It's official – I'm no longer a young person

In December I turned 26, and as far as I can tell, this is the point at which I stop being a young person. Firstly, I bid a fond farewell to my Young Person's Railcard (only 34 years to wait until I am eligible for my Senior Card...). Secondly, this is the cut off point for most “youth” volunteering projects and one year ago at the ripe old age of 25, this was my motivating factor to quit my 9 to 5 job and get involved in some of the exciting youth projects happening in the UK. I was lucky enough to get involved in an exciting project in Devon funded by V inspired, the youth volunteering organisation which funded projects for 16-25 year olds, just before the project finished. Before turning 26, I also managed to get an application in for O2's Think Big project, funding community projects for people aged 13 – 25. I feel that I've made the most of the last year of my youth, but it doesn't stop now that I'm just a person (not a young person). Volunteering is for everyone and I'm sure I'll find lots of exciting projects for old people, like me...

Front Page News!

My photograph on the front page of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website (there's a credit on their which is just about visible...)

Selby Jolly

I've been having a little blogger's block recently. But after a lovely day volunteering and the prospect of being on holiday next week, I'm feeling inspired again! Even better, I suddenly have a couple of days where I have nothing to do except sort my life out a little - which includes writing a couple of decent posts! But until I get around to doing that I'm going to write about my volunteering jolly to Selby.
The YWT in Selby are based at the Stockbridge Technology Centre, where lots of agricultural and horticultural research takes place, and we went to visit them to harvest some willow for our Christmas craft event. It always good to go to new places and see the way other people work, so here is a list of my highlights of the day:

• Trying medlars for the first time (I like how the RHS qualify them as a"traditional, if unusual, treat")
•  Seeing some unusual crab apple trees absolutely laden with beautiful, bright red fruit - how very festive! We got a bag full for our Christmas crafts and I also got a pocket full to cook up. I made a purée which was quite a lot of work for a very small amount... but mixed with some elderberries and blackberries it should make a lovely foraged pie!
• Spotting a hare and watching him run away from us. He went for miles and was so steady, it was just like he was on a track like the "hares" at the dogs!
• Watching a gang of long tailed tits enjoying the bird feeding station and catching a glimpse of some yellow hammer (one of the only birds I can identify by its song!)
• Trying Yarrow Tea. I'm not sure if it really tasted of much other than the honey and lemon that went into the jug with it, but at least now I know that it can be used to make tea!

Stirley Stories

We hosted a Community Reporter workshop on the Farm this week and used our newly gained skills to interview our lovely volunteers about their experience on Stirley Community Farm. Here is a video which was edited from our interviews very quickly by the lovely people at Growing Newsome.

At the workshop I was actually surprised about how difficult it is to interview people, and to be interviewed! I found having a camera pointed in my face very off-putting and therefore found it quite difficult to talk about things that I normally talk about everyday! On the other side of the camera I had a similar nervous reaction but after a few goes I found I was getting better at it. Not quite Paxman yet though.

Palm Oil Revisited

As part of my food diary for Oxfam's GROW week, I wrote a rather lengthy post about Palm Oil. A couple of weeks later BBC Radio 4's Food Programme featured an episode about Palm Oil which I would recommend listening to.
It may have answered my query about the two differently labelled biscuit packets in Sainsburys, where one said "Made with Sustainable Palm Oil" and the other said "Supports Sustainable Palm Oil". It turns out that there is a somewhat dubious "credit" system where companies can purchase unaccredited (and most likely not sustainably produced) Palm Oil then buy a certificate from sustainable producers to compensate... Hmmm.
It's certainly a very interesting programme and well worth a listen. Palm Oil itself seems to be almost some kind of wonder product - it's only the way its production in response to the ever increasing global demand is being managed.
I found the last part of the programme which looked at Palm Oil as a traditional ingredient in some African countries, comparing it to the equivalent of Olive Oil in Italian cooking, particularly thought provoking. I had never even considered the heritage of Palm Oil - from which it is now very far removed.

Detangle VS Declutter

I've not done a blog post in a few weeks so I thought I'd better write something before I get out of the habit!

Last time I went home, which was at the beginning of September, I forgot my hairbrush. So after two months without brushing my hair, I've developed some major tangles, bordering on dreadlocks. Two months without brushing your hair?? Why not just buy another hairbrush, many people have said. Well for a while now I've been trying to declutter and generally lighten my life a bit. I generally don't buy too much stuff and I find it easy to avoid the shops but somehow I'm very good at collecting things... I refuse to buy a hairbrush when I know that I've got about 5 in my cupboard at home that I have bought or been given over the years. For about a year now I've been going through all the things I own and trying to be ruthless. But try as I might, I still seem to have lots of STUFF. I'm just not good at throwing out things that I think could be used again. Like the 5 perfectly good hairbrushes in my cupboard. So not buying a hairbrush may seem like a minor battle, but it's one less thing that I will have to not throw away in the future. I'm home next weekend and I'm looking forward spending a few satisfying hours wrestling with my tangles.

a big day for getting things done

Looking back on the day I've had, it was actually quite a momentous one for me. I finally got around to doing two things that I've been meaning to do for some time now: switching to ethical banking and talking to my MP about issues I care about.

Part One: finally putting my money where my mouth is

Switching to ethical banking may seem like a bit of a no-brainer when you think about it. I currently bank with NatWest. NatWest invest in things I don't agree with like Tar Sands. By banking with them, I am agreeing for my money to be used to fund this sort of project. So how come it has taken me so long to finally switch? I'm not sure if this is just me, but there is something incredibly personal about banking. As I was sitting in the Britannia Branch trying to woo them with my credit score (not easy for a full time volunteer), it felt a lot like I was cheating on my bank. I felt like I was breaking up with them, after over 10 years. And I wasn't even doing it myself – they'd get an electronic message from Britannia telling them I was requesting a switch. It's like breaking up with a long-term partner via email, but you're getting your new boyfriend to send the email... But NatWest isn't my boyfriend so I should just GET OVER IT. I think reason it has taken me so long to switch is that it's hard to relate the friendly face of NatWest that I see when I go into a branch with the dirty investments that are going on behind the scenes. I have to remember that I've also got history with Britannia – I used to save with them and always found the customer service excellent. I felt sad when I shut my accounts due to poor interest and for reasons of convenience (this was before they were taken over by the coop and only operated on a pass book system). So rather than mourning the end of my NatWest relationship, I should be celebrating getting back together with Britannia. Or maybe I should just lighten up and view my banking as more of a fling - Less Mr Right, than Mr Right Now. I'm still hoping that Britannia might just be “the one”...

