Greening Up

2009-09-14T18:50:00.008Z

Wee Willie Winkie......

Today during my daily visit to my lottie, I had a senior moment. It's a bit of a worry, but I'll share it with you because I reckon the ol' grey matter occasionally starts to get a bit dodgy for a few people my age and hopefully you'll be able to identify with such a daft act - please nod sympathetically otherwise. I always have loads of things swimming around in my head. Lists of stuff to do, people to see, things to cook,seeds to sow, weeding, the next meal to plan out etc,. So much so, I forgot to switch my slippers for my wellies and trudged happily and comfortably to my veg patch. What am I like? Oh well, at least my feet were kept warm. A real 'Wiltshire Wee Wilamena Winkie' - but without my nightcap and dressing gown! Now that would have worried me.

One thing I haven't forgotten is that the nights are closing in and there are just 102 days until that mad over indulgent date of December 25. I know....you're sitting there stunned at your PC thinking, 'why did she ever bring up that subject NOW, it's only September for goodness sake?' Like all Girl Guides....it's best to be prepared. By prepared I mean, all sorted out for nice little gifts that are homemade to give to your nearest and dearest for pressies that will show just how much you care.

So what to do? Edible presents are my favourite make. If you've got a glut of veg from your allotment or veg garden it's chutney and pickling time folks. Courgette chutney, green bean relish and date and apple chutney, all delicious and just ready in a couple of months for Yuletide. Make a batch of biscuits for cheese to go with them nearer the time and you've a gift and a half! (recipes coming soon)

Or how about a gift voucher entitling the bearer to a delicious home cooked nosh at your pad in January, when NOTHING is going on.(isn't January the dullest time of the year?) In fact, any kind of thing you can offer - even a house clean! Just the once mind....don't let your friends think this is an on going gift.

Now is the time to make fruit cakes too. Make small ones using tin cans as the cooking tin, store and feed with brandy every month. Then decorate a few days before Christmas. Time consuming....not really, compare that to trudging the streets or scanning the internet for gifts that people don't really need or will probably never use. Cake will always be eaten!

So, are you inspired to get cracking on something now, and avoid the worry later of giving a little something for the Season of Goodwill? Presents needn't be expensive electronic items, smellies that smell, well - SMELLY and gadgets the recipient will never lay their hands on. Small is beautiful and homemade is a joy to give and receive.

2009-08-31T11:22:00.005Z

The wanderer returns...again.

So, eight months have gone by. Have I been sat here twiddling my thumbs? Nope, don't think so. It's been an exciting time in the Wilds of Wiltshire as I have been tending to my new baby. No....not the human kind - my new allotment.

We've been digging, sowing, weeding and growing, picking, freezing and pickling our harvests. At the beginning of the year we were given some land in our village for allotments, by the Parish Council. We sent some pleading letters last year to ask for some and the whinging paid off. It started with a grassy field and after a weekend of incredibly hard graft, we have 36 little plots, all taken and tended. It's been such a boost to the community and we've met people from the village we hadn't seen or spoken to before.

I go there most days to check out how things are coming along, de-caterpillar the greens, weed the areas and harvest the lastest delicious veg that is ready to pick, dig or cut. It's a great place to think about nothing but which weed I'm gonna dig up next.

Pests have been something that has been an on going chore to get rid of. Today it was the revenge of the caterpillars. Hundreds of the little blighters happily munching away on my hard work. This is quite amazing as we'd netted all of the greens. Butterflies are crafty insects and seem to crawl under nets or gently sit on top of them and deposit a couple of hundred eggs on one leaf that's just touching the net. Still it keeps us on the ball!

I'll be adding some of my latest receeeps here to show you that I haven't been snoozing on the sofa or lazing in the sun (ha ha ha - or should that be in my wetsuit) over the past few months.

Here's the link to The National Society Of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners.

http://www.nsalg.org.uk/

2009-01-21T17:27:00.005Z

Taking the biscuit.....

Yep, it's biccie time again. You know me....I love a good biccie to go with a cuppa. I am having to be quite good with the ol' calorie intake at this time of year, but a treat never scuppered a diet in my world. Your body needs a little 'extra' sometimes and with all this cold weather, I'm sure a homemade 'norty' cookie once in a while never killed anyone. I'm living proof that it probably doesn't do much harm.

That alone, my kids always need something to scoff when they arrive in from school starving after a hard days graft of painting, reading, writing, playing out in the fresh air and really concentrating on 'maffs', as I call it. A young brain needs to be fed! Serious kitchen cupboard raiding happens at about 3.30 with calls of 'I'm hungry, what is there to eat? Well, you can't go wrong with a mum's own lovely made biscuit. I know what's gone into it and that makes me happy. OK enough of my nattering, here's another New Leaf favourite, laden with calories,wholemeal flour, sugar and oats. GREAT!

Melting Moments (from my ancient tatty Cranks recipe book)

Butter or margarine 150g
Raw brown sugar 75g
Vanilla essence 1/2tsp or a sachet of vanilla sugar if you are luck enough to have one from France!
Beaten egg 1 tablespoon (I didn't use this)
100% Wholemeal flour 100g
Porridge oats 25g
Extra porridge oats to coat.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence. If you are using a sachet of vanilla sugar, just put it in with the butter and other sugar. Work in the flour and oats. Form into balls the size of a walnut, and coat with the rolled oats. (Place them on a plate and roll the cookie balls in it. Flatten slightly and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 -20 mins until golden at Gas Mark 4, 350F or 180C. Cool slightly before transferring to a cooling tray.

Voila, delicious biscuits all ready and waiting for the cookie monsters to arrive home!

2009-01-10T11:20:00.005Z

Hopeless of Wiltshire Returns.....

Actually I am downing myself here...I have nothing to be ashamed about. REALLY. Do you wanna know what I've been doing, do ya, do ya?

I've been living it up downshifter stylie. It's kind of good that I haven't been here to report my greening upiness over the past few months. I think it's sort of encouraging that I haven't been tapping out my waffle, but out and about doing STUFF!

Life in the New Leaf household has been one of cooking, eating, sniffing out the latest bargains. (aren't we all) and enjoying everyday as it comes.

One of my latest 'find's' was an organic farm not five miles from me who do a veggie box delivery. I can't believe I have missed out on them for all this time since I 've been here.

'SO?' I hear you say. Well, this farm only delivers what it grows seasonally. How fab is that? Real food, local as you like and I'd say pretty darn good. At the moment they are providing cabbages, onions, swede, rocket, parsley, carrots, spuds, the most excellent shallots ever, parsnips and kale. It all tastes divine, is delivered as fresh as you like and to top it all they do CHICKENS! Organic, freerange chooks that cook up a treat and are to die for. (actually, they've died for our dinner - sorry chickens, but you taste great)

I can't praise these guys/gals at the farm more highly for a service that's fantastic.

I didn't get my cabbage this week, you want to know why? They didn't forget.....it was due to the incredble frosts we've had and they couldn't get the beggars out of the ground. It's only life...I'll live. I'll miss the beauts this week, that they send me on a regular basis, but lets see what the weather holds for us and I may get lucky with the next delivery!

I've also been scurrying around building a new work from home business, baking for England (and my family) and sorting out all the necessary stuff for our new allotments that we've wangled out of the Parish Council. More on that SOON!

2008-08-29T10:35:00.005Z

Getting meself into a right pickle....

I know, I know....it's a sham, I've not written anything for ages. This is because I've been busy....yeah you know that word quite well, I'm sure. It's been a nice sort of busy though. Not the stress bunny kind of stuff. It's been looking after my lot, visiting my mum in France and making all the nice things that I do, when I am at home for my gannets to eat. Most recently, I've had the land of the giants to sort out at the lottie. It's that courgettey time of year when those little (or rather huge) monster veg grow tenfold by night. It's not that I even looked after them. I treated them really badly, but still they came up trumps and made us many a meal....yeah, there's some stashed in the freezer too. The other day, I had to do something about the three humungous courgettes sitting outside on my garden table. They'd been there a week or two with me having the best intentions of making them into chutney. Well their time had come and they got the chop. I've made some great Courgette Chutney from a recipe of Hugh Fernley Whittingstalls ('The Hairy One' as he's affectionately known in my little circle of HFW fans) Goodness, I'd love to get a brush through those locks and spruce him up a little on the barnet front. So thanks to him, I now have a mass of jam jars in my cupboard full of the most delicious pickle, sitting there maturing until the festive season and beyond. Watch out friends....it's your xmas pressie. I may even chuck in a chunk of cheese for goodwill!

OK Here's the recipe courtesy of our friend in Dorset.

Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's Courgette Glutney

1kg courgettes chopped up into small pieces, peel them if they are 'bigguns'.

1kg red or green tomatoes, scalded, skinned and roughly chopped.

(the first lot I made had fresh red toms, but in desperation and lack of any fresh ones I chucked in two tins of chopped peeled toms. Shhh...don't say a word.)

1kg cooking or eating apples, peeled and diced

500g onions, peeled and diced

500g sultanas or raisins

500g light brown sugar

750ml white-wine or cider vinegar, made up to 1 litre with water

1-3 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tsp salt

For the spice bag

1 thumb-sized nugget of fresh or dried ginger, roughly chopped

12 cloves

12 black peppercorns

1 (generous) tsp coriander seeds

A few blades of mace (I didn't have any of these!)

Put the vegetables and fruit in a large, heavy-based pan with the sultanas or raisins, sugar, vinegar and water, chilli flakes and salt.

Make up the spice bag by tying all the spices in a square of muslin or cotton. Add the spice bag to the pan, pushing it into the middle.

Heat the mixture gently, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar, and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 hours, uncovered, stirring regularly to ensure it does not burn on the bottom of the pan. The chutney is ready when it is rich, thick and reduced, and parts to reveal the base of the pan when a wooden spoon is dragged through it. If it starts to dry out before this stage is reached, add a little boiling water.

Pot up the chutney while still warm (but not boiling hot) in sterilised jars with plastic-coated screw-top lids (essential to stop the vinegar interacting with the metal). Leave to mature for at least two weeks - ideally two months - before serving.' ·

I have to say the first lot of chutney I made has been broken into already and it tasted wonderful with a chunk of freshly made bread and a lump of tasty cheddar. I have made wholemeal biscuits for cheese, which are ace with this pickle, but I'll save that recipe for another time.

2008-07-21T16:09:00.003Z

Wot A Waste....

Hello, I'm back shortly to report this.

A good friend sent me this link about food wastage in this country. Not to mention all the packaging! This is food recyling at it's best....well I think it is.

Here

It's quite amazing just how much the supermarkets throw out, why don't they at least give it to their staff? Just get them to sign a disclaimer if they are so paranoid about poisoning someone! This just shows what a wasteful society we are. I'd certainly take it home with me if I worked there - probably by the car load! Or at the very least give it to homeless shelters to make a quick delicious meal for someone who really needed it. Most of the food chucked out in the above film was out of date on that very day. Just how many of us use food out of date? I certainly do and no one died in my household!

2008-06-25T20:45:00.008Z

This has to be the story of the year for me!

Right...you listening out there? The Book Of Rubbish Ideas will be published by the beginning of September written by my great friend Tracey Smith

I say great...she really is.

Even better (biggin' meself up here people)......I'm in it.

Self promotion? A very small yes and an even bigger NO. The book is a revelation. Read it and be totally inspired. You don't have to be so green it hurts, but it will give you some great advice on how to green up your life and all that surrounds you. You don't' have to be a purist.....you don't have to go all the way....just do your 'bit' and feel better for you, your life, your family and ultimately the PLANET!

Tracey has worked so hard over the last few months to share all her incredible knowledge on downshifting and sustainable living that she's experienced and learnt over a number of years. You'll be inspired by her feel good ideas and gentle process into Eco living. It's written in a witty, intelligent and easy to follow way...you'll be reading it all day, all the way through, without stopping for a cake and coffee in between. Yeah....it's that good.

You can pre-order the Book Of Rubbish Ideas HERE.

And if you'd like to WIN a dedicated signed copy watch this space.....I have one up for grabs very soon!

2008-06-25T20:25:00.005Z

Thought I'd left the planet?.............dream on!

I know, I know....a whole month without a sniff of New Leaf posting her usual drivvel on being a green bird etc. Well, I've been busy!

And you've been muttering......just how busy have you been bird?

See.....I've been growing stuff on my lottie and keeping a loving eye on it too. I have the most amazing courgette plants churning out veg like no tomorrow. Just 8 plants giving it their all to provide us with lots of produce and many interesting meals.

With that in mind I am going to share a nice little soup recipe made from left overs and courgettes - of course.

This is totally delicious, light and perfect for using many 'zchetties'. Have a soup party and invite everyone in your neighbourhood!

Basic recipe:

Onions chopped
Courgettes chopped
Red peppers also ....chopped
Veg stock
Water
A couple of potatoes...yep chopped
Fresh herbs cut and ready to sprinkle on your creation.

By saying basic, I mean use yer loaf on the amounts of each ingredient. I am a 'handful' cook. A handful of this and a handful of that, but an onion or two chopped, 4 chopped courgettes, one red pepper, two tsps of veg stock powder, two med spuds peeled and chopped, a pint and a half of water, salt and pepper to taste.

Fry chopped onions in butter/olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients, cook until tender and whizz up with a hand blender. Snip up a mixture of herbs - parsley, coriander, rocket, chives and add to your soup bowl. Serve with freshly baked bread and butter.

You can't go wrong!

2008-05-22T08:11:00.006Z

It's time to get....... NAKED!!!

Isn't it good to stumble upon something? I stumble and trip around a lot......but this was for the better, with no grazed knees!

Whilst looking for a website of kids bathtime washing stuff, that I had not saved to favourites,(a bad habit of mine...why I don't remember to click just one button is beyond me) I came across this great company called NAKED . How come I never saw them before? Who knows?

I have been gradually changing my bathroom toiletries to SLS and Paraben free over the past couple of years. That and my cleaning products, which have been a little easier to get hold of. It's not always easy to find body cleaning stuff that are not loaded with all sorts of not so good chemicals for cleaning your bod with and are sensibly priced too. (you know me and a bargain ~ we live hand in hand)

Naked body washes, foam bath soaks, face masks, body creams and face scrubs are just the ticket They smell wonderful, do what they say on the bottle, SLS and paraben free and all within my budget. They are striving to source all their ingredients within the UK and whack it all in recycled packaging. I was so impressed by the stuff I ordered, I got some for my mum's birthday and sent them off to France. (yeah, yeah I know, carbon footprint and all that....but sometimes things are so fab you have to share the secret and send them anywhere!) Don't tell the old dear, but I nearly kept the Manuka Hand Cream as it smelt so good.

No.....this company haven't paid me, lured me with gifts, begged me to write about them........I went creeping to them to ask them for a photo to add to my blog and they took the time to reply to me and sent the photo above, probably the poshest image I have on here! I am just impressed with what they have to offer.

All I want them to do now is invent something wonderful to moisturise my face with. I hope it's in the pipeline. I'm still on the hunt for something nice to whack on my skin to keep it from looking like a piece of sundried leather. I am beginning to look like an old prune ~ all be a squeaky clean prune. If I have wrinkles at least they should be moisturised happy ones!

2008-05-12T07:31:00.008Z

I say tomato, you say to- mate- o.....

More like too many-toes....I have a LOT of plants!

In the dash to get just a few things put in at our little patch of land up the road and around the corner, me and my mate had a bit of an over zealous planting spree.

Resulto....enough tommy plants to open a small garden centre.

Well, at least we can spread them around, some here some there and some to give away, or flog at one of the village sales coming up.

We also have 55+ sunflowers to deal with, I am sure we could set up an oil refinery with the amount of flowers we have too. They will look stunning towering above us as we toil away, keeping the pesky weeds at bay.

Things are looking good at our little patch. We have French beans, spring onions, beetroot, (which SJ hates, but I am going to try and convert her with my many delicious recipes, I have up my sleeve) courgettes and carrots. We also have a sizable chunk of rhubarb that my aunt dug out for us. It's thriving. I am sure by the look of the courgette plants that we are going to have a bumper crop. Lucky we both like them and all the delicious things you can make with the huge amounts we are likely to get. We were musing about how we were going to have to find freezer space elsewhere to store the overflow of ratatouille meals in.

It's really encouraging to see the overgrown area that we had, transform into something we can be proud of in such a short time. We usually take the boys (large and small ones) to help out. Digging did cause some concern, as a battle of witts with land and tool hogging went on for a while,from the shorter members of the contingency. So much space and they want the same 10cm patch to churn up! Peace has now thankfully reigned and watering has been quite a hit. The secret is to have MANY watering cans, so no one gets left out!

If you are still having trouble in finding an allotment (they are becoming as rare as hens teeth, with the greed of major house building going on these days) lobby your parish or local council. We are hoping for replacement allotments to make a come back in our village after the old ones were built on about 20 years ago. Have a look at the link below to see how you can try and get one in your area.

National Society of Allotments

Good luck!

2008-05-01T11:58:00.004Z

Ooooh Suits You Sir!

Kids.......they are the optimum challenge and me being the super duper mum that I am has risen and conquered the latest one thrown at me. I'm positively brimming with smugness to be honest!

Whilst in town today, I get a text message from my son at school. 'I nd a suit for my yr 11 dinner on Sat, cn u get me one, soz x'. Text speak. I hate it.

