Category: Counting On …

Reflections and actions during COP26 and going on

Counting on … day 369 

4th November 2022

Once a sourdough starter is up and running and ready to use, the fun starts. To keep it active it needs used and fed every couple of days (or if this isn’t practical, it can be put in the fridge to hibernate). I use one of our starters twice a week for bread making, and in between I use the starter to make crumpets.

Crumpet Recipe

Preheat a flat based frying pan in which place 4 crumpet rings (often sold for cooking fried eggs). Lightly oil the pan and the rings. 

Take 200g of starter and mix well with a small teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Feed the starter with 100g each flour and water. 

Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the rings. Leave to cook.

Once bubbles have formed and the surface has developed a crust, flip them over and cook on the other side. 

 Counting on ….day 368

3rd November 2022

Sour dough starters use natural yeasts in the atmosphere to be active. With the starter you can make bread, crumpets and soda breads etc. They are a reminder of how simple and grounded are foods can be. 

This is a rye starter I began 3 days ago. It is developing slowly as the kitchen is not that warm.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rye-sourdough-starter

Counting on …day 367 

2nd November 2022

Layering up. As the temperatures become more seasonal, buying up the layers is a good ways keeping warm, whether that is layers of clothes or layers between us and the outside: curtains drawn at dusk, doors between rooms closed, draught excluders under doors, insulation in roof and wall spaces, rugs on the floors.  

Counting on …day 366

1st November 2022

Active travel – principally walking and cycling – is good for the participants mental and physical health and, because it doesn’t produce air pollution like motor vehicles, is good for everyone else breathing in the air.  It is also economical. Why then in the current economic and climate crisis would a government choose to cut funding that promotes active travel?

Join Active Travel and write to your MP asking that this funding be maintained –  https://action.cyclinguk.org/page/115055/action/1?locale=en-GB&en_chan=wa&en_ref=26096689

And at the same time lead by example and be active in travel. 

 Counting on .. day 365

31st October 2022

Can you challenge yourself to a plant-based November? With squashes and pumpkins and mushrooms and brassicas very much in season, lots of delicate and hearty meals await you. Try out a whole range of different plant-based proteins – fava beans, pinto beans, cannelloni beans, Puy lentils, Carlin peas, blue peas, black badger peas, tofu, walnuts, almonds …. I am sure you can have a different one each day!

 Counting on …day 364

30th October 2022 

In 1979 St Francis was declared the patron saint of ecology reflecting his deep sense of the connectedness of all aspects of creation and in which all creation lives to praise God. Francis undertook very radical changes in his lifestyle in order that he could be true to his understanding of God, and yet – or because of this – he was also full of joy. 

Counting on … day 361 

27th October 2022

I recently mended the vacuum cleaner – where the hose connects into the body, the plastic collar had broken – and the charging cable for the iPad – which was showing signs of cracking – using Sugru. This malleable silicone substance can be moulded to the required shape or location and then left to harden binding to the substrate. So far it seems to have been effective! I have previously used it to mend the clay birdbath which had cracked in half. 

Repairing anything that can be repaired is always a good option as it prolongs its useful life.  

Counting on …day 360 

26th October 2022

I saw a picture of a teddy bear in a dry cleaner’s window with the words: “Soft toys washed and mended”. What an excellent idea!

Whilst Loved Before ‘is a social enterprise adoption agency for unwanted soft toys of any kind. Donations are washed, restored if necessary, and photographed before a profile is added to the website in the hope of finding them a new home.’ https://www.positive.news/lifestyle/we-embrace-imperfection-the-adoption-agency-for-preloved-playthings/

Counting on … day 359

25th October 2022

Professor Kate Fletcher of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion recommends caution when clothing companies claim green credentials for their garments. “The most powerful thing we can do “ she told Positive News, “is not to run out to the shops,  but just to really want what we’ve already got..”  

This sentiment applies not just to clothes but all the things we surround ourselves with.