Project Compost: Do's and Don'ts

Because a photo of compost is boring. Huge earthworm found here.

In follow-up to last week's post on restarting the compost bins, I've put together a list of compost do's and don'ts that may make the whole process a little easier.

Again, I am no composting expert and much of what I say is probably quite unscientific, but it is a record of things that have/have not worked for us.

DO:

• compost most vegie scraps, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds
• take a sniff of your bins occasionally - there should not be a rotten smell at all. if there is, the heap may be too wet or you may need to add some dry hay/garden waste to the bin
• look out for insects in your pile - a good pile is squirming with worms and other helpers
• ensure you keep the lid on tight - not only to keep possums, cats, dogs etc out of the bin but also to keep the heat generated in the bin, in the bin. this helps speed up the composting process

DON'T:

• compost corn, breads, rice or pasta - these can attract rodents
• compost meat or fish - these types of bins don't reach sufficiently high temperatures to kill any potentially harmful bacteria
• compost human waste or dog/cat poo. for basically the same reason as above.
• add water to the heap unless it's totally dry - the scraps and garden waste should provide enough moisture

If I think of anything else that's similarly important, I'll be sure to add it to the site. And if you've got any questions let me know - I may not know the answer but I could likely find out.

Happy-Making: Heartswell

This little one turns two over the weekend. Boom.

No Angel

Tenuous photo link: I'm drinking a beer.

I'm no angel. Like everyone, I'm busy. I'm a busy mum and wife and sister and daughter and writer. I like things to be simple where possible. I like to do things efficiently where possible. I don't like making extra work for myself.

I like wearing make-up. I like having my hair done (and getting it coloured!) I like eating lollies. I am a big fan of coffee. I love wine. I shop at Target. I travel. I used disposable nappies on both my little ones until they were six weeks old and would fit into the cloth ones I bought.

If my goal was to live completely without chemicals, and in a carbon-positive way, then I would be making very different changes to my life.

My goal instead, is to simplify life.

I love that I'm learning about green cleaning because, yes, it reduces the amount of unnecessary and harmful chemicals in the house, but also because I now have four spray bottles in my cleaning cupboard, rather than the dozens I had before. Things are simpler.

I love that I use only a handful of daily beauty products and the vast majority of them are completely natural.

I love that I try to reduce our household garbage by recycling, shopping smarter and reusing more, because it means I'm more mindful of what I buy, which in turn means less stuff in general.

But I'm so not an eco-bully. Or a green-snob. Just sayin'.

xxx

Project Compost: Restart

Our sad compost bins.

 So the garden has been roundly neglected of late (more on this and what I'm doing to rectify the situation in a later post) and the poor old compost heap has seen many better days too. It was really flourishing pre-renovation, as I'd been working on it for about six months and had two big bins worth of garden gold almost ready to go. The little fairy wrens in the yard loved all the bugs that scattered every time I opened the lid and the willy wagtails were well pleased when I'd share some of the insects with them.

Then the builders came in and knocked both bins down, spreading my compost all over the backyard, on day one of the reno.

I get a really awful, wasteful feeling in the pit of my tummy every time I throw away food scraps (similar to the feeling I get using disposable nappies, truth be told) and I think about restarting the ol' compost bins - stat. Then life gets in the way, as usual, and the next time I think about it is when I'm tossing tonight's salad scraps in the bin.

But no more. This week fortnight-ish I will buy some manures, chop some garden waste and start the bins again.

I thought I could offer a very very basic rundown of how I build our compost bins, in case this is something you're interested in. Once it's set up, it really is a super simple way to cut down on your rubbish dramatically, and as a bonus you get the most beautiful plant food imaginable - for free!

*NB There is a huge amount of information out there on composting. There are books and blogs and websites all dedicated to the science of it. I'm not offering any scientific advice here, just a basic overview of what I do at home. This is likely not best practice. Probably not even close.

