Tim The Gardener

This beast belongs to Tim The Gardener, a local business. Very local - he lives just round the corner from me. We like encouraging local businesses. Web address above, phone number: 07827 746344

Cows and salad

I am re-evaluating my relationship with cows. Don't get me wrong. They are very friendly creatures. As long as I'm not in the same field as they are. We moo happily to each other as I go out for country walks. One of the nice things about living here is that it's a two minute walk to get to the “country”, or at least a field with a cow in it.

It's more about eating cows. I like beef, no question. There are one or two beef recipes on this blog. And there's nothing nicer than a proper Cornish pasty with the beef and veg sealed raw in the pastry and slow cooked to perfection. I have known for a long time that the environmental cost of a cow is proportionately more than the cost of the same amount of meat from a pig or a chicken, but I have reconciled myself to that by thinking of all the other savings I make.

But a new report shows just how big the difference is. “Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States” measures the relative burdens of beef cattle, dairy, poultry, pork and eggs. (There is a potted version here.)  Dairy, poultry, pork and eggs all have roughly similar impacts. Beef takes 28 times as much land, 11 times as much water, produces 5 times as much greenhouse gas, and 6 times as much reactive nitrogen as each of those other forms. That is a heck of an impact. For me that means less beef is going to be an important future choice. (I assume that the differential between beef and dairy cows is not that dairy cows consume less, but that you get a lot more milk from the lifetime of a dairy cow than you get beef from the lifetime of a beef cow. But I haven't studied the research report in enough detail to get any more information about that.)

At the same time, we hear that the fabled Mediterranean diet is good for the brain. Research confirms Mediterranean diet is good for the mind: “The first systematic review of related research confirms a positive impact on cognitive function, but an inconsistent effect on mild cognitive impairment.” This is not a single piece of research but a research review, so the conclusion is quite robust. So I guess it's less beef, more olive oil and veg. One of the interesting things about the Mediterranean diet is that they seem to be unable to separate out whether any parts of it are more effective than other parts. It may be that the combinations of different foods matter. So, oil and salad, here I come. I'm not sure I could take all that fish though.

Waterstones

Lewes now has a Waterstones.

It's massive.

And it has cake and coffee as well as books.

Potato Lane

This small part of Potato Lane is now a lot cleaner than it was a few days ago. This is the stretch between Peter's Field and the footpath off to the right (between a third and half a mile). The ditches were recently cleared, and a concerned citizen has just been along and removed the visible litter.

We wish Low Carbon Ringmer could claim credit, but we can't. This was done by an individual on their own initiative. This is the sackful they cleared from less than half a mile of ditch. It looks less than it is, and it's really heavy.

I wanted to open the sack out a bit more to give a better impression of what is inside it, but it's too disgusting, so I'll leave it to your imaginations.

It's full of bottles and cans, plastic bags, empty food receptacles and a lot of other stuff. Most of it was recyclable. None of it needed to be left there in the first place.

If you take it there, take it home.

Our citizen cleared the left hand side going away from Ringmer and half the right hand side, and is now exhausted. If anyone else is up for it, the rest of the right hand side could do with tidying. But if you do take up the challenge, make sure to take stout gloves and a big sack.

Vrac tea shop and bar

Vrac has been open in Lewes for a few months but I have only just found it. Their teas are carefully chosen and ethically sourced. It is nicely situated on Lansdowne Place. Their teas (which you can also buy online) are clearly very important to them. To my mind cake is just as important, and I can vouch for the fact that their cannelés, cakes to me and you, are delicious, and the portions small enough for the calories to be wilfully discounted. There is no picture of the cake; I ate it before I could photograph it.

You can find Vrac on Twitter and on Facebook.

Turners farm shop

Turners farm shop has a new man in charge, Andy Dean. Check out the shop at Highfield Farm on the Halland Road. They're open 9 - 1 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

And some lovely meat.

And some other stuff.

We have tested the beer on your behalf. It is excellent.

The Toning Lounge

Low Carbon Ringmer welcomes The Toning Lounge to Ringmer. It is in the precinct where Middleton's used to be.

Here are Tracy, the manager (on the right), and Clare, trying out the machines.

Your intrepid reporter has not yet tried the machines. His excuse was that The Toning Lounge is currently only available for women. But Tracy is keeping a list of interested men and is considering opening mixed or men only sessions if there is a market. So if you're a man, particularly with any kind of physical issue like MS, arthritis, stroke etc - let her know.

Access is via a membership scheme, but everyone can have a free taster session. See their website for contact details. At the moment (7th Jan) the phone is not working, because of BT - nuff said. So drop in there, or email them. 

As I understand it, toning is very gentle exercise, done for you by the machines. You can, if you wish, gradually increase the resistance, and hence the amount of work you do. it is said to be very helpful for people with various muscular and other issues. Definitely worth a try; I feel quite deprived.