Huddersfield Transition Town

Transition towns are planning a self sufficient future – in preparation for when the oil runs out. There is a transition town group in Huddersfield and they have just launched their own website which says it far better than I could.

Straw bale building

Love is in the air…

Valentines day?

Need a card?  so check these out .

Huddersfield based company and cute cards and plastic free – ooohh baby that feels really good….

Dont like wooden hearts? They have monkey cards and love words … visit the site

Read the blurb…. 100% RECYCLED WITH BIO-DEGRADABLE CLEAR BAG Printed on 100% recycled smooth white board. Each card comes with 100% recycled C6 brown craft paper envelope inside a clear bio-degradable bag. The bag is made from corn starch which is fully bio-degradable and compostable, breaking down to just CO2 and H2O – as green as you can get! Dig The Earth!

 For other plastic free cards check these out.

Coffee and PFBs

while we speak of pfbs (plastic free bikkies), there is nothing that iritates Pam more then going for a coffee and getting one of those individually plastic wrapped biscuits besides the cup. Yuck. Luckily I shop in Huddersfield so go to Coffevolution for my bean based brew. They make their own biscuits which are fantastic. …with not a wrapper between them. Other things to like – its not a chain but run by the owner, the coffe is free trade, the bagels are creamy cheesy and there are murals on the walls. Click here for more PFBs

Home made and Edible Lip balm

Well looks like winter is finally here – again – and the need for a good lip balm has never been greater. But whatever you use you will ingest small amounts of the product and while there are lots of good natural lip balms on the market, lots contain stuff that is not so tasty. In additional to synthetic preservatives and flavours, white petrolatum the basis of many balms, is derived from petrol. Yuk

Alternatively, making your own lip balm is really easy and can be made from natural ingredients that are actually edible. This recipe is from The Soap Tub, a Huddersfield firm that supply base ingredients for making balms, bath bombs and soaps

1 tablespoon beeswax pellets

1 tablespoon roughly chopped shea butter
1 tablespoon grated cocoa butter
1 tablespoon sweet almond oil

1 tablespoon castor oil

Melt the whole lot together and pour into little pots to set – the end result is a really nice, very effective lip balm. Pots and ingredients can be bought from The Soap Tub or as they are now called castle hill cosmetics – visit them on line at www.castlehillcosmetics.co.uk or phone them on 01484-453453
As I work out doors a lot digging mud, applying lip balm from a pot with grimy finger is not ideal. I use wind up style (lip stick type ), tubes instead of pots. You can reuse old lip balm tubes – you will need to wash them out obviously and rewind them. Sometimes you have to push the base plate down a little before they will wind down. Or you can buy new, empty tubes from www.aromantic.co
Filling the tubes is fiddly and a small funnel helps.

Holmfirth Art Market

Sunday 23rd November 10 – 4 pm Holmfirth Indoor Market

A wide range of stuff from a wide range of artists – local artists keeping it real.

Art Space Bates Mill

 Artists Studios Open Weekend

There will be a wide range of artwork as well as fashion and accessories to view
and for sale. Great for Christmas shopping.

  
To see whats avaialable go to art space uncut

Preview Night: Friday November 28th 6 – 9pm   
Saturday, November 29th 11- 6pm  
Sunday, November 30th 10 – 4pm

A Transition Town Medly

As well as our event  on Tuesday with Incredible Edible Todmorden, there are also a couple of other events you may wish to attend, both of them arranged by Marsden and Slaithwaite Transition Towns.

 

The first, on Saturday 15th November costs £15 and involves films, food and  live music from 2 bands including Paprika Balkanicus……if their last event (a Cuban Night) is anything to go by it will be informative, great fun -  and will go on late into the night!

 

I have attached the poster. Tickets can be either collected in the town or organised by phone. 

 

There is also an opportunity to get involved with Permaculture (a way of building  ‘resilience’ through design and growing methods) through a weekend on November 29th/30th November with Andy Goldring, and I have copied in the information below.

 

The rather beautiful poster, also attached, tells  of a longer course to be held in the new year based in Hebden Bridge where there is also a fledgling Transition Community.  

 

Toasty toes the knitted way

Knitting your own hot water bottle cover for the cold winter to come is a great way of

a) saving on the heating bills
b) not burning your toes while doing so

and they make great presents

For knitting hot water bottle covers you will need knitting needles and wool – click here for stockists

Heres a free pattern

If you want to knit in a friendly environment you might want to join one of these knitting groups

Eco Cards

Cards  have been the bane of my life - I mean greeting cards not gambling or credit cards – thats all in the past.

Greeting cards  — there are times when you need to send them … but when you go to buy them they come wrapped in icky plasticic which I am boycotting

I love my friends but I love the planet – what to do?  I know you can send e cards but thats just mean. No cards = no mates in my shallow social circles.

So check these out from  carte postale – printed on sustainable board, printed with vegetable inks and  they come in biodegradable cellophane wrappers.

You can buy them from tamed meadow cards in Byram Arcade, Huddersfield