waxed cotton

These are too expensive for me to buy but great. Both brown and purple and then waxy.

From labour of love. They also have these and I think I like them...

potions

I made my first face cream and whatnot a few weeks ago. Magic. Honestly I was quite surprised that it worked. It is an actual real life moisturiser that I can put on my face everyday.

I have been using it and it is good, to begin with I thought that it smelled funny but after using it I quite like it. I think it's the honey in there that makes it smell peculiar. It has a herby-woody-floral scent? It seems pretty good for my skin although it hasn't fixed my forehead like the nyr one did. I will have to make another one and tweak my formulation.

I also made a oil for face cleaning and a body butter. I had coco butter and I thought that cinnamon essential oil would be nice but it has totally overpowered the choc smell. Next time. Not sure I like the whipped butter really, I think I'll just make a cream next time. The face oil is pretty nice. I have been trying the 'oil cleansing method' but haven't had any fantastic results yet. I can't quite reconcile the method with the advice dr hauschka gives about not putting oil on the skin at night. In theory I'd use face wash in the morning, toner and use my moisturiser, then before bed I'd do the oil cleaning and leave it at that. Maybe I should just ignore the dr.

I have been going to wise woman school to learn about herbs. We tried to make creams last week and it seems I was the most cream experienced. Our herb teacher is very good but making the creams from scratch is not something she does too much so I could share my limited knowledge. I'm really not that good but I guess the theory is fresh in my mind.

Nettles. Since being a ranger I do love my work gloves. Wimp.

I did homework to try out the lecithin as an emulsifier. I made some infused oils, please excuse the filthy cooker, it has been cleaned now. Calendula and cleavers, we learnt about cleavers although I can't remember what we learnt.

This is cleavers juice squeezed with my bear hands...

I tried 4 different batches with the lecithin, lecithin and bees wax, e-wax and the special emulsifier. I had to bodge in some stuff to thicken some of it as it was to thin and lotiony. I guess that is why I was experimenting.

So it's all done and I'll take it in to crone school next week and we'll look at it. I'm not sure about the lecithin. I might have to tell folks to go look at some proper e-wax and stuff as there was a bit of 'lets only be natural and use what we can get in holland and barrett' but as far as I can see we can be a bit less paranoid and actually use some proper stuff, even preservatives, god forbid.

stinky and rude

I ordered some lovely scented pelargoniums as mine did not make it through the winter this year, all the geraniums died in the cold. This time they are going to be inside plants.

I found a place that only sells pelargoniums, they are pelargonium experts if you will, and from them you can by a mixed pack of starter plants to grow on. They send you whatever flavours they have ready to go and then it's a bit cheaper than if you choose which ones you want.

All was well until they arrived. I opened up the parcel and one the plants was loose, I thought oh no it has snapped in transit! But no, it was not rooted, just a new cutting pushed into the hole of a jiffy thingy. Hold on. I looked a some of the others that were loose and alas, these too ware new unrooted cuttings. Not what the order page on their website says you are buying.

I sent off this email to them...

Dear Annie and Guy,

Thank you for your well packaged delivery, I received my order (no. 204218)
this morning.
On opening the package I was worried to see a loose plant and thought that
it had been snapped in transit however looking at the plant it seems that
the cutting has popped out from the jiffy pot (is this the correct term?) I
was expecting to receive rooted cutting and in checking some of the others
that were loose (I didn\'t tug at them from the pots) it seems that they are
not rooted. I appreciate that the plants would be from cuttings but had
expected them to be rooted and am a little disappointed to find they are
not. I would not have confidently ordered un-rooted cuttings.
I have a photo of how the loose one arrived if this is helpful.
I was happy to receive a wide selection and variety.

I\'m sorry to send a negative email as I was really looking forward to the
plants arriving!

Kind regards,
Lyndsay Officer

I spent quite a while trying to sound friendly. This is what came back...


Sorry to hear about your disappointment.  Please return the plants to us in
the packaging that they arrived in and we'll issue you with a refund for the
plants that you send back.

Regards
Annie & Guy

Hmm, I thought. No explanation and they want me to send the plants back and for them to probably die in the post and be wasted. But I want the plants, I want to know why they are not what they are supposed to be and maybe an apology for that and maybe a nice free plant in the post. I was pretty cross about this.

