Now even if you aren’t into the idea of dabbling into clothes making, be it for fun or as a prospectful career move surely you too recognize how important using the right fabric is. I mean have you ever been drawn into shop from the street by what appears to be a magnificent dress on display only to walk out empty handed because the fabric wasn’t right?

As a well informed eco loving consumer, your knowledge about fabric shouldn’t stop at what makes the clothes look or feel right. You should be aware of the green alternatives out there. There are quite a few you know and we’re going to share about some of them here. Mind that this list isn’t exhaustive:

1.    Flax Fiber (Flax Linen)
Made from: Fibers from the stalks of the flax plant – Linum Usitatissimum.
2.    Bamboo Fiber
Made from: The from the pulp of the bamboo grass.
3.    Hemp
Made from : Hemp fibers (primary and secondary bast fibers)
4.    Jute
Made from : The natural fibers obtained from the bark of the jute plant.
5.    Soy Silk
Made from: Soy protein fibre (SPF) which is obtained as a byproduct of the manufacturing of soybean cake/tofu.
6.    Milk Silk
Made from:  Milk casein fiber (milk protein)
7.    Ramie
Made from: The fibers of China Grass
8.    Modal
Made from: The fibers of the beech wood trees.
9.    Organic Cotton
Made from: The cotton plant that is grown without the use of pesticides and insecticides under a more sustainable condition.
10.    Tencel
Made from: Innovative cellulose fibers

All of these fibers spun out into yarn and then weaved into fabrics have different textures and uses but one quality they share in common is how they are all good for the environment and safe for you.

Red
Red’s a pretty easy colour to get from nature. But the classic rainbow’s red is a bright one so that helps us narrow down the search to the Madder Root which gives a deep, rich red hue. The root of the madder plant itself is not red, but contains alizarin, which can be made to produce red lakes of several shades.

Orange
Orange is another colour that you can find various options for. But I’m looking for a cheery orange to match the madder red. So either paprika, turmeric or safflower petals would do just fine.  The intensity of the orange you get varies between these 3 herbs, but I would stick with safflower because it gives a rich orange-yellow colour.

Yellow
Anatto seeds give a lovely light yellow to yellow-orange colour.  Alternatively a good yellow can be achieved by using the petals of the calendula flower.

Green
Kelp/seaweed gives the most amazing green, but they do tend to have a bluish tinge. So if we want a more grass green colour then the extract of wheatgrass would be perfect!

Blue
Woad (first year leaves), the miracle Isatis tinctoria used in the treatment of breast cancer, colds and throat infections will give our soap a beautiful sky blue colour.

Indigo
Well the obvious choice is indigo! But this colour is really strong so a little goes a long way and the Japanese Indigo flower will give the perfect shade.

Violet
Alkanet root will give the soap a beautiful pinkish purple colour if we keep the soap white.

And there we have it! Natural colours to make a rainbow of soap!

One of the most commonly reused food commodities is cooking oil. Granted the price of cooking oil is one that is always on the rise, it drives even the best of us to use it sparingly. But sometimes we try to do a little more than just reduce the usage of it, we try to increase the number of times we use it. In general that’s a great habit but when it comes to oil, reheating it over and over is just not okay because a toxin called 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE) forms when such oils as canola, corn, soybean and sunflower oils are reheated.

However, this does not mean that you can’t ever reheat and reuse your cooking oil. You can…but you just need to be aware and very careful of the rules – that is to know how many times you can do it and what are the signs to look out for when reheating oil to avoid putting your health and the health of your family are risk.

Personally I think it’s a lot easier to recognize when it’s time to part with the oil by the physical signs. Good oil is always light in colour, fluid and clean without particles in it. You will notice that even after the first time you use the oil there is a change in the physical appearance of it – the oil becomes darker, thicker in consistency and of course bits of what you fried in it remains.

To save the oil for another round of use is simple. Allow the oil to cool, strain it through a coffee filter or cheesecloth and store in an airtight jar in the fridge. I would say use it again only once but some would say you can safely use it another 3 times.

The physical sign to look out for is when you can’t reheat the oil without smoke developing or it smells bad/rancid- these are indications significant deterioration of the oil.

I’m sure it isn’t just me who notices how dry skin, puffy eyes and dark circles are just so much more amplified during winter. On some days I’m even convinced that we age overnight during the freezing season. And the experts confirm this observation as they give their scientific reasons for it – lower level of vitamin D in the body during the colder months.

