It’s hard to believe, but I have been a published author for a year now. This time last year, The Alternative Kitchen Garden: An A to Z was hot off the press and we were preparing to take a car load down to the Big Green Gathering for a week-long signing fest. Alas, it was not to be. The Gathering was cancelled at the last minute, and so I put together an online version instead.

Due to last year’s problems, the BGG isn’t running this year either – so it’s time again for the Big Green Blog Gathering. All next week, over on my lean green, blogging machine, I will be hosting days of fun and frolics in the virtual sunshine.

There’s plenty of room if you want come along, and if you want to join in and give a talk in the virtual yurt, or help with the weeding in the permaculture garden then give me a shout. It’s so hip, it even has a Twitter tag. But no Facebook group. Not yet.

As you know, Pete and I have decided that we would like to move. In fact, we’ve decided that a move is the only thing that will save our sanity. We’ve had various discussions about how and when this might take place, and have considered selling up and renting, building our own home and buying a (very) smallholding somewhere out west. The idea is that I will have the peace and quiet I crave and we will have enough room to swing a cat.

All of that seems impossibly far away and for several weeks I have been harbouring a substantially different dream – downsizing and living in a pair of LandARKS. A LandARK is a very funky, off-grid eco house which is built from a kit. I thought we could have two – one for a home and one for an office. With solar water heating and space heating from a wood burning stove we could be warm and cosy and energy efficient (although we’d need a grid connection for the office, at least. And the internets. We must have the internets).

Pete has never really shared this dream. It’s not about the downsizing – he’s as keen to get rid of the clutter as I have and has been enthusiastically ridding us of our possessions, one way or another. He was bothered by the fact that there are no photos of LandARKS – only artist’s impressions. He didn’t think they existed (although the smaller version, the GardenARK, was taken to various trade shows last year).

I have, reluctantly, come around to his way of thinking. I have emailed RuralZed to ask for further details, and received no reply. I have emailed Tensen Buildings (they do the woodwork, as far as I can see) and received no reply. Pete has rung both companies and left multiple messages on their answerphones – and received no reply.

And so it seems a need a new dream. Bummer.

The worst (best/heaviest, delete as appropriate) snowfall in years means we will not be venturing far from home for the next few days. I went to take some garden photos this morning, but my camera battery was flat and I will have to wait for it to charge.

Pete and I were watching Iron Man yesterday evening when it really started to snow, and decided to wrap up well and go out for a walk because the snow and the streetlights combined to make it eerily light.

We ended up finding a patch of grass down the road and attempting to build a giant snowman. The base was relatively easy:

We made a second body section, which was also pretty large, and it took us a long time to work out how to hoist it up on the base because it was very heavy and the sides kept collapsing under the weight (as did I!).

By the time we ran out of energy we had something more akin to a snow cupcake than a snowman, but it was pretty impressive :D

Lots of FarmVille players have issues with the way that the Fuel system works – you need Fuel to power the farm vehicles that make working your farm so much quicker and cut down on all the clicking you need to do every day. But everytime you use your vehicles, the Fuel level in your tank drops. It creeps up slowly over the day, but will max out the current unit of fuel and then stop. So everytime you use up a whole unit of fuel, you can’t get it back without buying more with your FarmVille cash, or finding some when you open a mystery egg.

The FV podcast is always promising changes to the Fuel system, but it doesn’t matter for the next few days because the Free Fuel Week event has started. Every day for the next five days you get a free tank of fuel when you first login to the game”

And there are two ways to share extra Fuel with your Neighbors. The first is to click on the fuel can icon in the top right hand corner of the game screen. (If you can’t see a Fuel can icon then you may need to click on the other icons that are there to read those messages first, then the Fuel can should appear.)

That will give you a chance to share Fuel with your Neighbours. The free fuel messages appear in your News Feed, so keep an eye out for them and see if you can collect free fuel from your Neighbors:

The news from the forum is that offering free fuel to your Neighbors only works once a day – so there’s no point clicking on the fuel can icon multiple times and spamming their News feeds. The extra notices will be duds. And each Neighbor is offered 1/5 unit of fuel, and it looks like only 5 Neighbors can collect, so you have to be quick if you want to collect fuel this way.

But there is a second way to share fuel with your Neighbors – 1/5 can of Fuel is now a giftable item. Send Fuel to your Neighbors when you send out your free gifts and request Fuel back if you need it. Those 1/5 cans soon add up, and you don’t have to be quick off the mark to get them. And don’t forget that we’re into the final couple of days for Holiday Presents, so make the most of them while you can!

We’re still in the run-up to Halloween, and the limited edition spooky decorations keep comin in FarmVille. For coins you can now buy Jack-O-Lanterns and Cat-O-Lanterns, Plant Monsters (what do they eat?), tombstones and a dreadful fence. If you’ve got FarmVille cash to spare then you can splash out on giant spiderwebs and gargoyle gates.