You need to get yourself two or three bins. Bunnings sell simple compost bins for around $30 each. These have a flip-top lid and an open bottom (the bottom needs to be open to allow worms and insects in, as well as allowing you to turn your heap easily). Place the bins somewhere they will stay pretty dry, and somewhere that makes depositing your scraps easy.

To start, I buy a couple of bags of manure from a farm nearby. Any type will do really, but chook poo is good. I add a layer of this to the bottom of the bin, followed by some grass clippings, some garden cuttings (if these are in large pieces, try breaking them up or running the mower over them first), some hay and a bucket of kitchen scraps. I generally keep these layers to around 10cm deep each, with the exception of the dense grass clippings, 3-5cm will do there. I also make sure not to compact the layers down as composting requires lots of air.

The compost bin has officially begun! I now add our kitchen scraps over the week, occasionally covering them with a handful of hay or leaves. Once the layer of scraps reaches around 10cm I start the layering all over again.

After around a month or so I lift the whole bin off the pile and move it to one side, leaving the entire pile exposed. I then use my shovel and garden fork to work through the pile, separating any big chunks and aerating the whole lot. Then I shovel it all back into the bin. I keep adding, layering, moving and aerating until the bin is pretty much full, then I leave it alone for a while. Depending on the weather it may be three months, it may be more. Occasionally, if I remember, I may turn the pile to help speed things along and get an idea of how the compost is cooking.

Once bin #1 is cooking, I start bin #2 using the same method. The theory being that once the compost in bin #1 is ready to use in the garden, bin #2 will be ready to cook. Then bin #3 is used for depositing scraps etc, while bin #1 stores the usable compost and bin #2 cooks away. In reality, the length of each stage varies and there will be times where you have two bins cooking and no usable compost.

At this early stage in my gardening career I can't worry about that so much, only take pleasure in the knowledge that my scraps will be fertilising my garden sometime in the near future. Hopefully yours will too!!

To stop this post from becoming any lengthier, I'll put together another post for later in the week that outlines the things you should and shouldn't compost in this type of pile.

Green Cleaning: Lemon + Baking Soda = Sparkly McGee!

Lemons are nature's zesty cleaning power-bombs and this green cleaning recipe uses that to its fullest advantage.

All you need is one dirty sink (or any metal surface in your kitchen, or porcelain, enamel or fibreglass in your bathroom), half a lemon, some bicarb soda and about five minutes.

Before. Ugh.

Sprinkle the lemon half with some bicarb, and also sprinkle the sink with a little of the powder too - this works best if the sink is pretty dry before cleaning. Use the flesh side of the lemon to scrub the sink. It takes a couple of minutes for the sherberty fizz to take all the grime away, but it absolutely works and smells citrus fresh too!

If you have some tougher grime or stains then use the skin side as a scrubbing brush. I was surprised by how well this actually works, but the skin really does pick up the stains.

After. The plug hole needs a vinegar soak to bring out the stains but its totally clean. Honest!

I actually used the skin and some extra bicarb to scrub some rust spots on the knife I used and they came out straight away. Lovely!

Ol' Rusty Before.

'Ol Rusty no more.

Super easy and super useful. I like this recipe because it gives me a way of using up the shrivelly lemon halves I sometimes collect in the fruit bowl. Plus it smells so good!

As for the rest of the week, we're busy preparing for Isy's second birthday on the weekend. It's a bubble party so should be awesome!

Hope you're having a good week! X

Things You Can Do

I was just ordering Toby's fabric nappies from Bambooty (the boy likes his food - he's outgrown the small size already!!) and it reminded me of this program I've seen on Facebook.

The Change 3 Things challenge has a similar philosophy to The Lavender Experiment, in that if we all changed the things we could (in this case, swapping three disposable nappies a day for three fabric nappies), the change we'd see in the world would be far greater than the small effort it takes. Like I've said before: baby steps.

Nappies, cleaning products, growing herbs, repurposing furniture, recycling - whatever your baby step is today, or this week, or this month - just know it all makes a difference.
 

