Action plan for Ayr - A fair trade town

What an amazing morning I had on tuesday.   Ayr fairtrade partnership are putting together an action plan in support of the renewal of their fairtrade town status.  As part of that Process we are consulting with as many people as possible in our community.  

Our first meeting was hosted by the Kyle Academy fair trade co-op and was attended by 8 pupils from  S2 and S3 as well as representatives from local primaries school and church groups.

I help the teacher organise the Kyle FT group.   It's run as an extra curricular activity on Mondays and fridays so I know that children are great when it comes to brainstorming.  They have an amazing capacity to think outside the box, the ideas just flow, they are not restrained by what others may think  ...... They'll explore the impossible, impractical outrageous even the ridiculous.  Us adults are left to do the boring bit .... thinking about resources and praccticalities!

So, between brainstorming, summing up, tea, juice, biscuits - all fairtrade of course and more brainstorming, these are the ideas we came up with.

Everyone recognised the need to strengthen links between secondary and primary schools.  klye pupils offered to go to other schools to talk about how to set up a fair trade group and run tuck shops and stalls

All schools need to encourage parents to get involved and include fair trade in all areas of the curriculum.  kyle pupils felt that attendance has to be voluntary and the lessons made more interesting.  One of their ideas is to do an interactive FT quiz, a bit like who wants to be a millionaire where the audience votes - apparently most schools have the facilities to do this sort of thing now.

The children like the Youtube videos and think it's much better to use these resources than be lectured at ..... Unless it's a real producer or someone who has visited a producer and can speak from personal experience. 

It was also felt that schools need to do more to investigate FT uniforms and sports equipment as most kids think fairtrade is just about chocolate.

Businesses

• Golf club houses – should be visited to persuade them to use and sell FT. Local courses first, then further afield. Research needed – costs?
• Produce laminated copy of Fairtrade town certificate for display by local shops and businesses (Troon do this)
• Find out which local businesses use FT
• Encourage local businesses to expand their range of FT products
• Talk to local nursing and care homes about using FT
• Talk to supermarkets about FT – more products
• Encourage all businesses to swap to FT, including sports retailers

Fairtrade Fortnight focus

Invite producer to come to Ayr

Social Media

• Use Ayr FT Partnership website; Glow website; Wordpress to promote FT
• Use Twitter, Hotmail, Slide Shure, Facebook
• Create Ayr FT Facebook group
• Use Wikispaces
• Use local press – make links with local papers

Campaigning

Contact local MPs & MSPs about their involvement and commitment

Olympics 2012 – write to politicians, sports teams etc about using FT equipment; ensuring FT in venues etc

Community

• Mini FT Olympics – as many events as possible for children and adults. People pay to enter and receive FT t-shirt
• Trip to Ghana, for example, to see how FT has helped people there. School pupils, business people  could go and then tell others from first hand experience.
• School twinning with school in developing country could expand to include community twinning
• Promoting FT in youth groups, Scouts etc (are there badges for FT, citizenship?)
• Competitions to find out what people know about FT
• Asking people what FT means to them
• Encouraging swapping normal purchases for FT

So thats it,  We now need to follow this up and see how we can carry forward some of these great ideas.  If you want to get involved in this process send me a message or contact us via the Ayr Fairtrade partnership website.  

Class 2 update

Found some time yesterday and used it to practice making flowers.

We'd been given the following recipe

2 tsp gelatine
1-1/2 tblsp water
2 tsp glucose syrup
250 g icing sugar

I initially found that this amount of liquid didn't incorporate all the icing sugar, I added a little more water and then found it too sticky, more icing sugar and lots of kneading and it came right in the end.  I asked about this at last nights lesson and am told to just keep kneading even if all the icing sugar isn't incorporated.  It dries out really quickly, so if you are trying this, make sure you wrap the fondant in cling film until you are ready to use it.

I rolled the fondant out and made these using the daisy and rose cutters.

They looked ok and the kids say they look as good as the shop bought ones .... praise indeed!

I think I should probably be rolling them out thinner.  Any experts out there, would appreciate your advice.

Cake decoration class 2

I'm a bit behind with the class posts.  We are already approaching week 4!

On the agenda this week were cupcakes and fondant icing.  We were given a standard recipe, as follows

150g butter
150g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
2 tblsp milk

This is my preferred recipe, I've tried many from the new cupcake bakery books that have appeared in recent years.  Not sure why there is a need to continually reinvent a recipe that has worked for decades! and I don't know about you but I find them very wet!  They rise up and then flatten, running over the top of the case.  I'm maybe doing something wrong but have reverted to the traditional recipe which always works for me..  If you have any tips, I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong with these new recipes.

