I had grand plans to distribute a few d2w bags around my garden and start a photoblog of them decomposing over the next 2 years.

This plan had been held off by the volumes of snow we’ve been experiencing and a small amount of health and safety fear about leaving plastic bags lying around for toddler, dog and wildlife to get tangled in.

Then there’s the issue of a modicum of vanity in that I also plan to transform my overgrown underloved back yard into a haven of peace and beauty over the same time period (using in part the wonderful selection of seeds available from Wikaniko) and plastic bags, albeit lovely degradable ones, don’t quite cut it in the “look and feel” I’m aiming for!

So all in all, I’m rather glad that the clever chaps at d2w have saved my time, energy and worries by producing this altogether far more professional video…

Not my words, the team at Wikaniko HQ wrote the ‘magical’ statement.

I was at first a touch ambivalent about the gushing effervescent descriptions given to many of Wikaniko’s products.  As I work my way through the catalogue, item by item, it seems that these chaps simply speak the truth about their range of very exceptional products.

Now, think of your more conventional job, there’s no one worse than a new recruit who evangelises away to weary longer-serving colleagues about the company mission statement and HR’s customer-centric vision presentation.  Always fun to track them down a year later and see that, even if they love their job, the shoulders and eyebrows have relaxed somewhat.

So I hesitate to wax too lyrically over the Aleppo soap, for fear of sounding like that rather overenthusiastic new recruit (that actually I am), and managing to ruin its appeal in the process.

Aleppo soap is a completely natural product and contains no perfumes, colours or other additives. The principle ingredients are olive oil and bay berry oil.

You can imagine the clean but rich herby/fruity smell of laurel (I’d never make it as a wine buff) as you shower – really relaxing and refreshing – but surprisingly and pleasantly it leaves no lasting aroma on your skin, just beautifully silky skin.

As a shower gel / body wash type-product user for many years, my memories of soap were not good.  Cloying scent, that horrible dry/stripped feeling like all the moisture has been leached from your skin.  This is nothing like that.

The feel of the soap is really light, not greasy, not drying.  The scent is so evocative. The feeling of your skin after use is soft and cleansed but without any lasting trace of soapiness.

So I’ve gushed, haven’t I?  Those who know me know that this is not my normal tone of voice so it must be good stuff.

The particular Aleppo soap stocked by Wikaniko is made by one of the last traditional companies producing for the use of the native population.  We buy direct from the finest Syrian soapmakers.  This traditional recipe has been made in Aleppo in Syria for thousands of years.  There are many inferior quality Aleppo soaps produced ‘for the West’; this is not one of them.

Pure olive oil soap can only be produced in the cold months of December through to March.  It is manufactured using a simple process that has changed little over the centuries.

Olive oil is mixed in large cauldrons with an aqueous solution of an alkali – the soda ash.  The mixture is heated to more than 200 degrees Celsius and stirred until the oil fully decomposes, yielding glycerin and the sodium salt of olive oil. This process is called ‘saponification’.

Towards the end of the initial process, the bay oil is added to the mixture and further saponification takes place.

The caustic soda solution is drained from the cauldron and the soap mixture is washed with fresh water until tested free of any alkalinity. It is drained again and left overnight to slightly cool and to further drain excess water.

It is then dried for 9 months before it is considered ready for sale. This process causes the outside of the soap to turn brown, whilst inside the soap remains an olive green colour.  At Wikaniko, the soap we purchase is allowed to ‘cure’ even longer before it is sold, giving you what we believe is the best in Aleppo soap.

Our soaps are finished in the traditional fashion, cut and stamped by hand and set. They feel especially light to the touch.

You have to experience this soap first-hand to believe it.

