Going Green with CatBoy, Gekko & EcoPack

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This past month we had my sons’ birthday party. PJ Masks, of course. One Gekko, the other Catboy. As you do. And while I won’t bore with the details of all we did and all the fun we had, I tried my best (yet again) to make it as eco-friendly as possible.


And here’s how:

  1. We used foldable cardboard carry bags for the party packs. I got them from Wrap n Pack for R4 each. They looked cool (colour theme appropriate) and are easily recyclable.
  2. We made blue, green and red jelly in PLA containers for the kids. (A sleeve of 50 x 60ml PLA Containers: R28.50)
  3. We used porcelain cups for hot bevvies (even though we had EcoCups on hand). EcoCups 50 x 250ml Single Wall EcoCups: R58.70
  4. Compostable cutlery (100 x Compostable Teaspoons: R57.00)
  5. PLA bags with compostable spoons for sherbet for the kids. (100 x Tiny PLA Bags: R33.05)
  6. Bagasse plates for the adult snacks. (125 x 18cm Bagasse Plates: R109.70)

In case you have never heard of PLA, compostable cutlery or bagasse – I’ll break it down for you (ha ha – get it? Laaaame joke).

PLA: EcoPack’s PLA containers are manufactured from IngeoTM PLA, a polymer made from renewable plant starch resources, not oil. IngeoTM PLA requires 68% fewer fossil fuels resources to produce than traditional plastic. (In other words, PLA is biodegradable corn starch).

Compostable Cutlery: EcoPack’s disposable cutlery provides an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional plastic food service utensils. Made from annually-renewable resources (PLA – polylactic acid), the EcoPack range of cutlery reduces your environmental impact, while providing all the functionality of traditional disposable plastic cutlery.

Bagasse: This chlorine-free range of disposable tableware is made from sugarcane pulp, and is a by-product of the sugar industry. EcoWare offers outstanding flexibility, and is 100% biodegradable and compostable.

All of these products can be purchased from EcoPack – an awesome company which provides a wide range of compostable and biodegradable food packaging. Find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and online here.

R3000 Challenge: What we’ve been eating…

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All you faithful readers – you’re keeping me going this month. There is so much accountability and interest in this 3k challenge, I’m so inspired. And whether we make it or not – lessons have already been learnt which have been so good for me.

For eg: Yesterday I popped into Checkers (a spare minute away from my kids) and I did a quick price check on some regular items. Some were more expensive, some were less. Saffas reading this, Checkers confuses me. Either way – I left with milk sachets, ginger, lemon (my winter drink of choice/necessity) and Bovril (for R39.90 the cheapest I’ve seen it). Total spent at Checkers R93.77.

Here are some tips and trick and what I’ve been eating:

I’ve fed my sweet tooth with the (massive) block of fondant that has been sitting in the freezer for over 2 years. I kid you not. It was taking up room, and with no spare budget for chocolate, ice cream, cookie dough etc. this was it. I’m glad to not have to relocate it after each new frozen food shop.


The boys have not had cracker bread this month. A quick simple snack – but at R21+ a box. Not this month. Also the juice boxes we spoke of? None of that either.

I’m limiting us to 1 big bulk bag of coffee beans and 1 tub of hot chocolate per month. That way we need to ration it all. Self control.

All in all, I’m much less impulsive in my shopping. Much less. We are not living on bread and butter (quite yet), but because I really don’t know what the end of the month will look like, I question my needs vs. wants.

This past Friday was Market Day at my Good Food Club. As I arrived to fetch my goodies, I saw this: a special. It is hard for me to refuse a special.

Yes friends, this is TOP quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil at such a good price. And I refused. Because it would’ve been too much for the budget. See my self control?

Saturday we scored huge. After a crazy busy morning with play dates and builders, we dropped everything (in my brother-in-law’s hands) to attended my cousins funeral. Hubby and I had barely eaten all day, so grabbed a handful of post-memorial snacks. Hungry again and on our way home, our brother and sister-in-law invited us to the Spur. We don’t frequent the Spur, but they had promised their kids a Spur treat and (super generously) offered money towards our bill. (How amazing!) My first thought was “for suuuure!” and my second was “oh wait, this is going to eat in the budget hard“. Pondering the situation we found ourselves in, hubby kept telling me to – quote – “tell your readers, we’ll take it from the Building Budget”. Pah, as if there is a building budget. 

So, because I feel so committed to you all and this challenge my conclusion, “right, it has to come out the 3k budget”. I was prepared to take the hit. Hospitality, remember? Long story short, our super generous family covered the whole bill, so Saturday was covered. Mahala.

Tips and tricks: find old sugary treats to keep you going and hint at family members to take you out.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN EATING:

Breakfast: Good ol’ fashion Jungle Oats, with a splash of milk and drizzle of honey. I have 3.5 kg’s of honey from my Good Food Club (paid for by this months budget). Brea has fancy yoghurt with some fruit and I usually have 7 cups of coffee. Or 1 cup, heated 7 times.

