My daughter’s school (in Upottery near Honiton) is running a Yummy Mummy market in March and we’ve been asking local Devon businesses for donations to our charity raffle.

So far we’ve had a few responses. Rachel of Devon based Curworthy Cheese has emailed me back to say they will be happy to donate a cheese and we’ve been promised some drinks from Luscombe but the first donation arrived this week in the form of a shiny new voucher from Quickes to spend in their farm shop over near Exeter.

Thank you Mary (pictured above) at Quickes – this should help us raise some money via our raffle and the proceeds are to be shared between Upottery PTFA school funds and Clic Sargent – the children’s cancer care charity who promote fun-packed fundraising events for mums of all ages across the UK.

Quickes Cheese Shop is based at the farm in Newton St Cyres and the shop stocks the whole range of Quickes Cheddars plus their handmade whey butter and ice cream. The highest standard produce is all sourced from the West Country, from like minded artisan producers.

The the deli counter also offers a number of other West Country produced cheeses such as Cornish Blue, Sharpham Rustic, Cornish Yarg, Beenleigh Blue, to name but a few. Other gems you will find in the store include handmade chocolates from Somerset, tea made in Cornwall, honey made in Exmouth and free range eggs from Yeoford.

I don’t know about you but I think I need to make a point of visiting the Quickes Farm shop in the near future, it all sounds absolutely delicious!!!

If you run a business here in Devon and could help us out with a raffle prize or would like a stall at the Yummy Mummy Market which is being held at the Manor Rooms in Upottery on Saturday 20th March 10am – 12 midday, please call Sharon on 07740973990 or email sdpavey@googlemail.com

Well – it’s day 5 of being snowed in here in the Devon hills. It’s snowing again today and looking unlikely the village school will be open again tomorrow (it was closed Thursday & Friday last week). Even if it does manage to open, Devon council is not running the school buses and there’s no way we can get out of here as the little country lanes are extremely icy and snowy. We only have a little car (see my blog There’s Snow way we’re getting a 4×4) so we’re here for the forseeable future unless the council decide to come and grit/clear the lanes?

This is my four year old, Aleck, above making bread as we’ve run out of fresh – and it keeps him busy and entertained (and tastes delicious too!). We would love to hear your ideas on activities to do with a four year old boy and an eight year old girl.

With Tasha (our eight year old) I’d love to hear of any ideas which will help her literacy, numeracy etc. She had some workbooks but has used them all up. Any good websites out there we could use – get her brain defrosted a bit. We can go out and play in the snow in short bursts but when it’s not sunny (like today) it’s very very cold out there.

Please add your comments below, thanks ever so much.

Warmest wishes to all our agents, customers, friends, family & blog readers this New Year. We hope you had a peaceful restful break with your loved ones and are looking foward to a happy healthy 2010.

After a very busy run up to Christmas, we had a lovely quiet few days off here in the pretty hills of East Devon. We had family from Axminster and Exeter over for Christmas lunch and we had a noisy (but good) time at the big family get together at my husbands Aunties farmhouse in Churchinford, just over the border in Somerset. There were a lot of children there this year and more on the way so the annual gathering of the clan is set to be even noisier next year!

New Year is never a big event in our household, but it was nice to share the evening with my sister and her little boy and my brother this year, who all came to stay for a few days and managed to escape back to County Durham before the snows came, although they’ve have plenty of their own up there for a while. Our New Year sale started on the 31st December and will run throughout January. We have lots of great offers like this Noah Activity Ark below for babies over six months, reduced from £26.99 to £19.99.

Tish Tash had her 8th birthday on January 6th and woke up to a birthday surprise of a couple of inches of snow! It snowed more throughout the day and now we’re on day three of being snowed in! We’d checked the weather forecast earlier in the week so it wasn’t as much of a surprise to us. We’d done a big shop on the day before including packets of bread mix, extra milk, extra tins and frozen bits. We stocked up on locally produced veggies at Millers Farm Shop in Kilmington.

School was supposed to start yesterday but it’s closed along with lots of other schools here in Devon. Tasha enjoyed her birthday with her very very special gift – 4 month old Gabriella (below) rescued from East Devon Cats Protection. Isn’t she adorable!

