New Name...

I've changed the name of my blog!  I've not been happy with The Last Biscuit for a while and inspiration struck me today so I changed it...I'm still dithering between 'The Green Fairy' and 'The Eco Fairy' (any thoughts??) so when I've decided I'll be changing my URL to the new name too!

Oh! and as much as I'm loving the name change I think it might have buggered up my followers - because I can't see them anymore! :(  (So if you do usually read this blog and I've disappeared off your list I do hope you'll add me again   EDIT - YOU ALL SEEM TO HAVE COME BACK AGAIN! YEY!  (and keep an eye out for when I change the URL, I have a feeling that might be another bugger-upper-er! - EDIT - i CHANGED MY URL FOR ABOUT 5 MINS THIS AFTERNOON - IT GOT RID OF ALL THE COMMENTS AND READERS AND DIDN'T JUST REDIRECT MY OLD BLOG TO MY NEW ONE LIKE I THOUGHT IT WOULD!  IT WAS HORRIBLE, I CHANGED IT BACK AND EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAVE COME BACK AND I'M NOT DOING IT AGAIN!  THE URL WILL STAY THE LAST BUISCUIT EVEN IF IT DOESN'T MATCH THE NEW BLOG NAME! P.S. TECHNOLOGY IS NOT MY FRIEND!!)  Thanks friends! x

Garden Joy...

I'm so happy, things are actually growing in my garden!! I feel like it's magic!

We get about this many strawberries every 2 or 3 days - yum!  There are still loads of strawbs waiting to ripen too!

I have courgettes!

I have tomatoes - plum tomatoes and little round tomatoes !

I have chilli peppers!

We also have some very cheeky birds, who completely take no notice of us sitting and reading in our garden chairs and run around by our feet!  And a pigeon who quite frequently thinks he's a duck - he sits in the birdbath!

Hope you're enjoying happy gardens too!

Lavenders blue dilly dilly...

Mum reminded me this morning that I wanted to pick some lavender to dry and it was a good job she did because a lot of the buds were already in flower (if you want to pick it to dry you need to do so before the flowers appear, although I can't be too sad because the flowers are so pretty, I'm sure they're good for insects and I picked enough for me anyway)

I've tied my lavender together (using wire because I couldn't find any string, which worked out well because the wire made a built in hook) and hung it in my window to dry out, then I'll put the purple buds in a jar to keep the smell in until I use them.

Now's also a good time to take cuttings of lavender, I followed these instructions and did these this afternoon - free plants :)

I also snipped off some seed pods of the yellow poppies in our garden and put them in an envelope to plant next year - more free plants! (when I was a very small girl I once picked a great many of these seed heads then skipped round the garden singing 'fairies pepperpots' and sprinkling my 'pepper' all over the place, we've been overrun with yellow poppies, and I've been cursed for spreading them, ever since - I'll be happy to have some in my own garden when I move)

What I bought this month...

shampoo bar from lush

solid perfume pot from lush
almond oil

walnut oil
face packs
a back fair trade tshirt

brown scarf
a green dress
a blue flowery dress
2 brown and white vintage bowls
2 white vintage plates with blue spots
a set of green weighing scales
a travel towel
a fairy door
sew hip magazine

Ahhhhhh...yes...we can tell I have a job this month...although I haven't actually had a payday yet I let a few moths out of my purse and had a bit of a spree.  To be fair a lot of my beautifications ran out this month - the lush shampoo and perfume, oils and face packs are all to do with that and are essentials really.  All the clothes are for work and all were from charity shops except the fair trade top, which was from sainsburys (I can never find nice tshirts in charity shops, they're always all stretched and weird and too short).  The kitcheny stuff (plates, bowls and scales) were all from charity shops and are for the growing stash of things for when I move out.  The travel towel is one of those tiny ones that drys the whole of your body even though it's the size of a face cloth - I had one but I lost it in a big gust of wind off the roof of a hostel in Morocco, I needed a replacement and this one was on sale for £1.20.  The magazine and fairy door were just treats, presents to myself because I am an employed person! 

Happy Midsummer!

Happy midsummer!  I hope you have some sunshine and loveliness in your lives today!  This is my 100th blog post, and tomorrow will be a year to the day that I started blogging! 
To celebrate I ate my first home grown strawberry and made my first tea from my home grown mint!

Also, yesterday we went to see some pigs!  Which doesn't really have much to do with this but I thought they were very beautiful!

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog!  Here's to a happy midsummer and another happy year!

Product Swap...

This time I'm swapping new DVDs for rental DVDs.  I used to rent DVDs all the time when I actually lived near a DVD rental shop, but that was when I was at uni.  In the 5 years since I left uni I seem to have amassed a DVD mountain, which I have spent the last couple of months sorting, re-watching and donating (I give mine to the National Trust property I volunteer at to sell in their 2nd hand bookshop and at their summer fair) and I definitely don't want to rebuild my mountain anytime soon.  So I've joined Lovefilm.com where for the princely sum of £3.99 a month I can rent 2 DVDs per month, sent to my door in an FSC envelope!

Now I need your help to decide what films to order - what are your favorites?

