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eco

Alternatives to Black Friday 2019

by Ismay Ozga November 21, 2019

The end of November signals the coming of Black Friday; a day of massive discounts and absolute mania. Instead of getting swept up in over-consumption, mass production and unbelievable amounts of waste, we’re encouraging you to get involved with some anti-Black Friday activity instead. We’ve rounded up some of our faves to help you take a stand for the planet and for the people:

Eco-Age and Global Fashion Exchange’s #TAKEBACKBLACKFRIDAY

This year, Eco-Age have partnered with the Global Fashion Exchange to Take Back Black Friday. Take Back Black Friday is a digital protest, encouraging consumers to raise awareness and create positive impact on the day by highlighting individual acts of circularity and fashion sustainability. For example, you could attend a clothes swap and post about it on your socials, showcase items you’re repairing or upcycling before the festive season, or simply show up and stand up for the environment.

Stories Behind Things – The Big Clothes Switch (& Natalie Glaze’s Book Swap Club) and The Christmas Collective

Stories Behind Things founders Jemma and Ella have two events going on over the Black Friday weekend to help you make better, more conscious choices; on Thursday 28th November they’ve partnered with Who What Wear UK and WeWork to host The Big Clothes Switch. Take clothes you no longer wear or love and switch them for clothes you’ll never want to take off your back again. Then, from Friday 29th to Sunday 1st December, they’re hosting The Christmas Collective, a curated market full of sustainable, ethical brands to help you shop with a clear conscience.

And So To Shop’s Colourful Friday

As And So To Shop are an independent marketplace, they use Black Friday to rally against unsustainable discounts and demeaned value. Instead of offering discounts, they encourage their sellers to add something extra and meaningful into each order. This way, consumers still feel like they’re getting a great deal, but ASTS are still showing that what small businesses do is worth paying for.

Buy Me Once’s #GreenFridayFriends

Buy Me Once will be spending their Black Friday spreading a message of calm, conscious consumerism, and are encouraging people to do the same to become their Green Friday Friends.

At Patchwork our aim is to help you reject unnecessary consumerism and waste all year round; our gifting patchworks allow you to get one big thing that you really really want, rather than lots of little bits that will go to waste. You can check out our alternative gift patchworks here. Alternatively, we’ve noticed a trend this year that we absolutely love, where people are using their patchworks to spread joy and kindness in lieu of presents – we’re calling this the Give List, and you can make your own here.

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Three pumpkins on a table. Two are carved for Halloween, one with a ghost face and one with menacing eyes. The third pumpkin is very small.

Patchwork Kids

Make Halloween zero-waste and plastic-free

by Ismay Ozga October 22, 2019

written by Ismay Ozga

Love it or hate it – it’s that time of year again and if you have kids, they are going to want to be part of the festivities. And yes, you CAN have fun at Halloween while still being mindful of the impact on the environment.

As Chris Rose of Fairyland Trust, a family nature charity says “the scariest thing about halloween now is plastic“. If you try to be zero waste and plastic free the rest of the year – why make halloween any different? Patchwork is all about being collective, resourceful and creative so read on for how to tackle trick or treat season like a true green warrior…

Preloved and homemade costumes over new.

Small boy in preloved Halloween cat costume

There are so many perfectly good Halloween costumes floating about out there (like Archie’s cat that we found on eBay). It does seem crazy to spend money and consume precious resources for an outfit that might only be worn once before being outgrown.

Each year after Halloween approximately 7 million costumes are thrown away – the equivalent to 83 million plastic bottles. A super-scary statistic. Many costumes are made of plastic in the form of polyester, so not the most eco-friendly fabric either. Ask friends and family to do swaps or have a rummage in your local charity shop. You can also search on eBay or your local FaceBook groups for a pre-loved bargain that you can then pass on again to the next trick or treater!

Or customise an old pair of old black leggings or a black or orange t-shirt. Cut slashes in the fabric for a scary effect and pair with some orange accessories and a bit of ghoulish make up for a truly terrifying look. And there’s always the good old cut-out-eye-holes-in-an-old-piece-of-sheet à la E.T. in 1982. See it’s not a new thing!

Go green with your decorations this Halloween.

