Thursday, November 29, 2007
Happy Porkday
Mat: It's been a day full of piggy goodness. I got up at 6am to help pick up two of our pigs from the abattoir and deliver them to the butchers in town. The male weighed 90kg (170lb) dead, and the female a little lighter at 72kg (160lb). I don't know if you've ever tried picking up a 90kg dead pig (I'd say you probably haven't), but it's rather tricky, and took four of us - but it only took one large slaughterman to put it in the car!After a slap-up birthday breakfast at Bryan & Debs' I opened all my wonderful presents. Thanks very much for everything, I'm sorted for t-shirts, DVDs, books and toasted sandwiches for a long while.
Later on I went back to the butchers to collect my birthday treat - a whole pork leg (not from our piggies). I spent the afternoon constructing a wooden box to hold it, and Bryan and I began the process of making prosciutto. The first phase is to place the leg in a box and cover it completely in salt (it took 21kg to cover our giant leg). Now we leave it for 21 days with a heavy weight on top to cure the meat and drive out the moisture. After that we'll hang it outside for around six months, and then tuck in!
Monday, November 26, 2007
This little piggy went to Market
Mat: This morning two of our pigs went off to their 'holiday camp' at Lobbs Farm in Bodmin. An experienced pig-keeping friend of Rupert's came up to help us get them into the van, and his expertise meant we got them loaded with the minimum of stress and fuss. When we arrived at the abattoir the pigs were lying down very calmly in the back of the van, and were placid when we moved them into the pens at the farm before their slaughter tomorrow.The two remaining porkers seem happy that the dominant male has been removed, as he was starting to bully them in the last few weeks, and now they've got the whole run to themselves now. He was getting more aggressive by the day, and his tusks were just starting to poke through his gums.
I've got mixed feelings about the whole experience - I'm obviously excited to be picking up the meat on Thursday (what a birthday treat, getting up at 6am to collect 100kg of pork) and looking forward to cooking and eating it, but at the same time I'm sad to see them go. The male, Obiwan, had a real personality as the leader of the gang, and I hope we'll do him proud by making good use of every part of him.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Transition Lostwithiel
Kat: Last night we saw the second film shown by the fledgling Transition Lostwithiel group. Energy Crossroads was along broadly similar lines to last week's film - Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth - but with more emphasis on Peak Oil.Peak Oil was a theory developed by M. King Hubbert who worked at Shell in the 1950s. He saw that oil discovery in the US had peaked and predicted that in 20-40 years, oil production would peak then start to decline. This came true in 1970. The same principle applies worldwide - discoveries of new oil fields has peaked in many of the oil producing countries so global oil supplies are likely to peak soon, if they haven't already done so. Oil isn't going to run out but it's going to get much harder and more expensive to extract. Nearly every aspect of modern life involves oil at some point for transport, energy and raw materials, so that's going to have a big impact unless we make some changes. Next week's film is about how Cuba's economy collapsed then recovered from a peak oil crisis, following the collapse of the USSR.
The Transition Towns movement is one way that a community can respond to the problems of peak oil. It's about recognising our dependence on oil and coming up with ways to reduce it by meeting our needs locally, finding alternatives where possible and using resources efficiently. It's not all doom and gloom - it's about taking the initiative and not getting caught out. Towns such as Totnes and Lewes are quite far along the Transition road, but Lostwithiel is just starting out in the "awareness raising" phase.
Another exciting thing that came out of last night's screening is that we may soon have our own film club! The director of the Plymouth Arts Centre lives in Lostwithiel, and he's got the know-how to apply for grants and get the right equipment. Mat and I were first to put our names down as volunteers. Woohoo!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Going up-country
Mel and Joel's new pad is a generous size before you take account of the granny annex, so much so that they're having difficulty deciding what to use all the rooms for. Even though it's not a doer-uper, they've worked very hard to get it into a good state of repair and it already looks very smart.
For Lesley's birthday we had a pleasant meal at Lemoncello Italian restaurant, which is on the site of the former Iron Horse pub. The pub wasn't a place that I or Mat frequented as teenagers but we had a certain fondness for its dingy atmosphere, rocker clientele and the dubious entertainment from Cosmic Ken - probably because we didn't have the choice of going to nice restaurants like this one.
Emilie's christening took place in Chelsea with an 'after show party' in a nearby hall. The christening was part of a regular Sunday service and I'd forgotten just how much they drag! It's only weddings and carol services that find me in churches these days, which are generally more fun. However it was good to catch up with so many friends and Juliana had done a huge amount of catering and organisation for the do afterwards. The theme was Snow White for which Emilie wore a very cute costume.
We drove back to Cornwall on Monday to find everything pretty much as we left it, and the pigs bigger than ever.
Last night we saw Tim Supple's innovative production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Plymouth, with Will and Pili. The cast are Indian and performed in a mixture of six Indian and Sri Lankan languages and English. The set was an earth floor, scaffolding covered in paper which the actors burst through and clambered around, and ropes and sashes suspended from the ceiling which they shimmied up and used as hammocks. It was amazing to watch: exotic, athletic and bursting with energy.