Blackberry season

It's high blackberry season and there's the most fantastic crop on the Western Hills.

Picking here is a dream. My memories of blackberry picking as a child in suburban Wellington are of all the bushes being well picked over and getting scratched up the arms stretching precariously over the edge of a steep bank to reach the last few. The same was true in Aro Valley where foraging was fashionable among the students. Up here there are masses of bushes dripping with beautifully ripe plump berries. You can saunter along the edge of the road idly picking only the juiciest and popping them in your mouth.

There are so many ripe berries within easy reach that you have to conclude that no-one up here really picks them at all. You're not in Aro Valley now, Compost Girl.

But what could be more frugal and eco-friendly than foraging?  So I was out today with the baby strapped on in the front pack, picking the blackberries down our street.

When I was a kid my Mum used to keep the best berries for blackberry and apple pie or to eat with muesli for breakfast. Any small or somewhat manky ones would go in a jar to make blackberry cordial. I'm doing the same, although I'm not up to pie - I've just made a simple blackberry sauce to go over vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Here's Mum's recipe:

Blackberry cordial

2 cups blackberries
2 cups white wine vinegar
450g sugar
250g honey

Pour vinegar over blackberries and stand one week. Strain and put liquid in a saucepan with the sugar and honey. Bring to the boil then remove from heat and cool. Bottle. Can be used much like Ribena.

Like my Mum I'll be adding blackberries to the jar over several days of pickings.

Plastic-free international travel

While I was on my big trip I still tried to find ways to avoid using plastic as much as possible. Beth Terry blogged on this a while ago - all good ideas, but more appropriate for travelling within the United States where she lives, rather than spending a couple of months travelling around on the other side of the world.

I wasn't heroic enough to try to work out how to take all my own food on a 12-hour flight leaving from a foreign city! But I tried to do what I could.

The things I found to be simplest and most effective:

• Taking your own snacks/lunch on buses and trains.

Usually the only food available to buy on trains or at stations is heavily packaged (and expensive). I regularly bought a supply of stuff like small blocks of cheese, packets of dried fruit, chocolate and crackers, which will all keep for a few days, then added bread and fresh fruit on days I knew I would need a lunch. I took a small lidded container to keep opened packets in. It was handy to have a Swiss army knife to cut up cheese, bread etc.

• Eating before you head to the airport or taking your own food

Again, most food at airports seems to involve a lot of plastic and you inevitably get hungry during all the waiting.

• Taking your own water bottle and refilling it from the tap at your accommodation each day.

I also refilled it in airports after going through security, like Beth. This was good everywhere that the tap water is drinkable. In Bangkok it was different! I also found out why they drink bottled water in Paris - the tap water really isn't very nice. Luckily they do a good line in drinks in real glasses at all those cafes.

• Taking a reuseable shopping bag.

I wished I'd thought of this before I left New Zealand, because a reuseable bag is just as useful for supermarkets, street markets and various other purchases when you're travelling as it is at home. However, it took me several days to find one to buy in Spain. Eventually I got a cotton one that folds up small for packing.


Overall it wasn't too hard to avoid plastic in France and Spain. For example, I also took my own collapsible cup and knife, fork and spoon set, but only used them a few times because most of the time I ate in at restaurants that used real cutlery and china.

Unexpected plastic did pop up in a few places though - like the ice cream in a cone that came with a little plastic spoon in Madrid, or the little plastic cap protecting the ice cream on the Spanish version of a Trumpet. That's just a part of travelling.

Unpackit - cute packaging awards

Wanaka Wastebusters have come up with a cute packaging award website to out the worst packaging culprits in the country (and shine a light on the best).

The nomination that resonates most with me is the packages of individually wrapped prunes - crazy stuff.

Plastic-free picnics?

I bought this beautiful picnic lunch in Paris, at the local shops in Montmartre, where I was staying.

It was a charming experience. I bought the bread from the bakers; the incredibly smelly but quite delicious cheese from the little cheese shop; and the fruit from the fruiterers.

And the photo shows 100% of the packaging involved. The cheese was just wrapped up for me in a piece of paper and the blueberries came in that little cardboard tray. I popped the bread straight into my own cotton carry bag, no problem.

Voila, plastic-free picnic.

