REVIEW OF smeg dishwasher DFD6121W - ITS CRAP! do not buy

Decided to treat myself to a dishwasher for xmas. Paid £251.99 from Currys online. Its a SMEG DFD6121W full sized dishwasher. Its rubbish! It was delivered on 1st december 2010 and today is 28 december 2010 and so far it has developed 3 faults. Its completely crap. Do not buy this dishwasher. I was stupid and was taken in by the wantable "smeg" name. Previously, several years ago we had a very cheap Candy and it went without fault for years. Probably about 5 years I reckon. Even then it never went wrong but just looked very tatty and we were selling the house so we stupidly go rid of it to make the kitchen look better. Should have put it into storage but we didnt. Its taken about 4 years for us to buy this one and for 4 years I have done the majority of the washing up hence its my xmas pressie to me. What a complete disapointment! There was a hotpoint and a whirlpool for less money but I was taken in by owning something smeg.We have a whirlpool washing mashine that is about 10 years old. Very rusty but has never gone wrong. Anyway this disher had a guy fix it a week ago. Apparently I had opened the door mid cycle causing water to get inside. Well it is possible but I cannot remember doing it. He sorted it and it went again only to have the same fault again. Also the door now wont open and close properly! It sticks. Anyway since the man who fixed it said it was my fault for opening the door I have never done that since and have always waited for the cycle to end regardless of how irritating it may be. Its has leaked again. Dont get me wrong here the dishwasher doesnt leak onto the floor so you do not know. It leaks into the casing and eventually the water builds to a point where the clever thing says it will not go cos of a water leak. It does have a leak but you do NOT have a flood and cannot see the leak unless its taken appart. If I had the cash I would go and buy a new disher right now and scrap this one since a simple whirlpool or hotpoint, candy, beko etc with no mod cons and no warning lights is better and hassle free. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! Do not be taken in by SMEG! Buy a cheap and chearful dishwasher that will work for years without constantly breaking. I feel a right twerp buying this one so use my bad experience and buy something else please.

CHEMICALS VS NATURALS!

For nearly 4 years I have cleaned my house with cotton reuseable floor and washing up cloths, minimal chemicals and just really bicarbonate of soda and occassional bleach. Today I gave in and bought some chemical floor cleaning wipes from Tesco. Very cheap. About £1 I think. I used to use them all the time but when we moved to the country I got all environmentally aware and decided to go natural. For the first time in ages my kitchen floor looks clean! Sorry but there is a place in my world for chemical cleaners. I have tried really hard. I have used soap nuts to wash my clothes and everything looked manky and old and worn and faded but then when I gave in and used biological powder all my old tatty rags looked ok again and were rejuvinated. I used soap nuts for just over 2 years. Maybe when I gave in with them that was when the rot set in. Today I have a very clean looking floor and mimimal work involved. I am back in the modern world it seems and wont be leaving soon. For ethical,planet saving, minimal polluting reasons I have tried and 4 years is a reasonable amount of trial I think but in the end I need to have my world clean. I will still try to use washable cotton cloths and natural non-polluting things if I can but I reckon at least once a month if not once a week I am returning to the chemical world where things just look cleaner. Sorry. I just cant help it.

freedom to fly

Today at long last Walter the pigeon went into an aviary to learn to fly. in the wild I think he would actually have fledged a week or so ago but we were still feeding him and we had yet to build an aviary. In the end it didnt cost too much which is a great relief since as usual we are skint! Anyway I woke poor M today ( he is on afternoon shift ) and he got up just after dawn poor dear and is probably knackered right now diving his forklift but anyway Walter went out at around 8am. That was the time it took me to get M to get out of bed with several cups of tea to help him. Walter came out of teh cockateil cage eventually when we were not there. He actually sat preening when we opened the door and stood waiting but in the end we gave up and left him to it. Oh and we now have a green ring on one leg so we will hopefully know him should he continue to live in this area. He has some branches for perches and leylandii cuttings on top of the wire above hi for shelter. We also have some corrugated plastic to go up tomorrow over one end. Ideally it would have been there before he went in but really it was urgent to get him out of the cage now and get him to fly. He hasnt much uplift yet but hopefully will improve over coming weeks and eventually we will release him. And I want to cry! I should be happy really to release him, but I cant help it. I will miss him but I do not agree with him being in a cage. After all when we found him I really did not expect him to survive and he is now almost grown. I like to think he may stick around but somehow I doubt this will really happen. This is after all real life not hollywood! He is not quite as big as a woodie yet but about the size of a ring neck dove and he will grow for a few months yet I should think. I have not been able to find out much about woodies - how long they live etc so do not know much at all really. Anyway I really think Walter has a very good chance of survival into adult hood and to maybe to breeding now. Certainly he or she will fly free one day soon.

West mids vegan fair and Celtic New Year

WM vegan fair was a great success. Surprisingly we sold out of some products within the first 10 minutes which has never happened before. We did do a 10% discount offer if spending £10 but I cannnot get over the number of folk who bought 10 or more bars of soap. Amazing. Most were previous customers which made it even better since it finally proves there is demand and I have a good product. And this despite there being several other soap and cosmetics companies. Well I feel we have a future.
As for my Walter...........here he is yesterday on Halloween. I have to say this was taken after we fed him in the kitchen and I do feel so sorry for the bars around him. He will be 40 days old next Saturday and he is finally going into a flight/ avairy for the rest of winter. The parents feed until they are around 35-40 days. So far Walter is hardly eating unless we feed which is worrying but maybe he is just lazy and while we continue he will not feed himself so once the 40 days is up he will have to feed himself. By the end of winter he will with a bit of luck be strong enough and good enough at flying to survive and be free but also to breed and live a long life. We still have to ring him but do not want to do if he is still growing. Maybe this is just silly but I would hate to hurt him. He is very tame which is worrying but I reckon a few months practicing flying in the garden with little contact form us will probably mean this will fade. Sad really but better for him or her. Since M decided to name the poor thing Walter it sort of follows it will be a she bird! Woodies are apparently menat to be very shy of humans so hopefully thsi will be restored and he will be able to mingle with his own kind and learn from them. Halloween was alet down really ( despite me having tights with spiders webs on them !) since M had to go to work last night. We tried out the Golden rod wine but it was a bit of a dissapointment. Very sweet. I followed the recipe exactly. Next year I will use less sugar. It reminds me of the syrup you get with fruit salad but with alcohol! Anyway today is Celtic new Year or the month of Ruis ( according to Rupert Brooke) and the second day of Samhain which is I believe 31st October - 1st November. Interestingly I have read the celts actually celebrated 31st October and 2nd November and on Ruis itself they fasted and stayed in doors! Still depends what you read I suppose.
Now I have to get round to sorting out my van. After saturday the whole thing is a mess with all sorts of things in the wrong boxes and it needs totally sorting out so today is and "admin" day. Maybe I will even get time to do the books. I am definitely sorting the van anyway. Then off to the bank and to the farm shop to buy some wild bird seed ( lots!) and chicken food. Maybe I should just go for it and become an animal sanctuary?

