NATURE

I am in wonder of the many colours that spring offers. The daffodils and other flowers are bright yellow and blue, then there is the magnificent magnolia which is pink, spreading its colour around and it feels as if God has taken the paintbrush out and has gone to town in bringing some colour and hope into the world. The birds are definitely mating and dancing in the branches and I feel hopeful and am enjoying the nature festival.
I am going to try and make nettle soup today with the young nettles that are growing up and try and find recipes that use purple sprouted broccoli. That is such a nice plant, you pick the florets and it grows some more. Then there is rhubarb. What many of these plants have in common is their ability to purify our digestive system, to cleanse us from the inside out and I am not sure why we had given up on those. Maybe we felt we could do without?
I would like to learn more about edible plants that we have given up on and that are there for the picking. I am never sure what we can eat and what we cannot and unfortunately I am not sure whether there is anyone around who can share that information with me. In time, I would like to be able to identify the plants that grow in my garden and find out their uses because I have some incling that they all have a use, some for good and some for bad I am sure, but there must be a reason why they are growing. How to go about discovering?

WANT and NEED

Have you ever wondered what the difference is, or have you just always got what you wanted?
The spring clothes are in the shops and a little feeling inside me jumps up and says...I want one of those and one of those and one of that. Then I check and wonder whether I actually need the clothes, and in fact, I do not.
Whatever happened to planning our wardrobe. Clothes used to be handsewn and family members used to be allocated certain clothes to make. Usually only similar patterns were used and the scraps of material would be used to make quilts. Nothing was wasted and small garments could be made out of clothes that were outgrown. Or they were carefully washed and folded, given to new family members etc. I suppose only one set of clothes was needed as smaller sizes would be available. What has changed is that material is as expensive as buying the finished article, people no longer have sewing skills and patience to make clothes that fit them.
I can resist the urge to go and buy new clothes. I can delight in the wardrobe that is full of the clothes I bought last year and years before. I recently received a full bag of clothes from my friend who has lost a lot of weight and am thus recycling my clothes and having something different to wear.
Who does an audit of their wardrobe? Who keeps classic, classy and good quality clothes in their wardrobe? What we have lost, is the care and attention that went into making the clothes and the appreciation of the time and effort so that we look after the clothes.
Clothes do not make a man.....sure...I get that. The media do a brilliant job at making me want things, sort of makes you lose your mind.
Then there is the opposite emotion.....I need to exercise....but I do not want to.

Today, with every decision you make to buy something, ask yourself whether you really need it, can you buy it second hand, can you make it and then make a responsible choice....as you are response able.

ONE STEP AT A TIME

I am ashamed to read that Britain is eating the planet and that each year, we eat more and more of the planet's resources. I am trying to do my bit to change that, on my part anyhow, and for those of you who seem to think this might be a hopeless step, I urge you to think again.
My main project for this year is to increase the amount of green veg and fruit we eat and to make sure that the majority of it grows in my garden, hence reducing the ridiculous amount of miles that food travels as well as reducing packaging that supermarkets use to market the stuff, and reducing the plastic bags and petrol I would need to get the salad. Is this difficult, it appears not, do I need a lot of land, it appears not, do I need a lot of patience.....well a little and there is the unpredictability of the weather. Not all seedlings come up, but then I may be hard pushed to eat 26 lettuces in a week. However, I have plans for those. Nature I have to say, does most of the work and is very obliging. I need to plant the seeds at the right time, ensure the basic needs of the plants are met, stay on the lookout for slugs and other competitors and the results slowly but surely start to manifest.
I managed to send my DD away yesterday with freshly cut Novita lettuce from the garden and fresh parsley.
I also wanted to eat seasonally and that becomes a lot easier when you see the stuff growing in the garden.

One step at a time, is my philosophy. I am still buying things but reflecting each time I do on what I would buy locally or produce myself.

You could for instance, cut down on the teabags and go for loose tea. It is a little more cumbersome to make, but tastes a lot better and you get more tealeaf and lest tea dust.
One of my daily pleasures is to sit outside in the afternoon, look at the unfolding garden and bask in a little fresh air with a steaming cup of freshly brewed tea. Simply delicious.

It takes very little to enjoy the view and see nature at work.

have just collected another 4 eggs from the hens...so omelette has to be on the menu, maybe with salad?

DOWNSHIFTING MANIFESTO

A few more weeks and it will be downshifting week for 2006. When, check here.

Also why not see how you are doing on the downshifting manifesto.

Do let me know what your plans are regarding downshifting. Yesterday we had our first salad from the garden this year, we have just collected a very small egg and for lunch we made some very naughty cinnamon rolls with white sugar icing which are simply.....well mouthwatering.
As my DS 2 says, this is the life and I would agree with him. Go on....stop beating yourself up about decisions you have made in the past, today is a new day, today is as good a day as ever to start a new life and make decisions you are truly happy with.

Weeds are growing too at alarming rate so must go out there and do some more to compost. I had added some work on the to do list, a special raised beds for squashes , zucchini, pumpkins and other lovely vegetables that ramble a bit. Its going to be a feast when it all comes together.

SALLOW TREE

Spring has to be here officially now as the sallow tree is out. It come sout in catkins first, they burst open and are covered in sticky liquid which attracts a lot of bees to the garden. Apparently it is a native English tree and there are not that many about and it hosts 2500 types of insect. I can well believe that because in the summer you do not want to be sitting underneath that one, it crawls.....



The chickens have produced 3 little tiny eggs to date, which are very welcome and Squeek is settling in well. He needs some TLC on his feet which I am giving him about every 3 days. Hopefully there will be progress.



The more I relax and enjoy the simplicity of my life, the more I am aware that I no longer chase the clock so much. To do that and become proactive instead of reactive to things, I need to calm down and reflect at the end of each day how I am doing. I have gradually been planting seeds in my polytunnel and am very pleased with the results so far. There is a natural rhytm to things and I am trying to fall into that as much as possible. I have read extensively about the Amish people and some of their principles and ways they lived was extreme but there was also some wisdom in it. I don't want time to stand still but I would like to dance with time instead of getting the feeling that I am chasing my tail. Its the Easter weekend and there is lots of activity going on inside the house, children are painting eggs, looking forward to an egg treasure hunt and together time. The garden is bursting with blue and yellow colours all around and although the weather is cool, I look forward to the warmer days ahead. A few more weeks and we will be eating lettuce from the garden. Currently on offer is a small amount of rhubarb, nettles for nettle soup and purple srouted broccoli. I can build that in over the next few weeks. I simply love the idea of being able to go out there and pick my food...hunter gatherer probably but the quality is phenomenal and the effort...well actually....the earth and mother nature do most of the work. I just tend.

ADDITIONS

Dear Son,

You might have noticed that I have moved from the coop last night and have settled in well in my new home. I had to move because you were pecking me all the time and I am pleased to leave that behind in any case. I am now surrounded by 10 lovely chicks who seem to be spending their time looking up at me, finding out who I am and nestling quite close to me. These chicks have no idea on country living, they used to live in massive condos where food was provided on tap, the temperature controlled and there were no perches. Fancy having to explain how to sit on a perch, at my age. Wisdom comes with age and I wish you the same. Cannot wait until these chicks get the hang of living in our new home, but on first impressions they do seem a bit stupid, pecking away at the wood trying to find food as where they could be out there scratching the ground and finding lovely bugs. It wil ofcourse take time, all education of young ones takes time and I am getting a bit older now. My feet are aching a bit, getting used to the changes in the home environment but don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. The keeper of the house seems friendly and as bemused as me that the chicks do not wish to be outside. I would like to say I like it here but it is day one and it might just be a bit presumptious to say that. I hope you are being nice to the ladies I left behind and you are taking great care of them.

Your Dad, Squeek.

( Squeek is the Orpington cockerill who is finding a new home here with 10 new chicks) He seems to be a gentle giant and his call in the morning was not too ofputting ----the neighbours have not yet come around to check what the noise is about.

I am looking forward to the eggs when the chickens have settled as well as lovely manure to heat up my compost heap. ( I know, you probably do not get excited about that one, but to me, there is beginning to be some comprehension how things fit together even though the world might seem chaotic, there seems to be some plan).

Its a question of quality

I am not sure about your thoughts but I am concerned that there is meat available in the supermarket at such a price that it is just too cheap to eat. A chicken at £ 2.99 just cannot be quality. I am not sure how long it would take for a chicken to actually grow from egg to table ready but it cannot be less than 40 days surely.....and what do they do to these chickens that they grow so far...actually I probably do not want to know. My question is, am I prepared to either be a vegetarian and eat no meat or eat meat responsibly. By that I mean, I am willing to find out where my food comes from, how it has lived and what the quality is like. I ask this question because I wonder what it does to my body to be flooded with angst hormones from an animal.
I have looked at the benefits of not eating meat and although I am reducing the amount we eat while at the same time sourcing locally produced traceable meat, the price of this is a lot higher than what is available. If I continue to buy the £ 2.99 chicken then the supermarket will think I want this and produce more. Actually what I want is probably a more expensive happy chicken and that will not be available there.
My friends cultivated their own chicken supply one year, bought 15 chicks and brought them on until they were way past the normal table weight, but when we received one of those as a gift, the quality was fantastic, we actually ate less of it because it was better quality and a chicken could last 4 meals including making stock for use in soups. It took more than 40 days, it took care and pasture to let these chickens roam and have a happy life, it took them to be killed there and then, with the least possible stress. They did not get foampacked, injected with hormones, strung up by their legs awaiting to be killed. I know which one I would prefer.

