Recycling

If you havent already, really do check out your local freecycle. I almost got some redcurrent bushes for the garden. Its is so popular it is actually hard to be the first to reply to someone's post. So if you are offering something it will almost definitely be gone really fast!! I just wish they would collect my garden clippings more often. Toooo much ivy everywhere.................

Recipes: best brown bread...!

This is actually brown soda bread Irish style. But if you are looking for a filling slice of bread thats easy to make, no kneading or fussing around.....this is it.
For one loaf tin

0.5 litres of milk full fat
25 ml olive oil
25 ml redwine vinegar
500g coarse brown flour
10g of bread soda
salt an sugar approx 10g each

Mix all the dry ingredients first. Then mix in the water and oil and the vinegar last. It is a wet mixture. Grease your tin or line with baking paper. Cook for an hour at 180 degrees celsius!! easy........leave it to cool after wrapped in a cloth. Cook a little longer out of the tin after an hour if needed. It is nice to use buttermilk instead of milk and vinegar if you can find it. Use the coarsest flour you can find. Also you can add wheat bran to taste.

Keeping the earth clean............

The post from the other day regarding the cause of the amazon Indians is not something new. I think this has been covered on the tv show on the Amazon river. I have posted this as a friend works out in Peru on projects to make sustainable living possible for people there. This reappropriation of land by whatever means, is also an issue for the Indians in Brazil where the forest is also under attack. This should concern us all as the use of other natural resources here affects the forest which as we all know sustains the vicious cycle of pollution of planet Earth. Even if you dont believe in climate change being a man made phenomenon, it is still worth considering keeping the planet as clean as possible.

http://fenamad-indigenas.blogspot.com/Tambien ver (also):
www.aidesep.org.pe
www.fenamad.org
www.servindi.org
www.cipiaci.org

Check out these sites and the blog!

re: The cause of the Peruvian Amazon indigenous groups

This is a note with information about a regional strike in which indigenous groups from the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios have taken to the streets to reclaim respect for their rights. The Peruvian government has been systematically putting in place measures which are directly related to the Free Trade agreements which they have signed with the USA, Chile and China. As a result the government is in the process of making amends or reforming existing laws to enable the open negotiations with these states. This means ensuring available land for logging purposes, to invite big scale gold mining initiatives, as well as secure the entrance of big multinational oil companies. The native communities have been fighting for the last 25 years to ensure recognition for their land rights to their ancestral territories with the help of the Native Federation of Madre de Dios (FENAMAD). Based on the fact that most of the 31 communities (30 out of the 31) havenow received titled deeds to their land, the government is looking for ways to divide the communities thus ensuring the open sale and exploitation of their lands. This regional strike coincides with a larger National Strike in the whole of the Peruvian Amazon region started on the 9th April 2009 and leadered by AIDESEP (Interethnic Association for the Development of the Amazon) who represent all of the indigenous groups in Peru. This follows National Strikes held last year in July and August 2008. The platform for the strike remains mostly unchanged as there has been no move by the government to implement the changes which the indigenous groups are proposing to ensure the health of their environments and ultimately their right to a life of dignity and a choice in the way in which they develop (auto determination).

Tips for good blogging.........

As I am relatively new to blogging I am avidly looking for good tip to improve my blog, in content, appearance and interest. If anyone had these for me even as a critique of what I already have on this blog please comment!
For me looking at magazines like

• Computer Arts www.computerarts.co.uk
• .net www.netmag.co.uk

are really good. Its not all directly about websites, but they both have different articles about good content websites. Especially the current issue 188 of .net. Have my copy of Computer Arts but havent got to read it yet!!

Magazines.........

Does anyone read Monocle magazine? The latest edition has an article about the guy behind Uniqlo. What he says about where the clothes are made is a little unbelievable or too diplomatic. It goes something like Japan does not have the capacity to sew large quantities of clothes so much of it is done in China?! Surely in a recession this is possible to change. If you don’t know the magazine is it a unique read but it has a slight bias towards all things Japanese! It’s a good magazine for aeroplane reading again as it had plenty of reading material in it.

Hayfever!!!!

It is definitely hay-fever season in London, at least for me. Pity they dont really start proper pollen counts in the UK later in the year. The BBC site has very vague pollen counts. It has not rained in London for a few days and is very still, so not good for those with allergies to the flowers at this time of year. My only cure I‘ve found is get your Opticrom eyedrops out as soon as you feel even a slight itch in your eyes. Most chemists and supermarkets now have generic brands of anti histamines like cetirizine hydrochloride which works best for me. Don’t buy the branded tablets they are such a rip off!!!!