Jam Jar Wasp Trap

I’ve always been fond of creepy crawlies from a very young age. However I have an ambivalent attitude towards wasps. During the summer they perform a useful function, preying on pests and generally going about their business, occasionally becoming a nuisance when their nests are in close proximity to humans with food.

Some people may suffer an extreme reaction, going into anaphylactic shock from a single sting and there have also been cases where multiple stings have brought on heart attacks. If you are stung once, wasps release a pheromone that marks you as a target, and unless you back away from the beasties you are likely to be stung again. If you have been stung it is recommended to change your clothes and shower or you will be susceptible to further attacks.

As autumn approaches the workers become redundant and are booted out of the nest which goes into hibernation. Around the same time there are quantities of fermenting fruit to be found lying on the ground. This is when wasps turn nasty; homeless, drunk and belligerent.

Having recently been stung under the armpit by one of the little buggers my thoughts turned to my murderous youth when I would set about exterminating wasps with a passion.

The easiest method involves a finished jar of jam. Simply make a few holes in the lid with a hammer and large nail, half fill the jar with water with a drop of washing up liquid, and place somewhere away from people. The wasps have a superb sense of smell and will crawl through the holes in the lid to reach the remnants of the jam. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water so as they fall in they drown quickly. This might sound a bit grisly but it is far better than the neurotoxins found in aerosol wasp killers, and they are probably drunk anyway!!



Sell by date reaches it’s sell by date

The government has taken steps to simplify the confusion over food date stamps by scrapping the ‘sell by’ date. This date is only for the guidance of shop workers and has no relevance to food safety but often leads to perfectly good food being wasted.

Research has shown that confusing food labeling is a major reason why UK households throw away more than five million tonnes of food that is still edible each year.

New guidelines, produced with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), stipulate that packaging should only carry ‘use by’ labels to show that a food must be eaten by that date, and ‘best before’ to indicate that food may have passed its best, but is not dangerous to consume.
The British Retail Consortium warned Defra not to "blame" retailers' use of ‘display until' labels for adding to food waste.
"If the government really wants to make a difference to reducing food waste it should be educating consumers about the two basic terms – use-by and best-before. This system is carefully used by retailers and it isn't complicated," said Andrew Opie, food director at BRC.

While it is important to be aware of ‘use by’ dates, especially when preparing food for at risk groups such as the very young, very old or infirm, a degree of common sense can be used. After all, a cheese that has been matured for 18 months will not suddenly become unsafe to eat 14 days after being packed.  Similarly, a piece of chicken that has been sitting in a hot car for four hours will probably have gone off in the fridge well before it’s’ use by’ deadline.



Vegetables for Vouchers



So what do you do with all the surplus of fruit and vegetables from your garden or allotment?

Increasingly popular are vegetables for vouchers schemes run by restaurants. The restaurant gets fresh, locally produced, seasonal produce and the suppliers enjoy the fruits of their labours, professionally prepared, at a discount price.

So why not approach your favourite local eatery & see if you can strike a deal? However, don’t just turn up on their door step with boxes of your finest produce as they will probably have already what they require from regular suppliers.

 Instead, make a list of what you expect to have spare, and when it will be at it’s best for harvesting. You and the Chef can then strike a deal, but it will have to be in a quantity that will make it worth while.  You might have some success with more unusual crops that are not always available commercially such as damsons & quince.

If you can claim, hand on heart, that the produce has been produced without the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides, this will also help your chances of a good deal.

Food Deserts 2

The question of how to feed cities may be one of the biggest contemporary questions, yet it's never asked: we take for granted that if we walk into a store or a restaurant, food will be there, magically coming from somewhere. Yet, think of it this way: just in London, every single day, 30 million meals must be provided. Without a reliable food supply, even the most modern city would collapse quickly. And most people today eat food of whose provenance they are unaware.

Architect and author Carolyn Steel uses food as a medium to "read" cities and understand how they work. In her book Hungry City she traces -- and puts into historical context -- food's journey from land to urban table and thence to sewer. Cities, like people, are what they eat.

Food Deserts 1

It may not be obvious but it is quite possible for people living in the heart of a modern, first world city, to be at risk nutritionally. The chief executive of the supermarkets' own research organisation acknowledges that old and poor people will have serious problems over where to buy food because of the growth of superstores and the lack of town centre stores.

 For those who do not have their own transport and cannot afford extra delivery charges, their food choice becomes limited to a small area around where they live. This will often be restricted to fast food outlets and small, expensive corner shops. The poor diet leads to obesity and other health problems, which complicates employment and mobility issues, compounding the damage. This lack of access to healthy fresh food is the definition of a food desert.

Research leads us to believe that even for the better-off and mobile, the advantages of supermarkets are beginning to be outweighed by the drawbacks The decline of the town centre is well documented and attributable, at least in part, to the development of out-of-town shopping centres. The big retailers' claims to efficiency in transport are bogus. Much freight transport is unnecessary - produce could be sold locally. More than a third of the increase in freight transport since the late Seventies has been for food, drink and tobacco - which together account for less than one-tenth of the economy. Next time you use a motorway, count the supermarket trucks. No wonder the big retailers are such lavish supporters of the British Road Federation.



Benefits from a Recession

They say it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. The EU has reported the recent recession saw greenhouse gas emissions drop by a record 7.2 percent; however, how low they'll stay as the EU recovers is another matter.

Conspicuous consumption and obscene wastage have slowed dramatically in the face of the recession. Experts believe that a number of factors have contributed to this remarkable fall, including a shift in public attitudes away from wasteful living; a drop in the amount of white goods, such as washing machines and TVs, being thrown out; and a fall in construction waste, as the recession affects the number of building projects.

As food waste directly affects food supply and demand and consequently food prices, reduction in food waste has the power to have a strong effect on food price levels. As our income is reduced, we waste less food, which then helps to bring demand down, which helps to reduce costs.

More good news comes from a study into the Earth's recovery from a prehistoric global warming event when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were high has found that the Earth bounced back far faster than previously thought. However, that news still isn't good for humanity as the period was still 30,000 to 40,000 years.



Glastonbury Mud Miracle

Just returned from Glastonbury Festival and it was another muddy one. Over 200,000 people traipsing over soggy ground creates a very sticky morass.

Anyway, while seeking some late night sustenance my foot actually stuck fast and I tipped forward, putting my hand down to the ground to steady myself. Up it came, covered in brown gloop. To clean it off (hand wash facilities are quite sparse) I headed to a wire fence and used this to scrape myself clean. With an ominous clink my wedding ring flew off, in the dark, through the fence, into the undergrowth.

After about 20 minutes scrabbling in the dark, with my hand under the fence, getting covered in nettle stings, I decided to give up. Luckily I had the presence of mind to line up the fence with a noodle stall and another one selling Moroccan tagines.

Back at camp there was a lot of shaking of heads and expressions of hope that my wife would take the news well.  

The next day I set off to find the fence again. Despite a half mile walk I was able to spot the same two food stands. And yes there was the fence, which still had mud hanging where I had been scraping it off. I managed to jump into the enclosed area (a water course) a bit further round and then back to opposite where I had been standing the previous night. Ten minutes of scraping through mud and nettles, there by a miracle, was my ring.

I phoned my wife excitedly to say that I had found my wedding ring, which was the first she new of the matter. Well, I had to have found it first.