...Making kids aprons! Miss 6 has two girls' birthday parties to attend this Saturday, so yesterday I bought some fabric and sewed two hot pink child-sized aprons. Considering I have next-to-no sewing experience I think they turned out really well! I will post a separate post about them - with pics - after I finish this :-)
Making: ...Choc chip smartie biscuits, using this recipe. YUM!
...Two and half bottles of tomato sauce, using organic Black Russian tomatoes (it's a very dark sauce and smells divine). Unfortunately they weren't my tomatoes as mine are finished now and I didn't get enough off them to bottle, but they are locally-grown, so the next best thing.
...Two bottles of oven-dried marinated Roma tomatoes (also not mine, but locally-grown, organic and on special; gotta love the height of tomato season), which started out looking like this:
And ended up looking like this:
They were then bottled and covered in olive oil. They should last about two weeks in the fridge. I really wanted to do them in the solar cooker, but there hasn't been any sunny days here for weeks! Bah.
...Tomato paste, seasoned with fresh basil and rosemary, using the rest of the Roma tomatoes.
Picking: Eggplants, eggplants and more eggplants.
Dinner: Ratatouille and crusty bread.
Challenge/s: Covering the mountain of school books Miss 6 bought home, in an environmentally-friendly manner. The school specified that the books must be covered in plastic-coated contact or similar. Argh! Six rolls of the much-cursed stuff later, I ended up with this massive pile of detritus:
What am I supposed to do with that lot?! The backing sheets are plastic-coated so can't go in the recycling bin, or the compost or worm farm, and they have writing and a grid pattern on theback so we can't even use them for drawing on before throwing it away. Plus the plastic wrapping from the rolls, plus all the little leftover bits I had to cut off (the girls used them to make stickers at least). It won't be long before I have a pile three times the size of that when all the girls are at school. I can sort of understand that covering the books in paper alone won't last the whole year without ripping and looking tatty, but all that plastic and waste just isn't good for the environment!Solution/s: No clue! Suggestions anyone?
13 comments:
Hi,
I came across a great idea for covering school books that I am going to have a look at for next year. Hardware stores stock large rolls of heavy duty " builders plastic ". The plastic can be used to cover the books and could possibly be re-used the next year after a quick wipe down as it would be attached with sticky tape.
Along the lines of Jamavon's suggestion you could think about using cellophane.
The real stuff is actually a plant material that is compostible and such. It wouldn't be as tough as contact or builders plastic so depending on how hard your girls generally are on their books this might not be a good option.
Kind Regards
Belinda
I am jealous. Those tomatoes look delish and your grass is so green. Our front lawn is a dustbowl. It's horrible!
I can choose what to do about contact so I've only covered textbooks (they are expensive and can be passed down or sold if in good condition) and haven't bothered with the rest. Could you cover with the old-fashioned sheets of plastic (taped in place)? At least then you wouldn't have to worry about the backing.
Kate
Cellophane was what I thought, too. Then I thought, you could just do what libraries do and only tape the edges of the books - that is where they rip and wear most.
Or you could ignore the whole 'cover the books in plastic thing' and just explain to your child's teachers that you will recover the books (with paper) if/when they become too tatty. I used to teach year one and two and they are very hard on their books. Most of the parents of kids I taught couldn't afford to/be bothered to cover their kids books. By midway through the year they were starting to look tatty, but by then the books were all but full anyway and needed replacing.
Most of the books your girl will use will not be kept for all time, so why bother covering? Just cover the ones you choose to keep at the end of the year - and you could cover them with some artwork.
As for the solar cooker - me too! Darn thing is gathering dust in this weather. Not complaining about the rain. I wouldn't recommend trying to dry stuff in it though - it doesn't have a dry heat like an oven as it traps moisture in. I have heard that a car's dashboard on a hot day is a good place to dry things but it might take a couple of days and you need to bring the things in at night.
I love the picture of your garden!
If your books are the standard quarto or A4 size you can purchase slip on plastic covers which can then be "slipped off" and reused the following year or for other books as the year goes on. I bought some for my son at our local newsagent. Hope this helps.
Those tomatos look delish....
Here in the states we have cloth book covers in denim and funky spandex like stuff - yeah maybe not as enviro as organic cotton or hemp but my eldest used her covers for fours years of highschool and then passed them along to her sister who's currently using them in grade 5. They look like they could still get a couple more years and there's nothing tacky left on the books, no detrius, and no plastic.
Those dried tomatoes look YUM, we have them smooshed on bread with a blob of ricotta and heaps of chopped fresh herbs, mmmmmmm...
How do you make tomato paste??
Ah see, I knew you guys would come through for me :-)
Excellent suggestions guys, I love them. I was actually thinking about how I could make some reusable ones myself last night, that are like dustjackets, so thanks Robbie I didn't know you could buy them, I'll have a look, and I really like the fabric slipcover idea tameson, thanks!
That's another thing to put on my To Do List to make this year, ready for next year!
Kate You wouldn't think it wa the same lawn we had just a year ago when it was also dusty and pitiful looking! That's the great thing about grass, you abandon it and as soon as it rains (!) it comes good so quickly. Of course, ours is now 4 foot high and needs mowing twice a week, and I can't use the hand mower because it's too wet all the time...
Jo, to make tomato paste you just chop them up and simmer them for a few hours (blend them up with a stick blender when they get mushy enough) until they have reduced into a nice, thick paste (be careful towards the end that it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan). I add herbs and salt and pepper too, but be careful with the amounts as you don't it too overpowering when it all reduces down.
Suz, I was thinking about leaving the lid of the solar cooker ajar while drying the tomatoes to let the steam out, do you think that would work? I figured that the cooker would work faster than just sitting them out on trays in the sun, because the mirror concentrating the suns rays would make them hotter even with the lid open?
Cheers, Julie
For the backing of the contact. Surely you could use the grid pattern for designing your cloth covers. Most would be the right size so you can use them as a template. You could also use them as a design template for other creations that need measurements
The reusable book covers that Robbie talked about, you can also get them in small exercise book size (as well as A4 - tbh I have tnever seen them in A4 but we used them all the time in primary for smaller sized exercise books).
Mum also used to cut out pages from Where's Wally and similar styles of books and use them to cover our books (with contact on top) and at the end of the year she would keep the cover and we'd keep them around the house for when we were bored and wanted to do a Where's Wally. Less friendly than completely reusable but at least it did get reused in some capacity.
Give it a try - let me know how it goes! You might have to think about insects, though.
Hi Bron, Ahh, great minds think alike :-) I was looking at the pile of backing paper last night and thinking almost the same thing - they would be great to use as making templates for kids clothes or craft stuff.
Hi Cat, I was thinking I might do something similar with my resuable covers if I don't use fabric, it's a good idea, thanks :-)
Suz, I'll definitely let you know :-) And yep, I thought about insects, but I have some leftover flywire from a repair job I can probably stretch across the top/ opening to keep out the nasties (I hope).
Cheers, Julie
Maybe you could use the backs of the contact to make up sewing patterns - the plastic covered paper would be sturdy enough to put pins through and still be able to use them again...Mum used to put all her dress patterns on my Dad's old building plans!
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