Five years ago, down in Ferndown, I was very busy preparing teaching materials for use with the children on Sunday mornings at Church. Last month, at chapel here, we had a meeting of the Sunday Club Staff. What to do over the summer, when the 'regulars' may be away one holiday, and visiting children may appear? "We need some sort of ready prepared storybags, which we could use as and when necessary" said one friend "And they could be on a table at the back, so we don't have to go out to the back room" said another. [visiting children often wand to stay near parents, and our Safeguarding rules mean two adults must staff the group even if there is only one child present]
"I think I can help with that" I said, "let me make a phone call or two" So I rang Mim, the Youth Minister back at UCF. No, they have not used the storybags since the pandemic. They do Messy Church on Sunday Afternoons, so of course I could have the bags back. Friends coming to Norfolk on holiday kindly acted as Posties. Thank you all. I spent Monday morning sorting out the packets
Well, not really. You see we have a couple of folding chairs we use in the garden, and the seat on one of them is beginning to come apart...I was afraid if Bob a larger person sat on it, it would rip and they would be stuck in the frame.
I had some strong cotton in the Great Stash. It was a small amount leftover from some caravan cushions I'd made in Dorset. Recently I'd cut a narrow strip from each edge in order to make striped straps for Kezzie's cosplay dungarees.
If I could dismantle the chair it would be easy to make a new seat. But that did not look possible. I worked out that if I made a loop of fabric, I could manage to put it round the folded chair, lay the chair on the table, and sew the joining seam.
It was a bit of a performance working with a folded chair laying across the dining table. But it worked. I did a row of hand stitching back and front to stop the loop moving. And I did both chairs, just in case the other one started to fail. And I kept the original black seat in place as an extra strengthener.
A very satisfactory refurbishment of our £10 bargain seats. All ticking used up now!
Last week a number of bloggers [like Sue]were writing about Ultra Processed Foods - the harm they can do to our bodies, and reasons for avoiding them. Dr Chris Van Tulleken and others were on TV and the radio, explaining the issues. It appears that in the UK we are eating a ridiculously high percentage of these foods.
But I have not really picked up much news about this being HEW - Healthy Eating Week.[June 12th-16th] This is an initiative by the British Nutrition Foundation. Full details on their website HERE
They have produced resources for all ages from early years through to adults, with five different topics for each day of the week. Today we are encouraged to be properly hydrated.
These are all good ideas to put in place. I hope that schools, preschools and workplaces have tried to encourage these principles, and get both adults and children engaged and talking about it.
I haven't quite caught up with all the UPF programmes yet, but I have been reading an interesting book about superfoods, which I will review shortly.
I know that staying properly hydrated is one of my failings. However this hot weather has certainly made me reach for more fluids.
There is a video about HEW at work too
According to the BNF, Healthy Eating Week 2023 is supported by Kellogg's, General
Mills, Quorn Foods, Sodexo, Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board
(AHDB), Coca-Cola GB, UK Flour Millers and Waitrose & Partners. AHDB is a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers, and others in the supply chain [and Defra] helping to create a better food and farming industry. Waitrose does try to maintain high ethical standards, particularly relating to quality food, and 'green' issues [but their prices are definitely beyond many families]
I am trying not to be too cynical here - but Quorn is most definitely ultra processed, many CocaCola and Kelloggs products are high in sugar. and General Mills are the US company behind Betty Crocker, Cheerios and Pillsbury. But if this week makes people review their diets, that is a good thing.
Have you heard anything about HEW 2023?
Which of the 5 principles are you really good at?
And which is your weakest point?
PS thank you for all the kind birthday wishes for Jess - a young lady who is very keen on good food!
Is it Ay-Dar [like computer genius Ms Lovelace] or Eye-Eee-Dar [Verdi's Egyptian Operatic heroine] ? I go with Verdi everytime!**
I struggled to find the cream 11-count we wanted [ having decided10 was too coarse, and 14 too fine] Then I came across the Duftin company online. I sent off for some fabric [it comes in specific precut sizes, one was just slightly bigger than we needed] and was incredibly impressed.
When I opened the envelope I found a square package of cotton with a card label. This opened up to reveal a tote bag.
The inside of the cardboard label explained all. There was 'happiness inside'
A statement about their commitment to zero waste- so rather than a plastic carrier, i got a cotton tote bag which could be used for the project, and personalised with our own stitching. And the blank piece on the bag printed with a dot-to-dot fto amuse the children.
Inside that was the Aida, and that was kept flat with a piece of card printed with a basic stitching guide, and right in the middle a neat packet of three needles appropriate for the work.