Even though we are snowed in down ‘ere in the Westcountry, we’re keeping busy with a brand new website to indulge our love of blogging. Blackdown Blogs is a new project started to help out fellow small businesses who don’t have either the inclination or the time to blog regularly. I’m also getting involved with Green issues here in East Devon and have started a blog called sharonpavey.org

That’s all for now folks, back soon – and don’t forget to add your own comments below to tell us how your Christmas was – or how you and your little ones are coping with being snowed in too. Any ideas for fun activities for restless 8 and 4 year old appreciated!!

Picture at the top – Tasha & Aleck helping clean out the chicken coop!

Hi Florence, thank you for your comment on my previous post Stopping at Two – A Pledge to my Two Children.

Florence says “Well.. my mother had three children and she would never regret having any of us. If the government recommended we should only have 1 child, would you wish you had never had your son?”

My mother never regretted any of us too Florence, but in hindsight she says she might have planned her life differently. Of course I wouldn’t wish I’d never had my boy. I’m not saying anyone should TELL anyone else how many children they should or shouldn’t have but perhaps now is the time for us to start talking about how many children we are all having and their future – all 9.15 billion of them in 2050! We should debate the issue don’t you think?

I have met several mothers who told me their third child was an ‘accident’ and not intended.

We need much much better birth control services – yes…. in this country, in the UK!

I had a scare a few months after having my son (now aged 4) when I thought I was in the early stages of pregnancy. I called a helpline for advice on a very early chemical termination and was basically told because I was a mother of two in my thirties, I should just get on with the pregnancy. I was basically wasting their time. Had I been my normal self I would have made a complaint, but I was a vulnerable confused woman looking for advice and guidance. Luckily for me I got my period, or perhaps had a very early miscarriage, as so many women do who don’t even realise they’ve been pregnant (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/miscarriage1.shtml)

I had never wanted a baby less in my life when this happened or was more distraught at the thought of being pregnant – with an unwanted child. Both my children were meticulously planned and desperately wanted. After this scare, I changed from the unreliable pill (or unreliable me – I kept forgetting it, probably due to having a very young baby!) to having an implanon contraceptive implant put into my arm. The doctor who put it in was very surprised to see a thirty three year old mother of two having an implant as they are still extremely uncommon and generally given to 18 year olds. She said it was great I was having it though as it was such a reliable and convenient new method. At the time I had it, only about 2% of women in the UK were choosing that method (or even aware it existed maybe?). I’ve told lots of other women I have it, as I recommend they can get an impant too, especially if they want to avoid getting pregnant by ‘accident’.

Talking about population control is such an emotive subject isn’t it. My best friends will tell you how they remember me saying I wanted at least 4 or 5 children as a teenager. I feel as a young woman, my supercharged female hormones controlled me and my desire to have lots of children was, well ridiculously HUGE! If you had said to me back then, you know it would be so much better for the planet if you just had one or two children, I would have screamed at you!

I do understand anyone who desires to have lots of children, I really (really) do BUT this is not just about us, it’s about the future of these kids we bring into the world. It’s about a world that’s too small for all these people. It’s about animal species becoming extinct because people are chop-happy with the forests they live in. Do I need to go on?

If you want lots of children – why not adopt them, there are about 85,000 children in care in the UK right now.

My mother had five children and my father had five children. I am the only child, from their marriage 37 years ago. They separated when I was very small and my mother remarried having four more children. My father had several relationships also having a further four children. I have 5 half sisters – Samantha, Susan, Lorraine, Marie and Keelie. I have 3 half brothers – Thomas, Richard and Craig. We all share one parent in common!

I have two very beautiful much wanted and planned for children but unlike my prolific parents, I will not be giving birth to any more offspring. I may foster or adopt one day but will not be pregnant again. This makes me a little sad especially as I grew up thinking I too wanted a large family, but there are three very good reasons why I have made this decision not to have any more kids!

1. There are too many people in the world – see my previous blog post on the Optimum Population Trust’s Stop At Two Pledge http://www.tishtashtoys.com/blog/2009/08/i-love-my-kids/

2. I now feel a bit sorry for the two children I have, having to deal with the effects of a soaring world population and the predicted catastrophic results of increased greenhouse gases – so maybe it’s best not to inflict such an ordeal on any more human beings from my loins!

