1 Sunday make
a large batch of pastry. Then, when the joint goes in the oven for the roast
dinner, start baking: apple pies, mince pies, sausage rolls, jam tarts, rock
cakes, scones etc.
This will last all week so you don’t
have to put the oven on again until next Sunday, then repeat the process.
2 Make your
own tonic wine/cough mixture with elderberries. One of the most prolific wild
berries, elders grow both in country woodland, on field margins and also in
cities, on vacant lots and building sites. The berries are juicy, tart and
packed with vitamin C. Boil about 2lbs of berries together with cloves,
cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and some finely chopped fresh ginger. Simmer for 10
minutes, strain and when cool mix in a glass of brandy for every pint of liquid.
Bottle and keep in a dark cupboard. It lasts forever and is a soothing tonic
for coughs and sore throats.
3 Forage
field mushrooms, which adds dense flavour to meat dishes. Slice the mushrooms,
layer with salt and leave overnight. Wash off the salt and simmer for an hour
with red wine vinegar, finely chopped garlic and plenty of black pepper. When
almost black, strain through a muslin, then bottle it.
4 Invest in a
pressure cooker or slow cooker: these are the two most economical ways of
cooking food and will start to save you money after very little use. You can
also cook cheap cuts of meat such as neck or brisket and they’ll taste like the
choicest fillets after a few hours’ slow cooking.
5 In early
spring, harvest sorrel from woodland walks – it makes a delicious lemony soup.
Boil potatoes in stock first then add the sorrel leaves; simmer for no more
than two minutes; mix with yogurt or crème fraîche for a richer, silky texture.
Heating
1 Seal
draughty gaps in floorboards with DIY plastic strips. This is a quick, fun
weekend job with gratifyingly instant results.
2 Adding
secondary glazing to windows: Get a carpenter to make wooden frames for each section
and inlaid a brush seal all the way around before fitting with laminated glass.
15 times cheaper than double glazing.
3 Revert to
wood heating with a wood-burning stove. Beats oil, creates atmosphere and is
eco friendly.
4 Hunt down
all those unexpected leaks in your home’s fabric with a thermal imaging camera.
Contact your local community recycling/sharing group to see if someone locally
has one you can borrow or swap for something else.
Cleaning and laundry
1 Gentle
lotion for cleaning wood or delicate surfaces made from elderflowers: pick
fresh elderflowers and bruise with a pestle and mortar. Pour over boiling water
and leave to steep until the mixture is cool. Strain and add one part white
wine vinegar to every two parts of elderflower water. Bottle in clean jars.
2 Sweet-scented
bags, folded into washing as it dries in the airing cupboard help add freshness
to the laundry.” Eight measures each of crushed coriander seed and powdered
orris root; one measure each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; three measures
of dried lavender and a cotton wool ball soaked in geranium or rose essential oil.
Fill small cotton or muslin bags (ideally from fabric remnants) with the
mixture and sew up carefully.
3 Home-made
beeswax wood polish: melt together beeswax, soya wax and a little white wine
vinegar; stir in briskly a handful of soap flakes and a small cup of boiling
water to create an emulsion. Add a few drops of your favourite essential oil.
When it cools, it should be a creamy consistency. Keeps a long time in a
screw-top jar and, with plenty of elbow grease, and a duster, buffs wood up to
a mellow shine.
4
“Eco-cloths” – Many cleaning product manufacturers now make these finely woven
cloths; the weft is so dense that the fibres literally eat up dirt from smooth
surfaces, obviating the need for expensive chemical cleaners. A drop of water
and plenty of elbow grease is all you require to polish glass, mirrors and
porcelain tiles.
5 Dry your
clothes outdoors all year round with a rotary washing line cover – no need for
tumble driers and no damp clothes hanging on radiators.
Lighting and electricity
1 Switch from tungsten to the new
generation of LED bulbs. The first of its kind to be recommended by the Energy
Saving Trust, the ledon bulb, lasts 25,000 hours and uses 10 watts of
electricity to produce the same light as a 60-watt tungsten bulb.
2 Replace
your ordinary shower head with the Ecocamel “Jetstorm”: it aerates water
droplets to provide a powerful shower using a fraction of the normal amount of
water – and electricity needed to heat it.
3 Rather than
use a light in dark corners, install a “sunpipe”. Light from the sun – or moon
– is illuminated and magnified as it is piped to where it is needed through
mirrored ducts, creating a soft, natural and surprisingly bright light.
4 Towel-dry
hair rather than use an energy-guzzling hair drier.
Decorating and interiors
1 Organic wall
paints are infinitely less damaging to the environment than vinyl ones. Any
unused paint from decorating can be recycled into children’s playroom creations
as they are safe to use. They also smell lovely – rather like playdough.
2 Next time
you need to replace a pillow or duvet, go for a wool-filled one. Wool is making
a welcome comeback and supports upland farmers. Organic wool mattresses not
only help regulate body temperature but don’t contain harmful flame-retardant
chemicals.
3 When cushion
covers become more “shabby” than “chic” replace with fabric swatches or
remnants from your local interiors shop – fashions in interiors fabrics change
so quickly that those fabric swatch books rapidly become obsolete for designers
– but provide perfect cushion-size squares of gorgeous fabric for you.
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