UN launches biofuels report

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Responding to a report launched on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on the impacts of biofuels on food security, Friends of the Earth's Biofuels Campaigner Kenneth Richter said: “This is a stark reminder that Europe's biofuel targets are driving up food prices and increasing hunger among the world's poorest people.

“The biofuels industry is lobbying hard against new proposals before the European Parliament to limit the use of food crops for biofuels.

"MEPs must not bow to industry pressure - they must end the use of food for fuel.”

The report, written by the UN's High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security, confirms that the production of biofuel from crops has a significant and direct impact on food prices and food availability:

• "When crops are used for biofuels, the first direct impact is to reduce food and feed availability. This induces an increase in prices and a reduction of food demand by the poor."

• "Everything else being equal, the introduction of a rigid biofuel demand does affect food commodity prices. This observation holds in each context, even in the context of prices going down for other reasons than biofuels."

• "In the last few years (since 2004) of short-term commodity food price increase, biofuels did play an important role."

• "All crops compete for the same land or water, labor, capital, inputs and investment and there are no current magic non-food crops that can ensure more harmonious biofuel production on marginal lands. Therefore, non-food/feedcrops should be assessed with the same rigor as food/feedcrops for their direct and indirect food security impacts."

Biofuels, of whatever kind, are not the answer. What is required is a rethinking of the way we do things and the way we travel. In addition to that studies have shown that bio-diesel, for instance, has a higher output of particulate matter than has diesel derived from fossil oil. Those minute particles released into the atmosphere are the causal agents of asthma and other respiratory problems.

The problem is, however, that the powers-that-be wish to maintain the status quo of motoring for all as event he mere suggestion of it in public would put the cat among the pigeons, proverbial speaking, and lose them votes.

There is a possibility of one option for bio-diesel, though it again would mean that most people would have to give up the use of their private motorcars, and that is the use of gasoline made from hemp, as was intended for the first cars made by Henry Ford. He also built an entire car body from hemp fiber plastic.

Hemp, though, while an almost miracle crop, could never sustain the current level of motoring around the world and the only way we can progress and keep the Planet safe and healthy is by returning to other modes of personal transportation, which does not include the car.

For governments to even suggest this at this present moment in time, however, would be political suicide as the people have gotten so used to personal motoring that they will vote for anyone – regardless – who will promise them the continuation of this. And with regardless I mean here also that they are quite prepared to let the Planet go to hell in a hand basket, so to speak, for their short-term motoring freedom.

It has already been established that the growing of crops for biofuels is causing hunger in many areas and food shortages in general, as well as shortages on other levels, such as water but the people in the developed world do not care enough. Their only interest is the continuation of the status quo as regards to motoring and other ways of life.

Vast stretches of tropical rainforests are being destroyed wholesale for the growing of oil palms for palm oil for the creation of biofuels and also palm oil for use in cosmetics and other products. And other areas are being destroyed too for the growing of other crops for biofuel production; areas that could, even though claimed to be “marginal” lands, for the growing of foods.

When it comes to growing of certain foods too we have a problem such as when in Kenya “French” beans are being grown for consumption in the UK and other parts of the EU. The growing of those, and other crops, which are not part of the diet of the local population, is water intensive and occupies land that those countries, where hunger is a daily problem for many, could much better use in order to grow food for their people.

I have no problem with taking surplus crops from far away places if they are indeed surplus but am dead against cash crop produce grown for the markets in the developed world which being foods that the local people do not eat.

It is high time that the world rethought its priorities and fuel and cash crops are not priorities.

When it comes to fuel for motor vehicles it is time that we rethought personal motoring and while it has given people the freedom to live far away from their jobs and commute this has done no one any real favors. On the contrary.

© 2013

The UN's report 'Biofuels and food security' can be found here.

Weeding can be very therapeutic

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Weeding can be a very therapeutic way to spend an hour or so, but to appreciate how good it can be you need to motivate yourself to start.

For a lot of people coming in from work and sitting in front of the TV is a great way to clear your mind, but rather than sit down and do nothing get up and get out weeding your plot. It is not stressful. In fact it relaxes you better than the TV, and you have a sense of achievement when you have finished. And the next day when traveling to work you can look back on what you did and be much happier and you can exude a level of smugness that will have people wondering what medication you are on.

