Reading Time: 2 minutesCould a life lived with animals be in our DNA? We’ve evolved from hunter-gathers, into farmers looking out onto pasture, cornfield, hedgerow and wildwood beyond. Today the wildwood has retreated, and for most of us even farms too. We live in an increasingly artificial environment, and few of us live off the land. Yet we […]
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Wildwood, Tree Rings, Climate and Environment
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe life a forest has seen is written into its wood. Rising and falling temperature, water availability, the affect of people living at its edge; tales of bark chewing deer and clouds of insects too. All leave their mark in tree rings. The signature of wildwood, climate change, insects and people; of oakwood and birchwood. […]
Do We Need to Revive Traditional Knowledge to Live Well for the Future?
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe best of the past for the future. That’s what I want to focus on this year.
When I started this blog, I never thought of it as relating to my working life. But, as time goes on I’ve found it sneaking in. I’m a cross between an archaeologist and an ecologist, and so I’ve found the phrases ‘ancient knowledge, passed down through generations’ slipping in.
A Return to Sheets and Blankets: Out With the Duvet
Reading Time: 5 minutesI’ve gone back to sheets and blankets (traditional bedding) since we’ve redecorated and carpeted two bedrooms. Call me old-fashioned but I see many good points in what we’ve discarded and left at the back of linen cupboards. What started me off on this was that we were one set of bedding down for our newly […]
Lost Words and Nature-based Solutions
Reading Time: 5 minutesRegain lost words and seek out nature-based solutions. Simple swaps, which we’ve heard so much about during Zero Waste Week, are a great way to make a difference. But, alongside a focus on stuff (avoiding buying stuff; wasting less stuff), I want to bring in another dimension. For this week, think also zero waste of […]
Zero Waste Ways With Fat and Oil in the Kitchen: Bread and Dripping Days
Reading Time: 7 minutesZero waste ways with fat and oil may be a lost art. When I was little, I loved bread and dripping. I remember at my Nan’s house the smell of cooked bacon drawing me to the kitchen where she was clearing up. I’d sidle up to her, and I’d say “Can I have some bread […]