This was good value, and excellent quality. I cut out the two rectangles, and zigzagged the edges on my machine to prevent fraying.
All in all a very satisfactory purchase. Duftin is a Hungarian company and they have produced a lot of kits, as well as selling the basic materials. The parcel came quickly, and I think I would be very happy to use them again for supplies.
My other recent discovery has been the website pixel-stitch [here] which helps turn your photo into a cross stitch chart [and it's FREE!] I shall be blogging about my foray down that rabbit hole later.
**There's also a female singing group called fascinating Aida. Witty, but rather rude sometimes, so I am not posting a clip for fear of offending someone.
...and then off again, because I cannot handle fiddly little seeds whilst wearing them. On Thursday I set up four small trays of 'microgreens' which are sitting on the windowsill in the Futility Room. I hope they will germinate and give me some salad leaves. Following the advice of others, I used up all the leftover seeds from the various packets in my box which are on the point of expiry!**
This seems a good ZeroWaste approach - they haven't cost me anything this year, and I've not lost anything if they fail.
I am using my gift tokens to buy fresh seeds for the raised bed. Also on Thursday, I spotted something forgotten, lurking behind the summerhouse. A pot with some bulbs emerging. I have no idea what they are. I suspect hyacinths, but I may be wrong.
They have come inside to stand on the windowsill in the lounge. The pot is inside my great grandma's sugar bowl. That is the only piece of her wedding present china which remains now. And it is not in the best of health. But it makes a good cache-pot.
**I'm labelling everything carefully this year
Thank you everyone for the lovely remarks about The Postcard Project. Kirsten and I are so pleased with the finished pieces, and already working on our next collaboration.
It is almost three years since I posted about my clogs. My ancient suede ones got replaced by some snazzy purple gardening clogs last hear. And now my beloved red leather ones have got beyond the point of repair.
I think even the delightful Dean Westmoreland, Cobbler on The Repair Shop, would struggle.
The hole on the sole and the split in the insole under my heel have actually joined up. My finger went straight through! I know lots of people have mentioned places to recycle outworn footwear - but in all conscience I could not consign these to the big green 'clothing and footwear' bin at the supermarket.
I took them completely apart, and retrieved two buckles and a few pieces of soft red leather. The inner linings and the disintegrating rubber soles have been put in the regular wheelie bin.
Recently Steph posted Bob the shoulder strap from her expensive handbag, Please could he fix the buckle, which had lost its 'tongue'? I was able to provide a perfect replacement buckle from my tin of 'saved' buckles. I am confident I will find a use for these buckles sooner or later too. Waste not, want not.
Maybe in the summer I will treat myself to some more clogs**. We shall see - but these have lasted me around 20 years [bought in a sale in Sainsburys, Leicester]
Do you ever wear clogs?
Barefoot or with socks?
Do you wear crocs?
**I suppose my garden clogs are almost equivalent to crocs - but I wouldn't dream of wearing them away from home! Any replacement clogs will be leather ones I think!
In the recent saga of the Walking Boots, Sue reminded me to hang on to the laces of the old ones. She's right - new laces are costly. But there is always a dilemma with old shoes - what do I do with them? Clothes with a reasonable amount of wear can go to the CS. If very worn, I might salvage buttons, zips and some fabric. And the leftovers can go into Bob's workshop rag bag. But shoes? I wear mine till there is no wear left in them. Having removed the laces, is landfill the only option?
I checked out "recycling old shoes" online. There are some amazingly creative people out there...
Some of these are just a little too quirky for me. That brown pair with eyes and mouths are rather disturbing. The duck is fun, as is the welly-dog. Four are glorified flowerpots [I keep my plants in Royal mugs!] The baby shoe pincushion is cute, and useful [but I don't need any more pincushions]
I would like to find a good way of recycling shoes though - it would surely help to reduce my carbon footprint!
The other week, Bob and I went with a small group of people from our village [mostly Parish Councillors and spouses] to look at the Norse Environmental Waste Services [aka NEWS] plant on the edge of Norwich. It was a really interesting tour, and I learned loads about this state-of-the-art facility which has been open almost 20 years.
Recycling bin lorries deposit their contents onto a series of moving belts which travel round the huge building, and the various recyclables [card, paper, glass, certain plastics] are removed at different points.
At an early stage, there us a lot of hand sorting when stuff which really should not have been put in the recycling bins has to be weeded out and discarded. I was horrified to hear what the staff have to deal with.
