Installing Indoor Cat Tree

[Night Nurse]

Does one get greener with age?

 

I got my Eglu and residents in July, and since then I have noticed I've becoming more environmentally friendly.....

I used to be the usual sort of Devil-May-Care Gay Man About Town, and the only thing I recycled was wine bottles

 

Now I find I am composting, washing tin cans out and generally making more of an effort to be green!

 

My pals think I'm turning into Tom (or Barbara) from the 'Good Life"....

 

Which is a shame, because I always saw myself as Margot.....

[Mrs Frugal]

Andy, that's terrific news! I think a lot of us have either gone green or gone greener since our lovely girls arrived. Look out for the green cleaning topic and way, way back in the Nesting Box there's a self sufficientish topic too!

 

I hope you're not going to be emulating Margot's personality! Ever so slightly scary !! Better dressed than Barbara though I suppose .

[ali-s]

Hi

This has happened to me too.

Since getting my girls Iv'e also bought a composter and a green cone. I recycle eveything. I am more aware of the food we eat - checking ingredients labels at the supermarket. Making more meals from scratch. Homemade bread, homemade butter and cheese etc, etc, etc!

Can chickens brainwash people?

I am sure mine can and they are telling me to find a house with a large garden and get more chickens!

 

Regards

[/b]

[Popcorn]

I got educated too when our chooks arrived. We even went a bit mad and sold one of our two cars.....and got bikes (but not thinner )

 

Am reading up on self sufficiency like there's nothing else to read, and have managed to successfully grow peppers, green beans and tomaotes from scratch (a great feat for me!) before I graduate next Spring into potatoes and sweetcorn and lettuce and carrots......etc....etc...etc...

 

All food has to be organic to get past my front door too

[Cate in NZ]

Yep, I'm pretty much the same. I did tend to be a bit careful before about food & recycling etc, but just like a lot of the others I've become a lot more proactive in seeking out healthier, greener products & trying to change our lifestyle to reflect that. Hubby never realised what he was letting himself in for when he decided to get chickens........ nor did I

[Mel (& Paul)]

Which is a shame, because I always saw myself as Margot.....

 

 

Well REALLY Jerry!!!!

We're the same, we are even eating less meat and ensuring that any meat we do eat comes from "happy" animals. We're even buying organic veg - imagine that - carrots with mud on (the only down side is the firm keep on sticking in cabbage as a substitute -YUK YUK YUK !!)

We are particularly proud of our recycling - we rarely have a black bin bag a week fort the dustmen (but the recycling chaps do know that we have more than enough wine bottles to provide recycled glass for years to come......... )

[Lesley]

Nice to see all this recycling and green living happening. I was quite environmentally friendly before but then I started making the household cleaning products recommended by Kate.

 

Andy - Kate is right, Barbara is much nicer than Margot!

[Night Nurse]

Cor - so it's not just me then!

 

Just had a lovely afternoon making green cleaning products (Ta, Kate) - had already succumbed to Ecover, so the rest was fairly simple...

 

Problem is, now I am going to have to clean the house

 

(This is deffo more Barbara than Margot - surely Margot would have a 'woman who does'......?)

[Lesley]

Cor - so it's not just me then!

 

Problem is, now I am going to have to clean the house

 

No No! - Just make them all, decant into pretty bottles and sit back and look at them. We can't possibly have time to watch chickens, make green products, be on the forum all the time AND do cleaning The cleaning just has to go

[Sheilaz]

Exactly!

LSH saw me disappearing down the garden at 7.30am armed with bucket of hot soapy/tea tree water, rubber gloves, scrubbing brush & watering can.

Double take! "I thought you were going to clean the house for a minute then".

Also, I agree about the green thing. For many of us who perhaps already acted towards this in some ways, the chickens were another step in that direction. But chatting to other like minded people has definitely encouraged me to do more, picking up tips along the way

[motherhen]

We are particularly proud of our recycling - we rarely have a black bin bag a week fort the dustmen (but the recycling chaps do know that we have more than enough wine bottles to provide recycled glass for years to come......... )

 

You can make containers for plants out of wine bottles. Instructions in John Yeoman's Lazy Kitchen Gardener. The water in them forms a heat sink to keep the soil warmer overnight so plants grow quicker.

 

The instructions start - take 12 wine bottles

[Alison M]

Hi Andy,

 

Couldn't believe what I was reading at first. This is just the effect it has had on me as well. I now re-cycle as much as I can, go to farmers markets, organic shops etc. things I must admit to not doing before my girls arrived.

 

So glad you posted this thread.

[Cate in NZ]

Definitely an epiphany. Had too many eggs so I've spent the afternoon baking . I never bake. Now we've got a pretty gorgeous banana cake, Rolo cookies & scones. Quite unheard of for me, problem is we've got to eat them all now, and I'm supposed to be watching my weight

[Mrs Frugal]

Kate - can you post the Rolo cookie recipe in the recipe topic please ! I know 2 young 'uns who would devour them!!

[red]

My pals think I'm turning into Tom (or Barbara) from the 'Good Life".... Which is a shame, because I always saw myself as Margot.....

Seriously though Andy - good for you for going green

[Cate in NZ]

Sure Kate, will do. It's basically just cookies but with mini-rolos in instead of choc chips. They're yummy, but need taking off the baking parchment quickly else the melted caramel sticks (Learnt that the hard way- took a phone call, then had to chip the cookies off the paper in pieces because the caramel had hardened and stuck). I made 16, children have been grazing- and me . Only got 4 left for tomorrows packed lunches now

[red]

mmmm sound yummy - the canteen where I work make cookies with smarties and they're rather nice too

[daisy duck]

Hi

Just wanted to add a bit about the effect omlet has had on us.We were allways a bit health and enviroment conscious.Now I have to check everything for eggs because we cann't look the girls in the eye if its battery eggs.This means more cooking because very little has got free range .I dont mind a bit of cooking because I don't like to eat to much rubbish ,but I fear I'm becoming obsessed.My daughter went to college the other day in her omlet t-shirt taking her art project about battery hens and her boiled egg in her lunch.

Which reminds me ,does anybody have any healthy snack ideas for lunch boxs it has to be veggie im affraid.They have only been back a week and I need some fresh ideas.

[Mel (& Paul)]

I'm even converting Paul (Ugg. Me Cave Man. Me need meat) to eating more veggies! - have to disguise them in a curry though............

What sort of curry is this dear?

Well, its got lentils and chickpeas in....

Yes, but what sort of curry is it?

Its got mushrooms and onions in too.....

Yes, but what sort of meat?

I did think of putting in potatoes as well, but wasnt sure

Yes, but what sort of MEAT has it got?

Would you like another beer dear

Yes please....what was I talking about?

(thus avoiding the meat question!)

[Lesley]