Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Hello lovelies, how are you all? Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

We’re just back from a glorious two weeks in Singapore to attend a family wedding. The first thing I did when I arrived home on Christmas Eve was to make a batch of sourdough (of course). Then I whipped up some last minute Christmas presents – and realised very happily that our attempts to reduce waste this year have seeped into every part of our lives.

Let me show you what I mean. I made feuilletine chocolates…and packaged them in cardboard boxes that I’d found in the bag area at Reverse Garbage (industrial surplus)…

A batch of our spiced nuts…packed into paper bags instead of the usual plastic ones. The bags were leftover from my friend Deb’s business, and she was more than happy to trade them for some of my chocolate truffles…

I made a mountain of beeswax wraps (tutorial is here) using offcuts of Sheridan sheeting…

…and vintage patchwork cottons, all sourced from Reverse Garbage…

The wraps, as well as crocheted dishcloths, were wrapped in the rescued misprinted paper I bought earlier in the year…

…and everything was tied together with saved ribbon from last year’s gifts!

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So…as we end 2018 and our year-long waste reduction plan, here’s what we’ve learnt…

1. It’s impossible to change everything, but it’s very easy to change a lot.

And every small change makes a difference!

I hit a moment of uncertainty in the middle of the year when I was disillusioned by all the things that we weren’t able to change. Our medications come in non-recyclable packaging, whole raw chickens are only available in thick plastic, and our medicated shampoo and Sensodyne toothpaste come in bottles and tubes. The goal to be completely plastic-free seemed a long way away.

But then I realised that all our small changes had already made an impact. Our waste output has reduced from an overflowing red bin to just one small bag a week for four adults. Surprisingly, we’re also recycling less, because we’re bringing less packaging home – we try to buy things loose rather than boxed, and to cook from fresh rather than prepackaged and processed. Our water and energy usage is down on previous years, despite the extra washing, simply because I now select the “ECO” function on my machines rather than the standard wash.

I’ve been genuinely amazed at how much of a difference small changes can make! Yes, it is more work, but it’s truly not that much more. By storing my loaves in beeswax wraps, I’ve avoided using three dozen thick plastic bags this year. By switching to cloth napkins, we’ve saved 1500 paper serviettes. Mending and repairing everything from furniture to worn clothes has kept an office chair, an old laundry basket, numerous pairs of socks and many items of clothing out of landfill. Even better, we haven’t had to pay hard earned dollars to replace any of those items. It all adds up surprisingly quickly!

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2. It’s important to keep the momentum going.

We have to remind ourselves to constantly refuse-reduce-reuse-recycle. That’s important, because it’s easy to become complacent, especially when we start to notice improvements. But we’re a long way from perfect, and the planet needs us (all) to keep trying.

We were able to action most of the plan I wrote in January, but there were still some areas where we dropped the ball – most noticeably, in taking our own containers to shops and restaurants. We’ll have to work harder on that next year!

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3. Refuse-Reduce-Reuse-Recycle

There is a sale on Ebay at the moment, and I can get 10% off at my favourite Indian clothing store. And believe me, I was sorely tempted. But you know what? I don’t need any more clothes. Of all the steps in the green cycle, for me, the most important one to learn has been REFUSE. Because that’s my point of weakness and at 53, I’ve ended up with a house full of stuff.

I’m trying to improve. Over the course of this year, most of my day to day non-consumable purchases have come from the Salvos Stores or Reverse Garbage. I save my dollars to add to my fossil collection, or to indulge in traditional arts and crafts, like these gorgeous Iranian hand-beaten hand-painted copper plates from Isfahan (which I found in a wonderful shop at 64 Arab Street, Singapore, in case anyone is interested. Ask for Bobby!)…

As a society, we need to start thinking carefully about how we spend our money. Every purchase needs to be considered and challenged.

