23rd-29th April 2001

We finally made contact with a friend of a friend in Exeter who is selling army surplus equipment, and bought up another job lot of green tarpaulins and a few other useful bits and pieces such as second hand gortex jackets. We also visited Rod and Ben, who run an organic farm near the A38, to check out the possibilities of sourcing fresh produce from them and increasing our organic food intake. We held an annual review as part of our weekly meeting. At the weekend Pete and Kat headed to Leamington Spa for a Radical Routes gathering while Ben and Merlin helped run a cycle power workshop for teenagers in Totnes.

16th-22nd April

Simon built an amazing set of steps up the hill the leads from the kitchen to people's benders, making the track a lot less treacherous in the dark and mud. We held a sweat lodge to mark the end of our first year living at Steward Wood, and to prepare for the next one. We also held our biggest party to date on the 21st, to celebrate our anniversary. An all accoustic mix of drumming, song and dancing carried us into our second year in the wood. It was great to see so many familiar faces from last year's visitors, alongside old and new friends. The heavy rain held off until about 3am, when most people went to bed, carried on inside the Longhouse or headed home. The morning saw a renewal of festivities as more music accompanied the breakfast feast. We now have a lot of bottles and cans to recycle, and our curious trend of ending up with more bottles of alchohol after each party continues. We stumbled through the sunday, clearing up and enjoying the sunshine, and popped a randomly donated bottle of champagne in the evening as we settled into our second year.

9th-15th April

The Spring newsletter is finally finished and sent off to the printers. Its focus on food and farming has been made even more relevant by the proposals to build a new supermarket in nearby Bovey Tracey. We'll be mailing it out soon. Get in touch with us to add yourself to our mailing list, or download the PDF version available on our website. Work continued on sowing seeds in trays for the garden and growing area, and some of the seedlings are starting to show their green heads already. We met up with our solicitor for the planning appeal, and instructed him to lodge our appeal with the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol. We are appealing against the DNPA's decision not to grant a change of use for us to have permission to live here.

2nd-8th April

Some members of the famous and sparkly Rinky Dink cycle sound system paid us a visit to swap ideas and visions about land based communities. Some friends from Oxford paid us a visit on their way back from seeing the Eden project in Cornwall, and stayed for our full moon party on the Saturday night. The moon inspired a night of creativity, poems and music in the Longhouse. We hope to make full moon parties a regular event.

26th March-1st April

On the thursday night we tested out a pedal powered, cycle transported cinema system with a few friends in Moretonhampstead. We cycled the mile into town and watched The Magic Roundabout (for the kids, honest), Undercurrents (an alternative news video) and finished off with toffee popcorn and Blade Runner (the directors cut, of course). The cycle generator was a bit too noisy in the confined space, but the equipment all worked, and we hope to repeat it soon. In the growing area we set out some more raised beds and planted some garlic cloves. The compost heap finally got turned as well, and we mulched out the ripe compost from last year. We also travelled to Totnes for a Fest Noz - an evening of Breton and French traditional dance hosted by musicians from the Dongas Tribe.

19th-25th March

A busy week around the Spring Equinox - we had a celebration on the 20th which involved lots of homemade sweet delights. And spring really did arrive on the 21st, it was a lot warmer and even sunny once or twice. We were visited by a contingent of people from Stepping Stones (a housing co-op near Monmouth in the Welsh borders). Some of them are considering setting up a land based community, and came seeking inspiration and information. We shared with them our first evening outside arround our new firepit. It was great to be properly outside again, winter really is nearly over. On Saturday we were visited by some of our Moretonhampstead friends, who were eager to see the new kitchen garden in the light, having glimpsed in the dark at the Equinox party. We started work on a kids play area putting up a swing near the kitchen. We are gearing up for our planning appeal now, we have been in the process of instructing our solicitor and have fundraised about half of the money we need, so things will be set in motion for a legal climax later in the year.

12th - 18th March

A very wet week and a cold one at that. This week we started planting our seed trays for the summer growing season, calendula, sunflowers and carrots later followed by lupins, runner beans, tomatoes and many more. The herb spiral is slowly filling up as herbs begin to grow. Work has now begun on our spring newsletter which will be out soon, this season's theme is 'food'. Ben and Pete attended a conference called 'on fertile ground'- a space for campaigners and farmers to come together and explore their common ground. Discussions included the current crises in farming, farm gate prices, subsidies, supermarkets, globalisation, food miles, farmers markets, and community support agriculture. Another national meeting will take place later in the year and then regional meetings are planned, including one in the South West. We had a few visitors as a result of our stall at last week's "Low Impact Housing" event and made some new friends. Good news and bad news on the planning front - £1000 has been pledged towards the legal costs of our appeal process - however we need another £3000 and the DNPA are ready to issue an Enforcement Note (it's only the restriction of staff movements due to the Foot&Mouth crises that is preventing them from serving it).