Walter

Well I couldnt think of anything else to call this one so Walter it is. Lots has happened. I finally discovered the Pigeon and Dove Rescue UK who I sent a photo to and they told me he/she is much younger than we supposed and was probably only about 14 days old when we found him. They also said to feed him on chick crumbs which we have been doing since and defrosted peas. He is doing well and grown loads and still in teh cockateil cage but now sits on a perch and we hav ehad to give him a larger perch since his feet are now much larger than a cockateil and I wouldnt want him to do any damage to them. He has a new perch made from a piece of leylandii! Anyway we are keeping him till the spring. If we release in winter chances are he will die. Turns out the Abandonment act deals exactly with this kind of situation where to release a wild animal that has litle chance of survival is a crime. I had decided he was staying to spring before this but though if we are to keep a wild animal in a cage we should find out the law. Its pretty straight forward by what I ( painstakingly) read so long as he is in a cage large enough to open his wings and he is - easily. The main issue right now is to get him weaned so he can live outside in a flight until the spring. He is supposed to love peas in all stages of development but he just will not eat anything unless hand fed. WE tried to half starve him but had to give in cos do not want the little fellow to die. He will look at fod and pick it up but as far as I know so far is too lazy to eat himself. Aparently my adviser at Pigeon and Dove Rescue has foun juvenile woodies sitting next to wild bird seed and half starving since they do not understand they should eat! Well we will build hima flight in the next couple of days and as soon as he is eating he is living in it. Probably till March or April I would think. To release you have to have weather forcast for 3 clear days and thats when you release them. Until then we will look after him and try not to take him. right now he is ridiculously take and jumps on your hand when you offer it. He can fly though and has had a couple of flights in the kitchen. We now bring inside to feed since I was told to be careful not to lose him else he will just die. So no more outside open air feed and just bring him inside for this. The rest of the time he is outside. Right now its raining and I feel very sorry for him but he has got some shelter and does need to learn to cope with the wind and rain if he is to live free. Once we get him into a run/flight he will have much less human contact so should be less tame. I read that woodies do not do well in captivity and are suitable for hard release ( wildlife and countryside act) - ie no after feeding but Pigeon and Dove Rescue say that it is a good idea to put food out for him once he is released which is good for me cos I will more than likely be very attached to him by then but I do want him to fly off and live free. The lady who has advised me has several woodies in captivity - I assume handicapped ones and there are quite a few santuaries around but I have decided that he should be released here where he came from. WE did cut down his home but we have many more trees and there are lots round us in other gardens as well. Also he has familly here and apparently they could even now still take him on if he was freed but we just do not know and he would still probably perish in winter. People do not understand at all. They seem to think because Walter is a pigeon we should just have left him to die. What a strange world that folk wil help a blackbird or robin but not a wood pigeon!

at last some advice

Finally I found someone who knows about pidgeons who has told me what we should be doing. This is walter today ( without me!)
WE have been doing most of it wrong I think. He should gape when being fed and he hasnt been. basically we have been force feeding the poor little chap! Also he should be eating peas. I did try this and also dipped his beak into a bowl of water but maybe he is just a bit too young to do this yet. My father wants me to just release him but he cannot even feed himself so has no chance at all of survival right now so I went on the web and found a pidgeon website and contacted them and this lovely lady rang me and told me what to do. She seemed to think it is likely to be at least 2 weeks till he can fend for himself and he should get some practice in the hen aviary first. No problem at all but I had best be around to check what my hens do to him when he lands. Also there is a chance his parents may still take care of him for the week after he is released. Brilliant. I am sure he will soon be good enough to fly. Tho right now he does even sit on a perch. My wonderful pidgeon adviser also thinks he may be injured which is worrying. He can fly slightly but not very well but I have sent a photo so hopefully she will be able to guess his approximate age. Must admit though all this reading about pidgeons has made me really interested in getting some racers! Mind you first things first I have a baby woody to sort out. As for work I have done none the last 3 days and actually had to work till 2am this morning to get an order in to one of my suppliers since it has to be in for 9am today! Still one of the really good things about self employment is you can choose to work silly hours when you need to and it all still gets done just not necessarily when "normal" work does. Well if I wanted to do normal work would I even think of being self employed?

Walter the wood pidgeon having breakfast

This is Walter today after he had his breakfast. You will have to ignore the mess that is me. The white bits are scrambled egg. Laid this morning by my Muriel. Walter seems to understand when we get him out of the cage we are going to feed him. I just need 2 hands to open his beak and M puts the icing syringe into it and pumps the food in. Walter just sits and lets us do all this. To begin with we had to hold him down but now he is too big for that anyway and there is no need. Its loads easier than it was 2 days ago. i suppose even a baby bird soon learns where the food comes from even if it does have humans as surrogates! You can see he is slightly worryingly tame. I really have not encouraged this and we only handle him to feed him. He sleeps outside but protected from cats in a cage. From what I understand which is not much really he is now about 26 days old so should fly off on Saturday or Sunday. Its a pain cos I really need to work Saturday but cannot just leave him to starve if he is still here or not now we have brought him this far. We are not working sunday anyway cos its Ms birthday.Last year we worked it and were so busy I forgot to even say happy birthday till lunchtime and I am not going to have that happen to him again. Anyway the way its going if we still have Walter he is likely to fly away on sunday. I will be sorry but happy when this happens cos he is a wild bird and should not be in captivity. I will just put food out daily. I do anyway for the wild birds but not usually every day and this will change things a bit now I think. I like to think he will live to breed next year and maybe no stupid human will cut down his home! Still it was an accident and he or she has a whole winter to survive yet! Going by the large numbers of blackberries, elder sloes etc its going to be a very long cold one too!

Walter the wood pidgeon

Well M just had to name it didnt he! Its walter - unoriginally and is doing very well it seems. Thanks to the eggs from my Hens. At least they are not all wasted I spose. We do not eat eggs at all, the dogs do sometimes and the neighbours are just to nasty to give to especially since we realised one of them has a saw that was stolen from our shed. Anyway Walter the pidgeon has grown. he/she is practising flying more and more and hopefully not too long into the future walter will take to the skies and be a free bird as he was meant to be. He climbed up my arm onto my shoulder when we fed him about an hour ago - cute but not good from a maintaining wild status point of view. I had to wake M who is on nights this week cos it takes 2 of us to feed the little creature and he was moaning for dinner. He ate 2 eggs yesterday and I reckon wil probably manage 4 today. His tail is growing well now and he has proper wings but still has some bits of baby fluff. I shall be sad to see him go but the sooner the beter cos winter is close now and I worry he will not survive the cold and if he does not fledge soon he will be doomed. My writing wages have just arrived so off to the bank in a minute to pay them in! Cant wait. The rest of this week was a disaster. I have just done the books as well and it looks pretty bad. Maybe I should do a proper writing course. Would that mean I sell more tho?

baby pidgeons, sick chickens and leylandii!

