Islay finds, makes and bakes...

Once more for luck: The local v organic debate rears its head again

I'm just about to go and buy a load of sugar for jam making, among other things. As usual, I did a bit of googling, and found myself torn between buying British sugar (made from sugar beet) or imported fairtrade/organic cane sugar.

My initial thought was to stick with the fairtrade/organic option, but a bit of research suggested that Silver Spoon might not be such a bad bet - they are Red Tractor certified, which means that although a long long way from organic, their farmers do adhere to minimum standards (e.g. not cropping for a set amount of time after spraying).

However, a quick look at the Farmers Weekly forum suggests that British Sugar (of which Silver Spoon is a member) is another corporate giant trying to push down prices as far as possible, and that lots of farmers are planting smaller/no sugar beet next year due to the crap price being paid by British Sugar. However, the farmers are able to make the decision to plant something else, unlike those in countries with few crop alternatives.

British sugar
Cons: Not organic (I can't find any source of organic British sugar), British Sugar is a crappy evil corporate monster, not willing to support British farmers if the price isn't at floor level, although farmers can grow an alternative crop if the demand isn't there.
Pros: Far far lower carbon emissions, money staying in local(ish) economy

Imported sugar
Cons: High carbon footprint, farmers more likely to be trapped into growing one crop by prices, lack of demand for alternatives, unsuitable soil etc etc.
Pros: Organic (if I choose, although it is monstrously expensive), fairtrade means that at least they are being paid a sensible price.

Really I need a British farmer to come on here and tell me what to do. Would they rather I spent my money with British Sugar, potentially encouraging them to pay farmers a crap price, or should I take my demand elsewhere, namely to imported sugar?

I'm a proud parent

Not of anything of the human variety (apart from Teddy, but you knew about that). I am the new guardian of a chilli plant. We went to the Chilli Fiesta at West Dean Gardens today, which was lots of fun, if a little bit busier than really was sensible - I think it's one of those annual events that's become a bit of a victim of its own success. I'm looking forward to the Apple Affair in October, which I'm expecting to be a bit quieter.

Anyway, while we there it seemed a shame not to purchase one of the offerings, so I am the proud parent of a Nippon Taka chilli plant:

 It's apparently a prolific producer (it already has more chillis on it than I could buy for the £6 it cost me), so we're going to dry and/or preserve them in oil once they ripen to a nice pretty red. I'm hoping it likes its new home on Teddy's windowsill (it may need to find a new new home when he eventually starts crawling, as I'm guessing he wouldn't be thrilled if he got hold of one and ate it).

Hopefully, it will continue to produce chillis for years to come, saving us a little bit of cash. We don't eat an enormous quantity of chillis, certainly no more than one plant can keep us going in if it continues at its current rate. Efficient sufficient, see?!

We also bought a very nice garlic plait, a smoked garlic and an elephant garlic from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm, which had a stand there. Here's the elephant:

 That, combined with my lovely lovely spa day yesterday (birthday and christmas present from Adam and various other family members) has meant a rather wonderful weekend, all in all.

So what's your five year plan?

I think I need a plan. Of course, we all know what my general five year plan is (see the 'Self sufficiency' link above), but it seems a shame that I, with a love of list making that verges on the obsessive (I have yet to meet anyone outside of my family that writes 'make list' at the start of the list, just so they can cross something off), have yet to make a list of specific goals that I can cross off on our route to self sufficiency apart from the very vague one in the introduction.

I suspect this list will get jumbled up, added to and subtracted from in the coming 1,770 days (oh god, that counter was a lot higher than that when I began!), but I think it will be useful for me and anyone who wants to know where this rambling is actually going to have a more precise list to tick off as we go.

I like to think that efficient sufficient will mean something for everyone reading this blog, but in general I see it as self sufficiency with whatever compromises an individual finds necessary to live a nice life. So for us, the list of targets (in approximate order of expected completion) is:
1) Forage all year round for as much of our food as possible, preserving what we find where practical (such as blackberries)
2) Bake all of our bread and treats
3) Make gifts and cards for families and friends for all birthdays and christmas
4) Knit any woolies that we need, including socks and winter jumpers
5) Become self sufficient in vegetables (except a couple of treats)
6) Grow a couple of fruit trees, and some berries and soft fruit (I'm sure I've read you can grow a small apple tree in a massive pot. Maybe)
7) Buy a house/land to build on
8) Keep a couple of chickens
9) Get beehive/s and start beekeeping
10) Convert/build said house to be more energy saving and sustainable
11) Go onto a water meter and reduce our water usage as far as possible, including saving as much rainwater as possible for the garden
12) Generate at least some of our own power or heating (depending on circumstances)

I don't think I've missed anything, except the optional extras like keeping another animal or two (probably not practical any time soon, as we probably won't be able to afford the land we'd need). Each point on this list practically deserves a sublist all of its own, but I think the phrase 'too much of a good thing' might be appropriate at this stage.

