Eco Friendly House And Garden

Are you up to the challenge - to live on a £1 a day? - she says….

Basically this book explains how the author decided to try to live on just a £1 a day for an entire year to save money for her sisters wedding.

And to prove it, she details every little penny she saves and how she does it.  From stealing food out of bins, to hand delivering Christmas cards, and from attending free events at the library for free drinks to hitch-hiking and wild camping!

The Book Itself:
Reading the book is very easy indeed as her writing style flows nicely - however, I did have some issues with the way she did things that really aren’t suitable for everyone.

She also listed endless ways in which she saved money - but not all were very good for the environment - such as ordering free samples of everything she could to use for herself and to give away as presents - as these small products use a huge amount of packaging in relation to the product within.

However, she did use an awful lot of great techniques that can’t do you any harm, like eating less, wasting less and buying reduced price food every day from your local stores.  She also raised a fair amount of money by simply finding it on the floor!  And many of her eco friendly tips can be put into practice immediately!

Attending all the free events did have the role of extra socialising and supporting local businesses and events - but was perhaps somewhat selfish in the fact that she would never join their club/gym/mailing list - she just wanted a warm room and free drinks (probably in disposable plastic cups).

The Author helps to explain how to get things for free - but this started to lean towards the ‘money saving at someone else’s expense’ rather than ‘homesteading and being frugal’! 

She also didn’t take into account any of her normal running costs like rent, bills and running the washing machine (although she was happy to discuss that washing clothes more often extended their lifespan - although how she thought that it washed for free I’m not sure!).  So, her money saving stopped at not spending it rather than saving it from other ‘leaky’ areas - like energy loss.

I totally agree that we can do a certain amount of things for less money - and we can certainly cut down on the amount of things that we buy and therefore waste - but maybe setting such a tight budget was unreasonable in an eco friendly sense. 

Result: 3/5
Although this book was a great read - and I did enjoy her tales and adventures - it is not really that eco friendly: hence the average score. For a general read it would get 4/5, but we are not here for just that - we are here to get eco friendly help and advice and I found myself arguing a bit with her over some of her thinking!

She still uses resources that use up a lot of energy throughout her ‘budget’ year - she just doesn’t pay for them! And in fact a lot of the things she gets for free are ‘trail size’ so are infact less eco friendly in the scheme of things. She also lives a life that is very dependant on others.

She didn’t think about growing her own food or making her own clothes, she just turned up at free local events and ate their food! She used the ‘free’ computers in the library (so the library pays), read endless books while sitting in book shops (ie brand new not paid for books that she put back on the shelf after reading) and still used her washing machine with impunity (well, she’s not ’spending’ the money in cash - it comes out of her bank account invisibly)!

Trying to find ways to be eco friendly can indeed save you money - but money-saving actions are not necessarily eco friendly - and this book proves it!

ISBN: 978-1-906593-12-4

Should you use normal plastic loads of times - or biodegradable plastic just the once?

There have been many recent developments in the plastic industry and the most controversial is the biodegradable versions that we had all waited so long for!

However, there are some unforeseen problems with these new versions - and it is a difficult eco friendly choice between them and ‘normal’ plastics.

See the 2 examples below of the 2 ways in which these plastic can be more eco friendly:

1) Buy a product in a normal plastic bottle and either re-use it forever or recycle it again and again, or;

2) Buy a product in a biodegradable plastic bottle (either HBP or OBP) that contains ingredients that will speed up its bio-degradation or turn it into compost when you dispose of it.

The 2 don’t mix!  It has to be 1 or the other!

What Does Biodegradable Mean?
If you first consider the word ‘biodegradable’ in its general meaning - it is any product (solid or liquid) that will break down naturally into environmentally safe and virtually natural products that can be used by living organisms in around 6 months.

However, there is no legal definition in terms of products in the stores - so anything claiming to be ‘biodegradable’ could be just that - or could be nothing of the sort; even if it has green pattern all over it and a picture of some wildlife on it!

