The raffle was free - entrants simply had to commit to choosing one of five 'eco-pledges' (taken from my book) to take part. Thirty-five people made pledges, mostly opting to 'try to use local shops more' or 'say no to plastic bags' ('I will try going vegetarian for a week' was probably the least popular).
In return - and to help them all remember their pledges - everyone who entered received a free bunch of organic rosemary cut fresh from my garden that morning ('rosemary for remembrance' ... plus, that bush really really needed pruning). Borders ended up a bit messy afterwards (I roped the daughter and her pals in to tying up the bunches with wool) but it certainly smelled lovely.
The wormery, by the way, was a natty desktop version worth £15 (three stacking plant pots with the worms and their bedding in the bottom one, the middle one for your apple cores and tea bags, etc, and a potted plant in the top one) generously donated by Bubble House Worms. It's a company dedicated to 'promoting global worming' and they sell Bokashi buckets too, of which I am a big fan (great for composting kitchen waste).
Following my policy of keeping things local, we also served organic wine from the York Beer and Wine Shop on Fishergate in York and cheese from Henshelwood's Delicatessen on Newgate Market in York.
Incidentally, I sold lots of copies of the book, too! Here's me hard at work, channelling my organic-cotton-fairly-traded look (dress by Komodo from Natural Collection) combined with vintage (all of four seasons) New Look cardi. Gotta keep it real . .
