World Sweet World Issue 5

Join the revolution pg 50

MAKING A MEAL OF IT ISSUE #5 // AUTUMN 2009 // 8 BUCKS

10

MAKING PROJECTS FOR AUTUMN

CRAFTing A BETTER WORLD JOIN THE M.I.Y. CARBON ACTION BADGE SWAP

CAPTURE THE LIGHT: BOTTLING ENERGY BULBS

DON’T FORK OUT MAKE YOUR OWN FONDUE SET FROM DUMP SHOP ITEMS

EATING RUBBISH

05

DEALING WITH YOUR ORGANIC WASTE

www.worldsweetworld.co.nz

World Sweet World: Issue #05

contents 11: Making Time

35: Story Time

12: Quick + easy

36: a minute with Minu

14: Foundue

We catch up with print maker, artist and sewer, Heike Theis, aka minu

Make a beer can burner to fuel your appetite

18: Blanket Statement RIBE SUBSCBE IN D AN f2 IN 1 o TO W s from bag retreasured pg 21

14

Draft-proof your chilly digs in time for winter with woolly blanket curtains

22: Preserving energy

42: Junk food junkies Don’t know what to do with all that organic waste? Rebekah Kelly lays out the options.

48: The big shwop

Capture the light with this stylish, oversized bulb

Meet one of the people behind the Big Shwop, Wellington’s fix for fashionistas

26: Purely cosmetic

50: Badge Action part ii

Mix your own cold cream and smell like a honey

The judges have ruled - now let’s get making and swapping

28: Can of worms

54: So fair, so good

A squirmy treasure chest for gardeners

Annabel Youens looks at ways to make your coffee addiction a fairer one

32: greens for all seasons

62: striking chords

Johanna Knox gives us the lowdown on foraging for chickweed and puha

Instrument lovers, read no further! The McKies refunction their family piano Cover illustration by Greta Menzies. We think she’s amazing.

DEAR READER, WE MADE THIS MAGAZINE just FOR YOU. Did we hit the mark? Please let us know in our online readership survey, so we can keep getting better.

Take part at worldsweetworld.com/hitthemark, and go in the draw to win a subscription to World Sweet World.

And, as always, if you’ve got a cool project idea you’ve always wanted to put into action, or an article on interesting people, places, or sustainable living, let us know - we’d love to have you contribute. Have a look at worldsweetworld.com/contribute for more info. You can submit photos for the “quick+easy” section (page 12), or post photos of how the projects turned out on our flickr group – flickr.com/groups/worldsweetworld-projects. If you know of something fun happening, let us know so we can put it in our online Hot Dates calendar – email hotdates@ worldsweetworld.com. If you think of something else that we haven’t mentioned, but you’d like to see in the mag, then go ahead and sound us out about that, too – send us an email to joinin@worldsweetworld.com. Basically, this magazine is yours for the taking.

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU X WSW

Editor/ Web designer Thomas Schickedanz

Editor/ Art Director Hannah Schickedanz

Advertising Manager Estelle Townshend

Publisher World Sweet World Limited Contributing Kate MacPherson photographer Contributing illustrator Greta Menzies

Contributing writers Annabel Youens, Johanna Knox, Anna Ridley, Anton Berndt, Rebekah Kelly, Lucy AitkenRead, Rachel Fabish, Christine Reitze, Julia Atkinson, Sarah Alice Hopkins

Printer Lithoprint Limited

Thank you for buying and reading this magazine World Sweet World Magazine is printed on paper from certified sustainably managed forests using vegetable based inks. Please recycle creatively (and send us photos!).

World Sweet World Limited, 103a Tasman Street, Mount Cook, Wellington, New Zealand. Phone 04 977 1004. Email hello@ worldsweetworld.com.

Want to contribute? If you have any project or article ideas for upcoming issues of World Sweet World Magazine, please email joinin@worldsweetworld.com – we’re always open for contributions.

Advertising Enquiries If you’d like to advertise, either in the body of the magazine or in our gallery section, we’d love to hear from you. Please phone 07 823 9211 or email ads@worldsweetworld.com.

Stockist information World Sweet World is sold through lovely shops. For a full list of stockists, please visit our website. If you think your store fits the description and you’d like to sell this mag, please get in touch. Phone 04 977 1004 or email hello@worldsweetworld.com.

Keep it safe Please be careful while working on any of the projects in the magazine. World Sweet World has made every effort to ensure accuracy and safety, but the responsibility of not hurting anyone or anything in the process remains entirely with the reader. Follow safety precautions at all times.

World Sweet World is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form without the prior consent of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise.

All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labelled “not for publication”. Opinions expressed in World Sweet World are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of World Sweet World Ltd.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 From the editors

Happy birthday to us!

A year ago we had this idea for a magazine. Something crafty, something M.I.Y.ish; something that people could participate in and feel a part of. We launched at the end of March, and since then it’s been non-stop, but your enthusiasm has been our reward.

Starting a new business can be kinda nerve-wracking, so we’ve found your emails and feedback really encouraging. Those little snippets telling us we’re doing something good are what keep the two of us going at midnight, the night before we go to print. So thanks to you all!

Despite the last few months being such a busy time of year, we managed to squeeze in a few days of camping and lazing at the beach with home-baked bread and home-brewed ginger beer on hand (tasty projects from issues 3 & 4). We also had the opportunity to test-drive a few projects from this issue - we’re now all snug for the colder months with our woolly blanket curtains (page 18), and our garden is in a much happier state thanks to our pallet compost bin (page 13).

Projects are not the only things we’ve been making though; in Magpie’s Nest in issue #4 we also made a few mistakes.

Threaded Mag: The profile was of Threaded edition 6, not edition 4 as stated. Also, Fiona Grieve is the editor, not Kyra Bradcock, and last but not least, Threaded is bi-annual, not annual. Ouch – sorry guys, could we have got it more wrong? Find out about their great mag at www.threaded.co.nz.

Little Ladies: We got the web address wrong for Anmea’s lovely tiles – www.littleladies.co.nz is the correct address; our apologies!

Enjoy your autumn. We hope to see lots of carbon action badges on the sleeves of your jerseys. Show them off – you’ve earned them!

Happy making!

World Sweet World: Issue #05 Magpie’s nest

Magpie’s nest A collection of wonderful things, compiled by Julia Atkinson Emma Locally based fashion designer Emma Wallace can provide your wardrobe with some simple clothing oozing a slightly off centre charm. Cute printed tees, structured dresses dotted with colour.

emmacollections.com

Kate Banazi Print While I love Kate’s art A LOT, it is the personality of the artist herself that keeps me hooked. Kate is a creative force living in Sydney with her family, including a super talented son with his own etsy store! I follow her blog religiously for her updated works and her hilarious commentary on life.

alyoisiusspyker.etsy.com

World Sweet World: Issue #05 Magpie’s nest

Third Drawer Down Tea towel Tea Towels are embroiled in a kind of comeback revolution at the moment! But not in the soggy, checked, actually doing dishes kind of way. Be prepared to purchase your tea towel and feel the need to get it framed, because the Third Drawer Down range is essentially affordable, limited edition art!

thirddrawerdown.com

Bag ladies Sick of lugging around your reusable bag from an unnamed chain store? Bag ladies have got the anti plastic bag thing down, offering us stylish and witty totes to sling over our shoulders, emanating environmental hipness.

bagladies.com.au

Kevin Webby – blackseed Coat Tree Made from the economic and unpretentious medium of plywood, this unique piece of furniture is NZ made and designed. This creation by Kevin Webby is sure to be a kiwi classic.

www.cleverbastards.co.nz, search for Kevin Webby

World Sweet World: Issue #05 Magpie’s nest

Zaishu – angus Mcdonald A zaishu is a slot-together seat and/or table that serves equally as art. Using sustainable materials and a collaborative design approach, it has become on of Australia’s most collectible items. I’m currently lusting after the equine zaishu by Angus McDonald.

zaishu.com

Hapuku lodge and tree houses You can’t tell me that sleeping in a house perched among the tree tops wouldn’t be heaven! It is now possible to revel in your childhood fantasy at the Hapuku Tree Houses north of Kaikoura.

Stunning architecture, simple luxury. Sigh.

hapukulodge.com

Kowtow Ethical street fashion straight out of the capital. Kowtow are a cool bunch with a passion for clothing AND they give a damn about the environment, using only certified 100% organic cotton. Plus if you buy one online, you’ll get a FREE CD of independent, unsigned artists from Australasia and further afield.

kowtow.co.nz

World Sweet World: Issue #05 Magpie’s nest

Ink and Spindle If only I could drive a sewing machine! For those with a knack for sewing, I am sure that a couple of metres of hand-screenprinted fabric, produced with the environment in mind, would appeal.

Ink and Spindle is a collaborative design and printing studio recently formed by Bianca, Tegan and Lara. All share a passion for design and art - definitely reflected in their gorgeous products!

inkandspindle.com.au

Succulent Designs With the summers seeming to be starting later, lasting longer AND giving our skin a bit of grief, I am craving for a gorgeous beach umbrella that gives shade a somewhat styley slant! Enter Succulent Designs. Succulent Designs are an Australian based biz dedicated to providing quality, long lasting, unique products.

succulentdesigns.com.au

Julia Atkinson lives in the beautiful southern hub of Queenstown where she runs a small interior design business, promotes Australasian creative talent through her blog, writes for a couple of websites and magazines and spends every Tuesday with a mad, Peter Pan loving 4 year old boy. What could be better?

studiohome.co.nz studiohomecreative.com

10 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Meet the makers

Meet the makers Annabel Youens: www.annabelyouens.com I have a cat named Sean-French who adopted Jeff and me. He came around for daily visits and eventually stayed. I’m a coffee addict – I love flat whites and suffer from headaches without them. I once worked at AbeBooks.com (need a book? Buy second-hand and support independent booksellers). I started up voeveo.com – come and get the best original mobile content from our awesome sellers. My favourite colour is orange. I want to build an eco-friendly, modular house. Know a Kiwi designer for my blog?

Visit www.annabelyouens.com and send me an email.

