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My little girl is turning one in a few weeks, and I am very excited about giving her the perfect 1st birthday. I realise that a 1st birthday is more for the parents than the child, but when she’s a bit older, I want her to know that I made the day special. I am a bit worried though about what to provide for snacks and treats for all the kids. I don’t think their parents would appreciate me providing snacks that are chock a block with sugar, as that will cause an sugar rush and then an epic sugar crash. I have always been resistant to things with too much sugar and the harm it can do to your body. According to an article in Time magazine about the truths of sugar, fructose (the molecule that makes sugar sweet) when taken in excess can cause fatty liver disease and eventually causes obesity, heart disease and diabetes.So I have decided to have a sugar free party, that looks good and has food that I won’t be worried about giving to my daughter and her friends.

The Cake: Obviously every birthday party has to have a cake that is both fun and delicious, and luckily I have found a company that can make a chocolate birthday cake (my daughter’s favourite) while making sure that it is sugar free. The Heavenly Cake Company makes handmade cakes for a huge range of dietary requirements. So I can trust them to make the perfect cake for the big day.

The Food: All I can say is thank goodness for the internet, I have seen loads of helpful articles and tips on how to make delicious food that is not full of sugar. The best website that I came across that gave me tons of ideas was actually Pininterest, all the lovely pictures really got my creative juices flowing, and helped to show me that birthday food can be healthy and tasty at the same time.

The Decorations: Leaving the snacks aside for a moment, a birthday wouldn’t be complete without a whole host of beautiful decorations and birthday supplies that will compliment all of the the wonderful food. My friend recommended Partycare, as not only do they have a great range of products but have a section dedicated to 1st birthdays, which is perfect.

Remember that birthday food should be colourful and full of fun and doesn’t need to be full of sugar in order to achieve this.

In my student days I was happy to have pizza everyday, (cold pizza for breakfast is amazing). For my nights out it would be a cheap rose wine from the local supermarket, that didn’t leave a great taste, but got the job done. At the time it was all I could afford and I didn’t mind that some of the stuff I bought was sub-par by other people’s standards, but it was food and I was hungry. Now that I have left University and have a job, I can actually afford to buy good food, food that is good for me and doesn’t have questionable ingredients. I couldn’t believe what I had been missing out on, I had an epiphany and decided that I would become more particular about what I consumed.

For starters I made sure to avoid ready meals and try and cook all my meals from scratch. Obviously after the horse meat scandal I have become wary of ready meals, and after an article I read on Mail Online, I have sworn them off completely, as even the ‘high end’ ready meals are dodgy. Apparently some luxury meals contain ’77 per cent of the guideline daily amount (GDA) of fat’. So from now on if I want something I will get all the ingredients together and make it myself.

In terms of what I am going to be drinking before a night out, I will be changing my tastes drastically. According to The Independent, when you buy a cheap bottle of wine for £4.59. £2.50 of that is for tax and the price of the bottle, label and closure will add more, ‘leaving less than a £1.00 for the value of the liquid inside the bottle’. I didn’t realise how little quality there was in what I was drinking. Now if I want a bottle, I buy rose wine online, and I can be certain of the standard and quality of the wine.

So if you have a little bit more to spend, then get the good stuff, as they say you only live once.

I bought a house with my partner about 3 years ago, and since then we have had a baby. Soon he will be old enough to want to start playing in the garden, which is, in my opinion, about as safe as the fire swamp in The Princess Bride. It is mostly concrete with unruly grass and hidden rocks all around, it sort of makes me wonder what the old owners were going to do with it. After reading an article on Making the Link, that states that ‘traumatic brain injury accounts for 30% of childhood deaths’, I just started seeing the garden as one massive death trap, one trip and he’d smash his head. The chances of this actually happening are very slim, but I would be constantly worrying and over thinking, so I have decided to get the garden sorted.

My idea for the garden is very simple, lots of grass, a nice flower bed and some space at the back for a garden shed and barbecue. Sure it would be nice to have some decking or a fancy fountain, but this isn’t going to be the house that we live in forever, and getting excessive with the accessories could be harmful when we want to sell. According to The Independent, a good ‘outside space is a selling point’ but think twice before ‘adding decking, paving and water features’ as you will spend more then you will get back. So I don’t mind foregoing my perfect garden in the short term, in the name of safety and making the house more appealing to potential buyers.

I have found a brilliant company, who help with garden design in Surrey and have been very thorough in showing me the designs and plans for my simple and safe garden. It should be finished soon and then finally I can stop worrying and start enjoying it with my son.

