Garden dreaming...

My poor garden has been so sadly neglected but as my energy returns I have trying to do a little here and a little there.  Recently (um, in January, actually), fellow local blogger Tamara, from Thyme for Tea had a giveaway of a 2011 Permaculture Calendar which I was fortunate to win.  Because I am a slacker have been ridiculously busy of late, poor Tamara ended up having to post it out to me (thank you!), and serendipitously it arrived just in time for a day "off" and some lovely cool weather on Saturday.

Mmmmm, just what I needed; some terrific inspiration!

Water Kefir

I have been culturing dairy kefir grains for a while now, and I was introduced to water kefir as part of the e-course I did through GNOWFGLINS last year. Unfortunately as I was so sick on and off last year, I didn't get much of an opportunity to experiment with the grains.

That changed recently when I found my poor neglected grains at the back of the fridge and decided to see if I could resurrect them.  After about a week and three or four sugar water changes, they looked pretty good again and I've been 'playing' around with them since.

The water kefir grains look a bit like sugar crystals. Mine are

 stained brown from the rapadura sugar I use, and they are

usually larger in size but I have not been cultivating mine for very long.

Wrapped

Sadly, 2011 hasn't had as great a start in the health department as I would have liked.  I was travelling quite well until school started up again; rather than the rest time during the days I was anticipating, it has been a whirlwind of activity while I sort out a sudden influx of birthday party invitations, winter sporting club registrations and end-of-season events for summer sports, swimming carnivals, parent information nights and literacy-program training sessions and numerous other things that just have to be done.

My body isn't coping with the stress very well, even though we've endeavoured to really limit activities - hence my absence from the blog. My energy levels are all but non-existent.

One month into school now though, things are just starting to settle down a little, although having said that Miss 7 is at home for the next few days with tonsillitis and my chances of avoiding catching it are, at best, pretty low at the moment!

In an effort to actually get something done, today while chilling with Miss 7 I hauled out  a crochet project that has been hibernating since the beginning of the warmer weather.  Ridiculously, it only took me an hour to finish it, for all the months it has been sitting in the knitting basket.

Guess which house is mine.

I've recently had a number of different guests remark that it's obvious which house is ours when they drive down our street because (sadly) hardly anyone else has a garden.  Out of curiosity, I looked up our place on NearMap.com, I have to say that the contrast between our house and most of our neighbours appears even more stark from the air!

Can you guess which is our house?  You'll have to click on it to get a bigger image ;-)

Hint: we're one of the few with solar panels.

Cheers,

Soil Not Oil: Vandana Shiva

I mentioned at the beginning of the year that I have undertaken a personal  "52 in 52 challenge" this year, to read 52 books in 52 weeks.  Some have been (and will be) ones from my collection, but many have been/ will be new to me. This is one I finished this week:

I found Soil Not Oil by Vandana Shiva utterly fascinating, not because Shiva discussed anything particularly new to me, but because it is written by an Indian, and she gives a refreshingly non-US-centric view of the triple challenges of climate change, peak oil and food insecurity.

Shiva is a world-renowned environmental activist, eco-feminist and author, recipient of the 1993 Right Livelihood Award, and was more recently awarded the Sydney Peace Prize here in Australia.  She is one very outspoken activist and she doesn't pull any punches with her writing either; her style is quite forceful.

And the winner is....

Thank you all for your terrific comments for The Ethicurean reusable bag giveaway, I picked up some great tips :-)

So without further ado, according to Random.org, the winner of the giveaway is....

Comment number 46:

granny: "I would love to be in the draw :0) I havent used a produce bag yet..and I know I should.Thankyou Julie !"

Congratulations granny!  Please email me your postal details so that I can pass them onto Kelly to send out your parcel!


Cheers,

Reusable Bags Giveaway

From the number of emails I am receiving at the moment, there are a great many of us who have made a commitment to reduce the amount of waste they are responsible for this year.  I know that our household waste has been creeping back up to an unacceptable level and I am determined to do something about it.  Reusable shopping bags have fortunately become the norm these days, but it is much less common, in my experience anyway, to see people using reusable alternatives for their fresh produce.

As such, my blogger friend Kelly who runs the online eco-store The Ethicurean, has generously offered an awesome reusable bag giveaway - a sample set of one each of her three types of ethically-produced, reusable cotton bags, and a market tote!

Bats in the belfry....

 Well, maybe not so much the "belfry" as the grape arbour.

Every morning for the past week, we've woken up to this:

A giant mess of grapes, grape skins and grape leaves all over the deck and steps under the vines.