Cut out paper circles orange black and white - plastic free Halloween decorations

Black Happy Halloween sign on an orange and yellow background - plastic free Halloween decorations

Ordinary glass tealights can be customised for Halloween with some orange ribbon tied around or some paper bats stuck to the outside. If you’re using outdoor fairy lights or lanterns try to get solar powered if you can.

All you need for a spooky hanging garland is card, scissors and a little bit of artistic talent! Use string or ribbon to attach dangling paper spiders, witches and skeletons and hang in the doorway or at a window. Even little ones can get involved with some splodgy glue and a mixture of fabric, tissue and card. If it’s black and orange – it counts!

Check out more eco Halloween ideas on Pinterest. And of course the best way to be green this Halloween is just to reuse all those decorations you’ve already got! The plastic trick or treat buckets and other scary props can be used over and over again and kids usually love rediscovering their old treasures if they’ve been packed away in the loft for a year! If you’re lucky, this makes for an hours peace and quiet for you while they go through the box of spooky delights.

Sweets and treats that are not so scary for the planet.

Homemade Halloween biscuits on a baking sheet

Halloween clementines decorated to look like mini pumpkins

Four kids outside a front door dressed in winter clothes and hats holding Halloween props

It’s not going to be Halloween without an overdose of sugar in some form, but if you start planning early you can avoid damaging the environment along with their teeth!

So, let’s start with the easiest (and healthiest) idea. Buy a box of clementines (or get them loose if you can), and then simply draw little faces on them for instant mini-pumpkins. They look adorable, cost very little and have no wrapping. It takes two minutes for a whole batch and it gets some vitamin C inside them ahead of the winter cold season. Win, win, WIN!

Second best, and with a whole lot more sugar, buy loose sweets in paper bags from a high street sweet shop such as Mr Simms. You can ask them to package up 5 or 6 sweets in a small bag, and then tape up or fold over and decorate for a gorgeous little trick or treat surprise.

Making a batch of cupcakes or biscuits and decorating with some orange icing and googly eyes is also an easy one. Or if you don’t have time and do buy shop bought, try to opt for chocolates wrapped in foil rather than plastic. Collect your treats in a paper bag decorated with a Halloween theme, or (for the super hopeful kids!) use a pillowcase. Otherwise just keeping reusing that plastic bucket – it’ll last forever.

Save us some pumpkin!

Two slices of pumpkin pie on a wooden chopping board

It seems everyone knows how to carve beautiful designs in to their pumpkin but not many know what to do with all that gorgeous orange flesh!

Terrifyingly, the UK will bin 8 MILLION pumpkins after Halloween. The equivalent of enough pumpkin pie to feed the entire nation, research by Hubbub has found. So, in support of the #PumpkinResuce campaign we have a secret family recipe to pass on to you. It’s called Red Nanny’s Pumpkin Pie (our founder Liv’s mum has been making it for over 40 years as you can see by the state of the recipe). It’s delicious, comforting and aromatic as all autumnal recipes should be and it’s the colour of fallen leaves. If, like us, you have trouble deciphering the above – we’ve printed the instructions nice and clearly at the bottom of this post ?

If you’d like to host your own Halloween party, get friends to help by customising a Patchwork party templates and adding your own spooky images and text! Get someone to provide the scary tunes, another to make some terrifying cakes, and someone to help decorate! Get more tips on waste free party planning, and read our take on why old is the new new.

Red Nanny’s Pumpkin Pie recipe:

Pastry:

8oz self-raising flour

4oz margarine

a little water

(or buy a sheet of readymade shortcrust party)

Filling:

1lb stewed pumpkin (mashed)

3oz sugar

1tsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp ginger

1.5 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

10oz milk

a knob of butter

Add the sugar and spices to the pumpkin, add eggs, milk and butter.

Pour mixture on to pastry base and put in oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes until set. Eat when cool. See more yummy pumpkin recipes.

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Party Planning

How to plan a waste free, plastic free party

by Ismay Ozga October 4, 2019

written by Ismay Ozga

Patchwork is all about being creative, collective and resourceful. We’re also all about excellent parties. With this in mind, we thought it was about time we put together a guide to organising a party that: keeps costs down, is waste free, super cool and fun for everyone involved. It sounds like a lot to ask, but with the right team, it’s totally possible! Read on for our great tips, ideas and suppliers…and then create your DIY party planning patchwork to rope your mates in to help make it happen!

