SOMETHING TO “BAG” OUT!

Karina’s Environmental Cooking Tip! 

There are many things you can ‘bag’ out, or criticise, in regards to real sustainable eating practices within the world. When it comes to food shopping, however, one way to not be ‘bag’ged out, would be to use a recyclable bag! This way, you don’t need to waste precious plastic bags every time you shop. You’re also doing your bit to help the environment.

Other sustainable practices include:

• Cutting down on waste by buying fresh, unwrapped produce.
• Avoid buying products with excessive packaging
• Reuse all you can, e.g. grocery bags and glass jars
• Recycle all you can, e.g. cardboard, paper and acceptable plastics from food products

Enjoy!

Karina x

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

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DON’T KNOCK IT, “ROCK”IT!

Karina’s Rocket Environmental Cooking Tip!

This will be a very short and sweet Environmental Cooking Tip, by yours truly, Karina.

If you have sprouting Rocket during spring, you can easily and quickly plant the seeds. All you need to do is wait until the middle of spring, or until you see pods or ‘bulbs’ growing out of your Rocket herb. Crack the rocket pod open, scrape all the seeds out of your pods, pant all the seeds directly into soil, then cover lightly with soil. New shoots will form within days!

You will be laughing with how much rocket you can harvest!

Happy Gardening all!

Have fun in the garden!

Karina x

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

HOW HAVE YOU “BEAN”?

Karina’s Environmental Cooking Tips!

Above is a photo I took today of one of my many vegetables I’m growing at the moment: Beans. Since I’ve been gardening a lot lately, I can say with confidence, that I have “bean” great! How have you “bean”?

I would like to share some of my sustainable gardening tips for happy vegetables and an even happier planet, as below:

• Use natural bamboo (as above) to use as a natural plant support framework, for when the plants would like to crawl up structures in order to grow. I have used natural bamboo grown over my neighbours fence, which had become a bit of a weed. Instead of buying plastic stalks, help the planet and your budget, by using natural bamboo.
• If you don’t have access to natural bamboo, use any dead branch you may find which has fallen from trees. This will also help the planet and your budget, by using natural branches.
• If you don’t have enough space in your backyard to have a garden, nor a few pots around your dwelling, then you can always join a community garden. You will receive similar benefits of growing your own vegetables, along with meeting like-minded green-thumbs. Win-win!
• Try to take full advantage of your plants natural climbing abilities and try not to use garden ties, unless the plant needs them. By using either bamboo or dead tree branches, this will help the planet, your budget and your time 🙂

Have fun in the garden!

Enjoy!

Karina x

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

Blooming Balls!

Environmental Tip: Making Seedballs, thanks to http://www.milkwood.net !

Remember my original post, as per the below, back in June? Well, true to form, three months later, without planting, these seed balls have now developed into seedlings! I thought you’d like to see the results of how great they really are! The best part was, I didn’t even need to plant them!

Have fun in the garden!

Enjoy!

Karina x

HAVING A ‘BALL’ OF A TIME!

June 17, 20158 CommentsEdit

Environmental Tip: Making Seedballs, thanks to http://www.milkwood.net !

 

On the 31/05/15, Milkwood held a free class on making seed balls and talking permaculture. I was engaged the whole time and even got to make my own seed balls, then take them home! What an awesome day!

All credit goes to http://www.milkwood.net for showing me how to make Seedballs, what they are and how good they are for the environment.

Seedballs are made from the below ingredients:

– 3 parts clay

– 1 part compost

– 1 part seeds (we used a combination of lettuce seeds and parsley seeds)

– Enough water (just to make it damp enough to roll into balls)

The method:

Mix three parts clay, with one part compost, then one part seeds (whichever vegetable seeds you like), then pour just enough water to make the mixture moist.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into tiny balls (about 1.5 cm in diameter).

Lay out to dry in a sheltered/shady position for approximately 2 days, then store with plenty of ventilation, until you’re ready to use them.