Chunky monkey.

Gardening: Getting Started

Our beautiful jacaranda. I can take no credit for this. It's much older than me.

When I was younger, I would listen to my parents talk about their garden, what plants they had planted, what was performing, what needed fertilising, pruning and mulching, what had to be moved and what they would change. I found it so incredibly confusing and remembered thinking, "How the hell can you know all this stuff? How can you remember all this information?!"

Fast forward a few years, and while I'm very much still a novice gardener, I think I've discovered the secret to garden knowledge and know-how:

just do it.

I tried reading gardening books before I ever planted a single thing and it just didn't work for me. Unless I had the physical experience in digging, planting, watering, weeding, fertilising, feeding and pruning, the words in the book meant nothing.

So I got started. I bought a really cheap, crappy set of hand tools from Bunnings (I think it cost me all of $10), bought some natives and tube stock from the local plant reserve and gave it a shot. I put in about 20 plants in the beginning and I haven't looked back since. Initially, Don Burke's The Lazy Gardener was the only book I took my lead from, and I've learnt heaps since just through trial and error.

I do love seeing the garden come together, and spring is by far my favourite time to plant-watch, but for me the real, simple joy comes from just being outside, hands in the soil, getting dirty, hearing the birds, smelling the earth, watching the worms, checking the flower buds. It seriously is like therapy to me, and a major part in why I started The Lavender Experiment in the first place. If there was so much pleasure in such simple, grounding tasks, then surely simplifying other parts of our life could only be a good thing?

Play Time! Playdough Recipe

I mentioned last week that we'd been getting crafty and creative here at Lavender HQ, and one of our current faves is playdough. It's super easy to whip up a batch yourself and keep it in the fridge, so I thought I'd post the recipe. There are variations, but this is the method I use with no drama:

You need:

   3 cups plain flour
   1 cup salt
   2 tbsp oil
   approx 1.5 cups water
   a few drops of food colouring

Method:

   1. Mix dry ingredients together
   2. Combine water and food colouring
   3. Add sufficient water until dough is pliable but not sticky

Super duper easy, it makes more than enough for four kidlets to play with and you can store it in a plastic bag in the fridge for at least a couple of weeks.

Also, for something fun, you can cut shapes out of the dough using cookie cutters and bake them slowly in a mild-moderate oven. Fun times ahoy!!

Happy-Making: Heart Shaped

In lieu of Friday's missing Happy-Making.

Paint and unpainted surfaces surround us constantly at the moment, but this little droplet made me oodles of happy.

K.I.S.S: The garage sale wrap-up

So, yesterday was the big garage sale day. And after what turned out to be a horrible week, it was the last thing I wanted to do. But thanks to Sparky and my family, the sale went ahead and was a pretty decent success.

The early birds were out in force ("Um, no, you may not open our gate to access our property. It's 7am.") but once opening time rolled around there were a tonne of bargain hunters ready and waiting. Sparky took the early shift and sold 80% of our stuff by 10am, and I sold the majority of the remainder before midday.

Not that the aim was to make squillions (good thing!) but we ended up making a few hundred dollars overall, which was great. Advertising costs were minimal ($12 I think, to advertise in the local paper) and other expenses pretty much non-existent. We bought dinner and added the rest to the ever-needed renovation kitty. (Something has to pay for the thousands of litres of paint we get through!)

Everything that was left over has either been taken to Vinnies already, or left at my sisters for a day or two to see if any passers-by would like to take them for free.

It felt really good to see all the extraneous stuff we've collected over the years go to good homes. It just weighs you down over time I think, and it was a relief to let go. I felt particularly pleased when a lovely young couple came by near the end and bought all my left over market bags from my Trove days. They're opening a store soon and needed bags and packaging material to get started, so they were well pleased.