4th - 11th March

It was a wet but warm week and the primroses have started to flower. Some cable from the recycling centre enabled us to move the the hydro to a new location and get it working again. We got a couple of really long benches that reminded us of being at school. Ben improved the plumbing in the kitchen, and although the ill-fitting recycled pipe-work proved to be a pain, it doesn't seem to leak anymore (well not much). Pete grew green fingers and spent most of the week playing in the garden. Richard from Bumble Bee came to visit so Dan and Kat kept him busy with coppicing. Clare hitched to London to visit her parents. Merlin and Beccy went to Essex to see friends. Ben and Pete did a stall at a local event called 'Low impact settlements in Britain' which over a hundred people attended. They took the recumbent cycle generator and provided a slide show of photos from our website. We received letters from the Environment agency saying that we could not go ahead with our planned community composting scheme because we don't have planning permission.

26th February - 3rd March

Clare's bender joined the jet set, with new windows now providing an amazing view across the valley. Ben bodged some plumbing to the Rayburn to provide hot water on tap (but it leaked a lot). Work continued on our coppice area, the ash log stacks are growing apace in the early spring sunshine - it's a good way of keeping warm. Dan went along to help run the Moreton Woodcraft Folk on Wednesday, and had great fun playing murder in the dark in the Parish Hall. We started work on an out-door firepit, so we can eat and cook outside if the weather is good. We christened it with a refried baked potato and chilli feast. The hydro is no longer producing power as the stream has dried up a lot over the last few weeks - it will be back to pedal power for a while now. We were visited over the weekend by some Brazilian environmentalists who are studying in London, and they plan to come back every month and keep in contact. The weather has been cold again this week and on saturday we woke up to snow yet again.

b19th - 25th February

We made an order of seeds for our kitchen garden, which now has a small pond, terraces and a herb spiral. We found a second hand Rayburn oven, which we were lucky to find for £30. It was quite a challenge moving it up the hill to the kitchen, but we managed with the help of a small trailer, a large pulley, loads of rope and lots of imagination. Clare started work adding windows to her bender. Ben's been working on building a tandem for a future event and visited a workshop in Moreton with Merlin which we have been offered the use of. On sunday we woke up to snow but it had all melted by the time we returned to the woods after visiting Exeter car boot sale where we found plenty of exciting rusty tools and kettles. The Foot and Mouth 'crises' took hold this week so the countryside seems pretty weird at the moment.

12th - 18th February

We have been very lucky with the weather this week. It has been dry and sunny, spring really seems close now! (we hope). There are snowdrops everywhere, and the daffodils are flowering. We continued coppicing, and work was done in both the growing area and our new kitchen garden, mulching and preparing for planting seeds. After some work on the minibus by Merlin, it passed its MOT. Ben added windows to his bender. After a busy week some of us enjoyed a day out on Sunday, and went, with instruments, to a music jam followed by a meal with friends in Ottery St Mary.

5th February to 11th February

Work was done on the kitchen garden this week, with terracing, and the beginning of a herb spiral. Clare started mulching the raised beds in the growing area, and we dug up the last harvest of artichokes. Clare continued painting in the kitchen by decorating our cable drum tables. Tuesday became a playday with swimming, sauna, cinema, and chips. A couple of evening were spent stuffing envelopes for the mailout of our newsletter (finally). Pete installed a drain in the kitchen floor which has made loads of difference. Merlin and Beccy worked on getting the minibus ready for its MOT. There was a group effort to sort of the stock pile of timber and other construction material and move it all to the agricultural shed or up to the settlement area. More pipe from the recycling centre enabled Ben to improve the water supply to the kitchen, and finally build a sand and gravel filter. Kat spent lots of time during the week coppicing and on Friday Dan taught two two visitors some coppicing skills.

