DIY Beeswax Sandwich Wraps

I'm so excited. You know when a little kiddo is so excited that they do a little dance on the spot and have trouble getting the words out? That's how I am feeling at the moment.

I was on the lookout for something that I could do at an upcoming expo. I am so sick of the amount of plastic wrap that is used to wrap sandwiches and then thrown straight in the bin that I thought sandwich bags would be a good activity. My two concern here are the need for a sewing machine and the fact that a lot of the material used to make these waterproof as not so healthy.

After much searching I came across that fact that you could make your own beeswax infused fabric! Who knew? (I'm sure just about everyone is now saying, "Me, that's who".)

Well I had no idea.

  tuja wellness

I knew that I had everything necessary for this so I gathered ran around and grabbed all of the equipment.

I used the pinking shears to trim a piece of fabric I bought ages ago. By using the shears I didn't need to worry about overlocking the edges. I had washed and pressed it when I bought it but hadn't known what to make at the time.

I shaved some beeswax that I had bought to make lip balm a few Christmases ago. The peeler worked well but I will keep my eye out in the op shop for a grater that I can keep specifically for wax.

After scattering the wax over the fabric, and covering with some baking paper, it was time to get the iron out of the cupboard. It doesn't really see the light of day. The great thing about using the paper is that you can see where the wax has melted. It is also easy to reuse as long as you remember which side has had the wax on it. (Please watch the video above before you have a go as their instructions are great. I didn't see the point giving the specifics as they did a great job.)

Viola!

The finished product is quite stiff but easy to fold. After a few uses I am sure that it will get a little softer.

These are also pretty versatile as they don't just need to be used for sandwiches but you could also use one to cover a bowl in the fridge. At the moment we are using plates on top of bowls but I could certainly see myself using one of these instead.

From all of the articles I read that main points to remember are to rinse off in cold water and a little detergent as warm/hot water will melt the wax, and don't throw it in the dryer if you use one.

That was so much fun and I can't wait to have a go at another one soon.

I also thought it was pretty timely with Plastic Free July just around the corner. Don't forget about the giveaway. Only one more day and only one entry so far.

I would love to know if you have a go at this project.

Take care.

Green Drinks and a Giveaway

All over the world, generally hidden out of sight, there are groups of people gathering to listen to inspirational speakers sharing their knowledge and experience about sustainability. These events are Green Drinks.

In Perth, Green Drinks take place about four or five times a year. The most recent event sounded like it was going to be amazing, so amazing that this free event booked out before I managed to register.

I had wanted to listen to Rebecca from Plastic Free July talk about how the campaign originated and how they built it to the great success that it is in three years.

Imagine my excitement when I found that some incredibly wonderful person had recorded the talks and put these up for the world to see.

This years focus of PFJ is on reducing the use of takeaway coffee cups with the campaign 'Bring one, get one tree'. To help promote this, I thought I would run a little giveaway. If you would like to be in the running for a Keepcup leave a comment below and tell me one type of plastic (apart from coffee cups/lids) that you could live without in July.  The winner will be selected at random on Sunday 22 June at 8pm AWST so that you can get the cup in time for July. Edit: Thanks for entering, ladies.

If you are interested in having a look at the other talks from the evening, try here and here.

Take care

And the winner is ...

A huge thank you to everyone that joined in.

knitgirl66, can you please drop me a line at bruisemouse at gmail dot com and I will get the book to you as soon as possible.

Take care

Banning the Bag

Last year the Fremantle Council started making plans to ban single-use plastic bags. It seems, that following a State Government ruling yesterday, this will become a reality. Woohoo!

Last week I was able to go on another (this was my third) tour of the Tamala Park landfill. These tours are always incredibly informative and a huge eye-opener. The people that deal with our waste do such an amazing job. One of the aspects that always amazes me is the number of single use plastic bags that are at the site. These are so lightweight that once they get caught on the breeze they seem to be off on their own adventure.

I strongly urge you to get in touch with your council and ask if they operate tours of your facility. The rubbish truck that comes around and empties our bins is not a magical fairy that can make the waste disappear. It all needs to go somewhere.