To me weeding is such an exercise in mind clearing and relaxation but it is also that time when the ideas come in, often, for new articles and essays. Another reason why I like it, in the same way as path edging.

Many in professional gardening and grounds-maintenance give me a strange look when I say that I enjoy weeding the beds and edging the paths. They would rather not do it and that is the difference between someone who does it for the money alone and someone who cares about the job.

Aside from destressing weeding and edging gives a great sense of achievement for it gives instant results and you can look back at the work at the end of the day and be pleased with yourself. How many people have such a satisfaction in their jobs working in an office. The only other person that does is the craftsman or -woman who works with his or her hands and holds a finished object in those after a day's work.

This is also why, outside of work, I garden and like to make things with my hands. Relaxation and instant gratification, as far as weeding the garden beds and the finished objects made are concerned. What can be better?

Gardening is therapeutic anyway but makes it even better.

© 2013

FRACK OFF: LUSH COSMETICS FIGHTS AGAINST A FRACKED FUTURE

Lush Cosmetics have given their 105 UK and Irish shops – their windows, their staff and their online channels – to grassroots activist group Frack Off. For ten days all Lush shops will host a ‘Don’t Frack our Future’ campaign that has been devised for the high street by Frack Off and campaigners at Lush Cosmetics.

A central tool for the Frack Off/Lush campaign is an animation explaining the process of unconventional oil and gas extraction in the context of a family’s resistance to fracking in Lancashire [1].

During the ten days of this campaign the UK’s first shale oil site near the West Sussex village of Balcombe could become operational. The preparatory work for a 914 metre shale well has been started, making this community yet another battleground of Britain’s unconventional gas rush [2].

Activists from Frack Off have hosted training sessions for all Lush staff – both at national managers’ meetings and – in situ – on the shop floor. More than 150,000 people will be engaged during the 10-day campaign.

Tamsin Omond, head of global campaigns at Lush Cosmetics said: “When we inform our customers that fracking and unconventional gas extraction is coming to the UK and Ireland they freak out. The idea that politicians are risking our water supply and our air quality so that energy companies can drill deep beneath our land goes against all common sense. This campaign will educate tens of thousands of people about the threat of fracking to their communities. With the success of community-led activism in France, Bulgaria, Australia, the United States and all around the world, I have no doubt that we will keep the frackers from our land.”

Doreen Stopforth from Lancashire said: “People have got to find out about fracking. It's on my doorstep now, but it could be yours next. We unfortunately in Lancashire are the beginning of it. But people in other parts of the country have got to realise that it is coming to them as well and we need to stop this now!”

Andi Walsh from Frack Off said: “Balcombe joins communities at Airth near Falkirk fighting Coal Bed Methane, residents in Lancashire fighting Shale Gas and towns and village along the north east coast from Alnwick to Sunderland fighting Underground Coal Gasification”.

“When it comes to issues like fracking, where human health and our shared environment are under threat, we have to question whether those in power are even capable of putting the interests of the general public first”

Watch this animated which film explains fracking in the UK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYniYtJEeeI

For a full picture of where unconventional gas extraction is planned: http://frack-off.org.uk/map-widget/

Source: Frack Off and Lush Cosmetics

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

Pakefield High School Budding Gardeners

Harrod Horticultural teamed up with a local Lowestoft school this spring to donate gardening products for their perennially successful lunchtime gardening and eco club. Pupils at Pakefield High School wrote to Harrod Horticultural early in 2013 to request product donations for their gardening and eco club run by Mel Mathews and Clare Cloves. The club is a popular lunchtime activity where pupils develop work based learning skills for their future careers. “It was a natural step for us to donate gardening products to Pakefield High School as they are so close to our offices. Our schools Budding Gardeners programme supports school gardening across the country at grass roots level. This is important to us as a company as children are the gardeners of tomorrow” says Stephanie Harrod, Managing Director of Harrod Horticultural.

Raised beds, manger raised planters, raised bed tables and the ever popular anti-bird and soft butterfly netting were donated to the club by Harrod Horticultural. The products were previously used on the Harrod Horticultural 2012 Chelsea Flower Show stand which the company has exhibited at annually for the previous 10 years. They were planted up in their new home by the students in the spring and Aaron Knights, a pupil at the school commented: “There is no better feeling than the pride of home grown vegetables. I cannot wait until the food is in the café”.