29th January to 4th February

Spring seemed to be teetering on the edge this week. We had some snow and some incredible sunny days too. There are snow drops in flower, blue bells emerging and primroses looking ready to brighten our lives. A new path was made, linking the kitchen and the long house via the kitchen 'garden'. Aided by fifty pounds worth of new bow-saw blades, we began coppicing the ash and sycamore above the settlement area. The kitchen became less dark and depressing with the addition of windows and Clare painted the previously grey cupboards. Devin gained immortality by revealing his new song 'Chickens with choppers', a sequel to Dan Lyons famous (in our social cycles) 'Cows with guns'. On Friday, Pete, Clare and Kat took time out of coppicing to join Ben in Totnes for a meeting to plan a cycle roadshow and afterwards dragged Ben back to the woods. There was a party in Merlin and Beccy's bender on Saturday night to celebrate Beccy's birthday. On Sunday, Ben and Merlin went to Reading for the 5th pedal power convention where they shared ideas and experiences with those interested in DIY renewable energy systems.

22nd January to 28th January

The people who went to Bradford last week returned on Tuesday after remaining there long enough for Kat to buy a cello on Monday.
On the way back they picked up Richard from Bumble Bee, a co-op that is managing a woodland in Wales. They also paid an overnight visit to Stepping Stones Housing Co-op near the Welsh borders. Dan also returned to the woods after a retreat in Wales. The weeks musical theme continued when Pete, who had going to London last Sunday, returned with an accordion. Ben vanished for the week and did some work in Totnes. Jim also left and headed East (nothing to do with the new accordion and the cello). During the week Merlin fixed the hydro system which has been playing up for a couple of weeks due to worn bearings and brushes in the motor. The repairs must have reduced the friction because we are now getting almost 11 watts.

15th January to 21st January

Some of us had gone to a yet another birthday party on Sunday and
(having spent too much time and money enjoying pasties, pies and other organic gak in the many 'health food' shops in Totnes) didn't get back to the woods until late Monday. A couple of us joined Moreton's Computer Club on Tuesday. Thursday we made new handles for some of our many broken tools. On Friday some of the group headed North for the Radical Routes winter gathering and stayed at Bradford's '1 in 12' club. At the gathering they held a workshop on land groups and got some useful ideas at a workshop on improving facilitation. While in the area they visited Cornerstone again and collected 500 copies of our newsletter freshly printed by the 'footprint' workers co-op.

8th January to 14th January

Bit of a funny week. Everybody was back onsite and it was quite tense and difficult at times. Lee left after a couple of nights because she was too cold and returned to Essex. An effort was made to get the bathhouse finished. We completed the bathhouse floor and installed the bath tubs (three of them!). The Longhouse was greatly improved when we put in some huge double glazed windows which means it doesn't get dark in there two hours before it does outside. During Saturday daytime we had lots of visitors and had a bit of a training day. Kat taught Ben how to use a climbing harness, prussik and absail. Saturday evening we had a party to celebrate loads of birthdays. We had friends from Totnes and Moreton and cycle powered tunes to the early hours - the photos have already been censored so nothing to exciting will be uploaded to the website. We ate falafel's and burnt flapjacks along with a wicked frozen chocolate and orange 'cake' bought along by friends in Moreton.

1st January 2001 to 7th January 2001

The new year saw a return of the wet weather and all the snow washed away. We put together a review of the year for the website which proved to be an interesting way of remembering what we've been doing and how much we have achieved. The review provided a starting point for an article for Low Impact News that we worked on later in the week. Ben removed our open air bath and got together the materials to build an enclosed bath house. Our first trip to the recycling center this year resulted in loads of wicker furniture for the Longhouse. We like wicker, it's light (easy to carry up the hill) and not made of plastic. Most of those on site went away over the weekend to visit Cornerstone housing co-op project in Leeds and to arrange for future issues of our newsletter and info sheets to be printed by their workers co-op 'Footprint'. This left just Dan on site to greet Tess, who traveled from London to visit for a week after hearing about the project on the Internet. Fortunately Jim returned from his extended holiday in Brighton.

25th December to 31st December

The sky blessed us with a white woodland for Christmas and we spent a lot of time with our digital camera taking pictures of the snowy scenery. People from Moreton came to visit and gave us a beautiful plate made by Penny a local potter. Dan held a fancy dress bender warming party now that his stuff is all moved in. We finally put some glass windows into the longhouse, which makes a big difference to the interior lighting - we had been using double layered translucent plastic windows until now, which don't let in as much light. Kat has got a new burner for her bender, which keeps her a lot warmer now, up in the exposed highlands of the north as she is. We picked up an old milk churn at the Newton Abbot recycling centre which was quickly and easily transformed into a new burner ('how to' guide to follow shortly), Merlin (in Essex) has been working on a bigger better brighter bolder new search engine for the website, which will search other websites around the world as well as our own.

