Organic-Ally

When I was first invited into a British home many years ago, it was not the food or wine that left an impression. It was that my hostess expected me to wipe my mouth with the lovely cloth napkin she had laid out. This is posh, I thought. Having just arrived from Singapore I was more used to whipping out a tiny plastic packet of cheap paper tissue instead. (I was not using cloth hankies at that point either.) When I later stayed with a British family, I realised -- to my horror -- these cloth napkins are not washed after every meal as I expected. They are simply rolled up and returned to napkin rings and they are used again at the next meal. How odd, I thought. How unhygienic, I further thought. Until recently, our cloth napkins (wedding gifts) only came out of the drawers on special occasions. Until I recognized how unnecessary the kitchen towels, which we've been using as a substitute for table napkins, were did it occur to me that cloth napkins are NOT only for posh people or po...

This last midweek I had the most awful feeling that I might have got diabetes. Mum suffered from diabetes for many years before the side-effects of her drugs led to multiple organ failure. Her sister suffered from diabetes and had a leg amputated eventually. I am paranoid about getting diabetes and avoid sweets and sugars where possible. But this last week my constant thirst (and therefore subsequent visits to the loo) caused me to fear the worst. I've not been able to get to the GP to rule it out or rule it in. Thankfully those awful symptoms of constant thirst have subsided. I put it down to the side-effects of some antibiotics I had to take, although I don't remember such an reaction in previous times. Then it struck me that we, as a family, had been consuming more and more organic food, fruit and drink. When I leave husband to do the shopping, even the most ordinary food (say, jam, flour) is organic. Could my unfamiliar side-effect be due to a body that has been 'de-tox...

Just catching up as I was too ill to post earlier this week. Husband came back from work 14th February and came into the kitchen where I was getting him a 'welcome home coffee' and a simple meal ready (some tasks still need to be done even when one is ill). He stuck two £10 notes under my nose. 'For you.' Me: 'Whatever for?' Husband: 'Your Valentine's Day present.' Me: 'You're joking.' Husband: 'It's money I did not spend on overpriced roses.' Me: 'Take it away.' I continued cooking. Valentine's Day is one day in the calendar that we do NOT celebrate. Wedding anniversary we make a big deal of. VD (Would you celebrate a day that's short for 'Venereal Disease'? I ask you.) We are as anti-Valentine's Day as we could be. No, we are not unromantic. But romance should not be dictated by the card-makers, florists and restarateurs. It should be inspired by feelings of love and care for each other, unique t...

Husband took time off in lieu yesterday and today. Rather uncharacteristically, if I may say. We had been totally unsuccessful in trying to get son to visit the London Zoo. We think it would be educational for him. After all, that's what all parents do during school holidays, isn't it? (No?) Son refuses to go saying that he does not like seeing animals in cages. He must have seen images of London Zoo on TV to come to such a conclusion. Next best thing we thought was travel a short distance up the M1 to a safari park. There, we assured son, animals are allowed to roam free and not kept in cages. He agreed to go. We got there, queued up to pay to get in. Soon frustration set in. After spotting the North American Bison, the Chapman's Zebra, Common Eland, Kafue Lechwe (antelope), Asian Elephant, etc, we were stuck in queue behind a long line of cars, stuck behind an MPV that refused to move. 'Look at her! husband exploded, 'And I bet it's a her. Totally oblivious to...

It wasn't cold I felt. I had the chills and other symptoms of a recurring health problem. Dragged myself to the GP, son in tow. Tiredness persisted, but still life has to go on. Including making sure customers get the orders they made. Very thankful that son is usually cooperative. Back to Organic-Ally .

It's half-term. Kid at home. Husband at work. Me? Full of cold. This sneezing business is really tiring. I feel cold all the time too. Thankfully son is well able to entertain himself (but not exclusively in front of the TV). Back to Organic-Ally .

It's been a rather busy week. Two visits to the optometrist and two mornings at work. 'Work'? What's that? I can't remember the last time I was actually paid to work. It must have been nearly ten years ago. Since then I've been a full-time mum, occasional academic, regular parent volunteer at school, community groups, etc, mainly in services for women and children, and only recently added 'eco-entrepreneur' to the list. The nursery my son attended needed a 'helper' two mornings this week and I was asked to do that. Did I enjoy it? Yes, it was great helping the children do things like put on their coats, encouraging them to complete play activities, and I don't even mind the mundane tasks like cutting out shapes from old cereal boxes for their glueing activites, washing up milk bottles, even cleaning the toilets (which is not my job at home). But would I do this on a regular basis? Honestly? No. It has however given me opportunities to compare...

