Sorrel, Orange Peel, 2040 - the Doco.

Sorrel 

Disregard the spelling mistake!

The other weekend I went to a plant and seed swap (just wonderful to do). The generous garden owner shared a taste of his sorrel and I couldn't believe that I had never tried this before - tangy, lemony goodness in a leaf! He kindly dug out a piece for anyone who wanted some. I can't wait for it to grow big enough to divide and make more plants, and to add to salads. It looks a bit like a weed at present so will need to stay well marked!
It's a plant that you don't need to keep planting - it just keeps on giving.


How to grow sorrel by Garden Lady at Sow Small Garden

It's full of nutritional goodness - read this link Benefits of sorrel leaves by tinyqualityhomes.org

Orange Peel

On my journey to use that-which-is-under-my-nose I wondered why I was composting our orange peels. We have a tree of the most divine navel oranges. I started saving the peel, by re-peeling them with a very sharp knife to remove the pith, then laying it on a splatter guard on top of a kitchen rack which I have been placing on our wood-stove at night. I don't leave it overnight though as it is quite flammable. I'm collecting it all in a jar and will powder this lot in the food processor. This first lot (above) I pulverized with the mortar and pestle.

I've been using it to add to teas, sprinkled in homemade muesli, in baking and added to my tooth powder (tooth whitener). It gives a delicious orange flavouring.
It too appears to have multiple health benefits...Health benefits of orange zest by Pioneer Thinking

I'm also soaking peels in white vinegar for a couple of weeks, then adding the vinegar to water and a few drops of castile soap for a spray cleaner.

2040 - the documentary

Have you heard of this documentary? It's just new out. It is a positive spin on how the world could be despite climate change. It is a bit utopian, but hey, hopefully it will all catch on. There were lots of people viewing it, and the first movie that I've heard a round of applause after.

So yes, recommended...get along and see it, or tell me what you thought if you've seen it already.

Plastic Free July 2019

I love to read about the plastic-free movement and how many people get switched on to it starting with a pledge to try Plastic Free July.
I've been gradually working towards being as new-plastic-free in my purchases as possible, and I'm still not there. Let's face it - it's hard.

One of my goals this year has been to find a sandwich bread recipe that is virtually no knead, like my other seed bread recipe Busy People's Bread. I have failed to find one, so this week I have bought a new-to-me bread machine. The first loaf was pretty good, and I'm on track to save bringing home 26 bread bags/year. I'll still be making the seed bread, four loaves at a time in the oven. A plus with the bread machine will be easier pizza dough.

My lovely helper holding the container - labels on the underside

A new thing here is being able to take a container to the supermarket and they'll make a bit of a drama about taking it away to clean it, then we can get items from the deli packaging-free.I'm loving buying feta and gouda like this. Just ignoring the drama..("have you got any other shopping to do...I'll be 5 minutes cleaning this" kind of comments). So I got them to put three things in it. It's a bit dearer to buy like this, but the feta's nicer than what I was getting.

My next change for P-F July has been making my own custard powder. Yes, I know you can make it with eggs etc, but it has to be sustainable and I'm not the only cook. The bulk bin custard powder was horrible so we reverted to packaged Edmonds. My challenge was to make something convenient that had to be as nice...success...recipe follows.

DIY Custard Powder

1 cup of icing sugar
1/2 cup of cornflour
1/2 cup of milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste

Grind all to a fine powder with a stick blender or similar. Store in an airtight container. 
Use as for regular bought custard powder, but I did find I needed to use more. I'm going to try adding more cornflour to the next mix. You can also add a couple of drops of yellow food colouring if you want it to be more like the bought stuff.

Our last innovation, which isn't a plastic-free one, has been to change most of our light bulbs to LED. They have come way down in price recently (now only around $3-$4/ bulb) and should pay for themselves quickly with energy saving and they'll last longer, plus they don't give off heat. If you haven't done yours yet, look into it. #money-saving 

Weeding out Possessions

This year I decided my big mission is reducing our surplus stuff. It's not Konmari style (tip - her blog is quite interesting) - more like Swedish Death Cleaning. This isn't really something new - I know, because my mother did it. 
It seems we get to our 60's and have just accumulated so much stuff ! Our kids aren't going to want it - it turns out we've both bred minimalists. 
So if we want our stuff to be disposed of appropriately we need to do it ourselves while we are fit and able and of sound mind. It takes a lot of effort.