“This garden is our hope, our hope at improving the environment, our hope that Pakefield can pride itself on our environment” said Josh Sturman, fellow gardening and eco club member. “The raised beds and managers are ideal for our school garden. They have made our allotment area look great and will provide the perfect environment for our vegetables and flowers. Many thanks to Harrod Horticultural for their generosity” Mel Mathews and Clare Cloves, lunchtime gardening club and eco club teachers.

Cheryl Willis, Careers Co-ordinator at Pakefield High School says “We are very proud to be associated with Harrod UK and feel the relationship will benefit the School, the local community and encourage and develop work based learning skills in our young people.” As Harrod Horticultural look to cement the relationship for the future, a number of water butts will shortly be donated to the school garden and allotment area to educate and encourage the importance of water conservation from a young age.

Budding Gardeners is the Harrod Horticultural school website where you can find curriculum advice, competitions to enter and factsheets to download for use in the classroom. Schools can sign up to Budding Gardeners for FREE in order to receive up to 20% discount from the Harrod Horticultural range visit www.buddinggardeners.co.uk for further info.

Source: Harrod Horticultural

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Living the good life in town and city

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Growing your own food and living the good life of a homesteader is, all too often, associated in the minds of most people with living in the country, the sticks, the boonies. This is a fallacy, however, for it is a mindset rather than being dependent on location.

True, it is easier, to some degree, to do it in the boonies, especially if you have a home with a little – or more than just a little – land. That does not mean, however, that living in town has to prevent you from living it; at least to some degree.

“Living the good life” of a homesteader, as said, is dependent on your mindset much more than it is on your location and it also does not just and only mean growing your own food.

Growing your own food, or at least part of it, while being the main stay, so to speak, of living the good life, is only part of living the life of a homesteader, whether in the boonies or the city. Self-reliance in everything, as fas as this is possible and feasible, is the name of the game, and I say deliberately self-reliance and not self-sufficiency as the latter is impossible to achieve, ever, on your own.

There is more, much more, to living the life of a homesteader, whether in the country or town, than just growing your own food.

Making do with what you have got and making things you want and need as much as possible yourself is, and always has been, a very large part of it, as was and is reusing, repurposing and upcycling things that others regard as waste, be that tin cans, glass jars, bits of paper, string, rubber bands, card or pallet lumber, to name but a few. Much more than that can be reused, repurposed and upcycled and our parents and grandparents, and not just in the country, did just that. Everyone, in fact, bar the very rich, was doing it.

It is very much a mindset and one that we must redevelop for the good of the Planet and for our very survival on this Planet. Like then it also can and will save money but it will do more than just that. It will allow us to live a much more fulfilled life and it will save vital resources on a global scale. The good life is about that too.

All too often the other aspects of what makes up homesteading are forgotten and not only when being considered for an urban or suburban environment. Too many eco-warriors are still in a consumer mindset rather than one of producer.

We have to learn once more to make and produce things for ourselves, with the resources to hand, rather than popping to the stores for everything, even if the things we look at buying are ethically produced, are “green”, etc.

An old friend of mine, now sadly deceased, was a great example of a homesteader in an urban setting. He lived in an apartment but canned all manner of things for his pantry and made much for himself, including clothes, and much more besides.

While I know that he would have much rather have preferred to live in a shack in the mountains the fact that he did not did not let it stop him from pursuing his dream of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, as far as possible, in town and that very successfully.

It can be done and do it we must.

© 2013

Evance R9000 off-grid system provides farm with round-the-clock energy

July 2013: An Evance small wind turbine has been installed on the Darlay family farm in Nottinghamshire to give the farm round-the-clock electricity.

An off-grid Evance R9000 small wind turbine is now providing the Darlay family farm in Nottinghamshire with round-the-clock electricity for the first time

Although the farm is less than a mile from a large coal fired power station, the farm is not connected to the grid due to the high connection cost. So after years of struggling to power the farm the Darlay family took the decision to install an Evance R9000 small wind turbine.

Now the farm has electricity 24 hours a day - a big difference to the four to five hours generated daily by their generator.