18th December to 24th December

The weather was very mild this week and there was no rain to speak of until the Sunday when the Dartmoor drizzle returned. Pete added a porch to the long house. All of us went to Totnes for a fund raising Solstice party for the local genetics group and Kat won a prize in the raffle. On short notice we arranged our own party to celebrate the solstice and the anniversary of buying the woodland. Some of our new friends in Moreton and the surrounding area came. There were loads of musicians amongst the crowd and we played acoustic music around a camp fire. Several of us got up early to watch the sun rise. Merlin and Beccy headed off to Essex with Lee for a family Xmas (Devins gone to Spain). Jim headed off to join Clare in Brighton and so by the end of the week there was just a handful of us. Dan took the van to collect his stuff from storage and started to make his dwelling into his home.

11th December to 17th December

Winter has really kicked in this week with some sub zero temperatures, we've had some rain but nothing like previous weeks. Pete's new friend from Germany left and Kat and Beccy returned. We had the company of a guy called Rob from Dublin for a few days and had several visitors at the weekend. Mid week we headed for the hills, taking advantage of the beautiful clear sunny day to visit Hingston Rocks. The rocks are a short walk from the woodland and provides great views towards the moors and of Moretonhampstead. Ben has a cold so he finally got around to stocking up on fire wood and wired power to his dwelling before retreating to the comfort of his bed to knock out some web pages. A lot of time was spent helping Dan finish his dwelling. It is now completed and he has moved in so hopefully we should be having a party soon.

4th December to 10th December

Early in the week we were visited by a representative of the Strategic Environmental Planning Division of the Japanese Ministry of Environment. She is studying sustainable communities and hearing about the other communities she has visited was interesting and inspiring. We had a power cut when our hydro turbine seized up. After oiling the bearings, clearing the turbine and the filter, we were pleased to find the output higher than ever. By mid week all the girls where away visiting friends and family. There was a bit of a party in Petes bender - apparently to celebrate the installation of a new window! The new tool shed / workshop was finished - just in time as the old one blew over again in the strong winds. Dan finished the platform for his dwelling and is now ready to put on the floor. Merlin provided a search engine for the web-site plus a dedicated searchable photo database! Ben installed a phone in the kitchen and started work on installing electric lighting. Our all male status ended on Sunday when a girl Pete had met at the Hague came to visit.

27th November to 3rd December

Slightly less rain this week, or so it seemed. We had a meeting with representatives of the Small Woods Association and the Silvanus Trust to talk about running a course at the woods. This is now arranged for early next summer, details available soon. On Thursday, with a group from the Moretonhampstead Play Group, we collected leaves from holly, ivy, spruce, and laurel, which the kids made into an advent spiral for an event at the weekend. With the poor weather, a lot of time during the last few weeks has been spent on updating the web-site and working on our latest newsletter. This issue's theme is climate change (inspired by the recent storms and floods) and it is available online, by email, and even on paper. It was finished just in time to be taken to London by a group of us attending a conference on genetic engineering. We managed to get the newsletter printed in between workshops on genetically modified trees, patents on life and eugenics.

20th November to 26th November

We had loads of visitors pop up or stay over night this week - surprising considering the weather. There was little improvement in the weather so Ben continued taking advantage of the constant electricity and produced the first draft of the second issue of our newsletter which should be available very soon. Ben and Merlin began work on a major overhaul of the website after a brief design meeting - we would be interested to hear any comments regarding the changes. Others helped Dan who has started work on the platform for his new bender. During the week most of us attended a talk and slide show about low impact dwellings and planning issues. On Saturday evening we had very strong winds. By morning the canvas from our bike shed had been blown off. We have yet to find any trees blown over as a result of the winds which is lucky because we are still clearing fallen trees from the paths after the previous storms.

