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Green

I bought Green Parent magazine today, for the first time (I think – I buy magazines at random and might have had it once before, a long time ago). The title looks like it might be my sort of thing, though I knew deep down I probably wasn’t going to like it – but it was a craft issue and Maggie and I are getting quite into craft. After a fashion, given that I have no skill, but we enjoy trying. We made salt dough autumn leaves last month! (Which are still half-finished and on the side in the kitchen: maybe we’ll get them done for next autumn.) I was right – I don’t like it much: it is smug. I could manage it assuming we were home-schooling anti-vaxers, because the clue is there in the title. I probably don’t need an article written in Very Simple Words about how to be friends with normals (!) without offending them, poor ignorant creatures. What I am mostly irritated about is the fact that I am now going to have to write to them: one of their recipes is for coconut ice (this in a magazine that suggests one might not be friends with somebody who eats sausages*). Coconut ice made with condensed milk. I need explain no further to my dedicated reader who hangs on my every word, but for those of you who were perhaps not paying such close attention, I have tried (failed) previously to source condensed milk that is not made by (boo, hiss) Nestle. It just can’t be done. Now, I looooooove condensed milk: it is one of the few products that makes me snap schminciples and buy anyway (the other two being the kitkat and the rolo). But a magazine that is oh-so-ethical such as this should really not be pushing it, don’t you think? I imagine a large proportion of their readership will be boycotting. Must write a letter.

Speaking of bandwagon-jumping crafts, I fear I might be gearing up to knit something. I’ve been holding out for ages simply because everybody in the entire world has taken up knitting. (I knitted a cushion cover when we were in Japan but that is the only thing I have done in the nearly 20 years since I was a girl guide knitting teddy bears.)  I have recently acquired my granny’s cast-off** needles, a big bag of old wool, and today in Oxfam a book of basic knitting techniques fell into my hands.Help!

*I have no idea. Am insufficiently green, clearly.
**Geddit? Ha ha ha.

5 Responses to “Green”

  1. Earthenwitch
    November 19th, 2008 14:46
    1

    I quite like the GP, though I agree that it can be quite irritating in some ways, and the very simple words bit gets a bit boring after a while.

    I also like Juno, which I found a bit less ad-heavy.

    And yes to the boo-hiss Nestle thing.

  2. Karen
    November 21st, 2008 20:41
    2

    I have only ever seen single articles from GP, handed out in tutorials; must get a copy so I can join this heated debate. I’ve looked at Juno online and didn’t feel tempted at all. I did pick up a copy of The Mother recently, but that’s just peculiar. Just as peculiar as you would expect, really.

  3. Earthenwitch
    December 1st, 2008 15:16
    3

    Um – seems someone else agrees re the milk.

  4. Provincial Lady
    December 9th, 2008 18:11
    4

    Hello, I just followed a link to your beayooootiful jewel biscuits (which will be on my christmas tree the minute it comes in from the garden – currently outside, potbound, with no bigger pot to be found…) from the lovely earthenwitch, and came across your nestle dilemma. Checked on Tesco – they do a generic type version in the ethnic aisle, online if they don’t stock Jamaican in your area. Enjoy guilt free gooey goodness! Unless of course you avoid Tesco too… that might get tricky.

  5. Lisa
    December 9th, 2008 18:35
    5

    Thanks, PL! And welcome 😉
    I do avoid Tesco as a general rule, but they are definitely the lesser of two evils here so I’ll give it a go. Our tesco is pretty minute and very much catering to, ahem, the lowest denominator (Chester has *dreadful* supermarkets) but it has to be worth a look!

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