Dear Annie and Guy,

Was I wrong to have expected rooted cuttings, as this is what the listing in your online shop says I was buying? I'm sad that you have provided no explanation as to why this has happened and no appreciation of the inconvenience and cost involved in returning the plants to you, not to mention that the plants would possibly be wasted were they to undergo another postal journey.

It would have been polite for you to have taken the time to address me personally, respond to the issues I raised and aim to asses what would be a satisfactory resolution to this issue. I made the effort to explain my concerns in a polite and well meaning fashion and was keen not imply any offense had been taken. From your response I can only assume that my custom is of no value to you. I had recommended your site to a friend and I will now be telling them to buy their plants elsewhere.

Regards

Lyndsay Officer

So they refunded the money and said this...

Hello Lindsay

I'll send you a refund without you returning the plants.

At this time of the year we are inundated with orders and it does become
very stressful. My time is very limited and I do not get near the computer
much and have to keep email replies short.  There is after all only so many
hours in the day and neither myself or Guy is getting any younger!

We are very sorry that you had a bad experience with us as we rarely receive
complaints and we do value each and every one of our Customers.

Regards
Annie

I don't know if I'm hoping from too much from people but they still didn't actually address the issue. And is that an excuse for being rude? And they still spelled my name incorrectly. Sending out cutting just snipped form a plant and pushed into a jiffy is a very different affair from taking cuttings and growing them on to have a good ol' set of roots and then sending them out to your paying customers once you know they have made it. The first is pretty much instant, the second takes some time and space and attention and maybe some failures. I feel like I was being swindled. I know I'm not too good with cuttings so I would rather buy plants that are growing well, which is what I was supposed to be buying.

I think they'll be ok, I just have to really remember to look after them. I obviously don't want to promote these people but here is the site so if you are ever in the pelargonium market you might remember that these are not nice people to buy from. scentedgeraniums.co.uk

I would really like to get this from crocus but they are so much. Pelargonium sidoides.

 And this, Pelargonium 'Ardens'...

Wow.

'lotment on on the naughty step

Aparently we were not making progress on our plot.

Re: Plot 30 Oliver Road
7.5.10

Dear Lyndsay,

We inspected on Wednesday 5.5.10. As you can see from the photograph six months from accepting the tenancy nothing has been achieved.

Obviously circumstances have not allowed you to work an allotment at it remains in an unacceptable state. The time has come for me to relet the plot. Please collect any belongings that you may have left there and come into the Trading Shed on Sunday morning when we will return your deposit for your key.

I am sorry that it has not worked out for you.


Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.


When I received this email I had a little upset tantrum as a I told ralph. I felt totally defeated. I'm not very good at being told off for things, mostly because I do try to think about how I conduct myself and I don't really do things that are not correct. That's how I try to be. So when someone says you have not done this right it's a mixture of confusion and dismay shortly followed by anger that someone could be wrong but be blaming me for the wrong issue. Luckily on this occasion the anger didn't take too long to take over from the dismay. The problem lies in that I also have a tendency to be beaten by the fact that once someone else thinks they have put me right, pointed me in the correct direction or informed me on how things should be done, I have a belligerent defiance of following that course of action.

So when the anger set in and I had realised that they were wrong, we had made all the progress we had planned to and had a path ahead to forge along, I did not ever want to go the the plot again as why should they think I was there on their direction? It's that same as when my mum reminds me it's my dad's birthday when I had remembered already and had already planned to send a card.

It's ok now, I grappled with my ....... (I'm not sure what the word is, I think it's a bit like pride but that's not quite right) and went on down as we had planned. I think it now looks more like how they would hope. There is some kind of obvious patch of mud for growing stuff in.

I should have expected a less than smooth ride with the allotment but I had really thought that the secretary was a sensible lady. We have a plan for the plot that is a little different from the accepted norm but not so far from some of the plots. I said before that I wanted to implement a smaller version of my helpful hedge on part of the plot, to grow a kind of food meadow hand in hand with our mini orchard wood of apple trees and fruit bushes. Mostly wild plants or weeds. I like the grass that grows up tall, I like the dandelions and forget-me-nots.I want to go to a space that is lush and green and a bit like our patch of woodland edge or glade, that we can happen to grow some other stuff that gives us food. But somewhere that is lovely to go to, like a trip to our very own botanical garden. And this starts straight away, not in 4 years when we have finally suppressed everything that grows here on it's own accord. No black plastic for us, bad.

