The woodland skills people helped with the grotto and cosy fire area, as did a few other volunteers.

There were decorations to make and lanterns to hang – once I’d set fire to my hair lighting some of them!!!

The grotto was ready – Rebekah was taking photos and Jonathan was being attacked by little girls – people listened to Sue Bailey tell stories and sang songs round the camp fire.

In the morning there is a spore print.

Jonathan and I were both feeling pretty yucky but decided we would go anyway.  Ric (formally Ric the Ranger) was taking the session and as the girls had previously done woodland skills with him we were hopeful that it was going to be a good session.

Jonathan had a good time at the start and was distracted from his yuckiness by some table based activities.  He was pleased to be able to identify a marsh harrier but we were all somewhat bemused by the moor-hen which featured an interesting interpretation of its colouring.

He also enjoyed designing his own bird with its own adaptations.

I liked Ruth’s table’s attempt at this with the welly boots!

The games involved things like wearing beaks and collecting worms as well as getting into smaller and smaller areas of salt marsh.  Jonathan had really had enough by now and came and sat with me instead for most of it.

Overall Jonathan had as good a time as he was up to,  Ruth didn’t really have any content that was appropriate for her but enjoyed playing with the little ones and I enjoyed seeing some of my friends who I haven’t seen for a while.  We’d definitely do more things with Estuary Explorers.

After the experiment we thought about what we would like to carry one with.  We all thought mostly veggie meals were fine -even the fusspots like macaroni cheese, quiches and pizza.   I wanted to eat a little bit more meat than once a week but a couple of times a week generally seemed fine to me. I also wanted to plan things a bit better as I didn’t want to be traipsing off to Mottistone or the farmers market continuously.   I was also hoping that by planning I might be able to save time and energy by doubling things up and planning for leftovers etc.  For example if I have made extra bolognese sauce one week and frozen it and extra cheese sauce another week I could then, on another occasion, put these togther easily and quickly for a tasty lasagne.

So I set about planning – got people to tell me which meals they really want and which they thought they’d only like once every so often etc.  I got a plan that worked and promptly lost it.  Honestly even when I try and be really organised I don’t manage it.   So I started again and this time put it on the computer.  I decided this time to follow a pattern so we have:

Sunday – nice meaty meal (stew, roast, lasagne etc)

Monday – Jacket potaotes

Tuesday – leftovers from Sunday or pizza type meal

Wednesday – egg based meal  probably also involving left over potatoes from monday.

Thursday – pasta meal

Friday – fish meal

Saturday – wild card

From this I put together a general plan that covers two months of summer time eating – we are three weeks into it and have diverted on a number of occasions but overall it is providing a good starting point of ideas for what to eat and knowing what food we need in.  My idea is that this is a tool to help us rather than a rigid set of rules.  To misquote the bible – the meal plan was made for the Gibsons not the Gibsons for the mealplan!  I have already found a few places I need to change things – for example we have fish and chips on one Friday followed by Cajun chicken on the Sunday which we would also have with chips – that’s too many chips too close together so I’ll do some swapping about next time.  I hope when I make bolognese  I’ll make enough for the lasagne and the chilli and the pancakes – I also plan to make cheese sauce from the macaroni cheese night to do cauliflower cheese and the lasagne and maybe even some filling for a potato skin or two.

So here (hopefully if I can paste a table into the blog) is our summer menu plan:

Dishes done and Martin returned it’s about 8 pm

Ruth is alternating between Facebook and websites about infectious diseases,

Jonathan is busy writing something about a Dungeons and Dragons and discussing how spaces between sentences are necessary so he can understand what he has written but punctuation is only necessary if someone else is going to read it!

Martinis looking at places we can visit in the camper van and doesn’t want anyone to see.

Jonathan heads to bed and still in camper mode we watched One Man and His Campervan, think his recipes are a little bit too flash for us but  we’ve picked up a few good ideas.

However that wasn’t the purpose of the visit instead it was to enjoy a visit by Haven Falconry and to see some of their birds.

The first to come out was a barn owl.  She was very patient and allowed all the children to touch her and to have her sit on their arms.

Next out was the Harris hawk, this was the only bird that they flew today – they said the other birds were too heavy to fly at this time of year.

This one flew to Jonathan who was holding a piece of raw chicken out to it.   It didn’t want to come off the glove.

We then saw kestrel which didn’t want to be handled as much by the children - and there is no photo as I left the memory card behind (as Martin warned me I would do!) so I had only the internal memory so not many photos

Last out was the eagle owl which was magnificent, she was called Merlin as they thought she was a boy until she laid some eggs.  She was too big for the children to hold but was by far the most beautiful of the birds.

Then we the children spent more time enjoying the open space available to them and had a really great time.

When we moved to the isle of Wight we were amused by some of the activities here.  We were very sarcastic about the enjoyment to be had at a Hedge laying competition.

Last year we were a little more interested as we had a friend who entered and whose team came 3rd in the team class.

But this years the girls are positively upset that we are going to be on the mainland while this rural extravaganza takes place.

Throughout the winter on almost invariably wet Tuesday’s they have  been doing a woodland skills course with Rick and Nick the rangers at various copses around the island.  They have been coppicing, loppering, thinning, clearing brambles and making lots of fires. For the last few weeks they have been having a go at Hedge-laying at Golden Hill Fort.

They have been cutting  pleachers

And  learning about hethering.

And still using lots of sharp tools.

using a bow saw

they love loppers

So, what happened to Eco Island? I know some things are happening, but after all the flash, whizz and bang of the launch conference and Big Green Picnic it has mostly gone eerily quite. What has happened to the radical thinking portrayed in The Guardian in Nov 2007?

I know I am not alone in wanting to see the Eco Island concept really embraced in a meaningful way, and I know there is a queue of businesses, organisations and individuals already trying to do their part, but wondering what has happened to the IW Council.

So, on the 4th June there are local elections, a chance for us to have our say. So my question to every candidate standing will be “What next for Eco Island?”. Points will be awarded for honesty and for understanding of the issues. So, who will join me in asking these questions of our leaders and would-be leaders? Or if you are one of those candidates, how about posting your position on Eco Island? Do you want to see the Island become an “eco trailblazer” and how are you going to make that happen? Do you have the political stomach to take difficult decisions, some of which will be unpopular with sections of society? How can the Council support the groundswell of enthusiasm on the ground?