Rachel Fabish Rachel decided a couple of years ago that she didn’t want to support the beauty industry any more. With a little research and experimentation she found that it is easy to create your own ethical and totally gorgeous skin care products. Now she’s trying to convince all her friends to do the same.

Johanna Knox: www.starcooked.blogspot.com Johanna Knox is a Wellington writer and sustainable food enthusiast.

Solar cooking, wild food foraging, and making fermented foods are some of her favourite things to do.

She’s involved with the Slow Food movement and Transition Towns, and she and her partner home-school their two children.

Anna Ridley Another one of those London-based kiwis, Anna is a Picture Researcher at Tate Britain by trade and is a picture maker for fun. She enjoys making something out of nothing, particularly clothes, and is always on the lookout for a good coffee.

Kate MacPherson: www.kate.net.nz Based in Wellington, Kate has been working as a professional photographer since 2001. Her unique and innovative style has led her to photograph a wide range of people, places and weddings throughout the world. Acclaimed for her friendly and relaxed approach, she believes that photography should be as much about the process as it is about the creation of a beautiful image. Kate is a qualified member of the New Zealand Institute of Photography.

Lucy AitkenRead: www.matchfactory.org Lucy AitkenRead dwells in London with her husband and some friends.

Together they try to live a sustainable, low carbon village life in the midst of the big smoke. Lucy does an unhealthy amount of op-shopping, enjoys re-purposing things, relishes the freedom to rant, and loves a bit of subversive activism.

Rebekah Kelly Rebekah Kelly is a mum and a farmer, who, with her husband David, is in the process of raising two sons and thousands of animals in Waiau, North Canterbury. She loves her country and is passionate about ensuring future generations can live here in style. She has started a family holiday business, so families from around New Zealand can connect with the land and each other again. To find out more, email kelly@farmside.co.nz Christine Reitze: www.retreasured.blogspot.com Christine loves unwanted an unusual things that she can turn into treasures.She believes in environmental justice and sustainability and hopes that by using existing materials in her line of gorgeous bags and accessories she can do her bit to make the world a better place.

Anton Berndt Anton Berndt lives in Wellington and works in the cultural sector. He enjoys long and short walks on the beach and looks forward to owning his own electric car.

Sarah Alice Hopkins: www.thebigshwop.co.nz Sarah Alice Hopkins is a co-founder of The Big Shwop - email her and Inga at thebigshwop@gmail.com, or find out about upcoming events online at www.thebigshwop.co.nz

World Sweet World: Issue #05 11 Making Time:

Making time 12: Quick + easy

26: Purely cosmetic

14: Foundue

Mix your own cold cream and smell like a honey

Make a beer can burner to fuel your appetite

18: Blanket Statement Draft-proof your chilly digs in time for winter with woolly blanket curtains

22: Preserving energy Capture the light with this stylish, oversized bulb

18

28: Can of worms A squirmy treasure chest for gardeners

32: greens for all seasons Johanna Knox gives us the lowdown on foraging for chickweed and puha

26 22

14

These retro looking bikkie tins are made from old instant coffee containers. Use a metal primer before painting (you can get this in a spray can), and then paint the tin whatever colour you choose. Print your design onto photoquality paper, glue it on and then varnish to keep it in place.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 13 Making Time: Quick + easy

Quick + easy

Swap an hour of telly with an hour of making - these projects can be done and dusted quick-smart. If you’ve got awesome speedy and easy projects to share, flick us an email - joinin@worldsweetworld.com.

Don’t be humble - show your genius off to the rest of New Zealand!

Tree’s a crowd Meredith Paterson noticed that her dad had a lot of electrical wire kicking around the place, generally cluttering things up. Everindustrious, she stripped the plastic off to reveal shiny copper wire beneath. She needed a stand for jewellery, and the copper wire was ideal! It bent it easily into a tree-like shape with many branches to hang earrings and necklaces on.

PALLETABLE COMPOST To make an easy compost bin for your garden waste, get 5 wooden pallets. You can pick these up from loads of businesses. Most companies will thank you for taking them off their hands. Lie one pallet on the ground and stand the other four around the edges as walls. Lash them together with wire at the corners, top and bottom and chuck your garden waste in. When the compost is done, just undo one edge and swing one of the pallets out like a gate. For a detailed rundown on composting, see page 45.

Make stripy bags using different coloured bags.

Make flowers from plarn and attach to bags.

Strengthen handles by threading and attaching sturdy fabric to the handles.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 15 Making Time: foundue

Foundue

By Anton Berndt

I

Photo by kate macpherson

don’t know about you, but I’m always on the look out for socially appropriate ways to play with my food. Luckily for me, there is a small central European nation intent on the same goal. Not surprisingly, this nation has raised the bar in its want for playfulness in everyday life to the degree of actually relandscaping the whole country to look like an über-elaborate 1:87 scale model railway set.

So with a toot on my alp horn, I give thanks to Swiss playfulness for inspiring this project.

The game we’ll be playing this edition is bobbing for bread in searing hot cheese (not necessarily cheese, you can also go fishing for broccoli in simmering Bouillon or spearing meat in scalding oil). The tools you will need are some raw food or bread, cheese, oil or stock and a Fondue, or as I’m calling it, a Foundue.

This Foundue set is made entirely from stuff found at second hand or “junk” shops, and takes under an hour to assemble. The Foundue is made up of three parts. The caquelon (pot), which is pretty much any pot you find, the pot holder, which is made from a biscuit tin and wire mesh, and the rechaud (burner), which will be constructed from two aluminium cans cut in half. So, without further ado, let’s pull up our walk socks and get making.

SCAVENGING YOUR MATERIALS Two empty aluminium cans Some wire mesh A ten cent piece An old biscuit tin Bending wire A pot Old forks Methylated spirits A candle (preferably a tea light)

TOOLS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED Electric drill 2mm and 4mm drill bits (or near enough) A craft knife Wire cutters A cable tie or leather belt

$20ish SKILL

SPEED

COST

16 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: foundue

Making the burner 1. Using the cable tie (or leather belt) as a sort of tourniquet,

tighten the tie around the can, about 4cm from the bottom.

Tighten so that it grips but does not compress the can. You’ll use this as a cutting guide.

2. With a sharp craft knife, score a continuous line around the can

at this 4 cm mark FIG 1. You will need to turn the cable tie around the can when your score mark reaches the joiny bit.

FIG 1

3. Once done, make a 1cm incision in the can at any point along

the score line.

4. Press with your thumb above and close to the incision. This

should tear the can along the score mark. If the tear deviates from the score line, make a cut along the line at the point of deviation to get it back on track. Continue until the top is separated from the bottom. The bottom half of this can will form the top half of the burner.

5. To make the base of the burner, repeat the process above with a

second can, except this time make the score line 5mm lower (3.5cm from the bottom).

FIG 2

6. You now have two half cans, one slightly taller than the other.

Take the larger and drill a 4mm hole in the middle of the underside of the can. If you don’t have a drill you can also make this hole with a hammer and a large nail.

7. Around the outside of the can’s foot ring, drill eight evenly

spaced holes, using the 2mm drill bit FIG 2. Again, a small nail can be used for this, it’s just not as neat.

8. The next step is to sleeve the top half (the larger bit) over the

base piece. To do this, fold in the side of the bottom piece so that the top will fit on. Push the two pieces together until the top fully covers the label of the bottom.

FIG 3

9. Use bending wire to make a handle on the rechaud like in the

photo, so that it can be moved while hot.

Making the pot stand 10. The pot stand is pretty much an upside-down biscuit tin with the

base cut out and replaced with wire mesh. On the base of the tin, use a craft knife to scribe a circle 1cm in from the edge FIG 3.

This 1cm lip will support the mesh when we put the pot on.

11. Using the same principle as when cutting the aluminium cans,

make an incision anywhere along the scribe mark and then tear along the line.

FIG 4

World Sweet World: Issue #05 17 Story Time: foundue

12. Once the bottom has been removed, use wire

cutters to cut the mesh so it fits inside the bottom rim of the tin FIG 4. The mesh I used was from a cutlery-draw-tidy I found at the dump shop, so think laterally when looking for this item.

Lighting the rechaud Lighting the rechaud is a bit of a process and can be dangerous if not done with care. Basically what we’re doing is heating meths inside the rechaud until it vaporises, and then lighting it as it comes out the small holes around the edge.

13. Pour no more than 50ml of meths into the

rechaud through the large hole, then cover the hole with a 10 cent piece. Be careful not to spill any meths over the side of the burner. If you do, take it outside to a clear concreted area and burn off the spillage.

Photo by kate macpherson

14. Light the tea-light candle and place the pot-

holder over it. Place the rechaud on the pot holder above the flame to prime the meths.

When the rechaud is too hot to touch, take it off the flame and put it on a durable surface like a chopping board. Pour meths onto the top until the coin is covered and place it over the flame again. The coin should stop the liquid from flowing into the hole.

15. Light this pool of meths. The meths should

burn down and light the vapour coming out of

the eight little holes. If the eight holes don’t ignite, wait until the flame has completely burned out and repeat the process.

16. When the holes have ignited, replace the tea-light

candle with the rechaud and you’re ready to go.

17. You can find lots of great fondue recipes

online - we started our search at Gourmet Sleuth: www.gourmetsleuth.com/fondue.htm.

Anton Berndt lives in Wellington and works in the cultural sector. He enjoys long and short walks on the beach and looks forward to owning his own electric car.

This ugly yellow box is for your safety • Never leave the burner lit and unattended • Don’t over-fill • It’s best to practise the lighting process outside to start with • Don’t refill until you are sure the flame is out • As a precaution, have a damp tea towel at hand to put flames out quickly.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 19 Making Time: blanket statement

Blanket Statement

By Christine Reitze

I

t’s always good to be prepared, so here’s an autumn project that will get you ready for winter. In the grand scheme of things, winters in New Zealand aren’t really that cold, but because of practically nonexistent insulation in many of our houses (especially flats), we tend to feel it more than chillier countries.

If you’re flatting in a cold house, chances are your landlord isn’t going to fork out to get the entire place re-insulated, but there are things as tenants we can do to keep a bit warmer as winter approaches.