Things like
disposable nappies
dead pets
bags of animal faeces
medical waste including 'sharps'
gas cylinders
ammunition
lithium batteries
These things are all dangerous- some can pass on infection, others [batteries, ammunition and gas cylinders can explode or catch fire] Before we started we were given instructions in case of fire, and dressed in PPE. Here's a helpful video of what goes on
Much of the stuff which arrives is not recyclable. Dangerous items are removed and disposed of safely. Other stuff goes off to be incinerated. For every 15 tonnes like this that providesd the same fuel at 10 tonnes of imported coal.
All the card goes out to the Far East - because they need to make new boxes for their manufactured goods. Sadly the price of used paper has fallen - recycled paper is made into cheaper stuff like newsprint and fewer people read a newspaper now [most read online]
Glass is an issue - the Norwich Plant would prefer not to deal with it, and until recently we were told not to put it in our domestic bins, but to take it to communal bottle banks. This pre-sorted glass is much easier to process. [One half full wine bottle which breaks can ruin the whole bin load] But the glass which goes to NEWS is sorted, washed and sent on to make new glass..
Plastic drinks bottles and regular translucent milk bottles can be sold for food grade recyclables. Cans, aluminium and steel, are sorted and sent on too.
The council says we can put Tetrapaks in our bins - but they are hard to recycle, so they are sorted and sent to regular waste. Ditto some heavily coloured plastics [even if they have the recycle symbol on the bottom] Our guide said he loathes plastic flowerpots and Cravendale milk bottles
It is so important to check your labels [see here] There is a helpful page of recycling myths here. We had loads of questions. And got really surprising answers
What about shredded paper ? No thank you Not even tied in a bag? Staff do not have time to sort tied bags, and they may contain contaminants- all tied bags and sealed boxes are left closed and sent straight to waste!
Why can't we have food waste bins like they do in other places [Like Leicestershire, and Dorset] We do not have facilities to deal with it. No 'bio digester' locally
Is it helpful to crush cans, squash bottles and flatten boxes? NO!!! Many ofthe machines sort by shape - they can 'recognise' a can, a milk bottle etc. Crushing slows up that process.
One member of the group spoke about living in Germany where everyone had 'domestic' bins, but there were lots of communal bins for different recycling easily available in the towns, and people used them, it was considered antisocial to do otherwise. Our guide said that in many countries, people understand their personal responsibility in this - but in the UK, people say "I'll put it in the bin, and somebody else will sort it for me" We all need to learn to sort it for ourselves and put rubbish in the appropriate bin [and where possible avoid using some things in the first place] Refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and rethink come before recycle in the sustainability scheme
So I encourage you to look at how you recycle - and PLEASE - remember every area is different, do check your local provision and instructions. [Our guide was Very Cross with the Government for not having a standardised national recycling policy!!]
He said the two really busy times of the year were the holiday season [and many of the people who visit our lovely county sadly leave a lot of ill-managed rubbish behind] and Christmas [when people are too busy having fun to think about responsible recycling]
So please think about what you use to wrap your gifts - avoid foil and glitter, and keep sticky tape to a minimum.
It is very refreshing to be able to take a shower in this hot weather. I appreciate the reliable fresh water supply which so many are denied. However, I am trying to be responsible about water use. So when I have a shower, I stand in a washing up bowl, and use the 'grey water' for the tubs and shrubs in the front garden.
Our bathroom is by the front door - so once I'm dried and dressed, it is an easy thing to carry the bowl outside and empty it. If I shower in the evening, I leave the bowl and deal with it next morning. This is a good system.
However, when I used my 'special shampoo for greying hair' which Steph gave me, I was a little anxious about the contents of the bowl. This is definitely not 'grey water'! I used it just on the lavender bushes - they were purple to start with!
I really like this Dove Pro-Age Body Wash my friend Chris gave me [her surname is Dove, but she has no shares in the company!] It seems to suit my ageing skin. But the other day I picked up this bottle instead of the hair conditioner [in my defence, my eyes were closed, I was washing my hair] It took ages to rinse out all the lather!
A short shower uses far less water than a long deep bath. And the bowl trick means that water is used again on the garden. As our local water company says..
Much fuss this week about the rising price of Lurpak. If I want a buttery spread, I'm happy with Danpak from Lidl. That's just as good on my homegrown new potatoes. I've also enjoyed eating the tops of my runner bean plants. They cook up like spinach (just like Popeye's favourite veg, their volume decreases drastically when wilted) and my radish leaves make great pesto.
My kefir cheese worked well - I added a little salt, plus chopped mint and chives to serve with assorted salads for a summery lunch. The bulgur wheat salad has chopped carrots and pomegranate seeds. These seeds are usually expensive to buy fresh, and de-seeding a fruit is a bit messy. But Iceland sell large bags of frozen seeds. It takes minutes to defrost a spoonful for a garnish, and works out way cheaper than buying a whole fruit just to get a few seeds.
