THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Chelmsford City Times
Director of Modern Mint, Darren Lerigo, is the new business writer for Chelmsford The City Times. To read his first article …
Ken Thompson, Botanist
We are big fans of the botanist and author Ken Thompson, who was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. Ken Thompson – His Books Make Learning Fun His books are accessible, fun and full of information. Which makes for pretty good reading. What they do best though, is introduce you to ideas that you will be inspired by and interested in discovering more about. So below we share some examples of Ken Thompson’s words with you, from two of his books – No Nettles Required: The Reassuring Truth About Wildlife Gardening Do We Need Pandas?: The Uncomfortable …
I Am A Genius vs I Have A Genius
This video is a Ted talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything She asks how are you supposed to create something if you fear the paralysis that comes from knowing you will be judged on it? In the days of the Renaissance the individual became the supreme artist/creator – and so began to rise the idea of the tortured writer and the artistic ego. But before that the Greeks believed ‘daemons’ helped them in the creative act. This disembodied figure released the trepidation felt at producing something and being criticised (or lauded) for it… no tormented genius needed, …
Lauriston Farm, A Biodynamic Farm in Essex
A few weeks ago Modern Mint took a trip to Goldhanger in Essex, to see Spencer Christie who farms Lauriston Farm. Lauriston Farm is run biodynamically – which in simple terms (in incredibly simple terms!) means the gardener or farmer takes account of an intricate web of relationships that can influence life on earth and tries to work with or guide it in a beneficial way. Beneficial for the soil, the animals, the plants and ourselves. We have come across biodynamic growers before, most notably Beatrice Krehl the head gardener at Waltham Place, began to tend the vegetable garden biodynamically for Strilli …