Surplus Cattle to Generate Power, Coming to a Home Near You......

I was pretty disgusted to find today that Tesco are sending 5,000 tons of leftover, unsold, out of date meat a year to be burned to generate electricity for up 600 homes.

Now I'm not a vegetarian at the moment. Sometimes I don't eat meat for a long time, especially in India, where vegetarian food is delicious and meat is not missed. Living with my family, I don't get to choose the type of meat I eat, I eat what is fed to the whole family. That includes meat from the local supermarket. When we return to India I will stop buying, cooking and ordering meat again.

So if I'm disgusted, I can imagine how the 'real' vegetarians feel. VIVA (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) campaigners are outraged. I can see where they are coming from. I wouldn't want my home powered by mass produced, dead cows leftover from our greedy society.

I only planned to write a post to let others know. That was until I googled the article I had read in the 'Daily Mail' and came up with a whole list of articles criticising the 'vegetarians'!

One such blog post really 'got my goat'... so much so, I left a comment. Where do these people get their morals?

Tesco criticised by vegetarians for using waste meat to generate electricity

www.pointblog.co.uk

"Here we go again! The bloody do-gooder vegetarians have found something else to whinge about. Tesco reduce the landfill waste that they create by using the leftover meat to generate electricity. Not only does this save landfill space but it also stops the rats from getting bigger and stronger by denying the vermin food. Good for Tesco, keep up the good work. Why not drop a few vegetarians into the mincer and burn those bleeding heart liberals to generate even more power? Bloody vegetarians have made their choice and I don't have a problem with them not eating meat. However, stop trying to police the world by denying us normal people the right to use meat as we see fit."

My comment...

"Here we go again! Ignorant, uneducated people like you are trashing the earth as you live in your selfish egotistical world. I am not a vegetarian. I eat meat. It takes millions of tonnes of water, electricity and toxic emissions to produce a few fat cows for us to eat. If you hadn't noticed global warming and climate change happening around you, then wake up. Your selfish kind are stealing fresh water from the mouths of innocent children, stealing fresh air to pay for your own pollution levels and stealing the land and trees that this earth needs to survive, to give prime property to meat factories so you can fill your stomach at Tescos. Look at the bigger picture before you start to praise multi national companies for their 'moral sense'... Try spending 90 minutes of your time educating yourself by watching this... "

'Leicester Mercury' Article...

It seems there were two articles written about the 'Leicester Canal Issue', they were published in Tuesdays 'Leicester Mercury'. Online you can read them here and here. It was interesting to read the comments left on the main article. It's always good to see the messenger being shot at!

I left my own comment too, but it hasn't been published for some reason, maybe it has been delayed in the system. Here it is just in case...

Dear Robert,
I was taking a walk along the canal with my husband and 2 year old daughter on a Saturday afternoon. I do not usually take bin liners with me on our walks, but I often take my camera. I always take my rubbish home with me as I prefer to recycle what I can. I very often pick up other peoples rubbish as well and deposit it in the nearest bin. I do not however feel self righteous when doing this, just very sad. I did not contact the newspaper to 'moan' about the problem, only to make it known to the public the results of their disregardful actions when they throw litter. I would not know if this was a new or old problem as I have only lived in Leicester for 6 months.

Dear Kim,
I am concerned. This is the planet where my daughter and her future generations will grow up. I do a lot to ensure that I teach her about respect and compassion for the world and it inhabitants. I am very happy that there are people who have the sense to organise volunteer projects. I would be very happy to volunteer for any type of environmental project that is happening in the area. Unfortunately I am leaving Leicester in a few days, so as well as not being able to enjoy the beauty of Abbey Park anymore, I will also not be able to participate in any voluntary clean ups.

Dear Niki,
You have some very wise comments. I agree that we have to educate our children first, to make a difference. You may be interested to read my post about sustainable development in UK schools:

http://indian-earth.blogspot.com/2008/09/helping-hand-in-sustainable-development.html

Please feel free to view my original post and photos at:

http://indian-earth.blogspot.com/2008/09/helping-hand-in-sustainable-development.html

Regards,

A Helping Hand in Sustainable Development...

Foundation for Sustainable Development  on Facebook

I set out to discover what is 'really' being done to educate our country in the move towards being green. 

Now, I know from experience that when you sit a child down in a class with a book and preach about the world and it's issues, things get a little boring and out of perspective. It's another lesson to learn, another snippet of information to revise and another minute of a life wasted.

