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Ecover Zero
Many years ago I discovered the wonders of Ecover laundry liquid when I interrogated my sister as to how her children's clothes smelt so delicious and 'natural'. She introduced me to Ecover and I haven't used anything since; that was six years ago. I once strayed into the world of the 'leading brand non-bio' type and the overwhelming chemical smell irritated my nose, the residual liquid irritated all our skins and exacerbated my husband's eczema.
Ecover it is for us then! Once every two months or so, I trot up to the independent health-food and 'green' products shop in the town centre and order a 5 litre box of laundry liquid and conditioner, pop back the next day and pick them up.
Ecover is created using gentle plant based and mineral ingredients, so it has no nasties. I love the smell of the conditioner; it reminds me of Summer and walks in fields. I actually do that thing which you see on television adverts where the mum buries her face in a pile of clothes to smell them, the fragrance is intoxicating to me.
Therefore when I was asked if I'd like to try the Ecover Zero range I was sceptical; could anything replace my beloved 'Amongst The Flowers' fabric softener? Particularly as the Ecover Zero range is just that; especially crafted from plant-based and natural ingredients, the Zero range is dermatologically tested and 100% fragrance free. It has been approved by Allergy UK and the Good Housekeeping Institute, and Ecover Zero can help to reduce allergic symptoms while giving clean, fresh, sparkly results.
I was sent the Non-Bio Laundry Liquid, the Fabric Conditioner and the Washing-Up Liquid to try out.
The washing-up liquid is excellent. Literally no fragrance at all. As nice as it is for the person who is doing the washing-up to have a gentle fragrance to mask the caked on lasagne and tuna mayonnaise smells, I can always 'taste' that smell on the 'clean' dishes afterwards; it's why we already use Ecover dishwasher tablets and washing-up liquid. In the future, we'll be buying the Zero liquid rather than the normal Ecover bottle.
I've happily used the non-bio laundry liquid as the lack of fragrance means it smells pretty much the same as the usual Ecover that I use, I must confess though that as effective as the fabric conditioner is at softening clothes and making them easier to iron, I miss the fragrance of my usual Ecover conditioner. This fabric conditioner would be perfect for those people who have extremely sensitive skin and can't cope with any additives, but I enjoy the gentle aroma on my clothes and having a sneaky inhale when I give The Boy a cuddle.
I was sent these products for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest, as is the fact that I actually do have a sneaky whiff of my son's clothes.
Creating Wild Art: Forest Faces
'Wild Art' is quite simply creating art or craft from the materials found in a natural environment. Making forest faces is one of the simplest and most enjoyable activities that can be done in a woodland setting. In fact, we've done this activity twice in the past week because we enjoyed it so much.
For older children, this project could be preceeded by examining the history of the 'green man' and the different variations available.
I've cheated with this slightly as I'd bought air-dry natural clay to use, however if the soil or mud is wet and clay-based then that would be the ideal base. The issue is in my area that we have a lot of limestone in the earth, so air-dry natural clay (from Hobbycraft for a few pounds) was a far more reliable option!
You'll need:
- clay-heavy mud or air-dry natural clay (make it as unobtrusive to the environment as possible),
- leaves,
- moss,
- small sticks,
- stones,
- acorns,
- an easily accessible tree or rocks.
- I'd pre-sliced the clay into the right amount for each person, and had put it into a sandwich bag in order to make it easier to handle and stop it from beginning to dry out. Once in the right place, we removed the clay from the airtight bag and pressed it down onto the tree trunk, smoothing the edges down onto the bark.
- Next we gathered a selection of leaves and moss for the hair or crown of the forest face, and pressed this into the top of the head. The eyes and nose were acorns, the mouth a bent stick.
- This is not a project that can be removed and taken home, the faces stay on the tree so take plenty of photos for the little ones to enjoy and remember. Hopefully the faces will stay for a long time for other people to enjoy, but there is the chance they may dry out and fall off, or wash off in the rain.
#18 on the 50Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ list: Create some wild art.
365 #29
We've passed Day 200!
The 365 linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!
Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo) and show some comment love to everyone else in the community. We've got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).
- Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
- Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
- If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!
Days 195-201 of Project 365
195. Edible (On the way down to Burton's birthday party, we stopped off at Tyntesfield National Trust site to wander around. Unfortunately it was the hottest day of the year and so we did little more than sit under a tree and have a very edible picnic.)
196. Outside The Window (Such a boring photo to everyone else… this window has been broken for a month, and during this hot weather it has been a nightmare as it is perfectly positioned to catch and direct an amazing breeze through the downstairs rooms. We couldn't find our guarantee so bit the bullet and phoned up the double glazing company, expecting to need a new window: £15 for a new handle was all the damage! And outside the window is my son's play-haven.)
197. Bottle (We met up with friends of ours at our local nature reserve. Despite having lived in Cardiff for twenty years until university, she'd never actually been there and so we were happy to show them how to feed the swans, where the squirrels can be found, the best trees for climbing and the wonderful play park. My friend adored it, and both of the children loved it when I produced some clay from my bag ready for a very special craft activity! I was amazed to see The Boy climb all the way up this tree, completely unaided; he's got a lot of bottle nowadays when it comes to tree climbing!)
198. Inspirational (A fairly contrived photo of the prompt, but this boy of mine is inspirational to me to try my hardest to provide stimulating play opportunities and be the best mummy I can.)
199. Number (I know it's Summer and therefore we should be used to the fact that it should be hot, but I've never seen it this hot in The Boy's bedroom at night; a ridiculous number. No rain in weeks, and it's so sticky and muggy that we do actually need a thunderstorm.)
200. Building (Last day of term! When I finally arrived home from work, we settled down with coloured pencils, building his 'to-do' list for the Summer.)
201. Hot (As it was the town's annual carnival, we went down to see what was going on down the beach. The answer was not very much indeed, apart from a downhill derby, so we ended up 'plopping' pebbles into the sea to cool us down as we were hot and bothered. After we treated ourselves to pizza, chips, onion rings, doughnuts and candy floss, and needed winching back up the hill!)
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In The Blink Of An Eye…
As I stood brushing my teeth this morning, the realisation dawned upon me that this was the last time.
This was the last time I would be rushing to get to school and waiting for my mum to arrive to look after The Boy. The last time that I'd be coming home and asking, "What did he have for lunch?" or "Has he had a nap?".
The end of an era, almost.
The moment I announced my pregnancy in 2008, it was an unspoken agreement that mum would be looking after our child in order for me to return to work part-time. She was there throughout the pregnancy; gently giving advice, delivering me to appointments, keeping me company in the last fortnight when I was driven mad with polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, and sitting in the consultant's office with me and demanding they induce me because my quality of sleep was detrimental to my health.
On the day he was born, she raced back from Dorset having buried her aunt that morning, to hold her newest grandchild; her youngest child's firstborn. She and dad arrived after visiting hours had ended, but the nurses let them in for the moment I'd been waiting for all day.
When I fell down the stairs and ripped out my episiotomy stitches a week post-birth, she was there to care for The Boy while I went to the doctor's.
When I was delirious with exhaustion, swollen and engorged from severe mastitis, she was there to pass the savoy cabbage leaves.
When The Boy fell unconscious at three weeks old, she was there to tell me to phone for an ambulance.
When the three doctors and four nurses worked on him to determine the cause of his sudden decline, she couldn't be there. She was standing outside sobbing and trying not to let us see her fear. In the days following this, she was there in the hospital to let me sleep, feed me, keep me company in our isolation ward.
When I sobbed at having to return to work in May 2010, she was there to hold me and dry my tears.
When The Boy started walking and talking while I was at work, she was there but knew enough to keep quiet and let us have 'the first time'.
When he made so many discoveries about the world he lives in, she was there to guide him, to coax him, to explain, to share his wonder.
Yes, there are times she's driven me barmy. But how can I truly be aggravated by someone who loves my child so much? How can I complain about the fact that she wedges half the airing cupboard up at his window to ensure it's dark enough for him to sleep? How can I complain when she will stand in the room fanning him for forty-five minutes to cool him down enough to nap? How can I complain about her loving him?
I am inordinately grateful to my mum for caring for our son for the past three years, and I'm incredibly sad that this special time has come to an end. Yes, school is a new and exciting time, but nothing will ever be the same as his first four years; his voyage of discovery from a newborn baby to a thriving, loving and confident boy, overseen by his devoted Nana.
Thank you mum for loving my child.
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Roasted Squash, Red Onion, Spinach & Cheese Tart
On these balmy Summer evenings, one of my favourite evening meals is quiche, salad and baby new potatoes. Fortunately I was recently sent the new cookbook by Yeo Valley; The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook. With over 100 recipes inspired by the traditions of the British farmhouse kitchen, this beautiful book brings together fresh ingredients and seasonal flavours.
I've decided to have a go at the recipe on page 92, from 'The Veg Garden' section:
Roasted Squash, Red Onion, Spinach & Cheese Tart
Ingredients:
- For the filling:
- 2 small red onions
- 375g butternut squash, cut into 2.5cm chunks
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 300g chard or spinach leaves, large stalks removed and coarsely shredded
- 225g well-flavoured cheese, crumbled or coarsely grated (I used 100g of dolcelatte)
- 3 large free-range eggs
- 300ml double cream
- salt and black pepper
- For the pastry:
- 150g plain flour
- 75g stoneground wholemeal flour
- 65g chilled butter, cut into small pieces
- 65g chilled lard, cut into small pieces (I am vegetarian so used 130g of butter instead of the lard)
- Make the pastry first by mixing the flours in a food processor with the fats and ½ teaspoon of salt, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and mix briefly until the mixtures binds together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out thinly and use to line a lightly greased 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin 4cm deep. Prick the base with a fork and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Peel the onions (the original recipe calls for the root end to remain intact, I rebelled and sliced it off), then slice each one from top to bottom to make thin wedges. Put the squash chunks and onions in a roasting tin and drizzle the olive oil over the top (I mixed some olive oil with balsamic vinegar). Season with salt and pepper and toss together. Roast for 20-30 minutes.
- Line the base of the pastry case with a circle of greaseproof paper and cover with baking beads. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are biscuit coloured. Remove the paper and beans (once cooled!) and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes until the base is crisp and golden.
- Meanwhile, heat a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, add the chard or spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until wilted (I cheated and put mine in the microwave with a knob of butter for 90 seconds). Tip into a colander and gently press out the excess liquid. Season lightly.
- Remove the pastry case from the oven and lower the temperature to 190°C. Arrange the squash, onion, cheese and spinach over the bottom of the pasty case. Beat the eggs and cream together with seasoning. (This is where I changed the recipe slightly; I added the spinach – as I used frozen – to the egg mix which had been blitzed with the dolcelatte.)
- Pour over the filling and bake for 30-35 minutes until set and richly golden on top. Serve warm and with buttered new potatoes and mixed leaf salad.
What I particularly like about this book is the huge amount of vegetarian recipes in it, either as a main course or as a light meal. I'll be experimenting with a lot of these easy recipes over the Summer, so expect more posts, particularly the lemon curd & raisin bread & butter pudding, Somerset scrumpy & apple cake, and the spiced pear bakewell! There may be some other savoury dishes as well.
Yeo Valley’s Great British Farmhouse Cookbook is available from all good book shops with a RRP of £19.99. You can buy it here on Amazon for £10.00
Sarah Mayor is the daughter of Roger and Mary Mead, who started Yeo Valley at Holt Farm in 1961 with thirty cows and the odd sheep. Mary opened a tea room and the clotted cream they made for it meant there was lots of skimmed milk left over. So they tried making yogurt… and people seemed to like it. They still do. The Mead family is still living and working at Holt Farm today.
I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of this review and post. I was also given permission to reproduce the recipe on my blog. My opinion is honest and unbiased.
Diving In! (Country Kids)
As parents one of our jobs is to prevent our children from being afraid of the things we were; to prevent irrational fears.