These warm woolly winter curtains are sewn with old blankets you can find easily in op-shops for cheap, or if you’re brave enough you could pinch them from your granny or your dog. For even more warmth you can add thermal lining (you can use your old curtains for this), which is then hooked onto the main wool curtain.

SCAVENGING YOUR MATERIALS Wide curtain tape for heavy fabric Wool blankets Narrow curtain tape for thermal insulation (optional) Thermal insulation fabric (optional) Curtain hooks

TOOLS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED

Measuring it all up 1. Measure the length of your curtain track and double it, adding an

extra 12cm. This is how much of wide curtain tape you’ll need.

2. If you decide to have the extra thermal insulation you will need

to buy the same length of narrow curtain tape for it. Make sure that the wide tape of your woolly curtain can be used to hook the lining onto (they can tell you this in the shop).

Tape measure Scissors Pins Thread Sewing machine Iron (optional)

Photo by kate macpherson

3. Decide how long you want your curtain to be, and add 5cm. I

reckon down to the floor looks best, plus it provides far more insulation that way. If you want to hem your curtain you will need to add extra length, but wool blankets are usually nicely hemmed anyway.

$20ish SKILL

4. Make each of your two curtains the width of the curtain

track. Depending on the size of your wool blankets, you might need to cut off or sew more blanket material on to get the right dimension for your window. You can get creative here and sew stripes, have a different coloured border or

SPEED

COST

20 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: blanket statement

make a woollen patchwork. If you sew two different blankets together, make sure you pin them first (even if pinning isn’t usually your style). Different weights of blanket will stretch differently, and you’ll end up with one piece that looks flabby like the knees in a cheap pair of trackies. Not cool.

How to sew the tape on 5. Cut the curtain tape in half. Before you start sewing, unthread

the three cords 3cm from one end of the tape. Tie the cords together, then smooth out the tape FIG 1.

FIG 1

6. Place the tape right side up on the panel, 2cm below the edge of

the curtain. Fold in the excess tape 3cm from each end and pin the tape in place.

7. Sew the top edge of the tape about ½ a cm from its edge onto

the curtain and repeat the process with the bottom edge Be careful not to sew over the string!

FIG 2.

8. Pull all strings at the unknotted end at the same time, gathering

your curtain to the desired width FIG 3. It should end up half the curtain track plus about 40cm. Knot the three strings together and cut the excess off.

9. Insert hooks into the middle of every second or third loop of the tape.

FIG 2

10. Repeat the same process with your second curtain panel, hang

them up and feel the instant warmth!

For extra thermal insulation 11. To add extra warmth to your woolly drapes, you can make an

ungathered thermal backing. For the width, measure the gathered width of your wool curtain and add an extra 20cm.

The length will be the same as the wool curtains, minus 20cm.

12. Fold the side edge of your lining over 5cm and iron, then fold it

over another 5cm, iron and sew in place. Repeat the process with the other side.

FIG 3

13. Pin the lining tape on, folding 3cm under at the edges, and sew

in place, as you did in step 7.

14. Insert hooks into every fourth loop and hook the lining onto the

bottom row of loops on the curtain tape.

If you’ve taken old curtains down from your windows, these will work just as well for lining. All you have to do is move the hooks from the middle of the tape to the top, and hook them onto your curtain.

Christine Reitze loves unwanted an unusual things that she can turn into treasures. She believes in environmental justice and sustainability and hopes that by using existing materials in her line of gorgeous bags and accessories she can do her bit to make the world a better place. www. retreasured.blogspot.com.

“Thank you SO SO much.

It’s just what I always wanted!”

A year’s subscription to World Sweet World Magazine (or a four pack of issues 2-5) really is the perfect present, even if it’s actually for yourself.

Just send the form below with a cheque to 103a Tasman Street, Mount Cook, Wellington, or go to www.worldsweetworld.com/ iwantone, and get it online.

Plus, if you subscribe before May 1, you’ll go in the draw to win a shoulder bag from retreasured. Handy.

Subscription for 4 issues ($30) starting from: This issue (Autumn) OR

Next issue (Winter) Gift set of issues 2-5 ($28) Please make all cheques out to World Sweet World Ltd.

BE IN TO WIN 1 o f2 retreasured bags

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22 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time:

World Sweet World: Issue #05 23 Making Time: preserving energy

Preserving Energy

By Hannah Schickedanz

N

ow don’t get me wrong – I’m all for energy efficient light bulbs. But until relatively recently, all you could get were those spiral-type ones, and to be honest, they just don’t look as lovely to me as the old kind.

A few years into the eco-bulb era, I see globe shaped eco-bulbs appearing, but wasn’t the whole idea that the bulbs you bought two years ago should last you for years and years and years to come?

SCAVENGING YOUR MATERIALS A spiral lightbulb A mason jar with lid and band A hanging light fitting

TOOLS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED Tin snips A hammer and a big nail A pen Pliers

$10ish

Photo by kate macpherson

So here’s the dilemma - replace your kinda ugly, twisty, but still perfectly usable light bulbs for prettier globes, or make do until you need new ones in ten years time?

Fear not! We have the solution. Due to the cooler temperature of ecofriendly bulbs, you can get really creative with light shades and fittings. I always liked the look of bare bulbs on long cords, so here’s a “light shade” that’s really more of an extra-giant bulb - it not only makes your light look more substantial, but the coil shape inside the jar actually harks back to old-style bulbs as well. Because they’re so cheap and easy, you can really play around and have a bit of fun with these. Hang a whole cluster up as a chandelier, wire up a row of bulbs and hang them as lanterns outside... the possibilities are endless!

SKILL

SPEED

COST

24 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: preserving energy

FIG 2

FIG 3

FIG 4

1. Make sure that your jar is deep enough for

your bulb. A large mason jar is perfect.

2. Unscrew the plastic ring from your light fitting FIG 1.

Trace around the smaller end onto the metal seal.

3. Take your awl or a big nail and hammer, and

punch two or three holes inside the circle you’ve just drawn FIG 2a.

4. Using your tin snips, cut out the circle, leaving

about 3mm inside

FIG 2b.

5. Make 6-8 little cuts up to the edge of the circle

and fold the raw edge over, squeezing it flat with pliers FIG 2c.

FIG 5

6. Thread your metal band on to the cord, with

the bottom of the band facing the light fitting.

7. Fit the metal seal onto your light fitting, with

the bottom facing down towards where the bulb sits FIG 3. It will be pretty snug, so you may need to wind it on over the threaded plastic.

8. Screw the plastic ring back on, slide the metal

band down so it sits over the metal seal, and put the bulb in the socket FIG 4.

9. Make sure your bulb is sitting straight, then

screw the lid on the jar 10. Shine!

FIG 5.

Photo by kate macpherson

FIG 1

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FOR WARM SERVICE AND DELICIOUS COFFEE, VISIT US TODAY.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 27 Making Time: purely cosmetic

Purely cosmetic

By Rachel Fabish

C

old cream is a cleanser and moisturiser invented almost 2000 years ago and, in my opinion, it works better than any of the modern potions I’ve bought in plastic bottles.

SCAVENGING YOUR MATERIALS

Here’s how to make this ancient cosmetic: 1. Put 84ml (6 Tablespoons) olive oil and 28g beeswax in a jar and

stand in a pan of hot water over a heat and warm until wax is just melted.

2. Warm 28ml (2 Tablespoons) of rosewater and pour slowly into

the oil/wax, stirring the whole time.

3. Remove the jar from the hot water and continue to stir until cool

and thick. You can speed this up by placing the jar in a bowl of cold water while you stir.

4. If you like, you can add a few drops of your favourite essential oil

6T (84 ml) olive oil 28g beeswax (get it from health food stores, organic supermarkets or craft stores) or 1T candelilla wax 2T (28ml) rosewater (this can usually be found in the international isle at the supermarket, or in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern speciality stores. If they are all out of rosewater, orange blossom water is just as nice) Your favourite essential oil

TOOLS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED

(I like lavender) once you have removed the cream from the heat.

5. Store your cold cream in a clean, tightly sealed, dark jar. The

ceramic or opaque glass containers you find in op-shops are perfect.

Photo by kate macpherson

To clean your skin, spread the cold cream over your face and gently scrub off with a face cloth. This leaves your skin clean, smooth and soft. If you feel like you need extra moisturising, add a little more cold cream to dry skin. Basically, you can use it like a regular moisturiser. It also makes a nice lip balm and body butter.

To make a totally vegan version I use candelilla wax instead of beeswax. It is available on TradeMe and is fairly inexpensive. You only need to use half the amount you would use of beeswax because it is stronger. It is also easier to measure and melts faster than beeswax. I replace the beeswax with 1 Tablespoon of candelilla flakes.

Rachel Fabish decided a couple of years ago that she didn’t want to support the beauty industry any more. With a little research and experimentation she found that it is easy to create your own ethical and totally gorgeous skin care products. Now she’s trying to convince all her friends to do the same.

Pan of hot water Spoon Clean, sealable jar

$10ish SKILL

SPEED

COST

28 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: Can of worms

World Sweet World: Issue #05 29 Making Time: Can of worms

Can of worms

By Lucy AitkenRead

I

live in a flat in Soho, London, and, like many inner city homes, it lacks a garden.

Having moved here from the luscious Hutt Valley where I had two chooks, a vege patch and one massive compost bin, putting my food scraps straight into the dustbin presented a daily moral dilemma. Then I heard of worms.

These little beauties will munch through almost all of your food waste, yielding fertiliser heaps faster then a normal compost bin, and you can keep them indoors. Buying a ready-made worm farm will set you back a fair bit, so build it out of stuff you have around the house, and order your wriggly carbon heroes straight from TradeMe! As long as you have a box, drill (or a hammer and a big nail) and newspaper in your house, the only thing that will cost you are the tiger worms. A starter bundle of 200g is currently $20 Buy Now on TradeMe. Alternatively, you may have a friend with a worm farm

SCAVENGING YOUR MATERIALS One storage box with lid An old newspaper for bedding Some food scraps Some tiger worms A plastic tray (if you like)

TOOLS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A drill (or a hammer and a big nail) Rubber gloves (if you’re a bit squeamish)

$20-30 SKILL

SPEED

COST

30 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: Can of worms

who can give you a handful. It will only take an hour to set up your farm and a mere five minutes of maintenance a week.