Get me out of the classroom, make me feel special, give me some responsibility and a chance to have fun and I'll remember the day for the rest of my life.

There is of course a government initiative to educate our children and reeducate our adults. Reports have been written, agendas have been set and all will be published for the world to see. This has been happening over the last few years, but of course unless you are involved directly or are scouring the net for answers, the results are hidden in a mountain of paperwork and promises...

The 'Sustainable Development' Government website states that:

"Formal education has a crucial role to play in raising awareness of sustainable development among young people. It gives them the skills they need to put sustainable development into practice in later life and form good habits at an early age.

On behalf of the Government, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) aims to ensure that sustainable development is embedded in the core education agenda across all education and skills sectors. In 2003 they launched the Sustainable Development Action Plan for Education and Skills. The action plan is organised around four objectives :

• Education for sustainable development
  
• The environmental impact of the Department and its partner bodies
  
• The environmental impact of the education estate
  
• Local and global partnership activities

Sustainable Schools website

DfES is developing a web-based service, Sustainable Schools , which will bring together sources of advice and practical support for teachers and school heads and governors. Sustainable Schools is designed to provide an on-line community, disseminate good practice and offer a shop window for the many schemes to promote their service to schools."

***

DEFRA, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK government department. Their ultimate aim is 'to enable everyone to live within our environmental means'.

Reading through their Sustainable Development pages, they are obviously moving in the right directions in theory and practically speaking doing everything they can to filter down the 'action' through schools, teachers and communities. The introduction on the main page is a direct, straight forward, no nonsense statement, we all need to listen to:

"The past 20 years have seen a growing realisation that the current model of development is unsustainable. In other words we are living beyond our means. From the loss of biodiversity with the felling of rainforests or over fishing, to the negative effect our consumption patterns are having on the environment and the climate. Our way of life is placing an increasing burden on the planet - this cannot be sustained.

The increasing stress we put on resources and environmental systems such as water, land and air cannot go on for ever. Especially as the world's population continues to increase and we already see a world where over a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, more than 800 million are malnourished, and over two and a half billion lack access to adequate sanitation.

A widely-used and accepted international definition of sustainable development is: 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' - Globally we are not even meeting the needs of the present let alone considering the needs of future generations.

Unless we start to make real progress toward reconciling these contradictions, we all, wherever we live, face a future that is less certain and less secure than we in the UK have enjoyed over the past fifty years. We need to make a decisive move toward more sustainable development both because it is the right thing to do - and because it is in our own long-term best interests. It offers the best hope for securing the future."

Extract taken from the UK Sustainable development Government website

***

Now I feel a little better that so many things are in place, being ticked off and implemented, but a small cynical part of me says it may be there in theory, for the sake of reports, to show the world we care. But is any of it actually flowing through the system and watering the 'grass roots'?

I know that when I step outside the door, when I turn on the TV, all I see shoved in the face of 'communities' is the marketing magic of consumerism. At every turn, in every view on every bus, it's there. So where is the knowledge and encouragement we need from our 'so called elders'?

I have seen a few new hoardings for the 'Love Food' campaign and Leicestershire's reusable bag's ad (I didn't know the are given them away for free!) But I still feel that these green issues are all a bit 'alternative thinking' and that I'm only noticing the tiny changes because I'm looking for them.

As I don't have a child of school age, I can't tell you if the teachings are hitting home yet, I'd like to hear from others, in any country, what is your child being taught and how? Do they come home excited about environmental issues? How to you encourage and develop these ideas?

It's all very well having a mountain of websites to scour through, games for children to play online, reports and agendas, adverts and ideas, but truly the best way to teach your children is through spending time with nature. Learn about the basics of life, water, air, weather. Let your child see the beauty in the world and learn to respect and admire our planet.

A River Runs Through It...

Here is a view of the canal that runs past Abbey Park in Leicester...

...beautiful isn't it? ...and another one...

Now take a closer look at the patch of white in the centre of the photo above...

...then, just to be sure...

...plastic bottles, a car wheel, a sofa cushion, a football, a yoghurt pot, a few pieces of fence post, a million plastic bags, an extended family of rats (yes I did see them scurrying across the island paradise they live on!)... a complete and utter disgrace!