We’ve bought two big ticket items this year – Rosie the Smoker and Henry the Hotmix. Both were discussed and debated prior to purchase, and we’ve had enormous enjoyment out of them already. In budget terms, both were affordable because of the money we’d saved in other areas. It’s amazing how quickly the funds add up when “shopping” stops being a “hobby”.

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4. Model behaviour for future generations

At 53, I’m the green equivalent of a reformed smoker. I still have a house full of plastic bags and excess goods. The changes Pete and I make now are important, but they’re not nearly as significant as the impact our children will have as they start out on their adult lives. That’s the true goal – to teach those coming after us that there is a better, more earth-friendly way to live.

Small Man was an eco-warrior from way back – he took to beeswax wraps and KeepCups like a duck to water. Bless him, he won’t throw an item into the bin without asking me first. He folds all the cloth napkins, wears patched clothing, separates out any recycling that’s inadvertently ended up in the wrong bin, and carefully empties his food waste into our often stinky bokashi collection bucket…

Big Boy is slowly figuring it out. He’s so busy with work that he’ll sometimes forget his mesh bags when shopping, or bring home a bubble tea in a plastic cup. But he’s trying – he too separates out his food scraps, takes his lunch in a beeswax wrap, recycles as much as possible and brews loose leaf tea in a pot. And when it’s his turn to take out the rubbish, he’s smart enough to notice how much less there is to throw away.

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5. Spread the word

I wanted to make cloth napkins for all my friends for Christmas, but Pete felt that level of environmental evangelism was too much. “You don’t want to put folks off by giving them work they might not want”, he correctly pointed out.

So instead, I made a mountain of beeswax wraps and crocheted a dozen dishcloths, all of which were very happily received.

If our small changes have made such a huge impact on our waste output, can you imagine what it would be like if every house did the same? But I know from our own experience that the thought of making so many changes at once can be daunting. So we’re starting small – a gift of beeswax wrap might keep a few metres of clingfilm out of the ocean this year. And perhaps it might start others down the same path as we’re on. Fingers crossed!

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Thank you all SO much for joining us on our waste reduction journey this year. It’s made all the difference knowing that you’ve been reading along and supporting our efforts!

♥ Wishing you and your loved ones every happiness in 2019! ♥

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Here are the posts so far on our Waste Reduction Plan:

27 Jan 2018  A Waste Reduction Plan

2 Feb 2018  A Long, Rambling Catch Up

15 April 2018  Our Waste Reduction Plan – Progress Report

20 April 2018  Our Waste Reduction Plan – Fine Tuning

1 June 2018 Our Waste Reduction Plan – June 2018 Progress Report

13 Oct 2018 Our Waste Reduction Plan – October 2018 Update

. . . . .

Tips and tutorials for making your own eco-friendly products:

Mesh Bags

Mesh Bags (pattern at the end of the post)

Furoshiki

Knitted Dishcloth

Crocheted Cotton Dishcloth

Crocheted Acrylic Dish Scrubber

Beeswax Wraps

Cloth Napkins (second half of post)

Sewing a Utensil Holder

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It’s been four months since our last update, and you’re probably all wondering how our Waste Reduction Plan is going.

The answer is…not bad.

We’re still managing to keep our waste down to one medium kitchen bin bag per week (most of the time). We haven’t opened the cling film box or used a paper towel all year. But some things have been trickier to stick to than others.

1. Paper

We’ve had great success cutting back our single use paper consumption – the cotton napkins I made from the Daiso tenegui (Japanese tea towels) have lasted more than 40 washes and I haven’t had to repair (or iron) a single one…

We used to  go through mountains of kitchen paper towels; now we don’t even buy them. They’ve been replaced completely with tea towels, knitted or crocheted dishcloths, and absorbent waffle weave squares that I cut from an old bedspread…

I can’t rave enough about the knitted and crocheted dishcloths – they’re as sturdy as iron, wash well, and just keep going. The ones Rose sent me in 2013 are still in regular rotation, and I finally had to repair one after six years of constant use. These get washed every day or two…

We’ve substantially reduced the amount of parchment paper we’re using by switching to reusable teflon sheets for most of our baking, although I still weaken and use parchment for anything that’s going to be too gross to wash up…

The KeepCups are a winner and I haven’t bought a coffee in a takeaway cup all year. These days if I don’t have my reusable cup, I’ll skip coffee or sit in to drink it. Having said that, I have bought a few bottles of water this year – not by choice, but sometimes a food court won’t offer water by the glass, and I don’t always remember to bring my water bottle.

