Hubster is setting up a new business on climate mitigation. He was already working in the environmental sector but left his job as the business focus on economic growth was curtailing his ambitions on sustainability initiatives.
Statements such as “New packaging based on coffee grinds” or “Made only with recycled plastic” sound great but often the deeper you dig the murkier these green statements become. He waxes lyrical that getting the majority of businesses and industries to compile accurate Scope 3 mapping, rather than just spouting greenwash, is less likely that it would be to find Rumpelstiltskin sitting in a tower spinning straw into gold.
As Hubster was the main earner we are now looking at our income stream with more care to make sure the books can balance. We might have a coop of chickens but, as far as we can see on the horizon, there is no goose laying golden eggs. However, we are happy to live within our means if it allows us the freedom to work on initiatives that make a difference and to collaborate with people who understand the scale of the challenges we must address.
Sometimes in school I feel like I can’t see the wood for the trees, so I may well follow his trail of breadcrumbs out of the forest in the coming months and hand in my notice to leave the classroom.
Frugal Living: Fashion
Even as a young woman, and especially now I am a ‘middle class woman of a certain age’ I’ve never been one to take note of what’s fashionable. I’m more than happy reusing the clothes I have in the wardrobe year-on-year.
I have enough items to mix and match that the pupils, who look me up and down each day, have never commented on the skirt or jacket I wear again and again. On the odd occasion that a garment is too frayed, torn or stained to repair I will pop into a charity shop and look for a suitable replacement with a label from a quality brand.
Christmas Fashion
It might be Christmas jumper month but to avoid contributing to the dreaded, and escalating, microplastic disaster in our waterways and oceans, Hubster now only wears jumpers knitted by his mother with organic wool or bamboo yarn. This week I managed to shrink his baby-poo brown one to around 50% of its original size. I suggested making it into a winter coat for Mabel who wagged her tail enthusiastically at the idea, but Hubster wanted it back. After rewetting and much stretching it is wearable again. In terms of eco-credentials, he really is my Prince Charming, dashingly handsome yet disguised as a northern field hippy.
Not too long ago we were invited to an event that required ‘formal’ attire. These evenings are exceptionally infrequent and a little too ceremonial for simple folk like us, but Hubster and I have managed to cobble our outfits together, polish up some shoes and will hopefully appear quite acceptable on the night. Nothing new purchased, yet we shall go to the ball! Although if I stay out past midnight I ‘ll probably turn into a pumpkin.
Frugal Living: Growing our Own Food
Growing our own food is another reason we can live frugally. We still have a freezer full of produce to eat that we harvested over the summer and autumn. Our heritage variety peas, Little Marvel and Magnum Bonum, may be on the large size and a little tougher than the petit pois peas sold in plastic bags from the freezer section in the supermarket. Yet their flavour is stunning in comparison, and they definitely couldn’t be felt through 20 mattresses however delicate a Princess’ constitution.
We save some of the end of season peas in the autumn and then plant them the next spring. It is a horn of plenty providing there are no disasters. I estimate we save around £20 each year just on peas. From the other produce and higher value fruits such as blueberries or raspberries, Hubster has calculated that we grow around £3000 of organic, local food each year and not a single plastic container is sent to the incinerator.
Have I mentioned we had very little luck with green beans this year? The weather was too cold, too wet and then too windy… a little like a downhearted sequel to the tale of Goldilocks and the three bears. We could have done with some of Jack’s magic beans but alas we had no family cow to trade. Environmentally of course, beans have a much lower climate impact than beef compared to each gram of protein so that’s a win, we’ll try growing beanstalks again next year, resolve is key.
Golden Touch
Last year the school Eco Committee measured the amount of food waste produced in the dining hall every day for a week. Over four days the waste was between 10 and 15 kilos. But Christmas dinner day produced a mountain of waste; 35 kg of food and three bins worth of not-very-recyclable Christmas crackers. This season is a time of excess and the creation of mountains of waste is no exception.
At home I am becoming quite a wizard at avoiding food waste. The first step is to only buy and prepare what will be eaten. Any food that is cooked which remains uneaten is magically transformed into a stew, a pie, hash, rosti, rissoles, risotto or muffin. I feel a bit like a fairy godmother, creatively conjuring up something yummy from thin air. Even old citrus peels are crystallised for fruitcakes or dried out to make firelighters.
Wealth
We can all learn a lesson from King Midas who was granted a wish that everything he touched turned to gold. He soon realised the curse of his wish when he transformed food, drink, and even his beloved daughter into inanimate objects. His insatiable greed leads to his downfall, teaching a poignant lesson about the perils of valuing wealth above all else.
Our simple life on the smallholding means Hubster is already wealthier than any Bitcoin holding billionaire. Money doesn’t make the world go around. Earth rotates because when the Solar System was forming, dust and gas clumped together due to gravity, creating the planets, as these particles collided and combined, they set the newly forming planet spinning.
So, the only Christmas present I’m thinking of buying Hubster is a book called The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It sounds like a thought-provoking text on the concept of a gift economy in the natural world using the example of a serviceberry tree, which forms a symbiotic relationship with birds. Fostering sharing, generosity, and abundance can benefit human communities.
Little Red Riding Hood
Along with the Industrial Revolution, Great Acceleration and the rise of capitalism, frugality that my grandparents preached about was somehow dumped by my parents’ generation. My mother loves to receive gifts, at the last count she has over 200 scarves, most of which remain unworn. She can afford to hoard but the planet can’t. I wouldn’t go as far to say she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing in terms of climate impact, but at least she’s wearing a fancy muffler around her neck. I’m more of a Little Red Riding Hood, in my basket there will be gifts of home baked cakes, cassis made with our own blackcurrants and raspberry vodka for grandmother, something to eat, rather than to keep.
Hubster and I have also embraced minimalism not because it’s trendy, but because it means less clutter and more clarity. Less stuff means fewer things to dust, lose, or accidentally step on and definitely less impact on the environment. My home is a testament to the mantra “less is more,” and it’s surprisingly liberating. We need food, clothes, shelter and water. Beyond that, the fewer items I own, the happier and more content I feel.
The Gift of Presence
It’s December and the advent countdown has commenced. The kids in school are already near hysterical levels. It might sound dreadfully bah humbug but for me Christmas has a sprinkling of existential dread about the planet going up in flames.
Unlike Jesus who travelled far and received gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, Sleeping Beauty stayed at home gaining magical gifts of beauty, grace, and musical talent. This year I intend to spend quality time with loved ones and eat some delicious home cooked food. We might organise a family game night, a baking session, or a cozy movie marathon – Hubster and son have already bagsied The Lord of the Rings AGAIN. No one needs another ugly sweater made out of polymer fibres or expensive gold jewellery that has involved child labour in mines from far-away lands.
Circularity Gap
I’ll reiterate the Circularity Gap I mentioned in Week 3: 28% of all the material we have consumed since 1900 has been in the last 5 years! Like a well-worn story book, read it again for good measure. At our current rate, the story of humanity is on track not to have a happy ending. It could have been a fairy tale, but the dire consequence of overconsumption is the moral of our own story. So, with love and hugs, have yourself a frugal, happy little Christmas.
Note to self: Remind my class that we’re not sending cards this year as they have their own climate impact, instead we all have a random name to pull out of the hat and need to think of something kind to say to them in person. The spoken word has very low carbon emissions but can make you feel that you’ve found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
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