Remarkable!!

well, what d'u know? Someone's very cleverly found a use for plastic!! Other than compost bins and polyester fleeces!! Stationary..... I love Stationary, and I've met so many people that do too. Remarkable are a great company that takes plastic things like cups and cd cases that would usually end up in the landfill and instead, turn it into new products that are fun, functional and have a long second life.
Notebooks made out of juice cartons, fancy that!
Whatever next...... pencil cases made out of car tyres?
You can have a gander at the urban evolution website, they sell Remarkable Stationary, as well as loads of other environmentally friendly and fairtrade products. Check it out www.urban-evolution.co.uk

Beans for Health in Boscombe

Can you believe there actually is a 'Beans for Health Alliance'? Their mission is to unite bean enthusiasts and supporters of food-based health interventions around the world to promote the health benefits of beans and other pulses. - Serious stuff eh?
But then i read on...... Why are they wild about beans?
"Dry beans and other pulses are one of the most nutritionally-complete staple foods, inexpensive and widely available."
and well, what'd you know? they are!! and i agree with them!! Coz down at the Boscombe Wholefood Co-op you can get all sorts of beans and pulses and they are so cheap!!
Most beans you have to soak for a while, at least 8 hours or overnight!! And then boil them for ages....the best thing i ever got was a pressure cooker!!! Reduces cooking time to about 15 mins!!!
And a way to make them really tasty?.......try Chiman spices.
They do a really nice Lentil Dahl, Spicy Chickpeas and Bean Curry spice blends. Yummy!

Chicken out Bournemouth!!

I've just been reading about the River Cottage Campaign against intensively reared chickens being sold in our supermarkets and campaigning for stricter regulations on producers of chicken for meat!!

BRITAIN LOVES CHICKEN!
Really loves it... The average Brit eats almost 25 kilos of chicken a year.
More than 850 million broiler chickens are slaughtered every year in the UK.

And of these hundreds of millions of chickens, most of them - more than 95% - are reared inside, produced in industrial conditions in vast, enclosed sheds.
Their lives are pitiful – but at least they’re short...

Standard chickens are now grown from newly hatched chick to oven-ready bird in an astonishing 39 days (40 years ago it used to take 84 days).

In fact, this intensive poultry production is so slick and efficient that chicken is actually cheaper now than it was 20 years ago! In most supermarkets, you can now buy a whole chicken for less than £3...

How can it be so cheap?

A typical chicken shed holds 40,000 birds...
They never set foot outside or see natural light...
They feed round the clock – with as little as one hour of darkness for every 24 hour period...
About 5% die prematurely from heart and lung failure or suffocation in panic-induced mass smothers, or because they are culled on account of their leg injuries....

That’s 45 million factory farmed birds thrown away every year before they even reach slaughter-weight.

They grow fast. And as they grow, their living space – smaller than an A4 sheet of paper for each bird – gets more and more cramped: as they near the end of their short lives, around 17 birds are packed into each square metre.

It’s not nice – but it’s certainly cheap.

And THAT is how Tesco can afford to offer you two whole birds for a fiver...
Or how Asda can sell a whole fresh British chicken for £2. You can go to the link here and read about it
http://www.chickenout.tv/
I wonder if there were many requests our local butcher in Boscombe would get some free range chickens in?? Prob say they're too expensive....

Organic Veg Boxes in Bournemouth

I decided to increase my ( and of course my families) intake of vegetables so rather than pop to the 'oh so convenient' supermarket I decided to order an organic vegetable box from my local wholefood and eco-store "Urban Evolution'. 3 Ashley Road, Boscombe. I chose a £7 Veg bag and got a lovely selection that, to be fair, prob is not enough for a family of 4 but plenty for a single or couple?? They get their veg from a farm in Southampton so most of it is pretty local. They can also deliver for an extra £2 - bargain. If you can't get to the shop but still in Bournemouth you can order yours online from www.urban-evolution.co.uk See what you think.....

How to become Eco Friendly in Bournemouth

Well, other than being told to turn my computer off....which i will not do, and change my bulbs to energy savers....which i will do, how can we become greener, cleaner and not as meaner!!?? Where do you start? Well, I've decided to start by losing the car!!! Hard to do I think especially as the colder weather is kicking in but I'm going to give it a go. Walking to school for a start and trying to use the bike for short journeys that don't include the kids. (As soon as I get a Christiania bike the kids will be included again). I have of course changed some of my bulbs to energy savers, you can get them for free in some places. Boscombe Wholefood Co-op in Roumelia Lane has some to give out. So you see I'm trying, one bit at a time!!!

500 Fruit Trees in Boscombe

There's an amazing new project in Boscombe. It's called 500 Fruit Trees and, yes suprisingly enough, it aims to plant 500 fruit trees in Boscombe. Even Alex James, the bass player from Blur who now owns a farm and makes cheese, thinks it's a great idea...he was born in Boscombe. Watch the video!!
Anyone who wants a tree can email them on get-a-tree@500-fruit-trees.org.uk or if you don't have anywhere to put one but know of a great public place where you think one can go you can email them too! If you're on facebook there's a group set up for people to communicate with each other about the project and also suggest places where they can go. Have a look.
I've suggested the funny little border outside the Sovereign Centre next to the fountain.

Sunday Brunch in Boscombe

Sunday, a day made for spending time with people and of course eating, and for some getting over the night before!! ....the only place to be in Boscombe is Boogaloo!!
They have a great Sunday menu including 'the hangover cure' = greasy fry up with Bloody Mary!! I've forgotten the name of what I had but it was basically a chicken and vegetable thing with melted cheese on top of a massive corn tortilla thing, served with lovely spicy potatoes and guacamole. All washed down with a Chai Steamer......

On Wednesday the 10th October in the evening there's a Green Networking Event there too, Lisa Northover will be speaking, probably about the 500 Fruit Tree Project that's being launched in Boscombe and it will be an opportunity to meet other people of Boscombe who care about Green issues and find out what's going on in the area.