Every Day is Earth Day

Be part of the global optimism. What a beautiful idea.

Planting a seed in collectiveness – what will you be planting? Doing something green – what are your ideas?

The Maple Tree from last year is now unfurling her leaves into the winds of Spring finally.

We also have have the front garden covered with sprouting Crimson Clover.

 

 

Today the boys and I will be planting the Echinacea we were given at the end of last Summer, we are going to put the seeds in pots inside the home until they are ready to be moved into the garden towards the beginning of June!

Just imagine if everyone did plant something together today! This is a genius plan. Let’s make it happen.

Join the Facebook Event

Clean up on the History of Earth Day!

Whatever you choose to do I hope you enjoy your day.

Happiness and well-being from PeaceCrafting 😀

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Feed The Bees

This week I was moved enough to finally take the plunge into organic gardening. It may not look much or be done to gardener’s perfection but it means a lot to me. Out came the spade and reclaimed wood.

With the rapid decline in Bees continually rising it would be wise for us all to do everything we can (or at least something) to help stop the crisis.
This week I managed to find some awesomely priced seeds from a Southern retailer.

I chose Crimson Clover.

Bees love clover, I love Bees so the front garden is now dedicated to keeping the buzzies happy.

I hope the soil can drain adequately and that I mixed it up right. It will be joyous time to see some flowers growing in one of our gardens.

Peace.

Spring Greens – Riverford

Unruly and delicious! Spring Greens from Riverford are a huge spring hit, come to think of it so is every single food we are gifted in Spring. Nearly every week I have had these added to the order and they are the perfect hardy greens. These immature cabbages with wild style leaves certainly add character to any kitchen. Spring Greens are mostly like Kale as they do not have the hard head at the centre, I like to call them baby cabbages and they are a real source of nourishment if not over cooked. I just steam mine for around 5 minutes to loosen up all the goodies!

They do not have an overpowering ‘cabbagey’ taste which makes them perfect for adding to the boys mash for their dose of greenery!
Low in calories and bursting with nutrient goodness this vegetable is not one to be missed. Containing high levels of Vitamins A, C & K, and with fiber, iron and calcium all included too Spring Greens surely are a winner for the heart.

Check them out for yourself for only £1.75 per 350g from Riverford.co.uk.

 🙂

In season at The Farm – A Box Full Of Beans!

 

Riverford is at it again, packing the boxes to full potential with the best of the season and ever thankful are we (my family) as devoted customers. Thank You 🙂

These beans that I speak of are the classic Organic Broad Beans that are currently in season and in the vegetable boxes on The Farm.
They can be purchased at Riverford Organic Farms through the online store via the Fruit and Veg section using the link above in this post. The beans also come with free recipes about them that can be found in the recipe section via this link here.

Now, which recipes to follow with all these beans, hope my boys have a healthy appetite this week as I have one for trying out new things 😀

If you don’t already know about Riverford, where have you been?! They are a superb organic farming company with 3 main farms in this country and a couple in France. The staff work extremely hard to provide an abundance of fresh and a truly nourishing range of foods and beverages. Vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, drinks of all sorts, bakery goods and handy items for the home can all be found on their well thought-out website – Riverford.co.uk.

They do a range of boxes if you fancy refreshing your diet and changing up your shopping list with just a few clicks, or there are different sections for you to choose your own produce and make your own list. It is all organic and delivery is free providing you spend £12.50, already sounding good right? When you place a regular order through me you will get a box free and a free recipe book 🙂 Sounding fab now isn’t it. Always wanted to make the jump over to deliciousness from mundane supermarket aisles, online stores and not so great foods that are chemically dangerous instead of healthy? Now is your chance, and best of all the overall price you spend will be a tiny fraction more than what you spend now because you will have pure quality health over quantity and affordability.