So here I am standing in the street thinking 'Yeah right'.....like, just a day or so to find one, no pressure then?. He won't be coming home until Friday night and I have to sort one out.

Quick thinking, I start racking my brain for just where I am going to acquire a skinny little tux for a whippet sized teenager, at such short notice. I have one hours free parking. Mission Impossible, eat yer heart out.

There's only one place to start............and that's the charity shops. I start trolling through the first two. Not my favourite ones, but they are on the way to my 'regular' charity shop. No luck in those two. Mmmm....I find my way down to it and it's jumping. Market day is always busy in town. I squeeze myself down the narrow aisles of bargain hunters to the DJ section. There's a few, I am heartened, but there seems to be nothing in the sylph like sizes. I nip to the back of the shop where there is an extremely kind lady who helps me out. On raking through the wodge of DJ's they have she comes up trumps. Oh joy....a perfect tux set for 35 quid. I try the jacket on as a rough guide, my son is taller than me, wider on the shoulders, skinnier on the waist, but I am confident it will fit. Virtually new, cheaper than hiring and she throws in a dickie bow for free, along with a nice wooden hanger and suit cover. How about that? And...if it's not exactly the right size and doesn't fit (oh please God lets hope it's perfect!) she'll refund my money on Saturday morning.

Tah da!

2008-04-30T08:03:00.005Z

Make room for less brrrrrum!

Blimey oh Riley....if it ain't yer nosh bill going up at a scary rate on a weekly pace, it's the rocketing cost of the ol' go juice.

Crikey, I've really noticed it, even in my poxy little 1.1 'er that I've recently downshifted to. These days I am filling up on a fortnightly basis with the princely sum of 20 quid. Every time I pull up on the pumps, hey presto the pence per litre has gone up at least 2p! If they sold petrol in nice old fashioned gallons you'd notice the price hike even more. It's bonkers.....especially as the oil giants have been making oodles of profit in the last three months. They're alright Jack.

There is one good thing that I can console myself with ~ the fact that for a number of years, I've been cutting back on virtually everything in my life. Having to cut back even more isn't going to be such a terrible shock. It's not nice, but less of a punch on the nose than it could be!

Anyhow, I'm now planning even harder to reduce my fuel consumption and making my trips out and about etc even more worthwhile and fuel saving. I am trying to do a 'town' day within my week to see if I can make the 'go stuff' go further. I'm hoping to get all the jobs I need to do, groceries I need to get in one fell swoop. (I'll probably be even more shocked by the jump in cost next time I fill up!)

I mean, just who is kidding themselves in those high places in the big smoke, that inflation is running at 4% or so? I have to laugh at their ignorance/arrogance/ blatant lies or I'd be filling up my boots with hysterical tears of despair. Anyway...'nuf of the bleating...I can't leave the country/planet,(imagine the fuel costs into space?) I'm far too brassic, but Mars is looking pretty inviting at the moment. Chin up countrymen and at least smile....we're breathing today aren't we?

I found a useful website Petrol Prices that can find you the cheapest fuel in your area. Not exactly the B all and end all of answers to cheaper fuel, but it may help. It's a useful place to find information on motoring and getting the best out of yer wheels.

In the meantime, I'm off to enjoy the day, smile and eat some freshly baked melting moments. I'm gonna stuff my face with the delights of my kitchen and forget the greedy business of the outside world!

2008-04-21T20:19:00.007Z

Get Peddlin'!

With our youngest son's birthday coming up in a few weeks time, we thought we'd treat the little fella with a brand new bike. (he's had a 20 quid second hand one for sometime now and he's grown out it) I really should stop feeding him all that good food and hopefully the next bike will last longer! My son's both love their peddling about the village, so encouraging them to use their bikes is a good step in the right direction for future short haul travel. My other half, a cycle mad type bloke, has been searching on his most favourite 'cycle anoracks' website for a new and suitable bike for our little cherub. Whilst scanning through the oodles of pages on the site, he came across some info on RIDE 2 WORK
(yeah he got distracted ~ but this was a good find!)

Now, I don't need to ride to work, as I do my work from home, but I thought what a great idea if you don't work a million miles away from your house? These days, my husband works 23 miles away, which is a bit of a problem.(hence us doing our bit by downshifting our 2 motors to smaller cars this year to save on fuel etc). One down, one to go. He used to cycle 16 miles to work and then back again after a 12-14 hour shift at the ambulance station. Boy, he was mighty fit and incredibly slender! But now at nearly a 50 mile round trip per day, that's asking a bit too much of him, me thinks. If you have a do~able ride to work, it may be worth thinking about.

I thought that I'd share the info on the Ride 2 Work scheme as it's got a great incentive of a nice discount on having to buy the whole kit you'd need in order to cycle to work. Bike, helmet, gloves, rain gear...yeah...rain gear! Still, it's a great idea.

Now...I really must show willing and get my wheels out, to enjoy the countryside around us, Spring is surely here by now?!

2008-04-17T18:23:00.005Z

Where's the beef?

With the cost of food in general hitting the roof ~ how about a few more veggies on yer plate? You won't fade away, start wearing canvas shoes, or have to go and live in the woods...

Even though we love a bit of meat for our supper, we don't go overboard on it.

I do enjoy the weekly or more often now, fortnightly visit to my local butchers. I have a bit of a 'jaw' about life in general with the fellas there. They are always cheery and provide service with a smile. (along with a huge knife in their hands!) I usually get a free range chicken, pork chops or some steak and kidney or what have you. I admit it's not organic, but it is local.

They don't do plastic trays of meat, looking pristine and shiny. They have a big table with huge bits of fresh meat being prepared. You ask for what you want and they cut it, trim it, de-bone it, straight from the carcass. I think if most people these day saw just how it gets butchered, I think it would open their eyes.What the majority of folks see, is the ultra neat piece of meat sitting in a tray on a supermarket shelf. I like my visits to be honest. Call me whatever, but I was a vegetarian for more than 20 years. I gave the ol' chops and stuff up after working in a meat processing plant for about 9 months. That was enough to put me off it for all that time. Processed meat is, well....... just disgusting! I suppose any veggie would say the same about meat in general, which is fair enough.

It was the lure and downfall of many a veggie - the delicious smell of a bacon sizzling under the grill and then whacked into a buttie, that got me back on the meat eating track. I weakened and that was it! Shame on me.

These days I do eat a moderate amount of meat, but most evenings we have a vegetarian dinner. Theres's not a peep about 'where's the beef' at our kitchen table from the family. You can make a delicious supper from vegetables, lentils, cheese or eggs and the whole family will nosh it with relish, without a doubt.

Tonight we had a cheese and lentil wedge, grated celeriac, an easy salad, homemade salad dressing and freshly baked rolls. Simple and delicious.

If you're an avid meat eater, but feeling adventurous, like the idea of eating wonderful, tasty meat free meals, one of the best veggie 'resseep' books you can invest in is The Cranks Recipe Book. It's possibly the best book I have ever possessed for great meat free recipes.My edition is incredibly tatty from over use and incredibly old too. I use it for inspiration every day.

So, you don't have to totally turn to a meat free diet, but you'll notice that your weekly shopping bill won't be as hefty and you'll probably feel better for all those veggies and pulses you're packing in!

2008-04-12T14:24:00.008Z

Pack yer bags....

...........nothing exciting...not pack your bags to go on your holidays, just everyday shopping bags. How do you do yours? Or in this case....you could be lucky enough to have a little Beaver to do it instead.

If you are like me, you'll have a hoard of re-usable bags in a corner, in the boot of your car or under the stairs,(where you nearly always forget to take them out with you when you go shopping). Most of the bags I have are donations from my aunt, so I've been lucky enough not have bought them either! I have taken the step to have mini stashes in lots of places, so there's no excuse to use the dreaded plakky bag. Last week, I had the chance to check out the checkout and see what's going on in the incredible world of shopping bags. Whoo hoo!

On Saturday I went with my youngest son, a little Beaver Scout to pack bags in our local supermarket, to raise funds for their group. I'll not mention the name of the place, as I try not to shop there too much and they might get all haughty with me if I add them to my stay away list of places. I try very hard to avoid it as far as food shopping goes. (I know, I know, it's almost impossible to get everything you need locally without having to step into a supermarket, basically because they've driven most small shops into the ground). I digress...

Me and my mini scout get to our checkout, where he was to pack bags for half an hour for the customers, if they so wish. In return for this good deed and some very wide blue eyed angelic looks, a donation is given. Everyone was incredibly generous, even those who wanted to pack their own bags. Pretty understandable as having your eggs, bread and potatoes being slung in a bag by a 7 year old could be quite painful to watch, especially if the eggs go in first!

It was an interesting 30 minutes ~ I had to help a little as the products were flying through the till like greased lightening, but it gave me a good idea on just how many carrier bags were being used. Surprisingly, it worked out at about 50%. That's pretty good to be honest....I must say that it was the men folk who let the side down a little, with most of them coming in for a few bits and not bringing a bag. (how uncool and unmanly is it to be seen with a shopping bag?) On the whole it was very, very encouraging to see that re-usable bags are on the increase.

Enough from this ol' bag.

2008-04-06T21:27:00.006Z

Insta Supper......

So much for a quiet Sunday....well it was in the big scheme of things. I have my brother coming over for a few days and thought it would be a good idea to get some of my stationery orders out of the way, so that my time is free for him and his son to enjoy a few quiet days in the countryside.

We had quite a few things going on in our household today, me getting my eldest son's clothes ready for his imminent return to school, (which I later find out is not today, but tomorrow!), my better half wallpapering our son's room, me doing a little design work and some bread and cookie baking and my youngest bolting in and out of the house clad in just a T shirt in the snow. Just how do they do the 'I'm warm enough MUM' in temperatures of a little over one degree?

So....after all this going on, I am really not in the mood for cooking. Really me, the bird who is always rustling something up the kitchen? Yeah, I'd really had enough of diddling about being creative.....but I just couldn't help myself.

After a conversation with my mother on the blower today, about the wonderful finger food we'd noshed on in Entrague market in France, I decided to use up some 'end of line' ingredients in my fridge. She'd reminded me of a lovely type of garlicky, spinachy, pancakey thing I'd had when I'd visited there a while back. I had roughly, the kind of ingredients...why not make it a Sunday tea?

Here's what I put in my magi mix and whizzed up into something quite delicious.

Some left over hock meat I'd cooked for dinner on Friday and with the leftovers made pea & ham soup on Saturday for lunch, but there were a few shreds left! (should be minced pork)
1 clove garlic
Half a large onion
A sprinkle of Herbs De Provence, should be parsley (don't get me started on that one....I have a catering jar of it donated by my mother, it goes in everything!)
1 egg
Some milk - enough to make the mixture 'battery'
A couple of oz's of plain flour
A handful of finely shredded 'dead' lettuce (should be spinach)
Salt and Pepper

Whizz that lot up and dollop a couple of tablespoons full into each pile in a frying pan with a little heated olive oil. Cook on both sides for a few minutes and SCOFF!

They really were quite delicious, in fact so good that I didn't get a photo of them. You know I like to add a pic of my creations..............but sadly they went so quickly, I didn't get the chance!

So my little piggy hock costing £1.50 from my local farm butchers made us 3 meals over the weekend. A little imagination, a lot of experimenting and we ended up with some very tasty meals!

2008-04-04T10:33:00.004Z

Splashing out.....

Spring is in the air, I keep telling myself. The weather is getting warmer, well....it's not minus anything on the temperature guage today. This prompted me to go and get myself a couple of new things for my Summer wardrobe. Nope, I won't be flashing the credit cards in the swishest designer boutiques, nor grabbing myself some rediculously high stilleto heels that are impossible walk on, let alone dig an allotment in. Instead, I head...for the good ol' charity shops.

In my nearest shopping place, we have quite a good choice of charity shops, probably more choice than 'proper' clothing shops, but there's plenty of great finds to be sniffed out for a snip of the price. Armed with my cotton shopping bags, I jumped into my nifty, new/old, previously loved mode of transport and hit the town.

Being the thrifty little bird that I am, I always limit myself to 1 hours shopping. Read that folks, as one hours free parking. It's a great way of getting what you want done, without buying a parking ticket and it stops you buying more than you require. You can go on a mission and get the things you need, rather than getting tempted by lots of things that you don't.

So after my searching for a couple of new tops, I have spent the massive total of £5.50 and got myself two lovely items in great conditon, all ready for when the sun comes out.

Check out your local charity shops for your new clothes. You won't end up looking like a scarecrow ~ honest! You can still look great at a fraction of the cost.

2008-03-31T09:12:00.007Z

On yer marks, get set...go!

Here's another mention about Downshifting Week with an easy guide to start your downshifting lifestyle. Let's start with the nosh that you eat. I mean, it's one of the most important part of living! (unless you're wannabe size 0) Here's a snippet of Tracey Smith's great ideas on the food front.

Ditch the pre-packed options and cook from fresh.	There's no doubt about it, you 'can' buy very cheap ready-meals these days, but the nutritional value, the overall quality and the taste cannot be compared to doing it from fresh! If you're short of time, double up the ingredients and freeze half for another meal and be sure to use up leftovers in creative new dishes for the next day; soup offers a great way of getting started with this.
Buy your staples in larger packs.	Pasta, rice and porridge oats are perfect examples and you'll also cut down your shopping trips too. If it's just too much to store in your cupboard, split your bulk buys with a friend or neighbour.
Buy plain packets of cereals and add your own extras.	Bananas, raisins, cranberries, blueberries and more are all easy to store and served with a spoonful of honey, they make breakfast time funky enough to entice children off of other sugary options.
Buy cheaper and tougher cuts of meat and slow cook them.	Slow cookers start from around £20.00 and are a great investment. All the fat will run off and the meat retains it size and is deliciously tender and juicy. You can also use this to make mouthwatering dishes that cook through the day while you're at work, giving you a ready meal when you get home!
Grow perpetual lettuce.	Don't worry if you don't have a garden, just grow them in pots on your windowsill. Simply pluck off the leaves from the outside of the plant (making sure to leave at least 6 in the centre) and it will continue to grow and grow. 8 varied pots of lettuces will feed the family delicious salad every day, throughout the whole summer.
Cultivate a few herbs too, like basil, chives, thyme, rosemary, mint, sage and coriander.	Much better value than buying little packs or dried and you don't need to be green-fingered as they are super-easy to grow. You don't need a garden either for the smaller ones, you can grow them on the windowsill and they'll add great flavour to your home-cooked dishes.
Learn how to make your own dough and you'll never go hungry again.	It's much easier than you think and the basic recipe will allow you to make loaves, rolls, pizza bases, even flatbreads like the ones you use for fajitas. Needless to say, they're better value too and have no unnecessary preservatives or additives. (I teach a class on beginners breadmaking at www.TheMagdalenProject.org.uk)
On that thought, if you are already a bread maker, buy larger sacks of flour from your local baker.	It's far more economical this way! A 16kg sack is about the size of a pillow and not that much of a nuisance to store in the kitchen and you'll do far less shopping trips which will save you money there too. See if you have a flour mill nearby, then you'll be able to add a 'real' local touch!
Buy loose produce, not pre-packed.	Research has shown that in the UK, £10 in every £75 of regular groceries is taken up by packaging, which is an astonishing waste of money! Check out your local farm and community shops and buy seasonal fruit and vegetables without the plastic wrap!
Have a go at making biscuits, cakes or flapjacks and bake them with your children.	It's much cheaper and really great fun to do, especially if you make it a Sunday afternoon treat. Then store the goodies in airtight containers and use them in the household lunch-boxes.

So there you go....a little food for thought!

2008-03-30T17:11:00.006Z

Heading on to Downshifting Week.....

OK folks we're nearly into April and this is the month to set your goals for the coming year with National Downshifting Week Saturday 19th to Friday 25th April 2008, coming up. This is in it's 4th year and I've been lucky enough to see this all important week be created and develop over this time, as I'm it's founders best buddy, numero uno supporter and research bod.

I have to say that Tracey Smith has really inspired me over the past 6/7 years in her ever optimistic and helpful ways of downshifting for a better lifestyle. I've been a downshifter for about 12 years or so, but she really put me to the test on quite a few areas of my life and so many of her suggestions and nudges in the right direction have landed me a very happy and fruitful way of living. No, it's not been a walk in the park, changing your life for the better takes a bit of effort., but doing it slowly and surely has been an easier transition than I thought it would be.

I'm not a perfect eco warrior and downshifter, but I definately do my bit. That's what counts. It's making small changes and setting small challenges that really gives you the feel good factor when you've accomplished them. People often say to me, 'Oh I wish I could have the life you lead'. The thing is......they can, but they just need to sit down and work out what's important in life and what's not. It's not rocket science, you just have to make a decision not to want all the modern day things that you are tempted by, be it a flat screen telly, the lastest car, a bigger house (with a bigger mortgage and all that goes with it) and all the gadgets the advertisers can throw at you. They really aren't that important, your time and how you spend your time on this planet is.

Anyway....'nuf of me ranting....get on over to Downshifting Week have a snout about and get inspired. You will be!

2008-03-28T21:41:00.013Z

'Ello John gotta new mota?

..................... I have yeah! I've seriously downshifted a gear for this year, by getting myself a titchy little car. We had a van, which I must say was absolutely fantastic for picking up sticks from the woods, taking stuff to the recycling centre and wot have you. It really was a luxury, but 2.4 litres of van that my husband ended up mainly driving it to work and back, we found it was just eating up the ol' spons in running costs. To be honest....it wasn't earning it's keep and it got the heave ho'. We do have another old largish family car that's also going to be exchanged for a small model too in the very near future. One thing at a time....