Whilst our cakes were in the oven we made buttercream.  I made 2 batches, 1 chocolate and 1 coloured pink,  so I could practice piping the 2 colours together.  This is no great british bake off! there are no kitchen aids, not even and electric whisk ... we are having to beat everything by hand.  I've pondered on the idea of taking my own one in, but there don't appear to be any sockets anywhere!

Piping done and we moved on to decoration.  I was hoping we would be making fondant icing and then using it to make flowers.  Unfortunately the teacher had made it himself and gave a short demonstration before we were sent off to practice.  The icing all got snapped up as did the cutters leaving nothing to play with.  I should learn to complain!   Towards the end of the session, I managed to get hold of some leftovers and cut out a few,  which you'll see sitting on the finished product ......

Nothing to be impressed with,  but there's a lesson learned, I need to take my own equipment.

Making fondant flowers looks fairly simple, (yes I know ....heading for a fall!) when there is time to practice this week, I'll update with a few pictures ....again,  any tips gratefully received!

For this weeks lesson I stood next to Bindu, she had wanted to do the advanced decorating class but it didn't run so she's doing this one instead.  She makes cakes for family and friends and is lovely.  She also does cooking lessons from home, I'm assuming Indian but need to clarify!

Next week we'll be piping and have been asked to bring our own nozzles, I've bought a set of wilton nozzles on amazon and will be taking them along.

I'm done winging about the school bus!

You may have heard me over the last few days winging on about the cost of sending children to School.

My three children go to the secondary school in our catchment area, but because it is under 3 miles from our house I need to pay for their bus fares.  This has always felt unfair to me.  The zoning arrangements in South Ayrshire council mean that they can't go to the more local school,  less than a walkable mile way!.

You may say, make them walk .... 4 miles a day carrying a 5 -6KG rucksack! ...... There must be a health and safety regulation covering that!  There are not many adults would do it.  Cycle ... no way, it's a busy road.  I would be a nervous wreck. So they go on the bus and we find the money.

I needed to get my son a new photo card this week and was alerted to the fact that, now he is 16 he is no longer entitled to a reduced fare and that he would need to pay the full adult fair.  Once I'd worked my way round all the different discount and ticketing minefields ....mega riders, discount cards, weekly, monthly, daily variations,  young scot cards bla bla, with and without various discount card,  I'll be paying 30% more to get him to school.  An extra £10 a month doesn't seem such a lot, but on top of the £60, it sent me into a frenzy.

I've calmed down a tad now and know that there is nothing I can do, everyone is suffering nationally, If South Ayrshire subsidises buses for schools they would have to cut somewhere else.

In talking to various people I realised that my problems pale into insignificance compared to someone on benefit.  I had wrongly assumed that if you are on benefit your child's fares are paid.  but no ....  how on earth is someone on benefit with 3 children supposed to find £60 a month!  a scenario definitely designed to demotivate poorer children from going to school at all!  especially when they get there, they see other children booking up for the ski trip, the london trip, the Arran activity trip etc etc,

Frankly, it breaks my heart, so no more winging from me.

Bunting, Tanzanian style

I sold some bunting this week. Its been a while, I'm not sure why as it really is very lovely.

Besides the fact that bunting is both beautiful and useful,  Moyo developed their version as a way of using up scraps of fabric.  

They still do that to a certain extent but in reality they wanted every triangle back and front to be special so now both scraps and new kanga are cut.  Each triangle has to be cut out separately.  Because the weave on Kanga is very loose it's difficult to get a perfect triangle.  As a final touch they added some small masai type beads and sparkly sequins to give them extra pazazz.

The bunting is sold in a netting bag, originally conceived as a gift bag, I've found with the sets that I own, that they are really useful for keeping the bunting folded and flat so that they don't get all creased.

London, vintage, markets and food

During the summer we went to London for a few weeks house swapping with a lovely family in East dulwich.  While we were enjoying the delights of city life with our 3 children,  they were by the seaside with their 3 small children.

The kids enjoyed visiting friends and family .... especially the lovely food we were dished up! There was also the sightseeing and shopping,  but for different reasons we've all enjoyed the markets.

We went to Greenwich market

Food,  crafts and clever people making lovely and unusual things.  If I lived close I would try to sell Moyo things ....I'm sure they would go down a storm. 

East dulwich has lots of lovely shops to linger in and a market on saturday morning.  Lovely cake, bread, savoury bakes and even a hog roast ... a big hit with our son.

Having moved only a few year ago back from Tanzania to a small corner of Scotland, I hadn't quite realised,  just how popular vintage is at the moment.  I'm  looking at things with a new light on my weekly visits to our local auction!  and have slowly been building up an assortment of goodies ....can't keep them all myself, so I'm hoping Etsy will come to my rescue.  

