The last two times we have been up the mountain it has been cold and wintery – perfect weather for a nice big fire. Growth has slowed down significantly and the insects are hibernating. It is beautiful.
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Over the last couple of months Mark and I have ventured down south to work on clearing Dad’s property. It was an emotional first visit back in December when we couldn’t even see the road, but slowly we are beating back the lantana and other weeds to reclaim the land. Continue reading…

On Saturday the 28th of March we celebrated Earth Hour with a great bunch of friends and some wonderful food.  We had a delicious BBQ (including North Carolina pulled pork) and then took a roady up to the top of Balmoral Hill to watch the city go dark. Unfortunately there were many lights still on; especially disappointing were all the big wealthy houses immediately around us still glowing bright. On a positive note, there were several other people partying in the dark and our friends all got into the spirit of the event. We came home and continued to eat, drink and be merry by candle light until after 11pm. Continue reading…

This Christmas Mark and I decided to give each other bikes. Three months down the track I got a swanky new bike for my 30th Birthday (Mark got one too). We did look at getting second-hand bikes from www.gumtree.com.au and Bicycle Revolution but there are just not that many good bikes available. There are more second-hand dealers popping up and I recommend you check them out first because you might just find what you are after.

After a bit of research we decided that we primarily want to ride our bikes on roads and paths around the city, and I want to cycle to work. We looked at hybrid bikes, but decided against them because of the extra weight of the suspension and the energy it wastes. We both ended up getting skinny-tired commuter bikes by Specialized. The bikes have given us more freedom and are allowing us to get out and explore Brisbane. This weekend we went for a 30km ride along the river to Toowong, across to the West End, and back home.

I have started cycling to work which is about a 7km ride each way. My employer is currently paying for me to park at the King George Cycle Centre, which is a brilliant secure facility with lockers, showers, towels and other creature comforts to make cycling life easy.

By far the best Christmas present we got this year was our planter from Mark’s parents. It is called a four layer stacking garden and is perfect for growing plants in small spaces. In our case we have filled it with herbs and tomatoes. As soon as we returned from holidays we went to Northey Street City Farm to pick up some organic seedlings. We bought two types of cherry tomatoes, italian parsley, mint, bush and sweet basil, thyme, aloe vera, citronella (to help control the mossies), lemon grass, chili and rosemary. When we were visiting my aunt we also picked up a few cuttings and seedlings from her abundant garden including tumeric and another variety of citronella. Continue reading…

Since our last update we have been enjoying making our new home more green and trying out some of the great environmental initiatives here in Brisbane. Although we don’t have a backyard we just couldn’t bear throwing our scraps in the rubbish bin any longer so we have gone ahead and bought a Bokashi bin. A Bokashi bin is like a compost bin except that instead of decomposing your waste it ferments it using anaerobic bacteria. This is great for flats because it doesn’t smell. The QLD government is currently offering a 50% rebate for these bins along with a $200 rebate on water efficient appliances, so we have applied for both of these (we bought a water-efficient washer last month). So now with our recycling and our compost bins we will produce very little landfill waste. Through its fermentation process, the Bokashi bin also creates a great liquid plant food which we will use to get our herb garden up and running. We are hoping to give the solid waste it creates to a local farmer who we have been put in touch with through Food Connect. Continue reading…