Our new mode of transport has a hefty 1.1 monster of an engine, (it's a real animal - grrr!) cheap car tax, 47 miles to the gallon and quite a natty shade of green. Yeah, a green car for an budding eco bird, even part of the letters of the rego plate spells green in Italian. (it's a sexy little French car btw) I'm used to having German 'buses', but even though these are well built and made to last, they are just too pricey to keep on the road. With the incredible increases in fuel costs in the past year, we had really noticed the cost of running larger vehicles. With that in mind, the only thing to do is go small. I love diddy cars, I always have done.(it's a girl thing I think ~ uh oh I'll be getting fluffy dice next.....you see.) I really don't give two hoots what I drive around in, as long as it gets me from A to B.

So here I sit, smugly grinning in my old ladies shopping car. I have a yellow gear knob and different coloured seat belts, a heater, a radio and four wheels, a zippy little engine, what more do I need? It's total luxury! It's cheaper on road tax, uses less fuel, has COMPREHENSIVE insurance. I've never had that before, but it was 15 quid more than having third party for this engine and £100 less per year than we were paying for the van. WHA HEY!

Gone are the days of being seen in a huge, luxury gas guzzling car.....the tables have really turned in the past few years. It's now incredibly cool to have a smaller, cheaper car to run about it. In fact, it's almost embarrassing to have a four wheel drive 'Chelsea Tractor' these days and rightly so. It's actually a shame that the people who can afford the most up to date eco cars, rarely buy them. It's eco aware folks like me who would really like one and can't afford one.

But.............I can't tell you just how much I love my new second hand little run around. I reckon we have made a huge saving, starting with the road tax, fuel and insurance. Along with burning less fuel and guffing out all those extra emissions from the exhaust pipe, it's a smart move in the right direction.

Broom, broom!

2008-03-24T13:07:00.005Z

CORRRR Blimey.....

............a COURgette! Hooray Spring is finally in the air and the seeds I put in a few weeks ago have finally popped their heads trough the soil.

I have to confess, I'm a bit of a bodge it type gardener. I tend to whack a load of seeds in some containers (these ones have done well being about the 6th year I've used them) and leaving them to do their own thing. I'm not really a nurturer of my seeds, I just let them get on with it. This year I have got myself a little mini greenhouse thing, a sort of greenhouse shelving contraption with a plastic raincover with zips in. It's well snug in there too.

It was a lovely Easter surprise just now, to see these little leaves happily poking through the compost this morning. Just one of about a dozen courgette seeds I sowed recently.

I have dreams of many a pot of garlic laced ratatouille bubbling away on my stove in a few months to come. Thinly slice courgettes, sauteed in butter with garlic or tossed in a green salad with some nice freshly made salad dressing drizzled on them. I guess the freezer will be groaning under the pressure of with the umpteen batches of courgette inspired dinners packed into its trays! Maybe a dinner party is on the cards. Zuchinni icecream anybody?!

The good thing is these veggies are pretty easy to grow, they just tend to look after themselves. One minute they are tiny plants, then the next a monster in your veggie patch, magically producing fruits over night. Leave them for a few days and you end up with massive marrow looking thing that you'd have to harvest with an axe!

Me thinks, I'd better go on the hunt for some more courgette recipes.

2008-03-21T13:58:00.002Z

Hot Cross Bunning it...

Happy Easter everyone! Apart from the usual mountain of eggs that we all get through over the Easter break, there's nothing quite like some good ol' fashioned hot cross buns to scoff. Lots of butter, jam, you name it and very satisfying too. We've just made these babies and they're fresh out of the oven not ten minutes ago. What better than a morning making some Easter goodies? The wafting aroma of cinamon and spices coming from the kitchen is just wonderful.

My youngest and me and have been making a RTM (right terrible mess) in the kitchen this morning, flour, dough, rolling pins, baking trays, sugar etc have been left in a trail of destruction, but what fun we had, pounding the dough, rolling the pastry crosses, leaving them to rise and then whacking them in the oven. Out they came 15 minutes later browned and sticky from the glaze we sploshed on them. I had to tear myself away from them in order to let them cool down for a while, before I lay into a couple. (and avoid painful indigestion from eating hot dough)

It's time consuming making a couple of dozen buns, but very rewarding too. I shall be doleing out a few to friends and neighbours as a mini Easter gift. Eggscellent!

2008-03-17T15:47:00.008Z

Watts the good news?

Well, electric news for me anyway! With the cost of all utilities going up sky high my electricity bill is going down. Yeah... DOWN! With the installation of our woodburner, we don't have to heat our house with the energy munching storage heaters. Our wood comes from the woods and from a friend who works in a joinery, we get all the offcuts of raw untreated stuff.

I usually pay by monthly direct debit and found that I was well ahead with the payments based on my recent lekky bill. This means, not only will I get a nice big fat lump put back into my bank account, but my monthly payments have gone down a tenner a month. Fantastic!

We've also been given a natty little device from our power company (we switched to green energy) that shows you just how much electricity you are burning.

It's a nice little reminder that we keep on top of the telly. When we first got it, we were constantly watching it, shouting at the kids to watch it too. We may have finally got through to them to flick off their bedroom lights, the loo light, the tv standby etc.

When we switch the kettle on the numbers on the monitor zoom up briefly. It was quite a game at first pressing buttons to see just how much each appliance used. Very interesting indeed! Just imagine if you flick the kettle on, go away let it boil, then come back to it a while later, only to eat up a few kws by reboiling it again. Same goes with the microwave. They use oodles of power, lucky it's only for a minute or two! But it makes you think twice about leaving lights, standby's etc on, in fact anything on.

So my efforts into saving power appears to be working ~ Rezzzult!

2008-03-12T16:08:00.005Z

It's interesting meals day...

Uh oh...it's that time of the week again. Lots of things to use up using all those tasty little leftovers that could oh so easily be dumped in the bin. Not in this house! Being the resourceful cook that I am, these two pots of what looks like pig swill have been magically made into at least 3 more family meals.

The pot at the back....creation numero uno....my very favourite Le Cruset pan which is really really ancient, is filled with......left over salad! Yep, bits of cucumber, chicory, lettuce, avocado and tomato. Being the soup dragon that I am, I've added an organic chicken stock cube, tinned tomatoes and red lentils. By the time it was all cooked down and whizzed up with my handy little kitchen liquidizer, it became lentil and tomato soup. You'd have never of known just what a menagerie of ingredients went into it. It tasted fab. My youngest son usually gobbles down a bowl of soup and a nice homemade roll when he gets in from school. He thought it was delicious.

Pot numero duo....mmmmm an interesting concoction of free range chicken bones left over from the sunday roast, some duff looking mushrooms, floppy celery and a tomato, a sprinkle of the ol' Herbs de Provence and some water. Boiled up to make a lovely chicken stock all ready for my bean stew to be slow cooked in.

I'd soaked a dried bean mix for 24 hours, boiled them for a good ten mins, as it says you should do. That's in order not to possibly die from poisonous things that kidney beans have in them and then whacked the whole lot in the slow cooker. I added tomatoes, more celery, the stock, a fried onion and left it to ackle in the slow cooker all day on low. This will make a meal twice over. I'll freeze some for another day. So tonight Mathew, I'm going to be.....

.............eating a delicious nutricious left-over dinner!

Think before you throw your bits and pieces in the bin, it doesn't take much to make them into something interesting to eat.

2008-03-11T08:17:00.005Z

Time for Chi.......

Tai Chi that is. No...this isn't a picture of me but a pic of my dearest best pal Tracey Smith and our very fit instructor Shaun, at our visit to Carey's Manor last year. At the end of an exhausting day of Spa treatments and plunge pools we did a little relaxation, in this beautiful room.

Anyway.......I digress everso slightly. I started my Tai Chi class in the village hall last night. Not quite as salubrious as the luxury of Careys, but it was warm and welcoming.

Six total novices turned up for an hour and a half of the real slow down and green up (your body!)type exercise. Now...this is the kind of exercise I like. None of this 'feel the burn' stuff in tight Lycra...this was as slow as you like in baggy trousers.

I found it challenging as I am totally uncoordinated, I had to think quite hard, but the fact it was slow and steady, was just the ticket. My arms, hands, legs and feet were going in the wrong direction most of the time, but practice makes perfect, I'm sure. I wasn't looking but I think that I wasn't the only one! I'd gone feeling absolutely knackered from the lack of sleep caused by the wind storm of the night before. (no not the flatulence type) After a slow warm up and working our way through walks and Chi 'ball' holding - I'm sure there's a technical term for it, we slowed to a warm down. When we'd finished I felt calm, refreshed and totally invigorated. I can't wait until my next session week.

I'd recommend this type of exercise for the body and mind, for those who don't do flash gyms, frantic pop music and dance-a-size classes. That'll be me first in the queue!

2008-03-08T15:46:00.005Z

It's a wind up....or is that wind up?

With a weather warning coming up this weekend of severe wind, I thought I'd bring up the subject of laundry & drying it. Yep...I admit, it's probably the dullest subject in the world, but we all get our clothes grubby and if you have kids, especially lads, you know all about that. But wind is good for drying clothes for free.

On collecting my teenage son this week from school, he kindly bought me home a huge bag of washing. Oh thanks! Not only did he bring home the crustiest, smelliest pairs of odd socks, grundies, t-shirts etc, he managed to bring quite a chunk of his room mates clothes too. In the rush to bring it home following my request for it, he just scooped up the entire pile of clothes strewn across his room floor. KIDS! Blimey....what a mountain of washing to tackle.

Anyway.....I made a start on the eco load washing cycle and have been whacking as much laundry as I can on my whirly gig washing line. There's nothing quite like freshly dried clothes from the line. Granted, it's a pain in the neck when the weather is looking slightly dodgy and you are nipping in and out to check if it's started raining. I love line dried clothes. I have a tumble drier, but they cost ultra wonga to dry it and I find that lots of things come out mighty smaller and tighter than when they entered the great drum of heat. Have you ever squeezed yer big butt into a pair of tumble dried jeans?....it's a fight. OK I can hear you saying...'speak from your own experience matey'.

I make a concerted effort to get nearly all my washing line dried, now that Spring is supposedly on it's way. With energy prices hitting the roof, try a little line drying yourself if you can, save some dollars and smell the freshness of free wind dried clothes.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Feeerrreshhhhh!

2008-03-07T15:05:00.004Z

A New Look! ...not just for me hair...

I'm so behind with the times....I've only just discovered the blogger update thingy. I guess I've just been too busy doing other things like baking cookies and nice things to eat.

I'll be adding useful links and interesting things soon. It's all too much to do on a Friday afternoon.

Toodle pip.

2008-03-06T09:20:00.012Z

Get a head......

Get a helmet...........no I meant.......haircut....you know the ol' saying 'whats the difference between a barber and a hairdresser?.....about 30 quid! (By the way this is me, before the haircut...I was suffering with helmet hair)

We all know a girls hair is her crowning glory....mine's a slightly different story. After suffering from aplopecia for the last 100 years (yeah I'm really, really old) ANY hair is good to have and I'm not the sort of bird that goes for the super bouffant hair do and the latest fashions, but I do like to have my hair cut occasionally, when it gets out of hand.(what's left of it) I mean, we all like to look decent and not have 'the pulled through the backend of a bush' type hair style. But...it doesn't have to cost the earth to get the mop chopped nicely.

To cut a long story short, I've now got me a home hairdresser, I won't call her a barber as she'd probably shave all my hair off next time she visits. Why go to the hassle of going into town, finding a parking space, sitting in a salon, surrounded by hoards of mirrors, hairdryers, potions and lotions and landed with a hair raising bill, when you can get a super hairdresser armed with her snippers to come and cut your barnet in the comfort of your own home? All you need is a kitchen, a chair, the radio, a cup of tea and of course the lady wiv the scissors.

To make her journey worthwhile, (she's local of course) ~ yeah I'm thinking on a green line of thought here...I made sure that she didn't just cut my hair, I asked a friend to come and have hers done too. The cost was extremely reasonable and I got to be the salon lackey and sweep up the hair!

Next time I'll be rounding up as many heads as I can. Now there's a thought.....a hair cut party!

2008-03-04T13:26:00.005Z

Go shell out some wonga......

......on some nice fresh, local chookies eggs!

I'm having a bit of a day today. Whilst cracking on with some work in the kitchen I managed to slash the top of my finger with a scalpel. An occupational hazzard of being a designer. Lucky I don't do this sort of thing all the time though!

So with finger duly wrapped up in a big plaster for maximum sympathy, I decided to go out for a breath of fresh air, enjoy some of the beautiful sunshine and have a trot around the village. I had a quick snout in the fridge to check if I needed anything from our local community run shop, but I only needed eggs, so I thought I would go to our farm in the village and collect a few eggs from them.

They really are the most gorgeously fresh eggs, they sit up to attention in the poaching pan and taste delicious. None of this flailing white trail that leaves about two centimeters of floppy white and a mass of white foam when they're done. All I see is a nice little pert egg, cooking gently in the water. They're cheaper than the supermarket too, which is fantastic. They come in recycled boxes and are super fresh. These guys haven't been jostled around in the back of a lorry and been hanging around for a week. I've seen the hens that lay them, with lots of healthy feathers, happily scurrying about in a nice big grassy pen, with views to die for. Lucky chickens!

Next time you're out, see if you can spot a sign with Eggs for Sale, go and check out where the chickens are if you can too and buy local. Better still ask around as a recommendation is always a good thing.

Go on....get cracking!

2008-02-27T17:07:00.009Z

Mum's the word......

Mother's Day is looming and we are all being pressured by the media into buying mum something fantastic and wonderful to show just how much we love her. Bunches of flowers, chocolates, perfume and face creams (it probably won't earn you any brownie points letting her know she needs face cream for her wrinkles) Mind you ~ you're probably the reason why she has a few 'laughter' lines)

I love my mum, we all love our mums and want to spoil them on their special day, but you don't have to go mad and spend a fortune. It's the thought that counts....and I thought about it!

I went to my local Oxfam today and found her a second hand (previously loved) Madhur Jaffrey recipe book that she's been after for while, a Fairtrade greetings card and two mini Fairtrade choccie bars. Oh........ and a free sample packet of spicey FT nuts to throw into the parcel. All for about 6 quid. I know that she'll be thrilled with her hoard of goodies and my gift to her have all been purchased in a charity shop, so the money has gone to a good cause too.

So...if you are rushing out for that last minute 'Oh God' I forgot to get mum something pressie, hit the charity shops and sniff out a bargain of a gift. You'll be appreciated, by not only your lovely muvva but helping out people in real need, aided by the charities.

Happy Mother's Day y'all!

2008-02-26T16:44:00.020Z

Try a little Fairtrade.....

It's Fairtrade fortnight (25th February-9th March) and I reckon we can all do a bit towards buying goods from countries where the producers get a better deal. They are usually the end of the line in handouts as far as profits go and buying just a couple of items we use every week with the Fairtrade mark on it will help them along to earning a decent amount of money to live on.

I'm no saint and don't profess to be, by having the whole product range in my cupboards, but I try to do my best to support Fairtrade producers, by whacking a couple of items in my shopping basket. Foodstuffs such sugar, bananas, coffee and tea are all readily available in supermarkets and are just as good in quality as the more well know brands we are all used to buying, with more of your money going to the people who produce the goods in the first place.

Go to the Fairtrade site for lots more information, products, recipes and news.

So keep your eyes peeled for the Fairtrade logo when you next go shopping.

And no....they don't do Fairtrade cream cakes....so step away from the chiller cabinet! Go make something nice at home.

2008-02-24T15:14:00.008Z

How many beans make.....

Oh yay oh yay.....spring is just around the corner and it's time to think about planting food!

We've been up at our little shared plot of land up the hill and round the corner. We've been digging, breaking our backs churning up the soil to make it plantable. Boy it's a beggars job but it'll be worth it.

Luckily, many hands (and small boys) make light work and within an hour with many sounds of 'umphing' and 'ooofing' whilst turning the dirt, we've made a small dent in the lie of the land.

So it's now back to the ranch for some sowing of seeds. We've got a lot of seeds between us, I went and bought a few, my friend went and bought a few and my other half went to the shed and found a few......hundred, that we'd forgotten about.

The beans above, belonged to my grandad and every year we plant a few, every year they come up. If the seeds found in the pyramids can sprout after zillions of years, why not give them a try? My grandad passed away a few years ago, bless him. He taught me a lot about gardening as a kid and those distant memories and valuable advice has stuck with me. ...............ask me what I was doing an hour ago and I would have forgotten. Uhh ohhhh.

Anyway, I have sowed lots of seeds this weekend, mainly herbs, corriander, cumin, parsley, chillies etc.Small things for the garden. The big stuff will be done very soon and I am really looking forward to plonking in the soil we huffed and puffed over today.

How about doing a little planting too? Just a few herbs, if you've got a very small garden or just some window boxes. Even herbs will zing up your meals no end and you can pat yourself on the back on a job well done. I will be!

Roll on harvest time!

2008-02-19T10:29:00.008Z

Don't get in a flap Jack......

Whilst I'm in a blog writing frenzy and everso, everso busy today with all sorts of stuff, I thought I'd share this ressseeep with you.

As all the cookies have gone from the cupboard...yes a real Old Mother Hubbard scenario on the biccie front, I thought I better make something quick smart.

