Time flies! On March 20th it will officially be the start of spring, thus I thought it best to finally provide you all with a detailed update of my New Year Green Pledges which I first wrote about in the post titled Belated new year greetings and green pledges.

I would like to highlight that I am not like Mary Poppins (practically perfect in every way) so whilst I have worked very hard to fulfil my New Year Green Pledges there are areas in which I could perform better.  However as a vegan and activist, I agree with what Katleen Baum said in her recent GGG post with regards to vegans having to frequently defend themselves as they can be scrutinised and judged almost immediately as people like to try and trip you up to find a weakness or hypocrisy in your beliefs and actions.

Anyhow moving swiftly on please find below an update of my pledges, if you have any questions just ask and if you can offer me any constructive advice / support then please do!

Pledge 1 -  Buy no NEW clothes at all

I am proud to announce that I have not brought any clothes at all! I am however recycling an old chunky scarf by unravelling it and knitting a cardigan.

Pledge 2 – Make my vegan diet at least 80% organic, locally sourced and word free

This pledge got off to a pretty good start but then instead of bananas and tofu, it turned out that during February it was caffeine and dark organic chocolate that was my weakness. However I am back to being super healthy again and practically living off a large weekly organic fruit and veg box containing approximately 80% locally sourced food but with some items such as peppers coming from Spain or Italy and occasional fruit from further afar (but not air freighted).

However I can not live on fruit and veg alone as I would not get all my nutrients, so I have been supplementing my vegan diet with:

Nuts - predominantly:

Almonds (100g of Almonds contain 16.9g protein, 4.2mg iron, 250mg calcium, 20mg vitamin E, 3.1mg zinc and 0.92mg vitamin B2)

Walnuts (100g walnuts contain 10.6g protein and 2.4mg iron)

Almonds and Walnuts can be grown effectively in the UK. In fact through my local veg box scheme I recently purchased a large string bag full of shelled almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts (I am slightly allergic to hazelnuts so passed these onto family and friends)

When I purchase my next home (with the aim of hopefully staying there forever) I would like to plant a nut orchard comprising almonds, walnuts, sweet chestnut and also pine kernels which can be grown in the UK too.

For further information about growing nuts in the UK please click here.

Seeds – predominantly:

Pumpkin seeds (100g pumpkin seeds contain 29g protein, 11.2mg iron and 1144mg phosphorous )

Sunflower seeds (100g sunflower seeds contain 24g protein and 7.1mg iron and 120mg calcium.)

Flax seeds (100g flax seeds contain 18g protein, 255mg calcium, and 644mg phosphorus. Rich in Omega 3)

Again all of these can be grown in the UK, however I don’t think that the seeds I sourced are of the
UK variety. (if anyone knows of a supplier – please let me know)

Beans and Legumes – predominantly:

Lentils: I incorporate dried puy lentils into my cooking at least once a week and whilst they can be grown in the UK (though not guaranteed with success) the lentils that I purchased were of European origin. (Puy lentils are originally from France)

Dried beans are also included in my diet and it is quite easy to get UK sourced beans. You can make a range of interesting and exciting dishes with beans ranging from soups, pate’s, three bean chilli, Mexican wraps etc.

Chickpeas have a major role in my diet as I absolutely love hummus! However in order to reduce packaging I have started to try and make my own from dried chickpeas, organic lemon and locally sourced garlic. Chickpeas are typically imported in from Asian countries however they are also grown commercially in Southern Europe too. However I am going to start reducing my hummus intake as I perhaps have rather a lot.

Grains, cereal etc – predominantly:

Oats (from Scotland), Wheat (from UK), Millet (not sure), Quinoa (Can be grown in Europe)Brown rice (the rice I got from the Co-Op said country of origin Italy – apparently Italy is the leading producer of rice in Europe)

Herbal tea:

Last year I harvested lots of herbs from my garden and when at home I enjoy pots of delicious herbal tea such as thyme, peppermint, rosemary, sage and also nettle (which is high in iron). At work I usually drink lots of tap water and also herbal infusions from teabags.

Pledge update – conclusive remarks

Whilst my diet is 100% vegan, at the moment it’s probably approximately 90% organic and only 60-70% locally sourced and word free. I don’t think that I will be able to have a 100% locally sourced healthy vegan diet until I am able to be more self sufficient and grow my own nuts and legumes.

Pledge 3 - Grow more vegetables, herbs and fruits

This is not convenient at the moment as I am about to begin the process of selling my house thus even if I sowed some vegetable seeds in my garden I may not be there to harvest them. However upon selling my house I will be completely downsizing and going to move from Nottingham to the South of England to live with my fiancé where we will be renting a bedroom from a live in land lady who also has another tenant (4 people in a 3 bed roomed houses is very eco friendly).

In order to achieve my pledge of growing more fruit and veg (and also because I love gardening) I will be putting my name down for an allotment plot as soon as possible.

Pledge 4 - Buy no presents – instead make them

Forgive me for I have sinned. The last two presents I gave were store brought (books and cd’s) as opposed to home made, my excuse – I was too busy studying. I promise to try harder.

Pledge 5 - Cycle instead of getting the bus

I have walked to work on a few occasions (1 hour 20 mins) however I have yet to get my bike out and cycle to work. After Easter I WILL start cycling to work again.