Category: Uncategorized

Initially when I was asked to write something for the Dirties blog I wanted it to be happy and cheerful, as the day of the project is a date associated with a couple of celebrations! It was both the national day of Wales (Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant!) and in Bulgaria (my home country) it is the day in which people celebrate the beginning of the spring with the traditional ‘Martenitsi’.  I’d like to write something cheerful, so you’ll know about the wonderful sunny day we had in the morning and for most of lunch…maybe I’d share with you tales about the magical beauty of the Inzievar woods and the lucky fact that some people from the team even saw deer on the way back! I’m sure you’d delight at the knowledge that Ellie made delicious Welsh cakes and to learn that one of the reasons why I love the Dirty Weekenders is the lunches we share together because it’s a thing I really miss from home…

It’s is in this paragraph where I would endeavour to tell these happy tales. Alas, had it not been for a young man in the courtyard of my accommodation. The young man in question keeps rolling a glass bottle over and over, and over again, reminding me of the rubbish we gathered from Inzievar. For a short time we collected dozens of fully recyclable aluminium cans, many glass bottles (again recyclable), some plastic bags, a fuel container and even a traffic cone! And as I wonder what is the logic behind the action of littering I remember the numerous reports of streams left uninhabitable due to pollution with poisonous compounds (or maybe not even poisonous, the non-degradable synthetic soaps are sufficient to block gas exchange and leave stream waters saturated with CO₂), cigarette butts discovered in the stomachs of young birds, or wild animals stuck in man-made objects which do not belong to forests.

I see that Dirties’ projects really make a positive difference in the environment – for instance we uncovered, beneath the chopped rhododendrons, a young fir trees which will grow and provide shelter to birds. We also removed all of the potentially dangerous visible pollutants we could see – these actions will make a positive difference.

However, it would be even nicer if more people, especially students, know that their actions do make a difference and there is no better place for a used glass bottle than the recycling bin.

So hey you, man outside! Recycle that bottle straight away!

Emiliya

Roslin Glen – jewel of the North Esk river! An old favourite of the Dirty Weekenders and indeed myself.

Wind and rain accompanied our walk from the bus stop, but the shelter of the glen made for an enjoyable day nonetheless. For me the day’s work began with the gritting of paths, which lead one through what was once the largest gunpowder mill in Scotland. Said paths lead down the gorge to the weir and old wheelhouse, in sight of which the second team was burning brash (having made valiant efforts in lighting wet kindling).

A hearty lunch was provided as ever, with excellent homemade biscuits courtesy of Ms Rodgers.

After lunch, some of us turned our attention to turfing the banks of the drainage ditch, which over the course of several visits to the glen I have come to regard as an old friend. Since our last visit, the intersection of path and ditch has been fortified, and over the course of an hour or so several portions of turf were added to the banks. For a precious few minutes, neat square turfs were dug, but alas our enthusiasm waned and the remainder were somewhat irregular in shape.

I fear I must now be called an ex-member of the society (one of the fabled “Warty Deadenders”) but the visit to Roslin reminded me of the shear joy of being outdoors and the reward in contributing to the maintenance of our precious remaining woodland.

~ Matt (former Society Secretary and Social Secretary)

pics thanks to John

As well as the normal Sunday project this week; we managed to get our dirty hands on a generous grant from The University of Edinburgh’s “Innovative Learning Week” fund. With this money we joined forces with Volunteer Midlothian to put on a special Wednesday project.

Cyclists cycled (mostly), the minibus trundled and the public bus chugged out of Edinburgh to meet the glorious Spring Sun, a sneaky wheelbarrow also managed to hitch a lift.

We converged on Vogrie Country Park. Some set to work digging over a new veggie bed, finding golden nuggets as they went (potatoes), others dug post holes, and yet more painted the posts. We introduced some new faces to the Dirties sandwich and the organised brutality of Ratchet-Screwdriver, both of which were surprisingly well-received. After lunch we resumed with more of the same as well as mulching paths and sinking the posts with “post-crete”.

By the end of the day, the allotment looked strikingly different, all geometric patterns and mountains of hard-earned soil. Wind-beaten, tired, smiling faces made their way back into the city, from the minibus we saw evidence of our last project, stripping ivy at Dalkeith, which was a lovely chance to show off!

Credit to John for post & pics 🙂