I have to admit though that Sparky and I came home with quite a haul ourselves. I forgot to take the camera with me, but we scored super well. We picked up:

• a Victorian plant stand that was Sparky's mums
• a quirky round mirror I'm going to hang in the garden
• two travel chalkboards
• a big frame I plan on repurposing for Isy's artwork
• two throw cushions that match the lounge perfectly
• a book on raising toddlers
• a colander

The idea was, of course, to get rid of things we don't need, but every single one of those will be put to good use. In fact, the majority already are.

I like the idea of repurposing or giving something old or mundane a new lease on life, so have added the frame, chalkboards and plant stand to my ever-growing project list. It may well take some time, but I'll be sure to share as I go.

I hope you had a good, fun weekend?? xx

Green Cleaning Tip: Eucalyptus Essential Oil

Pom pom progress!

In between garage sale preparation, trips to the doctors, crumb duty (seriously! where do they all come from??!) laundry, ironing and cooking it's been craft mayhem here. The weather's been a bit sucky so Isy and I are getting messy. It's fun. And I'm pretty sure Isla likes it too.


GREEN CLEANING TIP:

Love me some fresh-smelling eucalyptus oil, I really do. It's also a pretty handy addition to your green cleaning stash as it's a super-duper oil. It's antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and good for your immune system. It can be mixed with water in a spray bottle (try around 20 drops to one cup of water) and applied to any areas that need disinfecting, such as table tops, door knobs, bathrooms etc. It gives such a beautiful, fresh scent too. Bonus!

You can buy it at most supermarkets (just make sure it's pure eucalyptus oil) or health food stores.

Handy tip: Lavender oil has very similar disinfecting qualities, so you could try the above spray using essential lavender oil instead.

Meanwhile, it's back to sorting through books and CDs here. The countdown to G Day is on!

Crafty: Pom Poms!

Part of the Lavender Experiment, for me, is to decorate our home with handmade things, things that have a little piece of us in them, things that mean something.

I'm certain I could go and buy loads of pretty knick knacks all at once and have the decorating finished in a matter of days, but A) there's no fun in that, B) there's too much money in that and C) that doesn't express a great deal about us as a family.

I'm a big fan of quirky garlands at the moment and have been working on a woolen pom pom garland for the past couple of days. I forgot how long it takes to make pom poms the old-fashioned way, but I do find the repetitiveness therapeutic so I don't mind.

The progress on my own garland will be slow, I'm sure, but these gorgeous examples keep me inspired:

From Honestly...WTF

From Small Bird

From Millalove

From Honestly...WTF

Play Time!

Playdough by ragamufyn on Flickr

I've recently rediscovered a book that one of my sisters gave to me a couple of years ago. It's called Creative Play for Your Baby and it focuses on simple, home-made toys that encourage parents and kids to play meaningfully with each other, while teaching little tackers about concepts like caring, love, role play and imagination, as well as the value of handmade creations.

I have to admit that I didn't take too much from the book when Isy was younger, but upon re-reading I've been really struck by the simplicity of the toys and activities and the importance of little ones learning imaginative and creative play from an early age.

I get it, kids like toys. But I feel like toys have gotten out-of-hand complicated. After Christmas this year I think lasted about a week on Toy Mountain before going on a sorting spree and putting two-thirds of the kids toys away. I plan to rotate them every few weeks (I'm not mean, I promise!) but it just gives us space and means we're not constantly surrounded by a thousand bright, loud plastic things. Now I feel that Isla plays with her toys. She's not so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of toys that she races from one to another.

Today we spent hours playing with cardboard boxes, balls of wool (I'm on a pom-pom making binge) clothes pegs, balloons and Little People. I know none of this is ground-breaking, but it's just been a really nice reminder to me that kids are happy to play anywhere, anytime and that their imaginations will take over when given the opportunity.

On the cards for the coming weeks are a few projects featured in the book, including a pom-pom menagerie and a mobile for Tobes, as well as a family of simple soft dollies for Isla.


It's times like these that I really, really wish I could sew. But I really, really can't.

The rest of the week is shaping up to be garage-sale-prep-alicious, with so many old books and CDs getting the ol' heave-ho, along with furniture, knick-knacks and homewares. I seriously can't wait.