Waste free party catering

There are some amazing party caterers out there crafting menus exclusively from delicious, perfectly edible food that would have otherwise gone to waste. One of them is Open Kitchen MCR, a Manchester not-for-profit dedicated to minimising food waste with an excellent pay-it-forward model. Another London-based enterprise is Elysia Catering, who handpick the ‘imperfect’ items from their suppliers to make into their delicious sustainable breakfast and canapé offerings. Your guests won’t be able to tell the difference between food waste catering and non, we bet! For last-minute bits, why not use waste-reducing app Olio to pick up from your neighbours – and use it to the next day to give any leftovers a good home?

Make a toast with eco-conscious alcohol

For example, use Toast Ale. The team there make their beer by replacing the normal barley used in brewing with surplus bread from bakeries and sandwich makers. They’ve saved over 1 million slices (which, stacked up, is 1.5 times the height of Everest. No biggy). We also love Seachange Wine, who have a range of ethically sourced, environmentally conscious wines that are committed to combatting the plastic problem. Choosing vendors and supplies that have an eco-conscious makes a massive difference to your party’s eco-credentials, but if you can’t find anyone who minimises waste innovatively, why not find a local supplier, to minimise travel impact instead?

Eat eco-friendly snacks

Eco-friendly attitudes don’t stop with the drink. If you’re looking for some lovely nibbles that are palate-pleasing as well as conscience-clearing, we’ve got just the snacks for you! Though Tony’s Chocolonely‘s delicious chocolate bars’ main aim is combatting slavery, they’re combatting plastic packaging too. Their pretzel flavour is also the heavenliest of heaven-sent tastes. If you’re thinking of going a little wilder, we heartily recommend Eat Grub. Insects are a great source of protein and nutrition, and take up much less resources than their farm counterparts.

Have your eco-friendly cake and eat it, too

Cakes are a pretty integral part of the party, so make sure you choose wisely. Find a baker who’s transparent about their provenance, like Kat Bakes, who details all of her suppliers on her website to ensure the highest quality. Check your supplier uses paper packaging rather than the plastic nasties you can get in supermarkets. Alternatively, you can always make your own, and even better if you can use produce from local growers and farms!

Plantable seed invites

The greenest way to send invites is to organise everything on email or text, but if you’re looking for an eco-friendly way to send physical invites, then make sure you’re sending them on recycled paper. Even better, send them on seed paper, so that your guests can plant the invite in soil once they’re done with it, and wildflowers can grow! That way, you’re sowing the seed for a great party, whilst also sowing the seed for a greener future. We love Wildflower Paper for this.

Reused or reusable decor

There are plenty of ways you can decorate your waste free party without using any eco-nasties like glitter or single use plastic foil. We love eco textiles artist Mia Sylvia, who hand-dyes fabrics with natural pigments to produce stunning pieces. Use them as a backdrop, a tablecover or drape them for a very en vogue focal point. We also love Alice Gabb’s banner hangings to transform a space and hammer a point home: made with vintage fabrics picked up on her travels and inspired by protest signs, they’re a conversation starter, a forever piece and a wonderful celebration of community.

Solar powered light

A little bit of darkness never stopped the party! Use solar-powered lamps to keep it going through the night. We love these Sonnenglas ones because not only do they save on electric bills, but you can also double up and fill them for decoration. Winner winner!

People-powered electricity

Electric Pedals give you the chance to power your party with your very own kinetic energy, by pedalling their bikes! You’d be surprised how much they can power – they’ve powered whole cinemas before – and it’s a load of fun too. In the words of Freddie, get on your bikes and ride!

The good news, of course, is that dancing and laughing and loving is free, easy and eco-friendly so you can do as much of that as you like! And we plan to. Looking for more help on planning an eco-friendly party? Here’s one of our templates. And if you’re thinking about zero waste gifting have a look here for some brilliant #morelovelessstuff ideas.

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Table set for wedding reception at Guardswell, Perthshire, Scotland

Wedding Planning

Patchwork’s Favourite Venues: Guardswell Farm

by Ismay Ozga September 10, 2019

written by Ismay Ozga

We’re a big fan of wedding venues that can feel like home for the weekend, and Guardswell Farm have that spirit in buckets. They’re also the complete full package. As well as being a gorgeous wedding venue, their stunning scenery and cosy hut accommodation is perfect for honeymoons, minimoons, occasions, and special weekends away. Plus, they’re all about the community spirit, something you know we love to champion here at Patchwork. But we’ll leave the lovely Anna to explain that below!

