Tweets in the trees

It is always heartening to hear of other people who are living a life under canvas and who are committed to living a low-impact life. My attention was first drawn to Hen and Leo through the medium of Twitter, a social network that I have to admit I mostly find baffling. But some unique voices seem to find their way through the mass of retweets, links, tiny.urls and Hen is a enthusiastic and prolific tweeter. She also writes a great blog and makes baskets, a combination that feels comfortable to me. They just had a whole programme dedicated to them on BBC Radio 4's Open Country, which talked of their upland smallholding in Exmoor and mission to plant 6000 trees. Hen is currently running a twitter campaign to protest against the selling off of state owned woodland, currently a very hot topic and one that is generating passionate debate from many quarters.

Hen and Leo have embraced technology in their yurt much as we have in ours, although they don't have the obvious advantage of an on-grid Sustainability Centre on their doorstep! I am currently sitting with laptop and dongle next to the woodburner but I may as well be in my office, or halfway up Snowdon for all you know. I like this place in the world. In my line of work a computer is the principal tool of the trade, with a phone coming a swift second and a pen still proving essential. I think it is amazing to have seen the internet revolution and the ease in which information can be accessed and shared. I am sure that there is still more to come, my non-technological brain finds it hard to imagine how, but it will happen. Improvements in batteries have also made a big difference to us - I now have a laptop with an 8hr battery life (for now at least) and in the dark winter months this makes a big difference - as have the improvements in rechargeable and cordless appliances. I have a rechargable portable food processor that we can charge through the inverter and lasts long enough to blend two or three batches of soup.

Hen and Leo are currently applying for planning permission for their yurt and, in our twitter discussion about attitudes and perceptions of neighbours, she commented that she hopes that their neighbours might even one day be 'a little bit proud' to have a yurt next door. There was a time when our neighbours were certainly not proud to have a Sustainability Centre or yurts next door although I am delighted to say that this is now firmly in the past. We still get the odd grumble, as can only be expected as we get busier, but on the whole the local community are definitely a 'little bit proud'. The village magazine Meon Matters is running a feature on yurt living in their next edition and publicity about the Sustainability Centre as a whole is increasing all the time.

So, keep up with the Sustainability Centre, Wetherdown Lodge and Permaculture Magazine on Twitter, if you are that way inclined.