How to make truffula trees (using dyed carded wool)

...just like in 'The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss.

I made these with my daughter's class at school (she is 9).  It was a blast.  The next day, her friend came over to play, and I made Fimo creations with them.  We made a barbaloot bear, and a Lorax, and they had so much fun making all these foods out of Fimo for them.  Then, since I had a few trees home with me for finishing - they played with them in a truffula forest.  They even made a humming fish, and I cut out a circle out of blue cloth for a pond in the forest.  So much fun!

My tutorial is below:

Review: the poor design of BP's reusable cup

I just passed some feedback onto BP's Facebook page (as I find the marketing people who maintain the Facebook page of a company actually listen) about their horrible design of their reusable cup.  It looks cute and pretty, but fails functionally.

As in my letter to BP below:

"Hi there.  I bought one of your new reusable coffee cups - photo attached.  I just wanted to pass you some feedback about its functionality, since preserving the environment is really important to me - so having a good reusable cup is important for people to actually use it.

"First of all the lid is really really hard to get on.  The first time I used it the lid wasn't on all the way, and it spilled all over me when I drank from it on the way to work.  Once I learned that pushing it down all the way really really hard worked - I gave the cup another chance.  But it actually leaks, from the top, even when the lid is pushed firmly down.

"Sorry, but I think you guys can do better - KeepCup in Australia has a brilliant cup that people actually use.  And did you know there is a local producer in NZ that is making a barista style cup (it looks like the disposable cup but is reusable).  It is called IdealCup and sorry but it's far better than the one you're selling!  http://www.idealcup.co.nz/silverstripe/

"Also, softer reusable plastic can smell like petroleum, so it has to be made well out of the right material or it's really gross to drink from compared to a disposable cup - the design of both IdealCup and KeepCup succeed in that respect.  The lids on your reusable cup have not succeeded in that area either."
"
SAYS...ME.  Maybe they can support a local, but at least get a design of coffee cup
that works?

Blueberry Plum Feijoa Magic Jam

The best jam I've made so far I used 1.3 kilos pieces of plums from our tree, 1 kilo blueberries I bought, and the pulp of 16 feijoas I was given by a friend. And about 2 kilos sugar (yes my friends that's how much sugar there is in jam). And some lemon juice. The feijoias give it a spike of flavour which is really neat.

Recipe: Put all ingredients together (1.3 kilo cut up plums, no stones, 1 kilo blueberries, the pulp of 16 feijoas, 1 kilo sugar, and jam setting pectin). Also I believe I put in a cup of water.

Stir it up, and let it boil until it is really broken down and thick. Pour into sterilized jars (the dishwasher works, and I do keep pouring boiling water into them, and soak lids in boiling water).

Reusing jam jars from the shops is ok for jam! I save all good jars to use for jam.

Knitted flower - gift of love for Troy

After knitting a few flower things for nieces, I didn't want to leave Troy out, prioritizing others first, again, so I knitted her a special flower just for her after. She lucked out as I had had sufficient practice to knit it far better than the others - I also did my best for her out of my love for her.

 This one was knitted to look like a flower in a picture she chose and gave to me.

 Now that I have done a few, I do them in my own, slightly less perfect but simpler way than the way I learned from:

 1) I cast on four stitches for all of these petals, which are knit separately. (After they are all knit, you steam the backs with an iron to keep them from curling up, then sew them together with the remaining wools ends.) Then you increase at will to get the shape you want, two stitches every other row is the most extreme - purl with no increases in between every row where you increase. Then when you narrow again, just sew 2 stitches together at the start and end of each row, mirroring what you did before (purling on back with no decreases). Just make sure you remember to repeat exactly what you do for each petal!

 My only simplification was that I just sew two stitches together regardless of where the decrease is - I can't figure out the various methods of decreasing so it looks better - and to be honest, I don't really care. I use later shaping to sort it out if needed - sewing - and to be honest it looks fine. Not worth the trouble! Knit 2 stitches as 1, easy, done.

 2) I did do something interesting for the white petals to give them more structure. I took my wool needle, and drew one of the wool strings attached to the petal all through the edge of the petal - like a cord through the edge of a bag, then tied a knot when it felt right after getting back to the start. It also got rid of some of the remnant wool. I do also always pull and play with things to arrange them nicely, then sewing fastens them to stay that way.

 Because Troy likes to play with toys and hold them, not just have a hair decoration or something, all the leftover remnant wool I left hanging underneath, and some of them I laced through my wool needle and sewed round up and down with a blanket stitch to make a firmer stem. Then I added two pipecleaners, and wound green wool round the whole thing, securing it at the start of the process then the end. Another thing one could do was use thin thread to secure and hold it together while ornamenting overtop!

