Wednesday, 20th October
October Transition
"Everything’s possible. That’s one of the things I’ve learnt from being part of the Transition movement. If you can imagine a different future then you can build it."
Alexis Rowell (author of ‘Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future’) in interview with Rob Hopkins
Welcome to the October newsletter.
Remember you can always catch up on the website - http://transitiontowns.org/Taunton/ until the 31st December when Taunton Transition Town will be moving over to the new, super-duper Transition Network - http://www.transitionnetwork.org/cms/taunton. It is not ready yet but do have a look around the rest of the Transition Network site and sign up....
I always need input, news and events to update this newletter. If you know of any events or have news about Transition please email me, Vicky Briggs on shuunyanet@gmail.com by the 19th of the month for publication on the 20th or there abouts.
There are some new ways to follow what we are doing. Join our Facebook Group , find out what we are up to on the blog, or follow us on Twitter.
Events
This months Transition Drop-In Cafe looks again at the Wild Food, Free Food Map of Taunton. Come along and share your knowledge. Learning from the Land have some great courses taking place this month and remember to book up now to become a compost champion in November. Plus there are number of food orientated talks upcoming.
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News
Learn how Taunton Transition Town got a mention in the new Post Carbon Reader Series in an article by Transition founder, Rob Hopkins and hear about the fabulous fun day at the Brewhouse - Abundant Taunton. Find out how you can save money or invest in a local sustainable living project.
Wish to cut back on your car usage then maybe the new car club is for you..... Or make a contribution to the new land for food mapping project -Food Mapper. Plus hear all about the new Transition book out now 'Communities, Councils and a Low-Carbon Future'......
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Transition Drop-in Cafe - 23rd October Venue:Friends Meeting House, Bath Place, Taunton
Time: 10.30am-12.30pm
 The Transition Cafe stays in it's old haunt this month; the Friends' Meeting House.
Come along to sign up to the new car club in Taunton - Co-Cars. It's coming very soon.... initially with a car outside the Taunton Deane Borough Council offices but hopefully more soon. But it is up to us to sign up and show interest... more people interested will mean potentially more incentive to get a few more cars.
And remember that the Co-Cars are not just interested in expanding in Taunton. If you are interested in having a car club in your local area not currently covered contact Co-Cars now.... details on their website.
Contribute to the expanding free food map of Taunton. Pop in to add what you know to the physical map or alternatively you can contribute to the map online - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid= 117552551291077348239.00047046780868b2e3915
If you have any spare produce from your garden or too many jars of jam or some spare packets of seeds come along to swap your produce....
Come along and discuss all things Transition.... from energy projects to local food production, from new transport solutions to a better way of life.
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Make, Do and Mend - 23rd October
Make, Do and Mend also returns this month to the Friends' Meeting House - 2-5pm.
Come along and learn a new skill or pass on some of your skills to others.
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DIY FOR WOMEN - 30th October
The local Learning from the Land people have another course coming up.
DATE: Saturday 30 October VENUE: Secret Meadow, Weekmoor, Milverton TA4 1QE TIME: 9am-1pm
A half day session for women to learn basic DIY skills in a friendly and businesslike environment.
Power tools, hand tools including chisels and planes will be tackled! Learn to ease a sticking door, fix a dripping tap and hang a shelf on an awkward wall. These tasks will be used to illustrate a wide range of issues and you will learn principles to suit other situations, so don't worry if you don't need to do these actual jobs.
This is a great opportunity to learn skills that could save you money and enable you to do some of those annoying jobs that never get done!This course is suitable for those from beginner to intermediate and will be followed by more advanced courses on making specific items.
COST: £25 per person PLEASE BRING: Your own set of basic tools if you have them (hammer, screwdrivers, chisel, spanners, plane, drill and drill bits). We will have spare sets for those without. Wear old clothes and hard-toed boots. Biscuits and tea will be served.
Find out about this course and others on.... http://www.learningfromtheland.co.uk/
Look out for their Power of Fire day on Sunday 28th November.....
