New Forest Aquaponics CIC

Last autumn saw a little flurry of media interest in Washkers and how we make them.

We had media exposure on radio, newspapers and the TV.

Everything went onto my Youtube channel 

This is the video from BBC South Today 

https://youtu.be/Ah1SFPuoAfY?si=5eXx2KXoO6Fkkr35

If you have a look at the channel you will find the radio interviews as well.

And don't forget if you cant make your own for any reason you can support our work through buying washkers from us.

https://newforestaquaponics.com/rengerative-shopping-support/#!/Washkers-conkers-for-washing-your-clothes/p/421141597/category=154863771

Just because you need to use a foodbank why should you not be able to do something sustainable and planet friendly ?  

Keeping your house clean when you are going through a difficult time can be a huge challenge in itself, it can be another huge thing to deal with. Anything that helps you remember there is a community that cares can be that fleeting moment of positive that helps you carry on through the difficult stuff.  And yes I am speaking from experience. 

It is not just food that is needed, you often see cleaning products and cleaning cloths on the wishlist for a foodbank. And often that wishlist is on amazon. Encouraging you to purchase from big retail, who are one of the driving forces behind poverty and pollution around the world.

Could we do this differently?  

New Forest Aquaponics CIC runs many community projects, one of which is The Waterside Food Project, preventing  supermarket surplus  food going to waste, the sale of our Genius Cloths helps us fund our work so a double whammy of good.  Feeding people, while helping other people clean. 

That’s why we have put an option on our Genius Cleaning Cloths for you to contribute towards providing them to food banks. You can even nominate your local food bank. We will add up all the donations and then send as many packs as possible  - using our wholesale prices. And we will pay the postage.

There is no limit, but we will only send a parcel when there are 10 or more packs for the nominated foodbank. 

You can nominate any charity, foodbank, or community group you like and we will add them to the options, then get sharing so others who support them can add to the amount of Genius cleaning cloths we can send them. 

You will find them listed in our shop  - why not grab yourself some at the same time!
If you have any questions please do drop me a line watercressqueen1@gmail.com and don’t forget to share through your networks and see how much good we can achieve.

It's October, time for conkers !!

My favourite time of year. 

2022 looks like it is going to be a good year for conkers as well as other tree seed collecting. 

It feels like I am reconnecting with old  friends as I travel around the New Forest visiting the  horse chestnut trees I collect conkers from. 

Asking them how they have been over the last year?

How did they cope through the summer, was it good for them?

Are they ready for winter? 

Is there anything they need?

The last question is always answered with please ask the  rest of the humans to stop killing those of  us who share this home with them. 

If you have never been to talk to the trees I urge you to go, have the conversation, and then check in with  yourself, what part you can play in halting the destruction. What is your positive action going to be?

Your action could be to swap even just some of your washing powder or liquid to one that not only does no harm, but actually puts more back into our biosphere. 

October is the month to collect conkers, to give them a wash if they are dirty, and then chop them up, smaller the better. Then it is time to dry them so you can store them all year. For a  family you will need to do around 5 kilos of fresh conkers. How much will last you till next October is down to how many washes you do. 

I will post the link to where to find my instructions on how to make the liquid from them to add to your washing machine in the comments.

If you for any reason are not able to collect and dry your own conkers you can support our regenerative work by purchasing some of our washkers. 

https://newforestaquaponics.com/rengerative-shopping-support/#!/Washkers-conkers-for-washing-your-clothes/p/421141597/category=154863771

What calls me to do this every year? I certainly started because we had no income or money and needed to be able to reduce our costs to the absolute minimum if we were going to keep our house. 

I also wanted to live in a way that connected me as much as possible to our natural world, to be as green and as eco friendly as I could be. It seemed as though you needed money to do that, it was out of my reach. 

Now I know that if we look at the  beautiful resources we are gifted by our home ( biosphere) there are many changes we can make that can save us money, save us from harming our world and help us put more back than we take. 

So every year we will collect enough conkers for ourselves, and enough for those who can’t collect conkers but wish to use washkers. We will always make sure we never take more than ⅓ from a tree, we will thank the tree, and continue to commit to growing a minimum of 30 trees a year.

First conkers of 2022 collected 1st October.