Home Truth

For some unknown reason, I don’t believe my eleven year old son has had a single mention in my ramblings to date. Sorry mate.

Reflecting on this, I think it’s because he generally keeps his head down and keeps his comments to himself, not like most of the other members of this family!

It’s not always been his way though and that set me thinking about his obsessions over the years…..his collection of horses at three years old was extensive and his love of Pokemon cards was enough to drive us all to distraction! He also went through a stage where all he would eat on bread was chocolate spread. A phase it may have been, but it lasted well over a year and meant our supply of chocolate spread could never be allowed to run out. Or else….

So it’s a shame fair trade chocolate spread was not available in those days. It is now, in abundance - even Asda have their own label version. All you could get in those days was honey (which one son loved and the other hated) and peanut butter (cashew butter was an alternative for the really sound!). We could never convince our kids to eat peanut butter, even with jam as some were in the habit of doing - maybe because they could sense that I hated it with a passion.

Now you can get fair trade jam and marmalade too. So all the family have something to spread.

Well, apart from our dairy fairies, that is, who await the arrival of fair trade cheese spread with anticipation!

Filed under: fair trade, shopping on May 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

If the title implies I have already visited Africa, then I’m sorry - it’s more that I’m turning my thoughts back there. I am not one of those people that suffers from wanderlust and feels the need to travel the world, taking in diverse cultures, natural wonders, new experiences….. I have no desire to see Australia for myself or the beaches of Thailand or the theme parks of Florida.

But I would like to go to Africa, especially Malawi, where we have friends who moved out there two years ago to work in a children’s orthopaedic hospital. I’d love to take my fifteen year old son to see a completely different side of life. I’d like my nine year old daughter to overcome her phobia of injections and have an experience she would never forget with her friends who she misses so much.

But can we really justify it? The expense. Financial and environmental. That’s what is occupying my thoughts today.

Even though I’ve never been, I have brought a little bit of Africa to our home…. and not the cheap replicas that home interior shops are crammed with. Our front room was decorated especially to match an African batik and all the craft items my husband has brought back from his trips to Africa over the years are proudly displayed….a giraffe and baby carved out of neam wood from Kenya, soapstone crocodiles and rhinos from Tanzania, a woven plate was Zambia, an intricate statue of working women from Uganda - a heritage and history and craftsmanship and wealth of skill. It really isn’t just what an ornament looks like that’s important. Who made it, how they were treated, what they could use the wages for …… the story behind the statue matters. That’s why buying from recognised fair trade companies matters. That’s how to create an ideal home.

Filed under: Uncategorized, fair trade, africa, development, culture on May 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just written all this once and lost it. I hate computers. Writing it again while it is fresh in my mind. Today the gym will have to wait. Thius is my list of tasks to do based on my last few blog entries:

• Pond
• Shopping
• Cereal
• Africa
• Compost
• Cakes

Normally, I write loads of lists. You either do or you don’t. Although I’m so overloaded at the moment that even the lists have gone out of the window!

This one is of my most recent entries.

The pond is great and providing hours of entertainment, for me and my man, at any rate. The general consensus from the kids is “Tadpoles are boring; when can we get some fish?” “Not until the tadpoles have turned into frogs” is the stock reply. I’ve heard rumour that sticklebacks eat tadpoles and I’m very protective towards my little friends. I’m already bracing myself for when they leave home, hopping away without so much as a thank you! Still no fountain to report.

Secondly, about to place my second monthly ethical order so all well on that front. Have not located any local produce yet. Have not made my presence felt at Asda yet. Could do better.

Also have not written to the cereal manufacturer yet but have not bought the cereal again either. Wondering if that counts as consumer power. Will anyone notice?

More on Africa to come but you’ll have to wait for my next entry!

What more is there to say about compost except that I came across a beautifully presented gift book entitled ‘Compost’, complete with corrugated cardboard cover no less, in a book club magazine! Whatever next?

Cakes. Definitely eating too many, that’s for sure. Still got plenty of ideas for fair trade cakes, although Saturday’s orange cake was literally held together with orange cream icing. Delicious but crumbled to pieces at the slightest touch!

Time to stop thinking about cakes and go to the gym. Perhaps I’ll make it this time.

Filed under: sustainability, shopping, africa, development on May 24th, 2007 | No Comments »

I have just reread up to the twentieth entry in Hometruth and have some further thoughts to share with you:-
On the subject of chocolate:
I have managed not to buy any of my recently relinquished favourite brand of chocolate in quite some time and am still trying to re-educate my palate. My head tells me that fair trade dark chocolate would be the perfect choice. I find it impossible to binge on dark chocolate which I guess must be a good thing and I overheard one of the trainers at the gym saying that dark chocolate actually accelerates your digestion or something, so that it is really good for you to eat it everyday….in moderation of course!(that killer phrase again!). The kids don’t like it either so it stands more chance of still being in the cupboard at 10 o’clock on a Friday night when I’m desperate for a treat. Unfortunately, my taste buds are still lagging behind.
On the subject of housework:
Well, I’m not prepared to come clean yet about how little housework I actually do, but I can tell you that we have now switched to environmentally friendly shower gel, toilet cleaner, multi-surface cleaner and laundry liquid as well as dishwasher tablets and washing up liquid!
On the subject of fish:
I’ve failed big time on this one. Sorry. I do scan the fish packaging in the supermarket in vain for the mark of the Marine Stewardship Council, but have yet to find it on anything and resort to buying whatever I fancy. I need to reread the National Geographic article and get the issue back into my brain.
On the subject of sneakers:
Love them. Now that they’re worn in, that is. Have noticed Dr Who wearing a similar design and wonder if he could be encouraged to buy the ethical version. He probably wears a new pair every programme, if not every scene. (didn’t I read somewhere that David Beckham only ever wears a pair of trainers once? A different David, I know).
On that note, with the two Davids occupying my imagination, I’ll leave you………

Filed under: Uncategorized, fashion, fair trade, green cleaning, shopping on May 21st, 2007 | 3 Comments »

Anyone familiar with primary education will recognise this process. My four year old is totally au fait with it! She loves to tell me what she decided in ‘planning’.
PLAN:
Anyway, I felt I could do with a bit of the same. This blog is mainly the planning (and pontificating, ranting, rambling etc) and leads on to SOME of the doing. But now for the review (when you and I see how much ‘doing’ has REALLY gone on!).

DO the REVIEW:
Here goes…a review of my first ten BLOG entries.
The Electrisave (original blog) is now gathering dust on the Welsh dresser, unless a visitor to the house notices it and requires an explanation or my son wants to take it into school for Year 6 Science. He was less keen when he found out it had to be connected to the meter and felt the Headteacher would have a problem with that!
BUT we have all been much better at switching off electrical appliances.
I now use the shower and hairdryer at the gym daily, which cuts our home energy consumption but not my personal carbon footprint, I fear.
We have lived without a microwave since it died on the first day of Lent after nearly fifteen years. We aimed to give up microwaving for Lent, but have made it to way beyond then and cannot get beyond the first question of any major purchasing plan - “Do we REALLY need one?” My very own eco-man who cycles to work most days and is late home always/often/sometimes/never (delete as you wish - depends who you ask!) is having to get used to tepid teas that he can no longer reheat, but his complaints are not persistent or loud enough yet to justify the purchase.
We still give loads of ’stuff’ away and are avoiding the shops….
YET we still have mountains of mess everywhere!
We HAVE switched to using recycled toilet rolls.
I HAVE NOT written to the school about the quantity of letters I receive but I have started refusing to take some at the classroom door (which is pointless really as they are already printed and at least I always recycle them!)
Talking of recycling, I HAVE taken two loads to the recycling plant with my friend and have another trip planned for next week.
I HAVE bought SOME energy-saving light bulbs.
I HAVE NOT revisited Marks and Spencers in my search for organic fair trade cotton.

CONCLUSION:
Not bad, I feel. Certainly more progress than if I had not been thinking and reading and writing about these ethical issues regularly. What I have no way of monitoring is if Hometruth is making a difference to anyone else. I hope so. Let me know.

Filed under: Reduce, recycling, simpler lifestyle on May 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

Our church has recently started running a fair trade coffee morning every Saturday and we were approached to help. We were hesitant to commit to actually being there on a regular basis, although I suspect Gadget Man views it as a welcome distraction from the inevitable weekend list of DIY jobs. What with ballet, parties, family swim sessions and all the other plans five kids come up with on a Saturday, it’s safe to assume we don’t know what we are doing from one week to the next.