Number seven is the obvious sticking point. We are saving as much as we can (hopefully a bit more now I've got some more regular freelancing work), and crossing our fingers that house prices will continue to fall, or at least not start rising again, and eventually we might catch up with them. 

Local v organic

I go back and forth on this issue on practically a daily basis (it's faintly possible I've mentioned it more than once throughout this blog), and it was brought to the forefront again this morning as I wandered round Chichester Famers' market (while feeling terribly middle class and yummy mummy).

Of course, in an ideal world we would be eating home grown almost-organic produce (i.e. I'm not concerned if the seed came from a non-organic plant, but I'm not going to spray pesticides all over it), but since the only things that I appear to be able to keep us self sufficient in are lettuce and unripe tomatoes, the internal debate rumbles on.

I really believe there's a complete lack of research on the long term impact of the cocktail of fertilisers, preservatives (in processed food) and random chemicals in cleaning products and toiletries that we merrily ingest on a daily basis. I'm not in a state of panic about it by any means, but I figure that as long as we can choose (note, I do not use the term afford here, it's a choice for people with any disposable income at all) to eat mainly organic produce and avoid as many nasty chemicals as possible, it certainly can't hurt to do so.

However, buying organic does mean a choice of the farmer's market (only every two weeks round here, so not practical for all our food shopping, and only one very expensive organic retailer), an organic box delivery (which isn't as horrendously expensive as many think, but isn't the cheapest), or the supermarket (Sainsbury's or Waitrose). I've am generally trying to avoid the supermarket now, as I the ethos of the bottom line above everything else irritates me a lot. Although I have to confess I do still get a lot of our dry goods (rice, pasta, flour) from there.

I'm trying a month without the Riverford box to see if it saves me anything, so today I went and bought a mixture of organic and non-organic from the farmers' market, and I reckon I got a shade more for my money than I do with the Riverford box (I spent about £13-14 on all the fruit and veg), which seems reasonable as some of it isn't organic.

 
 
 But obviously nothing at all imported (Riverford imports some fruit and veg from France and further afield, but always makes it quite clear where everything has come from before you buy). I liked the fact that I'm supporting local business, but was cross with myself for not talking to the producers more about what they spray on their crops. I suspect that even the non-organic ones aren't as awful as massive farms with huge supply commitments to supermarkets, but that's purely my own theory.

So, my current plan is to carry on shopping at the farmers' market every other week, and I'm going to call up the local farm shop I discovered (they have a stand at the farmers' market) and talk to them about how evil they are about crop spraying. What's a nice way of phrasing that question?

Of course, I'm still left with the dilemma of meat (currently buy either free range from farmers' market or organic from supermarket) and dry goods, but that's a problem for another day.

< < Jo melts in a little puddle of indecision > >

Foraging: The time is ripe (and so is the fruit)

We've entered the best time of year for foraging beginners, like me. This is because not only is wild food at its most abundant in late summer/early autumn, it's also the time when all the easily identifiable stuff, like blackberries, are ripening, instead of random spring greens that need half an hour to identify each leaf.

My tip for the day is take a tupperware or a ziplock bag with you every single time you leave the house. I've got into the habit of chucking an empty tupperware into the basket under the pram every day (even easier now that I am Monday-Challenging myself to new heights of organisation), but keeping a ziplock bag in your handbag or pocket is doable even for the busiest of souls.

As I'm out and about, I just grab anything that's ripe, from blackberries on the footpath I walk up practically daily with Teddy to the windfall apples from the tree in the park. Rather than trying to persuade myself to go to all the effort of making one small pot of jam at a time, I'm storing the fruit in the (little, still on) freezer, so when I finally have a sensible amount I can start with the recipes.

 I already have getting on for a kilo of blackberries, which (when I've got more) I'm planning to turn into blackberry syrup/cordial, and lots of blackberry jam. Possibly some blackberry ice cream, but I'm thinking I can just mix the syrup with some leftover frozen blackberries for making ice cream at a later date if I want.

 I'm a bit scared of the rosehips, as you need to deal with them carefully to prevent getting any of the hair from the seeds into whatever you make, but apparently you can make yummy syrup, jams and all sorts. Will be good to experiment. I'm also wondering whether I can use the hips in the garden to similar effect, or if they won't have as strong a flavour as the wild dog rose and rosa rugosa.

