Experiments from user: Camille

The Search for Everyday Things ...

posted by Camille Blyth on May 26, 2009, in postcode 2105

I've had a stationary fetish ever since I can remember - and now that I have 2 daughters of my own, I see the 'craft gene' is stronger than ever. Today I went to a stationary superbarn to stock up on a few things ...

Mission #1 A Sticky Situation.

Sticky tape - is there a biodegradable option?

Tadahh! We have a result - thanks to Pauli, who simply used the interweb, we have Enviro Tape from Todae. I can order online and have it delivered, so no car trip. AND I'm pretty sure Pauli wasn't thinking about where to get biodegradeable sticky tape before reading this post - and now he knows ;-)

*Note - further investigation has revealed that Sellotape import all their sticky tape from China. They weren't even sure if there is an Australian manufacturer of sticky tape.

... but wait ... there's more!

The humble stapler is another little everyday object that consumes endless staples (where DO they come from and where do they GO??) but here is a pretty nifty alternative - the stapleless stapler!

Mission #2 All Hung Up.

Eco-friendly coat hangers? Yes ... but will they survive the shirt wash on a wet day?

While I don't use dry cleaners, I still seem to have an unruly calamity of coathangers in my life. The plastic ones and even some of the metal ones will break, leaving me with an object not even useful for breaking into a Datsun 180B.

I'm going to try Green Hangers - my only reservation being durability - do they fall apart if they get damp?'

What I love about them so far is that they are readily available in places like Howards Storage* and Bunnings.

*footnote: When I arrived at Howards Storage to stock up on Green Hangers, they were having a sale on their wooden hangers - the ideals of the experiment were pushed aside for the longevity of sturdy wooden hangers. And I have to say, my frocks and I are happy to hang this way for now.

Mission #3 Message in a bottle ...

Brrrrr. Unless you've just blown in from Siberia, you'll have noticed it's been a bit chilly here in Sydney. A couple of nights ago I spent a good half an hour searching for my trusty hot water bottle. When I finally found my beloved bottle, I discovered she had succumed to age and her rubber had rotted! In a panic I put in an emergency request for a new one which was delivered by The Good Husband when he returned from work. As I lay there waiting with my ice-block feet and icicle knees, I wondered if there was indeed such a thing as a recycleable bottle to warm the body ...

And Now, A Word From The Tooth Fairy.

Teeth are a hot topic in our house at the moment. Bubble has reached the age where her teeth are falling out and there has been quite a lot of traffic with the tooth fairy. She brings beads rather than cold hard cash, and when all the teeth are out, we can string them into a necklace - the beads, not the teeth!

There has also been a lot of discussion about dental care and teeth brushing. Like all good mothers I have been encouraging regualar brushing - however, children, being children, tend to be a bit random, and I've discovered toothbrushes hiding in some, shall we say, 'less than hygenic' places. So the turnover of plastic toothbrushes has been quite high. Which had me thinking ... is there an alternative to the plastic toothbrush?

A quick search on the net (remind me, what did we do before the internet??) turned up these:

http://www.environmentaltoothbrush.com.au

Bamboo toothbrushes! Admittedly the feeling of the bamboo takes a little getting used to, however the end result is the same - gleaming pearly whites! When the brush has done its dash, off to the compost it goes!

Forwarding Address

Just because there seem to be so many things that require a bit of thought, and some great products out there, I've started a blog called (surprise surprise) The Search For Everyday Things. You can find all sorts of things there.

Please visit soon ;-)

The Search Continues...

I've been searching for some new things over in my new home The Search For Everyday Things

Ever thought about your writing impelment or those little things you clean your ear out with?

Come on over and see what I've discovered. Also - I'm researching my lastest search - you'd never guess what it might be in this weather ... that's right - rain umbrellas! Does anybody know of a sustainable umbrella - I'm SURE I saw such a thing at the MCA shop but I can't get hold of anybody there to ask.

A Year In The Garden

posted by Camille Blyth on May 24, 2009, in postcode 2105

I live on a large west facing block, it's steep and gets little sun in the winter.

I want to transform the garden into a food supply, native haven and bushfire smart environment by using what is to hand, what is handed to me and what my hands can reach locally. As you will read, there are some big-ticket items to be sourced and installed and for these I count Australia as 'local'.

