tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49650939991424346632012-02-18T09:54:15.880+10:00A co-operative of bloggers writing about how they live simple, green, frugal lives. There is a lot of helpful information here to help readers live well on less.rhonda jeannoreply@blogger.comBlogger908125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-33966954688525136232012-02-16T22:38:00.007+10:002012-02-16T22:40:47.511+10:002012-02-16T22:40:47.511+10:00

Aurora @ Island Dreaming I don't know what else to call them - most people will know what I mean by 'man' skills, much as it irks me to divide labour along gender lines in this day and age. These are the areas of production that, in peacetime at least, have been the domain of men. Perhaps we could call them hard skills, as they involve sharp edges, hard surfaces, fire and electrical currents.

Aurorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17431550733615696691noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-2141832082495258052012-02-14T19:09:00.001+10:002012-02-14T19:09:11.343+10:002012-02-14T19:09:11.343+10:00

Written by Gavin from The Greening of Gavin and Little Green Cheese. When my family and I embarked on our journey to live a more sustainable lifestyle after I had my green epiphany, little did I realise that this type of lifestyle takes a while to go from the complexity of modern society, to the simple and green lifestyle that I envisaged and yearned for.  My initial motivation was to lower

Gavin Webberhttps://profiles.google.com/102630496897676633678noreply@blogger.com17Melton West, Australia-37.6777778 144.5686375-38.081510800000004 143.9369235 -37.2740448 145.20035149999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-35908777320860117022012-02-13T08:00:00.000+10:002012-02-13T08:00:01.434+10:002012-02-13T08:00:01.434+10:00

by Jemma at Time for a Little SomethingI really struggled to come up with a recipe to post for you this time! I usually have loads of simple, healthy and inexpensive recipes just waiting to be shared, but this time, I was scraping the barrel.Maybe it's the time of year. We're eating loads of beautiful fresh produce from the very cheap local markets, and I guess I feel that we have more budget

Jemmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05707195938471292001noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-26826680766801425112012-02-11T08:40:00.000+10:002012-02-11T08:40:01.611+10:002012-02-11T08:40:01.611+10:00

by Linda from The Witches Kitchen I have taken to getting a cup of takeaway coffee on my way to work lately. I used to always just make a cup myself, but the café  has the best skinny latté. It's a little treat I really enjoy, and it took me a shamefully long time to actually realise how many takeaway coffee cups I was throwing away. I live near a small country town. I didn't want to make a

Linda Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12756953372506344907noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-1608348029096586272012-02-09T00:00:00.002+10:002012-02-09T00:00:02.249+10:002012-02-09T00:00:02.249+10:00

by Amanda of Amanda BrookeTomorrow we are collecting my nephews and bringing them home to stay with us for a few days. I am looking forward to getting to know the 'little men' that I mostly see throughout the year only when we celebrate birthdays and Christmas. They are both under 5 and I have been planning some play experiences to keep them happy and occupied whilst my own children are at

Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09597947761029354250noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-46130956765515725782012-02-08T01:35:00.000+10:002012-02-08T01:35:20.301+10:002012-02-08T01:35:20.301+10:00

by Throwback at Trapper Creek Cooking from scratch doesn't necessarily come to mind when one thinks of convenience foods. We have been trained for several generations to purchase ready-made goods. It started out innocent enough, but now people are yearning to go back to an earlier time and sets of skills and do more for themselves. Whether it be cooking, gardening, farming, or other lost

Throwback at Trapper Creekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12418370592659531735noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-86539585551177175212012-02-07T20:00:00.000+10:002012-02-08T09:25:43.756+10:002012-02-08T09:25:43.756+10:00

Posted by Bel from Spiral Garden Today my friend and I, with our nine children (between us) made all sorts of candles from beeswax - most of it from her beehives. Firstly, we gathered materials outdoors - old tables, aprons, gas burners, old pots and bowls, jars and tins, newspaper, pop sticks and blu tack.  With so many people, mostly children, candle-making is a messy activity!  We also had

Belhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15269898358066713252noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-7055465099992164532012-02-06T13:56:00.000+10:002012-02-06T13:56:41.116+10:002012-02-06T13:56:41.116+10:00

by Megan at The Byron Life This summer was going to be the season where I put all of those dreams of growing my own food into action. I prepared the veggie beds, sowed the seeds and watched in awe as everything took off and grew, grew, grew... success! Well, so I thought. Nature had some other plans... We've just had the coldest start to summer in 50 years and the rain we've had, oh my,

