Happy Earth Day 2022!
Where do I begin with my thoughts and feelings about Earth Day?
If you haven’t gathered already from my products and illustration content, I’m a big Earth lover. It’s the only place we have to call home, and whilst we can explore planets far away for us to colonise, why not invest all that money (and there is A LOT of it for space exploration) into trying to make our home safer and more habitable? ‘Invest in our Planet’ is the key message from Earth Day’s official site.
Where do I begin with my thoughts and feelings about Earth Day?
If you haven’t gathered already from my products and illustration content, I’m a big Earth lover. It’s the only place we have to call home, and whilst we can explore planets far away for us to colonise, why not invest all that money (and there is A LOT of it for space exploration) into trying to make our home safer and more habitable? ‘Invest in our Planet’ is the key message from Earth Day’s official site.
Invest your time, your thoughts, your current resources, and whatever finances you can.
Invest in solar power.
Invest in an electric car, if that’s something you can afford to do.
Invest in a compost bin
Invest in some child friendly books to start a conversation with your children. They’re the ones who will live with the decisions we make today.
Invest in a reusable bag.
Invest in saving water.
Invest in saving electricity.
Invest in that bike that’s stuck in the shed.
Invest in a new bank account that doesn’t fund fossil fuels.
Invest in books that can educate us and help us become aware of what we need to do to change.
There are so many big and little ways for us to make a change which don’t need to leave us bankrupt. Below i’ve shared my own 5 small steps we can take today to start making an impact, no matter how small.
There are so many inspirational people as well who are putting in the hard work to help us all make more conscious decisions for our planets survival. Below is by no means a comprehensive or finished list, but these are people who I’ve either bought from or worked with who are great leaders in making change happen:
Fashion
Good on You app - an excellent app to quickly check how ethical and eco friendly a brand is. The app will also offer suggestions for better brands to purchase from.
Aja Barber - an incredible ‘writer, stylist and consultant whose work deals with the intersections of sustainability and the fashion landscape’. Follow her Instagram for insightful and eye opening posts.
Ford & Guy - Not only is Suzie an incredible seamstress, but she has also compiled the most amazing directory of Mindful Makers (I’m kindly included, thank you!) so you don’t have to do the hard work for searching for more conscious creators.
Grocery Shopping
Shop Zero Nottingham - An incredible zero waste shop in the heart of Nottingham offering refills as well as personal care, gift ware and other eco friendly products. All products can be delivered too!
The Good Weigh - Another local zero waste shop to us based in Lady Bay, Nottingham which also offers some plastic free fruit and vegetables.
Wearth London - Fantastic zero waste site which not only offers refills but also has a massive selection of eco friendly products.
The Good Club - A subscription based zero waste site which has been on my radar for a while but I havn’t yet tried - if you have please let me know how you get on!
Oddbox - Our favourite fruit and veg delivery box, filled with items saved from landfill as they were rejected due to their size/appearance/quality. Every box includes a handy info sheet of how much water, CO2 and food was saved and even has some delicious recipe ideas to help give some inspiration for your rescued veg.
Communities
Mother’s CAN - Find a local group of mother’s who are concerned about climate change and want to make a difference. A fantastic way to get involved in activism and meet other like minded people.
Mum’s Go Green - Another mum focussed eco group, but I am a mum so that’s what I gravitate to! I LOVE this facebook group - no question is ever treated silly and no one is ever demonised for their choices. Just an amazingly supportive community of mums trying to make the right choices for their families and the planet. A lot of businesses and tips are shared to making greener choices, a perfect place to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed by it all.
Extinction Rebellion - If you want a larger and more well known community then Extinction Rebellion is probably the one that springs to mind. You can find a local group and events for you to partake in and there is also a wealth of information on the website.
I could go on and on, the topic is huge, vast and never ending, but I would love to hear from you lovely lot. What are your top eco friendly tips, and do you have any accounts/businesses/websites that you’ve discovered which you’d love to share?
Drop them in the comments below or feel free to ping me an email. I’m by no means perfect when it comes to a more sustainable and zero waste lifestyle, but I’m trying and that’s all any of us can do.
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” Anne Marie Bonneau, Zero Waste Chef
Have a wonderful Earth Day and Friday!
Deborah x
Eat Kind Tea Towels
Well, as the young and trendy say nowadays, it’s been a minute hasn’t it?!
It’s been 8 Months since my last blog post, and suffice to say it’s been pretty busy!
Unfortunately my Eat Kind Kickstarter was a nonstarter, however I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
Brand new to my Etsy Shop - Eat Kind Tea Towels
Well, as the young and trendy say nowadays, it’s been a minute hasn’t it?!
It’s been 8 Months since my last blog post, and suffice to say it’s been pretty busy!
Unfortunately my Eat Kind Kickstarter was a nonstarter, however I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
The shopping planners have been so well received, and I’ve loved seeing how everyones been using them to plan their meals and reduce their waste. So I decided to try and make another element of the Kickstarter come to life and those were the tea towels!
My Eat Kind tea towels are neutral, making them a perfect accessory for any kitchen style.
