In this issue
Title of the month:
The Frugal Life - How to Spend Less and Live More by Piper Terrett
As the credit crunch becomes a recession and rising energy prices take their toll on our finances, many of us have little choice but to cut back our spending. But life is for living, so why should budgeting mean a miserable existence? The Frugal Life: How to spend less and live shows readers how to save money by taking control of their finances and adopting a simpler approach to life. Readers will learn they don't have to overspend to enjoy themselves or impress friends. Instead they will discover the pleasures of saving by becoming a frugal shopper, cutting energy and transport bills, growing vegetables and eating wild food, entertaining themselves and their children for free, and enjoying Christmas without debts. In addition it shows readers how to set a budget, cope with redundancy and cultivate a frugal nest egg for the future.
Never before has a book on frugal living covered such a wide range of subjects in such detail. What's more, the author has tried and tested many of these ideas herself and includes helpful tips from readers of her 'Frugal Life' blog on MSN.co.uk. The Frugal Life: How to spend less and live more will appeal to readers of many age groups and demographics, from the struggling student and first jobber, to families and pensioners getting used to a smaller budget - anyone trying to live life for less.
About the author: Piper Terrett writes the Frugal Life blog http://frugal-life.spaces.live.com for MSN.co.uk, the UK's biggest online portal. A financial journalist for eight years, she was formerly deputy news editor at the Investors Chronicle and a reporter for Shares Magazine. She has contributed to numerous publications, including the Financial Times and London Lite.
A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, she has worked as a research assistant to Professor Germaine Greer and as a researcher for Adam Faith's Money Channel and Channel Four's Show Me The Money.
Piper’s book is due out in early March.
Competition News
Good Life Press "Bag For Life"
Congratulations to Christie Rasch, Michelle Hindmarch, Patricia Cowley, Claire Thomas and Bev Wilson who all managed to ‘bag’ themselves in our Home Farmer bag for life comp in last month’s newsletter.
The Caption Competition
Our thanks to Mark Jarman for making us all laugh with his caption for the photo competition
'Jason had a habit of trying to forget his current misfortune by turning to his favourite magazine and dreaming of a better life.'
Love It! Mark. A £10 Good Life Press Book Token is on it’s way to you.
This months caption competition
Please email your entries to ruth@goodlifepress.co.uk.
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The Home Farmer / Good Life Press
April Newsletter
Happy Birthday Home Farmer
And what a way to celebrate as the editor of Home Farmer has instigated an exciting opportunity to bring food into the city. Manchester City Council have been involved in meetings with Home Farmer to change the way city parks are planted. Instead of planting bedding displays in the parks, food is going to be planted so that people can simply come along and pick fruit and vegetables. Inspirational!
There is a lot of research that states cities will have to be responsible for the food eaten by urban populations over the coming 20 years. In response to this Manchester are leading the way by planting fruit and vegetables for people to just come along and pick.
Manchester are also opening their allotment gardens to house bees! The hope is that we can double the number of beekeepers in the city, something which, if rolled out across the nation, will make an amazing difference to the number of colonies and may be really important in helping the problems encountered by British bees. Fingers crossed!
This is a really exciting development and Home Farmer is thrilled to be moving it forward.
In Next Month's Issue
We have pulled out all the stops in this first birthday issue. Not only is it choc a bloc with features but for every copy sold 10p goes to The Battery Hen Welfare Trust.
We also are giving out details of how communities/groups/individuals can raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Plus we are running a competition to win an Eglu!
As well as features on brick ovens, home brewing, cooking the ideal Indian Takeaway and all the popular features.
On sale in shops March 6th – or order from us direct or take out a subscription.
April Contents
Click here to subscribe
Concrete Allotments spring up in Sheffield
We were thrilled after last months newsletter to get an email from Michelle Hindmarch, Michelle won one of the Home Farmer Jute bags (see full list of winners below) telling us of a great initiative she has started in the middle of Sheffield….We will be following the trials and tribulations of this concrete allotmenteer in the pages of Home Farmer.