So recently I have got rid of: - 
my vintage china collection and hollow stem champagne saucers and old bone handled knives (and made a tidy profit), a spare fridge/freezer and a lawnmower via Facebook Marketplace.

a huge carload (including daughters' x 2 clothes) at the local boot sale. What was left went to a charity shop, and the only thing they wouldn't take...an oil filled electric heater with a little rust, went to someone on the Pay it Forward page. When we found that person was raising her sister's four children and they had nothing..we threw in some old toys, balls and art supplies.

a bag full of books and CDs waiting to go off to the Zonta Booksale.

my silver cutlery set to my daughter;

a tray of plastic plant pots that went to a market plant grower - and there's still another tray to go. Most of these were found washed up in our river, or rescued from someone who was going to throw them out.

Some sets of snorkel gear are set aside to take to the people of Vanuatu. We are stopping there on a cruise later this year, and I want to make some use of that trip by taking supplies for the people there  - but more on that later in the year.

It has caught on with step-daughter Katie's - she's had a huge clear out too. A lot of glitter got put out to go...I considered throwing this out as it is a pollutant - microplastic - but after discussion with friends it's going to the local drama society. "They would be buying glitter anyway" was the comment - so it seemed like the best option.

glitter - being packed off

a lot of my material stash of small pieces has been cut into pennant shapes ready for a stand we're doing at our local Multucultural Family day, where we're helping people to make bunting and produce bags, plus promoting Boomerang Bags.

We even gave Derek's old caravan away - yes the one we did up. One of those pics has been repinned 3k times on Pinterest! It was getting run-down and we weren't using it. Our neighbours happily took it as they were living in a tent on their block of land. It was a mission to get it moving again!

This decluttering is going to go on all year! I can't tell you how good it feels. 

A Lovely Story that Made My Day

It's just a post to let you know I'm still here! I have just been doing more of the same lately, and sometimes inspiration fails...but I have a cute story, and something zero waste that I've made...read on!

Fresh from the garden

Last weekend as I did my two hour stint with reusable bags for people to buy at the local supermarket entrance ($1 each - bargain!), I had a local taxi pull up next to me. The driver hopped out and bought ten bags, then came back a few minutes later with a $5 donation to our cause. I told her that I would use her money to give 5 bags to someone who I thought would use them. 
Minutes later a young mum with two children was about to enter the supermarket, and when I asked if she would use these donated bags, she was really pleased to accept them. 
A while later she exits with her shopping - no plastic bags used and a big smile. Her young son asks her as they walked away "Mum what is that lady doing?"
Young mum answers "She's trying to stop people using plastic bags because they are bad for the Earth".
I've shared that story via our Facebook page tagging the taxi company - so hopefully Rose got to see it. It made my day.

Teabags are no longer something I buy, given that I can't trust who puts plastic in them and who doesn't. We've been using loose tea - which is far nicer by the way - in little metal strainers or teapots. But sometimes it would be convenient to have teabags - so I'm trialing how much hassle it is to use reusable ones. Here are my samples that I made from some silk remnants.

I'm not much into the garden at present - it's too cold and wet. But the price of veges at the moment! I'm sometimes surprised by the amount of produce that I can round up, by walking about outside...Limes, oranges, guavas, avocados, kale, spinach, some stray broccoli that grew by itself, rhubarb, plus there is more - lemonades, spring onions, lemons, mandarins, herbs. We are very fortunate.

Teaching Natural Beauty Recipes

 Katie (15) asked me to buy her some Sea Salt Spray for her hair to encourage her hair into ringlet type curls. I felt a bit mean, but I took a photo of the label of the product in the supermarket (@$18) and said I would like her to try one that I make first, and then if she's not happy with it I would buy her one.

I was fairly confident - and she's happy with it. 
It's good to look up all those chemicals so that you know what they do when you are copying a product. Most of these are preservatives and for keeping the solution in suspension. We can just shake the bottle.

Sea Salt Hair Treatment

Sea Salt Hair Treatment
1 cup of warm - hot water
1 tablespoon of sea salt (rock salt)
1 teaspoon of glycerine
6 drops of essential oil (we used ylang ylang)
1 dessert spoon of jojoba oil
Dissolve together, pour into a spray bottle(which we already had), shake before each use.

I want her to think about sustainable ways of achieving what she wants, and with her whole life ahead of her, she will save herself a lot of money if she's not sold on having to pay money for products for them to be successful.
This follows quickly after a nasty rash she developed after using a disposable plastic razor, one that had moisturizing chemicals on it. It was a fine opportunity for me to buy her a reusable one that just requires standard blades. She had tried my Sugaring Wax, but found it too difficult to manage. The reusable razor is a success.

So when Katie was wishing for some Lush Bath Bombs to add to a friend's birthday present I told her she can make those, because I've done it successfully before. She hopped online and found a good recipe, and whipped these up.

Bath Bombs

The large ones sell for $10 in Lush, so she made $50 worth of bath bombs with what we already had in the house - citric acid, baking soda, epsom salts, coconut oil, colouring, essential oil. She tried one out last night - it worked perfectly.

I just wrote a letter to the editor of the Sunday Star Times after reading this article about how to get rid of bumps on the back of your arms. 

They recommended two products costing $79 and $46.99 respectively. I suggested that they could run an article on natural products, such as organic coconut oil that would smooth the whole body for months for about $12. Now that would be a real service to women and the environment.
One of the advantages of making beauty products for yourself is that you know exactly what is in them, and in this day and age we do not need a cocktail of more chemicals.

Beetroot Joy and Non-Stick Bakeware

This year I have grown beetroot for the very first time. It was by accident really, as they were a free packet of seeds that came from Koanga Gardens, where I order my seeds online. 

When I was young my parents grew beetroot, but it was only ever used sliced and bottled in vinegar. In recent years I have discovered a whole new world of beetroot uses - first as a juice component - yum, then roasted beetroot (who knew!), and just recently grated raw beetroot in salads, and the baby leaves in salads too.
I haven't even tried beetroot powder as make up colouring or natural dye yet.
One of the great things about growing beetroot is that the possums only eat the tops, so I don't lose the crop.

These came in the mail yesterday - so guess what I'm going to be busy doing today.

Non Stick Pans
Ok, so this is a little rant.
I strongly dislike non-stick bakeware. What is that coating anyway? - because eventually it comes off - and you find it stuck to your baking!
I have been searching for some new bread pans that are not non-stick and that has been a mission.
I don't use any baking paper now that I have discovered Miracle Pan Release so I don't want that flaking surface near my food.
I have finally purchased some of these stainless steel pans from a hospitality/catering equipment shop.

They are actually the containers that restaurants use for serving food in heated counters for buffet type meals. They were $18.00 each and should last forever - and they work perfectly.
The old pans will be repurposed - probably as seed trays.

Animal Repellant, Wool Wash

Just another day at the office..

The Office - Matakohe Quarry

Derek found this great office shack on his work travels - love it! I can't imagine there would be a lot of high tech in there.

Repel those pesky animals from your garden
Quite some time back I posted here about Wormwood that I had planted, with the fact that it was supposed to repel rabbits, possums, deer etc.

This year I broke off some huge branches and hung them in the peach and apple trees. If you have followed my blog, you will know that last year possums ate nearly all the fruit on our peach tree. I don't know if it was coincidence, but they didn't get one peach this year, and they only ate the apples that had fallen on the ground. As a disclaimer, we had also trapped a lot of possums, and I did put a wire netting deterrent around the base of the peach tree (but not around the apple). I feel like the wormwood may have helped too. 

Wool wash mix
I'm always on the look out for things that I can make so that I won't need to buy another plastic bottle. When my wool wash ran out a while back I went searching in some of the vintage householding books from my grandmother's era. Here's one that I found and it works just fine.

The cloudy one, I shook before using

Whisk together:
2 cups of grated soap (I used Sunlight)
4 cups of boiling water
Add 1 Tablespoon of eucalyptus oil 
1/2 cup of methylated spirits
Whisk again.

Use 1 Tablespoon in warm water to handwash woollens. Leaving them to soak for about 10 minutes, before gently rinsing twice. It is recommended that you turn garments inside out before washing, to protect the outer surface, roll them in a towel to remove water and lay them flat to dry.

