Last week I pledged to go waste free for a day. You can find out how I got on, and what I learned, over at My Zero Waste, where I have written a guest post: Zoe’s Waste Free day for WRAP’s Recycle week.
My Sustainable Gardening Tips have also been featured on Be More Eco.
All in all, a very busy week for my little blog!
Recycle Week 2009 starts on Monday 22nd June. This year’s theme is ‘Let’s waste less’ and you can make a pledge at http://www.recyclenow.com/. It wasn’t hard for me to pick my pledge as I already do all of them except one: I pledge to go waste free for a day, or I will cook all the dinners for a week! I’m not quite sure how I’m going to achieve it, and I haven’t got long to get ready, but I’ll do my best! I think I will have to make at least one exception, which is cat litter, although I am looking into a flushable alternative.
Several eco bloggers are getting involved and have set themselves special challenges. For example, The Rubbish Diet, who I read regularly, is such an expert waste reducer that she is going to be helping other people in her community waste less. For one week in 2008 she managed to throw away just one plaster. One plaster! In a whole week! And she has a family!!! Read more about her and the other bloggers at http://www.recyclenow.com/recycle_week/blogger_challenge.html.
If you haven’t already, why not mosey on over to http://www.recyclenow.com/ and make a pledge. You don’t have to go the whole waste free hog like me, there are several options including reusing carrier bags, taking leftovers for lunch, and recycling newspapers and magazines. Let me know what your pledge is!
Growing your own veg is undoubtedly better, for you and the planet, than buying them from the supermarket. However, the way you grow your vegetables also has its own effect on the environment. The obvious issue is whether to use chemicals (including fertilizers, weedkillers and pesticides) or whether to go organic. But beyond that, there are still ways you can reduce any negative impact from your vegetable plot. These sustainable and thrifty tips will help you save money and reduce waste.
Plant Pots
We all know that we should try to avoid using plastic bags – but what about plastic pots? Plastic plant pots are actually very difficult to recycle because of the variety of different types of plastic that they are made from, not to mention the number of different colours that are available. This is where the three R’s come into play. Firstly, instead of trying to recycle pots, simply reuse them, as many times as you can. Plastic is quite tough and long-lasting, which is one of the reasons why it is such a problem when it ends up in landfill, but when it comes to reusing, this makes it ideal.
You can also reduce the number of plastic pots you use by buying biodegradable pots like these fibre pots, or even making your own. For example, this year I am using loo roll tubes as seedling pots. They are an ideal size, you can write what you have planted straight onto the pot (instead of using plastic labels) and you can just plant them straight into the ground, as the cardboard will rot away, which will minimise root disturbance for the plant. Plus, you will already have a free supply of them, and if you need lots you can always ask your friends to save theirs for you. It’s a win-win situation for you and your plants! Just make sure you press the compost in well so that it doesn’t all fall out the bottom when you pick it up! Alternatively, you can use a loo roll tube and some newspaper to make your own Newspaper Plant Pots, which do have a bottom.
In addition you can also reuse any type of tray packaging as seed trays. In the picture shows I have used a tray from a ready meal and the lid from a punnet of fruit.
Composting
If you are growing anything in your garden, you will need compost at some point, either to fill containers and raised beds, or to use as a soil improver. Making your own compost is a great way of turning your garden and food waste into a valuable resource. It also requires minimal effort and it all happens a bit like magic! I chuck all my fruit, veg and garden waste into my compost bin, along with crushed eggshells, teabags and a bit of shredded paper (take that identity thieves!). I have a two bin system (pictured) which I have just set up. I have one bin to fill up and one bin to use up. Once the second bin is empty, I will empty the contents of the first bin into it, as a way of turning the compost. The only downside is that it does take a long time to get anything useable, but if you can be patient it is well worth it.
Water
Get a waterbutt and you will have a free supply of water all year round. You can also use greywater from washing up or baths and showers. There is absolutely no need to use tap water! Try to water plants in the evening instead of the middle of the day, as less water will evaporate when it is cooler, and so the plants will get more of a drink.
You can also increase the amount of moisture held naturally in the soil by using a mulch. This basically means putting some kind of physical barrier over the soil to stop the water from evaporating. It also has the added bonus of reducing weeds. There are loads of different mulches you can use. For example you can spread a thick layer of compost, woodchip or gravel over the soil. You can use sheets of cardboard or newspaper (remember to weigh it down with something). You can make holes in these and plant your veggies through the holes. You can also buy plastic sheets for the same purpose, but we won’t mention those here.