Whole other story in the UK. This is the picnic I bought from Marks & Sparks in Inverness:



This was the least-plastic-packaging lunch I could come up with after probably 20 mins of prowling around the aisles. And, y'know, supermarkets - really not so charming.

Guess which one was yummier??

Organic Paris

I was so impressed with how environmentally conscious Parisians are.

I was impressed when I met a Parisian man on the train from the Spanish border (yes, his name was Jacques) and part way along the conversation turned to how concerning climate change is. He was the one who brought it up, I swear.



Then I came upon this beautiful organic market (Marche des Batignolles, a Saturday market set up down the middle of the street in Montmartre). Just look at those artichokes!

There was such an amazing variety of organic products there - vegetables, fruit, bread, preserves, cotton items, cheeses ...



Imagine being able to find that variety of organic cheeses in Wellington! It was organic heaven.

Then up a side street I found an organic shop where I bought this:



This is certified organic made-from-eggs-and-cream custard (and I have to tell you, The Most Delicious custard I have ever eaten). And look, it came in a glass jar! Not a plastic pottle, a glass jar. Remember back when dairy products came in glass?

I checked in the shop but it wasn't refillable, however that day happened to be glass recycling collection day in Montmartre, so I snuck it into a collection bin.

To some extent all this is a reflection of a larger market and French (and especially Parisian) wealth, so people can afford to spend more on organic food etc., but it's still encouraging to see that level of environmental awareness.

Bin Inn!

Bin Inn is here! Well, in Lower Hutt anyway.

It's a mainstay of the Rubbish Free Year bloggers because everything is in bulk and you can take your own reuseable containers. I always felt envious because there was no such thing here.

But a branch opened at 418 High St about six months ago. I stumbled upon it in the weekend and had a quick look around. The things you can buy there in bulk! Pasta! Flour! Detergents! Lollies! Lentils! You can grind your own peanut butter. It is a plastic-free wonderland.

It's open on the weekends Sat 8.30-4 and Sun 10-3. Next time I'm out that way I'll be taking a clutch of my own bags and containers and filling everything up.

Biodegradable pen

Look at this!



No, really, it is exciting - look closer!



Who'd've thought it? A biodegradable pen!

Amazing.

This one is made by Lecce , who don't give away a lot about what it's made of (though I suspect it might help if I spoke Italian).

And what's more, this is just the tip of the iceberg - have a dekko at this array of biodegradable pens.

Plastic-free basil

Look at this marvellous piece of marvellousness!

Last year I had to buy basil in a plastic pot (grumble grumble) but this year I found basil seedlings for sale in a recycled takeaway coffee cup.

Good on you Grow from Here.

Hard-wearing shoes

Shoe lovers, I have two words for you: Minnie Cooper.

My discovery of the week - I bought a pair and I'm besotted with them!

They are:
- made in New Zealand
- all leather, apart from the heel and the sole plate they recommend you get put on
- repairable-looking - you could replace the heel and the sole plate when they get worn

They're not cheap, but I'm optimistic they will last long enough to make up.

And did I mention pretty? :)


Other notes I've gleaned about good and bad shoe brands:

Wore out quickly:
Hush Puppies
Miss Sophie
All Stars

Seemed to last well:
DV8
Sole shoes

Picking up rubbish at the beach

I love that when I start picking up plastic rubbish from the beach, people don't laugh at me and tell me I'm weird. They start picking it up too.

Even more plastic-free takeaways

I've updated the plastic-free takeaways post again, this time thanks a hasty dinner at McDonalds.

Although my quarter-pounder and fries were in fact plastic free, I did notice that I was eating 75% of my daily fat allowance in one sitting. But I leave that part of the choice up to your nutritional conscience :)


Also interesting to see a strong split between food styles: fish and chips, pizza and burgers come out generally low in plastic; various Asian takeaways (Chinese, Thai, Indian, sushi) seem to be mostly plastic-y.

Plastic-free meat

If you ask at the deli counter at the supermarket (New World, anyway), they'll just wrap your meat in paper.

No plastic bags anthem

Ok, I admit it: It's a little old, but I totally love this!



It's an absolute, straight-up-and-down total pisstake, right? Utterly brilliant.

And after you've stopped laughing, I bet you can't stop humming it for the next two hours.

Deodorant 2.0 update

Reporting back on deodorant 2.0:

During the height of summer I found 50:50 baking soda and cornflour didn't seem to be quite effective enough, so I switched back to regular plastic-y deodorant.

