A different approach to Fathers Day

I am very mindful at the moment of the importance of shopping locally, supporting independent traders, buying something unique, something that is not mass produced and that everyone has (this really hit home to me when I was shopping in Italy at a well known home furnishing store, that they had exactly the same products as back home in Blighty. Homes all over Europe could be furnished with exactly the same stuff, aghhhh!). It was with this in mind and with Father’s Day fast approaching that I started to rack the brain as to what to get for our Dad’s. Now the Mum’s are fairly easy to buy for but the Dad’s...not so much! In their 60s, not wanting just “stuff”, having most things they need and want it starts to rule out quite a lot of options.

OK so the list so far to cover for Father’s Day present:

·         Not mass produced

·         Handmade where possible

·         Unique

·         Locally sourced

·         Not just “stuff”

·         Something useful and not just clutter

What to get? Where to go?

Of course Crafty Monkey in St Neots covers all of these points and what’s more, it is an activity for me to do so not only is it a present for Dad but also a lovely leisure activity for me to enjoy knowing that I have created something with love to pass on.

I decided to paint a mug. He loves tea and of course uses mugs. He loves his Morgan cars so I thought what a nice gift a personalised hand painted mug would be, with the all important Morgan logo design on the front and a bit of text so everyone else in the household knows whose cup this is so hands off!

So I started with my white mug. No scratch that, I in fact started by searching the internet for the Morgan logo, downloaded it and printed it out to the size that I wanted. I then took my mug, and laid carbon paper over the top and traced my design onto the mug. I’m sorry, I had to do this, there was no way that I could paint it free hand. It may be seen by some as cheating but not to me. I knew it would look better that way.

Once the design was on, I then began to paint. Blimey it was intricate. Of course you need three coats of the paint so it will be really bold and some where around coat two I wondered why on Earth I had chosen such an intricate design and I am sure I, at times, forgot where I was at! I painted the mug at the Thursday night adults session which was really nice and relaxing so intricacy and fine lines were not a problem.

After I painted the design, I used the end of a rounded brush, dipped in paint to create nice dots all over the mug. I just thought this finished it off a bit nicer than leaving it plain white. I also used the black writer pen to write “Dad’s Mug” on the side.

I can’t wait to see the glazed result.

I really enjoyed painting the mug and I know he will like it, not just for what it is but for the appreciation of the time and thoughtfulness that went into its creation. It is not just another mug bought from a supermarket and I am sure the tea will taste all the much nicer for it.

Building An Off The Grid Home

I came across this video on You Tube and I just wanted to share it with you. It is interesting and easy viewing. The only thing I would say is that I found it strange that they weren't building more "eco" instead they were using "normal" materials and also they hadn't put anything in place for food. It was literally just water, electricity and the loo yet with the land that they bought they could have done oh so much more IMO!

Just press play!!

Book Review: Eco Fitness

Now this book I believe is only available on Kindle. In true eco style they have saved on paper and ink! I literally had just been given a kindle for my birthday and I was flicking through a copy of my Mum's Vegetarian magazine when I came accross an advert for this book. I bought it because at the time it was only 99p and I wanted books for the kindle. It was the best 99p I think I have spent in a long time.

OK so the information in the book might not be anything new or that you haven't heard before. Afterall we all know that we are *supposed* to be more active and take more exercise. We know that already and the book does confirm and reitterate what we already know.

However what the book also does is give you a bit of encouragement and motivation for doing more exercise or should I say, increasing the movement in our everyday lives which in turn equates to exercise. Exercise with a difference though, exercise which has a positive effect on you and not a negative effect on the environment. Eco fitness but also I would say frugal fitness. Whilst reading this book I realised that I am actually quite a lazy toad and lead quite a sedatory lifestyle. This book made me think about ways in which I could increase activity into my daily life. Simple things which I didn't even think about actually are exercise and we don't have to spend pounds and pounds at the gym we just need to increase the little things that we do at home.

 

The writer of the book also has a blog about all things eco so you should check that out too as there is some really useful information: http://theeco-fitnessbook.blogspot.co.uk/

So what are you waiting for? Get moving that body!

Forraging - Elderflower Cordial

I just love this time of year, I like going out for a nice walk and seeing what bounties I can forrage!

What people don't know when they smile as they pass is that often I have a carrier bag and a pair of scissors in my pocket! Why I hear you ask, well for elderflowers. I love love love em and the best bit is they are free. I use them for cordial, champage and for fritters. DELISH!!!

For now I have made elderflower cordial and thought I would share the images from the process with you. What sparked it off was this darling little lady bug - so cute I grabbed my camera and from there I thought why not lets shoot the whole thing. Don't worry, the little bug was not harmed in the procees, she was put out to graze in my garden.

So piccies first and the I will share the recipe with you and then some tips on foraging!

Elderflower Cordial Recipe

To make approximately 3 litres

40 heads of elderflower
3.5 Kg sugar
2.5 litres water
4 lemons
150g citric acid
Bottles - Glass looks pretty but you can also use plastic.

1. Shake the elderflower heads to remove any bugs and beasties and also to shake off dead flowers and pollen
2. Trim as much of the green stalks off as possible as these can make it taste more bitter
3. Put the flowers into a large bowl (or two medium sized). Slice up the lemon and add this to the bowl with the flowers. If you would like the cordial to be less torte, use fewer lemons!
4. Pour the water into a large (or two medium sized) saucepan, add the sugar and slowly heat.
5. Once the sugar has dissolved, pour this into the bowl over the lemons and the flowers and savour that wonderful smell!
6. Stir in the citric acid, cover with a cloth.
7. Leave to infuse for 24-48 hours stirring occasionally.
8. Pour into clean sterilised bottles using a sieve or muslin cloth and a funnel.

