THE MODERN MINT BLOG
(Fifty) Shades of Green
Shades of Green is a book by Paul Waddington, giving you some common sense advice on how to live more sustainably.
It is well put together and gently teaches you how broad the spectrum of green living is. From starting the book with ‘don’t fly’ (brave way to split your readers on page one!) to sharing ways on how to live without a fridge (how did people stop their food spoiling before refrigeration?) we list below some of the ideas, both dark green and lighter green, we liked the most from his book. Do check it out – Shades Of Green: A (mostly) practical A-Z for the reluctant environmentalist
Shades of Green
No flying.
Homegrown food and flowers (including raw milk, no meat (or at least have rare breed if you do), local, artisan bread, cheese, fairtrade, organic dark chocolate, eggs from your own chickens and ale hand pulled from a cask… to be honest, when food is spoken about in such gloriously delicious terms, you wonder why we accept anything less from the supermarkets?)
No babies.
Shorter showers, smaller bath (apparently there are baths shaped like a peanut that should force you to use less water…)
Second hand bikes.
Darker clothes as whites require more energy to get them crisp and white. Probably best to go for wool, cotton, silk… animal? Handwash them.
No cod. Wild fish, sustainably caught.
Shade grown organic coffee. Or you could try dandelion root…
Induction hob instead of an electric oven.
Laptop? Or just go without completely?
Generate your own electricity.
No fridge – a zeer pot, pantry, larder or root cellar.
Use a wood-framed conservatory leaning against your house – better than a polytunnel!
Look again at your furniture and your homes. Is there some retro-fitting you can do? Can you use or buy less?
Let your lawns become meadows.
Use LED lights. We hear THIS IS THE FUTURE from people in the know. So check them out…
Have a wind up radio.
Then came more food ideas (it is amazing just how far wrong our diets have gone…) like using extra virgin olive oil, organic sunflower oil, organic dried pasta, home-grown strawberries and tomatoes (ripened by the sun…) use local staple foods (so for us in the UK – wheat? oats? barley?) honey instead of sugar and, if you must have sugar, make it organic, dark, unrefined sugar… and of course you should drink a cup of loose leaf tea.
Don’t keep cats and dogs – if you want pets, try bees and carp.
If you go on holiday – backpack or camp.
Put a pond in the garden.
Make your shoes of leather. Or hemp, with a rubber soul from a recycled car tyre.
No TV. You have a laptop anyway, right?
Soap. Washing powder. Jewellery. Make-up. Think about all of these now…
Telephone – we would love to be without one.
Target your water use – do you harvest rainwater? Flush too often? Could you have a compost toilet?
Take the train, or go sailing.
Use a triple AAA rated dishwasher – apparently it really is better than washing up by hand!
Make your own wine, or drink locally made.
The two items Paul Waddington talks about in Shades of Green that seem to be the biggest places we can cut back on our energy use are cars and houses. Financially, these are also the items that cost us the most.
Perhaps it is time we started sharing them?
To see what else he has written, click this link – Books by Paul Waddington
Last of all then – what shade of green are you?
Michael Gibson, New York Topiary Art!
In the New York Times earlier this year was a lovely interview with Michael Gibson, who makes topiary and gardens in New York. The article is here but you may not have access… however, search the internet, find it and have a read. It is great! His philosophy of pruning is especially worth it… Sacred geometry in topiary? Yes please! What a phrase! I think (and speak) of balance, of major and minor, of leaf volume… but sacred geometry might well make it into my topiary teaching lexicon! And the idea of directional trimming? I realise I do this, but …
Topiary Library
I do a lot of teaching topiary. I had the opportunity from my mentor, Charlotte Molesworth, to work on her garden and experiment and test techniques and generally try making shapes without the worry of failure, or being fired, or being sued and run out of business for getting it wrong. This opportunity was essential (along with Charlotte’s insistance that pruning standards had to be high!) in becoming better at topiary. When I look around the world at our cultural vitamins, what we see in the media day in and day out, I see the stupidest and grossest of people …
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …