Buying in bulk

Buying grains, legumes and other dry products in bulk is not only great for cutting down on the packaging thrown out in your garbage, it is great fun for toddlers. Pouring, decanting and filling containers is good for their coordination and can teach them a lot about volume and mass.








Go for packaging you can easily re-use. Yesterday I saw a picnicking Blackheathen carrying kids' jumpers and snacks in an old basmati rice sack that already had handles sewn into it. Real mountains style! And very sensible of the rice company. It was Pakistani, by the way. Now we just need some Australian producers to think of this.

avoiding just one more piece of plastic

This isn't going to save the globe, but if you're feeling preparations for a baby involve just TOO much plastic, one thing you can pass on buying is the plastic toddler-proof door-lock.

As you can easily forget to do these up when you open often-used cupboards, these aren't as safe as simply putting chemicals and knives up high (what are you doing with toxic chemicals in your kitchen or bathroom in the first place?)

Put precious breakables in cupboards with knob handles. Then you can simply and easily shut them with an elastic band (save the ones from bundles of spinach and asparagus at the market) stretched around both knobs.

interview on Babble

Amber Robinson from the online parenting magazine Babble, posted an interview about the book
here.
Amber writes, "You may have noticed that green is the new black when it comes to raising babies these days."
I have been a bit cut off from big city culture since moving up to the mountains, so I didn't quite realise that!
Certainly the few expecting parents-to-be I have spoken to this week about the book have mentioned that they are highly motivated by this very topic.
It's wonderful to hear!

livening up old t-shirts

A Japanese friend of mine, Ayako in Hazelbrook, has a beautiful way of turning old t-shirts from op shops into attractive, one-of-a-kind items.

She simply appliques small circles or squares of Japanese-print cotton onto the t-shirt in eye-catching contrasts.













She originally used new t-shirts for her beautifully hand-crafted items, but wondered why they weren't selling at the local markets, although they had a lot of attention from passersby. I think we have pinpointed why - no one wants to spend too much money at the moment.

When she switched to using the old t-shirts, she started selling more.

I think the old ones are even lovelier! There's something about a new creation from old materials which appeals.

Here's me wearing one of Ayako's shirts in the garden:

Available from the following Australian bookstores...

Here's a non-exhaustive list of physical shops where you can find my book.
I went to check if it was at my local Gleebooks. It was, but I had to search! Someone had piled some different books on top of it!
I resolved to go in every day and make sure it was visible, but I lost my nerve today when it was the same assistant on duty - I didn't want to look suspicious!

Abbey's Bookstore
ABC Books
Angus & Robertson
Collins Books
Gleebooks
Kinokuniya
Readings

Please comment on this post if you've found it anywhere else!

Book finally launched

I found out that a 'book launch' actually just means sitting around waiting for the phone to ring with requests for press interviews. Far from being a glitzy affair (friends have been asking if they should start waxing their legs yet), I could just as well have been sitting here in my PJs doing the interviews.

Actually, I was in my PJs this morning for a 5:15 am live radio interview on ABC's Overnights. I wonder if any one was interested in the topic at that hour of the morning. Andrew says plenty of new parents up at that hour...but as I remember listening to the radio was never high on the agenda in those days.

Press people have been very supportive of the book, and I had a lovely review by a great-grandmother in an e-magazine for seniors, Bonzer!

I did however have a 'stuck' moment when ABC Canberra did a live interview focusing on the nappy 'debate', and a caller rang in to say her children had had terrible nappy rash which had only been kept in check by disposable nappies.

I tried to get across the message - which I really hope comes across in the book - that the important thing is to start thinking about your and your family's consumption impact. Not what nappies you use!

But radio is a difficult medium. The person who gets the last word really gets the last word!

Cleaning out the bathroom cabinet

It's not only baby who doesn't need all those products. I just commented the following on this US
blog about saving the environment from home. Then I thought, sustainable parents need this advice too:

Here’s a tip for not buying face cleanser or moisturiser. Have you olive oil in the cupboard? Almond oil? Do you have roses growing in the garden? Pick some rose petals and infuse them in the almond oil for a few weeks, shaking daily. Then strain and put in a disused cosmetic bottle. This is your facial oil (moisturiser).

Now for the cleanser. Wet your face and tip a bit of olive oil (food grade is fine) on your hand. Massage this over your face. It feels great! Wipe it mostly off with a warm damp facecloth. Now rub in your rose oil. Maybe if you have oily skin you can skip the rose oil altogether. However I find it great for my fairly dry and damaged skin (and what Australian past the flush of youth doesn't have damaged skin?).

No chemicals, no preservatives, parabens or sulphates. And no extra packaging!

If you have rose essential oil you can add this to the rose-infused oil. That way you don't forgo the pampering factor! It smells divine.

Warm fingerless mitts from old woollen jumpers

I blogged earlier about making nappy covers from felted woollen jumpers, and using leftovers to make mittens for babies. Here is a way to use the arms from the jumpers to make the warmest fingerless mitts out!

1. Take the jumper sleeves and cut them to the length you want. Pin them to the narrowness you want around your wrists.








Now stitch or overlock this seam.

2. Cut a hole in the stitching along the seam, right up near the cuff of the sleeve (this is for your thumb to poke out, so measure where you would like the finger part of the mitt to come to)








If the wool is properly felted (see earlier blog) you don't need to hem it as it won't fray.
Your finished mitts!

Making pants

Making pants for a toddler/young child is so easy, as they are all straight up-and-down, no inconvenient curves like adults.

I blogged earlier about cutting out pants from an existing pair, onto an old t-shirt.

But if, like me, you have already used up all your old t-shirts, sometimes you need to use new fabric! (shock, horror).

Anyway, the principle is the same. Just turn the existing pair of pants inside out and fold the pant legs together so that the crotch is clearly visible. You then cut around it.

I always cut with an extra inch or so around (apart from the seam allowance) so that there is room for your child to grow!

These were from new fabric, but used a recycled applique :) This cute duck was made by a friend of my mother's for her children, forty years ago! I just went around it in zigzag stitch.

Removing pesticides from produce with vinegar

In my book I explain why it's always better to buy organic.

But sometimes it's not really practical.

Affordability, availability, and sometimes freshness, are not always maximised with organic produce, depending on where you live.

I blogged earlier about minimising your pesticide consumption by buying smart.

The other way is to wash the produce in vinegar.

I'm not sure of the chemistry-based reason why this works, but it's been around for generations. Just soak fruit and vegetables in a mixture of vinegar and water (1 part vinegar to 9 parts cold water) for five minutes (scrub with a brush if something hard like a potato or apple) then rinse in plain cold water.

Any vinegar will do; I recommend the plain white vinegar you can buy in bulk.

For obvious reasons, this method doesn't work with mushrooms (which are better wiped rather than washed) and soft fruits like berries, which just soak up the vinegar.

A caveat is that some pesticides permeate the skin, so this method won't be fail-safe; neither will it help if the pesticides are beneath a waxy coating - you know, like you often find on supermarket apples.