Part Two: Meeting Mr Barry Sheerman, MP

Another thing I've been meaning to do since I finished my V placement, and the whole V funding stream finished, was to write a letter to someone important about my concerns about future investment in youth volunteering. Since training with Oxfam and being made to feel like anything is possible, I decided that I should arrange a face-to-face meeting with my MP to raise this issue and other things that I care about. This was one of the first things I researched when I got home from the Change weekend but due to the summer break, his next surgery was completely booked up and I would have to wait until the end of October. So the end of October came around (incredibly quickly, it seems) and I prepared for my meeting with Mr Barry Sheerman MP. When I say prepared, it was mostly mental preparation. I was expecting for some reason to be met with some suspicion, possible hostility and I was ready to fight my ground and argue my cause. However, in a scenario I hadn't really played out in my mind, my meeting with Mr Sheerman was an extremely pleasant experience. He and his secretary seemed very interested in my concerns and in hearing about me and my involvement in various projects and background. I also learned a lot about Mr Sheerman's own projects and interests. The very unexpected result of the meeting was that I was invited to shadow Mr Sheerman for two days in his Huddersfield office and for two days in his London office to learn about lobbying. This is something I'm very excited about and it probably wouldn't have happened if I'd just written a letter as originally planned. I guess sometimes there are benefits to putting things off until you can give the issues the attention they deserve! To anyone who has an issue that is close to their hearts and has an angry letter brewing, I'd recommend visiting your MP – and before you go, throw all of your expectations out of the window. I think my view of politics (formed mostly by watching Newsnight, Daily Politics, PMQs and listening to the Today programme) made me think I was heading for an argument. Go in with an open mind and you might just find that your MP is not only friendly, approachable and interesting but also incredibly interested in you and the issues you care about.

Window Dressing

I stopped by the Oxfam shop in Harrogate and loved their GROW window display!

Oxjam Sandwich

If GROW week was a sandwich, then my food diary would be the filling sandwiched between two wonderful slices of Oxjam campaigning fun!

It all started off last Saturday with the Oxjam Takeover in Huddersfield. Milly, a fellow change campaigner, came over from Leeds for some moral support and to take in the sights and sounds of Huddersfield. Bands played at six different music venues across the town and we visited them all, armed with paper-plates and a giant card speech bubble.

We knew we were going to be up against a number of factors. First, it would be impossible to talk to people when the bands were playing, giving us 15 minute windows to grab as many people as we could. Second, even when the bands weren't playing we would be competing against loud music background music in the clubs. Third, people on a night out don't want to be hijacked from their evening for extended periods of time. Because of these reasons, we devised a plan to keep our campaigning short and sweet.

 

 We decided that after telling people a little bit about the GROW campaign, we'd ask them to make a pledge to support the campaign by posing for a photo with one of our paper plate pledges or with our GROW campaign speech bubble.

 The idea was a hit! We spoke to lots of friendly, enthusiastic people who were enjoying the great music and the atmosphere and were keen to hear more about the GROW campaign and give us a pledge. We took our pledges all the way across town to the Student Union, Rhubarb, Parish, Little Buddha Bar, Sleepers and finally the Head of Steam. And then the next week we took them to Leeds!

 Oxjam Leeds was a much more low-key event with five acts playing at Empire. As we weren't as busy running all over town, we got much more time to enjoy the music. The acoustic acts included Steph Stephenson who also played at (and helped organise) Oxjam Huddersfield and Martin Plock (I only managed to catch a few songs from his set as I was busy try to usher people from upstairs in the bar down to the gig, but I will definitely be looking out for him in the future). Bands The Walls and Secret Sirens also played and I was lucky enough to win a copy of  Secret Sirens album in the raffle!

Oxjam events aren't just a great way to raise money for Oxfam, they're also a great way to raise awareness about the work that Oxfam does and to get people talking about their campaigns. Oxjam events are taking place across the country throughout October. Have a look at the Oxjam website to see what's going on near you. Go along, see some great bands, be part of a great festival raising money and awareness for Oxfam, maybe you could even try your hand at campaigning!

Food Diary: Friday and reflections

I couldn't get on the internet yesterday but better late than never, here is my food diary from Friday:

 

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger 

1 x Tea (at the library) - Tea bag and milk unknown

Left-over vegetarian lasagne (again) and Stirley salad

Satsuma (Spanish) bought from Queensgate market

Posh yoghurt from M&S (which as it turns out was so rich and creamy because it contained 15% whipping cream...)

Approximately half a pot of Hummus (M&S)

5 x Sainsbury's Scottish oat cakes

Pepperoni Pizza (Sainsburys)

2 x half pints of cider

So all that's left for me to do is to reflect on the week. I wanted to document the food that I eat in a normal week. But it turns out that in my life there is no such thing as a normal week. Needless to say, yesterday was another busy day! I was membership recruiting at Huddersfield Library all day then went straight over to Leeds to get ready for Oxjam. So once again, not much time to think about food when you're on the go. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to cook this week and I've had a few more treats than I would normally have (which I blame on the Oxjam festivities!). I've been surprised that the list wasn't much longer than it has been everyday. I didn't realise about how personal it was going to feel writing about what I've been eating. It feels a bit like that bit on Gillian McKeith programmes where the vile woman rifles through their poo.

I'd planned to write about many more different topics but I found that once I started on a subject it was easy to get absorbed. Hopefully I'll get around to writing about a few of these things in the future. I hope that my diary has provided some "food for thought" (sorry, it had to be done) and got people wondering a little bit about their own food and how it links into their environment and everyone else on the planet.

GROW. food. life. planet.

Food Diary: Thursday

I've not yet had my tea so here's my food diary up until until now:

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

3 x Tea (at Stirley Farm) throughout the day – Fairtrade Teabag, local delivered milk

A number of biscuits

Left-over vegetarian lasagne (I'm going to be eating this for a while – I always make too much)

Home-made crumble brought in by Sue (contents unknown but very very tasty!)