Small Man (gently) chastised me for forgetting my KeepCup the other day. “I always have mine in my backpack”, he told me. I was very proud of him – he’s the true eco-warrior of the family, the one who pulls me up if I get lazy and throw a teabag into the bin instead of the Bokashi bucket… (Edit: since writing this post, we no longer put teabags in the Bokashi. Pete has dug them up after six months and noticed that they weren’t breaking down. Bugger…)

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2. Plastic

In terms of plastic shopping and vegetable bags, we’ve done well. We travel with mesh bags, small carry bags, furoshiki, and our lastest discovery, t-shirt tote bags…

I sketched a rough pattern if anyone is interested in making these – there are also lots of instructions online if you’d prefer to make them without sewing…

Cling film no longer even lives in our kitchen, as we’ve found that the beeswax wraps replace it almost completely. For the few items that can’t be wrapped in beeswax (like meat or soupy leftovers), we use a bowl covered with a plate, a piece of foil, or a reusable plastic box.

The best thing about the beeswax wraps is that they aren’t just an eco-friendly alternative solution, they’re actually massively better at keeping things fresh. Coriander, ginger, cut avocado…all the fruits and vegetables that might have oxidised or gone slimey in plastic…stay crisp and colourful under beeswax. And it’s the perfect way to keep sourdough fresh in our humid Sydney climate…

. . . . .

Unfortunately we’re still a long way from eliminating plastic completely, but we have tried hard to reduce our single use consumption.

There are two areas that we continue to struggle with – the first being purchased items. We buy all our meat in bulk, and it almost invariably comes in sealed plastic bags. We wash and RedCycle these as much as possible, but it’s hard to get them really clean, and I don’t want to run the risk of contaminating the recycling process. Similarly, anything purchased online arrives packed in plastic of one sort or another – again, these can be RedCycled, but it’s not an ideal option. Medicines, skincare products, cereals – we’re still a long way from being plastic free.

I’m also not sure what the best options are – is buying something in heavy thick glass which needs to be recycled better than purchasing it in thin recyclable plastic? Glass and aluminium can both be recycled, but rarely are they reused, and the energy output to change them into a different form is huge.

. . . . .

The other area that’s been tricky has been freezer storage.

We’ve invested in sturdy plastic freezer boxes, which seem to work well. We tried glass containers, but found them too heavy for stacking. We particularly like these 800ml boxes from Daiso – they’re cheap, wash well, and don’t go wonky in the dishwasher…

Instead of using lots of small plastic bags, we’ve been wrapping items in our rescued food safe paper from Reverse Garbage, and then freezing them in bulk in reusable plastic bags or boxes. It seems to be working well so far…

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3. Organic Waste

Between the chickens, worms, and the Bokashi bucket, very little organic waste now goes out in the red bin.

The Bokashi has been trickier to use that we expected, as the worms won’t go near it, so we’re having to bury the remains in the garden. Also, some things don’t seem to break down, including large bones, rind, and anything overly fatty. Still, it’s been a great success, particularly for all the items that couldn’t go into the worm farm, such as citrus, alliums and cooked leftovers…

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4. Shopping

Over the course of this year, I’ve become a committed Salvos store shopper!