Yesterday was a disaster. I didnt want M to be camping out outside wellesbourne market again so arranged to do a different one. Also with the weather being drizzly it would have been a waste of £50 to do wellesbourne I think. Anyway the day was a disaster from waking up. First the alarm didnt go off, we did get up in time but still late. Went off with RAC route plan to find the market but couldnt find it. Even asked a local police car ( or its ocupants and they had never heard of it the directed us to teh street using the RAC route plan but as they said it was just a housing estate and no market. Anyway it was outside Milton Keynes so we decided to investigate MKs market. What a nightmare place. Appologies to all who live there but I hate the place. Every road looks the same. So confusing and no landmarks. Market looks ok but at £48 probably not worth the bother and you have to pay to park as well which at wellesbourne ofcourse you do not. We will stick it out at wellesbourne. So we came home by 10am and decided finally we will get rid of 2 of the 3 remaining leylandii. We roped the tops and cut them in half so they didnt fall into next doors garden. One small branch fell in and nasty old baggage of neighbour says " I saw that". B1tch. Anyway guy next door to her was helping her sort out her garden and gives the branch back to M so at least the B1tch cannot complain to councillor and take photos of it again. AND she has one of our stolen saws! Ofcourse they were taken frm our shed and we cannot prove a thing but the saw has damage in a certain place and is definitely one of ours! So that is possibly our burglar. Talk about doing it on your own doorstep. We have lived in some really dodgy areas over teh years and never has anyone robbed us and no one would do this to their neighbour. Obviously that is why the folk round here are well off ! They do not buy their tools just rob them off their neighbours! So anyway we gets one tree cut donw and move onto the second one. The top comes off ok but lands slightly on the fence doing a small amount of damage but not too bad. It also luckily helps break the fall cos there is a nest with a live baby pidgeon in it.WE have put teh little one into a cage and fed it chicken layers mash mixed with scrambled egg. Do not know what else to do. We cannot return to the nest and if left where it was a cat would get it. Last night I left it off teh ground in a cage and covered with a quilt - part covered incase of frost. Today it is preening and trying to fly but when let out just runs so is not ready yet to leave the nest. The flight feathers seem to have grown since yesterday and according to the internet it is around 22 days old so shoudl fledge in about a week so has a reasonable chance of surviving and flying off if we can keep it fed. I spoke to a wildlife recuer I found on teh internet - based in Nuneaton I think who has given me advice so i just need to do the best I can and get it to grow and fly. the parents live in the garden and are in constant view - probably thinking we are out of order imprisoning their baby. Hopefully tehy will still be around when it can fly so they can take care of it cos once it goes we cannot help the little creature any more really can we?
Then to top this problem Muriel is again ill. Currently living in the kitchen. She was ill last night. She was sitting on the eggs when we got back yesterday and last night she was still there so I brought her inside and gave her food. She didnt eat but spent the night next to the radiator and this morning all the veggies had gone and she was eating. I have tried to put her back in with tehflock but she was just sitting in teh corner of the run. Honestly she was gone less than 24hours but already she is outcast. I will return her after dark tonight - the way you are meant to introduce a bird and hopefully all will be normal again tomorrow. M is goinmg to put the hen house heater back in today so hopefully all will be fine from now on and we also need to build a better home for gwyneth since the converted blanket chest she currently lives in is fine as a summer temporary house but rubbish for winter and has no way to heat it. And yes I am silly and soft and my hens do have heating! Though I am thinking right now that Muriel is just weak and gets ill lots. She will probably still get ill and come in regularly by the looks of it. I had budgies who did this years ago and it used to seem that every 2 weeks-ish we had one of them inside for a day or 2! I feel very guilty now as well about removing the leylandii - though twas stopping us from growing anything - and making our wood pidgeons homeless just as winter draws in. Maybe we should just build a pidgeon loft/ dove cote!And will my baby pidgeon make it?

life mates and work

Why does everything have to be so much hassle? whatever I do it always seems to be more difficult than it should be. Life right now is just hard but i still want to stay self-employed and free cos its the best decision I ever made. There is no way on earth its the easy option though. There always seems to be a problem and as I work through one up comes another just as bad if not even worse. I was very happy writing freelance for example but now do not know what is happeneing since the original publisher has sold the magazine on to a new publisher so I may now be out of a writing job. Ofcourse freelance is never a definite when oit comes to earning money since they may not like what you write one month etc but I was feeling hopeful. I have 3 articles in this months magazine and although it still will not alone pay the bills it certainly helps and I did feel I was getting somewhere. Now I have no idea what is going to happen. It does seem the new publishers ae very experienced with craft mags tho so just maybe it will be a good one for me but so far I really know nothing. I need to do the books. I should be doing them right now but just cannot get motivated to do it. I can get other things doen and have made candles today, wrapped soap, sorted serveral orers and prob;lems with a safety assessment but I just hate doing the books. I need to go back to a book I read which was the cause of my whole freedom and self employment or the book coupled with finding Ran Prieur on the web was what began the whole thing! Check out ranprieur.com to see what inspired me and the book is "how to make all your dreams come true" by Mark Forster. Thats what really did it. It was so inspiring I ultimatly quit my job and did just that. Doesnt make life easier tho! I got given this book at an event run by my then employer on well being and there was a book crossing stall and the man there gave me several books. I passed the rest on but am still using this - the most unlikely of all the books he gave me. I never normall go in for this kind of book but really it does work. Or maybe I was just so desperate for change I would try anything. Interestingly I found the original sketch book I wrote my first attempts at his quizzes in the other day - dated september2006 and I have actually achieved many of my wildest dreams. I wanted to be self employed but had no idea what I wanted to do. I wanted to live in the country and I do. I had no idea then that I would be able to do this and didnt have a clue where to find a country house. I didnt know if we could sell the current house, I didnt know what I could possibly do to become self employed but now I am. I wanted to be a writer - now I have been published. It was slightly shocking finding out I have actually managed to achieve some of the crazy things I wrote down then since i really never believed any of it. Now I need to go back and do it all again so i can make my life better and get more stuff actually done. Apparently this is called manifesting. maybe its really just about sorting out in your head what you really want in life so that when you do have an oportunity to grasp it rather tha just sit there dreaming. I dont know. i am guessing but one thing I am sure of this book really changed my world so i am going to go and read it again and do al those slightly silly excersies and maybe I will cary on having good luck and getting my wildest dreams. One ampbition should really be - to blog more often and consistently! I will add to my first list............