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GM Crops - Feeding Or Fooling The World?- 30th and 31st October
Two One Day Conferences in Shaftesbury, Dorset, 30/31 October 2010.
10 until 3.30 each day....
A variety of speakers on the contentious issue of GM crops.....Many see GM crops as the solution to solving the problem of feeding the world by providing greater yields and the decrease in use of pesticides (very important in a low-carbon world) but can GM crops really achieve that?
This conference clearly comes down in the anti-GM lobby but asks those important questions of how can we feed ourselves in the future and can we do that using less fossil fuels.
Admission by pre-booked tickets(£10) only from 01747 811 853 £10.00 includes drinks and lunchtime buffet.
In the spirit of balance listen to One Planet's interview with Dr Roger Beachy, expert on plant viruses and the biotechnology of plants and one of the researchers who developed the world's first genetically modified crop (a tomato) - The father of GM foods
For details of the programme and speakers visit: www.springheadtrust.co.uk
Organizers GM-Free Dorset, South West Genetic Engineering Network and GM Freeze.
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Become a Compost Champion- Saturday 6th November
You might be interested in becoming a Compost Champion....
The aim of the scheme is to encourage more people within Somerset to compost their kitchen and garden waste at home to create rich compost for their garden. For those people who are already home composting we are aiming to encourage them to compost a greater range of items such as their vacuum cleaner contents and cardboard packaging.
 The Somerset Waste Action Programme is seeking individuals who live in Somerset and would like to attend a free training day about home composting. All we ask in return is that you take the time to pass your composting knowledge onto others. This may involve talking to friends, family and neighbours or attending local fairs, events and fetes – we’ll even pay your travel expenses for you and provide you with everything you will need for a display.
The training days are suitable for anyone who has an interest in home composting and would like to share their composting knowledge with others. The training days are designed to accommodate all levels of knowledge of home composting. The training day will cover many aspects of home composting including:
- Benefits of home composting
- The composting process
- Building and locating a bin
- Getting the right composting mixture
- Solving composting dilemmas
- Uses of compost
Saturday 6th November: 10am till 4:30pm, at Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine near Taunton, TA2 8LG.
The training day at Hestercombe Gardens includes free access to the gardens during lunch and at the end of the day.
Fill in the form from here...... if you want to go.
A talk by Quentin Clark, Head of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing at Waitrose - Wednesday 17 November
Wednesday 17 November South Somerset Green Party Henhayes Centre, Crewkerne 7.30 A talk by Quentin Clark, Head of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing at Waitrose
- Interested in where your food comes from?
- Concerned about climate change?
- Looking for high animal welfare standards?
Your chance to talk to the UK’s ‘Compassionate Supermarket 2010’ Waitrose & Sustainable, Local, Ethical food More info: 0845 456 2592
Can We Feed Ourselves and Keep Bio-Diversity in Nature- 11th January 2011
One date to put into your diary early is the talk by Patrick Holden director of the Soil Association. Come along and listen and give your views in a discussion after.
Patrick Holden was brought up in London. He visited a dairy farm near Epping aged five and decided he wanted to milk cows. He studied biodynamic agriculture at Emerson College in 1972 and started a community farm in West Wales in 1973.
The 93 hectare mixed organic farm is now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, with a herd of 65 Ayrshire cows - the milk from which is being made into an unpasteurised cheese by his son Sam. Patrick still milks his cows at weekends.
He has worked for the Soil Association since 1988 and as Director since 1995. During that period income has risen from £200,000 to £10 million and sales of organic food from £50 million to £2 billion.
He is a regular broadcaster and speaker and was responsible for Tony and Pat Archer's conversion in 1985 and still advises for the Archers on matters organic. He was awarded the CBE for services to organic farming in 2005.
The evening is organised jointly by Somerset Wildlife Trust and Taunton Transition Town.
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Abundant Taunton
 Taunton Transition Town celebrated the harvest with the Abundant Taunton event at the Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre on October 2ns. Citizens of Taunton could enjoy a drink of freshly squeezed apple juice made from apples picked for free from all the locally available trees in the area. If apple juice was not your tipple of choice then you could have tea made from boiled water from the fuel efficient kelly kettle....