The guys at this company totally changed my life around, I am so happy with the nourishment and well-being I get from eating Riverford’s outstanding organic foods that I spend next to £0 on impulse foods. The budget is set and we know we are always getting a great deal.
An honest and friendly member of the team will arrive every week on the day allocated to your area without fail with smiles and boxes full of goodies, you will know it is them at the door as I swear the boxes glow!

If you would like to place and order and receive the free welcome gifts stated please do get in touch via our Contact Page and we can get you set on your way within minutes. If you would prefer to trial them yourself then pop over to the website give them a try, or alternatively you could call them on 01803 762059. Trust me you will never loose out or feel hard done by and you will probably never look back if I am honest.

You can feel the quality instantly and then when you live it, you know.

For a further detailed review on the farm in Hampshire please see a previous article I wrote on The Farm.

Peace.

 

 

THANK YOU RIVERFORD HAMPSHIRE – WE LOVE YOU

The Fun Food Files – Fact #6

Adzuki Beans make an amazing and natural exfoliating scrub, just don’t get water in the storage tub!

Local Organic Farm -Fruit & Veg from Riverford in Hampshire

I buy a veg box and a fruit box each week from my local Hampshire Organic Riverford farm and I wouldn’t want to live without it!

Riverford is an award winning farm offering Fruit, Vegetables, Herbs, Spices, Meat, Dairy, Bakery Goods and Refreshments for all in the South of England. Riverford is privately owned by Guy Watson, it has always been owned by his family and I can feel quite confident in saying it always will be.

The farm’s friendly team have been distributing organic produce for nearly 25 years. There is an extensive range of fruit, veg and drinks available to consumers, providing healthy produce through ethical farming to provide families with the best food our Earth can bring. They do certainly provide the freshest and most delicious fruit and veg I have ever tasted and their selected juices and wines are simply divine!
I totally recommend Riverford to all that are in reach. Save yourself and your family today from the poisons and GM that occur with non organic farming and join the society of people striving for righteous change.
Upon joining Riverford Farm you are gifted a ring binder folder and each week Guy writes an interesting and often very humorous newsletter that not only stands for good reading but gifts free recipes on the reverse side. Not only do you get free recipes to collect each week, you get a monthly recipe book gifting wisdom into how to use the seasonal stars that are grown.

Throughout the year upto 90% of all produce is homegrown. It is totally understandable that if you want a Banana or a Kiwi for example that it is going to need importing right? While Riverford do import such goods they do in a remarkable and impressively ethical way, they never use air freight and nearly all the imported goods come from a family run collection of farms in Spain and from France and these people have been working with Riverford a long time. All other imported produce is clearly labelled as to exactly where from and how it is sourced. For more information on ethical and responsible importing of goods and for how Riverford is helping protect the planet please visit their Environmental Website.

Riverford have several organic farms, the original is in Devon and they branch out regionally to Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Yorkshire. They also encourage smaller growers and support them in converting over to organic growing. How lovely is that!. We all need to encourage and share the awareness behind this method of farming.

I am a vegetarian and I cannot pass judgement on the meat. In regards to the fruit and veg and drinks; each week You can select a veg and / or fruit box at whichever size suits your family, you can see what will be coming in it and you know you are buying the seasonal produce selected by the farm. By getting a regular box you are saving quite a bit of money in comparison to comprising an entire list yourself (which you can also do). If your box for that week doesn’t contain exactly what you would like you can add on items still at a very reasonable price by popping over to the required section, fruit & veg, meat, bakery, dairy, meat or drinks using their impressive website and make which ever additions you wish. I highly recommend the red wine 😉

Riverford provide flat pack boxes which can be easily stored and are well designed to carry the items. They also re-use them which is a wonderful idea. The friendly drivers collect the boxes from you with next weeks delivery. There is a set delivery day for each week and they usually arrive by 9.30am in my area.

For delivery in Basingstoke our delivery day is on a Monday morning.

If you would like to purchase a box, buying it through my recommendation entitles you to a free cookbook and your 4th box for free. Please email me or leave a comment in this post and I will get back to you.

