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.

Holy Bat Post!!

Yesterday, we ventured off to the Avoca Beach Picture Theatre for a Batman Mini Fair and screening of the 1966 Batman movie.

Knitboy was in his element, enjoying dressing up in costume and getting into the action with villains.

RIP Emma Love

Some of you may have followed Emma's battle with cancer via her Mum's blog.

I first 'met' Emma in 2011 through a request through blogs to send her stickers to help her during her treatment. 

This photo (so wonderfully scrapbooked by her mum) shows Emma and her Blythe doll wearing the beanies that I knitted for her.

Emma's bravery and determination touched many people, as has the love shown by her parents and family.

Sadly, Emma lost her battle on January 15th.

RIP Brave Emma Love.

Heatwave happenings..

As we  swelter on another hot day, I have continued to use my time indoors to de-clutter, clean and re-organise the house.
Today, when I changed the sheets on the bed and re-arranged the cushions, I thought that I need one more!!
When I de-cluttered my kitchen, I found two aprons that I never wore but I still loved the fabric - so I made them into a cushion.

Now it sits happily with all of the others in a miss-matched kind of way!

Hopefully tonight will be cooler - thunderstorms are forecast.

I hope that you are safe from bushfires, heat and storms - take care.

Washed ashore ....

Did you know ...

• That an estimated 18,000 pieces of plastic float in every square kilometre of ocean.
•  It is only when it washes ashore that most people get an idea of how much rubbish must actually be out in our oceans and the impacts that this has on marine life and seabirds.
•  This is also our best opportunity to remove it from the environment before the next tide washes it back out to sea again. 

              Source:   http://www.tangaroablue.org

The last couple of visits to our local beaches has highlighted to me the amount of plastic that does get washed up with each tide.  Most of the beaches that we frequent are graded with machinery each day or so to make them safer for the public - despite this plastic products are left behind by beach-goers or washed up with each tide.

Last visit, as we walked back to the car park I made a conscience effort to pick up each piece of plastic that I saw. I found nine plastic items (on a walk about 100 metres) ...

I'm sure that I could have collected more (and encouraged the rest of the family to do the same!!) but I already had my hands full with bags, towels and other beach paraphernalia .... so, this started me thinking.

I had seen 'beachcomber bags' before on different websites designed for collecting shells, rocks etc, so I had a look around the house to make a version of my own.

I have used some nylon flyscreen netting (around 60cm x 30cm). I folded this in half and stitched along two sides with my sewing machine to make a pocket shape. I then used some vintage sheeting (as it was the first thing I stumbled over in my craft room) and made a casing for the top. Into that I threaded some cord to make a drawstring top. 

The completed bag - the mesh is a bit hard to photograph

Here is the completed bag with the plastic items that I collected.

The beauty with the mesh is that you can give it a dunk in the water to remove any sand.

It folds up and can be tied into a bundle to fit in your beach bag .

I find it is sometimes best to bring the rubbish home and place it your recycling bin, if appropriate, as often bins at the beach or picnic spots become full quickly especially over holiday periods.

Next beach visit, I will encourage the family to play a 'Treasure Hunt' game to pick up plastic litter - for example, points allocated to the person to find 3 red pieces of plastic, 3 lollypop sticks, 3 spoons etc. - most points win a prize!

If you are playing with your family, make sure that you educate your children about dangerous plastic items that may be found at the beach such as syringes, condoms and cigarette lighters.

Farewell 2012 ....Welcome 2013

Oh Deer!!! Another year over!!!
Happy New Year!!

I have wanted to share a little more of my day-to-day life with you by having a look back at the year. Often we think about the year that has gone and think "Well that flew past!" - well, I want to record and share some of my personal achievements and approaches.
I love reading Christine's monthly reflections at Slow Living Essentials , so I though that I would use her format to show you my year.
Nourish - I enjoy cooking for my family, but I need to be organised to make the most of fresh produce and other ingredients available. I has read about other bloggers using menu planning and how it made life much easier - however I thought that this wasn't for me! However, after attend a series of Love Food Hate Waste workshops I became a convert and now happily plan my meals to ensure a variety to our meals, as well as to shop wisely and not waste food.
Being a stay-at-home Mum this year, also gave me the time to cook from scratch making bread and pizza dough, pasta sauces, casseroles and soups. With my husband working shift work throughout the year, I provided all of his meals rather than him buying from the canteen (saving money) - my home-made sausage rolls were the envy of the lunchroom!

Using my fresh produce from the garden gives me great satisfaction and ensures that our family eats well.

Prepare - I stocked the pantry with tomato relish, green tomato pickles, plum jam, spicy plum sauce, pesto, strawberry and mulberry jam, tomato sauce and mango chutney. I found a recipe for Lemon Barley Water and have been making it throughout the year for a thirst quenching drink.
The gift of an ice-cream maker has also seen me experimenting with ice-cream, sorbets and gelatos.
Reduce - You have probably realised by now that I enjoy op-shopping and curb-side crawling, and love the challenge in reusing materials.
I made my sister a quilt out of flannel Pyjamas for her 50th birthday (and i forgot to take a picture!!)
I knitted a rag rug out of my son's old t-shirts.

