Читать книгу The Organic Garden - Allan Shepherd - Страница 41

Buying stuff can be fun too and there are so many nice pieces of beautifully made, sustainable and ethical furniture out there, it’s a shame not to support the suppliers if you’ve got the spare cash. Individually made items tend to be more expensive than the sort of factory-made furniture you can buy in chain stores, but you can guarantee what you’re getting is unique. Agricultural and smallholding shows, green fairs, festivals and other events are always good places to find locally made handcrafted wooden furniture. Websites such as www.allotmentforestry.com, www.coppice-products.co.uk and www.greenwoodcentre.org.uk offer courses and directories of people making and selling handmade wooden furniture.

In Wales the Welsh Timber Forum produce a buyer’s guide to buying (www.welshtimberforum.co.uk). If you go down the mass-produced route always look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) symbol (see page 48), but also check whether the finished product has been made in Britain. Sometimes wood is shipped from Scandinavia to China, turned into furniture and shipped back again. This all seems a bit crazy when British-made furniture grown from UK or European wood is available. A UK or European product also gives you certain guarantees about the way the workers are treated. (See also pages 26–29.)