For further information please visit Riverford Online or call 01803 762069.

I could talk about Riverford all day. Please, do, check them out for yourself.

Drying Herbs – Rosemary

Freshly picked Rosemary dried out properly can bring much happiness to one’s life.

Find a bush to pick from and make sure there are others there too so the supply can still thrive, carefully pick some branches off and carry them home. Rinse off with water then soak in ACV or white vinegar for a few minutes then rinse again. Shake the Rosemary well to help it dry quicker. Take some hemp cord and tie it firmly around the branches bunching them together leaving a length of cord to hang it from. Hang it high up in an airy place until it has dried right out and use as needed.

As mentioned in Rosemary Tea Now the health benefitsit gifts are wonderful.

I also carry Rosemary dried in my bag for a quick antiseptic mouth cleanser and Breath Freshener, it is way healthier than chewing gum and it really works!
I adore this herb and luckily for me it is abundant where I live.

This post also connects to The Daily Post Photo Challenge – Shadowed

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me while taking these shots, the Rosemary kept changing shape and size until I realised it was a shadowed effect.

Decorate a Living Tree this Year

The perfect way to enjoy the Trees, to decorate and thank them for their love whilst supporting the eco system.

Instead of cutting down a tree or using a faux one in your celebrations this year why not enhance one already living near you! What better way to appreciate the life they give us.

Luckily for us we have just had a tree planted outside our family home and we thought it would be a wonderful idea (as he was starting to look chilly) if we gave him a bit of sparkle to see him through the winter until he gets his new leaves 🙂

My Sons and I reused waterproof items from around our home to create decorations for our tree.

It is so simple and yields great results.

What you will require to create decorations like ours:

– Used plastic milk bottles
– Used fruit and veg tubs
– Tin serving trays
– Used biscuit tins
– A marker pen
– Scissors
– Hemp Cord
– Ribbon

You can adapt your item list to suit what you can reuse from your home.

How to make:

1) Draw your shapes / pictures with the marker pen
2) Cut out all the shapes from all the materials
3) Make small incisions at the top of each decoration for the cord
4) Cut the required length of hemp cord for each then thread it through the holes made tying in a knot
5) Carefully tie your decorations to the branches a Tree
6) Wrap the Tree up in ribbon to keep him warm and for a lovely look!

Tips:

– Choose images, patterns and shapes that mean something to You. You are the one looking at the work after all.
– Use a marker pens and plastic or metal incase it rains (or snows)!
– For these decorations we have used the simplest version without adding, glue, glitter or sequins for effect etc. We used tin which was a fantastic idea as it naturally glimmers. Be very careful when cutting the tin as it is extremely sharp!
– Use Hemp cord as it is strong, biodegradable and is highly sustainable.

– Please Collect any fallen decorations as milk cartons and plastics are not designed to biodegrade. Thank You

From the Boys and I, we hope you enjoy crafting and getting closer to nature and that you have a love filled Winter full of laughter and joy.

HOMEMADE NATURAL LAUNDRY WASHING POWDER

Yes, yes, yes, I did it…finally got it right 🙂

My fabrics are clean and smell awesome. Yay! More importantly the powder is safe and free of dangerous chemicals!
The recipe below is homemade and all natural and it’s definitely been worth the wait.
After months of trying I have found the perfect laundry detergent recipe and I am so happy to share it with You!
Upon discovering how dangerous the advertised store bought washing powders and liquids actually are, with their harsh chemical ingredients that are ridiculously hard to pronounce, I got really upset at the thought of what I was allowing next to my children’s skin and decided enough was enough. How cool is the notion of home-crafting your own anyway? Very cool and really very satisfying knowing you know exactly what’s being used and the fact that it works just rocks! Ok so the store bought brands have a high potency of fragrance and are really really really cheap but they are not natural and far from eco-friendly, in my eyes it’s just not worth it, that is my babies skin I am putting those deadly chemicals on. The system over time has lured us in to just buy whatever is mainstream and has some how numbed our minds to not even question what we are buying even though the list of oddly named ingredients is plain to see, people just do not seem to care, playing ignorance and some people really are that stupid to not even think twice, only caring about price. Not this Muma.