I live on a narrowboat, and most narrowboats are made of steel so they last for decades. The doors on the boat though are not made of steel but of wood, and have panes of coloured glass in the middle. I was very happy with this door until recently, when my boat was broken into. The burglar kicked at the door and then smashed the glass panes in order to open up the bolts on the inside. I was there at the time and when they realised, they quickly scarpered. I knew that if I hadn’t been there all of my valuables would have been stolen, and so I started researching ways to make my boat more secure.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department doors are the the primary route that a burglar will take when trying to break into your home,  and ‘doors with glazed panels are inherently less secure than solid doors’. I started my research into what kind of door I should invest in. I have been put off getting a wooden door for obvious reasons and according to Thermatru Doors wooden doors can ‘bow, warp or twist’ depending on the temperature or humidity. Fibreglass doors do not appeal to me and would look so out of place on my boat. So I decided to go for a steel door. They are much less expensive then a solid wooden door, are more secure and are will last for a very long time. Seeing as I am from the North West I did a search for steel doors Manchester and found an excellent company that could make me a a door made to measure, which is quite handy as mine needed to be much smaller then the average door.

I would highly recommend investing in a new door, I feel much more secure knowing that a burglar won’t be able to smash my door down either when I am home or not.

Seeing as we are currently in the midst of the horse meat scandal it is more important then ever that people know where their food is coming from and that the buyer can trust that what they are buying is what they are getting. This is not just important for consumers but for companies as well. After ‘Horse Gate’ many of the large supermarket chains were ousted for having questionable meat in their products, but Sainsburys  has come out unscathed, as an article in The Independent states their profits over the last month ‘have gone up 3.6%’.  Even if your company is not a supermarket chain, you may have provided food to customers, shareholders and your staff at some point or another during a launch party,  shareholder’s meeting or Christmas event. After said event, can you say that you knew exactly where that food had come from and what was in it? If not then it might be a time to get more involved in finding out whether the caterers you are getting your food from source organically and are clued up on fair trade.

Though fair trade may not be one of your companies priorities, it is becoming more and more important to the average consumer. Figures from the Fair trade Foundation show that there was a a 19% increase on fair trade sales in 2012 and according to Soil Asscoiation in the wake of the ‘Horse Gate’ scandal, total supermarket organic food sales increased ‘to their highest level in 9 months’, showing that consumers are choosing the integrity of a product over cheapness.

So if your company has a launch party for a product coming up and want to make sure they are in tune with the food consumers of the UK, then they should look for a  caterer who provides delicious food that is fair trade and organically sourced. I can recommend Organic Spirit, they are an organic and fair trade catering company and I was lucky enough to  sample some of their food at a work fundraiser. Their food was delicious and I wasn’t worried about what was in it and happily went up for seconds and thirds.

So give your company and guests piece of mind and give fair trade function food a go, that’s advice right from the horse’s mouth, and then at least you know your food won’t be.

Growing your own veg is not only super efficient to the environment, its efficient in reducing your food bill. We live in an age where a pack of frozen chicken nuggets costs less than a broccoli and slowly our nation is becoming more at risk with childhood obesity. Eating fresh veg not only gives you the nutrients you need to stay healthy, it gives kids and adults alike more energy and get up and go. It makes for exciting meals, such as a vegetable bake or vegetable stir fry.

Growing vegetables is also a fun and worthwhile past time. Caring for and nurturing your vegetables as they grow only takes up a short amount of your time and the results happen before you know it. Here is a quick guide on some of the basic veg to grown, its benefits and care instructions.

Carrots

Carrots are root vegetables and as with all root veg, you need good quality soil to begin the germination process. Digging thoroughly through your soil and removing any weeds or stones will help the root to spread lower, giving your root veg more anchorage and helping them to grow to their potential full size. Growing in a greenhouse will be more beneficial to carrots as you can help to keep away carrot fly easier and give warmth to your veg.

It’s best to sow carrot seeds in the early spring of March or April, any earlier as you will need fleecing to protect the seedlings any earlier than this. Sow your seeds lightly, only 1inch deep and make sure your sowing is thinly spread and equal.

Carrots don’t actually need much attention apart from regular watering so the root doesn’t turn woody. And come June-July, you should start pulling up your carrots as they will have reached their potential size.

Potatoes

Chitting is a term used to describe the sprouting of potato seeds before planting. You should start chitting ideally by February and start planting your sprouting potatoes in Mid March to early April.

