All Things Natural

I’m ordering my Christmas tree this weekend from The Christmas Tree Man.

Christmas Tree Man is Martin, a tree surgeon of 20 years, who is passionate about trees and aims to make Christmas a carbon neutral time. You pick your living tree, he delivers it along with advice on how to look after it and then he will collect in the New Year. He’ll take it back to the farm, replant it, ready for it next year. Fabulous idea.

The only reason you might not get your tree back is if a bird or animal has set up home in it!

We looked at trees yesterday at the local garden centre, but they were all chopped off at the roots and, frankly, for a few pounds more I think it’s far nicer to get a living tree that you know will still be alive next year.

No trees are wasted at Martin’s farm. Once they become too big for homes or offices, they are taken elsewhere to a good cause or home, such as a forest.

For each tree bought, Martin gives a donation to Help The Heroes and the Wildlife Trust.

Now I just need to decide what type and what height.

Last Sunday, despite me suffering from a bad cough and my Mum with her bad arm, we joined a 1000 other females, young and old, to take part in the Race for Life at Windsor to raise funds and awarenss for Cancer Research.

Mum hadn’t managed to train for this race, as she did two years ago, but she was still determined to do it. The most she had walked over the last couple of months was a mile along the coast when we were on holiday in Crete. Despite this, we set off in a sea of pink t-shirts, leggings and tutus, around the 5k course. Race for Life started as a charity run but nowadays there are runners, joggers and walkers. We walked for the most part, albeit quickly and then broke out into a jog every now and then for 100m or so.

As well as the numbers pinned to our fronts, lots of women were wearing the RFL pink piece of paper on their backs saying who they were running for. Reading some of these, you realise just how much we are all affected by cancer. What’s the betting we all know at least one person who has suffered, whether or not they survived. I’m not ashamed to admit that I had a few tears, particuarly when a couple of ladies passed us whose loved ones had died just in the last 7 days.

I don’t know all the stats for cancer but the lady on the PA system was talking about higher survival rates nowadays, although those suffering has also risen. Mum remembered the time when she and Dad went to see a film in the early 1950s at their local cinema with their ticket money going toward cancer research. Apparently, the pre-film trailer promised that with their help cancer would be eradicated within 30 years!

I think one of the many issues to overcome is lifestyle. Yes, treatments these days mean more people survive but our poor lifestyles mean that more people suffer in the first place. Diet, processed foods, smoking, drinking, sun damage, pollution, chemicals in our foods, make up and toiletries, and so on, all contribute. Preventative measures really are the key. Education is imperitive. Can you believe we even saw three women taking part who were smoking!!!

Anyway, we completed the 5k in 58 minutes, and Mum jogged over the line. I’m so so proud of her. Not bad for a 77 year old (going on 57!).

Well done for everyone who has taken part in a Race for Life this year. We’re doing good.

The astute amongst you will have noticed I haven’t blogged for a while. Sorry. I’ve been away, I’ve been house-hunting and I’ve just been crazy busy with work. But I’m back now.

Anyway, during this last month I spent a fantastic week in Crete with my Mum. Now, I’m more of a backpacker but Mum had booked a fantastic resort which I actually thoroughly enjoyed. The food was amazing with so much fresh produce to chose from and I’ve tried to continue eating healthily a la Mediterranean since I’ve been back. I’m doing ok but it’s harder when it’s not all lovingly prepared for you.

By the way, I’m actually not one of these people who won’t go abroad due to carbon emissions. Yes, I do what I can at home – I’ll be walking a mile and a half to the shops later – but a holiday is very valuable to me. In particular Mum had been ill and had broken and dislocated her arm and the week in the sun did us both the world of good. Running at 6.30am in the early morning sunshine followed by a dip in the sea did wonders for my own wellbeing and I can’t wait to go back.

So, you’re probaby wondering what this has got to do with the title of today’s blog. Well, the hotel’s internet room wasn’t working. At first I was frustrated thinking of all those emails in my inbox. The next day I tried again and still it wasn’t working. I started to get a little anxious. What if I was missing some major piece of information, a new client enquiry or just missing out. But there was nothing I could do about it. There wasn’t an internet cafe near by and I don’t own a Blackberry (hideous things in my opinion). So all I could do was relax and forget about it. Well, I am so glad the internet access was down. I enjoyed the holiday even more, my mind quietened down, I could relax in the sun without thinking of how to reply to certain emails. And guess what? The world didn’t end! I didn’t miss anything of major importance and half my inbox was junk mail anyway.

It was quite a revelation in a way. Is the feeling of having to be near email and internet actually just a sign that we are full of our own self-importance, do we think that the our friends, colleagues and families can’t live without us if we aren’t online? If I really was needed urgently then my boyfriend and my brother knew how to contact me.