About the methylated spirits - it turns out that this is an environmentally friendly product (apart from the plastic bottle), distilled from natural substances rather than being a petroleum product. We already had some of this so I didn't need to buy it,  as I am trying to not buy more plastic.
I think the methylated spirits is in the mix to boost the cleaning power. 

Eco Friendly Papers and Cotton Wool.

Some of you who read my blog will be way ahead of me on your journey to reduce your environmental impact, and others may have just begun. The thing is that we are working on it - it's quite a journey back when we realize just how far we have fallen into the habits that produce so much waste.

This week's improvements: 
Starting to buy from Greencane paper, which is couriered to me by the carton load. This product is made from  plantation grown bamboo and sugarcane waste. The packaging is totally biodegradable (a big tick there). I bought a mixed box with tissues, toilet paper and paper towels. 

Yes I know it is greener to do away with paper towels, and honestly we don't use many, and tissues - well we have allergy sufferers here so they are non-negotiable. I figure at least they can be environmentally friendly ones. 
I did a little price comparison, which wasn't very scientific, but there is not a lot of difference in the price for me.
Oh, and it's all good quality - you would think it was top of the line soft tissue.
If you haven't tried them - have a look - www.greencane.com, they are all around the world. That is totally not sponsored by the way.

Cotton wool balls! I tried to get our teen to use cut-up old tee shirt cotton squares to remove her nail polish - but this is obviously totally uncool and she is still asking for cotton wool balls (which only come in plastic bags). I would have bought plain sheets of cotton wool in paper wrap like you could in the old days, but I can't find any. 
Well it turns out that old life jackets are full of shredded wool - who knew! So instead of throwing them away, I have removed some of the fluffy wool and rolled it into balls, along with some of that old cotton wool that I inherited.

But will the pretty packaging do the trick?

I suspect that this too could be seriously uncool, but we'll see.

A-Gathering in the Garden in Autumn
Honestly my garden looks terrible and I didn't really think there was much in it, but a wander with my trug has produced all of this! 

Rhubarb, cucumber, tomatoes, aubergines, cape gooseberries, windfall apples, peaches, silverbeet, basil, passionfruit and beans. Also it has been a great year for wild blackberries, they are still going.
I had better get a move on - I have pesto and blackberry&apple pies to make.  
  

Tea for Two, and Two For Tea

Not long ago I wrote a post about my favourite tea, as part of my frugal ways. It was one that really did have totally biodegradable teabags and packaging, when so many don't. Almost as soon as that post left my fingertips they stopped making it! Since then I have been buying loose tea and making my own mix (of Earl Grey and green tea), and using a little metal plunger. But I can't find loose tea in biodegradable packaging except for one at $18 for a small bag. I'm not going back to work so that I can drink my favourite tea!
So my solution is...

Tea Plants - Camelia Sinesis 

I found a couple of these at the local garden centre.

So hopefully soon I will be able to produce the green tea portion of my brew, and just got a little more self sufficient in the process. Then I will just have to figure how to make Earl Grey tea. I have read that black tea comes from a different variety of tea plant (which is not what the label on my new tea plant says), and the bergamot flavouring is not from the herb bergamot, but from an orange. It might be a bit harder to perfect, but I love a good challenge.
Oh, and I found a coffee plant while I was there, which we have the ideal under-cover environment for.

Reducing the plastic in our lives is a constant. Can you believe how we have all embraced the use of this material without actually thinking about what happens to it in the end - that it never goes away.
If you have glass shower doors you probably have one of these to keep the glass looking good...

They don't last very long before they need replacing. No more replacing. We now use an old towel to wipe down the shower after use. It works perfectly well, saves money and is better for the environment.

And a good few hours of work yesterday saw me picking peaches from son and daughter-in-law's place and preserving them.

The peaches were just falling off the tree, unwanted. Amy wants me to teach her how to bottle fruit one day, but they are in the process of moving house, so not this year. 
I just love being able to help the younger generation learn these skills.

My Homemade Solar Dehydrator

A few posts back I let on that I intended to make a solar dehydrator, like this one that I found pictured in Mother Earth News. (The instructions are there too)

Well now it's finished and has my first batch of rhubarb and apple fruit leather in it to try it out.
It took me a couple of hours to make - most of which was searching around here to find the materials - it cost me nothing! Yep, I had everything right here.

My home made solar dehydrator

Double layer of apple and rhubarb fruit leather

I used:
2 cardboard boxes - one long and narrow, the other a banana box type.
1 acrylic sheet, that Derek had previously saved from being thrown out when his work office moved (yay, score!)
Some duct tape to join it all and cover extra holes in the banana box
A blade to cut the holes at the ends of the long box
1 mesh window screen for the top of the box
2 cake racks
Some black weed mat, in lieu of black paint, which I was too lazy to do

The construction (typical of me who never measures anything) is a bit wonky, but hey, it works.
I tried the heat producing part out yesterday - wow, the hot air was pumping through there.

Ok, so it has only been going for a couple of hours, and I expect the fruit leather will take maybe 24 hours to dry?, but I'm all excited about it so I'm putting on here today. Then there will be an update next time - success or fail?!

Make Do And Mend

Don't you hate it when you buy stuff, and they have spent so long designing it to be ergonomic but it fails to actually function efficiently. I was on to my second bottle brush. With the first one the tip was too big to actually fit into a bottle neck, the second one I made sure would fit in - but it had such a fat handle (and was too short) that it would only reach halfway into the bottle, and we all know the bit that really needs cleaning is the bottom of the bottle.
Well I was not going to buy another one. I found that the brush bit just unscrewed, then I found a nice slim piece of bamboo, drilled a wee hole in it and screwed the brush tip securely into it.

Bottle brush - new bamboo handle, old handle next to it.

 Man, I felt like a winner! It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Eco Friendly Oxygen Cleaner

One thing I love about being at home is having time for a bit of research, which has saved me a whole lot of money over the past two years.
A few weeks back I was looking for an eco friendly way to clean slimy decks and concrete. Coincidentally I came across this article Four Ways To Clean Your Deck in a backdate of Green Ideas magazine, which compared all the available methods.
What came out a winner was 100% sodium percarbonate, (oxygen cleaner) which can be bought on Trademe for $41 for 5 kg, which includes postage. 

Sodium percarbonate breaks down to soda ash and oxygen, so was perfectly safe for our concrete drive, from which runoff goes straight into the river.
But it has so many other uses too - I've cleaned up the whole of my rental house with it, including soaking the drapes as it doesn't damage fabric.

For cleaning the deck and concrete, I dissolved 1 cup of sodium percarbonate in 4 litres of very hot water, then applied it to the deck with a mop. It needs to sit for an hour, then I gave it a little scrub with a yard broom and hosed it off. 
Here's the before and after shots!

Since then I have discovered that I can buy sodium percarbonate at my local Binn Inn (duh, should have looked there first) for about the same price, but can use my own container.

Just a brief post today - I'm off to do a quick paint between tenants.

Hand Warmers, Some Eco Shopping

You Northern Hemisphere people will laugh at us, but we are starting to feel the cold here, with it having got down to one degree at night (I think that's 33.8 Fahrenheit).

Brown rice filled hand warmers - a good way to use up fabric scraps

I made my daughter a couple of little pocket handwarmers, and when the other girls saw (and felt) them, they wanted some too, hence the little birds, and not shown, one more manly and larger dinosaur for the grandson.

I filled them with brown rice, and each little bag heats up in a minute in the microwave, along with half a cup of water alongside to stop them drying out and presumably catching fire. The warmth lasts nearly half an hour.
They can be kept in the freezer to use as an ice pack too.
I'm sure in colder climes these are something you have been using for years.

Yesterday I kept my friend Di company on a shopping trip to Auckland. I just have to show you this shop she took me to called Junk and Disorderly, at 18 Kawana Street, Northcote (you can find them on Facebook). Di found the old tap and a crystal droplet she wanted to make her water feature. All I bought was some rolls of washi tape, as they have a section of new things as well as a massive amount of preloved but nicely displayed stock.

Junk and Disorderly, Northcote, Auckland

Washi tape is great as it is paper tape, biodegradable, you can use it to stick things to your walls and it wont take paint or paper off when removed, or for lots of craft ideas and it comes in so many colours and patterns.

washi tape

Next was a visit to a place that sells everything for water features, and I couldn't resist this photo of the prices of driftwood!