I am really sorry if you are a vegetarian and this post upsets you....and if you are a meat eater and this post upsets you....it upset me too....and that is why I believe I need to look at making changes because I want a simpler, less tampered with food supply and I want to reward the people who look after animals and not those who could not care less and produce a bird for less than £ 3.00.

SEEDLINGS IN THE NURSERY

It has been a fantastic sunny day today and I have spent some of it outside and in the polytunnel. Things are definitely warming up. I am very good at the seedling stage and have not quite figured out what to do with them all. There will be surplus as last year. I have about 50 sprouting broccoli plants as where I probably will only be able to plant out about 18 of those. I belong to a LETS groups so will share them around. You never know what comes up and what does not. I am still working on a succession planting.
The potatoes are showing through and hopefully will be ready beginning of May
The peas have been transplanted and should be edible by June.
The strawberry plants are in bloom ( last years trial plants) and the new ones are settling in nicely.
about 45 tomatoe plants Tamina and Alicante variety are on the bench growing, french beans are popping through, parsley is still plenty and rocket and salad greens showing growth as well.
Some small munchkin pumpkins and courgette plants , sweet peppers are in the propegator.
Last years sprouting broccoli plants are coming in flower....they got ravished by caterpillars last year and although my DH said to take them out, they have managed to grow, not very tall but will still be giving us a crop.
Outdoor onions which I planted in autumn are showing through well.
Rhubarb plant is coming up slowly and the plum tree is budding.
We are still having hard frosts from time to time so hopefully the blossom of the plum tree will hold on until it has gone.
That is the variety of plants so far, I do not have the sucession thing worked out yet but I plan to sow saladings every 2 weeks to get a continuity in that as well as nasturtium flowers to make the salads colourful.

Done most of the sewing for early spring now and in a couple of weeks there will be more beans, salad things, courgettes and squashes to add. I love french beans and like to freeze them for the winter.

Its going to be colourful.

CARNIVAL OF GREEN 21

If you want to read some excellent posts about being green you can find them here this week.
In case you wonder, blog carnivals offer you a selection of posts with links in one post. Saves hunting around on the net.
Happy reading, I am off to watch the second episode of the Strawbridge family in about 20 mins.
Feet up and relax.

SPRING CLEANING

Hooray, spring is here. If you are a perfectionist and you need a list to tick off for a job well done check these out, room by room, so you can do things methodically if you need to.
I am off with a spring in my step, have baking bread, biscuits and chocolate brownies to do as we have what seems like a lot of playful children round for lunch. Off I go, might even have a go at the kitchen list while I am awaiting.

AS SAFE AS HOUSES

I guess one of the biggest investments you are going to make in your lifetime is buying a home for yourself and your family. It is pretty unusual to be able to purchase a home without a mortgage these days so this is going to be one of those loans or debts that are going to be around for a while. Mortgages are one of the cheapest ways to borrow money over the longest term and when you have a mortgage, paying for it will be with you for a long time.
There is however no reason why you should keep to the 25 or 30 years of a mortgage you have been given as a term. You could make overpayments as a form of savings thereby cutting back the amount of years you have to pay and the total cost of your mortgage.
To do this however you need to have a very disciplined approach to your savings. You could make a monthly overpayment or save it separately and pay a lump sum off each year thereby reducing the amount you owe and thus also your monthly payment ( but do check that there are no penalties in your mortgage deal).

How can you reduce your mortgage payments?
Well surprisingly, people who take out a mortgage think they have to stay with the same lender, but a mortgage is just like any other consumer product and it pays to speak to your financial adviser to see if you can get a better rate and spend less out of your monthly budget. You will be surprised how much you could save. A friend on mine did this exercise and saved
£ 1200 in one year which is not to be neglected. As with everything you can shop around and see if you can find the item at a better value.
If you have saved anything as a result of this plost, let me know.

CHOREBUSTER UPDATE

By way of an update, the second week is posted on the fridge door and everyone is having a look. The chores done this week were done, sometimes with a lot of moaning, other times with pride and responsibility. As parents we had to give some pointers as to where things live in the house and where for instance you would find the dishwashing tablet, what the dog eats, how you deal with the cat when she comes with you on the dogwalk, why shoes have to be polished and whether you can barter your chores or even share them with another person.
From our point of view, a lot of praising has gone on, a lot of encouragement and acknowledgment that we have some more free time. We also discuss bigger issues at the dinner table, such as plans for the garden, leisure activities and what each person's goals are. Which jobs do they like, which ones they hate and.....I am beginning to discover skills the children have but have not shared before with us. They have problem solving skills and are capable of looking at difficulties in creative ways that sometimes are interesting ways to solutions.
This week they are on holiday and have suggested additional jobs they would like to be considered for....I wonder whether that will last but I am optimistic about this new family model. There is a lot more listening going on at the dinner table, a lot more negotiating as to who wants the Tv when etc and how they can work together.
I would say thats quite a result in one week.....will it last and get better?

FREE PLANTS

Courtesy of mother nature. There is something to be said for not tidying up your flower sites in the autumn. Not only does it feed the birds, but in spring, like right now, you might find some seedlings from your flowers have made a home in the flower beds. My way of dealing with it, is to get DH to dig and turn over the earth, pick out the little seedlings and then replant them in another part of the flowerbed and you have a free orderly flower bed. Problem is that I am not really plantswoman enough to fully remember what they are, apart from the one sort which I found today which are cerinthe major purpurense. They are purple, they have lovely foliage and can be used in flower arranging or making your bouquet a little larger, so go and look for the free plants you may have some.

TAXING

Beginning of April always heralds the end and new beginning of a taxyear. The local tax demand comes in in the middle of March as well as paying for the water we use. Last year I paid in monthly instalments but this year, I have the satisfaction of paying it in full. I prefer to save the money over the year, earn interest on it and then pay it in one lump sum. Might not suit everyone but I do not like owing money.

The Young Professional's Financial Blog has a good article on getting your finances in order, that being filed and sorted. So maybe today is a good day to start doing that if you have not got that part of your filing cabinet simplified. Take some time and it will be simpler in the future.

BUDGETING and cutting down.

I have redone my budget and needless to say it still requires finetuning. A great tool from Martin the Money Saving Expert, provides you with a quick downloadable excell sheet to see how you are doing with your budget and whether you are in the green or the red. I still have to curb spending a bit more but it is a useful exercise to be doing at the end of our tax year and to focus the attention on what exactly we spend our money on.
As a result, I have cancelled magazine subscriptions by direct debit thinking that if I want the magazine I can buy it out of my monthly allowance. If I am honest I never read them these days, I like the pictures and then have to recycle them. Seems a lot of effort. I could read ezines which are free or just search the internet for information....why pay someone else to provide it. This should simplify my life and lighten my pockets and recycling bin minimizing also the amount of miles the magazines travelled and the amount of trees that were used in making them.
I also looked at the insurance policies I have and in particular to those I bought with appliances. I figured that actually if you pay those for 3 years you probably could replace your item. I have made the decision to cut out the vacuum insurance, fridge and freezer insurance which were setting me back £ 50 per month. Instead, I plan to save the money in my emergency fund and then if I need to replace an item or get it repaired hopefully the money will be there to sort it out. Working on it. That has saved me £ 75 per month today, and should make life simpler. The other £ 25 will help to balance the budget.

What are you paying for automatically that could be changed?

SO DOES THE UNIVERSE PROVIDE?

I asked my DH yesterday about peasticks, what could we possibly use for peasticks as the little plants are growing up and I want to soon settle them from their guttering home to a permanent home in the soil. What can you use for peasticks. We scoured around and found a few bushes that need pruning and I was quite happy about that. This afternoon however I spotted a sign in the shop window in our village

I have just coppiced the hazel wood so come and get some prunings for peasticks.

Is the universe talking to me or would you say that is some sort of coincidence? Whatever, its free and its just what I seem to need right now, so whatever your belief is, put out what you need and maybe the universe will provide it...then again, be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.

I think I was safe in my quest for peasticks. Must go and give that person a call.

SIMPLICITY V FRUGALITY

Just to clarify what I see as being the difference here as the two go hand in hand in my opinion.
Simplicity to me is about having more free time to work towards my idea of a sustainable, simple life with less impact on the environment. Being frugal means spending very little and finding alternatives to the tempations of society to spend etc etc.
For me, to get to my goals of living a simpler life, I want to reduce some of the stresses and strains that past decisions have and are putting on me. A mobile phone monthly commitment and service contract for instance gives me little scope on how to control my spending on that, I pay and I use it, but changing it to a pay as you go contract, enables me still to use the mobile I have and make the call if I want to.
My goal is to reduce the expenses I am making as much as possible and to revert the trend of spending money needlessly and without thought to feering money towards attaining the goals that I have set.

