Friday 26 February 2010

What I bought this month...

A small pink glass pig
Swirly skirt from the charity shop
Blue goldstone pendant off ebay

3 things??!! I'd say thats a bit better than before! I wouldn't have bought the piglet or the skirt if I hadn't have been taken (dragged!) round the shops when my cousin came to stay last week. Seems if I avoid the shops I avoid buying things! I have no excuse for the ebay purchase - except I wanted it and it's lovely and a bargain! yey!

Oh, I even went into the LIBRARY this month! It didn't have the book I wanted :( But at least I've actually got round to going in it now, so it's more likely I'll go again!

Sunday 14 February 2010

Sunshine for all!


Julia, from the blog Easy Eco to Go, has given me a sunshine award! Thank you Julia! :D


The rules of the award are...

Link back to the person who gave you the award.
Give the award to 12 other bloggers who bring you some sunshine.

Well, because it's a special, lovely day today (Valentines day, and Chinese New Year and a new moon tonight) (and because I really recently gave an award like this to all my favorite blogs, which haven't really changed since then) I've decided to give this award to everyone! If you read my blog or if I follow yours then it's cos I think you're awesome and sunshiney, and therefore you definitely deserve this award! Please feel free to swipe it for your own blog! (Hope you don't think that's cheating too much Julia!)

Wishing you all happiness and sunshiney-ness today and always! xxx

Monday 8 February 2010

Book review...the concise guide to self sufficiency...

Whenever I talk to anyone knowledgeable about growing veg or self sufficiency they recommend that I read this book. Well, I have actually been dipping in and out of it for the past year or so, and as I've had a post Christmas break in making my brain work I thought I'd have this as my monthly eco-book, as I've already done most of the hard reading work already!



Oh yeah, the book is called 'The Concise Guide to Self-Sufficiency' and it's by John Seymor (I nearly forgot that bit!)

I liked...
* That it's a really classic, well known book, so I can trust the info in it (It was first published in the 70's I think, there's a concise version and a less-concise version too).

*It covers everything - it has sections on being self sufficient, food from the garden, food from nature (foraging and stuff, and also meat - which I've avoided reading about!), preserving and baking and using what you've grown, managing waste and energy and crafts and skills - like building and woodwork and making baskets (I made a woven willow fish the other day when I was volunteering with some kids coppicing some willow up a big hill where I live - and now I've developed a mania for wanting to weave more things! I need to learn how to make baskets!)

* It has really nice, colour pictures with lots of detail and they show step by step drawings for complicated manoeuvres.

*I'm most interested in growing food, and the gardening section is excellent, it covers everything from digging plots to when and where to plant in which season.

*It has loads of detail in each section, but it's still easy to read and understand.

This is another book that I really love!

Sunday 7 February 2010

New favorite websites...

Here's what I've been surfing recently...

10:10 A campaign to get EVERYONE to cut their co2 emissions by 10% in 2010 - if you sign up they send you a monthly email telling you a different action you can do to save energy.

Green thing Tips on 7 ways to be greener - with videos and stories from others for inspiration

Incredible Edible Todmorden Todmorden is a town in Lancashire in England (near where my mum grew up!) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the town has taken charge of growing and campaigning for local food, check out their website - I'm so inspired!

Cut out and Keep Lots of craft tutorials - not all are eco friendly, but with a bit of imagination they could be!

Day Zero This website is helping me to focus on my goals for the next couple of years...you list 101 things you intend to do in the next 1001 days, then you can tick them off when you've done them...some of my things are eco, and some are just fun...I like to have a visual of what I'm planning to do and it really gives me some motivation to get them done! Does anyone else use this site?

Danda, from the wonderful blog Dandaworld, has drawn my attention to a law to extend the hunting period in her country (which is Italy - Que Bella!) and a petition you can sign to show your opposition to this - please see her blog post here and sign the petition here.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Product Swap...

I haven't done this for a while!I have a few more tea-lights to use up, but when I have I'm going to start using candles that don't come in foil wrappers like voiatives or something, there are ways to reuse or recycle the metal tins they come in, but if theres a way to get me some twinkly candlelight with less uneccessary waste then I'd prefer that thankyou very much!

This is really hard for me, cos I'm a crisp addict, but I've stopped eating single serving packs of crisps and just buy one big bag every week or so, so at least I only have one plastic bag to put in the bin, rather than all the little bags and the multipack bag. Mums in charge of the shopping, I don't usually go with her (becuase I'm avoiding someone who works in the supermarket she likes to go to lol!) so she doesn't have me there reminding her not to buy multipacks, but she's getting the idea slowly. I've also been making my own popcorn, yummy and you get so much out of one bag!
EDIT - Mrs Green of My Zero Waste has found a way to reuse/recycle crisp packets for charity - see here and here. I'm going to keep trying to reduce the amount of crisp bags I use anyway, because they're plastic and don't biodegrade and are made from weird chemicals, but I'm not about to give up crisps (I'm already vegan and allergic to soya and a picky eater! I need to leave some food groups I can eat!) so, for those I do use this seems an excellent solution! Yey!