Getting Started 1. Find an old plastic box with a lid. I used an old storage box.

If you don’t have one at home, then places like Plastic Box, The Warewhare, etc. will sell them. It can be any size you like, as magic little worms will breed to fill whatever box you put them in FIG 1.

FIG 1

2. Puncture holes in your box with a drill. Six for the top and 10

around the sides will do the trick

FIG 2.

3. Tear your newspaper into 1cm strips, then spray or sprinkle it

with water so that it is all a bit damp. Place it lightly in the box until it fills to a height of about 20cm FIG 3.

4. Put your worms and your food scraps in the box and cover

them up with a bit more newspaper.

Maintenance 5. Feed your worms once a week. 200g of worms will eat about

FIG 2

1 litre of food scraps a week. The smaller the food is cut up, the quicker they’ll get through it. They’ll eat pretty much anything, but onion and lemon skins, dairy products, spicy stuff, bread, pasta, and meat should be avoided.

Soak a piece of cardboard in water and place it beneath the farm. Any escapees will squirm straight under and you will be able to pop them back in their new home.

6. Keep the temperature right. Tiger worms can handle 5-30˚C,

but if gets towards the lower end of this they’ll slow down their breeding and eating.

7. Keep it moist. Every so often check on the levels of moisture.

If there are puddles at the bottom it’s too wet and you need to tuck some more bedding down there. If your fingers don’t feel damp when you touch the bedding, just add water.

8. Keep the air flowing. Once a month, give your worm farm a

little turn over to let some oxygen work through the bedding.

FIG 3

9. Keep it dark. Throw an old piece of fabric over the top of

your worm farm so that your worms feel free to move around in comfort. If you want them to eat the food at the top of your farm, you will need to make sure it is covered with bedding. These shy creatures don’t like feeling exposed.

10. Harvest time! Every four months, collect your fertiliser. Move

all of the contents of your box over to one half. Fill the other half with fresh bedding and food scraps. The worms will migrate over to the fresh side. Use the old stuff to feed your window boxes/ herb pots.

Extra Tips For the first few days, some particularly cheeky worms might try to escape. You can deter this by keeping the box dark. But in order to completely avoid finding dried up worms on the floor when you wake up, soak a piece of cardboard in water and place it beneath the farm. Any escapees will squirm straight under and you will be able to pop them back in their new home when you find them. Be assured that the case of the wandering worm rarely lasts more than a week.

Ready-made worm farms have taps on the bottom so that you can use the worm juice as fertiliser. If this is up your street do the budget version: Drill 10 holes in the bottom of the above worm farm. Place this on a tray or another plastic box. The juice will drip out, regulating the moisture in the box a little better and giving you potent liquid fertiliser.

Lucy AitkenRead dwells in London with her husband and some friends. Together they try to live a sustainable, low carbon village life in the midst of the big smoke. Lucy does an unhealthy amount of opshopping, enjoys re-purposing things, relishes the freedom to rant, and loves a bit of subversive activism. www.matchfactory.org

32 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: Greens for all seasons

Foraging Part 2:

Greens for all seasons

By Johanna Knox

W

hile some useful and nutritious weeds wither or die back during autumn, others just keep on flourishing. Two that you’re likely to find growing all year round are chickweed and puha.

Puha: what’s all the hoo-ha?

Botanical name: Sonchus species AKA: Puwha, Sow Thistle

Puha grows all over. There are several species in New Zealand, and even within species, individual plants can look quite different from each other.

Their appearance depends on age, growing conditions, and probably natural genetic variation.

In moist, rich soil and some shade, puha can grow huge and lush. Puha plants forced to lead harder lives often have smaller, sparser leaves and a more purplish tinge to their stalks. The flowers of Puha look a bit like dandelions.

Puha as food Puha is rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Young puha leaves and stems are quite bitter. In bigger, older puha, the leaves seem to lose some of their bitterness and even become slightly sour and salty. However, the stems of older plants fill with a gooey white sap that’s extremely bitter.

Young leaves and stems and older leaves can all be used raw as salad greens. Every above-ground part of puha (even the buds and flowers) can be cooked.

If you’re using the stems of older plants in cooking, bruise or crush them when you rinse them to let the bitter sap wash away. You can substitute puha for spinach in any recipe. Just as with spinach, allow for it to lose volume when cooked.

Puha as medicine Bitter-tasting plants like puha have long been known to have medicinal value, and I suspect many of us 21st century urbanites would benefit from eating bitter greens more frequently.

It’s the actual bitter taste that is important. Bitter tastes trigger a set of responses in your body that stimulate and enhance digestive function, and help your body absorb nutrients. For the best effect you should probably eat your bitters about 15 minutes before the rest of your meal. (So have a puha salad as a starter!)

Avoid bitters if you have ulcers or a reflux condition though, or at least check with a medical professional first.

Puha/ Sonchus species

Chickweed: star of the wild Botanical name: Stellaria media AKA: Starweed

Finding and harvesting Chickweed likes to grow wild in gardens (often on a bed of soil you’ve just cleared), as well as in the un-mowed areas of parks and reserves. It starts life as a mat of tangly, sprawling stems with small teardrop-shaped leaves. The leaves get bigger and the stems more upright as it grows.

Its tiny, white flowers look like they have ten petals, but if you peer closely you’ll see they’re five petals with splits down their middles.

It’s hard to pull a handful of chickweed up without bringing other bits of unwanted weed with it. The easiest way to harvest it is to find the tips, pull them upwards, and snip off the best-looking bits.

Chickweed as food

SCAVENGING FOR YOUR SUPPER Wild foods can be fresh, yummy, healthy, and free. And foraging is an addictive pastime.

TOOLS OF THE FORAGING TRADE What you need when foraging depends on what you’re planning to gather. But to be very well prepared, take scissors, gloves, several bags of different sizes, and even a small trowel, if you think you might dig anything up. Reusable shopping bags and vege bags are good.

(Onya do a good line: www.onyabags. co.nz)

JUST HOW SAFE IS THIS FORAGING BUSINESS? RULE #1: If you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it

Chickweed contains B vitamins, as well as vitamins C and D. It’s also a respectable source of iron, copper, calcium and sodium.

RULE #2: Get to know your local toxic plants. Try this Landcare Research resource: landcareresearch.co.nz/ publications/infosheets/poisonplants/

Raw chickweed snipped up into little pieces (1 or 2 cm long) is a healthy and yummy salad ingredient. It reminds me a bit of alfalfa sprouts. You can also cook it in a stirfry, a soup, a casserole or a sauce. Add it at the last minute, and preferably cut it up quite small so it doesn’t feel stringy when you eat it.

RULE #3: avoid areas that get showered in car exhaust, could be polluted or may have been recently sprayed with herbicide (although harvesting new growth from areas that have been sprayed in the past should be okay)

Cuisine-wise, chickweed really comes into its own in pesto. It’s one of a number of plants that contain saponins – compounds that lather up like soap. (Some plants that contain especially high levels of saponins are used as natural soap substitutes, but that’s another story.) The saponins in chickweed give your pesto an especially creamy quality.

RULE #4: Be sure to get permission before foraging on someone else’s property, including farmland.

34 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Making Time: greens for all seasons

You can also throw chickweed into a smoothie – it adds nutritional value and makes the smoothie extra frothy!

Chickweed as medicine It’s partly the saponins that make chickweed valuable as a soothing and healing skin treatment. Chickweed poultices or compresses can be good for eczema, insect bites, and other itchy skin conditions.

To make a chickweed poultice pound a big handful of chickweed with a mortar and pestle, spread it over the area you want to treat, and bind it on with a strip of cotton or gladwrap, or a layer of each (cotton, then gladwrap).

chickweed/ Stellaria media

To make a chickweed compress first make juice from a few handfuls of chickweed. You can do this in a juicer if you have one. Alternatively, whiz up the chickweed in a blender or food processor with a little water, then strain the mix through muslin.

If you prefer to take the unplugged route, pound the chickweed very well in a mortar and pestle, add a bit of water, and strain through muslin to obtain the juice.

Finally, lay a piece of clean cotton on a clean towel, and pour the chickweed juice over it. Place the juice-soaked cotton on the affected area of skin, or wrap it around it.

Creamy Chickweed Pesto

Extra Reading A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand

1 clove garlic 2 big pinches salt 2 cups chickweed snipped up and loosely packed

by Andrew Crowe

1/4 cup olive oil

Materia Medica of Western Herbs for the Southern Hemisphere

1/2 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 24 hours (soaking the nuts adds to the creaminess and also makes them easier to digest).

by Carole Fisher and Gillian Painter

1. Pound garlic and salt in a mortar.

www.pfaf.org Plants for a Future - edible, medicinal and useful plants for a healthier world

www.bushmansfriend.co.nz www.wildpicnic.blogspot.com a gallery of local edible and useful wild plants

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2. Gradually add chickweed, continuing to pound.

3. Gradually add oil and nuts, until you have a smooth, thick

paste. Alternatively, use a blender for all ingredients except the parmesan, and then stir in the parmesan at the end.

Makes over 1 cup of pesto. For a variation, substitute other greens or herbs for some of the chickweed.

Johanna Knox is a Wellington writer and sustainable food enthusiast.

Solar cooking, wild food foraging, and making fermented foods are some of her favourite things to do. She’s involved with the Slow Food movement and Transition Towns, and she and her partner homeschool their two children. starcooked.blogspot.com

Story time 36: a minute with Minu

50: Badge Action part ii

We catch up with print maker, artist and sewer, Heike Theis, aka minu

The judges have ruled - now let’s get making and swapping

54: So fair, so good 42: Junk food junkies Don’t know what to do with all that organic waste? Rebekah Kelly lays out the options.

Annabel Youens looks at ways to make your coffee addiction a fairer one

62: striking chords 48: The big shwop Meet one of the people behind The Big Shwop, Wellington’s fix for fashionistas

54

Instrument lovers, read no further!