And do you think renting DVDs online, rather than using an actual DVD rental shop is better or worse?
I can see both sides - renting online cuts out the need for a chain of shops, and so saves building resources and the power to keep the shops open and lit, tills working, etc.  And you can buy movies to watch online, which cuts out the need for a plastic disk and it's plastic box altogether.  But renting from a local (especially independent) shop provides jobs for local people, and puts money back into the local area.  Aren't things tricky once you start thinking about them!  I'm going to turn my brain off now and watch my first film!

Glorious Garden...

I can't believe how much my garden's grown in the last couple of weeks! We've had perfect weather for it - some gorgeous sunny days and some rainy nights (and days too)

My tomatoes have tomatoes on them!

And my chilli pepper has flowers!

My courgettes are huge - they've been moved outside now in big pots, one's in the front garden and one in the back, we also put some of my pepper seedlings into hanging baskets outside - they aren't growing very well yet but I'm remaining optimistic for a late summer harvest from them!

I've been allowed (by my mum who is boss of the greenhouse!) to keep two of my peppers inside so hopefully I'll at least get fruit off them.

We have strawberries and wild strawberries!

And the potatoes have just gone mad - they've gone all tall and leggy and then collapsed on the path, so we had to stake them and tie them up

And oh! My poor spring onions! They were just starting to look spring onion shaped when a bird sat on them and ate all the tops off! I hope they make a recovery!

I am excited for these big opium poppies though - I believe the seeds are edible!

How do your gardens grow?

Happy...

Last week I was offered a job!!!!

In a library!

Mum made me a cake!
(we have a tradition of vegan chocolate fudge cakes shaped like hedgehogs in our household - it was really hot so the icing didn't set properly, it was still delicious though!)

Yeeeeeeey!

Letters...

I think the best way of getting change is to ask for it. I'm going to start writing to the companies of products I consume and asking them, in various ways, to be more eco-friendly. I'm going to aim to write to at least 2 a month, but we'll see how it goes! And of course, I'll be sharing my responses with you here.

So far I've contacted the following companies, here are my concerns and their replies...

Specsavers Contact Lenses: I use contact lenses but I want to recycle the cleaning pots they come in, I emailed to ask what type of plastic it was.

Result: They were really helpful and gave some really interesting responses - I'm going to show you the whole of our conversation...

Dear Specsavers Would you be able to tell me what kind of plastic the pots (that you clean the contact lenses in) and their lids are made from and if they are recyclable? Also whether the lids of the contact lens solution are recyclable? Many Thanks.

Dear Susie,Thank you for your email.The solutions that we supply, including the cases, are covered under the supply of medicines act. We are therefore very restricted on what we can do as far as recycling.You could investigate with your local council as to whether they locally recycle these cases and bottles, as each council have different policies on this issue.

Dear Specsavers, Thank you for the information you have sent me, I will be sure to check with my local council as to whether they can be recycled here. However, it will be easier for them to tell me if I know what type of plastic the cases etc are made from, as not all types of plastic are recyclable here. Is there a way of finding this out? Many Thanks, Susie.

Dear Susie,Thank you for your email.I have passed this query on to our Product Team, as I cannot see the usual recycling symbol on the bottles. We will email you as soon as we have an answer to your query.

Dear Susie,Following your query regarding recyclable plastics:the solution bottle, cap and plug are HDPE (High Density Polyethylene)the case barrel is polystyrene the case cap and baskets are polypropylene. Our Product Team advises that HDPE is widely accepted by UK authorities for recycling. Polystyrene seems to be an issue as some local authorities will take it and some not (polystyrene is what is used to make CD cases).Hope this helps.Kind Regards.

How helpful was that! :) I emailled them to say a big thanks for being so helpful!

Pure margarine: the only marg I can eat (because it's dairy and soya free) comes in an unmarked (therefore unrecyclable) plastic box and has palm oil in it! I asked them what type of plastic the box was made of, if it could be recycled, if this could be made clear on the packaging in future and if they were planning on continuing to use palm oil.

Result: This is the email I received from them..

Dear Susie The tubs & lids can be recycled. It is classed as Channel 5 plastic for Local Council Purposes.You may need to contact your local authority for your nearest suitable recycling centre With regard to the Palm Oil Kerry Foods is aware of the ecological and social impacts of deforestation of tropical forests and shares the concern about the long-term consequences of this development. We are working towards ensuring that palm oil products we use are produced in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. We source our oil from suppliers who are members of the 'roundtable for sustainable palm oil (RSPO)'and are working towards ensuring that all our palm oil is coming from plantations that are meeting the criteria for guaranteed sustainable palm. Once again thank you for visiting our web site and we hope you continue to enjoy our Pure products.

Hmmm, I do think thats a good start, but wouldn't it be better if the tubs were made out of nuber 1 or 2 plastic, so it could be very easily recylcable (I'm in the middle of emailing my local council to find out where/if number 5 plastic can be recycled here) and if they stopped using palm oil altogether (the RSPO smells a bit of greenwash to me!) I'll be writing to them to say just that and I'll let you know if I get a reply.

The Book People: after repeatedly un-ticking the 'receive catalogue through the post' button on their website, and repeatedly receiving catalogues through the post (wrapped in one of those plastic envelopes) I emailed them.

Result: 10 minutes later a lovely lady phoned me to tell me the reason I kept getting catalogues was because I actually had 3 accounts with them and was only cancelling getting mail from one of the accounts - she cancelled them all for me! Sorted!