Gardening – Trying to be an eco-mum on a budget

Urban Farming in the ‘Burbs

November 13, 2017November 15, 2017PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

005

Life sure has been busy of late. Three young children and their activities along with work keeps me super occupied. I have however found the time recently to finally realise one of the items on my home ‘to do’ list. It may have taken a while. Like a really long while, but finally our home has welcomes four chickadees! Our hens joined our family about 4 weeks ago.

My children have had some experience with chickens are part of ‘chook chat’ at their school. The four chickens at school are cared for on a roster by students, mine included. Students collect the eggs and every now and then do a big cook up. I love this way of engaging with the kids.

So with the ice broken, I decided to get the ball rolling at home and get our own chooks. It’s taken about a year from the time I bought the coop – to constructing the run – to finally getting to the exciting part – making the trip to a nursery to buy our hens. It’s been worth the wait though. Pepper, Caramel, Blackie and Tiny Ninja are now well and truly at home with us.

After some good tips from a work friend, we ended up buying two Australopes and two Isa Browns from New Leaf Nursery: http://www.newleafnursery.com.au/ They were especially selected by the chook whisperer there for our family. The good thing about the Australope hens is that they lay eggs throughout their lives. The Isa Browns we bought because of their good nature.

008

So far all are pretty friendly, though not super friendly because we’re not at the stage where they come to you and sit by your feet. We’ve had the occasional toe and leg pecking, but after holding them and spending more time with them they seem to be coming around. They especially love me because I’m usually the source of food!

Now, if a garden of veggies and some fruit and now chickens wasn’t enough, last week I discovered a new mysterious bird. At first I thought it looked like a cross between a quail and a duck. After many misses in trying to photograph it, the bird ended stuck on the trampoline. After taking some great photos, I sent them to my local Council for identification. They confirmed, that it was not a quail, but a Bush Turkey and while I am a friend of wildlife, I am not so sure about having a bird make itself at home in the garden I have spent some year building up. Time will tell whether it decided to stay. So far the hens are wary, but the Turkey doesn’t seem fazed.

553

Now with my garden project pretty much complete, I can sit back and enjoy the years of work and planning that’s gone into my very own urban farm. Or maybe not! Next on my ‘to do’ list: ‘bug hotel’/ native beehive and possibly a frog pond. ..watch this space!

My tips for keeping chickens (so far):

Choose a spot in the garden with some sun, but not too much;
Talk to your local Council about what their requirement are. Besides not keeping a whole lots of hens and telling my neighbours as a courtesy, my Council didn’t have any specific requirements;
Buy the hens and move them in together at the same time, that way you don’t have any problems later with introducing a new hen to the flock;
They LOVE grain and get quickly get fussy with food if given the good stuff all the time. So balance out some boring food with something exciting;
Get them used to you straight away by spending time with them. Mine aren’t too excited about being held and to be honest I’m still getting used to them too, but now we’re all getting used to each other; and
Get the kids involved in feeding them and enjoy!

DIY Gifts from the Heart – Christmas Olives

December 28, 2016December 28, 2016PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

oilives

2016 has been a whirlwind of a year and life doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down any time soon. I guess that is the life of a working mum of three kids. And a mum with a garden too!

Despite all the mayhem, there has been many fun days too. My children are growing and coming into their own. But as we got to the end of the year, we still managed our Christmas DIY Gifts from the Heart. This year, we decided to make Herb infused olives for our family. As usual, I spend the year saving jars and then decide what to do with them. Here is what to do in case you’d like to make your own:

What you need:

Old jar, cleaned and boiled to sterilise
Olives – we used plain olives and a mix of black and green
Olive oil
Herbs – we used the following from our garden:
- Chillies
- Thyme
- Lemon myrtle
- Sage
- Rosemary
Decorations/ wrapping
Some helpers 🙂

herbs-kids

What to do:

Add everything together. I filled half the jar, added some of the herbs and pressed a few against the glass to make it look pretty. The jar was filled, I added the olive oil and decorated the jars.

herbs

The idea of the gift is also that once the olives have been eaten, the herb infused oil can be used to make salad dressing – just add lemons/ lime juice or balsamic vinegar. This gift is so easy to make and looks special too. Nooshejan

My own verge garden

June 14, 2016June 14, 2016PowerfulOwl1 Comment

Last year, I wrote a blog piece about verge gardens and whether it’s safe to have food growing so close to a road. My piece showed that if you take certain precautions, that it should be okay.

So after my research, I decided to strike out and make my own verge garden. I have a corner block and thankfully the long side is on a quiet street. Last year, I decided to move a few things around my backyard. Rather than get rid of my timber planter boxes, I decided to move them onto my nature strip.

I excitedly and busily moved all the soil with the help of some kiddies. I added some compost and planned to extend my vegetable garden.

