Be Sustainable in April
We love Easter with its signs of spring, milder weather and lighter evenings. But what would it be without chocolate?
Most confectioners are more savvy these days about packaging and there’s a variety of brands available with plastic free packaging and fair trade chocolate. Easter decorations are fun to craft at home and can be kept as family heirlooms. Blow organic, free-range eggs (use the whites and yolks to bake tasty cakes), wash and leave them to dry naturally then paint them with water-based paints. Add loops of ribbon and hang them from budding twigs to make a cheerful display. After Easter, store them safely in the egg box they came in. If that’s a little ambitious make dyes for boiling eggs with white vinegar and turmeric, onion skins, beetroot or red cabbage to naturally colour the shells for a bright breakfast treat.
The sun is out, there’s a soft breeze and it feels like a good day for doing the laundry. Not the regular day-to-day clothing and bedding, but all the heavy items which didn’t get attention over the winter months. Mattress protectors often need a little something to whiten them, but drying outdoors in natural sunlight is the best bleach you’ll ever need. Fresh breeze is the kindest and most natural fragrance and, unless you live somewhere without an outdoor space, ditch the tumble dryer – you’ll save cash too!
In the garden, it’s time to sow rows of carrots and indoors sow sweetcorn in compostable pots (or cardboard loo roll centres) ready to plant out later in the season. Visit the Community Garden on 9th April 2 to 4pm to learn more about gardening over Easter.
