Various shades of Green

The rich/poor divide. (Or how David Cameron is sitting on a time bomb)

2011-11-10T15:12:00.003Z

Sometimes it feels like it would be easy to just give in.
Bugger the values and the moral and the beliefs, time to throw in the towel and slip back into society like a grinning dog with the remains of regret still dripping from its lips.

Too dramatic?

Meh.

Anyway, my point is this.
Although in theory its cheaper to lead a sustainable life in reality its not.

No.

That's not quite right.

Let me try an analogy.

Years ago I heard a radio program about the poor in African shanty towns (can't remember where in Africa, lets just say it was somewhere poor ok?).
The presenter was talking to some women waiting outside a shabby shop, each of them had the equivalent of around 20 pence gripped in their hands.
"Whats it for?" He asked.
"Shampoo!" They said excitedly, explaining that they only washed their hair infrequently because of the cost. When the shop opened they rushed in and all came out with tiny sachets of shampoo. The presenter pointed out that if they bought a bottle they could not only wash their hair more often but also save lots of money. At 20 pence a wash what should have been a £2 bottle of shampoo would in reality have cost them nearly £10.
They hooted with laughter at this concept.
These girls saved money for weeks for the luxury of washing their hair. The thought of saving the monetary equivalent £2 was ridiculous to them, unobtainable, an obscene amount of money to hand over in one go when they had food to buy for their families.
"...And besides." One retorted. "What if I bought the whole bottle and someone stole it? If I just buy one sachet I only have to worry about it until I wash my hair see?"

And this is my problem.
Sometimes I feel like the woman buying the single sachet, even though she knows it makes no sense financially.

When you're on a budget every penny is accounted for.
Magazines are not thrown without thought into the shopping basket.
Shoes are bought only when you physically need a pair, not because they look pretty.
Trips in the car have to work to make it worth spending money on fuel, so its never a trip to the park, but a trip to the park via the shops, the garage, the hardware store and the chemist.
None of these are BAD things of course, but it doesn't really stop there.

The catalyst came last week when I was putting in my greengrocer order.
Now The "Green" Grocer is an amazing little independent grocer I use for all the specialist stuff I can't get in Tesco. Its jam packed with organic, fair trade, cruelty free and vegan fayre.
They can order goods in for you via the Suma website and deliver every Wednesday for a small charge which means I don;t have to drive into town.
They also run a veg box scheme at a very reasonable price and last year I made good use of it, but stopped it by late spring as we had so much growing in the garden.
Now winters nearly here I thought about starting it up again..... But after doing the sums I had to sadly decide I couldn't.
I just could not afford to.
But its not just that.
More and more the big supermarkets are stocking some of the more specialist foods and working on a tighter than tight budget if I find my brand of vegan mayo 20p cheaper I'm gonna have to go for it.

This frustrates the hell out of me because I really want to support small, local shops and I know damn well there's plenty of people out there with the money to do that who don;t give a rats arse.
It's my dream, if I ever became rich, to do all my shopping there.... no way I could even try and do that on the income we have now.

Even shopping at Tesco isn't without its problems.
At least 60% of the money I spend at Tesco is on fruit, veg and orange juice.
Now if you have kids you'll know that pieces of fruit can often end up only going for a day out in your child's lunch box, coming home bruised, battered and pretty inedible and definitely not eaten.
I would hazard a guess that a 1/4 of all fruit and veg I buy is not eaten, that is, it comes home in a lunch box or is left of a dinner plate.
Luckily I have dogs and chickens so I can be fairly sanguine about it, but its easy to see why some people fill their trolleys with cheap food that is guaranteed to be eaten, even if that means value range chips and cookies.

Its all very well for the government to shake their heads at the "uneducated poor", stuffing their kids with junk food and berating them for being fat.... How shiny it must be in your ivory tower Mr member of parliament, how wonderful to live a life where you probably have no idea how much your groceries cost.
It helps none that the supermarkets are paid to push branded items on their offers, and the big brands are always junk food. Oh yeah, they put a few token fruit and veg in there, but its still buy one get one half price on Papaya or BOGOF on chicken nuggets, what choice is that for the struggling parent who knows no better?

Anyway, looking at our last grocery bill I tried to work out where I could cut back.
The horrible truth was that I was going to have to spend less on fruit and veg. It's not a choice I want to make. Our shopping isn't full of frivolities, no interesting desserts or meals for one, no crates of alcohol, no stacks of snacks....It's pasta, rice, beans, basics, staples, THAT'S what grates.

So now comes the tricky task of cutting back on what I see as basic food rights and juggling things so that health and nutrition isn't affected.
But thank you Mr Cameron.
Do think of us while your children tuck into their organic hotpot.

Adapting and some catching up.

2011-10-21T09:16:00.000+01:00

Its been a long time since I posted anything here.
Real life has a way of stopping you doing all the fun stuff, but thats not the whole reason. This year I just didn't feel like I had anything new or insightful to share and so would occasionally I'd find myself with my fingers paused over the keyboard waiting for inspiration and finding none would come.

One of my most time consuming activities this summer has been writing. You can read more about that on my other blog The Scribbled Mess. Don't be alarmed by the adult content warning, its safe for work, no nasty pictures I promise!

Anyway most of this year has been about working out our available time for growing food and maintaining the land and has found us woefully lacking.
Our main problem is keeping on top of mowing the grass around the beds. Our very wet summer meant a perpetual circle of wet grass that grew longer and longer so that even when we had a rare dry day the grass was still too wet to cut.
There are many times in the past I have silently wished for a "normal" sized garden, even more so when I can no longer see the raised beds for what passes as Scottish jungle.
Although we've talked about it in the past we've never got round to laying a surface around the beds (like bark or gravel) purely because of money restraints. Our plan is though (after we finally attack the jungle!) is to lay paper feed bags around the beds and start dumping the wet shavings from the stables in leu of traditional bark. This isn't as yukky as it sounds. we'll be separating the horse poo and depositing that in the muck heaps and raised beds and so long as you don't make the wet shavings layer too deep the weather soon dissipates any smell. We did something similar a few years ago for a pony riding arena and the plus point is also that the paper and shavings will rot down in time, so are not as permenat or as long term damaging as treated bark or chippings.

Theres also the problem of the dark summers we've been having the last couple of years, almost constantly overcast.
The first few years we lived here we were blessed with a run of beautiful summers and the small inroads we made into gardening where stupidly fruitful.
Think three courgette plants and more courgettes than a person could ever eat EVER! However they really don;t seem to like a dimpsy wet summer and this year I had ONE courgette... I mean... come on...
A big problem is not being able to plant out early. with frosts that can be harsh enough to kill a tender leaf plant like that as late as the 2nd week in June I'm constantly left with two choices... Risk it (and it never works) or try to grow in the green house then plant out. But my green house is small and also home to many othe plants in a similar situation and so they get pot bound and once they're planted out they do nothing for a few weeks while they re-establish themselves... And then its October and frosty again.
Of course the answer would be a nice large polytunnel but again, money (or lack of) is the problem.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though.
For the first time ever I actually managed to grow tomato's.
Carefully grown from seed on my windowsill (in February!) and then planted in the green house, for a few weeks I didn;t have to buy a tomato. Next year we're going to make a designated tomato house so that they get maximum sun for as long as possible, our greenhouse being in shade for some of the day.

We also had a nice outcome with the hens after a bad start to the year.

This year we lost all but Sally and Blossom and the two of them looked very unhappy about it. Then Blossom went broody and because she wasn't listening to my pleas of the impossibility of virgin births, I finally put a couple of eggs under here that we'd been given (to eat!) by a friend.
I didn;t really expect anything but a few weeks later we had two chicks! Which was pretty amazing and dare I say it, made us feel almost like "real" crofters.
The chicks are now bigger than "mum" and are likely to be HUGE, but they still try to bury under her at night!
We were also given a pair of hybrid POL who are leggy and robust, so here's hoping 2012 is a bumper egg year.

