IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO CREATE A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS WITHOUT COSTING THE PLANET OR YOUR POCKET, THIS GUIDE IS FOR YOU…..

Read on..

Christmas time has become synonymous with a whole lot of plastic crap and tat and over spending… but i’m here to tell you, especially during this time of economic uncertainly, that Christmas can be more magical and beautiful than you can imagine.

Many of the traditions we embark in at Christmas have roots in traditions that have been around for thousands of years.. and they’re not about lining the pockets of billionaires.. they’re about honouring the season, the gods, nature and spending time with our loved ones.

Here you can find our guide on how to have a sustainable Christmas with so much meaning and beauty, which will delight your loved ones, warm your heart and save you pennies.

SUSTAINABLE DECORATIONS

Use all of natures beauty for your decorations. Bring greenery inside.. The bringing in of a fir tree for Christmas was popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and has roots in Germanic and Slavic culture, although decorating the home with ever greens has been observed across the world.. Since winter solstice recognises the return of the light, with the longest night and shortest day of the year.. After this point, the days become longer again. The ever greens signify everlasting life and serve as a reminder that some plants thrive all year round..

I like to bring in evergreen branches from the tree in my garden, or i forage.. remember to take only what you need. I like to hang up large boughs and decorate with natural decorations like dried oranges and pine cones. It looks magical and delights everyone to see a beautiful natural mobile in the home. Hang on walls or in hallways, where there is hight.

SUSTAINABLE CHRISTMAS TABLE DECORATIONS

Decorate your Christmas table with beeswax candles and arrangements made from smaller pieces of ever green. Keep everything green and twinkly. Write handmade tags with peoples names on for place settings and use pine cones and slices of dried oranges everywhere. Im a maximalist when it comes to decorations..

MAKE A YULE WREATH, SUSTAINABLE AND PLASTIC FREE

A wreath is known as the wheel of life, and used to decorate winter solstice tables adorned with candles. There are plenty of natural ones you can buy, but why not have a forage for some bendy branches and make your own. Take a mindful walk, maybe with your family and collect fallen foliage, cones and branches.. then sit around the table together and talk about what you want from the year ahead? Enjoy the process.. make it a tradition.. if you don’t want to make a huge fussy one, a simple strand of ivy in a circles.. looks really beautiful and simple.

SUSTAINABLE GIFT GIVING

Shop small, where-ever you can. Support your local shops and indies. Make gift giving all about the story of the item. I love to tell the receiver, “i found this amazing woman who makes ceramics from home” ..

I like to make food gifts too.. from items ive foraged in the later months of the year. Elderberry Syrup and quince jam are up there as my favourite things to make.. As well as mince pies and cookies.. Everyone loves a food gift and works so well for school teachers and relatives.

We have some great gifts for all the family.. check out our gift section of the website for gifts and festive items for all.HERE

GIFT WRAP

Rather than buy reems of wrapping paper, which usually cannot be recycled due to plastic content… wrap gifts in fabric, or brown paper. Use ribbon to tie them up. You can use string too or any twine you have lying around the house. Add slices or orange and ever green and add a hand written gift tag..

HOW TO HONOUR SAMHAIN THE CELTIC HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL

This time of year holds many festivals honouring the harvest, the end of the year and our ancestors who have passed… Halloween leads in the commercial world and has already happened on the 31st October.

I feel more in tune with Samhain, pronounced SAU wen, which is roughly translated as summers end. Samhain hails from Ireland and this year falls on the 7th November, but its not just a day. Its a period of time, so if you want to celebrate or honor this time, you just need to tune into how you feel not worry about a specific date.

I am not traditionally religious and was brought up in an atheist home, although my Irish and Scottish ancestors would have been both catholic and christian, but i have found that ritual and ceremony give my life roots and meaning. Honouring the seasons seems like the most natural way to do this, since we are cyclical beings and the draw of festivals before Christianity and Catholicism interfered with them are much more appealing.

So this time of year, i naturally enjoy slowing down. I want to be quiet and still… It is said that the veil between the worlds is thinner allowing our ancestors to come through or make connections. I like to meditate more frequently and pay particular attention to my dreams and the messages they hold.

I create an alter in my home.. which i have all year round as a place to centre my meditations on. At different times in the year i dress it with different objects associated with the season. I burn incense and leave offerings.