I was mostly annoyed at the statement that nothing had been achieved. This was just not true as lots had been done. I think what they meant was that not enough progress had been made according to some standard that had been imagined. There are no rules to determine this, you are meant to use the plot to grow things and not plant huge trees. How dare they?

We sent a nice big email reply detailing what we had been doing and saying how shocked we were to receive notice without any discussion.

We got a reply saying that we were let off and they will check again next month. It also had a lot of well meaning advice and anecdotes about how much could be achieved and how a lot of people are not able to go super often but manage to make really good progress. And how we could look at some nice photos of how people have overcome difficult plots, it was so very patronising. I'm definitely no expert and this is the first allotment I've had however I do know a bit about growing and I'm not a novice. I welcome advice but not when people dish it out based on their assumptions of your knowledge. I am young, I don't wear scraggy gardening clothes, our plot has weeds on.

I am a passionate gardener and a park ranger. I would say that my understanding of the earth and the way that plants grow is a lot more developed than many of the plot holders, particularly those that strip their patch bare and plant rows of onions and potatoes and beans every single year and spend all their time eradicating all other signs of life. Miserable.

Rar, rar, rar.

So here are some of our lovely vegetable plants that we have be growing at home until they are big enough to go to the plot, possibly this week. You can't say that we hadn't been planning to grow anything.

(Personally I think that the first photo looks great, admittedly it looks a lot more over grown in the picture than it does in real life,you can see any of the areas we've cleared, the permanent bed we've put in or the junk that is no longer on the plot because we hauled it up to the skip. It seems to me someone took a photo and then looked at the photo and not the reality.)

I'm sorry I swooned

Looking back at my last post I feel it didn't really come across in the way I had hoped. Sorry about that.

I had meant to pose a discussion on how there are some characters in film and tv that really do embody a morality that is quietly powerful. I realise that they have been created this way but to a certain extent it seems that these qualities are, not so much accidental, but almost slipped in under the radar. These people really are exemplary humans but it's not obvious that they are meant to be this way.

I like to think that it is me, in my hyper-awareness, noticing their qualities.

I obviously don't mean that they are all good and lovely but that their morality is somewhat unshakeable. This is what I like. That they have taken responsibility for the way they live.

I was trying to think of some more examples, preferably people not in 24 as I'd like to put bill buchannan in here too. It's been a while since I watched deadwood so I can't quite remember if seth bullock really fits the bill. This picture is nice though, so I guess this could be the gratuitous ooogling.

I did not want to sound like a swoony girl, so apologies for that. This is a serious matter.

serious oogling

Here are some pictures of good men, john doggett, jack bauer and the little man from the woods.

So I wish I actually knew some guys like these, they do the right thing and I don't think they drop litter or let their dogs poop without cleaning it up, apart from maybe when they are totally in the wilderness and animal poop is ok.

why all the shopping

I have been trying to rationalise all my posts on clothes and rugs and shoes and kitchenware. I'm not really a shopaholic, I haven't been into town for ages and I don't really like the traipsing around. I find it saddening to see so much rubbish in the shops, to be around so many horrible people and to end up feeling like you have to buy something in order for the time not to have been wasted. It is not nice to come home with nothing. As far as I can remember, it was such a long time ago that I used to do all that.

I do like buying things on the internet. Looking at inter-shops. Posting pictures of things I'd like on here.

What is it all about? I was thinking it is about describing a set of products that are the right products. If I am to have boots, what are the best boots, these are the best boots, they should be the boots that everybody has, no other boots are necessary in the world. I'd live in a dictatorship where I have decided which are the correct things. There are reasons why things are good and as far as I can see they are rational. They are ideal.

I do not really know what this means. I think I'd dislike if all the plebby folk had my boots so is it just for me?

All the wrong options parading as choice make me cross. There should just be good things that are able to be found. I think about traditional textiles and how in a village in the olden days there would be a way of weaving wool from sheep and whatnot to make warm blankets. Everyone's blankets would be somewhat samey. But maybe I like the brown wool and you like the grey wool. But both our blankets would be great and cosy and warm and with worth.

I found an inter-shop I like, whilst looking for jars. manufactum. It has lots of good things, things that will last and work properly. This pencil sharpener is £12.50 and has setting for how sharp you would like your pencil to be. This is fantastic. This should be the only pencil sharpener in the world, apart from maybe one with a hand crank for when you have to batch sharpen.

selfish again

So there was a talk at rsa from sue gerhardt about her selfish society book. I think I have to listen to it again, maybe I wasn't concentrating properly. I really don't think, from what she says, it goes far enough. I am yet to read the book so I'm not commenting on it properly, however the discussion seem to be about an elsewhere, not us in the room. Hmm.