The McKies refunction their family piano

42 36 48

36 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time:

World Sweet World: Issue #05 37 Story Time: a minute with minu

A minute with Minu

By Thomas Schickedanz

H

ailing from Germany, Heike Theis, aka sissT, aka minu, is etching out a creative life in New Zealand. She finds inspiration in everything around her, feeding plenty of that energy back to her audience through her whimsical creations, creatures and prints. An oddly uplifting melancholy emanates from her works, and she herself describes them as “both cute and strange, sad and peaceful”. We caught up with Heike in Wellington, to find out what makes her tick.

What’s your design and creative background?

I have been an architect, web designer, illustrator, potter and conservator. But I think my creative origin goes back to when I was a child and saw my first creature in the shape of a cloud.

Why did you come over from Germany? I was

Photo by Kate macpherson

stuck. Running our own little interaction design company, my creativity was forced into hibernation by working ridiculous hours for little money. Administration, taxes, clients’ views on design, clients not paying bills - AAARGH! It was time for a big break and a creative spring time!

After a two month research expedition in early 2006, we decided to return to New Zealand in November 2006 and to give it a six month trial period. This trial is still ongoing somehow... the only difference is that now I have permanent residency.

What do you do for a day job, and how easy is it for you to reconcile minu with it? I work 30

hours a week as a senior online project manager for a web company in Wellington, and I like it. I need my daytime job as much as I need minu. It makes me get up and leave the house, I work in a

nice team, I get paid. And when I get home I still have energy to create and get my hands dirty.

YOU AS AN ARTIST Describe what you do as an artist. Andrew

Schoultz once described his art as non-definitive story telling, and this is exactly what I want to do.

I hope for the viewers to find their very own story in my drawings and creations. I would love to hear one million different stories of how the boy met the bear or see someone having a conversation with a tetimal or wonder what the schlaf might dream about.

I haven’t found one style yet. I am doing everything together in a big mix. A red thread might be that my artwork usually is characterbased and figurative.

What materials do you use? All my prints are

hand printed. I use water based ink and high quality paper. For my plushies I love natural fibres like cotton, wool and linen, but I also use polar fleece and polyester filling where it makes sense.

38 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: a minute with minu

My materials come from all over the world – paper from France, linen from Japan, fabric and felt from Germany, wool from New Zealand.

When did you get into the creature design that minu is known for? That is really hard to say. Most of them already lived

under my bed when I was a child. When I came to New Zealand they started popping up on paper.

What inspires you, and how do you come up with all your lovely creatures? Oh, they still live under my bed. Absolutely

everything inspires me! I am inspired by things I find on the street – as you can see in my workshop – a word or phrase I read somewhere, lines in old wood, the shape of a cloud, as well as browsing through blogs, magazines, flickr, etsy, felt, trunkt, galleries and exhibitions.

Do you have a favourite medium to work with? I love print

making. I am just about to discover the possibilities. It is like a treasure chest full of inspiration.

Is there an overall philosophy behind your work that you feel like sharing? I worship simplicity and the empty space. My

approach is more design based than what you would traditionally call art. My aim is to produce affordable works. Really, just nice stuff people want to take home and put somewhere.

Do you see yourself as influential, or in what way would you like to have an impact with your work, if you could? I don’t

see myself as influential, but if someone looks at one of my pieces thinking “I can do that!”, runs home, new ideas in their heads, turns off the TV and sits down and creates something nice - that would put a big smile on my face.

Are you involved in any other art projects? I have been

working for a collaborative art project called “design a calendar” (designacalendar.minu.co.nz) for three years now. Seven team leaders organise 52 creative beings to design a week each. These are compiled into a beautiful calendar which is published online. topic for me. I only use non-toxic water-based inks and colours, reducing toxic components to an absolute minimum. I reuse old phone books and newspapers. The “schlaf” is created from natural fibres and stuffing. I recycle fabric off-cuts into stuffing, and I will start making my own recycle art paper, reusing etching and water colour paper. I work on a series of prints mounted on old wooden beams.

I would love to work with local materials. I have this dream of a locally produced plush made from local organic fabrics, stuffed with local organic wool.

Photos by Kate macpherson

Is sustainability a topic in your artwork? Sustainability is a big

World Sweet World: Issue #05 39 Story Time: a minute with minu

I tried to get into contact with local fabric manufacturers and other local suppliers. It is really hard even to find them; and then, people are not too keen to talk to you if you plan to buy just smaller amounts first. Does anybody have any contacts they feel like sharing?

and keep my website up to date, take part in craft shows, and I just started producing my first howto video for the internet.

Down to business

depend on income from my creative work, but I would like to grow minu into a real business in the future. I am one of these horrible people who can’t keep a sales cheque for more than five seconds. It vanishes in pockets and/or doesn’t survive the washing machine. So keeping my ledgers up to date while juggling bank accounts, online payment systems and foreign currencies, is a nightmare! But other than accounting...? No, I really see most of it as creative work.

When did you start your business? I started

transforming my creative ideas into “creative products” in 2007 and I have been selling those under the name minu since early 2008.

What’s involved in running minu? Quite a bit. I

do all my prototyping, cutting, sewing, stuffing and labelling myself. All my prints are hand printed using screen printing, drypoint, woodcut and etching. Besides the creative work, I frame prints for exhibitions, take product pictures, maintain my online shops, package and ship my products, keep in contact with local shops on wholesale and commission work. I blog and flickr

How do you find running the business in a general sense – does it detract from the creative process, or is it all a part of it? I don’t

How much of your time does minu take up?

It keeps me up most nights. It’s really hard to say, but I think that in addition to my job, minu takes around another 30 hours per week.

40 World Sweet World: Issue #05

World Sweet World: Issue #05 41 Story Time: a minute with minu

“I think Kiwis... have a more direct, not so regulated approach to design.

Trends seem to pop up and vanish faster. Artists are more confident...”

DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, DIFFERENT approaches?

much influential for my work though, but rather for the way I see myself as an artist.

Has being in New Zealand influenced your work? Not so much my work, but the way I look

What three things do you bring when you leave the house? My ipod, my journal and

at it. I am not so hard on myself and more confident with what I do.

Do you see differences between Germany and New Zealand as regards how people approach design, and how they go about practising art?

I think Kiwis are more open to sometimes crazy ideas. They have a more direct, not so regulated approach to design. Trends seem to pop up and vanish faster. Artists are more confident.

Do you find it harder or easier to make a name for yourself in New Zealand? It is easier. Shop

owners are more open to talk to someone just popping in. All the people I meet are unbelievably supportive. The network is smaller, but more active.

Wellington is a small town even if it has this big city feeling. Everybody knows everybody. People get things done without much hesitation and are very hands-on. You are not really visible in München or Berlin, the art world there is a closed circle. If you don’t know the right people you can easily get lost.

Photos by Kate macpherson

However, things changed a lot with the internet, etsy and flickr. I think the real challenge is to make a name online. You can do this wherever you are.

AND SOME RANDOM QUESTIONS Who do you respect as an artist? Keri Smith

(kerismith.com) - she’s a great source of inspiration and motivation, Andrew Schoultz (andrewschoultz. com), Alberto Cerriteño (albertocerriteno.blogspot. com), and so many more.

Is there an artist in particular who you find most influential for your work? Keri Smith. She’s not so

favourite pen, my digital camera.

What three things do you wish for humankind?

To leave enough air to breath, water to drink, and fruits to eat for future generations.

What’s something you had always wanted to do but haven’t had the time or money to do yet? I

want to buy this old brick factory. I would invite creative people to come and live and work there for a while. There would be classes, workshops and a gallery. Everybody could have as much social interaction as they want – they could work all by themselves, or have a free exchange of creative ideas.

Where in the world would you like to live if you could choose any place? I would split myself

into three and live in Lisboa, Buenos Aires and Tokyo all at the same time.

If you could be someone famous, who would you be? I think fame can be a burden and a curse. I’d

rather be myself. I would take the money, though.

What’s your favourite activity? Lying in the long

grass by the sea, listening to seagulls and the wind in the grass. Looking at the clouds in the sky, with my sketch book beside me, and the knowledge that somebody is waiting for me at home.

How do people get a hold of your lovely stuff?

I sell online at felt and etsy, in a few local shops, and I keep people up to date on products with a minu newsletter. There’s Craft2.0 on April 11 - I expect to see you guys there as well!

Sweet – see you there!

World Sweet World: Issue #05 43 Story Time: junk food junkies

Junk food junkies

By Rebekah Kelly

O

kay, the basic premise is fairly clear here, the less waste we send to landfill, the better. We can recycle our recyclables and be very crafty with other things, but what about organic waste? 20-50% of waste in our landfills is organic, so it’s worth thinking about our options. Let’s lay them out so you can see what fits best for you.

Illustration by Greta Menzies

Eating rubbish I’m not advocating literally eating your rubbish. But it does pay to think - is this really inedible? There’s a lot of food that we throw out unnecessarily. Bread crusts can go in the freezer - when you have a collection, toast them and pop them in the food processor to make breadcrumbs, a pantry essential. Or you can cube and toast them to make croutons. Chicken carcasses, bones from roasts or lamb shanks can be used to make stocks just like granny did. The basic idea with stocks is to draw that last bit of flavour out of bone, meat and vege scraps by simmering them for ages, then straining and removing any fat. It takes a bit of time, but rather than wasting all your busy days making stock, the ingredients can be frozen and kept until just the right rainy weekend. And the bonus is that stock making fills your house with a delicious smell.

What about those fruit and vege scraps you cut or peel off when preparing meals? An easy way to reduce this waste is to start using a peeler that only takes off a tiny amount of skin, or not peeling at all. A friend of mine peels the tops and tails off her carrots rather than cutting them. Celery and carrot scraps and peelings can go in a stock container in the freezer, along with old sprouty onions. Some trimmings can go into a big container in the freezer too - when it’s full, cut them up into bite-sized pieces, find a basic vege soup recipe, and create a great winter lunch.

44 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: junk food junkies

Leftover pie: Cut up your leftover savoury food

(potatoes, meat, and any vege bits) into bite-sized pieces and arrange in a quiche dish, along with any extras you want (feta works well). Mix together 2 eggs, ½ C flour and enough milk to make a thin batter. Pour batter over leftovers and cover with grated cheese. Cook for 25 minutes in a moderate oven.

