Well, our small-holding dream has come true......well, only for one week but it's a start. Some friends of ours have gone off on holiday (first in a looong time) and left us in charge of their lovely house and small-holding. It's been an interesting learning curve with an escaping rabbit and guinea-pig, a ram with serious issues and chickens who didn't seem to want to go to bed! Fortunately the rabbit and guinea-pigs were thankfully caught again after a stressful half-hour and we think we've found a way around the evil ram's field to get to the lambs we need to feed! Mr Ram is not in my good books after charging us and scaring the living daylights out of B and me. He is just greedy and wants the lambs food but he needs counselling!! So tomorrow I will wave the bucket at him while I bypass his field and get the lambs fed another way!!
I'll get some pictures up tomorrow .....hope the weather holds! ...(edit: pictures may be a few days!!)
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Wasted Water.
I laughed (secretly!) at Dave's mum when she decided to keep a bucket by her kitchen sink to collect wasted water.....I thought it was a bit of a crackpot idea but I guess I have to admit that she was right!! A bucket suddenly appeared by our sink last week...... like mother, like son...... and I am actually slightly amazed (and shocked) at how much water we would normally waste just through one day. Every time we want hot water we run the tap until it warms up.....every time we want cold water we run the tap until it's nice and cold.....every time we empty and refresh our drink bottles that water goes straight down the plughole....it all adds up! We've started trying to collect it all in our handy bucket and we must be filling that bucket every day at least.
Even up here in the wet NW of England, our outside rain barrels are pretty much empty already, so this water has come in very handy to water our veggies when needed....water that would have been lost down the plughole! In this country we take it too much for granted that we will always have water readily available.
We haven't got onto all the waste water from washing up, baths etc yet but maybe that's something to look into in the near future. It must amount to a huge amount of useable water that ends up wasted......
Even up here in the wet NW of England, our outside rain barrels are pretty much empty already, so this water has come in very handy to water our veggies when needed....water that would have been lost down the plughole! In this country we take it too much for granted that we will always have water readily available.
We haven't got onto all the waste water from washing up, baths etc yet but maybe that's something to look into in the near future. It must amount to a huge amount of useable water that ends up wasted......
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Wild Garden.... Wild Food!
It has been said that our garden is a complete mess......well, of course, there is a very good reason for this...we're not growing weeds, we are growing food!!
Yesterday Dave decided we would go on a little wild food hunt around our (very messy!) garden and we managed to find three ingredients to try out.. dandelion leaves, ground elder and garlic mustard.
The ground elder went into a very yummy omelette for lunch (recipe from Downsizer ) and eating this is also a good way to get rid of this invasive plant from your garden!
The Garlic Mustard leaves were shredded and put on top of a delicious homemade pizza last night, it can be used a bit like spinach, just sauteed a little to wilt it down and put on top.
The Dandelion leaves are still sitting here.... I know I should have come up with some ingenious idea to use them but they just don't appeal to me at all, probably after tasting an extremely bitter one a couple of weeks ago!!
Of course there are still nettles around (and lots of them here!) so they have been picked and left in a bucket of water to make some organic liquid feed for the veggies.
So out of mess and mayhem came some little yummy, good for you rays of sunshine!! We will definitely be using our little book of Food For Free by Richard Mabey a bit more this year.
Yesterday Dave decided we would go on a little wild food hunt around our (very messy!) garden and we managed to find three ingredients to try out.. dandelion leaves, ground elder and garlic mustard.
The ground elder went into a very yummy omelette for lunch (recipe from Downsizer ) and eating this is also a good way to get rid of this invasive plant from your garden!
The Garlic Mustard leaves were shredded and put on top of a delicious homemade pizza last night, it can be used a bit like spinach, just sauteed a little to wilt it down and put on top.
The Dandelion leaves are still sitting here.... I know I should have come up with some ingenious idea to use them but they just don't appeal to me at all, probably after tasting an extremely bitter one a couple of weeks ago!!
Of course there are still nettles around (and lots of them here!) so they have been picked and left in a bucket of water to make some organic liquid feed for the veggies.
So out of mess and mayhem came some little yummy, good for you rays of sunshine!! We will definitely be using our little book of Food For Free by Richard Mabey a bit more this year.
Friday, 25 May 2012
Now on Facebook!!
Just so you all know we've set up a lovely new Facebook page, this is a quick and easy way to pass on information we come across, so if you are a Facebooker please come and join us and share, share, share!!!
Journey To The Green Dream Facebook Page
Journey To The Green Dream Facebook Page
Monday, 21 May 2012
Sunshine ...... at last!!
We have had a beautiful day in the Lakes today, gorgeous warm sunshine making the water sparkle and the well-watered greenery look lush and lovely...
and best of all, the sunshine is meant to last all week...hooray!!!
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| Lake Windermere |
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| Down by the ferry point |
 |
| Waiting for the ferry... |
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| Lush!! |
and best of all, the sunshine is meant to last all week...hooray!!!
Sunday, 20 May 2012
It's the pits!!!