She did however mention in passing the new economics foundation and in particular something about a 21 hour working week. There is a report on how adopting this as a way for us all to work could be good. My summery probably wont make it on to the cover, no.

I think I'll have to print it out to be able to read it so not looked at it properly yet. But yes, 21 or about that, I work 17.5 but it's 3 days, is what I think we should all be doing.

I like that nef says it is a 'think and do tank'.

face quest

So it is all sorted out. I have the moisturiser and so far it is looking good. It has mint and nice things like thyme and rosemary. It's funny it is for teenagers. It's not really like the palmarosa one that fixed my forehead but I nearly have all the ingredients to start making my own version of that.

Also, the mineral foundation is sorted. First off, some weeks ago, I got the nude one from purity. It comes in a really nice, substantial jar and is easy to tip out into the lid for brush swirling. However, the shade I got on the advice of Emily, was too dark. I tried to get on with it and I did carry on as I thought I was being a wuss as I'm not really a made-up kind of lady. I had a bit of a look at lily lolo and their advice is if it even has a hint of the orangyness it is too dark. So had to get some more. I ordered one from lily lolo as I do like variety, shade candy cane. When it arrived it too looked very dark in the jar, I ummed and ahhed as to whether to try and send it back. No, I was brave and tried it and it's much better. The jar is not so nice and it does not tip so well, goes all over the place, but at least it is the right colour. I guess I can mix the two for my 'summer' colour, ha, when I have a tan eh.

I also got the green colour corrector to help me be less pink.

Purity is £12.99 and lily lolo is £12. I prefer the purity but I should have gone with my instinct and got the paler one. I think my skin is really very light.

Applying the foundation is easy and it really does look much better than conventional, from a tube, stuff. Glad I have found it.

The green is good, £7.

Boring for boys, sorry.

zara homefrontier

I've just been looking on la redoute for some shorts. I do not normally wear shorts but they may be ok for work when it gets hot. People don't seem to think that a ranger can go about her duties in a skirt. Piffle I say but if I order them from la redoute I can order lots of different ones and try them on and send back the bad ones, so I can investigate shorts for style and practicality.

Anyway, shorts are dull.

La redoute has a range from zara home which has a few nice bits. I like this bedding. I think I'll get it.

clogs

On monday ralph and I went on a special outing to camden. We were a bit excited, neither of us having gone over there since we wore road jeans wide like sails and globe skate shoes. What we thought was that we'd find some rustic army surplus camping gear.

On the way we stopped in at the city farm, kentish town maybe. It was very good there, a turkey.

Then we went on to camden. Did a bit of a trawl of the row of charity shops which was odd. There were all very busy, like there was more special staff in them than customers, lovely. I got a suede shirt, lovely. I also tried on some fantastic trashy high heel leopard printed suedeish mule clogs, great but alas too high for me to really wear around, and I think the plastic sole might have been a bit slippery and therefore trecherous.

Anyway camden was awful, we should have known really. Never going there again.

But I have gone about looking for some nicer clogs. I have been thinking about how clogs are pretty good on the frontier front. There is something wholesome about a shoe made of wood and leather. And I think they'd fit in nicely with my ongoing wardrobe improvement plan.

Here goes.

bjornclogs

bjornclogs

schwedenclogs

Berlin-Clogs

lottafromstockholm

sarenza

regard

Last week on women's hour there was some psychologists on talking about parenting. I can't remember now exactly what they were focussing on as it's taken me so long to talk about it. I remember that they were talking sense though.

One thing in particular that struck me was something said by the lady doctor about regard. She was saying how parents were failing to teach their children to have regard.

What a fantastic phrase. I think it covers much of what I have said previously about how people behave.

If I am to teach my future children anything I will teach them to have regard. And to wear stripes like this guy.

better living

I have been thinking about what the best house would be like, the best place to live. I have this idea of a smallholding in the woods.

I found a couple of examples of people who live in interesting set ups.

This is tony wrench and jane faith's roundhouse in wales. From reading about it on the website it seems they have had lots of trouble from the council which is silly. What a lovely house, they grow crops and make wooden plates and bowls. You know I love wooden bowls. This is what living should be.