K.I.S.S: Decisions

Chucks by Nan Lawson on Etsy

One of my dearest friends is moving to London today, indefinitely. We had dinner last week (such a pleasure, let me tell you! Great company, amazing Italian food, delicious wine...) and I was struck by how calm and committed to the move she was - no nerves or cold feet or second guesses. Not that it would be warranted mind you, I think this is going to be amazing for her, but you could be forgiven for feeling a little jittery about such a massive shift.

It got me thinking though about keeping decisions simple and owning your choices. Sparky and I have made a lot of big decisions in a seemingly short amount of time - the decision to sell our house in the city and move to the mountains was made early one morning and we were looking for property the same day. We also decided very quickly to close down Trove, just as it was becoming very successful. Both of these decisions have been life-changers and choices we've never once regretted. We made the best decision for ourselves and committed to it. There's no benefit in second guessing after the fact because the alternatives were never an option.

It's such a welcome relief when you commit to a decision and then simply move forward.

I once read an article on happiness, and one of the suggestions to creating more happiness was to simplify our decision-making process. If you need new shoes you should visit just two shoe stores and make your choice. More options doesn't mean you're going to feel more satisfied once your decision is made, it just means that making that decision will take longer and likely be more stressful.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'd quite like to spend a day shoe shopping, so I don't think that that was the best example but I do like the thinking behind it!

Happy-Making: The Elevator Krump

My brother-in-law, Seamus McAlary, is a stand-up comedian and recently spent a weekend filming this hilarious video with a couple of friends. Makes me laugh. Every time.

Hope you have a great weekend!

We're painting and clearing the backyard of garage debris so that Isy can finally play outside again without me freaking out about her hurting herself. Should be grand!

Remedy for a Bad Day

Ever had one of those days?

The kids don't sleep well, you have a headache, there's six loads of washing to do and it starts to rain, you forgot to pick up the milk for breakfast, your jeans are too tight, your favourite plant is dying, the neighbours' dog barks incessantly and you discover a huge crayon scrawl on your fridge...

Wine often helps.

But if not, try this for a relaxing, pre-bed lavender shower:

Sprinkle/spray a few drops of pure lavender oil in the shower before you turn on the water. Once the hot water hits the oil it releases the scent and creates a beautiful, relaxing, aromatherapeutic (if it wasn't before, that is so a word now) lavender steam that helps soothe frayed nerves and calm frantic minds.

It really does help quieten the mind. Big fan, right here.

K.I.S.S: Garage Sale Tips

Our, ahem, "spare" room.

Since we moved back into the house after the renovation, we've been steadily working through each room, decluttering and sorting out all the things we no longer need. Some of these attempts have been more successful than others - like when Isy rediscovered all the toys I had squirelled away in the hopes of rotating them out every few weeks to cut down both on clutter and over-stimulation. It was messy and joyous.

The biggest job by far was clearing out and sorting through our garage and the huge amount of stuff we'd accumulated in there over the past few years. In fact, I'm currently surrounded by a lot of it, as it's now taking up every spare inch of the spare room, until we replace our garage with a smaller storage studio some time in the future.

Anyway, all this decluttering has left us with a LOT of stuff we no longer need, so we've decided to have a garage sale in a couple of weeks time. To make it a substantial one we're combining forces with one of my sisters and selling off furniture, toys, books, CDs, homewares, knick knacks and random pieces of sporting equipment.

I can't tell you what a huge relief it is to be rid of some of the extraneous crap we've surrounded ourselves with. There is still so much more I could do away with, being a reformed hoarder of useless things like old school assignments, uni books, ticket stubs, newspapers, odds, ends and tidbits, but it's a start.

And it's seriously addictive. I now find myself looking for things to sell. Nothing is safe!

