the soil and a way of sequestering carbon (that's the theory anyway). All this was absolutely fascinating and all those who attended seemed rapt. We left the talk with the intention of at some point incorporating a wood gasifier into Pedallers Kitchen or our lives in general, and with lots of new ideas to further research. The ideas behind wood gasifier stoves and biochar are too much for me to go into in more detail here, but I recommend that readers look into them both.

Another stall at the festival that grabbed my attention was this trailer. Clad in scraps of inner tube and aluminium and with a living roof.

 

All in all a really lovely and interesting event. I leave you with this photo, the night time scene from our stall.

Our Garden, thou art a haven...

We're feeling proud this week, as at Green Gathering this weekend we'll be serving some of our very own home grown veggies!

We have been lucky to have expert advice on hand from my parents. Its been amazing to watch the space evolve and grow over the last 5 months, how fast nature is at getting to work....

Our little plot - part of the reclamation of unused land at Monmouth House

 This is after we'd planted 2 rows of Potato's, new potato's Kestrel and Premier, and some of Dad's estima's (second early) from last year. We were in the process of preparing the ground for the onions, they need a fine till so some hours were spent pulling out roots (of which there were many, as just a few months earlier this had been an overgrown hedge!) and hoeing the soil.

March - Watering our onions and garlic

We grew our onions from Onion Sets

 

 

Late June - harvesting 'Premier' new potato's

Our patch all grown up!

A sea of greens

What at big change! Despite the difficult season, and the slugs getting all but one of the beans, we have had a reasonable crop of Potato's, onions, garlic and cabbage, and we'll be harvesting sweetcorn in a few weeks.  

On the difficult season topic, things really are all a bit messed up. We defiantly need to remember to listen to mother nature when she's giving us a nudge......

Sunrise

Sunrise Celebration, our first official, public event as Pedallers Kitchen went beautifully. It was a proper, thorough test of our set-up and we passed in most regards. It was a hard, 130 mile slog to get there, and hitch, trailer and all survived with barely a rattle.

Towards Glastonbury Tor

Although we arrived on Wednesday, most of the other crafty folks in our area had arrived and set up, so due to a mix up with the site map, there were no real pitches left. Fortunately our slimline nature allowed us to slip onto a small strip on the drag between the main field and camping. This gave us a prime position for preaching, peddling and promoting our low impact cooking techniques.

It was great for us, having spent months building and preparing everything, to have it all validated by people showing a real interest in the project, technology and all the rest. We had spent a lot of time in the preceding months explaining this bizarre concept to people, but actually having it with us changed everything and allowed us to really illustrate the concepts we had been talking about.

On the Wednesday that we arrived, the sun was shining upon us. Fortunately, however, the weather was not going to let us off without properly tested us and our equipment... so for the rest of the time the sky rained and the wind howled. Unsurprisingly, our awning, which although colourful and resplendent, is somewhat reminiscent of a kite, failed to withstand the elements, as one by one the eyelets gave way and the canvas slid down the poles.

Fortunately with the help of our neighbouring leather workers and some gaffa tape, we were able to repair it, but it had to remain down for Saturday due to the risk of further damage. So we spent the day cooking in a rainy gale, with no protection.

But we did surprisingly well. The trailer let in very little water and the rocket stove continued to function well despite burning damp wood and being rained upon. Cooking on an open fire in these conditions would have been nigh-on impossible, so the rocket stove really showed its worth. It burned almost constantly throughout the four days, and used amazingly little wood.

We were lucky enough to be joined by another Pedaller - Harry Woolner, who did a sterling job working along side us. We were also joined by many other colourful friends throughout the days, who gave us great encouragement, support and music.

Cycling into the Sunrise

Day 1 Mileage 40

We left South Wales in high spirits, despite the threat of rain (which came) a beautiful but tough start throughhilly Monmouthshire. We were off to Sunrise Celebration, where we will be showcasing our kitchens technology and running workshops.


Passing Tintern Abbey





 We arrived at our nights destination after 7 hours cycling, not bad concidering the trailer weighs about 65kg's! Looking like drowned rats on arrival, we dried by the fire and refuled,we were warmly hosted by my Aunty and Uncle. The next day the weather was looking a little better, we set of knowing we had a long day, at least 60 miles to go.

Day 2 60 Miles


Puncture repair

 Unfortunatly around the avonmouth area we took the cycle toute through little paths linking industrial estates, where lots of strimming had been freshly...we walked out bikes but couldn't keep the weight of the trailer from the ground so unfortunatly we got a puncture.


You can't actually read it, but on the somerest motorway behind the sign read 'WARNING, delays on the M25'
Not on national cycle route 26!