I was 'in conversation' with another happy customer. He tells me that "when things need replacing we try and replace them with an organic/fairtrade option". I think that is just such a sensible way to go. Like him, we are slowly switching over to organic bedding. Although the definition for 'need replacing' is slightly modified in my case. My son and I both have sensitive skin and some things have been making us itch. I wonder if it is the cheap cotton sheets we've been using. Up till now we've been buying bedding on the basis of whether they look good. For example, son was into anything to do with space/exploration, so we went and got him bedding with a 'space' theme on it. At that time I had no idea what harm conventional cotton was doing and the effect of conventional cotton on the skin. Some places offer such 'cheap' options that we -- I, really -- had succumbed to the temptation and had bought what I thought would suit us and our s...

It took me an hour (ONE HOUR) to travel that one mile or so to get from my house to the local hospital. A dear friend of ours had a stroke (minor one, thank God) and I had to go visit him. It is no distance at all to drive to the hospital. But taking into consideration the parking charges, carbon emission and the supposed convenience of a particular bus service, I thought, surely the bus is preferred. Standing for more than half an hour in the freezing weather wasn't any fun. The bus time-table declares the bus frequency as 'every 8 to 11 minutes'. The young man in front of me -- he was waiting when I got there -- had had enough and walked off to the main bus station. I was rehearsing in my head what I would say to the bus driver. I was not going to pay as I should, legally, have my money back if the service was late. There was no need for that. When the bus came, it was full. The guy who (jumped queue and) went ahead of me couldn't get to pay and was told to hop in the...

It's been hyped up. 'China in London', thanks to the Mayor. Cold weather. Trafalgar Square where son won't be able to see a thing in the crowd? No, thank you. We all headed down to Oriental City in Colindale instead. But every other Chinese person and family seemed to be doing the same. We were stuck in grid-lock traffic on the access road to the carpark. It didn't help that huge lorries were parked on one side and other cars were parked on the other. Cars heading out were blocked as cars heading in wouldn't give way. "All it takes is someone to give way. Let someone else go," husband said. So he waited as we could see some drivers struggling to edge their cars past the lorries. Toot-toot. Drivers behind us were getting impatient. We kept waiting, knowing that we couldn't go anywhere further than thirty yards away any way. Toot-toot. He's had enough. Swung the car round us and went ahead of us. "Brilliant!" fumed my husband. "Wha...

My PSP (Payment Service Provider) is upping the charge on every online order made on my site. So I am lowering the price on the string bag bundles by 10% until end of February so that they do not have the satisfaction of making more money from this price increase immediately. But the prices will have to return to 'normal' for the long-term survival of this business and mission of reducing plastic and paper usage. Please do tell all your friends and family about this. Do buy bundles to give away!! Back to Organic-Ally .

The more I look into the Institute of Science in Society website, the more fascinated I become. There is such a wealth of information here pertaining to GM technology, sustainability, organic farming, etc, that it makes me feel good that there is good science to back up my philosophy. In that sense, knowledge should not be compartmentalized: science only for the scientists, classics for the classicists, humanities for the humanists (aren't we all humanists as such?). I was a pure science student at 'A' Levels, spent hundreds of hours in the laboratory, and then when I returned to university after working to raise some money was greeted by one of my favourite lecturers with: 'But you were a science student. Why are you opting for Philosophy?' The whole idea of 'university', to a great extent, is to 'universalize' (ie expand) one's horizon. There should be depth as well as breadth. But so much of current so-called 'university education' in ...

Chinese New Year is upon us soon, this Sunday, and I'm feelings the pangs of homesickness a bit during times like this. For some reason we have not been able to get to Oriental City or the nearby Chinese supermarkets to top up on festive supplies. So when husband came home with a tin of goodies from M, his Malaysian colleague, I was delighted. When son came home this evening he asked to try the thin wafer-like biscuits he'd seen me eating. 'I'd like to try the oats,' he said. I could not understand why he kept calling the biscuits (which we call 'love letter') 'oats'. Then I realized that he was reading the label on the tin the 'love letters' were in. It was indeed a 'Quaker Oats' tin. What son did not realize was that M had re-used a tin for the 'love letters'. She had also taken the trouble to cut out a Chinese character ('happiness', gold on red background, very auspicious colours) and stuck it on the top of the tin...

When we ponder the issues of sustainability, disaster response and international aid, one cannot help but wonder if bigger organizations with their economies of scale or the small NGOs (espousing the 'small is beautiful' principle) with their local knowledge are better placed to serve the needs of those who need the help most. It is blatantly clear now that giving money does not help. Billions of pounds of aid have been given to/through corrupt governments and the evidence of improvement on the ground is zilch. My cousin and her husband work 'at the coal face' so to speak in supporting victims of major disasters. Raising the money is not a problem. It's getting the permission from corrupt governments to rebuild (eg after the tsunami) that so frustrates. Government departments, cronies of rulers, bureaucracy all stand in the way of people with the ability to help. I go for the holistic approach. Joined-up thinking you might choose to call it. It's not good giving...

I spend most Friday mornings helping to run a parent-and-toddler (PNT) group checking in toddlers and their parents/carers at the reception desk. There are lots of health and safety issues in the current climate and we are careful that people are accounted for. In case of fire, for example, I am supposed to grab the attendance cards and run. In the area where this group is run (by volunteers at a local church), there is a great demand for PNT places. Childminders are now required by OFSTED or OF-whatever government department to take the children they care for to a PNT group. But it's volunteers like us who run such groups. The government is not giving money to set up PNT groups and yet they require childminders to attend such groups. Perhaps a reader could enlighten me on how the logic works. In a normal PNT group, children grow up, go to school, move on, and another toddler could take its place. As a result of this blinkered policy, childminders clog up the vacancies we have and ...

In academia there's always the purists (or theorists) versus the applied people. The former deals with concepts and often intangibles and some might even say untestables. The latter (and I fall very much into this group) is concerned with applying knowledge to the real world. I was really pleased to find this site: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/susag.php Basically it's scientists helping us to understand and argue for/against different applications of science. There are articles about organic cotton and organic farming: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ROC.php http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BrPaulsOrganicFarm.php http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OrganicFreedom.php Back to Organic-Ally .

Saturday afternoon and we all look forward to family time, right? Door bell rings and a man tries to sell husband 'cheap phone calls'. Not interested, said he, as our phone bill is so small in the first place. An hour later, door bell rings again. This time, pretty young girl talks to him. Our phone rings and I had to get up from my sewing machine to answer the phone. Caller: [well, actually I couldn't make out what he was trying to say]. Me: Who do you want to speak to? Caller: [still can't make out what he was trying to say, but no mention of name I could identify]. Me: I think you've got the wrong number. Caller [shouting]: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Pizza! Order pizza. Me: Not pizza. We don't sell pizza. Caller [shouting even louder]: Order pizza. Me: No pizza. Wrong number. Private home. Caller: Pizza! I hung up. He didn't even say "sorry". While at the door husband tells pretty young thing, 'No, I'm not interested.' Prett...

I am pleased somebody far more qualified than I am in this matter said it first. In view of what I wrote in my last blog on GM technology being touted as the saviour of starving populations in years to come, Professor Rapley's call to go back to basics to discuss first of all how many people this earth could reasonably sustain seems common sense. See Population size 'green priority' and Earth is too crowded for Utopia . Comments? Back to Organic-Ally .

Backache and a crick in the neck have prevented me from writing as much as I wanted to. We missed the first of the Ri (ie Royal Institution) Christmas Lectures on TV. The rest we taped and watched together with our son. He enjoyed it thoroughly. Aimed especially at children, Sir John Krebs made science surrounding "Food Matters" so very accessible. Why can't all teachers bring lessons alive like that? Sir John tried to debunk several myths about food. Most of these points are just common sense when we think of it. But the demonstrations and visual aids were effective in putting the messages across. Then he touched on "Food for the Future" and the controversial GM foods. Mention "GM" and we conjure up pictures of GM crops contaminating other crops to produce "superweeds" which cannot be controlled. Sir John did not dwell on this. Instead he discussed the possibility that a food like rice could be genetically modified so that it can be grown in...

I went to bed last night thinking about how unsustainable the current consumer-driven economy is and woke up this morning to read: 90% underground water in China polluted . Cities in northern China have been the most polluted with increasingly more pollutants, causing economic losses worth of [sic] dozens of billions of US dollars.  When I say (in many places in this blog and on Organic-Ally ) that buying 'cheap' has its long-term repercussions, readers might think that I am a snob. So perhaps I should change my tune and say 'cheap' is not sustainable.  Just before Christmas British fishermen were told that their quota of cod that could be landed is to be reduced by 5% (if I remember correctly). Demand for cod has led to over-fishing in the North Sea. Even juvenile fish have been landed resulting in their not being able to reproduce, thus further reducing the stock of cod. Very soon, there won't be any cod and the cod fishermen will simply have nowt. Is this sustai...