Eco-friendly Pixie Dust

We know that all pixies love faerie dust but of course glitter just isn't good for the planet. So what is a pixie to do? Well here, as promised, and as a big thank you to all our facebook friends, is the recipe for our eco-friendly 'Pixie-Dust'. And the secret ingredient is, quite simply, egg-shells!

First you will need to wash and dry the egg-shells thoroughly. Next you need to break them down as finely as possible. A pestle and mortar is ideal for this but you could try using a bag and a rolling pin.  If you want to sprinkle it on your garden you could leave it quite crunchy - it may even help keep the slugs off your flowers. But with a bit of persistance you can grind it into a light dust which you can apply to your skin. Maybe dab a little on your nose for a cheeky pixie look?

You could also try using coloured sugar (like the type used in cake decorating) for your arts and crafts projects, not forgetting a little on your faery cakes of course. We can picture your pixie parties now - and all 100% eco-friendly.

Bee Kind - Plant a Faery Garden

'Where the bee sucks, there suck I, 

In a cowslip's bell I lie'

William Shakespeare (sung by the faery Ariel in The Tempest)

Photo by Lisa Jones

Did you know bees are essential for the production of one third of the food we eat? That's one in every 3 mouthfuls - so it is important we do all we can to help them. One simple thing we can do is to plant pollen rich plants for the bees to enjoy. It may not be the right time of year to plant cowslips but there are lots of plants we can use to create a beautiful bee-friendly faery garden, including herbs as well as flowers.

Simply find a corner of your garden (or use a large pot ot tub) and plant some seeds or plants such as those in the link above. If you are starting your garden from seed you may want to cover the pot with a sheet of clear polythene to encourage them to grow. It means waiting a little longer but it is exciting to see the seedlings appear. In the meantime you can collect some little decorations the faeries may find attractive such as pretty stones and shells. You could even turn a flower pot upside down and sit the saucer on top for a mushroom house.

You may be surprised to know that some of the plants that attract bees (and faeries) may already be growing on your lawn - including primroses, clover, daisies and dandelions. You could make your whole lawn a faery garden by allowing it to grow long! If this isn't possible you could rescue some of these plants from your lawn and replant them in your faery garden.  Have fun.

Click here for more info on gardening for bees.

We Love Upcycling

We all know it's good to recycle, but we think it's even better to upcycle. Upcycling is all about taking things that would have gone into the rubbish, or the recycling, and giving them a new lease of life. It can be fun to look at things before you throw them out and see if there's another way of using them, and there are plenty of ideas on the internet to inspire you. So with Valentine's Day approaching - we thought it was time to show our love of upcycling with a pixie twist. So here's an idea for an upcycled faery wand complete with a ribbon of hearts for a little Valentine's day magic.

Make Your Own Faery Wand

You will need - scrap paper, an empty plastic milk bottle, a coloured plastic bag, a garden cane or drinking straw, scissors and glue dots.

First cut the flat areas from the milk bottle. Then draw 2 different sized hearts on the scrap paper and cut them out. You need to make sure that the largest of these is no bigger than the largest of the pieces of plastic you have already cut.

Using the paper templates, cut 2 large hearts and 5 small ones out of the plastic bottle. Then cut 2 more small hearts out of the coloured plastic bag.

Layer three hearts together so you have the largest one on the bottom, then the coloured heart and the smaller milk bottle heart on top. Staple them together and bend the smallest heart in a little. Repeat this stage so you have 2 matching layers. Then staple the two layers together leaving a small gap in the centre for the cane to go through.

Cut a 2cm wide strip from the plastic bag and twist this around the cane fixing it at either end with a glue dot. Push the cane into the piece you have already made.

Cut another strip from the bag and attach the 3 remaining hearts. Tie one end onto the cane just below the layered hearts. Allow the other end to hang loose.

You are ready to make a little upcycled Valentine's magic of your own.

Frosty Weather for Frogs

 

In our last blog we were talking about how spring seemed to have come early this year, infact we had Primroses in January! Then a couple of days ago we spotted another sure sign of Spring - frogspawn! However since this first appeared in the pond the weather has turned much, much colder and some of the frogspawn has become trapped in ice. It was worrying to see and, though we hope that some will survive, it did get us thinking how vulnerable frogs are. So here are a few tips we'd like to share to help them as much as we can.

1. Keep your eyes open when out in the car in wet weather, lots of frogs are killed on the roads.

2. Build a garden pond but don't add goldfish as they will eat frogspawn and tadpoles.

3. If you aren't able to make a pond - make a compost heap. Frogs spend most of their life on land and they love to hide in compost heaps.

4. Make a frog-house from stones or an old flower pot and tuck it away in a damp corner of your garden. This will give any frogs that visit your garden a place to hide from cats.

5. Make a log pile or a rockery.

6. Try to resist the temptation to keep tadpoles in jars. Unless you happen to have found them in a puddle, or other very shallow water which might easily dry out, they are better left where they are.

7. Take care when mowing the lawn!

8. Allocate an area of your garden as a wildlife area - and try to resist the temptation to peek!

As we saw today, frogs are vulnerable! Let's give them all the help we can.

Wild Awake

 

We love Primroses, so imagine how happy we were when we spotted these in our garden earlier this week. They remind us of spring and they got us thinking about those animals that might soon be waking from hibernation such as dormice, bats and hedgehogs.

You may know that hedgehogs usually come out of hibernation in March, which is also when we usually see Primroses, but they sometimes wake early - particularly if the weather is warmer than normal. This time of year they can need a helping hand to find food, so we thought it might be a good idea if we were to put out a little bit of dog food and a shallow dish of water, just in case one wanders by. (Please never leave them bread and milk as it can harm them). As hedgehogs are nocturnal it's unlikely we'll actually get to see one, but we do have the pleasure of knowing that if one is passing through, it won't go hungry.

Maybe you'd like to do this too? We hope so.

New Year - New Leaf

Well the new year is fast approaching and our thoughts are turning to our New Year's resolutions. We like to try and consider nature in all that we do as we know even our smallest actions have an effect on the world around us. So we thought we'd share a few of our ideas and maybe you could add some of your own?

1. Start a vegetable patch (or window box) and learn how to grow your own food.
2. Create a wildlife corner in your garden at home.
3. Try to use the car less. Walking or cycling is fun and better for you and the planet.
4. Make a compost heap.
5. Feed the birds.
6. Buy at least one of your weekly essentials from a local producer.
7. Spend more time outdoors.

Finally - whether it's flowers, trees, the sea, mountains, birds, animals, clouds or stars that inspire you, why not share that passion with another person? Help your friends to see what a magical world we live in.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year.

A Little Midwinter Magic

The pixies are celebrating the Winter Solstice and feel warm in the knowledge that the days will now be getting longer again. But there is still lots of fun to be had while winter is still here. One thing we like to do is to make some food for Santa's reindeer to help them guide his sleigh to our homes.

All you need is some uncooked porridge oats and some sugar to make it sparkle. You can also add some coloured sugar crystals (like those used in cake decorating) if you have them, but it isn't essential. Sugar is much nicer than glitter and won't harm the wild birds or any other little creatures that find the food.

Mix the ingredients together and put them in a little bag. You can attach a pretty tag or a ribbon to finish it off if you would like to. Then, before you go to bed on Christmas Eve, go quietly into the garden, sprinkle the reindeer food on the ground and make a wish.

Don't worry if the reindeer don't eat all the food. The birds will enjoy what is left.