Unbought Delicacies: Starting to bite?

Friday, 12 October 2012

Starting to bite?

I think it is now, yes, the efffects of global warming and climate change are becoming apparent at the supermarket checkout and food shops apparently

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/oct/10/food-price-rise-uk-crop-harvest

Bad in some ways, good in that it might finally wake folk up to what is going to happen in the really not too distant future. Sadly, this was all being discuused over 30 years ago, back in the 70s when I was growing up and just becoming aware of ecology/environment/food/global issues. Seems we haven't really moved very far forward at all.

I am trying to do all I can to build resiliance into my life in all sorts of ways - storing seed, buying bulk grains and flour, keeping a well-stocked store of everything, (not just food) saving money, etc. I predict tough times ahead, not an 'end of world' scenario (well, not yet anyway!), but tough, globally, in our daily lives of just putting food on the table, getting enough water for our needs and yes, basic survival. It's scary stuff, but I won't be the one with my head in the sand. Your kitchen table might look pretty, but you can't eat Kath Kidston mugs and a cupboard full of gadgets. It's time for priorities now, in all areas of home life.
What will you do?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I quite agree with your statement Sarah, I have had a feeling we are heading for bad times for a long time now. I look around at folk and think how will they cope. They have no idea of how to take care, cook with very little or make do and mend anything. It's a case of go buy whatever they need. I will really shake things up a bit. It will be chaotic as they all trample each other for the food on the shelves, not giving a damn about those most in need. Younger generation's have no idea about growing food or proper cooking at all. If they can't get a signal on their mobiles how will they order their meals.....; 12 October 2012 at 11:11

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Friday, 12 October 2012

Starting to bite?

1 comment: