Natural Nursery Blog

Had a lovely morning yesterday, manning the Exeter Steiner School stall at the Exeter Eco-Fayre.  This is the first time I have been to the Eco-fayre and was pleased to see how many people came.  There was a lovely atmosphere, helped along by the band outside. 

I met lots of interesting people, including Robin Currie of Barchester Green Investment who has promised to brave my financials, sort out pensions and like, all using ethical investments.

The fabby Book Cycle people were there and I bought some new books – a great science experiment book that P and E are making a mess with in the garden as I write and Little House on the Prairie.  I never really saw the programmes as a child (no television) so I have been completely blown away by how little the settlers had, how much adversity they had to overcome, yet how happy they were.  Yes, I know this is pure fiction and through very rosy glasses (nothing is mentioned about the “resettlement” of the native population that’s for sure) but it is still lovely to imagine a world where people are happy without vast rooms full of stuff.

The next Eco-fayre will be on Saturday 30th May at the St Sidwells Centre, Sidwell Street, Exeter.

Hopefully see you there.

Arabella

from the BBC website:

Women who breastfeed their babies may be lowering their own risk of a heart attack, heart disease or stroke, research suggests.

A US study found women who breastfed for more than a year were 10% less likely to develop the conditions than those who never breastfed.

Even breastfeeding for at least a month may cut the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The research features in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

You can read the full story on the BBC website.

For the last two seasons we have been having a little help with our organic allotment in the shape of an instant organic garden from Rocket Gardens.

A Rocket Garden is a box jam-packed with organic baby plants packed in golden straw ready to be planted out in your garden, terrace or window sill.

Each garden full of plants chosen with care – from the organic children’s garden specially selected to appeal to children to the patio garden of plants suitable for families that don’t have space for a vegetable patch.

The plants are grown in unheated greenhouses in Cornwall and are certified by Soil Association, meaning you get healthy, hardy plants and yummy vegetables to eat straight from the garden.

These instant gardens are fantastic to grow with children – they can see the results straight away and get to eat fresh food straight off the plant.

We have had great success with these gardens – we have been regularly cropping all through the winter, have been able to give huge baskets of fresh produce away to friends and the chickens have been eating greens to their hearts content.

Our school has a number of events coming up in the next few weeks:

Saturday May 9th
Coffee morning
St. Stephen’s Church, High Street, Exeter, 10 – 12.30

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Saturday May 16th – May Fayre
11-4pm
Maypole dancing, stalls, children’s activities, organic cafe

If you would like more details, do look at the Exeter Steiner School website

You can see our range of childrens books on our site. The range is broken down into baby books, toddler books and books for children to make browsing easier for you.

The code you need is “books” – simply pop it into the space during checkout and you will receive a massive 25% off the books!

Any questions or problems, just drop me an email.

Arabella

A report published last month to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight shows that sales of Fairtrade products rose by 43% in 2008 to reach the £700 mark.

This is fantastic news and shows just how important the ethical market has become to UK consumers.

You can find out more about the Fairtrade Mark at their website – http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/