They use the term earthright to describe the way they live, this is such a good term. I'm going to try to use it in conversation. Here is the lovely lady in their lovely house.

This is the house that simon dale has built for his family, again they built it from logs and mud. From the outside it looks like a hobbit house. I'm not that keen on the look of the house but I do like the way it was built.

It seems that one of the ways that people set up this kind of living is to start a community. This is what I do not like at all. This is what, like feminism, turns a sensible idea into utter rot. Here is a photo of the steward community woodland.

I haven't visited this place so I only have my opinion of the information on their website to peg my dislike on. But I'm sorry, to me this all seems like nonsence. This is what they say... "...a permaculture project which aims to demonstrate the value of integrating conservation woodland management techniques with organic growing, traditional skills and crafts and low-impact sustainable living."

What like some kind of living museum? I can't help but think this 'proving to the world' coupled with the safety of a democratic-compromising communtiy makes a joke of a valid way of life. It is just the same as an art exhibition "group show" put together by a gang of friends that can't really be bothered to take their art practice seriously enough to try hard enough to actually make good work and maybe have shows. Bloody hell. The point of living in the woods in a house you built yourself is not to end up cooking in a shared kitchen and showing everyone how earnestly you can stir a giant pot of root stew or have a patch of raised beds and a chive heart.

"Unfortunately black plastic has been the only totally successful mulch we've tried so far." My god, do some more pulling up of roots, you are supposed to be doing this sustainably.

Surely the point of moving to the woods is not to live in a shanty town with a tarp for walls. Is it not to live a life striving to live a good life full of beauty at every turn, not putting yourself  on anyone or anything, to take responsibility and to try your hardest to make it so? Not to be anywhere where your community buddy leaves out the shitty washing up bowl.

On my hunt around for some housing inspiration (I'm tentatively starting to think about the master plan) I came across radicalroutes. They say this...

 Our world is shaped by the forces of greed, capitalism and materialism, where maximum production and optimum profits are vigorously pursued, making life a misery for many and putting us and the environment at risk.

The system is ultimately controlled by the rich and powerful, the capitalists and bureaucrats, through the use of many mechanisms such as ownership of the economy (making people slaves to a job) and control of the media (creating a passive culture).

Urrgh. Honestly I do understand the point. However. IT IS THIS LAME CRAP THAT JUSTIFIES PEOPLE STAYING SHIT. Oh it's so hard, all the rich, keeping me down. Who is it that makes you have a 'slave job'? Do you honestly believe that? Take some responsibility you looser.


So, my ideal living is a little compound of buildings built from logs and mud and old bricks and super high tech insulating membrane or something, if it's appropriate/necessary/good. Some woods with all the great plants, chickens and pigs rooting about. Maybe a lovely little pond with dragonflies and toads living nearby. A cow and goat. A solar panel and wind turbine. Ocado deliveries every two months. And a bit of a job sharing my skills with whoever needs them if I have to. Children in stripy jumpsuits. Lots of wooden bowls.

Or maybe kinda what we have now, that's kinda ideal for now.

love lurex

Some things in the sale at people tree.

They have lurex stripes.

lawrence of arabia

I have been not looking at shops and mostly thinking how good it is not to do shopping. But I do like some clothes and shoes pictures on here. And I have gotten a little ranty as lee points out. So after a trip to ralph's mum's house and then seeing all the sisters vogues piled up I thought I'd just have a little look. And the guardian's fashion statement blog thing is nice to read, I like it.

And it appears that there are now leather dungarees in the world. Amazing!

This is the kind of dungarees I want. I think if I was to ever patronise a fashion house it would be chloe, again I like pretty much all of the winter clothes.

To go with my leather dungarees I would like to these, and I could actually save up for them as the are £90 rather than £gazillion like the things from chloe.

These are canvas and leather, from where. There are nice red shoes in the sale too so I'm hoping that they are still there come the end of the month.

We watched lawrence of arabia, maybe I like the boots because of that.



In looking up the film now to find a picture or something to help my boots-justification I was surprised to see how old the film is. I had assumed 70's but no, 1962. It really is a great film and with none of the dating that sometimes make old movies hard to watch. Some of the guys are sometimes a little to shiny but there is enough dusty to make it ok. I do love long films. So I put a long clip in here for us to watch, we chatted at the time how it seemed camels are crap at stopping and how in the film this looks great.