Backyard - ready for a blitz.

An idea of what the block looks like - although after all this rain it's a lot more overgrown.

All our water is collected, stored and used for all household and garden requirements. About once or twice a year we will have to buy a tank full but in these wet years we can usually get through 12 months just on rainwater.

At the other end, we process all our waste on the block as well. The septic system we have has finally died (and it smells like it) so a new system is on it's way ... more on that soon.

Four Lovely Chooks

The chooks were given to us by a friend who was moving away - they had just started moulting which means they stop laying but in the confusion of moving, they forgot to stop, so we've had 4 eggs a day until this week.

They also are in detention as they are quite voracious in their scratching - it's only good for the garden if the plants actually stay in the ground!

I keep their shed smelling sweet by using an organic cane sugar mulch. It comes from Queensland and I get it at the local stock feed agents. About once a week I rake it all out and use the mix of mulch and chook poo on the garden. Eggs, soil aeration AND fertiliser! They definitley earn their food scraps.

There is a large Lantana in the run which has to be dug out - they love it, it's like an adventure playground - but weeds are weeds and out they must go.

6 weeks later : We are down to Three Lovely Chooks as Hen Pecked disappeared without so much as leaving a feather! We are have also strained our generally great relationship with our neighbours because one of the chooks has been going into their house, eating their cats food and pooing everywhere ... The run has been updated and hopefully things will return to normal. At least they are still laying!

The Saga of The Sage.

For some inexplicable reason it's taken 2 packets of seeds to get just one little sage plant. She's now about 20cm high and I spend a lot of time protecting her from the Voracious Scratchers and other random predators - visiting dogs looking for a nice place to sleep, cats doing the same ...

I get all my seeds from Eden Seeds in Queensland - which is not exactly local but Australian, and they have an organic seed selection as well as traditional and heirloom varieties. I order online but if I need to ask advice, I call - they are very friendly and helpful.

Often I will end up with too many seedlings - for example I planted far too much Lemon Basil and rubarb so was able to give away lots of little pots of loveliness to neighbours.

The other characters in the herb plot are:

Oregano that was given to my by a friend does very well with little attention, as does Rosemary.
Thyme is in short suppy but I have faith that eventually there will be more thyme...
Tarragon - I'm not exactly sure what to use it for but it's growing very happily.

Septic systems, a can of worms ...

As we live in an off-shore community, we are all responsible for our own waste water disposal. When we moved here, our septic system was (seemingly) happily working away as it should, however, below the surface, something didn't smell right ...

For the uninitiated, a septic system works like this. Being a country girl, I know how delicate septics can be ... being a girl, I was happy just to leave ours alone and hope it just kept doing what it was supposed to ... which, in case you're not keeping up, was a BIG mistake.

So we began the search for a new and better system. We agreed that any system that required chemicals was out. Using a dry composting toilet and tuning everything else into grey water for the garden wasn't possible with the layout of the house. And just replacing the old one was out - simply on the basis that someone MUST have come up with a better idea.

And so they had - a system that requires NO chemicals, produces a clear odourless liquid that can be dispersed by a sub soil irrigation system and employs a completely natural process - Biolytix. It has the added bonus of being an Australian company and a Australian invention that is now winning awards internationally.

So, I get a new septic system - it's not exactly a pair of shoes but, I get an irrigation system for a large section of my block and we get to reduce even further the chemicals we use in the house. Being responsible for a tank full of industrious worms really makes you think before you put any old thing down the sink.

Today is Tuesday and stage one of the new system happened. The old tanks have been pumped out by two lovely chaps called Tony and Bernie. They arrived with their truck, on the back of a barge. Tomorrow is the official 'decommissioning' of the old tanks and the arrival of the new system. Thursday the new tank and resident worms are installed and over the next few weeks I will finish weeding the block and digging the trench for the irrigation pipes to go in. We will then be one big step closer to self sustainability!

Friend or Foe?

As I was clearing weeds from the irrigation area (see Septic Systems above) I realised that apart from a couple of obvious outlaws (Lantana and Asparagas Fern), I really don't know who's a native and who is an interloper? The lovely lantern plant in the photo above, after some investigation, turned out to be a weed and had to be removed. Now I'm looking for two things; some suitable natives to populate the area and some rain!

live local