Can be stored for up to one month or it can be frozen in batches and defrosted to use when required. This is what I do. I use smaller plastic bottles, the type that you buy for a one off drink about 500ml, I fill the bottle 3/4 full and then freeze it. That way I can get a bottle out when I like and not much goes off. It keeps for months and months frozen.

My tips and how to identify the plant

Elderflowers can be harvested approximately May – June.

I had bought cordial in the shops and paid an absolute fortune for it (particularly in the pretty fancy unusual bottles – I am a sucker for that – it must be posh and good if it is in a posh looking bottle, surely? All I knew was that Elderflowers taste yummy, the grow wild and are free. Making things with cordials must be easy and I no longer had to spend a fortune on my luxury cordial, or posh squash as Jon likes to call it!
I want to make elderflower cordial, I had that established but where on earth do I start? Where do they grow? What do they look like? My main worry with picking elderflowers is that I wasn’t entirely sure what they look like. This was our first foraging for free food experience and I was terrified that I was going to poison us!

Once you know what elderflower looks like, you always know. That may sound silly but now every where I go I am like, ooooh there’s one, ooooh fancy it growing there. It becomes an addiction.

The main plant that you could confuse elder with is the Guelder Rose. The guelder rose however is a much smaller shrub. The branches of Elder are very brittle and the bark is slightly corky looking. You can also tell the elderflower apart from the guelder rose by the leaves. Elder  leaves have finely serrated edges on a stem with two or three pairs and then a single leaf at the end. The Elder flowers are individually very small - the whole flower head being of a larger spread than the Guelder Rose. The latter has much larger individual white flowers open around the outside of the flower head, and smaller flowers very similar to the Elders in the centre of the flower head. Leaves are totally different to the Elder, being broader - a bit like a Field Maple shape.
Elderflowers smell of what can only be described as being “Tom cat ish” if they smell too much like tom cat then they have gone over and shouldn’t be used. Anything you make with gone over elderflowers will smell equally noxious!

The other plant that you could perhaps mistake them for is the white cowslip.

I would recommend that you harvest from as high as possible to avoid the concern that a doggy may have already paid a visit and to ensure that you are not harvesting cowslip. Also as ever avoid harvesting from a bush that is potentially polluted, from by the side of a road for example.

ENJOY!!!!

The Kindle

I read alot. Alot alot. I read so much, in fact we both read so much that we must keep the local charity shops going just by the number of books we buy and give back to them. I don't always give the books back, some I like to keep and read again and again. We don't have the biggest house in the World so we can only keep so many before our house starts looking like a library. We already have quite a few shelves.

I thought the answe to the issue of not just storage of books but also the eco credentials of books i.e. the cost to the environment in just the paper along must be huge so I asked for and received one of these little lovelies for my birthday...

 

Amazon

My hubby just doesn't understand how I could and it is a bit of a joke between us in our household. Jon says that he could never make the switch, he likes the look and the feel of a book. I do too but I read so much I just thought it made sense one little device for shelves and shelves of books.

So..... to keep the banter alive my husband sends me this link to an article....

 

Despite the notion that if you read enough books on them, they'll have a lighter footprint than printed books, the reality is something less appealing altogether.

"Necessarily, the increased consumption of print and digital books has led to an ever-increasing demand for the materials required to create, transport, and store them. In the case of eBooks, though, vast amounts of materials are also necessary for the eReaders themselves, and this is something typically overlooked by proponents of digitization: the material costs are either ignored, or, more misleadingly, they’re classified as the byproduct of the tech industry instead of the book industry... In other words: the carbon footprint of the digital book industry is mostly growing in addition to, not to the detriment of, the growing carbon footprint of the print book industry."

Read the article for yourself here: Treehugger

So what do I think? Hmmmm now I am not so sure. Man it is hard trying to do the right thing. I have no intention of getting rid of my kindle any time soon, I am not really a gadgety person so I can see myself having it for a long haul and I will look after it so I can't see it going off to landfill any time soon. This bit is me:

Unless you are both an incredibly avid reader as well as someone who cares for their gadgets and does not replace or upgrade to new models, e-readers just simply don't live up to the lighter footprint they promise. Instead, we should stick with our library cards.

 So I guess I am OK.... for now. I so know where the phrase comes from.....

 

National Vegetarian Week

Did you know that this week marks the start of National Vegetarian Week? I did but that is only because I saw it in a magazine so decided to find out more about it. We are vegetarian's 99% of the time anyway so I suppose there is not much change for us other than to shout and be recognised this week.

Unfortunately all the events that seem to be happening, that I can see so far are all in London. One thing I have found out though is that there are lots of lovely recipes on the website so go check it out.

So how will you spend your week?

Book Review: Food For Free

I think if nothing else the title should really grab your attention, I mean afterall who wouldn't want to eat for free huh!

It's a Collins Gem book and I tell ya, it really is a little Gem! It is small in size but certainly not in content. I think I paid something like £3 for it and it was well worth it. In fact we keep it in the car so that it is handy for trips out etc but I am thinking of getting another couple and leaving them in bags etc as there are often times when I wish I had this little book with me.

It has details of pretty much everything you can imagine that you would want to forrage and then eat. It has both photographs and drawings /paintings so that you can easily identify what it is. The write up about each food stuff is pretty good and it is certainly a good start if you are thinking of forraging it or not, the only thing I would say is that I have refferred to other books or the internet later on for ideas of how to eat / cook / preserve the items. At the end of the day I don't mind that though as if it had all that information in the book would be huuuuuuuuge and I really want it more as an identifier whilst I am out and about.

Here I am in the tent after a walk along the saltmarshes forraging. I just wanted to show you how small the book is. So what are you waiting for? Go buy the book and go forraging. It is certainly a liberating experience and truly a way to get back to nature.