I spend time there whilst i journal and try to create a calm loving space.

Understanding the seasons and cycles, keeps us rooted to the earth.. and being rooted to the earth, keeps us making better decisions for the planet when it comes to our everyday life.

Pagan festivals have zero to do with over consumption and capitalism, which is so refreshing and has a much cleaner energy around them.

If you want to create an altar for Samhain its really simple to do.

Find a space on a sideboard or its own table. Cover with a cloth or scarf. Add candles, crystals and any natural objects that appeal to you whilst you’re in nature. Acorns, pine cones, beautiful leaves, stones. Then add in pictures or objects from loved ones who have passed. You can add offerings in the form of food, sweets, seeds, apples. You can also do this outside your house to welcome ancestors in. Sage and incense is a traditional way to cleanse energy.

Then, simply spend time there. It is a good opportunity to talk with the people you live with about your loved ones.

You cant get it wrong really.

So Samhain blessings to you.

As the season starts to turn to winter and more pointedly, christmas weve booked in some market dates so you can some and see us locally, close to you.

We will be bringing all our sustainable gifts.

Environmentally friendly and completely plastic free gifting and home products to make your home extra festive and seasonal.

Our reusables wipes are not only super practical for cleaning your home and using on your skin, but they’re are only made from 100% organic cotton sourced from GOTS approved factories.

This is so important for many reasons..

Using natural fabrics, meaning anything that is grown from a plant, means that as long as they are unprocessed with harsh dyes, they will be reabsorbed into the earth, making them degradeable. This means that unlike fabric made from petrochemicals like polyester and acrylic (think microfibre cloths and fleece).

Natural fabrics include, cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo, silk and wools.

But its not enough to simply use cotton fibres..

Growing crops using heavy pesticides, kills soils quality and harms the health of farmers and workers who tend the crops. We need a soil quality to be high so that the food we eat is filled with all the nutriants we require to be healthy.

Right now, only 1% of cotton produced worldwide is organic. Rather than seeing this as a huge problem, i see it as a huge opportunity for customers to be demanding more organic cotton. For more retailers ti use organic cotton.

The great news is that it only takes 2/3 years to go from a pestacide using farm practise to fully organic. Meaning soil quality can repair and farmers dont need to risk their health.

We all have a responsibility to understand how our choices impact not only our beautiful planet, but all the people who live on it.

Rest assured that when you buy our reusable wipes or unpaper towels as they are sometime called, they are made from only the most ethical fabrics, from the best factories, and are made by hand here at our studio in Digbeth Birmingham meaning you can shop without guilt.

I Have this theory about soup… Its come together over the course of a few years and i think the following is the full soup low down..

Ok, so soup is a great sustainable dinner, because you can make it from literally any veg left over.. That wrinkled up parsnip that’s been in your fridge for 2 weeks? Chuck it in the pot, Those potatoes that have started to sprout, chop em up and chuck em in… maybe not the broccoli though.. i’m not convinced about broccoli in soup. Basically, you can chuck any veg in the pot with some vegetable stock and voila..

The next thing about soup is that its just what you put in it… and whilst you stand there and stir it, you can stir in some good intentions. Infuse your soup as you stir it with love, strength and health.. so when you eat it, you can absorb all those gorgeous intentions.

The other thing is that, its as easy to make a stack of it as it is to make a small amount. Why not make a bunch and take a portion over to a friends house.. that way you can offer them the love and positive intentions.

Heres the recipe for my favourite most frequently made soup. Vegan and chock full of nutritious vegetables, and high in protein. Freezes well.

You can also double or triple the recipie easily, substitute any ingredients for something similar.

RECIPE

One onion

Two sticks of celery

3 large carrots

2 large courgettes

3 large cooking tomatoes

A litre of vegetable stock

A can of butterbeans

Chilli flakes or fresh

A couple handfuls of chopped kale

Oregano fresh or dried

Method

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan and add the chopped onion. Sweat in the pan for a few minutes. Mean while chop all the veg and tomatoes (offially a fruit). When the onions are translucent and soft, add the courgettes and cook for a little while longer, until the courgettes start to turn a little brown. Then throw in all the other vegetables and absentmindedly stir. Speak your spells and intentions into the mix..