Whilst flicking through one of my favourite recipe books (the posher version of my rather clapped out original Cranks recipe book, called Entertaining or something like that) I saw a recipe for Coconut and Oat Bars. On checking the ingredients, I find that I don't have all of them in my 'cooking cupboard' ie, no sultanas, honey or enough regular oats. So here's an adapted 'New Leaf stylie' version. Taste's pretty good too.

2oz Jumbo Oats

1oz Normal Oats

4oz Cranberries

2oz SR Flour

2oz Granulated Sugar

2oz Dessicated Choke a Nut (yep that's what we call it in this house)

5oz Butter or Marg.

1tbsp Golden Syrup (I had a scraping left in the bottom of the tin)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl except the butter and golden syrup. Melt them gently in a pan. Then pour them into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well.

Press into a baking tray with a spoon or palet knife and cook in the oven Gas 4, 180 degs or 350F for 15-20mins till golden brown.

I'm just off to scoff a bit with a coffee.

When you next check out a recipe and you haven't got all the right things, experiment. It's fun and you could end up with something a lot tastier than you expected!

2008-02-19T08:47:00.015Z

On yer marks, get SET, go!

Blimey, I've not been here for a nearly a month. Oh the shame!

Anyway, this is primarily because I've been busy making stuff, doing a bit of the ol' volunteering thing. Stuff being....the set for my son's panto at the village school. Just before Christmas, I'd asked if I could help out with anything as far as the play goes. Last year I made some props which were pretty easy to put together....this year however was a different kettle of fish.

I got the request for help.....about a week before the performance. The brief.....a cottage that turns into a castle, materials ~ none, budget....about a quid. Me being me, never say never, I got cracking.

Now, if you are a lucky little bird, such as myself, you'll know somebody who has STUFF, stuff being cardboard. I have a worthy, generous, accomodating contact ~ my aunt, who I am sure, rolls her eyes everytime she gets an email from me begging for something. She just happens to have a store of useful items, that a little magpie like me needs! She came up trumps and delivered 8 flat packed boxes, along with various other lumps of cardboard ~ just in case.

I looked at the boxes for a while. About a day, on and off. Just how was I going to utilise this material and make it into a cottage come castle? Well, the above photos are evidence of what can be made from virtually nothing. Recycling at it's top notchiest.

I am pleased with it, the kids loved it and turned it around with no problems ~ which I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I had had nightmare visions of it falling over and being totally annihilated in one fell swoop, with children dressed as chickens, cows, geese and pigs, screaming and flapping about in panic.

After three performances, no slip ups and a fantastic cast of thousands, I got some lovely handmade thank you cards from the class.

If you want a feel good factor, how about volunteering a bit of your time to do something for your community? It doesn't have to be arty, just something you feel comfortable with.

Go on....you could surprise yourself....I did!

Photos by courtesy of Sarah Jane Bullock Photography. I have n't asked her permission yet, but I'm sure she'll be OK. I may have to make her something nice to eat in order to keep her sweet!

2008-01-21T11:25:00.001Z

Get on down to the numero quattro.........

National Downshifting Week!

Yep, this year is Tracey Smiths (or Smiff as I affectionately call her) 4th National Downshifting Week.

Tracey has completely revamped her Downshifting website to make it easier to navigate with a fresh new look. It's tidy, smart and you'll enjoy all the information she's got to share to green up your everyday living.

For four years lots of people have been inspired to follow Tracey's simple yet effective steps for living a simpler greener lifestyle. It's not rocket science, doesn't need a load of effort, just do a little bit at a time. The result? More time for you, your kids and your family. Fantastic!

And whilst you on her website, don't forget to sign an all important petition to number 10, to get Sustainable Living Lessons in all our schools.

You can follow the link here, but you'll kick yourself if you don't have a snout at the inspirational information on the Downshifting Week website.

Make 2008 your year to slow down and green up!

2008-01-13T16:49:00.001Z

The Plan of Your Reams....

Nope....not the man of your dreams....I'm talking about paper. After the mammoth mountain of paper I chucked out for shredding just after Christmas, I have made a small change in my filing. It's no filing. Well, I say no filing but what I really mean is thinning it all down, so I don't have so much of the stuff cluttering up my home. I hate my shredding pile, it gets so big, so quickly.

Not receiving bills in the post or printing them off, is one less thing to worry about getting shot of. When you need a clear out, like I did on New Years Eve...how sad a chore is that? But...it's now done and I have a slimline filing system, which I am hoping my figure will follow with the New Years diet. (yeah it's going well, if you'd like to know. I'm not suffering that badly.............. considering)

So....what's the plan? Well, like most of us these days we pay for our stuff online, we can access our bills on line and we can receive bills online. Just switch to paperless billing.

You can save the file on your pc or just whack it onto a memory stick for reference. In the main, most electric, gas, banks etc hold your bills or statements online for you to check anyway. Why have them on paper? My bank only sends me a biannual statement. Just two statements a year. That saves a lot of paper.

Next time you get the chance to kick the paper habit by being offered paperless billing, jump at the chance!

2008-01-10T11:14:00.001Z

I feel like.........

Chicken tonight....so much for that ad campaign. As we move on into the New Year, I 've made another pact, to buy only free range chicken.

Just last week, I purchased my first free ranger of the year, then we saw last nights, Hughs Chicken Out programme, on the telly. It was really good viewing and inspiring for all. See more here at CHICKEN OUT

Yes, free range cluckers are more expensive, they are the true price of what meat costs to rear, prepare and get to the butchers. Supermarkets have driven down the cost of buying poultry by mass intensive farming. I'd rather have one nice, well rounded chicken for my dinner than a scraggy, tasteless, sad little blighter turn up on my plate. I've never been a fan of the super cheap supermarket chickens anyway and have made a concerted effort in the past year or so, to buy my chicken locally from a butcher.

So, try a free ranger and appreciate the meat your eat, rather than buying the two for a fiver.

Intensive farming is such a fowl business!

2007-12-31T13:46:00.000Z

Locking up 07 and straight into 8.....

Well, as we wrap up an old year and put it to bed, it's now time to look forward to a new era in our little patch of life on this planet. As we pack up and move on we've a smidgen of tidying up in this house. (as per normal it's mayhem, stuff everywhere!) BUT.....

I've had a clear out already this morning. I've added a couple of useful things to my local Freecycle group, sorted out my paperwork and made some great things to eat. All before 2pm! I am just about to give myself a huge pat on the back for achieving so much in just over half a day.

As far as the nosh situation goes, we haven't been shopping for food since 22nd December.....we decided to just use up everything in the fridge and cupboards. It's quite amazing just how much food is left to make something delish and wholesome. So today, I've made fresh bread rolls, some lentil and tomato soup and a meatloaf, out of all the odds and sods in the fridge and freezer.

We aren't having the normal monster blowout New Years Day lunch, but probably, I say probably....bangers, swede and spud mash and beans. It all depends on what I have kicking about...I'm sure there's some lonely looking sossies in the freezer. If not....it's vegetarian bean stew with rice.

I've made a few New Years Resso's...nothing too drastic but some things to work on and keep up. Losing a few pounds is one of them and to gee me up I am embarking on a sponsored slim on behalf of our local church. No...I'm not a regular church goer but in our village we have a strong community spirit and I'll do me best to raise a few spons for the upkeep of our lovely church that we have here.

I'm having a serious declutter session too. I have lots of goodies for the charity shop, freecycle and will offer my things to friends if they want them first.

Energy saving is one of my key challenges. This house looks like Blackpool alluminations sometimes, I am going to have to get tough! Oooh yeah....the bad mother side of me will be raising it's ugly head to get some results!

And finally, I'm just going to take one day at a time, most people spend so much of their lives planning ahead, instead of living for the day. Make some challenges of course! I rarely know what I am doing from one day to the next...but I do know we're off to use up some energy collecting wood for our burner tomorrow. What could be nicer than a jaunt to the forest, fresh air, kids running about and getting some fuel for the chilly weather due to come this way next weekend?

To finish...here's a very useful website that can help guide you all into a greener lifestyle...I've mentioned it before, but it's GOOD!

http://www.biggreenswitch.co.uk/

Here's wishing you a Happy, Healthy and a Greener New 2008 to you all!

2007-12-26T11:22:00.000Z

Remember, Remember the Twenny Fiff of December.....As Miss B Spears (or is that Miss Shears?) once sang, 'Whoops I did it again'.......yeah the Christmas Day blowout. I had to drag myself outside into the fresh air just after I'd woofed me turkey dinner down at about 3.30pm yesterday. It was that, or the dreaded crash out scene on the sofa, all adults snoozing/snoring gently with a line of dribble making it's way down to our chins. Yeuk, what a thought!

Anyway....we all went out for a lovely trot along the farm track, across the fields to see the splender of the sun as it set in the sky, waving gently from the horizon to see off another Christmas Day. It was spectacular and I am so glad I remembered the ol' camera to catch these shots.

After we returned feeling a lot more awake than when we set out, I sat down and thought that even though we had a modest Christmas Day on the spending front....we still bought too much! I know it sounds mad but we didn't go on a mental spending spree, but there's still shed loads to eat. Well, probably not in the big scheme of things, but I will be on an even bigger mission to buy even less next year. Scrooge, eat yer heart out love!

Guess what's for lunch today?.........An interesting turkey based soup. We're off out to get some more wood for the fire then back to the slow cooked soup and a chunk of freshly made homemade bread to fill us up. Nothing wasted here...left overs are now made into a hearty soup to warm our bones up.

I guess it's curry tomorrow!

2007-12-21T08:32:00.000Z

Reflecting on Christmas....
OK it's nearly here, Christmas and all the stuff that goes with it, along with the end of the year. Now is a good time to think about what I am going to try and achieve next year. No it's not making a pile of money, furthering my career or any of that kind of thing. I'm thinking more about the really positive life changing things, such as good ol' recycling, saving energy, shopping locally and finding more exciting recipes to experiment with.

I do most of these things already, but there's always room for improvement. I think that switching off lights is high up on the list. I am constantly asking my kids to switch off lights that they've left on. I could have made a million by getting a quid for everytime I say 'Switch off the lights!'

I am going to implement an incentive scheme. Nothing like bribing your kids........... but it works everytime.

Another thing our troop must try to do is remember to switch off the standby buttons on the telly, the radio etc.

Before I forget, here's a few things to do after the big day of eating yourself to the point of exploding:

Firstly....loosen your belt, you'll never reach down to the floor to pick up all that wrapping paper.

Recycle all your gift paper. Don't scrunch it all into a big ball, flatten it the best you can, if you are going to throw it out to the recycling men. You'll get more into your bin too. Save the good bits for next year!

The same goes for Christmas cards, either save them (get the kids to cut out the pictures for gift tags for next year) or recycle them. Our local school is collecting them this year and yours may do too.

Bottles, cans and cardboard can all be recycled. Save it up and take it to the dump in one big load. Take an elderly neighbours or a carless family's stuff too!

If you have a clear out after Christmas, remember to either Freecycle it, find your local group on the link. Or take it to the charity shop or local furniture collection organisation that uses your unwanted bits for recently housed families, who need to make their house a home. Every little helps and it'll save the things you no longer need going to landfill.

And finally...don't waste any food! Remember all left over veggies can be made into bubble and squeak or a good hearty (and interesting) delicious soup! The secret is to buy less food over Christmas to start with. We are almost brainwashed by the supermarkets that we need at least ten times the amount of food we need. A few treats yes, but it's just a couple of days!

May I wish a Happy Christmas to everyone. Enjoy the holiday, Queenies speech at 3pm, The Wizard of Oz, probably Morcambe and Wise, the food, a few snifters and the company of friends and family!

And when you're loafing around on the sofa, fighting an afternoon nap...have a little think about what you can do to improve and GREEN UP your 2008.

2007-12-17T15:16:00.000Z

The wheels on the bus go round and round.....

....all day long! Well they seem to around these parts anyway. My bloomin' car sprung a leak of oil and is sitting on it's parking space all forlorn, awaiting a spare part. Pesky motors.

I'm not fretting though, as we have a superb bookable bus service here in the Vale of Pewsey. Just pick up the phone, tell the lady where you want to be picked up from and where you want to go to. You stand outside your house and hey presto the bus arriveth and you're welcomed aboard.

As I was a bookable bus ride virgin, I didn't know what to expect, but it's a journey well worth taking. Not a direct route you understand....this little bus of chirpy locals winds it's way around all the villages and arrives a while later at your destination. Talk about slowing down and GREENING UP!

It was great, lots of friendly banter, lots of hellos, Christmas music, a lady bus driver (donning a Santa hat) a bag of chocolates hanging from the ticket machine and a thoroughly pleasant journey into town. More eco friendly than just me in my car with only the radio for company.

On our way back, which took about 45 mins to do about a five mile journey (in a roundabout way) we had to wait for a few moments for the connecting bus to join up with us in one of the villages. (Tell me which railway service waits for connections!!) In this time we were treated to the plastic Christmas Birds, perched on the dashboard, that joyfully and rather shrillingly sang their rendition of many a favourite Christmas carol. We were then greeted by the other bus driver who popped on board, showed us a smile and asked if we were all OK.

I'm telling you....you haven't lived!

It's not for the Billy Whizzes of this world, you can't be in a rush, but it's definately one of the best public transport services journeys I have ever taken. Totally enjoyable and all for £1.80 return.

The car is looking like retirement is on the cards.

2007-12-06T14:07:00.000Z

Counting down to the dreaded 'C' word.....

Yep, here we go again....everywhere is festooned with sparkly stuff, trees, lights and the 'must haves' this year. The adverts are swamping us with buy, buy, buy....on the radio, the telly and Christmas is definately in full swing. I've been draggin' me heels on this one.

I'm not going to be the Scrooge of all Scrooges, Bah Humbugging my way through the Christmas period, but I am trying to think really hard that Christmas Day is just ONE day, not a whole week or month. I don't need to go and buy 4 weeks food shopping for just one day, nor do I need to go bananas and buy everything in sight.

I have purchased some new things for Christmas pressies, some eco stuff, some recycled stuff, some fair trade stuff, a couple of DVD's, but all fairly useful things to be honest and I haven't spent a fortune or gone overboard on the dosh front either. No worries about the credit crunch in this house.

As for friends....they'll be getting things to eat. We all need to eat and what could be more useful a pressie than a bag of nosh, all freshly made and ready to scoff? Fudge and cookies are the order of the day. Wrapped and ready to go. (if you are one of my friends, the whole Christmas gift surprise has been shattered, but hey...you're in for nice things!)

My veg box is ordered, my meat is ordered from the local farm but they are just normal weekly needs, nothing out of the ordinary. I do have a few little Christmas nummies in store....I have had to beat my husband off the piles of tinned chocolates at the store, but he's seen sense....I think!

So...enjoy your Christmas break, appreciate it with friends and family. The time you have together is really important and it needn't be all about what you get for Christmas, it's the comfort of a couple of days with loved ones.(even if you fall asleep and dribble in front of the telly for a bit!)

Worth far more than a big pile of presents.

2007-12-02T12:44:00.000Z

Not nuts in May......

It's hazelnuts in December ~ a tonnes of them too.

My mother has lots of nuts, so many she dragged a whole suitcaseful back from her home in France. I'm not kidding, really! Walnuts and hazels, bags and bags of them. No airmiles you'll be glad to know, she blagged a ride from a friend who was driving back to the UK and she dumped her hoard in the back of his van, she's such a little squirrel!

So yesterday, having a bit of a cold and feeling rather useless, I made myself comfy infront of the fire, bowls of nuts and crackers at the ready. There I sat watching a Michael Caine film (not many people know that) crackin' me nuts.

I put them in the oven to toast them and today, I had to make something with them, so voila.....hazelnut and chocolate cookies. They are really delicious. I'm just off to scoff a couple with a cup of tea.

They're gonna taste extra delicious with all that effort I have put into them. It makes you appreciate real home cooked delights, rather than nipping down to the shop to grab a packet of McVities.

Have a go at making some homemade cookies. Grab yourself a cranks recipe book or find a cookie baking book in a charity shop, they are easy to follow and before you know it, you'll be making stacks of these super little nummies ~ they won't last long!

2007-11-15T13:02:00.000Z

What? Cat gotcha tongue?.....

As I laid in front of the telly the other night, watching the new Egyptian Exhibition news, cuppa in hand, homemade biccies sitting in their pot beside me,(not for long!) it made me think of treasures lost and being found again.

Uh oh, you're thinking...she's finally gone gah gah. Nope, not in the slightest. I'm talking the lost art of talking. Taking a few minutes to have a natter and exchange a few sentences with total strangers.

In one of my not so regular visits to the supermarket, I had to get some items for a friend in the cereal aisle. Not being familiar with sugar laiden breakfast cereal department, I cast my eyes over many brightly coloured, cartooned festooned packets, looking for said 'Cocoa Rocks' on my shopping list. Next to me stood a shop assistant, who asked 'Can I help you?'. I thought maybe I could find them myself, but he was politely asking to help me out and why not? 'Of course' I said, 'I'm looking for some horrible chocolatey cereal called XYZ'. Within a tick of the clock, he'd located them and I thanked him kindly. No problem he said, I like to help.

