Emergency kit

Just been renewing food in our Emergency kit, so thought I would list whats in ours.
Emergency pages from old phone book.
Large Energiser light runs on batteries or from car.
Large First Aid Kit,
We have plenty of stored water in 2L containers.

FOOD: 8 tins tuna, 2x tin fruit, 4x tin cream rice, teabags, coffee sachets , bags nuts, chocolate, museli bars, rice, rolled oats, instant Noodles x4,saucepan
MEDICAL; List of Medications used by family, Ibuprofen tabs, Nitrolingual for angina, Rescue Remedy, Arnica, Cold spray for burns, Sterile gloves, thermal blanket, Celox quickly clots blood, 5x face masks, mini wipes,
PERSONAL: forks, spoons, plates , mugs, toothpaste and brushes, hairbrush with mirrow on handle, soap, dedorant,tissues,4x toilet paper,hair shampoo,sun screen,bodywash sachets,razors disposable,sanitizing hand cleaner,
OTHER: Cleaning cloths, washing powder,Dettol multi cleaner,Air spray,teatowel, Swiss Army knife,Small transitor radio,with spare batteries,Roll black bags,2x towels,2xblankets,

Need to add clothes line, detergent. and sort out bag of clothes with shoes packed to take.
Also paper and pens for leaving notes in letterbox.

ANYOTHER SUGGESTIONS??

Sky TV Energy saving tip

Do you have sky? Found in the january magazine the following...Energy saving is available on MY SKY. You can reduce your power consumption by putting your decoder into energy saving mode.

3 simple steps.
1. On your remote select SETUP button
2. Select SYSTEM SETUP, then select RECORDING SETUP.
4. Scroll to ENERGY SAVING LEVEL  and use right and left arrow buttons to select energy saving level required ( we are trying low to see what happens)
5. Scroll to the bottom of the options and select SAVE NEW SETTINGS  and Exit.

When you go to put Tv on again you need to push power button on  My Sky .

Street meeting .

Had a good street meeting to do some foreward planning for the year.
watch out for street BBQ, meetings for saving water, using the mulcher, visit from councils green gargener, vegetarian cooking, welding , and much more!
Anyone interested in a street garage sale?? April...so get cleaning out your sheds , rooms, garages...

Copied from facebook. Us older folk.

Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days". the clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for futur...e generations". She was right about one thing--our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then?

After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have.... Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house --not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Wales. In the kitchen, we blended & stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we older folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Tasty Pesto recipe

Place 2 cups of tightly packed leaves and two cloves of peeled garlic into a food processor. pulse to chop, then add one cup of parmesan and one cup of pine nuts (try sunflower seeds for a cheaper alternative) and blend to a pulp. While the motor is running , drizzle in a cup of olive oil and process until it forms a smooth paste. Add salt and pepper to taste and cover with a little olive oil to help keep its colour. If you're cooking with basil, be sure to add it at the last minute to reduce any loss of flavour by heating it.

Weed control and Jam...

It's been a while since I last posted and there has been plenty going on. I've been getting into the garden, mowing the lawn and making jam.

I love my lawn. Well not exactly love, but I like a lawn I can walk on barefoot, without weeds, buffalo/kikuyu grass and prickles. So, most years at the start of summer I've sprayed with Weed'n'Feed or something that promises to destroy all weeds. A couple of weeks later I'd mow and compost the clippings. Then Carolyn suggested I find out if composting sprayed lawn is actually safe.

SO I got on the Yates website and various others and was surprised at what I found out. The best information I found, all in one place was at the Teraviva web site. Their site is very informative, and they have a tremendous pdf document with details titled "Which Weedkiller to use in Home Gardens".

I discovered that my lawn cuttings shouldn't be used for at least 3 mowings. Some poisons make the lawn cuttings unavailable for 6 months. That's a long time. I could have collected my cuttings and dumped them in the bin, but I don't like compostables going into landfills. As they break down, they mix with a lot of other chemicals, metals etc and make a pretty toxic sludge. Also, landfills have to pay for the methane they produce, and garden waste produces a bit.

So, I mowed the cuttings into the lawn, They rotted down and were gone within a week, and I suppose now either the few worms that live in my sandy soil are now glowing green and growing extra heads, or they are fine and the chemicals are breaking down.

I've also been making jam. I've got a lot of raspberries, black and red currents and strawberries growing at the moment. I tend to pick them every few days and freeze them in zip-lock bags until I have several bags. There is also a plum tree nearby that we've been told we can have some plums off. Carolyn and the kids have picked a couple of super-market bags full. I've been busy picking the fruit and jamming it. I also made some Plum sauce (The Edmonds cook book has a great recipe).

Most of my jam recipes basically involve heating the fruit until it boils, then adding the same weight of sugar as the fruit and boiling it flat out until it looks like it will set in the jars. Black current jam gets 1/2 the weight of fruit added in water (eg 1.2kilos of black currants gets 600ml of water added). Old jam and sauce jars are heated in the oven and the lids boiled in a pan, then the fruit poured into the jars, lids screwed on quickly and then sit back and wait for the satisfying pop sound of the lids settling.

And later, I get to enjoy some yummy jam. The kids refer to it as 'Daddy-Jam'.