I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, mainly because this is an initiative co-ordinated by the husband of a friend of mine, and I love what they are doing. A group of people in Fife are aiming to eat food only produced in Fife. I have to say that my first thought was, ‘oh that won’t be too hard, there are loads of great food producers in Fife’. In fact I think sometimes I am on a simplified version of the Fife diet as most of my favourite stalls at our farmer’s market are from Fife.

The reality is of course is that it’s not that easy, whilst you can make a great stir fry from Fife vegetables, as far as I am aware, there are no rice fields there, although you could make your own noodles. The group have set up a Fife Diet blog, and it makes absolutely fascinating reading, especially learning what they’ve all been eating (my stomach is rumbling). The key to eating this way is organisation, freezing up batches of food etc and thinking outside the (veggie) box a little.

Even if you don’t feel able to undertake such an endeavour at this time, it’s worth having a think about how you can cut down your food miles. Learn more about your local producers (if you are in Fife there is a list on the blog). I’m keen to use our local city farm more, with it being almost round the corner we could only cut down miles further by growing our own, and we don’t have the room to do that. If you’ve never visited your city farm, go and have a look, they are not just for children and you might find some delicious vegetables to take away.

Good luck to everyone doing the Fife diet, it’s a fantastic project.

Hey, long time no blog, I’ve been busy moving away from the New Town out to a more greener and peaceful part of Edinburgh (post on the city farm will come shortly).

I can’t find more information on this, but the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust has given a grant to Changeworks, our local environmental organisation (who have been very helpful with my attempts to green the office) to make the Georgian New Town houses more energy efficient. Good news for those living there (not every resident is rich, there are lots of rented flats there), Edinburgh may have lots of stunning old buildings but they are hard to heat and run efficiently.

We are about to move house, for the second time this year (not because we love moving, the first time was because the landlord was selling up and this time it is because we have noisy neighbour problems and want to be in a generally quieter area of town), and it’s not an easy process but we try and stay green whilst we’re doing it. Here are some of my tips, some of them are probably obvious but it’s very easy to lose your head when you’re packing boxes and boxes and boxes…

Freecycle and equivalents are your friends at this time. I like to give my stuff to charity shops but there are some things they won’t take/aren’t good enough. We’ve just given away a load of telephone extension leads. Freecycle is also good for finding packing boxes – and giving them away again.

If you want to sell your stuff, there are lots of different online options. In Edinburgh we have a good livejournal community, plus something called Cheapcycle for selling goods under £200. I’ve also tried Gumtree and the marketplace on Facebook.

Got stuff that someone may be able to use creatively? See if there is a local scrapstore who might make good use of large pieces of cardboard, fabric scraps, all sorts of odd stuff as well. Call them up and see if they are interested.

Books? I’ve used GreenMetropolis to sell a couple of my books. I’ve had most success with less popular books than any bestsellers but it’s a good way to make a few quid and help a fellow booklover.

You may find that there’s a guide to recycling/charity shops in your area. Our local one is Too Good To Waste, produced by Changeworks. You can ensure your unwanted goods go to someone who can use them or will be disposed of responsibly.

For boxes (if you don’t want to pay for them from your removal firm), try your local shops or keep an eye out in the office. Not all supermarkets have cardboard boxes though, I once asked in a Tesco in Sheffield and was told all goods arrived in plastic crates. In Sainsburys I was told to basically keep an eye out as I was shopping and ask any staff member unpacking a box if I could have it, and Waitrose seem to prefer you to call ahead, and even then we only got small wine boxes.

If you are moving soon, the best of luck to you!

Well, as carbon-neutral as you can be.  Homegrown Wholefoods opened in the last few weeks in the New Town.  I had a quick look round and although it may be small, it’s got plenty of good stock.  They also offer a refill service for some Ecover products.  Edinburgh seems to have a good amount of ethical/fairtrade/organic shops, which is brilliant (of course, I’d love one just round the corner but Homegrown Wholefoods isn’t too far out of my way, and very handy for a great knitting shop!), I hope they continue to do well.

The Evening News wrote about the shop aiming to be carbon-neutral and of course the usual green-skeptics came out to comment, but Joe Hind, owner of the shop, used the commenting facility to answer back.  I wish more people would do this, especially on green issues.