Compost If you have a garden, then this really is the way to go. You can recycle 80% of your kitchen waste and most of your garden waste too. The final product is the best thing you can add to your soils.

Composting can be as simple or technical as you choose to make it. As a general rule, the more aspects of composting you perfect, the faster the rubbish will turn into compost and the more beneficial it will be to your soil. However, a low maintenance system will still produce compost eventually. The quality won’t be as good, but you’ll still have turned your waste into something useful. I’ve tried to set out here the basic aspects that all sources seem to have in common.

What should my compost system look like? First,

find a sunny spot, and then decide what type of compost bin you want. You can go as fancy or plain as you please - it can be as simple as a designated pile in your garden. An old drum or rubbish bin with its bottom removed works really well, or you can get kit-set bins from garden centres or hardware stores. Another alternative is to build a bin of your own with old pallets, off cuts of wood, wire mesh. See the side panel on page 45 for how to make a bin out of old pallets.

If your pile/ bin doesn’t have a lid already, cover it with a piece of old carpet or corrugated iron to keep the temperature and moisture levels consistent. Your system should not be too dry and not too wet. Try for the consistency of squeezedout sponge. A lid will also stop flies and vermin from raiding the bin.

Your rubbish needs lots of oxygen to break it down into awesome compost, so the ideal scenario is to turn it regularly (get a garden fork or spade and mix it up).

If you can’t do this, then add sticks and twigs to your pile to trap air in it, or put an old pipe with holes in through the middle of your pile. Alternatively, you can buy a rotating compost bin – clever.

The smaller the bits of waste you put in, the more surface area there is for organisms to attack, and therefore the quicker it will turn into compost.

You can shred some bits by hand, crush hard

Illustration by Greta Menzies

There are many, many recipes that have been thought up while staring into a fridge full of leftover ingredients. As kids, this one was an essential in our household.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 45 Story Time: junk food junkies

stems and even run things over with your lawn mower if you have one. Speaking of organisms - compost needs good bacteria and microorganisms to work – some compost from the last pile is enough, otherwise you can add blood and bone or buy a compost starter from your garden centre.

A more palletable compost bin

What can go in: Basically anything that started off as animal or plant, although meat and dairy can attract pests, so smaller quantities of these two would be advisable, unless you can handle them. Weeds can go in your compost pile; however, I wouldn’t include weed seeds or the roots of anything you cursed when pulling it out of your garden (oxalis, twitch, clover etc). The whole heap needs to get to 70°C to kill these off, which is unlikely, unless you’re a super keen composter.

The last thing you want to be doing is adding a bunch of weeds to your garden, all ready to sprout in that nice compost you’ve made.

To make an easy compost bin for your garden waste, get 5 wooden packing pallets. You can pick these up from freight companies, hardware stores, central post offices, print shops, wholesalers, nurseries and garden centres.

Most companies will be happy for you to take them of their hands.

The important thing is to get a good ratio of carbon:nitrogen, or brown:green. Browns are things like sawdust, shredded paper, vacuum bag dust and twiggy bits from the garden.

Greens are grass clippings, weeds, kitchen scraps, animal manure etc. You should try to have a ratio of 1 part carbon (brown) to 2 parts nitrogen (green).

Time: The perfect compost system will take from 2 to 5

months to produce rich, brown, crumbly compost, ready to be dug into your garden. At the other end of the spectrum, a pile of compostable things with nothing much else going for it can take up to 18 months to decompose into something useable.

Just work out the system that works for you.

To make the bin, lie one pallet on the ground and stand the other four around the edges as walls.

Lash them together with wire at the corners, top and bottom.

You can build adjoining bins to make turning your compost easier. Chuck your garden waste in - weeds, lawn clippings, autumn leaves. When one bin gets fullish, just empty it with a garden fork into the other bin.

When the compost is done, just undo one edge and swing one of the pallets out like a gate.

Easy peasy!

46 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: junk food junkies

Weeds can go in your compost pile; however, I wouldn’t include weed seeds or the roots of anything you cursed when pulling it out of your garden.

Cost: Compost bins start at around $50 to buy.

Too expensive? Make your own!

For more info: If you want more tips, try www.

yates.co.nz, or get a gardening book from your library. If you really want to hear good recipes and stories about composting, join a garden club.

Bokashi Originally from Japan, Bokashi was developed in New Zealand by Neville Burt, an organic farmer from Pleasant Point near Timaru. Bokashi is a bucket system that you can keep in the kitchen. It utilizes a simple process called anaerobic fermentation. This process is done in an airtight environment, using a compost starter or inoculant.

Bokashi is a Japanese term, which means ‘fermented organic matter’. This method results in the fermentation, or ‘pickling’, of your food waste materials, as opposed to the decaying process that occurs in traditional composting. The starter (called Compost-Zing) is a mixture of plant-based byproducts, which have been fermented with a beneficial microbial culture, called EM, and then dried for storage. The material acts as a housing, or medium, for these micro-organisms to live in. When added to your food waste using the Bokashi System, the starter guides the decomposition of organic matter into fermenting, rather than simply decaying.

Time: Every 2-3 days you can take liquid out of

the bottom bucket and use it on plants as a

fertilizer, or tip it into your toilet or drains to keep them clean and healthy. Once the bucket is full, you let it ferment for about a week and then dig the pickled waste into your garden where it will breakdown fully in about 4 weeks.

What can go in: You can add fresh fruit and vegetables, prepared foods, cooked and uncooked meats and fish, cheese and eggs, bread, coffee grinds, tea bags, wilted flowers. You can’t use liquids such as milk and orange juice and oils, paper and plastic wrap, meat bones, or shells from seafood.

Cost: About $50 to initially set up and then $27

for 3 packets of starter (you’ll go through about one bag of zing every 8-10 weeks). When I looked on TradeMe, there were a couple of the bucket systems for less than that, so you could get it cheaper if you tried.

Points to note: You do need a garden (or someone

else’s garden), or at least pot plants to put the waste in eventually. It’s faster than composting, and you can compost meat, but it’s not really a solution for your garden waste.

For more info: www.bokashi.co.nz

Worms This is another great option if you don’t have space for a compost bin and don’t have heaps of garden waste to get rid of. For a detailed run-down on making your own wormery, check out page 28.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 47 Story Time: junk food junkies

Cost: Tiger worms are about $20 on TradeMe.

For more info: There is a great Wall Street Journal

What can go in: All your vege scraps are ok, but

article on in-sink waste disposal: www. webreprints.djreprints.com/1903230589352.pdf

you can’t put onion and lemon skins, dairy products, spicy stuff, bread, pasta, or meat in a worm farm.

Time: Worm fertilizer, or “vermicast”, is ready for

use in 4 weeks.

Points to note: Worms die if you don’t feed them,

so they’ll need to come away on holiday with you…

For more info: See page 28 for how to make your

own worm farm.

Insinkerator

Illustration by Greta Menzies

Many modern houses come equipped with one of these and there are arguments for and against. Insink waste disposal units use power and water to run and the waste ends up in waste water treatment plants and finally as sludge.

The flip-side is that there is no carbon cost in transportation or from greenhouse gas emissions from a landfill, although the sludge from waste water treatment plants has to go somewhere. In some countries, Insinkerators are plumbed into a separate system which, when recycled, creates natural gas and fertiliser. But to the best of my knowledge, this does not occur in New Zealand. I guess you need to make the call on this one.

Meh... can’t really be bothered If you still want to let someone else take care of it, make sure it goes into an organic waste collection.

This way it can be composted and won’t end up decomposing anaerobically in a landfill, creating greenhouse gases and leaching into the ground water system. Some councils provide a wheelie bin for green waste, otherwise there are many private companies that will take it away for you. It may pay to check what they are going to do with it to find out if you’re really doing yourself and the world a favour.

Points to note: If you’ve got a garden, be aware

that you’re probably going to buy your waste back at a later date when you need some compost to feed your soil!

Rebekah Kelly is a mum and a farmer, who, with her husband David, is in the process of raising two sons and thousands of animals in Waiau, North Canterbury.

She loves her country and is passionate about ensuring future generations can live here in style. She has started a family holiday business, so families from around New Zealand can connect with the land and each other again. To find out more, email kelly@ farmside.co.nz

The big shwop

By Sarah Alice Hopkins

L

ike many of you, I am the proud owner of one burgeoning eco-friendly heart. It began beating because my overlyloud conscience just couldn’t stop thinking about exploited workers, wasted resources, and the poor polar bears drowning. I suspect I may have watched just one too many film festival docos about the plight of the earth. Who knows, but somewhere and somehow my heartbeat turned green.

I find myself rather virtuously car-pooling, composting, gardening, buying fair trade products, joining political parties and possibly ranting a little too often about the aforementioned activities a little too much.

So, although we don’t yet have a solar panel and embarrassingly, I can’t knit, I would call myself an amateur Emerald Greenie.

The problem is this. I love clothes. I know I shouldn’t, I know the world would be better if we could all just stick with the same pair of slacks for a year or two but, well, I just can’t. In past times, when admittedly I cared a little less, I just loved to shop. But as my eco-worrier got a little more worried, I could see that this clothing addiction would have to be stopped. At first, I craftily soothed my conscience by op-shopping madly and buying Aotearoa made clothing when I just had to buy something new. My conscience was quiet and my wardrobe was full.

It worked - for a while anyway. Then my fashion hound started scratching at the door. You see, while our NZ labels may have gorgeous threads, they are not going to throw a $20 special at you and my bank balance was suffering for it. I was also getting bored of ferreting through a myriad of pilly jumpers at opportunity shops and I found myself salivating over my friend’s new clothes.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 49 Story time: The big shwop

I was also getting bored of ferreting through a myriad of pilly jumpers at opportunity shops...

I would get within a hair’s breadth of an attractive looking fashion store with hard-to-believe prices and rather than turn to the Sallies, my eco-pulse would strangely quieten as I walked in the door. Things had to change, and quick.