I'm currently roasting some butternut squash which I think I'm going to make into a savoury crumble – a plan I'd made before my surprise crumble at lunch. The squash is an organic squash, grown in Italy which is why I've decided to make today's theme organic. Or more precisely, my own organic upgrade pledge. I posted at the beginning of the week that from now on I'm only buying organic milk – if you want to know my reasons, take a look at My Food Story post. I made this choice because I know all about organic milk production and the real benefits it brings. Other organic items I am less certain about. However, as organic seems like it must generally be a good idea I decided that where organic items were the same price or not very much more I would upgrade, so as to show my support for the movement. At a big shop at Sainsbury's (you've probably guessed I'd been shopping there recently after all the brand-name dropping I've been doing), I put my new organics policy into motion as I was stocking up on pasta (At this point I should also name check Gavin Repton for helping me with my “big shop” by giving me and my bags a lift in his car and for putting up with my dithering over chickpeas etc). I bought Sainsbury's organic brand Fusilli, Spaghetti and Lasagne sheets. All are made with 100% Durum Wheat Semolina. I'd only intended this to be a short post but once I start looking at food labels all kinds of questions come into my mind... (hence why shopping with me is a nightmare) How come one packet say 100% organic and the other two don't... Hmmm. The products are from Italy so they are certified organic by an Italian certifying body called Bioagricert (although my squash is also from Italy but it has the Soil Association logo on it... Hmmm). I've been on the Bioagricert website, which has an English version too, and was drawn this button:

I thought I'd give it a go. This site is just in Italian so unfortunately I didn't have much luck... So I reverted back to the Sainsburys. It's full of typos but their popular questions page has some good information in there (bearing in mind that they are trying to flog you something). I liked this FAQ (I corrected their typos, lovely person that I am):

Is organic food just for occasional indulgence?

In July 2006, the Soil Association released a report showing that in the previous year the UK market had increased by 30 per cent, a three-fold rise on the previous year to total almost £1.6 billion in sales – averaging an extra £7 million a week. To put this in perspective, the annual current growth for all UK food and drink sales is around 3 per cent. The numbers and range of people buying organic food have also risen, with two out of three consumers now knowingly buying organic food (65.4 per cent)as well as those with a lower household income are buying organic food and drink - putting to rest the old stereotype of organic being only for the well-to-do.

That's what I like to hear, being a not-very-well-to-do voluntary worker! It looks like I'm not the only one who has been doing the organic upgrade. I wonder if the other organic-upgraders have spent as much time pondering over the packets and searching Italian websites as I have... The things I do in the name of food!

Food Diary: Wednesday

At last, time to do some proper cooking. The kitchen in the house where I lodge is currently being renovated which is far from ideal but it's nice to not feel like I'm rushing around at least. I'm making vegetable lasagne for tea and here is a the rest of my food diary for the day:

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

3 x Tea (at Stirley Farm) throughout the day – Fairtrade Teabag, local delivered milk

Home-made spicy roasted butternut squash and sweet potato soup with 2 wholemeal pitta bread

2 x malt loaf slice with olive spread

So this is what went into my lasagne, which is currently in the oven:

Vegetable Lasagne: Onion – Sainsburys Standard, loose; Garlic – I forget, maybe Lidl; Dried Mixed Herbs -Lidl; Pesto – Branded, bought from corner shop quite a while ago; Mushrooms – Sainsburys Standard, loose; Aubergines – Sainsburys Basics brand (Grown in Holland); Yellow Courgettes – Grown at Stirley Farm; Broccoli – Grown at Stirley Farm; Tomatoes – Grown at Stirley Farm; Carton Chopped tomatoes – Sainsburys Basics brand; Tomato Paste – Lidl; Fresh Parsley – Grown at Stirley Farm; Red Lentils – Dried; Green Lentils – Dried; Pasta Sheets – Sainsburys Organic Brand; Olive Spread – Cooperative brand (I didn't have any butter but it seems to work); Plain Flour – Sainsburys Standard brand; Milk – mix of organic and non organic (didn't have enough so I had to pinch a little from my landlady); Parmesan Cheese – Sainsburys brand

There are quite a lot of issues in there: home grown food; high carbon footprint food grown under artificial conditions (those are probably some very naughty aubergines); Organics; food packaging... But (as I'm making this up as I go along) I think I will talk a little bit today about why I'm not a vegetarian.

I get asked a lot if I'm a vegetarian. I got asked twice this evening as I was making my lasagne: by my landlady, who has asked me this several time, and then by the builder who is taking the kitchen apart (although he worded it “are you one of those non-meat eating people?”). I can see why people ask when I'm making a lasagne with lentils rather than mince or at the farm when most of my lunches seem to be meat free. Quite often people just assume that I am without any such clues. I guess I just have a vegetarian aura.

But I'm not a vegetarian. I love meat! Loving meat however doesn't mean that I feel it's necessary to have it in every meal. Most of the meals I cook are meat-free for a variety of reasons. One being that meat is expensive! As there are lots of other ingredients I enjoy just as much, I feel like it's an unnecessary cost when times are tight financially. I'd love to see the myths that vegetarian food isn't filling or nutritious enough to feed a family well and truly busted! Families that are struggling to pay for the weekly shop could save a great deal by preparing several veggie dishes a week (there is a project in their somewhere... Some simple cooking skills to help stop reliance on pre-made food which is much more expensive than home-made as well as being much less healthy wouldn't go amiss either – but I'm going off on a bit of a tangent there). As well as the financial cost, I am aware of the environmental costs of eating large amounts of meat. I think the campaign Meat-Free Mondays is a great idea or at least it's a great start. Meat (and dairy for that matter) production is highly energy inefficient. Using valuable resources to produce vast quantities of meat makes little sense in a time when we need to be thinking seriously about reducing emissions and producing more food for a growing global population. It seems to me, the way that we consume meat these days reflects our disconnection with where our food comes from. When you pick up a pack of meat in the supermarket it's hard to relate it back to the living, breathing animal and the amount of food and water (and possible other inputs) it took to get that animal ready for your plate. 

