Making a Log Pile for your Garden.

It's really easy to make a log pile for your garden, to attract wildlife.  

We had some big logs from when we chopped down the overgrown lilac tree in our garden, and I asked Joe to saw them into smaller pieces for me.  That's all you need, some logs and maybe some smaller twigs and sticks.  

I left the logs on the garden path waiting for the mood to build a log pile to strike, and in that time plenty of woodlice made it their home, and some impressive fungus grew too!

I used instructions from the RSPB and Wild About Nature.

I laid about 4 logs on the ground, added a second layer of logs, then a layer of smaller twigs.  

Then piled some more logs on top.  It really wasn't very scientifical!

And that's it, all done!

Do you have a log pile?  What creatures live in yours?

Make One Small Change - Join your Local Council's Community Panel.

Adopting eco friendly habits is easier taken one small step at a time.  Lots of small changes add up to a big difference.

It doesn't sound very glamorous, but I've joined my local councils community panel, meaning I get sent surveys to fill in to give my opinions on various issues.

You might be wondering how this amounts to an eco friendly change, so I'll explain.  

I fill my surveys with as many eco friendly, people friendly, or any other lefty answers I can think of.  Even though my local council is Labour,  my county has a conservative MP and the UK has a tory central government. I think it's important to take any opportunity to make politically left voices heard. 

A quick internet search will tell you if your local council has a community panel, and how to join it.  Are you part of yours?

Luminarium.

Last week I had a chance to visit a luminarium.

It was super fun and pretty and relaxing.

 

There was a real mix of generations wandering, sliding, taking photos and lying on the floor, we all had to take our shoes off and there was ambient music playing.  We had a lovely time!

Have you ever been in a luminarium?

Vegan Life Magazine, Issue 8 September 2015.

Issue 8 of Vegan Life Magazine pinged into my online reader, and it's full of lovely, vegan stuff!

I can't appreciate the strong focus on tofu this month, as I'm allergic/intolerant to soya, but I definitely appreciated reading the Vegan news section.  Apparently Ben & Jerry's are developing a vegan icecream!  I love the news that the Vegan Society have approved IKEA's veggie balls (I've already given them my seal of approval!). 

There are lots of delicious recipes this month, including this Mexican casserole, yum!

There are lots of tips and recipes for jams and preserves too.  I can't wait for my home grown tomatoes to ripen so I can try out the roasted tomato preserve! 

There's a really interesting article about regrowing veg from the bits you were going to throw in the compost bin.

I loved these ideas about politics and veganism.

You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions. 

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I have my own little page in the bloggers section on their lovely website.  All opinions are, of course, my own.

 

All images belong to Vegan Life Magazine.

 

Easy Green Actions, September 2015.

Here's my round up of this month interesting eco articles and online actions,

Send a letter supporting the Navitus Bay wind farm, using Friends of the Earth's online form.

Sign Sum of Us' petition asking for the withdrawal of neonicotinoids that kill bees and birds.

The government loves fracking, sign Friends of the Earth's petition to keep the decision to frack or not in local democracies, not national government.  While you're at it, ask Barclays to stop planned fracking too.

Do you ever think about soil?  The Soil Association thinks you should be.

Sign this petition against a 3rd runway at Heathrow airport.

The RSPB has lots of ideas for giving nature a home in your garden.

Sign Greenpeace's petition to save the arctic and sign up for updates on how to stop fracking.

I think we should all show our local trees some love.

And don't forget to sign up for Zero Waste Week!

My Garden Harvest, August 2015.

My little garden has done a bit better this month!

My first raspberries!  These are the first raspberries I've ever eaten that didn't need sugar on them, they're sweet and delicious just as they are.

The variety is Autumn Bliss and I'll definitely be buying some more plants!

This is my first ever homegrown spring onion.  It was so sweet and tasty.  I ate it in a vegan quesadilla. 

I picked my first spinach beet.  And I ate it in a stir fry!  And I've had lots more spinach beet and rainbow chard too.

I picked my first lot of broad beans, and made broad bean falafel, with home grown coriander too!

We have lots of other herbs ready for picking at the moment,  I've been putting lovely basil and thyme in homemade pasta sauces all month.

A naughty slug has eaten all of my courgettes, which I am most upset about!

Have you harvested much this month?

Linking up with Harvest Mondays.

Photo an Hour, August 2015.

