So, I have tried a LOT of things out during this plastic free July. I made my own peanut butter nut mylk, I tried a menstrual cup, I swapped to using an oil based cleanser full time. some were a sucess, and some were a bit of a fail lol. So when I heard about going no shampoo, I thought, sure, lets give this thing a go. What is "No Poo" you might be asking? Well, 'no poo' is basically using no shampoo and using either a bar shampoo, some kind of cray cray concoction like rye flower or baking soda or just ol plain water. I actually started this whole no shampoo thing in April (it's now nearly August). I really wanted to make sure that I had a long enough time using the different methods so th
I have been making up a version of this for the past 3 years, and I use it as an "everything moisturiser", legs, arms, face, the lot. Apologies for not putting it up earlier. Every time someone asks "what do you use as a moisturiser?" or "can you tell me what you use?" I respond with "a... bunch of oils and butters and crap." I AM NOT HELPFUL. I KNOW! So here it is. It is super simple... it's just a bunch of oils and butters and crap LOLOL It is an oil based moisturiser, which I love it on my combination skin. It's super cheap and only takes 5 minutes to make. Essentially it is just oils (jojoba, raspberry seed oil, vitamin E) and butter (mango butter in this case). But I have used other oil
Reducing your waste isn't all, pretty productive gardens, herbs drying in the sun, and beautifully arranged glass jars in a food cupboard. Sometimes its random dinners because you are trying to use up the last of whats in the fridge. It is mended clothes with weird lumpy stitching because you forgot to pay attention in sewing class. Reducing your waste means having your car boot full of reusable bags, soft plastics and containers, just in case you need to get takeaway sushi. Check out my car boot reality below, filled with soft plastics, reusable bags and containers! The realities of reducing your waste means still using your plastic pegs and dish brushes till they die a terrible death in yo
With winter here, I have been trying to get vitamin c and honey into the kids but they aren't too keen on having it in drink form... although they will happily eat honey off a spoon on occasion. These gummy bears need to be kept in a jar the fridge and will last a week or so, they are softer than gummy bears that you would buy from the shops as they don't have white sugar in it to solidify it. They are like a more solid jelly consistancy :) Ingredients: 1 cup orange juice 1 tablespoon lemon juice 4 tablespoons honey 4 tablespoon geletine Beetroot juice (optional) I have a little gummy bear mold but you could also put the mix onto a bowl and then cut it out into little squares. Instructions:
'Freedom Song' is a powerful book of pictures and words with the theme "Love conquers all". I grew up with books like this in my house, so for me is is very familiar. My mother is an amazing artist, and growing up there were always books with pages of art and poetry on the bookshelf. Once I submitted a project about someone I admired that featured in a book in my home... my teacher got so excited and thought I had written about Jesus... I had not, it was Michelangelo lol. Art has always been around me. It was originally written many years ago by Emma and was resurrected in her life several times when events beyond her control made her question life. When she needed to try and make sense of e
I have a weird (maybe not so weird) love/hate relationship with the zoo. Many know about my irrational fear of large cats... I even messaged the zoo when I found out that they walked the cheetahs around the zoo. Cue crazy large cat lady... in a crazy bad way lol.... The Zoo's response actually didn't alleviate any fears, it just made me Google "cheetah attacks on humans" for the next day lol. But it all goes further than imagining the cats escaping and attacking me... I think it goes far deeper than that. They are powerful, beautiful creatures and I genuinely really hate seeing animals in captivity, it makes me sad, I wonder if they are sad, bored, I wonder if they are angry? Do they know wh
Make your own coffee body scrub with finely ground coffee, brown sugar, fine Himalayan sea salt and kaolin clay. It feels super amazing on your skin. This recipe also has a teaspoon of jojoba oil mixed in too. Ingredients: 1/2 cup fine ground coffee 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup fine Himalayan sea salt 3 tablespoons kaolin clay 2 teaspoon jojoba oil Mix together with a spoon. I find it easier to mix the jojoba oil in with the salt separately, so it incorporates better.