12 hours later, we arrived at our resting place!

2 of the most physically challenging days of our lives, but we were still in one piece and ready to get going to Sunrise. Hope to see soon of you there! 

We have a tent!

Our remade awning

After months of working on the project, things are really taking shape. We have been cooking up some dinners for the family in the garden these last weeks. We were pleased to successfully erect our 'remade' awning just a few days ago. 

Garden cookery

After Aprils rain, realising we might just need a rain cover, we rummaged around and were lucky enough to find an old, colourful, A-frame tent, which had belonged to the village playing field association in Pete's village. Having just invested in new tents, this was surplus to requirements - lucky us!

We wanted to lose some of it's weight, but retain enough shelter to protect us in poor weather (but probably not a big storm...)  There were grand plans of having this as our main tent, and being able to pack it down for night...but in the end, these were a little ambitious and we settled for the design shown above, by removing the front entirely, reducing the sides to triangles and using longer poles to give us some head room.

This weekend we went for some music and city fun in Bristol...taking in 'Vegfest' a free food and music event down by the harbour. We made a lucky observation, the stalls had their names up high - to be seen over the crowd, so i'm now sewing us a banner to go along the top! 

Pedalling to Pick up Sticks

Trip Mileage: 119miles.

Through wind and rain, and thankfully some sun, the Pedallers made it up to our first event of the season 'Pick up Sticks'. A wondrous gathering of friendly, hard-working individuals coming together to live, learn, cook, eat, play and be together at the newly re-established Earthworm Housing Co-Op, Leintwardine, Herefordshire.

http://pickupsticks2012.wordpress.com/  

For us it was an opportunity to test the road worthiness of the trailer, the stamina of our legs and to start share our project with people in REAL life (i.e. not through this blog..) We can now safely say that the trailer is road worthy, and kept everything (almost) dry despite a full day cycling through the rain. Our mental strength was tested somewhat on that wet second day on discovering we had taken the wrong road out of Hereford, adding over 10 miles to the journey, but we managed to keep up our spirits, singing through the rain till we reached our destination. Although it was hard going, we now know it is totally possibly to travel by bike and still arrive with the kitchen sink!

We'd like to say thank you to our Hereford hosts, whose hospitality enabled us to make the journey.

We couldn't have picked a better first trip, to share a weekend with people, some unknown at first, and some old friends, where the focus is on balance between more than one element; of fun, and work and play. So often our lives are divided, different parts serving different roles. work = money, party = fun.
The focus of the weekend was to share work on the grounds of the house, knowledge and skills whilst living, playing and eating communally.  Pedallers Kitchen contributed to the communal cooking, firing up a rocket stove oven which hadn't been used in a while to make Cake and sour-dough bread, giving us a crash course in full time rocket stove cooking. The outdoor kitchen at earthworm boasts the MOTHER of all rocket stoves...which did the majority of the cooking for the weekend.

Rocket StoveTASTic!

 We look forward to Pick up Sticks take 2!

The Christening

We have just returned from taking the loaded trailer, with all the kitchen bits, on its first outing on the road. No problems... fortunately, because we set off to our first proper event tommorow - Pick Up Sticks. A 60 mile cycle. Here's some photos from todays little jaunt.

Swapping the trailer between bikes (and our new logo)

Curvaceous frontage

The trailer is only reflectors, lights and roof away from being fully roadworthy. Check out the new streamlined front!

Hitch installed (without a hitch)

Despite the title pun, this has been one of the trickier parts of the build. There are a lot of different requirements that make up the ideal hitch, and attempting to accomplish all of these in a DIY hitch is a difficult task. We needed our bike trailer hitch to:

• Have movement in every plane (including twisting)
• Be easily detachable
• Be interchangable between different bikes
• Be very strong
• Be able to withstand pushing from behind (when breaking with a heavy load)
• Not interfere with the rear rack or panniers
• Not attach to the axle (we both have quick release skewers that couldn't handle the load)
• Not place too much strain on any one part of the bike frame

So no easy task...
The making of the hitch is one thing that no one agrees on. Every one seems to be different, even with off the shelf trailers. With homemade trailers (and also some bought ones), many opt for flexible couplings such as pneumatic hose or a heavy duty spring as this allows the required movement in all planes. However, I'm not really keen on the flexibility, especially if the trailer is pushing from behind.

I have trawled through the internet looking at every design I could find, but none really seemed perfect for the job... but fortunately I have a mechanical engineer for a father. I planted the seed of the problem in his mind and sure enough he managed to produce two amazing options for the pivot. One was a ball and socket, turned on the lathe, and a beautiful piece of work, but the angle of rotation turned out to be not quite enough.