Thank you to my best friend Chris, for telling me that on Tuesdays,Iceland give a 10% discount to shoppers aged over sixty .
While on the subject of food efficiency, a quick book review. Zero Waste Cooking for DUMMIES. The clue is in the title! I think this 320 page book is designed for people who have never considered zero waste before. I'm afraid I found it incredibly disappointing. It is written by an American nutritionist, and very much designed for the US culture..
Part One - Adopting a Food Waste Strategy
Part Two - Waste no Want not in your kitchen
Part Three - Zero Waste Recipes
Part Four - The Part of Tens
The first two sections- the first third of the book - explain about sustainability, GM crops, the 'big picture' etc. The writing style is confusing- section headings have confusing titles like "technology and agriculture don't mix", then she explains that they do. Then she gets down to the specifics of your own kitchen. But really 'for dummies' [if you don't already realise single-use plastic is a bad idea, where have you been living? She says that 'best-by' and 'use-by' dates refer to food quality not food safety. I think the rules in the USA must be different.
Section three, the greater part of the book contains the recipes [including a bizarre mocktails&cocktails section] I am not sure why these are labelled "zero-waste" - especially when she includes pre-prepared ingredients like "jar of premade tomato sauce" and "bagged of prepared coleslaw mix" - the former would be better made from scratch, using leftover veg trimmings, and the latter likely comes in a single use plastic bag! And recipes for Baked Apples, and Pimm's? really?!
Section four - ten ways to use up leftovers in these categories
[a] eggs and produce [make hollandaise sauce with eggs, put veg into chutney]
[b] bread [make crumbs, croutons, or bread pudding - who would have thought of those ideas?]
[c] dairy [use sour milk in scones or pancakes]
[d] restaurant 'doggie bags'. [use in jacket potatoes or as omelette fillings]
There could have been so much more stuff about 'use the whole veg - leaves and roots' and 'pad out the meat with oats, or lentils, or beans'. Or encouragement to buy goods from refill shops, or places where there is less plastic packaging.
Writing the review proved tricky, as the index is absolutely useless, and the illustrations look like they were hand-drawn as part of a pupil's exam project.
This book gets a sad * ... I am sure she wrote it with good intentions so I give one star for that. But she tried to cover too much ground too thinly, instead of providing a few simple steps.
Today is World Refill Day - to raise awareness of the wisdom of re-using, and the foolishness of using single-use/disposable goods unnecessarily
After the Big Plastic Count last month, I was sent this link to the "Living with Less Plastic Handbook". It is a free downloadable resource full of useful ideas, helpful to those starting out on this journey. I have certainly used my Stojo Mug an awful lot this year, for hot and cold drinks. The nearby market town of Swaffham has a "Sustainable Swaffham" Campaign, aiming to make our area [Breckland] carbon neutral by 2035. A number of shops offer free refills for water bottles, and there are other eco-initiatives throughout the town.
Breckland Council has a whole section on "Eco Friendly Communities" on its website.
Look for stickers like these in other towns.
And please don't forget that 'refilling' covers many things. Use reusable vegetable bags at the supermarkets rather than taking a plastic bag every time you buy carrots. Buy dry goods in larger quantities in recyclable paper sacks or cartons, to decant into smaller containers when you get home. If you have a weekly date with your local chinese takeaway, ask them to refill your carefully washed plastic containers. Wilko sells grass seed in a box - or you can buy it loose in a paper bag [and it is cheaper too]
If you are in a rural area, do look out for 'milk dispensing machines' - we have one at Dann's farm just up the road, and another at Abbey Farm, Binham, 20 miles away. It is a real treat to stop on the way home from a day out, and refill our glass bottle with a litre of farm fresh whole milk.
We buy our free range eggs from the local farm, and I have been using the same egg box for over 10 years [since the days when we refilled it at the end of our holidays, before returning to Leicestershire]
"Do you know about B Corp companies,. Mum?" said Liz - explaining these are companies whose business models involve justice for workers, sustainability for the planet, and bringing benefit to the community. Here's a helpful video to explain
March is B Corp month, and so a pop-up shop appeared in premises just off Oxford Street. Liz and I visited on Thursday. If London is the B Corp Capital of the world, how come I am only just hearing of this? It started in 2006 - yet was not once mentioned in the Green Living Group I belonged to back in Dorset. I hoped that we would find out more inside the shop. Sadly we were both a little bit disappointed.
Inside, it was like a regular small shop - with shelves, freezers, and chill cabinets where lots of very diverse products were on display. Lots of banners with phrases like "looking good, feeling good, doing good" over a shelf of toiletries and beauty products and "be cool" over the cold drinks dispenser.