... then there is the bank that leads down to the water, perfect for family picnics, groups of hooded junkies, tramps day out, school kids smoking place and nearby bus stop litter bin...

...and if your local council doesn't have a recycling and refuse depot, feel free to fly-tip your unused and unwanted clutter over the fence...

...it makes a perfect playground for the rat babies... (sorry they are so quick, I couldn't catch a shot!)

Don't forget after your picnic lunch from Sainsbury's, to leave behind some bonus marketing for the local store. If you can't be bothered to walk to the bin or take your leftovers home, don't worry, leave it hanging in a conspicuous place for someone else to clean up!

We live in such a beautiful world, full of beautiful people... 

Shame they don't have any consideration for the gift they have been given...

Sad that their parents have neglected to teach them about sharing and compassion for others...

Do you ever feel completely lost and powerless in this powerful world?

****

Email to the Editor of 'Leicester Mercury' and  to Leicester City Council...

I would like to bring to your attention some images I took on a walk along the canal in Leicester.

I know that litter, recycling and refuse are an important issue at the moment in Leicestershire.

I have only lived in Leicester for a few months and I'm very impressed with the rejuvenation work and love the beauty of Abbey Park.

It's just a shame that this beauty is lost on Leicesters untidy residents.

I realise you don't have time to pursue all emails and I am not asking for a reply.

I would simply like to let you know there are some residents who do care for the world and it's beauty.

I have written a few posts in my blog about the issue of rubbish, litter and recycling in Leicester.

If you have time please read them, the photos are in the first link...

http://indian-earth.blogspot.com/2008/09/river-runs-through-it.html

http://indian-earth.blogspot.com/2008/09/filthy-liars.html

http://indian-earth.blogspot.com/2008/09/todays-newspaper-in-india-landfill-of.html

Thank you and regards,

Todays Newspaper in India ('The Landfill of Britain')...

(Ascanio)

Britain dumps its garbage on Indian soil

9 Sep, 2008, 0032 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES

LONDON/NEW DELHI: Garbage is literally flying and hitting the roof thousands of kilometres away. A TV report about household waste collected weekly across Britain for recycling being shipped and dumped in India has the green brigade up in arms.

As part of Britain's efforts to go green and improve the environment, UK councils ask households to carefully separate waste into different categories: plastics, metal, paper and glass so that they can be recycled.

But, according to an investigation by a British TV channel, these bags are shipped to India on the waste black market, which is cheaper. It costs up to £148 (Rs 12,000) to recycle a tonne of rubbish once it is separated but only £40 (Rs 2,800) to ship it to India.

The investigation found that a receipt put into a paper recycling bin in Essex turned up at the top of a stinking rubbish mound in Tamil Nadu. It was traced to the Walton-on-the-Naze home of Geoff Moore.

His receipt for CDs was found by investigators at a sprawling rubbish heap in Tamil Nadu. They also found juice cartons, British newspapers, Walkers crisp packets, UK school reports and plastic bags.

"International waste follows the path of least resistance just like water. India has little resistance to imports of waste," said Gopal Krishna, environmental health researcher at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. "In fact in India there has been an attempt to alter the very definition of waste in order to keep the waste streams flowing. In the last meeting of the Basel Convention, which bans export of hazardous waste from rich to poor countries, the Indian government said that it encouraged trade in recyclable 'metal scrap'. They defined the problem in a way as to justify its continuation."

India has still not ratified the Basel Convention which would have made it mandatory for India to change its domestic laws and stop this nefarious and dangerous trade.

Syamala Mani, director of waste and resource management group at the Centre for Environment Education describes it as dangerous and harmful. "In the garb of municipal waste we end up with dangerous chemicals like plastics and containers that have been used for hazardous chemicals."

Mani said unscrupulous traders grind this and reproduce recycled containers that could then be used to carry food items causing immense risk to public health.

"Biomedical waste and heavy metals too find their way into India through this waste. And we don't even have a single formal metal recovery waste unit in India. All of it is done cheaply in the unregulated sector, which releases the polluting by-products in the air we breathe and the water in our rivers."

Groups in Tamil Nadu have been trying to fight imported waste that’s steadily piling up in the state.

According to a report, about 180 tonnes of US waste was dumped into farm wells near Coimbatore and another 1,000 tonnes is rotting in Tuticorin port. Two cases relating to waste dumping have come up in TN courts recently — one challenging a panchayat decision to cancel a license given to White Star Fibres Ltd for sorting waste paper.

