10 tips for a green, clean home

10 very handy tips we found at the Green Villages Website!

There’s a treasure trove of natural cleaning gems as close as your pantry. Here’s our top tips for an au natural clean.

1. Do it daily
   If you’re as averse to cleaning as we are, do a little bit, often. By spending 15 minutes every morning or night, you’ll be less likely to resort to the chemical artillery when confronted by furry green shower tiles.
2. Go Microfibre
   Get your hands on a good-quality microfibre cloth. They last forever and let you clean, dust and polish with nothing more than a splash of water.
3. Keep a kit
   Grab staples like bicarb soda, white vinegar, pure soap or soap flakes, washing soda, borax, lemons and eucalyptus oil from your local supermarket. Keep jars with lids, spray bottles, rags and old toothbrushes to mix, store and clean.
4. A new loo
   Make your toilet bowl sparkle: simply pour in a cup of white vinegar and leave overnight. Sprinkle with bicarb if really in need of some love. Scrub with a toilet brush in the morning and wipe over the rest with eucalyptus oil and a soft cloth.
5. Oven lovin’
   If you’ve let your oven go to pot, mix bicarb soda into a paste with water, cover the inside and turn it on low for 10 minutes. The heat melts the grease and the bicarb absorbs it. When it dries, just scoop it out. Voila!
6. Window patrol
   Add 50/50 white vinegar and water to a spray bottle. If the glass is really grotty, wipe with warm soapy water. Then spray with your vinegar mix and wipe with a microfibre cloth until crystal clear.
7. Hot pots
   If your pots are holding burnt remnants of yesterday’s omelette, pour a thick layer of bicarb over the remains, sprinkle with water and leave to soak overnight.
8. All purpose
   Mix 1 tsp lavender oil with a litre of water for an all-round surface cleaner. Lavender calms and smells celestial; it’s also a powerful natural antiseptic. 
9. Lemon fresh
   Lemons add zing to your meals, and they’re a sweet-smelling cleaner, too. Use the cut side of half a lemon to clean chopping boards or dip in salt and rub over your bath to shift stubborn stains.
10. Go easy
    Don’t be brainwashed into thinking all germs are evil. The truth is, a little dust or spill is hardly worthy of reaching for the surface spray. A good wipe with a damp cloth often does the trick – leaving more time to do fun stuff!

The Good Hood

The City of Sydney came up with another pretty cool initiative, The Good Hood, it's map in which you can pin a photo of some good that you have been doing, and here in Chippendale we are doing lots and lots of good, so lets fill the map and show the whole of Sydney how it's done!

"The Good Hood is about celebrating all the Good things we're doing to make Sydney a better place. Simply snap a photo of your Good – think recycling, reusing, making, growing and living more sustainably – and upload it to our map of Sydney for your chance to win one of three super prizes (of course, the prizes are all pretty Good too!)

There are loads of Good things happening every day in Sydney, in our homes, schools, on the way to work, at mates' places and in our city villages. We want to hear about all the Good stuff you're doing so feel free to pin as many photos of as many Good things as you can."

Click here to go to the webpage and read more!

The Ride on Lunch by the Youth Food Movement

Exciting! join us at this very cool event created by the ever awesome Youth Food Movement!

Free truckload of mulch for our verge gardens!!

Today we received a massive truckload of mulch to protect our gardens from the heat that is about to come; and it was free!! 

MulchNet has kindly donated the mix of beautiful mulch this afternoon, the lovely Wally dropped it off to us, and it is all now at the Pine St Creative Arts Centre, who also very kindly let us store it by our garden shed(thank you Phillip for giving Wally a hand! much appretiated!)

Now, we should all help to move it quickly to our verge gardens before it all blows away or the kids on school holidays find it!

If you have a balcony or backyard garden please also help yourself to some!

Happy Mulching everyone!

Minimising your impact on the environment when on holidays!

Green Villages top ten tips on being a sustainable traveller:

1. Do your homework
Yes, we know the words homework and holiday don’t sound right together, but find out about your destination before you go. You may not want to whale watch in a country that regularly flouts moratoriums on whale hunting, or take a wildlife safari in a country with little commitment to conservation.

2. Your own backyard
Australia and New Zealand are renowned for their natural beauty and provide high quality eco tour experiences – and you’ll be using far less fossil fuels in getting there.

3. Respect native flora and fauna
Take pictures not petals, and don’t feed animals. Animals that are fed by eager tourists become less able to forage for themselves.

4. Shop local and support local
Buying local crafts, food and clothing at markets and small stores can be fun – and you’ll be supporting local trades, which helps the local economy.

5. Go local in your accommodation
Smaller local hotels usually have a lower environmental impact and employ local people. They also give you a more unique experience.

6. Think about your rubbish
Many places don’t have safe landfills or recycling facilities so pack as few disposables as possible. Remove wrappings from battery packs and take dead batteries home. Drinking bottled water can prevent illness, if it’s possible to refill bottles at a clean source, do.

7. Walk
Walking is the best way to experience a place and to interact with the people. It’s also a great way to keep fit, particularly if you’re over-indulging in local food. Local transport can also be a great way to see a country at close-hand – and keep your carbon footprint smaller.

8. Volunteer
Taking a holiday doesn’t have to mean lazing on a beach. Doing something useful can be an invigorating experience, and you can make a valuable contribution. Many countries offer volunteer programs for travellers, giving you a truly unique insight into the place you’re visiting, and helping you to forge lasting connections with people from around the world.