However, I did offer to provide cakes made with fair trade ingredients. I love a challenge. I love baking too. So does my little girl so we’re having a fantastic time. It’s easy to include the obvious fair trade ingredients - sugar, cocoa, raisins etc, but what about apples, bananas, honey, chocolate and muesli? My mind whirrs with ideas as I scour my cookbooks. I’m so like my Mum. I wonder what she would have said if she could see me now.

I wonder how much people actually bake these days. I’m sure the fair trade companies must have seen a drop in sales of raw ingredients as sales of manufactured biscuits and cakes increase. Baking is making a comeback to some extent, what with all the fears about hydrogenated fats and additives circulating, but most people just don’t have the time (or the confidence or knowledge or motivation?).

Anyway, all my offerings so far have gone down really well. And it’s a great way to cook without being tempted to eat all the end product!

So there’s even more of an incentive for my odd-job man (Gadget Man’s weekend alter-ego) to visit the coffee morning. Maybe I haven’t thought this through as well as I thought I had!

Filed under: fair trade, simpler lifestyle on May 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

Our local newspaper now boasts a double page spread every Tuesday entitled Go Green! I only know this because it also features in the free weekly paper that comes through our door requiring no effort and expense on our part.

So we were scouring the paper last night for houses (even though we have no intention of moving!), special offers that are truly too good to miss or any news of people and places that we know, when we came across an amazing and very exciting fact. This week is Compost Awareness Week. Unless this has been given a higher profile in your area than ours, you are probably unaware of that fact. I haven’t noticed any compost related publicity stunts or bouncy castles in the shape of compost bins or freebies handed out in the streets (what could they possibly be anyway? - a keyring with plastic rotting veg?). What is even more amazing is that this is the SEVENTH annual Compost Awareness Week! What kind of coverage have they ever had in the past?

It’s finally paid off for the compost campaigners. Philippa Forrester and Gaynor Faye are the celebrities (!) backing this campaign for greater composting awareness, bless them (not the sexiest thing to be linked with) and if you buy a compost bin this week, you will enter a free prize draw to win £100 of garden vouchers (I’m thinking there’s not a great budget for this).

As you know, I can afford to mock, as we are already a fully fledged composting family - with our cute little plastic bin for scraps on the window sill and its cute little biodegradable bags. However, I have to admit that we have not gone to the lengths suggested by the information booklet on composting released by the Council and sifted through the contents of our vacuum cleaner removing bits of lego and hair bobbles and whatever else is not suitable for composting. Nor do we clean our vegetarian pet (a gerbil) out often enough to remember to compost its bedding. Nor do we tumble dry our clothing made of natural fibres separately so that we can compost the lint. Nor do we collect up the pieces of wool, feathers, cotton threads and bits of natural fibre string that decorate our carpets. Honestly. It makes a great read. Does anyone out there do all that? I salute you!!

More to the point, neither do we actually use the compost we create! However, it did say in the newspaper article that biodegrading in a compost bin is so much better for the environment than in a landfill. So using the compost is only a secondary consideration. We just need to find somewhere to put it before the compost bin overflows!

Still, I don’t know why I’m mocking really. Cynicism is dead easy. It’s become a habit, I think. This is something I actually support and I’m still poking fun. I’ll try to be more positive. Take some action to support Compost Awareness Week. Convert one other person to composting this week.

Filed under: sustainability, recycling on May 10th, 2007 | No Comments »

Gone are the days when kids like me bought their breakfast cereal on the basis of the tacky plastic figure advertised on the box. I can still recall the anticipation. Of course, I could never wait for it to plop one day without warning into my coco pops. What a day that would have been! But delayed gratification has never been my strong point and I would always rip the box open, tip the plastic bag this way and that, trying to get this most coveted prize to surface above the rice crispies being crushed to dust in my eager hands…

Having a Proustian moment? I can’t have been the only one. I can remember too the shouts and screams of ten years ago when my two oldest boys would fight to the death over a Tony the tiger spoon that changed colour in cold milk, only for it to be discarded broken in a corner by the end of the day.

Ah but times are a-changing. Have you noticed it too? Cereals are now sold with books, educational CD Roms, coupons for schools, vouchers for free activity sessions, healthy eating tips, less sugar, more fibre….so worthy, so appealing to parents with a conscience… and the kids are left wondering where all the fun and anticipation of opening a new cereal packet has gone.