If we think about the impact we are having on earth and the water supply by flooding it with these poisons then we are able to see how we are carelessly destroying the only place we have to live, our true source of life. Do we want to live on a totally poisoned world? That is the way it is heading unless more people wake up, quick. Eventually we will have corrupted our Mother Earth so much we won’t have grass to stand on.
One by one we can stop this mass destruction and try to create a natural clean and green world. It may take a while but why would we want to pollute our planet when we really do not need to. Eco-warriors need to lead the way by example, reaching out to others and through guidance, helping everyone to understand the damage we are actually doing and how easy it is to make these changes. You don’t need to be a wacky scientist or have a state of the art laboratory (that would be nice though), just a few natural ingredients, a grater, a spoon, a cup and a tub!

To have the pleasure and satisfaction of making your very own washing powder you will require:

Ingredients:

1 cup Organic Lavender & Chamomile Essential Oils infused Soap Bar
1 cup High Grade Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
1 cup High Grade Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda)
1 cup High Grade Citric Acid
1 cup High Grade Dead Sea Salt
½ cup Organic White Wine Vinegar

Once you have acquired all the ingredients you will require:

The method:

1) Acquire a cup for measuring, a cheese or soap grater, a bowl to mix it together in or an airtight tub to mix / store it in and turn on the washing machine
2) Simply grate a bar of soap to fill your cup using the grater
3) Measure out the Sodium Bicarb, Sodium Carbonate, Citric Acid and Sea Salt into equal parts to each other and to the soap (1 cup)
4) Combine these all together in the bowl / tub and mix very thoroughly being very careful not to gust the powders up your nose or you will sneeze (every time!)
5) Use 1 cup of finished mixture to add to the laundry in the machine
6) Add the additional ½ – 1 cup of white wine vinegar to further freshen and soften
7) Set the machine and move on to your next job!

Tips:

– You can make your own Sodium Carbonate from Sodium Bicarbonate by popping it in the oven for 30 minutes and baking it at around 200 Celsius. You must mix it regularly whilst its baking or it will harden and although the lumps can be broken down its better to keep it as fine as possible so it will mix well in this recipe once it has cooled. Alternatively you can buy it ready-made (purchase at great prices from Intralabs.co,uk).
– I recommend using a richly infused with essential oils soap bar. You can use a plain base soap and then add oils afterwards although using a scented bar helps the oils to be distributed evenly through the mixture. Adding oils to the mix afterwards makes it difficult to ensure you get the oil in each dose you add to the fabrics as it clumps up and may only reach one load leaving all the other loads scent free (not good!) + it requires a lot of drops
– When grating the soap I used a grade size that would give me a larger consistency of shavings (there is just something I like about the idea of large slithers of soap knocking into my fabrics). Next time I will attempt a smaller grade so the soap is distributed more.
-The soap tends to ‘run off’ together in the tub and separate from the powders so it is essential you stir thoroughly before using the mixture each time to gain maximum even distribution.
– Before I was stupidly using borax as a main ingredient from a recipe of unreliable source, cross reference is very important. I DO NOT recommend using borax. Just because it’s natural it does not mean it’s good for you! Borax is a major irritant to skin, it causes nappy rash and it can choke you up in an instant if you use it without a mask. I would recommend you keep it away from contact with skin. It is great for abrasive cleaning though i.e. the toilet or the sink!
– Don’t be under the impression that the vinegar will hold its potency through the wash taking over the scent of the oils. This is not the case; you cannot smell it at all in the final product. It is added for softness!

I’m so glad I can finally post this article, seriously so happy to have done this. Bring on the Lab! I hope you enjoy this recipe, good luck and thanks for reading my posts 🙂