My indoor compost bucket

This is a BOKASHI BUCKET.  It is quite big, but would sit in a cupboard under the sink or similar.  You could even keep it at your back door.  Absolutely any food can go into it – even meat, citrus peel and onions!  It doesn’t have any smell at all that I can detect, and it has an airtight lid. 

At the end of each day that you’ve used it, you give it a little sprinkle with some “bokashi”, which is a fermented grain, and you squash it all down with a potato masher (which comes with it).  You don’t empty it. 

Most families fill one in 4 weeks, at which time you just put it straight out into the garden.  You can bury it or add it to a compost pile.

At this stage, you can still see all the shapes of the food, but because of the fermentation process that they’ve gone through, the food now breaks down extremely quickly.  It also retains more nutrients than the traditional composting method, so more goes back into your garden.

As a bonus, while you are filling it some liquid drains to the bottom of the bin.  Every few days you can turn the little tap and drain this out into a tiny cup.  Dilute it in a watering can and use it on your plants as it is a concentrated fertiliser.

Why do I love it? 

·        I don’t have to empty my compost buckets outside every day.

·        My dog doesn’t get to the food scraps (he digs under my traditional outdoor plastic compost bin and scatters food all around the yard).

·        You don’t attract rats and mice as you do with an outdoor compost bin.

·        I can use it for onion skins and citrus peel that can’t go into a normal compost system (these can take for ever to break down in the outdoor compost – perhaps a year or more just guessing from my experience but with this system they break down in 2 to 3 weeks, perhaps 4 for really tough stuff).

·        If I ate meat, I would also love it ‘cause you can put meat scraps in too.

·        I don’t have a food scraps spot outside now – just food that goes to chooks, dog or worms – everything else goes in this bin.

If you want to get your own Bokashi Bucket, let me know.  They are around $95.

My reusable pads

Okay, so this is one just for the girls – I’m talking about non-disposable menstrual pads. 

Don’t you hate how items for “that time of the month” are so expensive?  Its ridiculous considering that you have no choice about purchasing them really, and you are also paying GST, which I thought wasn’t suppose to be on essentials.

Now there is a way around that.  Use non-disposables.

You can get lots of different ones, mostly made by work at home mums.  All the ones I’ve seen are very neat and very nice looking.  They are easy to wash and not particularly bulky.  They come in a range of sizes – length and thickness.  And although they seem expensive for the initial outlay, it means that you can walk right past the pads and tampons aisle at the supermarket, and over the long term it is definitely much, much cheaper.  These should last at least 10 years (although I haven’t tested them for that long, so no guarantee).  Add up what you would spend on disposables over 5 or 10 years.  And no last minute dashes to the shops when your stocks of disposables at home have run out and the time for needing them has arrived.

New, modern, cloth nappies

This is just a brief run down here.  There is a whole section on these if you follow the link.

Even though Joey is coming up to toilet training age, when I discovered these cloth nappies I still thought it was worth it!  Perhaps the cost will come out about even, but its good not having to get nappies every time I go to the supermarket, and these are so much nicer to use and of course, environmentally friendly.  And imagine how much I would have saved if I’d started using them earlier.

Most modern cloth nappies do up using snaps or hook and loop tape, so you don't need pins.  They are shaped so there is no need to fold them either.  For more information about different sorts of nappies, look at the nappy link above.

To wash, you chuck them into a dry bucket with a lid and leave them until you have enough for a load.  If there is poo you tip that into the toilet and in most cases (unless really squashy) it just drops in leaving little on the nappy.  Then they are washed in the machine.  It is recommended that you use half the regular amount of detergent so that none is left in the nappy, and people seem to vary on whether they wash in hot, warm or cold water.  I’ve been using hot water (the rest of my washing is all done in cold), and when Joey was sick a little while back I added dettol laundry rinse, but I don’t normally do that.  They can go in the drier, but dry pretty quickly on the clothes line or even a clothes horse inside.  

I’ve been making most of our nappies myself, although I have bought a few different types as well – there are some lovely nappies available.  If you’d like to make nappies yourself (or to get Grandma or a friend to make them for you) I’m happy to help you out with patterns – there are lots of free ones on the internet as well as ones you can buy, and will also give you links to great sources of the correct fabrics.  If you live sort of near me and you have a few friends who want to sew nappies, I’ll bring supplies and show you how!  

Otherwise … have a look in the mall for nappy sellers - you'll find some great nappies there.

Follow the link to "nappies" in the menu to find out more about nappies and to see some great pics.

Beautiful organic cotton fabric

I just had a huge parcel of this delivered.  I have fleece, jersey, sherpa, thick flannel and more.  It is so beautiful and soft.  Now I just need some organic cotton thread to sew it with.  The fabric isn't for sale, but if you're looking for some (I know it can be hard to find), feel free to email me and I may know where you can get it!

Sun effect fabric paint and food dye for wool colouring

I've had such fun creating great effects on fabric with this wonderful new fabric paint.  You just spread the colour on and put shapes such as leaves or cardboard cut outs on your fabric to block out the sun.  Wherever the sun is blocked, the colour lightens.  It is wonderful. 

The food dye has been great too.  I'm knitting up a beanie as a trial using organic wool that I've dyed red/orange/yellow and it is beautiful, and so satisfying!

So I've raved on even more about these products and added pics and instructions in the craft and diy section.

Flash tape

This is for the garden.  You string it above spots you don’t want birds (eg newly planted seeds).  The birds stay away.  It flashes and they think its fire or something.  Its just metallic tape with red on one side and silver on the other.  It really does seem to work!

I ordered it through an online seed shop.  I’ve ordered stuff from two though … now which one was it.  I think it was Greenharvest.  www.greenharvest.com.au.  The other seed place that I’d highly recommend is Diggers.  www.diggers.com.au

And I could go on …

I’m sure I’ll add to this list.  I have so many favourite things (and that’s not counting stuff like the really cute picture Amy drew today or the way Joey loves his Bob the Builder nappy, or the important people in my life).