Yes today I will tell you all about armpits, the not so smelly, lovely fresh kind I now have without nasty chemicals! Deodorant is one area that has worried me for some time, the scare stories of aluminium and parabens contributing to breast cancer ... (read Livestrong - Health dangers of Underarm Deodorants) These are common ingredients used in most mainstream deodorants that we buy. Of course there are alternatives that can be bought or you could, like me, make your own... It really is sooooo simple, so much nicer knowing what's going on your skin and effective too.
I can't take all the credit for this recipe as I originally found it here.. Surviving the Stores - Homemade Coconut Deodorant but I'll give you a very professional rundown of what I do...pictures and everything!!
Step 1 - Find yourself some empty containers, I used some old stick deodorant tubes which my hubby had kindly finished with. Clean out any remaining nasty chemical deodorant and keep ready for the mixture to be made.If you don't have any of these just use a tub as this can be rubbed on with your fingers just as easily.
Step 2 - Gather the rest of the ingredients and equipment...
....you will need:
5 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup of arrowroot powder
1/4 cup of Bicarbonate of Soda
15 - 20 drops of Essential oil of your choice (I used Tea Tree as it has good antiseptic properties)
A bowl to mix in and a spoon to mix with!
(All the ingredients can be bought from either the local supermarket/health food shop or even online)
Step 3 - Put all the above into your bowl and squish and mix it all thoroughly together. I've found that sometimes getting your fingers in to squish it up can help to soften the coconut oil so it mixes easily but don't leave them in too long or it all starts to melt!! It should look like a slightly sticky biscuit dough...
Step 4 - Push the mixture down into your tub or deodorant tubes, this can be a bit messy but don't worry, you can wipe down the tubes later. I always pop mine into the fridge to set for a little while and then it's ready for use. You just need a quick swipe under your arms and you're ready for anything!
If you live in a lovely hot country you many need to always keep it in a fridge. As I live in the very beautiful but very wet and not so hot NW of England we don't have the problem of melting deodorant!!
I've used this recipe for a while now and have found that pains I used to get in my armpit (possibly something to do with the Lymph nodes) have all stopped and it really does work just as well as any mainstream deodorant I've used before.
Go on, give it a try......
I can't take all the credit for this recipe as I originally found it here.. Surviving the Stores - Homemade Coconut Deodorant but I'll give you a very professional rundown of what I do...pictures and everything!!
Step 1 - Find yourself some empty containers, I used some old stick deodorant tubes which my hubby had kindly finished with. Clean out any remaining nasty chemical deodorant and keep ready for the mixture to be made.If you don't have any of these just use a tub as this can be rubbed on with your fingers just as easily.
5 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup of arrowroot powder
1/4 cup of Bicarbonate of Soda
15 - 20 drops of Essential oil of your choice (I used Tea Tree as it has good antiseptic properties)
A bowl to mix in and a spoon to mix with!
(All the ingredients can be bought from either the local supermarket/health food shop or even online)
Step 3 - Put all the above into your bowl and squish and mix it all thoroughly together. I've found that sometimes getting your fingers in to squish it up can help to soften the coconut oil so it mixes easily but don't leave them in too long or it all starts to melt!! It should look like a slightly sticky biscuit dough...
Step 4 - Push the mixture down into your tub or deodorant tubes, this can be a bit messy but don't worry, you can wipe down the tubes later. I always pop mine into the fridge to set for a little while and then it's ready for use. You just need a quick swipe under your arms and you're ready for anything!
I've used this recipe for a while now and have found that pains I used to get in my armpit (possibly something to do with the Lymph nodes) have all stopped and it really does work just as well as any mainstream deodorant I've used before.
Go on, give it a try......
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
This is healthy.....right???
Dave has just done the annual Keswick to Barrow walk, 40 long miles mainly on tarmac raising money for a fantastic local charity Alices Escapes (blatant plug!) So being the ever faithful wife I went off in search of healthy, energy boosting, easy to carry foods for him to take along with him. Of course, dried fruit and nuts...perfect! In actual fact he didn't actually eat any of them along the way so we were left with this lovely big bag of reasonably healthy yumminess...
or so I thought.....
Since we started trying to eat healthier I think I've turned into the label police!! What is Sulpher Dioxide and what is it doing on my supposed healthy dried fruit???
Well according to Natural News this is used as a preservative, not only in dried fruit but jams, wine, fruit juices etc etc..... In other words we seem to eat a lot of it probably without realizing!
They also go on to quote.. ' Sulphur dioxide is a preservative that is used to make dried fruits look better by preventing fruits from going brown. It helps to keep fruit moist and extends their shelf life. However, sulphur dioxide has been linked to asthma attacks, stomach problems and lower respiratory tract symptoms. Due to its composition, sulphur dioxide is a major air pollutant and has significant impact on human health when breathed in or ingested.'
Well according to Natural News this is used as a preservative, not only in dried fruit but jams, wine, fruit juices etc etc..... In other words we seem to eat a lot of it probably without realizing!
They also go on to quote.. ' Sulphur dioxide is a preservative that is used to make dried fruits look better by preventing fruits from going brown. It helps to keep fruit moist and extends their shelf life. However, sulphur dioxide has been linked to asthma attacks, stomach problems and lower respiratory tract symptoms. Due to its composition, sulphur dioxide is a major air pollutant and has significant impact on human health when breathed in or ingested.'
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