Recent Comments

1. Offset your Airmiles - 02 Nov 2005

   Posting this one from Australia where we are visiting family. The trip was really important to us, but we were suffering from associated guilt until we went on the Carbon Neutral website. You put in the exact details of your trip and it calculates the CO2 emissions and works that back into the number of trees you need to plant to offset it. It looks reasonably convincing to me, and does give you a way to make good the damage if you have to travel. Couldn’t be easier either!

2. DIY vegetables! - 29 Oct 2006

   We’ve had an amazing time growing stuff this year. I had not a clue what to do so just ordered some seeds and tried to follow the instructions as best I could. We had an incredible quantity of courgettes – quite the easiest things to get lots of. We’ve struggled with pests though on the leeks in particular. Anyone have any tips for keeping slugs and maggots off the veggies without causing a problem for the local bird population?

3. DIY vegetables! - 03 Apr 2007

   Also for MaryC, I’d suggest a windowsill propagator. It sounds very grown up (I was quite terrified at the prospect), but not too expensive, very straightforward to use and I’ve been able to get loads of things going that wouldn’t work last year. My Strawbs came up in less than a week, and since it fits on the windowsill it’s not taking up loads of space

4. More tea vicar? (Don't overfill your kettle.) - 13 Apr 2007

   I’m pretty sure Catriona Gill is right about using a hob being more efficient. We’ve just got a new kettle that works this way, and there’s no minimum fill to cover the element, you just boil what you need. The only thing is that it doesn’t have the see-through strip so you can tell how many cupfuls are in there, so my new resolution is to measure the water in with the cup I intend to fill. I find my estimations are often wildly inaccurate!

5. No Purchase Necessary - 28 Nov 2010

   I’ve only just opened this and had to laugh. Yesterday I found an old pair or my son’s jeans, added girlie machine embroidery and shortened them for my little girl, as it was actually quicker than getting into the car and going to town to buy her a new pair of jeans (not to mention better for the planet and my bank account). It seems I went with this one without even knowing it! I did, however, buy some cakes at the church Saturday market. Hopefully that doesn’t count.

6. Encourage Others To Go Generous - 22 Jan 2009

   I picked up a stack of the Generous bookmarks at Greenbelt last year. I have a business selling fairly traded cotton fabric for patchwork and quilting (www.fairtradefabric.co.uk if you’re interested) and have been sending the bookmarks out with the orders. I’ll put a link on the site too (good thinking above) so hopefully that will help spread the word amongst like-minded folk.

7. Start An Allotment - Or Half A Plot - 04 Nov 2009

   Not sure if this is the right place for this comment, but had to find a home for it somewhere. I was completely inspired the other week by an event in my parents’ village – an apple pressing day. Those who had apple trees brought their apples to a central location where they mashed, pressed, bottled and pasturised them, so they could be stored in the freezer, returning the juice to the apple donators and selling some (I think for donations towards the kit they hired in). The aim was to get people to make better use of local produce with an aim to become more self-sufficient in food as a local community. This made me think of loads of other similar community events you could have. How about a local jam swap? We have loads of raspberries so I make half a ton of Raspberry jam that lasts forever and we’re all bored of it by august. Or a veg swap in the height of summer? Or a pickle swap? etc etc etc. Those of you with allotment societies would be ten steps ahead with this stuff I’m sure…

8. Your favourite ethical snack? - 03 Jun 2010

   My favourite snack is ’Harry’s Nuts’. Completely gorgeous cashew nuts, fairly traded. They’re really big and succulent, and I can eat a whole bag in one sitting – not good for the waistline, but someone somewhere is seeing the benefit! You can get them in Sainsbury’s. Not sure where else tho

9. Wash cool - 28 Oct 2010

   A friend who works in the industry has convinced me that this really works – and she is right. I have two small kids who regularly smear all their meals onto different parts of their clothes, but the switch from 40 to 30 makes no odds. The things that stain at 40 are still stained at 30, but the things that don’t still come clean at 30

10. Give Your Unwanted / Unworn Clothes To Charity - 28 Oct 2010

    I’ve been doing this for a while, but have just started buying more from charity shops having read a couple of sewing books on the subject of upcycling. I’m now making my kids’ summer clothes for next year from charity shop items that provide enough fabric to stitch from. Although I rarely find items that I want to use just as they are, this is a great alternative, contributing to the charity and helping save the planet too!

11. Become a micro-financier - 31 Jan 2012

    I’m on my second loan through Kiva at the moment – the guys I’ve loaned to have never missed a payment yet. You end up paying in each time you re-lend the money because you pay the admin fee, but really, it’s such a straightforward way to support people it’s a no-brainer.

12. Buy Ethical Palestinian olive oil - 31 Jan 2012

    You only have to buy 6 bottles at a time if you buy through Traidcraft – and you’d be surprised how quickly you get through it!

13. Shop Small (Buy local, Switch from the Supermarket) - 31 Jan 2012

    You can get quite a lot of staples you wouldn’t necessarily expect from Traidcraft – including loo roll and kitchen roll. We do a bit Traidcraft order every couple of months for the stuff we can’t get at the greengrocers etc. And surely getting some of your stuff at the Coop doesn’t count – they are great for Fairtrade and animal welfare, and bless them they hardly ever make much profit!