The chicks, about a week old.

With "Mum" Blossom.

..... erm... They're actually quite a bit bigger than when this was taken about two weeks ago!

The whole flock. This group really get along well, no fighting or bullying, a joy to watch.

Well slap my wrists! Heres some pictures to keep you happy !

2011-06-23T18:25:00.000+01:00

My goodness I've been slack of late!!! Lots going on, as there always is this time of year. So to say sorry I took a bunch of pics around the croft to show you whats going on :)

Enjoy!

Jenny dog waiting for me to come out. The Front of the house has been getting an extensive overhaul the last few months, its now looking much less of an eye sore!

Jenny and Merle in the front herb garden. Kim built this for me this spring and its slowly getting filled with herbs. Some of the Thyme and Sage is even grown from seed on the windowsill over the winter!

This year I planted lots of pots and beds with wild flowers to attract more incects.

Elder flowers waiting for a sunny day to be picked!

Yes. That is a toilet cistern! We follow the three R's up here!

Growing lots of sunflowers to use primarily as bird food in the autumn.

It hasn't all been rosey in the garden. We've had major tree problems, namely coral fungus.

Hens are laying 2 eggs a day at the moment. Sadly we lost two last month and are down to four hens again.

Sally aka Purple chicken, escaped to come and see what I was doing in the veg garden.

Lots of DIY planters made this year. Curly kale growing in this old feed trough.

Salad in this old wheel barrow.

Rocket in a supported bit of black plastic.

The new rhubarb bed has exploded!!!!

More wild flowers

Jerusalam artichokes.

A no dig experiment with potatoes this year!

Two old tractor tyres utilised to grow courgette and pumpkin in.

Onions, salad potatos and garlic.

Facebook!

2011-04-12T13:54:00.001+01:00

Facebook gets a bad rap a lot of the time.
Even though 200 million world wide use it, it seems that its not done to admit you use it or even (horror) enjoy using it!

Nice Grown Ups Middle Class People like to look down on Facebook as something which people with too much time on their hands poddle about on. They think its for kids or for 40 year old men living in their Mums back bedroom.

So you see, its easy to get a little paranoid about using it. Keeping quiet about your online life seems to be the "Adult" thing to do.

NGUMC people like to laugh about "pretend" friends and throwing sheep at other FaceBookers (which... sorry guys.... dates you. No one has thrown a sheep for about 2 years ;)

The thing is, social networking sites like Facebook are multi layered, and like real life, you receive as much as you look for.
For sure you can waste hours of your life setting up virtual farms or zoos and trawling through the news updates of 1500 "friends" but you can also make FB work FOR you.

They key word here is Network.
FB was set up as an online networking site.

Through joining groups/pages and commenting on posts, you start dialogues with new people.
Some of my dearest online friends I have met this way.
Some of my real life friends I have met this way as well.

I now have a small network of friends who support my ideals as I in turn support theirs. We share gardening tips, vegan anecdotes, parenting ups and downs, horse woes and yays, artistic critiques.

I don't "poke".

The novelty for that wore off years ago.

Through FB I have met some amazing and inspiring people, not just online but in Real Life too.
I've swapped, bought, sold and gifted items and had the same back.
I've found work through friends of friends.
I've wallowed in the ideas pool and taken all I can carry.
I've even got chickens through FB!

There's also the human interaction thing as well.

When you're at home, either working, taking care of kids or whatever, there is often a real lack in "adult" conversation during the working day.
Sometimes just venting on a status (Arrrrggghhh!!! Clients cancelled and messed my whole day up!) can means that the one or two people who comment back sympathising or giving you their own tale of woe, can buck you up a little, make you smile.

Sometimes I think the scoffers simply don't understand it.
Its easier to deride something you don't get than admit you find it confusing.
Like the Greek philosopher who derided the written word as the downfall of youth, for words written down would dull the minds of those who won't need to remember things, they see something this popular as only bad for intellect in general.

For every FB group that is childish or mean, there are many more that are welcoming, informative, charitable and giving.

Still not convinced?
Heres a few examples....

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_169517559727246&ap=1 Eco interest FB group.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_145907615465178&ap=1 Friends of container gardening, helping villages in Malawi.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_173747075997223&ap=1 eco urban sustainability.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_108016595941197&ap=1 Pay it forwards, being nice for being nices sake :)

So want to connect?

My FB page , come along and say hi! Just remember to leave me a message, I don't add people who don't introduce themselves first! ;)

There's always the block button for weirdos and stalkers ;)

Shop smart.

2011-04-07T11:14:00.000+01:00

My grocery bill has been quietly creeping up.
Some of this is no doubt due to the general rise in price of fuel and the knock on effect on food costs, but I seriously wanted to knock the price down a bit.
I mean its not BAD.
It usually works out at around £20-25 per person, that's 21 meals plus snacks, plus household things like toiletries and washing liquid, but its still a lot of money for a family on a budget to fork out each week.
So this week I really tried hard to shop smart and of course I'm going to share with you!

Stock take. I am terrible for just doing the shopping without checking what we already have. Its not unknown for us to have several bags of pasta and 4 jars of dried basil. So this time, before shopping, I had a good look at what we really needed, what was running low, what store cupboard essentials were still OK.
Make meal plans. You don't have to stick to them, but having a rough idea of what you'll eat for your main meal throughout the week really helps concentrate the mind on the food you need. It also cuts down on those evenings stood in front of a cupboard full of food wailing "there's NOTHING to eat!".

Make a list. You're fooling no one with your "the lists in my head" skit.
Shop online. I can't stress this enough. If you're using a supermarket for your bulk shopping shop online! Not only are these places hell to visit but they are masters of manipulation. you WILL spend more than you need to if you walk through the door! Online you can take your time and take control of your shopping.
Check your online basket frequently. As you shop online keep an eye on the price. I often do a rough shop, like a first draft, then go back and see what I can omit or change to bring the price down.
Use special offers but take care. Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF), 2 for 1 etc can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Its worth noting that most offers are brand names (they work out deals with the store to prominently advertise them with offers) and often dubious brand names like Unilever and Mars. Sometimes though there are offers on things like fruit and veg and other products you might get. Follow the rules. Is it cheaper? Sometimes it looks cheaper but isn't, check those £ per kg's! Is it something you were going to buy? Don't buy it if its not on your list. If its NOT on the list and you still want it, see if you can swap something on the list for it. I manage to save enough on offers to "pay" for my delivery.
Be aware of packaging. Not only from a re-cycling aspect but from a re-usable aspect. If a brand of tea bag has a free tin with it that week maybe its worth the extra few pence? Some Coffee comes in jars with fancy lids and seals, perfect for dry goods storage later.

Take a close look at what you buy usually. where can you cut costs? If you buy heaps of individual yogurts (soya for me of course ;) a switch to large pots of plain with jam mixed in can cut a good couple of £ off your weekly bill. Do you buy heaps of cookies or muffins? Its cheaper, healthier AND often tastier to bake yourself.
Buy food in season. Don't stick to the same foods all year. Fruit and veg (and sometimes fish and meat) come in seasons and are often cheaper when plentiful in this country. So save the strawberries till summer, the pumpkins till October and the apple until September.
Saving money isn't about buying crap. Don't go so far the other way that no one wants to eat at your house! A couple of years ago I tried buying all the cheap value ranges, spread that was foul, cereal like cardboard, bread as thin as paper. Ugh! Buy quality food and eat less of it.

So how did I do this week?
Well I got the supermarket shop down to @ £15 per person for this week :)

What tips do you have to add to clever shopping?

April 1st can't fool us its spring.

2011-04-01T17:53:00.000+01:00

April In Scotland is pretty cruel.