I then had an idea to get the neighbours involved also. To start a ‘gardening club’ of sorts with my neighbours. There are many families with children around me, so I thought it would be a great chance to get to know neighbours and for my children to meet some children that live close to us.

So I planned two weekends of neighbourhood activity. One week to plant the seeds and the following week to paint the planter boxes. I put together a flyer and went door knocking.

The response: a bit underwhelming!

In the meantime my children were very excited about the ‘Gardening Club’ we were starting in our neighbourhood. On the agreed day, at the agreed time we all started to plant our new garden. Unfortunately with the exception of one of my immediate neighbours, no other neighbours came to help us plant our new vegetables. My children were a little disappointed, but we got together and planted some lovely things: carrots, flowers, chillies, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, lemongrass, parsley, sage and so on.

In the immediate time after the planting, I did get a few ‘looks’ from passers by. A verge garden is not a common sight in my part of Sydney, but I think most have gotten used to it. I’ve even managed to share some of the produce with a few neighbours, which they’ve loved.

So, some tips for a verge garden:

Dial before you dig http://www.1100.com.au/: you should call this free service to make sure there are no utilities or any issues where you decide to make your garden;
Have raised beds;
Talk to neigbbours before planting and see whether they’d like to be part of the planning. Even though I provided all free plants, seeds and compost, my neighbours weren’t engaged, but your might be;
Plant some flowers too to make it pretty and attractive and attract pollinators like bees; and
Enjoy.

Tomatoes

December 20, 2015December 20, 2015PowerfulOwl1 Comment

Okay, so my husband tells me I’ve gone on about this a little too much, but I have to say, I am super chuffed with my self-seeded tomatoes. They chose their spot next to the olive tree and I’ve let them go like a good mum with a little support and just look at the fruit they’ve borne me! this is just in one day

DIY Gifts from the Heart – Christmas Terrarium

December 12, 2015PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again. Time has flown and it’s Christmas gift time. As usual, I am going with the theme of my children making gifts for family. This teaches them to look beyond the commercialisation of this time of year, and to express their love for family by transforming regular household items into items of beauty that I’m sure their family will treasure.

The last few years we’ve made edible goods. This year I decided to do something different. One day when I was looking at old jars, I decided to start collecting them to upcycle them by reusing them rather than recycling them. This started my plan many months ago to make terrariums for family members using old jars.

A terrarium is essentially a jar with a plant growing inside it. It can either have a lid and be sealed, or it could be open. Those with lids create a mini ecosystem in that evaporation forms condensation which ends up watering the plant. Many plants can be planted in a terrarium, from decorative plants, to succulents.

As I was using reused glass jars, I decided to have an open terrarium and use existing succulents I had around my garden.

So how to get started and what do you need?

Old jars, cleaned
Large pebbles
Cloth
Soil – preferably one for bonsai or cacti as they have good draining qualities
Horticultural / activated charcoal

Method

Place the pebbles at the bottom of the jar to about 2 cm. This helps with drainage and to keep your plants healthy.

I added some extra coloured pebbles and going with the Christmas theme, I had green, red and silver.

I cut a small bit of cloth (I used an old reusable cloth bag) and put over the pebbles before adding the soil layer because I didn’t want the layers to mix much.

I added some activated charcoal then the soil. The activated charcoal acts to keep your terrarium fresh and stops any bad odours. Pat the soil down to prevent air bubbles.

I then added my plants. As my jars were small, I only used 1 to 2 plants per jar. I added some more decorative pebbles on top and viola – done!

The terrarium needs to be lightly watered through a sprayer about once a week, so it should be low maintenance.

My children were involved in all aspects of this activity, from choosing the colours and order of the layers, to selecting the plants to the actual plants. I know that they’re going to be so proud to give this to their family.

There are a lot of videos on how to make these and I share a few with you below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5btxZHaEw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3WuoU5-Rjs

It’s not too late to start your own DIY gifts from the heart project this Christmas. So what are you waiting for? Continue reading →

Wheelbarrow gardening!

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015PowerfulOwl2 Comments

I had this old wheelbarrow and its tyre became flat. I couldn’t figure out how to pump it and after taking it back to the store I bought it from to see how I could get a new wheel, I was told it was easier to get a new wheelbarrow. Rather than throw it out, I decided to upcycle it into a mobile garden with the help of my kids. The great thing about having a mobile garden is that you can move it to suit your needs. For example, there are places in my garden that are very shaded in winter and other areas that would be too hot in summer. I can use the wheelbarrow to move the garden to suit the season.

This became one of our projects during the school holidays. First we painted it – they chose all the colours and actively painted the wheelbarrow with little assistance from me.