“Generating enough electricity for the farm and house has been a constant challenge for us, and with the rising cost of diesel it has been very expensive to use our generator. That’s why we decided to look at alternative solutions and found that wind power could meet our needs,” comments Geoff Darlay, who runs the 230 acre farm with his family. “We looked at the R9000 as it has a proven track record for reliable operation and were delighted to find Evance had an off-grid solution.”

“The turbine really has made our lives so much easier by having power around the clock. My only regret is that we didn’t invest in an Evance turbine earlier,” concluded Mr Darlay.

As part of the off-grid system there is a battery bank which can store 55kWh of electricity. An additional heater has also been fitted, so if the battery bank is full any additional energy generated goes to a heater in the house. This way all the renewable energy generated is used.

“I’m pleased that our turbine has changed the Darlays' lives for the better, not just financially but also helping the practical day to day running of a farm and home,” said Kevin Parslow, CEO of Evance Wind Turbines. “All the home owners, farmers and communities who have an R9000 are making significant energy savings and have fixed their electricity costs for 20 years. That's one of the reasons that the Evance R9000 is the UK's most popular small wind turbine."^(.i)

“I was interested to see that a recent survey⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ found that 40% of UK farmers are using a renewable energy source, although 72% believe that renewable energy can still achieve a lot more in the agricultural industry,” commented Kevin. “With energy costs continuing to rise, now is the right time to invest in small wind turbine technology - take control of your future costs and secure today’s FiT rate.”

(i) 1.5kW to 15kW small wind turbines

(ii) Research by Nottingham Trent University, Forum for Farmers and Farmers

Evance Wind Turbines, a world leading manufacturer of small wind turbines, is dedicated to helping customers capture and use wind power to reduce both energy bills and carbon footprint.  Evance has a global footprint of over 1,600 installations helping farmers, home owners, businesses and schools to become green energy producers.

Evance’s 5kW R9000 wind turbine is fully MCS certified, so eligible for the UK’s Feed-in Tariff scheme, and certified in the US and Japan.

As a leading manufacturer of small wind turbines Evance delivers efficient and reliable solutions designed to produce maximum energy yield.

www.evancewind.com

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

Tulip ‘Cupcakes’ christened online

Tweeter names world exclusive collection

A chance arrangement of tulips has led to the launch of an exclusive new mix by the UK’s most successful horticultural mail order company.

When Sarah King, one of Thompson & Morgan’s designers and a keen amateur photographer, was asked to take some photos of a new range of tulips for one of Thompson & Morgan’s catalogues, she was only too pleased to oblige. Having taken some pictures of each of the new varieties, she scooped them up and put them in a vase on the company’s reception desk.

‘I literally ‘plonked’ them in a vase’, says Sarah, ‘I didn’t want them to go to waste. They are so unusual and with their light fragrance, I thought they would make a perfect arrangement for our reception area’.

The arrangement caught the eye of Michael Perry, T&M’s new product manager, who recognised the potential for a fabulous new tulip collection. ‘We were going to offer the tulips individually to our customers, but having seen how stunning they looked together, we felt that a collection of ALL the varieties would really appeal to gardeners’.

The next challenge was to find a name for the stunning peony-flowered tulip collection. A picture of the tulip arrangement that Sarah had inadvertently created was posted on Thompson & Morgan’s Facebook page. After a hugely positive response, T&M followers on both Twitter and Facebook were asked to come up with a name for the new and exclusive tulip mix. Martine Ellison-Smith tweeted in with the winning name - ‘Cupcakes’.

The new collection with its newly-chosen name will feature in Thompson & Morgan’s latest Autumn Catalogue which is due out in late July. Tulip ‘Cupcakes’ will be available to gardeners for delivery later this year, but customers are advised to order early as T&M expects demand to be high.

Tulip ‘Cupcakes’ is available in packs of 16 (£11.99) or 32 bulbs (£16.99 saving £6.99). For a free catalogue or to place an order, customers can call

0844 573 1818 or visit www.thompson-morgan.com

Thompson & Morgan, based in Ipswich, Suffolk since 1855, is the UK’s most successful horticultural mail order company. Its product range includes an award-winning choice of seeds, young plants, bulbs, seed potatoes, onion and garlic sets, soft fruit and fruit trees, as well as an extensive range of gardening supplies.

Source: Thompson & Morgan Press Office

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Only cash makes anonymous payments possible

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Only cash (and we are not talking here about Johnny with the same surname) makes a nonymous payments possible and secures and ensures individual freedom.

