Simplifying Life

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi there

Didn't mean to scaremonger just a bit worried that Govm't involved ,do they know something we don't ??

Read a good article today about a town in devon called Totnes which is using its own currency to keep business local really interesting idea ,couple that with lets schemes,barter and freecycle ....who needs money anyway??

Shaz

ceridwen

Yep...Shaz...its called "Totnes Pounds"....for a closer look at Totnesians try Rob Hopkins' (the originator of Transition Towns movement) blog:

http://transitionculture.org/

mary43

I've heard or read about that somewhere. Oh wouldn't life me so much easier.

shaz - does make you wonder whether the powers that be know something we don't...........unless its a very good ploy to get people spending just a bit more in the supermarkets than they have been...........sort of sales technique ? Whatever they're up to statements like that could cause a lot of panic buying and the ones who end up suffering are the ones who can't afford to buy ay extra.
I intend to store what I can afford to buy extra of, just in case...........but just wondering........if there were only two loaves of bread left on the shelf......would I buy both or leave one for someone else? My conscience would tell me to buy just the one..........but there would be the temptation to say 'oh *** it, and just grab both.............I'd like to think I'd just take one but if times were that desparate we none of us know quite how we'd behave.

Charis

mary43 wrote: »

I intend to store what I can afford to buy extra of, just in case...........but just wondering........if there were only two loaves of bread left on the shelf......would I buy both or leave one for someone else? My conscience would tell me to buy just the one..........but there would be the temptation to say 'oh *** it, and just grab both.............I'd like to think I'd just take one but if times were that desparate we none of us know quite how we'd behave.

If we are prepared we can sit on our botties and let the others fight over the loaves. Wise virgins, the lot of us (from the Biblical story :rotfl: )

do_it_today!

mary43 wrote: »

ceridwen - had to clamber over four cardboard - sorry no, five, that I keep 'aquiring' to cover for christmas boxes..................phew !! Done it, rummaged through my little bookcase (thank goodness I de-cluttered it !) and found what must be it only its called a Cob Loaf -trust me to call it the wrong name. Here goes anyway:

Cob Loaf

8 oz Plain Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/4 pint of milk

Set oven to 425 degrees (gas mark 7)

Sift flour and salt into bowl. Add baking powder.
Using fork mix to a dough with milk.
Knead until smooth and shape into round.
Put on to a greased and floured baing sheet.
Brush with milk and bake in the over for half an hour.

That has to be the recipe.............I've got it written down in an old exercise book from the days when I collected a few cheap recipes and actually used to cook !...................lol

Hi all :hello:
thanks for this Mary43 :j I will have to try it soon. anyway we went to the allotment today and came home with some strawberries and some spuds :T then it rained, I have been in a funny mood today a bit moody for no real reason anyway as the rain poured I decided to sort some photographs and sit in the dining room sorting some papers and bits for freecycle - I felt abit better afterwards, had a bath and starting reading abook so that was good.

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

If we are prepared we can sit on our botties and let the others fight over the loaves. Wise virgins, the lot of us (from the Biblical story :rotfl: )

Which is actually all part of my reasoning - I take pacifism to the extent that I much prefer not to even have to "compete" for ANYTHING if I can possibly help it - dont like doing it....

mary43

do it today - I think the weather can affect our moods.........I didn't feel 'moody' as such yesterday, just a bit glum if you know what I mean. Ex foster girl was a tonic and made me laugh - that got me out of it, plus buying a really pretty plant for the garden...........(retail therapy ?)
Good luck if you try the bread recipe out..............it worked for me in the 60's - not so nice as bread made with yeast though.
We've got strawberries - no potatos yet though -they're only just flowering. Been reading on the Greenfingers Board about Potato and Tomato blight. We got that last year with it being so wet I think so keeping a closer watch this year. So far so good.

ceridwen - heard on the news that Gordon Brown is telling us to 'waste not want not' ........wonder if he's been reading through this site............???
I'm now half expecting the 'panic buying' to start.

Charis

mary43 wrote: »

heard on the news that Gordon Brown is telling us to 'waste not want not' ........wonder if he's been reading through this site............???
I'm now half expecting the 'panic buying' to start.

Here's the gist of what he said:

1)Stop wasting food
2)The average household throws away £8 worth of food a week
3)A third of all food bought is wasted (so the average weekly food bill is £24 per household???)
4)Eat prudently (like messrs Brown and Prescott?)
5)Restart the five a day campaign focussing on young men and low income families.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/pa/uknews/latest&template=/news/feeds/pa_story_template.html

What low income family can afford 20+ servings of fruit & veg a day for four people, unless they have the time and space to grow their own?
I bought sugar snap peas last week that were more expensive per kilo than the good quality farm shop sausages. The runner beans were also £7 per kilo :eek:
The peas were stringy.

I really appreciate the way this goverment does our thinking for us while not bothering to think for itself. I really need to be told how and what to eat and when, don't you? I think I will crochet a welcome mat for the food police :mad: Two more years, two more years,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_United_Kingdom_general_election

mary43

Charis - thanks for the links.
We find it hard to fill the quote deemed necessary by the 'men in suits' but I think we eat a balanced and healthy diet (although the kids we have would live on pizza and chips if allowed!). I can imagine how hard it must be for some families to do so and very often the 'fast food' can be a cheaper option. If only food were priced more realistically it might help.Plus it wouldn't be a bad idea to introduce something into the education system.......I'm sure there's probably already something on nutrition but maybe not enough. Making a meal from left overs wouldn't be a bad lesson -though I think some youngsters just might turn their noses up at the very thought ! We live in such a 'throw away' society nowadays more's the pity.
Waste not, want not, was exactly how my Mum and my Gran lived......not a bad lesson to learn at all. They new about recycling well before the days of wheelie bins being first even dreamt of.
And I get the sneaky feeling that whichever party was in power things would be much the same as they are now.

ceridwen

mary43 wrote: »

ceridwen - heard on the news that Gordon Brown is telling us to 'waste not want not' ........wonder if he's been reading through this site............???
I'm now half expecting the 'panic buying' to start.

Wouldnt it be nice to think he did listen to us Mary...but I'm cynical enough to say if he did it would go straight in one ear and out the other. We say it like it is - and the Government goes their own way regardless is more like it:rolleyes:

On the simplifying front today - I've just been called a ".........mare" - as a lout (not to put too fine a point on it;) ) dumped a bit of rubbish literally in front of my eyes on my "patch" of land I am sorta stewarding. The namecalling was because I was telling him off for it. Not exactly simplifying when one is having to clear up rubbish again and again and ring the Council again and again about the same bit of land:mad:.....(ceridwen exits stage left wishing the Council would transfer him from my area to the local "dump estate".........)