After a few minutes, add in the stock and allow to bubble nicely.. Add the drained butter beans and reduce the heat. Add salt and pepper, oregano and chilli to taste.

Allow the soup to simmer for 20 or so minutes. Use this time to dance around the kitchen for music of your choice. Gesture your arms whilst dancing towards the cooking soup and sing your heart out. The joy will make for an extra special ingredient.

When the soup is cooked and the veg has all softened, add in the kale! Allow it to cook for a further 5 minutes or so.

The ladle out a steaming bowl of the gorgeous steaming soup and serve with crusty bread..

If you are not vegan, you could grate some cheese and add to the top.

Portion up some into tupperware or a flask and leave on the doorstep of a friend with a love note and a posy of wild flowers.

A lot of people ask… what’s so wrong with using kitchen paper? It’s paper… It biodegrades??

Well, I’m afraid to say that depending what you’ve used your kitchen paper for, it may not degrade or be suitable for recycling.

Chemical cleaners, and kitchen oil and grease affects the biochemistry of soil and so shouldn’t be added to the compost heap. And for the same reasons can’t be recycled.

Also, the power needed to fell trees, process them into paper and then bleach, wrap and ship, is huge!! That’s a massive carbon footprint. In fact, the paper and pulp industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse emissions.

Our reusable cleaning wipes are made once,
and then can be used over and over again. Some of my kitchen wipes are still going strong after 3/4 years.

Once they are not functional anymore, you can put them in the compost, clean.. even the thread we use is made from organic cotton and will entirely biodegrade.

You can clean your whole house with them, polish your wood and shine your windows…
Wipes hands and faces. They are so versatile and so much better for the environment.

4 pillars to sustainable shopping

GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE ECO FRIENDLY GIFT BUYING

Do I need this?

Do I have something already that works as well?

Who am I buying this from?

What is it made of?

DO I NEED THIS?

Before you buy that thing…

STOP

Check in with yourself.

Why are you buying this thing?

Are you feeling rubbish and wanting a quick dopamine hit?

Are you buying thoughtlessly? Ie, out of a habit.

Do you actually need this item?

DO I HAVE SOMETHING ALREADY THAT WORKS AS WELL

Quite often, especially when we’re buying an outfit or something for the home, we might already have something that fits the bill. Maybe there’s something already in our cupboard that works… and we’re just being lulled into the excitement of feeling that this is somehow different..

Make time to know what you have in yourhome and what’s in your wardrobe.

Do you still need this thing?

WHO AM I BUYING THIS FROM

So you do need that thing… but who will you give your hard earned cash to?

When we spend money, we are casting a vote for what we want to see in the world.

That multi billionaire who doesnt pay their own employees properly? Or is this a thing you can buy from someone who has a local shop? Who supports your community by providing essential jobs and services.

OR, is there a company you can get this from that supports those less privileged.

Or can you get this thing second hand? From a charity shop or a preloved market place?

Remember, money is energy and where you spend it is important.

WHAT IS IT MADE FROM

So, now you’ve decided that you need this thing and you’ve located a reputable seller.

What are you buying? What is the item? Is it made from a material that will eventually decompose? Or can it be recycled? Will it last for the job it’s required for? Or will you have to ditch it and get another one becasue it will break?

Buy good quality stuff, made

from natural, replenishable materials, so it will last along time and then will eventually decompose..

if it’s doesn’t do this, re think… is there something else you can buy? Make a better choice for the earth.

Oh my beauties… I feel you today. I have met many of you coming from and to the #cop26climate March… and I know you are tired. Some of you are feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. That it’s all too late, that not enough is being done from the top.. that these small changes won’t make a difference… it’s ok loves. Rest a while. Feel the injustice. Cry for the earth. You are doing so much. You are doing so well. Put down your pack and let me carry the burden for a while. Let me hold the hope, so you can weep. And from my little space of this earth, I will share the faith, that the future is beautiful. That Mother Earth will recover, and balance will be restored. 🌱🙌🏻❤️📷 @isabellemortonphoto#vestaliving #vestasustainableliving#love #eco

Connection…

I felt like I was missing it a little bit.. in the space of 2 years 3 of my closest friends left Birmingham… which was a total bummer…

Tho great for trips out!