It's in the light of these facts that people might wonder, if you care so much then why not go totally vegetarian? Or vegan for that matter? This may seem overly dramatic but I think my life would be much less enjoyable and culturally rich if I ate no meat at all. Furthermore, I wouldn't want to live in a world where without meat or dairy production. Farming is an important part of our heritage and forms the landscape that we live in. We'd all miss the rolling hills of pasture where cattle and sheep graze if they were turned over to produce potatoes or lentils. High input factory farming is muscling out traditional, low input and sustainable farming. And that's another version of the countryside that none of us would like to see. There is a balance somewhere in the middle, where we reduce the amount of meat and dairy we consume so that our needs can be met by less energy intense farming methods and where these farmers get a fair price that reflects their inputs so they can compete in the food market. 

My lasagne was delicious, by the way.

Food Diary: Tuesday

I've decided to give up saying that today is not typical – there is no such thing as a typical day! After I got back from Stirley Farm I was going to go straight into town so I had a quick home-made “ready-meal” from the freezer for tea. Since then I've changed my mind about going out so I've got a chance to catch up on a few things (including my blog!). So here is today's food diary:

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

3 x Tea (at Stirley Farm) throughout the day – Fairtrade Teabag, local delivered milk

An undisclosed amount of Sainsbury's Oat biscuits and Ginger Nut biscuits

Home-made chickpea and chorizo soup with pitta bread

2 x malt loaf slice with olive spread

Sainsbury's organic brand yoghurt

2 x really sour sweets as a dare

Left over Kedgeree Risotto from the freezer

As I've actually given myself a bit more time to write my food diary today, I'm going to be looking at a food issue that came up today in more detail: Palm Oil.

I think I've already mentioned that shopping with me can be a nightmare. I'm not the most decisive person in the first place and I normally spend lots of time dithering over which choice is most ethical, sustainable etc... So when I look at ingredients and see palm oil, I generally put it straight back on the shelf and find something else. Problem is that I don't systematically look at the ingredients of everything I buy and sometimes things slip through the net. I was thinking of checking the contents of my cupboard for items containing palm oil but it turns out I didn't have to look very far. This morning I dug out two packets of biscuits bought from Sainsburys to take into Stirley Farm as Tuesday is our volunteer work day. Both contain palm oil:

 Now you might have noticed the same thing I did. One says "Made with Sustainable Palm Oil" and the other says "Supports Sustainable Palm Oil". Lets have a look at the back of the packs in greater detail:

 

So what I can tell, the palm oil in the ginger nuts is certified by the RSPO and the palm oil in the oaty biscuits is what Sainsburys, in their wisdom, judge themselves to be sustainable.

Let me take a step back and say a few words about palm oil for those of you reading who aren't aware of the problem. In a nutshell, palm oil is big business. It is used in hundreds of food products as well as cosmetics and is increasingly being used as a biofuel. To satisfy our massive consumption, large areas of rainforest and peatland are being turned over to palm oil production. To be honest, I knew that it was bad for the reasons that such cash crops generally are (they often destroy valuable habitats, take land away from indigenous people in these areas and invariably contribute to climate change) but I hadn't looked very closely at this issue up until now. When doing some research, I came across an article from the Independent from 2009. It's a couple of years old now but worth a read, and also links to a lot of other palm oil articles. One thing stood out in the very first paragraph of the article where palm oil is referred to as an "invisible ingredient". After further research, I found more information of Greenpeace's palm oil FAQs page:

Is it possible to stop buying products containing palm oil, or buy only sustainable palm oil?
Because there's virtually no way of telling whether the palm oil in any particular product has been grown on deforested land, it's impossible to buy only sustainable palm oil. It's also difficult to avoid palm oil, as in the ingredients it's often listed as merely as 'vegetable oil'. 

I had no idea that palm oil could be disguised as vegetable oil. It turns out my vigilance in avoiding products which list palm oil in the ingredients is a waste of time if I put it back on the shelf only to pick up a product listing vegetable oil, which is in fact also palm oil... A bill requiring products containing palm oil to state it on the label has caused great controversy in Australia. As far as I can tell, in the UK labelling and policy varies between brands and supermarkets. In February 2010, Panorama interviewed major brands and supermarkets on their use of palm oil and their policy - you can see an overview and read individual questionnaire responses on the website. The only times I can remember seeing information about palm oil clearly stated on the label is in Sainsburys. In spite of having put off my plans for the evening to concentrate on writing this, I can't quite bring myself to read all the major UK supermarkets Corporate Responsibility Policies... But I had a quick look at Sainsburys and noted this paragraph:

We believe customers should be able to see easily whether there is palm oil in our products. We were the first supermarket to identify palm oil rather than 'vegetable oil' on the labels of all fresh and chilled food, and now show this on all our food products. We have also developed our own logo to help customers identify easily where sustainable palm oil is being used in products. 

So now I know that I can safely shop in Sainsburys and there won't be any palm oil disguised as vegetable oil, and from their use of the past tense, I'm assuming that some of the other supermarkets have followed suit. I'm still slightly confused by the difference in the wording on the two biscuit packets but at least now when I'm checking ingredients I won't be wasting my time. During my palm oil research, I came across this blog from an extremely committed person who cut out palm oil completely. He must spend even more time than me reading the labels in supermarkets...

Just to add a final word about palm oil, Orangutans seem to be the poster child of this campaign which I think only focuses on a very small part of the issue. Species becoming endangered through loss of habitat is just one reason to fight for sustainable palm oil. I think the palm oil issue is a perfect example of the global food system gone wrong and encompasses the major points in Oxfam's GROW campaign. Destruction of rainforests and peatland contributes to climate change which affects the poorest, leading to hunger. Cash crops taking land away from food production contributes to volatility in global food prices which affects the poorest, leading to hunger. Land being taken away from indigenous people for production of palm oil by large corporations affects the poorest, leading to hunger. Pressure to produce cash crops muscles out small scale farmers which affects... can you see where I'm going with this?

Join the movement - and help create a world where everyone has enough to eat.

Food Diary: Monday

Again, this wasn't actually a typical day for me. I normally eat much more than this! It was another busy day with a training course in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon so I only had time for a quick lunch as I went from one to the next. It didn't help that I left the house in a rush and only had a small lunch box of leftover pasta with me. I made up for it when I got home though by having soup starter (fancy) before two sizeable jacket potatoes (not quite so fancy).