Megan.K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03264440929071046671noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-55750698029974019492012-02-05T19:26:00.002+10:002012-02-06T11:04:47.338+10:002012-02-06T11:04:47.338+10:00

By: Notes From The Frugal TrenchesIt is days like these when we have nowhere to go and no real commitments, that I wonder why it isn't possible to be still more often. Today I declared it was a "home day". And just what is a home day? A day where we never leave home; no shoes need to be put on, no hats, scarves or gloves need to be tackled. It's a day where I stand at the window, cup of tea in

Notes From The Frugal Trencheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00047687598677272569noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-76603966940197239902012-02-04T06:00:00.001+10:002012-02-04T06:57:24.599+10:002012-02-04T06:57:24.599+10:00

by EilleenConsumption RebellionHello everyone!I am currently writing this blog post in a hotel in Sydney far away from my home in ONC (Our Nation's Capital). It is the last weekend before the end of school holidays, so my children and I thought we'd come up to our nation's largest city and have some fun. I love Sydney. I enjoy many of the things this city has to offer. I even enjoy the hustle

Eilleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234465657790552289noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-65220238848075178212012-02-03T08:00:00.000+10:002012-02-04T05:02:59.419+10:002012-02-04T05:02:59.419+10:00

by Sadge, at Firesign Farm A wry smile crept across my face as I read my co-writer Aurora's post, immediately preceding my day to write. I have a comfortable morning routine, honed over many years. Or had, shall I say? My husband, transitioning into retirement, now has put everything into disarray. Many of the same things still get done: breakfast cooked, dishes washed, a load of laundry

Sadgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01953324909028095434noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-29719879458383333832012-02-02T19:43:00.000+10:002012-02-02T19:43:42.690+10:002012-02-02T19:43:42.690+10:00

By Aurora @ Island Dreaming Keeping house doesn't come naturally to me. There are aspects of it I love - gardening springs to mind. There are aspects I despise - washing up in particular. The rest of domestic life falls somewhere in between theses extremes, more often than not skewed towards the negative end of the scale. My natural inclination is to spend a lot of my time living in my own

Aurorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17431550733615696691noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-21137192452280130102012-01-31T08:30:00.000+10:002012-01-31T08:30:00.266+10:002012-01-31T08:30:00.266+10:00

written by Gavin from The Greening of Gavin This article is a re-post from my personal blog. Not many backyard chicken urban farmers think about the return on investment of their flock very much, as chickens are more of a passion than a business, and as I have mentioned in previous posts about chickens, not only are they great pets, are willing workers in the garden, they also lay the

Gavin Webberhttps://profiles.google.com/102630496897676633678noreply@blogger.com9Melton West, Australia-37.6777778 144.5686375-37.7280473 144.48967349999998 -37.6275083 144.6476015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-13796192297601022752012-01-30T08:00:00.001+10:002012-01-30T08:00:01.645+10:002012-01-30T08:00:01.645+10:00

by Jemma at Time for a Little SomethingI think every home cook should have a couple of tricks up their sleeve to make a filling, healthy, comforting meal at short notice, with just a few inexpensive staple ingredients. I have four or five recipes like this, and they are my best friends on evenings when I feel hungry, flustered and busy, and just need to get something on the table. I think that

Jemmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05707195938471292001noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-49924681417603687352012-01-29T08:28:00.001+10:002012-01-30T09:03:25.592+10:002012-01-30T09:03:25.592+10:00

by Danelle Stamps at The Stamps Family Farm There are some days when farming and simple living are anything but simple. There are some days where living this life, caring for animals and land and people is just so breathtakingly hard that doing chores in -40 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures with 60 miles per hour winds is preferable to facing the daily realities of farming.  Animals die. Crops get

Mama Podkaynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17426961183153387383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-53877439954048612582012-01-28T10:44:00.000+10:002012-01-28T10:46:43.318+10:002012-01-28T10:46:43.318+10:00

by Linda from The Witches Kitchen I've ticked off one of my New Year's Resolutions. We've just come home from a week in wild weather at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island - one of the most beautiful wild places on earth. I went swimming in the surf every day, collected seaweed for my seaweed brew, and walked around North Gorge every morning. North Gorge walk at Point Lookout is