Even recycling in an interesting topic. Many think that because they are filling their recycling bin that they are doing a great thing for the environment. Now, it is so much better to recycle than have it buried in a hole, but please be aware that this all needs to be transported, sorted, a buyer needs to be found, and then transported again (sometimes overseas) to be processed. Paper and cardboard can be dealt with easily on-site (at home) through compost. Why buy bags of compost for your garden when you could be making your own? Paper and cardboard are great sources of carbon, something very important for healthy compost. Please reduce, reuse, (repair) and then recycle.

I will now get down off my soapbox. Gosh, I went off an a bit of a rant there.

Remember that I will draw the winner of the giveaway tomorrow morning so if you want a chance to win Homemade Pantry leave a comment on the last post.

Take care

More Solar Cooking (and a giveaway)

With the mid-to-high 30 degree cloudless days we are having here on the west coast at the moment, there are so many opportunities to get the sun oven out.

Dried fruit is a bit of a favourite as it can be snacked on at any time in the drying process.

I came across a great step-by-step tutorial for making a pizza box solar cooker. Super simple and just in time to fill in the last week of the Australian summer holidays. Make sure to let me know if you have a go.

If you live around Perth you might even be interested in a workshop being run at the Lockridge Community Garden. I am on their mailing list and received this earlier in the week.

Sunday 3rd Feb

Solar Oven Cooking

Come & see how to cook in & build a solar oven. Free energy to cook your food at home or when camping is very handy so you won't want to miss this one. Taste tests included!

- 10:30am - 12 noon

- Cost $5 p/p

- cnr Arbon way & Diana Crescent, Lockridge

- Fresh homemade pizzas from the Pizza Oven & sausage sizzle on the day

On another note, this blog has just turned two and this happens to be the 200th post. It has been such a great way to connect with people as well as being a way to diarise what we are doing to try to live a little greener.

So time for the giveaway.

I am giving away a copy of Homemade Pantry by Alana from Eating From the Ground Up. You may remember I made the mustard from here. Delicious!

Just leave a comment in this post and I will randomly select a winner on Friday 1 Feb at 9am Perth time. I will send this anywhere in the world.

Take care and thanks for reading.

Environmental Toothbrush Giveaway Winner

Sorry about the delay in drawing a winner. After drawing a winner the old fashioned way, congratulations to Kristy.

Thanks to all who entered. I wish I could send each one of you a brush. If you are still interested, head over to their site and you might want to buy some for yourself. They offer free postage within Australia.

Thanks again.

Take care.

Kristy, could you please email me at bruisemouse at gmail dot com with your contact details.

Holiday Cleaning

Cleaning is something that doesn't usually excite me. It doesn't matter how far down that to-do list I get, there are always a number of jobs that are ready to replace those that have been crossed-off.

Today I decided to break open the orange and vinegar cleaner that I started a few weeks ago. I have been turning the jar and watching the vinegar change colour so figured I should check out how well it worked.

I thought I would jump into the deep end and start with the shower floor. With a bit of a scrub and a wipe, it seemed to work really well. The best part being that there was no over-powering smell that usually means I need to evacuate the bathroom. There was a hint of orange but not too strong.

I will certainly be making this again.

We are heading off for a few days to catch up with family, so I am spending the day cleaning. I really don't understand why I am happy to live amongst half finished housework on a daily basis but as soon as we go away, and are not actually going to be living in the house, I feel this need to have everything spotless.

I am hoping to be able to get online on Sunday and draw the winner of the Environmental Toothbrush giveaway, otherwise it will be one of the first jobs when I get back (seeing as all of the housework will have been done.)

Take care

P.S. Just realised that it is a year ago today that we headed off on our big adventure and six months to the day since our return. Time is flying.

Sunday Morning Cake

The older I get, the more I feel like Saturday is just an extension of the working week. There always seems to be a flurry of activity and a list of jobs that I never quite seem to find the end of. (I hate ending a sentence with 'of' but it is Sunday, so please excuse me.

I invited my parents over for a morning cuppa so a cake needed to be made. Having a stack of easy cake recipes at hand always makes the job so much easier, with my two favourites being Gooseberry Jam's plain cake and the super easy apple cake.