Vitamin D is something we can get naturally from the sun, along with serotonin which is that feel good chemical your body produces. So to beat the winter eye bags here’s what we need to do.

1.    Get sufficient sleep with naps in between during the day (15 mins is good enough)

2. Watch the diet – if you ever wondered why you’re always hungry when it’s cold, well it’s got to do with the fact that the lack of sunlight reduces the effectiveness of the hormone leptin. Leptin is what tells us we’re full. Also, cut down on the salt!

3. Increase the vitamin D in the body through supplements but bear in mind that  vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, so your choices may come limited. Known rich sources are salmon, sardines, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, shiitake mushrooms, and eggs.
So there you have it…the winter eye bag mystery solved! Let’s just see if the solutions work.

However…I’ll have to admit that today’s post was in a way inspired by recent events (ashes to ashes, dust to dust…) but with a slight twist you could say…as we’re going to be looking at an interesting gift idea!

Now I don’t know about you but I like my gifts to stand for something. I like them to be special not because I want it to stand out in a crowd, no. I want it to be special because it represents my thoughts and wishes for the recipient.

So what is this special unique gift you ask? Well the next chance I get, some people are going to get “eco-worms” in a box!
I can tell you’re already giving me that look of absolute disgust, but bear with me for a bit more before you throw the idea out the window. Trust me; the worms will be a welcome.

If you look past their wriggly exterior, you’ll see that worms have an uncanny ability to turn waste into living bacteria that posses the power to transform poor quality soil into a rich, living growing medium for plants and crops! Which really makes them the perfect gift for someone who is a keen supporter of keeping an eco friendly home and loves tending to the garden.

A gift of eco-worms will be a welcomed surprise as you learn about how much fun and contributing, having a worm farm in your garden can be to the environment. A worm farm will help you turn vegetable and fruit scraps into great potting soil or soil amendment through worm castings and worm tea – both odorless and priceless for your plants. Of course don’t be mistaken to think that they are made from mushed up worms – they are made by worms, not from them.

And as I sat over the dining table listening to my grandaunt talk about how she had missed me, how she distinctively remembered me as a child, the warm waters of the ocean we had visited together…I realized this dear little old lady was coming on well into her 80s yet her memory was as sharp as ever.

In her lovely English kitchen she was making roast for dinner and suddenly the room would be filled with stories about how she had taught mummy to make roast over 30 years ago. In her garden where I picked the last of the lavenders before the frost would take them, she told me more stories about how we used to tie lavender stalks together and put them in the cupboards…the mints and herbs in the garden- those brought on even more memories.

Then I remembered something about the human race. We can forget names and faces but we never forget a scent and the fact is…every memory had a scent. And that scent would be the key to the memory we safely store away in our minds. Being back home, the scent of home reminded me of the many things I used to do – things that I did not consciously remember.

This past October was a very special month for me and I know the combination scent of lavenders, apple mint, roast in the oven, waitrose pure fabric conditioner will be the key to that memory.

So for this Christmas, if you’re starting to fuss about what to give the older folks…why not give them a memory key to help them unlock the happy memories they once lived? Homemade scented sachets, tailored to a memory would be a very personal and meaningful gift.

My relationship broke down while I was away, well okay maybe it broke down a long time ago. But my partner had decided my absence was the perfect time to say that we were not right for each other and left all he had to say in an 83 words long, Dear John Letter – not even a sentimental conventional hand penned one by the way, but a short and poorly written/thought out electronic version which ended with “Let’s call it quits. Good Nite. Bye”.

Now before anyone feels sorry for me, I’m here to tell you don’t because it was for the better. And it is at this precise moment that I could see every leaf on the trees around me. I did not shed a single tear but instead I woke up to realize that this unhealthy relationship I had had given me Mibyou.

Mibyou is an ancient Chinese pathology term for a condition that not on its own a disease but headed into the direction of developing one. I guess years of stress and clogged up dissatisfaction will do that to you as it begins to take a toll on your body. Common symptons of Mibyou are the following:

1.    Cold hands and feet
2.    Unshakeable fatigue
3.    Poor appetite
4.    Paleness

I was pale, I never had much appetite and while my hands and feet were not cold, I was always tired. In general I’ve always been in pretty good health but I can’t even begin to count the number of times, just this year alone that I’ve been falling ill with respiratory issues.