I’ve seen people almost have a nervous breakdown at not being able to get online for an hour let alone a whole day. Lord knows how they would cope if without access for a whole week.

But perhaps they ought to give it a go. There was a time when none of us had even heard of the email and internet and I bet we all got on fine back then. Not thinking of the outside world makes us concentrate on the here and now – the walk along the beach, the evening drink watching sunset, learning about an amazing piece of ancient history that is too fast becoming forgotten, resting. Proper resting including resting the mind. It’s a little like meditation, emptying your mind of all things unnecessary for that moment in time. You feel energised, your mind feels fresh and you do really do come back from your holiday feeling rested – which is after all the point of a holiday.

So next time you go away, be it a week or a weekend, be brave – leave the laptop or Blackberry at home and don’t go near an internet cafe. Start with just an online-free day if a weekend is too much. I promise you the world won’t cave in and you’ll feel strangely but wonderfully liberated.

I would have love to have been brought up on a farm. My aunt used to live near one when I was little and I remember having a look round it once and being fascinated by the tractors! We also spent a couple of family holidays on farms in Wales and Devon. I remember the lovely farmer’s wife serving us up fresh milk with our breakfast and allowing me to hold the piglets. I’m sure it’s flippin hard work on a farm, a 24 hour a day job pretty much but probably great fun for the children.

For those that have never been to a farm, there’s a wonderful opportunity this Sunday to find out what farming is all about. Farms throughout the UK are opening their gates to the public and welcoming them in. People, young an old, can discover what it’s really like to be a farmer and to taste their produce. Farmers will be talking about their farms, their history and what goes on there, and many activities will be taking place, including nature walks, meeting the animals, tasting produce, picnic, tractor rides and much more.

I think it’s so important to support our local farms. Some have had it hard over recent years with mad cow disease and the like, and we really should be eating our local grown produce as much as we can rather than contributing to the carbon footprint and eating imported foods. I’m fully aware at how much organic and locally produced food can be and, as much as anyone I need to be thrifty at the moment, so even if you can buy one type of foodstuff, eg your eggs or potatoes from your local farmer then you are doing your bit for the local trade and environment.

Anyway, back to Open Farm Sunday – you can find a local participating farm near you by looking on the webiste www.farmsunday.org.

I’m wondering if I should borrow a friend’s child for the day to take with me as my lovely man is at work, or will it be perfectly acceptable for a 40 year old to enjoy walking amongst the cows and chickens and going for a tractor ride? Still, I can always do what I’m good at and go shopping in the farm shop.

I’ve been saying this for a long time, to work colleagues, to client, at home – it’s not good to keep using the same plastic bottle over and over as it can have negative effects on your health.

Lo and behold it was in the press this week with a study by Harvard School of Public Health showing a high degree of bisphenol A (BPA) showing up in urine.

In the food industry, BPA is a chemical used in plastic drinks bottles, food containers and clear plastic baby bottles and over time this chemical breaks down and leaches into the contents. BPA as been found to mimic ostreogen – no wonder that half the male fish population are turning female with the amount of BPA making it’s way into our rivers! The study showed that participants who had drunk out of the same bottle for 7 consecutive days had a 69% increase of BPA in their urine.

If it’s disrupting our hormones, then what else is it doing to us. Indeed, BPA has also been linked to other health problems including diabetes, heart disease and birth defects. It’s banned in many US states and totally in Canada although elsewhere in the world there is disagreement as to it’s negative effects. The European Food Safety Authority currently believes the body changes the chemical into a less harmful substance (which of course puts pressure on our liver and kidneys to work harder).

BPA is also found in products througout the home as it helps to harden plastic and many toys have contained BPA. As such, in the US, Walmart Stores and Toys ‘R’ Us are making plans to make all their products BPA-free.

So, to minimise health risks, don’t keep a plastic bottle on your desk all week and keep filling it up with water every day. Water is great but use a china cup, large glass or stainless steel container (and walking to the water cooler more often will do you good – you’ll have a break from your desk, rest your eyes from the screen and stretch your muscles!). Or invest in a BPA-free bottles from TreeHugger.com

Try not to keep food in plastic containers too long. I’m not entirely innocent here – I do worry that I am using my tupperware over and over and am looking into alternatives. I don’t put that much into containers and usually things like cheese wrapped up in paper in the fridge. But using containers made of glass or earthenware must be better for us. I shall investigate and blog with my findings.

Meanwhile, for mothers worried about the baby bottles they are using, BabyBornFree sell BPA-free plastic bottles.

BPA-free bottles from Baby Born Free

Do let me know about any alternative you use, or companies that also sell BPA-free products.