After a quick trip to the farmers market to stock up on fruit, I decided the apple option was the way to go. Once again I halved the sugar as the fruit is so sweet. I ran out of butter so I made up the difference with one of my market purchases. The fruit that I soaked after last weekend was substituted for the plain sultanas.

The aroma through the house as I pulled it from the oven was gorgeous. The orange juice from the soaked fruit was so sweet.

A slice of warm cake, to accompany a cup of tea on this chilly morning, helped make for a relaxing was to spend time with family.

Don't forget about the giveaway of the Environmental Toothbrushes. I will send these anywhere,  so please say 'hi' and add your name to the list. You still have another week.

Take care

Environmental Toothbrush Giveaway

To help more people get into Plastic Free July, I thought I would giveaway a pair of Environmental Toothbrushes.

In Australia, over 30 million toothbrushes are used and disposed of by Australians each year, amounting to approximately 1000 tonnes of landfill each year. The plastic they’re made of won’t break down in our lifetime. Nor within the lifetime of our children. Imagine that on a global scale.

To be in the running for one of these, leave a comment saying hello by Sunday 15 July when I will randomly select a winner. One winner will receive 2 brushes.

Here are also two more bloggers taking part in PFJ

Simply Simone

Hundred Days of Life

Take care

And the winner is...

J, I will be in touch to organise getting the bread bag to you.

Thanks so all of you who entered.

Take care.

Bread Bag Giveaway

The cooler weather and sick kiddoes meant a very homey Sunday. While the patients were in sit-under-a-blanket-on-the-lounge-and-watch-a-DVD mode, I thought I would get a little sewing done.

I have made another bread bag and, with Plastic Free July only a week away, I thought I would give this one away.

All you need to do is leave a comment on the post telling me one way that you could reduce plastic in your home. A winner will be chosen by random on Friday morning Western Australia time. I will happily send this anywhere in the world.

(The winner must promise not to look too carefully at sewing. Some seams might be more even than others)

Take care

Thank you, thank you

Before I toddle off to bed, I just want to end Sunday with two thank yous.

The first is to Abby from Things For Boys who has given me one of her Sunshine Awards.  It was such a thrill to get Abby's email notification. What a sweetie.

My second thanks is to Gavin from The Greening of Gavin. I was lucky enough to be the winner of the DVD The Corporation from Gavin's recent giveaway. Thanks, Gav.

I have just finished some sewing and will be back here tomorrow with a giveaway of my own.

Good night

Take care

And the winner is...

Number 9.
Congratulations to Swissgal.
I'll be in touch about getting this to you.

I wish that I could send one to each of you. Thanks for much for taking the time to leave a comment.

Take care

Swissgal, can you please email me at bruisemouse@gmail.com as your profile does not include an email address.

Fabulous Freezing

A few months ago when I was freezing some of the delicious summer berries that were in abundance at the Turkish Markets, I hadn't been thinking ahead to the days when I would be able to pull a bag of raspberries out of the freezer and enjoy their wonderful flavours.

Today was one of those days.

A cup of raspberries, two mushy bananas, a great big slurp of vanilla yoghurt and some milk made for a fabulous mid morning treat. Getting the gritty little seeds stuck between my teeth always reminds me of summer.

I had been in a run-of-the-mill supermarket yesterday and was amazed to see the variety of fresh berries for sale. With temperatures getting close to zero, I'm not too sure where these are being grown. Next time I will have a closer look at the packaging.

It felt good knowing that the berries in my freezer were grown in the right season and had been biding their time, waiting to be added to something delicious.

We all appreciated the glimpse of summer.

What's in your freezer?

Don't forget to add a comment here if you would like a chance to win a yoghurt kit. I will post this anywhere.

Vanilla Yoghurt and a Giveaway

Our second batch of natural yoghurt using the new kit is just as delicious as the first. The creamy texture goes so well with fruit and cereal, but is also great for soups. I love the versatility of natural yoghurt.

Sometimes, in the evening generally, I have a bit of a hankering for something a little sweeter. We have been working our way through Germany's supply of Nirwana Noir chocolate (check the fine print: use - snacking) but have been thinking that going halves in a block every few nights isn't too good for the waistline.

With my renewed enthusiasm for yoghurt, I though a vanilla version should be attempted next. After a little searching I settled on roughly following the process outlined by Angie.