All UK councils are required to recycle. But after householders separate their rubbish and bin workers collect it, councils pass it on to waste firms, who in turn use subcontractors. They are under no obligation to reveal what they actually do with it.

European Union bans sending waste abroad for dumping but allows it to go overseas if it has already been separated and provided that it is actually recycled.

After the TV report, Britain's Environment Agency promised to investigate the matter. Paul Bettison of the Local Government Authority Environment Board called for a change in the law and said, "If a contractor refuses to reveal where materials are being sold it can undermine the whole process."

Copyright © 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service

***

Read the many comments left by angry Indians, by clicking on this link.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinions/3457003.cms

Filthy Liars...

(Rag picker, India)

I have just had a text message from a friend, asking if I saw the recycling programme on TV last night? "A Rubbish Service on ITV1". She said apparently our recycled waste gets shipped all the way to INDIA!

After some Googling I came up with the article below from Saturdays 'Mail Online'...

I'm sorry, I would love to sit here and write an in depth post about how I feel about this... but I can't...I'm just fuming with anger! Even more so as Leicestershire Council is amongst the 'named and shamed'... After all the effort I put in to help save this planet, I feel totally disgusted and ashamed to find my rubbish is ending up in 'My Paradise'.

I am going to have to go and think about this for a while, because something has to be done. I'm not saying I will solve this issue single handedly, over night, but I sure as hell am going to make my voice heard! If anyone has any similar experiences or ideas as to what I can do, please let me know... 

Where do these people get their morals from? 

***

Uncovering the great recycling lie in a trail that leads to India...
By Mark Jordan
6th September 2008

My partially blind, 94-year-old grandmother called me recently. She's a tough old bird, but that morning she was livid.

The 'bin men', for she knows nothing of 'waste technicians', had told her she wasn't recycling properly and should shape up or face a fine.

She has been robbed in her home, conned by a carer and can barely see the one bin she uses, yet now the bin enforcement officers were charging her with endangering the planet.


Stinking shame: Tons of British rubbish dumped on Indian farmland

She's not alone. Twenty thousand tickets for rubbish breaches have been issued in the past year and the Government thinks councils should be able to fine us up to £110 for 'waste receptacle' offences.

My gran's discarded soup tin could land her a bigger fine than the £80 fixed penalty for shoplifting.

I decided to do a little bin snooping of my own.

Now, you would think the people forcing us to sort our recyclables carefully would have a good idea of where they send this green gold for its rebirth. Well, ITV1's Tonight programme quizzed every council in the UK - more than 300 - and 46 told us they had no idea where their cans, paper and glass ended up.


They hand it over to a registered waste company, and much of it is legally shipped abroad for recycling. But if a council, or its contractors, has not sorted the recyclables properly, it risks being dumped.

Some 4,500 miles away in Tamil Nadu, India, environmentalist Nity Jayaraman took me to the rich farmland at the base of the beautiful Nilgiri Hills.

He then began pulling British rubbish from the soil. A Leicester newspaper, Tesco food packaging, bags from Mothercare. There was even a St George's flag.

Nity was furious. 'You're shipping out your garbage, you're shipping out your responsibility. It violates every law, right from the time it entered India,' he said.

Where were the bin police now, I wondered?

Nity explained that a nearby company was supposed to be importing British paper waste and recycling it. Instead, it buys the UK's poorly sorted waste, sifts it with dollar-a-day labour, and then dumps the unusable stuff on farmland.

According to the Environment Agency, dumping unsorted waste in poor countries is illegal. Yet here I am, staring down at a £2 Asda Indian selection pack in the soil of an Indian farm.

A farmer explained the rubbish goes 30ft deep, so we hired a JCB digger and began excavating.

Sleuth: Mark Jordan

I clambered into the pit and began pulling out mail from homes covered by Tendring, Wellingborough and Wakefield District Councils, and Leicestershire County Council.

All four councils collect intermingled recyclables, then send them to a sorting facility, which will sell them on to be recycled. All four authorities told us they worked with licensed UK contractors.

But they added they were 'concerned' by our findings and would investigate 'where appropriate'.

All these people believed this rubbish would have been recycled. Instead, it's rotting in a pit next to an Indian national park that is home to wild elephants.

