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!