busy busy busy

I have been very busy as you can see from the title of this post. I have sold my first magazine article and it is out in the september magazine of making scents. hey! I have a second one next month with a bit of luck and am hoping to get one a month from now on. Tho having said that the next subject matter is a bit hard to do so I am not too hopeful of getting an article into the November issue. Still maybe I will have a sudden insight. I did last month so you never know do you?
Have made lots of soap for xmas and its officially on sale as of today at my website
www.brackencraft.com.
I have yet to add some photos and buttons but it will happen by midnight tonight I promise! I have never named my website before but it seems the whole street where I live now knows what I do so what the hell. All publicity is good publicity etc. Anyway off to make some new LHR xmas soap forthis year since what I have made so far will with luck be gone by the end of september. Last year I made 16 batches and had a few bars left but sold most of it so I am hoping for a similar happeneing this winter. Next week off to London Edge and NEC for autumn fair so that should be good. Next few weeks will be in Brighton for new incredible veggie show..........
What next ?

camera problems

Not much has changed here. Still struggling to survive. Last 2 weeks have been dire but before that it wasnt looking too bad so no idea how I am really doing. This saturday we have a vegan fair in Brum. Its only £10 to do so you cant really do badly! That at least is hopeful. Several neighbours are trying to sell the bottom of their gardens. I dont want to - neither does M. After all the garden is the only reason for moving here and the house is pretty naff so again we are annoying them all cos there is about 10k each involved but for us the garden is worth much more and in the long term 10k would be spent really quick and we would have a rubbish garden again. The police are being very supportive since we are putting up security cameras and the neighbours have all complained to the parish council. In the end apparently it will be down to Daventry borough council to decide and we will probably be able to keep them by the sounds of it all. I spoke to the parish clerk who gave the impression they could do little about it really - neighbours that is. We will know in next couple of weeks. Having police to give mediation will help I think. All in all we are annoying all our neighbours! hey ho! They are currently acting very smug too since we couldnt get the cameras working so took them back to maplins - would never buy from maplins again. Their policy is to send them away to be fixed not to replace! I dont even want the money back just working kit and they have been very unreasonable. Anyway I think the neighbours believe we have been told to get rid when infact no decision is yet made! Nasty b1tch next door stood on back door step with phone to ear and talked very loudly which to be honest is not at all like her down the phone telling whoever that the cameras she had told them about were gone! I have doubts if there was even anyone on the end of the phone! The rest are also being very smug. still what is that saying? Something like he who laughs last laughs loudest? Cant quite remember now. Anyway we will have great fun replacing them in a couple of weeks! Not sure if I wrote about it but besides our sheds being robbed of everything worth anything we have also had our heating oil stolen from the tank at least twice hence we need the cameras to catch culprit! We have also been reported to the police for having pit bulls which we have not - they are most definitely bog standard mongos! thankfully police are not stupid and came round to check and believed us - well they could see what R&R are! Sort of long legged labradorish/collie-ish with a bit of staff but no where near enough to be called pitbulls! AND the wrong nose. Then we got a letter from the DSS saying M owed them 26 quid from 1990! In my experience you only get that kind of investigatin if someone reports you. We are not on benefits so they couldnt do anything else and 26 quid is hardly what you would call serious fraud especially when its so long agao. Its all cos I am a trader I am sure and nasty woman next door doesnt like living next door to and in same kind of house as a lowly factory worker - M! Snobby cow!!!! Course if they knew I was writing freelance for a magazine and also a part time A level chemistry teacher things might be different but its none of their business what I do for a living so I am not telling! No doubt about it though we are currently feeling somewhat like victims! What will hapen next I wonder?

dyeing tonight!

well I have been mega slack and am sure no one will ever bother to read any of what I say again unless by shere accident! loads and loads has happened but at least this time no one has died! I have done all sorts of events some brilliant, some rubbish. I suppose that is life if you are self employed. Right now I am in the midst of lots of dyeing- as in cheap black dye from supermarket ( sainsbury and asda -asda cheapest!) and am doing up all the rubbish coloured but ok designed clothes I have bought in the last 4 years or so sales. I missed the Next sale for the first time in about 5 years - had to work it tho not so sure I should have bothered since it was rubbish and next year maybe I should have that weekend off! so am making up for it by altering -to black/charcoal all the stuff I bought the last few years and you know what I bought £18 worth of dye and most of my naff coloured clothes are suddenly lovely. Black is cheapest- supermarkets sell no other colour tho I am intending to buy one full priced dye and do several other items I am eventually sorting. they are currently sitting on the back of the chair while I have done all else black. Maybe another colour like red or purple would be good - very goth all this - a new image eh!!!!!. There are just a small number of things I reckon will be better any other colour but one thing is certain - NO MORE BEIGE! I do not work in an office and I HATE beige. No offense intended here to all who do like this colour but it just is not me!Never has been but when you work in an office and all you have to wear is second hand stuff which is what I was doing once long ago when IO finished uni so I bouht everything that was reasonably ok and cheap and it seems to be mostly beige. Well its some of iot been in a box for years and is really ok and wearable if the colour changed so black it is going. I have several piles here. Some to be tiedyed some flat dyed and some to go seriously black! allawaiting its turn. Tonight I update my wardrobe goth style and so far its looking really good. At least I will no longer wear faded drab old cloths thta have lost their style and surprising really you add some black dye and it looks new and not exctly up to date but definitely stylish. makes me feel much better about what I wear and much less sad that I have no cash for clothing and infact I am seriosuly looking forward to wearing some of this new stuff/old stuff cos its really good!