 I'm also chopping apples and freezing them every time I get a couple more. I've got absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with them (all cookers), but if all else fails they can either get chucked into a christmas chutney or I can make some herby apple jelly to go with roasts. Seems a shame to let them go to waste!

 I've also found a cherry tree, but due to only getting a tiny handful at a time, and being too lazy to stone them, I just keep them in the fruit bowl for snacking on rather than making cherry pie or something ambitious like that. Possibly it's time to think about a smaller fruit bowl though.

I've also (I think) found walnut, hazelnut and sweet chestnut trees. I'm not a massive fan of nuts, but I'm thinking I might be able to create some kind of sugar roasted nut thing for christmas.

What's the buzz?

Saw this in the news yesterday, quite interesting reading. There's lots of research that shows that bees are very important for pollination of crops, as well as producing honey, and even more research that shows their numbers are dwindling.

As some of my friends may be aware (I mention it on average every other day, according to my sister), I would love to keep bees. It's something of a preoccupation of mine, despite a fairly major fear of things buzzing round my head and a complete lack of bravery about being stung.

Honey can replace sugar in lots of recipes, from cakes and deserts to chutneys and salad dressing, and bees don't cost a fortune (so I'm told) apart from the initial investment in hives and safety gear, so beekeeping seems like the perfect step in our self sufficient lifestyle.

Unfortunately, we are planning on moving next year, and even if we weren't, only have a miniscule little courtyard garden which is already filled to bursting with pots and growbags, so beekeeping is off the cards for the moment. As soon as we move somewhere more permanent though (or if I ever get to the top of the allotment waiting list, and if they allow hives), it's top of my To Do list.

However, I'm not planning on one of those nasty ugly plastic hives. I haven't done an awful lot of research, but I read an interesting article in Permaculture magazine (good magazine, must think about subscribing) on Warre hives, and quite like the look of them. Plenty more reading to do on the subject though.

Websites I like

I spend too much a bit of time on the internet, reading forums, blogs and anything else I can lay my hands on written by people who are doing things similar to what we are trying to do. Since some of you actually have jobs, I've distilled this down to a small selection of recommendations:

1) Simple green frugal co op - a really interesting blog written by lots of people, with advice from everything on budgeting to gardening for your family to seasonal recipes
2) Self Sufficientish - I find the articles on this website a bit simplistic, but a brilliant introduction to lots of ideas, and the forum is very useful, full of lots of people at varying degrees of self sufficiency.
3) Ethical Superstore - an online shop for everything from food to recycled paper. Although even this website couldn't solve my shampoo conundrum.
4) Doc's frugal world - a guy in Australia who makes lots of wonderful things from what most people would consider either rubbish or mud. His partner, Scarecrow, has an equally interesting blog on growing things, although it's not entirely relevant due to the reversed seasons!
5) The Farmers Weekly forum - lots of larger scale considerations, but if you search there are some really interesting debates on organic v non-organic food and a million other issues

I'm sure there's more, but that's a nice little selection for now. I know these other websites are lovely, but please don't stop visiting me!

(Roller)balls to it

I am desperately trying to use up all my pens. It is not going well - apparently, despite being a writer, I write almost nothing down in real life, except my daily To Do list.

You see, I have promised myself that in the spirit of being efficient sufficient I will never again buy crappy disposable pens. Instead, when I have finally used up every last pen in this house, I will treat myself to a lovely fancy fountain pen with a refillable ink cartridge thingymabob (I suspect there's a proper name for it). And I will use it forever and ever and never lose it or stand on it or break the nib or anything.

Before deciding this, I would probably have estimated that we have three, perhaps four, working biros of one form or another in this house. There is never ever one around when I need it, so there can't be that many, right?

No.

I started actually putting all the pens in one place so that I could track my usage and get progressively more excited about buying a proper pen, sad bastard that I am, and I found not three, not four, but nearly a dozen pens! Plus a whole load of pencils (why? I swear I haven't bought any HBs since I was about 14), which really I ought to use up in the spirit of the thing.

So as well as counting down to self sufficiency, I can probably also assume that I'm on approximately a five year countdown before I use up enough bloody biros to justify a nice fountain pen.

Maybe I'll start drafting my blogs on paper first...

Stepford wives unite!

How many times have you read one of those money saving articles that tell you to stop buying an M&S sandwich at lunchtime and an afternoon Starbucks? And how many times have you rolled your eyes and thought, 'pah, that's rubbish, I've been bringing my own lunch in since 1983, and only Waitrose's finest organic coffee passes my lips.'

If you're anything like me, probably reasonably often, although without the coffee since I don't particularly like it. If you're anything like me, you're perhaps also prone to the odd slip up, the odd day where you didn't have any bread, or you were bored of cheese and pickle for the 3,000th day running, or you really needed caffeine after a crap night with the baby and Waitrose was plum out of hand picked peruvian coffee roasted over the dying embers of a Native American's campfire.

