I hate supermarkets.

They have all but destroyed the friendly local shops, they hold farmers and other producers to ransom, they buy up buildings they don't need just to stop rivals and they dictate our shopping habits to us - really, they do, did you need those 3 packs of sausage rolls that you got on the buy two get one free? Of course you didn't, and besides, they'll mostly all be out of date by the time you get round to eating them. - The list goes on.

Something I really hate about supermarkets is that now you have to shop in them. As I said, they've all but destroyed the local shops and those local shops that are still around cannot compete with the low supermarket prices because their rents are so high, most probably because a supermarket has moved in locally. Not only that but no one can afford to shop anywhere else, we certainly can't.

If there is one particular thing about supermarkets that really gets my goat, it is the so called 'fresh' produce they sell. You take it home and within a day it has perished and is inedible. So back when my wife was pregnant with the munchkin I vowed to grow my own veg. It was something I wanted to do anyway and having to eat healthily in pregnancy was a good enough reason for the wife to allow me to spend a little extra cash on gardening things.

So, as we're not allowed to dig up our garden due to restrictions in the rental agreement, we planted up all the containers and pots we could get our grubby little hands on and started growing like there was no tomorrow. We even invested in a 'mini greenhouse' to start things off in the cold months.

So far we've had some nice crops, if somewhat small due to the weather, and have saved ourselves a bit of cash. It is well worth the effort. Any food waste we have from the house all gets composted and the bits that aren't eaten by our resident bank voles will go back into growing us more veg. Everyone should do the same.

It really is a very satisfying feeling when you've nurtured a plant for a few months then you go out in the evening pick something that fresh and take it into the kitchen to turn it into the evenings meal.

Both the wife and I also have a knowledge of edible plants. We're not experts by any means and have a whole lot to learn but between us we do know enough to get ourselves free food, from the hedgerows, for a small feast.  (*warning* Do not pick and eat something if you don't know it is safe to eat. If in doubt leave it out!)

Free Food!

We don't have these small wild food feasts as often as we'd both like but when they do happen they brighten us both up. When the munchkin starts eating solids she will be given these same free, healthy foods. What makes these wild food feasts so good is that they are healthy, they are free and in order to get the food we have to go out into the countryside to forage for it.

What could be better than that for a health food?

Being somewhat of a hippy one tries hard to reduce the impact one is having on that poor old chap the environment.

Well, I bloody would if it was a bit easier. In our house what we want to do to reduce that impact and what we actually do are two completely different things. For a start there's the recycling.

We collect all manner of plastics, paper, card, glass and food waste all to be taken away and turned into other things. Or at least it would be turned into other things if the local council took most of it. Yes they take plastic, paper and glass each week and they have even given out small boxes to put them in, although invariably those boxes will always be overflowing by the time they are due to be put out.

Except even that's not how it happens in our house. We don't have those boxes. I don't know why we don't have those boxes but I do know it's our own fault really as we could easily call the council and ask for new ones. It's just one of those things that we just never get round to, like cleaning out the study, it can wait till next week. In our house it all gets stored up until I can't take anymore and throw it all in the car and drive it to the local recycling center.

Straight away there goes a little bit of hippyness. I'm using a) fuel that doesn't need to be used as the council will drive round and collect the stuff and b) fuel I can barely afford. Factor in all the nasty chemicals that our car spews out and then the resources and carbon used to keep the recycling center running plus the time wasted and ... well, now I should be feeling so guilty that I start flogging myself on a daily basis. I would if I was a better person.

But that's all day to day stuff that even a non-parent would have to deal with, and we did deal with that kind of thing before becoming parents. Now that the munchkin is here we have other things to consider when it comes to environmentalism and general 'being a hippy'.

So, what do we do for the environment as parents?

Reuseable nappies? No thanks, the water and electric bill after cleaning nappies until baby is out of them would be astronomical, not to mention the environmental impact of all that extra washing. We use disposable nappies but don't like the idea that much as, like radiation, they have a half life of a few thousand years. So instead we had a look around and chose to use the Nature Babycare ones as they are 100% biodegradable. They are made from, among other things, maize (the entire sweetcorn plant, if you didn't know what it was).


We also use the same breed of nappy sacks which are also biodegradable and then there's all the shampoo and baby hot wax (or whatever some of that stuff is) that the wife bought. All of their products are good for the environment so that makes them about the best brand a hippy parent could buy. Or any parent for that matter. After all, what is the point in having a child if you are just helping to destroy the world it has to live in?

Another thing that makes them good is that they're cheaper than other brands. No really, they are. Go check your local shops.

(I should point out that I have no affiliation with the company and they're not paying me to write good stuff about them. Which is a shame.)

Another way of helping the environment and being green is looking at what food you eat and where it is sourced. If I had my way everyone would grow their own veg and learn to forage in the hedgerows and fields, but that is a rant for another day.