So, what these biodegradable plastics are trying to do is to be better than existing plastics.  They claim that they will break down into less harmful and polluting particles relatively quickly compared to standard plastics, and so will have less of a detrimental effect on wildlife in the long term.

Don’t forget that existing plastics will also break down naturally (in the sense that if you leave a carrier bag part buried in your garden - it will eventually fall apart) but the plastic doesn’t actually disappear, it will just be in ever smaller parts.

Why Biodegradable Plastic Then?
Well, there has been an awful lot of bad press for plastic lately - what with sea turtles swallowing carrier bags and albatross feeding bits of plastic to their young - not to mention the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch that people were looking for a way to make plastic bottles, containers and other products get a lot smaller a lot quicker.

By making a plastic that breaks down as soon as possible means that whole bottles and bags won’t be found floating in the sea killing birds and turtles any more!

Washed Up Plastic Waste

You still need to be aware of the way the products break down though to be most effective - for example the 2 types of biodegradable plastic currently available as HBP (hydro-biodegradable plastic) and OBP (oxy-biodegradable plastic).

And as their name suggests; one needs water to break down quickly and the other needs air - so bury these in bin bags in land fill sites won’t really make either of them disappear any quicker than normal plastics - but imagine they were litter in the countryside or rubbish floating in the Atlantic.

It’s a whole different story then!  They would soon disappear making our wild areas cleaner and safer for living things!

What’s The Problem Then?
We have discussed that biodegradable plastics must be the best for the environment then - as they don’t stay in the environment for ever and ever as whole plastic products - they break down fast into less harmful particles!  Right?

Well, it’s not so clear cut as you can’t recycle them. 

Adding either HBP’s or OBP’s to recycled plastic can actually be more harmful than good - as these new plastics are designed to break down - so they can actually render a recycled plastic product virtually useless in just a few months!  And many councils are actually trying to get them banned as a result!

We all know that there is only a reason to make a product if it is financially viable - so reducing the need for plastic recycling could cause an end to recycled products!

And if the biodegradable products are meant to break down - then we are actually creating a market for more and more plastic to be created.  Rather than re-use your old toiletries bottles and food containers again and again - you would have to keep buying new ones instead!

So, is the new plastic actually any more eco friendly than the old?

Make some time to go to a show to get some top tips for your eco friendly house and garden!

The whole show doesn’t have to be uber green - just on the right theme, and then you can go and pick out the bits you like and put pressure on the companies that are not offering what you want!

Many tips and tricks for home redecorating or garden landscaping don’t have to be new-fangled and complicated - there are many things that we can do that are eco friendly without even trying!

Also at shows, you get to see products that aren’t found in supermarkets due to their ‘rules’ on listings, like biodegradable toiletries, organic foods and fair trade supplies.  You just won’t find these on the high street - so they bring them to the shows so you can get hands-on experience with them rather than blindly ordering things off the Internet!

1) The National Home Improvement Show - Earls Court, London
With over 18 exhibitors being from energy efficiency companies and talks and seminars from environmentally active lecturers and TV presenters - you know you could be on to a good thing here!

Take your pick from all the departments including renovations, kitchens, bathrooms and gardens as see if you can get some great advice on using the right resources, getting eco friendly appliances and other homewares as well as sustainable produced garden furniture and buildings.

2) The National Wedding Show - NEC, Birmingham
If you are even remotely thinking of getting married - then you must consider a trip to a wedding fair.  Weddings can cost at least £20,000 for a simple affair - so if you are after an eco friendly wedding, then you had better plan in advance to make sure that you get the best products and services booked up in advance - rather than have to settle for second best when you run out of time!

And, there are bound to be things involved with a wedding that you hadn’t really even considered looking in to like car hire and tablecloths!  At a show like this - they have already done all the thinking; just turn up with a notepad and pen and comfy shoes!

3) Mind, Body & Soul 2010 - Olympia, London
Take a day out to unwind from the stresses of life - and try out some of the great relaxation remedies, complementary therapies and practical sessions.