My producer asked me to say something to camera. As putrid liquid leaked into my boots, I bellowed on about it being international fly-tipping on an unimaginable scale.

Nity and his investigators have uncovered ten more sites full of British and American waste.

In recent years, the Environment Agency has intercepted thousands of tons of unsorted 'green' waste heading for Asia.

One container, supposed to be full of paper, held so much organic waste that the methane build-up caused the container to explode.

From what I witnessed in India, official obsession with snooping on you, me and Grandma Mary for wheelie-bin offences seems far less effective when it comes to intercepting 20-ton containers packed with improperly sorted waste sailing from our shores.

Back home, I wanted to know how it could make financial sense to ship waste around the planet.

I met Ron Humphreys of Abitibi Bowater. He runs one of the biggest recycling paper mills in Britain. Here, your recycled paper is turned into newsprint and paper cups.

He claimed many councils and contractors fail to keep paper separate from other waste. He showed me some rejected bales in a warehouse.

We cut one open and found a lavatory seat, shoes, plastic bottles and underwear. This would bring his machinery to a halt, so the bales are rejected and sold on as unrecycled waste to UK brokers.

Ron said: 'No one in Britain can afford to start separating that, so it gets shipped abroad where there's dirt-cheap labour to sift it. What locals don't want will end up dumped.'

I had brought back a bag of mail I pulled from the Indian dump.

I knocked on the door of a Mr Geoff Moore in Essex, told him I knew he loved Sixties music and handed him a recovered CD invoice.

When I explained its 9,000 mile round-trip voyage, he seemed saddened: 'What's green in that? All of us are told to do our bit, when people in this street hear about this they'll think to themselves, "Why bother?"'

There are few of us who would argue against recycling. What is galling is that some of the councils snooping on us are failing to ensure their collections are properly sorted - by the ton-load.

Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, admitted: 'Local authorities should be attempting to find out what happens to their waste - simply sending it to a sorting facility does not guarantee that it is going to be recycled.'

So next time you catch the man from your town hall sniffing round your recycling bag, ask him where it all goes and how well it will be sorted.

In areas where councils operate a system where everything recyclable ends up in the same bin, one in three won't have a clue.

****

Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053015/Uncovering-great-recycling-lie-trail-leads-India.html


Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard & Metro Media Group
© 2008 Associated Newspapers Ltd

Ethical Dressing...

'Ricochet'

Evangel was given three beautiful dresses as a gift from someone special. They were from California and designed by a French lady called Jill Pillot, under the label 'Ricochet'.

Jills makes all of her clothes by recycling gently worn clothes and changing them into beautiful, 'wearable art'. 

Jill Pillot...

"Her journey to green fashion began 12 years ago when she opened the consignment store, Ricochet, while designing and constructing clothing as a hobby. To refine her technique, she studied fashion design and costume design at Cañada College. Today, she designs “wearable art” for children and adults in the forms of her two collections.

She uses donated clothing in both her casual Ricochet collection and the slightly more upscale Sans Paroles. 

Making clothing from recycled material “has always been a way of life” and “I want to inspire other people to recreate things from what they already have.”

(Louise Lao)

***

I have been secretly looking closely at the dolls clothes when we go to play school, to figure out if maybe I do have enough logic in my brain to make clothes. I have no idea how to use a sewing machine, but I do remember making something that resembled a cushion cover once upon a time. 

I guess India is 'The' place to learn sewing if you want to learn, but it's also 'The' place for getting things super stitched for good value and in no time. So the 'lazy' and the 'haven't I got enough things going on' in me, puts it to the bottom of the list of things to do.

'Khadi'

Khadi is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. It's the ultimate in 'Desi' (Local) and was first promoted in the Freedom Struggle of Gandhi's India. In a bid to claim back India's 'Self-Sustainability' and 'Spirit' at 'Grass Roots' levels, Gandhi encouraged Indians to wear only khadi cloth and not foreign cloth.

A quote from Gandhi I read here is way ahead of his time, reminds me of the issues of today regarding companies like 'Primark' and exploitation of child labour in developing countries. See this BBC website for full details.

"The industrialized countries of the West were exploiting other nations. India is herself an exploited country. Hence, if the villagers are to come into their own, the most natural thing that suggests itself is the revival of the Charkha (Spinning Wheel) and all it means."

I did watch the Panorama programme 'Primark: On the Rack' and as much as I cannot condone any child labour and certainly not a multi-national company profiting from child labour, I do see another side to this story.