Linda Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12756953372506344907noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-62551074873534134222012-01-27T10:09:00.001+10:002012-01-27T14:37:50.006+10:002012-01-27T14:37:50.006+10:00

by Rhonda at Down to Earth When we first moved into our current home, we made quite a few changes. The house had been lived in by an older couple and some of the things that suited them didn't suit us. We pulled up the carpet and laid a wood floor, we changed the kitchen, added verandahs front and back and put in gardens and the chook house. We, although we didn't know it at the time, were

rhonda jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-73584170964266718542012-01-26T00:00:00.005+10:002012-01-26T00:00:02.084+10:002012-01-26T00:00:02.084+10:00

by Amanda of Amanda BrookeIn recent months our youngest son has had his wee baby teeth cleaned with a clean damp cloth. Last week he took the next step up to a junior size toothbrush and toothpaste. It is an exciting time as he explores the new sensation of flavoured paste and a brush being stuck in his mouth with bristles on it!You can start cleaning your children's teeth from the time that the

Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09597947761029354250noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-69994437173811313922012-01-24T09:54:00.000+10:002012-01-25T10:10:43.905+10:002012-01-25T10:10:43.905+10:00

Posted by Bel from Spiral Garden Last year, I wrote about reskilling here.  And just this week I was thinking that reskilling really is a way of life for us now.  We're actively learning to do new things all the time. image from energybulletin.net Some of the things I have learned to do in the past year or so: - different ways to grow sprouts - making toothpaste and other personal care

Belhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15269898358066713252noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-79927744690915878672012-01-23T15:52:00.001+10:002012-01-23T16:14:21.565+10:002012-01-23T16:14:21.565+10:00

by Megan @ The Byron Life One of the surprise learning curves for me since making a commitment to living more frugally has been how neatly it fits with my passion for creativity.   I am a writer, a photographer, a crafter and former art student and I truly enjoy creating things; either for functionality or simply for the pure love of the creative process. It may come as a surprise to

Megan.K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03264440929071046671noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-84793550073711392452012-01-21T11:05:00.003+10:002012-01-21T11:09:51.079+10:002012-01-21T11:09:51.079+10:00

by EilleenConsumption RebellionHello everyone!I hope you are all well. A few months ago, I attended the launch of Sharing Young Women's Stories - a campaign run by Equality Rights Alliance to fight negative body image. It was a great night and I felt very privileged that I was able to talk to many inspiring people doing good work.Postcards being handed out at the launch. Photo by GR from

Eilleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10234465657790552289noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-34694453706487421182012-01-20T06:36:00.000+10:002012-01-20T06:52:27.336+10:002012-01-20T06:52:27.336+10:00

by Sadge, at Firesign Farm Ah - a new year, accompanied by those ubiquitous resolutions. Now, myself, I'm at the age where strength and flexibility are at the use-it-or-lose-it stage. And since there are still a lot of items on my bucket list that require just those qualities, plus endurance, I certainly don't want to "lose it." I already try for at least 30 minutes cardio workout, five times a

Sadgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01953324909028095434noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-57908762357910751352012-01-19T20:38:00.000+10:002012-01-19T20:38:10.315+10:002012-01-19T20:38:10.315+10:00

By Aurora @ Island Dreaming   Since gaining our allotment last year, our patio container garden has fallen by the wayside a little, which I have spoken about before.We have lots of large deep pots standing empty for much of the year, being dug over by cats and colonized by weeds. I have been debating how best to use the patio for some months. Patios have their advantages and disadvantages

Aurorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17431550733615696691noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-83360688857349831702012-01-17T09:14:00.001+10:002012-01-17T09:14:41.493+10:002012-01-17T09:14:41.493+10:00

written by Gavin from Little Green Cheese and The Greening of Gavin. When making a semi hard cheese, one is usually left with a large volume of whey (the milky leftover water).  I don't like wasting this by-product, so I usually make Whey Ricotta.  It is easy to make and a very versatile soft cheese, that can be used in may meals! Anyway, the process for this cheese is very simple, and I caught

Gavin Webberhttps://profiles.google.com/102630496897676633678noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4965093999142434663.post-30775568045023186322012-01-16T12:28:00.005+10:002012-01-16T12:48:39.564+10:002012-01-16T12:48:39.564+10:00

by Jemma at Time for a Little SomethingHappy New Year to the Simple, Green, Frugal community! I hope you were able to spend some relaxed time with friends and family.We're now in the middle of the New Zealand summer and, apart from a few rotten days, we've been blessed with beautiful sunshiney weather here in Wellington. I've spent part of my summer potting up a new herb garden, and I have quite

Jemmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05707195938471292001noreply@blogger.com6