It was a shame that our presence meant the one staff member present had to stop her mobile phone conversation, she clearly wanted to be somewhere else, and did not know the answer to our questions - she told us she had not expected to be working there.
It was a hot day, and Liz thought she'd buy a cool drink from the vending machine. It didn't seem to have facilities for payment- she pressed the button and it dispensed her can, then she tried again and got one for me. The woman did not know how we were supposed to pay and said we should just keep the cans. Liz asked about buying one of the products from the shelf. But no, all the products were just display items- nothing was actually For Sale.
"It is just so you can see which companies have been given B Corp certification and be more mindful when you buy goods." said the woman.
We recognised lots of the products including...
who gives a c**p ? loo rolls
tracklements pickles
alpro non dairy milks
pip&nut peanut butter
dash flavoured waters
toast beer
sipsmith gin
COOK frozen ready meals
divine chocolate
the Guardian newspaper
belazu ingredient company
I think Steph has done some work with belazu - here is their B Corp video
We would have really liked an explanatory leaflet and a list of B corp certified producers to take away. Even more we'd have liked the opportunity to purchase some of the items
I thought the COOK dinosaur chicken pie looked great [although with the right cookie cutter, it would not be hard to replicate at home!] I wanted to ask about something we had noticed as we came up The Strand on the bus. Coutts Bank [the Queen's bank, which offers wealth management to some of the richest people in the country] actually has a sign outside saying it is a certified B Corp. How does that work? If their job is to help the rich maintain [and grow] their healthy bank balances, exactly how does that square with equitable distribution of wealth across the planet?
The whole experience of visiting the good News shop raised more questions than answers. I appreciated my free recyclable can of water [flavoured with 'wonky' cucumbers originally destined to be ditched] and also my bag of ethical, fairly traded chocolate buttons. Thank you for these snacks for the train journey.
Waitrose has been promoting BCorp products this month and featured some of them in their weekend magazine. It seems a good idea- but at the moment it feels not terribly well publicised. How much would this certification affect my decision whether or not to buy something? I'm not sure...Have you been aware of BCorp?
I actually bought a £1.50 bargain box of fruit and veg from Lidl on Monday. I was there bright and early and there were quite a few to choose from. I have to say I am extremely pleased with what I got
Obviously you can't check everything - but the salad bag, radishes and red pepper were together worth £2, so I went for it! As soon as I got home, I checked everything, and weighed it - and did a price check. My bag contained
80g bag of pea shoot/mixed leaves salad
240g bag radishes
900g tomatoes
1.3kg potatoes
175g Chantenay carrots
360g strawberries
700g satsumas
4 bananas
3 pears
2 bunches spring onions
1 red pepper
1 little gem lettuce
2 peaches
The peaches were very ripe - so promptly went into a smoothie with the ripest of the bananas. We ate the Little Gem the same day too. Everything else was fine. Had I bought all this separately, it would have come to more than £10. I am glad they are doing this, and not letting good food go to waste.
I am really delighted with this lot. I will continue to do my main fruit and veg shop at CC Wells [to get local Norfolk produce, and less common* veg like celeriac] but this was definitely a good buy.
*"less common" in the sense of harder to find, I an not wishing to condone vegetable snobbery here!
Here's Rosie, carefully trimming the stamps from my Christmas Card envelopes. I should have mentioned this earlier in the season. Sorry!
There are loads of charities which will take these, and use them to fund their activities. I always send mine to Baptist World Missions [as did my mother and grandmother before me]
There is a collection point at our chapel- which is operates all year. You can find a list of other charities here
The charities sell them [usually by weight] on to dealers- who pick out valuable ones for collectors, and the rest are sold for crafting, or recycling. Charities can raise thousands of pounds like this.
I get fewer and fewer letters with 'real' stamps these days, but always more at Christmastime. It only takes a minute to trim an envelope before it goes into the recycling. And having a willing young helper like Rosie makes the job even easier! She knows this activity will help to provide schools for little girls in Africa, and she is all in favour of that!
Preacher, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, craftswoman. Married to wonderful Pastor Bob since 1979, now happily retired to Norfolk, but still busy. I am blessed with two brilliant grown-up daughters and four wonderful grand children
"I think I can help with that" I said, "let me make a phone call or two" So I rang Mim, the Youth Minister back at UCF. No, they have not used the storybags since the pandemic. They do Messy Church on Sunday Afternoons, so of course I could have the bags back. Friends coming to Norfolk on holiday kindly acted as Posties. Thank you all. I spent Monday morning sorting out the packets
