Raw Food Week

Amid today's scary headlines about the food industry - declining bee population could cost millions in terms of crop loss, fruit and vegetables being grown in factories devoid of natural light and the unveiling of aggressive marketing techniques used in the food industry in a new book - we have decided to go raw for a week. We already eat quite a lot of raw food but we have decided to try going raw for a week and charting how this dietary change affects our moods and emotions. As spring approaches it feels like the right time to do a bit of a clear out and transition to some lighter, juicier foodstuffs. I ordered a bumper selection of fruit instead of our organic veg box this week and have started sprouting seeds on all available surfaces in the kitchen. Have made some raw granola for breakfast tomorrow morning and will get some nut milk started before retiring tonight. Tonight is the last supper and I'm out at a workshop on Nutrition for Children, appropriately, so I won't be around to eat it. The last few days we have stopped eating wheat, sugar (a few blips!), caffeine (coffee, choc etc) and alcohol. I'm excited and I'll keep you posted about how we get on.

week four challenge

This week it's all about compost. Composting is one of the simplest ways of reducing your household waste and improving your garden's output. What a serendipitous circle - you can throw less rubbish into landfill and grow fatter, juicier tomatoes into the bargain. So here are a few ideas to get started with:

1. Get a bucket (preferably one with a lid) and start throwing your veg peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells and torn up junk mail inside. When full empty into a compost bin in the garden. You can make your own or buy one from a garden centre.

2. Find out whether your local council has any great offers on compost bins at the moment. Mine was half price (I think - it was actually a Christmas present from my beloved, deposited on the doorstep with him inside)

3. As a end-of-the-summer-holidays project try making a worm farm. These are easy to make and introduce the concept of composting in such a visual and captivating way.

4. Make a leaf litter bin ready for the autumn. Hammer five 4ft poles into the ground, wrap chicken wire round the outside and you have a bin to collect leaves in. After 1 to 2 years this will have decomposed into a good addition to your homemade compost.

5. Make a batch of homemade fertilizer with some nettles or comfrey. Put on some gloves and fill a bucket up to the brim with nettles or comfrey leaves. Cover with water and leave to infuse for a week or two, by which time it should be humming. Dilute one part fertilizer brew to 15 parts water and use to feed your tomatoes, sweetcorn, apple trees etc. A little treat for the plants, which might encourage the fruits to grow just a little bit juicier before harvest.

Hope you enjoy getting busy in the garden this week!

new challenge!!

It's World Water Week this week so I figured it would be a good time to turn my attention to the way we use water in our homes. We often take this essential resource for granted and can be very wasteful in our use of it, so I want to look at a few simple changes that we can make that might get us thinking about water's true value. Here are the week's challenges:

• If you have a conventional toilet (not a low flush or an ultra efficient loo) pop a brick or a hippo in your cistern. This will save around 3 litres per flush.

• Take the Aussie attitude to waste and follow the 'if it's yellow, it's mellow' rule. You could even put a little sign on your loo to explain this to guests!

• Ditch bottled water - globally we drink over 150 billion litres a year! In the US 86% of plastic water bottles end up in landfill. The remainder were incinerated, causing toxic off gassing or sent to China for recycling. Buying water like this costs up to 12,000 times the cost of tap water and according to Gomestic, around 40% of bottled water originates from our ordinary tap water supply. Fill a glass or plastic bottle with water when travelling and water plants with any that is left over at the end of the day.

• If you don't have one already, buy a small washing up bowl to fir inside your sink - this can save several litres per washing up session. It is also useful to have in the sink to collect the excess when you run the tap to get cold water. Use it to water plants.

• Get a water butt to collect rainwater and if you already have one, install another. You are sure to accrue plenty of rainwater at the moment, which will come in useful if we have an Indian summer. Fingers crossed!

Let's get saving!

week two challenge update

Transport has been on my mind over the last week following the challenges that I set. We changed travel plans for a journey and we all bundled in the back of a friend's van rather than driving to a party at the weekend. I found a brilliant bus timetable which centres around a large map of the downs and all the places that you can visit, such as the Long Man of Wilmington and gorgeous woodland - Abbotts Wood, using local bus services and trains. We can also get to my favourite crystal shop with a short walk and a hop across a field - hurrah! We went on lots of bike rides last week, mainly locally - the kids are getting so confident on their bikes now. On one ride we cycled to a local village and found a rope swing behind the church, which made a fun rest stop. On the way home from that ride, we sang the whole journey and the hills suddenly didn't seem nearly so challenging. I signed up to Flight Pledge last year and we haven't flown for several years, but have taken holidays by train and car instead. I haven't yet discovered how much it costs to drive a mile but Chris Goodall, author of How to Live a Low Carbon Life, a fabulous sourcebook of crunchy figures and insightful comment says that it costs on average £0.10 a mile to make a car journey. I would like to work out how much it costs taking into account the road tax, insurance and initial cost of the car so will get back to you on that one. Out of curiosity I have been looking at the G Wiz electric car - apparently they cost £0.017p a mile to run and owners also don't have to pay tax. It does cost £6,999 to buy new though. Am going to ask the neighbours how they feel about car sharing too. New challenges will be posted later...

week two challenge

Well here it is folks - how to green up your travel arrangements, save money and have fun into the bargain. Try these five simple steps this week:

• Make a note of all your regular journeys and replace one journey this week with a different mode of transport - think bikes, buses, trams or shanks pony.

• Find a bus timetable for your local area and see what exotic locations you could visit!

• Go for a bike ride. If you haven't got a bike, borrow or hire one. Check out Sustrans for ideas of local cycle routes, including off-road trails.

• Calculate how much it costs to drive a mile in the car. 

• Sign up to flight pledge. You can choose from options such as not taking leisure flights or not flying except in emergencies.

I'll let you know how we get on with these in the office a bit later in the week!

week one: challenge update

Well, the assistants in the fridge shop clearly think that I am a loon. So what if a fiver can be pulled out of the fridge door - have I checked the temperature? Uh no - how do I do that? Apparently if "the temperature of the item retains a suitable temperature inside the unit, it is fair to say that the item is in perfect working order." They actually said that! Sales-speak gives me uncontrollable giggles so we didn't get much further than that. Back to the drawing board on that one. But, the corners of the mini ice box are stuffed with bits of paper and bubblewrap and I have hardly opened the fridge at all this week, preferring to eat fab food made by my mother-in-law and have a sneaky lunch out with my aunt. Am sure I have done other virtuous things too to counteract the vast quantities of chocolate consumed in the office this week prior to deadline, but they are alluding me. This weeks challenges will be posted up later - all to do with getting from A to B in the greenest possible way. Exciting - non?