Working at Orchard Barn

We hope these guidelines will give you a taste of how we do things at OBee.

Requests	Rationale	Rewards
Spirit of Place Before starting a task, spend a few moments in quiet communication with the spirit of the place, the land, and trees. Explain silently why you are undertaking the task in hand. Tune into what needs to happen and how to work as mindfully as possible.	Respects and enhances our interconnectedness with nature. Increases awareness of all levels of life.	Increased respect for nature spirits and the spirit of the place. Increased enjoyment and connection with self and nature.
Working safely Please work in a mindful way at all times for the safety of yourself and others.	Safe working practice and increased awareness.	Greater mindfulness, and personal well-being.
Water Use a minimum	Water currently has to be carried in. Increases our awareness of how we use water, and helps us modify our useage.	Ensure adequacy of future water supply. In future water will be harvested from the barn roofs and/or supplied from a well (high water table)
Water Don’t throw washing water away, use it for watering the vegetables and any recently planted trees/shrubs.	Plants need water.	Greater awareness of water as a resource.
Fires For heating a kettle, or cooking, make only a small, contained fire	Although there appears to be an unlimited supply of stuff to burn, we don’t have to think that way. Think conserve!	Fuel lasts longer. Smaller fire – less smoke - lower air pollution.
Prunings Thick stuff trim off anything that secateurs or loppers will cut, and put thicker branches aside for fuel	Thick wood is useful for use on fires.	Free fuel for fire.
Prunings Thin stuff cut up (chomp!) to a maximum of 6 inches in length, and put on compost heap straight away	Compost works best if there is a greater surface area – chomping makes unwieldy prunings manageable.	Putting straight onto compost heap keeps the place tidy, and saves later work.
Compost heap As far as possible please create layers of greenery, dried twiggy stuff, and manure, in sequence. Keep heap as squared-off as possible.	Improves rate and quality of composting. Keeping it square increases the capacity of the heap.	Great compost!
Ground clearing Put collected weeds straight onto compost heap	Keeps site clear, and saves work later. Teaches us the value of processing stuff as we go along!	Someone doesn’t have to collect it later! Creates useful compost.
Hand tools Use hand tools rather than power tools wherever possible.	Less noise pollution. The journey of “doing” rather than “arriving”. Greater mindfulness. Greater connection with the land, and “feel” for the earth.	No need for ear defenders, thereby making it easier to work with others rather than in isolation. Slower but more thorough “progress” The discovery that hand tools are very effective. Stronger muscles, and increased fitness. Green gym exercise! Increased satisfaction. Development of skills.
Care of hand tools after use, please clean the tools you have used, and return them to the shed.	Avoids loss of tools, and makes them last longer.	Safety, economy, efficiency.
Team work collaborate with others rather than work alone	We can create much more together than individually. Greater communication. More community spirit. More connection with each other.	Development and recognition of strengths. Opportunities (if wished) to address difficulties. Empowerment of the “tribe”. Looking after each other (physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually). Perpetuating “circles” – more sharing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you think of any other 'rewards' or 'rationales' that we could include in our guidelines?

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www.orchardbarn.org.uk © 2007 Wildfire Designs

Photographs © Tony Mounter and Sarah Partridge

 

Recycle

Re-use

Repair

Reduce

 

An appreciation and conservation of natural resources

 

A celebration and re-discovery of working with hand tools, using human physical energy instead of electricity or fossil fuels