In addition, if you have managed to restrain yourself/been forbidden from digging up your entire garden, you might have a tiny patch of lawn left to look after. If you leave the grass to grow just a bit longer than usual before you mow it, and then leave the grass clippings on the lawn (to act as a mulch), then this will reduce the amount of water your lawn needs.
Cloches
A cloche is basically some kind of transparent cover used to protect young plants from cold weather, and help to extend the growing season. You could, of course, buy them, but they are generally made of plastic, and they also cost money. You can instead make your own free cloches by cutting the bottom off a 2-litre fizzy drinks bottle.
I did an experiment recently with some young tomato plants, and I’m not sure if it made any hugh difference to the plants in terms of having a higher temperature, but I did find that it offered some protection from the dreaded slugs, as well as my cats. Just be careful when you are taking them off; give them a bit of a wiggle before you pull them up, otherwise you risk pulling up the whole plant and killing it, like I did with one of these tomato plants.
What other tips do you have for sustainable/thrifty gardening?
Tibits restaurant celebrate National Vegetarian Week with body painting!
Ok, so I’ll start with a confession: I am not a vegetarian. However, I do like to dabble in a bit of veggie cooking now and then, and I am taking babysteps to reduce the amount of meat I eat. My reasons? It is greener, healthier and cheaper. This week is National Vegetarian Week (18 – 25 May 2009), so it is an ideal time to find out more and experiment with some new recipes.
Most people’s understanding of vegetarianism is that it means not eating any meat or fish, but the term ‘vegetarian’ is not one size fits all. There are actually several different types of vegetarians, from fruitarians (the strictest) to partial vegetarians (the most tolerant). So you can find a set of guidelines to suit you, or make up some new ones and suit yourself!
Greener
If you’ve ever driven past a field of cows then you’ll know that livestock produce methane. But did you know that methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide? In addition, producing meat uses up far more water than producing vegetables or grains. Meat production also needs a lot of land, making it one of the leading causes of deforestation.
Healthier
A well planned vegetarian diet can actually be healthier for you. Studies have shown that vegetarians have a lower risk of a whole range of diseases including obesity, heart disease, type II diabetes, some types of cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, gall stones and constipation. Note: this does not apply if you live on chips and chocolate!
Cheaper
Because of the amount of water and land needed for meat production, as well as various other costs, switching to a meat free or reduced meat diet can actually save you money. One Australian experiment found that it was around 20% cheaper to go completely meat free.
So, to celebrate National Vegetarian Week, why not try a new vegetarian recipe? Feeling ambitious? You could even try a whole day meat free. There are lots of recipes and meal ideas on the Vegetarian Society website, like this selection of Meat Free Made Easy dishes, so get stuck in!
For more info: Vegetarian Society
This is a repost of a book review I wrote last year.
Nothing in life is black and white, and this goes for being green as well. In Shades of Green, Paul Waddington tackles a range of areas from aeroplanes to wine and outlines different choices, ranking them from ‘deep green’ to ‘not at all green’. This book will show you where you fit on the scale and what you can do to reduce your environmental impact further, whether you are taking your first steps to greening your lifestyle or are already well on your way.
Shades of Green judges the greenness of the different options not just on carbon emissions but also on sustainability and overall impact on the environment. This gives a much more rounded, and sometimes surprising view – for example, being vegetarian is considered greener than being vegan, because we actually need animal waste to boost soil fertility.
The style of the Shades of Green is not at all preachy, it allows you to make your own choices and the author shows a sense of humour. For example, his suggestions for computers range from grumpy Luddite (deep green) to monster-gaming PC hooked up to giant plasma screen.
I consider myself to be pretty clued up about being green, and I am one of the most eco-conscious of my circle of friends, but I still found plenty of food for thought in this book. In fact, here are the actions I am planning to take to make myself just that little bit darker green:
What steps are you currently working on to be a deeper shade of green?
MyFolia.com is my absolute favourite gardening website. It is basically an online gardening journal, with Web 2.0 bells and whistles like plant wikis and social networking groups. I use it to keep a record of what I am doing in my garden, and I find it is much easier to keep track of everything than using a traditional pen and paper journal. You can use it to keep track of any type of garden, whether indoor or outdoor, vegetable or ornamental, massive or tiny.
