Tracey Speaking:
'The Crow and the Pitcher: There’s always a way!
The Story: A thirsty Crow comes across a pitcher, which had been full of water. But when it puts beak into the mouth of the pitcher, he cannot reach the water. He keeps trying but then gives up. At last he comes up with an idea. He keeps dropping pebbles into the pitcher, soon the water rises up to the top and his is able to quench his thirst.
The Lesson: Little by little does the trick. When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Persistence is the key to solving any problem. If your first solution doesn’t solve the problem, think of another solution. Keep trying until you get the answer. After all, it’s better than doing nothing at all!'
Some things in life just don’t happen quickly. It can all feel like an uphill struggle, while other things just seem to click in place quite naturally. Recently, we have met our nemesis on several occasions. While attempting to create our brand new patches, or switching to more eco-friendly shampoo bars or perfecting what has sometimes felt like reinventing the wheel….creating an acceptable version of a vegan Yorkshire pudding!
Creating our own Patches was something we wanted to do for such a long time. It would use up any scrap of denim that couldn’t be saved that would normally be binned and it would be a way of creating something with our own twist so our lovely customers could add to their own clothes and give them a new lease of life. Extending and giving new life to things you already own, very ‘on brand’ for us. But we had to try many, many times before we created a patch we were happy with! We experimented, we researched, we watched others and learnt from them, and we tried and failed and tried again. We have so many practice patches we could make a blanket, but finally we got there and now love these upcycled denim creations of ours.
For quite some years, we’ve been ever so slowly trying to reduce our waste and think more consciously about our purchases. It really has been a ‘little by little process’. I don’t think we could have sustained an overnight change; it would have just been too much. When we get use to one change, and that might take some time, we plan the next. For several months now I’ve been reducing our waste in the bathroom, some changes have been easy, switching to compostable wooden toothbrushes was barely noticed by the family and buying a safety razor that will hopefully last a lifetime is not as scary as we thought! But finding a shampoo bar that a house full of girls like has been quite the battle, one which we have not conquered and I feel I might have to admit defeat, at least for the moment.
In 2016 when we decided as a family to become plant based and stop eating meat we made many gradual
changes and attempted to convert our family favourites and comfort food into our new way of eating. As a family we’re big fans of the Sunday roast and we were determined to keep this tradition going. Most things could be tweaked or substituted but what about the Yorkshire pudding? Having a mother born and bred in Leeds Yorkshire, I knew the importance of these on any roast. But how do you replicate something that relies so heavily on eggs? Well you need someone with extreme patience and determination, and in steps Emily! She looked up every recipe, watched every YouTube, bought weird and wacky ingredients and then tried and tried again. She was mocked and sometimes laughed at by the family for creating what we now call ‘Dumple Muffins’ a slightly heavier, more bready version of a Yorkshire pud. She persevered on a journey that along the way led us to not only a very acceptable Yorkshire but also a very fine batter for Chinese chicken, battered sausages and our version of fish. So although the attempts were many, the rewards were great!
We had a bit of a ‘Gandhi’ week recently and I fell in love with so much of what he had to say. So to finish my ramblings this week, let’s end with some great advice from the man himself:
‘Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it’s very important that you do it.’
Go on make those small changes!
Tracey x