Fairtrade Fortnight 2

Really difficult to get internet up here in Durness so I am making one post and then will do one for the whole fortnight when we get home.

Have tried our best to be as ethical as possible up here in the northernmost village on mainland Britain with veg meals and local produce. 

On the way up we have been showing off the FT label, logo and bunting.

Here is my favourite photo so far with a challenge.

HAS ANYONE SHOWN OFF THEIR FT BUNTING (and label) FURTHER NORTH, THAN ME, ON MAINLAND BRITAIN ? 
This picture was taken on Faraid Head, Durness.

Fairtrade Fortnight 1

Had a fun time today at Admaston House with everyone at Pushchair People (Tuesdays 9.30-11.30am) making some decorated bunting for the Fairtrade Foundation's challenge to create the longest Fairtrade bunting in the world. It's a publicity attempt to get into the Guiness Book of Records and, more importantly, to raise awareness of the problems facing cotton farmers. If we bought more Fairtrade cotton garments we could be assured that those farmers are getting a much fairer deal. (More about that later this week).

Anyway the children and adults seemed to enjoy doing the bunting and it was definitely not a case of 'less is more' in fact the bunting, table and floor was awash with decorations, glue,felt etc!! As you can see the result was really good and soon those flags will be part of the record breaking attempt.

Angelbears

At Admaston Methodist Church we have a Craft and Chat group which meets every Monday from 1-3pm.
We enjoy trying out different crafts and decided also to have a project which everyone could do at any time. We decided on knitting bears for a charity called Angelbear http://www.angelbear.org.uk/ who send these bears to conflict zones and anywhere that they know a child would appreciate a bear for comfort. The knitters amongst us have knitted bears, others have stuffed them or sewn them up and we have all contributed to the cost of sending them. Since this picture we have about twice as many bears. They will be on display in Church on Mothering Sunday (3rd Apr) and then they will go on their way. It's been a good way to enjoy ourselves at the same time as being useful!

Favourite shop

 I said I would tell you about my favourite shop. This shop is such fun as I have a good root around, get amazing bargains and feel virtuous and ethical all at the same time! It is a charity superstore near Cannock with fantastic prices, called the newlife trading company  http://www.newlifetrading.co.uk/ . The store receives clothes, shoes, bags, etc. from companies. They are excess stock or end of lines which are new and not usually at all damaged. I have bought new men's shoes for £4.99 and dresses for under a tenner. This week the women's clothes were on offer, if the item cost £2.99 and you bought 2 or more they were reduced to £1.99. I got a lovely purple cashmere cardigan and a grey ribbed jumper for that price. Dressing gowns (see the photos) were only £4.99 and the children's hats and gloves were only £1 each.

 The shop raises money for it's designated charity, the Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children  http://www.newlifecharity.co.uk/  which exists as 'specialists for special children' . The charity provides a nurse service, equipment grant service, medical research and campaign & awareness.

So it's a win-win situation as the companies are able to reduce their waste, materials are reused and goods that would usually be disposed of get a new life and money is raised for a fantastic charity.

I have to say it has spoilt me for High Street shopping as those prices seem so high and I get a buzz from the bargains.

So if you feel like an ethical shop and live near enough pop along and check it out. If not, they do sell some things on e-bay, so look there.

Not a good start!

Have not done well in keeping up with this blog but have to say that the thought of it has at least made me think about my ethical score each day.
Anyway the tilapia was lovely and cooked it simply in some garlic, butter, olive oil and lemon in a frying pan and some organic rice to eat with it.
That brings me to how I am trying to food shop. I was told a way to approach ethical food shopping by using my LOAF. That means buying . . .
Local

Organic

Animal Friendly

Fairtrade          
as far as possible.
It was a good week as far as that went. I adapted a recipe I had saved from The Guardian Saturday magazine from Yotam Ottolenghi.
It is a mixture of fried onions (local), cooked green lentils (organic), basmati rice (organic) all cooked together with cumin & coriander seed, cinnamon, turmeric and sugar (Fairtrade). Served with a cucumber and yoghurt salad and a glass of rose wine. It all went down very well. Here's a picture of the finished dish. 
The leftover lentils went into Thai spiced lentil rissoles which worked well and as we like vegetarian food it felt better eating more sustainable ingredients and using left-overs!
Well that's it for now. 
Ethical shopping in next blog when I share news of my favourite shop with you.

Starting Out

This is my first blog ever and I am going to keep a record of my year and my attempts to live as ethically as possible. Look at my About Me section to see what I hope to do. I am not telling you what you should do, I just want to blog about my life and the ethical decisions I make. As you will see, if you follow, I really enjoy shopping and food so a lot will be about that part of my days! It will be good to have your comments and hear your views.
This week has been good as I was at a Shropshire Fairtrade Coalition meeting where we were told that the Shrewsbury is well on the way to becoming a FT town. Then i was at a school who are getting really enthused about becoming a Fairtrade School. It's great to see how keen these primary age children are and how much they know of the issues involved.
Off now to cook some Tilapia fish which has been sustainably farmed. Let you know how it tasted in the next blog.
Thanks for reading this and hope you will return. I hope to blog a couple of times a week.