What I like best about it is that you can use it to keep track of individual plantings of each type of plant. I can create a new planting of the same type of plant e.g. the sugar snap peas I planted 3 weeks ago as well as the ones I planted yesterday. This will help me to get a steady crop through the summer rather than having 10 boxes of tomatoes that I can’t possibly use up all in one go!
You can also keep a journal of what you have been doing in the garden and cross-reference this with all your different plantings. By keeping a record of information like when I plant a seed, when it germinates, when it flowers etc, I am learning a lot about what works and what doesn’t work. I can then look back at this information next year so I that I don’t make the same mistakes over and over again. You can see all of my journals and plantings in my profile (if you’re interested).
Another nifty thing about it is that it links to your existing online photo album (like flickr, blogger or picasa) so that you can simply link to your pictures, rather than having to upload them all over again. I like to take lots of photos of my garden and my plants as they are growing so I find this really handy. You can also add your seed stash and create new plantings from the same seed, so you don’t have to type in the same information more than once. Another time saver!
I haven’t really made much use of the social networking aspects yet, but you have access to tons of information. For each variety of plant there is a wiki (which means the information on it has been contributed by other users of the site, and you can contribute too) which tells you information such as how to grow it, where and when to sow it, how big it will be when fully grown, and so on. There are also groups where you can discuss many different aspects of gardening and get answers to your gardening questions.
If you are a gardener and you find that you forget useful pieces of information like when you planted your potatoes or what on earth you planted over there, then you will quite probably find myfolia to be a total blessing. I know I certainly do.
Remember the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? I think we’re starting to get the hang of recycling, but what about reducing? Reduce the amount of stuff you buy and you will reduce the amount of waste and pollution that is created. If you want to know more then take a look at The Story of Stuff. Think about all the things you have bought over your entire lifetime. That’s a lot of stuff. And did you really need all of it? Has it made your life better? Can you even remember most of it? Where is it all now? I’d be willing to bet that you don’t even have most of it any more.
So if you want to make a difference with your shopping habits, buy nothing and make do with what you already have. This requires a lot of creative thinking and resourcefulness. Think about alternative uses for things before throwing them away. For example, I once had a TV stand that, during its long life, also served as a coffee table and bedside table simply by putting a throw (which I also already had) over the top.
Borrowing (or renting) is also a great tactic to help you buy less stuff. Instead of buying books and DVDs, borrow them from the library. I usually read most books once and then they sit on the shelf gathering dust and cluttering up my house. Now I search my local library catalogue online to find books I want, and I can even reserve them online. Last week, I suggested a book that they didn’t have in stock, and they only went and ordered it for me! Friends are also another great source of stuff you can borrow. Last year, we cut down a tree/bush thing in our garden (to make room to grow veggies) and our friends lent us their shredder. We could have bought our own, but we would never have used it again. We lent the same friends a food processor when they were having a dinner party.
Freecycle is another great resource to help you buy less. It’s a little bit like ebay as people advertise second hand goods, but everything is FREE! You just have to go and collect it! Freecycle is also fab for decluttering and getting rid of old junk – your trash becomes someone else’s treasure. I have scored a compost bin and some jewellery making kit from Freecycle, and given away a whole host of clutter. It’s a great way of saving things that are on their way to landfill, whilst saving yourself money in the process.
If you really want to go the whole hog, you can even join The Compact, a group of people who pledge to buy nothing new for a whole year. I joined the pledge and managed about 6 months without buying anything at all. I don’t stick to it any more, but I definitely buy a lot less than I used to, and I never go shopping just for fun any more – I only go if I actually need something. So if nothing else, it will change the way you think about shopping.
It really doesn’t take much effort to buy less, and it certainly won’t cost you anything. But I believe that changing our pattern of massive overconsumption is the single biggest thing that we can do in order to reduce our impact on the planet and make our way of life more sustainable for the future. And if I haven’t convinced you then can I remind you again about The Story of Stuff? Seriously, it’s well worth a look.
Banana! by aphasiafilms on Flickr
We are bananas for bananas in my house. We buy them every week. I take one to work with me every day for my lunch. They are delicious and nutritious. Yep, we love our bananas.
However, no matter how many bananas we get through in a week, we often seem to end up with one or two dreaded brown bananas. YUK. No longer delicious and probably not that nutritious either after a week in the fruit bowl. I have been very guiltily adding these to our compost heap. I hate throwing away any kind of food, but throwing away food that has probably been flown in from far far away is just … ridiculous.