I sat down with Inga Boyd, a good friend of mine, who shared a great deal of my chagrin, discussed our plight and conjured up a plan to have a clothes swap. We emailed our girls and around they came, with bundles of clothes in tow. Four hours later we all had new threads for our wardrobes. It was just too easy. More than that, it was a great deal of fun.

Compelled to share our joy, and our wardrobes with other girls, we decided to put some action where our hearts were. We wanted a larger-scale communityfocused event. Eureka! The Big Shwop was born.

The Big Shwop is an eco-event that brings Welly girls and their wardrobes together for an afternoon of shopping that doesn’t make a dent on their bank accounts, or their consciences. The idea is pretty straightforward - girls bring along their unwanted, barely-worn, fashionable clothes and exchange them for vouchers. When the shwop begins, girls can ‘cash in’ their vouchers for any of the lovely threads that others have brought in.

The word ‘shwop’ is a combination of ‘shop’ and ‘swap’ and highlights the idea that we can pass on what we are not using to someone else and get back some cool new things at the same time. The events have proven to be a great opportunity for girls to make the most of their existing wardrobes.

Recycling what we have already means that we consume a little less. The beauty of shwopping to me is that people still get the satisfaction of acquiring something new without spending a cent or using more of the world’s resources. Ahh, clear consciences straight ahead!

The first Big Shwop ran on August 2nd at the Southern Cross, Abel Smith Street, in the heart of Wellington. Unsure of the amount of attention the idea would generate, Inga and I cautiously estimated that we might get around eighty shwoppers on the day. As the line got longer and longer, it became clear how open to fresh ideas girls from the capital were and what potential shwopping truly has. Inspired, we set up the second event, The Big Shwop – Summer Special, which ran on Saturday 29th November and was fantastic. It looks as though the next one we have here in the capital will have to be even bigger again.

We’ve had lots of support from some great ecoconscious companies to get the concept off the ground, we got The Big Shwop trademarked and we are now aiming to bring The Big Shwop to other places around the country. In fact, we have already begun to stretch our legs with the next Big Shwop planned to run in conjunction with the Sustainable Home and Garden Show in Paraparaumu on April 4th. Yay! If you are interested in coming along to shwop, check us online at www.thebigshwop.co.nz It’s an exciting time - we are glad we didn’t just have an idea, but that we actually acted on it. In hindsight, we possibly should have guessed that the idea of getting something for next to nothing was going to be super attractive. But what is even cooler is that by shwopping it is not just our wallets that are happier, but our big, old earth too.

Goodness, I can feel my eco-pulse quickening already.

Sarah Alice Hopkins is a co-founder of The Big Shwop - email her and Inga at thebigshwop@gmail.com, or find out about upcoming events online at www. thebigshwop.co.nz

50 World Sweet World: Issue #05

We asked, ”Can brownie badges save the climate?”

You voted for five that might.

Now its time for action: carbon saving, badge making and secret swapping!

Last issue we launched The Great M.I.Y Carbon Action Mystery Badge Swap Adventure because we wondered what skills you thought were needed to save the climate today. We likened it to earning brownie badges of old, but we mashed it with our love of hand-made and an urge to help you take action. We’re not kidding ourselves that these actions alone will save the climate, but they can make a difference, not least to you.

Create and You Shall Receive Join the swap and receive a unique hand-made badge. There are three steps: 1. Make ‘em: To enter the swap make five

delicious badges and send them in to us using the freepost aerogramme on the next page.

If your badges won’t fit, just copy our freepost address onto an envelope and send it in.

2. Earn ‘em: To earn badges that other people

have made, take at least one of the actions under the badge criteria below (pick the one that is the most relevant for you). When you’ve completed an action, tell us: badgeaction@ worldsweetworld.com. You can let us know about the actions all at once or as you take them.

It’s an honesty system. As Brown Owl would say: “if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself”, oh, and all the other lovelies who have made badges, and the planet…

3. Get ‘em in the mail: Receive surprise badges

in the post, and show them off. We’ve also designed some BONUS virtual badges to show off to your digital and blogger friends.

Read up about all badges and leave your comments at www.worldsweetworld.com/ badgeaction.

So let’s do it! Your online votes have been counted and the judges have ruled. Here are the five carbon actions for 2009 (thanks to Lucy from felt.co.nz for helping us with the sample badges!).

World Sweet World: Issue #05 51 Story Time: The Great M.I.Y. badge carbon action mystery swap adventure

Quick & Social Showerer

Op-shopper Extraordinaire

Less hot water, more fun

High on style, low on resources

Baths and long showers can use a lot of hot water. Heating water can use up around 45% of your electricity bill – that can all translate into CO2 emissions and climate change from energy used to pump lots of water around and from non renewable electricity generation. Keep it quick and/ or social and save money on your bill.

If you’ve never done it before Try keeping the shower to less than 5 minutes for once or showering with a friend.

If you’re already doing it a bit

It’s fun, it shows off your style, and it saves all the energy and materials that would have to go into making new stuff. Extra brownie points if the proceeds go to charity.

If you’ve never done it before Buy something at an op-shop for the first time - fossicking is fun!

If you’re already doing it a bit Set yourself a stretchy challenge to only buy second-hand for a period of time

If you’re already a seasoned pro

Set yourself a stretchy challenge – vow to keep the long showers for special occasions, and make the short showers more special…

Help others: invite a rookie along for their first time, or publish a map of the local op-shops

If you’re already a seasoned pro

www.sustainability.govt.nz/rubbish/ reducing-your-rubbish

Help others do it: invite a rookie along for their first time, fit energy efficient shower heads and an egg timer in the shower, create reward systems for short and social showers in your household.

For more information www.energywise.org.nz/library/ energywise-factsheet-4.pdf www.carbonzero.co.nz/steps/ manage.asp#Water_Heating_Tips

For more information

www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/ secondhanditems.shtml

Careful Cook Hot in the kitchen, not in the atmosphere

We chuck out a lot of food.

Not only is that a waste, but if leftover food just goes to a landfill it can create gases that cook the planet. The solution is planning meals, getting creative about what’s already in the fridge, using leftovers, and home composting.

If you’ve never done it before Look up and try a new leftover recipe

If you’re already doing it a bit Set yourself a stretchy challenge, perhaps to have no food waste for a week

If you’re already a seasoned pro Help others do it: share your recipes, set up a composting system for a friend, swap some food

For more information www.lovefoodhatewaste.com www.sustainability.govt.nz/ forum/2008/blog-food-waste-woes

52 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: The Great M.I.Y. badge carbon action mystery swap adventure

Obsessive Switcher Offer If you’re going to have an obsession, at least have one that saves on power bills

Because if you don’t need it on, it wastes power and money.

Cultivating the switch-it-off habit can help your wallet. It might also help keep the national grid peak time usage lower and lessen the need for fossil fuel power stations.

If you’ve never done it before Turn one thing off when you are finished every day for a week

If you’re already doing it a bit Set yourself a stretchy challenge and vow to make 5 new turn-it-off habits work for a week

If you’re already a seasoned pro

Foot Power From A to B without the C. Gym-free work outs from walking or cycling a journey (particularly the short ones).

It’s sometimes too easy to take the car, then wish we could be fitter and feel better. Did you know emissions from transport are among the fastest growing sources of climate change gases in New Zealand? We take a lot of short car journeys, which don’t even give the engine a chance to warm up and use fuel more efficiently.

The price of petrol goes up and down, but the price on the planet is pretty clear. Leaving the car at home can make a difference. Low carbon transport like walking and cycling is definitely worth a try.

If you’ve never done it before Walk or cycle a new short journey

If you’re already doing it a bit Set yourself a stretchy challenge and vow to walk or cycle a journey for a week (you could park the car a few blocks earlier, or dust off your old bike)

If you’re already a seasoned pro Help others do it: help a friend who does not cycle learn the ropes, or help set up a work place travel plan

For more information www.dothegreenthing.com/actions/walk_the_walk www.sustainablehouseholds.org.nz/actionpdfs/reduce_car_use_action.pdf

Help others do it: put up stickers, get a smart meter that shows your electricity consumption, install timers on switches

For more information www.acmeclimateaction.com/ athome/avery-stickers www.sustainability.govt.nz/ content/25-easy-steps-towardssustainability

For detailed information on each skill, specifications for badge making, and to see what other swappers have to say, visit worldsweetworld.com/badgeaction.

This adventure is run in cooperation with Hikurangi: www.hikurangi.org.nz

Story Time:

_ _________________________________________________________________________

SENDER:__________________________________________________________________________ Free as a bird

Dear postman, please deliver to

CUT THIS PAGE OUT, FOLD ON THE DOTTED LINES, SO THE SENDER PANEL IS ON THE OUTSIDE, THEN TAPE THE EDGES SHUT AND POP IT IN THE POST

World Sweet World: Issue #05 53

FreePost number 223331 World Sweet World Ltd PO Box 9937 Marion Square Wellington 6141

Name

_ _________________________________________________________________________

Address _ _________________________________________________________________________

_ _________________________________________________________________________

Email _ _________________________________________________________________________

I’ve included all the five badges I made (compulsory to enter the swap)

I’ve completed the following actions already (woop woop), so please send me these badges:

Op-shopper Extraordinaire

Quick & Social Showerer

Obsessive Switcher Offer

careful Cook

Foot Power

I’d also like to receive the World Sweet World email newsletter (news and updates)

World Sweet World: Issue #05 55 Story Time: so fair, so good

So fair, so good

By Annabel Youens

Photo thanks to Justin Purser at Trade Aid

I

drink coffee every day and I fully admit, I don’t want to stop. It’s a ritual, a comfort and a long-time friend.

Coffee has helped me through boyfriends, University papers, my move to NZ and many, many novels. But lately I’ve been wanting to find out if I’m making the best coffee choices. I want to know where my coffee comes from and who’s benefiting from my dollar.

So I looked to my community and strolled down the street to visit Matt Lamason, the director and founder of Peoples Coffee in Newtown.

Matt thought about starting Peoples Coffee while he was studying development politics and working part-time as a barista in Brisbane. He was drawn to the artistic and vibrant coffee culture and knew he wanted to be involved, when an idea sparked.

