The Dream
This morning I awoke suddenly from a stressful dream. I had been put on the spot and asked to explain to some new members of the gift shop team at work (I work in a historic house), how exactly somebody buying a jar of honey 'made a blind bit of difference to anything'. If you care to analysis my subconscious this might be indicative of the ongoing internal debate I have with myself about using heritage and tourism to make a difference to the world around me, or just that I have a meeting on this topic on Monday morning.
I did a good job of making up a plausible chain of connections in my unconcious mind, and touched on the subjects of heritage preservation, supporting the local economy and ensuring biodiversity. Obviously in dream land I had to use the contrast of this one jar of honey making all the difference between utopia and almost apocalypse, but I do believe decisions like these, especially in the prime gift giving season can make all the difference.
Christmas Shopping
Now, this is in no way a post about why you should buy from historic house gift shops (though the right products though charitable outlets do give twice), it's a post about rethinking our consumption and thus production habits to be sustainable. I believe we can give gifts this Christmas that are sustainable, create a better world, and give joy to the recipient.
I know that I, and millions from my generation and others, are struggling to make ends meet. Whilst the media and the government might report figures that to an economist mean that we're out of the recession, it is a fact that the majority of people are feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living. That is why this Christmas my loved ones will be getting things that are being reused, recycled and homemade.
**Spoiler alert: Friends and Family Members who will be getting presents from me should stop reading here, or fein surprise on the 25th December**
Getting Crafty
A homemade, recycled and reused present is really just dependant on one thing - getting crafty. Here is where I need to pay my regular homage to my background in Girlguiding UK. As a small child I would come home on a Thursday night and present my latest creation, usually something involving toilet rolls, coloured paper and, if I'd been really lucky, a good smattering of glitter. My ideas for Christmas this year are slightly more...refined, I have to say, but I do think my creative ways do date back to these formative years. As a young leader, and now as I leader I enjoyed thinking up different things for the girls to make and do, often on a tight budget.
Then there's the more technical skills that I'll be using this year. I learnt to pyrograph (burn designs onto wood) at a guide camp when I was 13, and a few years ago I used that skill to make some Peter Pan inspired planks for a Rainbow (5-7 yr olds) activity out of scrap wood that was lying around. Beyond Guiding I've some other community organisations to thank for the craft skills I've learnt.
A Nettle Obsession
As a teenager I volunteered regularly at a heritage site, Flag Fen in Peterborough. I spent a lot of time playing with stinging nettles and became proficient (or rather developed my party trick) in picking them and turning them into tea, soup and metres of string. Nettles are wonderful plants that don't often get the credit they are due. Their leaves contain more vitamins and minerals than spinach, their tea is settling to the stomach and the fibres were used by the Germans during WWII when cotton was in short supply. The plant also attracts a lot of wildlife to the area and so can be positively for biodiversity. Keeping it in check by using it as a crop can stop it taking over.
Despite my family's knowledge of my nettle obsession, I'd need to refine my craft futher to produce anything that they would enjoy receiving. One day I will learn to weave with nettle fibres, but for now I will look to other crafts. It was at Flag Fen that I got into pottery too as it was a core activity for school visits to create a pot based around a historical design or using natural materials to decorate. Whilst living in the USA last winter I went to a series of workshops at The Hive Comunity Center the first of which was a series of pottery classes that my partner bought me for Christmas. In 4 weekly sessions I produced 3 pots on a wheel and then glazed and fired them.
Get Kniting
Another workshop I went to at The Hive, was where I finally learnt to knit properly. Someone in Guiding had once showed me, and my sister had tried before, but I just couldn't get my head round it. Something in this workshop clicked, maybe it was thinking of the purl and knits as binary 1s and 0s or maybe it was the relaxing conversation and no pressure to do it well. All I can say is that I can now knit and have since experimented with ribs, bobble stitch and some basic cables.
My sister went vegan a few years ago and has subsequently never used several balls of sheeps wall that she'd previously acquired. I have now inheritated these and am well on my way to producing a number of different knitted presents for Christmas. Think along the lines of cable knit cushions and speckled pattern scarfs, rather than mishapen jumpers and scarfs - I'm not quite there yet!
Making Jam
Today, on our Sunday afternoon dog walk, we came across a wheelbarrow laden with Bramley apples. A hand written sign on the cart said 'Please help yourself'. My partner and I went blackberry-ing several times in September and October, but never succeeded in collecting enough or getting our act together to make decent jam. We had the idea to make preserves for present but not the means from our paved courtyard garden. Now we do.
My recipe for super easy apple jam/sauce (please note I am not a chef and like to just make up methods):
5 medium bramley apples
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp giner
Peel and chop the apple into 1cm chunks. Heat the water and sugar on the stove and add all the other ingredients. When the mixture creates a sticky skin and sets when placed on cold plate, take off the heat. Put into sterialised jars immediately and seal.
I will look up someone elses recipe and try out some chutney with some of the rest of the apples. If you've got some empty jars you'd like to recycle - let me know! And collecting free fruit doesn't have to just depend on the goodwill of neighbours, take a look at this fabulous map of where you can collect fruit in city and country alike: http://fallingfruit.org/
Overall I hope that my friends and family are understanding of our situation, and they've known my tendency for presents that make a political statement in the past, so even if my craft skills are quite up to scratch yet, they will enjoy the thought and effort that went into the present. After all, there's plenty more Christmases to come for me to hone my skills.
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