If there’s one thing that’s thriving in this weather it’s fungi, and the experiment I started a few days ago to grow oyster mushrooms on recycled paper is working so well that today I felt emboldened to feed my first book to the spawn. Above: This is the first five Read more…
I just LOVE local and so does Blue Mountains City Council with its fabulous LOVE LOCAL campaign that includes recipes, videos and fascinating information about our local businesses, as well as a Business Directory so you can LOVE local too. It was such a treat, despite this wet and soggy Read more…
Today I registered my protest against war by joining the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Their newly released edition of the Don’t Bank on the Bomb Hall of Fame shows the 36 banks, insurers and pension funds that comprehensively exclude all nuclear weapon producers. I then Read more…
Cruizin’ and Bluesin’ to tackle my Mood and the Black Mould! The concept of Planetary Health highlights how the degradation of our natural environment is now negatively impacting human health. Climate Change is clearly starting to affect our physical and mental health, and this rain and flooding are certainly depressing. Read more…
Cabbage and Pumpkin Leaf Kimchi With all this rain lots of pumpkin plants have sprouted out of our compost and are invading the garden, but there’s so little sun that I suspect we’ll be lucky to get any ripe pumpkins before winter. One way to boost the growth of pumpkins Read more…
Between the motion and the act falls the shadow I used to have a secondhand bookshop and for many years I’ve had a dream – to grow oyster mushrooms out of my thousands of old books that no one will ever be interested in reading. Merlin Sheldrake, the author of Read more…
Saturday Night Fever! It’s been a long long time since I used to get upset if I was home alone on a Saturday night. But I remember it vividly and my heart goes out to all the young people experiencing that isolation and disappointment during the pandemic. My heart also Read more…
I LOVE hazelnuts! So much so, that way back in 2007, when I discovered that hazelnut trees were being propagated in the Megalong Valley, I organised a community bulk buy of bare-rooted trees. I could see their value in increasing food security in the Blue Mountains. They’re a source of Read more…
The Perfect Storm and the Perfect Antidote Today felt like the perfect storm …. globally and locally. It was a day of extreme overwhelm. The international crisis of Russia invading Ukraine, and the local crises caused by torrential rainfall in the Blue Mountains … all overlaid with the ongoing pandemic. Read more…
The toothpaste dilemma? Oral care products can’t be accepted in your recycling bin. This includes toothpaste tubes and caps, manual toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, toothbrush and toothpaste tube plastic packaging, and floss containers. So, for my action today, as I had to make a trip into Katoomba anyway, I dropped Read more…
Sashiko Denim Repair I wonder if anyone has worked out a way to measure the impact of sheer and unadulterated joy on planetary health? This afternoon I did something so unexpected and creative that I’m still basking in the afterglow! When my boys left home they also left behind a Read more…