Oh sure there are days when the sun shines bright enough that you can potter about in t-shirt and shorts, and the fields are full of wobbly legged lambs, and the daffodils are waving their elegant trumpets about....

But....

Its not unknown for a few days of snow to still settle in, or for hard frosts to cover the ground every night until the middle of June.

Scotland has its own unique growing season, its short but intense, with long hours of daylight and dry weather during the summer, perfect for many soft fruits, not so great for more delicate, longer season fruit and veg.

But what do you do?

You persevere and work out what grows in your area and laugh at the adverts that try to sell you citrus trees that can withstand the "........harshest of British weather!!!! Down to 7oC!!!!!!!"

Hmmm

What was our lowest temp this year??

@ -25oC at least one night if I recall........... Ho hum.

One of the things you quickly learn is to add weeks onto the sowing/planting out times given in gardening books and on the back of seed packets.

Sow peas in March?

Not if I don't want them to die in April.

Anyway.... to the croft this year.....

The new Rhubarb bed. These plants are all growing on from the rhubarb roots I dug up and divided a few weeks ago. The biggest two I had started on in pots in January, the rest have gone straight in. As we won't be able to pick any this year I've still left a couple of plants in the old bed. After this season I'll dig those up as well.

Kims been busy making raised beds and planters for me from re-claimed timber. The manky bits of these lengths have been going on the log burner. This little planter makes use of a dead space on the corner of the house.

Some of the new raised beds won;t be ready to use until next year. My aim is to make all the beds no dig, that is mucking out straight into the beds, heaping up to around 3ft high and then covering the muck and leaving to rot down. The two beds I've done this with over the last couple of years are beautiful, easy to use and full of the most amazing compost, deep and crumbly like it came out of a packet!! The plastic on this one is just to stop some dry stuff blowing off in the wind.

I've had to bulk up the orchard fence, were the hens are at the moment, after two ladies decided that clipped wings or no, they would still manage to escape. Not a great idea when it comes time to start planting in the garden!! Thinking about planting some willow around all the chicken areas (we have 2 main paddocks for them) and weaving it into a fence/hedge so it not only looks nice but also attracts bees and insects.

Sally (aka purple chicken) says hi!

We have two knew chickens as well... Foggy, a Scots Dumpy x......

..... And Blossom a Yokohama x Silki (I think!)

Little Blossom lays TEENY TINY eggs! But like the Tardis there seems to be room in there for a yoke as big as the egg on the left!

Buds in abundance on one of the apple trees.

The window sill is pretty productive. My green house is too cold to start things off early (February) and so I've never had luck with plants like tomatoes. After a shaky start, with some of the plants looking a little leggy due to the windows North/West aspect, every things seems to be doing well! I have sunflowers growing (for future bird food), lettuce in pots nearly ready to eat, courgettes, pumpkin (from my own seed), chickpeas, haricot, herbs, gherkin, pepper even a bit of ginger.

The log burner in the kitchen means the temp never drops below around 10oC, which seems to be plenty for what I've started and now the suns out longer and moved a little everything's growing nicely.

Fun and freebies

2011-03-26T14:36:00.001Z

Owen Alfie and Mouse, all tacked up and ready for a trip to the woods!

The Boys helping to clear the tracks of wind damaged wood.

Secateurs for path tidying and a nice pot of wild garlic!!

Ready to go home with our stash.

Owen liberates some thick black plastic from a field, on the way home.

The freebie haul. fallen wood for the log burner, plant poy found on the way home,

the black plastic, perfect for the garden and the wild garlic!

The shed we got for FREE!!!!

Nice to have a designated space for the gardening stuff :)

Lunch for the hungry gatherers. Tomato and veg soup with wild garlic.

Looking for Badgers

2011-03-15T17:35:00.000Z

Some of you will have already seen this but for those that I don't see elswhere online heres the

Great Badger Mystery!!

Garden pics and windy mornings!

2011-03-10T10:18:00.000Z

March is a sneaky month, especially in the North East of Scotland.
Some days can be beautiful, spring like. The ground feels warm to the touch, I start itching to plant something, ANYTHING.

But then within hours it can change.
A couple of foot of snow over Easter isn't unknown.

So March is a month were one has to sit on ones hands, metaphorically speaking.

Its all the harder cause I have started a job.
Only a few hours a week but its fantastic! Gardening so yeah, I'm happy.
Hoping this will lead to a little more but for now its all fitting in well.

But today is WIIIIIINNNNDDDYYYYY!!!!!
So windy in fact that today's work was cancelled. As most if it is raking up leaves and twigs at the moment, it would be foolish to waste two hours chasing the same few leaves!

Can you hear the wind!!!!!????

So anyway, today the dogs are on super high alert and barking at every bang and knock and naturally the ships bell outside keeps ringing, not happy doggies!

I'd better finish this before the wind cuts the power! So heres some recent pics :)

The North west facing windowsill full of early planting.

So far so good, Herbs, salad leaves, tomato. In the back we have pumpkin and sunflower, all now come through since this pic was taken.

The new herb garden!

Bird boxes made by the boys at the Bennachie centre.

Ollie's.

Owens

Alfie's.

Dusting off the bike for 2011!

2011-03-01T12:21:00.000Z

My poor bike hasn't had a good winter.
For a start winter came early, stopping her from feeling the wind in her spokes and THEN some careless person left her outside and it snowed.... and snowed.....and snowed ....AND snowed some more.

Luckily she is a well made bike and a little tlc and grease and shes up and about again.

I've been out 3 times in the last 5 days and GOD have I missed it!

A bit like doing anything that involves effort, I put it off and off until I really DID have to use the bike because I had a job interview.
Of course it doesn't hurt that the last few days have been very spring like, blue skies, light breeze, lots of bird song, weather like this after the horror show of winter can't help but raise the spirits.

The reason I love riding the bike is because its exercise with a purpose.

I'm not a huge fan of just going for a bike ride, but I do love using two wheels to get somewhere, to run errands or go to work. I feel the same about walking, I need a dog to walk with otherwise I don't see the point.
This is why I can't do anything in the gym.
Cycling or running on the spot? With no purpose?

Some may argue that the purpose is to loose weight or get fit but maybe I just see it as a waste of time. I mean come on... most people drive to the gym, you could style there and back for FREE and not have to go in.

What I love about cycling in real life is the fact that if you reach a hill you have to get to the top. Even if you can't cycle all the way you still HAVE to physically get there, even if you get off and walk, its still exercise. In a gym, on a stationary bike I would give up as soon as I got a bit puffed.

So shoot me, I'm weak.

Also you have to love the fact that every slog up a hill is rewarded with a fee wheel down hill to get your breath back!

This year though I am going to treat myself to a new saddle.
Mine is a fairly bog standard saddle and although I own a ladies bike its not really a ladies saddle. In fact my seat bones sit snugly either side of the saddle... not comfy.
So a nice new WIDE seat is the way forwards I think.

I also want to kit the bike out better for carrying stuff.
I use a backpack but its limiting and makes your back sweat on hot days.
Last year I tried a basket on the front, although it was better it wasn't very stable, only being attached to the handle bars, I really need something like a front parcel rack to keep the basket steady.
Panniers might also be a way to go as well.

Anyway.

Here comes spring :)

More Eco-dilemmas

2011-02-27T22:24:00.000Z

The other week I brought two pairs of leggings from Tesco, two pairs for £8.
Nothing fancy, just bog standard leggings.

Wore the one pair under a dress when i went out for a drink, then went to wear the other pair yesterday.

But DAMN IT!!!

As I went to pull them on I noticed a gaping hole along the inside leg seam.
On closer inspection it looks like something went wrong while being sewn up, one end it sewn tight, the other unravelling.

Well for a moment I stood there glaring at the hole filled with consumer indignation!
How inconvenient!
Now I was going to have to take them back to Tesco.

Then I stopped.