The goals for 2006 are:

1. to get a grip on where the money is going and to chart what comes in and what goes out every month.
2. Setting a realistic budget.
3. becoming my own greengrocer and reducing super market shopping.
4. Eating slow food and more vegetarian meals.
   
5. Get my family involved in the running of our home and share out expertise.
6. Reduce the use of my car and evaluate our use of transport
7. Create a plan with costs for future plans and timescale.

A great blog to check out is seattle simplicity, it has some great links to information and some great posts to get your thinking into gear.

STRAWBRIDGE FAMILY

Hmm, I wonder how they will get in in winter in Cornwall. Cannot wait to see the next episode next week. The waterwheel contstruction was great but my did they have a lot of mouths to feed with those students working away during the summer. I can see the allure of that, sea, time with your mates and free beer....I remember those days too well. Its in the diary to have a look at the next segment.

The programme had some useful information on alternative energy, on encouraging us to buy our electricity from companies that provide green energy, here are soem sources:
ecotricity
good energy
npower
southern electricity

The last options offers me a £ 32 saving apparently and pays £ 10 to the RSPB, so that seems to be a good option to go for at the moment. And £ 32 is after all £ 32 in my pocket and changing to green electricity helps my conscience and the environment. I will continue my efforts to make changes.

ITS NOT EASY BEING GREEN

If you are in the UK, this programme on tonight on BBC at 8 pm might be worth a view.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Tue 28 Mar, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm 60mins

The Strawbridge family are going green. Inventor and engineer Dick, his planet-loving wife Brigit and kids James and Charlotte take on a 300-year-old farmhouse in Cornwall - with three acres of land, a leaky roof and no plumbing, electricity or home comfort in sight.

Their aim is to live a 21st Century lifestyle and be self-sufficient in energy and food.

But says retired Lieutenant-Colonel Dick: "We're definitely not eco-warriors. We aren't prepared to give up our creature comforts for long. We want our coffee machine, dishwasher and washing machine."

On their three acre plot they plan to grow all their own fruit and vegetables, fatten pigs and keep chickens.

With hilarious and heart-warming results, in this first double bill episode, Dick and his band of helpers build a water wheel to power the house lights.

THE SOFA CHALLENGE

When I started blogging about personal finance I did ask my readers to go and check what money was just lying about and they were unaware of. It is all about taking stock of what you have and what you owe. Reduce what you owe with what you have and then build the what you have up to replace the income you have to earn to live. Hope you are still with me after that. It sounds a simple formula and if you apply it, you will get there.

I received an email today from a reader which I would like to share with you :

I have finally got round to hunting down the back of the financial sofa and checking if the accounts I still had cards for had been closed (as I've opened my ISA today and wanted to transfer all balances across).

Two were still open.

One had 74p in it, so it's hardly worth the price of a stamp to the bank requesting it be closed down.
The other had £4 according to the last entry in the pass book, but has grown to £18.

It's better than nothing - so I'm going down this afternoon to collect my balance!

Thats a least one person who benefitted from that post, yeah, happy about that.

If you took the sofa challenge and looked at the accounts you have lying about , let me know what you have found. Believe me it can be worth it to go and have a look at what there is. You might be surprised.

Now don't spend it all at once, take it to the bank and pay off your creditcard debt or whatever debt you have.

PASSION?

Where did the fun go? When did I stop having fun and join the ratrace. I have been reflecting on that question a lot lately and now that I have a little free time and life is slowing down, I am trying to remember what it is I am passionate about, what is it that gives me energy, that inspires me and that helps me feel a sense of achievement?
I am still thinking on that one. What is your creative side?

INTENTION

Dieting is hard, not buying anything much is harder but the intention is there. I have to admit, I have been brought up in a consumerism society and kicking that habit is going to be tough. And then there are wishlists. The good thing about a wishlist is that you get the buzz of adding to it, and think you will be buying it and then you can zap it in a few months when you really do not want to buy it. Thats the theory. The practice is harder.
Talking of books, this one is on my list, a book by Judith Levine, My Year without shopping. It sounds a good read but buying the book defeats the self imposed embargo. How did she manage it?
I have managed to eat my way through the freezer this month. It is nearly empty, well that is the chest freezer, the other one is still full. The idea being that I will be able to switch teh chest freezer off for a few weeks, clean it out thoroughly and then start a journal which tracks what is in and out of the freezer. Its not a sort of waste department but there seems little point in freezing things because you do not want to throw them away ( guilty of that too). So more discipline is needed.

CHOREBUSTER UPDATE

The chart will be coming in soon and the boys are already having mixed reactions to chores, from ' yeah, cannot wait '( for which you have to be 7 years old and still gullable) and ' grunt' which fits the other 2. Some bargaining is already starting, showing that if you have pocketmoney saved you can pay your way out of it. ( Does that remind you of an accurate picture of society maybe?) Anyhow, I am looking forward to seeing whether it works. I do hope so, it would be a life saver. The boys asked why ever did I want them to do chores, and I said' simply because you need to know how to run the house should the grownups be out of action'. I probably did not do the best sales job on that one, but then sales was never my forte. I will fill you in next week.

GARDEN NEWS 2

Its still very cold out there, but I have been pricking out petunia, geranium and trailing lobelia for my hanging baskets in the summer. I have a few flower baskets in my polytunnel to get the bees and insects to come and visit and aid pollination.

The peas are showing through in the guttering and when they are a little bigger they will go in the bed which is being dug over, and compost added.

Planted Tithonia Sunflower in jiffy cubes and hopefully that will give us a mexican show in the front garden which faces south.

Saladings doing Ok slow on the uptake as temperatures are still quite low.

Planted some french beans in root trainers, covered up with a plastic lid so it acts as a greenhouse in a greenhouse.

Looking out for rhubarb which is not yet to be seen. Seasonal in my garden is wild garlic and the last of the leeks which will be pulled up today.

A FEW RESOURCES

If you are thinking of moving to the country, check out Uncle Ed's podcast, short sessions for towndwellers exploring a move to the country.

The Lilypad List - my all time favourite book, could read that over and over again, plenty of resources in it and a checklist to get you going. I recommend this one.

Simply Living - some more resources to explore.

Resurgence magazine

Harvest Homestead - a great bi monthly pdf magazine with lots of practical information.

Ethical Consumer buyers guides

Path to Freedom - a lovely all round resource of the Gervaes family actually living a sustainable life. Fascinating site.

HUMOUR

An interesting cartoon to cheer you on.



visit Dan's website

I'M JUST GOING OUTSIDE

I am just going outside and may be some time.
Captain Lawrence Oates, last words
(1880 - 1912)

It is spring after all and I must make the most of some fresh air. DH has gone and got the straw for the chickens and we are set to go, although the man we get the chickens from has flu ( I did ask the same thing...not bird flu, just man flu!) Small delay then but worth waiting for.

Have lost some petunia seedlings that have gone well, shrunk out of sight but potatoes planted are showing through and everything else is promising.

Spent a few hours making plum freezer jam ( has about 8lbs of plums in the freezer and I was decluttering) and now, I have 10 jars of greengage jam. Last summer, my friend had a bumper crop of plums and I had no energy to deal with them so froze them. Seems that works quite well. So if you know someone with a plum tree, keep and eye on it and see whether you can get some next summer. Planning ahead

SPRING INTO ACTION

Some of the comments I have received relate to getting organised to make your life simpler. Two resources that are interesting to browse on that front are organised home and flylady.
The first one uses schedules and lovely charts you can print off to get you going and offers a spring cleaning checklist should you need to have that. Flylady is one that tackles household chaos in a more structured way by using 10 to 15 mins per day on tasks that eventually make your home clean and tidy and your home organised. It can take months though beware. It took me 6 months to get the hang of these routines. Little emails get into your mailbox every day with some or other tasks I had not dreamt needed doing but they were worth it in the end.
Just in case you feel the nesting instinct to clear the decks before summer gets here.

Thanks to Remu chorebuster allows you to create a chart with the chores for family members or flatmates. I thought this was neat and had not come across it before. So thanks for that tip am working on it.

MENU PLANNING

Why plan a menu at all? Why bother knowing in advance what you are going to be eating. Many of us do not have the time to do that and come back from work, rushed, in stress mode, delivering a quick meal ad hoc depending on what is available in the house. Sometimes we even do not know what is available in the house and rush to the shops before going home. Or pay for a take away. Stop, be still and regroup.

