Eco audit: buying fresh from farmers

Childhood is not complete without a little pick-your-own strawberry activity.  (And of course eating, while picking.) I don’t know that my parents were choosing to do it for ‘support the farmers’ reasons.  I think we did it because it was fun, because the fruit was so fresh, and because it made a family outing out …

Eco audit: learning to speak environment

So I’ll start with the disclaimer.  This month, I’m planning to write about the environment.  I am not a scientist.  I am not an expert.  So I am not making pronouncements with authority (although I might reference some links to back up what I say). But I am finding that I want to do something …

Cereal packets and serious fiction: reading the world around us

A month of ‘learning from books’ comes to a close.  I think I learned further things in the process of choosing what to write about.  An unexpected bonus. I normally write a ‘content post’ right up to the end of the month – but I’m sneaking in a bit of reflection on the month instead. …

Academic texts: a tale of two halves to the title

I have noticed a bit of a tendency when I write blog post titles.  They often seem to be in two halves.  My inner academic of old is not satisfied unless titles have that combination of word play and explanation. If I am to complete this month of writing about reading, and what I’ve learned, …

1984: reading, revising and remembering

I’m wading into the backwaters of the blog – the posts I haven’t visited in a while.  The notion is to make the categories simpler – essentially, to pull together the blogthatwas and what I’m doing now.  But I’m feeling a little like a history rewriter, something out of 1984. I had a grand plan, …