Superficial Living

Regular visitors will know that at present yours truly is living in the grand mega-metropolis of a west of Ireland country town. A pleasant country town, of course, full of interesting, nosey people all going about their busy lives.

Usual small town stuff!

But since becoming a city mouse as opposed to a country mouse I have made some surprising discoveries which, through ignorance or naivety, I find a bit shocking.

For years I have wondered how people can justify not recycling, being ecologically unconscious, shopping to support the local economy from local supermarket produce to artisan work, looking outward to considering the result of all their actions great and small, living as lightly as possible, and so on.

I had a garden so I grew fruit and veg, herbs, I composted, looked for alternative, sustainable ways to do things, recycled everything possible, reduced use of fossil fuels, water, resources, reused and repaired whenever possible, bought second hand clothes, cut down on wastage of every sort, you name it if I thought of it I did it.

Circumstances change and heck! but its an eye opener.

Firstly, choice of action is the prerogative of those who are not on the breadline. If you are so strapped for cash you can't think straight, you are going to buy the cheapest item regardless of where it came from or who made it- particularly food.

Secondly, living in a town insulates you from the consequences of your actions. If I leave a tap running I'm not going to go short of water because it is coming from the mains instead of a stream or well. Others may go short of water in the long term but there is no personal comeback on me. Ditto electricity.

If I fail to recycle, the bin men will collect my rubbish regardless; in fact recycling is a right hassle when you have no parking, live up three flights of stairs and the recycling banks are not in walking distance. And compost? Nowhere to put it except the landfill bin.

If I need something I can walk out and buy it, all I need is money in the bank. If it has unnecessary wrapping I drop it in a street bin as I walk past and once again someone else deals with it. There is absolutely nothing sustainable about my present way of living- I grow nothing and am dependant on shops for everything. Even the weather has very little impact upon a town dweller.

There are advantages to town: I use the car very little, I walk as much as possible, I don't have to shop for a month at a time as I can nip out for things as I need them, the proximity of buildings reduces my heating bill.

The end result, after ten months of town living, is the conviction that everything will carry on regardless of any of my eco-conscious practices and that nothing I do matters. In the country when you see the immediate result of mismanaging resources it seems that one's actions are important.
Perhaps each are wrong- I think it is irresponsible not to care and to carry on in a selfish manner, but I have to admit it is difficult to care when others obviously have no consideration for the environment and are happily living heedlessly with no obvious results. Perhaps living in the country gave me an inflated sense of my own importance, and perhaps living in the town has balanced that.

But in the end, if I take no responsibility for my actions because I feel no impact, than who will take responsibility for mankind's irresponsible acts? In the end as we are all paying I fear we will still be blaming other people for doing exactly what we are doing- which is nothing constructive.

Superficial living may ease ones conscience but it sure removes the impact of our actions.

Thunks Thoughted

So there was I reading the latest Permaculture Magazine and just sitting and thunkin' about Life, the Universe and Everything, and I thunkded, so I did, about all those fearfully amazing folk out there who live in them Sustainable Communities and do a great job of living lightly on this ould planet of ours and puttin' the rest of us to ballyshame an' all.

And I sez to me Hub (yon Grouch), sez I, I'm thunken of spending the summer living in a commune.

Commune was the wrong word to use as he immediately answered with, Oooh! running around naked all summer and free love and that?

Blinkin'HECK! Why does he always go straight for the sex and skin? Grrr.

I think maybe community living might have been a better description, or living close to the land maybe? Like Tinker's Bubble, or Findhorn, or some other amazing place.

And I stood in my kitchen and surveyed the dish-washer (Hub's must have), the washing machine (my must have), the fridge, kettle, bread machine, toaster, microwave, cassette player, juicer, iron, phone...and I just feel sick inside. Living lightly- my...hat! Recycling, composting, growing some vegetables (mostly rhybarb, garlic and dandelions), being thrifty, mending and making do with my clothes? Whats the good of such small acts in the grand scheme of things?