You can see from my recent post 'Offsetting my "Ignorance Footprint"...' that I have had first hand experience with what would be classed as 'child labour'. Unfortunately in quite a few cases, (I can't give you statistics as this is just my opinion from observations I have made on my travels of India) some of the child labour is the only way a family can work together to survive.

Who are we to tell a starving family that they can't send their able bodied children out to work so the mother can stay at home and nurture her smaller children?

How can we judge a father who cannot afford to feed his children or pay for school shoes, who has no logic of his own to think that going to school will help his situation?

How do you tell a factory owner to sack his child labourers and not expect the children to get beaten by either their father, mother, landlord or himself?

What good is an education if you cannot concentrate or sit your exams because you have no food in your stomach?

Our ethical values are relevant to our own situations and the western world cannot just force their 'perfect world' on those less fortunate. 

How can we help?

Not by boycotting companies like Primark. They are giving much needed jobs to people whose  survival depends on them. They do have an Ethical Code of Conduct and a duty to their consumers to adhere to it. If Primark contract a factory to make their clothes and as is very common in India, the contracted factory 'outsources' its work to an unethical sweatshop, can Primark be held accountable?

***

There are many companies out there in the world of green and ethical clothing. This page has a long list of where to shop in the UK for peace of mind. 

***

The main point is to endeavor to be 'mindful' of what you wear... 

Don't focus on trendy fashion sense, but moral fashion sense...

A-Z of Homemaking...

Inspired by Lizzie's Homeworld and My Life Makeover Journey ...

A ~Aprons--y/n If y, what does your fav. look like?
No! 

I'm not afraid to get dirty and I don't even own any 'nice' clothes, in fact all my clothes fit into a Waitrose posh jute shopping bag. Except the jeans and underwear, I live (and I'll probably die!) in jeans. They are perfect for every occasion, hot or cold and they don't look bad when they're dirty either! Hmmm... I'm changing the question to Jeans y/n? Can I live without them? 

No!

B ~ Baking--Favorite thing to bake?
Well I've only just got back into baking since my cheffing days, see this for proof! So I guess I'll say simple loaf cakes... The Angel likes to help...

C ~ Clothes line?
Most definitely, fresh air is free!

D ~ Donuts--Have you ever made them?
No, I'm not really into sugary things... give me chocolate cake instead

E ~ Everyday--One homemaking thing you do everyday?
Wash up, wash up, wash up, I spend my life washing up!

A very unusual sight for me...

F ~ Freezer--Do you have a separate deep freeze?
No, I don't have a house to put it in. I won't have one in India because power cuts are too common.

G ~ Garbage Disposer?
I think this questionnaire started in the US! Sometime in the 80's they came to the UK for posh people with bidets in the bathroom. 

H ~ Handbook--What is your favourite homemaking resource?
Definitely the internet, you can know anything at any time.

I ~ Ironing--Love it or Hate it? Or hate it but love the results?
Hate it but love the results... I bought an iron for £5 when we moved in, I've never used it yet. In India we get our washing done by the Dhobi and they give it back ironed to perfection, it's wonderful and cheap! I do however love handwashing clothes outside next to the well in the sun.

J ~ Junk Drawer--y/n? Where is it?
Oh yes, a nasty one in the kitchen full of hammers and string and horrible things. Baskets of stuff are my trademark, for bits and bobs.

K ~ Kitchen--color and decorating scheme.
This is my dream...

L ~ Love--what is your favorite part of homemaking?
The satisfaction at the end, whether washing up, cleaning, laundry or cooking. That I have done it myself for my family.

M ~ Mop--y/n?
Hardly ever... One thing about working in a kitchen with mainly males is you tend to wipe everything off the surface onto the floor, then the cleaner comes along at the end of the day with the huge industrial cleaning machine and it's spotless for you to mess up the next day... the habit has stuck with me.  But I do hoover nearly every day and mop if I'm having an obsessive compulsive day once in a blue moon.

N ~ Nylons, machine or hand wash?
You what?! I think they mean tights and I wear them if I'm cold and fancy wearing my denim skirt and brown boots. Chucked in with the rest of the washing. No special treatment from me.

O ~ Oven--do you use the window or open the oven to check?
That's a bit silly because I don't have a window, I guess I'd open the door.