And recently, post Covid lockdown, I have sensed a real loss in people of their friendships. Everyone seems a little at sea. Maybe not seeing people in a really long time, or having fall outs, Covid isolated us in more ways than the physical.

So this week I arranged a meet up. Under the Aries full moon.. Because woman gathering under a full moon is always magic. I invited those people I’d always enjoyed a passing chat with, the ones I wanted to get to know better, but we never had the time for the deep and meaningfuls. And the more time goes on, the less likely I am to want to discuss the weather.

How are your connections?

I look forward to opening our doors so that we can connect in person. I intend to run some workshops too, though im still working out what these will look like..

And one more thing!! I’ve started a private member group on Facebook, so we can chat all things connection, saving the world, living an eco lifestyle. It’s not ready quite yet, but if you sign up to our newsletter you will hear about it first!!! Click on the link in our bio and scroll to the bottom of our page to sign up.

#vestaliving #vestasustainabliving #community #birmingham #connection #vestaprivatemembersgroup #vesta #goddess #savetheocean #plasticfree #sustainableliving #zerowaste #digbeth #shopindie #shoplocalbirmingham #independantbirmingham #westmidlands

Ross from friends screaming “PIVOT” whilst his new sofa is stuck in the stairwell, is quite frankly ICONIC…

And this week, I had to PIVOT, in the face of annoying rejection.

Let me tell you how it went.

I applied for my markets, and my best market rejected me… for the first time ever… and initially I was ok about it, but since then, I feel like I’ve missed a couple of other great opportunities to get out and meet my gorge customers and make those all important Xmas sales..

I had a whinge… felt a bit sorry for myself.. until this little voice popped into my head… “stop looking at what you don’t have and focus on what you do have…”

After a good talking to myself in the mirror, I have the best customers, incredible stockists, locally and nationally, I have a few markets with my very best people planned in and I have this amazing little space.. I have the most amazing little studio shop space…

And so my plan is to open my little shop space.. on a more permanent basis in the lead up to Christmas..

I’ve secured some fab brands and worked on some great new products which I can’t wait to share with you all.

We can’t wait to welcome you from 4th November every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It’s organic September this month. And whilst I love any additional focus on the benefits of organic (ie without pesticides) we are committed to organic all year round. I started using non organic fabric when I started the business, but knowing that non organic fabric and cotton is so damaging to the environment and the people who grow it, made me so uneasy and we switched to an organic fabric base.

Being a sustainable ethical company isn’t just producing products that are plastic free and reusable, it’s ensuring that EVERY little bit of the business is doing its utmost to be the cleanest and most sustainable for the planet. And i’m sorry, but if your fabric isn’t organic, or grown in a sustainable way… your business is not ethical. Your business is green washing.

The pesticides used to grow cotton are so strong that often after the crops are sprayed, people can’t go into the fields for days because of the damage it causes to their health.

Organic farming relies on natural systems and cycles and looking after the earth the crops grow in. No pesticides are used, and natural methods are used to keep pests away.

Have a look at this great post by The Soil Association all about organic farming.

https://www.soilassociation.org/certification/fashion-textiles/organic-cotton-the-sustainable-choice/

#vesta #vestaliving#vestasustainableliving #organic#organicseptember #organiccotton#eco #sustainable #plasticfree#zerowaste #soilhealth #gotscertified#reusablewipes #greenwashing#cleanoceans #plasticfreeoceans#greenparenting #fabric #linen#sustainableliving #sustainablehome#greenhome #reducereuserecycle

We’ve won an award!!!! Or our amazing cloth reusable wipes have.

They won best eco product in the kitchen category in @beautyshortlist. It’s so exciting to have one of our favourite products recognised in this way. So many environmentally focussed brands won awards this year, it really feels like mindset is definitely on greener issues and climate change.

Im so proud of anyone who is moving away from using polluting single use plastics. It’s not easy when the super markets are still full of them. I know the effort involved in researching and finding more eco alternatives. And if you have little babies, even more so, i know how your time is stretched.

Thanks to the @beautyshortlist for the award, I’m very honoured.

Click here to see the full list of winners https://www.thebeautyshortlist.com

Yesterday I’d planned to get up and do a post about an octopus and talk about my love of sea creatures. I was going to talk about octopuses, how clever they were, their beauty and majesty.

