Wow it’s been a busy one. 2012 was a good year but wow 2013 has been amazing. I thought I’d do a month by month break down of the big events or my favoruite posts from that month.
January
Chickens!!! woop woop the girls finally arrived. After much work was done on building a chook coop and preparing for them they finally arrived. I can now officially call our property a homestead or urban farm ha ha. I shared some of my christmas gifts that I’d made friends and family such as my seed bombs, compost tumbler, and my cranberry and white chocolate oaty buscuits in a jar.
February
My angel Gabriel was born. With a hiss and a roar and welcome to the world he came. I also shared what I put in my hospital bag which every mother to be might need/ want. Plus how to grow saffron and our rainwater harvesting system.
March
See how I store my food or leftovers in the freezer reusing glass storage. Being a new parent again I shared ecogifts for new parents plus the much misunderstood vegetable silverbeet.
April
April was a great month for food. I made these super yummy banana and cranberry muffins as a great way to use up old bananas. These freeze really well and are great for lunchboxes and best of all use honey and are sugar free. Mixed spice apple fruit leathers and apple, almond and honey muffins are both great ways to use up apples. I also made my own ice cream (beetroot and chocolate) for the first time.
May
Being a mother of two is certainly very different to being the mother of one I shared some motherhood truths. This post was written when Gabriel was little so this post is really some truths of how I was feeling at the time plus my favourite ten baby helpers.
June
We got our first eggs from our chooks! There is nothing like eating your own eggs from your own chooks. Knowing where your eggs come from is fantastic I love that I know that my eggs are truly free range. John turned three! and I share some eco tips; such as my tin foil substitute, wooden coat hangers, plus fixing curtains.
July
We took part in plastic free July. Wow what a month. I learnt so much taking part. We thought we were doing well with our plastic consumption but what a thrill to reduce as much plastic as possible it really changed our lives and we have made so many changes that we continue to do still six months later. I learnt how to buy plastic free cheese plus how much money we’ve saved buying milk powder, the top four plastic alternatives and plastic free food storage.
August
Lots going on the chickens front this month. For my birthday Mr Ecochick made me a new chicken fence to keep the chooks off my deck; we were all sick of the poop that the girls left behind and they kept coming inside. I also started reusing my own chicken egg shells to feed back to my chickens instead of buying grit.
September
I took part in zero waste week and worked hard to not have any food or any waste for a whole week. This was a really big challenge and we worked hard on how to use up all our food waste I shared how we reused old bananas and plastic/ waste free takeaways. I also learnt how to make milk powder cheese curd this was so easy and I’ll never buy ricotta again.
October
I learnt the joys of making and eating (lots) of almond and fruit truffles. These are so yummy to eat, easy to make and make wonderful gifts. I now make them all the time and add different mixtures of fruits and nuts. I shared how to clean your toilet naturally without buying any extra chemicals.
November
I began my reducing your waste series with simple steps on how to cut your waste and how I use glass to reduce ours and how you can too. I add a new no dig garden to my front lawn; in my effort to grow food and not lawns. I shared what oils we cook with and what to do with your old vegetable oils rather than consume them.
December
With December being the month of Christmas I shared eco wrapping ideas plus eco Christmas tree options. It’s the month of gifts giving and receiving. I got quails from Santa and shared food gifts you could eat yourself or make as gifts.
Wow 2013 was a great year. May 2014 be just as amazing. Happy new year everyone what was your highlight of the year?
So far the plans for 2014 are to do up Gabriel’s room (we’ve started this woop woop), then our room, redo the long hall (think homemade tongue and groove!!), chicken tunnels to different gardens, a trip to Rarotonga with my girlfriends and a family trip the States. Wow 2014 you sound amazing!