And this house- one daughter left at home and all the things in it? Books, CDs, videos, TV, clothes, computer, furniture- its all just so full of STUFF. Remember awhile ago I said I was going to reduce the level of unused stuff we have and find homes for things? Well I have been, honest, and still am, but the level doesn't seem to drop much. Added to which, whenever I'm 'down' I splurge in the second hand book shop- oh how they love me!

What is it with us and things? We have a surfeit while others go short and still we think we need more to make our homes just perfect, just one more cushion, candle, pretty plate, mug set, pot plant, yadda yadda.

Gotta break the cycle...perhaps living naked for a summer really would put things in perspective?...hmmmm...nah- not going to that extreme.

So, how about communal living for the summer? Or would I just end up driving everyone as crazy frustrated as I am myself?

Nifty Thrifty Notion

Yesterday when I was collecting used Classroom towels and laying out clean ones, I realised that hardly any of the sinks had cloths to wipe up spills. As a result, the surrounds were all fairly dirty, between paint, food rinsing, mud, dirt and all the usual class messes. Unnecessarily gross!

Later in the day I was out getting school supplies in the Cash and Carry so bought a pack of cloths to start everyone off, and distributed them this morning. Then I remembered that in the Staffroom there were some old, worn tea towels and hand towels. I had bleached and washed them before Christmas but they were so worn there was no rescuing them to a state of respectability! So I pulled them out and brought them home.

This evening I cut all the old tea towels in half and zig-zag hemmed the raw edges to make child-sized classroom cloths. Hey presto! Eight new sink cloths for next week, soft and absorbent and ready to start a new life!

Now I just need to persuade the teachers to bring in a few more old towels for cutting down, and we will have three week's worth of cloths for each class sink. Two of those weeks for free!!

Howzat for a nifty thrifty notion?!!

Interesting News on V&A Textiles Dept

I've been web-wandering (sounds more genteel than 'surfing, don't you think? or less hobo-ish?) this morning looking for embroidered floral images on Chinese Imperial Robes, and in 17C or earlier clothing. That's what happens when you lie awake in the early hours designing things in your head!!

I'll give you some fabulous links in a mo, but if anyone is in the habit of visiting the V&A Museum to see their textiles (one of my favourite places in London for the last thirty years, irregular, but wonderful!), you really should have a look at this post which I happened across at Thistle-Threads. If you knew it already I still think you should pass it on, as out-of-towners would never find out otherwise?

And here's some Su Embroidery eye-candy for you- if you want more go through the Categories sections at the top left of this page, if you go straight to the e-shop you just get titles with no thumbnails...

and also some Elizabethan embroidery. Have a wander on the Elizabethan site, lots to see.


And for why was I web-wandering in the first place?

I'm designing an evening bag with beads and embroidery, well, I think I am...things don't always turn out as envisaged...as I found a lovely crimson table runner in the Charity shop which I want to reuse. I think its a table runner, could be anything actually, but its definitely crying out for re-use!!

Consider the Lilies...

I would like to be able to impress you with my immaculate housekeeping (see here!) and tell you that I have cleared the accumulated 'stuff' from the dining table:

...done ALL the washing up (there's more on the table behind):

...as well as caught up on the ironing:

Regretfully, this is not so. BUT, in order to impress yous I will give you a relevant Bible verse, out of context (if LBW can do it, can't I? even though I'm not an official writer?):

Matthew 6:28-29

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

So, you may call me 'Lily' for I have toiled not, nor have I spun, and yet I am still up and dressed!

This, however, is some of what I have been doing:

Designed and sewed a table-mat from only recycled fabrics, including the batting...Tutorial coming on Monday, if it interests you!

(Actually, since taking this photo the mat has been commandeered for Middlest's laptop, which has rubber feet and skews the oil-cloth on the table every time it is jogged.)

Designed and made this scrap patchwork Baby Quilt, a custom order from the Shop. It is for a girl, but the mom is not into pink-frilly-pretties, so the orderer... do I mean customer? asked for pink-ish and happy:

And then, thinking about a Valentine's Corner for the shop, I started playing with fabric postcards, also from totally recycled fabrics, but with some funky machine thread a friend gave me one Christmas. There's glittery thread, and the terracotta coloured one is actually silk with a lovely sheen: (not Charlie...) I'll list these over the weekend!

and another, unfinished, using mostly silks, which scooted all over the place something terrible:

So there you have it! A hopeless housewife, but a happy sewer...what were my resolutions for the week again?????