Gwyneth and everyone else

Gwyneth was fine over the weekend. She is now perfectly happy it seems. I am glad since i was quite concerned she would have to go back to the sanctuary. She seems happy though living in her own run and house inside the bigger hen aviary. the rest have lost space thats the trouble. they came out last night and gwyneth just followed me up and down the garden - lovely I can tell you. Not at all what i expected from a hen but she is a darling. She still will not stand up for herself and if they start to peck just sits there and puts her head down. I have doubts if she will ever fit in. At least noiw she comes out of her house when I open the door in the morning and she is eating. That at least is half way there.
We did Bristol eco-vegie fair this weekend and it was a disapointment. They shouldnt have changed the name from vegan fair. I do not think we will do any more of this particualr type again. they are too expensive for what you get and badly organised. We made a loss again so not good. Next weekend is wessex folk festival so maybe that will be better. I really need some luck now.............Who knows it could be good couldnt it?

problems with hens

Gwyneth just will not fit in. I have now gone back to putting her in a seperate run. M is converting a blanket chest into a temporary house so we can do this weekends event. I do not want to leave her at the mercy of my lovely but very viscious hens who have definitely not accepted my poor little darling. Have arranged all with chicken sitters so she will be ok and maybe in a few months Gwyneth will fit in...........

gwyneth

Gwyneth went in with the rest today in an atempt to make her live with them properly. She is refusing to come out of her house. She has been sleeping with them for 10 days now but has been in a seperate run in the day o she is safe and doesnt get pecked to death. She went to the vest a couple of weeks ago now ( didnt get round to blogging) and she had a bad leg which could be why she is not standing up for herself. Having had antibiotics, pain killers and rest she now needs to try to fit in. Trouble is according to several folk including the rescue she cam e from there are a certain proportion who are very timid and farmers would just ring their necks. I can take her back but do not want to so we are going to have to try and get her to live with the rest of the flock. They are ok when free ranging with her but not in the run. She is getting battered today poor little girl.

life is moving so quickly I have little time for blogging

Well this last month has been crazy. I am still making soap etc. I am also now writing freelance for a new magazine which is out in October - in time for halloween. Cant say the name of the magazine but its all about making natural cosmetics. I have always wanted to be a writer and never done anything serious about it. I did Brighton Eco-veggie fayre which was a complete disaster for Brackencraft but someone approached me there and asked if I would be interested in writing for a new magazine. I said I was interested but didnt really expect anything to come of it. Well I submitted 2 aryticles and they want to use both which is wonderful. I am hoping to write some more and they have sent me the deadlines for submission so they must have an interest in me doing this. I have yet to be paid - apparently will happen when the magazine is pulished and have to just take this as it comes I suppose. If it really does work out I will be in heaven! As for the rest of my current ventures: the doggy shampoo has been a huge hit and now is back on the market after a complete sell out of the first batch in record time.A close second is the coconut milk soap which is also now sold out and more in curing time so will be ready in about 2 weeks I would think. I was intending to discontinue some of the older soaps but just as I was allowing stocks to run out I have had a real run on camomile & lemon and if I reember correctly it was the same this time last year and now they are buying it with the camomile shampoo bar - they do match really so I am not going to discontinue that one. Similarly white cinnamon was meant to go but is selling too fast to get rid of. The slowest is the old best seller - cinnamon swirl. Still I suppose it could be a Christmas collection soap which would be better really. I have several new soaps which are safety assessed for this xmas so will be able to have a whole new collection just for Christmas. Including and really I am still unser about this a bath bomb with glitter on. It is not really natural but hell why not. Its for xmas after all and if it doesnt sell then I wil not repeat next year. And I am all for natural everything but I do love a bit of glitter! especially at xmas. I have been very slack blogging this last month but have been back out at markets and too be honest it is not going well. Rugby Crafts is a good one for me and I love it since its so small a town. other than that I am doing wellesbourne - one of the largest markets in the UK, Thorseby which is 72 miles away so a serious sunday treck and in between I have done a steam fair and it was brilliant. I am intending to do lots more steam fairs infact cos I loved the whole this. Steam engines everywhere, vintage cars, bikes, owls - rescued, wolf-dogs, you name it they probably had it. It was just wonderful. And there was a real ale tent as well! Leamington peace festival is next month and next week I am off to bristol eco-veggie fair. Not too sure about this one as it goes. I love to be in a vegan world where I can eat without worry and everyone thinks I am normal rather than awkard, attention seeking or just a freak, but the last 2 of these events have done we have made a serious loss so its very worrying. I habve also bought a caravan - well my parents bought ost of it for my birthday which is absolutely wonderful of them. I would have only been able to afford a complete wreck otherwise. My birthday is months away - July but they offered to do this for me and its great. The caravan we have is still very old- 1988 I think and is an avondale perle. Its possibly got a slightly rotten front window but was still the best of the bunch we looked at for the money it cost. Considering its age I think it is ok. Most of the ones we saw we complete wrecks and only really belonged in a horse field as a tea making room! Some even fell to bits while we looked at them. WE went all the way to mansfield to see one and when we got there M put his hand underneath to see what the chassis was like and a big bit of it fell off! And that was a £400 caravan!!! Anyway we added a bit of cash and bought a better one in the end and it was only a mile away at a local caravan dealers. Mansfield is 72 miles away as well so this was starting to be a real expensive venture in fuel! Other than this I have made some new products including a version of Tiger balm and a massage bar - for M. I think the massage bar is ace and if I can afford it will have to pay for safety assessment at some point but for now I am not intending to sell cos have yet to pay for the current new products assessment. Its due to be paid this saturday. I have yet to rais £100 towards it as well so slightly worrying but I suspect saturaday and sunday shoudl sort that small problem. Talk about living on the edge. Eating is the main problem. If I didnt need to eat and hence to buy food or pay bills the business would be a success but sadly I have to keep taking out money for living! I suppose thats the trouble for everyone tho. I can make enbough to replace stock and keep trading no problem. Mind you the safety assessment bill has nearly killed me. Its around the £600 mark so has been a serious drain on rescources but was much needed since I have "prettied up all the older soaps and added several new products some of which are already seeling really well so if I can hang on here I should be sorted I think. I need to find folk to try out the tiger balm now cos I have loads of possible improvements lined up but since its something I have not really used for years and never very often I need some help with this. Tiger balm recipes are everywhere online but they are all differents and the essential oil proportions stated are not legal in the UK so I need to try and make a legal version that will also be effective. People ask me for tiger balm nearly every week so I could do with having some available but I refuse to sell the petrochemical variety normally available. The logical conclusion finally occurred to me about a week ago in a flash of inspiration ( happens occassionally) that I could just make a natural version. Some tho have ginger, others have cinnamon, others camphor and oil of wintergreen so I need to do some serious experiments before this can be marketed! And will I make a good one that is reall worth selling?