 We could be rich! Derek, you can retire right now!

Which Kitchen Papers are Biodegradable and an Alternative to Baking Paper.

If you have followed my blog a little you will know that I am working towards a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. It is a slow process, there are so many areas to tackle. 
The best environmental choice in kitchen papers is, of course, not to use any of them, but if, like me, you are still working on the process, some are better than others. I definitely try to go the no paper way, and to be honest, I give in to household demand by having these in the house...hey, I'm working on them though.

Kitchen papers and foil - which to use?

Waxed Paper - this can't be used in a conventional oven, but can be used for covering bowls in the microwave. It can be used as lunchwrap, or for wrapping cheese, or pastry as you leave it in the fridge to chill. It can then be thrown into the compost as it is biodegradable.

Greaseproof Paper - this too is biodegradable and can be used as for waxed paper as above. It isn't any use in baking unless you grease it as it will stick to your food, so really, not much point.

Baking Paper - this is siliconized paper, sometimes known as freezer paper I think, and it is not biodegradable. I have been using this until recently with baking bread as I was having trouble with the loaves sticking in my ageing non-stick pans. But now, thanks to the internet, I have found a solution! See my recipe for Miracle Pan Release below. 

Tin Foil - this can be recycled in many places if it is clean. Or it can be reused in lots of ways, for example to scrunch up and clean your barbecue grill, or to clean your silver by lining the sink with it, adding a dessertspoon of baking soda and some boiling water and immersing the silver in it.
If you are using it to cover a roast, better to use a roasting pan with a lid.

So some alternatives...Fabric sandwich wrappers and bags, using containers with lids, reusable metal lunch boxes, putting a plate over bowls in the microwave and fridge.
And then there is....

MIRACLE PAN RELEASE

I found this recipe on www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com but I have changed it up a little - here is my version.

1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of coconut oil (original uses vegetable shortening, ie Chrisco)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used canola. The original recipe uses 1/2 cup, but I have reduced this as the coconut oil has a lower melt point)

Combine all in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until the mixture slightly increases in volume and looks smooth and creamy. Place in a covered container and store it in the pantry. Use it within 3-4 months or store it in the fridge for a longer life.
Use the Miracle Pan Release by painting on your bakeware prior to baking, using a pastry brush.

I was so excited to see how well this worked!

my poor worn bread pan

Painting on the Miracle Pan Release

The bread just slipped out of the pan - no sticking!

AN UPDATE on Dishwasher Powder
You may have read my post for home made dishwasher powder some time ago. After using this for over a year I went back to store bought powder a little while ago. I have discovered that I can buy dishwasher powder by filling my own container, and I'm afraid it really does a much better job. There it's said. Maybe I will return to homemade one day, using them turn about to keep the dishes all looking good. 

Rattan Blind Makeover with Tapa Cloth

For a long time I have been meaning to do something about our bedroom blind. Now that we have family staying a while it was a little more urgent, given that the current rattan one didn't allow full privacy at night.

Rattan blind before - lets in too much light, and no privacy

The window is quite a big one, so a new blind would have needed to be custom made. A year or so ago we bought a huge tapa cloth on Trademe, which I have been using for various projects from lampshades to giftwrap and Christmas decorations for my Pacifica themed Christmas. I had the brilliant idea of lining the rattan blind with tapa cloth - and here is the result. 

Rattan blind with tapa cloth lining

I just took the blind down, cut a piece of tapa to fit the blind, slipped it in behind the cords then hand sewed it to the top of the blind, and at various other points to fit it snug.
I love how it looks and it works a treat now - plus it will keep the room warmer in winter. 
This idea could be adapted to all sorts of other materials - drop cloths, sheets or just curtain material.
Tapa is bark cloth, handmade in the Pacific Islands.

Home Made Deodorant, Fly Repellant, Iceblocks

According to the weather reports January has been the hottest on record here in New Zealand. I would believe that - today it has been 28 degrees Celsius inside, that's 82.4 Fahrenheit. It's humid too. So fittingly I have a few ideas to go with the heat. Those of you on the other side of the world can just keep it all in mind. I know you won't be interested now, shivering away over there.