It is a great soap for taking on holiday/vacation as you can use it for everything:

• You can use it for babies, small children and pets as well.  There are NO CHEMICALS in this soap. Purity only: olive & bay (laurel) oils, water, salt.  It suits all skin types and is amazing when used instead of shaving cream/foam.
• It is also good as shampoo, adding volume, and will not damage dyed hair, in fact, preserves colour longer.
• …or for hand washing laundry.
• It is an extremely good soap in the case of any skin problems, including overly sensitive or allergic skin, extremely dry or psoriatic skin and eczema as it does not contain any chemical stabilizers or preservatives.
• No artificial fragrance: just the rich, natural scent of laurel while you bathe which fades away once you leave the shower.
• Creamy, luxurious lather for hair, face and body. Mild, natural and moisturizing, it won’t dry your skin out.
• One 200g bar of this soap can last for months because of its density (very few air bubbles, very little water).  It improves with age as the last traces of water leave the bar.
• …and it floats beautifully in the tub!

If the intrinsic benefits of this soap aren’t enough to tempt you then it’s also worth noting that the production of this soap does not contribute to world pollution (like most commercially produced soaps) and buying this soap supports a 500 year old tradition in the UNESCO world heritage city of Aleppo, Syria.

I am sending a link to this blog post to the (numerous, ahem) people who received Aleppo soap from me for Christmas and who have shoved it in a drawer or cupboard thinking either “great, soap, didn’t expect that from her, she’s normally very thoughtful” or worse “I cannot believe she’s given me Wikaniko stuff for Christmas, that’s a bit much…” and hopefully they will realise that I gave it to them because I thought it was a very special product good enough for a very special person.

If you would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

To visit my Wikaniko shop: please click here

For more information on becoming a distributor: please click here

It need not cost any money to become more environmentally conscious, we don’t just want to sell stuff, we want to help everyone become greener (and hopefully save some money along the way).

In our new (to us, actually old) house we have some rather fetching “vintage” toilets in a colour that almost defies definition it is so… well… unique.  They’re definitely not marigold or lemon yellow, more on the lime/khaki side of yellow (?) basically, they’re sort of a creamy custardy shade of Dijon mustard.  Very special and I’m sure incredibly valuable should we ever decide to part with them.

Let alone their unappealling look, they are also very water-hungry.  It is easy enough to turn a blind eye to this, sometimes if home alone or it’s night-time, we don’t bother flushing between pees.  A rather inconsistent, haphazard and lax approach!

So we now have old bottled water bottles, filled with water, in the toilet cisterns.  The team at Wikaniko suggest a 1.5 litre bottle but either our cisterns are on the small side already or the gubbins inside is not very effectively laid out, either way, we’ve had to settle for a couple of 500ml bottles.  Better than nothing!

On behalf of my “better” half, I confess that this has resulted in the occasional double-flush being required (I shall leave that to your imaginations) but on the whole I think we’re using less, actually I should think considerably less, water.

Water saving fun

If you’ve a got a youngster to entertain, make some raincatchers a la Cbeebies – another great use for empty plastic bottles of all types – good for building awareness of how we can reuse rainwater effectively and a managable sized container for your little one to use to water the plants once you’ve measured how much rainfall you’ve had!

Sod the water, save your pocket!

There’s an interesting article in the resources section of the Wikaniko website called £1000 water bills which sounds a tad sensationalist but makes quite grave reading with huge price hikes predicted across most, well practically all, water companies in the next several years.

With so many eco/climate change/green issues, let’s be honest: we’re all a bit fatigued.  Those doubts start to creep in – it’s another way to make money, to tax us, to get us buying more stuff – and however altruistic we might like to be, it’s easy for our enthusiasm to burn out (and fair enough).

Throwing money down the drain has never been one of my favourite past times, or that of anyone I know.  Gearing up to be as water efficient as you can be, ready for an inforced installation of a water meter, might be the best money-saving decision you make in a long time.

If, like my better half, you need a nice shiny new gadget or accessory prior to getting motivated, then check out the other water-saving gadgets in the Wikaniko shop:

Tap into savings

Tapmagic is a unique water saving tap insert offering dual flow: open the tap a little to get a strong but water-saving spray using over 50% less water – great for handwashing, especially with little kids who like to take their time – opening the tap further bypasses the spray mode to fill the basin as normal.

These are suitable for hot and cold water applications and for mixer taps.  Easily removed for cleaning and de-scaling if required, and there are various sizes/fits to suit whichever taps you have in your home.

Spraymagic is a slightly different and no less unique water saving tap insert which permanently converts a threaded round outlet tap to a water saving spray saving approximately 70% of water and of course energy for heating.  This is ideal for places where there is no plug in a basin where whatever water is supplied runs away…

Don’t feel drained

And for the gardeners amongst us, the rather ingenious RAIN-SAVA fits into a standard UK drainpipe/downpipe – can be installed by the less-DIY-enthusiastic in no time at all – and can then be connected to a water butt or other watering system.  The flexible outlet means it can be connected to a multitude of pipes and hoses if you want to store water somewhere else in the garden, away from the house.

Rather cleverly, it has a built-in automatic overflow device to divert water back down the drainpipe when your water butt is full and it also has its own leaf trap.  Everything is provided in the kit, including adaptors to accommodate the various drainpipe sizes (whether round or square), a linking pipe to the water butt and a water barrel coupling. Full instructions with a template to take the guessing out of cutting are also provided.

I think I’ve left it a little late to add this to my Christmas list but I’ll be treating myself to one in the summer!

Before I hit the streets fervently spreading the Wikaniko word in the new year, I felt I should be using (and hopefully loving) a fair few of the products.

One of the easiest eco-friendly products to “test” was the Wikaniko Deodorant Stone.  Also, one of the hardest.  To be honest, it took a wild leap of faith to go without my trusted anti-perspirant spray.

Here goes, human guinea pig, hubby scoffing quietly that it must be some kind of witchcraft (again).

Slightly surreal, rubbing a scentless stone in your arm pits.  (Yes, unlike the gentle ladies responsible for most of the anti-perspirant advertising on TV, I am happy to say “arm pits” rather than the relatively-newly-invented and somewhat feeble-sounding “under arms”).

The pure natural rock crystal eliminates odour-causing bacteria allowing perspiration without body odour.  It does not block pores. Its ‘active’ ingredients are simply natural mineral salts. There is no Aluminium Chlorohydrate which has been causally linked to breast cancer, it contains no parabens and has not been tested on animals.

And all that to one side, it works.  It. Works. A. Treat.

I’d be lying to say I wasn’t a little nervous leaving the house to do a mornings-worth of chores and a strenuous and energetic dog walk.  I resisted the urge to put the anti-perspirant in my bag in case I started to whiff.

But it didn’t actually cross my mind again until the following morning post-bath when I remembered that I was using it!

For those of enquiring mind (and occassional sloppy hygiene) like myself, it works (for me) for about 48 hours… OK, so I’m the only one prepared to admit to skipping my morning ablutions and spending a day doing housework in my PJs?  Never mind.

After 48 hours of no washing and no reapplication of said super environmentally friendly, skin friendly wonder stone, (and that’s 48 hours of running about and chasing a toddler and dog and doing endless tidying up etc) I still didn’t stink, I was just mildly aware of being slightly-less-than-fresh: my long-suffering Dad confirmed he couldn’t “smell me” when I wafted around under his nose (sorry Dad).  So no worse than skipping washing and conventional anti-persirant for a day or so.

And again, flying in the face of those doubters who say it costs the earth to save the earth, the Wikaniko Deodorant Stone costs rather a lot less than my previously-loved aerosol can of anti-perspirant and apparently lasts for months… kicking myself that my scepticism held me back for so long!

Thin people, stop reading now, the final paragraph will only distress you.

Post script for fat people: for those of us who have various crevices and creases around other parts of our bodies that could possibly also get a little hot and sticky, this product is an absolute must.  A quick whizz over with the natural deodorant stone and you’ll be confident that you are super-fresh wherever and whenever… you know what I mean, I shan’t spell it out.  All the skinny people will have read on, regardless of the warning, and are now feeling shocked and faint.

