(approx 2 min read)
I’ve had a growing fascination for all things eco and sustainable over the past few years but it was when my husband Jeff suggested building me a treehouse in the back garden I knew it was time to start evolving this blog. For the next while Elbows off the Table will serve as a new avenue for my eco-learning and sharing (and give him a little breather from the action!)
So why the sidestep? To answer, I don’t see this as a transition or step away from food blogging but more a joining of the dots or going ‘full circle’, if you will. Let me explain. Day to day, I endeavour to follow the unwritten rules of eating well: I scrutinise food labels, I try to buy organic, I try to shop for ‘local’ foods as much as possible & ultimately I am intent on cooking meals from scratch using the best ingredients I can find. Why do I bother? Because I am a believer that the best, freshest and most natural ingredients are the answer to the tastiest meals that nourish us the most, or to borrow the ubiquitous proverb, because food can be thy medicine, and medicine thy food.
So why stop at food when instigating wellness? I slowly began to realise it was total contradiction and completely unnatural to take the fresh ingredients for a delicious homemade soup, to dice and chop the locally grown onions, veg and potato, to pour in the boiling organic stock, to simmer gently and blend it all up into a bowl of goodness. And then when all done & cleared away to reach for the cleaning basket and to spray a bottle of chemicals across the very worktop I had been using. It’s almost fraudulent. “Oh look at me, I’m so great, I shop in farmers markets and cook from scratch”…..(and then I spray toxic chemicals around my house.)
So that is something I am nipping in the bud now along with a few other things. I am trying and testing greener detergents, cleaning products and basically looking at a more natural home and lifestyle because our health, our food and the environment are all intrinsically linked.
If anyone is interested in joining this eco-journey there might be room for a few more in my tree-house. I’d love some company and I’d be delighted to share my discoveries with you, here and on instagram stories, for now. And just as a disclaimer if any of you are regular readers of my irregular posts, don’t panic, this blog won’t be all about cleaning!
P.S. Still plenty of time in the #40greendays challenge to do a few good things for yourself.
Thanks for reading!
catherine allen 