Vegan Living & Ethical Buying

savvy

squirrelgirl said:

Savvy, welcome to the world of growing your own! 😊 I'm really looking forward to eating my first crops (if they work! 😉) 

My breadmaker arrives today! 🙌

Haha thanks, it's going to be interesting!!!! Doh I bought a good quality secondhand breadmaker but it's not worked out well with gluten free bread, trying to work out what else I could use it for, or sell it on

[Deleted User]

You can make jam in my breadmaker savvy - perhaps you could use yours for that? 🤔 have you tried just making the gf dough in the breadmaker? It may be that the cooking time isn't right for a loaf (I know nothing about making gf bread so just grasping at straws! 😉) 

The veg is coming on really well! 😊 I've eaten lettuce every day over the past week and it's still going really strong - I've got 3 baby courgettes that I'm going to cut and use tomorrow and the coriander will be cut tomorrow too! The tomatoes have got lots of flowers on them so I'm hopeful for a good crop - I'm really impressed with how well things are doing considering how late it was all started 😊 I've got strawberries on my new plants too - I can't wait until they're ready! 
I have ordered a couple of lemon trees and pomegranate trees, if they actually produce fruit I'll be over the moon! I never realised that you could successfully grow either in this country so it was a real bonus for me as I love both of them (although there's no guarantee that they'll be successful in my garden - but I'll give it my best shot!) I'm going to need to get more raspberry canes this year as the ones I had were definitely destroyed by the gardeners when they built the beds 😔 
Stocks of basics are still okay - I'm really not sure when I'll be able to order from Suma again so I may have to look for a different supplier 😔 although I'm okay at the moment, I'd like to get a decent amount in ready for winter - with the new grandbaby arriving in the next few months it's going to be pretty busy and the less I have to think about, the better! 
Anyway, epic post over! 😂

[Deleted User]

I did a stock cupboard inventory and probably won't need to do a Suma order for a while - hopefully by the time I do, they'll be taking orders from me again 😉 
I'm really struggling at the moment with my energy supplier - I can't log in to see my bills, they tell me that they have changed their system and will send me an email but it never comes, they have changed to monthly billing but can't tell me how to take a reading (not that I could submit one as can't get into my account 🙈) I'm seriously considering changing supplier! I've done a bit of research so have another one in mind - I'll just need to sort it out soon! 
The lemon trees have arrived so hopefully by this time next year I'll have some lemons on them, courgettes are forming well, coriander and lettuce are plentiful and the French beans have started to form 😊 The beetroot is looking good leaf wise - I may pull one up in a week or two to see if they are producing bulbs 😉 
We seem to be eating very similar stuff regularly lately - it doesn't bother me too much but I need to start making more effort rather than just thinking about what's easy! 🙈 I'm going to spend some time today coming up with a meal list based on my stores and garden stuff  😊

[Deleted User]

Energy supplier changed - still green energy and they are endorsed by the vegan society which is an added bonus! 😉 Thankfully, they also do the smart meter thing so I will be paying only for what I use 🙌 it all sounds very promising but I won't believe it till I see it 😂 
Dehydrator has been in a lot of use recently, bloomed wild rice, courgettes and chard have all been done and I'm going to get some kale sorted at the weekend. Spinach has germinated and I have loads of tomato flowers and a few tomatoes starting to grow so very excited about that 😉 Purple basil is doing really well too - can't wait to start making the purple basil jelly - it's been an age since I've had some! 
All is going well! 😊

[Deleted User]

I've been having a bit of a life rethink recently (birthday coming up so no surprises there 😉) and decided that I  am getting very little from these boards these days - I used to find them very uplifting and supportive but over the past few months many of the threads I subscribe to have been incredibly negative, full of holier than thou comments and generally pretty depressing 😔 Upshot is, I'm getting rid of my account- I just wanted to come on to let those people who have contributed in any way and to say thank you to all of you - your encouragement has meant a lot to me over the years and I'm incredibly grateful for that and thank you all 😊  I wish you all a happy and prosperous future x

suejb2

Where’s squirrelgirl ?

EricMears

suejb2 said:

Where’s squirrelgirl ?

The post previous to this was a 'goodbye from squirrel girl' .  SG no longer a forum member hence "[Deleted User]"

leftatthetrafficlights

Reviving this thread - couldn't remember where it was and what it was called so I'm really glad I've found it again! 😁 

My ethical buying/living still continues as a general rule but I have become a bit lax recently and slipped back into putting convenience at the forefront occasionally.

I want to get back on track and improve that and I loved the support I received on this thread so I'm hoping it will help me again. 

My income is dramatically less than the previous amount I had but I am still buying ethically and I have all the time I need now to concentrate on producing veganically grown veg! 😉

I'm planting my seeds today - I'm very behind on it all but it's mainly been deliberately done...the weather and light levels have been very poor over the past couple of months so I've taken my cue from nature and deferred the start! From experience I know that it will all catch up anyway so I'm not too concerned! 

I have pretty full compost bins at the moment - although I've had mixed results with the hotbins! I'm going to try again this year - the composted bark that it requires is massively expensive though so we've sourced some wood chips from my bil for this year which I'm hoping will work out better, are definitely veganically produced and don't come with any transport costs as they are part of the luggage on planned visits!

The garden has been really productive over the last two seasons and I now have the 'whole year' plan sorted which means that I should be okay for veg year round once the first cropping starts - I'm still eating stuff out of the freezer from last year so I'm happy with that! 

I need to go into the city next week to pick up some stuff so I'll get some dishwasher and laundry stuff from the health food shop while I'm there. Buying from suma has pretty much stopped as there are only two of us in the house now and it's difficult to justify buying the quantities - although I pay little to no attention to bbe dates, there's nothing environmentally or ethically sound about throwing stuff out because it's gone rancid/stale - the health food shop I use gets their stuff from suma though so I buy the biggest quantity I can realistically use from them instead to still maintain the least amount of packaging. 

One of my major leaps forward was obtaining a fizzy water machine which has reduced our plastic waste even further- we also sorted a water filter set up to finally make the tap water taste okay too! 🙌

Anyway, that's where I am and the journey continues! 😁