But now daylight saving is off and we're back in "winter" mode, I'm going to try deodorant 2.0 again.

DIY Peanut butter

Another idea that *might* be a plastic-reduction exercise or might just be a fun try-making-it-for-yourself project — DIY peanut butter.

Super easy: I just get a bag of salted, roasted peanuts (sold as snack food in supermarkets), throw it in the food processor and drizzle in some vegetable oil as it runs. Once it's reached the texture you like, it's done.

I could go really hard-core and try and source peanuts that aren't packaged in plastic, but I figure a flimsy little plastic bag is still way less plastic than a whole jar + lid.

A $3.89 400g value pack of roasted peanuts makes a 400g jar of peanut butter - that's about the same price as the cheap made-in-China stuff.

Beach clean-up

It was great to see forty or fifty people out on the Cobham Drive coast yesterday, picking up rubbish for the Forest & Bird Seaweek beach clean-up. Older people, younger people, kids—all pitching in.

There was a heap of rubbish wedged among the rocks. Plastic drink bottles galore.

At least 10 rubbish sacks were filled in the couple of hours I was there.

Most interesting find: Barbie's shoe

Most ironic find: a tie between an "NZ Natural" plastic water bottle and a plastic city council rubbish bag

Tank bread

I've discovered the Tank loaf at Aro Bake.

Yes! Finally a boughten bread that meets my criteria:

1. Wholemeal
2. Reasonably priced (@ $3.80 a loaf, it works out only slightly more expensive than Vogels)
3. Not sold in plastic (it comes in a nice paper bag)

I've wanted to cut down on non-recyclable bread bags for ages. I do bake some of my own bread (using an awesome sourdough starter from a friend) but, realistically: baking all my own bread? Yeah, right!

So, chuffed with the Tank loaf.

Solutions are everywhere, once you start looking.

Individual change vs political change

After reading through the No Impact Experiment handbook this week I was thinking harder about how I could cut down on the rubbish I generate.

Because I was noticing every item I threw away, it actually crossed my mind that I could go really hard core and take my own dried peppermint leaves to work to make herb tea instead of using the imported, individually foil-wrapped teabags in the tea room.

It's not that crazy. The teabags are just dried mint and we have a ton of mint in the community garden. It would save some unnecessary packaging. It would make me feel good.

Then this same week our Sustainability group got revved up again at work. An awesome bunch of people. Someone raised the issue of the heavily packaged teabags (we've started getting a new brand recently—the kind we used to get (Twinings) aren't individually wrapped).

We decided to talk to the tea purchaser about it. Turns out, they were happy to switch back. Just like that, we saved the foil packs from 50 people's cups of tea.

Political change. A million times more useful than me bending over backwards to be just a tiny bit greener in my own life.

The best garden shop ever

Completely shameless plug for Grow from Here, now my favourite garden shop ever.

Not only did they get in the exact thing that I wanted (Awapuni newspaper-wrapped leek seedlings), but, when they saw me testing out the weight of bags of compost, they lent me a trolley to get a 20L bag home with.

Wish I had a big garden and therefore a reason to rush out and buy heaps of things from them.

Hmm, maybe I could turn the living room into an indoor jungle ...

The year in review—guest post by Bridget Jones, Compost Girl

Apartment-building-wide compost schemes 1 (v. g.)

Global climate action treaties 0 (poor, but surely cannot be held personally responsible for actions of 192 countries at the UN? [God, did love it though when Ed Miliband started striding about all sexily and telling other countries to pull their acts together when it all looked like it was falling apart right near the end. Mmm ...])

Emissions trading schemes botched 1 (I think—surely no normal person can be expected to understand all that complicated kerfuffle about free allocations, phase-out periods, "stationary energy sector", "trade-exposed industries" etc. etc.)

Emissions reductions targets set 1 (0–20% reduction—slight variation on the recommended 40%)

Bathrooms cleaned with baking soda and vinegar 1 (v.g.)

Minutes spent thinking about buying tissues 357

Minutes spent using tissues 17

Takeaway meals consumed 11 (but necessary for research)

Plastic bags avoided 417 (hurrah)



All in all, a creditable year.

Hmm, must try to get one of those "I only date boys who vote green" badges.