Gwennytoo and Gwyneth

I have 2 new hens. Gwennytoo and Gwyneth. WE did a steam fair and right next to us was a stall rehoming battery hens so we brought 2 of them home. Gwennytoo and Gwyneth are terrible to look at. they have no fearthers just stuppy bits where they should be. Gwennytoo has beaten up all my other birds so should be fine and Gwyneth will not come out of the hen house. Hopefully in a few days this will change

Gwen-death of my beautiful girl

Gwen is a chicken or hen. Gwen died today. She had freedom less than one year. She came from a battery farm via the Little hen rescue. I had her in June last year with 2 other girls and then 3 more a week or so later. Three weeks ago I took her to the vets convinced she had gapeworm. She kept opening her mouth. The vet said the wormer I had been giving her was fine - she had it once a month as directled on the bottle and the vet looked down her throat and saw nothing so said I was wrong and she had a mild infection. She gave gwen antibiotics. Gwen got better. She wen back in with her friends having spenst a few daysin my kitchen. Then she was suddenly ill looking so I tok her out this morning. By lunchtime I was very concerned and phoned the vets. Instead of going to the local office who I was sure had got it wrong and I was still convinced gwen had gape worm so we took her 40 miles to warwick which is teh head office of our vets. We saw a vet who knopws about chickens. She confirmed I was right - me who knows nothing about chickens!! Obviously previous vet must have been incompetant- and gwen has a chest infection. Gave er antibiotics and this time a new wormer since the one I was using DID NOT kill gape!!!!! I was using vermX. The new one is flubenvet and states on it it kills gape amongst other types of worms. Its a white powder you mix into their food. Gwen had an injection - all in all these 2 visits cost over £70. We get home and are there about 2 minutes wne gwen has a sort of fit and just dies......................
I am so upset..............

A chicken in my kitchen

Well I realised yesterday I had a sick bird. She was not eating. I had horrible ideas about gape worm - I have read all sorts about it. Its a worm chickens pick up from the soil and it blocks their throat so they cannot eat or drink. Anyway we took her to the vet - costs us loads tho we did manage to get some doggie toothpaste which is impossible to find in Rugby and we normally go 20-odd miles to get. Anyway chicken is not infested with gapeworm ( vet looked down her throat. Chickens have pointed tongues I discovered) but some non-descript illness and she is now in my kitchen in a rabbit cage on antibiotics since the rest do not need antibiotics and it goes into their water. She still didnt eat and I was very worried by 11am this morning. Then my resident cockateil Ben(Ben-Jamima - shes a girl but we didnt know till she started laying eggs about 3 years after we had her) decides to sit on the kitchen door and talk to this huge birdie. It was very funny when Ben suddenly realised there is a huge (relatively) bird in the kitchen and she was so shocked. She started squarking as she does and the chicken started to cluck which is brilliant since she had just made this wining noise for all of yesterday and today until then. Ben is just brilliant. I explained chicken is ill and not eating and normally lives in the garden. No idea what she said to the chicken but they seemed to have a chat ( this is for real honest!) and the chicken starts to eat. Then she ran out of food and I have given her more and she is definitely better since she has preened her feathers. She will probably have to stay in the kitchen for 5 days yet tho. Not good.

legal vehicles and lots of hope

I am doing really badly and then today I had an order from someone for over £200 ( wholesale so not really that much but much better than I have been doing recently). Its looking good. Also a publisher has offered me free advertising in a vegan trade mag which I cannot afford to pay for which is totally unexpected and very generous of them. Maybe all this small amount of good luck is going to make it work after all. I managed to MOT the van and pay for the tax ( today) and I did ok at Brum vegan fair which was brilliant fun as expected. Sadly I will stil be struggling to pay for Bristol Eco-fair but who knows maybe it will all just fall into place. The tax man will want the tax return soon too so I had better get round to doing the books up to date in the next week. I have had to buy some new candle supplies which is a pain to fullfill the new order - its good to get it tho dont get me wrong but its for 16 candles so I have to make more and when weighing available candle wax I do not expect to have enough. Still with luck there will be other candle orders so the money wont be tied up too long. Then this weekend we are back at Wellesbourne market - in the rain by the looks of things and there is a new ( for us!) market in Sherwood forest which we are going to try. The woman I spoke to on the phone about it seemed really nice and not at all like the usual Toby( market manager) so I am hopeful this may be a good one. I should be back on Rugby craft market in May too so not too long to survive. This so they say is the year that decides if you have infact got a viable business. Most companies go under in the next few months timewise. I just hope I manage to make it work. This is real make your dream come true thing for me and I am tryng everything now that I can think of. There is no point doing the tiny local markets tho- tempted as I am since I hate sitting round waiting for it to work but I just lost money last year doing them. WE are still seriously financially knackered but maybe at the end of April we will be getting there again. We managed to spend just £60 on food last month ( we do have loads of dried pulses in stock) and I am off to pick some nettles now to make nettle soup from the recipe emailed to me by the Vegan familly house
http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/soups.html
worth trying I think. Also the Redditch veggies and vegans have a talk on soon which sounds really interesting on picking your own wild foods as follows:
Wild food for free talk & demonstration, On Wednesday 7 April, a talk in Redditch offers the opportunity to explore nature's free wild food larder. You can pick up lots of ideas for foraging, cooking and feasting on the wild plant food that is freely available to us all. The talk will be given by Mary Green, a wildlife writer from Alvechurch and is hosted by the Redditch Vegetarian and Vegan Society(RVV).
Using freshly picked samples from the local area, Mary will show us what plants are edible, where to look for them, how to safely identify them and how to prepare them. She'll even tell us how to cook wild foods, so you'll have all the info you need to make the transition from pathway to plate! The meeting will take place from 7.30pm at St Georges Community Hall, St Georges Road, Redditch. Admission is free, all are welcome.
As it happens I currently have no idea where St Georges Hall is but I am intending to try and go to this since it sounds just the type of talk I will like. Also all the other talks of this type I have seen advertised include killing and gutting animals and personally being veggie this really does not appeal so I never go but I do want to know more about wild foods so this could be really good. Its quite a long way from me but I will see if I can make it.