The 29th of August was chosen as photo an hour day this month!

Photo an hour is organised by Louisa and Jane.  Here's my day in photos,

9am - I made it out of bed, opened my post (something from Friends of the Earth) and the internet before setting off for work.

10am - I wasn't at my normal Saturday library, so my journey was a 10 minute walk rather than a 10 minute bus ride!  The hanging baskets outside work are massive this year!

11am - My break time snacks were not very exciting!

12am - The arts and crafts shelves are my favourite I think!

1pm - I only work Saturday mornings, so I'm finished by lunchtime.  I walked home past the Peace Garden.  You can see some construction work in the background, that's the old libray building that they're turning into flats and an employment agency.  I used to work there before moving to the new building a few years ago, and it's the library I visited as a child.  It's a super old, decrepit building (it used to be the workhouse!) so I'm glad it's having some work done to it.

2pm - I bought some violas from Wilkinsons on the way home.  I want to plant them in my plant pot shaped like an owl!

3pm - To be honest, I stayed on the sofa from the time I got in, until bedtime.  I had Monday off sick from work and I've not been feeling great for the rest of the week.  I caught up on a couple of episodes of Neighbours.

4pm - and I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I love the sarcastic teacher (If you knew and I didn't know, then you'd be teaching me instead of me teaching you.  And for a student to teach his teacher is presumptuous and rude).

5pm - A Dip Dab to keep my strength up!

6pm - Still on the sofa, here's the view looking the other way.

7pm - Tea time, Joe had dhal and a naan bread, I wasn't going to eat anyting, but his naan tempted me into having one of my own.

8pm - I missed this out, but I was still on the sofa, watching recorded episodes of the Mindy Project.

9pm - Double mint imperial!  Sadly, highlight of my night I think!

11pm - Book, journal, bed.  Night night!

Did you take part this month?  Let me know if you did, I'd love to see your photos!

I'm trying to take part in #photoanhour every month this year, you can see my past photos here.  And you can keep up with me on Facebook too! 

 

Things I Loved, Summer 2015.

This summer I've loved,

Watching - Series 1 of Merlin, Humans, Melissa and Joey (did anyone else freak out over the Halloween special?), Orange is the New Black, Pitch Perfect 2, Arrow season 2, My Mad Fat Diary, Big Hero Six, Anzac Girls (I sniffled my way through it!), Humans, The Clangers.

Reading - Nimona (best. graphic. novel. everrrr.),Grow for Flavour by James Wong, Edible Estates by Fritz Haeg, Peace and Parsnips by Lee Watson.

Listening to - Radio 2, all my CDs are still in boxes!

Moving - the sale of my flat went through this summer, and I moved into our lovely new home with my Joe.   

Home renovation-ing - pretty much all the heavy duty gas, electric and plumbing work has been done, we're onto the cosmetic stuff now, and I'm hoping for carpets really soon!

Buying - Dowe Egberts Orla Kiely coffee jars, so so many plants for my new garden (mostly from the 'dead plants' section in Wilkinsons!), so so many boring house things, some exciting house things too though!  And lots of pretty dresses from the charity shop.

Guiding (I'm a leader at a Rainbow guide pack, the girls are aged 5-7) - we made sock bats, mine was called Bernard, made mud pies and had a lovely walk round a local woodland.  We're currently planning activities for our Unicorn badge (totally my idea)!

Auntie-ing - My biggest niece turned 2, she's so lovely and clever and she remembers anything anyone ever tells her!  She's also very bossy, I was pushing her on the swings and was told in no uncertain terms that I was pushing her with the wrong hand!  My littlest niece started crawling!  And she has teeth! So proud!

Socialising - Ice lollies in Mums garden, lovely meal by the river with Joe's family,  trying a new Japanese restaurant for a friends birthday, going to see Take That's concert screened at the cinema with Mum, my sis in law and her mum, trip to the seasonal fair in Digbeth to meet one of Joe's uni friends, IKEA shopping trips with Mum.

Hope you've had a lovely summer too!?

Don't forget you can find out what I'm up to on facebook and twitter too!

Charity Shopping, Terracotta Pot.

I'm trying to pick up a few things for our new garden, it's not always easy to find second hand garden things.

This little terracotta pot has some chives planted in it now!

50p, charity shop.

A Few of my Favourite Pins.

I Looove Pinterest!  These are some of my favourite lovely pins,







Pinterest buddies?