We then visited a gardening store where each child got to choose a vegetable and a flower to plant in the wheelbarrow. They chose some interesting ones: cabbage and cauliflower and some regular ones like carrot and strawberries. I planted some Chinese greens too because they’re fast growing. It is only when you have your own garden that you realise the effort and time it takes to grow food. So I think one of the positives about growing food with children is to teach them patience. In spite of this, the fast growing and not likely to fail Chinese greens were also planted to keep the kids interested.

The beauty of this activity is that the kids were involved in the whole process. They were so excited to choose the colours and to paint it and then again to choose their own flowers and vegetables to plant. The flowers as well as attracting bees, were planted because they add colour and are pretty.

They’ve really loved this activity and have taken great pride in it. My daughter almost daily visits her strawberries and counts them. After we harvested the Chinese greens, I had my son help to cook it up and we had it for dinner. So another benefit is that they’re getting healthy eating habits too.

I understand that not everyone has a house or access to space to grow food. Many schools have gardening clubs, so kids can become involved there. At home, it’s possible to grow some herbs in the kitchen, or if you have a common area, you can help to start a verge garden or community garden of sorts. Many edible plants grow really well in pots on balconies. You can even make a mini greenhouse using an old plastic soft drink bottle. I think the important thing is to be creative. Look at what resources you have and start a project today!

Mini-Greenhouse — Source: http://craftingagreenworld.com/2014/04/10/spotted-mini-greenhouse-plastic-bottle/

National Tree Day and Other ways to get Children Active in the Environment

July 26, 2015July 27, 2015PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

I am always trying to get my children active and thinking about the environment. They are usually pretty responsive and study various aspects of environmental protection at school and pre-school. But I like to take it one step further and get them outside with their hands digging in the dirt. Today was the perfect opportunity for this, being National Tree Day.

My Council, Lane Cove, organised a tree planting day very close to me. It was great because we started the day with a bushwalk along Stringbark creek to a park that we often go to. My older two and my niece loved the walk. They kept talking about how exciting it was to walk through the ‘forest’. I’m very lucky in that I have a little bit of bush so close to me. Many don’t and probably don’t get many opportunities to simply wander amongst so many trees.

The other exciting part of the day of course, was all the digging that was involved. To my surprise all three loved planting. Well I have to say I was most surprised with my son as he doesn’t usually show that much interest at home.

So a little about National Tree Day. This is a national event where local communities come together to plant trees and shrubs. It started in 1996 and to date over 22 million plants have been planted by over 3.5 million volunteers.

What I loved about today was the fact that it really felt like a community event. Council Bushcare workers and volunteers were on hand to give knowledge and encourage everyone’s participation. It really warmed my heart to meet these dedicated folk that work tirelessly to propagate all those trees and regenerate urban bushland areas which are usually so polluted and affected by urbanisation.

Overall, the day was a success and I am a very happy eco-mummy.

The other thing I’d like to share is an initiative called ‘Cool Australia’s Enviro Week’. http://www.enviroweek.org/

Basically, it’s a program to encourage the participation of young folk in the protection of our environment throughout a year. You can participate in a few ways: by yourself or a group of friends, through your class or your school. You make a pledge as to what you will do and the pledges are all positive things that can be done by anyone like gardening, having waste free lunches, spending quiet time in nature …..

So far I’ve volunteered my kids as a group, but will also ask my son to suggest it to his teacher as something that they can do as a class or indeed a school.

I encourage you to check out the website and see how you or someone that you know of can get involved.

Fun activities with children on World Environment Day

June 5, 2015PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

Today, June 5 is World Environment Day. The day almost caught me by surprise. The weather has definitely turned chilly in Sydney over the last week. While chilly in the morning, it is beautifully clear and somewhat warm in the day. So on this day I’m trying to think of some fun things I can do with my children to give thanks to our planet and acknowledge all that it gives us.

Here are some ideas:

Get out! There is a small bush track which is very do-able for children near me, so I plan on taking a little bushwalk with my daughters. Along the way I’ll point out trees, flowers, teach them to be silent and hear the sounds of the creek and leaves under their feet. If you don’t have bush near you, maybe just look out at the sky, look at the clouds and any birds or trees that may be present.

Plant a tree. There is an initiative this World Environment Day called ‘Do Something!’ where it is encouraging people to ‘plant one tree per child’. I might not plant a tree per child (I have three!), but I will plant one today and will do it with my children.

Grow some food. Not many children have exposure to growing food. If you have a garden, then great get some seeds and get planting. If not, then get some herbs in a pot and get them to help you maintain it and pick leaves to add to salads. Get them to feel the leaves, crush it and smell it….