Still in keeping with my environmentally friendly theme, I was so pleased to find a tea towel printer here in the UK. Seeing the design come to life on the fabric, when it had always lived on my iPad (where I had created it), was such a lovely moment. After all it’s been stuck in the digital format for nearly a year.
Close up of the print detail.
This collection has really been born from my love of not only cooking, but the environment as well. ‘Eat Kind’ is not just about being Vegetarian or Vegan - it’s about making conscious decisions about what food you choose, and being aware of where it’s come from, what impact it makes to our planet, and consequently what changes we can make to help care for it.
Full design of my new tea towels.
Currently available through my Etsy shop, I’ll be seeing how well these new designs work with the hope of bringing them to my online shop and eventually wholesale.
In the meantime, you can purchase them HERE.
As always I would love to hear your feedback! Let me know what you think of my new product via the comments below.
'Eat Kind' Kickstarter Campaign
After 3 months in the making, and with multiple hurdles to jump over to even get it launched, I am pretty excited to finally share with you my Kickstarter campaign for a whole new product range!
Some of you who may follow me on Instagram have probably seen my various InstaStories sharing all my cooking experiments. Thing is, I hadn’t ever really been a massive ‘cook’ until Ophelia was around 5 months old and was starting on her baby-led weaning journey.
I loved to try new things, and was always aiming for a balanced and healthy diet (especially whilst I was pregnant!) but once I started having to think about how I was going to give Ophelia a truly balanced and nutritional diet, as well as a fun and interactive weaning experience, I began to research and cook more.
Her weaning experience really made me look at the food I was making for myself and my husband, and the cooking just naturally spread to our meal times.
It was purely through this phase that I started to love being in the kitchen, and so, selfishly, wanted to create a collection to help me plan meals, cook and shop for all my ingredients. Not just that, I really wanted it to reflect our Vegetarian/Vegan lifestyle that was kind to the environment too.
And so the ‘Eat Kind’ collection was born!
What’s included in the collection?
100% Screen Printed Cotton Tea Towels
Printed on natural and 100% cotton, these black and white tea towels will feature my botanical illustration surrounding a custom typeface that I have created for the collection, 'Eat Kind'.
These are a nod to anyone who believes that the choices we make on our plate can help the world around us.
A neutral addition to any kitchen, they will fit perfectly into any decor.
Each tea towel measures 70cm x 50 cm
I will be having these printed with a British manufacturer, and they will be packaged lovingly with recycled card wrap in a biodegradable sleeve.
Weekly Shopping Planner
Completely inspired by my weekday shop, this has been created to not only help with remembering the bread and milk, but to help inspire to try cooking something new or batch cook to save for a day when you don't feel like getting the pans out!
Key features:
Printed on 80gsm recycled paper, each pad has 50 sheets and has been secured by glue at the top on a hardback board.
Each pad measures at A4 size: 21cm x 29.7cm
Each sheet features lines for your list, plus sections for planning meals for the week, a 'This week I'll Try' section and '3 pantry recipe's' section.
'This week I'll try...' is there to inspire you! Be brave and pop a recipe on there that you never thought you could do. (Mine was sausage rolls and I overcame it!)
'3 Pantry Recipes' section is for noting down what you need to stock up in the freezer or cupboard; ours is usually peanut butter, scones (for lunch) and ice lollies but it can also be bread, stock, and overnight oats to name a few!
At the bottom of the sheet is also a helpful reminder to not forget your bags! It saves you money, and saves on plastic going out into the environment.
Once printed, these pads will feature a recycled belly band (paper band) that will wrap around the pad before being sealed in biodegradable cellophane bag.
Screen Printed Fairtrade Cotton Grocery Bags,
Designed to help get your grocery shopping in order, each of these tote bags has been illustrated to help pack your Bakery, Fruit, Milk & Dairy and Vegetables. These are really handy for making sure that your shopping stays in tact (nothing worse than a crushed punnet of strawberries!) without wondering where you put everything!
Tote bag dimensions are 27 cm wide x 37 cm high x 12 cm deep.
Tote bags are of 407gsm weight making them very strong and sturdy!
My custom illustrations will be screenprinted onto the bags, and will feature a recycled swing tag with care instructions, hanging from the handles.
Like the tea towels, these bags will be printed with the same UK manufacturer, and will come packaged in a biodegradable cellophane sleeve.
The Kickstarter Campaign
So, like many other crowdfunding campaigns I am of course trying to raise the money to make this collection a reality. I’m looking to raise £4,000 by 10th November which will go towards not only the manufacturing of the products, but also printing of all the environmentally friendly packaging.
This collection will be my first ever to be made from 100% recycled and biodegradable packaging. It’s my hope that if this is a success, I will transition this huge change into all products across my shop.
If you would like to read more about my campaign, as well as to see what kind of rewards I have on offer for anyone who pledges money to the campaign, then you can see it all here.
And if you feel compelled to do so, please share this project with your loved ones! It takes a few moments but it truly does help to spread the word around.
As always, whatever you do, do it with kindness.
