Info, news & debate
Year: 2025
The fundamentals of Commoning, Part 1: Introduction
I’m interviewing Dil Green about the fundamentals of commoning. Dil is part of Mutual Credit Services (MCS) – designing models for the commons economy, that groups in Stroud and Liverpool in the UK are using in several sectors of the economy, including housing and finance.
Making local food production and land commons more viable with procurement hubs
small, local food producers are having a hard time making ends meet, because small farm incomes are falling, due to supermarkets constantly squeezing farmers/growers, to make food prices cheaper and cheaper. Here’s a potential solution.
Laying a Hedge with ‘dead hedge’ and woodchips rather than a bonfire
The first time I watched a hedge being laid was way back in the day. I vividly remember the enormous bonfire that followed, as the contractors burnt all the brash – with a little help from a can of diesel and some pallets. I saw it from Castle Cary, a good three miles away, and I thought the house had gone up. Yikes.
Green light for the UK’s first commons-owned climbing centre
Some exciting news to start the year for climbers and commoners. The UK’s first climbing commons, in Stroud, has finalised a deal with a location in Stroud, and if all goes well, there should be a commons/community-owned climbing centre opening in the summer.
How to track deer and find them in all seasons
Nature Mentoring is a North American site containing a wealth of information on how to discover simple methods for exploring the plants, birds, trees & wildlife of your natural landscape. Deer tracking is one of the great thrills of exploring the outdoors for many nature lovers like myself. The ability to find deer on a …
Commoning the flax/textile industry: Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services
I’m talking with Dil Green of Mutual Credit Services, who design models for building the commons in all sectors of the economy. Today we’re talking about building a textile commons around the flax / linen industry.
Darren Allen on civilisational collapse
There’s a debate about whether humans are in a ‘collapse era’. Here’s one of our favourite authors, Darren Allen’s take.
An amateur winemaker’s calendar
Amateur winemakers are not a uniform bunch. We are diverse and unconstrained by market forces or labeling laws, or much of any legal prohibition except good common sense.
Feb 2025 news from the commons movement in Stroud & Liverpool
This is the first monthly news update for what’s happening in the budding commons movement in Stroud and Liverpool, plus Mutual Credit Services and our partners and friends around the UK and the world.
Grow your own flowers to avoid the environmental horrors of the global flower industry
See our flower growing topic for tips on growing your own flowers; and see below for the problems associated with the flower industry, that you’ll avoid. The global flower production industry (the floricultural industry) is worth approximately €64.5 billion and is typically limited to socioeconomically developed countries such as the US and European countries. The …
Does foraging damage the countryside?
Andy Hamilton – ex of Self-sufficientish has written books on foraging, and his new book New Wild Order is out now. Here’s his take on whether foraging is bad for the countryside and wildlife: