As a Worm to a Toad...

"Edible - good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm." - Ambrose Bierce

I've had quite the productive morning! First up was the Composting and Worm Farming Workshop at Waterloo Library, held by the City of Sydney's Green Village Workshops. It was a great introduction to the basic principles of composting and worm farming and how to incorporate that into your every day. And we all got to take a compost bin or worm farm home with us at the end. I took lots of notes, so I'll post a simplified How-To later on, along with photos of me setting up my worm farm!

Since it was at the library, I also took the opportunity to join up finally. And then grabbed myself a swag of gardening books. Some of the best books were already nabbed by other workshop attendees, but I'm sure I'll work my way through them all eventually. For now, I'm going to flick through:

• Growing Food in Small Gardens by Barbara Segall - which is divided up into Garden Layouts, Container growing, Vegetables, Fruit and Garden Plans. There's also a section on garden bugs which I am particularly interested in (I found more little green caterpillars today!)
• Pippa's Organic Kitchen Garden by Pippa Greenwood - lots of photos and illustrations and I would expect from a Dorling Kindersley (DK) publication!
• Growing a Garden City by Jeremy N. Smith - a look at all the different people growing gardens in the city, should be very interesting.

I'm moving house this weekend, so the worm farm won't be assembled till next week sometime. I also need to get hold of some worms too!




In the meantime, take a look at this video from Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP). It's about the current global food market - but what makes it more interesting than usual is it's summary of good initiatives already taking place and how you can contribute. So keep up the good work shopping at your local Farmer Market's, riding your bike and supporting new eco-ethical initiatives!

The 4R's Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

It's not hard to be green. Really it isn't. And we don't even have to be fully fledged swinging from the trees hippy green to be making a difference. You may already have heard of the 3Things movement. It's brilliant. Their whole ethos is that everyone can make a difference, even if they only do 3 things differently. I've still got some bad habits, but I've made some tremendous changes too.

I started by making small changes some time ago. The more I change, the more I learn. And the more I find out, the more frequently my attitudes to earlier changes are altered. For example, I started consciously recycling a long time ago. Most people do now, which is great. But recently I've learned that recycling is really your last port of call.

Recycling still requires a huge expenditure of energy to break materials down in order to be reused. So I started reusing things that I would normally recycle. Tins cans have become herbs pots, water bottle tops are now bells jars over seedlings. But then my 'reuse' box began to overflow. Just how many tin cans and plastic bottles was I going through?

Which let me to the 4R philosophy - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. If you look at things you are using everyday and work backwards, there is usually a solution further down the 4R line that you could be adopting. So, your daily coffee addiction. How many plastic coffee cups do you use? Do you go to a cafe that uses recyclable cardboard cups - great, that's better. You can then throw that in with the recycling. But you can do better. Buy a reusable coffee cup (like a KeepCup), take it with you! Not only is it reducing waste, but you get to make a style statement while you're at it. The same goes with reusable water bottles.

So what else is there? Loads. All those tin cans I was munching through? Well, I can buy beans and legumes dry and in bulk. They can be stored in big cloth bags (in a large plastic box to keep bugs out!). Whenever I plan to cook with them, I just pop what I need into water in a glass jar and let them soak till they're ready for use. So I'll be going further back down the line from recycling my tins, to reusing them as herb pots, to now reducing my consumption of tin cans by buying in bulk and using glass jars and fabric bags etc.

Refuse? That would be all those little plastic bags you accumulate at the supermarkets for your fruit and veggies. Go to the greengrocer or farmers markets, take a cloth bag or basket with you - no need for plastic!

There are so many alternative and solutions that are not only great for the environment, but great for your bottom line too. It just takes a little more effort. And you can always get those tin cans for emergencies to recycle later. Nice.

Heaps more ideas here: The Zero Waste Home

Off to Market

Here are some pics from the markets last night (before it got really dark and cold!). The Day of the Dead Skull and Virgin Mary stitchies weren't there for sale, but they'll be at market tomorrow in Redfern.

I'm going to try and load one or two more stools onto the bike tomorrow - I think people were a bit scared to reach into the back basket and pick anything up. Plus everything was a wee bit hidden there, so I'll lay them out on some stools tomorrow instead. Weather is touch and go for tomorrow so far, but it was forcast to rain this week and nothing really eventuated so it should be fine.

And maybe some flowers in the front basket? Yes! That will be pretty. See you there Sydney-siders!

Batten Down the Hatches

 ...because it's getting crazy around here! As you can tell from the pics I'm in a mad production frenzy in preparation for my first ever market stalls. I'm s**ting my dacks only slightly. Some of the things I'm making are:

• Ampersand Stitchies - a collection of ampersands. Hand-stitched onto upcycled fabrics. These look great in a small wooden embroidery hoop frame.
• Day of the Dead Stitchies - skulls and Virgin Mary's. Digital collage printed onto calico and hand-stitched with fine thread. Also look beautiful in hoop frames.
• theartofjordan Tarot Deck - Major Arcana Edtn. Hand packaging loads of these decks.

