The Eco Bloke

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Check out Day 1, 2 and 3

Well, I haven’t posted for a few days as I have been hanging my head in shame after failing at my sourdough starter and bread. Not sure what went wrong, but if I set out what I did below then maybe one of my kind readers will be about to spot the problem.

I fed the starter just like normal on day 4 and on day 5 I woke up to a bubbly frothy starter. SUCCESS – or so I thought!

Check out Day 2

Just a quick post today to update you with the progress of my sourdough starter, which has started to get a bit of a nasty odour. If this is your first visit here you may find it helpful to read my post Sourdough Starter Day 1.

Here is what my sourdough starter looked like today before I fed it.

And again today I just fed it with:

• ½ Cup Water
• ½ Cup Flour

Then I gave it a good mix before placing it back in the cupboard until tomorrow.

Check out Day 1

Well, I couldn’t wait 24 hours as patience is not a virtue of mine. And plus my sourdough starter looks like it was ready for its first feed.

As you can see there has been a light brown liquid appear on top of the mixture. I did some research on this and it turns out that it is called ‘hooch’. Its basically alcohol, but I wouldn’t fancy drinking it. Apparently, the arrival of the hooch is an indicator that my sourdough starter needs feeding.

Preparing to feed my sourdough starter…

Nothing like a homemade loaf

I was reading the latest copy of The Green Parent this afternoon and was inspired by their article this month on making a sourdough starter to use instead of shop brought yeast for making bread.

I was determined that this was not to be one of those things that I would love to do, but never actually get around to doing. So I took action!

I decided that in order to keep me motivated I would issue myself with a challenge. I will make a blog post each day from the birth (today) of my sourdough starter to my first loaf of bread (hopefully in a week). This way hopefully my readers will be inspired by this approach too.

Does your bum look big? Take the stairs!

Lifts (elevators for our friends across the pond) use an enormous amount of energy to help you do a job that your legs and stairs were designed for.

Next time you are in a situation where you may use a lift, why not take the stairs – just once? Who knows you might like it.

But it takes longer! – Maybe, but how much of your time do you actually spend waiting for the lift to come to your floor? Stairs are usually much faster.

OxonCarts delivering a bride the green way!

You are getting married, but you want your big day to be special for the environment as well as for you and your partner.

Here are two suggestions that I have to make your special day just that little bit more special.

• Hire a rickshaw to take you from your home to the church or registry office. This is a fun way of getting to your venue with the least impact on the environment.

Time you gave your fridge some TLC?

It may seem a little daft, but getting the hoover out and giving your fridge coils the once over won’t just save you energy but money too!

The black pipe work on the rear of your fridge (the coils) is used to regulate the fridges temperature. When these get dusty, the fridge has to work that little bit harder to cool your food. When it does this it uses more energy and also could reduce the life of the appliance.

So, make commitment today to find 5 minutes to pull the fridge out and hoover those coils!

How you thought of going solar?

Most of us when we think of solar power we think of electricity, but what about solar hot water? And what if you could bypass all the expensive equipment and make your own?

What are the benefits of Solar Hot Water?

• You can heat your water all year round. However you may need to give it a boost in your boiler during winter months to bring it up to your desired temperature. This is better than heating it from cold.

I was having a weekend off from posting this weekend, but just stumbled on a website called Stitch n Bitch and just had to make a quick post.

What an eco way to socialize! Just a shame that ecobloke is an ecodude and not an ecodudette or I would join in!

Here is a video about Stitch ‘n’ Bitch.

Check out the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch site to find your local group…

Have you tried stitching and bitching?

You have heard of Solar Power, Wind Power and Wave Power, but with England in the middle of one of the coldest winters ever recorded, could we make use of Snow Power?

A small town in Japan is doing just that and not just in the winter…

Check out this CNN report.

Could you make a Snow Powered Fridge to use for the next few weeks so that your regular fridge can be switched off? Just image the energy saving you would make while making use of all that free energy. Now thats low-carbon living…

Time to evolve your jeans...

While the snow is here and the schools are shut I thought that I would put together a resourceful post for all of those with kids and for those that want to enhance their creative side!

Today I am going to share with you some ideas on recycling textiles.

Here are some ideas for breathing new life into those old rags.

1. Crafty lunch sack made from an old pair of jeans
2. Mittens made from an old woolly jumper
3. School bag made from ties
4. Make a Rag Rug from old t-shirts

The Lewes Pound Launched In 2008

I was excited to hear back in 2008 of a local project in a town called Lewes.

A group of people had got together and decided that in order to support their local economy they would create a currency just for the town. They named this currency the Lewes Pound.

The idea is a simple one.

1. Locals buy the new currency at various places around the town.
2. Local shops that take the Lewes Pound as payment display a sign in their window.

Could You Change From Plastic to Cork?

I received an email yesterday from one of my readers, Jonathan Strode. He wrote to me about the plight of the Iberian Lynx which is the most endangered cat species in the world.

Here is what Jonathan had to say:

Much of the world’s cork comes from the Southern Mediterranean regions of Portugal and Spain where there is an abundance of unique wildlife. The use of plastic instead of cork for wine bottles is threatening these species.

Plastic free apples

I have just got off the phone to a nice chap at Waitrose. I called them because on Saturday I was in their Witney store and I was peckish for some apples. I always buy British apples where possible and saw that they stock my favourites, The English Cox.

But I had a dilemma; all of the British apples were being sold in plastic bags. Not only that, but the bags were not recyclable or compostable!

Do I buy British in wasteful packaging or do I buy apples that have been shipped in from Spain or Israel?

Do you recycle?

Following on from the question, which I received from a reader and posted to the blog a few days back, I have received a few more questions from a couple of other readers who would like our help.

Today’s question comes from Sally.

Hi Ecobloke!

I’m becoming a slightly obsessive recycler. But I get somewhat confused & concerned about some of the information particularly on plastics and don’t want to contaminate plastic recycling bins with the wrong type of plastics. Any quick tips on how to judge what plastics can be recycled. I’ve also heard that all plastics get shipped to China. I’d be interested in a thread about recycling generally to debate some of the quandaries I have about good recycling practise.