I've said it before, but I think its a message that's worth repeating - Does your rubbish really need to be put in a plastic bag? An article over at The Conversation, 'Plastic, like diamonds, is forever: time to use fewer bags', resulted in a number of comments about what people would use as bin liners if plastic bags were banned and about then having to buy bin liners. But why do we need to line our bin with plastic? A plastic bag is totally unnecessary. We put our rubbish in a small indoor plastic bin and then when it's... Read more →

I spotted some native raspberries a few weeks back when on a bushwalk. I tasted a few but found them rather tasteless. Back home I learnt that what I'd tasted was probably Rubus rosifolius, commonly known as Native Raspberry or Rose Rose-leaf Bramble. It's described as having 'edible but insipid' fruit. Definition of inspid: 'lacking taste or savor : tasteless' Yep, that's what I tasted. But apparently there's other Australian native raspberries that taste good The Small Leaf Bramble (Rubus parvifolius) apparently has fruit that 'varies immensely in quality but when it's good, it's very, very good'. A tea made... Read more →

I was a little surprised last week to read that supermarket private label product sales have grown by 85 per cent in the past five years and that private label products are expected to make up around a third of supermarket sales within five years. That's scary! Do people really think that the supermarkets won't increase their prices once they have wiped out the competitor brands? All this discounting means that someone is paying the cost of purchasing $1 litres of milk and $2 loaves of bread - and it's usually the producers - like Milk Maid Marian who wrote... Read more →

We had our first working bee at our little farm on the weekend. I invited a few colleagues along for a 'flora and fauna ID party' to start a species list for the property. After a few hours we had a list of over 100 plant species. Although I'm a plant ecologist, my plant identification skills are pretty rusty so it would have taken me weeks to get this list. I’m going to embrace working bees on our little farm. I love that working bees: provide a great excuse to hang out with friends; can make a not-very-fun task enjoyable;... Read more →

Little Eco woke up tired and cold yesterday and didn’t want to get out of bed. She begged to say home from preschool. After ruling out there being any other reason for her not wanting to go to preschool I let her stay home – on the condition that she stay in bed until morning tea. She excitedly agreed. She kept her side of the bargain and relaxed in bed reading and talking to herself. She left the bedroom a couple of hours later relaxed, bubbly and happy. I usually feel guilty when doing nothing. I know I shouldn’t. I... Read more →