Potatoes are again a vegetable that don’t take much care once they are planted but ensuring that you planted each tuber 5-7inches deep, with 9-12inches separation from each one will help your potatoes to grow without being crowded. Every week you should unearth your potatoes and make sure just the base of the stem of your seedling is showing.

Onions

Growing onions is quite a tricky task if you don’t have the right soil. They don’t particularly like growing in nitrogen rich soils so stay away from fertiliser and other nitrogen based soils. Onions also don’t like wet soil, they like to be a bit dry enabling them to expand but sucking the moisture available.

Seeds should be sowed from January-February onwards until mid Spring, and should be dispersed randomly as the onions will grow and push away from each other as they expand. They should be sowed at 10-15 degrees Celsius and pushed 5inches into the ground in clumps of no more than 5 or 6 seeds.

Unearth your onions in late September, early October to maximise their growth time, as onions take quite a while to reach their full potential size.

Squash

Growing squash takes careful consideration and a process of elimination. Sow seeds on their sides, about 2 inches deep into well fertilised soil and as the seeds begin to germinate and grow stems, eliminate the weaker seedling. Keeping it will only create crowding for the stronger seedling and could result in both plantings failing.

It is important to keep squash well watered and looked after, as the fruit needs plenty of moisture in order to swell and grow. Like Squash, Courgettes and Marrow are heavily water based, and in order to make their flesh nutritious and moist, they need to be sheltered from too much sunlight.

Unearthing your squash depends on size and type of seed. Squash, such as the butternut variety can grow to up to 20cm in size, but this will take steady watering and many months to reach full maturity.

These types of vegetables can also be kept for a long time after harvesting, as long as they are kept at a temperature between 7.5 and 10 degrees Celsius.

Broccoli

Broccoli is one the best vegetables you can grow at home in your garden or greenhouse. Not only is it ridiculously expensive at the supermarkets, it’s sometimes hard to get hold of. Broccoli is a sought after and popular vegetable because of all the iron and antioxidants it contains. Not only do these help the body to fight off disease, it helps to strengthen our immune systems, which is great news for growing children.

Now, to plant broccoli you can either seed in pots and transfer to soil or seed straight into soil.

If you are seeding straight into soil, then firstly, make sure your soil is rich in moisture and fertiliser. Place your seeds 1/4 of an inch into the soil and about 3 inches apart. As the plant flowers, you will have to dramatically reduce the number of wasteful plants to help your successful germinations break through.

Broccoli is a very thirsty plant and require due care and attention. Be careful not to over water your seeds and drown the plant. As it starts to flower, you will see the heads (broccoli we recognise in a supermarket) start to bloom. Once they have reached full size, about 10cm across in diameter, you are ready to slice away your broccoli from the stalk with a sharp blade.

So there you have it, a quick introduction to growing some basic veg, the BBC website is a fantastic resource for further vegetable growing and seasonal vegetables to take you right through the year. Happy planting.

Household waste is at an all time all across the UK, each home now has numerous bins and areas for recycling and everywhere we go we are constantly being reminded to reuse, reduce, recycle!

Recycling can become a daunting task for many with so many bins each demanding different areas and types of our waste. Sorting and investigating which goes in which bin can often feel like a thankless task which many end up abandoning and just putting all of their waste into the regular household waste bin.

However, there is one easy and simple way to recycle your household waste and that is through composting. Composting is an inexpensive, natural process. Composting is a method which will transform your kitchen and garden waste into a valuable and nutrient rich food for your garden, so you, your garden and the environment all benefit from your effort. Composting is both easy to make and use.

Composting has amazing benefits for your garden and plants. The compost which you create from your waste, which would otherwise just go into landfill, is a nutrient-rich food product for your garden and will help improve soil structure, maintain moisture levels, and keep your soil’s PH balance in check. Composting does all this whilst also helping to suppress plant disease.

You can put all sorts of kitchen and household waste into your composter and can even get small compost collectors to have in your kitchen so that you can conveniently collect all of your waste as it is created. Certain items such as teabags, grass cuttings, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, old flowers and coffee grounds are quick to tor and provide important nitrogen and moisture to your soil and compost. Other waster such as cardboard, egg boxes, sawdust and fallen leaves, take longer to rot, but provide carbon and fibre which allows air pockets to form in your compost.

Composting is a simple and straightforward way to improve your gardens soil and reuse and recycle your household and kitchen waste, which would ordinarily just go into landfill.

A lot of people are feeling the pinch now that energy bills have increased. The Guardian newspaper stated that increases  ”have added 30%-40% to total bills”, which is quite a steep increase especially when the UK may be on the verge of a triple dip recession.