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

Tea (at Cafe Ollo) – Teabag and milk origin unknown

Leftover pasta (same as last night)

Tea (at Tolson Museum) – Tetly Teabag, milk unknown

Tea (at Stirley Farm) – Fairtrade Teabag, local delivered milk

1 x Foxes cream crunch biscuit

Home-made spicy roasted butternut squash and sweet potato soup with 2 slices of wholemeal toast with olive spread

2 x Jacket Potatoes with Philadelphia

You'll probably start to notice some patterns emerging already... You spotted it - I always have the same breakfast. It's a recipe I first tried on Vegan Week when I was on the V Project on the Sharpham Estate. When Sam and Tom first suggested the idea of having cold porridge with water instead of milk, I was sceptical to say the least. Revolted might be a better way of describing it. But as it turns out, it's actually very nice. The secret is to soak the oats overnight and magically the water is turned deliciously sweet and creamy. It's probably something to do with the starch being broken down into sugar – but that's just a guess! Maybe it is really magic. Or the sugar from the sultanas.
It's so simple. Apart from the fact that you need to remember to think about your breakfast before you go to bed and add the water the night before.

So if you think this sounds disgusting, try it! I used to think the same thing and now I eat it every day - apart from the days I forget about it.

If it hadn't been such a busy day I probably would have written about veganism, oats, and a range of other things but as things are I'm going leave you with the challenge to try cold porridge before soaking my oats and going to bed.

Read more GROW week blogs

GROW campaign points: Food Price Spikes

For my last post of the day on World Food Day, I'm going to talk a little bit about one of the four major issues that Oxfam are trying to tackle in the GROW campaign: Food Price Spikes. This year's World Food Day theme is “FOOD PRICES – FROM CRISIS TO STABILITY” so it's particularly fitting to talk about this today. Here's how Oxfam explain the issue:

“After decades of progress, the number of people without enough to eat is actually increasing, and food price spikes are a big part of the problem. That's because, when you spend up to 75% of your weekly income on food – as many poor families are forced to do – sudden rises have an especially destructive effect. Price spikes have many causes – the changing climate, oil prices, dysfunctional commodities markets, biofuels policies that mean crops end up in cars and not on plates – but what's clear is that we are facing a whole new challenge. It's time for governments to work together to deal with food price crises effectively – and to tackle the problems that mean millions of people can't afford enough to eat.”

In these tough economic times, even in this country we are feeling the effects of fluctuations in food prices. From a quick bit of Google researching (please comment if you find figures that are different!) I found out that in the UK 8.8% of what we spend goes on food. So obviously in a country where up to 80% goes on food, the effects of price spikes are going to be much more greatly felt. By backing Oxfam's campaign, we can work together to make the food future more secure for everyone.

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Food Diary: The Perils of a Busy Weekend

When I decided to do a food diary for Oxfam's GROW week, this isn't the ideal start I had imagined. As I've previously posted, I enjoy cooking most of my food from scratch but there are times, even for those of us with the best intentions, when convenience wins the day. I've had a very busy weekend! I was up early on Saturday to help set up for a dry stone walling course on the farm then after an hour or so at home to work on my first blog posts for GROW week I raced down to town to meet fellow Oxfam campaigner Milly from the station. We had lunch at The Keys restaurant and a good catch up on how our Oxfam work is going then set about campaigning at Oxjam Huddersfield (I'll be writing about this in much more detail – watch this space!). We were certainly very productive, visiting all 6 venues across town and taking over 60 photos of Oxjammers pledging their support to the GROW campaign. We stopped into my least favourite supermarket to get a sandwich en route between venues. I got home just after midnight and went straight to bed – campaigning is pretty tiring work!

On Sundays I work as a waitress so again I've been out all day. I didn't have time to prepare a proper packed lunch so I just took snacks.

So now I've made my excuses, here is my weekend food diary:

Saturday:

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

Cup of Tea (at Stirley Farm) - Fairtrade Teabag, local delivered milk

Cup of Tea (at home) - Fairtrade Teabag, organic milk from supermarket

Malt Loaf slice with olive spread

Jacket potato with Beef Chilli and grated cheese and side salad at The Keys

Bottled Swedish Pear Cider at Student Union

Tesco Ham and Cheddar sandwich

Tesco finest Hand Cooked crisps Sea Salt and West Country Cider Vinegar

3 x Half Pint Broadoaks Perry at the Head of Steam

Sunday:

Cold Porridge with Sultanas, Cinnamon and Ginger

Cup of Tea (at home) - Fairtrade Teabag, organic milk from supermarket

Hot Chocolate (where I made a mistake on an order – what a treat!)

6 x Sainsbury's Scottish oat cakes

The last remaining scrapings from a tub of hummus (from Sainsbury's I think)

Philadelphia

2 x Malt Loaf slice with olive spread

A couple of chips in the kitchen at the restaurant

Pasta (Sainsbury's Organic brand) and leftover home-made sauce containing onion, garlic, tomato, aubergine, squash, chorizo

Half a packet of instant custard

Fairtrade Banana – put in the freezer but I wasn't patient enough to let it freeze properly so it was just highly chilled...

The idea of keeping the food diary is that I will analyse the food that I've been eating and look at particular issues. From this monster list I'm not really sure where to start. I think the thing that is most apparent after this weekend is that buying food on the go doesn't always make it easy to make the most ethical or ecological choices. I have no idea where the food I ate at The Keys came from or what their food agenda is, if they have one! Being quite an indecisive person, I have enough trouble choosing a sandwich quickly in the first place let alone if I were to read the ingredients list on each one... Looking at the ingredients now for the sandwich I chose (bad choice, quite disappointing) both the bread roll and the mayonnaise have egg in them. In a previous post I've written about how I always buy free range eggs but to be honest I don't pay that much attention to egg as ingredients in other products. I doubt the eggs in my rubbish sandwich were free range. I think this is something I'm going to have to start paying more attention to... This convenience food business is all rather inconvenient.

I could probably write an essay on what I've eaten this weekend, and I might revisit some of the items over the week, but I think that's enough to sink your teeth into for now.

World Food Day - My Food Story

Like most people, my relationship with food was formed in my childhood but unlike a lot people, I grew up on a farm so my connection to food runs particularly deep. We drank raw milk, ate eggs from our own hens and beef from our own cows and, much to the horror of most people I relate my stories to, I had no qualms about eating my closest childhood friends. What is more, food never went in the bin. Ever. When I left home, putting peeling or scraps into the bin was something I could never get used to (thank goodness for composting!). Having always had a special place in my heart for the chickens and ducks on the farm, I could never bring myself to buy eggs from caged hens. The taste and even the colour of eggs from home is simply incomparable to anything you get from the supermarket.