Weekly planning of your menu and shopping list will save you time, effort and stress.
Our shopping day is Tuesday because that makes sense from a transport point of view, we can share while DH does something else. Sunday nights, we sit down together and look at the calendar and what that means with regards to meals. No point cooking at length if you have to be out of the door at 6.30 pm to take the kids somewhere. Based on the busy schedule, I plan the meals and ask the children to put up menu suggestions on the fridge ( on a post it note) so I can take their preferences into account. I cannot always do this as it depends on what their choices are. This week they wanted to have a farmers breakfast, pizza, apples and grapes,profiteroles. Some things I can do, others I cannot. The reason for giving them a choice is simple, not only do they gain from planning a menu with us, they will then proceed to work on the menu with me, do the shopping and eventually learn to prepare the meals. Not all at once but gradually and age appropriate. My youngest is 7 and can prepare fruit for example. I know, I cringe too at the idea of the time it takes to help them evolve their skills. Kneejerk reaction is probably that it will take long but in the long term with compound interest principles, my time commitment now is going to pay dividends. Hopefully they will make sense of planning a menu, how to shop, where to shop, how to prepare a meal and how to clean up. That has to be worth some time investment versus the running about in a stress.

I sit down and make my shopping list based on what is in the house ( before it goes off and I need to deal with it as waste), what I need and also what needs replenishing. During the week, when I run out of things or nearly run out, I make a note on a post it pad on the fridge as I go along and then making the list saves time.

Spending some time organising your food menu and shopping list will save you time, money and waste. I have managed to cut my bill by 50% and am still working on it. I know I would rather save the money as earning it can be more difficult.

Cooking a larger amount of some meals can provide you with some convience meals when time really is short. Our standby is chili con carne ( just need to make rice), spaghetti bolognaise ( time to boil pasta) and soup with bread rolls. Give some thought to making time to create relaxed food, look at it as a pleasure and leisure activity and put some love in it. That has got to pay off in the long term.

I would frankly much rather relax than rush about these days.

GLOBAL WARMING CLOSER TO HOME

The following seems to indicate that some beauty spots in the world could be threathened by floods as a result of sea level rises. I live on an island so I am aware of the effects of sea level rises but I had never imagined that London would be on the map. Or maybe I just played ignorant. How close will it get to you and what are you prepared to do about it?

DECLUTTERING
If you are doing some of this today, have a look at this funny cartoon.
And there is this to set you thinking.....how cheap things are and where it is all leading.

WHAT GROWS IN THE GUTTER

`veg and more veg. I am trying to grow seedlings using guttering which is working really great. The idea is that you can sow your seeds in the compost in the guttering. When they come up,you can easily space them by weeding some out. The process of planting out should be fun but you need 2 people. You make a small trench where the plants will end up, you carefully slide in sections of the plants in the guttering and they will be straight, have very little root disturbance. When you have planted them out, hou just start again.

the black plastic all around also gives them some heat.

I was missing some heat today so...if its good for the plants , it has to be good for me too. A bit of sun bathing in the polytunnel. I took my book, my seat and my cup of tea and basked in the free warmth. Ok, the kids were painting and I did help out but it was heavenly and very simple. This is the life.

CHILD FRIENDLY WORK

I thought I would share some ideas with you which might be quite radical...my children like to work but to do that they need to see us having fun when we work. If we show our children that we hate our work, that we are stressed then we cannot really blame them for wanting to chill out and watch video games or watch TV. We should stop and remember how it is to play, play emptying the washing machine, lay the table, sweep the floor, plant and weed in the garden. What works for us is to add a little competition as that seems irresistible......lets see whether you can finish before me, give them a small task to do, have about 10 times more to do and be fair. I remember how my grandmother allowed me to peel and cut up carrots, how she shared her skills with me, how she told me stories about her childhood. Home, family, community, country, world.....it has to start with us. And if you think it is dangerous letting a small boy paint the chicken house...think again. How more scary is it to take him to nursery, where he is without you all day, and where he is exposed to lots of bugs. I sometimes think we do the same to chickens and children and I am sure that if they are left to play and do what comes naturally, they will thrive. They could also get hurt but they will learn from that. Spend time with your children because creating a relationship with them now is an investment for the future. I hope that I will be around to see my grandchildren play and what I will lack in energy I hopefully will make up in funny stories, patience and wisdom. At least thats my hope. So make a date with your kids, remember to have fun and play and then when you work together it will almost seem like the same thing. A bit of competition is fine.....

We did the spring cleaning in the chicken house, painted it green this time and are preparing it for our new flock. I intend to share this work/ play with my son and also share the proceeds of the eggs with him. We could have egg hunts, check the chickens and play mathematical games. We could learn about patience, being careful with things that break easily and we could talk about animals, their needs and how not much different they are from our basic needs. The most important lesson I seem to have to reinforce for the moment is that unlike characters in the video games, we only have one life so...we better look after it and make it count.

CLOTHES MILES

A small article about the clothes line. What actually happens to the clothes people donate to second hand shops? Do you all buy some or if popularity is waning is this what we want to happen to clothes. Imagine them being made in China, coming to the UK and then travelling to Africa. I am not saying that we are not being generous but think about the clothes miles these articles cover and the damage done long term to the earth. What happened to us making our own clothes, our own cloth, our own household items and then recycling them into quilts like the pioneers. Most of the household items in catalogues show exactly that, home made items to adorn our homes with. The vital ingredient missing is an emotional connection. Imagine as a child you saw your Mum in a lovely floral plrint dress and that fabric is also in the quilt she gave you on your wedding day. You will remember your Mum every time you see that quilt and so carry her awareness with you in your daily life. How do we get that from the clothes we wear today?
As on the subject of miles, how about this on food miles. Any thoughts?

HURRY UP / SLOW DOWN - CHOICE?

This is the best and funny quote I have found about hurrying up which sums up how my life was up to about 12 months ago
Hurry faster, faster, faster

(Do not try this at home until you have taken our expensive training course).

1. Learn our motto: Get outta my way!
2. Do not concentrate on any one thing: multitask constantly.
3. Rush everywhere.
4. Develop an inflated view of your self-importance.
5. Talk loudly on your cell phone in crowded places.
6. Fast conversation tip 1: Don’t listen and never ask questions.
7. Fast conversation tip 2: Always talk about you.
8. Find an opportunity to be rude. Politeness is for sissies.
9. Cultivate tension and exhaustion.
10. A headache is the sign of a hard worker. Hard workers are cool.
11. Tell others to hurry up.
12. Work very hard and never take time off. Only talk about work.
13. Hire someone to go on exotic vacations for you: you will not have time to go yourself.
14. Eat quickly.
15. If you have to have sex, get it over with quickly.
16. Watch more TV.
17. Talk fast.
18. Talk faster than the person you are talking to.
19. Avoid thinking about what you are going to do before doing it: Planning is useless.
20. Save valuable milliseconds: always use the speed dial.
21. IMPORTANT: DO NOT VISIT SlowDownNow.org.

Note: Eating and brushing your teeth at the same time is only for advanced practitioners. Got it?
(C) 2006 Hurry Faster: The cult of speed

you can find their website here

Check out the slow manifesto too and the other links on their site, food for thought, if you need any that is.

DIVISION OF LABOUR

A lack of energy has made us all sit down and look at the resources we have available within our household and look at the division of labour. I wish we had done this years ago, in fact before we got together because it would have simplified our lives, our expectations and cost us a lot less than it has over the years.
Ok so what was it about, it was about looking at what needs to be done in our household, what each person can do and likes to do, bearing in mind their age, their health, their stamina and their hopes, goals etc and comparing it to what are our family's joint goals. Be sure to ask your children as well and communicate.
Families used to work together from their homesteads, dads had small businesses, mum's stayed at home, kids had chores, the elderly were given jobs and what they made up in wisdom, they lacked in energy. We lack both in today's culture. Our elderly are in nursing homes because we are to busy to care for them, our babies go into nursing care because we are too busy earning money. What we earn in money, we lose in relationships, closeness and generally learning who we are, where we come from, what matters to us and how much we are loved by our families.
To simplify our lives, I urge you to listen to what your family says, what you all want together and start to create your vision. It might be a scary thought, but together you stand a better chance of creating that vision than fragmenting in different directions....its time.
If we all look at the resources we are using within our families, our homes and our communities, we might also get an understanding what the real cost is of chasing time, money etc and what we feel is missing in our life, it can be easily discovered when we stand still and try to ' be'. Try to schedule time.

Its time, make time and listen to the people around you.

THE ENERGY HOUSE

A useful resource to see how you can create changes in your home and what the likely costs are. So for instance, if I thought I could install solar panels that would be great but the cost is in fact quite high to produce 850 units. I may do better by changing the lightbulbs, getting energy efficient appliances, changing to a green power supply, insulating my roof, changing my boiler to a a condensed boiler system and having double glazing. I think the energy house model provides an opportunity to assess costs versus saving and allows you to make decisions that fit in with your budget.
Give it a go here. There are a lot of resources on that link to follow through.