Find yourself surrounded by experts on stress, therapy, yoga and many other well known and well used techniques that could help you realise your potential and make some serious changes in your life, your work or your free time.

Raised Garden

4) Grand Designs Live - NEC, Birmingham
Covering everything from food to flowers, lofts to landscaping and from sash windows to sustainable sheds!

Seriously, it’s not just about buying a plot of land or derilict church and building a massive monstrosity on it like the earlier Grand Design TV Shows - its all about making things better, more eco friendly and long lasting - and not just for 1 home - but for whole communities.  

5) The Baby Show - Earls Court, London
Come here and find out about everything you will need for your little one before they arrive - and for your growing ones who need some new inspiration and equipment - or for yourself to help cope with the new lifestyle that is shaping your every day life.

Not only will your get the chance to try out all the existing products that are new to you - there will also be innovative products and companies out there with something new to the whole world!  Whether it’s a new eco friendly material, new biodegradable toiletries or organic baby foods - you can bet that it is all here!

So, what are you waiting for - make some space in your diary….

There are still more tips coming to me for your horse, pony or stable yard!

It is so easy to see a new top tip when you walk through the yard - either by doing something yourself or seeing someone else doing it.  Sometimes, your friends might be doing something that saves then time or money or just because it’s easier - but it could be a great eco friendly tip!

1) Learn to sew!  Putting patches on elbows, new hems on your rugs and darning your woolly socks together can all make your existing clothes last longer!  You don’t need to look perfect at the yard - especially if it’s cold or raining!  Making your clothes last longer means you get to spend your money on more exciting things! 

2) Go solar-powered for those little things like the stable radio - or you can get wind-up versions too.  Maybe buy a solar powered ‘travel charger’, so while you are mucking out - your mobile phone could be charging itself up naturally!  And make sure your lighting is powered by a green energy supplier!

3) Make sure you always muck out your horsebox or pony trailer as soon as you arrive at your destination to prevent the damp bedding soaking into the wooden floorboards.  Obviously, the longer you let the moisture soak in, the more damage it can do - and the shorter the lifespan of your trailer!

4) Learn to make your own equipment if possible, like feeding a piece of reused foam through the headband of a head collar to act as a poll guard.  This way you get to use all your old bits and bobs from around the house - and the stores don’t need to keep making more of everything!

5) If your horse eats it’s fresh bedding (or you want to make your bedding last longer) - you should mix in some of the old bedding when mucking out.  Not only will this mean that you need less bedding each time - but your horse should stop eating the wrong materials - and prevent wasted vets fees and your time!

6) Also to save vets visits, wasted treatments and last minute panics - keep a record of your horses medical information.  For example knowing the temperature of your horse before and after exercise, in summer or in winter can mean that you know for definite when there is something wrong.  Saying that your pony is ‘really hot’ isn’t the best way of judging for treatments and medication!  So if you have a definite record beforehand - you will be sure when something is wrong or when something is just the ‘top end of normal’.

7) And again - store your feed and medicines in metal dustbins or other suitably waterproof and pest-resistant containers.  That way you will keep things vermin-free as well as avoiding leaks and breakages.  This all adds up to less wasted products, no contaminated feeds and no poorly ponies - there really is no need to waste time, energy or money ever again!

8.) Use a left-over piece of plastic drainpipe to put over the top of a stable door to prevent your horse crib-biting.  By cutting it into 2 pieces, you could rest it over the top of the door to stop it being destroyed!  Not only will this stop you having to repair or buy a new door eventually - but can’t hurt the horse either!

9) Depending on the size of your own land - why not fence off a small area and grow your own hay.  Either feed as hay or make it into haylage instead.

10) Or why not go organic - and grow your own horse veg!  A few lines of carrots, some turnips, garlic and even an apple tree don’t need a lot of room - and could mean fresh organic and local veg for your pony (and you!).

Well, what do you think of those then?  Any help to you - I hope so.

Brilliant ideas to purify your lifestyle and feel good about it - she says….

Basically this book tries to cover all the organic and natural ways you can overcome the ‘evil’ or modern products and all the chemicals they contain.