So it might surprise you to hear that, even though my parents are organic dairy farmers, I had always been somewhat less picky about the milk I bought. It was only this summer after working with OMSCo promoting the conservation benefits of organic dairy farming that I actually thought about the bigger picture of what difference that seemingly insignificant supermarket choice can make. For a price difference of a few pence, I like to know that I'm supporting an industry that has a less negative environmental impact than conventional farming and has increased welfare benefits for the cows too. It's also the industry my parents are involved in so it is quite shameful how late in the day this realisation has come! So you see, it's even possible for someone with a strong link to the land to become disconnected from it...

So that's my food story. What's yours? Please comment, I'd love to know.

GROW: What's it all about?

This week, 15^th - 22^nd October, is GROW week. The GROW campaign was launched earlier this year and is Oxfam's major campaign at the moment. Here's a quick guide to the GROW campaign:

What's it all about? Nearly one billion people worldwide do not have enough to eat. This isn't down to any one factor. GROW is about getting to the root causes of global hunger and fixing our broken food system. If you've got 45 seconds free, watch this video!

Why does it matter? Oxfam is well known for it's work in famine relief - it's the reason they were originally founded! Tackling the underlying causes of hunger and making sure that the food we making is effectively and fairly distributed means that in the future such interventions won't be necessary. Oxfam believes that there are four major causes of global hunger which form the pillars of the GROW campaign. I will talk about each one in greater detail throughout the week. The four issues are 1) Land Grabs 2) Climate Change 3) Food Price Hikes 4) Intensive Farming

What can I do? This is a global problem which everyone in every country is connected to through the food they eat. Don't feel disempowered by the scale of the problem - each and everyone one of us can make a difference! I've organised the following ways you can get involved taking into consideration the busy busy lifestyles I know a lot of you lead:

 "Hmmm I'd like things to change but I'm quite busy. Is there anything I can do right now?" Yes! Sign up here to show your support for the campaign. At the time I wrote this 11,066 had joined the movement to fix the global food system.

"That's great. I've signed up. I can probably spare another 5 minutes. What's next?" Now you're signed up you'll receive campaign updates. You can get involved in campaigning from the comfort of your computer. You can email your MP, respond to calls to action, watch videos and share them with your friends to spread the word about GROW.

"I've got plenty of time and I'd love to do more!" Find out if there is an Oxfam campaign group in your area. There are lots of great ideas about ways you can raise awareness about Oxfam and GROW on the website including organising a GROW dinner party or picnic, staging a Land Grab or just getting out and talking to people at local events. Or you could blog about it!

"I've got plenty of time and I'd like to know more. I could do with a nice bit of bedtime reading" Read the report Growing a Better Future and Land and Power for more information about Land Grabs.

Food for thought

Why talk about food? Food unites us. Everybody eats – although some eat more than others.

The topic of food is one that I feel particularly passionate about. One reason for this and perhaps the root of it all, is that I love eating. Being able to cook and eat delicious meals is one thing that makes me really happy. I also care about where my food comes from and how it got to my plate. Friends and family will tell you that a trip to the supermarket with me is a nightmarish experience. Expect long deliberation over whether it's better to buy certain products grown abroad or in the UK (ie high carbon footprint from air miles or from inputs needed to grow in our climate?) Are dried chick peas better than tinned chick peas or vice versa?

Some people will think “does it matter?” Well, yes it does. I'm a big believer in consumer power and the mantra “every purchase you make is a vote about the kind of world you'd like to live in”. I like to think that the lifestyle choice I make won't be to the detriment of others, at home or abroad, in this generation or the next. Again, some people might think one person's weekly shop won't make that much difference... But one person can make a difference when they're part of a growing movement of people who want to see a change in the way our food system works.

Oxfam's current major campaign, GROW, is all about fixing the global food system. When 1 billion people across the planet go hungry every day, it's clear that something needs to change. This week, from the 15^th to the 22^nd of October, is GROW week. If you haven't already, sign up to show your support for the campaign.

Throughout GROW week, I'll be blogging daily about all things food related. I'm going to be looking in great detail at the food I eat each day as well as thinking about some of the food dilemmas which plague me the most. Follow my food musings and join me in the global dinner conversation!

The Girl Effect

After a slow start in getting this blog off the ground, I was inspired by the wonderful, creative people I met at some training I did with Oxfam to jump back on the social media bandwagon. So I've been tweeting and blogging away, and my Facebook has never been so interesting since becoming a member of the Oxfam Change group!

It was on the blog of one fellow Change activist - Love-Chari-Tea - that I first saw a video about the Girl Effect. This is truly thought-provoking stuff. If you've got three minutes to spare, watch this video. You'll be moved and inspired and you'll probably end up watching all the other videos too...

As part of a week-long campaign, I'm one of over 500 people (at the time I wrote this!) who've written blog posts about The Girl Effect. You can see all the posts here and if you're moved to write your own, you can add it to the growing list.

Zero Waste Challenge

I've been catching up on my backlog Woman's Hour podcasts over the past few days and I found Birgitte Johnson's Zero Waste Challenge a particularly interesting listen. Birgitte, a working mother of two, has been keeping an audio diary documenting her attempts to reduce her family's non-recyclable waste to zero. That's right – nothing in the bin. I've enjoyed listening to the highs (for example, when they found pasta with paper packaging) and lows (when they discovered that inside the paper packaging was actually a layer of plastic...) of the family in this eco-soap opera. As Birgitte and the family came up against various obstacles I found myself shouting out solutions (a bad habit to get into when listening to your ipod). For starters - make your own pasta! Kids want ice lollies but can't get ones with recyclable wrappers? Make your own! We used to have a freezable ice lolly mould when we were kids. Great fun! Can't find meat in the supermarket that isn't wrapped in layers and layers of packaging? Go to the butchers and ask them to wrap in paper or put it in your own packaging. Do the same at the deli. Easy!

Or maybe easier said than done. I think all conscientious people who have the slightest green inclinations would like to make everything from scratch, do the rounds at the butcher, baker and candlestick maker, and make sure that every purchase is the greenest one they could possibly make... but who has the time?! I don't have time and I don't have two children and a pessimistic husband think about...