Various cushions were made from vintage tea-towels - both for our home and for gifts.

After making my little garden area out of materials that I found or was given, I decided to re-make an old chair for my Mum for Christmas - I even learnt how to use an electric angle-grinder to remove old rivets as my husband was working away. Mum was so overwhelmed that I had made this for her!

During the year our family participated in a BillBuster programme and 28 Day challenge (run by our local Council) to reduce the use of electricity and water within the home - this provided incentives to change our daily practices to reduce energy consumption - we were able to reduce usage by 40% and I am glad to say that family members are still doing things to save like turning of lights, switching off appliances at the wall.
I participated in Plastic Free July - a very challenging exercise that still has me examining what I buy daily and how we need to avoid plastic.
Green - This year saw us invest in solar panels to produce our own electricity - hopefully we will see our savings soon, however the positive so far has been the changed behaviour in usage by the family.
On the personal front, I have not used shampoo or conditioner for about 11 months - pure soap and a final rinse with water and cider vinegar do the trick. I also started using honey to wash my face - and I love it!
After receiving Rhonda's book for my birthday in May, I have made laundry powder and liquid. All of my cleaning is now done with citrus vinegar, bi-carb and pure soap - the home loves it, my skin loves it and the family have not had as many allergy problems.

Grow - I have two vegie gardens under production providing a bounty of produce. I have been sprouting pea shoots on the windowsill. Two worm farms are busy recycling food scraps and providing wonderful worm wee!
I am enjoying talking to my parents about their gardening and planning our planting together so that we can share vegies without having huge gluts.

I am planning with my husband to make a tumbling compost bin and to install a water-tank to use for gardens.

Create - I need to knit!!! I have found that this is my stress release, my meditation, my inner joy. This year I have been consumed by the need to knit washcloths/dishcloths - making many for the home and as gifts. I was fortunate to pick up about 60 balls of knitting cotton on Freecycle to allow me to indulge in knitting.  I also made scarves and beanies for the Guardian Angels Knitting Program. Quilts, cushions, clocks, necklaces and bags also allowed me to create.

We also painted the outside of our house - so many opportunities for creating new areas and colour schemes.
Discover - I attended a few great sustainability events this year that allow me to be with like-minded people and learn more about caring for our planet. At the Fair Share festival I got to meet one of my blog idols, Tricia from Little Eco Footprints who presented a fabulous workshop on Learning To Live Better With Less.
The Living Smart festival provided a fun day out for us - lots of giveaways and opportunities to learn more - even to make a pedal-powered smoothie!!!

As part of my ongoing career development, I finally finished my Diploma of Community Services Management, updated my Cert IV in Training and Assessment, and completed a unit in business Sustainability. With the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, I attended initial training with Carers NSW, as well as a Disability Services Expo.

Enhance - I felt part of the blogging community and knitting community by taking part in Sally's call for knitted squares for Born To Knit, the Guardian Angel Knitting Program and Softies for Mirabel.
I also joined in some community knitting while waiting for lunch one day.

Since knitboy has started attending a local school, we have enjoyed being part of the school community and joining in with events, such as Christmas Hamper appeals.
Getting to know a few of our neighbours has been rewarding, offering them friendship and support.

Enjoy - I have found that I have slowed down the pace that we live our lives - spending time with family and finding time to do what you love, with those with you love has made this achievable. I have found that I take the time to listen to nature - what birds are around, what the lake looks like each day, and to appreciate things like sunsets, clouds and rain.

If you have gotten to the end of this .... thank you!! I trust that you feel fulfilled by your year and have great plans for 2013. If things haven't been the best for you, please take care.
I look forward to continuing my journey with you.
Do you make New Year Resolutions??? or Do you have special plans - I'd love to hear from you ;)

A trip to the seaside...

A trip to the beach in the afternoon brings relief from the heat and the opportunity to enjoy the sand and the sea without crowds of people.

I love the changing colours of the ocean, the sound of crashing waves and the salty smell.

My vintage beach umbrella came along to provide me with lots of shade. I love the floral design. I plan on making a beach blanket/quilt from vintage sheets to match.

It is great that this beach is patrolled by lifesavers - adding some peace of mind.

A lovely shade of blue - but an unwelcomed sight in the water.

My knitboy enjoying the surf - he loves the water!!

I love these little waves on the shoreline. When we lived two hours from the coast, I so missed the beach and lakes - now I make sure that we spend some time each week near water to relax and unwind.

Summer essentials!!

A walk on the beach today was postponed due to wild winds and electrical storms - Mother Nature knows how to perform!! What is it like in your part of the world? I'd love to hear ..