nominated for Eco-vaggie awards 2010

Its been too long since I wrote anything for the blog so sorry for that if there are any readers left out there after this extreme slackness. I have been really busy though. This weekend we are at Brighton Eco-veggie fayre and I could not believe when I saw it but Brackencraft has been nominated for the Eco-veggie awards. When you see who else has been nominated we have about zero chances of getting anywhere but just to be nominated is amazing. And in the second year of trading too so very promising really. I was so excited when i saw it. No idea who nominated us or how many people but thank you so much if it was you. I was starting to be really worried how I am going to mamange to pay for everything - MOT for van, safety assessments for new products which perhaps I should not have done but I will not do any more for a few years after these I think - tho already have 2 new things in experimental stages! still may just keep them for friends! and also I now have to make a real living since all savings have run out. Infact they ran out a few weeks ago now and its surprising how little you really need to get by on but life right now is hard not fun. So getting nominated for anything would be pretty fantastic but the fact I have been trading such a short time it is just like a dream. How it has happened I really do not know. I need to find out who choses and how many votes are needed etc but either way its brilliant for the business since if nothing else its publicicity and rght now I cannot afford to advertise at all. The 2 adverts I went with were a waste of money - one just gets me invites to school and brownies events which is very nice and they tend to be enjoyable to do, but small things like this are not going to make me a living. The other - Midlands green pages is proving to be a complete waste of money. Well both were really. I need to put an ad in Off the hoof I think but have no money right now to do this. Its a catch 22 situation so getting listed in something like the Eco-veggie awards and for my soap!! is brilliant since if nothing else sme folks will read about me/brackencraft. Well spent yesterday getting a local lady to look after the chickens when I am away and tomorrow poor dogs go in kennels - hopefully they will behave themselves! And its just a lonely cockateil in the house poor girl till sunday midday. I am worried about the chickens to since I think we have a Rat!. No definite evidence other than a tunnel that keeps appearing in their run but I think its bigger than a mouse hole so I have ordered a humane rat trap off the internet. I actually asked the local garden centre if they sell them or can get them intending to go to the local business and support local trade etc. I got a lecture on how it was wrong to release rat back into the fields and not fair on farmers! As if there are no rats there already. Its not like I intend to release it into a barn or something. Finally when explaining to nasty woman behind counter that I do not want to kill it since had 2 lovely pet rats not so long ago and "there but for the will of god go I" etc ( not that I am at all religious but it seems this particular expression does work on church types when talking about the murder of such creatures as rats.) Anyway I may just have to boycott that garden centre from now on. They cost more than places like Homebase and B&Q and if they insist on being so nasty then whats the point of supporting them - after all this rat trap has cost me £23 on the internet with shipping so they could probably have charged me £25 for it and made and kepts their nasty gobs shut. Besides surely if you want customers you should keep your stupid out of date oppinion to yourself and if they dont its fair they lose me as a customer. Since they are closer than anywhere else - just about any shop infact- I have been a reasonably regular customer despite things like compost being a fraction if the price at big stores like Wickes which is 10 miles away but this is unreasonable and she was quite nasty and very disaproving and I reckon from now on I shall save money and use slightly more fuel but still save overall and buy from the big stores where infact they will probably also stock humane rat traps. Yes I may have to resort to poison but if at all possible I want to attempt to release the unfortunate animal into the wild - just well away from where we live and in the middle of some fields. Apparently if you release too close to home they will find their way back. I feel bad enough depriving the poor creature of its familly since there are probably quite a few of them and since it will probably never see its familly again once released and do not see that it will achieve a great deal to murder the poor animal just because it decided to make a meal out of the food my messy chickens throw all over the floor. And also I could end up poisoning wild birds, my dogs, moles etc if i use nasty murderous chemicals to kill it. And after all this ranting does this small creature have less right to life than anything else just because it happens to be a rat?

I nearly rejoined the rat race today................

Well yes I did. I copped out and went to Brook Street to register for work. But then I forgot my passport. No big deal really since I can easily go back but Hey ho the girl behind the counter gets really stressed out, raises her voice - not shouting just stressing- at me. Have to say I am so glad I am not in work as such. I mean I actually work much harder and longer hours than most folk who do work but its different. Its for me! Anyway I could go back, maybe I will maybe I wont. I walked from my car which I had to park miles away ( literally) cos cannot afford to pay to park right now and was wet from wind and rain and cold and I forgot my gloves. So when I arrived I was not a happy bunny at all. But then I left and as I walked out of there I felt happy. I am still free. I have no idea how I am going to pay to get my van insured and MOTd - my reason for rejoining the rat race- but I sort of believe again. It will all work. If worst comes to worst I have a cedit card tho not the best way to sort a problem but my year is just beginning and just cos I have hada waste of time month where I have made no money at all and ends are definitely very far from meeting I will not just give up. It is meant to be and I am going to make it happen. Then I went into the alliance & leicester - not my favourite bank and they rarely seem to give me what I want but today I need £60 in £5 notes to do saturdays event. The girl on the counter was very young - maybe thats why she helped me or maybe its cos we have the same birthday - tho I am probably 25-30 years older! What a god day this is turning into. Then I drove to Daventry to check out the venue for the valentines fair I am considering doing. Still not sure but it is a council leisure centre so maybe I should go for it. After all it seems I am meant to continue in this venture and not just give up at the first real hurdle! Yey I am happy again and weird this the wrinkles between my eyes that I hate so much seem to be diminished. Now Tatty how the hell do I find a question to end this one? Maybe I should visit Brook Street more often and see how stressed they are working for a company and to remind myself that things usually work out when they are meant to and it will happen for me. Dont panic just cos the money has all gone! And then here I am at home and I have an order for soap! What more could I ask for?

coconut soap, natural moisturiser and stuff

Well I cut the coconut soap and it was very soft so may come to nothing that one. I will wait and see what happens when it cures. The moulds I bought are a nightmare and have been a disaster so far. They are half rounds so seemed a great idea as a different shape and not hand cut ( My dad has gone on and on about my rubbish hand cut shapes tho he loves the soap itself!). So anyway I decided invest in some nice proper moulds and do one of the ranges eg. shampoo bars in a mould rather than a large bar that is then cut down to size. I made a lovely Rosemary shampoo which is green!!!! and still natural and put it into the mould using a ladel. Poured soap all over my wooden worktops so have to sand them as well at some point, and put them away to cure for 24 hours. Yesterday tried to get the soap out. Banged them, bashed them, put em in the freezer. It wont come out. So I emailed the company who sold them to me. They said put in freezer for half an hour and then leave to stand for 15 mins and try it then. Me being me and today a right nightmare anyway - will come to that in a moment - I forgot them so they are now standing for 15mins but have been in freezer since about 8am and now its 2:20pm! I have a feeling this soap will be ruined and possibly also the moulds. I can always wash it out I suppose. I made a second batch of the rosemary shampoo yesterday using the usual large moulds and it has turned out fine so at least I will have samples of that to send out. No idea about the stuff stuck in the mould tho. I suppose at least I can scrape out with a knife and make into soap balls american style and then we can use for us but we will have lots of rosemary shampoo for the house then and its meant to be best for brunettes. I am blonde ( dyed admitedly but if not I am mouse going grey and no where near to brunette) and M has only a small amount of hair left being somewhat follically challenged - tho it is very dark. I suppose at least we will be clean! The tea tree shampoo is great tho personally I am not a fan of tea tree but it has made my hair great and also has not dyed it purple which is a relief since I used alkanet to make it coloured and did worry it might also dye me! It actually works as an all over body shampoo and soap so I shall market it as such. I will be sending out samples of this soon. I think the moulds may end up being used for massage bars since several people have asked me for them and so far I have not made any or only for us. There does seem to be a market for them. I am really not at all sure about attempting a second trial with them as soap moulds. Besides what is wrong with hand cut natural soap?