As an aside I did watch the programme on BBC2 last night about global warming, its cause and whether this might be just a historical energy balancing pattern by the earth. It was very obvious that although we have had temperature variations from warmer by a few degrees to mini ice ages that the reason the climate is hotting up is due to Co emissions which started at the beginning of the industrial age. So the message really is to reduce those emissions as much as possible. I still think there is not enough information out there on how this can be achieved by individuals ( the armchair activist in me can do that bit), and of course the majority of CO emissions is due to travel, transport and the way we move goods and people around the world. So shopping locally, growing your own veg, eating in season and generally reducing our needs in that area has to be a positive. To survive it appears also that a sense of community will be needed, so that we can not only be self sufficient for our families but also help others in our community. For instance, it could make sense to employ local contractors for the work even if the quote is a little higher because they will have less travel to do. Lots to think about and possibly adapt. Small steps needed here.

As it is fair trade week, I have received my energy bars from my kids ( because I am running low). My DH brought home a chart showing the personal energy being used up with activities and that has set me thinking. What I can do on a personal level with my energy by pacing it, also will have an effect on a global scale. Now that is a good incentive to get fit using what is around.

Bush might say that the USA will come up with technology and that is one possibility but not the only one, to be effective in my mind it needs us all to work together and reduce our energy needs while increasing technological energy that uses natural resources such as solar power, bikes etc. It is all out there, I personally have become just a little dependent on the easy life and simpifying it by less is more is my reaction.

The request from the programme is that they want to use computer models of global warming to come up with a likely outcome so that it will inform us what we can expect if we continue as we are doing. That sounds scary to me but if we do not know what is ahead we cannot adapt to making changes.

So over to you, are you in to make changes?

FRUGAL COMMUNICATION TIP

If you are a letter writer or you use mail to send off bills etc, you could save some money by buying your stamps in bulk before the 3rd April 2006. Postage prices will go up so stock up now because a first class stamp will still be valid. I also believe that if you are stuck about what to give to the older people in your life, you could not go wrong with a set of notecards and plenty of stams. They may have very few material needs, but they do know how to communicate by snail mail and you would be giving them an incentive to be sociable and catch up on news.

ARMCHAIR ACTIVISTS....

Low on energy here, so thought I would have some fun. The BBC runs a quiz to find out how energy efficient you are here. I scored 6 out of 10. The answers I got wrong were the scientific ones not the home solutions ones so that is good. hands up, I am human and I make mistakes but I am willing to learn. I am apparently an armchair activist and need to get in some more action. I would go along with that and there is nothing wrong with being at that stage. The way I see it, I have 40% more effort to go and accepting where I am right here in my thinking, is OK as long as I continue to learn, accept, and grow using little resources to do so.

Today, we are sharing tranport. My DH is driving me to an appointment while he goes and does a job in town, and then we will come back. In the past we would have taken 2 cars but we are thinking about how we can make different choices. A bus would be better but that is another story.

Another interesting thing is the global warming experiment. If you want to be part of it, click here. Now that really sounds something for an armchair activist.

ON PEAS, CABBAGES AND LETTUCES

How thrilling I hear you say. Well actually it is. The peas are popping through and the little heartshaped leaves of small red cabbages and green savoy cabbages are poking their life force up in the air hoping to grow, grow, grow. Suits me, hopefully I will end up with sufficient plants to make a meal from next winter. It all takes patience. If only you knew how long a cabbage is in the making, how long it needs to mature before we get it on our plate we might appreciate and respect the growing process a little more. As long as it does not meet with wet rot or anything similar we could be Ok for cabbage next winter.
The remaining goals are a bit on hold for the moment as my personal powercut continues, but the thinking process does not lack there either.
Interesting article in the paper today about the ton of packaging used by one family in one month. Water could be on ration next summer and electricity prices are going up.
Time for action seems now.

PERSONAL POWERCUT

I can tell you that the day they pull out the electricity plug, we will be in trouble...well for a while until people rally around and realise that there is a lot we can do together without electricity.

Apparently Einstein's theory of relativity says that you cannot make or lose energy it only gets shifted around, which makes complete sense. Continuing to use energy as if there is no tomorrow is therefore only robbing the future of possibilities.

Our personal energy is precious, people who do too much have a heart attack possibly and others end up with Chronic Fatigue, a sort of start stop malfunction in the body that enables energy to be available some of the time, then not.

Its bearable and the way through it is through pacing, something we can learn from in trying to pace our energy requirements. How are you doing?

I cannot recommend this route for personal development and learning but learn I can....to pace, simplify and use energy wisely.

LOST SKILLS

I have had a sewing machine for the past 25 years and it is in very good condition. Actually it is only in such good condition because it has not been used for a very long time...and yet....I could sew things in the past. When my Dd was little, I used to make her clothes. I was very hard up on the money side and fabric seemed expensive and I could get by by buying adult dresses and men's shirts ( in the charity shop) to make them into pretty pinafore dresses and blouses. Thus I spent my time, happily at home, sewing,homemaking and being a Mum. Today we went to lunch together ( she is now a woman) and we ended up in the fabric store and I guess we will be doing some sewing, together or individually. I know there does probably not seem to be a need to make your own clothes but if you have that skill, the sky is the limit. You can actually make them to fit, you can use the scraps of material to make a quilt...the possibilities are endless.
So try and have a look and see what skills you were taught as a child and what you are doing with them. Do you use them or have you lost patience and the art of doing things for yourself, very simply.

Thanks for your lovely comments so far, I do enjoy reading them and finding out about all of you who are on a similar path, it makes sharing or resources fun, even if you live on the other side of the world.

COMPLEX SIMPLICITY

I feel the need to explain some of the struggles I have with living a simpler life. I did not set out to set myself apart from the world in an eccentric way but to take more responsibility for the choices I make on a daily basis. I have to put my hands up and say that my human nature does mean that I make mistakes, but I try and learn from them. I am not living a perfectly green life but I am trying to make choices that are in line with my values and beliefs, I do what is possible and yet also attempt to look at what seems impossible.
Can one person really make a difference...I think we can, make changes one step at a time and happiness for me lies in making those changes because I choose to make them and because somewhere in my mind they make sense. This is not for everyone I admit, but my aim is to get you to stop just one minute before you do something and ask yourself why you are doing it and how it contributes to what you think is important in your life.
It may not always make a profit, it may actually cost more money but the reward can be in different areas of your life.

Yesterday, I stepped into the wide world and observed some interesting changes around. The radio also talked on the news about Uk consumers becoming more savvy about what they buy. There is evidence everywhere, well nearly everywhere. The local coffee shop boasts fair trade coffee, the clothes shop is starting a line of ethical cotton clothes and complete traceability of its goods, there is evidence of people now asking me, do you want a bag ( must have a sign on my head saying no no no bag please), and there is more variety in the fast food chains. This is not a large town but there is a new addition of a juice and soup bar which is just fantastic. I spotted a gym asking the question are you a chocoholic or fit for fruit and I have to admit that I am neither of those. The most interesting conversation I could eavesdrop on ( simply because it was happening really next to my ears, was a group of adolescent boys rating girls in different categories. If my mind serves me correctly, girls have never actually been rated as homemakers, housewives, childbearers etc, I seem to recall some more physical comparisons in the past. Are the boys of today looking to return to some more traditional modes of support in their lives. It left me wondering how these girls rate those boys, and do they? ( Not an area to go )

Today here, it rains heavily and although that means I am to stay inside, I know we need the rain in this area. The weather men predict a drier than usual summer ahead. I could do nothing and just wait and see or I could try and plan how I can harvest a resource that is readily available, still free and not taxed.

Rain saving, is put on my list.

ROCKET's UP

Although daytime temperatures stay light and cold, in the polytunnel there is sign of life. Rocket seedlings are appearing, the redcurrant and blackcurrant are beginning to bud and the peas sown are swollen and just waiting to appear.
In the house, the tomatoes are growing towards the light and pansy, bizzy lizzies and geraniums are popping up too. If this keeps going, there will be plenty of colour and goodness in the garden this year.
I have to admit that the seedlings in the polytunnel do get covered with fleece to keep them unharmed from frosts in the night.
There's not enough to change the diet yet, but tonight's menu is leek and potatoe soup which has a little wild garlic in it and blackberry and apple crumble which is made with berries picked last autumn. That also satisfies my start to a more vegetarian diet. My DS 1 tried tofu sausages at a healthy eating day tasting and so we bought some to try, they are very quick to prepare but take some getting used to. We can get used to them.

JUNK FOOD - SLOW REAL FOOD

I have talked about tipping points on the subject of global warming and here is one with regards to fast food giants. The profits are dipping and it appears that parents in the UK are actually paying attention that chicken nuggets are not the best available for our children's health. It is reassuring that Britain's youth is looking towards healthier food and avoiding fast food joints or at least using a bigger variety of them. There is hope.

STILL DECLUTTERING

It seems endless, the stuff we have accummulated over the years and the uncluttering is still going on. I took part in a food hygiene course and am currently decluttering the freezer. There are things in there that have been lurking for months ( dare I say years) and must be dealt with soon. I will then be defrosting the freezer and keep a journal of what goes in and the dates. This should help me have an organised larder. I really had no idea that I had so much stuff lurking about. I must have been a compulsive potatoe chips purchaser. How many bags does one need?

