clean and green

Posted on June 13, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

There is only one cleaning “product” in our household. A made up bottle of eucalyptus oil, washing up liquid, white vinegar and bicarbonate soda.

Cheap, easy on the environment and works a treat for pretty much anything you throw at it.

So how do you make it?

In an old litre bottle container add

about 5-10mls eucalyptus oil

about 100mls dishwashing liquid

and about 750mls of white vinegar

That’s it. GIve it a little shake up and use with a generous sprinkling of bicarbonate soda for cleaning bathrooms, (toilets, tiles, grout.) Use a squirt or two in bucket of warm water for mopping floors. Use undiluted for spot cleaning on carpet. Use as a paste mixed with bicarb soda and rub into stains. Squirt a bit into hot water for soaking really dirty clothes. Or with a small amount, wipe down sticky benches and stove tops.

Easy, cheap and no need what so ever for 127 other varied and excessively packaged “cleaning” products.

“are you some sort of Greenie or something?”

Posted on June 3, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

My standard response when buying something in any kind of shop is, “No bag thanks.” I often say it with a slight edge to my voice, as take my eyes off the sales person for a mere second or a distraction from a small child and they are stuffing those goodies straight into that bag of plastic. Far too much enthusiasm round these parts for you to be taking home a little souvenir plastic.

Recently, after buying a few items in a shop I blurted out my standard line and was met with…

“What, are you some sort of Greenie or something?”

I looked around me. Everything seemed to look the same as when I had stepped into the shop, everything still looked very 2013 and yet that comment seemed to come straight from 1983.

I was appalled. Is this how far we had come? That only a Greenie would say no to plastic bag?? I indignantly said yes, yes I was and stomped out. (And for the record the shop in question was also a health food shop….a health food shop!)

So there the comment sat with me, weeks and weeks after. What hope did the planet have if it was still a bloody battle not to get a plastic bag for your purchases? (I had also had another comment in the same week from another salesperson expressing sincere surprise at my lack of plastic enthusiasm as so many of her customers always took multiple bags.)

While my issue with having plastic bags thrust in my hands is small in comparison with all the other environmental issues going on in the world, I can’t help but think it’s still far too easy to put our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is happening.

Too easy to ignore the fact that these seemingly small steps are someone else’s problem.

Too easy to ignore the fact that we are living with a greedy fossil fuel industry, that’s having gaspingly scary consequences.

Too easy to dismiss what will happen in our future as it’s just so unknown… But is it? Is it so easy to dismiss? This is the sort of thing that keeps me up late at night wondering what the hell sort of future I’m passing on to my children.

This week author and environmentalist activist Bill McKibben is in Australia for his “Do the Math” tour. For tickets, dates and places please see here. More reading on 350.org

He will also be appearing on Q and A tonight (if you are in Australia.)

(this movie is set in the United States but has global maths figures that are and will effect all of us.)

the best city bicycle

Posted on February 28, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I’ve got wheels on my mind at the moment. Two of them actually. I want to get a bike and the whole research into exactly which one to get is BENDING MY MIND.

Having not owned a bicycle for the past twenty years, I’m a little bit out of the loop. I have sweet images of me tra la laaaing along with my basket laden retro looking ladies bicycle.

Ting, ting goes my bell…excuse me, coming by.

I refuse to think about the horror stories that friends keep sharing with me of how unbike friendly Sydney actually is. I’m also trying not to think of the seemingly vast amount of hills I’m suddenly very aware of in my immediate area. It’s now I start thinking, moving to Canberra might not be such a bad idea. Flat, tree lined cycle ways everywhere I needed to go. Melbourne I think would also be good, Amsterdam (for obvious bikey reasons) also fantastic. Byron Bay was also very bike friendly.

Alloy, inches, step through, speeds are all things that I wasn’t thinking of a couple of weeks ago. One helpful young bike enthusiast showed me a lovely looking bike with 21 gears. I know I sound like a big girly girl, but what on earth do I do with 21 gears? Last time I was confidently riding the streets with the wind in my hair, my bike had a back pedal break and that was it. If I wanted to get up a hill, I pedaled harder. (For the record I did, briefly have a three speed bike after this one, but by that time I had become a ‘cool’ teen and cool teens most certainly didn’t ride three speeds, so it didn’t quite get the mileage that I think my parents had hoped for.)