Of late, between the poorly baby (who is now better) and rapidly approaching deadlines, these kinds of slip ups have been happening more and more often. Things that I have done recently that were wasteful of both money and resources include:
1) Buying an M&S sandwich on the way to pick Teddy up from the childminders because I didn't have anything in for lunch
2) Using disposable wipes because I forgot to top up the water for the reusables when I last did a nappy change
4) Buying lunch at Ikea because we didn't have anything in to eat before we went
5) Countless corner shop snacks and bits and bobs to make meals out of, due to my apparent complete inability to organise a week's food shopping and write a feature (I can't ask Adam to do it as I'm too much of a control freak - what if he doesn't compare the prices of the value tomatoes in Lidl and Sainsbury's? What if he buys wholemeal pasta? I can't take the stress)

So, this week's challenge is to stop wasting. And how do I plan to achieve this? Simple: be a Stepford wife.

But failing that, a notepad and a bit of time every evening will have to do. I am going to:
1) Make a note of what we're doing the next day, and pack the changing bag appropriately (reusable wipes in a sealed bag if we're going out, disposables for the childminder so she doesn't think I'm even more insane than she already does)
2) Make packed lunch for me (if necessary) and Adam (although this task may get delegated to him, as he makes better food than me)
3) Lay out clothes for the next day for me and Teddy (Adam probably capable of choosing his own). I know this technically doesn't save resources, but the stress of trying to find a clean ironed t-shirt every morning is killing me, never mind accessories
4) Menu plan so we don't end up nipping out for expensive essentials from the corner shop

Do try to contain your excitement at it all. I know it seems a bit tedious, but it's boring little things like this which enable us to save the odd extra £20 here and there, which will all matter in the end (she says, confidently, while hoping for that hitherto unheard of wealthy relative to die)

Quick, turn off your freezer!

It saves a crapload of energy.

I have always convinced myself that a chest freezer would make us more, not less, green, as I figured we could bulk buy meat, freeze summer fruits and make our own ice cream. We do all of these things occasionally, but there was certainly plenty of time when the freezer was languishing almost empty.

After thee shock results of last week's Monday Challenge I'm going to have to weigh that one up a little more carefully now, and at least make sure we're getting maximum use from our freezer if it is on.

For the seven days prior to turning off the freezer, our average daily energy usage was 10.78KWH per day, according to the Wattson. I have no idea if that's good or bad, but I imagine it's reasonable. However, for the six days since turning off the freezer (I only turned it off on the Tuesday evening, which this average includes, and obviously I don't have today's data yet), we have used an average of only 7.70KWH per day. This is a pretty massive cut, almost 30%. I suppose there's probably other factors in play - we've been out and about a fair bit, so perhaps have used a shade less electricity than normal, for instance - but even accounting for that, it's a pretty impressive saving.

I'm determined not to turn the freezer back on until we really need to, and I'll definitely investigate other preserving options for things like the fruit we'll probably pick in the coming weeks. I'll keep an eye on our average usage and see if it remains consistently below last week's, which will prove that the energy saving is from the freezer rather than coincidence.

Does popping my own corn make me self sufficient? And other random Sunday things

I am sitting here in front of a very silly film (American Dreamz, since you ask), eating popcorn, drinking fizzy beverage of dubious corporate provenance and pondering:

1. Does it count as being in the spirit of efficient sufficient if I pop my own corn? I did, by the way
2. Is this more than offset by drinking said fizzy beverage?
3. Is the environmental benefit of growing my own salad completely ruined by the fact that I bought a (beautiful) salad spinner today? It is completely beautiful, by the way.
4. Is spending a ridiculous amount of money on a salad spinner justified, given that I have been looking for the perfect salad spinner for about 18 months?
5. Shouldn't I be able to get to at least five thoughts of varying degrees of meaningfulness before running out of things to say?

Incidentally, popcorn:
Dried corn, a handful
A splash of sunflower oil
A big pan
Butter
Sugar

1. Put oil in pan, heat pan to pretty hot, put corn in
2. Put lid on (this part is crucial), and jiggle pan every now and again
3. When corn starts popping, jiggle it more often. When popping slows to about 2 seconds between pops, remove from heat, keeping lid on and jiggling lots to prevent it burning
4. After a few minutes, remove lid, and either sprinkle over sugar and butter mixture (less butter, more sugar for easy sprinkling), or melt butter and sugar together (more butter, less sugar for minimal burning risk and easy pouring) and drizzle over.
5. Eat, with or without attendant fizzy beverage