On a more positive note, the car is back, shining and all is forgiven. I think my only option now is to run it until it stops running. The temptation has been to replace it or do away with it alltogether and yet, that is not really in the spirit of downshifting.

I read somewhere today that to keep you car in tip top condition you should do the following:

• check oil levels and tyre pressures regularly
• have a service every 6 months
• check tyres and make sure they are legal.
• do not carry stuff in it, make it as light as possible.
• wash it regularly
• have it resprayed when it is 7 years old and it will look as new
• hopefully it will keep going until 10 years old.

IS A CAR A LUXURY?

What can be the answer to that. Carfree family have some good comments to make about cars and how they manage without it. The question has come up simply because my 4 year old car has come up with a problem that will take a lot of money to fix it. I have decided to go ahead and have it fixed but transport is on my mind. We live in the country and my DH argues that we 'need' 2 cars to get around and yet, I would be quite happy to share a car or do without one. The running costs of a car are quite high. How did we get to have 2 cars in a family anyhow? Is it simply a matter of choices we make. How much does a car cost to run? Calculating it using this table the cost of running my car for the last year have been about £ 92 per week ( that takes into account all taxes, depreciation etc). That is quite a bit I have to say for owning a car. What alternatives are available. You could register with liftshare to see what transport can be shared or how to get along using public transport. It also has a handy link for door to door planning and timetables. This could make an alternative work. A suggested trip could either be shared and would take 1 hour, but the cost of public transport could be about £ 15.00. Still I wonder how far you could go with the £ 92.00 running costs per week and how that could be saved. Any suggestions anyone?

365 day rule

Ok you wonder what it is, what can it possibly mean? The last 12 months I have been decluttering my home and disposing of the contents in an energy efficient way. Anything that has not been used in the last year, apart from obvious stuff like family heirlooms has been dealt with or is in the process of being dealt with. Any money made is being put towards debt reduction and I monitor each month how we are doing on reducing the budget. It is suprising what you pay every month that you have done on automatic.

I am now limited to 1 credit card ( for emergency purposes only) and apart from stopping me from using a variety of them and spending, it actually focusses me on one account only to deal with. If you have several, ask yourself why? I usually find one sufficient unless I travel a lot and then I have 2 just in case the machine swallows it. However as travelling is not on the agenda one card is plenty.

I am amazed at the junk and stuff we have accumulated and am continuing my efforts to sort it. We have a variety of batteries ( yuk) in a variety of toys that do no longer work and the kids have grown out of. As I work my way around the house in my 6 week cleaning and decluttering rota, I may have found that reducing the stuff creates breathing space. Batteries can be recycled and stuff can be sold on ebay or given to charity shops or freecycle. Keeping this up will create more space and gradually reduce any debt you may have. No need to do this quickly as that would make you feel deprived but 1/365 effort is worth it.

I was going through papers today, you know the bankstatements that are more than 7 years old and had a good shredding session. All recyclable on compost heap and paper collection. Be careful that you shred things, as your identity may be stolen otherwise. Does anyone really piece together bits of paper to get your credit details? Good point, if I simplify my accounts, then there will be less information to get. The paper cabinet looks lighter and saves me energy lugging it about.

dream your life and live your dream.

LITTLE TOMS

You are looking at the bumper crop in the making. I have sewn 2 varieties so far, Alicante which was a bumper crop last year and then Tamina which was given to me as a Christmas present. I will have too many plants but am thinking I could give some away. Last year we had 12 tomatoe plants and 6 beef tomatoes. The latter did not do so well. You never know when you sew seeds what will come up and when they all come up, you sure will lose some to nature along the way. However, this is the first stage. I have this little wee propagator which gets things going and then when the weather warms up a little they will move to the polytunnel.

With lots of tender loving care you are looking at the tomatoe soup, pizza base sauce and passata of next year.

PANCAKE DAY

easy recipe


per person
1 egg
2 oz of flour

enough milk to give it the consistency of double cream.

Put flour in bowl and add egg. Mix well and add milk until you reach the right consistency.

Heat your pancake pan, add a little butter/oil, a small ladle of the mixture and away you go.

Serve with lemon juice and sugar, maple syrup, jam, chocolate spread, honey or bananas cut in chunks, soaked in orange juice.

Enjoy

DRIPPING TAP

Saving water being one of my points to consider and I have a leaky tap in the kitchen. I could do this myself but I do not have the skills and the tap is of the ancient variety as well as being very hot. So what to do when you have little things that need doing and you cannot do them. Ofcourse I could get a plumber out but that will cost me a lot of money or learn the skills of how to do this ( no time at present as it is urgent!) Being a member of a LETS scheme however means that I can ring the organiser, tell her about my leaking tap and she puts me in touch with the man who can. This was done within 24 hours. The tap is mended, I met a nice man who is saving 500 gallons of water a year and apart from having my tap mended, I have learnt a lot of information to keep me going for a while, from where to get cheap compost material to where to get free manure. ( Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you meet a man who is in the know?)
I have paid him in virtual money and having listed a variety of my skills on the register, hopefully someone in need of my skills will give me a call. Interesting economy and puts me in touch with a local likeminded community.

POLYTUNNEL SUNBATHING

Today, there was a very cold wind out there and yet when I am in the polytunnel, there is no sign of it and I too can benefit from a little warmth generated by the sun.
Was given a blackcurrant bush at Christmas which was planted in a pot and have managed to sew some peas and saladings in black guttering. The idea being that when they grow up a bit, I will be able to simply slide the soil into a trench and they will grow in a row without too much disturbance. It sounds crazy, thats probably why I give it a go, but in general I am trying to simplify gardening. I have raised beds and the guttering is 2 m long and in principle that should match up. The tomato seeds have germinated and are showing signs of growing towards the light. As last year I will probably have a surplus but I am quite happy with that, I can share it with my neighbours who cannot start plants that early.

SAVE OUR POOL

On another note, I am not sure what is happening to our leisure facilities nearby, our nearest pool has been closed and there is talk of the next town's one to be closed because it is not profitable and it is going to be replaced with a supermarket. Apparently the policy has changed no longer requiring local authorities to provide leisure facilities. There are already 5 supermarkets in that town and I wonder why they think they need another one. Taking the splash pool away will make swimming no longer viable for families with small children. The pool currently has a beach and waves and enables toddlers and babies to experience the water and learn to swim in a safe and warm environment. I will do my utmost to write in and put in my pennies worth...one person can make a difference. Maybe it needs another child to drown in a pond to make them realise that swimming in fact is a good skill to learn.

TEENY WEENY STRONG BAGS

As you know I have been pursuing the idea of using different type bags instead of plastic bags, as in my previous post. Someone very kindly has directed me to onja bags which are so small you can take them with you anywhere. Why don't supermarkets use these instead, we could all have them and stop the pollution and filling up of our landfill sites. I will have to put this on my wishlist but they would make nice presents for next Christmas to start some of my friends and family on the same route.

ETHICAL MAN

I have to applaud him, first day at his new job and he gets the best project ever, to start living ethically. It starts the debate nationally and it should help more people get ideas about what is possible and what is not. Cannot wait to see how he gets on. You can watch the 18 mins report over the net if you are interested and hopefully we will all learn more together. The video charts his family members and how they already live ethically and the changes he could consider making.
There is some question as to whether individual action can make a difference and again.....I do not need proof of that ......9/11 was enough proof that one person can make a difference.

We are the consumers that demand things in the shops, so if and when we stop demanding,or demand thinsg differently, trends will change.
This could become a fashion.....hopefully you are all following it....it is worthwhile.
keep thinking ethically....

DECLUTTERING

Where does all the stuff come from that we accumulate I wonder? I have been decluttering my home for the last 12 months and there is always more that I find that I have no idea why I am keeping it. We do get given lots of stuff from others which is very generous of them and I always accept reserving the right to use it, recyle it or give it away to charity in the best way I see fit. This week I have been tidying the boys bedrooms, with some interesting conversations afterwards I have to say. I came across 10 pairs of jeans I had received in various sizes which I had been saving for my boys but it appears that they do not like the feel of jeans and prefer some loose trousers. So why keep it? Having created a space there, I managed to put the variety of stuffed toys there that usually hang about all over the place. The 2 younger boys did not object but my 12 year old went into adolescent mode, it appears I invaded his space and his way of arranging things. I did apologise but from that has come the pointer from him that I am no longer required to clean his room, he will do it himself. Sounds fine to me, it seems a way to downshift my housework.

One of the loves I have , is a love of books. What can you do with the books you have read. It is an ongoing dilemma for me. So here are some options:

1. Give them to someone else to read if you have enjoyed it very much.
2. list them with Amazon or greenmetropolis
3. sell them on ebay
4. give them to a charity shop

Then again, you could buy less books and go to the library which solves that problem in its entirety. There are books I cannot part with because I look at them on a regular basis and I love vintage cookery books just to indulge myself in how real food was cooked a long time ago.

