the green gal

The end of Zero Waste Week

So, National Zero Waste Week has finished, how did you get on?

I survived the green soup (happy to report it turned out to be a very tasty broccoli and stilton soup) and have a decidedly empty freezer.

We barely touched the cupboards as it turned out we had all kinds of food hiding in the freezer that had been forgotten about, until Mrs Green's Week spurred me on to burrow about in the frost. Among other treats we enjoyed defrosted veggie bean chilli and sustainably sourced cod, and a couple of white russians. Not a bloke in a furry hat but an v yummy drink made from vodka (freezer), kahlua (cupboard) and milk (an excess of milkman-delivered milk is a great excuse for a white russian).

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Having spotted a tin of custard languishing at the back of the cupboard, and inspired by the local hedgerow blackberries finally ripening (a month later than last year), I made apple and blackberry crumble. (We ate it before I remembered to snap a piccie so found this delightful dish on flickr.)

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And, while I was foraging I collected some elderberries too and knocked up a couple of bottles of elderberry syrup. Apparently elderberries are packed full of antioxidants and vitamin C so the syrup is supposed to be helpful with colds and flu (although I'd rather not be ill to find out). Not sure how good it is but you can find the recipe I used here.

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The elder tree is so jolly useful. A few months ago I made delicious cordial from its flowers and now I have syrup made from its berries. What a helpful tree.

Zero Waste Week for this year may be over but there are another 51 weeks to work on trimming down the trash before Zero Waste Week 2011…

Painful adventures in gardening

Having recently moved to a house with a garden I spend as much time as I can pottering around, admiring the wonders of nature in my own back yard. I haven't, however, become a master gardener overnight. I know to deadhead the roses and attack any traces of bindweed I spy but I haven't even identified most of the plants yet. One spiky bush, with small red leaves and red berries, has become known as 'the evil red spiky thing' after the bush and I had a falling out. I was trying to do it a favour and free it from the bindweed winding itself round every branch. But the ungrateful wretch pricked and scratched me and now I have a lumpy red rash on my forearms to show for my trouble! I've tried dabbing on a solution of witch hazel, lavender oil and peppermint oil but it's not doing the trick yet. Any ideas on what the evil bush is (pictured right), or herbal remedies for my lumpy arms, are gladly received. 

Magic milk remedy

However, when it comes to nettle stings I have a marvellous remedy to recommend. My mother told me that when she went on childhood picnics and had a roll in a stinging nettle patch, she would be told to dab milk onto the inflamed skin. She couldn't remember if it worked and actually thought it was suggested because nothing else was to hand. Well, having brushed a bare ankle by a stinging nettle recently, I gave it a try. And it worked! Within a few minutes of rubbing milk on to the sting the pain subsided. Within an hour the little bumps had disappeared. Magic!