I always enjoy going to the swimming pool, and I do like swimming, but I have a real fear of water in my face and I can't contemplate swimming underwater or even with the correct head position for front crawl. The minute water splashes up in my face, the fear kicks in that I'm not going to be able to breathe. And just as with every irrational fear, there is something that started it off. For me it was swimming with my dad when I was around eight years old, he left me on the side of the fairly shallowish water while he went and tried out the diving board and plunge pool (he's not the most responsible of people), but unfortunately the pool's wave machine was turned on during that five minutes and I lost my footing and went under. I remember every second vividly and I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to get up again. Obviously I did, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life and accounts for my claustrophobia and fear of putting my face in the water.
I don't want to pass this onto The Boy, and I try really hard to bite my tongue and assess the situation first before rushing forward to him. However sometimes I am aware that a little slips out, and there might be an occasional "let me wipe your face".
So going to a birthday party of a friend whose water confidence is first rate filled me both with terror and hope for The Boy's own confidence.
You can see the difference between the two boys: one has been swimming once since last September due to chronic glue ear in both ears (and even then that was probably only his tenth trip, at a generous guess), and the other boy has been swimming since he was a tiny baby. One has a few drops of water in his face and is rubbing the water out of his eyes, one has water pouring down his face. I'm not criticising my boy, it's just a stark contrast in the ability levels of both boys of the same age.
The Boy happily stayed in the pool for around thirty minutes before getting out to play on the bouncy castle, or with swing ball (playing a leftie is the easiest way of playing this!), and soon wanted to get changed back into his clothes.
Then after dinner, and once all the other party guests had left, both boys returned to play in the garden. Burton quickly stripped down to his pants and went into the pool, The Boy took a further ten minutes before he followed suit.
And this is what happened…
And then, after another hour or so, we end up with this:
And then the final shred of evidence that he is becoming the swimmer I'd like him to be?
We'll be going swimming this week!
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Cord Hobby Horse (Review)
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.
When we took The Boy to explore Tredegar House recently, he was captivated with the hobby horses which were hanging up in the Victorian stables. The three of us had to race up and down pretending to be a horse, then find our own stable and have something to eat from the hay in the corner.
Therefore when I was asked if I'd like to review a hobby horse for him, I jumped at the chance; it's one of those traditional toys that every child should have. Traditionally referred to as 'cock horses' (as in the traditional nursery rhyme) above, hobby horses have been played with by children for centuries, and The Boy is no different!
There are a multitude of hobby horses on the market, and for some it is questionable as to their validity to use the description 'horse'; a vaguely stuffed head with a mediocre mane and poor quality fabric doesn't look very exciting, nor does it last very long. And really a hobby horse should have a little set of wheels on the bottom so it glides along the ground. I was over the moon to see this cord hobby horse, with a soft babycord head and cotton mane, and a sturdy wooden frame (with wheels) and leather bridle.
The Boy loves this toy and is forever charging up and down the garden playing at horse races, the only problem is that we might need to get another one as riding a broom-horse is a bit rubbish in comparison!
The hobby horse is priced at £18.00, which I think it a good price for a good quality, traditional toy of this ilk. There are cheaper on eBay and Amazon, but they are made from a rough felt or velvet fabric and seem to be little more than a bag of stuffing on the end of a stick. This cord hobby horse from the Great Little Trading Company is beautifully made, strong and far more conducive to imaginative play.
I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
Summertime At Butlin's
When we were lucky enough to stay at Butlin's in Bognor Regis at Easter time, the best attraction during the week was the old-fashioned funfair that had recently been installed. With a helter-skelter, flying chairs, carousel, dodgems and various other traditional rides, the fair was a focal point of fun which had children swarming all over it.
Butlin's spent over 200 million improving their three resorts, and the funfairs which were introduced were one of those improvements.
Over the Summer season, Butlin's have recognised that one of their other greatest assets is the magnificent shows that they put on every day. To supplement the normal shows, Butlin's is introducing a Big Top Circus from 19th July until 2nd September including Russian and south American artists.
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