Oh just get on there and ride, someone helpfully tells me. Half of me says, what’s the worse that could happen? The other half of me, tells me in great detail all the horrific worse things that could happen.

And so I sit, in biking limbo. Unsure of which way to venture. With twenty tabs open on my computer, all with a different view on the best city bicycle to own . I know one thing is for sure though, it looks like there is going to be two wheels on my horizon.

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Does anyone have any biking tips for me? Brands they have been happy with, biking stories- horror or happy (I’m brave, I can take the horror ones) or just some general biking tips for riding in the city?

respecting the fish

Posted on February 6, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

When I was a kid my parents would occasionally buy fish from a co-op shop down by the wharf. The fishing trawlers would bring in their catches and deposit their sea life goodies onto the shop counters. While I wasn’t so fussed on eating the fish I did enjoy playing with the fishy carcass out in the backyard.

Scales would be scraped off, hitting the old newspaper underneath. The dinner parts carefully taken inside to the kitchen and the rest of the fish bits would be all for my sister and and I to inspect.

We would squish its eye a little, have a look in the stomach seeing what it what it might have eaten just before being caught, and generally just dissect the remains to see what there was to see.

While the odd fishy innard silently being flung off onto the grass under foot, and half an hour of playing with fish guts probably made us smell like, well fish guts. I do really value those experiences.

These days our little family doesn’t eat a lot of seafood. Like any meat, I would like to know where and how it arrived on my dinner plate. In an ideal world I would catch any fish that I was to eat myself, or at least meet the person that did. Neither of those options seem particular practical for us at the moment so seafood intake is about once a year.

That once a year time had arrived and there was to be fish on the table. I couldn’t give my kids the same childhood experiences that I had, with cool green grass underfoot, and fish guts to step through… but I could do something similar.

With a sharp knife and eager fingers to prod. Anatomy was scrutinised, fins were stretched out, eyeballs were poked and a satisfying amount of respect was given to the small fish lying on the plate. This was once a life lying before us, respect I think was well deserved.

What was the fish thinking before it got caught mama?

We talked about the fish and what it meant to catch something and then eat it. Monkey Boy said he thought the fish looked sad and wondered whether it was sad because it had been caught. Little Monkey thought the fish looked like it was crying. As he had a fascination with poking the eyeball, it really looked like it was.

While I’m not a fan of attaching human emotions to animals, I won’t shy my kids away from the realities of eating meat. It doesn’t come naturally filleted and free from eyes and tails. If they choose to eat meat than I have every intention of them knowing where it really comes from.

For me this starts with respecting the fish.

the colourful season

Posted on January 25, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

So many good things are in season at the moment-summer really is the season of colourful plenty.

Delivered vegetable boxes are colourful and full of things that challenge my culinary skills, (yes, that still includes beetroot…)

My window boxes are cheery, and garden growings include an abundance of chilli this year. My teeny tiny potted garden is happy to grow chilli, and I’m happy that it’s happy to do that! The rosemary is also happy, which really does make a difference to a pan of roasting potatoes. (Also makes a well scented haven for any critters that decide to take up residence.)

Tomatoes, look I still get ambitious but they really don’t work for me in pots. Needs a whole lot more sun than I can offer them and when they finally do decide to give it a crack, some overly confident grub usually marches in at the crucial moment.

Some other seasonal goodies to look out for at this time

* plums, peaches, passionfruit

* broccoli, basil, beans

*potatoes, peas and onions

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Where ever you are, what are you enjoying this season?

three years on

Posted on January 22, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Funny to think this little blog is now three years old. It’s also funny to look back on some of the things I’ve posted about in that three years. Somethings I feel exactly the same about them as I did then, and others, well not so much. I’ve moved on a little, and things have changed round a bit.

I was looking back on my first month of blogging in 2010 and was considering what I had to say back then. I had to chuckle. It was a funny way to start, and while I cringe at some of those first photos I put up, I do like them being there, if even just for my own comedy value.

I also still stand by that very first paragraph I wrote.

“New to the blogging world. I thought I might start one, just to watch my own progression on living as sustainably as possible in an urban environment. Finding out what works for me and my family and maybe achievable by others also living in a city environment.”

The blog has dipped and weaved a little over that time with topics and content, but living as sustainably as possible for my family and I, is still top priority for me. It’s just as important now as it was then, maybe even more so.

