Newbie saying Hello

[TheGoodEarth]

Hello,

It appears the thing to do when joining is to say hello. So Hello!

We (wife and 8 year old daughter) live near Perth in bonnie Scotland and are aiming to live as much of a sustainable life as possible. We are in the process of downsizing and trying to get planning permission to build an 'eco' house.

I am also planning to work less and spend more time at home growing food, cooking and preserving. We have a dog, cat and hamster.

[Loobyloo]

[becks77]

Hello

[MuddyWitch]

Welcome to ISH

MW

[Millymollymandy]

Hello and welcome!

[Green Aura]

Hi

[JulieSherris]

Hello!

[hedgewitch]

[shell]

welcome

[sheena]

Hello and welcome

[growingthings]

Hallo and welcome

[willowpool]

Just found this fantastic website and signed up. I am in Kendal, Cumbria and have been involved in self sufficiency type things since reading John Seymour's The Fat of the Land as a teenager about 30 years ago.

I am a willow weaver and grow a lot of willow in various locations. At the moment Kendal Town Council are trying to evict me from my allotment for growing willow. They say that it is because I use the willow for my business. The willows are actually unusual 'heritage' varieties that are not suitable for my business purposes. I grow them because I like the look of them, they have nice catkins, coloured stems etc and i burn a lot of the stems on my woodstove over the winter. Fellow allotment holders on the site like to see them growing and say that the willows provide shelter and habitat for birds that keep their pest problems in control. I actually buy in tons of willow each year for my business projects.

Anyway I have been growing willow at Canal Head Wildlife and Allotment Area in Kendal for over 10 years, after asking the council for somewhere to grow willow, and now they expect me to totally remove the stumps etc within a month if i lose an appeal that is happening next week!
If anyone wants to see what kind of work I do please visit http://www.willowpooldesigns.co.uk (i hope that its ok to post the website as i cant seem to get the edit profile page to work)
Any ideas on allotment laws etc would be gratefully received.

cheers

Steve Fuller

[sleepyowl]

hello