Our recycling month begins with St Davids day.

Today is the first day of our month of featuring people that use mostly or all recycled items to make their goods. It's also St Davids Day and as a good little Welsh girl, I thought we should mark that fact by combining the 2 topics. As the Patron saint of Wales, David is celebrated by little girls wearing the national costume and the rest of us wearing Daffodils or leeks in our button holes. Some young boys are also seen sporting the red and black dog tooth waistcoats and flat caps or the national rugby team's jersey.

So, before showing you some of the lovely items I've found to share with you, I thought I'd give you the recipe for a welsh tea loaf that you can make, and eat, in honour of the lovely St David.

Ingredients for Barabrith Cake

350 grams mixed dried fruit
400 ml cold tea (strong)
250 grams brown sugar
600 grams self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 medium egg

How to make Barabrith Cake

1. Put the dried mixed fruit into a large bowl and soak over night in the tea.
2. Add the sugar and spice to the bowl and mix in.
3. Beat the egg and stir into the mix.
4. Add the flour and stir in with a wooden spoon.
5. Pour the mixture into well a greased loaf tin.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/356 F/gas mark 4 for 1 1/2 hours. The cake will be brown and firm.
7. Turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool.
8. Serve sliced and spread with slightly salted butter.

The maker of this cushion has the perfect name to start this month off. Useitagain made this cushion from vintage linen and the pretty yellow and orange flowers reminded me of the national flower of Wales, the daffodil. It has a very 1920's arts and crafts look about it. I like it's cheery spring look very much. By taking old damaged pieces of linen, and recovering the undamaged parts to make her pieces, Useitagain is giving something that most would throw away another lease of life.

As coal has a large part to play in the history of Wales, when I saw this vintage book up for sale I knew I had to include it. I have no idea where ArtPhotoGirl found this well used book but I'm glad she did as it made me smile when I saw it. After a bit of a search on the net I found out this book was first published in 1935 and was an American tale of the coal industry rather than anything to do with Wales, but coal is coal I guess.

This unusual item is a pretty vase made from a blown bulb. St David is always pictured with a dove on his shoulder, hence I picked this item to share with you. Rainestorm has other pretty recycle bulb vases in her shop. They come with a suction cup so you can attach them to a window. I think a row of these in a window with tiny flowers standing in them would look gorgeous on a cold spring morning.

Now you might say, what do recycled plastic fencing tote bags have to do with St David, well in all honesty nothing, but the maker is called David. These great orange totes come from Davidshockdesigns. He makes them from the discarded builders temporary fencing plastic that you can see on most building sites around the world. Not only is David removing this non biodegradable litter off our streets, but he is using it to create a useful product that I think looks great! Yay David!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my St David's day post and go away now and make yourself some Barabrith to munch on. Have a fabulous St Davids day and raise a glass to the Welsh. We may be a small country that many have never heard of, but we are proud to be known as Welsh!