After we came back from sunny Estonia, I travelled home to attend a certain life jubilee party for my Dad. It was great to see all the family (and I mean really all of them) but also to spend some days in the haven of my parents’ house.

They live at the edge of a small town and their house borders a meadow with a forest. My old room has a beautiful view and every time I am in there, I feel very connected to nature. The view changes by season and I can definitely say that the autumn is my favourite. But, the upcoming shades of green did give me a ‘spring’ in my step after the grey winter.

My parents have a vegetable garden, not because it’s cool or trendy but because growing their own food was always part of their life. As a child, I learned all about the seasons in the garden. From a seed to a fruit-bearing plant to its decay. A circle of life.

The garden in Spring

The preparation starts in the cold of winter. Seeds are planted, nourished and sprouting. In Spring, the little seedlings are replanted in individual pots and moved to the greenhouse before they arrive to their final destinations. My Dad plants the tomatoes and peppers seedlings into yogurt pots, yep, the perfectly-sized vessels for the job. He is also a master of reusing – he uses the same yogurt pots for 14 years now! Every year, they are filled with fresh hummus and little seedlings grow to strength in them, then the pots are cleaned and stored until the next year. Each of the pots has a list of its ‘babies’ written on it – Slava 2013, Tornado 2014, Sant Pierre 2015, Cour di Blue 2016…

Reusing at its finest…same pots for 14 years

In the polytunnel, little lettuce seedlings have already found a home and are bringing their first harvest. Little red baubles of radishes peaking their heads from the soil waiting for to be eaten. Peppery and crunchy, they are amazing in a salad, on a sandwich or just like that, eaten there and then. From the seed to the mouth in two months. Ok, maybe a little longer than a trip to the groceries to pick a pack of them but the flavour is incomparable!

Radishes!!!

I think I caught those green thumbs of my parents. I love seeing things grow and I started collecting yogurt pots 🙂 Back in March, I planted a few tomato and pepper seeds in two little trays and they sprouted! I was so happy! Encouraged by that, I got some pea seeds and planted them outside in our little garden patch we dug out last year. I was told that they don’t mind cold – a very important feature for anything grown in Ireland 🙂 It worked! They sprouted and little pea shoots are forming now and doing their own thing. You should see the smug smile on my face…Definitely encouraged and eager, I have re-planted my tomato & pepper seedlings into my own yogurt pots just so that they can grow to strength and eventually replace the peas in the soil. Have I mentioned how satisfying is to watch things grow?

In a couple of months, these will be covered with red strawberry jewels…

I know that I have a long way to go to be anywhere close to a self-sufficient farmer but hey – you have to start somewhere! Compared to years of experience my parents have, I know very little – for example, did you know that potatoes should be planted at a ‘lady’s foot’ distance? Or that tomatoes and peppers should not be planted near each other? There is so much to learn…but I think that until I move into a house with a huge garden, I’ll be fine. You can be too – try growing a few herbs on your windowsill or a strawberry plant in a hanging basket on your patio…even if they won’t bear any fruit, they are lovely to look at!!

Lady’s foot distance!

A humble potato….

Did you start on your own urban garden? Let me know how are you getting on…leave a comment below!    

In my last blog, I talked about how we live in a disposable world.

With the surge in plastic in the last 50 years, a lot of durable things got replaced by single-use items that cost very little and are much handier. I mean, I totally get it. Instead of washing up a pile of plates and glasses after a party, you can just sweep them into the bin and you’re done. Instead of sitting down and waiting for your coffee to cool, you can just have it on the go in a smart paper cup. If you get hungry or thirsty, it’s dead easy to buy a bottle of water and a pre-packed sandwich. Convenient and easy. There is a little catch though.

This catch is that although we think that we are throwing these things away, there is no ‘away’. They all end up back where they came from – around us. In the form of waste piling up in landfills. Recycling helps, but still, I am pretty sure the best way forward is to avoid throwing things out at all as much as we can. That’s the principle of Zero Waste after all!

You might think that avoiding one paper cup won’t save the world and I agree. On the other hand – ideas spreading by chain reaction is a well-documented and totally real thing!! You might just give it a go and in the meantime inspire enough people to actually make a difference…I definitely think it’s possible…:)

Getting myself to use less single-use items was easier than I thought. Yes, it might have taken me some time, but with some planning it definitely wasn’t impossible! Instead of getting plastic-wrapped lunch in the shop every day, I just had to start bringing my own lunch in, complete with a stainless steel bottle and an apple bought in the fruit bulk aisle.

It is really not hard but, I warn you in advance, preparing your own food may mean some extra work. You might spend some time cooking batches of legumes, chopping veggies, assembling your creations and polishing apples but – it’s so worth it and it feels great! And yes, there will be days when you just won’t have that time. Yesterday, for instance, I had to either buy my lunch in a nearby shop or be hungry. Disclaimer: I am not very nice with low blood sugar. So, a sandwich wrapped in a foil-lined paper for me. Not cool, I know. But I have my limitations. Packed lunch today though 🙂

One thing that really gets on my nerves are the pesky half-litre plastic bottles for drinks. You buy it, drink it in less than half an hour and then throw it away. OK, in some cases, you can reuse it once or twice. But it always ends up in the bin. Oh and if it’s not a sweet fizzy drink but healthy water, you should realise that it’s basically just tap water. Filtered, perhaps, but basically tap water. It took me some time to get used to bringing a proper bottle with me everywhere (I usually realised that I forgot it as soon as I got the bus) – but I got there.

In two specific places it saves me a good bit of money. The cinema and the airport. Over-priced drinks are second nature for these two. If I travel anywhere, I take my stainless steel bottle (empty through security control) and the then either fill it in the bathrooms or just ask in one of the airport cafes. I’ve done this many times and I always felt like I outsmarted the system :))

Take for example plastic straws. I won’t say much but if you still use them and you haven’t seen the video below, watch it and you will stop. (Warning: it’s not a pretty sight). I am a responsible adult and can consume my drink directly from a glass. Really.

It can become fun to look around you and see if there are any more ‘quick fixes’. I don’t drink coffee but if you do, you could try bringing a travel mug to the coffee shop next time. Equip yourself with some confidence, like you do this aaaaall the time and ask them to pour your brew into the Garfield travel mug. Yes, that one that is sitting at the back of your press and it’s just waiting for his star to shine! I guarantee you one of every two staff will say ‘no problem’, and the other one will look at you quizzically and then say ‘ok, no problem’. Be a trend-setter. Be creative. It’s fun!

Can you think of anything else that you can do or have already averted or swapped in your daily life? Leave a comment below!