Knowing where my food comes from and what goes into my family’s mouth is just as important.

Being mindful of the choices we make as consumers is also just as important.

Trying to make as many things as possible rather than relying on someone else to do it for me (and is usually a whole lot of fun) is also still really important to me.

Looking back over the last three years, I thought I might revisit one of the first few dishes that I blogged about in my first month. Matthew Evans’ Apple and Blackberry Shortcake. The recipe is here if you are interested in trying it, and I’m hoping my second time picture gives it a bit more credit than the first time I did it.

Still thinking on the last three years of blogging- if I hadn’t continued with my blog, I probably wouldn’t…

1/ Have made my sourdough starter

2/ Have continued on the always amazing bread journey that is sourdough

3/ Taken as many photos as I do these days

4/ Have one particular spot to put all my ramblings and musings. Instead there would still be lots of scrappy bits of paper filled with recipes, thoughts, quotes and ideas about the place.

5/ (and best of all…and I know there are still oodles more) I probably wouldn’t have been a part of the wonderful community that blogland can be.

Three years on it was also time for a little shake up on the look of my blog. My theme I had stuck by had long since been retired from the theme options and it seemed there weren’t too may of his clinging on to the blix theme these days. We’ll see how this one works for a bit….

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Now, I was trying to think of something little I could do celebrate that fact that it’s been three years flitting about in the land of blog. So what to do?

Send you all a piece of the Apple and Blackberry Shortcake?…but it probably wouldn’t arrive in the same condition that I sent it.

Put together an awesome sponsor given hamper full of all things groovy and gifty….damn, it’s not that kind of blog.

Something beautiful and whimsically handmade?…hmmm, most of my stuff is still kind of on the learning end.

Still thinking, I thought about a card. Most people still like getting a letter, a card or a post card, and I thought, well I can do that!

So if you would like a card or postcard sent from me to you (or to your little people-if you have them- as they loooove getting mail too!…well mine do anyway.) I would love to send you one. Where ever you may be….Alaska, Argentina, Italy or Dubbo. Doesn’t matter where. Just drop me a line at cityhippyfarmgirl at gmail dot com, leave me an address and a card will be on it’s way. (say first five-ish?)

So a big thank you from me to you- the readers and commentators, as without you…well this blog just wouldn’t be the same.

a hot King’s crown

Posted on January 10, 2013 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It’s been hot here lately, really hot.

Tuesday got up to 43C, (that’s around 110 farenheit I think). Tuesday night 9.45pm, I was bringing the washing in and it was still 36C. With a not so lovely straight from an oven hot dry wind to add to it. During the day, with the blinds drawn, the kids playing in a cool water bath, my head turns to thoughts of- why oh why does this country not build better insulated houses? Insulation, double glazing… that’s what I was thinking about sitting on the floor of my bathroom. A country filled with well insulated houses and not an air conditioner to be seen…imagine that.

On hot days like this, going outside wasn’t particularly appealing so I needed an indoor activity that would keep The Monkeys interested. Monkey Boy had been asking me all about Kings and Queens that morning so a crown seemed like a good project.

Will you make me one Mama?

Your Majesty…it would be an honour.

Scrap felt and buttons from my stash, made two crowns. One for The King and the other for his brother the young Prince.

sunflowers and lists

Posted on December 9, 2012 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I’m trying to remember to do quite a few things at the moment. Lists are being made, crossed off, lost, restarted, and scribbled upon. The end of the year where everything comes to a halt. Classes are finishing, teachers are changing, christmas decorations have been hung and there is a buzz in the air that is beginning to mount. But not before I go through my multiple lists.

Thank you biscuits for the dance teachers.

Thank you biscuits for the soccer teacher.

Thank you biscuits for the school teacher.

Goodbye biscuits for the school class.

Christmas biscuits for the neighbours and friends.

Now if only I could remember to take them when I go and see them.

This year we’ve done the festive bundle of sticks again. It feels right. Fifteen minutes of collecting fallen sticks from outside, held together by a ribbon and then decorated by the boys. Simple, environmentally friendly, space saving, and most importantly….I can put it up high. If I didn’t, little fingers would be breaking off everything she could and jamming it into her mouth for a little stick flavoured snack.

How about you?