 The pollen stamens were of course just drawn up with a needle through the centre after the petals were sewn together.

 Sewing flower is really fun, as it's really fast and easy - when you are following your own patterns. Now I'd like to keep making them, for friends, for hair ornaments, or as part of knitted garments or hats. They are not works of art like paintings - but as gifts of love which effect real life, they are the highest form of art.

The precious shell dream

I had a dream recently where I was travelling.  In the dream the place I arrived at was called “Rome”.

I was amazed at the clear pure streams which ran by, which were filled with beautiful shells.  There was so much beauty and richness of detail in the shells in the clear running streams. 

Also, it was as though to these people we were “American tourists”, compared to them – they would see us as wasteful people. 

We found a beautiful rock pool by the sea, in a bank of stone.  One shell was so beautiful.  I marvelled at it.  It looked like it had been formed with a soft ice-cream cone maker, its colours were so white and pink as the shape spiralled up.  In the dream I started to cry as  I knew what the beauty and the richness of this shell meant.   It was of the beauty that was possible, if nature wasn’t being made as poor as it was at home. 

There was also some beautiful pieces of driftwood in the pool, which we wanted to collect to burn – but that made the people there outraged as it was illegal.

The rock pool actually adjoined a childcare centre – we skipped over a wall.  It was strange, I could see their chairs and toys inside – not one part of anything in this place was made out of wood.  They had “wood blocks” but they were all of a plastic material – the chairs, everything, which looked really odd to me.

Idea of replacing lost knives, forks and spoons with interesting used cutlery from a second-hand shop

Really really really glad I decided to let go of my perfectionism about having matching cutlery, and took advantage of the good quality cutlery you can find in op shops (second-hand charity shops). Unless you are willing to spend alot of money, things are made much more cheaply nowadays. Instead of waiting to buy a really expensive set of really good cutlery, I got as many as I wanted for under $5 - and honestly, the kids love the unique knives. They were already fighting for a unique spoon and fork we had gotten from somewhere - now they have alot more interesting knives and forks and spoons to choose from.

Another awesome thing to find at an op shops for children (or me) is books. I used to have a Holly Hobby paper doll when I was little. And this monsters book is really creative, full of drawings and ideas for kids to read. My little girl found a soft toy pig (Wilbur), and my boy found some cool toys too. Far better to find things that don't require more plastic and junk to be made.

Element Magazine article on Kay Baxter: Feeding the nation: Are all fruits and veges created equal?

Quoth element magazine at this link on 5 February 2013:

Feeding the nation: Are all fruits and veges created equal? 

In the final part of a three-part report on nutrition and poverty in New Zealand, experts weigh in on keeping pesticides to a minimum. 

Permaculture expert Kay Baxter advises growing your own vegetables. Photo / Supplied

Keen to eat the best possible greens?  Permaculture guru Kay Baxter advocates growing nutrient-dense food - high in minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids.  Nutrient density is enhanced by the environment in which the product was grown, including the health and mineral content of the soils.

 The seeds also plays a vital role in nutrient density (Baxter says heritage apples have eight times more nutrients than their supermarket counterparts).

Her advice? "Grow your own and if you can't grow your own then go to a farmers market and ask questions."

For more information head to koanga.org.nz 

Avoid pesticides 

Many pesticides lack long-term studies documenting their effects on the environment and human development.

 The European Food Safety Authority recently banned neonicitinoid-based pesticides that not only affect bees, but also affect brain development in humans. New Zealand has yet to ban them.

British NGO Pesticides Action Network UK released a report last year indicating that 46 per cent of food contained residues from at least one pesticide, a figure that has almost doubled since 2003.

To be safe:

• Wash food with water
• Peel non-organic produce, especially fungicide-heavy citrus
• Buy local and seasonal
• Buy free-range and organic where possible

The dirty dozen 

The dirty dozen are the 12 worst fruit and vegetable culprits for being covered in pesticide sprays, and are a compelling reason to buy organic. They are:

• Grapes
• Celery
• Bok/pak choi
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Spring onions
• Lemons
• Wheat
• Cucumber
• Pears
• Broccoli

The also-rans (which nearly made the list) are apples, spinach, olive oil and tomatoes.

Healthy meat 

While organic fruit and vegetable growers work on how to create healthy plants without the use of sprays, progress is also being made with animal proteins.

Lincoln University senior lecturer Craig Bunt is working on probiotics as an alternative to antibiotic treatments. He says that antibiotics are controlled by keeping animals out of the food production system for 100 days following the use of antibiotics but his work on developing probiotics for animals will see our reliance reduced.

"We hear more and more these days about how the microbes in our human gut influence our wellness and the same applies to animals. If an animal has a healthy gut in terms of microbes, the animal is going to be better off."

By Sophie Barclay