Next my day today ( and yesterday) - theres is me half way thru experiments with natural colourings making bath bombs and the citric acid and bicarb all over the kitchen so hazardous to animal if not to me and M rings. He has had an accident at work. I have to pick him up and take to hospital since he cannot drive. He has had some boxes somehow fall on top of him, knocking him out and snapping his head back. he already has a black eye and I got there about 45 mins after this happens, and bruising all over his upper face and nose. I had to leave the kitchen in a mess and so had to lock the dogs away from their water which I do not like to do- they are shut out if I am working for both safety and hygeine reasons but they have to go thru the kitchen to get to their water. Well got to Ms work place. His eye is completely shut. WE go to Rugby hospital. They give him some ointment and he comes home. His car is still stuck at work in Coventry 20-odd miles away! Anyway he cannot work for next few days at least tho its the company`s fault so he wll at least be paid. He asked me to help him put the eye ointment on but it doesnt say if it has to go into the eye or around it so we ended up not using it last night.Today he makes a docs appointment to find out and also he now has serious pains in his neck and head. Doc says whiplash! Use a lavender and wheat bag which we have got and just wait till it gets better. She was disgusted with hospital when she looks at the eye ointment instructions since they just say apply as directed by doctor! Anyway it has to go into the eye not around it. M has spent most of today on pain killers in bed. Personally i think he should try to sue since he has been working at this place for 5 years and has now had 6 industrial injuries. By my reckoning that is an unsafe environment. And this is a national company! Ofcourse he will not do this cos he would probably be hounded out of the job and in the current climate may not get another. Isn`t life rubbish sometimes! His eye looks even worse today tho I supose that must be normal.
On the upside I have 1 new order and also I have been asked to quote for doing gifts for wedding favours which is great. Atleast at last this month I have some work to do. Also Incredible veggie roadshow is in bath next month so I am now counting stock and working out what to make for that. And I have finally made coloured bath bombs!
I am having some difficulty ending on a question tho.Obviously I am not a real writer. Why is it so difficult to do this?

today is the day for a poem.....................

questions in a post

I was reading Tatty`s blog. Apparently to be a good writer you should end your latest writing with a question. Interesting. I will have to try that from now on. Not that I really write this to be a writer but it could be a great skill to have couldn`t it?

Finally my latest pacel has just arrived. It was meant to come on Friday and today is the third day I have had to wait in for it. It is here at last though and worth the wait by the looks of things. I have some new soap moulds - might use for the shampoos so it is easy to tell them appart and loads of natural dyes to play with - and fruit powders - not sure if they dye the soap but I have to try it out and see. The cranberry and blackberry in particular look wild - will they dye or wont they. Wow its hard to end with a question especially since I keep thinking of other stuff to write. maybe I should do a creative writing course! Onwards to doing a google search now to see how to use these dyes. Life can very occasionally be really fun and exciting. i do love january. But will I end with nice coloured soaps and bath bombs???

soap and soap and festivals

I HAVE MADE LOADS OF SOAP. SHAMPOO BARS, NEW SOAPS AND ALREADY EXISTING SOAPS FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. ALSO STARTED WITH EYE CREAMS. I hate the caps lock!!! Should be banned from all computor keyboards! Anyway unfortunately I have never in my life actually bought an eye cream which means I have no idea at all what they are like. Its all a big experiment. I have been given a recipe by an american to try out and to be honest seems prety good but then I have nothing to compare it with so I intend to send to my lovely volunteers to try out to see what you think. I have actually used some every day since making but have made 3 versions and need to know which if any to go ahead and safety assess. Obviously do not really want to pay to safety assess all 3 and probably one is better than the others just I am not to sure which to go with. Anyway sending out today. I am also going to attempt an eye serum but currently I have a problem with containers for this. I will give the company who supplies me a call today. My mum is interested in this one. Other than that I am getting a few new additions and changes together to run past safety assessor with a view to getting everything on the market by May/June. Fun eh! My Grapefruit range is also looking good - waiting now for a parcel which contains natural soap colourings such as clays and spirulina to start to play around with coloured dyes. I am going to attempt a Rosemary shampoo next. I have made a camomile one, a tea tree and neem ( anti nits !! asked for by several customers) a grapefruit one and also I have made a citronella/tea tree/ lavender/eucalyptus anti flea dog shampoo! Ofcourse will be trying them all out on me first but am hopeful about the doggy one in particular cos at least its natural and apparently I have been told when applyoing for a job with a polymer companyt who manufacture dog shampoos - dog shampoo and what goes into it is completely unregulated! I think that is terrible. Ofcourse since it comes into contact with humans when they wash their dog it cannot have anything too unregukated but they do put things in they wouldnt put in human shampoo. Anyway have my own dogs and a mates who is currently interested. It may all be rubbish yet but nothing ventured nothing gained etc. I have also attempted and have yet to find out if it works a coconut milk soap - like goats milk but vegan! Yey as far as I know I am at present the only one in the Uk making this tho ofcourse after posting this that may well change! its looking like a really good soap tho and if it works I shall post the recipe on my website. I think 2010 is going to be a wonderful year. I am going to attempt to do Wesssex folk festival, leamington peace festival and kenilworth party in the park so far - its looking good. Thats as well as several vegan/veggie events. I am also meant to start at Warwick Uni market next month which could be a good one. I used to have a stall there in the 1980s with a mate who printed Tshirts - I did knitwear and jewellery in those days...........it was fun and beats normal markets for both the weather ( its indoors) and the atmosphere - being a uni with bars all around etc. Anyway its all pretty exciting so far - tho have made zero so far this month. I did expect that tho...............

new soap

I finally started to experiment with shampoo bars. Have made Tea tree with neem. Over the last year I have had so many folks asking for this one I had to make it. Its curing now. I will know in about 24 hours what it loooks like cos I have atempted to colour with alkanet root which gives a varying blue/ pin colour depending on pH and quantity of herb used. Then started maing a grapefruit shampoo bar only to realise I have run out of castor oil - essential ingredient in shampoo bars! So had to ring the suppliers to get added to current order. They were at lunch so now waiting for call back. Anyway having been twarted at grpefruit I have made Orange ( normal) soap instead with calendula flowers felcxked thru if for orangey coloured bits - no idea if this will work but I reallyt need to add colour to my soaps. I have also been surfing - virtual style and found a natural food colouring suplier which I shall check out and if their products can be ok`d as vegan may well be taking this further. So have 2 new soaps currently in larder curing and in about a month will be sending out samples to the kind folks who give me feedback. Intending for a lemon and lavender shampoo bar as well since I have been using this one for a whole year and its nice - made using camomile infusion so good for blonds and may also do a rosemary one for brunettes. Heyho I love January - tho making no money at all!!! having said that have an order to deliver locally on wednesday and also have taken about £40 online but its not really anywhere near enough to live on and april is now very close and my savings will be gone after that! Still I may yet make this self employment work. After all the year is not over as yet is it...............