In preparation for the big garage sale I've been reading up on how best to run the day and have come across some tips that I'll be following:

• $1-$50 is generally the price bracket people are willing to pay at a garage sale.
• Group items of the same value together (all items selling for $5 placed in a basket, for example)
• Use colour-coded sticker dots to show the price of items
• Toys, clothes, books, CDs and music sell well. Show them prominently.
• Be prepared to bargain. I know I'd prefer to sell everything rather than lug it back inside the house at the end of the day.

I'll be sure to take some shots on the day and share any crazy early bird stories with you in a couple of weeks time. Is it weird that I'm nervous about holding a garage sale??

Loving it crazy: Homegrown Evolution

Hay bale image from Fir0002

I was recently reading a Design*Sponge Small Measures post on eco and green-living books (super score - I've googled all of them and discovered about 5 new favourite similar minded folk!) and one that I was really intrigued by was The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen.

Anyway, turns out they have a blog, Homegrown Evolution, and I'm loving it a little crazy right now. Their mix of gardening, green living tips, insight into the way they're shifting their lifestyle all the while living in a normal, urban area and just really cool information (like the difference between hay and straw - who knew?! Actually I'm sure lots of people know. Just not me.) is more-ish and very very readable. Plus I like how well they articulate issues and thoughts that I roll around inside my head for days before writing about them.

Thought you may enjoy taking a peek while I go and clean up the almighty mess left by our no-longer-present garage. It's either that or playdough. Tough call.

Green Product Review: Organoil

When Sparky and I were looking at products to finish our house, we tended to look for products that were safe for our family, with less impact on the environment. I've already mentioned the interior paint we chose, but I thought I'd review the floor finish we ended up using, as when I was researching online I could find very little info on it.

We have cypress pine floor throughout the house and decided to get the old floors (which were finished with some kind of estapol or polyurethane finish) sanded back and treated at the same time as the new floor in the extension. After talking to a few people and doing some reading online we opted for an oil finish on the floors and decided to go with Organoil.

THE PROS:

• The smell was not only bearable but actually pretty pleasant. Citrusy/bergamoty kind of thing.
• It's non-toxic - great for Isy and myself (I was pregnant at the time)
• A matte finish on the floor - good for a family home where spills are frequent and varied!
• Scratches are apparently easy to fix, with just a quick reapplication of oil required.
• The installer recommended only mopping once a month (score!) as the matte finish means scuff marks don't show up readily.
• The matte finish feels really nice underfoot, as you're essentially just walking on the polished raw timber.

THE CONS:

• It's expensive to install (it's more time-consuming apparently) but it was more than double what a poly-finished floor would cost.
• We're found it to be not very durable. Things that wouldn't have scratched our old poly floors have left noticeable marks and scratches in the finish (these aren't gouges, just surface scratches from things like the high-chair or the kids' pram)
• Things like chalk or crayon, which would wipe off a poly floor easily can leave a mark.
• Very very very susceptible to water damage in the early days and weeks. Obviously water and oil aren't great friends, which means we had to walk on cloths for the first few days, to avoid getting any water from our shoes onto the floor. Even socks wouldn't do as any sweat on your socks will affect the finish. We had a million people in and out of the house at this stage and as a result, have tradies' footprints, what I think is an Esky mark and water rings in the finish already.

Scratches in the surface from the high chair.

The beautiful, silky matte finish on the floor. Feels nice underfoot!

The water damage (whitish marks) from a tradies' Esky and drink bottle.

THE RESULT:

Despite all the cons, and the fact that we're both a little disappointed in the durability of the finish, Sparky and I would still choose Organoil if we had our time again. The smell factor is huge for me, and I do like the more rustic, matte finish of the floor. It's a little more on the Scandinavian side, which is what we're after in our house overall.

Basically there's a reason that some products have both a green option and a traditional, commercial option - often there's characteristics of the commercial option that people don't want to compromise on (durability/hardness, shine, etc). In this case we're happy to compromise as the pay-off is a much greener, friendlier product in our home.

Kerbside Ettiquette?

Wish this was my neighbourhood's hard rubbish night. Look at that crib! From here.