However, his second creation is not only beautiful but functions perfectly. It is based around a door hinge, but with lathe turned and milled parts, and with a rotating nylon sleeve on the shaft to allow for the twist. This took care of the movement, but I still had to sort out the attachment...

So I have spent the last couple of days staring at the bikes, and playing around with bits of wood and metal and trying to accomplish all the above bullet points with limited tools and materials. Today I took the plunge and started drilling, cutting, bashing and screwing and unexpectedly finished with a strong functioning hitch that seems to tick all the boxes.

The attachment is sheet aluminium with a shaped piece of wood sandwiched between

A work of art!

Foraging for Wild Aspargus

Forage walk

What better way to spend an afternoon than scouring the 'hedgerows' for wild food (if you have wandered in the Mediterranean you will know that you won't find a 'hedge' as we here in the UK know them, but I'm referring to the edges between cultivated, or in this case abandoned no longer cultivated, land.)

We recently returned briefly to the farm where we lived last year in Spain. What luck that it's peak asparagus season, our friends there have been enjoying this wild delight a lot over the last month and they took us out for a walk.

Wild Apargus

 The stems, thinner than the cultivated variety we are familiar with, weave their way up and through the stalks of older shoots of the same plant, which look a bit like little pine trees.

Preparing to cook us an asparagus tortilla

You can locate the new sprouts by looking carefully among the older feathery plants which have grown old, not spotted by a forager. It takes a while to get tuned in, and it took us a while to find any, whereas Caty, who has had plenty of practice was able to find lots.

 The flavour is stronger than their juicy cultivated cousins, bitter sweet and unique, they haven't quite got their delicate texture but they make up for this in taste and the joy of the hunt.

Spanish Tortilla with Wild Asparagus

We had plenty of fresh eggs from the chickens at the farm, so the perfect meal seemed to be a tortilla. I wanted to make a Spanish style tortilla, which uses potato's, and I added some chorizo to one of them which was a tasty, if not necessary, addition. Every Spanish family seems to have their traditional recipie.
Ingredients for 2 tortillas, to feed 8 hungry people
6-8 potatoes
10-14 eggs
As much wild asparagus as you can find
1-2 onions
Seasonings - Salt, pepper, Paprika, herbs if desired, thyme is good - but you don't want to overpower the asparagus

Nearly ready to eat

Basic Method

Thinly slice you potatoes (waxy if pos.) and fry in olive oil with a little salt.
When potatoes are cooked, remove from oil with a slotted spoon and put aside to cool. This is done so the heat from the potato's doesn't cook the eggs too quickly.  You can also use pre boiled, diced potato's (this won't be so authentic, but it will be quicker and easier).
Chop your Asparagus and onions (if you desire)
When the oil is cool, store most of it for another meal, leaving some in the pan for shallow frying.
Add onions, fry till translucent. Add asparagus.  Cook for a few minutes. If you adding chorizo, do it now, if not add paprika and any herbs you want. While veggies are cooking crack your eggs into a bowl, whisk and season - you'll want 1 to 2 eggs per person depending on meal size and hunger.

By now, potatoes should have cooled sufficiently- I put them in the freezer to speed this up a little, although I expect this isn't the best for the freezer.....
Add them and mix in with veggies then pour over the eggs, shake pan to ensure eggs fill all the gaps.
Cook on a low heat until the egg is nearly solid through.
Now the scary bit, and fun, don't worry - you need to flip it! If its cooked enough, and your pan is good it will be fine. Release edges from the side of the pan with a spatula, cover with large flat plate - and flip.
Replace pan on heat and slide the tortilla back onto the pan bottom up.
Cook for a few more minuites then it should be ready.
Serve with bread and enjoy! Or save it till later and eat cold.

Progress

Spring is springing and our project is well and truly under way. The trailer is built and the sides are going on. Nifty folding work surface is installed. Rocket stove finished and looking all sparkly, all set for cooking our first meal on it this evening (Beetroot Borscht).

Here's some pictures of the trailer building process:

Mocked up, pre-drilling

Abergavenny food festival signs happened to be the perfect size for the sides

 

We have been very fortunate in our acquisition of materials for the build. Our first stroke of luck was to find the perfect welded aluminium rectangle with cross pieces at the scrapyard, which has formed the base of the trailer. Further trips yielded more aluminium angle, and all this cost a grand total of £7! The uprights and some cross pieces came from old window frames. Thanks to my dad for hoarding more useful bits of aluminium and for the use of his tools, nuts, bolts and know-how.