It’s good to see my compost bins are getting around.

I spied my lovely bins on this DIY composting blog – actually they did ask permission to use my Flickr image. Glad I, and my bins, can be of service ;-).

Good to know we are helping to spread the composting word.

Those wonderful rubbish-free New Zealanders are at it again. Mathew and Waveney have relaunched their Rubbish-free website to provide as much information as possible about living without generating rubbish.

A lot of the information is based on what the couple learnt while living rubbish-free for most of 2008, what they learnt after that and what they learnt from other people trying to also reduce their rubbish. (more…)

It has been raining heavily in Sydney for a couple of weeks now and my worm farm catchments are overflowing. With so much worm wee (juice) and rain I am also running out of plants to put it on.

Rain, particularly heavy rain, is just one of the reasons you need to protect your worm farm from the elements. Luckily my worm farms are out by the shed and under some native trees so they don’t get directly rained on and are protected from harsh sunlight (when it isn’t raining).

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Did you know that about 60 per cent of rubbish Australians throw away could be composted? No? Just as well it’s International Compost Awareness week (May 2 – 8 ) then.

Actually, maybe you did know that but I thought I’d share my composting tips with you anyway. (more…)

Chickens seem to be making a come back to suburban gardens across Australia.

And why not? Chickens eat your food scraps, fertilize your garden, eliminate bugs, keep your kids entertained and best of all produce tasty, fresh eggs. (more…)

School holidays means keeping the kids entertained. Like most mothers I’m keen to get the kids away from the TV and outside.

Today, we made seedling pots out of toilet rolls and egg cartons – not only cheap but a great way to reuse packaging. All you need are the toilet rolls, egg cartons, soil, seeds and water.

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There is nothing better than a good music festival and one of my favourites is Womadelaide, in Adelaide, SA.

Besides the impressive music, relaxed vibe and child friendly feel the festival’s waste management practices are really inspiring. Red wine aside, these practices are enough to leave anyone with a happy, warm, nicely wasted glow.

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Christmas is upon us and my faithful Wollemi Pine, which doubles as a Chrissie tree, has died.

Not only have I spent the past week mourning my favourite tree but I’ve also been trying to think of an alternative one for Christmas. I am not really one for buying a new pine tree every year and I really didn’t want to buy a plastic one. I have bought a few living potted trees in the past but they have all died on me, despite my repotting efforts - so I didn’t want to do that again either. (more…)

How’s this for a low impact bath. My kids recently had a bath in my brother’s backyard.

The bath was found lying around my brother’s property – he previously used it as a worm farm.

The water was collected in a tank and the heating came from burning reclaimed wood (see the ashes under the bath).  The air conditioning and heating – well that was provided by Mother Nature.

A friend of mine has a fantastic worm farm that lives in the corner of his garden. When I say “in”, I mean literally in the vegetable patch.

The worm farm is basically a bottomless bucket that has been sunk into his vegetable patch. The top of the bucket is level with the top of the vegetable patch’s top soil. (more…)