What would happen to the leggings once I handed them over?

I'm not sure, but I'm betting they don't get sent away to be mended and sold again.
In fact I'm pretty sure they go in the bin.

I had a quick search online to see if I could find any reference to what happens to returned damaged clothes and couldn't find any.
I wondered if they donated them to one of the clothing charities, but figured they would publicize something like that pretty well.

So I looked at the hole again.

Wouldn't take a few minutes to fix good as new.

Put them on the mending pile and saved my consumer rage for something I won't be able to fix myself.

Puppy love?

2011-02-24T10:27:00.001Z

Well its Nealy March.
Birds are singing, grass is growing, days are getting warmer, shelters filling up with puppies...........

Yup, that's right folks. Its now 3 months after Xmas which means that a lot of puppies bought just before Xmas (because it would be wrong to get a puppy FOR Xmas, right? *eye roll*) have not fulfilled their promise and are now waiting for a new home.

What possible reason could there be for getting rid of a 6 month old puppy?
Let me count the ways....

Not yet toilet trained.
Barking.
Destructiveness.
Nipping children.
Chasing livestock/cats.

Hmm.

When you take on a puppy you take on the responsibility for training that puppy.
Would you have a child and then expect him to raise himself?
Would you put your 4 year old child up for adoption because he wasn't toilet trained or drew on the walls or hit his brother?

I have had dogs since I was 6 years old.
There are some genuine reasons for rehoming a dog, I have rehomed two in my time.

The first was a beautiful dalmation who was picked on mercilessly by my other two dogs, the second was my border collies daughter who used to fight with her mother. In both cases I picked their new homes myself, visiting the owners and then following up with visits after. I did not wash my hands of the problem and make it someone else's.

So if your thinking of buying a puppy, heres what to expect.

Puppies need house training. They will not do it themselves and a dog crate won't do the job for you. How long will it take? Well how long is a piece of string? Every dog is different. My border collie was house trained within a couple of weeks my Yorkshire terrier took a good 9 months to be 100%. You will need to be ultra vigilant in the first few weeks, making it clear that outside is where he toilets, you need to be hawk like in noticing the signs he needs to "go" and work hard to help him do the right thing by accident so that he can learn it the right thing. So if you think putting your new pup in crate and then going to work for 8 hrs a day is fine, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of cleaning up poop.
Puppies need quite time. The new puppy is not a toy. Allowing children to play with the puppy unsupervised is the quickest way to raise a fearful and snappy dog. The problem with snapping at children is either fear or excitment at this age. Again, if the pup is left alone all day and then wound up to a frenzy by the kids when you get home, snapping will happen.

Alfie and Merle. Play time was
closely supervised.

Puppies need to feel secure. Many homes consist of two adult working full time and kids at school. Would you have a toddler in the house and leave him alone for hours at a time? Would you be surprised when he became sad, destructive or noisy? Puppies CAN be left alone but you need to work up to it. Working quiet time (in a crate or other room) away from you into your puppy's routine means he can get used to spending time alone without getting distressed. A few minutes to start with working upto an hour. If your puppy is secure, has a routine (feeding and walks at the same time each day ) and has learnt to be calm there should be no problem with leaving him for a few hours at a time. Behavioral problems are often due to a dog feeling distressed. DO the correct ground work in the beginning and you won't have major problems.
Puppies need rules. Whats cute at 8 weeks isn't cute at 8 months. Don't allow your puppy to bite you in play, you're giving him the green light to bite in play as an adult, not good! If your pup accidentally catches you with his teeth while you're playing say no and stop the game. They soon learn to be careful. I used the word "ouch" with my Yorkshire terrier (a breed known as being snappy.... apparently), this means that if it happens with a child they are more likely to say ouch than no. Now if you say "ouch" he stops immediately and waits. Likewise jumping up and guarding toys and food. Also puppy "time outs" are very useful. When the yorkie was around six months old he growled at my youngest son. He was pushing the boundaries, trying to see if he could get the child to go away. I immediately growled "No" and whisked him off to the cat carrier and put him in another room for 10 minutes. Highly effective, none physical. He was put swiftly in his place and he knew it. Now he seeks out my youngest son and often sneaks into bed with him!
Puppies need time. Like small children they need time with someone to care for them, to teach them and to play with them. They are not toys to be left in crates until YOU want to play with them. A typical day in the life of a new puppy would go something like this.

Up and out to toilet.
Breakfast.
Out to toilet.
Play time.
Out to toilet.
Quiet time.
Out to toilet.
lunch
Out to toilet.
Playtime
Out to toilet
Quiet time.
Out to toilet.
Dinner.
Out to toilet.
Playtime.
Out to toilet.
Bed.

Do you see a pattern here?
A young puppy needs to toilet after every meal, nap and playtime.... and often in between as well. Until they are on the way to being housetrained someone will need to look after pup.

Now I'm not saying that a working family can't have a dog. But if you can't offer that initial level of care in the first couple of months at least, maybe a puppy isn't for you. Of course you could ask a neighbour or friend to help out, or you could adopt an older dog who is happy for long periods of quiet time in the day.

Puppies are not toys, they come to you at 10 weeks or so at the same stage as a human pre-schooler. They need just as much love, attention and hard work as one too.
Think before you impulse buy that cute bundle off fluff.
Think about the mess, the chewed shoes, the fact that when puppy is six months or so they will start behaving like stroppy teenagers.
When you buy a puppy you commit to around 15 years of care.
15 years is a long time and there will be problems along the way, health issues, behavioural changes, changes in your own life.
Can you commit?
Or will you be like the others who throw out a puppy for not being "The perfect Dog".

ADOPT A DOG!!!!

Mrs Murray's Home for stray dogs and cats

SSPCA

RSPCA

Battersea dogs home

Dogs Trust

Time to get the hands dirty again!!!

2011-02-17T16:46:00.001Z

Can I REALLY grow up and tidy up?

2011-02-03T17:52:00.001Z

I heard on the radio the other that it takes 2 weeks to form a habit, and 6 months to make that habit a behavioural change in your life.
This was just before January 1st when everyone was talking about the best ways to keep your new years resolutions. Your diet/ gym membership/ time with your family, that sort of thing.

Well I was thinking about this the other day.
For certain reasons I was cleaning the house, you know the sort, the BIG deep clean that even includes washing windows *shudder*.
You see the thing is I'm a slut, and not in the fun way.

I have always had a problem keeping things tidy.
I remember huge rows with my Mum when I was small and huffing and procrastination as a teenager. My first flat always looked like a crack house despite the fact I was only there to eat and sleep.
When I moved in with Kim it got no better.
Washing up? Laundry? Hoovering?
Pah.
These are things to be done only when a) someone important is coming for a visit or b) we run out of cups/clothes/floorspace.

When the kids came along it was inevitable that I would get no tidier.
Once when watching a TV program about shut in old people who horded they showed the council climbing into the house, wading through bin bags of rubbish, climbing over mountains of magazines.
We laughed, but out of the corner of my eye I thought "Not so far away.... a few more bin bags, 3 or 4 piles of newspapers......."

It really got to the stage where I would rather appear rude and leave a friend standing on my doorstep than invite them into my house if they turned up uninvited.

So I stood back from my days work and was pleased with the result.
The little house scrubs up well.

I wondered what it would be like to have this all the time..... Ok maybe not ALL the time but as the norm rather than the exception.
When I look at my attitude to housework I think I often have a vague feeling that someone else should be doing it. Not in a feminist way, in reality I do most because Kim does other stuff like fix the car, do the bulk of the horse work AND hold down a job. Its not a seething resentment that my husband isn't pulling his weight, just a feeling it shouldn't be ME!

Jobs like cleaning the bathroom just feel alien, I mean do you really need to clean the toilet every day/week/month/before your mum visits?

What if?