He obviously wanted a quick natter and who was I to stop him in his tracks? He told me he'd worked there for four years, liked what he did, da de da de dah. He said that he tried to assist lots of people through out the day and quite a large number of them totally ignored him. Are they just too busy to take help, exchange a few sentences or are they just too rude and couldn't possibly make polite conversation with a stranger who is just a shop assistant? Anyway, I wished him well, thanked him again for his help and went on my way.

As I worked my way through the store, I gave way to many people in the aisles, who merely pushed and barged their way through without a smile, look or thank you. I always say 'excuse me please' and 'thank you' or 'sorry' for being in the way. They appeared to be in a complete consumer trance. One mission ~ get in, get food, get stuff, get to checkout and make a hasty exit, just about forcing time to exchange glances and a couple of words with the checkout person.

I do occasionally meet some great people in queues, or in the aisles by me striking up some conversation about anything that comes into my head. There are such a lot of great people out there, perhaps hiding in their shells. I must say that some people look at me as if I am just about to rob them! Yeah, lil' ol' me!

Would just two minutes of friendly banter hurt anyone? NAH!!!!!!! You'll be surprised just how nice it is to take time and make a little conversation.

2007-11-06T19:07:00.000Z

Greening Up is one year old today!!

(There was going to be a pic of a cake above, but I've eaten it)

Hooray ~ pour me a large one!

Well, a whole year of jotting down my thoughts and wot-have-you has flown by. I can't believe I've found so much to natter about over the last 365 days. I guess I just wanted to share all the stuff I have discovered about greening up my life, with one and all.

One very good thing is spreading the word and my enthusiasm to my friends, family and internet buddies. Here's what my friend Zoe has to say about taking the first step in making her mark, by doing one thing at a time. I am very proud of her efforts indeed.

'After being introduced to Nat by another internet friend we started chatting via MSN and in a short space of time I quickly found out that Nat is an Eco Warrior/tree hugger. I have never really taken much notice of recycling etc I just threw everything in the bin all together. After talking with Nat, she was explaining that by everyone doing a little bit could really help the planet and make a better life for my child. I made a promise to Nat that I would try and give it a go, I am happy to say that after my telling off (not really - more of a subtle lecture) from Nat, I am now recycling glass & plastic bottles at every opportunity.

I just wanted to add Happy 1st Anniversary, you have done and continue to do such great things for our planet Nat and I am pleased you have opened my eyes to the wonderful ECO world'.

It's never easy changing the habits you've had for most of your lifetime, to actions that make a difference in your home, with your family and the world around you. Be proud of the little changes you make for the better. It soon becomes second nature and once bitten, the Eco Bug takes hold, but in a very positive way!

Right, where's the glasses? I'm fit to party!

2007-11-05T22:34:00.000Z

Hey good lookin'......

Wotcha got cookin'? (OK, I'll go easy on the good lookin' part) Well anything I darn well fancy now!

Yippeeeeeeeeee, I got me an oven. Those who know me and my SIX months of faffing about with my cooker situation, will be relieved to know that Ebay finally came to the rescue! (no more whinging) A local bod had exactly what we needed, at the right price. (it was an experienced bidders tactic that won my bounty at 6 seconds to the end of auction) I was pretty pleased with myself at getting just what I needed, to be picked up locally and ready to fire up!

So, this Sunday we sat down to roast pork, tatties, snips, carrots, brocolli and cauliflower with lots of super tasty gravy sploshed on top. Washed down with a glass of red and apple pie and custard to finish. Shared with the happy company of a friendly neighbour and her family completed the good cheer.

These simple but oh so pleasurable moments may sound just the most saddest situations to an everday kinda person, but to be able to cook in an oven is just so exciting and fills me with such happiness!

And just for added measure and pleasure, I cooked a batch of cookies, which got anialated and scoffed by my crew, within hours.

Roll on the good times!

2007-11-01T15:57:00.000Z

Spokey not spooky.....

'What's this' you say......cycling in Winter? Yeah, I know, but what a beautiful day it was today. The first day of November and I couldn't just stay inside idly chomping chocolate biscuits infront of the telly. (AS IF?!)

Since arriving in the village, I've had time to have a really good look around my area on the ol' boneshaker. What a great way to discover the beautiful area, abundant wildlife, fields and hills. Blimey, those hills are a killer. When you're sitting in your car tootling along the lanes, hills don't even enter your mind. You just stick your foot on the gas pedal and effortlessly sail up them. Try doing that on yer bike. It makes me appreciate the effort of getting from A to B using your own energy!

So once or twice a week, I go out and check out the lanes and canal towpaths. I rarely see anyone, the odd narrowboat chugging gently up the canal at a breakneck speed of 4mph or a local 'oad' bloke with his faithful spaniel, trotting happily infront of him, sniffing out all sorts of wonderful smells that only dogs really appreciate! I also caught sight of a massive brown hare, sitting still as you like in the middle of a ploughed field. All I could actually think of, was how delicious jugged hare really is. NAUGHTY thoughts!

It really is a slow affair plodding along on my cycle, listening to the tick, tick, tick of the gears as I pedal along. Niiiiiiice!

If you get chance, get a bike and get out for a bit. It'll get you some exercise, fresh air and you'll see stuff you would definately miss in a car. I know not everyone lives in the countryside, but maybe a local park where cycles are allowed?

Go on..........on yer bike son!

2007-10-30T11:33:00.000Z

Friday afternoon in the office.....

Well not exactly. It's half term and a pretty long one by usual standards, nearly two weeks of little darlings at home diddling about in the mud, on bikes and walking.

Last Friday, we decided to go and explore a hill not far away, which I have been promising myself to climb up for YEARS! We have a lot of countryside where we live and we're spoilt for choice of where to go yomping across the fields and footpaths with the kids. I set off with a good friend and her son and my grubby little fella, up along the lane, up the hill of tufty grass to reach a little clump of beech trees at the top. We turned around to a beautiful panorama of fields, hills and villages as far as the eye could see.

As I laid down on the grass, looked up at the sky, the kids playing roly poly (up hill!), I always consider myself a lucky old bag and think of all those folks in the cities, crammed into offices, telephones, pcs, strip lighting, noise et al, on a Friday, stressed to the nines making their dollars to give themselves a better quality of life. Really? Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy, a part from being a mum, chief cook and bottlewasher, I work from home, at my own pace and live within my means. I have a relatively small income, but choose to enjoy life now. So, there I lolloped on the side of a hill, breathing in the fresh air, watching the clouds roll by in the warm Autumnal breeze. FANTASTIC!

OK, I don't have the latest motor, a home that I own, a flat screen telly, a stair carpet (yet, the carpet that is) but I do have time, time to spend with my kids, my family, my friends and time to live the moment, before it all whizzes on by.

2007-10-17T15:12:00.000Z

Standby Saturday!

This Saturday 20th October, is Standby Saturday. Time to switch all those power guzzling standby buttons. Go and register your name and pledge to flick 'em off that night and then make a habit of it!

A great way to start your energy saving by just a few clicks of a button here and there in the house. We all have them, on the telly, the dvd, the radio, the vid. All those little lights that say 'Hey I'm here, waiting for you to switch me back on properly, but in the meantime, I'll gobble up some energy for no good reason!!!!'

I have been making a concerted effort recently with my radio in the kitchen and the bedroom. (that one keeps me awake and I have to put it to bed too) The TV always gets turned off, but I need to make more of an effort to do it all, everynight!

We all need to in fact, so nip over here, register and make your pledge!

www.standbysaturday.com

Make a switch for the better!

2007-10-15T08:06:00.000Z

BLOG ACTION DAY!

Enviro Bloggers of the world unite!

I know it's Monday the 15th October, I know I am running a little behind, but I'm here to add my bit for this special day, when people who care about our planet, write their thoughts about it and join in with the action. I'm no rocket scientist...(yeah you can tell by the way I write), but it doesn't take brains to clean up your act.

We all have our corner of the earth and we should do our best to look after it. A little planet housekeeping never hurt anyone, did it?

I often wonder just how much my efforts contribute to giving our environment and kids a better future. Sometimes, when you see huge industry blowing out big bellows of putrid smoke from their chimney stacks, I feel like a speck of dust in the big scheme of things. BUT....there's lots of us all doing our bit and more join up to doing their bit every day and that's such a good thing. Simple stuff, 'like wot I does' is easy, takes little effort, maybe a little thought and gives me the feel good factor too.

Positive action. Small, but lots of SMALLS make a BIG!

2007-10-13T12:42:00.000Z

Thanks a bunch!........

Whilst I was out and about getting my groceries the other day, I noticed some flowers by the front door of the shop. I was tempted......it was the weekend and I thought I'd treat myself to a bunch of 'flars'. I decided not too as they were about a fiver and I thought I could spend my dosh on something else!

Luckily.....on the way home driving through the first village I on the way to my house, I spotted some flowers in a bucket, by the side of the road. I pulled over to find this little bunch of beauties for 75p! Grown in the garden of the cottage they were outside of. I couldn't find a pot to put the money in, so I knocked at the door and the owner gave me a big friendly smile, received my payment and bid me fairwell.

So, here I have my own little bit of sunshine and happiness in my kitchen, just as Autumn starts. Locally grown flowers, seasonal and their little faces are smiling at me as I cook up my latest pot of good hearty soup.

Next time you are out, look out for these local roadside offerings, be it fruit, veg, honey, eggs or some pretty flowers they are great value and you get to meet some really wonderful folks too!

Bloomin' lovely!

2007-10-01T11:34:00.000Z

Greening Up yer mates.....

No...not grassing them up! I was having a little natter with an online mate the other day and the subject came around to recycling. (as only it can with a bird like me) I was totally surprised that she recycled nothing, NUFFINK, NADA! It got me to thinking just how many people don't recycle and whether they just don't care, think they don't have the time, it wont' make any difference, or maybe they find it a futile affair, being a greeny type bod.

Anyhow, I asked her if she recycled bottles. 'No' was the reply, 'we don't use that many'. What about plastic? Everyone buys something in plastic, surely just recycling the bits with a triangle with a 1,2 or 3 in it would be good, like the one's accepted at my local recycling centre? 'YES, I'll start recycling it, I promise!' was the reply and do ya know, this bought a lump to me throat and a tear to me eye. Honestly.

I can't tell you how pleased I am that Zoe's going to make a start with sorting out her plastics. This is brilliant! A little step in the right direction is such a wonderful start. And yesterday, whilst tapping away on the ol' keyboard to her, she tells me that over the weekend she had a sup or two of the good stuff with friends and saved her 3 empty plonk bottles, 3 other glass bottles AND the take away tins to recycle. What a fantastic start. She deserves a gold star and a huge pat on the back. GREAT!!!

Here's a useful site for all you would be recyclers.

Waste Online

Big Green Switch

I don't wanna push people around on the subject of recycling and all that jazz, but a gentle nudge in the right direction never hurt anyone. I don't hug trees, live in the woods or am so purist about it, that I squeak when I walk, but surely recycling some stuff is better than recycling none of it?

GO, GO Zo Zo, I'm well 'prarrrd' of ya!

2007-09-28T10:02:00.000Z

Five, Six.... pick up sticks

Seven, Eight, load up the van! Yeah, yeah...I haven't made it rhyme, but I could have written, 'load up the wheelbarrow', frankly nothing really rhymes with it.

But anyway, I digress, which isn't that different for me. I wander off subject all the time, but wandering can be good, especially if you are mooching around the woods looking for fire wood. Now it can be said that burning wood isn't good for the environment, but a girls gotta keep warm somehow.

After moving into our little house in the village, we were fortunate enough to have a chimney, nothing more, boarded up, full of sticks and nests etc, but the possibility of keeping ourselves warm and not switching on the dreadful power eating storage heaters, seemed to be a better option.

So we set about trying to find a woodburner. Blimey, they are expensive bits of kit, well over 600 spons. As luck would have it and us being nifty with sniffing out a few bargains, we found one in our local paper for a snip at £80. They guy had taken it out of a house he was re~furbing, for himself, only to be confronted with his other half, saying it would make too much dust! Dust, dust? I have plenty of that anyway! Lucky for us, I guess.

After much hammering, dust making, fire cementing and a little bit of flue, all done by my other half, we now have a cosy little fire installed, for the fraction of the cost of buying a new one.

Now to the woody bit....we did order some logs, local of course, but also got a Brushwood Licence from our local Forestry Commission. We can pick up wood in our local forest. The licence cost a few shekels for 6 months worth of gathering, but it is well worth it. We can only pick up stuff no larger than 3 inches in diameter and it mustn't have already been cut and trimmed. Apart from that, the wood is our oyster! So a nice little walk in the woods, fresh air, exercise from sawing up our load with a bow saw, loading it into the ol' wheelbarrow, whacking it in the back of the van and beautiful warmth all night, from just a few logs put on the fire. Just perfect....

Now where's the wine and chocolates?

2007-09-15T18:57:00.000Z

Wot a load of............... rubbish!!!

Oh I'm back on the subject of the stuff we throw in the bin. But this time I am talking about the feel good factor of actually sorting it all out and taking it to the recycling centre, composting and wrapping up the stuff we really can't get shot of that comes of supermarket shopping. One thing is to avoid supermarkets. I do try, but I'm not a total saint. Also, the every day guff that the manufacturers say is recylclable but there's nowhere to recycle the flippin' stuff. What the use is a statement 'can be recycled where facilities exist?' Duh! I can never get my head around the triangle on the bottom of my carton says the number 5 in the middle. NOWHERE recycles it!!! I try very hard not to buy stuff with those numbers on, but sometimes it's nigh impossible.

Anyway, we do recycle all that we can, we get our veggie box which comes with boxes that you leave outside and they reuse them. We sort out our plastic, our cardboard, tins, paper and bottles. I have a super duper new rubbish bin that I can throw all my stuff into three sections, all ready to put into my black boxes that my council supplies ready for my refuse collection or to take to the dump. This usually is for cardboard and plastics. I feel great when I take all my stuff to the right places. I'm doing my bit and even though its a bit, it's something positive.

Now to the negative....

What really gets my goat is the people who think that the bi weekly collection is terrible and how disgusting their bins become with maggots etc. It's their crud...it's their rubbish they are chucking out into landfill. They think that their bins stink ~ TRY THE LANDFILL SITES!! They really chuck up! If you shop carefully, a lot of what you currently put in your bin, need not go in at all. Don't buy over packaged foods, it's quite simple really. I think that the supermarkets have a lot to answer to. Why pack everything in plastic? Try paper or cardboard, like we used to in the old days! How did we survive before ultra packed foods existed I wonder?

All you need to do is to wrap up bones, food leftovers in newspaper, then wrap in a terrible, yes but necessary...plastic bag, to keep the flies out.

Alternatively, a green cone could be the answer. I have a composter but I'm seriously thinking of getting one of these.. http://www.greencone.com/home.asp?lang=1 There's a good chance your local council will give you a nice discount for one and you'll pay no more than £20 for it. Have a look, this could be the answer to eleviating the smelly bin for less than the cost of 4 packets of fags or 4 bottles of wine. (I love using these things as conversions!)

Right, .................here I step off me soap box!

Next time you go shopping have a good look at what you buy and what it's actually packed in. Imagine you had to store what you chuck out for the rubbish, in your back yard for a year...oh my goodness, I think you'd die with fright! Fortnightly collections are FAB!

2007-09-10T13:13:00.001Z

Be a smooth operator!

OK, I know yet another foodie blog entry. I just can't help myself, eating and providing wonderful nosh for my lot is a big part of my life. Well...eating is part of everyone's lives, so I may as well share it all with you!

Yet again, my little ol' granny has sent me some fallers from her friends apple tree, so I set about making something delicious with them.

The other day I picked enough blackberries to last for ages and had some in the fridge, cooked and ready for adding to my yogurt, which I now make at home. That's something to write about for another time.

I got my peeling head on and decided to do a big batch of stewed apples, some to freeze and some to eat with a bit of custard. Kids will eat anything if it has a big splosh of custard on it! I made a good start, but into peeling the third apple my potato peeler bit the dust and broke. I wasn't happy but soldiered on with a knife to peel the rest of the batch.

As the apples sat cooling in the pan, I thought about what I could make out of them, remember folks, I STILL don't have an oven to make pies etc. A smoothie, yep a smoothie! My kids love them, I do buy them but they can be a little pricey. Fair enough, they have lots of fruit in them, someone has to peel them and whizz them up into a nice big batch and flog it. But making some for FREE is better!

So, I put a dollop of stewed apple in a jug, the same amount of blackberries, some apple juice and a small banana for luck. Whizzed it all up with my handblender, being everso careful not to splash any anywhere, because it makes an RTM if you do (a right terrible mess) and hey presto ~ homemade smoothie.

It's now just chillin' in the fridge, all ready for the kids when they get home from school!

Delicious and nutritious and will probably disappear in no time. I'll just have to get out and pick some more blackberries and find a willing donation of fallers from someone's tree in the village.

2007-08-28T14:24:00.000Z

Free food ~ berry nice indeed!!!...........

It's that time of year when you can go and do a little foraging. It's not a tricky thing to do, just half an hour of picking time landed me with these beauties. Big fat, sun~ripened blackberries, not 300 yards from my pad, now sitting in my kitchen.

Just how much have you ever paid for a poxy plastic carton of Summer fruits in the supermarket? Oodles of cash for a moments taste in your mouth and then gone like the wind. A big recycled yogurt cartonful cost me a few scratches, some fresh air, sunshine and 30 minutes of peace and quiet. That along with a quick natter with some ladies that were passing by, a couple of tractors, an ancient motorbike and the odd car in the lane. Pleasureable sort of traffic in the big scheme of things.