Many added to our free food map of Taunton which you can access online.
Check out where you can find your nearest apple tree or hazelnut. Someone even divulged the location of an almond tree!
And if you did not know where to go to get free food our very own food foraging Oli Handcomb led an interested group around Taunton pointing out all the known edibles. As a quick reference download the guide. Even the kids could take part in the Really Useful Trees and Plants Trail pointing out all the possible fruit, nuts and useful plants that are just a short walk away from the Brewhouse. You can download the map, the checklist and the useful information.
Somerset Community Food were there to map all the local areas of food production including community gardens, orchards and allotments. If you know of a local allotment or community garden please sign into the online resource Food Mapper - www.foodmapper.org.uk and map it now! The idea is get all the areas currently used by the community for food production mapped in one place to gain information about supply and demand for land for food. The plan is to get more land in Somerset into the production of food for the local people. Please sign in today and map that allotment. If you own land that maybe could be used by the community map that too!
 There was an opportunity to learn simple methods to smoke vegetables, meat and fish and how to make a simple apple wine with wine tasting included! Passers-by could sample vegan/vegetarian food courtesy of the vegan and vegetarian society and by fabulous local produce from local farmers and producers.
Thanks to the Brewhouse for giving us an area to have our stalls, to the Farmers Market for making this such a success, to Somerset Community Food for the loan of the apple press and the Vegetarian and Vegan Society for providing scummy food to taste.
We would also like to thank all the people who gave up a little bit of their time to front a stall or give a demonstration...... we couldn't have done it without you all!
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'Community Matters' Days - 8th, 9th October
 Somerset College opened their doors to all those interested at the Award Winning Genesis Centre; a sustainable construction resource and learning centre for the South West.
Taunton Transition Town joined them to celebrate the launch of the new Environmental Training Centre.
You could learn about solar energy and feed-in tariffs, enjoy a pizza from the Learning from the Land rocket stove oven, contribute to the Wild Food, Free Food Map of Taunton with us (TTT) and learn how to build a plastic bottle greenhouse plus much, much more.
 As a little aside our Free Food Map of Taunton has inspired Transition Cork to create their very own free food map... so remember if you ever holiday in Cork check out all the free, and wild food!
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Plotgate Venture - Sustainable Living
A low-impact rural co-housing project based in Somerset is looking for prospective residents.
Plotgate Venture is sustainable affordable, self-build, live/work cohousing project with access to agricultural land. We have 23 acres of agricultural land and going to challenge the system and apply for planning permission to self-build 8 low impact houses with access to land plus 2 bigger smallholdings. Planning application is almost ready and although we expect strong resistance from planning authorities, there are precedents and we are supported by leading low-impact planning consultants. Now we are at the stage when we are looking for input from people who are interested to join us or to support the idea as we do need community support to persuade planners. Please see more details at http://www.plotgate.org.uk/ and if you are interested to join or support Plotgate please email info@plotgate.org.uk.
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Save Money, and Carbon!
Grass Roots is offering a free remote controlled socket that switches off TVs etc. plus an attachment for your shower that reduces water flow (70% saving) for nothing as part of the governments carbon reduction targets.
It is open to UK households - one per household. The website is www.freegadgets.co.uk/home/direct
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Taunton has a car club!
Taunton Transition Town are really proud to have helped start up a car club in Taunton. With our help, Co-cars, a not for profit social enterprise, currently operating in and around Exeter has managed to set up a car club in Taunton.
Car clubs are a way of saving money by using a car without having to own one. They might also be a way of getting rid of your second car.
You can use the car for an hour, hours or a day and pay for what you use. All bookings are through their web site.
As their flyer says, “WE buy it, insure it, tax it, maintain it, repair and clean it.... YOU drive it!”
The first car will be based at Taunton Deane Borough Council’s offices at Deane House any day now. It will then be available to members for 24 hour booking.
