An Informative Afternoon- Glenlyon Kirk 17th July 2010 12.00-5.00

Remember the excitement of phase one of the Home Heating Assessments ( I'm only joking- how could you forget)?  Well, set your thrill receptors to max because there is more to come.

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 A glen resident waves goodbye following a survey in Phase One

Not only is Heat survey Phase 2 happening soon (please contact GWI if you live in the glen and would like your house surveyed), but now that most people have got their Phase 1 results, we are holding a woodfuel informative afternoon /open day type thing to answer any queries about the survey results, any questions about woodfuel heating in general and to provide up to date, glen focused information on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
Woodfuel expert Bernd Pinamonti and RHI consultant Steve Luker will actually be here, in Glenlyon to discuss, one on one, your personal woodfuel heating requirements and options,  Potential payback times should RHI become policy, and, how much wood you might need a year- cost of, etc.This is an excellent opportunity to really learn about woodfuel heating options, from people working in the field.

People are looking forward to it already. One resident contemplates the upcoming event.

Sorry I just remembered how exciting this must be for you - the reader, I probably should have said sit down first. Now would you like some water? 
Feeling a bit calmer, I 'll carry on. In addition, people from The Big Shed project (Shedi's) and the Loch Tay  Food Chain will be giving a talk and discussing the really interesting and positive actions and opportunities that are happening "over the hill", and what benefits they could bring for people in the glen.

Bracing themselves for a long wait- The Informative Afternoon is not until the 17th of July.

Locally grown Small Round Wood (SRW) products will be on display and available for sale, plenty of long whippy poles are a certainty so if you are struggling for Teepee poles for runner beans or that sort of thing, you will be in luck. This SRW  comes from some further coppice experimentation (Coppice Experiment 2)

Coppice Experiment 2. This bit of woodland looks better now its been thinned.

We have lots of poles from the thinning, they make much better pea supports than imported bamboo does
All of the above topics really need a blog of their own; Bernd has done a great job on the heat surveys. His survey forms are really comprehensive breaking down easily into payback with and without RHI (on ave... respectively). Steve Lukers input on RHI has, right from the start given the project an added economic impetus and awareness of how this innovative initiative makes the payback times for conversion to woodfuel compared to staying on oil  "A No Brainer Mate" according to my Australian friend Jason.

Shepherds, Farmers, Mole trappers, Dykers and assorted forestry types are all welcome.

During the afternoon I will no doubt gibber on about forestry and wood fuel supply chains and some other things.  Oh yes, we will very probably have an extraction demo from an Iron Horse - possibly the most low impact, economical extraction device available and undoubtedly the bit of the day you will chat to your nippers about. Incidentally no Jason an Iron Horse is not what Ned Kelly rode about on.

 

 These Iron horses really are quite astonishing, as you will see if you follow this link
http://www.artcom-tradebridge.com/ironhorse.html   

After watching this link an appropriate thing to say may be..."Golly Gosh those Iron Horses really are a spiffing looking bit of kit, well done Swedish chaps. 
If this short film has left you suddenly realising what a gap there is in your life as concerns viewing small tracked vehicles in action, you may find this next link heartening. This one is also recommended watching for fans of ultra dramatic music and implausible emergency situations, something one will rarely see in mainstream films methinks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCdvIzMxpt8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

The way the music picks you up, exciting, exciting, rescue, rescue, and then changes for the interior cab shots is just thrilling... you will see what I mean (I hope).

By the way- Children are welcome at the Informative Afternoon, I think they will find it interesting too.