So what can you do to save money on your dreaded energy bills? Well there are a few options, one option could be to install solar panels on your roof. The average cost of a domestic solar PV (photovoltaic) system is around £7,000 and it will cut your yearly energy bills by 25%. If you are worried by the price of a solar PV system you can get involved in a ‘Rent a Roof ‘scheme whereby major energy providers such as British Gas, Eon and Homesun will install the solar panels for free, providing you with the energy you need. You could also make some extra money from your Solar PV system if your home is eligible for the Government’s  ’Feed-In Tariff’. They pay you for the energy that your Solar PV system produces and could make you around £600 a year. This is only available though if you have paid and installed the Solar Panels yourself as with the ‘Rent a Roof’ scheme the energy providers would be paid for the energy produced.

Wind Turbines are also a great way to generate energy for your home. There are three different kinds of wind turbine that you could purchase, roof mounted 1KW microwind system costs around £2,000, a 2.5KW pole-mounted system costs around £15,000 or a 6KW pole-mounted system costs around £22,500.

Wind turbines are also part of the ‘Feed-In Tariff’, so as with Solar Panels you can save on your energy bills and make a bit of money in the process.

Finally you can cut down on your energy bills by getting energy efficient home improvements. There is a new scheme from the Government called ‘The Green Deal’ where some or all of the cost from the improvements will be paid for over time by your energy bill savings. If you use the scheme you could also qualify for hundreds of pounds cashback from ‘The Green Deal Cashback Scheme’, so the more work that is done, the more money you may get back.

With all these different schemes out there not only could home improvements save you money but in the long run make you money as well, and will mean in the future getting energy bills won’t be such a terrifying prospect.

Many people consider their garden to be one of the most important parts of their home and certainly one of the most enjoyable. Your garden is the place where you’ll spend many summer evenings relaxing, having a BBQ with friends and family and generally spending time doing things you enjoy. As such, it’s only right that you have a little luxury in your garden just as you would in your home. You wouldn’t think twice about treating yourself to the latest model of TV or a luxury leather sofa for your living room, so why should you have to think twice about purchasing luxury goods for your garden? As such, we thought we’d take a look at our top 3 suggestions for those wanting to add a little luxury to their garden!

1. Garden Gazebos / Summer Houses
   If you want to spend time in your garden relaxing and enjoying yourself; you can’t get much more luxurious than having a gazebo or summer house as your garden’s centrepiece. Gazebos and summer houses come in a range of styles from those with thatched roofs to those with a more contemporary feel. They offer a fantastic place to relax and read a book or to chat with friends and, withstanding everything else, they look absolutely fantastic as a gardens focal point!
2. Hot Tubs & Spas
   Second on our list is hot tubs and spas! Aside somewhere to sit and shade yourself from the sun, what else beats a hot tub as a luxury garden item? It’s something which we all want but few of us actually get because our garden’s aren’t suitable. Why is this the case though? Treat yourself! You deserve some luxury in your garden and hot tubs can offer somewhere for you to relax and make you the talking point of your friends and family as well! Everyone will be wanting to come round to try it out!
3. Lazy Susans
   Last but not least on our list comes Lazy Susans! Of course you’ll be wanting somewhere to sit and eat outside and you deserve something luxurious! Lazy Susans beat traditional garden tables every time and if you’re wanting a little luxury and comfort for when you’re eating outside, you can’t go wrong with one of these! Treat yourself…you know you want to!

Gardening is an activity many people do on a daily to weekly basis. Commonly people will attend to their own gardens to ensure that they are pruned and look presentable. However, some people garden as a job, this is useful for people who don’t like gardening, people who are unable to garden because of physical impairments or work commitments. Also, some gardeners are used to maintain large scale gardens such as those in public parks or theme parks. Other gardeners are used to landscape an area into something that possesses a unique beauty or displays something easy on the eye.

Gardening is a big business as of recent years due to the collapse of the economy. Many people are choosing to stay at home which will mean that they will be spending more time on creating a nice space for them to enjoy such as their garden. Gardening is a fairly easy activity to do and does not require too much brain power which is a reason many people find it quite relaxing.

Having a nice garden can help create good well-being for a person as a garden can be enjoyed easily and they are nice to relax in or to have summer parties in. Tending to a garden can encourage certain wildlife to come into the garden for example, butterflies and bees are attracted to a garden full of flowers as they possess nectar and pollen for food. Birds are also attracted to gardens throughout the year as they choose places to nest and forage for food.