9. Carbon offset
Find out about carbon offsets for flights and adventure experiences, with many companies now offering opportunities to purchase green credits.

10. Tread lightly
No matter where you’re staying, don’t take long showers, remember to turn lights off, and try not to leave food on your plate at the end of a meal – it’s as wasteful as leaving a tap running!

To read full article click here.

Our verge gardens on the map!

List of community gardens on the City of Sydney council, found at the Green Villages website, complete with maps, directions, info and redirection to websites. We are there, standing proud! Check it out!

Click here to see the complete list of gardens around us!

Become a balcony garden bandit

Have a read of this clever tips collected from the Green Villages website on how to start your balcony veggie garden:

"Heard all the buzz about balcony gardens? Hankering to literally get your hands dirty and start subtly mentioning how good your homegrown herbs are? Living in an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t cultivate your own small patch of earth. Not only will you score a beautiful balcony garden, you’ll enjoy the benefits of gardening to feed the body and nourish the soul. Here are our top tips to get you on your way.

1. Step outside
Before you start, spend some time outside. Realistically assess your ‘plot’ – is it sunny all day, shady and cool, windy, in the direct face of the southerlies? This will help you choose the best plants to plant.

2. Create a wind-break
High-rise balconies – even if they’re only one or two floors above ground – are often affected by wind. And if there’s a sea view, expect those breezes to be salty. If possible, erect a windbreak using a trellis with a tough climber. Plant in heavy pots that won’t blow over, and provide regular water to counteract the drying effect of the breezes.

3. Sun or shade?
Balcony gardens usually get light from only one direction – work out the aspect and plant accordingly. The ideal is north or north-east facing. If you’re lucky enough to face this way, most plants will grow. East and south-facing balconies need shade tolerant plants. If you’ve got a west-facing balcony, go for tough heat and sun-tolerant plants like rosemary, carrots and pumpkins.

4. Maximise your space
You mightn’t have an extensive acreage, but there’s no reason why you can’t maximise the vertical space on a balcony. Use hanging baskets and pots (could be time to unleash that secret love of macramé), as well as benches – with the sun-loving plants on top and the shady ones underneath.

5. Get composting
If you’ve got room, a small worm farm on your balcony not only diverts your organic waste from landfill, it also produces wonderful food for your plants. There are also small benchtop composting bins available for lovely little spaces.

6. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Herbs don’t require much space and if you’re keen on starting an edible garden, they’re often the best way to begin. Simon & Garfunkel knew what they were talking about. 

7. Time for fruit and vegies
Vegies such as garlic, tomatoes and carrots can grow in pots, and you can try snow peas and beans on a trellis. There are also dwarf varieties of citrus, and smaller fruit trees such as cumquats that not only look beautiful, but are perfect for a mean marmalade.

8. Balcony buddies
Companion planting can really help in keeping pests at bay. Marigolds have an offensive smell for most bugs, nasturtiums protect strawberries, and organic spray repellents such as garlic oil can keep away the nasties.

9. A little love
All gardens need a little regular love. It’s a matter of keeping an eye on those pests and acting before there’s an infestation, using organic plant food and of course, regular watering. One of the advantages of balcony gardening is that there’s often a lot less you need to do than you would in a bigger patch – just a few minutes a day can result in a whole lotta goodness."

To read full article and to keep up to date with free green workshops around you CLICK HERE.

Bill Mckibben on global warming for the Rolling Stone magazine

Bill Mckibben, one of the world's most respected enviromentalists and co-founder of 350.org has written an amazing article for the Rolling Stone magazine, it is a long one, but well worth a read as it really paints a very clear picture about what we are doing to our planet.

"Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe - and that make clear who the real enemy is.

By Bill Mckibben

July 19, 2012

If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.

Meteorologists reported that this spring was the warmest ever recorded for our nation – in fact, it crushed the old record by so much that it represented the "largest temperature departure from average of any season on record." The same week, Saudi authorities reported that it had rained in Mecca despite a temperature of 109 degrees, the hottest downpour in the planet's history.

Not that our leaders seemed to notice." READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

Chippendale now even has it's own coffee tree thanks to Toby's Estate!

Toby's Estate Sustainability Project attacks again! Go Toby's Estate! This week a group of their staff was out again planting some more herbs, fruit trees on our streets and even a coffee tree!!

Amazing iniciative of this beautiful fair and sustainable local coffee house that have been roasting their own beans since 1998, and now specialize in coffee, teas and chocolate, yum!! Thank you very much guys! If only more business would do what you are doing we would be living in a way better world!

On Toby's blog:

"This morning a small group of Toby’s Estate staff took to the streets of Chippendale to begin construction on our first community garden.

Michael Mobbs, from Sustainable Chippendale, led us through the basics of gardening before we planted a wide range of herbs, fruit trees and citrus trees. We also built a raised garden bed on Rose Street just behind the Toby’s Estate head office.

The most exciting new plant, now growing on Myrtle Street, is our very own K7 varietal coffee tree!! We hope that the tree will fruit sometime this year.

The team in our cafe have also harvested some green paw paws growing on Myrtle Street and will be putting together a delicious paw paw salad which will be on the menu in the coming weeks....READ FULL ARTICLE HERE."

 

For Toby's Estate story, to shop, for training or just to check out what are they up to do to www.tobysestate.com.au