David Smith
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davidsmithartist.bsky.social
David Smith
@davidsmithartist.bsky.social
150 followers 190 following 290 posts
Visual artist with an interest in wildlife (especially solitary bees), ecology and growing food. Based in beautiful West Dorset, near the Jurassic Coast.
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The borlotti beans have dried beautifully, and beautiful they are.
#GrowYourOwnFood #NoDig #organic #RealFood #NoPesticides
It's good that people are starting to talk about the issue.
WTF! Nuclear is not the solution. It's an expensive and dangerous distraction. Along with bonkers ideas about carbon capture and storage, Starmer's New Tory Zionist Party has really lost the plot.
www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....
UK and US unveil nuclear energy deal ahead of Trump visit - BBC News
Key among the plans is a proposal to build up to 12 advanced modular nuclear reactors in Hartlepool.
www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org
Our borlotti beans are drying nicely. They're not quite as big or bountiful as two years ago, but they are certainly as beautiful. I love the Dutch name of this variety, Stokkievitsboon, which means pole lapwing beans, named for the similarity of the patterns on the beans to lapwing eggs.
The comings and goings of the rookery at the top of our street is a daily source of joy for me, lifting my heart and making me smile and laugh. They do little harm and far more good to farmland. I can't understand why people want to shoot them. They offer poor sport and poorer eating.
A pretty good opinion it is too!
Thank you. They are aren't they? Packing them into jars takes ages while I just stare at their wonderful forms 😀
Homemade tomato soup. A scrummy lunch with some to go in the freezer. Heinz tomato soup has 14 ingredients, this has 4. The tinned stuff isn't too bad: no artificial colours or preservatives. Heinz is cream of tomato so it has milk products. Mine is tomato and basil, plus a little onion and EVOO.
Madly dehydrating tomatoes to preserve the taste of Summer's bounty through till we can eat fresh again. (We don't buy tomatoes any more.) Such beautiful and nutrient dense things.
#tomatoes #preserving #dehydrating #GrowYourOwnFood #RealFood #organic #unsprayed #NoChemicals #NoPesticides #NoDig
Reposted by David Smith
There’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt.

This is simply false.

- UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh
- panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
It's nice to bring the sunshine inside. It's getting blowy outside and the Sunflowers are very tall this year, so I thought it necessary to harvest some. They do look great next to our beloved Carry Akroyd hare painting!
#GrowYourOwnFlowers #sunflowers
Whose is this? I find it difficult not to pick up feathers. I'm not sure from whom this one comes that I found in the garden today.
It's farming methods and capitalism that's causing the problems, there's plenty of food for everyone if we take profiteers out of the picture, which needs to happen if we are going to deal with climate change and the water crisis.
My organic garden, and most UK allotments have higher yields per m² than the average farm. Then there's the loss of wildlife, poisoned rivers, cancer-causing sprays.
Maybe that's a story we have all been told by the chemical companies? It's a very complex picture, and it depends a lot on how things are measured, and what counts as better yields. Chemically-fed land trails off then decreases in yields, ending up as damaged soil.
It's that time again, time to save the sweetness and bounty of summer to take into winter. Dehydrating tomatoes: we like to call them sun-dried because we try to make sure our solar panels are producing the power to preserve them.
#GrowYourOwnFood #dehydrating #HomePreserving #Organic #NoChemicals
I have no idea from what bird they came, but I fear he or she did not make it to a safe space. I wrote about it, a poem I guess, but I'm lacking in the energy and ambition to find where it is. (Those who know how my mind works will have spotted an allusion to Laurie Anderson popped in there!)
Last night I was looking through my last sketchbook and found this little trio of tiny feathers taped in with Magic Tape. I had found them in the garden, I remember exactly where, and stopped what I was doing to carry this treasure of beauty to a safe space.