Steve Furlong

The simplest ideas are always the best it seems! A cat version of that digester might be worth a go, although it might work a bit differently when there's a load of wood shavings and urine included. There's an experiment worth taking on.

A simple knife can be a hugely versatile tool if it's well-made and maintained.

Sounds unpleasant in theory, but it works! I don't know what kind of wood the shavings are from, but they're sold in big bales as horse bedding so some kind of softwood I'd assume. It works much better than the grit - absorbs odour at least as well, doesn't get stuck to their paws, and of course it's biodegradable. But what we're doing so far is piling it into the bin and sending it off to landfill, as we're not too comfortable with having a pile of cat waste down the bottom of the garden. Can anyone suggest a way around this? Bin collection here costs 9.50 a pop, ouch!

(I know there are some people who say that a cat should be either permanently indoors or outdoors, and not both at the same time, but there are some fairly dangerous animals around here that a kitten could neither fight or run from, so we keep them in at night.)

Beyond a bucket under the sink, that is. Has anyone got some ideas that don't involve drilling holes in the wall or putting permanent fixtures in the garden?

In case anyone's around: Gathering info.

The official Gathering website is down right now, but it's usually at permaculturegathering.com

What's an ENTJ?

I was just wondering this, as I'm under the impression that it's something people have gravitated towards or arrived at under a wide variety of circumstances.

For me, it was the realisation that the current global trade system, aside from being massively destructive on all levels, is not something we can rely on for long. So we need to take care of ourselves and our communities in the least resource-heavy ways we can, and to plan for the long term too. As in, centuries ahead.

As well as that, I'm partial to anything that means you can gain more for less effort.

There's an old house not far from me, now derelict unfortunately, where loads of little pieces of variously coloured glass were embedded in the plaster as a decorative feature. I'll try to get a photo up.

Swords is in north Dublin, on the opposite side of the country. I was there before, but nothing about it sticks in my memory too well.