Some might think... Why the heck is this even a blog? Some labels are so awesome they just peel off, some you have to soak for 5 minutes and they scrape off. Sometimes you find a jar that has a label glued on by Satan himself. And NO ONE... not even you can get the damn thing off! Why would Satan create a glue so sticky? Where do you think that label is gonna go? Why are there labels like this? I don't know... I had a LOT of suggestions... Soak it for longer Eucalyptus oil Put it in the freezer Turps Meths Fly spray Lemon oil Peanut butter Coconut oil I tried a LOT of the suggestions with not that much luck with the oil based glue stickers. I learned that the glue is normally water based or
So obviously this is cake... but my husband eats it for breakfast so I named it "Breakfast cake" lol. But it has lots of good healthy things in it, things that would be great for any meal, eggs, almonds, walnuts, carrot, raisins, maple syrup and oats and it is super delicious :) I adapted it from 'the happy cookbook' and added seeds, oats, and rice flour to suit my tastes more and to keep it from breaking apart as much. Ingredients: 3 eggs 2 large finely grated carrots 2 tablespoon mixed seeds (mix of sesame, linseed, pumpkin or sunflower or whatever combo you like) 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup walnuts 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 heaped tablespoon of spice mix (I use the pepper and me "sweet grin
I give you.... the peanut butter coffee! This idea came from Natalie in one of the groups that I am in. She didn't have any cashew nut butter to make her usual nut mylk, but she did have peanut butter. So I joined in on her experiment. My peanut butter mylk was made with... 3 teaspoons peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon cocoa A dash of maple syrup and 500ml water. Wiz it up in the blender and leave it in the fridge overnight. I steamed mine in our coffee machine in the morning. It is super rich, so not something I would have every day, but really yum! It makes a super cheap nut mylk too :) You can also make other nut mylks (cashew, Almond) using the same method. Who would of thunk the peanut but
I'm not sure why I'm writing this, but for some reason I feel like I always have to explain my food eating habits. So I am trying to reduce my footprint on this earth, reducing my plastic consumption, trying to fix or mend things that I would have in the past just thrown away, I started a compost and we have reduced our outgoing landfill waste to a quarter full bin every 6 weeks or so. I am in a zero waste group and it has been put to me and many others that the only way to actually save the planet is to become vegan. Honestly, so many times a post is put up along the lines of "Who has tips on buying meat and bringing their own containers?" or "what do you do with meat bones if you only put
When I became wheat free baking became difficult. I had worked in kitchens and had been a day chef, I had baked daily scones at a vegetarian café but for some reason gluten free baking seemed like an impossible task, But this is one of the few recipes I don't tend to mess up! Ingredients: 2 cups crushed GF cornflakes 1 3/4 cup rice flour or GF flour 4 Tablespoons Cocoa 200g just melted butter 1/2 cup sugar A few drops of vanilla 1 teaspoon baking powder Mix all the ingredients together roll into balls and press them down slightly with your hand or a fork onto a baking tray. Bake for 10-12 minutes Leave to cool completely before taking them off the baking tray. Ice the biscuits with chocolate
I'M JUST A TEACHER. And you ask me what I do? You may have heard about what I do. It's probably wrong. Let me tell you what I don't do... I don't have 12 weeks holiday. I don't have a full lunchtime break. I don't have weekends off. I don't start at 9am and finish at 3pm. I don't not care. Now let me tell you what I do... I start work at 7:45am. I go home at 5pm. I start work again at 7:30pm Today I was a mediator between girls who were arguing. Yesterday I was a social worker to someone who needed help. Today I acted as a medic to a boy with a head knock. This week I had two lunchtime duties. On two other lunchtimes, I coached the school rugby team because no one else could. Last w
This Blog is literally just a shout out to the amazing businesses that I have come across or bought from, who make and sell up-cycled items from unwanted or recycled materials. I have sectioned it into decor, clothing, Jewellery and kids stuff to make it easier. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for Zero waste Christmas shopping too. Please let me know of any other businesses you know of also. Decor and art Cowen Creative - Vinyl Record Art This Kiwi designer uses vinyl records saved from the landfill and op-shops to create meaningful art Ecopots NZ Plant pots, flower pots and planters which are made from recycled plastic with a natural look. Pallet Palace NZ Unique hand made Art & Furni