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New Transition Book - Communities, Councils and a Low-Carbon Future
 Alexis Rowell’s new addition to the Transition Books series, ‘Communities, Councils and a Low-Carbon Future: what we can do if governments won’t’ is now available to order here at Transition Culture.
Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future: what we can if governments won’t includes current examples of best eco practice from local authorities across the UK and elsewhere, as well as a look at the background to unsuccessful projects. This book is designed to inform and inspire councils and councillors, as well as local environmental activists, community groups and Transition Initiatives. Local government can be a huge driver for positive change, but not on its own. Communities need to understand what they can reasonably (and unreasonably!) ask for from local councils, and they need to know exactly what levers they can pull.
The Author: After working as a BBC journalist, Alexis Rowell was appointed Camden Eco Champion and Chair of the council’s all-party Sustainability Task Force. He has led the transformation of Camden’s Development Control Committee (Planning) which now requires every new development to install a green roof, rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling, and 20% on site renewables or CHP, and is a member of Transition Belsize. Alexis has his own eco-political blog – http://alexisrowell.blogspot.com/
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You Gen - Useful Website
You Gen are looking for groups and individuals that can give feedback or tell a story about renewable energy and energy efficiency. The site looks like a useful resource that people can use in picking their way through some of the complex ideas and numerous suppliers and learn from the experiences of others.
Community action is key to a successful transition to a low carbon UK, and You Gen hope that they can help you in getting stories of good practice to a wider audience.
They are always on the look out for case studies and stories that can inspire, educate or inform. Here’s a couple they have run recently: eco-renovation transforms Devon village hall and are council planning departments making it difficult to install solar panels....
·Let them know what you’ve done that works – and which doesn’t work – they are both such valuable learning, and they will make sure others can benefit from it. They welcome guest bloggers, but if you prefer not to write an article, they will talk it through on the phone with you.
Knowing which installer to trust is one of the barriers to investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy – and that’s one of the key things that they want to help people overcome. You Gen have built up a database of more than 500 installers covering the UK, and theye rely on low carbon & microgen pioneers to tell us which the good ones are by recommending them using our star rating system.
If you have used a good installer, please do share your experience with You Gen, so others can benefit. There is even a chance to win a GEO Minim energy meter every month if you do. This site is run nationally so some of the suppliers we might know are not listed.... this is your opportunity to contribute to the site to make the advice better. Very much how making recommendations on Amazon helps you to choose a book to read.
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The Post Carbon Reader - Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises - Another New Book
The Post Carbon Reader features essays by some of the world’s most provocative thinkers on the key issues shaping our new century, from renewable energy and urban agriculture to social justice and community resilience, including Transitions' very own Rob Hopkins. You can download his chapter on building resilience in communities to read from http://www.postcarbon.org/reader/downloads.
Taunton Transition Town even got a mention in the chapter highlighting the visioning workshops that took place with Taunton Deane Borough Council asking the question 'what a resilient Taunton Deane might be like in 2026'. They envisioned a future in which the Borough has developed a successful low carbon, “localised” culture and infrastructure, capable of withstanding upheavals in the wider world likely to occur as a result of our changing climate and increasingly expensive and insecure oil and gas supplies. Take a look at the that vision for the future in Towards A Resilient Taunton Deane.
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21st Century Dig for Victory
As FoodMapper gathers pace, take a look back at how mapping land in the 1930's led to a blueprint for Dig for Victory.
Work on www.foodmapper.org.uk is hotting up - more than 30 allotment sites in Somerset have been mapped.
This pioneering work does have a precedent, however. A far sighted geographer between the wars saw the writing was on the wall concerning food supply in Britain. Lawrence Dudley Stamp recruited 250,000 mappers, many of them schoolchildren, to map land use around where they lived.
For a fascinating insight into the maps that became a blueprint for Dig for Victory, a story in the http://www.maturetimes.co.uk/node/8599 explains more.
Are you a 21st Century Dig for Victory pioneer – Somerset Community Food urgently seek community mappers in all parts of the county. Get in touch if you want to be part of this groundbreaking, literally, survey!
e: linda.hull@somersetcommunityfood.org.uk
w: http://www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk | 
