Little Eco enjoyed a Purple Pear Farm Party for her recent 5th birthday. 

The party was simple, waste-free, natural, preservative-free and best of all Kate from Purple Pear did most of the work, leaving me to enjoy the day with Little Eco.

The food was simple - fruit kebabs and pop corn. A natural cordial was served in recycled glass bottles with paper straws. Farm animal drink bottle name tags, made using the you make do's old-fashioned farm party kit, were printed on recycled paper and tied on with hemp string.

There was a quick game of old-fashioned duck-duck-goose while we waited for guests to arrive. After a snack the kids went on a tour of the farm. They fed the ducks and geese, collected eggs, climbed on the tractor, we're thrilled to meet a 'real' farmer, cuddled some guinea pigs and fed the pony.

The birthday cake was a marble cake I made using natural food colours. The farm animals are schleich models that Little Eco has kept as a memento of her farm party (and were, for me, a quick and easy way to decorate the cake). The 'grass' was created by shaking some shredded coconut in a jar with green food colouring.

Then there was a seasonal story about bulbs and each child got to take home their very own baby bulb to care for. 

I love that I could out-source Little Eco's birthday party, at a time that was extremely busy for me, without compromising on any of my ideals regarding waste, food and play.

The party was much easier (for me) than last years attempt at a good-old-fashioned simple and frugal birthday party and her gardening party the year before that.

Thank you Kate for creating a truly magical party. I hope that many more children get to experience the joy of one of your parties.

For more information and to book your own organic farm birthday party contact Kate from Purple Pear Organic Farm. Purple Pear Organic Farm is in the lower Hunter Valley NSW, around 40 minutes from Newcastle.

View pictures from a previous Purple Pear farm party here.

Whats your top tip for making birthday parties less complicated and easier?

And speaking of parties - a set of Lyra pencils would make a great birthday gift. Head on over here to enter a giveaway for a set from Dragonfly Toys.

“The materials that we give our children to create with send them a message about how we value their creative endeavours, their time, and their work. When we care for and value their materials, so will our children. If we invest resources and treat the materials with respect, our children will know that their work is important to us. They will know we believe they are worthy of the “good stuff”.        Amanda Soule, The Creative Family.

I read these words when Little Eco was still a baby. They struck a chord with me and have influenced the type of art supplies I've bought for her and the space we’ve dedicated for her creativity.

Little Eco's art desk takes pride of place in the corner of our kitchen and her painting table is permanently set up on our verandah.

I buy her few art materials and favour quality over quantity. Quality art supplies make creating easier and also mean less clutter and less waste.

Giveaway from Dragonfly Toys

Little Eco (and I) particularly love Lyra pencils, so when Tracie from Dragonfly Toys offered to run a giveaway for Little Eco Footprints readers I jumped at the chance for one of my readers to win a set of these pencils.

Would you like to win a Waldorf Selection of Lyra pencils? 

To enter head on over to Dragonfly Toys and check out their products (which are delightfully categorised into imagine, create, listen, read, live, give, and baby) and pop back here and leave a comment sharing which of their products you love the most and why.

Entries close midnight (Australian EST) Wednesday 6th June 2012.

One entry per person, please. Sorry, entries only open to those with Australian addresses.

The winner will be chosen by Random Number Generator and will be announced here in this post on the Thursday morning. I'll contact the winner directly by email. Good luck.

I’ve been guzzling Lemon Balm and Rosemary tea this week. I’ve had a rotten flu and apparently both Lemon Balm and Rosemary have antiviral properties.

To make the tea I pick a few generous sprigs of Lemon Balm and a small sprig of Rosemary, add hot water, and brew for at least 10 minutes.

I love being able to step out into the garden and pick herbs for nourishing homemade tea. Besides Lemon Balm and Rosemary, the only other ‘tea friendly’ herbs I’m growing at the moment are Mint and Lemon Grass, so I’ve decided to make a ‘wish list’ of herbs I’d like to grow for tea.

Herbal teas that are easy to grow at home

• Brahmi
• Chamomile
• Echinacea
• Fennel seeds
• Ginger
• Lemon Balm
• Lemon Grass
• Lemon Verbena
• Mint
• Nettle
• Peppermint
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Stevia
• Thyme
• Tulsi
• Winter Tarragon

What have I missed? What’s your favourite herbal tea? Do you grow any tea herbs at home?

Edited: I've updated the list to include your suggestions. Thank you!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

The Little Eco Footprints family is now four and a half months into the skipping the supermarket challenge - skipping supermarkets, shopping malls and super chains.

Until a month or so ago the challenge was a bit of a non-issue and was a restriction we hardly noticed. We've continued to get a weekly veggie box through a Community Supported Agriculture farm and regularly pop into our local greengrocer for dairy and fruit. I get pantry staples like nuts, dried fruit, pulses and rice through a local mum-run bulk-buying club (who orders from Honest to Goodness) and we can usually find anything else we need at either the farmer’s markets or one of the local organic food stores in our neighbourhood.

I've even started buying goats milk in recycled bottles direct from a local farm.

But everything went down-hill the morning after one particularly tough training walk. At 6am the following morning I pleaded with Daddy Eco to pop into the supermarket to buy some bacon, orange juice and epsom salts. He spotted an opportunity and returned shortly after with my requests, along with almost 100 rolls of toilet paper, a couple of HUGE boxes of weet bix and a jar of vegemite. The check-out girl asked him if he was having a party. That would be one weird party!?

I've also broken the 'shopping malls' and 'super chains' bit of the challenge too. All Little Eco wanted for her recent birthday was a mermaid outfit. I couldn't find any suitable fabric in my stash nor at the couple of op shops I visited. So I popped into Spotlight and Little Eco chose some suitably sparkly material. Fast forward to the day before her birthday and I still hadn't found the time or energy to make the costume. So I sent my Mum off to a super chain toy store in a nearby shopping mall to buy a mass-produced and branded mermaid outfit. Definitely a low point!

Since then we've given in to the supermarket urge a couple of times, but we're determined to get back on track from now on.

How about you? Are you skipping supermarkets, shopping malls and super-chains? Or are you shopping less at the supermarket these days?

Feel free to leave a link to any posts you have written about changing the way you shop or the skipping the supermarket challenge in the comments section so that we can pop over and read about how you are going.

There's only one day left to enter the Australian made sock giveaway. Entries close midnight wednesday.