POWERCUT

We had a planned powercut today which was kind of interesting. Knowing that the power was going to go off allowed us to do jobs in advance and I realised today that without power I would not be able to use the breadmaker, vacuum the floors, have a shower, use dishwasher, do laundry, work on the computer, listen to radio.....the list is endless. What happened though was that I came to appreciate the reason why my windows have windowseats, and some sort of connection to how dismally dark it must have been in the last century when there was no light at all during the day. I had to cook my dinner by 3 pm otherwise I would have had trouble seeing what I was doing in the kitchen. I take lights and electricity for granted and would be lost without it in a sense. I spent time reading sitting near the window and going outside when the rain abated to do some gardening. What I liked though was the silence in the house, no radio, no computer whirring, just a simple silence where I could hear the birds singing in the garden and reflect upon a simpler lifestyle. When the children got back, lights went on and silence disappeared.

My onions planted in the fall are coming up nicely, and I prepared the bed for the potatoes to go in in the polytunnel as that could be done even in the rain. Another 5 weeks for winter to go.......cannot wait for spring.

WHAT IS IN OUR FOOD?

How do we actually know what is in our food? A disturbing article in the Daily Mail states that the nutritional content of the food we eat now is much lower than 50 years ago. Most foods do not taste of anything, bananas could be like eating cardboard. It does not have to be this way. If you have ever grown a carrot or peas and eaten them straight from the ground ( after scraping it and washing it of course), your taste buds might like to explode. Carrots are sweet and tender and peas crunchy and sweet. The quality of what you grow depends on the quality of your soil. The soil can be improved by addition of organic material. The pumpkins I grew last year were huge, and people asked me what I had done to them. No more than recycling the composted vegetables and chicken manure and then put it back on and in the land. The saying, you reap what you sow, comes to mind and I have to say that the reason why I want to be my own greengrocer this year is simply that I like my food to taste as fresh as a daisy and I like my children to experience some of the pleasures that simple home grown fruit and vegetables can give. I went out today to see what is growing in my garden, and apart from a few leftover leeks, I spotted some wild garlic and some very fresh tasting parsley. It maketh not a complete meal, but it sure brings taste in the house and beats bland convenience foods.

There is talk of Avian flu coming to the Uk brought here by wild swans and wild birds. I have been cleaning the old hen house today as I am looking forward to setting up home to 9 hens and 1 cockerill soon. I like chickens simply because they are the only birds I find attractive, ( being a mother hen myself so to speak), they lay eggs, they eat some of the grain leftovers my boys leave, they chatter and cluck and make a nice sound around the place and they produce manure which heats the compost heap up and helps it get to a crumbly moist dark soil which enriches the soil we grow things in. Are they hard work, not really, they earn their keep very well and when you go slug hunting at night, they are always pleased to devour the creatures. Nature can be cruel but wonderful at the same time. Last year I spotted a toad in my polytunnel, it did not stay long because wen the temperature rose, it went away but in the meantime, if did its bit to clear up slugs and snails lurking in the polytunnel. Just shows we can all work together no matter what we do , what we eat and what we look like.

THE WHITE STUFF

We are big dairy fans in this household ( not that it is good for us if we have too much of it), but then again, we have had no broken bones (plenty of other things wrong but no broken bones). The reason why we are fond of dairy stuff is simply that my DH was born on a dairy farm and a lot of his friends are thus ' dairy farmers'. Surprisingly they get very little for the milk they sell per litre, to the extent that they barely make a living. We cannot buy the stuff direct from the farm either ( not allowed) and this resulted in us ultimately buying it in the supermarket. That sounds great, convenient and all that ....but it resulted in us accumulating a lot of plastic bottles in our box. ( I have 4 boxes in my cupboard, one for glass, tins, paper and plastic). The plastic bottles do not get collected so on top of rinsing them out, separating the tops from the bottle and then driving 5 miles to recycling depot and putting all the bottle manually in the area nominated, I have been thinking for a while that there has to be a better way.
Here in the UK, milk can be delivered daily to your doorstep if you live in a city or built up area. It arrives as by magic as the delivery is made by electric vehicles at about 3 am so households can wake up to cornflakes and fresh milk. In my area, the delivery is every 3 days but I can live with that. The price is higher than in the supermarket but in the end, it will save me plastic bottles, a trip to the recycling plant, transporting the white stuff will be shared and I will have a better conscious. It will also give me some walking to do first thing in the morning, to walk in my slippers down the lane, and see whether the milkman has left me my daily pint. I know soya milk would be better but we have not got completely that far and I am loathe to make changes that the menfolk in this house will react to vividly. I chuckled at the GM Mooseletter from the WI read out to Sainsbury's staff. Maybe we should all question where our milk comes from and what is in it. My boys often ask me why we have butter and not any of the spreads available. My comment is ' I trust cows more than scientists'.

Comments on time out

It has been a frustrating time without computer technology. The modem did not work properly and we were not connected. Apart from obvious frustration it did provide me with an opportunity to check out how much we rely on the internet as a resource. I do value it immensely but maybe expecting it to be available at the touch of a button is an attitude thing. Maybe that is actually what we expect to happen with everything. Is it necessary for everything to go so fast?At what cost? Ared we prepared to pay that price for convenience?
Not having an internet connection has enabled me to reflect on the amount of computer use we have as a family and how we can make better use of it. How much time do you spend on the internet?

TIME OUT

I am having a few technology problems with my server but will be back soon.

BAGLESS SHOPPING

It has been good testing the response on shopkeepers when you say ' NO BAG PLEASE!'. They look incredulously as if you are about to shoplift and wonder why the small little protest.
I keep confirming to myself that this will simplify my life because :
it reduces the need to deal with plastic bags and packaging.
there will be no need to stash up the plastic bags in the kitchen.
It will be good for the planet.

If I manage to keep this up for 21 days it will just become a new habit and it is easy to do. Walking through town I observed so many people with bags and wrapping.

I did go and have a walk about also at the recycling depot to see what actually happens with the waste collection and think it should be possible to do more.

The waste diary has been interesting to do and has enabled me to find the following alternatives:

• change to milk delivery in glass bottles.
• reduce the amount of cans we have for petfood
• look at a wormery for dealing with cooked food scraps and small kitchen scraps.

All these actions require some planning and are based on research at home which I would encourage you all to do, it is an interesting exercise.

There is a lot of info on the net regarding plastic bottles and this chart should give a better indication as to what can be recycled and what cannot. Recycling bottles does mean washing them out and taking the tops off but looking at the list of what can be recycled should enable me to check the bottoms of bottles for those that are recyclable and those that are not. Add to that the interesting looks you get from people when they see you in the shops turning each container over to check the packaging. We can wise up on packaging and reduce the need for it.
Sure it takes time and effort but I urge you to put it in....it will reap rewards for the future.

BAG YOURSELF A BETTER WORLD

The plastic bag thing has been on my mind. I have now had a reply from my local council who say that unfortunately there are no recycling facilities for the bags as yet apart from the supermarket. I remain unclear as to what they actually do with them? Anybody know?
I purchased a tote bag in the charity shop which is covered in plastic, and will be my rainy day bag. I have found that I possess a variety of cloth bags from a variety of sources.
My DS , smallest one, did an exercise on weights at school comparing the strength of plastic bags, paper bags and cloth bags , putting about 10kg of weight in each. The cloth bag won the day and that does it for me. I can decorate my bag as I wish, now there's a creative idea.
Get yourself a cloth bag or make one out of worn jeans and then decorate with fabric paint. Or you could recycle your bags using Jodi's idea.

I'll put that on the creative list to do.

BULB UPDATE

They arrived in the post today. The 18 KW bulbs for the light in the lounge are 'huge' and I cannot test the light quality until later, but I am pleased to say that I have persevered in putting them in ( shh, incognito, wonder whether anyone will notice the difference). I also got some R65 spotlight bulbs and they looked like they had a microchip in them, really techy stuff but they are in and they do the job , cannot 'spot' the difference as yet. ( pun intended, I know I have a weird sense of humour!)
That is about the limit financially that I can go to this month.

Off to the kitchen to prepare some convenience food. Not really, I am cooking a vegetable lasagne ahead of time, which will go in the freezer until that day when I have no time to cook from scratch but want a take away. I will then take it away from my freezer. Am branching out, not only do I want to be the greengrocer, baker but maybe I will do the deli department too. Stretched I hear you say, you bet ,but ...... I feel good doing this.

GARDEN NEWS

Getting back to the garden. My sweetpea plants are showing signs of coming up. There is still plenty of preparation that needs to be done for the coming season. My polytunnel has some algae lurking on the inside which need cleaning off and then I will be spreading compost in all the beds.

Plans for this month are :

• planting salad leaves and annual herbs
• 1st sowing of tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies and aubergines under cover
• sowing in plugs or roottrainers of broad beans, peas and spinach
• put the potatoes in the polytunnel by the end of February.