I've spotted along the way, treefuls of damsons, which are laiden on the branches this year. In a couple of weeks and they'll be ready for picking and made into jam or a sauce for icecream or yogurt. There's rosehips too, for syrup making. All within the space of 200 yards.

I'm off now to add a sprinkle of delicious organic sugar to these little black beauties, simmer them gently to make some coulis for my breakfast of natural yogurt. Scrumptious!

2007-08-21T14:23:00.000Z

HOB bling along ......

on me four gas burners. Oh what a four month battle I've been having with my creativeness in the kitchen.

When we moved in May to this lovely village, there were a few things we had to give up that you take for granted in a town or city. Online gas being one of them. I love my gas cooker (not in a wierdo sort of way) but its much easier to cook on than electricity. So the gas cooker came with us and for one month I used a camping stove to cook the family's meals on. All well and fine, but having no grill or oven is quite a pain in the neck. Oh how I dream of a roast dinner, freshly cooked rolls, quiches, pizzas etc.

So, when the news came that my brother had got the conversion kit for the gas oven I was overjoyed, tearful and over the moon at the thought of crispy food was on it's way.

Not so fast batman.....the company only sent the jets for the top four burners, they hadn't included the oven or grill. My bro did fix the hob jets in, which is great, but not quite what I had in mind.

And they still haven't all this time later. Good things come to those who wait. Good and crispy things, I am hoping.

In the meantime I am cooking meals on four rings and in a slow cooker. The food is freshly made, delicious and hot, but it doesn't really hit the spot all of the time! It's not really been the sort of tropical weather for lots of salads, even though we have had quite a few recently.

On a positive eco note....my gas bottles are gonna last a looooooooooooong time!

2007-08-21T13:33:00.000Z

Mary, Mary quite contrary.....

How does your garden grow?

Well pretty slowly in these parts, but you have to have time and patience to see the results.

When we moved to our new pad, the garden was well....a blank canvas. Not even a blade of grass had survived the wrath of the previous owner. All we had was thick clayie soil that sticks to your shoes, boots and other footware and makes you at least a foot taller by the time you get to the other end of the garden.

So...where to start? My old man is a handy sort of fella, when he's not hogging the TV remote or inspecting the insides of his eyelids from a long hard day at work. So, we decided to have a patio laid down outside the back door, which would give us a fighting chance of not standing in oodles of thick mud as soon as we set foot into the garden. Being strapped for a bit of spare cash, we set about trying to find a cheap way of paving the said quagmire. We looked in our local Trade It paper and found 107 patio slabs for the princely sum of 40 quid. Bingo! ~ recycled garden materials for a fraction of the price.

We now have a menagerie of different kinds of slabs in the back garden, but beautifully laid and set out rather well, with a lot of hard work, bashed fingers, squashed toes (with a few expletives) and toil. It's all looking pretty good.

So before setting out to the garden centre, builders yard or whatever to spend a fortune, think about using stuff that other people may just chuck out into a skip or may be flogging in your local paper. You may even find your complete pre -loved landscaping materials on good ol' Freecycle, if you ask for it.

Now....what to plant? ...something to eat of course!

2007-07-24T15:16:00.000Z

Up the creek without a paddle!

Well what a July it's been. Rain, rain and just a bit more of the stuff. All very good, incredibly enjoyable for young lads who like to splosh about in it, along with a good dollop of mud mixed in, but what about all that flooding?

With towns and cities being flooded and cut off, it's a big wake up call to everyone about just how important the simplest things in life really are.

We are very fortunate here, that we are not flooded, but it got me and me best mate thinking and chatting (for well over an hour on the blower ~ don't tell the ol' man!) about the very basics we need to live and lots of us take for granted.

People in the towns of Tewkesbury and Gloucester have no power, no light, no fresh WATER and just where and how is everyone spending time in the little boys/girls' room when the water treatment works are kaput and swimming in water themselves? Where's all the poo going? It's frightening to be honest.

In this all time 'keeping up with Jones' lifestyle that lots of people are striving to achieve, just how important is an ipod, a flat screen telly, a big new shiny car, when the bottom has fallen out of your world and you've got nowhere to let the world fall out of your bottom?

2007-06-07T22:11:00.000Z

Till we meet again....

(this field is my journey to work!)

I'm volunteering as a shop girl and I am really looking forward to spending a couple of hours a week in my locally run community shop. It's training day tomorrow, where I'll be finding my feet, pressing all the wrong buttons on the till and generally making a real hash of it!

We are so lucky to have a little shop in our village run by the local community and used regularly by the whole of the 500 or so population. All you have to do is volunteer a couple of hours a week to help keep the whole operation going.

It's a fantastic opportunity to show my face and get to know all the characters and good people of the area as I have only been in the village for a month.

Shopping locally is good for everyone here because you can have a bit of a 'soach' natter and get just what you need on your doorstep. You can buy anything from a pint of milk to a stamp. There's newspapers, stationery, eggs, local farm produce, meat and everything you need to stock your cupboards with. It's enviromentally friendly too, as driving to the nearest town for a few groceries costs more than just the fuel in your car, you same time and money!

With so many local village shops closing, this is such a fantastic achievement for our locals, pulling together community spirit and delivering a much needed service.

Hooray for the local shop!

2007-06-07T13:14:00.000Z

Cookin' on the bottle....

No I'm not a budding Keith Floyd, flouncing around my kitchen slugging from a bottle of wine in one hand and a frying pan in the other. I'm talking about not having gas online, you know the stuff that comes in a pipe from goodness knows where.

Since moving to my little village haven, we have had to think about fuel. Our new abode has only been blessed with electricity. Whilst this is a luxury compared to many places in the world, it's not good for heating rooms or cooking your nosh with. Not in my book anyway. (Apart from my lovely slow cooker, which uses a sniff of energy) We have those terrible energy eating storage heaters, that are either cold as a corpse or chucking out heat like when you are sizzling on a beach in the tropics. Not good. There's no happy medium with them.

As far as cooking goes, making your dinner on an electric hob is tiresome. It's either on or off, your pans are either boiling over the brim or sitting there stagnant, occasionally pushing a bubble of liquid to the surface. Gas however is much easier for the cook in the household to get to grips with. Ever seen Gordon Ramsey cook on an electric ring? Nah I don't think so.... Just the thought of the man makes me go all oooh errr. He's definately flavour of the month with me.

Enough of my gushing about Gordon. Back to gas...We are now on a gas bottle for our cooking. This is a good thing. Why? Well because you have to think about just how much of the stuff you've got left. There's no guage ~ why hasn't anyone ever invented something for those bottles I wonder? You use your energy wisely, you keep an eye on how long you've had that oven on for, or that gas ring. It's been a refreshing experience in using something I have taken for granted in the past, with 'respek'!

So next time you whack your oven on and forget about it, whilst gassing on the blower to your best mate, or get engrossed in a book, just keep an eye on all that hot air and energy you're wasting. Put a timer on if you have to pre~heat it and save yourself some money!

I'm now off to shake my gas bottle to see what I've got left.

2007-05-16T18:10:00.000Z

Here's mud in yer eye!

Well....a week into our village life and things are looking good or is it looking MUD? Moving house is quite frankly...a pain in the neck, but it's all for the better. Our first night here...when the sun was shining and we'd had our unusually warm April, all we heard was an owl at ten at night. We're in a small village in the Vale of Pewsey, it has all the necessary things...a school, a church, a pub and a community run shop. Idealic.

Then the rain came, infact it came day after day and being in a vale with clay soil, it's become mud city in my son's eyes. He ADORES the stuff. After sitting in day after day in our old home or mooching about in the street, he's out ALL DAY, all weekend and straight after school. He jumps into his jeans, boots and sweatshirt and he's gone.

It's a boys dream...........fields, ditches and MUD. My washing machine is on overload with grubby, clay ridden clothes, there's newspapers on the floor with umpteen amounts of clumpy soiled boots sitting by the door. But sooooo worth it.

He's always had a good apetite, but tea is now gobbled down and the plate licked clean.

Good fresh air, wind,rain and dirt....makes a happy boy!

2007-04-21T13:03:00.000Z

You get a roll with it.....Oasis eat yer hearts out!

Oh the joys of breadmaking and in less than a morning. If you are a bit of a lazy greening up type person in some areas of the subject...you'll have a bread making machine.

Just 1 and half hours of whirring and a gentle nudge of heat from the ol' machine and the beeper goes to remind you to get kneading hands ready for bread making. The dough is ready to rock and roll!

Cut the dough in half then repeat this until you have about 16 pieces. Dust your board with some flour and lightly knead some little round rolls or plaits or what ever shape you fancy! Light your oven to Gas 6 or equivalent, place the rolls on a oiled, floured tray and leave them on top of the cooker for 20 mins for a second rising. Brush with milk, load them with seeds, sunflower or sesame and whack in the oven for about 15-20 mins. My 6 year old son helped me make the ones you see above. Childs play, educating and enjoyable too.

Go on you know you KNEAD to have a go at breadmaking!

2007-04-19T16:41:00.000Z

***Don't forget....it's National Downshifting Week next week!***

21st ~ 27th April 2007

It's the event of the year for everyone to par~take in. Nip on to Tracey Smiths fantastic website for oodles of great information on how to get up and running on the downshifting trail.

http://www.downshiftingweek.com

Tracey has inspired me to do so much more than I could ever have imagined and it's been a slow transformation. None of this overnight insta stuff, but a bit at a time which is 'simple as a pimple' to do.

You'll be taken in with just how easy it is to slow down and green up your everyday life and invest your precious time in your family, not all at your workplace! Yeah, we all have to earn a crust...but there's more to life and you only get one crack at it.

Have fun and get a better quality of life!

2007-04-19T08:39:00.000Z

Green kids...and not just their noses

I'm doing me bit for the environment, but that's here and now. I teach my children to recycle, not to leave the lights on, have endless showers, da de da da da, but what about the official educators?

My best mate with the mass of curly hair and top eco bird, Tracey Smith has put forward a petition to Tone and his cronies in the big building of Westminster. It's to have a special part of the curriculum that deals solely with sustainable living and environmental awareness. Where better to start than in the classroom?

Tracey states 'Children are the leaders of the future and we need to invest time in them now, to help them get on the right green track long before they step into adulthood'.

You can sign her petition here on this link:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENTCLASS/

Tell your friends, schools and workplaces about this petition and ask them to sign it. With our voices let the government implement this incredibly important subject and officially place greening up in our classrooms. The kids will sap it up with their enthusiasm for sure!

I will now step orrrf me soapbox.........

2007-04-15T17:35:00.000Z

Oh....the grate and the good!

The joys of the weekly veggie box, it certainly varies the meals you have. That's the wonderful thing about eating seasonally available fruit and vegetables. You get incredibly inventive with what you whack on your dinner plate.

With the arrival of our early Summer weather over the last week, I have been in salad mode. There's still quite a lot of Winter veg appearing weekly in my organic box, but there's a ton of salads you can make with the available items you get.

I have seemed to amass a huge amount of white cabbage and beetroot. Now apart from boiling the beets and sinking them in some vinegar for a salad or making pickle (of which I have quite a stash at the minute) it was time for something else to tickle the family's taste buds.

White cabbage of course is pretty easy to make into a delicious coleslaw, just slice it up nice and fine, grate a carrot and chop an onion finely, dollop in some mayonnaise and Bob's yer uncle. Of course you can add in celery and apple to tart it up a bit too.

For the beetroot, I made a beetroot, celery and orange salad. Peel a nice big beetroot about the size of your fist (or the equivalent in diddly ones) grate it then chop up 2 sticks of celery finely. Grate the zest of an organic orange and squeeze the juice from it. Put the whole lot in a bowl and mix together. Add a little homemade French dressing and voila, a deliciously different salad with a huge amount of colour.

Note to self:...don't' wear your white t shirt when eating this beety dish. Not good, especially if you are great at collecting 'canteen medals' like I am!

2007-04-13T18:01:00.000Z

Movin' on DOWN....

Packing up and moving house is...well something else. 6 years I've been at my current abode and I have accumulated such a pile of crud and stuff. I mean...just how do we collect so many 'useful' things, that we may just need one day?

Time to thin it all out and recycle it in the best possible ways. I have been to the 'Bay of E' and flogged a lot of items that I thought I couldn't live without. It's paid for the moving van and a few of the other necessary evils of upping sticks and relocating.

The other place to get rid of those unwanted items is good ol' FREECYCLE ,which I have raved on about before in my blog. If you've got something to get shot of, it's virtually LAW for any one into recycling as well as being clever and thrifty. Just sign up to your local group and you'll have a whale of a time looking through all the offers and wanteds. You have to offer something before you ask for an item, it's only fair after all.

I have blagged a sack truck for my move. I asked for it on Freecycle as a WANT but I did ask that a BORROW would be just fine. Some kind soul from the next town has volunteered the lending of his sack truck for the time we need it. Just how wonderful, kind and fab is that? I also managed to gather a few moving boxes from my local group too. So I've given a load of stuff away but received some incredibly useful and needy things too.

Now for the moving day....better hitch up me breeches and slap on the elbow grease!

2007-03-09T14:50:00.000Z

Meeeeelk it...have I lost my bottle?...

Well yes...... and no.

Last week at 6pm when it was blowing a hoolie outside, I was munching a big slowwww cooked oxtail stew there was a knock at the door. There stood a bloke with an enormous moustache. Just who was this masked crusader ?(well his mouth definately was!) It was...

.....the milkman! Quite a rarity these days, especially at such an hour. We don't have a milkman, but we do now! This guy was canvassing to deliver milk in the evenings twice a week. FANTASTIC!

I asked him if he delivered organic semi skimmed ~ yes was the answer and it's fairly local moo juice too! How about that? Milk these days only appears to come in large plastic containers, but I can still take these to the recycling centre.

At this rate I won't be going out to get groceries at all. Well, maybe I will. I love food shopping, it's just fantastic going hunter gathering, as I call it, but with a veg box and milk arriving at my doorstep, I'll be saving fuel and lessening my carbon footprint.

2007-02-27T14:32:00.000Z

Slooooooooooooow cooking it.....

Oh the waft of something cooking in the kitchen is one thing, but to have it around for a few hours is comforting. Even if I've been the creator!

I love my slow cooker. It's a whoppa of a pot that you can chuck virtually anything in, a little stock, switch on and desert for as long as you like (well a good few hours) without panicking about burning the house down, while you nip out for a breath of fresh air or that long awaited cycle ride.

A quick favourite is beef stew. Just chop up some onions, carrots, potatoes, a small turnip and a few chunks of beef skirt. Cover only just with some beef stock and whack the lid on. Don't put too much liquid in otherwise you'll have pints of gravy!

Flick the switch to low and let it get on with it. Four hours or so later....come back to a delicious hot, slow cooked meal fit for a king or the rest of the royalty in your household. Thicken it up with a little flour mixed in tiny bit of cold water and serve with some big chunks of fresh homemade bread.

Slow cookers use very little energy and are very efficient. They aren't expensive and they take the pressure off the cook of the family once a week! You can prepare the meal in the morning and go and do something for yourself while it cooks away everso gently.

No, I don't go and sleep on the sofa in front of the telly!

Here's a little thing I have to add on today...a site full of interesting blogs and STUFF!

Technorati Profile

Join up and add your favourites on too.

2007-02-24T17:36:00.000Z

Core! I was on Apple AM......

A whole Wednesday morning of Eco chatter with me best pal Tracey Smith. What a complete treat to be able to talk about our most passionate subject. Tracey hosts the midweek show from 10am to 1pm and I was lucky enough to join her last Wednesday.

In between some fantastic music, chosen by both of us, we chewed the fat on every subject to do with living a greener life. Obviously, cooking was high up on the ranks along with clever cleaning tips.

It was an absolute scream, scooting from one subject to another, it flowed as 'simple as a pimple' as Mrs Smith often says.

The phone lines flashed at us constantly and we were able to share some great feedback from patients, visitors and the like.

You can listen to Apple AM on the internet. Go on catch up with this marvellous Mrs Eco of the airwaves, constant chirpy chatter from an Eco Chick. Tracey flows with happy, hilarious, open and friendly information. Grab a coffee, tune in and be inspired!

I wanna go back and do another show...SOON...T are ya listening?

2007-02-18T19:55:00.000Z

'So'..... whats 'da' the big deal with those crystals?

Oh dear over a month has gone by and I've just been given a friendly kick up the jacksy by a good friend. Just what I needed to get me blogging again.

As I stood cleaning my sink tonight...I thought I must tell you about the one product that I have been using for most of my eco cleaning persuits. Good...old....Soda Crystals.

For so many years I thought my mother was totally off her head with her unbridled enthusiasm for the little white crystals. Oh how wrong was I? She is totally right....I was just a little slow off the mark.

There are 101 things you can use them for as I discovered from a leaftlet I picked up from my local eco store recently. I am going to share these little gems of info with you. I'm kind like that! (and I want you to think about using them ~ LOTS)

For a start you can use soda crystals for unblocking sinks ~ it's a great degreaser and will eat through all those nasty little things you poke down the plughole and forget about...until the water won't drain away. A good strong solution of crystals made with some nice hot water will sort ya sink out in no time.

Bathrooms...the bain of my life...living with three males in the house, there's always a need to clean the lav bowl and the surrounding 3ft on a regular basis. A medium solution made up in the sink will clean the bowl, floor and the bath and bring it up sparkling. Rinse down with fresh water after and you'll have a bathroom that looks as clean as a whistle.