Am I crazy for thinking this is wrong??

A couple of weeks ago we put our fully functioning but no longer needed electric hot water system out on the kerb for someone to pick up for free. (It's not something we do often, except hard rubbish nights - the funnest nights, excluding Firecracker Night and Christmas Eve!)

Anyway, a man from our neighbourhood, let's call him Captain McScroogepants, saw our fully functioning water system and rather than take the whole thing, proceeded to remove the copper pipe from the outside, rendering the whole thing pretty useless. He went home, profitable copper pipe in hand, but came back about an hour later and removed the element from the system, rendering it completely and utterly useless! At this point Sparky asked him what he was doing:

Sparky: What are you doing?
Captain McScroogepants: Well, I'm taking the element from your hot water system.
Sparky: Oh, OK. We were thinking someone could, you know, take the whole thing, as it is fully functioning.
Captain: Well, I don't need the whole thing.
Sparky: And now no-one will want the remnants.
Captain: Not my problem.
Sparky: ......

Technically he was right, it wasn't his problem. But I was under the impression that kerbside ettiquette means for you to take the whole thing and then deal with what you don't want. For example, you spy an awesome timber framed lounge in front of a neighbours' but it has disgusting poo-brown corduroy cushions. Too bad. You take the lounge and cushions and then deal with it yourself. I'd never leave the poo-brown cushions. I'd want to, but I wouldn't. It's just not cricket.

Am I being uptight? (Likely. Very likely.)

PS. A junkyard man did come and pick the rest of the system up a week later, which made me happy.

Natural Body Products: Coconut Oil

Hehe. From here.

I'm a relatively new convert to using coconut oil as a body product (or at all, really) as I used to associate it with that nasty coconut-scented tanning oil that people use to bake themselves in the sun. In reality, it's nothing like that and I'm super glad I stumbled across the recommendation online.

Pure, extra virgin coconut oil is generally produced in the South Pacific where the coconuts are harvested and the oil extracted within one hour of the nut being open - super fresh! It's a funny substance in that it is actually a milky-coloured solid oil when the room temp is 26C or under and becomes softer and clearer as the temp rises. In summer when it's around 30C+, it's a clear oil.

I use it as a body moisturiser, but it can be used in a heap of different ways. (None of which I've actually tried yet, but I like multi-use products. It keeps things simple!)

Use it as:
 
• Cooking oil (much like peanut or vege oil)
• Raw and fresh bread spread
• Skin moisturiser
• Massage Oil
• Baby Oil
• Hair Oil (massage into your hair at night and shampoo it out in the morning)
• Base ingredient for organic cosmetics

• Head lice and hair nit control (see here for directions)
• Tooth Paste (weird maybe, but there's a recipe here)



It's super economical and smells tasty too! (Not too coconutty though - that would be weird and tropical). I've found some interesting recipes that use the oil, so I'll try some out and get back to you.

Hope you're having a fabulous Monday!

Renovation Nation

Midway through removing the garage.

Today the man who is buying our garage (seriously, if you have anything structure-wise you're considering removing around your house, try and sell it on eBay before tearing it down. We've sold a pergola and a double garage in the past few months. People are pretty creative about what they buy and sell too - Sparky's cousin bought a garden off eBay. A garden! He just went to the house, dug out the plants he wanted and took them home. Freaking awesome!) Anyway... The man buying the garage started to take it down with the plan being it will be gone by early next week.

Once the garage is gone, we can organise for the dead jacaranda to be removed from the yard and for the huuuge concrete slab to be excavated and removed. Once those things have happened we can finally get started on the rest of the rear deck as well as (excitingly for me) get a much better idea of where our vege garden and mini orchard will go. We will likely just seed grass the whole area for six months, to give us opportunity to finish a million other projects, but once winter comes I'll be building and preparing the vege garden so that we'll be ready to go come spring-time. And ridiculously, I'm already excited!