Tell us a bit about Guardswell Farm and what makes it so special.

Guardswell Farm is perched on a hillside, overlooking the beautiful Carse of Gowrie and River Tay…big panoramic views, a lovely and remote feeling, but really not too far from anywhere. We are a 150 acre grassland and mixed woodland farm. It’s home to happily grazing Hebridean sheep and two characterful donkeys – Hugo and Ollie. There’s also other wildlife that we hope to have enticed over the last decade of improving the ecosystems. It’s all of these surrounding elements that make Guardswell Farm “the venue” more than just a space to host a wedding.

Guardswell weddings give back a little…they mean that we can run workshops on the farm, as well as welcoming school children to ornithological mornings and apple pressing. They allow us to welcome guests into our little offgrid huts throughout the year. It’s a chance for a real digital switch off, and an opportunity to slow down and notice the wild flowers and bird song.

By Jake Seal Photography

If you could choose just five words to describe the venue to couples, what would you say?

Relaxed, welcoming, natural, contemporary-agricultural (thats not really a word), fun

What’s your favourite feature and why?

I adore the Bull Pen, a little space tucked away in the Steading with a corner glass window. When we first bought the farm, The Bull Pen was full to above the knees with ancient hay and deep “farm litter” but it was so charming!

The old door, that would now lead to our covered “Lean To” at the front, had a chalk note scrawled into it describing the farrowing of a pig overnight.

Now the walls are clad using the old timber that used to hold the Cattle Court roof up. A tiny safe hides in the corner for my grandfather’s whisky. There are massive squidgy sofas covered in waxed cotton and draped with wild sheepskins. And a couple of chairs face south and there’s an old milk churn as a rest for your tea. I could spend hours in there reading, or looking at the view.

Which weddings stand out for you – any weird or wonderful ones?

To be quite honest (and without sounding too twee), we only host a handful a year all of our weddings stand out! We really do get the opportunity to get to know the couple – even become friends in some cases. We adore the really hands-on, everyone involved, DIY floristry weddings – the ones where every member of the family is there the day before and every task is covered by them – be it making the buttonholes, or even just keeping the tea topped up and tummies full. In terms of memorable… we’ve definitely been given a lot of animal related responsibility – that doesn’t always go well, or to plan, but we love having dogs involved in weddings – so totally worth the drama!

Have you ever had to be a hero and save the day?

Wow this is a hard one. There is always a bit of an emergency “kit” in the office, including nail varnish, safety pins, batteries, needle and thread… I guess there are lots of tiny things that we help with but nothing major – touch wood! – has happened, and certainly not something that we haven’t been able to deal with yet. We are a hardy bunch from farming families, so I think we’re pretty resourceful – and we also have the magical Jade, who has come from working in zoos for 10 years, so we like to think that if she can deal with rhinos and elephants, she can deal with anything at a wedding.

By Claire Fleck Photography

Do you have a favourite season or a particular theme or time of year that you think works best at Guardswell Farm?

As much as I adore the bright greens of spring…I think Autumn is just the best. The cosy evenings that are starting to draw in, dark wild foliage and roaring fires (but not too cold outside). Pretty dreamy!

And finally, give us the lowdown – quick facts and stats

Family business, with some new adopted family now with us
3 Huts and 3 Houses, sleeping 30 in total on the farm
27 weddings of beautiful souls every year
Opened in June 2017
150 acres of rolling grass fields and beautiful woodlands
At least 2 courses or our own events a month- including our new Evening Markets
Guardswell Grows – our sister company, run by my sister, growing gorgeous ecologically minded vegetables
The best collection of farm/work dogs you’ll ever meet: 2 chocolate labradors Raisin and Porridge, 1 chocolate Cocker Mole, 2 black labradors Gillie and Ramsay (Porridge’s babies).

See! Didn’t we tell you that Guardswell Farm is just the dream location for everything?! If you’re looking to create a Patchwork for your DIY wedding, head to our wedding gift list templates – or why not try our Highland Fling honeymoon template?

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