And to prove it, she divides her advice up into 48 categories of ‘nasties’ including make-up and nappies. She explains in each case why we need to swap to more natural alternatives - by using scientific and medical arguments against each - and then offers organic, (man-made) chemical-free and more ‘natural’ products or ingredients that you could use instead.

The Book Itself:
I loved the layout of this book, and it was so easy to read that you find yourself reading chapter after chapter.  Each chapter is a 4-6 page debate as to the pro’s and con’s of each mini subject including for example, Make-Up, chocolate and toothpaste.

Hughes-Cooper helps to explain some of the main down-sides to the products we use today and offers alternatives.  There isn’t a full explanation of each due to the ’short’ nature of each chapter, and some of her answers or arguments are a bit vague or non-proven - but she certainly makes you think about all these issues while you are reading. 

She regularly uses phrases like ’this is totally natural’ - but remember that this is what they used to say about Arsenic, Lead and radio-active products that ‘glow in the dark’. It’s also important to remember that anything that can be found in plants, animals or in the earth is technically ‘natural’ in origin, but I doubt you will be in a hurry to use toadstools, uranium or snake venom in your kitchen or bathroom!

Due to the way in which you can read through this book relatively quickly, I found that I would stop for a moment after reading a particular fact and think ‘Oh my goodness, I should stop using that’ but then read on through to another section and do the same again. It seemed like page after page of doom and gloom, and worries about my health, but then I just carried on reading.  Almost like I wanted to find out how awful I was being to my own body, but then actually did nothing about it.

As with most of the ‘best things’ in this life, whether it’s growing your own veg, not flying, using only organic make-up, growing sprouted mung bens and seeking out the parabens free version of everything, the thought of it all just seems to overwhelm the normal working person.  I myself would love to consider doing most of the things Hughes-Cooper recommends in her book, but the time it would take and the possible financial costs just seem a bit prohibitive.  And it left me feeling like a bit of a failure!

Yes, there are some easy ones to achieve, like growing my own herbs in the window box and buying organic milk (as I do them already), but others I hadn’t really thought of doing, like buying hemp products instead of 100% cotton and un-bleached feminine products - which should both be quite easy to start doing. 

However, something else caught my attention as I read this book: Organic doesn’t automatically mean eco friendly - you might need a trade-off.  For example making your own smoothies, fruit juices, pies and vegetable noodles, all involve buying a new piece of electrical equipment - and creates a lot more washing up!  Neither of these are eco friendly.

Should you buy organic wines from Australia or non-organic British wines?  Think of the weight of the glass bottles coming from the other side of the world!  And there are constant references to using ‘natural’ cleaning products like white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda - but can you imagine what would happen if we all used these instead of all the shop-brought cleaners?  Vinegar is from grapes - so excessive amounts of water-hungry fruits will need to be grown to keep up with demand; and the soda is mined from the ground - so imaging habitats being destroyed to ‘naturally’ clean all the kitchens in the UK and US! 

I totally agree, however, that our actions can make us humans healthier and at the same time have less of a ‘chemical’ impact on the environment.  And sometimes the choice you have is so very simple.  However, there is still so much that you need to work quite hard to achieve, and I just don’t think that everything in this book can be achieved by a working family.

I mean I thought I was putting a reasonable effort in to the whole eco friendly/organic movement, but have only seemed to have achieved about a third of the things mentioned in the book. with maybe alf a dozen or so more in the pipeline now after reading it.  So, I hope that everyone who reads it (just like me) manages to get a few new ideas from it, because all those small things will soon add up!

Result: 3/5
If you were just reading this book the one time, then it might not really be of any use to you, other than making you think about how many toxins you and your children have absorbed over your lifetime, but if you were to use this as a reference book then things could be very different - and my Result would rise to 4/5 for it.

It certainly has it’s uses as a starting point for the layman, and has highlighted a few new things for me, but the thought of searching endlessly on the Internet for the right products, or reading label after label when I only have 10 minutes free time before having to collect the kids from school - or worse still, I have the kids in tow, then these things become unreasonable to achieve.

