Monthly Archives: September 2021

Energy Systems Catapult ‘Living Lab’

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The UK Government funds a series of Catapult research centres. One of these is the Energy Systems Catapult which undertakes a wide range of energy-related research projects.

One of the ES Catapult initiatives is the Living Lab – several hundred real-life properties that have expressed an interest in hosting energy-related trials. I signed up Marsh Flatts Farm a few weeks ago and there will be an air quality monitoring trial starting soon (will post on that separately).

From what I’ve seen so far, equipment or software vendors typically use the lab to test innovative solutions and get real-world feedback before launching products on the UK market. Trial participants get a small financial incentive to test-install products, complete surveys and provide feedback.

There’s a particular interest in homes that have heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and electric car chargers.

More information and a sign-up link is here.

Scything the Wildflower Meadow

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One of the priority jobs for my “holiday” was mowing the meadow, cutting back all this year’s growth so it can be raked up and removed, helping to reduce the soil fertility to encourage the flowers and discourage the grasses. The Austrian scythe is the perfect tool for this job – quieter and no more difficult or time consuming than using a two-stoke brushcutter. This section of the garden is about 840 square meters (60 x 14; just over 1/5 of an acre) and took about 8 hours in total, over a couple of days.

  • Wildflower meadow before scything
  • Wildflower meadow after scything
Before and After pictures

Scything is more about skill than brute strength but it’s quite a (low-impact, aerobic) workout. A lot of the skill is in sharpening the blade – especially the peening to create a hard, thin edge (which I’m getting better at – though it’s tough only getting chance to properly practice once a year).