A New Poly Tunnel and Keele's First Environmental Representative at the Bungalow!

It's been a fun month at the bungalow, so we thought we'd give another update, we've been...

.....putting together 'hot beds' to go in the poly tunnel we're building, for melons, chillies, tomatoes and various other hot house plants we're looking forward to enjoying in the summer....

....a little more digging...

...some pole positioning for the poly tunnel frame!

And a new friend George the pit bull inspects the work...

...enjoying Carl's success as Keele's new environmental representative.....

....and more publicity having our photo on the front cover of the first edition of Keele Times!!!    

So there it is a healthy bit of gardening, campaigning and media interest in the bungalow, all in all a great start to the year!!!

January Update

So, Christmas is over and we've made a great start to the year by finishing the home brew, completing a planting plan for the raised beds and acquiring a poly tunnel.  We've begun constructing the 'hot beds', hot because, that's right you guessed it-they're filled with hot manure, to keep those peppers, melons and other hot house plants full of life!!  

The Leeks surprisingly survived the winter frost!

After a few hours using our planting companion chart, we had a vegetable bed plan for the following few months!

So we thought we'd get to work on building the hot beds, giving James a chance to skilfully wield a circular saw!

And here we have the beginnings of what will, be our poly tunnel!!

More to follow.....

LiveGreen:Keele visit East Staffs Exemplar Property

If your a regular visitor to the house, you will be aware of our overuse of the word 'exemplar'. However, East Staffordshire council really have used the word wisely here. Today saw the official opening of the their brand new show house displaying almost every type of sustainable technology which can be used within the standard family home.

Entrance to the property

As Dr Robinson, Carl and I walked down the road lined with terrace housing, we realised that this really is a great example of house sustainability can be implemented into literally any area or house. On arrival, the mayor cut the appropriately green ribbon and declared the house open. 

 The project leader Peter Robinson (no relation to Dr. Zoe Robinson), a current Keele masters student and East Staffs Climate Change Officer, hosts a variety of new technologies such as insulating wallpaper, light reflective paint, solar PV and a rainwater harvesting system to name but a few.

Although this property is not being lived in currently, Carl and I were able to take away some key points on how to present a sustainable house to the public.

 

The Kitchen

We particularly liked the quotes written on the walls for example which stood out and act as a simple form of decoration. Hopefully in the coming months, our property on campus will develop into something which resembles this exemplar property, with the added bonus of recycling and energy data to match.

Congratulations to all those involved in the new exemplar property and we wish you all the best for the future.

For more information on their property, visit:

http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/services/pages/exemplarproperty.aspx

The exemplar garden- complete with a 'minibug mansion'

Author: James Adams

A few snaps of what we've been up to.....

After deciding getting to lectures in a wheel barrow was more energy efficient (and also more stylish) than on foot, Environment and Sustainability student Ben Wallbridge hopped into the wheelbarrow Luke had kindly bought from the local garden centre earlier on that morning and was mercilessly pushed/catapulted along by Carl....

While putting the wheel barrow to more useful means, we took  a few snaps of just how much fun you can have when building raised vegetable beds.....

Drilling old planks (used to build the Forth bridge, East Scotland) together to form the raised vegetable beds,

  

Plank circuit ready for the wheel barrows!

Nothing like shifting a few tons of soil after a lecture!

And all done!

Oh, and almost forgot to mention we've been growing some more runner beans.....

Hoping to plant them in the Spring!

A week of media frenzy!!

Our bungalow has really been in the spotlight this week - John Collins from bbc radio stoke coming along to interview the four of us, enthusiastically posing questions on the benefits of sustainable living and the project in general was great fun. Special interest was shown in the garden - putting together the raised beds for the vegetables, getting a compost bin going and looking at ways of getting students and the local community thinking about issues of sustainability. We hope to hear our news broadcast on bbc stoke and up for listening on bbc iplayer in the not too distant future.

Soil being delivered by Keele estates, thanks guys!

And here the raised vegetable beds almost done - 

And.......done -

And a few leeks and broccoli added for good measure!!

Following this, Keele's vice chancellor Nick Forsket also dropped by to have a look at our freshly planted leeks and runner beans and we were bowled over by such support shown by him and the university.

Along with all that Keele's student magazine Concourse has published a piece on the bungalow raising awareness of our project, so feel free to pick a copy or two from the students union!

Latest update…….

Waking to the sound of commotion outside the bungalow, we realized that it was not Tuesday (as we had previously been told) but Monday that the reporters from the Sentinel local newspaper would be arriving to take pictures and ask questions for an article that would be published the following day about the bungalow and the benefits of green student living.  Luckily, we managed to pull ourselves together, and were out dressed and washed within five minutes, shovels and spades to the ready, with beaming smiles to show the world how enjoyable sustainable living really is!  Chatting to Kathy the reporter about the joys of growing your own veg and seeing a project such as this come together so well!

Student dig ideas for Good Life at Uni - http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Students-dig-ideas-Good-Life-uni/story-13589553-detail/story.html

Events of the week also include - receiving a compost bin from a guy on ‘freecycle’, which we’ve been diligently using to deposit all of our bio degradable kitchen waste in, which we hope will provide fertile soil for the garden in the spring.

And also…..finding that the keys given to us by accommodation lead us to a bike shed that was not only completely insecure but also full, making it completely useless for anyone in Barnes requiring somewhere to put their bike.  But not to worry, we now have a bike rack being delivered which we plan to secure to the side of the house in the next few days.   We just hope Keele will make room for more cyclists living on campus in the future!

Author: Jack Mills Davidson

Week 1

Carl, James, Scott and I began fresher’s week by moving into what we hope will by the end of this academic year, be Keele’s first sustainable student bungalow in Barnes.  Over the first few days there’s been a lively atmosphere in the bungalow as friends have been round most days enjoying catching up after the summer break and working together to create the raised beds (to avoid digging into the electricity cables beneath) in the garden for planting vegetables.  We’ve spent much time discussing plans for the LiveGreen: Keele project and along with a few deliveries of soil, gravel and wooden planks - a few days working in the garden has paid off with the raised beds that are now near complete.

Events of the week include Jack being delivered to work in a wheel barrow, having Gym Class Heroes offer some help with the garden (yet to be given) and Luke’s granddad paying a visit to offer sound engineering advice for irrigation systems in the garden. 

The wooden planks have some history having been used previously to build the ‘Forth Bridge’ in East Scotland, and now also making history in helping to erect bases for the beds which will soon become our vegetable patches.  We are hoping to, during the winter months; grow beetroots, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, lettuce and such like, fuelling us through the cold winter ahead. 

Meanwhile, Luke our new project assistant has got hold of a washing line, so that we can save some cash and energy through using the dryers less.  We’re looking into a water drainage system off the roof into a water butt, which could be used to irrigate the vegetable patches with.  This would prove useful, decreasing water usage and keeping the vegetables in constant supply.

Luke, Faye, Manny, Ben, Mark, Anais, Connor and Danny to name but a few have been helping out with the ground work in the garden and this has been invaluable in getting the project steaming ahead - many challenges and plenty more ideas - all in all a great first week!

Author: Jack Mills Davidson