Tangled Bank Foraging and Fibre Crafts
Learning about and trying to live lightly on this beautiful planet. The natural world, inclusive bushcraft, evidence-based environmentalism and sustainable living.
I was so lucky last month to marry Charlie, the most wonderful person I've ever met. I wish I was a better writer, I'm rather better at facts and figures about carbon sequestration than I am at heartfelt romance so I can't really do the whole experience justice but it genuinely was the best experience … Continue reading How we made our wedding as sustainable (and affordable!) as possible
Olio is an app that launched in the UK in 2015, encouraging people to share surplus food and so prevent food waste. It then expanded to allow the sharing of non-food items on a similar model to Freecycle or Buy Nothing Groups. As well as food sharing between individuals, Olio also distributes surplus close to … Continue reading A disappointing decision from Olio
I've been a regular cycle commuter in both London and Exeter so am pretty confident on a bike. I've also done a fair bit of long distance hiking, so have a fair bit of experience with packing light and managing menstruation on the trail, experience which you would think would translate well to bikepacking. But … Continue reading A beginners’ bikepacking adventure
I woke up this morning to the depressing news that CoBikes, Exeter's bike and electric car hire scheme, had gone into administration and would be ceasing operations. Sadly I can't say I'm entirely surprised. CoBikes were an absolute lifesaver for me during the pandemic when, thanks a hasty decision to prioritise bringing my plants home … Continue reading Public vs private luxury: why are we so willing to accept that we can’t have nice things?
Who wants to hear a scary Halloween story? According to Hubbub 39.9 million pumpkins are bought in UK at Halloween, and 22.2 million of these, worth £32.6 million, end up thrown away uneaten. Apparently an astonishing 41% of the population don't even know that they're edible, although that's at least a slight improvement on 2014's … Continue reading Spare the squash: tips for a sustainable spooky season
Several years I met a rather wonderful hippie elder, who told me that she used to make yoghurt in bed in the seventies; if you heated the milk in the morning and put it under the duvet it would stay warm and fermenting all day and by evening you would not only have homemade yoghurt … Continue reading Economy gastronomy? Hay boxes, Wonderbags and insulation cookery
This past weekend saw the first Glastonbury festival post pandemic. Now that the stages are silent, the cows have returned, the revellers are home and the more organised among them may even have made their way through the horror that is post-festival laundry. And as always, after the party comes the cleanup. Glastonbury employs a … Continue reading Shrinking your festival footprint
My bushcraft, hiking and other outdoor activities have always been motivated by a love of the natural world and a desire to spend more time learning to understand and appreciate it. To me the other side of this equation is a responsibility to try to minimise the damage I cause to the living world I … Continue reading Lightweight plant-based eating outdoors
I spent yesterday evening lying on my back in the middle of a B road, my legs steepled awkwardly to avoid the woman lying in the road behind me, squinting as I stared straight into the bright sky and wishing I'd thought to put my sunglasses on before I lay down. It was too late … Continue reading Lying down for a better world
Back in January last year I wrote about Loop, an online grocery shopping system offering goods in reusable, refillable containers that had launched in the US and France. This week Loop launched in the UK, finally giving me a chance to try it out for myself. It does seem to me utterly perverse that we … Continue reading Out of the Loop?
Tangled Bank Foraging and Fibre Crafts 