Working your way through any lists? Anyone else doing Christmas sticks this year?…and sunflowers, aren’t they beautiful.

There is something about seeing them that just puts a smile to the face and a little dance in the toes. Seeing them in unlikely places, like a city side street… just makes them even sweeter.

eight eco friendly Christmas gift ideas

Posted on November 18, 2012 by cityhippyfarmgirl

local honey– use as a face wash and natural exfoliant, stirred into your morning chai, or drizzled over toast

box of homemade biscuits (recipe below)

gift tag card made up from a dried pressed flower

lunch date voucher- favourite packed picnic lunch

giant gingerbread person in a crocheted pocket

jar of homemade almond pesto

gift wrapping- I’ve talked about using old maps as wrapping paper before. This particular one was gold, as I had found an unwanted old atlas on the street that someone had lazily put out there. At first I was dismayed at the thought of it sitting out there unwanted and unloved, getting rain damaged. We certainly didn’t need another atlas… then I remembered wrapping paper. Sure it was a bit sad that I was cutting into this large beautiful book, but I was certainly better than just going in the recycling bin which is where it was headed. Team it up with some wool to hold the folding in place, and no tape is necessary.

For more wrapping ideas, have a look at this rather awesome site on furoshiki, other wise known as the Japanese art of fabric gift wrapping.

(For last years 12 eco friendly Christmas gift ideas, see here.)

Coconut Strawberry Hearts

250g softened butter

1 cup (220g) sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp coconut essence

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

3 1/2 cups (525g) plain flour

strawberry jam

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer until pale. Add vanilla, coconut essence and egg, then mix through rest of ingredients. Lightly knead biscuit dough and roll between two sheets of baking paper to about 5mm. Pop into the fridge for an hour or so until firm, and cut out to shapes. If the dough comes back to room temperature while you are still cutting, being tricky to handle, just pop it back into the fridge for a bit.

Bake at 170C for approximately 15-20 mins, a very light golden colour. Allow to cool and then add half a teaspoon of strawberry jam in between the two biscuits.

Eat two immediately to see if they are ok to gift. Yep? Ok, should be good to go.

For a similar recipe see Coconut Jam Drops.

spring in my step

Posted on September 2, 2012 by cityhippyfarmgirl

It looks like we are springing in to spring round these parts. The light is different, days longer, clothing layers are slowly being peeled off and jasmine…

Beautiful jasmine is flowering on local suburban fences, where I’ll quite often smell it before I see it. A gorgeous soft delicate smell that I’m sure to my end of days will always remind me of my mother. It’s such a favourite flower with her. A tiny sprig is just enough to scent the air, enough to turn heads that say “Ooooh, what’s that lovely smell?

Blue sunny skies and cold seas are enticing little feet in. Sand is being strewn, holes are being dug and shivery skinny bodies are being dried off. Part of me wants to listen to the sea’s siren song and go swimming. The other part of me says, oh hell no, it’s still way too cold in there. Maybe in a few months…

I’m still crocheting too. I keep getting side tracked with different projects though, which is making it tricky to finish anything. A little bit here and a little bit there. Stolen moments that slowly add stitches while creations grow. I’m not sure what is more appealing at the moment, the prospect of making something and fueling that creative drive or the calming meditative effect repetitive stitches has on me. Either way, it’s working.

Goodbye to winter which I always adore. Winter and all she has to offer. The warming foods, seasonal vegetables, looped scarves, and a cooler time to stop, think and plan. With spring now here though, there is a new vibrancy. A new sense of growth and energy, both internally and around me… an energy that I’m sure will put just a little spring in my step.

What’s happening with you and your change of seasons?

Sustain

Posted on July 22, 2012 by cityhippyfarmgirl

This weekend we hippity hopped our way down to Sustain.

It was billed as a natural and organic lifestyle show with gardening workshops, cooking demo’s, yoga, meditation, a speakers corner, and lots of stalls. I was really looking forward to it, as was hoping that instead of going to ten different shops in order to get the products I like it would be all in the one spot, (plus discover a few more.)

There was a kombucha stall, where you could sample three different types of the naturally cultured brew. A family run business from South Australia, that is slowly expanding their market. These really were delicious and I hope more and more people start buying them. Can you imagine if people swapped their can of everyday soft drink for a bottle of kombucha instead? Ohhh, now there’s an idea. (As a side line, this lovely couple couldn’t sell any of their drinks on the day as Coca Cola owns the rights to the grounds in which Sustain was held… disappointingly ridiculous.)