Paint – Children love to paint and today you can ask them to paint what they see, or what their ideal world would look like. You could even make your own paint. Here is a recipe for for homemade watercolours:

1/2 cup bicarb soda

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar syrup

Natural food colouring

Ice cube tray

Mix all ingredients together on a container or bowl. Stir immediately with a fork to combine until thickened. Pour small amounts into an ice cub tray, then add some food colouring, use immediately, or leave to dry.

http://happyhooligans.ca/homemade-watercolour-paints/

Get crafty using recycled materials. Use egg cartons, cereal boxes, lids of milk bottles, old paper – anything really and get creative.

Give back to others. There are a number of elderly people on my street and one recently broke her hip. I never got to drop by, so hopefully in the next little bit I can get my kids to help bake some cookies and drop by and say hello. It’s so important to teach children empathy and how to care for others.

If you’ve done anything today to give thanks to Mother Earth, then let me know. I’d love to hear about it!

Verge Gardening

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015PowerfulOwl4 Comments

Source

One of the benefits of my house is that I have a corner block and thankfully the longer side of my block is in a quiet street. The bad thing obviously is how much mowing we have to do! Last year I took a cutting from my large frangipani tree and eventually this ended up on our nature strip (verge). This year I planted a Mulberry tree in my house, but unfortunately I didn’t choose the best location. Rather than remove the tree altogether, I’m going to try and move it to my nature strip.

I’m not sure if I’m really allowed to do all of this. My Council is not one of those Councils that encourages verge gardens. In fact, my Council strongly discourages this. Not all Councils are like mine however. Some like Marrickville and City of Sydney Council are actively encouraging residents to plant and maintain verge gardens.

Source

A friend recently shared this video of the City of Vancouver and its verge garden revolution. However planting trees is one thing, planting vegetables quite another. When I first saw this video I liked the story behind it, but then thought ‘hey having vegetables grown so close to the road and encouraging their consumption – is that good?’ so I decided to find out.

My initial reaction really had to do with fumes from cars and run off from the road and houses entering the soil and thereby being taken in by the plant. Was this safe? Well after much searching, I may have found the answer.

Lead

Lead is one chemical that can have significant health impacts to humans, especially children. Exposure to lead can lead to brain damage and impaired intellectual development. In Australia lead was prevalent in houses (paints) and petrol. But its use in petrol was phased out from 1993 and in paints from the 1970s. Therefore, as most of the toxic issues related to verge gardens would be related to lead poisoning, that’s a good thing.

But that’s not the end of the lead story. Lead would not only be found in the soil on your verge, it would also be found in ordinary homes such as mine. Depending on the age of your house, if lead is likely to be found in paint work, it may be best to leave it alone. Similar to asbestos, if lead is left intact it is not likely to cause harm. It will cause harm if you damage it and disturb it so as to create dust. If this dust is inhaled, touched or let to settle on soil, that’s when problems may start to arise, particularly for areas where food may be grown.

A study by Macquarie University found that children were most at risk in that they absorbed more lead than adults. The study also found some plants absorb more of this toxin and then pass it onto people than others. Leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and silverbeet were the worst offenders (sources: 1, 2 & 3).

While all of this may seem scary, there are ways to address this. Firstly, it is very important to test your soil before growing any food. Another way to address this is to have raised garden beds which is what I’ve done.

Apart from the toxins issue, those opposed to verge gardens may cite safety issues which are perfectly valid. These really have to do with the maintenance of the plants planted to ensure they don’t impact people’s ability to use footpaths and to ensure they don’t obstruct visibility for motorists. These issues are easily addressed however by having a set of guidelines in place for those that want to plant on their nature strip.

Other management issues with verge gardens include the application of chemicals such as pesticides and fertilisers running off into the stormwater system and ending up in creeks and other water bodies. Again, this is where having a good set of guidelines that encourage organic gardening techniques would come in handy.

So with my health concerns related to verge gardens allayed, I hope to see more people participating in gardening. Participating in local urban farming whether through a verge garden or a community garden can only be good.

Source

Resources

To find out whether you are allowed to plant a verge garden, contact your local Council and read the City of Sydney guidelines.

You can also contact your local Council to see if there are any local community gardens that you can participate in. You can also check out this website: http://communitygarden.org.au/

Also, the presenter of one of the shows that I really enjoy watching is a big advocate of verge gardens. You can also check out Gardening Australia’s take on this through this LINK. There are loads of videos in the 2012 archives.

Let me know

If you already participate in a verge garden or a community garden, let me know your thoughts and share your story and pictures. I’d love to hear from you!

More garden excitement!

February 12, 2015February 12, 2015PowerfulOwlLeave a comment

When I returned from the UAE to live in Sydney my avocado trees were sticks. After three years finally – some avocados! Then, some just over a year ago, I planted a lone apple tree in my house not really expecting it to bare fruit because you’re supposed to plant at least two for cross fertilization. But yay a few apples, albeit small apples. Still it feels great to grow and eat my own fruit and vegetables in a suburb of Sydney! Enjoy.