Last week I bought a tray of things which included a lovely carving/wall hanging of an indian goddess - that will be for my husbands birthday.  It also included a vintage glass salt and pepper set, immediately commandeered by my mum and these these lovely cups and Saucers. 

Columbia road and Brick lane markets were the highlight of my trip, we enjoyed 

The world food

The cake and biscuits

smoothies ..... on a production line!

and more vintage 

We also enjoyed this wall of greenery in trafalgar square!

We'll be looking for another house swap in London again next year.  We don't have tickets, but still, during the olympics would be nice.

My lovely children

Inspired by and with the technical help from Karen over at all about the boys I've found these lovely pictures of my children and decorated them accordingly!    

Sensitive, musical, funny, friendly, theatrical, confident

Rader, foodie, harry potter fanatic, Starkid, Empathetic, Curious, Kind

Determined, Cook, writer, whit, loving, gamer, scientist

Kibibi bag

I asked Moyo to send me a photo of one of their employees making a Kibibi bag. It arrived today so thought I would do a quick blog about it.   In case you were wondering, the bag wasn't inspired by me!  the common name is just a co-incidence.

Recycled plastic bags are threaded through the sacks, shaped, and then stitched into handbags lined and trimmed with brightly coloured African print kitenge.  Such a lot of work goes into them, they are totally gorgeous and unique to Moyo.  We have a few in stock at the moment - a snip at £30.

My gardening heritage

Whilst on holiday in London recently I decided to visit the house I was bought up in from the age of 5 ....... post war council housing estate in south east london.     I was curious to see if the garden my dad had built was still there.  It was and here are a few pictures.  It was a mamoth construction so i hadn't really expected that the new owners would be able to dig it up even if they had the inclination to try.  The lady who lives there now was really welcoming and so excited to let us round the back for a look around.

Above is a picture of the front garden,  it had a pond with a bridge over, wishing well by the side, filled in now, there was once a waterfall.   How 70's is that!

Out to the back, a large paved area leading down to more crazy paving with raised beds, another pond with waterfall, wishing well,  ending at the back ....... the nerve centre of all operations, the shed.

It looks tiny from this view, covered in Ivy ..... but after 40 ish years it was all still there and sturdy as a rock.... they don't buildem like that these days!

My mum tells me that when they dicided to take on the task,  they ordered as much crazy paving as they could afford, it was smaller than they had expected and not being able to afford more, they collected what ever they could from where ever they could.   If my mum saw some on the street, she'd pop it in the pram and bring it home!.  Granite squares were used to build the raised beds ......  My dad had noticed that contractors were digging up an old cobbled street in east london, a word in their ear and the cobbles were his.   Take a look at the garden and be amazed at how many trips he made to get those cobbles home on his moterbike through the balckwall tunnel!  As he'd had half the street, the contractors insisted he take the street name, carved into a block of granite and now cemented into one of the raised bed walls.   Unfortunately I didn't realise that while I was there and so missed the opportunity to photograph that bit of history .... next time.

Cake decoration, back to basics

When I started making cake for people,  I'd thought I'd be doing  cupcakes, tray bakes deserts and the like,  but everyone I speak to invariably asks me if I do celebration cakes.  Yes I can do celebration cakes is my answer, but nothing fancy.  I don't know why I say that as i'm a good cake maker and have made some great cakes resulting in lots praise.   But am I a confident cake decorator? - no,  so I thought right, go and learn properly and build confidence.

This week I signed up for a 12 week evening class in cake decoration at Ayr college.   In Scotland we can apply for an ILA grant of £200 per year and luckily that has paid for the course.    Once the 12 weeks is up I may move on to advanced cake decoration- lets see how I get on.

There were 18 of us in the class with ages ranging from 16 to 60 ish, men and women.  Over the weeks I hope to get around and find out why people are there.  My companion this week was hoping that by the end of the course she'll be able to make and decorate her daughters wedding cake in May..... how lovely is that!

We started with the basics, butter icing which we flavoured, coloured and piped on to sheets of greaseproof paper.  We then refilled and repiped to perfect the toppings on our imaginary cupcakes.  I've topped a few cupcakes in my time, but wasn't initially that impressed with my offering.   My nozzle was too small.  Still, by the fourth go I figured out how to work with the smaller nozzle and was happy with the result.   Normally at home I wouldn't mess around like that, get the job done and not waste time or buttercream ..... so on the one hand it was great to be practising but then devastating to have to throw it all away at the end of the lesson!.   Some who were driving managed to pack their icing away for use at home.  I had a cold wet rainy walk home so it wasn't possible.

Next week we'll make cupcakes and fondant icing, It was really nice to spend time with other bakers and get back to basics.  Can't wait for next week.  I wonder if they'll mind me taking my camera.