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25.01.2022 Shampoo Bars About 12 months ago I made the decision to swap to shampoo and conditioner bars, as part of my Plastic Free July journey. This was one action I felt I could take to reduce my single use plastic consumption.... Well I am pleased to report that, not only has it been successful in reducing my plastic usage, it is a really nice product that washes and conditions my hair beautifully. In addition to this, it has the great advantage of being healthier for me and the planet! No more SLS or other chemicals snuck in by manufacturers to make the shampoo "foam" nicely! However, the biggest win has been the $$$ savings! I have just finished off my first bar of both the shampoo and the conditioner! That means that it has lasted me nearly 12 months! Given that the shampoo bar cost me $7 (on sale from $11 as an introductory offer) and the conditioner bar cost $11, I estimate that I have saved around $100! And that's just the direct savings to my wallet. I don't know how much the saving has been to the planet, with 8 less single-use plastic bottles, and lots less chemicals going down into the sewer and out into the environment. So, why not give shampoo bars a go??? They take up less room in the shower, are just as easy and quick to use as the pump action shampoo bottles and they smell great! A lot less chemical/manufactered smell than the commercial shampoos. And they will save you money! Here's to living more sustainably Your edible garden guru

23.01.2022 Anyone would think that I starved my fur critters! When I returned from the organic veggie market yesterday morning I gave both of my girls a liver treat each (which is our normal ritual). However a small piece of liver treat fell into one of the bags I had just deposited on the floor which contained a lovely big fresh cauliflower.... A few minutes later I heard some strange sounds coming from the kitchen and returned to find Suzi Wong, buried head first into the bag trying to find the small sliver of dried liver that had fallen to the bottom of the bag. It was soo funny that I just had to take a video. I hope you enjoy.

20.01.2022 Welcome To Spring What a lovely sight to welcome the first day of spring! I am so happy my azaleas have decided to put on a glorious show of flowers! ... I have missed out on a good flowering for the last 2 years as we went straight from winter to summer in the middle of August, which killed off the flowers before they could even open But this year the azaleas have made up for it! I think they even missed being able to brighten the garden with their amazing colours! It reminds me of my visits to the Blue Mountains spring garden festival. I hope you enjoy the flowers from my garden and that you too are having a lovely time in your spring garden! Happy gardening Your edible garden guru

18.01.2022 A Great Alternative to Plastic Wrap Since I committed to Plastic free July last year I have been trying to minimise my use of plastics in my every day life. I have changed over to Shampoo bars so that I no longer buy shampoo and conditioner in plastic bottles, I buy my dish washing liquid from a shop that lets me top up the bottle and a miriad of other changes.... However, until recently, most of my endeavours to avoid plastic wrap have been less than ideal. When I have had to resort to plastic wrap I wash it and re-use it several times before it goes in the plastics recycling bin at the supermarket. Now, that too is at an end. I have found these amazing silicon lids that stretch to fit almost any bowl or dish! There are 6 different sizes so fit everything from a cup to a large bowl. Apart from being really easy to use, they are also really easy to keep clean, which I must admit some of my other solutions haven't been. And, they create an airtight seal! So, as we approach July (OMG where has the year gone) I will be once again committing to further reduce my reliance on plastic and with these silicon lids will be another step closer to living without any single use plastics. Here's to living more sustainably! Your Edible Garden Guru

13.01.2022 Growing Your Own Food - Another Perspective! I am really encouraged by the numbers of people that have started to try their hand at growing some of their own foods. This is one of the great positives to come out of these unusual times. I really hope that at least some people continue after the current panic and don't get put off when they have some not so successful outcomes! And Yes, we all have them, even experienced gardeners! ... However, apart from planting your traditional vegetables like lettuce, beetroot, cabbages and cauliflower we also need to take a look at some of those plants that are currently considered weeds! A weed really is any plant that is growing in a place we don't want it to grow! So, a lettuce could become a weed, as could a rose or pansy or any other plant growing where we don't want it to! Research is now showing that a lot of plants that we have dismissed as weeds are not only edible, they contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals than many of our cultivated vegetables. These include Purslane, Chickweed, Dandelion, Cobblers Pegs and Hairy Commelina. Like a lot of people, I used to consider Purslane a very annoying weed until I learnt that it is edible and actually tastes really nice. The leaves are like tiny self contained cucumbers. As a bonus my chickadees love Purslane. Purslane contains really high levels of omega3 fatty acids, one of the highest in any plant, so this means the eggs will be higher in omega3 fatty acids. I have also, up until recently thought that Hairy Commelina was a form of Wandering Jew. It turns out I was wrong. Although they look similar, Hairy Commelina is edible and tastes a bit like spinach. I have been using it in frittatas as well as in salads and stir fry's. Hairy Commelina is also known as Scurvy weed and can be identified by its blue flowers (see photo), whereas Wandering Jew has white flowers. This is important as Wandering Jew is inedible! One of my friends purposely grows chickweed and dandelion leaves for use in salads, as again they are high in vitamins and also antioxidants. So, next time you are removing weeds from your garden, take another look at the plant. You may actually be removing a great, free source of nutrition from your garden and replacing it with an inferior source, just because of tradition and what you grew up eating. Here's to living more sustainably Your Edible Garden Guru

12.01.2022 Worried About an Uncertain Food Supply? The answer may be closer than you think! I must admit to being a bit perplexed with all the panic buying going on, that its the frozen and canned vegetables that have sold out. Not the fresh ones, which, while a bit expensive, are still in abundance! ... Yes, I know you can store the frozen vegetables if you have a freezer, but you can also, with a little more effort, freeze the fresh veggies too! All you have to do is prepare the vegetables as if you were going to cook them, ie peel, dice, break cauliflower into flowerets etc. Then plunge prepared vegetables into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute before draining and plunging them into cold water. You then pack into ziplock bags, squish out the air and freeze. You can also preserve foods in other ways such as pickling fresh vegetables, making tomato sauces and pestos, bottling fruit in alcohol or sugar syrups, making jams and chutneys as well as drying fruit, vegetables and herbs I have seen a lot of posts asking if you need to blanche the vegetables (ie the boiling water bit) and there seems to be some argument against it. It depends on how long you want to keep them for. I was always taught that the blanching destroyed any bacteria, as well as enzymes that could reduce the quality of the vegetables when you defrosted them for use I guess I count myself lucky that I grew up in the country with homemade jams, chutneys and bottled fruits as the norm! I know a lot of people haven't done any food preserving because of a lack of time, but this is no longer an excuse with this social isolation! With the extra time on my hands I am finding myself cooking up a storm, making jams, chutneys and bottling fruit. Today's effort is Davidson Plum Chutney I was just talking with a friend who said she didn't know how to preserve fresh veggies and fruits. If you have a similar problem, let us know in the comments below and I will try and answer your questions Here's to living more sustainably Your Edible Garden Guru

12.01.2022 Did you know that Bees collect water? In my garden I have several pots in which I grow water-loving plants such as water lilies, water lotus and water irises. I also grow some edible plants such as watercress and water celery. Over the last few days I have noticed a steady stream of bees heading to one particular pot. ... They were there again this morning. Five or six bees were making a beeline (excuse the pun) straight for a pot of water irises. They would land on the edge, quickly disappear down into the water and then reappear and fly off. They were clearly on a mission and were too fast for me to video them, however I did manage to get a few photos! I didn't want to disturb them but I wanted to find out what they were doing. It turns out that they were collecting water from the pot. After landing on the edge, they crawl down the side of the pot until they can drink the water. They then crawl back up the side of the pot and fly off. One of the bees actually dived into the water, had a bit of a swim around and then climbed out and up the water iris stem. He looked like he was having a lovely time! I did a bit of research and it turns out that one of the tasks of worker bees is to collect water! This water is used to dilute the honey if it has got too thick or has started to crystalise. The water is also used to humidify the hive if it is too dry! As bees can easily drown, they prefer a water source that they can access safely and obviously my lily pot has received the bee's tick-of-approval. So, if you want to welcome honey bees into your garden, and why wouldn't you as they do a fantastic job pollinating your plants, then don't forget to give them a safe place to drink. And, don't be too fussy about the water! Apparently they find it through their sense of smell, so they like water that smells a bit "pondy" with plants and algae growing in it. Funnily enough my dog likes drinking from the same pot. I thought she might be getting some fresh fish, as I keep a few pacific blue eyes in there to stop moquito larvae breeding, but it must just "smell" right! Happy gardening Your Edible Garden Guru