Not only do my purchases donate much needed funds to the Salvation Army, but they also save me a fortune. I recently picked up this brand new Turkish plate at the Salvos as a gift for my mother’s birthday. It retails for $80, but I paid just $4…

The added bonus is that buying secondhand reduces our environmental impact – I’m sure it’s better to cut back on shopping altogether, but I don’t appear to be genetically or culturally wired to be able to do that.

I am, however, trying to make more informed choices. At my niece’s wedding recently, I realised that everything I was wearing had a story – my jacket was sewn from upcycled vintage saris, my jewellery was made from old watch parts by my friends at Oli and J, and my bag was handpainted vintage Japanese silk. Not surprisingly, I didn’t run into anyone with the same outfit on!

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5. Mend and Make Do

I’m mending constantly these days.

At the beginning of winter, Pete pulled out an old jumper that I’d knitted for him when we were in college. It took me forever and he wore it just once before declaring it to be too hot for Sydney.  I married him anyway.

The jumper was full of holes, so I washed it carefully and mended it badly in mid-June. Pete still wouldn’t wear it and neither would Small Man. Admittedly, it’s no longer particularly fashionable and it weighs a ton. But Big Boy, who is the essence of kindness, said “It’s ok, Mum, I’ll wear it when we walk in the mornings”.  And he did, for most of winter. I love that kid so much it hurts…

When spring arrived, he gave it to me to wash and store for next year. It came out of the wash (I promise I was very gentle) with even more holes! By this stage, I’d learnt how to darn, so I set about patching all the broken bits. The end result looks a bit like a starry constellation, but it should last another year of morning walks…

Our new mindset is…with the exception of underwear that is so threadbare that you can see through it, everything can be mended. I bought this e-book of old war instruction flyers and have found it inspirational (it reads well on the iPad but probably wouldn’t be great on an old Kindle reader)…

Here is one on saving fuel for the war effort – “Buttered Toast – or Bullets” – was particularly thought-provoking…

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Our waste reduction plan is a constant work in progress! As always, when I write these posts, I learn so much from all of you, so please let me know your tips and suggestions in the comments below. And if you’re on a similar mission, I’d love to know how you’re going with it! ♥

. . . . .

Here are the posts so far on our Waste Reduction Plan:

27 Jan 2018  A Waste Reduction Plan

2 Feb 2018  A Long, Rambling Catch Up

15 April 2018  Our Waste Reduction Plan – Progress Report

20 April 2018  Our Waste Reduction Plan – Fine Tuning

1 June 2018 Our Waste Reduction Plan – June 2018 Progress Report

. . . . .

Tips and tutorials for making your own eco-friendly products:

Mesh Bags

Mesh Bags (pattern at the end of the post)

Furoshiki

Knitted Dishcloth

Crocheted Cotton Dishcloth

Crocheted Acrylic Dish Scrubber

Beeswax Wraps

Cloth Napkins (second half of post)

Sewing a Utensil Holder

Read Full Post »

A quick post to share my denim apron pattern with you!

These have been so popular that I scribbled the instructions into my journal so that I wouldn’t lose them. The aprons can be sewn in any woven fabric, but denim is particularly sturdy and easy to wash. They work best with large, straight-leg jeans, preferably in a non-stretch denim. These are happily out of fashion at the moment, so the thrift shops (and possibly our wardrobes) are full of them. I’ve been picking them up for $2 a pair at the Salvos.

Here’s the apron I’ve just made for our friend John from an old pair of Levi’s…

It’s best to draft the pattern on paper first…

A couple of extra notes:

• Overlock (serge) or zigzag around the outside of the pocket piece, then hem. Position the top of the pocket about 14″/35.5cm from the top of the apron, and topstitch three sides into place. Double-stitch the top of the pocket to secure, or hammer in rivets. Stitch down the centre of the pocket if you like.
• Overlock (serge) or zigzag around the outside of the apron, then hem. Don’t try to do a double hem as it will be too thick (and the curves will be a nightmare).

I hope you have as much fun making these as I’ve had! ♥

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