World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day.

This year's theme is Think. Eat. Save!

What will be your contribution to protecting our Earth and our future?

I have planned all of today's meals for the family on what is in the fridge and in the pantry (as will all of our meals this week).

I even dug deep into the freezer and found some frozen berry puree that I put there in summer - it will be enjoyed tonight with puff pastry stars and home-made custard.

For more great ideas head to 1 Million Women

Let me know what you have been doing to reduce wastage. I'd love to hear from you.

Cameron's quilt

Our little neighbour is moving to the country for a few years. 
What better farewell gift than a quilt - and a superhero quilt at that!! 
I love making raggy quilts for kids - this one is made from flannelette pyjamas that have been outgrown.
Snuggle up under you quilt Cammie and think of us. xx

Playing ...

I love the colours and shapes of this play equipment

The view from the playground

Luckily there are stairs next to this entry to the playground
for the less agile!!

This is fun!!!

Shapes and colours

Snapped be knitboy as we drove along - the Pacific Ocean.

Someone else's idea of playing - hang gliding. Again snapped by knitboy out of the car window.

A lucky find.....

Today, I took a break from housework and trawled the  freebies on Gumtree.......... and look what I found!!!! For Free!!!!

This beautiful mosaic pot had been made into a coffee table. I have removed the glass top (I have put it away safely to use it in a mini glasshouse I am planning) and emptied out buckets of 

pot pourri from the inside.

Each side depicts a season - Summer, Spring, Autumn, Winter.

Also great that it is one wheels as it is very heavy. I plan to grow some salad mix in it.

This is a mosaic pot that I already had, now planted up with  rosemary and portulacas courtesy of my Mum and Dad.
I love the colour that is appearing in my garden.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Enjoy a little music! If you like this, you might like to listen to more from Nick and Liesl. They are a very talented duo!

Take up the challenge to reduce your food miles for one week...

Over the last couple of years I have become increasingly aware of what we are eating, how it is grown and where it comes from ..... so to develop my awareness even more and to evaluate how successfully I manage to feed my family, I have signed up for Local Harvest Challenge.

This challenge takes on the goal of intentionally reclaiming your food choices and decreasing the degrees of separation between us and our food. 
The challenge takes place between Monday 1st April — Sunday 7th April 2013

There are heaps of useful resources on the Local Harvest website to help you with your challenge and with everyday living. I particularly like the 'Finding Good Food Close to You' tool where you type in your postcode and up comes lists of farmers, produces, food sources within a chosen radius.

In my area it shows me details of great producers and suppliers such as Purple Pear Farm , the Beanstalk Organic Foods, Food Integrity Group (FIG) and Kooragang City Farm.

 Visits to our local farmer's markets will be fun.

I will also start planning my garden plantings to ensure that I can provide a lot of my own vegetables during the challenge - I will be planting carrots, lettuce, spinach, some late tomatoes, squash and Asian greens to be ready for April.

If you would like to join the challenge, register at Local Harvest Challenge.  

I would love to hear how you reduce your food miles ... leave me a comment ;)

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!

Today in Australia, we are celebrating Australia Day.

We have spent the day with family having an Australian BBQ lunch followed by lamingtons.

The weather is typically Australian - hot, humid and then torrential rain .... no wonder Dorothea MacKellar penned the beautiful poem, 'My Country' back in 1904.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

Source: NationalArboretumCanberra

This sculpture at the National Arboretum Canberra was created by Marcus Tatton, Futago and Chris Viney and inspired by Dorothea Mackellar’s poem My Country.