Using the Beauty:

Simply roll these little beauties into your veggie garden, on the ground wherever there is soil, or simply on the grass in your backyard. It really is this simple.

How these Beauties Work:

Once these beauties make contact with the soil, all they need is a heavy downpour of water, be this by the rain, or man-made rain i.e. the tap. The idea behind these Seedballs, is that the seeds within the Seedball, become protected right until they germinate. This means that birds will not be able to peck at these seeds, as the seeds become protected within this clay/compost/seed/water mixture, allowing the plant to fully develop and to become resilient to wildlife.

Now this, people, is such a clever idea! I’ve got a few at home ready to simply roll into my garden!

Now, you can say you have had a ‘ball’ of a time!

Have fun in the garden!

Karina x

That looks ‘Grate!’

Karina’s Environmental Cooking Tip!

When you next consider buying kitchen gadgets, give vintage gear a go! Not only do they look ‘grate,’ they also help the environment remain beautiful, by reducing the consumer demand for new utensils. This in turn: reduces consumption, reuses what’s already there, is usually cheaper, makes your kitchen look ‘grate’ because of your vintage ‘grater’ and is probably built to last!

Now, what’s not to feel ‘grate’ about this!

Have fun in the kitchen!

Karina x

Having a ‘ball’ of a time!

Environmental Tip: Making Seedballs, thanks to http://www.milkwood.net !

On the 31/05/15, Milkwood held a free class on making seed balls and talking permaculture. I was engaged the whole time and even got to make my own seed balls, then take them home! What an awesome day!

All credit goes to http://www.milkwood.net for showing me how to make Seedballs, what they are and how good they are for the environment.

Seedballs are made from the below ingredients:

– 3 parts clay

– 1 part compost

– 1 part seeds (we used a combination of lettuce seeds and parsley seeds)

– Enough water (just to make it damp enough to roll into balls)

The method:

Mix three parts clay, with one part compost, then one part seeds (whichever vegetable seeds you like), then pour just enough water to make the mixture moist.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into tiny balls (about 1.5 cm in diameter).

Lay out to dry in a sheltered/shady position for approximately 2 days, then store with plenty of ventilation, until you’re ready to use them.

Using the Beauty:

Simply roll these little beauties into your veggie garden, on the ground wherever there is soil, or simply on the grass in your backyard. It really is this simple.

How these Beauties Work:

Once these beauties make contact with the soil, all they need is a heavy downpour of water, be this by the rain, or man-made rain i.e. the tap. The idea behind these Seedballs, is that the seeds within the Seedball, become protected right until they germinate. This means that birds will not be able to peck at these seeds, as the seeds become protected within this clay/compost/seed/water mixture, allowing the plant to fully develop and to become resilient to wildlife.

Now this, people, is such a clever idea! I’ve got a few at home ready to simply roll into my garden!

Now, you can say you have had a ‘ball’ of a time!

Have fun in the garden!

Karina x

Better ‘Hop’ to it!

Karina’s ‘Fresh’ Environmental Cooking Tip!

Pictured far left: Tamie, my Dog.

Pictured far right: Floppy.

My brother has a rabbit. His name is Floppy, however, he has many nick names. Apart from Floppy’s lovely nature and beautiful looks, he is also good for another thing. This thing is fertilisation for the garden!

I only started using rabbit poo for fertilising the garden about a few weeks ago, however, we have had Floppy for around ten years! The benefits to my vegetable garden have doubled! The crop is greener, fuller and tastier! The best thing is, you don’t need to pay for a fertiliser! This one is a very green environmental tip, since the rabbit poo goes straight from the ground, into the garden, by one scoop from the shovel! Beware not to over-fertilise, a very small amount of rabbit poo is sufficient, otherwise, you may do more harm than good!

Rabbit poo is one of the best manures for your gardens, since it is rich in many nutrients! One added benefit is that rabbit poo does not have an offensive odour, as some manures do.

Thanks Floppy, you’re the best!

Have fun in the garden!

Enjoy!

Karina x