I soak my whites in a bucket to get rid of those grimy shirt collars and general grime, before whacking them in the washing machine with my Eco Balls. More on those babies later!

You can use the crystals to wash floors, clean BBQ's and chopping boards. Just rinse well with clean water.

And all this for a around 70p a bag. It's just fantastic...cheap and not bad for the environment either. They have no phosphates, enzymes or bleach in them.

Go and get armed with a load!

2007-01-13T13:45:00.000Z

Monthly cycles....and we aint talking bikes.....

OK, this one is for the layyydees amongst us. Blokes ~ go and hog the telly buttons for a minute or two. It all happens to us sometime during our lives....and generally it's a pain in the....womb!

Yes, it's our periods I am yapping on about. Last year a friend of mine introduced me to the Diva Cup...it's called Mooncup here in the UK...different manufacturer but does the same thing. It's a little soft silicone rubber cup that you insert instead of tampons.

I am converted and it's much better for you too. No chances of toxic shock syndrome, no bleached cottons, fibres and deodorisers. You buy just one and its lasts a couple of years or more. Just wash it out when your periods finished, let it dry, stick it back in its little cotton bag and stash it in the cupboard for next month. Recycling at it's best!

Thus....you save oodles of dosh, help save the environment, don't bung up the sewage works with lots of 'little white mice' and it's healthier for you. Just work out how much you spend on sanitary wear a year AND it's got VAT on it as well. Some luxury item eh? For around £19 you have yourself a brilliant little invention.

It takes a little practice to start with and when it's in the right position and when it's snuggly in, you can't feel it. You don't have to empty it as often either. You can do everything you did when you used those old fashioned tampons ~ yeah swimming included!

Too much information? Have a look at the website where you can find all the answers without me getting too graphic here!

Try one, you'll wonder why on earth you ever stuck with lumps of cotton on strings!

2007-01-08T17:41:00.000Z

All packed up.......and somewhere to go...

School lunches are better than they used to be for sure. My son has been having them but he's decided he wants a lunch box for his midday meal. Fair enough, the boy knows what he fancies.

So...just what do you put in a lunch box thats interesting and tasty? Well it's not that difficult to throw together something nutricious and delicious to keep the little squirt full of energy until teatime.

It doesn't have to be some fantastic and spectacular culinary offering. Just good healthy food.

I make a batch of little rolls and freeze them. (enough for at least two weeks lunchboxes at a time) Just take one out of a grip seal bag the night before or even in the morning and fill with a little slice of local ham, cheese etc. I put the veggies in a small box, this can be tomato, cucumber, carrots or celery. A piece of organic fruit and one the famous homemade gingernut or crunchie cookies. A bottle of refreshing organic squash for hydration. Along with a fromage frais or yogurt to finish you'll have a full and happy little nipper. OK, the one above isn't organic, but I am not totally perfect!

A little pasta salad or a fresh fruit salad won't go a miss either now and again to make the kids a good, tasty midday meal. I know exactly what my son has eaten too. School meals are fine but it's nice to see an empty lunchbox at the end of the day.

Go on pack 'em up something fab, dump the chocolate biccies, fizzy drink and bag of crisps, keep those for treats....put some good fresh food in for lunch and watch them glow with health!

2006-12-31T14:45:00.000Z

Stepping into 2007 with some eco~inspiration, Greening Up stylie....

Why not step into the New Year with a green spring in your stride? Surely, this is the best time to start as you mean to go on.....do a little at a time and you can pat yourself on the back, even in a weeks time with your Greening Up way to a more eco~friendly and healthy 2007.

I have gathered over the past year some websites that can help you along...they have certainly inspired me to get my finger out and eat, live, clean, cook and enjoy a smarter greener way of life...

My gift and gentle push it the right direction is listed below for you... enjoy and be inspired...

Of course, don't forget to look through this blog for everyday do~able tips that even I have managed over the last year...it's been a fantastic eye opener and easy to do in small chunks. I am learning and doing new stuff as each week passes. Save this to your favourites and come back regularly as I update my diary.

Here you go...!

www.downshiftingweek.com

Tracey Smiths fantastic downshifting website to get you on your way...loads of feel good tips and links!

And...don't forget to tune into Ready, Steady Cook! on BBC 2, January 3rd at 4.30pm. Tracey and Penney Poyzer will be there to inspire you into good healthier eating, along with Lesley Waters, Gino D'Campo and the lovely Ainsley Harriot.

www.selfsufficientish.com
A great site with a friendly forum of selfsufficienters with a wealth of useful information for greening up your lifestyle.

www.insightecostore.com
Need some ideas to save energy etc ?...Nigels Eco Store has lots to offer.

www.foe.co.uk
And...Friends Of The Earth...sign up for the eco tip of the day!

www.timesonline.co.uk/ecoworrier
A very useful blog by Anna Shepard of the Times Online, which has interesting links to all subjects for living a environmentally aware lifestyle.

You can start right now...turn over a NEW LEAF. Read a little...do a little and let your new way of life put a great big ECO smile on yer chops...!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-12-20T18:19:00.000Z

Making a pong...naturally!

Yikes, I bet your thinking of pots of boiling sprouts and cabbage.

Nope.

I have always tried to stay away from those synthetic aromas that you can plug into your walls, squirt into the air and plonk a block of it in yer loo. They get up my nose, but not in the way I'd like!

Recently, I have used a lot of natural oils in and around my house. A little orange or lemon oils heated over one of those burner thingys with a tealight underneath freshens the house up and uplifts your spirits no end.

A few drops of eucalyptus or pine oil put down your loo pan will freshen up the bowl no end. If you have 3 blokes in the house....you'll understand this totally!

And as it's Christmas time I have got all festive and made some pot pourri with dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks and cloves. Also hanging oranges with cloves in. They smell divine and very pretty they are too.

So, when you think of scents, go natural....you know it makes sense!

2006-12-12T11:19:00.000Z

Mmmm...is that chips for dinner? ...nope it's the van running outside!

You meet the most interesting people when you are out and about....and they can change your thoughts about many aspects of greening up when you least expect it.

On our lastest Freecycle collection of some bunk beds from a very interesting man locally. He had a van not unlike ours and within no time my husband got talking about bio~diesel. (motors, engines and vans are definately a bloke thing) More interestingly...this man actually manufactures the stuff. He runs his factory heating etc on it too.

He gave us a sample of his liquid gold in a Lucozade bottle. It costs about the same as diesel per litre (actually it's a lot less but the government have got their greedy little hands on it and whacked tax on veggie oil ~ whatever next?) so it's definately looking like the ol' man will be making the change and filling up with bio diesel soon and being able to get it locally is such a huge boost too!

Here's to us smelling like a greasy spoon cafe!

2006-12-08T13:18:00.000Z

Preserving without getting into a pickle....

This year I've got into pickling big time. It's been fun, very aromatic on the hands and extremely enjoyable to say the least.

I kept my pickling simple...eggs, onions and a chutney just for starters.

Pickled eggs are a cinch to do, just boil the eggs, peel the little bleeders (this was the most frustrating part) pop them in a giant jar and cover in heated then cooled, spiced vinegar.

Onions are a little more fiddly...getting those tight little skins off each and every one of them is time consuming. Oooh.......... how I wept buckets of tears, blew my nose about a dozen times, had bright red peepers and ended up with the oniony-est hands for over a week. No end of scrubbing got shot of the smell. A right passion killer, it's hardly an alluring scent.

After packing them into smaller jars, heating spiced vinegar and pouring over, I stashed them into the cupboard to mature for a few weeks. With a little paper cover on the lid and a rubber band to secure, they will make great gifts for all lovers of something a little spicey to go with some cheese and biccies.

Beetroot chutney is another colourful project for your hands, days after the manufacture! Purple digits are additionally quite an unattractive sight for a while.

It's delicious though and here's the recipe...easy to do after the initial boiling of the roots and peeling them.

Oldie fashioned weights I'm afraid ~ 1/2 = HALF!!

3 lbs Beetroot
1 and half llbs apples
2 onions
1 pt vinegar
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2oz salt
Juice of one lemon
1/2llb sugar

Boil beetroot until tender, when cold peel and cut into little cubes. Peel and cut the onions and apples very small and boil for 20 minsutes in the vinegar, sugar, ginger, salt and lemon juice. Add the prepared beetroot and boils for another 15 mins. Pot and cover.

See...it's not that tricky to make some presents with love! Time yes, but soooo worth it.

2006-12-07T13:46:00.000Z

Stemming into home brewing....

What an industrious morning I've had. Deciding on starting up the home wine making session has proved a mission in itself...yeah the starting bit!

Not so long ago I received big dusty box of home brew equipment from a very nice Freecycler in Bath, along with a brewing bin. It's been sat in the shed for a few months, so I thought I better take it out of captivity and make something interesting to drink. Ginger and Lemon wine to be precise.

But...I didn't have any demi johns, which is quite an important piece of equipment for a wine maker. So I toddled off into town this morning, on the hunt to track down two of them in the charity shops. There wasn't any on show but I asked some of the lil' old ladies in Help The Aged, who came up trumps at £1.98 for two. BINGO!

After chopping up a shed load of lemons and a mountain of stem ginger two days ago, I'd left it to 'akkle' in the brewing bin. Today was the 'squeeze it and decanter it in to the demis' time, along with lots of sugar and some yeast.

In this process I have a very sticky floor (lifting my indoor footwear is sounding like I have tried to glue them to the surface), a sticky stove and sticky slippers. I've hands that would better suit a 101 year old from getting every last drop of lemon and ginger juice out of the mix. Wrinkled or what?

Gleefully now, I watch the two demi's sitting snuggly next to my boiler, bubbling away. This is GOOD news!

Now it's like waiting for a baby to arrive. I am hoping for a nip of something to see the new year in. Quite do~able from others reporting back who have tried this on www.selfsufficientish.com.

Selfsufficientish has a wealth of knowledge for all people looking to become greener and more eco aware. It's a gentle push in the right direction for those who want to do a bit more, without jumping head first into being totally self sufficient, in one go.

Get over there, browse Andy and Dave Hamiltons site. Join in the forum...a really great crowd of like minded folks all doing their thing and sharing in the ups and downs on improving an eco friendly lifestyle.

Including brewing up some wicked drinkies! HIC.

2006-12-03T14:54:00.000Z

You'll always have friends....with a cookie...

Cutting out the over wrapped choccie biccies from the snack cupboard has finally paid off, in more ways than one.

For a good couple of months I have been making homemade cookies for my bunch of hungry cookie monsters. In the beginning they kept asking 'when are you going to get some more chocolate biscuits mum?' They had been munching their way through oodles of the things. You know the sort of bars with a shortcake middle and covered in chocolate with a sparkly wrapper on, packed in 10's in one bag then yet another wrapper in eyecatching motifs to jump out at you on the supermarket shelf. Quite pricey and full of goodness knows what from the food chemical larder.

Now the boys regularly take a few homemade delights in their school bags and packed lunch as a sweet treat.

Well, last week both my son's came home and said to me in two separate incidences and told me that other kids at school kept trying to nick the cookies from them as they looked so good. My lads who are now avid fans of my culinary skills hung on to them and wouldn't part with them, even for a swapsie of a wrapped choccie bar!

HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A RESULT?

Yeeeee Harrr....good food is becoming cool to eat!

2006-11-28T15:45:00.000Z

Peddling it.... Freecycle stylie....

In this throw away society that we now live in, why not throw something out and do someone a favour?

I have, for the last year or so belonged to my local Freecycle group. It's fantastic for getting shot of the 'odd' bed, fridge, old hoover, rug, bag of elastic bands, kids toys etc. All you do is sign up to yahoo groups on the Freecycle website...http://www.freecycle.org/ from anywhere in on the globe and you'll probably find a group in your area. If not...you could always set one up!

It works like this...you put a 'WANTED' or 'OFFER' on the group posting pages and wait. The only thing is that you have to collect the item, if you are lucky to get it ~ things go really fast! It must be free and not be an animal. Fair enough, as I don't have any animals to give away.

I 've got shot of a door draft excluder, a kids playhouse, a pile of books, a stereo cabinet, a rusty bike and a box of building bricks. I have in return got a set of bunk beds, a filing cabinet, a greenhouse and all matter of small items. All recycled and loved again. How fabulous is that?

Don't dump it....deal it out to the next willing taker. There's always somebody who needs an item that you thought could go to the tip. Even a bit of old carpet....for killing the weeds down at the allotment!

2006-11-23T08:20:00.000Z

Using my loaf....well that's after I've made it

Good old bread....it's one of our national staple foods. Pity most of the stuff in the shops is as light as cotton wool and has no taste. I can eat at least 6 slices of the white sliced variety before I feel like I've eaten anything. It's like a puff of air, cardboardy when toasted and totally unsatisfying to put in yer cakehole.

Three years ago, my wonderful other half bought me a Christmas present.....a breadmaker. Have you got one of those, that you used once and then stashed it back in the box and stuck it at the back of a dusty cupboard? Well, get it back out and have a good look at it. Better still, open up that box, pull it out and use it!

You may think...'that's not much of a present for a layyyyyyydeee', but it was and still is. I truly love my bread machine and it's been used tirelessly since it was purchased. In fact...I tell a lie. I used it so much, it conked out and we replaced it from the original manufacturer for a slice of the price with free delivery to the door.

I make a loaf everyday. It takes just five minutes to whack together, switch it on and leave for a few hours. The buzzer goes off, take it out and voila! Good 'fill yer to the gills' bread. Once slice will suffice. It really is bread with attitude, flavour and weight!

I use a mixture of half and half malthouse flour (like granary) and strong white to produce an excellent, tasty bread.

Sometimes, I use the dough setting and make some rolls for the kids lunch boxes, by finishing the rolls in the oven.

And...you can make pizza dough in the bread machine too. Yet another great fast food meal (hardly fast food as you can't rush dough, but GOOD food!) that everyone loves.

Once you get into the habit of sticking a loaf on daily, your'll never go back to bread in a plastic bag! (uh oh there you go....more plastic!)

2006-11-21T16:02:00.000Z

Plastic, it's not so fantastic....it doesn't compost down, that's pretty drastic...

Yeah, I'm a poet as well. REALLY...I won't go into that just yet...as I am settling you into a comfy green scene...I don't want to lose any readers at the minute!

Mmmm...I have been thinking about plastic for a couple of days now..hence the lack of blogging. It's a real problem, as everything we appear to buy is covered in the stuff. Food for instance...yogurt, meat, tomato sauce, milk, bread, biccies, crisps, margarine, (yeuk, I really can believe it's not butter) it really doesn't taste bit like butter. There's all matter of things, including fruit and veg. Buying groceries in a plastic tray covered in cling film has never enamored me, it's all a bit too precious.

Looking into my kitchen bin, I still have plastic to throw away. I do recycle milk cartons, yogurt pots etc, but what do you do with all those other bits?

So what I am actively going to do over the next few weeks...and beyond is to buy as little as possible with a wrapper on. Tricky, but do ~ able.

Now that I am an avid cookie maker for my ever hungry cookie monsters, I don't have wrappers from biscuits. I don't have wrappers for my veg, as I get my organic box delivered, which I hand back collapsed and empty to the man when he arrives with my new order the following week.

I do have wrappers from the cereals I buy, the boxes can be recycled tho'. There always seems to be something lurking in my bin that's plastic. I buy my eco friendly laundry liquid, washing liquid, softener and what have you in bottles that I take back to re~fill.

I'll let you know how I get on in the next week or so...but have a look and see how you can cut down on the amount of packaging you take home with you next time you hit the shop for your groceries!

2006-11-18T15:21:00.000Z

A girl's night in .....naturally

I've just been 'over' for a little visit to a friend's website in the USA. I have known Pennie for a few years now and she has excelled and gone from strength to strength in making her own beauty products. All gorgeously presented and made with all the care in the world! Pennie uses natural, Fair Trade and organic ingredients, carefully sourced and chemical free.

I am all for using natural products on my skin. I mean, what you put on it, goes into it. Thinking about that I have decided it's gonna to treat myself.

So.......tonight, it's a girls night in...Chick flick, glass of wine (I am not perfect and I like a glass or two) and a homemade face pack from the make your own homemade goodies section on www.ladiesblend.com. There's oodles of great facemask recipes, pedicure and hair rinses to choose from. Most of the ingredients come straight from your fruit bowl and store cupboard. Yummy!

I shall get organised now, whilst the kids are whizzing about outside in the Autumn fresh air on their bikes. Blimey, it's so chilly here today and they are just wearing T Shirts, how do kids do that? I NEVER remember going out just togged up in a skinny top and a pair of jeans in November. Maybe I just getting on a bit and can't remember anymore!

In just a few hours time I'll have my feet up, face pack on, phone off the hook, film on and supping a nice warming glass of red. Luxury.... without it costing the earth.

2006-11-17T19:18:00.000Z

Any ol' veg.... any ol' veg.... any any any old veggies......

You all know the 'Any old iron song'...well if you are of a certain age you will.

Waste not, want not.

After digging around in my veg tray in the bottom of my fridge this morning, I noticed that there were a few old 'friends' that needed using up. In my old, frivolous days, I probably wouldn't have had a second thought about buzzing it in the waste bin.

