05 June 2012

Cooking With A Wonderbag

Sophie came across the Wonderbag on the radio and then The Guardian, so one arrived several weeks thereafter.  Basically, a Wonderbag is a modern and green take on the slow cooker and that you find in books as far back as Mrs Beeton’s and even like t...

25 August 2011

Is There Any Need For Sustainability?

I have recently read Tim Jackson's "Prosperity Without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet".  It proposes that we refocus how we manage our economies to take into account the limits on the earth, but is rather vague exactly how we should do this -...

04 August 2011

Two trips to the Farne Islands (18 & 19 July 2011)

12 June 2011

Ripon's Flood Alleviation Scheme

Around a year ago, I wrote a few blogs about walking along the Rivers Skell and Ure in Ripon.  The rivers run through Ripon and circle around the ever looming presence of Ripon Cathedral on the mount at Ripon's heart.  The rivers bring the countrysid...

07 June 2011

Charities, The Law And Unintended Consequences

As some of you know, we have been looking as a socially committed but small business to give support to a charity, either Practical Action or Water Aid, and link that back to sales via the web site as a sensible way to work out the donation and also...

18 May 2011

Context...Social Dividends And Choosing Charities For Steenbergs Web-shop

So following on from my last blog, we see Steenbergs' brand as being entangled with our range, the quality of our products and the context of these products.  Where the spices, teas and blend ideas come from tells us about different cultures around t...

31 July 2010

Of Ice Cream In Dumfries and Galloway

My blog posts about Dumfries and Galloway would not be complete without talking about Cream O'Galloway, an ice cream producer between Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright.  We seem to spend much of our family holiday centred around their farm at Rain...

30 July 2010

Biodegradable Tea Bags

It was brought to our attention recently that some tea bags are not really biodegradable as they use polypropylene glues to seal the edges of the tea bags.  This is only the case for tea bags that are heat sealed in the tea bagging process.  The tea...

11 July 2010

Two Books For All Environmentalists

I have just finished the second of two books that are must-reads for those interested in our planet.  They are Nigel Lawson's "An appeal to reason - a cool look at global warming" and Bjørn Lomborg’s “Cool it – the skeptical environmentalist’s guide...

04 July 2010

Walk Around Nosterfield Nature Reserve In Yorkshire

03 July 2010

North Yorkshire Walk - Thornborough Henge

On Thursday 1 July 2010, I did one of Axel's Random Walks near Nosterfield and Thornborough in North Yorkshire.  I recently bought myself an Ordnance Survey Explorer Map of Ripon & Boroughbridge (#299) and in the top left corner you can just find...

01 July 2010

Inspired And Humbled By Jennyruth Workshops

Sometimes you visit some people, who really are so good and wonderful that it shames you a bit.  The people at Jennyruth Workshops are some of those unsung heroes that underpin every society in the world; they just get on with it, doing good work, da...

26 June 2010

Other Climate Change Indicators

Other than temperature, there are a few more indicators of climate change that are studied, which I will cover in overview here as promised in one of my earlier blogs.

25 June 2010

Sprouting Beans

We have just put Just Wholefoods Organic Sprouting Bean Mix onto Steenbergs web shop.  I remember my mum used to grow mung bean sprouts in a Kilner jar at home which was quite fun and tasted really fresh and crunchy in salads or used in a stir fry. ...

17 June 2010

How Do Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases And The Earth's Orbit All Link Together?

I've written a number of blogs now where I try to get to grips with some of the numbers underlying global warming.  So far, I agree that the historic figures do demonstrate global warming over the last 100+ years within a relatively wide band of poss...

09 June 2010

Recipe - French Tomato Tart

The other day my parents visited from Northumberland, and as it was a gorgeous sunny Thursday, I plucked up the courage to try one of David Lebovitz's recipes.  It's always a matter of bravery as I am in awe at other people's ability to make seemingl...

01 June 2010

Steenbergs Has Improved Our Range Of Household Cleaning Products

Did you know that one of my first jobs was in the Pets & Cleaning Department in Fenwick's in Newcastle?  And ever since, I have had a strange and haunting obsession for Household Cleaning products.  Well, I am not really that fascinated in them,...

31 May 2010

Ripon Water Walks - Along The Ure

I mentioned in my first blog about walks in Ripon in North Yorkshire that I did not believe that Ripon had only been settled as a monastery in 650AD.  I believe this basic historical fact about Ripon's history even less now after walking along the Ri...