New this morning are the Mystery Boxes – spend 15 of your FarmVille bucks on them and open them to get a mystery prize. It could be a cool new decoration for your farm or up to 200 XP, but how good they’re going to be remains to be seen. I’ve seen people getting bicycles and tree swings so far.

People are getting into the swing of crop mastery now, but as there’s no way to rush it, getting those bonuses takes time! And although the ‘Shutterbug’ ribbon has been MIA for a few weeks, we now know what’s replacing it – the Crop Whisperer ribbon. As you help out on your friend’s farms you’ll be given sacks of fertilizer with which to fertilize their crops and gain points towards your new ribbon. Fertilized crops sparkle and give XP when they’re harvested, but so far the fertilizer has been given a limited roll out and most people are still waiting for their chance to start working towards the ribbon.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Every time I see webinar in print, it makes me want to break people in half with a rusty spade. This isn’t the only example of bastardized English that narks people, as a recent challenge on Twitter showed. Revel in the filthiness of these examples (in received order, not order of yuck-iness):

• geekerati and web 2.0 via @ewanspence
• chillax via @garrettc
• staycation via @helenroper and @mruku
• mindshare via @duckiemonster

Have updates and want to add a word/phrase? Bash me out a message on Twitter (@petecooper) or leave a comment.

Pete and I may have found a solution to the holiday conundrum – the one where everyone says we have to have holidays, but we hate them with a passion. Seriously.

The latest plan is that, instead of swanning off to somewhere exotic and looking at old things, we will stay in good old Blighty and learn something. By doing.

Top of the list so far are courses run at the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire, which range from a day to a week or more. There is a hostel, and a camp site*, and the people there are lovely. Courses include camp craft, soap making, willow weaving and everything up to the full two week permaculture design course.

Another site I found this morning that looks good is Schumacher College in Devon. There courses appear to be a bit longer, with the shortest being 4 days, and include helping out with the gardening/ food preparation as well as attending the talks and lectures. I quite fancy this one on building an earthship.

I also fancy spending a day making my own shoes, and seeing Martin Crawford’s forest garden.

We’re still at the planning stage, so other suggestions will be considered!

*There is still the issue of the Jinxed Tent, but we’re working on it.

It’s hard to believe, but I have been a published author for a year now. This time last year, The Alternative Kitchen Garden: An A to Z was hot off the press and we were preparing to take a car load down to the Big Green Gathering for a week-long signing fest. Alas, it was not to be. The Gathering was cancelled at the last minute, and so I put together an online version instead.

Due to last year’s problems, the BGG isn’t running this year either – so it’s time again for the Big Green Blog Gathering. All next week, over on my lean green, blogging machine, I will be hosting days of fun and frolics in the virtual sunshine.

There’s plenty of room if you want come along, and if you want to join in and give a talk in the virtual yurt, or help with the weeding in the permaculture garden then give me a shout. It’s so hip, it even has a Twitter tag. But no Facebook group. Not yet.

As you know, Pete and I have decided that we would like to move. In fact, we’ve decided that a move is the only thing that will save our sanity. We’ve had various discussions about how and when this might take place, and have considered selling up and renting, building our own home and buying a (very) smallholding somewhere out west. The idea is that I will have the peace and quiet I crave and we will have enough room to swing a cat.

All of that seems impossibly far away and for several weeks I have been harbouring a substantially different dream – downsizing and living in a pair of LandARKS. A LandARK is a very funky, off-grid eco house which is built from a kit. I thought we could have two – one for a home and one for an office. With solar water heating and space heating from a wood burning stove we could be warm and cosy and energy efficient (although we’d need a grid connection for the office, at least. And the internets. We must have the internets).

Pete has never really shared this dream. It’s not about the downsizing – he’s as keen to get rid of the clutter as I have and has been enthusiastically ridding us of our possessions, one way or another. He was bothered by the fact that there are no photos of LandARKS – only artist’s impressions. He didn’t think they existed (although the smaller version, the GardenARK, was taken to various trade shows last year).

I have, reluctantly, come around to his way of thinking. I have emailed RuralZed to ask for further details, and received no reply. I have emailed Tensen Buildings (they do the woodwork, as far as I can see) and received no reply. Pete has rung both companies and left multiple messages on their answerphones – and received no reply.

And so it seems a need a new dream. Bummer.

The worst (best/heaviest, delete as appropriate) snowfall in years means we will not be venturing far from home for the next few days. I went to take some garden photos this morning, but my camera battery was flat and I will have to wait for it to charge.

Pete and I were watching Iron Man yesterday evening when it really started to snow, and decided to wrap up well and go out for a walk because the snow and the streetlights combined to make it eerily light.