Each year the average household in the UK, chucks out over £400 worth of food that is just about to expire its sell by date or a day out of date. What a terrible thing to do, as all you have to do is cook it in some way or another and freeze it for an emergency meal!

Well, what did I have floating around you ask? A large amount of pak choi, three of the tiniest carrots ever, half a red pepper, a few ends of leeks (the green bit mainly!) and a red onion. Also, on the cold meats and cheese shelf of the fridge, a rather lonesome half a slice of ham. An interesting collection of odds and ends that still have a meaningful purpose in my kitchen, so I put them to good use and made......a hearty, chunky, delicious pak choi soup!

Melt a little butter in a heavy bottomed pan, chop the onion, the leeks and the pepper into chunks and sweat down until soft. Keep the heat lowish and it won't burn. I then chopped roughly the pack choi and tossed that in the pan too, along with the ham, chopped, a chicken stock cube, ....yep another 'last' item in the bottom of the stock cube pot, salt, pepper and a pint and half of water. Bring to the boil, whack on the lid and turn down to a simmer for about 20 mins.

And voila....a warming lunchtime snack, full of vitamins, enough to put hair on yer chest too!

When you next look in your fridge...don't dismiss all those bits and pieces...in just a blink of an eye you could have a fantastic, interesting and nourishing lunch dish.

Ta dah!!!

2006-11-16T16:21:00.000Z

Cleaning up my act...without getting into a lather

After many years of having a bathroom full of smellies, soaps, shampoos conditions and all matter of things that make us clean, I've been having a think, after a thought provoking pre~wedding holiday.

On my hen weekend, a couple of months a go, me and my best mate and Hag of Honour (yeah, she didn't mind being called that) went into Bath for a bit of Green Yourself Up break. We thought about going off for a weekend of fun in the Big Apple, or Europe etc, but when we started talking about it, we thought..why don't we just go and have some fun locally?

That's just what we did...a night in a nice hotel, some good local food and a aromatherapy spa session was just the ticket and only a few miles from home. No passports required, a small bag and no travelling to the airport and hanging around for hours with coffee and a sarnie that requires a mortgage sized amount of dosh to pay for it.

When we were out and about enjoying our short period of child ~ free freedom, we dined on organic fast food and searched for natural beauty products. We were amazed just how difficult it was to find SLS (sodium laurel sulphate) free products to wash our bods with. Being in Bath, we were lucky to find Neals Yard.

The ladies in Neals Yard were so very helpful and informative about using natural stuff on our skin. (and I am not getting any younger, people!) I particularly need help of any kind to keep my skin in tip top conditon. I was treated to some 'reet' nice stuff from my pal which included shampoo, conditioner, rose toner and some fantastic face oil which is as light as a feather when it goes on your face. All with 'natch' ingredients. Of course, now my face feels totally gorgeous as my wrinkles are now well nourished with the very best stuff rubbed into my chops on a daily basis. Healthy wrinkles...now there's a thought!

So my mission when I got home feeling all refreshed and relaxed ...wash to start on our SLS free bathroom. It's a slow process, replacing soap, shampoo, kids bubblebath, toothpaste etc. We are getting there and now that we have an Eco Supermarket not far from us in Melksham called Who Cares, I can buy my products loose by the millilitre and all packaged in recycled milk cartons. How good is that?

If you wanna know more about SLS, here's something I have found....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dodecyl_sulfate

2006-11-15T12:14:00.000Z

Beef up your shopping power.....get it locally

What's in the pot? Well I'll tell you....it's more like.... under the grill!

I've been buying my meat from our local butchers recently and I have to say, it is one of my best changes in recent months.

I nip into town, hook a right into one of the side streets to my local butchers shop. I always get a wonderful greeting by a man in his white pinny, hat and a smile.

It takes me ages to choose what I want, not because I am fussy, but because theres'a great range of cuts to cast my eyes over. All locally sourced in Wiltshire and nice and fresh. Not a polystyrene tray to be seen or meat squashed into a plastic box and suffocated in a slice of cling film. Just an array of beautifully arranged meats.

OK, it's not cheap going to the butchers, but you get fantastic quality meat, cut how you want it, trimmed how you want it and if you have a question on how best to cook it, there's man with a wealth of knowledge standing behind the counter.

I buy less meat now, but it's good meat and hasn't been hoofing around the country in a huge lorry going from depot to depot, being handled by 101 people.

Tonight we are having a great favourite what all kids like...but homemade...yep beefburgers. Delicious!

1llb beef mince
1 onion finely chopped
1 x garlic clove crushed and chopped
2 tablespoons of pesto
1 squirt of tomato puree
1 egg
and a couple of handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs

Whack the whole lot in a bow, squeeze it all up and mix it around with you hands and once combined, press about 8 burger patties into shape.

Stick them under a medium grill, turning once for about 5-7 mins each side until brown. Serve them with a good helping of veg or in a bread roll with a salad.

2006-11-14T21:03:00.000Z

Ready, Steady..... cooking up some fantastic eco tips......

On a high today....you bet I am.

At the crack of dawn this morning, we left the house on our way to London to record...Ready, Steady, Cook!

Along with our cool box full of locally sourced, organic nosh, two kids, Tracey Smith (the celeb) Jools (the driver) and me (the hanger on, groupie and general audience participant) we sped our way to the M4 and hit the city.

We were greeted and treated like complete celebs in the reception of Endamol Productions, Wandsworth, as if we were the and the 'b' all and end all.

We met up with Penney Poyzer to slogg it out in the BBC 20 minute bun fight to make something fabulous out of a few organic, eco friendly ingredients with fantastic Lesley Waters and the gorgeous Gino D' Acampo. Tracey, part of the Red Tomato team and Penney the Green Pepper team.

I was placed in prime position to see the whole cooking session being filmed in one fell swoop, to produce some of the finest nosh made in a third of an hour, I have ever had the pleasure to eat.

Ainsley Harriet our host was totally luscious, welcoming, friendly and thoroughly gorgeous in his approach towards us and listened intently to the views of everyday greening up in the kitchen. A true professional. Tracey and Penney were able to put across their passion for living an organic, eco~friendly and enviromnentally aware lifestyle.

All this finished in a flash of time, then left us to test all of the 8 dishes created at our leisure in the dining area of the recording studios. Needless to say, we were totally stuffed with such a pletherin of fantastic tastes and flavours.

The result......

Watch the show on 4th January 2007.

We had such a fantastic day, truly unforgettable!

Tracey Smith will be nattering about this on her Slow Down & Green Up Radio program on Apple AM. Listen in on the internet on Wednesdays 10am ~12pm.

2006-11-12T19:21:00.001Z

Getting the message across by flicking the switch....

After getting an email from my best friend introducing me to the I Count http://www.icount.org.uk website...I have been on a mini mission to save a bit of energy around the house. This is one of the hardest things I have had to do recently as with the clocks going back...the 'lekky' consumption whizzes up, with the dark evenings drawing in. Lights ablazing, our place looks like a Blackpool Illumination. It's a nightmare to be honest.

So...I am on a vigourous training program with my kids. I have printed of my 'LOVE OFF' stickers from the I Count site. I have cut them out and put them on all the light switches, the pcs, tellys etc around the place. I think it's slowly sinking in, but it's a fight I have to tell you. How many times do I have to tell my lads....switch that light off, switch that tv off, SWITCH, SWITCH, SWITCH IT OFF!

Today I purchased two more low energy light bulbs from our local shop. Every little helps I know and we are now the proud owners of four bulbs around our home.

Another energy saving project I have been persuing since March this year is to buy myself (or rather the FAMILY, yeah I know I do all the laundry but everyone benefits) an Italian clothes dryer. You know the type...they have them everywhere in France, Spain and of course....Italy! They are sort of ironing board high, fold up like one and hold a good two machine loads of wet washing. Much better than those pathetic things that the clothes touch each other on. I mean, whats the point of having wet things all touching each other? They take an age to dry and end up smelling like a tramps coat. (sorry to all tramps) Italian or Euro dryers are brilliant and your smalls...... and bigs, dry quickly without fighting for drying space with each other.

The tumble drier is looking pretty forlorn in the outside shed. It has it's emergency uses, but I use it rarely now.

And not forgetting the good ol' washing line...you know.... the line that is outside in the fresh air and sunshine? What's better than a load of washing dried in the gorgeous fresh air and dried...even at this time of year with a smattering of Autumn sunrays? Press your nose against a sheet dried outside, plucked straight from the line and you'll know what I mean. There's no other aroma like it.

So....click it off, flick it off and if you aint' using it SWITCH it off!

2006-11-11T18:10:00.001Z

Three wise men and a gal.. your pressie's from the charity shop.....and it's a gem..

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....oh god, what do you get all your family and friends who have everything....yep...a gift from the charity shop.

No ,it's not going to be an ill fitting snowflake pattern jumper, you can get them NEW from any shop anyway. It's going to be something even I don't even know yet for some people. That's the joy of getting all my Chrimbo pressies from the pletherin of charity shops I have in my local town. OK, I need a few hours trawling the 8 or so shops to find that little gem of a gift for all my special friends and family, but new stock arrives daily and no two objects are the same!

Luckily, I don't have shed loads of family or friends to shell out on. Not that I am friendless, I hasten to add, I just choose my best mates carefully! A few good friends are better than a load of aquaintences any day, in my book.

I have found the most brilliant gifts for all the people I know and love and they are perfect presents for each of them. I have found books, new games, useful gadgets and all matter of great bits and pieces for the price of peanuts, as far as the usual Christmas spending hysteria goes, these are bargains of the century. Not only do these items give lots of pleasure to the recipient but I am giving to charity too.It's such a buzz, everyone's a winner!

I have bought a few new items, but they are organic, Fair Trade etc, as well as made a few edible goodies, stashed in my darkest of dark cupboards. All ready for the season of giving and goodwill.

Less is definately more.....think about it.

2006-11-11T10:55:00.001Z

Don't forget to carry a bag...preferably a material one.

Have you been to the supermarket today, or your little shop on the corner? If you did I guess you may have bought a newspaper, a tin of beans, a loaf of bread or a packet of fags....and the shop keeper readily gives you a plastic bag or even two. Sometimes just for one item that you could easily carry in your hand.

Just how many plastic bags have I got under my sink? Well, I have to admit in the past I have had an Everest sized pile of knotted bags just piling up for re~use. The only re~use they get in my house is for the for the kitchen bin and as most of my rubbish is now recycled, the plakkie bag has almost become redundant. This is a good thing eh?

After 'losing' my other two small cotton bags to my best mate recently, I decided to buy a rather nice large organic cotton shopping bag from my ethical supermarket. Not cheap, but it will ensure that I will take it out with me everytime I go shopping. I had been taking out a couple of plastic carriers in my small handbag, (I have the tiniest bag by the way!) but I can fold this lovely cotton bag up and it fits snugly into one of the pockets in my tinsy little excuse for a shoulder bag.The organic superbag has got a huge capacity to hold masses of shopping, I'd say as much as 3 or four of the plastic ones.

Lifting it could be a problem but it'll save me joining up to a gym. I haven't been brave enough to fill it to the top yet.

So, next time you are out shopping, try to remember to take a few bags or better still get some string or cotton eco~friendly bags. It's what our mum's had didn't they?

Or better still, blag a bag for Christmas...ask someone to buy you a couple!

2006-11-10T09:43:00.001Z

What's that coming over the hill....... is it a cookie monster....?

Well actually there's three of them in this household. After making a stack of delicious cookies on Monday, we are back to another baking session today, as the biccie tins are yet void of contents.

Cookies on the list today are Crunchies, Coconut and Gingersnaps. I have a cake to do as well. Sounds like a busy mornings work? Nah, not really, once you get into the stride of a biscuit making session, it's possible to do it virtually with your eyes closed. The smell of them baking is wonderful and fills the whole house with 'homeliness' and a feeling of love and comfort. Really...it does! Anyone who comes to the door on baking day says 'mmmm what's cooking? It smells delicious!' It's a dead cert they'll be stopping by for a sample and a cup of charlie.

The stash of goodies are now cooling on the rack, along with a yummy Belguim Cake that's made from mincemeat. It's also a real winner for starving boys who stomp straight through the house to the kitchen after school looking for something to fill a rumbly tummy!

Belgium Cake (from The Cranks Recipe Book)

4oz (100g) Butter or Margarine
3oz (75g) Brown Sugar
2 Free Range Eggs Beaten
5oz (150g)Wholemeal Self Raising Flour (I use white sometimes)
8oz (225g)Sweet Mincemeat
Water 1 tablespoon

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the flour, then fold in the mincemeat and water. Spoon the mixture in to a greased and base lined 8" (20cm) square shallow cake tin. Level the surface. Bake in the over at 170 degreesC (325F/Gas Mark 3) for about 30 mins until risen and golden. Cool in the tin.

I top the cake with a thin icing as an added extra.

2006-11-09T17:17:00.001Z

Brown paper parcels tied up with string...veggie box schemes are one of my favourite things.

This really should have been written yesterday, but you know just how easy it is to get distracted. You don't? Oh...

Anyway, Wednesday commeth and the organic veggie box arriveth. Sadly, you may think, this is one of my favourite times of the week. I arrive home to find on my back step and box stuffed with beautiful, fresh organic fruit and veg. This is one of the highlights of the shopping week because a) its wonderful stuff b) it's delivered FREE!

I know roughly what's going to be in the box, but it's the planning of my meals around what seasonal veg is in the box for each particular week that gets my imagination going. I get my fantastic box from www.riverford.co.uk.

I am an inventive cook, which is lucky as I can make a good nutritious meal from almost anything thrown at me. (or as is more often the situation.....what's left in the fridge) Having spent many an hour as a child in the kitchen with my mother making buns,bread and other delicious nibbles, gave me a profound effect on how I see and enjoy cooking as a pleasure and not a chore. Eating is such a joy, making what you eat even better!

As I am overun with a few gorgeous carroty carrots today, I am going to make some Carrot & Rice Soup for lunch. Wanna know the recipe? Here it is....it's easy and so delicious, you'll be making cauldrons of the stuff. Sink it down with some nice homemade malty bread and you'll be laughing. It's warming and very, very good for you. I can see so well in the dark these days.

1 and half pounds carrots
1 onion chopped
Pinch of mixed herbs
1 tablespoon rice
1 and half pints veggie stock (chicken if you fancy)
Butter.

Melt butter in pan, put in onions and cook until translucent. Add carrots, swirl them about for a minute or two. Add stock, rice and herbs. Cook gently for about 20 mins or until the veg are tender. Whizz up with a blender. Bobs your uncle and carrot soup's for lunch!

2006-11-08T16:51:00.001Z

Getting greener with the cleaners....

Cleaning.....never one of my favourite pastimes but nethertheless it just has to be done eh?

Just recently I have been clearing out my under the sink cupboard of all it's chemical cleaners. Well, as best I can. You see, I am not whiter than white in my greening up but I am trying really hard!

My mother bought me the most fantastic book on how to clean your home with much gentler eco~friendly substances. It's called the Natural Stain Remover by Angela Martin. One of the places you can buy it here http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/mind_body_spirit_books/natural-stain-remover.htm and probably other good book shops too. It's very great value at under a fiver and is packed with all sorts of tips for cleaning your house without chemicals.

I have had to use a little more of the ol' elbow grease to clean the bathroom, the cooker etc, but I feel better for doing it. I have lots of white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, fresh lemons, borax, soap flakes, salt and soda crystals in my cupboard now. Along with some natural oils to make my home smell really fresh. Lemon, orange, tea tree, eucalyptus and rose to mention a few. I haven't used bleach in months and we are all still alive and haven't suffered from any illnesses, from the lack of me splashing it around to kill off the germs.

So today was bathroom cleaning day...dull yes, but necessary. All done with safe cleaning products and 'said' elbow grease. With three fellas ranging from 6 to 42 years old, all not concentrating around the loo area, it needs decontaminating regularly! Blokes eh? I may just have to make them sit down instead.

2006-11-07T19:49:00.001Z

Here goes....

OK, here I am jotting down the days activities of Greening Up little by little. Downshifting all in one go is not a 'goer' in anyone's books. I have been totally inspired by the truly fantastic Tracey Smith, www.downshiftingweek.com who is THE guru of all things to do with slowing up your life and having a better quality of living. With greening up and slowing down you have to ease into it. It's very addictive and when you make one minute change for the better, you want to do more great and wonderful things.

Here's what I have been doing so far (but not today!) A mini intro...

I started off recycling all my rubbish as much as I could. Bottles, cans, newspapers, shredding paper and taking the plastic containers to the recycling centre. Yes, it takes time to sort all your rubbish out, but the feel good factor smacks you in the chops when you take a huge bag of plastic and dump it in the skip for recycling. You realise just how much crud we amass from our weekly shop and where does it all go ~ yep into the ground, by the tonne. As long as it's not piled up in the streets, we don't seem to think just where all this waste goes to. The dustmen just take it away and it's not our problem anymore.

Then composting all my fruit and veggie scraps and whacking them in super duper composter, made from recycled plastic, that I bought at reduced price from my local council. In no time at all we got fantastic compost that makes all the plants in our garden lush and healthy, when we dump a big clump of it around their roots, they almost thank us.

In the next few days, I'll be telling you about local shopping, organic veg box schemes, xmas shopping 'New Leaf stylie', cleaning your home with 'natch' cleaners, cooking delicious wholesome stuff for hungry kids and much much more....

Well that's a start....

What did I do today?...well I started my blog!