13th November to 19th November

Early in the week a few 'finishing touches' were made to the storage cabinets in the kitchen. We tried two different streams and several turbine locations before we were finally happy with the performance of our new 100% recycled DIY hydro electric system. A byproduct of our messing around with every available piece of pipe was the installation of a water tank for the kitchen water supply which should aid the construction of a sand and gravel water filter. The availability of constant electricity and the seemingly constant rain has given us reason to stay inside and do some well overdue office and web-site work. We enjoyed the company of a couple of visitors here for a long weekend and passed on some of our experiences regarding cycle generators. Despite the rain we did some coppicing with our guests and also found time to clear an area for our new workshop/toolshed.

6th November to 12th November

The oven continues to provide loads of roast meals, and we baked our first bread. After many design meetings we created; a huge work surface, shelves, a more level floor, and an improved seating area in the kitchen. We tried to avoid talking about the appeal but somehow still found ourselves talking about the various options. Ben and Merlin persuaded everyone that we should put off working on the second issue of our newsletter and updating the website until they build the hydro power system they are always going on about. We finally got the van windscreen repaired and so visited Newton Abbott recycling center where we bought an old electric pump. The pump was then used in reverse as a turbine and by Sunday it produced our first hydro power - all of about 3 watts!.

30th to 5th November

The stormy start to the week meant we spent sometime repairing damaged structures - mostly leaks, the majority held up surprisingly well. About a dozen trees came down in the high winds. Despite the weather we began work rebuilding our kitchen. The open fire was replaced with an oven and we've enjoying cakes, pasties and roast vegetables virtually every day since. The longhouse received a new internal structure adding a second skin of canvas thus making it less draughty and easier to heat. The library was moved and rebuilt with additional shelves and more space created for the office. Friday saw us at the DNPA office for the decision on our planning application. We were refused permission but will appeal. We are looking forward to the opportunity to demonstrate how existing planning policy stands in the way of sustainable development. On Sunday night we battened down the hatches for another stormy night but the winds never came.

23rd to 29th October

This week sees the start our planned winter renovations, the long-house and kitchen need to be redesigned for winter and we need a covered workshop. It is time to insulate and draughtproof to make the cold months more comfatable. Ben also starts work on making an oven for the new improved kitchen from an old reclaimed oil drum. We also found time to build a sauna. There is another bender warming party - Beccy and Merlins bender has a new shape, insulation and windows and is lovely. The paths near the waterfall in the glade are reinforced just in time for the incredible storms on Sunday night.

16th to 22nd October

The leaves have really started to fall this week and the almost constant rain has bought our streams and waterfalls back. We have continued the surveying of the water courses that we began in April when we moved on. Ben built a hand cart on Sunday which should make moving firewood around a little easier and it will be especially useful for bringing food up the hill. Pete showed off his new basket weaving skills but was thwarted by our current lack of suitable willow. We have drawn up designs for an enclosed bath house and hope to build it next week. Our existing open air bath tub is becoming less appealing with the change of season. The insulating of our benders has continued with charity shops in all directions being scoured for old blankets. Some of the group attended a gathering of co-ops in Brighton at the weekend. Work began on the winter issue of the newsletter and the autumn issue was placed on the website.

9th To 15th October

This week we finally finish mailing out our autumn newsletter to our growing mailing list of supporters. With all the rain and the colder weather we are spurred on to start planning our kitchen and longhouse winter renovations. Katrina and Clare's individual spaces are completed between the downpours and Clare gave a little 'house' warming party. Ben started to revamp his own space in order to make it more suitable for winter. Our van windscreen gets cracked moving timber about, so we are immobile until it is fixed - fortunately we only use the vehicle about once a week. We have been collecting wild mushrooms to supplement our diet this week - puff ball fried in olive oil and garlic... yummy! Pete attended the South West Permaculture Convergence in Bristol and made lots of good contacts. He also learnt how to make willow baskets and will be passing the skill onto the rest of us.

2nd to Sun 8th October

The big event of the week is the site visit by the Dartmoor National Park Authority's Planning Committee. This visit is to gather information to help them decide on our application, which is up for discussion in November. Usually they only send a small delegation for such visits, but nearly twenty people come for the tour around the woods. Their tight schedule meant a very short visit and they were unable to see the whole site, but the day seemed to pass smoothly. We celebrated with a big harvest from the growing area and had a meal of our own produce, including; onions, spinach, beans, Jerusalem artichokes, turnip and parsnips. Now that the woodland management season is nearly upon us we have started collecting seeds from our native trees and shrubs for sowing and for creating a tree nursery next spring. Several of us also go to see the excellent MED Theatre production of 'Whale' in the Parish Hall.

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