The egg box planters have been put to good use for my seedlings again this year. Water is retaind well if the lid rests under the egg holder part and filled with homemade compost and a little sand. Seeds are then spread and covered with glass from an old window rescued from a skip (with permission). Within days they were showing through and looking healthy. I lost a few to my shed dwelling mouse but the rest are nearly ready to go out in the new raised beds.

The raised beds are another one of my salvage stories. I went to purchase wood for a few shelves for the house when I spotted, at the back of the timber yard, a number of rough-cut planks. Paying for the wood, the planks became the topic of conversation and before I could say “over there”, the owner of the yard had sold me, for a few pounds, nearly one hundred planks of oak, destined to be burnt. At the end of the weekend, I had made seven raised beds and then looked to fill them. Once organic soil was sourced, the beds were filled and manure added. Now I shall wait and see what happens in the next growing season. I may even try the half gutter-planting scheme where soil is placed almost to the top and seeds scattered on top. When the seeds are up and ready to be planted out simply just take the whole gutter planter out of the greenhouse and just slid out onto the waiting bed that has had a good water before hand. Happy gardening.

Always on the look out for sustainable fish following stories of the depleted cod stocks around the world I found a great web site www.fishonline.org published by the Marine Conservation Society. Dedicated to helping conscious decisions to be made about what fish, if any, we buy and eat.

There are many ways of helping the fish population survive the over zealous fishing habits of humankind. One method is the use of a round hook to catch Tuna rather than using a net, often catching turtles and other endangered species at the same time. Sustainably sourced fish that are caught from a healthy, well-managed stock that has minimal impact on the seas is another way. Surprisingly, organic fish only refers to farmed fish fed with organic certified food by the Soil Association. Growing mussels on rope is another way of maintaining a healthy stock and policing the numbers remover for the table. Avoid mussels dredged from the seabed as this also has an impact on the environment, leaving some areas sterile of life. Better to go for hand picked from the wild. Talking of which, wild fish are just that and should carry the Marine Stewardship Council stamp.

Fish on line is a great source of information ranging from what fish to buy, what to avoid, which restaurants have sourced sustainable fish for the menu and where to buy fish for home cooking. In 2007, Marks and Spencer won joint first with Waitrose for best-sourced sustainable fish with Tesco and Sainsbury’s in third and fourth place respectively. Enjoy.

Shocked by the pictures of the battery hens across the world, the cramped conditions and short lives they have made me consider having hens again. Rather than buy young point of lay hens I felt this was my chance to offer a new home to a few battery chickens. I began my trawl through the internet, local papers and chatted to people who already have chickens. There I found that keeping chickens has it ups and downs like any thing in life but, on the whole, there were more ups for the ex battery hens than downs. Therefore, I bit the bullet and contacted the Battery Hen Welfare Trust (details later) in my area to find out when the next ‘rescue’ was to take place. With preparations made for the arrival of the girls, the rescue day was here. Arriving in Norwich at an address in a leafy road, I was by surprise at the number of other people waiting quietly in a LONG queue with hen friendly boxes. Joining the end, I soon started to chat to others in the line whilst trying not to let the lazy, straight through a person, Easterly wind get hold. The same story is heard from all; they had seen the pictures or read stories and decided to adopt a hen or twenty. Despite the cold, we waited for up to an hour to collect our new additions to the household. I had booked six hens and when I went around a corner of the volunteer’s house to collect them, the hens were waiting in a line ready to get into a box. Safely loaded into the car we had a short journey home. Throughout the journey, they made the odd noise but overall it was quiet – perhaps it was the Mozart playing or they were resigned to a feeling that the end was close. Gently placing the boxes into their new home I lifted the lid off the boxes and moved away, closing the door behind me. A hour later five were still sitting in the boxes whilst one had be brave and was feasting on food put out for their arrival. By the evening all six were out and pecking and scratching at the floor. They were 30% feather with the rest just skin and combs floppy and pink. Over the day, weeks and months ahead I shall report on the progress of the girls.

Jane Howorth who, with a growing number of volunteers, has saved 73,699 hens from the slaughterhouse founded the BHWT. They can be contacted at info@bhwt.org.uk, 01769 580310, North Parks, Chumleigh, Devon EX18 7EJ. They work with the farmers to save the hens and do not resort to violence. They believe the need by the consumer for cheap eggs fuels our present system of egg production so change is in our hands.