“What a day.....I have just got permission to put containers at the back of my works building (DWP Building in the middle of Sheffield) and grow veg.....As far as I aware I think this is a first, especially in the civil service....so I am really pleased”
We asked Michelle if she would share her story which we will be following closely in the pages of Home Farmer.
“Sheffield, like many cities, appears on the surface to be a modern concrete jungle, the antithesis of sustainability and eco friendliness. Yet, even within the confines of this urban environment there are many opportunities for “green angels” to spread their wings.
My office, like many modern government buildings is located in the city centre next to the ring road. It’s an architectural delight surrounded by concrete and a huge fence. However, in a time of climate and economic crisis I realised that behind my office building was a perfect place not only to grow free vegetables in containers but also for the recycling of compostable office waste.
With the support of a couple of colleagues and a manager’s encouragement (thanks Sandra) I approached the building manager with a proposal to turn a barren and unloved concrete corner into a vegetable garden. I was pessimistic about how this might be received, so I couldn’t believe it when he consented. An email promptly went out to the four hundred or so employees within the building asking for volunteers and the response was unbelievable. Twenty volunteers plus a couple of meetings later, we launched into the scheme.
With the aim of being as self sufficient and as carbon neutral as possible all the containers and compost bins have been gathered from the growing band of volunteers, who are taking time out of their tea breaks and lunch hours to make it all happen. As word has spread we have had offers of even more. Many of the team are new to growing veg and are so enthusiastic that we are going to sow seeds at our desks for planting out later (although we have planted two token cabbages). Although it looks pretty sparse at the moment it should be lovely later in the year. We are even planning making hanging containers from plastic milk bottles for trailing tomatoes and flowers. There should be plenty of produce for the volunteers and it will look pretty as well…I can’t wait to see what it looks like!!!!
Thanks Michelle. To encourage your colleagues new to all this growing stuff a copy of The Urban Farmer’s Handbook is coming over to start of your new library in your office at work.
Mr Digwell is back!
Paul Peacock, editor of Home Farmer and author of various books on self-sufficiency and urban farming as well as presenter of Allotment TV, has been asked by The Daily Mirror to be the new Mr Digwell.
Created during the Dig for Victory years and continuing up to the 1980s Mr Digwell was a cartoon legend in the gardening world, teaching generations how to achieve success in a simple step by step style through his regular section in the Daily Mirror. Authoritative, clear, friendly and reliable, if it appeared in Mr Digwell you can be sure it was easy, effective and right. And what was right in the garden when Mr Digwell first appeared, is right today.
Mr Digwell was a mine of friendly information for anyone wanting to grow their own vegetables whatever size garden they have. Packed with how to’s, what to’s and when to’s, Mr Digwell’s easy to understood cartoons gave pre war and post war gardeners alike the exact information they need vegetable growing success – no wonder the Mirror have decided to bring him back in this updated version.
What Mr Digwell grows in the garden is cooked in the kitchen by Patsy (yes, you’ve guessed it, our very own Diana Sutton – joint editor of Home Farmer) and a slice of nostalgia brings us not only the best gardening tips in the world, but some fine recipes too.
Top 10 Best Selling Books for February
- Precycle! By Paul Peacock
- Build It! By Joe Jacobs
- Craft Cider Making by Andrew Lea
- Making Jams and Preserves by Diana Sutton
- The Urban Farmer’s Handbook by Paul Peacock
- The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young
- A Guide to Traditional Pig Keeping by Carol Harris
- Flowerpot Farming by Jayne Neville
- The Sausage Book by Paul Peacock
- Showing Sheep by Sue Kendrick
Not forgetting our chosen charity
As you know this year we are raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society. Our aim is to not only raise awareness but to raise £5,000 for the society through fund raising events.
Click here for information on how to run your Victorian tea Party to raise funds for this worthy cause.
Finally. Good Luck to Ruth and Paul from The Good Life Press when they attend, along with Paul Peacock, Diana Sutton, Tom Clark and John Stokes when they attend the very posh do at The Blackpool Opera House for Creative Business of the Year. Look, it might not be Slumdog Millionaire 8 Oscar’s standard but it’s a start. Pictures maybe posted on our facebook site…..depending if we don’t come up with the blackmail money.
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