This book is part of the  ‘52 Briliant Ideas’ series, so I will be looking out for other relevant books to give me some more inspiration!

ISBN: 978-1-905940-57-8

Could you live without posted flyers - and live with super fast mobile technology instead?

Imagine reducing the demand for paper-based realty advertising - and reducing the need to keep driving into their store to pick things up - and all the ink you will be saving as well.  It seems almost criminal that we haven’t thought about this sooner! 

I have found out about a product that would allow your local realtors to provide you with all the important details about a property to you whilst you sit in your car admiring the outside view! It’s like a mobile real estate system that has multiple benefits for the environment - and for selling your home!

It’s called House4Cell, and it can help the environment in more ways than you could imagine - so why not consider finding an estate agent that uses it when you come to moving home.

There seems so much ‘eco friendly-ness’ about this technology, that you should be pestering your real estate agents to take this on regardless of whether you are buying or selling your property!  And it is a simple as text messaging.

Real Estate Text Messaging Solution?
Basically, the realtor will put a normal ’For Sale’ sign outside the property that is listed with their contact details on it - but underneath this they will attach a further sign that says something like: Text: ‘This House’ to 55535′. It’s like a modern mobile answer for today’s home buyers. No more hanging around in the rain - or waiting until Monday morning to get the details!

With this technology, it allows the potential buyer to stay outside the house that they like and simply text the given number into their phone. They will then instantly receive the property details and up to 3 internal pictures onto their mobile phone or smart phone - even Verizon phones can receive these images!

This way, no matter what time of day it is, weekend, holidays or whatever - people can get the information instantly without having to drive around town trying to find the agents store.  It also reduces the need for all that printed paperwork that comes with property searches and the extra staff needed to sort it all out!

And, the sooner your can get moving after finding the right home! How many people just miss out on the home of their dreams after having to wait for details to come through the post!

What Else Does It Do?
Well, apart from all the eco friendly things listed above - this system could make house prices lower; or at least stop them rising. I mean if a lot of their work is now done automatically, then realtors will need less staff and resources in place to keep their business running.

And with lower running costs businesses can offer more to their customers as they are spending less time on the phone and printing off sheet after sheet of images! 

The company that developed the product - Cellit Mobile Marketing - have also added a few extras for the buyers. For example, they can text or email you further details on request, and can even offer updates on price reductions of homes you were interested in as well as other similar homes in the area.

So, if you like eco friendly technology - and you want to use less paper and waste less time and energy - then you should love this!

Well, there are never just a few ways to be eco friendly around the yard - there is always something else!

So, to help you get even greener in the stable -  I have put together another 10 top tips for you and your horse or pony to help save resources and making things last longer!

1) By picking out your horses feet while still in the stable means that the bedding stays where it is needed - rather than being swept away when you clean the yard!

2)Always keep a list of all your eco suppliers to hand - not only for yourself, but also to recommend to others if they need something specific.  That way, you won’t have to resort to the easiest suppliers when you are in need!

3) Always wear an old baggy t-shirt over your jumpers when grooming or doing ‘hay’ related jobs as they won’t stick to it - whereas your jumper will just get covered in hay or hair - and need washing more often! 

4) Grow your own organic veg for your horse or pony as well.  Make sure you grow your own selection of horse-friendly veg as well as all the things you need; so turnips and carrots should be on the list!

5) When feeding hay to your horses in the field - make sure you select the least windy area to do so - otherwise you will be wasting hay as it blows across your field rather than getting eaten! 

6) Same goes for other feeds - you need to make sure that your horse is getting everything he needs and none is wasted.  So weigh out feeds and hay if necessary, as well as not over-feeding or allowing your horse to kick over the food bowl or tread on the hay.

7) And use bags or sacks when transporting hay and straw across the yard so it doesn’t all blow away for the same reason.  And noone wants to sweep the yard more than they have to!