Between 15^th and 22^nd of October as part of Oxfam's GROW week, I'll be blogging about EVERYTHING that I eat. And I eat a lot. I'll be thinking about all the different food choices we're given which are frequently confusing, often conflicting. Perhaps I'll try the zero waste challenge at some point after this blog-a-thon. I wonder what my family would think of a zero waste Christmas...? Probably that I was just being difficult, as usual.

Museum Magic

I'm having a change of volunteering scenery at the end of this week. Friday and Saturday I'm volunteering at the Manchester Museum. On Friday I'm helping out at a Wildlife themed Magic Carpet event. The Magic Carpet involves story telling and craft activities for the under 5s. I helped out at last months Fruit and Veg Magic Carpet and it was a really great event! The Museum also has a great gardening project going on at the moment with it's own Museum Allotment.

On Saturday morning I'm also going to help with some Planet Dinosaur activities, in support of the BBC series. Not really sure what it's all about but I know that these guys are involved...

'apply ever after

Since signing up to the local freecycle group in Huddersfield, I've managed to get some really good things for the farm including a good quality water butt and a new phone for the office with an answering machine. I recently got in touch with a lady via freecycle who had too many apples from the trees in her garden and wanted to get rid. So Sue and I went over and collected a large bucket full!

I'm currently sorting them out in the following ways so that we get the best use out of them:

• Good size eating apples are being stored by wrapping in newspaper. Hopefully they should keep for some time and us volunteers will be eating apples through the Winter!

• smaller ones and the less tasty of the two varieties are being layered with hay to store for the time being the Sue is going to take them to apple day at Edibles to get them pressed to make cider for our Christmas do!

•  and the ones which won't save are being separated for immediate eating or cooking. I've already made an apple tart. Many more apple pies/tarts/crumbles to follow...

Trying New Things

I remember when I started back to my second year of university after having had a rather exciting and adventurous summer break, I made a pledge to do something new everyday to try and maintain that sense of adventure that often fades with the day to day grind... I managed to keep it up on a daily basis for a couple of weeks but I still like to try new things on a regular basis to keep life interesting!

This week I'm having a good week of firsts. Yesterday I tried Giant Puffball Mushroom for the first time (yum!) and today I operated an excavator! Can't wait to see what new opportunity tomorrow brings!

Winter Gardens Project

I found out last week that my application for some funding from the Think Big project from O2 was successful. I'm delighted because I had already done quite a bit of preparation in the hope that I'd be chosen...You can follow the progress of my project through My Project Cloud.

Here are some little felt fruit and veg prototypes I've made for the project. The idea is I'll be making these with Primary classes as part of a Winter Garden display.

Small Pleasures

Living a very busy and active life sometimes means that it's hard to take a little bit of quality time just to do the small things that make you happy (things which don't include sitting in front of a computer screen!). Today I took half an hour on my way back home from work at Stirley Farm to collect some blackberries. Don't forget to make time for the small pleasures in life! Right, now I'm off out to do some membership recruiting...

I Heart Volunteering

As I've written before (and as you can probably guess from the title of this blog), volunteering is what I'm all about. At the end of last year, I decided to make some major changes in my life. I was motivated by a range of factors but one thing that pushed me was turning 25. Apparently (although I'm not expecting to feel too much different on my 26th birthday) 25 is when you stop being a young person! I will truly miss my rail card but the thing which struck me was the amount of volunteering opportunities on interesting projects which seemed to have the cut off age of 25. So I quit my job and got myself onto one of the aforementioned projects! I spent 15 wonderful weeks as a V project volunteer on the Sharpham Estate in Devon (including a 2 week exchange to Hungary) and when the project finished I was keen to find other interesting projects.
And so I ended up in Huddersfield as a trainee with the YWT on a community farm project. Whilst not being specifically aimed at young people, I don't think I would have got the role had I not gained the confidence and experience from the V project and become addicted to the sense of fulfilment brought through volunteering  my time and skills to make a project happen.
As momentum has gathered, I've been taking on even more different projects (which I mentioned briefly in my previous post) including becoming a Change Campaigner for Oxfam. The Change programme kicked off with four days training which left all the participants (and the facilitators of the event) incredibly motivated. I met so many interesting and inspiring people that I've been filled with a new energy! I can't wait to get stuck into campaigning and one of the first things I want to do is to meet my MP. I've had concerns for quite a while now about the future investment in volunteering for young people now that the V Involved funding is finished and I'd like to see the new government pledge a similar scheme (for all their rhetoric about the Big Society...). By assisting people to take time out of their lives to volunteer for a project or cause they care about, you create passionate, caring people who will spend the rest of their lives continuing to do this. I want more people to get the chance to love volunteering as much as I do!

New Projects

It's been a while since I started this blog and as you can see, it didn't really get off the ground... Since then I've had some inspiration and motivation from a great bunch of people at an Oxfam training weekend (which I will be writing more about) and decided to get back to it!

I've also moved location (from South West to North West via East Midlands) and started some new very exciting projects. I'm now a trainee with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on a community farm project in Huddersfield. Stirley Farm is a really exciting place to work and I'm sure I'll be writing loads about it here, but if you want to find out more like the Facebook page and follow the Twitter feed!

I've also just started to campaign for Oxfam and I'm really excited about getting stuck in! The GROW campaign is really exciting and I have lots of ideas of things I'd like to do relating to this campaign and Oxfam's other campaigns.

I've also applied for funding to run my own kid's growing project through Think Big (and if you're under 25 you should apply too!) I should hear about that in the next week. Fingers crossed!

In the next month I'm also getting trained up to be an eco-assessor in schools and to do Love Food, Hate Waste training.

Yes, I've got a lot on my plate (I also have two part-time jobs to fund my extravagant volunteering lifestyle which I haven't mentioned...) but I'm absolutely loving life at the moment!

Review: The Cove

After having heard all the hype and seen the captivating trailer on Channel 4, I finally got around to watching the award winning documentary The Cove with the other volunteers on the recommendation of Liv, who had brought a copy with her to camp. Before watching I had a vague idea of what the film was about – ie dolphins – but not really in any great detail.