But i woke up in the hugest rage. I don’t know if it was the sun moving into Aries giving me some extra fire.. but my rage at the amount of disposable masks and micro plastics on the earth and in the ocean enraged me.

Each month, over 1.6 billion disposable face masks are being discarded... that’s over a trillion since Covid.. a trillion pieces of plastic produced and discarded. A trillion pieces of plastic that will never disappear, only break down into smaller pieces of plastic called micro plastics.

We’re swimming in plastic.. literally. I’m really afraid that we’re running out of time. That we’re not doing enough. That not enough people are taking our climate crisis seriously enough. This is it people. We have a small, finite amount of time before the world reached a point from which there is no return.

We have to make changes, we have to operate outside of our own personal changes. How can we encourage more people to care about the future of this planet?

And honestly... if you don’t need a medical grade mask and can wear a reusable mask... just do it. If you want one and don’t have sufficient funds to buy one, I have some that I will give you. Please contact me directly.

How have your sustainability habits changed since Covid 19?

Initially, I felt like there was an energy of intense fear that caused People to perhaps undo some of the eco swaps and changes they had brought into their lives. Moving to more stringent cleaners.. maybe using antibacterial cleaning wipes.

Perhaps an edge of not being able to cope with too much fuss and needing the security in chemicals...

I also saw those who began to throw them selves into a new more sustainable way of living. Perhaps being Home more, creating more visible waste than you noticed when you were out at work 5 days a Week. People started growing their own food, rejecting single use plastics, stopped using their cars so much. Tried a vegan diet.

The message is... don’t stop now. It is not time to relax in the climate change crisis. We have 8/9 years to reverse and halt the damage humans have caused our dear Mother Earth.

The conversation continued, how can you dedicate your life, especially in the near future, to safe guarding our planet from the irreversible affects of climate change?

Because the truth is, we must change our behaviour. And we must change it now.

I know lots of you have made changes... a friend has set up a brand new cycling group on Facebook which has been hugely popular locally. It’s called the. no.1ladiescyclingagency. Check them out on Facebook.

And I love the idea that we put aside EVERYTHING else for the next 10 years and really prioritise our planet. It is
Possible to reverse and halt the damage. There is hope. We must believe that for our children and the next generations. Who’s with us??

Tell us below what you commit to doing over the next 10 years...

and I promise to share an idea I’ve been brewing...

Hello! This is me... I realise that I haven’t shared my face for a while, on the grid I mean. I am Bryony. I live in Birmingham. I have 3 cats, 2 children and 1 baby (Vesta).

I’m a cancerian, with a Leo cusp. Im mainly extrovert. Though definitely preferring my own company as I get older... relishing alone time... or maybe that’s just covid, I can barely remember.

Im a pretty emotional deep feeling person. I think that’s why I chose to do what I do with Vesta. After a career in retail I found myself despondent with mass manufacture and wanted to create a world for myself that was free where I didn’t have to answer to anyone, and was putting something good into the world.

I recently remembered my first foray into social enterprise, I was 8, and went door to door selling shells I’d collected on the beach to my neighbours. I donated all the cash to children in need.

So it’s clearly in my path to be doing something that gives back.

This is me outside my studio in Digbeth. basking in the sun of last weekend. Hopefully when lockdown lifts we will be able to open the studio periodically, and you guys can come visit us!

I’m looking forward to pottering around digbeth in the spring, after work..
Popping into some of the cool indie bars digbeth is so known for. I’m ready for the buzz of the summer when people will sit outside @thewarehousecafe eating and drinking.

What are you looking forward to this spring/summer.

#vestaliving #vestasustainableliving#marchmeetthemaker2021 #sgiew_folk#digbeth #socialenterprise #eco

I didn’t post for #iwd2021 this year. I couldn’t decide what to say in a year where woman’s rights and equality has taken a massive backwards step.

Woman are more likely to have lost work and pay than men, more likely to have taken on the additional emotional labour in the household. Woman have had to birth alone and been isolated from their support systems with a new baby.

The news and backlash this week has been so challenging.

A woman slandered and disbelieved in the press over her own personal lives experience of racism and mental health.

A woman walking home from her friends abducted and killed.

I can’t even. It’s too much.

We should be able to talk about our experiences... we should be able to walk alone.

Sending love and strength to anyone affected this week by the noise. We will continue to push forward.. what else can we do?