What if I could change my mindset and keep on top of housework, wash up 3 or 4 quick times a day rather than one big panic "basics" wash up in the morning because the kids need tubs for their school lunches. What if I Stayed on top of the laundry so that we always had socks, sometimes even matching ones! What if I actually picked things up as I saw them instead of leaving them to breed until I can't see the floor ..... again.

Well I could give it a go..... whats to lose?

Are you a neat freak or happy to live in mess?
What are your tips for staying on top of housework without becoming some hysterical 1950's housewife?

Spring cleaning

2011-01-12T10:02:00.000Z

Everyone's at it!!!
I shan't bore you with my own tales of cleaning house, although people who have been IN my house will tell you that any state of cleanliness is nothing short of a miracle.
A couple of blog inspired me over the last few days,

My Zero Waste

365 Less Things

Down-To-Earth

These are all running with a live with less, declutter, spring clean theme at the moment so pop on over there for your own inspiration!

Although a clean was very much needed I decided that the priority should be to declutter.

I'm a hoarder or the first degree. That cracked jam jar lid will come in useful one day, I just KNOW it! Then when something does come in handy I use it a justification for keeping the rest of the crap :P

So with an open mind I cleaned out all the baskets that hold bake-ware, tupperware and other odds and sods. I paired up all the pots with lids and all the spare lids are put to one side, I'm giving it two days to find all the pots, tubs and bowls that go with the lids before I throw the odd lids away.

I got a big box of spare knives, bakeware, trivets (how many DID I need?) the bread bin I never use, the tea cosy which has been used once.... You get the picture.

So all of a sudden I am the owner of all this SPACE!!!
I have organised baskets so no more hunting for lids to go with lunch boxes. I sorted it out so much that I ended up with empty baskets!

So not exciting to many but very to me.

I was aiming for this..............

But what I actually got was this look.....

Next time I'll call this guy................. ;)

Yes you CAN have it both ways!

2011-01-07T23:10:00.000Z

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will know of my "will I, won't I" debate with homeschooling.

(For those that don't you can catch up HERE.)

There have been several obstacles in the way of homeschooling. The lack of income, the nature of the work we do (often dangerous, not child friendly), the fact we are so far away from public/free resources, lack of transport.... yadda, yadda, yadda.
We had plans worked out, clever money saving ideas for learning, how we would split learning between us, Kim fully committed and eager to participate.
There's only one problem.

Ollie doesn't want to do it.

Its a bit like deflating a balloon.

The trouble is, although he is none too fond of the academic side of things at school, he loves being there. He loves his friends, the activities they do, the plays they put on, the art and music lessons, if you just took away maths and English he'd happily move into school!

This left me in a bit of a quandary.
I honestly believe that his reading and maths problems would improve in a home education environment, that he would be able to do these subjects one to one in his own way and have more time to do the things he loves, I saw it fitting in with a newer, shinier, BETTER family lifestyle and he said no!
As a parent which way should I go?

Take him out of school anyway because I think it would be best for him?

The trouble is I've yet to come across a home school story where the child in question was taken out of school against their wishes. (Although this is just my experience, there may be many of them!)
Most of the time the children either never attended school or left school having not enjoyed the experience. To take Ollie out of school when he enjoyed going seemed..... well.... as bad as making him attend school if he hated it.

So for a while I gently seethed, not at him, just the unfairness of it.
I had worked myself into a frenzy, made plans, saved a thousand useful websites, picked up books from charity shops and it was all for nothing.

Then on Xmas day I opened a present from my Mum and found myself holding Mary Griffith's book "The Unschooling Handbook.
I had asked for it weeks ago, when still in the grip of home school preparation, and now I looked at it forlornly.
What was the point in having it?

That day I flicked through it and dismissed it as no good anyway.
It seemed to be made up entirely of case studies, snippets of information from unschooling families, there was little to tell me what I wanted to know about homeschooling.

I put the book to one side.

Then a few days later I picked it up again and started reading.
And promptly felt very silly.

What had I expected from a book on UN-schooling? Lists of subjects? Tables of set tasks? Goals to reach by certain ages?

Palm.... meet face.

The book was an honest look at unschooling families, how they educate, how they cope with outside factors (official and "friendly fire), what they do if a child asks to go back to school or wants to try it out and the shift in family life that can cause.
I read it and I finally GOT it.

The unschooling principle is one that can be applied even when your child is IN school.

I had been worrying about all the wrong things!
My whole reason for wanting to home school had centred around the fact that Ollie needed extra help at home with his weaker subjects. I had seemed faced with hours of one to one tuition which neither of us wanted and I knew these sessions would not be productive. more likely they would be bitter and angry as he tried to get away with not doing it and I pushed him into it.
It was this worry, the worry that our relationship (tempestuous at the best of times) would break completely under this strain, that had me looking at homeschooling.

Reading the book I now understand that instead of slapping down the reading/maths book, and demanding that we learn to do it right, I should instead be looking at ways to promote his strong points, find acceptable ways to practice his weak points (through play, games, TV, computer and seemingly unrelated tasks like reading instructions or weighing feed for the horses for example).

I took a good look at what we are doing and saw where the improvements could go.
Rather than restricting TV time (which can be significant after school) isn't it better to make sure the DVDs he watches are half educational? Wild life and war documentaries are no chore to watch for my kids, they can't get enough David Attenborough! he LOVES the Horrible Histories series on BBC i-player. Even movies like Toy Story and Star Wars have good messages and morals.

I also realised that valuable resources at home are not being used to their full potential, like the expensive keyboard the kids got as an Xmas present in 2009, used a handful of times and then sat on top of my wardrobe because there was nowhere to put it. Well imagine that! Today I found somewhere to put it, so its plugged in and accessible when ever they want! We have a stack of board games that only need an adult added to get started.

I needed to chill out a bit. Stop worrying, let it go.

I'd like to think I know enough about his weaknesses (they are my own as well of course) to know that they can be overcome.

In the early 90's me and school parted ways.
School did not know this of course.
I was "ill" at home a lot, because I struggled at school, found the work boring and/or hard. I found my artistic side strangled by art teachers who were not good enough to be real artists, my musical side stomped on my teachers who had no interest in music, only the mechanics of scribbles on paper, and my literary side squashed by teachers who only saw my spelling mistakes and not the fiction or poetry I had worked hard on.

Yes, some of my need to home school my kids stems from my school experiences, no one needs a degree to see that.

Most of my learning during that period between the ages of 12 and 15 I did alone.
I read anything and everything, from cereal boxes to wine making books.
I watched daytime TV before "daytime TV", so I watched old movies, Open university programs, the news, gentle documentaries about British wildlife or northern iron works. I watched cookery shows, detective shows from the 1970's, even the schools programs from infant to sixth form standard.

Looking back I unschooled myself pretty well.

Do I wish I had a university degree?
Sometimes.
Do I feel I'm lacking intellectually?
Not really, because you see, I'm STILL doing it!
Unschooling doesn't stop when you hit 16, you never finish it, there's always something new to learn. It doesn't care if you're in formal education or working full time, its just IS, and if the barriers are taken away and the tools are laid in front of you to use how ever and when ever you want you can't fail.

So for a while at least I am relaxing.

I think its all going to be OK.

Resolutions

2010-12-29T15:27:00.000Z

Nearly New year.

2011.

This year my kids will be 11, 8 and 7.
I will have been married 11 years, with Kim for 13 years .
We will have been in Scotland for 9 years, the longest I have ever stayed anywhere.

Looking back at last January's entries I realised I hadn't made any resolutions!

I can't help feeling that this willful omission meant that 2010 was somewhat aimless, disjointed.

So This year I won't let that be an excuse!
Here are my resolutions for 2011, and if I don't get on the way to completing them by 2012...... well..... I hope I will at least have tried!

2011

Number 1. Get Fit!

