Jane's Delicious KitchenJane's Delicious Kitchen – Harvesting, preserving and cooking seasonal food - by Jane Griffiths is a South African cookbook, that is the sequel if you like, to the bestselling Jane's Delicious Garden.

The book is beautifully produced and provides an eclectic mix of recipes that show you what to do with the wonderful fresh produce you've grown, having been inspired by Griffiths' first book of course! The recipes in the book are structured around the seasons, and focus on Griffiths' favourite seasonal ingredients from her garden. Jane's Delicious Kitchen (JDK) heavily features Griffith's abundant organic garden – which produces the fruit and veggies that have starring roles in many recipes in the book.

Beeutiful by kuhrissa source: deviantartIn recent years there has been increasing concern over the disappearance of bees. This was sparked by huge losses of bees in the United States in 2006, and since then the race has been on to find the cause of this phenomenon. What seems to happen is the bees fly away from the hive and never return, perishing alone. This phenomenon has been termed Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD).This is a huge concern considering that Bees play a vital role in our food supply, as bees are the main pollinator of many of our main food crops, especially fruit and vegetables, which account for over a third of our food supply and valued at over US$ 40 billion.

2009 itownship wine festivalThe 3rd Annual iTownship Wine Festival is happening from the 3rd to the 5th of December 2010 at the Gugulethu Square Mall. The festival starts with the Winemakers Township Dinner on the Friday night. On Saturday and Sunday the Spur parking on NY1 will be transformed into a wine lover’s paradise, with live music.

For the third year in a row, the iTownship Wine Festival opens its door to both wine connoisseurs and wine curious with the aim of celebrating South African wines, encouraging linkages with an emerging wine market and investing in the economic development of the Gugulethu eKasi. The Wine Festival was founded in 2008, by Mother Africa Uncorked, a not for profit organization set up to unlock emerging markets for the wine industry, and educate them about wine.

In solidarity with hundreds of cities and communities all over the world, Cape Town will bathe Table Mountain in red light on December 1st to mark World AIDS Day. This is done as this year’s theme is Light for Rights, which focuses on human rights, HIV and AIDS.

Over the past three decades, AIDS has caused untold suffering and death, but that is only one side of the coin, the other side of the story that has unfolded is one of the global community uniting with passion to take action and save lives.

going green by simon gearIts nearly Christmas and many of us are thinking about gifts to buy. Well one book that I can wholeheartedly recommend is Going Green - 365 Ways to Change our World. This book is filled with great ideas on how to make our planet a better place. The book is written by Simon Gear, known as one of South Africa's favorite weathermen.

Yesterday saw the beginning of the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico. The two-week meeting is the sixteenth Conference of the 194 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the sixth meeting of the 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. Basically they are meeting once again to discuss the World's response to climate change. Unlike last year when many high level officials such as Barack Obama jetted in, this year's conference is much more low key. Expectations are being kept deliberately low to avoid an embarrassing debacle of a weak accord like the one that came out of Copenhagen last year.

a sandpit made from an old tractor tyreEvery year millions of car tyres wear out. When one considers the number of cars on our roads and you times that number by four – just think of the number of tyres that we are chucking out every year! Yes some are retreaded, and their lives extended, and some are recycled and turned into other products. Many however end up as rubbish - they exist in our landfills, where they take an extremely long time to degrade and slowly leach toxic chemicals that pollute the environment.

green jobs by thevancouveriteIn August Greenpeace released its South African Energy Sector Jobs to 2030 report. This report presents an analysis of the energy sector job creation associated with the three energy scenarios up to 2030: the Energy [R]evolution (by Greenpeace), the IEA Reference case, and the Growth Without Constraints scenario presented by government. Their Energy [R]evolution scenario could be a major employment creator in South Africa, with a net increase of 78,000 jobs by 2030.

hazel food christmas marketIf you're anything like me, you'll be racing around trying to get the Christmas shopping done two days before the big event - fighting crowds and cursing, as you slog through the mall, before wrestling a big oke for the last blue t-shirt in Mr Price, followed by the interminable queuing to pay for your hard won gift for your cousin. That was last year, and I swore never again! This year I would be organised. I would shop at markets and fetes, enjoying the experience and finding wonderful presents from local crafters, as well as indulge in fantastic home-made treats.

I am somewhat horrified to see the retail sector going Christmas mad already! Like a cat pouncing on a mouse, Christmas has already snuck up on me – and some Christmas markets have already happened!

So I made it my mission to share with you as many Christmas markets as I could. Below is a list of Christmas markets happening around the country. I know I'll

heart growzoneHeart social investments for life is calling for volunteers to create a GrowZone – a cluster of 10 Food tents (a revolutionary shade net greenhouse that increases the efficiency of vegetable growth) with Mama Rosie, a true community leader in Philippi.

They say that many hands make light work, so this is a chance for lots of people to join in the fun. Grab a group of friends and family members and come and lend a hand – the more the merrier.

The day will be filled with activities such as preparing the land, constructing and erecting the tents and planting the vegetables. After a hard days labour in the sun it will be rewarding to know that the vegetables will be harvested and used in Mama Rosie's feeding scheme in Philippi, and that some off the produce will be donated to local orphanages. The rest will be sold to the community.