10.01.2022 Keeping a Safe Social Distance It's difficult at the moment with social isolation and not having friends and family visit, so I was very happy to welcome two visitors to my garden yesterday. I know its more than the approved one visitor per household, but I think this is within the guidelines ... And you will be pleased to see that they are observing the 1.5 metre distance rule That was until they were offered a little treat! And yes, I know we aren't supposed to feed the wildlife, but I figure an occasional treat of top notch steak won't hurt! They don't get it daily so they aren't reliant on me! Their visit really was welcome. I do have to keep the murderous Suzi Wong indoors when my Kookaburra friends are visiting the yard though. Do you have any favourite animals visiting your garden? Let us know in the comments below. Here's to living in harmony with nature

06.01.2022 Gardens aren’t meant to be perfect! I had a major epiphany this morning as I was finishing off the third major rewrite of my book. Hopefully it will get to be published this time (and No, that wasn’t the epiphany ) I realised that gardens are not meant to be picture perfect! ... You know, when you carefully rake up all the leaves, whipper snipper a straight edge for your lawn so that the neighbours are impressed and carefully prune your trees and bushes into shape This is all against nature! And in some cases is actually doing your garden more harm than good Unless you compost all those leaves and lawn clippings, which most people don’t do, you are throwing away all those nutrients that have gone into growing the leaves, and the stems and even the lawn, which you have probably carefully fertilised to make it grow green and lush! When I think back to my grandparents garden, everything wasn't perfect! Weeds were pulled up and then allowed to die on top of the garden, ensuring the nutrients went back into the soil. The lawn wasn’t perfectly edged against the gutter. For Pete's sake, many of the streets didn't even have kerbs and gutters! When I look back, I find it more than a bit mystifying that this enthusiasm for creating a picture-perfect garden really only started in the 1960's, when women started working outside the home and our lives started to get busier! My sister tells me not to believe in conspiracy theories, but I do wonder if some of the impetus might not have been to make our home-life so busy we gave up our careers? I do know, probably as part of the busy-ness of our lives, that less than 20 percent of households produce any of their own foods. That was until this current pandemic has renewed people's interest in where their food actually comes from, and whether it is always going to be so easy to get. Once we got over panic buying toilet paper, the next panic buying actually targeted seeds and seedlings for vegetables. Some seed companies have actually had to temporarily close their mail order systems due to the unprecedented demand! And it you want to buy chickens to produce your own eggs you are looking at a 3 month wait list! The bonus for me is that it has made me go back to basics and start growing my own vegetable seedlings again. I am lucky in that I can buy a lot of my vegetable seedlings from my local organic gardening group, but it always seemed a bit easier to buy seedlings when I was ready to plant them, rather than to raise the seeds? I hope that when things go "back to normal" that this interest in growing some of our own foods becomes part of the new normal! And maybe mine won't be the only garden on the street that isn't perfectly edged! And hopefully I will have a few neighbours growing foods so that we can start the conversation about swapping our produce when we have a glut! Here's to living more sustainably Your Edible Garden Guru