The film follows the work of activist Ric O'Barry, a renowned dolphin trainer who trained Flipper – and as a result probably helped contribute to the popularity of dolphin tourism today – on his quest to expose the cruelties of the Japanese dolphin trade. The team uses state-of-the-art technologies to uncover the abuse, capturing a graphic scene of bloodshed which is utterly shocking.

The film documents one man's campaign to bring light to the events which take place in this Japanese cove and he certainly succeeded – the film won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary. However, the fact that he was aided in this campaign by millions of dollars worth of film equipment reduced the impact of his achievements in my eyes. In the film, O'Barry says “If you aren't an activist you're an inactivist”. Well it's very easy to be an activist if you have a very large budget behind you and an unlimited amount of time to spend pursuing a singular aim. Overall the film left a rather sour taste in my mouth. Unlike the excellent documentary “The End of the Line”, the viewer can take no action in response to this film (apart from perhaps texting the word “dolphin”, as is suggested in the end credits). The End of the Line tries to educate the viewer about the problems with over-fishing and what actions every single one of us can take to remedy against this. The Cove places the blame on a distant “other” making it in a way, the perfect film for an “inactivist”.

Another point which I found quite odd was the way this issue of the health risks associated with the eating dolphin meat was handled. It was mentioned as almost an after-thought and very much a secondary issue in the film that many Japanese citizens may be unknowingly consuming meat contaminated with mercury. I don't know if and how the film was received in Japan but I would have thought that the issue of potential mercury poisoning would not be something that was taken at all lightly.

In short, whilst the film uncovers some important issues I personally didn't find it very inspiring. The needless slaughter of any animal is obviously tragic and I am glad that O'Barry is able to devote his time to this cause which is so important to him. However I find that when you watch a film which is all about activism, it is rather frustrating to be left with a feeling that there is nothing that you personally can do about it.

Vegan Week

Over the last week at camp, all the volunteers have been taking part in our own self-imposed week of veganism. “Why?”, many people asked. I'm not sure about the others but for me it's simply because I find it very hard to turn down a challenge. I think, when it was suggested to me, it was assumed that I wouldn't take part considering that I transform into a bit of a beast if I don't have my morning cup of tea (milk, no sugar) and I am a seasoned turophile (thanks to Bill for this word of the day!). 

I found throughout the week however that I didn't actually miss the things I normally have that much at all. The worst thing by far was when offered something non-vegan and painfully having to turn it down. And of course there were a few accidental slips – who would have thought that salt and vinegar crisps would have lactose in them??

For me, I enjoy doing little food experiments such as this mainly just to make myself think a little more about what I'm eating. Whilst being vegan for a week might not make that much impact on my lifetime carbon footprint, it has made me consider just how much animal products I would regularly consume and how I can reduce this in a relatively pain-free way.

Totnes: Britain's town of the future

From The Observer, Sunday 6 February 2011:
"Totnes in Devon might be the most forward-thinking eco settlement in the world. As fossil-fuel reserves dwindle and the economy contracts, will resident-led Transition Towns become the way that we all live?"

Read the full article.

Why shop when you can swap?

Just before leaving Manchester, I finally got round to organising something I'd been meaning to do for a long time. Because I knew that I would probably moving house in the not to distant future, I felt the need to lighten my life a little. So I was very ruthless and cleared out a lot of clothes which I no longer wear. Most of them went to the clothes bin however certain items were more difficult to part with... Through guilt, sentimental attachment or pure bloody mindedness (“I WILL wear those jeans one day”), certain clothes are just difficult to let go of. So they sat in a bag in the bottom of my wardrobe (not being missed at all, might I add) whilst I waited for someone to hold a Swishing party so that they could go to a good home. However, after waiting a number of months to no avail, I realised that I would probably have to be proactive and hold one myself.

Swishing is simply an organised clothes swap. It can take on any number of formats and the rules of the game are very flexible. In fact, before the guests arrived I hadn't really considered how it was going to work in practicality! However when it came down to it, everything went very smoothly (there were jokes throughout the evening about how it might turn into a fist fight when it came to laying claims on the nicest items – thankfully this didn't happen!). Preparations began when my friend Jenny arrived several hours before kick off. We arranged both our contributions in my living room which gave it the feel of a lovely boutique and eagerly awaited the arrival of the other swishers (whilst getting a sneak preview of each other's offerings). Susie and Alison, then Gemma and Sue arrived in pairs bringing the total number of swappers to six – which turns out was a good number as the living room was jam packed with goodies!

Once the clothes were all laid out, we spent the next few hours perusing the hidden gems that we had each discarded. Whilst keeping in mind a mental wish-list of the items we wanted, we then proceeded to “auction” the clothes by picking out each item in turn and seeing if anyone wanted it – and if more than one person wanted it, trying to decide who wanted it the most!

I would say the most satisfying part of the whole event, aside from getting some fantastic new additions to my wardrobe, was actually seeing my old clothes find nice new homes and knowing that they would be worn and enjoyed. Sure, I could have taken all these things to a charity shop and allowed someone to discover them but now I occasionally get texts from my friends telling me how much they love their new clothes which used to belong to me. And I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I wear Jenny's blue wool dress or Gemma's coat. Plus the whole evening in itself was extremely enjoyable – like sales shopping, but everything was free, in the comfort of my own house and with some good friends to enjoy it all with!

I can't wait till the next time I get a chance to clear out my wardrobe and do it all again!

Yurt Life

Towards the end of last year, I made a decision that 2011 was going to be very different and so far things have been just about as different as they could get. As of 18^th January, I moved down to Devon from Manchester to start a 15 week voluntary placement at the Sharpham Estate, a project funded by Vinspired, along with 3 other volunteers. Living accommodation is provided in the form of yurts – a girls' yurt, a boys' yurt and a communal yurt which functions as a living room/dining room/meeting room/library (gurt, burt and curt as they have been nicknamed).

So three weeks into the project, here are some observations about life so far (somewhere along the lines of “you know you've been living in a yurt to long when...”):

• Being warm is pretty much your one aim in life. Fire is worshipped.
• Not being able to light your stove is the most depressing thing in the world.
• Keeping your fire going all night is just about the best feeling in the world.
• Going into a “real house” feels a little strange...
• Showers aren't really necessary: everything smells like wood smoke. And everyone smells as bad as each other so it doesn't really matter anyway.