I brought 1 litre of organic whole milk and 3 tablespoons of raw sugar to the just below the boil and kept it there for about two minutes, simmering very gently. From experience with my natural yoghurt, this needs stirring so as not to scorch.

Patience is needed to let the mixture cool to 43 degrees C. I use this time to make sure that my jar is sterilised.

Once at 43, 2 or 3 generous tablespoons of natural yoghurt from the last batch are spooned into the jar. A small amount of the warm liquid is also poured in and mixed. This makes sure that the yoghurt is evenly mixed throughout the liquid. At this point I added some vanilla and then poured in the remaining milk. The lid was screwed on and it was placed in the little esky ready to do its thing overnight.

In the morning the jar was carefully moved to the fridge where it stayed chillin' for about 6 hours.

 

Quite a few recipes include skim milk powder (milchpulver), for added creaminess, but I haven't been able to find any. Maybe some German readers could point me in the right direction?

I wonder if boiling some vanilla pods in the milk would work well to let them infuse? I think it definitely needs some of those gorgeous vanilla seeds.

The adding of fruit needs to be done once the yoghurt has set. Luckily I have a great supply of raspberries.

Now to share the love. If you would like the chance to start making your own yoghurt using one of these kits, leave a comment on this post by Sunday 11 December 8pm Berlin time when a winner will be selected at random.

Take care

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

After a quick visit to the random number generator I am back with the magic number, and it is

7,

so a big congrats to Clare.

I will send you an email, Clare, to get your details and get your parcel in the mail this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for playing along. I would love to have sent you all a little gift but know that I appreciate all of your comments and sentiments.

Take care

PS The Pav went down a treat. All were impressed and it tasted great. Phew!

Sourdough Update

I am now about 3 weeks into my 30 day sourdough challenge and I am actually really enjoying myself.

The starter came along nicely and there have certainly been many more successes than failures.

For a basic loaf recipe I am following this one and have been thrilled with the taste and the texture. The honey is a great little touch and ever so subtle.

On most days I am organised enough to get the starter out of the fridge and get it to room temperature, ready for adding the other ingredients later in the day. Yesterday I seemed to lack to energy/enthusiasm for loaf making so I thought a little pancake making was called for. This happened to double as and experiment and a Fathers' Day breakfast.

Blueberries were added during the cooking as I was following this recipe.

With a little maple syrup added these light and fluffy pancakes were a perfect way to start a beautiful Berlin day.

If you are in Perth and are interested in sourdough, you might like to know that Yoke at Wild Sourdough is launching her new book on September 25. I am sure you could email her at yoke@wildsourdough.com.au for more information.

Don't forget about the giveaway.

Take care

Milestone and a Giveaway

100th post

At the beginning of the year I tentatively jumped into the world of blogging, something that for so long I had just sat on the side and watched. I am so glad I did.

Well I thought I should celebrate this little milestone with a bit of a facelift, and more importantly, a Berlinesque giveaway.

This Ampelmann tote and cookie cutter set are up for grabs. 

If you are a follower, regular visiter or first-timer (welcome), leave a comment on this post by 8pm on Freitag (Friday) 9 September Berlin time and a winner will be selected at random.

Take care

And the winner is ...

cityhippyfarmgirl

Could you please email me at bruisemouse@gmail.com with your postal details so I can get the book out to you this week.  Congratulations.

Thanks to those of you who played along in the little giveaway.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I look forward to telling you all about the sourdough class I took today. My head is still spinning.

Take care

Quince Paste Update

Sunday night was spent tending over a pot of simmering quinces after reading about the wonders of Quince Paste over at Greening of Gavin and Gooseberry Jam.

After about four hours I can certainly say that I was happy with the final result.

We have been having it on crackers with a lovely tangy cheddar but I am sure by the weekend there will be some brie involved.

I used silicone cup cake cases and managed to fill all 12.

Super easy and definitely worth a go.

Make sure to drop by and add a comment if you are interested in winning a book in a giveaway that closes on Sunday.

I also had a few requests for buttons for Sow. Give. Grow.  If you are interested I have now managed to get one up in the SGG sidebar. Please feel free to pop one on your site. Thanks again to you all for the support.

Take care.