Beautiful and Useful
October 18, 2009
I am on a no waste campaign after listening to Tristram Stuart at a Studioilse Kitchen Table Talk, about the shocking way in which we waste food. His book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal reveals how much food gets chucked away right across the food supply system. Consider just this one fact: from the bread and other grain-based products that British households throw away each year, Stuart estimates it would be possible to alleviate the hunger of 30 million people. That sounds at first like an improbably large number ‚Äö?Ñ?¨ until one considers that British households chuck away 2.6bn slices of bread each year.
I was brought up with the concept of not wasting food because both my parents were world war 11 children, but my daughter sees little harm in binning a perfectly good but one day out of date yoghurt, “Mum, you’ll give us all food poisoning” she protests, sinking her teeth into a Big Mac.
Tristram would give the thumbs up, though, to my apple gathering in the garden. We have had three apple puddings and as many crumbles in the last fortnight. Not only have copious sheets of the Guardian been recycled, but the trays of newspaper wrapped apples in the cellar will last weeks.I’m planning to send a specimen – fruit and leaves – to the National Fruit Collection who for a tenner, will attempt to identify it. The tree’s pretty old so I’m hoping its some long lost variety.
The 19C architect and designer William Morris’s belief ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ is a resourceful, and anti-waste idea to embrace now. That doesn’t mean you have to buy exquisite and expensive: think of the humble pudding basin, it looks good and serves its function for very little money. Similarly, a useful junk piece with intrinsically good bones, can be given a facelifit with a lick of paint.
See my latest Youtube where I perk up a rather gloomy looking side table, rescued from a local skip. This is a good way, too, of using up paint that you might have left over- another way of reducing waste. Don’t worry if all you have is emulsion. I know that paint purists wouldn’t approve but I use it all the time to paint bits of furniture. A water based primer, and two top coats of colour is all that you need. Here I’ve used Little Greene’s Salix which is a pale greeny blue colour.
When I do get around to mending things, the relief and sense of purpose, and happy thoughts of money saving are so huge that I don’t know why I didn’t do it long before. For the last year or so, the dog has been regularly falling through the Salvation Army Ercol sofa because the webbing has worn through in the middle. Being lightweight, the cat doesn’t have this problem, and humans know how to avoid the caved in bit. So I am so excited to have come across the Upholstery Supply Man who is sending me replacements.All I have to do is fit them……
My last swim at the lido was two weeks ago: the day golden and still with maturing shadows; the air warm but with a chill; the water sparkling and fresh. Wistful, now that there won’t be any swims until spring. But to look on the bright side of things there are the dahlias: old English teatime flouncy petals that make me think of Erdem’s digital floral printed dresses, one of which to waft about in, top of my current wish list.
Comments (11) Tags: autumn, colour, flower power, garden, get crafty
That book is going onto my Christmas wishlist. I grew up under many lectures about food waste, and I still cringe whenever I clean out the fridge and see a whole kitchen garbage bag filled with unused food.
Comment by Amanda Nicole | October 18, 2009 @ 4:45 pmI love the side table, it looks so pretty in its new colour!
Comment by Haust | October 18, 2009 @ 7:55 pmWe often quote William Morris here. My husband, especially. It is the mantra of our declutter days. Thank you for this thought-provoking and beautiful post!
Comment by liza | October 18, 2009 @ 10:39 pmhi jane,
i am (trying at least) living up to the no-wasting policy. i am from the nation, japan, that has a long history of the policy, you may know.
meanwhile, i really miss english apples such as cox and granny smith.
have a beautiful english autumn!
keiko
Comment by kt@serendipity | October 19, 2009 @ 1:50 amMy local council gave out ‘waste diaries’ to anyone who wanted one and if one filled it out for a week and sent it in they sent a small recipe book.
They also give free measuring cups and devices for rice and spaghetti.
I knew I wasted very little because I weigh pasta and rice. I also use leftovers, when we have any.
That ptogramme about getting people to live more cheaply – the family who shoved mountains of food into their waste disposal – those with five kids – I did wonder if they would have thought differently if given the monetary equivalent to push down that space.
Throwing away food is like throwing away pound notes!! (Well, five pound notes!)
Comment by Isabelle | October 19, 2009 @ 12:28 pmI love that quote by William Morris… Your painted table looks lovely – paint can be such a wonderful way of giving new life to something that may have otherwise been discarded… And I love the photos on this post – the color combination is stunning…
-maria
Comment by vintage simple | October 22, 2009 @ 1:11 pmI’ve always liked that saying by Morris, and have long felt that way about the things in my own home. No matter what it is, even of the things I collect, if it’s not useful or beautiful in some way there’s no place for it. I simply don’t have excess room for unnecessary items.
As for food waste…It’s always been shocking to me how much food we toss out on a daily basis. Not just at the source, but even later on. We over buy, we over cook, we often over eat, and what’s left we throw away. There are people right here in this country who could use that food. It might very well be our own neighbors. There’s no sense in it.
And don’t get me started on the waste that occurs at restaurants!
Sounds like an interesting book.
Comment by Carole | October 23, 2009 @ 7:52 pmExcellent post. Good reminder for all of us.
Comment by Anita | October 28, 2009 @ 7:27 pmThanks for a great post. I went to one of the other kitchen table talks – about growing food in the city and sustainability. Amazingly – not full. Yikes………… there is some way to go. The saddest thing the the speakers campaign was government funded. Once the funding ends next year, there isn’t enough money to keep it going……
Comment by Cassandra | November 9, 2009 @ 6:30 pmI just love that William Morris quote. I remember it every time I am cleaning out closets…do I love this? Is it useful?
Great blog. I love your photographs.
Comment by Cynthia At A Shimmy In My Spirit | November 12, 2009 @ 12:24 amI think Dhalias are the most perfect looking flowers!
Comment by Beth | January 18, 2010 @ 11:42 pm