Despite installing insulation in our ceiling, our house is really cold in winter.

Unfortunately, the main culprits are bare wooden floor boards – complete with cracks - in our main living area and a huge evergreen tree in the backyard that blocks out all North facing sun.

Our bedroom is also freezing – thin carpet tiles lie on top of bare wooden floor boards and the wall mounted heater faces a window so most heat is sent straight outside through the glass. The roof to our bedroom is tin and uninsulated.

At the moment we can’t afford to insulate under the floorboards or in the roof of our bedroom and the tree…well the tree provides such fantastic shade in summer we just can’t face pulling it out.

So, we are taking some simpler actions to help our house cope better in winter. (more…)

One thing I love about having a garden is being able to grow food that I can’t usually buy.

I have just finished harvesting my first native finger lime crop. I bought the tree last year and keep it potted in a sunny spot in my backyard. Although the tree is tiny, I managed to harvest about 15 little finger limes.

Native finger limes are amazing fruit. They start off as long green fruits that look a bit like rough, scaly chillies – in fact my husband thought it was a chilli plant. When they are ready to eat, they turn a deep, dark orange-red colour.

Inside, the lime’s flesh looks like orange caviar (although pulps can range from white to pink, lime green and lemon – depending on the type of lime you have) and smells fresh and citrusy. It’s hard to describe the taste – they sort of taste like limes but with a fresher, more tart flavour. And the little balls of fruit just burst in your mouth.

I am still experimenting with them in terms of eating. So far I have spritzed them in sparkling mineral water and added them to fresh fruit salad but that’s about it. If anyone has any other ideas, then please let me know.

This morning I snapped these naughty cockatoos raiding my mandarin tree. They are such messy and wasteful eaters. First, they break off a mandarin, scoff about half of it, and then throw it away and move on to the next fruit.

While I’ve been patiently waiting for my mandarins to ripen – they are almost there – I have noticed a lot go missing. I thought it was the possums again but now I know the real culprits.

It seems that competition for home grown produce with the local wildlife is extra fierce in suburban areas like mine where people are demolishing old houses and flattening existing gardens to make way for McMansions.

Unfortunately, this increasing trend in housing is reducing garden space to tiny lawn areas bereft of food producing trees – native and cultivated. In fact most of these gardens are devoid of anything really. This means that if you do have a garden that bears fruit in such an area, then wrestling your produce from the local wildlife becomes even harder due to lack of native food sources.

While I don’t mind sharing some mandarins with the local wildlife, I will net the trees soon if too many go missing. It’s been two years since I’ve had a good mandarin crop and I am not keen to let it all go to the birds.

I’ve just finished reading Making Your Home Sustainable by Derek Wrigley. It’s a really useful book for anyone wanting to retrofit their house to improve its energy and water efficiency.

When architect and solar consultant Derek Wrigley moved into a townhouse in Canberra in 1991, he began retrofitting it to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Throughout the book, Wrigley uses the house to show how homes in Australia’s southern states can be made more sustainable.

The book is ideal for home owners who can fit out and alter their house. However, there is a small and informative section that provides renters with ways to improve their home’s efficiency at minimum cost.

The book covers more than just basic green living tips – it provides detailed information (but easy-to-understand) about solar energy, energy efficiency, appliances, mass and thermal comfort, insulation, ventilation, minimising water and effective landscape use.

It’s a great resource for all us retrofitters out there. To buy the book, visit Scribe Publications.

I hope all you mothers out there had a great Mother’s Day. I started my morning with pancakes and coffee – thanks to my husband and son.

The rest of the morning was spent with my feet up watching my Mother’s Day present – the Gardening Australia DVD on waterwise gardening.

It’s a collection of segments from the show that feature saving water in the garden. If you’re a Gardening Australia fan like me, and into saving water, then you’ll love this DVD.

It shows how you can still have a great garden but without the need for loads of water. The DVD features some great waterwise gardens in Australia, useful tips on drought proofing plus which plants look great in the garden but need little water.

A great 92 minutes worth of entertainment, and an excellent way to start Mother’s Day.

Recycling is good, but reuse is even better. This is the mantra of Scoodi, a site I’ve been meaning to blog for a while.

Scoodi is a cross between Freecycle and E-bay where users can search for items to buy, or even better…get for free. It’s free to list and trade, and allows people to link up with each other locally to trade and swap stuff. Not only is it a great way to get stuff, but a great way to get rid of unwanted items.

And of course a great way to keep unnecessary items out of landfill.

It’s always good to see a new magazine on the racks dedicated to sustainability and green living. Although the Greenpages magazine has been out for a while, today is the first time I have managed to get my hands on a copy.

The magazine is quarterly and extends from the Greenpages Business and Lifestyle directories. The magazine features sections on design, food, travel, style, science and eco-culture. It’s a good read, grab a copy.

Check out the Greenfoot directory for more magazines dedicated to sustainable living.