Happily I have now discovered 2 solutions to this problem: banana smoothies, and banana bread.
Banana smoothies
Banana Smoothie Before Blending by mudge on Flickr
Smoothies are so easy to make, especially if you have a blender. Just chuck a couple of bananas in, plus some milk, or apple juice, or yogurt, whizz for a couple of minutes, and bingo! For extra sweetness, add some honey. For a milkshake type smoothie you can even add ice cream. You can also add any other soft fruits you like, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mango etc, which will give you a nice variety of flavours. We usually keep a bag of these in the freezer for just this purpose - you don’t even need to defrost them as the blender will chop them up, and they act like teeny tiny ice cubes.
If you don’t have a blender, don’t worry, you can still have homemade smoothies. Just mash the bananas (and any other fruit you want to use) and then push the mush through a sieve. Add milk/yogurt/fruit juice and whisk/stir enthusiastically.
Banana Bread by seriouslygood1 on Flickr
Banana Bread
Banana bread isn’t really bread at all in my book, it’s definitely cake. I made my first banana bread yesterday, using this recipe, which contains walnuts as well. It is yummy, and nice and moist in the middle. I used a food processor which made it super-duper quick and easy but you can do it by hand. You will just need to use a bit of elbow grease to cream the butter and sugar together, just remember to take the butter out of the fridge to soften. I think this is the first time I’ve ever baked something for myself as an adult and I found it very theraputic. The best bit – licking the bowl clean of course!!!
For banana bread you will need about 3 medium sized bananas. However, you can freeze leftover bananas until you have enough to make a batch. You can freeze them whole, either peeled or unpeeled, or you can chop them up and put them into a freezer-safe container. NB Frozen bananas will be softer and mushier when thawed so they are best for using in recipes rather than eating whole.
Finally, thanks to the wonder of Twitter, I have discovered a website dedicated entirely to banana bread recipes. There are tons of variations on the basic recipe, so there is no excuse for getting bored! I just need to work out what a cup of something equates to in grams. This is a bit of a puzzle as surely it depends what size of cup you use. Can any Americans out there enlighten me?
I’m sure there are many other ingenious ways of using up leftover bananas, so leave a comment and let’s hear them!
As I mentioned in this post, one of the things I would like to do to make my lifestyle more sustainable is to eat less meat. As I work full time, I take my own lunches to work, so I have mostly been alternating between cheese sandwiches and marmite rice cakes (sooo yum!). I did have chicken and stuffing sandwiches for a couple of days when we had leftovers from a roast dinner but I don’t really count that. I think I need to work a few more alternatives into the mix so I don’t get bored.
Here are some of the meat-less main meals I have enjoyed over the past few weeks:
Is anyone else noticing a theme here? Hmm…
At the same time, I have also been making better use of leftover meat. For example, we had a small roast chicken for dinner, one Sunday, from which I also made sandwiches (as I mentioned above) and a chicken risotto, and there was still enough left to give to the cats as a treat! Then last week, we had a leg of lamb (yes, we do love our roast dinners!) which then became a lamb stew the next day. It didn’t really take any extra effort, just a small amount of thought, and it made me feel like some kind of extraordinary food magician!
I am also very happy to see that my favourite veggie burgers are back on the shop shelves – I probably just missed them last time. Hurrah!
I can’t remember where I first heard about this book, but I reserved it from my local library last week, collected it on Monday lunchtime, and finished reading it on Tuesday evening. Which is unheard of since I was a teenager.
I love this book. I wish I had written it. It is fantastic. It is thrifty and yet totally fabulous, dahling. It is written in such a friendly, chatty style that it is a delight to read, and I just couldn’t help but devour it in 2 evenings. I love that it includes the phrase ‘thick bint’ – this is not your typical thrifty type book. And not only is it fun to read, it is really, really useful as well! I am now re-reading it slowly, chapter by chapter, to make sure I get all the good tips out of it before I take it back to the library.
I also like the fact that this is a British book, so I can actually use all the resources she recommends. It just feels like everything she says is relevant to me. Not only that, it is realistic, and acknowledges the fact that if you work full time, you may not have the time available to visit the farmers market every day. She suggests lots of options so that you can compromise and work out what suits your situation. It also has a WHOLE CHAPTER on crafts. It’s like the author peered into my brain and wrote a book especially for me! Like I said, I LOVE this book!
I suggest you have a look at the book on Amazon, as you can read the introduction online. It will give you a great idea of the tone of the rest of the book.
