I’ve been thinking about what sort of guidelines I want to set myself for this challenge, about what I’m allowed to buy and what I can’t. Being completely lazy I’ve decided that the rules that Fiona has set herself will do quite nicely for me as well. If you haven’t read her blog entry, basically the only new stuff she’s allowing herself to buy are the bare essentials of food, toiletries and cleaning products.
We have discovered a few extra benefits to Eating Local that we did not expect to find. Obviously, drawing attention to Food Miles is the key objective and spreading the message on how to reduce our carbon footprints. Eat Local clearly does this very well. But there are extra benefits :- Continue reading
As a retired electronics engineer, I marvel at the latest gadgets and I even bought a new digital camera a few months ago. But I also like keeping old gadgets going. Should I get a new mobile? – a common dilemma. A smartphone would provide some features I’d use, but this old Sony, held together with a rubber band, still provides me with the essentials. Replacing its battery was simple compared to an iphone, which would have to be returned to Apple for a £55 battery replacement. Continue reading
Eat Local can be Luxury not Hairshirt
The resident curmudgeon I share the house with was full of apprehension about how puritanical the Eat Local project would be, how much we would have to give up, what of life’s little luxuries we would do without. Not So! Far from being Hairshirt, we find that eating local has its own rewards. Continue reading
A group of six of us from Cambridge and Impington met at Tom’s on Thursday night to talk about the challenge of living with less stuff. The discussion was quite inspiring and interesting. We are all coming from different starting points, with different parameters and different needs. I myself personally would like to go for at least one year without buying any new ‘stuff’ beyond food and toiletries. Unlike other challenges which have been undertaken there are no set rules as such. It can be seen as a very individual thing, but in reality to succeed it won’t work on an individual level alone.
One of the things to come out of the evening’s dicussion was that to succeed in the long term goal of reducing our consumption of stuff is the need to build sharing communities. People between them have lots of different things that all of us don’t possess individually. Rather than buying new things we can share them when we need to. Building a sharing community is key to the process therefore. It is something that must be built on trust and a willingness to make our things available to others. The practicalities of this need to be worked out and relationships grown and developed. I personally see that we are going to have to see a change in mindset from what is my individual property, to what becomes that of the collective to use in a way that best suits all. Continue reading
There’s a bit of a stigma in some circles about buying things in charity shops. Personally I think they are great. For me, going into a charity shop is just like opening your presents on Xmas morning. There might be something special that you want, but when you open that door and enter the shop you’re never quite sure what you’ll find. Continue reading
We had a Bring and Share supper to start off our Eating Local project last week and my offering was a Frittata. This was a new recipe to me and turned out to be very simple, just a sort of Spanish Omelette using whatever vegetables you happen to have. At present our allotment has leeks, sprouting brocolli and chard so I used these. Continue reading
I’ve set myself some rules which I’m trialling at the moment to see if they are unrealistically strict. They are that I can buy new: underwear, gifts and small items I need to make other things e.g. thread for sewing, seeds for my allotment. Other than that I’m going to try not to buy any new stuff. And my definition of stuff is anything that isn’t rent, utilities, services e.g. insurance, MOT, food, toiletries, cleaning products and entertainment e.g. cinema or classes. So for me it’s the physical things I buy excluding food, toiletries and cleaning products. Continue reading
I joined the Eat Local project a week ago and have just managed a whole week without any major difficulties or disruption. Not too hairshirt and the resident curmudgeon I share the house with was at last persuaded it was a good thing and came on board when he discovered that Waller’s Butchers at Mitchams Corner do local rabbit, pigeon, venison and beef. As I usually do not cook meat, he was pleased to see I am making concessions for these 6 weeks by carnivore cooking. Tuesday’s beef stew made from cows that grazed Midsummer Cmmon last year plus regular supplies of homemade bread converted
him. Did not stop him escaping to Germany for the week however.
One of my favourite spring vegetables is purple sprouting broccoli – it is so much tastier than the more common large-headed, all-green Calabrese type, which is what you mainly get in the supermarkets all year round. Mayflower Organics in the Sunday market has it now, but lots of people grow their own. The photo shows my supper of the broccoli with wild rabbit stew – delicious! The rabbit came from the Hawthorn Farm stall (the egg stall) Continue reading
Just completed our first day of Eating Local which was less tricky than expected. Much heated debate around the house before we began got resolved by discovering that our local butcher, Waller’s at Mitcham’s Corner by the Victoria Bridge, does local rabbit, pigeon, venison and beef. So the omnivores here were converted Continue reading
I never really appreciated rhubarb until I started seriously getting into eating local food, what with fruit from anywhere in the world being available effectively all the time, but now I really look forward to the spring crop, which comes so much earlier than any other fruit. Having eaten mainly stored apples all winter (and my stored cox’s are still going strong!) Continue reading
Spring is often associated with plenty, regrowth and renewal. And with a wide range of imported produce from warmer climes, the ‘hungry gap’ (the period in April-May when the winter vegetables like roots and cabbage are finishing and the abundance of summer is not yet upon us) is for many people a thing of the past. However, as one of a number of challenge participants committed to living exclusively off locally grown produce* for the next six weeks, I was wondering whether some lean times could be in store. Continue reading
Wiggly Wigglers goat socks
Being surrounded by like-minded people, you can sometimes forget that many people in the wider world don’t consider climate change to be a major issue for them. Some experiences this last weekend have shown me personally how much of a challenge it is for me as well as others to move to a more sustainable way of living. Continue reading