Being over-medicated is not my idea of a cure either because that only treats the symptoms…never the cause. Mibyou is not a death sentence. It can be improved by enhancing the self-regulating function of the body. Removing the element of stress and taking some herbal liqueur such as the Japanese traditional herbal medicinal preparation- such as Yomeishu or Choya Umeshu can do wonders for you.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss how we can get better health with a cocktail of Umeshu!

Now looking at such a country, it’s easy to get immersed in its tragedies and forget that what it still has to offer. You see held sacred to the hearts of all Burmese women is the use of Thanaka, an all natural beauty remedy for preserving the skin.

Thanaka is made from the branches of the sandalwood tree, (linoria acidissimia) The grounded bark of the Thanaka tree, acts as an astringent, sunscreen and antiseptic. It very common to see the women folk in Myanmar, both old and young walking around with a creamish yellow coloured pattern drawn onto their faces. Sometimes it’s in the shape of a leaf, sometimes they are circles…but whatever design they may be they are applied to protect the skin from the harsh weather conditions.

Does it work? Absolutely! Of course you won’t see results overnight but as a sunblock it is amazing! And it acts pretty fast to remove sun spots. But if you’ve ever had the chance to meet a woman of Myanmar who has used Thanaka on her skin her whole life you’ll see just how smooth and blemish free her skin is. And mind you the weather conditions in Myanmar are quite extreme in terms of heat and sun exposure!

And so if you were anything like me and you read many stories about fairies, you’d probably come across nettles quite a fair bit, especially since they seem to be spun into fabric that makes the clothes of the fairy folks. But outside of fairytales, you’d probably also would have read about how it would be wise for you to stay away from the nettle leaves because they weren’t called stinging nettles for nothing – fresh leaves have fine stinging hairs that can cause painful stings and acute urticaria.

But there’s really much more to the plant. As a native herb plant of Europe, it’s no wonder why it holds such a significant place in the hearts of every herbalist from the northern hemisphere.

Here are just some of the ailments that a tea made of stinging nettle can cure:
1.    Muscle and Joint pains
If you diligently take the tea daily, you will see and feel improvements for arthritis, rheumatism and tendinitis. It especially works well for women in their menopausal years that have those horrible swellings, numbness and pain in their fingers and feet just as they get out of bed each morning.
2.    Respiratory Health
If you have a weak respiratory system and suffer from bouts of asthma, tuberculosis and sever coughs due to colds, then drinking nettle tea will help you overcome the symptoms. I won’t say it’s a cure per say but it is something that greatly helps when the breathing gets hard and the allergies start up.
3.    UTI
I would rank UTI as one of the most irritating health issues a woman has to deal with. The I need to go every 5 minutes sensation can easily disrupt your life. And nettle tea will help cure you of the infection, just as cranberry juice would.
4.    Beautiful skin
Nettle tea gives you great complexion.

Now the downside to nettle tea – You see it’s not very tasty… and at the same time I would say it smells quite awful. I t reminds me of senna tea but my mom says it’s worse.  However, we always have a box full of nettle leaves tea around the house, so I can personally vouch for the fact that it works enough wonders to make the nasty taste worth the effort.

Castor Oil
Castor oil is extracted from the castor bean (not actually a bean but a seed) which are the seeds of the castor plant. And this plant is as beautiful as it is deadly because its seed is surely ranked among the worlds most poisonous. You see the castor beans contain a poison, called ricin (naturally occurring protein), which works by preventing cells from making proteins, (source: Center for Disease Control). When cells do not have proteins, they die and the resulting damage to the body can be great enough to eventually kill a person.
A dose of ricin -as small as a few grains of salt can kill an adult so that’s probably the same as ingesting one castor bean or a maximum of two. Yet the oil that comes from their poisonous bean is astounding. I swear by castor oil for soft skin and hair and rigorously use it nightly. So, why aren’t I and possibly a large population of Europe not yet dead for using it, especially since some ingest it for general health purposes? Well it’s not a miracle that we’re alive because extracting castor oil from the castor bean is a bit like how the japanese chef would prepare the poisonous fugu – only without as much risk.
I guess the illusion here is about the entire bean being poisonous when in actual fact ricin is concentrated under the shell of the castor-oil beans. Furthermore Ricin does not partition into the oil because it is water-soluble, therefore, castor oil does not contain ricin, unless cross-contamination occurred during its production. Ricin will be found in the meal or cake after the oil has been extracted. 

To be continued.