'Stuff'- Part 3 (end!)

Right, now take your head out of the wardrobe and look around your home.

Anything made using wood or metal probably required machinery to manufacture, machinery driven by- electricity? Oil? Sure even the fabric of our houses cost the earth in terms of fossil fuels; do you know how much ‘making’ goes into cement blocks? Plasterboard? Flooring of every sort including lino and carpets? Have you PVC windows, fascia boards, guttering, outside doors? The wiring- plastic coated, the piping-some plastic. Solar panels?

How about the contents of your home? I’m writing with a plastic biro, will type this on a plastic computer keyboard. Does any room NOT contain plastic? And every single bit of plastic is processed oil- EVERY BIT! Now imagine removing every single plastic item, or items with say 50% or more plastic parts from your home: Oh whoops! There goes the laptop, computer, all my CDs, cassettes, DVDs, toiletries, cleaning agents, sandals, trainers, kitchen implements, scissors, the loo seat (aargh!) some cupboards and furniture (coated chipboard), vacuum cleaner, crockery, food containers, bottles, kettle, freezer possibly and fridge…chairs…Gee guys! My house looks awfully empty and inconvenient, not to mention UNCOMFORTABLE!

So when we consider the consumption of fossil fuels we can NOT simply think in terms of transport, or fuel, or even electricity production; fossil fuels and their spin-off impact upon and permeate our lives. We are not just dependant upon them, we are so dependant that we take them for granted and are blind to them.
Personally I have no desire to live like a Flintstone, or return to the Stone Age, or even Medieval times really, but folks we are wasting resources daily here at a rate of knots- and I haven’t even BEGUN on water! And we are the so-called enlightened ones, the aware, the ground-breakers, the crusaders- what about the folks who are ignorant of their actions, who don’t care, or who are too impoverished to change?

Action is a luxury, morals and ethics and choice even greater luxuries: if a person is barely surviving they don’t have the energy or mental resources to care what effect their deeds have in the broaderpicture, and why should they? What choice have they been left? I’m not just referring to people in the third world either, but the poor within our own countries as well.

I know I am skidding lightly over many, many issues here- I could talk for Ireland! We need to be aware, thoughtful, looking to the future as well as learning from our past and conserving what we have that is good in the present- and there IS good, but we need to shake awake more people too.

Even toothbrushes are made of plastic…and imported…

'Stuff'- Part 2

Back to the ‘stuff’: so we have fed our family, what happens after food? Home and clothes would probably be next on our list of essentials. Even cutting back to as minimal as most of us are prepared to do and still be comfortable there are still issues with fossil fuels.

Of what are my clothes made? Anything with nylon or man-made fibres has oil as its base ingredient. Man-made fibres include elastic, buttons, lycra, shell suits, tracksuit fabric, the stretchy stuff in underwear and socks, and my jeans which mean I can actually sit down in them after dinner. Then there is waterproof clothing, fleece fabric, gumboots, slinky evening wear, shiny posh frocks…should I stop now?
Look in your wardrobe- how many items are only wool, cotton, leather, hemp and bamboo… are there any other natural fibres? Quite apart from the price rise in producing all these man-made clothing fabrics, what happens when the oil can not be spared for clothing? Flintstone style here we come!

Recycling fabric is one way of making garments last longer, and buying second-hand or trading is also useful. It is my experience though that a great many people simply lack the skills to sew their own clothing, or to mend, darn, replace buttons, make-do and look smart- a Worzel Gummidge look really isn’t for everyone!

Returning to food- a by-product of sheep farming is wool; we could be needing it soon, and not just for insulating our houses either. There’s a reason the Irish, Scots, Icelanders and Northern folk knitted Aran and Fair Isle jerseys, they didn’t like being cold. News flash- nor do I! And apart from wool production here in Ireland and Britain, post oil and locally, what will we have to wear? Seen any cotton fields in your vicinity lately- uh…no? Bamboo groves- enough for fabric production? Hemp?