If you would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

To visit my Wikaniko shop: please click here

For more information on becoming a distributor: please click here

This morning I opened my first box of goodies from Wikaniko.  Interesting how a few basic cleaning and household products feel transformed into some kind of treat now they’re nice eco ones (so I suppose they are goodies in more ways than one, fnar).

Amongst the lovely recyclable screwed up newspaper in the box was a product that I didn’t think would be much cop but equally was so inexpensive, I couldn’t resist: the magic eraser.  When you rub it on your purse, it fills it with coins.

Not really.

The magic eraser is a squidgy spongy environmentally friendly little white block of cleaning loveliness that removes grease and grimness and grime from all kinds of surfaces without the need for any detergents/cleaning products.  Hard to believe that it will actually do that without some serious swearwords and elbow grease.

But it does.  And it does it so quickly, easily, eco friendlily (?) and effectively that I got so carried away that I nearly forgot to take any of the endearingly amateur “before and after” shots that will become a regular source of amusement (I hope) on this blog…

Please see below Exhibits A and B.

Exhibit A detail: Buster the not-very-bright rescue cat.  The cat that doesn’t EVER bother to clean himself.  Sat adjacent to the stair gate at the top of the stairs, normally closed.  Please note the wall to the left of the picture, blackened with filth off Buster’s fur when he squeezes through the gap countless times a day, filth that contains amongst other special things, the greasy black sooty stuff that is found all over old car exhaust pipes (and white furred cats who like to scratch themselves up against old car exhaust pipes).

Exhibit B detail: the clean stripe created through the middle of the blackened filth by a simple ‘back and forth’ with the magic eraser. No effort whatsoever, save the bending down.  No comments on the groovy textured wallpaper please.

It’s basically “no more excuses” time for this slummy Mummy.

Magic eraser, I love you.  The environment loves you, the climate loves you, my housekeeping budget loves you.

We moved into our new house a few months ago and haven’t really made much progress in terms of unpacking, let alone redecoration.  We bought it as a probate sale, the owners deceased.  They had obviously loved living here and looked after the place really well but as is often the case with a house that’s been lived in a long time, you take the pictures off the walls and are left with nice black outlines where the frames used to be.  Let alone the ghostly dust outlines of all their furniture!

We could have “boshed it out” with cheap white emulsion when we moved in but a) too skint and b) no time and c) I would prefer to use eco-friendly paints and that’s not as cheap an option… so I’ve been staring at these grotty shapes and lines all over the place for months, they’re not just dust, they’re sort of greasy and bedded into the wallpaper.

At least a couple of weekends-worth of sugar soaping and elbow grease, including roped-in friends and family, to make any difference.

“Not now with the magic eraser!” she proclaims, in a booming excitable tone!

The only problem I face now, is that although these blackened areas were dirtier than the rest of the walls, the rest of the walls were actually quite a lot dirtier than I realised.  The beigy-cream paint is actually quite a fresh lively cream, underneath years of ick.

So I’ve ended up turning my dark and dirty patches into bright clean patches surrounded by dirty wall.  That said, it is honestly SO easy and quick to clean with this magic eraser thingummy that I think I might actually be happy to crack on and do whole walls!

Exhibit C here to the left shows the delightful “retro-chic” vinyl wallpaper that graces our upstairs loo.  That I actually didn’t think was dirty as, again, the mid-beigey-cream tone was consistent with the rest of the decor and co-ordinates well with the 1970s mustard-coloured sanitary ware.

Check out the clean patch created with the magic eraser!  Oh dear, I have one helluva lot of scrubbing to do.  Ever wish that perhaps you hadn’t started something?

Apparently you can use your magic eraser wet or dry.  I found it was most effective when quickly run under the cold tap and squeezed out, just left moist.  A lovely squidgy toy that performs best when moistened.  Every girl’s dream.

Now, I do know that these green and ethical magic erasers are not exclusive to Wikaniko nor all that new to the market.  However, some quick web research and they do seem to be cheaper on average from Wikaniko by around 10% (well done AGAIN chaps) and as I’d rather buy from a green and ethical retailer than not, I won’t bother buying them elsewhere.

