CAT's In The Cradle

The first beetroot

The seven of us stood silently in the abandoned quarry. There was no birdsong. Stillness reigned. The words of a poem just recited that spoke of the awful reaches of time that these rocks had existed still fizzed amongst the synapses of our brains. The sheer slate cliffs towered around us, our collective weight adding nothing to the enormous pile of fragments under our feet. Birch, rowan, laurel and fir were recapturing the landscape, slowly reverting the barren gash in the earth back into a biodiverse woodland.

The first carrot

Forty years ago a few hippies had arrived here, fifteen years or so after the slate mining operation had been shut down (it was uneconomic, the slate wasn't as good as the stuff further north).  They somehow won planning permission to start a community that aimed to generate its own energy needs using new-fangled technology such as wind turbines and solar heating. Locals were bemused, not that long ago having got used to dependable mains-supplied electricity. The hairy idealistic pioneers were way ahead of their time. The Centre For Alternative Technology (CAT) was born.

The first cabbages

In 2014 it is still here, showcasing renewable technologies that have since become, or are becoming, mainstream. No longer a community but remaining a place of education, it offers a whole suite of courses in hydro, solar, wind, and sustainable building techniques, as well as being a day out for the holidaymakers to drag their kids around. A new CEO was brought in this year, previously the deputy leader of the Green Party, and the hope is that he can point CAT in the right direction as my sources tell me that in recent years it has got bogged down in financial difficulties and been suffering from a lack of vision. 



The first runner beans, being sorted into 250g portions



Still, on this sunny 40^th birthday celebration, the place was busy and full of things to see and do. The current leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett,  gave an inspiring talk. A documentary capturing the views of local people about the site, mixed in with archive footage of the early days, was fascinating, particularly as some of the people in the room watching it were those very same pioneers from forty years ago. And ours was the first group ever to be officially allowed into the old quarry, venturing with hard hats through a narrow tunnel over disused rail tracks to emerge blinking into the peaceful wooded sanctuary.

The first ripening tomato, finally!

Back in my own wooded sanctuary, the first summer cabbages have been harvested and sold to the veg bag scheme, nice big green heads. The first fat knobbly cucumbers have been picked. The first tomato has finally ripened. The french beans are now supplementing my meals. The runner beans are just now becoming big enough to consider eating. Some of the beetroot at least have swollen to a decent size. Courgettes are coming thick and fast. And on Monday, my phone network jolted back into action after nearly a fortnight's rest, so I'm no longer quite so uncontactable! It's all happening here in mid Wales.

A dinner made almost entirely from my own veg - courgette, potato, french bean, beetroot, lettuce, beetroot tops.
Just a tin of tomatoes, an onion, a bit of blueberry balsamic vinegar and some harissa sauce was added.