Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - May 24, 2010, 8:07 am
To celebrate reaching 200 fans on the wannabeahippy facebook page, I'll be giving away some more soap. Any excuse for a celebration and to offload some more of this soap! I'm not trying to get rid of it because it's not good, I love it. But... being made from recycled oil, I have a constant su...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - May 3, 2010, 9:05 pm
Lyn Bagnall, published writer of the book "Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting" has a fantastic post on plants to start growing in May, based on your local climate, seasons and phases of the moon. There are also some general gardening reminders for Autumn. Check out her "What to grow in May 20...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - May 1, 2010, 3:58 am
The little rescue hens I got a couple of weeks ago (second group) from the Battery Hen Adoption Program were in very poor condition - a good reminder about the conditions we are actively supporting by buying cage eggs. They were pale, almost featherless, struggling to stand and walk, and generally s...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 28, 2010, 6:00 pm
Here is a free, quick and easy project to use up old newspapers and recycle them into pots that can be used to germinate seeds, strike cuttings, or to pot up seedlings. They'll reduce your garden start up costs and the best part is that they can be planted straight into the garden, meaning no ...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 26, 2010, 5:05 am
When: 30th April - 2nd May, 10am-6pm Friday and Saturday, and 10am-5pm Sunday Where: Melbourne Exhibition Centre at Southbank How much: $15 ($12 online) for adults, $10 ($8 online) for concession, kids under 18 free. Focusing on green solutions, ideas and products to help ind...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 23, 2010, 6:09 am
The Queensland Herb Society will be holding its annual Herb Awareness Weekend at Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens on 8th - 9th May from 9am - 4pm. You can expect: Information on a large range of medicinal and culinary herbs. Large variety of stalls featuring preserves, coffee, teas, spi...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 20, 2010, 7:42 pm
As if frying food in F A T isn't shameful enough, after a few uses you're left more than a couple of dollars out of pocket and with litres and litres of oil to dispose of. Oil being one of the worst pollutants of land and water - one litre of oil will contaminate over one million litres of wat...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 17, 2010, 6:54 pm
Planting reminders for April are now up on Gardenate. Just choose your climate zone from the drop down list for a table of plants good to be sown now, and what to get prepared for May. You can also sign up for reminders to be emailed to you every month to keep your kitchen garden growing year round....
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 15, 2010, 3:26 am
The two main varieties of parsley (continental flat leaf and curly) are widely used in the culinary world. What would a seafood buffet or the butcher shop window be without sprigs of parsley scattered everywhere? The plant will generally live for two years, although the second year is mainly concent...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 6, 2010, 9:57 pm
Officeoriginair for Royal VKB Starting a container garden is an ideal way to maximise growing space in a small backyard or balcony. Even if you can only fit in a few herbs, you'll avoid being subjected to buying the prepackaged bunches of lifeless slops at the supermarket. And it's SO easy! You jus...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 5, 2010, 9:07 pm
What gardener doesn't understand the feeling of satisfaction when topping up the garden beds, or planting new seeds into moist, dark compost. What used to be household or garden waste ordinarily destined for landfill, is now the life force of an organic garden. What was once alive, is now enabling l...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 4, 2010, 12:33 am
What is "relocalisation"? Basically, relocalisation is a strategy being used to build communities that rely predominantly on local food, renewable energy, transport etc and revolves around sustainable, self-sufficient practices. By using local knowledge, expertise and experience, communities are ab...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Apr 2, 2010, 8:22 am
Over the next few weeks there will be some changes in content on wannabeahippy. We'll be focusing more so on frugal, sustainable and practical ideas and information to simplify our lives and reduce our reliance on oil-based energies. I'll include information on the local Transition Town initiative, ...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Mar 31, 2010, 1:12 am
They've arrived! On the 20th of March, I drove up to the Northside of Brisbane to pick up the little battery girls. They are in infinitely better condition than most of their fellow inamtes and have adapted to their new life in record time. After the 1 hour drive to their home among the treetops, th...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Mar 15, 2010, 11:44 pm
One of the most satisfying things (for me) is ticking another item off the list of things I no longer have to purchase from the supermarket. Added to this list now is Raisin Toast/Fruit Loaf/Cinnamon Toast. This recipe is a perfect balance of spiciness, sweetness, softness, fruitiness and so many ot...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Mar 3, 2010, 1:46 am
Hi everyone (those of you who are still with me!), firstly I'd like to apologise for being so damned slack in the last year (I'd like to pretend it hasn't been that long) and not posting a single thing. Secondly, after having a personal break to get some perspective back in life, I'm ready to get b...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Mar 3, 2010, 1:46 am
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Sep 8, 2008, 5:45 pm
Thought I would show off some of my favorite kitchen tools. They make cooking so much easier and more enjoyable. None of them are electric so you can use them anywhere, even camping!! First up, mortar & pestle. Nothing you can't smash up in the mortar. You can make marinades, herb blends, flavoured ...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Sep 2, 2008, 9:18 pm
Using timber was about my last choice for the kitchen benchtops. We had a quote for some nice black granite, but the company went bust and we couldn't find another quote even close to the same price. Next in line was a stone composite, almost as expensive as the real thing, then laminate...ew. DH ge...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 30, 2008, 6:19 am
A little while ago we decided that a worm farm would be a good addition to our garden. We looked at the Can O Worms, the Reln Worm Factory and countless plans for farms made from polystyrene boxes, bath tubs etc etc. So we made our own take on all the plans and built our first worm farm today. We st...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 24, 2008, 9:36 pm
Here are some more general cleaning products that we use here instead of commercial chemical cleaners. Using a combination of these, we don't ever have to purchase cleaning products from the supermarket. Yay! Liquid Soap Bar of homemade or pure soap Water Cover the bar of soap in enough water to cov...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 24, 2008, 9:12 pm
The last thing for us to strike of the chemical list was the powder and rinse aid for the dishwasher. I think this one will have the biggest affect on our health. Now none of our cooking or eating utensils are getting drowned in poisons. Ick!! Here 'tis: Dishwashing Detergent 1 cup washing soda 1 cu...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 20, 2008, 10:45 pm
Another thing I wanted to change at our place was the use of harsh cleaning chemicals. Most products contain chemicals that cause a heap of problems for the environment and for people with allergies or chemical sensitivity. Even the majority of homemade laundry detergent recipes contained Borax (so...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 20, 2008, 1:26 am
Soap gets it's name from the latin word 'sapo' meaning soap making or saponification. This is the chemical reaction caused my mixing a fat with a strong alkali, either potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). This is the one I got: The fats used in soap are chosen based on their indi...
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Ellice H. posted an article on wannabeahippy - Aug 19, 2008, 11:07 pm
So after reading about making soap on a few different sites, finally decided to give it a whirl. All as part of my 'buy as little as possible/make as much as I can' mission. Here we go! I used the the soap calculator found here to get the correct amount of fat/water/lye. It's a pretty touchy recipe ...
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