I've decided that less than ideal can be perfectly wonderful. All it takes is a change in attitude. Read more →

Daddy Eco was away this weekend, and wasn't there to talk sense into Little Eco and I when we spotted three very cute four week old Pekin Bantams at the Farmer's Market. We had plans to add a couple of Pekins to our backyard flock (because they are so good with kids).... ..perhaps in a year or so.... ..at point of lay so that we don't end up burdened with a rooster or two.... ..after we've made a few changes so that we can safely eat the eggs despite our yard having lead contamination. ..and definitely not in the next... Read more →

I hope so, because I’m now working full-time. I recently started a new job. My career till now has focussed largely on threatened species conservation, mostly in rural, rural-residential, and bushland environments. But I’ve become increasingly passionate about urban nature. I believe that a love of nature is what drives us to care about our environment (and alternatively, that a disconnection with nature is what causes people to not care about their impact on the environment). The only way people are going to love and connect with nature is if they encounter her often. Given that most of us live... Read more →

We recently celebrated Little Eco's 4th birthday with an attempt at a good-old-fashioned simple and frugal birthday party. The party invitations were free. I made them using Picnik and printed them on our home printer. Little Eco is obsessed with Pass the Parcel. To her, it's the most important part of a party. But there's no way I was going to buy 23 plastic thingies to use as prizes, so instead I printed my favourite free printables on recycled paper, creating.... sewing cards (downloaded from here and here), paper dolls (from here, found via here), and a few stickers to... Read more →

Today was my first day back at work after two weeks recreation leave. We had the best sort of holiday - we stayed at home. I'd planned on using some of my holidays to write a load of blog posts. However, I just couldn't bring myself to sit in front of the computer. Each day I considered it, and each day I resisted. I typically spend the majority of my work time sitting in front of a computer and I often spend a few hours there again every other evening. There have only been a handful of weeks in the... Read more →