Yesterday I went to an exhibition in Edinburgh for the Six Cities Design Festival, all about furniture for ‘living in motion’.  It’s at the City Art Centre and is definitely worth a look.

The festival is taking place across Scotland’s six cities (funnily enough…).  In Inverness the focus will be sustainable design.  I’m very tempted to get the train up for the day (and resist the temptation to carry on further north) as it sounds like there will be lots of really interesting exhibitions.  I’m particularly curious about the Highland Housing Fair, entries to this are for what is described as ‘Scotland’s largest community of sustainable housing’ which will be constructed outside Inverness.

If you go along, do tell us what you thought.

For a while I’ve been trying to stick to buying natural wax candles, with a fairly good degree of success.  According to the New Scientist, they are better for us and for the planet.  The other week I bought a petroleum wax candle in a sale and I really did notice the difference, more smoky and a distinct chemical smell.  Definitely sticking to natural wax from now on, but where to get those candles from?

In Edinburgh, there are a fair few outlets that stock them, at reasonable prices.  One of the best for both quality and price is The Soap Box stall at the farmer’s market.  They are not there every Saturday so you might like to give them a call to find out when they are next up: 01665 720 263.  The lady that makes them is experimenting with concentrations of fragrances at the moment and welcomes all feedback.

L’Occitane en Provence have some candles that are all natural wax and whilst they cost a little bit more than the ones from The Soap Box they have a wonderful lasting fragrance and are great for a treat.

Before Christmas I picked up some scented tealights in Oxfam, I’m not sure if they still have them in stock as I don’t often get to one of their shops (I live near their music and book shops but not their ‘original’ one).  They were good value and had a good scent, either vanilla or a Christmas spice style one.

Other stockists include the Mulberry Bush in Morningside, Studio One in the New Town, Napiers in the Old Town and Stockbridge and the Blackadder Gallery in Stockbridge.  You’ll only find small selections here but they’re worth a look.  Last time I was in the Soap Company on the Royal Mile they had started a small range at reasonable prices.

There’s always mail order as well.  I’ve bought Amphora Aromatics candles at the Isle of Skye Soap Company when I’ve been up there on holiday and they’re great, I keep meaning to order some online rather than wait until my next trip north!  They also do tealights, which is brilliant as I used to get mine at Napiers but they seem to have stopped stocking natural wax ones.

Anyone else got any good natural wax candle tips?

According to the Evening News, more homes have applied for grants towards renewable energy projects than in anywhere else in Scotland. The Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative have awarded around £450,000 since the scheme began in 2003. Great news, let’s keep it up.

According to an article in the Sunday Herald, everyone in Scotland will have the option of a green burial within 5 years.

Native Woodland currently has three natural burial sites in Scotland and is keen to expand.  Glasgow City Council is also looking to have parts of its cemeteries given over to green burial, it seems to be more of a norm now.

I’ve never quite liked the idea of being buried and always thought I’d rather be cremated with my ashes put in the Pentland Firth (although the article does say that Orkney Islands Council is looking to offer green burial plots).  However, that’s not a very green option and if I’m doing my best to be green whilst alive, it would be good if I could carry it through to when I die. Although I’m not bothered about having a headstone, the idea of having a tree planted for me seems much better than polluting the air (and the sea).

Hopefully it’s all a long way off, but it is something worth thinking about.

This week Edinburgh Farmers Market was named the best in Britain by Country Life. We go every week (and if we’re away on holiday we wonder what we’ve missed), mainly to get bread, veggies and beer, and my boyfriend always has his weekly meat fix of freshly cooked burgers or sausages (or sometimes fresh smokies). I’ve been known to attempt to eat my way through a small tub of delicious organic porridge or admire local yarn. Today we indulged in some chocolate terrine to celebrate living in our flat for a year – I suspect we may find other excuses to buy it more often!

The market takes place every Saturday between 9am and 2pm on Castle Terrace, just off Lothian Road. It’s best to get there early as several stalls sell out of certain products quickly. I think we might make a very concerted effort to be there from the start on December 23rd. If you are ever in Edinburgh on a Saturday morning, make sure you wander along. Although a lot of the produce is on sale in delis throughout the city, it’s much cheaper to go to the market.