If you're in Sydney this week, then you can find me at these markets - be sure to come along and say hi and see all these goodies in real life. I'll be listing anything that's still available in my Etsy store next week, so if you're interstate or overseas you'll still be able to grab some things. [If there is anything that you really like which sells out you are very welcome to contact me and I can make one for you!]

1. I Heart Gallery - Pop Up Markets & Film Screening
Thursday 13th October - 6pm to 11:30pm
I Heart Gallery, 643 King St, Newtown


2. RedWater Markets
Saturday 15th - 9am to 3pm
Redfern Park, Corner of Chalmers & Redfern Streets, Redfern

Hope to see you all there!

New Shoots

But if each man could have his own house, a large garden to cultivate and healthy surroundings - then, I thought, there will be for them a better opportunity of a happy family life. - George Cadbury 

 

I'm starting to see new growth in my little veggie garden. The top right photo is the new Rocket shoots that popped up overnight - I sowed seeds in an old egg carton (bottom left). 

 

One of my little strawberry plants is also sprouting a few green berries, which is so exciting considering there was only one red berry when I brought it home two weeks ago. Can't wait to get another hanging basket to re-plant it in - then I'll eventually have two hanging shrubs with strawberries tumbling over the side. How wonderful will that be in summer, outside with a glass of sangria, reaching up and picking a strawb? 

 

The last pic is some new shoots growing from my Sage plant - hoping to see more of this with all of the herbs. Will definitely be getting more seedlings from the market to fill all the tin cans I've salvaged. Going to fill the entire top two rows of the pallet with herb cans! I'm thinking the bottom two rows of the pallet can be opened up and larger, with hessian sack lining. The larger size will be better for veggie plants like cucumbers, eggplant and tomatoes. But I'll wait and see how all the seeds go first!

theartofjordan Tarot Deck ~ Now in Stores!

So my tarot cards are now stocked in brick and mortar stores! Which is great news if you're a native to Sydney or Newstead, Victoria. Each store has it's own customised display box, made from salvaged materials and things I had on hand (no waste here at the moment!). I'm so grateful to the ladies at these stores for taking my tarot cards on with such enthusiasm.

So if you're from Melbourne and find yourself on a day trip out Newstead way then pop into Gathering for some great hand crafted gifts (along with your tarot cards of course). And if you're strolling down King Street, Newtown in Sydney you might pop into I Heart Gallery for arty gifts, or Holly Chalmers boutique for some super cute Australian designed and made fashion. Find them at these addresses:

• Gathering - 6A Panmure Street, Newstead VIC 3462
• I Heart Gallery - 643 King Street, St Peters NSW 
• Holly Chalmers - 594 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042

Of course, if you're from elsewhere in Australia or overseas then you can buy a deck for yourself or a friend anytime at my Etsy store, or on my Facebook page. And it would be incredibly good if you did since I'm trying to feed myself on these cards and could do with some fresh veggies right now :-(

Happy shopping! xxx

Coming Up

Yesterday I posted an article over at Design Federation wrapping up a Women in Business seminar I attended about two weeks ago. It's a pretty long and detailed post with all the advice and tips I gathered from the two guest speakers Jodie Fox of Shoes of Prey and Lucie Trinco of il Tutto. If you're a woman running your own small biz, or anyone really, head along and get some valuable insight. 

I also planted some of my new seeds (yesterday's post), for which I am planning a little How-to post. My mother likes to say my green thumb is so bad I could kill plastic flowers, so all this gardening lately is my determination to really get a grip with the basics. So if you're like me and a total novice in the grow-your-own-food stakes, then you might be interested in following my progress over the next few weeks and months as seeing if it inspires you to have a go.

In that spirit of education and experimentation I'm planning to get my butt along to these awesome looking events and workshops over the coming weeks:

• Street Fair of Cycling Goodness! - part of the Bicycle Film Festival Sydney, a lovely street fair launch for Sydney Rides Festival. Aside from all the lovely bike-related stalls, food and fun there is a bike-valet. That's right people, a bike-valet.
Free, Saturday 8th Oct in Taylor Square, 10am-4pm

• The Clothing Exchange (Sydney) - a giant clothes swapping event, you exchange like for like for free. The only cost is your entry ticket.
$25, Monday 17th Oct at Opera Australia, Surry Hills.

• Worm Farming Workshop - hosted by the City of Sydney. Going to learn about worm wee.
Free, register your place online. Various dates/locations.
(I'm heading to the Tuesday 25th Oct workshop at Waterloo Library.) 

• Seed to Plate: Grow Food in Small Spaces - another CoS workshop.
Free, register your place online. Various dates/locations.
(I'm heading to the Wednesday 9th Nov workshop at Green Square Library.)