If you would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

To visit my Wikaniko shop: please click here

For more information on becoming a distributor: please click here

In our family, there’s one particular chap who’s frankly so much better off than us that there’s nothing we could buy for him that he hasn’t bought for himself already (twice, with bells on).  And another who’s not financially rich but spiritually so, and therefore also wants for very little (despite not having all that much).

Over the next twelve months, Wikaniko plans to plant 10,000 trees in Africa.  We are retailing them for under a fiver.  They are a much better stocking filler than socks.  Frankly, you should buy one for that person who’s impossible to buy for.

When that look of mild interest in what their Christmas present might be fades to nothingness (again) then at least you can get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you did something good for the planet, your children, heck – their children (!), and the local villagers who benefit massively from this managed forestry project.

I’m not much interested in hearing the usual “I’d rather help someone in the UK / charity starts at home” nonsense.  As yet, I don’t believe there’s a way to segregate the air we breathe so us wealthier Westerners get the lion’s share.  Planting a tree in Africa directly benefits you.

Aside from the fact that planting 5 trees could go someway to offsetting your carbon footprint, there’s also some rather compelling reasons why it’s better to plant trees in Africa.

Trees grow three times faster in Africa than in the UK so they will help our environment much faster: we will see results in our lifetime.

The trees are used both to provide a wage for poor people in villages and to help sustain the villages with produce, firewood and materials for building etc – so the world gets a lot more benefit than simply planting a tree to help reduce carbon emissions!

The trees improve living standards for families, and the local economies. The tree planting helps them generate a sustainable income from food, medicines and shelter.

Trees allow vegetation and other growth to survive in harsh conditions by retaining water in the soil and providing shelter from direct sunlight etc. Trees can, if managed correctly, provide a massive range of unexpected benefits and natural resources including medication which can be used locally and sold throughout the world.

Need I say more?

Whilst writing this, I’ve decided to wrap my family’s Christmas gifts in pages from the free newspapers that come through our door each week and buy everyone a tree with the money I will save on gift wrap.  You are welcome to join me!

If you would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

To visit my Wikaniko shop: please click here

For more information on becoming a distributor: please click here

Confession: I still use good bad old-fashioned plastic bags.

I have acquired enough “last a lifetime” reusable plastic bags to hold my weekly shop.  I also have a rather lovely collection of organic cotton tote shopping bags and a couple of those hessian-type shoppers for the heavy stuff.  But they are languishing in the cupboard under the stairs, unused.

I know it’s wrong because every time I go to the supermarket and they politely ask whether I need (evil) plastic bags, when I say yes I mutter feeble excuses about how I can’t believe I’ve left them in the car or at home, smacking my forehead and shaking my head in despair at my “I’ve got a toddler, I’ve got very few functioning brain cells at the moment” forgetfulness.

The checkout guy or gal reminds me that I can recycle the offending plastic bags next time I come to the store and I nod enthusiastically, shallowly pledging that I will do just that, when I have absolutely no intention of doing so.

Because I use supermarket carrier bags as bin bags.

The habit started shortly after I moved in with the hubby, then boyfriend.  His family, original reasoning unknown, hang a carrier bag off a kitchen cupboard door handle as a bin bag and then put it straight outside in the wheelie bin.  It was theoretically more hygienic than having a kitchen bin (I think).

We did have a kitchen bin but when it was just the two of us working full-time, it took a long time to fill up the bin meaning the contents at the bottom were decomposing merrily creating all sorts of stink and germs, this did not appeal one bit.

Also, as friends and family will confirm (mother-in-law especially), I have historically been pretty slummy Mummy when it comes to housework (I am getting better…) and a kitchen bin was just another thing to clean.  Kitchen bins are gross.  Best avoided.  So we also started hanging a carrier bag off a cupboard door handle…

When the “don’t use supermarket carrier bags” campaign really hit, I didn’t feel that bad at first as I looked at all the people filling up their ‘bag for life’ carrier bags with plastic refuse sacks, swing bin liners, pedal bin bags etc and wondered what the difference was.  They were still putting their weekly domestic rubbish into plastic bags to go into landfills… single-use plastic bags that will be with us for hundreds of years.