The main tasks are tidying up and cleaning the pots out. Looking at getting enough potting compost in and preparing for the warmer season. I have ordered some strawberry plants for the polytunnel which should be arriving beginning of March.

PS - I realise that not all of you can garden in this way but maybe you can look at sharing a garden, getting an allotment, growing vegetables in pots and on the windowsill.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?

I have to admit that now my mindset has been changed, now that I want to do things differently, the sheer amount of changes could be overwhelming. I think this is my personality though, can be a tad over enthousiastic and then the energy just is not there to carry it out.

I thought about this some more and actually that is probably what is happening all around. Imagine us to be a living thing just like the earth. The energy levels are getting a bit low, we are overheating a little, we need to let our hair down and relax, things are going badly wrong with temperature control and we have these organisms that seem to be just soo demanding.

Norene's post about plastic bags set me off again. What is the alternative I ask? It seems that plastic bags are just handed over whenever you shop and so the following seemed to be possibilities:

• Check out what your local supermarket does about plastic bags. Tesco for instance has a collection point in its store to collect and recycle the bags.
• Use canvas bags wherever possible and refuse plastic bags in town when they are offered to you. ( This may sound like hard work, but eventually it will become a habit).
• Buy locally produced food where possible. That means investigating what is available locally and see how you can change you shopping habits.
• Try a local vegetable box delivery scheme to avoid plastic wrapped vegetables and fruit.
• Avoid disposable goods such as nappies, plates,forks,yoghurt pots,cosmetic wipes, tissues, razors,kitchen towels, computer cartridges. Look at alternatives available.
• Drink tap water ( instead of buying bottled water) and use drink bottles to take drinks to work and out of the house.
• Give gifts and treats that do not clutter, such as trip to theatre, cinema, aromatherapy etc.

That seems to be plenty to think about. That is the theory and what can I do to make that practical? Try doing the waste diary which should give you some indication as to what goes in your bin.

I also wrote to my local waste management company to ask how plastics can be recycled. There is a facility to recycle plastic bottles, but nothing else and I am waiting to hear what they say. A carrier bag tax would be great I think, would get people to think about it more.

Ok, off to make some bread now and ponder some more on alternatives. It is beginning to feel like a waste diet.

The videos posted on the freecycle site have been collected and as a result I received a very nice mirror shelf made out of driftwood. Thanks

TIME FOR REFLECTION

From time to time I reflect on how things are going and what areas I want to be concentrating on in the future. I want to say thank you for all your comments so far, it is encouraging to see that the debate on how to practically upshift or downshift and creating a balance in our lives and for the planet is alive and well. I have to tell you here that I am just an individual, I have no agenda other than my values and beliefs that as a person I can make a difference to what is happening to the planet. It has to start with me and my blog is here to show you what I am considering and how I get on. I am not perfect, I make mistakes.

The areas I am working on at the moment.

• Bread
• I am making bread using the no fail recipe every other day. I still use the breadmaker and will continue to alternate until I can manage to confidently produce enough loaves as demanded by a 5 people household.
• Slow Food
• I am working on eating seasonally, cooking our food from scratch and preserving what I can. I am concerned about what is available, how far I need to travel for my food, and how far it travels to get to me, its quality, its price etc etc.
• The garden
• part of the above is to create my own greengrocer in the garden. This means that I need to identify the vegetables I can grow in my climate and plan a succession of vegetables we can eat. Its a work in progress again, and each month I will let you know what I am doing and how I am getting on.
• Recycling
• Anything that can be composted is being composted in this household, but again, it probably can be improved. We used to have 5 rubbish bags to go out every week, we are down to 2 now and I am still working on reducing that. We have 3 compost bins on the go.
• Clothes
• I am evaluating the amount of money we spend on clothes and whether this is realistic.
• Transport
• One of our main categories in the budget. After housing costs, transport costs are the highest and I am considering why we travel, how we travel and whether there are alternatives.
• Energy debate
• Still working on reducing our energy requirements. Monitoring how much we used has provided some ideas for reducing that. I am looking at the costs of solar power but again, its a work in progress.

BAN THE BULB

Dr Matt Prescott sets out his aim to get the lightbulb banned to save emissions. This follows my post. What is helpful about his online information is that it lists suppliers both in the UK and US for places where CFL's can be found. Although it seems an expensive option to change your lightbulbs, it is cheap in the longer term and nicer for the planet. Leave me a comment if you are committing to change at least 3 lightbulbs by the end of February.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

Ok, so how exactly can you measure your ecological footprint. You can do this quiz which will tell you how well you are doing compared with the average household in your area. I was shocked to see that in the USA the national average footprint is 25 and in the UK 5.3. We are doing well at 4.3 but it could be better and I was shocked to find out that we use up twice the resources available on our planet. Hopefully that will give us something to think about. I care about that a lot, and about the fact that if I do not make changes, it will become a necessirty for my children.
It is very cold here today, we have no heating, I am wearing wool socks, thick sweater and drinking a hot drink. It is something to get used to...or not...it very much depends on your comfort zone. Mine is being challenged currently.

MARMALADE AND TOAST

I am making progress, how can I measure that you say? The bread I made yesterday simply has disappeared, in sandwiches for lunchboxes, eaten with soup and discussed with our neighbour when she came for a cup of coffee and a chat. My DH told her about the bread and described the texture as 'soapy'. A discussion followed whereby the ' bread appreciation society' passed a critical verdict on the item in front of them. The texture was ' cake like' more than ' bread like', there was less salt in it than shop bread and ......this went on for a few minutes while my DH excelled about my flapjacks ( and offered one to the neighour), talked about my knitted socks ( and the sweater I just finished) saying ' go on, put it on and show it off!) I did feel a lot of satisfaction in that moment. Later I found him snacking on the last of the shop bought marmalade with the last piece of bread, toasted on the Aga. He had a lovely smile on his face saying' when this is finished I am going to start on your marmalade'
I guess a lot happened after making that no fail bread, and indeed, it made me feel like a succesful and contented homekeeper. Simple things really, must make that bread again.

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY

There is an old belief in America that all hibernating animals wake up on Candlemas day and come out to see if it is still winter. If it is a sunny day, the animals will see their shadow and go back to earth for 40 days. If it is cloudy ( it is today), they will not be frigthened by their shadows and will stay above ground. Thus, if it is cloudy, people believe we shall have an early spring.

Candlemas on this side of the pond, takes its name rom the blessing of the candles on this day for use in church throughout the coming year. Christians used to light candles for Baby Jesus and Mother Mary and perhaps it is for this reason that in some areas today the snowdrops which are around are also known as Candlemas Bells or Mary's tapers.

"If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
winter will take another flight.
If Candlemas Day be cloud and rain,
Winter us gone and will not come again"


( Taken from Festivals, Family and Food by Diana Carey and July Large).

As its cloudy I look forward to winter going away and on my walk this afternoon will look out for the snowdrops. We will light a candle with our meal and generally talk about what a groundhog looks like. Any ideas?

The No Fail bread Loaf

Just wanted to ' prove' ( pun intended) that the bread making did succeed. The no fail recipe is indeed no fail and the end result was well ,just lovely. The whole thing took more than 6 hours waiting time, and the smell when it came out was just heavenly. I wonder whether breadchick has some more recipes with different flour so I can create variety. I did check my breadmaker machine and it uses up 0.5 unit when making a loaf which is not that much but if I made bread every day as above, that would save on average 160 units per year. It all mounts up, So did the washing up though....

What was the pay off then.....less electricity, wonderful kneading action, heavenly smell and happy family. I also managed to explain the physics breadmaking in the process of the day to a poorly boy who is suffering and sniffing away. Lots of TLC needed, which he got as well as a nice hot chocolate and some bread and jam.

FEBRUARY WOW FACTOR

Its the first of the month, yippie, I say that with enthousiasm as I think spring must be getting nearer. The WOW factor stands for Well Organised Woman.

So here are some of the things I remind myself to do today:

• Balancing the accounts
• This means, checking the bank statements and comparing what money has come in, and what has been paid out, checking the list of standing orders ( payments that go out regularly each month). This little monthly task gives me a more realistic idea of what money is likely to be in my account and then when I need something, I can make sure there us enough in there to cover it. I have been doing this now for a long time and to give you a flavour, last months costs although reduced, are still quite high for food and transport. These are areas I am looking into improving.
• Birthday checklist
• I have a birthday book which lists the dates and names of birthdays in the month and at the beginning of the month, I check these out, write the cards, put stamps on them and have them ready to send off when I need to. Relationships are important to me.
  
• Christmas planning
• I know, that sounds just too far away, but only 11 months to go. I will be making a list of the people I wish to give gifts to this year and then start making plans to make them.
• Garden
• The garden is still pretty dormant but if my garden is to be my greengrocer this year, I will need to make some plans. More on that later in the week.
• Family Festivals
• 2nd February - Candlemas or Groundhog Day
• 14th February - St Valentines
• 28th February- Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day