05.01.2022 THEY'RE BACK!! (Warning: Not for the squeamish!) Earlier this year I had a Major RAT invasion They completely demolished my veggie garden, tore through the fruit garden destroying my midgim berries and passionfruit plants and did thousands of dollars in damage to the wiring in my house.... I ended up having to resort to poisons as none of the "organic" solutions that I tried worked. They even managed to remove the baits from the rat traps without setting the traps off! Well, having disposed of 21 rats and 2 mice corpses, I had about 2 months peace! But now they are back! Luckily, in the meantime I have found a new rat trap which they don't seem so good at outwitting! Its pretty mean looking (see photo) but it definitely does the trick so far! I have caught 3 in the last two days (see photo - sorry not for the squeamish)! I feel awful doing this, as I don't like killing things unnecessarily. But I really cannot afford to not kill them!! They are a pest that causes untold damage to house and property! I see posts from other gardeners complaining about the damage snails, slugs and caterpillars do. I would happily swap with them as rats do significantly more damage!! Let us know in the comments below what pest problems you have in your garden. Happy gardening Your edible garden guru

02.01.2022 Who knew that chickens were fussy about what they eat? I mean they scratch in the dirt, love eating all sorts of bugs and weeds and vegetable seedling. Mine also love cooked rice, prawn heads, mashed potato and sardines.... So I wasn't expecting a hunger strike when I accidently bought home chicken pellets instead of mixed grain as their main feed! But that is what happened! The chickadees looked at the pellets in total disgust and then looked at me as if to say "What you trying to feed us?" The hunger strike lasted all the first day, and onto the second day! Not wanting the girls to starve, but also not wanting to throw out $40 worth of feed, I contacted several other chook owners, to see if any of them wanted the pellets or knew how I could make them palatable to the chickadees. Turns out everyone I know gives their chickens grain! And none of them had tried to substitute pellets for grains One suggestion was to try and turn the pellets into a "porridge" with water. I tried this on day 3. The girls weren't having a bar of it! Can't say I blame them It did look pretty average and not very appetising Finally, in desperation I mixed the pellets up in natural yoghurt and "Yay" we have a winner! I video'd this feed this morning as the girls feasted on the pellet and yoghurt mash!

01.01.2022 The Girls take to the new lodgings! I am intending to add a few more chickens to my flock and so I need a separate chook house as a temporary residence for the new girls. For health and safety reasons, as well as to ensure good integration of the flock, it is recommended that you keep the new chickens separate from the resident chickens for a few days.... They should be able to see each other, but not share the same roosts and perches or have to share food. A little house became available (thanks to @Marcus Brown) and we located it in the chook yard. Well, the chickadees were very curious! I didn't even get a chance to put the roof on before the girls were in and out, exploring this new facility. I took a quick video of the chickens exploring the new house. Sadly I was busy manipulating the roof, so missed the part where all 3 girls tried to crowd through the narrow doorway (which was soo funny I almost dropped the roof ), but thought you would enjoy this intro anyway. Happy gardening Your edible garden guru

01.01.2022 The talented Wil sent me this poem to brighten my day. I can identify with the last line, so I am off to do some digging in the garden. I'm normally a social gi...rl I love to meet my mates But lately with the virus here We can't go out the gates. You see, we are the 'oldies' now We need to stay inside If they haven't seen us for a while They'll think we've upped and died. They'll never know the things we did Before we got this old There wasn't any Facebook So not everything was told. We may seem sweet old ladies Who would never be uncouth But we grew up in the 60s - If you only knew the truth! There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll The pill and miniskirts We smoked, we drank, we partied And were quite outrageous flirts. Then we settled down, got married And turned into someone's mum, Somebody's wife, then nana, Who on earth did we become? We didn't mind the change of pace Because our lives were full But to bury us before we're dead Is like a red rag to a bull! So here you find me stuck inside For 4 weeks, maybe more I finally found myself again Then I had to close the door! It didnt really bother me I'd while away the hour I'd bake for all the family But I've got no bloody flour! Now Netflix is just wonderful I like a gutsy thriller I'm swooning over Idris Or some random sexy killer. At least I've got a stash of booze For when I'm being idle There's wine and whiskey, even gin If I'm feeling suicidal! So let's all drink to lockdown To recovery and health And hope this bloody virus Doesn't decimate our wealth. We'll all get through the crisis And be back to join our mates Just hoping I'm not far too wide To fit through the flaming gates!