The fact that I got two uses out of my supermarkets carriers, to take my shopping home and then to fill with my rubbish didn’t seem awfully decadent.  Recycling supermarket carrier bags but using bin bags seemed a bit jump on the eco bandwagon.

One of the main product staples at Wikaniko is the range of d2w ‘totally degradable’ plastic bags.  Not biodegradable, totally degradable.  The d2w range does not need a biologically active environment to degrade.  I don’t fully understand what biologically active stuff a biodegradable bag needs, but that’s a moot point.  I do know that d2w bags are superior to biodegradable bags, let alone good bad old-fashioned plastic bags.

These bags will completely degrade to H2O and CO2 within a period of 12 – 18 months unlike the typical plastic bag that will be around for about 400 – 1000 years!  The bags are also fully recyclable.

Needless to say, I have ordered some.

I’m buying the d2w totally degradable pedal bin liners with tie tops, nearest thing to a supermarket carrier bag in size so life otherwise carries on as before (a very simple small step towards being greener and still no grubby kitchen bin to contend with, hurrah).  They come in a pack of 30 for a retail price of £1.69.

I’ve looked on the website for the UK’s major supermarket for equivalent products to check how prices compare and I’m pretty impressed.  I can get 40 non-biodegradable bags on their website for roughly the same price.  Ten more but I’m not helping the environment.  If I want a biodegradable bag, then I’m looking at spending £2.50 for a pack of 25.

Daylight robbery?  Actually, one might argue that this IS almost a crime.  A major supermarket chain has so much buying power that I would completely understand if they could beat Wikaniko on price.  But they are nearly twice as expensive.

That would actively deter most people from making an environmentally friendly product choice.

That’s pretty irresponsible.

My ignorance is now completely replaced with shock and an even stronger desire to continue down this road, taking small steps to become greener.  Time to do today’s Wikaniko training and learn more about how to spread the word!

If you would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

To visit my Wikaniko shop: please click here

For more information on becoming a distributor: please click here

I’m not known for my green credentials.

Today I have had a couple of very inspiring phone calls with a chap called Trevor who founded a company called Wikaniko (We Can Eco).  Inspiring for one because he is the founder of the company and you can just ring him up.

For those who don’t know me, I’m a senior business exec turned mumpreneur.

But more importantly I am a wife and mother.  Since having my beautiful daughter, I have become increasingly concerned about the world we live in and how we are treating it.  But like many others, I didn’t really know what to do about it or how.  I don’t have the time or knowledge (or is that the altruism?) to radically change our family life but I don’t want to do nothing.

I hear stories in the press about devastating events happening in other parts of the world and I feel very guilty.  I also listen to people saying that nothing I do will make a difference.  Deep down I know that can’t be true.

Essentially, I look at my wonderful daughter and feel frightened for her future.  She has the right to enjoy a long and fruitful life, full of opportunity and free from fear or harm – I want to help secure that future for her and I don’t think it’s just about building up a nice-sized trust fund – I also want her to enjoy motherhood (if she chooses) as much as I am enjoying it.

I don’t want the world to be such a polluted and challenged place that she thinks twice about having children of her own because she fears for their health and welfare.

Not that I’ve done much about it so far.

I am hugely non-specifically paranoid about climate change, we recently moved house and part of the reason I fell in love with our new home is that it is up a hill.  Not exactly a sophisticated, or even logical, approach to resolving my concerns about global warming.

That was then.  And this is now.

48 quid lighter, I am a fully signed-up independent distributor for Wikaniko.  I’m going to plow my considerable energies into generating a growing sustainable income for my family whilst also taking regular small steps towards becoming greener.

And I’m going to blog about my progress.  Part of my commitment to Wikaniko is to try and educate people about how easy it is to be a little bit greener, and what a massive difference we could make if we all tried to do just that.

So here goes…