Catherine’s Rebel Journey

Starting on my Farming badge today, so I made butter. Because that is apparently what I do now.   It’s easier than you think to make butter at home. All you need is double cream, a stand mixer and a ton of patience. Optional ear defenders if your mixer is as loud as mine.  You put the cream in the bowl of the stand mixer, use the whisk attachment and turn it to medium. Then you stand there for 15 to 20 minutes going steadily deaf from the noise of the stand mixer (or is that just me?).  First you’ll get whipped cream, and if you are anything like me you’ll take a spoonful to eat because just what even is impulse control.  Then the mixture splits and you’ll think it’s all gone wrong…but don’t panic!   Towards the end you’ll notice the butter separating from the buttermilk. If you have one, using a mixer bowl guard is a good idea now. I do not own one, so I got covered in buttermilk. Awesome.  Once you can see the butter formed in the bowl stop mixing. Drain the buttermilk (if you are mo

  The Builder badge has a task that includes making a 3D plant out of ready made blocks. So it’s time to buy a lot of and play with Lego! This was a wonderful to spend a few hours while feeling somewhat under the weather. It was challenging enough to keep me interested but not so difficult that I got frustrated. I have a few more Lego kits to put together in future. So

  I’ve been very busy since we last spoke. I’ve made progress on my craft and baking badge and I’ve also made a start on my artist badge.  The craft I chose to do was weaving, mainly because my husband bought me a loom last Christmas and I’ve not used it in nearly a year. I decided on weaving a coaster because that was the least complicated thing I could think of. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the repetitive nature of the craft was calming, until the back ache came on! Yesterday I made an absolutely gorgeous banana bread as one of the 3 cakes I need to complete for the baking badge. It’s an old favourite of mine, and as I’m the only person in the house who likes bananas I get to eat it all! It’s taking all my willpower not to eat it all in one go.  On Monday I embarked upon the artist badge. I’m not a natural artist and I’ve not really attempted art since I was a child. I thought that I’d get the still life drawing out of the way first because I knew that would be the one I’d struggle wi

  This time it’s a twofer!  Along side working towards the Rebel Badge for Craft I have also been raising money for Dementia UK! To get the craft badge you need to have completed 5 different crafts, one of which can be knitting. Which works nicely to the fact I’m doing the Knit Everyday In November Challenge for Dementia UK.  I’m somewhat of a prolific knitter as is, so this has been great fun. As you can see, I’ve already made a snazzy hat. 

I’m working towards my baking badge. One of the tasks is to make a sweet tart. Is pumpkin pie a tart or a pie? For argument’s sake let’s call it a tart! When it comes to pastry making I’m not exactly Mary Berry. I knew that to avoid a dreadful soggy bottom that you need to blind bake the pastry case, though I wasn’t too sure of the timing. That caused the pastry of the finished pie to do a wonderful impression of charcoal. Great.  I was going to try to jazz it up with cream decorations but the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ came to mind. Onwards!

Life is a continuous journey of growth and self-discovery. One of the most rewarding ways to navigate this path is by broadening your horizons and challenging yourself. In future posts, we'll explore the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone, taking on new challenges, and the incredible rewards that come from doing this. The fun way I am challenging myself is through a wonderful program called the Rebel Badge Club. It was a wonderful idea thought up by a woman called Charley, who realised that after you age out of things like Brownies and Scouts there are no merit badges given for hard work.  There are two books with over 50 badges in subjects ranging from baking and crafting through to activism and global citizenship.  I hope to keep a record of my progress through this blog.