Home Made Deodorant

I have finally run out of deodorant, and on my quest for making everything myself, I have been searching for deodorant recipes. 
I found this one at Wellness Mama, and I was impressed by the feedback she had from people who had tried it.
The recipe is simple, and in this heat it is liquid enough to go into a washed, empty roll-on bottle.

6 T coconut oil
1/4 cup (4T) baking soda
1/4 cup (4 T) arrowroot
essential oils ( I used neem and lavender oils)

I think in this instance "T" means teaspoons.

You just mix them together and put into a jar. Rub or roll on a small amount as required.
I have tried it out on this sweltering day and am pleased to say it seems to work. I have asked for family to give their ratings too.


Fly Deterrent
We haven't had a lot of bother with flies until recently as they seem to come with the rain. Today those pesky little sticky ones kept trying to land on me as I worked in the kitchen, but I fixed them! Peppermint oil. Rub a little on, either in some carrier, or straight (which you are probably not supposed to, but I do anyway). It has stopped them bothering me, with the bonus that peppermint oil is invigorating so I've been busy doing things all afternoon.

Passion fruit
A while back I put in a photo of a driftwood trellis that Derek made for our passion fruit plant.

Well look at it now!

Oops, time I mowed the lawn, but it's too darn hot.

We are staring to get passion fruit ready so today I made iceblocks by putting the pulp in the sieve, and getting the juice without the seeds (which Katie doesn't like), by rubbing them with a spoon. She has just tried one and declared it delicious.

 Juice from 6 passion fruit
Crushed up ripe nectarine
1 tablespoon of plain unsweetened yoghurt
a little sugar syrup to sweeten

Mix all together and put into iceblock molds.
So cool for after school.

This was enough to make 4 small iceblocks

Saving Clothes from Ruin, Eco Sticking Plaster and Tomatilloes

Kia Ora! Welcome.

I am concentrating on the little things in my life, living the slow life and trying to make our place a little greener every day, year in and year out.

So here are a couple of my latest little discoveries...

Time to get rid of the plastic sticking plasters, although not quite so easy to keep other family members on track yet. I gave it some thought and came up with this alternative...

Paper Tape and Calendula Petals

Calendula petal dressing

It's barely noticeable

It is fairly simple, and although I think I created this myself, I'm sure someone somewhere would have already tried it. The paper tape is biodegradable, and onto it I stick a couple of calendula petals, which prevent the wound from sticking to the tape. You could add a little square of cotton gauze if you need extra absorption. It works a treat, wounds heal well and the dressing can then be thrown into the (non-food garden) compost at the end.


Clothes - Saving Grease Stain Removal

Grease mark before treatment

Grease mark has gone!

I don't know how many clothes items that I have discarded in the past because they got a grease stain on them that I couldn't get out - but now I have the answer! Even old stains that have been through the wash!
I read online that one solution is to use dishwasher foam on it - but we don't have that product here. 
The one I used was to spray CRC on the old stain to rewet it then scrape chalk dust onto it, which really took up all the oil. Make sure you put a layer of cardboard in the teeshirt to stop the CRC from going through to the back. I then rubbed a little dishwashing detergent into it before throwing it into the wash - now no stain!
As you can see by the little hole in the teeshirt that I tried it on something old (and not mine) first. 
To take out a more recent oil mark that hadn't gone through the wash, I just used the chalk and detergent and that worked.
I don't think CRC is probably that earth friendly, but we already had it in the shed. Maybe coconut oil would work in the same way on an old stain.

The Tomatilloes are Ripe.

I was all excited to find that I could grow tomatilloes here, even though I had never tasted one, I was certain from all the recipes I saw that they would be useful.
I tried my first one yesterday...and I didn't like it. 

The one on the left is perfect, on the right - over-ripe

I then went online to check, as I suspected it may have been over-ripe, and sure enough I found instruction there on when to pick them. So I needed to pick them when the pods were full and still green, instead of waiting for them to drop off like a Cape Gooseberry. Eaten like that they are tangy and pleasant.
My plants were supposed to be purple tomatilloes - I think I will need to talk to the seller on Trademe about that.
Woohoo - making salsa (as soon as I can lay my hands on some lemons or limes).