Sarah from Mojo Kombucha

nui chocolate

I finally got to taste some of the Nui chocolate. I had wanted to try this chocolate for quite a while, as it’s cocoa beans are sourced and fairly traded from Vanuatu. Cocoa beans are generally grown just 10 degrees either side of the equator which makes growing areas for such a valuable world resource highly sought after. Beans grown in Vanuatu have much smaller food miles for us here in Australia than say cocoa beans sourced from Africa or Central America. This chocolate isn’t cheap at $6.95 for 75g. But delicious it is, and they are apparently bringing out a dark version soon too.

A lot of the usual suspects were there.

black tahini which was also on my list of things to try

Sam from Holbrook Paddock Eggs

Everyone knows these days, all free range eggs are not created equal and you should look into what eggs you are exactly buying. Now if I was a free range chook I think I would like to live at family run Holbrook Paddock Eggs (or possibly Celia’s.) These grass roaming hens are moved twice a week along with their portable sheds, and following behind a herd of cows. There is a couple of maremma dogs to love and protect them as they do their chooky thing and quite frankly, I think their life sounds rather lovely. Happy chooks, happy eggs, happy belly.

Garden Up which I absolutely loved. As a inner city renting girl. This vertical garden has possibilities… definite possibilities.

single hook and line caught tuna

While I enjoyed going and certainly didn’t come away empty handed, there was a teeny tiny bit of disappointment that there wasn’t ‘more’.

It did feel a little sterile in there, and I really think some of the components could have been a bit more engaging. Pockets were wonderful, but still… I wanted that bit more. There is nothing I like more than being able to talk to the people behind the company finding out all the little details of how they started, where they source their ingredients or supplies, and where they are based. A generic “organic” labelling, isn’t good enough for me as I want to make a decision for a purchase based on a whole bunch more components.

It would also be great to see more locally based companies there. More sustainable living ideas, and things like that. Maybe they were more prevalent on the traders only day, and in following years as the show becomes bigger, more local companies will be enticed to show off their wares.

I hope so anyway.

Over all a happy morning out and now have a few new things to play with as well.

Mmmm, now what goodies shall I make with that black tahini?

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Edit- Adding a few details about the Good Fish tuna that is pictured. It’s hand filleted skipjack tuna caught on one hook and one line. Which is much more sustainable than most commercial tuna catching methods. In Australia it’s imported through Olive Green Organics, through their site if you go to Brands, Good Fish and Stockists you should be able to find if it’s near you. Other countries, perhaps try contacting this same company and they could possibly point you in the right direction?

Alternately Fish 4 Ever is another company that does sustainably caught tuna as well.

the community garden

Posted on July 11, 2012 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Our local council is trialing a new community food foragers garden. I really love the idea of this and hope that it takes off, just getting bigger and bigger.

Imagine city living where on each high density living block there was a community kitchen garden readily accessible for all the locals. An attached community compost bin, for all those to access that didn’t have backyards. Seasonal food grown within a hop skip and a jump of where you live, with composting scraps being used for the same garden while decreasing all the food scraps being sent to land fill.

It doesn’t seem like a big ask, does it?

It just makes sense. Cutting back on waste having to be collected by council. Making more efficient use of space. Encouraging a community spirit. I’m sure on each block there would be at least a couple of willing people who would love to regularly tend the small edible space. If people are living in a high density living area, green spots are hard to come by and the chance to actually dip your fingers in to some soil and tend a little foliage would be incredibly appealing to a lot of inner city dwellers.

More green spaces in the city are needed. Whether it be roof tops, street corners, reclaimed concrete areas, where ever they may be. However, first people need to ask for it, and be encouraging when trials are put into place. Be vocal, spread the good word. Whispered words of encouragement is what gets ideas moving. Spoken words and acts of enthusiasm keep them there.

If everyone’s local councils started up just one food foragers garden in their area, it was successful, and people respected the space. Surely this could mean the start of many more to come?

The benefits of a nation wide scheme like this?… Oh can you imagine.

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Do you have any community gardens or food foraging gardens in your area?

cityhippyfarmgirl

simple connected living, city style

Category Archives: Going Green