Aside from that, we plan on getting our blinds installed in the next week or so,as well as continuing with the interior painting. Now that the heatwave is (almost) over, we're feeling a bit more jazzed about the whole project again.

More importantly though, today will see Sparky install our new clothesline. While I quite liked having an excuse for not doing the washing, it does have a way of sneaking up on me. I guess I'll be climbing Mt. Laundry on Monday and Tuesday.

Hope your weekend is super lovely.

x

Happy-Making

Cody Dillon is a seriously talented new singer-songwriter. Album due out mid-year, but in the meantime, Shampoo and Conditioner is one of the sweetest, cutest songs going round. Not a great recording but well worth the listen.

Top Five Indoor Plants

Image from HomeLife

Well, the heatwave hasn't yet broken (40C+ here again today - eugh) so I have packed up the kidlets and spent the past two days at my parents' air-conditioned house. We're all feeling much better and the kids have managed to have a decent sleep each day, so I'm certainly feeling much happier!

My mum is keen on indoor plants, and has a few beautiful peace lilies throughout the house. Looking at them reminded me of a really interesting article I read a while ago on indoor plants and how they have a dramatic purifying effect on our indoor air. Studies have shown that the air we breathe indoors is actually more heavily polluted than the air we breathe outside and that indoor plants help filter the air of these toxins, which are released from our furniture, cabinetry, carpet, paints, cleaning products (not mine anymore though!) and even cosmetics.

I'm a bit of a gardening nerd myself and can't wait to get my green thumbs dirty once the renovations are finished, but in the meantime, perhaps some beautiful indoor plants could help ease my need-to-plant-something angst?

These are the top five indoor plants most effective at filtering the air we breathe inside:

Dracaena (There are over 50 varieties of dracaena and all have excellent air-cleaning properties)
Peace/Madonna lilies (Spathyphyllum)
Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
Weeping Fig/Ficus (Ficus benjamina)
Bamboo/Reed Palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)


If you're a gardening beginner, or new to the specific needs of potted indoor plants, here are some quick tips to get you started:

• Leave your new plants in their plastic pots and simply place in a decorative pot once you're home. This means you're able to change out your plants and pots without having to re-pot every time.
• Spend some time being kind to your new plants, watering and feeding them well for the first few months. Slowly ease back on the TLC, allowing the plant to "harden off" and acclimatise to its new environment.
• To clean the leaves of your plants (something you should do monthly to allow the plant to photosynthesise effectively) simply wipe over the leaves with a solution of one part water to one part milk. This cleans the leaves of any dust that may accumulate, leaves them shiny and glossy, and also keeps the leaves free of dust for longer.
• A granule-based slow release fertiliser should be applied to your plants every six months, in spring and autumn. (I'm an AFL fan and find it easiest to remember this by applying the fertisiler at the beginning of the season and then finals time. Lame but handy.)
• In summer the plants will probably need watering 2-3 times a week, while in winter this will dial back to once every 2-3 weeks.

I'm keen to get some green action over the next few weeks (the middle of a heatwave is not the best time to buy and plant plants, so I may hold off for a little bit) and once I do I'll share some photos of the new additions. I love me some maiden hair ferns and some bamboo palms, but we'll see what we end up with.

Off to jump in the kids' paddle pool now!

Heat Wave

Hi there!

The hideously hot weather in our neck of the woods has left everyone feeling (more than) slightly out of sorts. The kids aren't sleeping well, we're not sleeping well, it's too hot to cook or eat much other than salads and ice blocks.

So please don't mind me if posts are a little lighter-on than usual. The 40+ temps are meant to keep up for at least another week, so while I'll do my best to keep 'em coming, you know where I am if I'm not here. (On the lounge with the fans on, eating an ice block, of course!)

Actually, I'm working on a few crafty/housey/decory projects when the kids are sleeping, so hopefully I'll have some photos to show you over the coming days. Plus I need to take some shots of the painting we did over the weekend - looks fab!

In the meantime, take it easy!

Brooke x