We ended up finding a patch of grass down the road and attempting to build a giant snowman. The base was relatively easy:

We made a second body section, which was also pretty large, and it took us a long time to work out how to hoist it up on the base because it was very heavy and the sides kept collapsing under the weight (as did I!).

By the time we ran out of energy we had something more akin to a snow cupcake than a snowman, but it was pretty impressive :D

Lots of FarmVille players have issues with the way that the Fuel system works – you need Fuel to power the farm vehicles that make working your farm so much quicker and cut down on all the clicking you need to do every day. But everytime you use your vehicles, the Fuel level in your tank drops. It creeps up slowly over the day, but will max out the current unit of fuel and then stop. So everytime you use up a whole unit of fuel, you can’t get it back without buying more with your FarmVille cash, or finding some when you open a mystery egg.

The FV podcast is always promising changes to the Fuel system, but it doesn’t matter for the next few days because the Free Fuel Week event has started. Every day for the next five days you get a free tank of fuel when you first login to the game”

And there are two ways to share extra Fuel with your Neighbors. The first is to click on the fuel can icon in the top right hand corner of the game screen. (If you can’t see a Fuel can icon then you may need to click on the other icons that are there to read those messages first, then the Fuel can should appear.)

That will give you a chance to share Fuel with your Neighbours. The free fuel messages appear in your News Feed, so keep an eye out for them and see if you can collect free fuel from your Neighbors:

The news from the forum is that offering free fuel to your Neighbors only works once a day – so there’s no point clicking on the fuel can icon multiple times and spamming their News feeds. The extra notices will be duds. And each Neighbor is offered 1/5 unit of fuel, and it looks like only 5 Neighbors can collect, so you have to be quick if you want to collect fuel this way.

But there is a second way to share fuel with your Neighbors – 1/5 can of Fuel is now a giftable item. Send Fuel to your Neighbors when you send out your free gifts and request Fuel back if you need it. Those 1/5 cans soon add up, and you don’t have to be quick off the mark to get them. And don’t forget that we’re into the final couple of days for Holiday Presents, so make the most of them while you can!

We’re still in the run-up to Halloween, and the limited edition spooky decorations keep comin in FarmVille. For coins you can now buy Jack-O-Lanterns and Cat-O-Lanterns, Plant Monsters (what do they eat?), tombstones and a dreadful fence. If you’ve got FarmVille cash to spare then you can splash out on giant spiderwebs and gargoyle gates.

New this morning are the Mystery Boxes – spend 15 of your FarmVille bucks on them and open them to get a mystery prize. It could be a cool new decoration for your farm or up to 200 XP, but how good they’re going to be remains to be seen. I’ve seen people getting bicycles and tree swings so far.

People are getting into the swing of crop mastery now, but as there’s no way to rush it, getting those bonuses takes time! And although the ‘Shutterbug’ ribbon has been MIA for a few weeks, we now know what’s replacing it – the Crop Whisperer ribbon. As you help out on your friend’s farms you’ll be given sacks of fertilizer with which to fertilize their crops and gain points towards your new ribbon. Fertilized crops sparkle and give XP when they’re harvested, but so far the fertilizer has been given a limited roll out and most people are still waiting for their chance to start working towards the ribbon.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Download the mp3 or click the play button to listen:

Or, listen to this show episode at Mevio.

Every time I see webinar in print, it makes me want to break people in half with a rusty spade. This isn’t the only example of bastardized English that narks people, as a recent challenge on Twitter showed. Revel in the filthiness of these examples (in received order, not order of yuck-iness):

• geekerati and web 2.0 via @ewanspence
• chillax via @garrettc
• staycation via @helenroper and @mruku
• mindshare via @duckiemonster

Have updates and want to add a word/phrase? Bash me out a message on Twitter (@petecooper) or leave a comment.

Pete and I may have found a solution to the holiday conundrum – the one where everyone says we have to have holidays, but we hate them with a passion. Seriously.

The latest plan is that, instead of swanning off to somewhere exotic and looking at old things, we will stay in good old Blighty and learn something. By doing.

Top of the list so far are courses run at the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire, which range from a day to a week or more. There is a hostel, and a camp site*, and the people there are lovely. Courses include camp craft, soap making, willow weaving and everything up to the full two week permaculture design course.

Another site I found this morning that looks good is Schumacher College in Devon. There courses appear to be a bit longer, with the shortest being 4 days, and include helping out with the gardening/ food preparation as well as attending the talks and lectures. I quite fancy this one on building an earthship.

I also fancy spending a day making my own shoes, and seeing Martin Crawford’s forest garden.

We’re still at the planning stage, so other suggestions will be considered!

*There is still the issue of the Jinxed Tent, but we’re working on it.