Granted, I am looking at extremes but in order to figure where we are going with our lifestyle choices, don’t we need to do so? Sure we can import cotton and other fabrics…by ship? Train? What will fuel the transport- fresh air? Is anyone building cargo sailing ships? Bring back the Cutty Sark- all is forgiven!
Laugh away- the idea of fleets of tall ships delivering imported fashion clothing to Southampton Docks, and being distributed to retail stores via horse and cart is too hilarious to take seriously, but if fossil fuel use is reduced to ESSENTIALS where will it leave us? And will there be enough to go round everyone?

'Stuff'- Part 1

Much has recently been written about ‘stuff’- the clutter in our homes, excess materialism of a first world life, the acquisitive nature of us humans. This week the Autumn issue of Permaculture Magazine arrived (paper stuff?) and as usual I’ve been stimulated into thought and re-examination of my surroundings by its articles.
In particular, this issue has several articles about food; its production, where it comes from, where it WILL come from, practical and ethical questions of its production and distribution…all of which need to be addressed by ALL of us. This should not be a government or Farming or specialist issue- you’ll be sorry later if you have go hungry through lack of engagement and foresight!

As a somewhat disorganised, haphazard person with (I think/ hope) deeply rooted morals and ethics, (Mrs Average?) the food question post Peak Oil raises a combination of issues, many of which I wrestle with without conclusion.

A couple of observations: firstly, having lived through drought, flood and famine in East Africa I have experienced a little of the desperation of neither being able to harvest from the land, nor afford the inflated prices of imported food. I’ve pooled hoarded resources and inadequate vegetable crops with surrounding African families and staggered through the bad times.

Secondly, back in Ireland, depending upon the solid fuel stove for our cooking and heating these last few winters (the price of oil being a problem for us) I have also experienced the inconvenience of running out of stored fuel and having to cast about for more. I can see why people used to burn the furniture during long, hard winters! (We didn’t, quite!).

I know I am not alone in these and similar experiences, everyone has stories of shortfall and making-do, but it gives me a perspective from either end of the spectrum.

Even after we have put the most basic necessity, food, on the table, what then?
Fuel to cook with- oil? Electricity? Where did the power come from?
How many packets did you open and use, or discard, in preparing the meal- tin? Plastic? Glass? With the best will to avoid waste packaging there is bound to be some- even the salt and spice jars eventually head off to the Great Package Heaven in the Sky…or a hole in the ground?

Where am I going with this? It comes back to ‘stuff’.

Recycling is all very well, and certainly a step away from Landfill; but ONLY a STEP- where does it all GO? There was a truly appalling article in the National Geographic Magazine last year about where our recycling goes; it made me literally sick with disgust and FURY. And so it ought- our waste is OUR problem: as the Shell (I think) ad says, ‘When you throw it away, there is no AWAY.’

Consider the amount of rubbish you accumulate in a month and imagine there is no bin collection, what would you do? Rats? Stench? Dirt? Disease? Space to store?

Consider the amount of space this month’s recycling is taking up and how much do you/ are you/ can you actually re-use? A fraction, I’ll bet. A few tins as plant pots or to hold pens and loose items, a few glass jars for chutney and jam making, and vases for flowers, some of the card and paper into the compost, some to start the fire, some plastic bottles to carry drinks or to make ‘fertilizer factories’, or mini cloches for the veg bed, and a few containers as seed trays or children’s art projects. That’s it. That’s probably just kitchen recycling too, what about packaging and containers from the rest of the things we use?

Thankful Thursday!

Is it Thursday yet? Ah yes! Please click over to Sonja to join or read...

'To God be the glory! Great things he has done!

So loved he the world that he gave us his Son;

who yielded his life an atonement for sin,

and opened the life gate that all may go in.'1. Thankful for all the hymn writers over many hundred years who have given us extra words with which to celebrate, rejoice, give thanks, plead, worship, mourn, inspire...So many people who never open the Bible remember the words of hymns, and if that's what it takes to bring them home, that's good too. This is my (covered) somewhat battered Hymnal, precious to me.