P ~ Pizza--What do you put on yours?
Vegetables, peppers, sweetcorn, mushrooms, onions, olives, chilis, and goats cheese and fresh rocket on top... dribble!

Q ~ Quiet--What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Sit down and stay quiet so I don't wake her up! Usually I'm on the internet...

R ~ Recipe Card Box--y/n? What does it look like?
My mum has one from the 70's in a cupboard somewhere, waste of time really they never get used. I use the internet and a couple of nice books.

Style of house--What style is your house?
In my head it looks a bit like this...

T ~ Tablecloths or Placemats?
That's funny I was just thinking about that this morning!

We have some horrible Argos placemats that have got wet around the edges and bubbled. Only because our table belongs to the landlord, if I had a table it would be natural, wooden and waxed.  I love old tables that show memories of family dinners and friends for coffee, letters written and paintings painted... in other words covered in knocks and scratches and stains! We saved one table from my husbands restaurant and 4 wrought iron chairs he designed and had made. It's a reminder of those days, the friends and the happy times we spent around it. I painted the chairs brown and recovered them. It's now in storage in Kerala... waiting!

In the restaurant...

At home...

U ~ Under the kitchen sink--organized or toxic wasteland?
Wow, it's a disgrace, not my fault, I just can't get it to scrub up nicely.  It's mouldy and musty, full of odd bits like boxes of tiles and I just throw things in on top! Becoming less toxic as I move towards natural cleaning products... see scrubbers!

V ~ Vacuum--How many times per week?
Hoover... nearly every day, always covered in dropped food. It was new (cream) when we moved in, I'll have to hire a carpet cleaner when we leave!

W ~ Wash--How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
1 or 2, my husband has a uniform and I'm not a clean freak for clothes or linen.

X's--Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
List?! Cross off?! If I remember it I may do it or I may not, it depends how I feel.

Y ~ Yard--y/n? Who does what?
Yes we have a 'yard', and I do everything in it. I drink coffee, grow vegetables, hang washing, play and paddle in the pool. My husband is in charge of putting out the rubbish which he sometimes/often forgets to do. We have a very large wheeliebin and only use one bin bag a week, everything else gets recycled.

ZZZ's--what is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Turn off lights, check taps aren't dripping, check doors are locked, glass of water for bed.

Lemon balm tea

This photo will be my entry into the Jugalbandi  July click! photo event!

***

So I finally sat down for another cup of Lemon Balm Tea, recommended by Nikki. 

I used a little brown sugar to help bring the flavour out of the leaves when chopping.  It was very refreshing and subtle, a beautiful thirst quencher on a balmy summers day.

I think next time I will try it iced...

***

I'm doing well on the 'One Bag a Week' Rubbish Challenge!

This week we've hardly done any shopping, because most of our store cupboard has been stocked up with everything we need.  It takes so much time to replenish your basics, when you move in to a new home. (bearing in mind we lived with my parents after returning from India)

I felt sick when I returned from a grocery shop with my mum last Sunday.  A great time to go shopping to get the cheap, reduced, organic vegetables!  The amount of packaging I threw into the bin was horrible...I felt like bagging it up and taking it to the manager of Tesco's!

Once again my dilemma of buying locally grown veg has been looming over me.  I paid 10p for some reduced organic mushrooms (I actually bought 4 trays in the end).  Now remembering the first veg box I got with mushrooms in, well those cost me a pound, for about 7 mushrooms!!!

But the organic Tesco mushrooms are in a plastic tray, and then covered in clingfilm and I think they were produce of France.

We are living on pennies at the moment, so how can I be ethical?

***

I have been collecting large jars from friends to store my rice, pulses etc in.  I just picked up 3 wonderful green hexagonal jars from a guy on Freecycle

If you haven't heard of it yet it's a Yahoo group, that connects you to your local community where people can give and take just about anything for free.  The aim is to keep as much 'rubbish' out of the landfill sites.  So far I've got some nice plants, plant pots and the jars.  I've managed to get rid of an old bike and some cups!

***

I bought a brass thermometer from ebay, so my next challenge is Neufchâtel

***

Yummy Crème fraîche is my favourite thing to have with Lemon Tart.  And it's so easy!

Take some double (whipping) cream, add a spoon of cultured buttermilk, leave it in a sealed jar in the kitchen overnight, chill and then spoon dollops of it onto your dessert!!! Voila!

***