“The coffee trade is hugely beset with poverty, and I figured you could merge the ideas of trading with poor growers, and with how we buy our coffee.”

And from the first espresso, Peoples Coffee have roasted, grounded and tamped 100% fair trade, organic beans. For Matt and his team it’s about quality at every level, starting with the beans, which means starting with the people who grow them.

56 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: so fair, so good

“The coffee trade is hugely beset with poverty and I figured you could merge the idea of trading with poor growers, with how we buy our coffee.”

Back in 2004, when Peoples Coffee appeared on the scene, Matt had far less variety of green fair trade beans to choose from. But now he works closely with Trade Aid, who use their bulk buying power to broker most of the fair trade coffee coming in to New Zealand. And while Matt uses Trade Aid New Zealand to import his beans, their relationship has grown and extends to more than just logistics and prices. “Trade Aid have real wisdom and they advocate all kinds of important social and economic issues.

Plus they’re in it for the distance and that’s a key factor.”

It’s this kind of partnership that gave Matt a chance to visit Colombia and Peru, as part of a Trade Aid delegation. “These trips are necessary because they really confront us with the humility and goodness of our growers; they’re just so hospitable. It is very motivating, and at the same time you have to stay measured emotionally,” says Matt.

And once Matt is back in Newtown his experiences and good-will is passed on to the consumer through his coffee. “Our goal at Peoples Coffee is to better the lives of growers and carry our customers on that journey.”

For Matt, clearly knowing where his beans come from and how he’s supporting these growers is critical to his vision. With this knowledge he can openly share his stories with his customers. But what does fair trade really mean for the growers themselves?

The fair trade practice basics:

• A social premium or extra payment for the co-operative - these funds are used for local projects like schools for their children (who would otherwise receive no education), medical centres (for immediate treatment, without significant travel), improved water supplies (many have no local, clean water sources), or environmental programmes (erosion is a huge problem in many coffee-growing areas).

• The wider benefits of being in a co-operative - crop and harvest improvement techniques, efficiencies in processing and shipping, strength in negotiation and access to social services like health care and credit.

• Regular and reliable future orders - growers can use this regular income to maintain, plan and improve their basic standard of living.

Photo by kate macpherson

• A guaranteed minimum price - so growers can meet basic needs, like coming up with the food to feed their families. And a guaranteed floor price stops farmers from having to borrow money at crippling interest rates when world coffee prices drop.

World Sweet World: Issue #05 57 Story Time:

58 World Sweet World: Issue #05 Story Time: so fair, so good

“If it’s fair trade coffee, but it tastes bad, it’s just guilt coffee.”

With over thirty years of experience, Trade Aid works directly with FLO (the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International) to support growers and abide by the best-practice fair trade principles.

On their website, Trade Aid’s coffee mission statement says: “Trade Aid believes that the most effective way we can help growers is to buy coffee under conditions set out under an internationallyrecognised definition of fair trade – and then to provide additional support to growers through our deep commitment to best-practice fair trade and in response to each trading partner’s specific needs.”

Trade Aid work in an incredibly open and transparent way. It’s so easy to find information about the growers, the practices and the success stories. And yet, some people still think a fair trade label is a token logo.

“Yeah, I’ve heard the argument that fair trade means prices don’t go back to the farmers, but instead they go to bureaucracy,” says Matt.

And Justin Purser, the Coffee Manager from Trade Aid, has heard similar claims that the fair trade logo is just a “marketing con.”

But it’s clear that New Zealanders are learning more about certification standards and aren’t prepared to buy a coffee just because it’s got an earth logo. And that brings us right back to our roasters.

Many New Zealand roasters have come to recognise that buying and selling fair trade coffee makes good business sense.

Fair trade coffee volumes continue to grow around 40% each year.

In 2008, Trade Aid imported 686 tonnes of fair trade coffee and

World Sweet World: Issue #05 59

Peoples coffee photo by kate macpherson, other photos thanks to Justin Purser at Trade Aid

Story Time: so fair, so good

“We have not had any clients like you before, who have even shared with us their trading results (whether good or bad), much less one who is willing to share any profits with their suppliers!” CENFROCAFE co- operative, Peru

supplied 74 roasters, compared to just 47 tonnes of coffee and 19 roasters in 2004.

Justin says, “Really, roasters are starting to see fair trade coffee as a viable business model and a really good way to go. More and more people are concerned about where their coffee is coming from. And fair trade coffee is an effective and realistic way to help people.”

So I asked Justin if I could simply just look for the fair trade logo to know I was making a good choice. “Well, that’s really just too simplistic. You need to look at the values of the business and see what’s happening all along the chain. Find out who is supplying the coffee and whether they’re working in sync,” he says.

Matt firmly believes the first thing you should look for in coffee is quality. “It’s all about quality in the cup. After all, if it’s fair trade coffee, but it tastes bad, it’s just guilt coffee.” And I think that’s probably a smart way to appease my coffee obsession and my social responsibilities.

I do have my favourite baristas (Hello Mike, Hannah and Bex!) and my favourite coffee stop.

They make a smooth, rich and full flat white.

Luckily they use Hummingbird coffee who began co-importing fair trade organic beans six years ago. And while not all their coffee is 100% fair trade, they clearly label the blends that do, and for me that makes all the difference. It’s about taking steps, making changes in your business, and recognising that you can be successful and support the chain along the way. And like Matt says, “Fair trade is not a moral high ground; it’s not black and white, but it is a response.”

So, have a think about your coffee: where do your beans come from? What kind of relationship does the roaster have with the grower? Why do or don’t they use fair trade coffee?

Start the conversations and see if you can give even more back, when you buy your next flat white.

If you’d like to get in touch, please flick me an email: annabel@annabelyouens.com. Thanks to Matt at Peoples Coffee and Justin at Trade Aid for all their help.

60 World Sweet World: Issue #05 the gallery

The gallery Cheap and cheerful rates to advertise in the gallery. Pick from three tasty ad formats! + Email ads@worldsweetworld.com for more info, or download a rate card from www.worldsweetworld. com/advertise if you’d like to join the party.

Create with us...

In our new shop at 241 Thorndon Quay or on our websites: › www.nancys.co.nz for unique embroidery and patchwork kits › www.theyarnstudio.co.nz for gorgeous knitting yarns, patterns and needles › www.jenniferpudney.com for fun needlepoint and felt kits

Weekdays 9.30-5.30, Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4 PHONE: 04 473 4047 nancys@nancys.co.nz

Papillon handcrafted sterling silver jewellery www.papillon.felt.co.nz

World Sweet World: Issue #05 61 the gallery

emma

winter 09 clothes instore now www.emmacollections.com

Handmade in New Zealand

free range baby

Vintage inspired wears for small people. www.freerangebaby.co.nz

www.supervery.com

Jewellery made with love

World Sweet World: Issue #05 63 Story Time: striking chords

Striking chords

By Anna Ridley

I

nstrument lovers, read no further. What follows is an account of how one Christchurch woman unceremoniously gutted her husband’s piano, only to scatter its members across various parts of the family property.

On moving back to Christchurch after four years in Arrowtown, the McKie family took a ruthless approach to lightening the trailer load. The piano that had once been practised on by Jim, his sister, and now his daughter, was an heirloom too precious to abandon; but its weight, in combination with a steep Heathcote Valley driveway, prompted Catherine McKie to consider retiring it to other uses.

“I began one night when Jim was out. I started unscrewing what screws I could find, but whenever I thought I’d got the last one, the body still wouldn’t open.”

Eventually the local architects from Jim’s office were called in to play ‘find the last bolt’, with home-baked chocolate cake as a prize for the winner. “The last screw was the toughest and was finally removed by using a crescent at the tip of a screwdriver. Unfortunately in the end, the cake wasn’t very good, but we eventually had a winner and ultimately, the piano came apart!”

The weight culprit was revealed: a thuggish steel frame with an armour of taught steel strings. Should you wish to follow the McKies’ example in recycling a piano, this is the part where you put your safety gear on. Despite Jim’s caring efforts to undo rather than sever the piano strings, the forces proved too delicate to control. So out came the wire cutters. In an evening of chaotic pinging, every note was flung wildly into the air before the strings coiled back onto themselves – a therapeutic experience for anyone who has endured the pain of endless scales or The Blue Danube.

The piano case, now liberated, was carted off North with the rest of the furniture while the McKie family embarked on their own journey homeward on foot (another story involving hail storms, camping, three children under the age of eleven and a cart made from two bicycles and a real estate sign). Remnants of the steel body were later found at a nearby scrap metal yard. Judging from the evidence, it is suspected the

64 World Sweet World: Issue #05

body was broken down with a hammer, small enough to fit into a car boot, and dumped before the McKie’s getaway.

Now safely at home in Christchurch, the McKie piano is more popular than ever. Under the lid you’ll find a nest of tapes, pens and anything handy; beneath the keyboard, in the main body of the instrument, a heartily full belly of books. The torso of the piano is yet to have two hinges attached and a shelf installed for craft bits to reside in. “My friend, who is a musician, was deeply grieved at what we were doing. So I gave her the ivory keys. We tried to think of uses for them – tiles, picture frames, but I think they are now in the best hands. Looking at the bundle of keys lying helplessly in the bag before handing them over, I realised I could have at least marked which one was middle C.” Hook-shaped frame supports from under the piano keyboard have proved perfect for suspending Catherine’s patchwork curtains (a handy tip – keep your eye on off-cut bins in furniture and home decorating shops for upholstery sample books) and the foot pedals have been promoted to greater heights, now operating as latches on the garden gate. “I’m not an artist, but rather a creative practitioner. I like to use things that are around me, preferably if they are scrounged, found or a bargain, to create something practical.” Although now musically redundant, the McKie’s reincarnated piano proves that there need be no limit to your imagination when it comes to re-using and recycling – even if it’s family.

Another one of those London-based kiwis, Anna is a Picture Researcher at Tate Britain by trade and is a picture maker for fun. She enjoys making something out of nothing, particularly clothes, and is always on the lookout for a good coffee.

web: www.craft2.org email: craft@craft2.org

April 11th 10am till 3pm.

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