Women's Day in the Wimbledon Park Patch

So for anyone that couldn't make it, and also to provide some links for those that did, here are my 5 top tips from the International Women's Day Oxfam Get Together evening that we had at my place on Friday 8th March.  The 5 tips were from my year of 'Finding Richness in Less'.

1. How to make your own cards
http://findingrichnessinless.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/origins-of-motherhood.html 

2. How to make your own gift bags
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/how-to-make-gift-bags-from-newspaper.html

3. Join Streetbank
http://www.streetbank.com/  a website which shows you the skills or things your neighbours are willing to share, loan or give away. You’ll be able to see everything in your square mile that your neighbours are offering. You’ll be helping to build the community, save money and help the environment all in one.

4. Share ideas - plagerism is the highest form of flattery, and why reinvent the wheel when someone else has already done the hard work?  It's brilliant to share ideas, so get chatting, blogging, posting, whatever takes your fancy, but share your ideas, skills, mistakes and enjoy being creative

5. Don't buy herbs - create a herb network.  Find out what herbs your neighbours grow, and offer to share cuttings from yours, in exchange for cuttings from theirs, when you need them as ingredients for recipes.  And if you live close to me, keep an eye on our front yard...it's soon going to all be herbs, and you're welcome to come and help yourself.






And for anyone who took away some Herman German Friendship Cake starter, here are some ideas of recipes: http://www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com/herman-recipe-ideas/

Thanks to everyone who gave money for Oxfam and donated items for me to sell on eBay (all proceeds going to Oxfam to make a difference to lives around the world.  I'll update on funds raised when the items have been sold.  And if you fancy doing something next year, check out:   (I'm wondering about doing something with our local girls next year....plenty of time to germinate ideas.)

UPDATE: We're almost up to £200...just waiting for a couple of items to sell.

Origins of Motherhood

Here's a quick and easy card idea for Mother's Day, although I'm equally wondering about doing it for mums when their eldest becomes a teenager or reaches 10, as a congratulations on getting them so far, type thing.

One of my favourites at the moment, and a way to recycle old maps, car atlases etc.

The map section used on each of these is where my Mum and mother-in-law gave birth to their firstborn (lets hope they don't read this blog post before turning up here for lunch later today ;-)

Do not adjust your set

So I've decided to carry on blogging, as I've kind of got into the habit of it (if not rather sporadically recently), and find it a really useful tool in seeing where my journey is taking me.  (Some others appear to enjoy reading it too...mad fools ;-)

So with a slight rejig to the title, and a change of background image (I embrace change!), I carry on typing.

So much has been happening recently, and I think I'll keep blogging about:

• the local community and germinating plans
• the latest attempts at craft that I inflict on everyone for their gifts
• and probably anything else random that escapes my head.

So on the community front, I'm currently starting with four things for the lovely 'Wimbledon Park Patch' (having just typed 'four' I already know there's more than that...biting off too much?):

Oxfam Get Together to celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March - I'm inviting friends and neighbours round for an evening to raise money and give them five tips from my year of 'finding richness in less'...should be fun! 

Easter Egg Hunt & Scavenger Hunt on 30th March in the local park - the local community wardens, police and fire service are coming along.  And I'm hoping to get lots of kids having fun and eating chocolate (fingers crossed for a donation from Waitrose), and get everyone to answer some questions about what they'd like to see in the park in months and years to come, to get some ideas started on our great local community space (with local public funds decreasing, if we don't take ownership of such spaces, who knows what will be left...just this year they've decreased money for planting, maintenance of the grounds and the children's park facilities (if play equipment gets dangerous it's now unlikely to be repaired or replaced, but more likely to be removed :-(

Streetbank promotion - a community online space that lets you see all the things your neighbours are happy for you to borrow, things they're giving away & skills they're willing to share with you. It's like a giant shared attic and garden shed for you and anyone living within a mile of your home.  I've already trialed a bokashi from someone, and have someone designing a logo for the Wimbledon Park Patch...all for free! 
 
Sharing for the new garden waste collection scheme in the city - the council are introducing new garden waste bins that you can pay to have and are collected every fortnight.  We'd need to drive to the tip whenever we do large back yard foliage clearance, as we'd never fill a bin more than three times a year...however, the idea is to have it on our front yard, we're sharing it with neighbours so that we can all use it, but split the cost.

Community herb garden - the front yard is about to be transformed into a community herb garden (anyone's welcome to stop and take cuttings for their recipes).  The main plant in the space currently is about to go to Southsea Greenhouse for rehousing at the Pyramids or a care home in Fratton, and lots of people are collecting herb seedlings for me (even the local community wardens).  Hopefully the whole thing is going to be done for free, and with everyone pitching in, it feels like a great start to something that is meant to be about 'everyone'. 

And finally I'm starting work on the summer community picnic in the park and a facebook group to start connecting those who are online. 

Not bad for the first 9 weeks of the year!

And as to crafting...perhaps some seperate posts on that to come, but I've had another go at marmalade (not my biggest success, but edible), and lots of homemade gifts including a great coriander spice rub for meat, knitted animals and my latest joy, puppet theatres made from old sheets and scraps of fabric, which you hang between door frames.  Every child's home should have one...so I'll definitely do a detailed post on that, as it's amazingly simple!