Using the cashless payment system, which is being pushed on all of us by all the banks and by the government(s), on the other hand, we open the door to the surveillance state with each and every transaction and every item bought registered by some government computer.

In fact each and every transaction and every item purchased – so if you don't want them to know how much ammo or how many knives or how much storage food you buy don't use your debit or credit card – regardless of where and what shows up in the statistics and are available to the spy agencies at the click of a mouse.

There are many people who suggest that in order to be prepared for a time of crisis you should have silver and gold coins as means of cash currency but that is utter baloney as no one today, almost, will deal in that material, Cash,as in greenbacks, Pound notes or Euro is what you need and not precious metal coins.

There will be no shopkeeper or trader who is going to accept silver or gold coins after the proverbial hits the air moving device, not one, and not for a while to come thereafter. Cash, as in currency of the realm, is going to be king and not some trade round in silver or gold.

Thus, rather than investing in those get a safe, the best you can afford, and have at least some of your money at home in this place. While this may be considered nearly as bad as having your savings stashed under the mattress it is a great deal better than that and it also means that you can get at your cash as and when you need it when the chips are down.

The amount that you see on your bank statement is just a promissory note, so to speak, and IOU, which the bank promised to pay you but, when the chips are down and the ATMs not working then this is but an empty promise. There is no way that you can get at it and as the people in Cyprus learned when the government decides to have to pay for a bail-out they will, quite happily, seize your saving and your assets held in your accounts at the banks.

We have always been told that having cash at home was bad because burglars could take it from you and that having in the banks was a great deal safer, and this claim has been going on for ages. However, already the Great Depression showed the world of savers that having their money in a bank was not the safest way to go as the banks could not, actually, pay them back the money.

In fact, if everyone would go to take their money back from the banks they actually would collapse as they would not have the cash to hand to actually pay everyone. Banks do not have all the cash of all the people in some vault somewhere; far from it. Most of the money that they “hold” is, in fact, lent out to people and corporations and they have a great problem fulfilling even the requests to pay out several thousands in whatever currency and, in addition to that, paying for anything at around a thousand Pounds Sterling, in the UK, or the same in Dollars in the US, will, more than likely immediately bring the police into the game as sellers have to, by law, inform the police immediately if and when someone tenders cash in large sums for payment and they will stall you for so long until the police arrives on scene.

However, having said that, when the proverbial hits the air moving device or has hit it then cash will truly be kind (once again) as no one will be accepting debit or credit cards or even checks. Those will then just be worthless pieces of plastic or paper, nothing more. Only real money – and not even, as said already, gold and silver coins – will be accepted as payment, or you will have to revert to barter trade.

While barter will work with individuals, maybe, it will not, however, do so with shopkeepers and other traders, at least not for some time after the event. Thus the coin of the real, so to speak, is what will be needed, at least, as said, for some time to come after any breakdown scenario, aside from barter amongst individuals and groups.

If you want to make purchases, now or later, without leaving, especially in our current surveillance society, a paper or electronic trail then you will have to have cash ready to hand with which to conduct business.

However, because the powers-that-be do not like to be kept in the dark they try to push everything towards a cashless economy and society and are almost as far as outlawing cash for all but the most trivial of purchases. I can see a time coming not far hence when shops will no longer be allowed to take cash for purchases over hundred Pounds or Euro, or will have to involve the police if sums above such an amount are being tendered.

Our governments claim that the cashless payments are for our protection so that we do not have to carry (vast amounts of) cash around with us but in reality things are rather different and we best understand that now. It has noting to do, in the same way as CCTV cameras and other surveillance measures, with our safety and security but everything to do with government wanting to know what we buy and where we buy the things that we buy.

The problem is, however, that the majority accept the claims by the governments and swallow what they are told hook, line and sinker. And they, unfortunately, do that also with regards to CCTV and other surveillance measures directed against each and every one of us, spying into every nook and cranny of our lives. If you want to make anonymous purchases then cash is the only answer or barter or alternative currencies; nothing else will work.

© 2013

Not so many cars

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The proponents of the electric car are trying to convince us that if we could but replace all vehicles with internal combustion engines with electric vehicles that everything would be fantastic. But is that really so?

