Unbought Delicacies: Keep it local

Wednesday 31 August 2011

Keep it local

- as much as possible, anyway.

We are fortunate enough in our wee village to have a community run shop. The previous owners lost interest many years ago, and really ran the place down, stock and customer wise - rudeness and ignorance seemed to be their watchwords, and the shop and PO were threatened with closure. Long story short, the shop is now up and running, has been since April 6th of this year. I volunteer my services on a Wednesday, and really enjoy it in there - a wide range of customers, mostly local, stopping for a chat or a cup of tea if we have the kettle on (usually!); folk bring in surplus produce to sell, either donating all to the shop or splitting the money. I did part of my weekly shop there today too; plenty of lcoal stuff to buy - local sausages and ham, butter, bread ( sell by date, half price from freezer - we like a bargain), Vinny cheese (favourite in this house!) , locally picked brambles (Ii know the lads who picked them!), local cheddar cheese and a bottle of wine from the vineyard here in the village. Fair enough, I can't get everything I want there - free range meat isn;t stocked, or Ecover products, and they had run out of recycled loo roll; I also wanted 10 bags of sugar, which would have wiped out the whole stock of sugar! So, I did what I could, and put my money where my mouth is and shopped local, into cloth bags rather than carriers.
I am very glad I can do at least some of my shopping there - they stock a good mix of basics and local specialities, papers, local milk and eggs from the far round the corner (the lady from the farm volunteers in the shop too). I feveryone bought a wee bit regularly,from our village and the surrounding ones, then that would be wonderful.
Inevitably local village politics reared its ugly head, and there have been problems, but with a new committee (just call me Madam Secretary!! lol ) we are looking forward and I really believe we are on track to make a success of it all.
In addition, I learned today that our pub will hopefully be re-opening in early December. A good day for the Caundles, I reckon!

Let's hear it for local.............. :))

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I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Wednesday 31 August 2011

Keep it local

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