8.) Get your horse to wear a summer sheet underneath their winter rugs, as they are much easier to wash - so making your winter rugs last longer and keep your horse warmer!

9) And for you - if your long boots have split up the leg - then cut them off at the ankle and use them as a spare pair of short boots for odd jobs around the yard!

10) And finally: If you manage to puncture your plastic boots in the yard - fix them yourself with a bicycle repair kit - making them waterproof again. That way you won’t need to splash out on a new pair! Boots can live forever - or as long as you want them to!

Yippee - that should save you some money - and save the environment from more wasted resources!

Good job!

When you visit you local stores - you aren’t just saving petrol these days!

There are many, many reasons to shop in your local stores, but supporting small businesses rather than national and international ‘brands’ is also a key factor in keeping your community intact and offering a wide variety of choice and prices to suit all budgets and households!

Take a look at the following list to get some idea of the difference you can make as an individual.

You Help Keep Money In The Local Economy:
The first and most important thing you do is to make sure that your lovely stores are re-investing their money in local services and your community.  Shop-keepers have a huge amount of ’sway’ in the high street and your local community, with committees funding new ideas and urban improvements.

You Help Generate New Money:
By making your stores and your community a ‘place for shopping and eating’ as well as clean and organised, you will be attracting people from outside in to your environment who will bring money with them - fuelling further improvements.

You Help Improve Public Services And Transport:
By attracting all these people in to your community, you make sure that the services they - and you - need are there.  These include better public transport, clean toilets, public seating, better parking, cleaner streets and more events and activities being organised. 

Compare travelling through London on the Tube with a shop on every corner to arriving at a village train station in Norfolk with no buses, toilets or even a restaurant that takes credit cards! (and I only went there a couple of months ago!).

Creating Local Jobs & Keeping Local People:
By creating a healthy employment market in your town, you are attracting families to move in therefore keeping the housing market (and house prices) at a steady rate - as well as promoting healthy competition between schools with the influx of children - thus making education a priority.

This also includes making sure that elderly residents don’t have to travel some distance to get their shopping.  If you make sure that a variety of shops remain on the high street, then this gived those less mobile the opportunity to visit individual stores for their goods - rather than having to travel to out-of-town superstores all the time.

Support New Ideas And Entrepreneurs:
People who want to try something new can’t always get their foot in the door of larger companies, so want to start out alone - and your high street is the perfect place for them.  By visiting them and buying just one little thing can be the difference between them surviving the next few months!

You must remember the high streets a few months ago after we lost some big name shops - we need to help fill the gaps back up and see some new stores popping up.  They won’t move in unless they know you will support them.

Be Unique:
Unique things are what we love - think of the Brighton Lanes or London’s Covent Garden - we wouldn’t be without them.  Their individuality allows our homes to be unique too!  With a thousand different scarves to choose from - you can be just you!  Imagine if everyone had the same curtains, same ornament over the fireplace or 1 of only 3 types of fruit bowl in the world!

So grab your purse and your cotton bag - and head into town!

Our changing climate and what it means for life on earth - he says….

Basically this book explains some of the facts about the things we hear about in the news - but it does them in a nice way rather than scaremongering!

And to prove it, he opens up nice and early with a simple guide to how the world works at the moment - in terms of climate and atmosphere - and easily explains the difference between all the ‘eco words’ being bandied around at the moment, like global warming and climate change. 

The Book Itself:
Not too intimidating to read, or filled with scientific quotes and jargon, this book is quite an easy read - and it doesn’t display page after page filled with ‘amazing’ statistics and species names. 

It does however, cover all the points that are a global warming advocate favorites - like coral bleaching and coal-fired power stations - but he takes the time to discuss the actual science and facts behind them in really simple terms.  This goes a long way towards getting people to a level where they can form their own opinions.

So rather than saying ‘we are all doomed if the rainforests are cleared’ or ‘we will all drown when sea levels rise 100 meters’ causing panic - he simply explains how nature balances that particular environment at the moment, and what our actions could do to change that along current trends. 