The truth is – looking at their full life cycle – elec tric cars and other vehicles are not a marked improvement over internal combustion engines in terms of environmental impact.

In order to understand and compare environmental impacts we much look at the full system. Something that, all too often, is not being done.

It is when we do that, however, that we discover surprising things like that natural gas electricity production from shale gas is not necessarily any better for the climate, and in the end the Planet, than coal power.

The best strategy, as with so many things, is to use less.

Replacing ICE vehicles with electric ones is NOT the answer (and the same goes for replacing gas engine power tools with electric and especially battery-powered ones). The answer is not needing to use so many cars and trucks in the first place.

Yes, this does mean a new and different approach to (personal) transportation to that which we have become accustomed to over the last five or so decades and a return to more human-powered transportation (machines and tools) and, also, animal-powered transportation.

The electric car is NOT the savior of the Planet that it is being made out to be especially as for the making of the battery alone, which will need replacing after a couple of years, rare earths and rare metals are required the extraction of which takes a great toll on the environment.

Neither the powers-that-be nor car makers – and even some green groups – are willing and prepared to tell the people the truth as to EVs and such and that we really will have to rethink how we travel.

One group – the first – fears a backlash from the people who have become so used to personal motoring and have been led to believe that that motoring is their (human) right and the second group fears for profits.

As far as some of the green groups are concerned who are reluctant to speak the truth about the electric car one can but guess as to the reasons for this; vested interest in EVs could, obviously, be one.

The time of personal motoring, as I have said before, is well and truly over and the sooner we all got used to it the better, and that includes the electric car. The latter is as unsustainable as the one with the internal combustion engine, and are no better either, despite what is being suggested to us.

© 2013

Put your feet up with the Fiskars Garden Light range

There is an old school of thought that gardening is sheer hard work. After all, many gardening tools feature solid wooden or heavy steel handles, adding extra weight and effort to the tasks in hand. Leading garden tool company Fiskars disagrees, believing that gardeners should enjoy tasks, leaving plenty of energy to relax in the garden afterwards.

And so Fiskars approached the problem with a simple philosophy: create a range of tools made from lightweight, yet robust materials. From this came the Garden Light range, a collection of tools engineered to make the most laborious tasks a pleasure. Fiskars believes in old-fashioned values, not old-fashioned tools.

A complete range of lightweight stick tools

From spades for raking digging to a wide range of cultivating tools, there is a Fiskars Garden Light tool for every task. Featuring efficient blades, spikes and heads made from durable materials, the Garden Light range benefits from aluminium shaft, ergonomic handles or drop-shaped soft grips for optimal hold.

Digging tools

Manufactured in lightweight aluminium shaft and extra strong boron steel blades head, both spade and fork incorporate a clever oval shaft with a plastic. This makes the tool lightweight, resistant to rust, helps to maximise the grip as well as insulates from the cold. Tools are the lightest on the market, with each tool weighing less than 1.4kgs.

• Garden Light Rounded Garden Spade

• Garden Light Garden Fork

Cultivator tools

Lightweight aluminium coated shafts and an innovative drop shaped soft grip handle provide optimal grip and comfort. Robust hardened carbon steel heads and a maximum weight of 0.75kgs, the Fiskars Garden Light Cultivator and Hoes are perfect for easy weeding and soil cultivation.

• Garden Light Cultivator

• Garden Light Hoe

• Garden Light Dutch Hoe

Tidy Up tools

Lightweight, flexible and durable heads are the benchmark of the Garden Light Leaf Rake and hardened carbon steel tines for the Soil Rake. The Garden Light Patio Knife and Edging Knife achieve optimum performance with hardened boron steel blades. The Garden Light tidy up tools start with an impressively light 490g.

• Garden Light, Lawn Rake L

• Garden Light Soil Rake

• Garden Light Patio Knife

• Garden Light Edging Knife

Fiskars Garden Light collection is available nationwide in garden centres, DIY stores and online.

www.fiskars.co.uk

Fiskars is a leading global supplier of consumer products for the home, garden and outdoors. The group has a strong portfolio of respected international brands, including Fiskars, Iittala and Gerber. Founded in 1649 and listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Fiskars is Finland's oldest company. Fiskars recorded net sales of EIRO 743 million in 2011, and employs some 3,400 people in over 20 countries www.fiskarsgroup.com

Transform Communications Ltd

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.