Nick Gibbs

Escaping chicken

nickgibbs — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:18:17 +0000

Despite raising the fence on my chickens’ run, the escapologist amongst them, Hendini, has found a way out. She simply flies up onto the bar I introduced to reinforce the barrier. They she stood, this morning, calling out, I think because she couldn’t get down, or perhaps to say: “That’s how it’s done,” to her less ambitious colleagues. Now I just have to find where she’s been laying her freedom eggs, which something else is stealing, eating and depositing on the lawn.

Rogue chicken photo

nickgibbs — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:09:28 +0000

What’s likely to have stolen and eaten Millais, our Pre-Raphaelite hen’s, egg?

Rogue chicken

nickgibbs — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:59:05 +0000

Though magazines should be the only thing on my mind currently, especially as I’m trying to get British Woodworking to press, a rogue chicken that repeatedly escapes its nest is taking up more time than I care. She seems to get out and lay somewhere in the garden, where we do not know, and later, on a couple of occasions (once she’s back in the pen) a broken and empty egg appears mysteriously on the lawn, twice in exactly the same spot. Very strange. A further occurrence is that a small bird has built a nest and laid an egg in the tablesaw I’ve been advertising for sale. It’s currently stored in a redundant horsebox, and I won’t be able to show it to anyone till any chicks have flown the saw!

Launch Plans

nickgibbs — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:14:45 +0000

I’ve been considering the launch of a magazine focusing on sustainability for ordinary folk wanting to Do Their Bit for a while. On the way back from an interview for Living Woods I stopped at some light beside a warehouse with a big logo for Barefoot, a defunct business, I think. It felt ideal for a magazine that would help people who want to tread more lightly on the planet.

I then asked my friend Christian to come up with a cover for the magazine, and some basic layouts. Then I had to find an editor to commission ideas and search for contributors.

Coppice Garden

nickgibbs — Sun, 13 May 2012 09:40:03 +0000

My coppice garden is coming along nicely. The original hazel is in leaf and I’ve transplanted some alpine strawberries for a woodland feel. I want to add some bluebells next year. Hopefully the hazel shoots I’ve layered on the ground will root.

Tools for Schools

nickgibbs — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:21:52 +0000

The blades for the Schools Planemaking Challenge have arrived and are being dispatched to participating DT departments. This is a campaign we run every year, with pupils making wooden planes using the plans, fixings and blades we supply, with the support of Axminster Tool Centre and Tite-Screws.

Richard La Trobe-Bateman

nickgibbs — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:59:59 +0000

The furniture maker Richard La Trobe-Batemen is interviewed tonight on Midweek, about the bridges he has been designing. You can see them on his website latrobebatemen.co.uk. Back in the 1980s he was one of a small coterie of Crafts Council favourites, an organisation I consider to have done pretty much nothing (and maybe an awful lot of damage) for the sort of traditional crafts (chairmaking) I was brought up around. I have to confess to having an irrational hatred of his work. I just don’t get it and it always leaves me cold, but I don’t know if that’s because of my prejudice about his Crafts Council funding or the design of his work. Actually I now discover that I’ve crossed one of his bridges on the River Coln in Gloucestershire, and didn’t really notice it (which may be a good thing).

I do like what he says about wanting to make something functional. So much of bespoke furniture these days is desirable, but not needed. He likes to show all the parts of his bridges so you can see what’s going on as you cross. They look a bit of a mess to me, but I do like the way he’s continually battling with lawyer’s over the safety of his bridges. There’s an exhibition of his work in Farnham, Surrey now, and at the Ruthin Gallery in Wales this summer. His interview was cut rather short, perhaps because the speedway rider from New Zealand was more interesting.

Costing the Earth

nickgibbs — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:24:08 +0000

Costing the Earth on R4 this evening has featured forest fires, how they start and how they can be stopped. There is obviously going to be a high risk of forest fires this year if the drought continues. A fascinating part of the story looked at the high prevalence of arson in South Wales, and how fire-starting is considered a normal means of protest about land use. They also revealed that two fires directed towards each other can actually put themselves out when they meet.

Trailer needed

nickgibbs — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:28:50 +0000

After a fabulous afternoon in a friend’s woods yesterday, filling my trailer with firewood and working out what I can do in return, I’ve just received a request from Ele and Anthony Waters at Pentiddy in Cornwall, who need a trailer to move some soil in the next couple of weeks. It needs to be able to take 1 tonne. Mine probably wouldn’t survive the journey to Cornwall, let alone take that weight. If you can help please email them at pentiddy@phonecoop.coop.

Cooking on wood

nickgibbs — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:13:33 +0000

It being April now, the Aga has been turned off and my beloved Windy Smithy woodburning oven has returned. I remove the Aga flue for spring, summer and autumn, so that the woodburner’s exhaust can be stuck up the concrete-lined chimney, which was originally fitted when my grandmother, Denise Gibbs, came here in 1946. I love cooking on this stove, made by Jon Snow in Devon. I like having to tend the fire chamber, aware that a new log will take time to blossom and give me the heat you need for boiling or frying.

Tonight I’m cooking spinach & ricotta cannelloni. It is such an architectural meal, and I love how the spinach reduces so much. Getting the consistency right is tricky for inserting into the tubes. Too loose and it oozes out. Too thick and you can’t get it in.