Basically, he details what could biologically be the next step if all things remain the same - for example:  A normal human being needs to eat to stay alive, awake and healthy - but if it starts to eat too much a series of things will start to occur.  These may include weight gain (due to excess calories), tiredness (due to the extra weight being carried), likelihood of skin problems (due to bad circulation), shortness of breath (due to pressure on the lungs and heart), etc, etc. 

Flannery helps to explain how these things come about - not just what the end result might be.  He explains the negative and positive feedback systems that keep our environment alive and functioning as it is today.

He uses the Gaia Theory to put all this in perspective - whereby the whole world and it’s atmosphere are treated as one giant living organism - where an action in one part can have an effect on another part.  A giant version of the saying ‘if a butterfly flaps it’s wings in the Sahara, it can create a cyclone in the Pacific’.

I totally agree that our actions in different parts of the world are having a direct impact on things happening thousands of miles away, and can visualise how a change in the make-up of the atmosphere (more CO2) can change climate and the water cycle! 

Result: 4/5
I would have hoped for an updated version by now - seeing as it is 5 years old now, and science has come a long way since - and we have new world leaders to contend with!

I started to write down some of his short term ‘predictions’ as some of them had passed or were fast approaching - most were on target although a few were not quite as bad as he had thought they would be.

He has written several other books which I will be seeking out, and I will be waiting for the newest edition of this book to arrive!

ISBN: 978-0-141-02627-5

You may well be on your way to having an eco friendly house and garden - but what about having an eco friendly pony too?

In this article, I have just put together 10 easy tips for making your stable more eco friendly, and to make sure that you now only save money and time, but also preserve existing materials and reduce your waste.

Share tips with other people at your yard and get tips from them - as some things are best done by everyone anyway - like worming together. 

If only one of you ‘worms’ your pony - then you have wasted your money, as everyone else’s ponies will still be leaving worm eggs all over the fields for your pony to digest again!  What a waste of time (yours for dosing), food (as the worms eat it) and veterinary money (as your pony will still have worms and need working again!)  And think of the poor ponies too!

Anyway, on to these 10 great horsey tips for you to experiment with and improve on:

1) Clean your horse rugs regularly to extend their lifespan - and when they are past their best, use all the available parts for spares - like the buckles, straps and edging.  You never know when it might come in handy.

2) Cod Liver Oil and other liquid products are cheaper when brought in bulk, so make sure you get your friends chip in for the biggest container between you all - and then decant into your own reused containers (keeping a note of the expiry date).

3) Rather than keep buying or carrying about shovels and forks, why not invest in 2 small ’sheets’ of board from around the yard and use them to pick up droppings or piles of waste. Less metal used for new tools and less trips to the store!

4)  And to reduce the amount of bedding thrown away when mucking out - use an old wire basket to sieve it first.  Once the solid waste is in the basket, give it a good shake and let the clean bedding fall back to the ground.

5)  Natural sheepskin numnahs can have their life extended by shaking a small amount of talcum powder on them after each use as this will help t absorb some of the sweat and dirt from the pony’s back and keep them usable for much longer.

6)  Use some old baler twine plaited together and strung across the tack room or elsewhere to hang up wet rugs after use.

7)  A great use of an old car tyre (which seem to build up all over the place) is as a secure holder for your horses food bucket.  Some ponies love to kick their food bowl around - wasting food in the process!

8.) Wash your tack using hot water and eco friendly washing up liquid, and soap well afterwards.  Not only will this keep your leather nice a supple for the pony, but will also extend it’s lifespan.

9) Buy really brightly coloured brushes, hoof-picks and lead ropes, etc, to reduce the likelihood that you will lose them in bedding or grass.  If you lose your equipment, you are as good as throwing it away - then you will have to consume more!

10) And the best till last - save up all your well rotted manure for paying gardeners and allotment holders!  Not only are you helping to keep their plots organic and local - but you will stop them buying artificial manures or unsustainable fertilisers and peats for their plants! 

Hope these are of use to you and maybe even inspire you to try some of your own ideas at the yard!