I was coping with all that. So were my kids, I think. But the new Sugar Puffs box jumped into my trolley and found a place in my cupboard (I just can’t resist a special offer!). And as I read it, I discovered we could all become honey heroes by supporting Hives saves Lives Africa. We could send off for a personalised certificate, membership card and badge, exclusive charity wristband and furry honey bee keyring (so the tacky toy is still an incentive!).

And for some reason, I was incensed. What’s the point of yet another charity? Aren’t there people doing this already? What about buying fair trade honey? Doesn’t that make you a honey hero too? Is making the world a better place really about making us feel warm and fuzzy? (with a wristband and keyring to prove it?) Isn’t this another attempt by a big company to appeal to the consumer by jumping on the ethical bandwagon? Are breakfast eaters a captive audience? What about the honey in the sugar puffs? Where does that come from? Is it fairly traded? Is the world going mad? Am I going mad?

I feel a letter to the manufacturer coming on. I’ll keep you posted.

Filed under: fair trade, shopping, africa on May 9th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

It was a pleasant surprise to open my daughter’s book bag with her at bedtime last night and discover one of the delightful “Handa” series by Eileen Brown. We all love “Handa’s surprise”, where Handa carries a bowl of various fruits on her head to her friend Akeyo in the next village and is in for as much of a surprise as her friend by the time she gets there. A gift for teachers as an opportunity to bring in the five-a-day campaign! The pictures are vibrant, the concept is great and most of all, the children are all smiling!

It’s set in south west Kenya and this positive image of African life is so refreshing. Our children’s images of African children are mainly drawn from Comic Relief clips or news reports of war, famine and disease. I know these are all necessary, but what a distorted view we would all have if this was all we ever saw of African life. “Handa’s Hen”, the latest to come home from school, is about a hen that goes AWOL and the variety of different animals Handa and Akeyo find in their quest to locate the hen. A gift for teachers as an opportunity to bring in numeracy skills(!), but also beautifully illustrated and great fun to read.

There should be more children’s books like this around. They definitely have an influence. When the vicar went into Nursery to show the children photos of his trip to Malawi, my little one came running out excitedly to tell me that the vicar had been to see Handa!! When I was a childminder, I remember that we had to have a range of multicultural books at home and how difficult it was to find any. Hopefully, that has changed, although the other book in the book bag was an OXFAM book called “Come home with us!” which was OK but a bit dated (published in 1995 and looked it somehow).

I know that there are a great range of positive images from Africa on greetings cards and calendars. I want my family to grow up seeing other children from around the world as people with interesting lives, fascinating traditions and fun, friends and family. Then any action or decisions they take in the future may be from a desire for equality rather than out of pity.

Filed under: africa, development, culture on May 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

WAIT! DON‘T SWITCH OFF YOUR COMPUTER JUST YET! I’m not about to divulge personal details you have no desire to discover (although the moon cup does fascinate me and one day, I may pluck up the courage to purchase one!)

I’m referring to my monthly shopping cycle, following on from my unsuccessful jaunt to the local Co-op. Decided to renew my allegiance to Asda for simplicity, and therefore sanity’s sake. BUT I have vowed that on a monthly basis, I will do a bulk order of fair trade and eco friendly products online to be delivered to my door; I will hunt down a supplier of locally produced food; I will strive to have an influence at Asda, however small.

My first two boxes arrived at my door yesterday. Not sure how my self control will hold up with bulk chocolate supplies in the cupboard. Probably need to install a padlocked cupboard and give my neighbour the key! I have a suspicion that I will end up stockpiling eco cleaning products as I can’t see me getting through that much every month OR having the nerve to admit that I haven’t and order less!

The piece de resistance was definitely a vat of washing liquid that Gadget Man could hardly lift onto the workbench to manhandle into position with pouring tap over the side. Nightmares of one of the kids leaving the tap on and us sliding about in £70 of suds flash across my mind, but hey, barring that particular disaster, I suspect we’ll not run out again until all the kids have left home! That definitely must be removed from the monthly list before I forget.

Let’s hope this monthly cycle turns out to be regular and stress-free!

Filed under: sustainability, green cleaning, shopping on May 1st, 2007 | No Comments »