The idea is to get fitter NOT to diet. Its so tempting to focus on one aspect of your body, but what I really want to do is eat well, exercise and feel better about myself. If I do all that right then weight loss should be a handy side effect. Toying with the idea of doing one of those "photo every day" diaries with a mind to putting it on youtube when I'm fitter/healthier/slimmer....

Number 2: Grow Grow Grow!

Our self sufficient ideals are great in theory but always seem to get stalled by commitments (real or imaginary) elsewhere. Kim and I have been planning a new, low maintenance garden using a combination of square foot growing and permaculture. As in the last few years we want more trees to add to the 9 apple trees we already have. We're also toying with the idea of rescuing more hens, our space is capable of taking more and we plan to get movable fencing so we can move them around the veggie garden to help deal with slugs n snails without snacking on the crops!

Number 3. Make time for me.

I am terrible at not grabbing time for me. A few times this year I have felt dispirited, upset and hopeless as I felt like I worked for everyone else and ignored my needs (although this was MOSTLY in my head). Especially with the horses, I found myself feeling like the family groom, doing all the shit and not getting any pleasure from it. My own horse has had a couple of years of health problems that are now **knock wood** better ad he is good to go as soon as I am. This year I plan to get back in the saddle on a regular basis and start competing again for fun and for the joy of letting my competitive streak rear its uncompromising head again. *heehee*

Number 4. FINISH THE BOOK!

What was I saying about not making time for me?

Well those of you who know me from other places know I am a book nerd, writer of features (an interesting mix of equestrian and paganism, although not together....at the moment!), short stories, some of which can be seen HERE and HERE (posted by Kelly). I've been writing since school, I've been told I don't suck, its the ONE thing I want to do, but crippling insecurity has stopped me pursuing all but the most fragile of careers in literature. We could blame an army of English teachers who ignored my fiction and only berated my spelling (dyslexia). So I have a complex, I didn't go to University and it SHOULDN'T matter but some days I feel it might. This year I want to concentrate on the book I've been writing for a few months. Although short stories and novellas are my favourite medium publishers won't touch them. So this year I'm going to do it..... maybe..... Aww crap.....

Soooo..... What are YOU going do for the better this year?

Have a Very Vegan Xmas!

2010-12-23T11:33:00.000Z

Although some of us are old hands at cooking Veggie or vegan for Xmas many people are facing their first major hurdle ……………

The first meat free XMAS!!

Its such a big deal, it’s a monumental shift in the way we see Xmas, which as a holiday is really more about the food than the gifts.

Like lots of traditions (Putting up your tree, carolling, watching specific Xmas movies) food is one of those things that really sets the mood.

So here is a quick guide to animal free eating this year!

Mince pies

Most store bought pies have butter in them, but lets face it, its much nicer to eat homemade pies!! You don’t have to be a pastry chef either! My homemade pastry leaves a lot to be desired so I cheat. A jar of mince (check the ingredients but MOST are OK) and some pre-made short crust pasty are all you need to make delectable mince pies. Use as glass to cut round if you don’t have pastry cutters, grease a pie tin, put it all together and bake at @ 180oC for @ 15-20 mins or until golden. Sprinkle icing sugar over the top when they come out the oven, allow to cool slightly and then remove from the pie tin!

Nibbles

What can you make a bee line for at a party buffet??? Not much if “Mums gone to Iceland”. Stick to breadsticks and veggies then pig out on mince pies when you get home!!! Even better have your OWN party. You can make seasonal favourites vegan in a flash.

Use veggie sausages and pre-rolled puff pasty (Not butter pastry!) to make sausage rolls.

Make cheese straws with pastry and nutritional yeast.

Mini quiche with tofu.

Cheese boards with fake cheese and crackers.

Pates are easy to make with mushrooms and nuts (and taste heaps better!)

Some crisps are vegan friendly (although for their association with Procter and gamble I have to say no to Pringles!)

And of course don’t forget veggies and dips!!!

The BIG day!

What about Xmas lunch?????

Can you eat it without the ghost of Turkeys past??

The traditional nut roast is a bit of a joke in many circles but whatever… I love them! Try the Magical loaf studio for basic ideas and then make them festive by using chestnuts, cranberries etc.

The trick is (like cooking meat!) to make sure the loaf doesn’t dry out, you want a firm but moist loaf, not a crumbly heap! Veggie loaf is much tastier the next day so make one on xmas eve then heat the next day, wrapping it in foil to prevent burning and drying.

Remember as well, everything tastes good in puff pastry, so go wild!

Loved pigs in blankets??

No problem.

This year I am wrapping Vegi Deli sausages in Vegi Deli slices and cooking with the potatoes…. Should work, but we’ll see!

The rest of it is generally easy…..

Potatoes roasted in veg oil, carrots, sprouts and chestnuts, sage and onion stuffing, mashed swede, homemade gravy….. Nope, no animals here!

Even store bought xmas pudding often has no egg, dairy or other animal products in it, enjoy with a dollop of vegan cream like Grano vita.

This year I made my own xmas cake from an adapted recipe from the Down-to-earth blog. Just replace the eggs with a cup of milk that’s sat for a few mins with a tbsp of cider vinegar in it. It rose well and was light and smells very xmasy!!!

Booze!!

Lots consumed over the festive period!

Although its hard to check your alcohol when your out and about you can at least make sure the stuff you buy in is veggie or vegan. The Co-op labels all its wine (all its products in fact) clearly as veggie, vegan or not and their own brand vegan wine is cheap and very cheerful!

Xmas away?

If your staying with a none vegan family over xmas it can be hard….. Remember to pack your deflector shield!!!!

Make sure your host knows exactly what you won’t eat BUT make sure you say it nicely! The most sensible thing to do is to offer to bring your own main meal and help with the cooking. If they like to cook veg and then slather it in butter ask then to set a little aside for you before they do. If they cook potatoes in goose fat ask if you can cook your own, or if maybe they could pop a few potatoes in with the stuffing (in a tin!) and cook those with veg oil.

Be aware that a kitchen at xmas is stressful.

It may be easier for you to take a whole meal with you (one that is quick and easy to heat up) than to stand over your stressed hosts shoulder pointing out their mistakes.

Be sure to bring plenty though, amazing how often other diners will want to try a fork full!

Lastly, remember this is a time to get together with the ones you love.

Your family, your friends, its NOT a time to pick fights about what’s on every ones plates.

Remember how you used to eat what they are eating now?

Show them how much you enjoy the food you are eating, answer sensible questions and ignore anyone who tries to bait you.

Make 2011 the year of learning how to be a great cook and invite them all over for xmas dinner next year!

And remember…. If all else fails….. There’s always Bingo!!!!

Merry Xmas!

Xmas money savers Part 4.

2010-12-21T14:25:00.000Z

Every year Green minded people hum and hah over the greenest way to decorate the house for Xmas. Now on the surface it would appear that a real tree is the greenest way to go, after all fake trees are made from petro chemicals, will sit forever in a landfill once dicarded..... so its a no brainer right?

Only its not always.

After all, the journy of a real tree is not all magic and fairy dust.

For a start the the trees are planted as a commerical crop, often sprayed with pesticides and weedkillers. The fossil fules used to plant them, spary them, tend them and then finally cut and transport them also have to be taken into account.

Its worth remembering that few trees are grown locally to the majority of people, so if you live in London your tree may have come from as far away as Scotland or even abroad. When these trees are cut early in the season and the season is a mild one there is also a need to refrigerate these trees to keep them fresh!

And after?

Of course a real tree can be composted, but how many households have the space to compost a whoel tree, even if they used a chipper?

So instead the councils send out fuel drinking lorries to pick up the discarded trees.

As evergreens the trees don't even pump out that much Oxygen to compensate.

So, what to do for the best???

A nice compromise could be to plant a tree outside a cionveniant window, decorating it with lights suitable for outside.

