Recent Articles

Little Limeheart – A journey towards meeting our third daughter

This pregnancy is so different to my previous two. I hadn’t experienced the heart breaking death of a child, hadn’t experienced difficulties in conceiving, knew little about IVF and had not needed to contemplate a caesarean…READ MORE

BPA – What’s it all about?

Thankfully the media in Australia seem to have finally picked up on the dangers of manufacturing and using BPA plastic; which should in turn encourage people to become more informed & consumer savvy concerning the risks associated with BPA. But what exactly is it and why is it so bad for us, our children & our environment? READ MORE

Are your ‘organic’ beauty products – Real or Fake?

Do you often wonder if the natural and organic claims beauty products make are real? Or do you wonder what these claims actually mean? If you feel confused or misled by all the organic hype then keep reading as we help you identify if it’s bona fide organic or just a fake. READ MORE

Top 5 Toxins to Avoid

Some ingredients are more prolific in the beauty industry than others so to help you know what to avoid when reading product labels I have compiled a list of my top 5 toxins I recommend you avoid (Grace Culhaci, Pure & Green Organics). READ MORE

Palm Oil

You may have heard a lot in the media about palm oil – its use, source and its damaging effects.

So what exactly is palm oil and why should we pay more attention to its use? READ MORE

Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves
Pretty autumn leaves
Autumn leaves make tiny aeroplanes
Autumn leaves make tiny aeroplanes
When the days grow cold
Autumn days are gold…READ MORE

Montessori and Attachment Parenting

An article by Meghan Hicks, At Home With Montessori: As a mother to two boys, and a Montessori educator, I am often asked by parents whether the Montessori approach is compatible with other child rearing philosophies. The most common query is about Attachment Parenting. READ MORE

Letting Go

Of late it seems to me that a vital and extremely difficult part of parenting involves letting go to a lesser or greater extent…

My eldest daughter’s teacher gave her a note to give to me last week and without looking at it I knew what it was about…a request to meet up and talk about her starting full time school. READ MORE

The Invisible Heroes

As part of research for our current permaculture workshops at Tingrith, I borrowed a copy of The Secret Life of Plants which I hadn’t read for ten years. Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird open it by saying “The true matrix of human life is the green sward covering mother earth…” READ MORE

Flying the Coop…Literally!

Our guinea babies, Stripe & Overnight have flown the coop (or more appropriately roost) – literally!

Two thirds on the way to adult size they now roost in a fairly frail looking eucalypt close to our house. Not confident to go further, still within sight of the box they have spent most of their life in to date…they balance precariously together on a spindly looking branch and settle in each night. READ MORE

My Place

This place of late has borne witness to much death and as I shake the darkness that threatens to envelope me away I look around at so much that is living and remember that life is about balance; and death is part of that balance regardless of how tragic and heartbreaking it can be. READ MORE

Night Walking

As darkness falls, outside takes on a completely new meaning for children and adults alike.

Clear, warm nights such as those experienced through our recent summer are perfect for night walking but you can still rug up warm for a wintery night time adventure and have just as much fun. READ MORE

Autumn Musings

Cool, crisp walks, greening fields, autumn leaves drifting almost lazily against blue skies, skin warmed by an open fire, a good book…I love all the seasons for different reasons but as I get older I think possibly I love Autumn the best…READ MORE

Cocoa Butter

Cocoa butter is the cream coloured fat extracted from the cacao seed, or bean. It has been used for hundreds of years to moisturise and protect the skin. When applied topically it creates a barrier between the skin and the environment and helps the skin retain valuable moisture levels. READ MORE

French Green Argiltiz Clay

Green Argilitz clay is ideal for oily skin as it is the most absorbant of all the clays helping to draw out impurities and dirt. It also has the highest ionic exchange power which means that it transfers the most amount of minerals back to the skin at the same time it is drawing all the impurities out! READ MORE

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba is pronounced as “ho-ho-bah”. It has come to be widely called an oil but it is in fact a liquid wax from a shrub called Simmondsia chinensis. Jojoba oil has many uses when it comes to the skin. READ MORE

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is very soothing, mildly astringent and is filled to the brim with vitamins, amino acids and nutrients. It is the perfect remedy for minor burns, cuts and abrasions. It is quickly absorbed by the skin, making it ideal for those with oilier skin complexions…READ MORE

The Wisdom of Weeds by Felicity Haynes

The act of weeding by hand became a sort of meditation, sitting on one’s bottom, moving slowly oh so slowly around the circles of the maze. I think weeding is more like the myth of Sisyphus, who had as punishment to roll a boulder uphill only to watch it roll back to the bottom. A bit like housecleaning, when after day’s hard work vacuuming, you sit and watch the dust resettle. READ MORE…

Sandcastle Therapy

Sweet memories enhance
The backwards glance
Long into childhood’s way,
Hours by the sea
Timeless, carefree
Where the sun brightly shone…READ MORE

Raising Keets

We haven’t had many cucumbers this season. One of our guinea fowl hens had been sitting on a clutch of eggs, having decided that the perfect nest for her was under our cucumber plants in one of our raised veggie beds. As our guinea fowl over the years haven’t demonstrated the best child rearing abilities and this one seemed very keen, we didn’t have the heart to try and move her and it hardly seemed fair to let the reticulation run as normal…hence…few cucumbers…READ MORE