3. I grew up with 4 younger siblings and not much attention from my mother (who was single for part of my childhood). I don’t think my mother intentionally ignored me, she just seemed to be either pregnant or looking after a small (noisy!) baby for most of my childhood. I love all my siblings dearly but I don’t think most of us were planned and really thought through. My own mother recently said as much as she loves all her children, if she did it again she would only have two children, and advised me to do the same.

In my family now, there are two parents and two children so there’s always a knee to sit on or a cuddle to be had. Put even one more child in the equation and I’m not sure how we’d share ourselves and I’d be heartbroken to watch either one of my two (pictured below) ‘pushed out’. If you are a parent reading this, you will understand how there never seems to be enough hours in the day, especially if you also work full-time like I do.

If you are still reading….I would love to hear your comments. Please post below.

It’s our pre-school Christmas Bazaar tomorrow and I was thinking of making some little sweets to sell to raise more funds for the preschool. I remember making chocolate truffles for my Grandad when I was a teenager, and decorating used tea tea boxes to put them in for Christmas and birthdays! My Grandad kept the boxes for years afterwards, which showed how much he appreciated his lovingly made home made treats. I might try making some sweeties for preschool today and if they’re a success, perhaps give some out as Christmas presents this year too. It’s a very eco friendly green present as you can recycle old food boxes and cover with pretty paper or gingham fabric and ribbons etc. I think people really appreciate these kinds of home made gifts.

Nothing much in my cookbooks so I’ve searched google and found lots of interesting recipes:

There’s a very long list of sweets on About.com

There are some easy recipes for kids to make themselves on Mumsnet

Sugarboy.co.uk has some sweet recipes

Raspberry Jam Drops look good as do Chocolate Raisin Clusters

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WORK FROM HOME – WORK AROUND YOUR LITTLE ONES ?

CLICK ON TISH TASH TOYS FOR MORE INFO

We’ve been asking fellow businesses to donate items for our Christmas Hamper raffle for preschool here in Upottery in Devon. A HUGE thank you goes out to Judith at www.JudithGlue.com for sending us some lovely treats all the way from the top of Scotland right down to Devon. This is what Judith told me about her wonderful hamper business:

Real Food From the Orkney Islands! Our Orkney Christmas Hampers are crammed full of local Orkney produce, widely recognised as some of the best food in Britain. Most of our producers are small cottage-based businesses and you simply won’t find their products anywhere else in the UK. We aim to keep our carbon footprint low- all our suppliers are locally-based so our food miles are kept to a minimum. Everything in our hampers is sourced from our local Orkney producers who we’ve been dealing with directly for nearly 30 years- so we know exactly what makes them and their products so special!

Thank you again to Judith, all the Mums were thrilled and afer browsing the website and looking through the lovely brochure, we’d highly recommend Judith Glue if you are looking for an interesting and unique Christmas gift. The website is http://www.judithglue.com

Love this new campaign from The British Humanist Association. Personally I am not decided on whether there is a God or not. Sometimes I feel there is, sometimes I really wonder. Whatever YOU believe, this innovative campaign is urging everyone to stop labelling their children as the same as themselves. Give your children the freedom to choose their OWN beliefs.

In the last two weeks of November 2009 billboards at four locations in the UK will display some of the labels routinely applied to children that imply beliefs, such as ‘Catholic’, ‘Protestant’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Hindu’ or ‘Sikh’, together with labels that people would never apply to young children such as ‘Marxist’, ‘Anarchist’, ‘Socialist’, ‘Libertarian’ or ‘Humanist’. In front of the shadowy labels are happy children, with the slogan, “Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself”

The billboards are being unveiled to coincide with Universal Children’s Day,  20 November, which is the United Nations ‘day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children’. Labelling children as if they innately “belong” to a particular religion, while ascribing incompatible beliefs to infants who “belong” to other religions, can only serve as an obstacle to understanding between children around the world.

Read more about it all here http://www.humanism.org.uk/billboards

You can add the banners to your own blogs and sites too – I’ll be adding them to my sites www.tishtashtoys.com and www.partyplantogether.co.uk

The supermodel Naomi Campbell was once a spokeswoman for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and appeared naked in a high-profile poster campaign with four other models. Now this super (hypocritical) model wears fur??? You can read the whole article by clicking here

If you don’t like fur either – see my article on Elle magazine advertising it http://www.tishtashtoys.com/blog/2009/11/100-anti-fur-complaints-to-elle-magazine/