A tree in a pot can work well for a few years so long as its acclimatized slowley and not put in a very warm room.

What about alternatives?

Can a fake tree ever be green?

I think ours is.

We got our "new" tree from a friend via Freegle and as it is over 30 years old I think it can now safely be considered carbon nuteral! Of course there is still the disposale to consider but its strong and sturdy and likely to give us many many years of use.

Athe end of the day its all a compromise.

I'm glad we stopped a tree ending up in a landfill and got a tree for free :)

Mantle piece display with home dried orange.

Home made (by my Mum!) knitted xmas decorations!

The whole tree

Fairy lights adorn our Glastonbury prints by Norman Parker.

Xmas money savers part 3.

2010-12-07T20:24:00.002Z

MUM AND LEESA!!! TURN BACK NOW!!! DO NOT READ THIS POST!!!!!

Presents often make up the bulk of what we spend over the Xmas season,and while I wouldn't suggest that the kids should make do with a bit of string, a stick and a satsuma on the big day, there ARE a lot of ways you can cut down the cost.

*When you HAVE to buy new.
Lets face it, that Buzz lightyear or must have Barbie is unlikely to turn up for free. Be prepared and shop for special items early in the season and shop around to find the best deals. If shopping online, go for a site that has all the items you want. Its worth paying a little extra for your item if you can save on not shelling out postage costs to three or four separate sites!

*Charity shops.
Don't be alarmed! Charity shops are full of hidden gems! Books, DVD's and CD's are often found in as new condition in charity shops. Snap up bags full of toy staples like Lego or train track to re-package yourself.
Charity shops often also have unwanted Xmas decorations as well!

One of my boys is going to be pleased with this charity shop haul!!!

*Organise a swapping party. (Great tip Sandie!)
Get together with friends and swap your kids unwanted or outgrown toys/ books/movies for new-to-them ones!

*Make your own!
Nothing says love like homemade <3
Chocolates, toys, jars of preserves, toiletries, clothes, the list is as long as your talents!

Here are some things we have made ....

Kim made this farm set for Owen a coupld of years ago. Super sturdy and much played with for only a few pounds and some time!

Oliver went through a real knights phase for a coupld of years and Kim made the big castle first and then the smaller "baddie" castle the following year. Much of the wood was from scrap we had in the shed, as was the paint. Again, very sturdy, surviving being stood on, dropped and left outside. Compare that with an expensive plastic one he had that was broken with a couple of months.

This year I turned this......

......Into THIS!!

Home made cosmetics for my mum and sister!

Inspired by my sisters bathbombs last year, I wanted to make some nice pampering treats for Xmas day. So much nicer than an expensive set from superdrug or tesco... Vegan, cruelty free and (mosty) organic! And for PENCE each!

Left to right I made, Lip scrub, lip balm, body scrub and moustiriser.

Want to know how?

Lip scrub- For kissable lips *Mwah*. Simply mix sugar and olive oil for a mild and sweet exfoliant!

Lip Balm- Melt shea butter, add a little plantine oil (or olive oil) and a dash of peppermint essence. Tip into contaner and it cools hard.

Bodyscrub- FINE sea salt ( I learnt the painful way that coarse is no good for this!) and olive oil, mix to sedired consistancy and pot.

Moustireser- Melt shea butter, soild coconut oil, olive oil and lavender essential oil, mix and pot. Adding more oil gives a runnier consitancy, or you can add less and have a harder cream (it softens readily in yo hands).

I used plastic pots for these, although glass would look nicer I had to take the weight into account because of postage issues!!

So there you go.

Feel free to share your own frugle gift tips!

Xmas money savers part 2

2010-12-03T12:17:00.000Z

Sandie, a regular commenter here and a good facebook buddy, has shared some delightful photos of her boys home made Xmas decorations!

Turn these old bits of card into.....

THIS!!!!!

Sandie says "They are really simple. Just four circles of card, with an equilateral triangle drawn and scored in the middle, then stick the flaps together!"

And heres what a homemade decorated tree looks like! Courtesy of Sandies Homeschool Group!

I LOVE homemade decorations, it must be inherited!! My mum still has a stick with pine cones on it that I painted and stuck glitter on when I was about 4!! That stick has come out every year at Xmas for the last 29 years!!!

She even brings out two toilet roll tubes my sister decorated one year.

It just wouldn't be Xmas without them!

A quick search online throws up lots of amazing crafty ideas to make decorations, prefect for those "I'm booooooored!" moments between now and the big day.

Some to get you started.......

Xmas card balls from ehow

Christmas choir from Familyfun

How to Make Angels out of Recycled Christmas Cards

Hopefully there's enough here to wet your appetite for a recycled homemade Xmas :D
Share your pics!!!

Xmas money savers part 1

2010-12-01T09:39:00.000Z

So .... Time for the countdown!!!!

And what better way to mark the days off till Xmas than with an advent calender!

The last couple of years we haven't had one..... The plain one's with just pictures seemed to have disappeared, the chocolate ones in the supermarkets for obvious reasons are no good to us, and the vegan ones too expensive (including postage!).

I often thought I would like one of those lovely fabric calenders with pockets you could pop treats into but again money gets in the way of buying frivolities like that.

So this year I made my own!!!!!

First I cut out xmasy pictures from magazines. I have to admit to being a sucker for home magazines at Xmas so this is a perfect way to justify my consumerism ;)

I stuck the pictures onto thick paper and then cut them out again.

On the back I wrote little notes, Sing a specific Xmas song, draw a picture, give everyone a hug and some even have the word SWEET on the back so that the receiver gets a little treat that time.

I drew a tree on our black board wall (although obviously a large bit of paper would do as well) and using blu-tac I stuck the numbered pictures on.

So now the boys are taking turns to pick their number off the tree and do what the card says! Healthier than 24 chocolates, cost nothing and the cards can be recycled after the big day!!!

Here comes Santy Clause!!

2010-11-27T19:44:00.001Z

I know the last few weeks have been a bit Vegan heavy.
Sometimes it just gets like that you know, so many things happen at the same time.

Sooooo...

For those that have grown weary of the multiple vegan posts its time to talk XMASCHRISTYULE!!!!

Yup.... Just 3 days before December 1st and then its a slippery downhill run to the big day itself!
Scary stuff.

Who going to admit they have all their gifts sorted and are smugly sitting there laughing at all the wild eyed people panicking around December 20th?

Well not me.

I have a dilemma though... How can I share my green, ethical, money saving Xmas pressie ideas when some of the recipients read the blog!!! Gaaa!

Curse my family for being interested!
I wouldn't have this problem if I wrote an anonymous sex blog or something ;)

Anyway.... While I ponder what to do about this (ban them till December 26th??) Here's a video of Badger getting stuck in the snow!
For the full video go to YOUTUBE
If you like the video PLEASE come to youtube and RATE and COMMENT on the video.

I get kicks out of stuff like that.

Enjoy x

Ex-Vegan venting ahoy!

2010-11-24T12:27:00.002Z

I though very hard about whether to write a post about this blogger The (formally) Voracious (Vegan). Once one of Twitters most outspoken Vegans she shocked the blogsheper by doing a 360 back to eating meat.
She maintains that many vegans are lying about being vegan and are still eating meat (on the quiet) and selling us a lie.
She said that her 3 years of eating vegan caused her health problems and depleted her vitamin and minerals stores. She talks about depression, exhaustion and how we are "meant" to eat meat.

You can read her post HERE.

Now I wasn't sure how to take this at first.
For a moment I did the whole panic thing, after all, its not just ME or even me and Kim , its our children as well.
What if she was right?
What if we were wrong?
Could I make such a turn around?

First of all I have to say I am blessed with a level headed husband.
Kim is Mostly vegan (with slips into the occasional chocolate bar and once a year (so far in 2010!) shellfish meal) and came to it on his own and well informed. He NEVER just followed me and was keen to do his own research.
He read her post and concluded that she was (his words) "A nutter".

She was upset that some vegans had attacked her for doing something to save her health, but I'm not sure they did. Some offered advice (unwanted) others dared to ask if she had seen a specialized nutritionist rather than her regular GP (unanswered by blogger). Yet others pointed out that her gym routine was a little excessive.

Now while I have nothing against someone deciding to quit veganism, for health or other reasons, and on Twitter I initially supported her and commiserated with her dilemma, I quickly grew upset with how her message to the world changed. All of a sudden her life was full of Bacon, cheese, steak and how good it was and how she needed it and it became a little much, especially when only weeks before she had been vocally deriding anyone who ate meat.
Also, although she claims to have eaten an amazing diet, following her tweets (and pictures and posts from her blog) her "meals" looked like nice snacks or entres, but not enough to sustain. She talked of HUGE salads and I saw 3 lettuce leaves.
Her gym habbit also rang alarm bells. Every third tweet was "off to the gym for killer cardio work out!" This girl has a serious gym addiction.

Down to earth hubby pointed out that living where she does (Saudi Arabia) there would likely be very few fortified foods she could purchase. So although we can have fortified soya milk and cereals and "mock" meats she was likely to be only eating basic whole foods.
A lot of her food was Raw, she seemed to mostly follow a raw vegan diet, and while raw enthusiast claim that the diet is healthy, many health professionals are not convinced. Coking helps the food digest easier, so although raw food is super packed with vitamins and minerals, they are not as easily absorbed.

Now it could be that she is right.
Who am I to say that everyone can handle a vegan diet. everyone is different and individual lifestyles or health problems can be problematic with some diets.
Most people who objected to the post seemed to object to her attitude.
Once she has ran a hard line telling everyone to go vegan for their health, the environment, the animals. Now her stance is "Stupid vegans! Learn from my mistake! everyone should go Omnivore! For your health! For the enviroment!"

What would I do?
Say my Dr told me my health was in danger I had to eat meat.

Don't think I haven't thought about this before.
Could I go back to being a full on meat eater?
Probaly not, I could see myself compromising, adding a little wild caught fish or wild shot game once in a while but chowing down on pork, beef or chicken? Unlikely.

No scratch that.
Not at all.
Anything likely to have been factory farmed will not pass my lips.

So this bloggers first meal as a newly "awakened" meat eater?
Steak..... really.

So she said veganism left her with no energy... Kim works upto 14 hours a DAY at a highly physical job. He couldn't do that if his energy levels where not being met.
She said every meal left her bloated but hungry... If your body is only getting large amounts of raw food it will have to work super hard to digest it. A head of greens is not a meal.
She said her hair was thinning and she was always getting ill.... Anyone who knows me knows how thick my hair is, how Kim at 54 has more hair than men half his age, that my sons have hair longer and thicker than most girls (note to self, buy scissors!).
Sure we get the ocassional cold, but when you have kids at school its part of life, and it seems to me that some of my meat eating facebook friends have at least one "Ugh , have a cold :(" status a month so you can't say meat cures all.

She said that having to take vitamins is wrong, but have you ever tried to buy vegan vitamins? Out of the thousands and thousands I looked I found THREE suitable for vegans... which tells you something about the sort of people who take the most vitamins. Many health professionals think EVERYONE should take multi vitamins, especially B vitamins. So few of us eat really fresh organic foods that by the time something has been picked, shipped, sat in a shop and then sat in our house before we eat it.... well, can the vitamin content really be as high as all that? If science can help me be healthy I'm all for it.

NO diet cures all.

I will NOT stand with the meat eaters/veggies/vegans/raw foodists and say "Come to our side for everlasting health an vitality!" Life doesn't work that way.

"Ah!" Some of you more militant vegans/meat eaters might say. "But you eat eggs!"

Seriously, our hens give us maybe on average an egg a day out of the four of them... add them up over a week and divided by 5, is it REALLY going to make THAT much difference?

OK, So I vented.

Eat what you want, but don't make me feel bad for not eating as you do.

Rest assured that the moment I suspect any of us are not in good health I would go to the GP.

I care about animals, but I care about my kids more.

Want to read more? Ginny Messina, MPH, RD is a dietitian specializing in vegan nutrition writes an interesting follow up to the post HERE.

Why I'm giving up forums- I AM VEGAN

2010-10-27T16:37:00.001+01:00

I used to be a forum addict.
I LOVED finding a forum full of interesting people and ideas and shared goals.
I loved filling in my profile and choosing an avatar and introducing myself.

However I am now officially giving them up.

What have a learned about forums?

Mostly that in this sort of online situation you have a handful of extremists and the rest playing along to keep in with the cool kids.
I've lost count of the amount of times I have found myself playing devils advocate because people are talking bollocks basically.
I even once found myself DEFENDING fox hunting because the loud mouth who was banging on about it was horse rider (ie rich bastard toff) bashing and missing all the good points he could of been making! Instead of focusing on the fact that hunting was cruel he used it as a platform to stage a class war.

It seems that the world of forums are full of "Polly Pures", people who are the very heroes we mere mortals aspire to be.
If you use a green soap powder you can bet someone uses soap nuts, and that someone else hand washed and yet another person only uses rain water and all the way up to "PP" who never washes her clothes because its a waste of resources.

You get the picture?

In real life you would have congratulated the person who brought green soap powder, you would have patted them on the back for making a good choice.
On the forum however she is now left feeling like she can never EVER possibly reach an acceptable level and she may as well go and chop some pandas heads off.

The catalyst for me was joining a vegan forum a few days ago.
I was super excited about it!

The creator is a vegan I admire greatly and the food is amazing, so I was really looking forwards to joining. (No I'm not naming it, some of the people there were very nice).

So I joined and went through the posts and said hi and thought "This is sooooo coooool! I love this place!"

Then I made a mistake.

I admitted that I had rescue hens and maybe ate an egg a week.

Immediately I was bombarded with "You're not a vegan then"

Well.... Yeah I am...

A vegan is one who seeks to eliminate animal suffering and exploitation as much as possible, a vegan consume no animal product, but as I live how I live and wanted to offer these hens some freedom and compassion after their bad start in life I wasn't exploiting or hurting anyone was I?

Grey area.

Nope I was told in no uncertain terms that I absolutely was not a vegan and shouldn't call myself one. I was offered "Ethical vegetarian".

WTF????

You want to throw me a bone and say I can stay as a slightly yukky pet so long as I know my place?

Correct me if I'm wrong but if they can be vegan and still feed meat to their pets (directly contributing to the meat industry), take medication tested on animals and containing animal products like milk and opt to have the flu jab (suspended in egg) why the hell can't I call myself a vegan???

I rescued those hens, they have no cockerel so the eggs are not fertilized, they will lay no matter what I do but I MUST NOT EAT THEM!!

Apparently I can give the eggs away or feed them to the dogs but I MUST NOT EAT THEM!!

But wait... If I gave the eggs to someone else isn;t that passing the buck? Isn't that like the Christian who won't kill but is happy to let someone else do it while he watches?

Forgive me... I don't GET this?

You can buy factory farmed meat for your cat but I can't eat an egg from my rescue hens?

Now You know apart from this egg (and it really is 1 or 2 a week TOPS) I am 100% vegan. When the hens don't lay I don't BUY eggs, I never eat eggs elsewhere, and all my friends know that vegans don't eat eggs and so they don't serve them to me.

This narrow minded black and white view is what has made me throw in the towel.

After this thread I was in bed worrying about the fact that all of a sudden people didn't like me.

I had allowed myself to be cyberbullied.

I am a person who understands the grey in all areas.

I don't need to follow the rules to do the right thing.

I don't need the acceptance of groups to make me feel good.

vegan is not a diet it is a lifestyle.

I AM vegan.