2. Thankful Sos came home unexpectedly last night so we could sit down as a whole family to a VERY ROWDY supper, no one wanted to leave the table we were having such a good time. The chat was fairly flying, as were the insults! Today Dilly leaves for Dublin, work tomorrow night and College Monday so we likely won't see her again until the end of April.3. Thankful that I can recycle old clothes and cloth to keep crafting and stay occupied. Even in the lean times there is always something to do.

4. Thankful, VERY Thankful for all you guys who are kind enough to write comments and ideas for me. Since Christmas I am battling once more with the depression, panic about going out of the house, and terribly jangled nerves, and to sit down at my computer and 'talk' to people is more of a blessing than you kindly people will ever know. I am just so thankful to yous.5. Thankful to my 'Heath Robinson' Hub who has kept us in water and firewood through the last three weeks of frozen pipes and below freezing temperatures. Very ingenious for a little African boy brought up in the Bush!

P.S. See the world map on the sidebar?

And all those dots around South America?

I do declare that my Travelling Sister is checking up on me!

Items of interest?

Have you visited Dottie Angel and her 'challenge of the utmost kind?'For one year I have challenged myself to buy only handcrafted or second-hand goods for my house and my own closet. I plan to get creative with whatever our home or my wardrobe may require over the coming 365 days.'

Tif encourages anyone who thinks they could do this to join her and sign up. I've been considering it and I think it's a great way to work on saving the planet, not wasting resources, think twice before you buy, recycling, reusing, and all those other good things we are encouraged to do.

Our household recycles all the waste we can, we compost, we try not to spend money on things we don't need although with three children that's more of an economy thing than environmental! We tithe to the Church and Charities as the Bible tells us, since God too, is plenty interested in us minding His world and its resources. I try to grow some of our vegetables, and intend to plant fruit trees, we've insulated the house to within an inch of its life and heat almost entirely with wood fires. We combine car journeys in and out of town and do no unnecessary driving, although some days it feels like all I've done is drive the roads of Leitrim and Sligo!

But I still think there must be more I could do and this sounds like a fun way of figuring it out! Saving resources should came so naturally I don't have to think about it, and for it to be sustainable it should also not detract from the quality of living.

So along the same theme I have also signed up to 'A Year of Living Creatively'.

Lots to think about anyhow!

Quilters' Cookbook- see the button on the sidebar? I got the e-Cookery Book Friday and have been wondering what to try first! The ultimate eye candy because there are quilts AND recipes!

Yesterday I used a Crock-Pot Chicken recipe from it and it was rather tasty and economical on time too.

So there you go!

How to Recycle a broken Umbrella!

Broken umbrellas are the pits- but this is a way of reusing the fabric to make a useful grocery bag. I haven't had any ideas for the metal, yet.
Here is the fabric of the umbrella cut carefully off the metal spokes. This umbrella had 6 section joins, If yours has more then please alter the numbers below.

Use 30" of matching bias binding, or make your own, and fold it in half lengthwise, raw edges inwards. Iron flat to assist even sewing.

Do a running stitch the whole length, ending up with a norrow 'string'.

Cut the 'String' into 6 x 5" pieces. These are the makings for the little loops you will attach at the section joins.

I sewed backwards and forwards several times across the loop ends. You can see I have attached it with one end either side of the section seam. Attach all six loops the same way.

The very center where the sections join will have a hole from detaching it from the spokes. Sew a small patch over it. I did a very rudimentary one and went round the edges with running stitch twice.The Handle: If you have nice cord to use for the handle then skip this part. Otherwise, cut a wider length of fabric- I cut a strip 2" wide and 48" long, prepare it in the same way as bias binding, ironing in the raw edges, folding in half, and stitching along the length.The wider fabric will be more comfortable on the hands when carrying things in the bag, so make it as wide as you want. Thread this strip through all six loops, then firmly stitch the two ends together flat.
This is the handle threaded though the loops...
...and voila! the finished bag- whoops! forgot to swivel it round.

One very light, fit in your handbag, shopper! If your umbrella had a fastener, you can use it to keep the bag shut, or fold the bag small and use the fastener to keep it tidy.