Lunch: My girlfriend and I joke about deconstructed meals.”I had a deconstructed fruit salad” she’ll say – when she means she had an apple, pear and orange, for eg. Ha. So I usually take a handful of paleo friendly goodies to work. First prize is always leftover dinner, otherwise I’ll grab some boiled eggs, butternut and avo, apple, carrot and cucumber sticks, cherry toms, banana etc.

Boys lunches: Always, a sandwich, cut up apple and cheery tomatoes. Their snacks are either raisins, dried mango (when on sale at my GFC), dates, sometimes nuts, boiled eggs, cut up cucumber, fruit etc. And water. All fresh. No prepackaged snacks.

Afternoon snack: Anything I can find in the fridge, tea (and fondant). Often fruit.

Dinner:

  • We’ve made 2 massive batches of soup and frozen them in jars (I buy glass jars from Bonpak).
  • We’ve had cheese, tomato and basil (home grown) toasted sarmies.
  • We’ve had chicken and cheese quesadillas with homemade salsa.
  • I cooked 500g of mince and added almost anything I could think of to beef if up (carrots, mushrooms, peppers, 2 cans tomatoes, and lots of lentils). I also divided the mince into jars and have frozen them for quick meals.
  • We’ve had cous cous with chicken (1 chicken breast), butternut, mint, feta and toasted almonds.
  • We’ve had chicken sausage (Elgin) on roasted sweet potato and rosemary chips.
  • Last night we had the pre-cooked frozen mince over sweet pot mash. Yum.

Soup recipes here: Sweet Pot & Bacon Soup and Roasted Butternut and Rosemary. 

Here was my initial meal plan idea – before this challenge was official. Friday night is movie night in our house so, hence the popcorn.

And as we stand, I’ve spent R1171.93 (EXCLUDING my Good Food Club food which should come in at around R1000ish). So I’m sitting on just under R2200.

How you doing? 🙂

R3000 Challenge: Where we shop, and how… kinda

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You’re back! Nice to have you here… if you missed the intro, you can read it here.

Let’s start off with a few general thoughts. Follow me will you? These will come through again and again as we tiptoe through this month on our teeny tiny budget.

Firstly: I LOVE food! I LOOOOOOVE goood food; the flavours, textures and how communal it is. How creative it is, how delicate and bold, how it can inspire, fuel, satisfy and be enjoyed in so many ways. So this is exceptional and intentional and not long term. It’s intended to open our eyes and have us think a little more about our usual grocery-buying habits. Here we go…

I think, in general, we can eat less. Eat when hungry, and not spontaneously. I shop the sales, ALWAYS, esp at Woolies. I try not buy more than we need (something I put into practice intentionally today as I’m so often loading my trolley with 5 cans of tomatoes when I could easily do with only 2 or 3, or say 6 slabs of chocolate when I only need, well… less than that). The less you have the less you consume. Choose your purchases well, and buy different goods at different shops. It’s a pain I know, but if I can do it with 3 small kids, so can you. Food is very often a ‘you get what you pay for’ situation – so keep that in mind. Sometimes paying more for something is necessary and important, sometimes not.

Let me share how we usually do things around here. I generally shop at my local Good Food Club, Pick n Pay, Woolies, and our Elgin Free Range Chicken store.

I start the month at my Good Food Club: (Sorry, I know you don’t all have a Good Food Club – it’s buying direct from the farmer. Often cheaper-ish, sometimes not, but the quality of the food is way up there.)

Here I get 2 large trays of free range eggs, and hormone free cheese, butter and yoghurt. I usually buy dates and raisins (kid snacks), meat, olive oil, wine (but not this month!), honey, natural nut butters, bio wheat flour and some household goodies such as eco washing power/dishwashing liquid etc.

Next I shop at PnP for things such as:

Bread (for kids lunchboxes; hubby makes our own bread with the bio flour from our GFC), milk (usually in sachets unless the bottles are on special). Things such as some fruit and veg (see Woolies list below), wraps, cans of tomatoes and tomatoes paste, sauces, sandwich spreads, balsamic vinegar, spices, oats (our designated winter breakfast), and usually chocolates and treats (but not this month!) etc.

Then I hit up Woolies:

I’ve actually found that many Woolworths items (BARRING their pre-made, deli or specialty foods) are cheaper than PnP (and Checkers). At Woolies I buy almost all their specials – ALWAYS cherry tomatoes (my kids eat them like sweets) and apples (I can’t handle bruised floury ones I usually end up with from PnP). I get the lettuce packs (unless my garden is thriving) and COFFEE BEANS. I always buy the silver Organic bag – but alas, the budget is calling me toward the dark roast Italian beans at R40 less. The yoghurt tubs are often buy 3 for price of 2 and I prefer their yoghurt to PnP. At Woolies I buy the 4 huge bags of vegetables for R125 deal. I know PnP is cheaper but I can’t find large bags of sweet potatoes at PnP for the same deal. So I usually buy 2 x huge bags of sweet pot and 2 x huge bags of butternut – those are my BASE STARCHY VEGETABLES for most meals.

Elgin Free Range Chicken: I buy chicken breasts, whole chickens and their chicken sausage. It’s cheap.

A couple guidelines to our month of cheap. There are certain things I CAN NOT live without/will not compromise on:

Decent coffee beans, hormone free meats (for the most part), free range eggs, real butter, apples from Woolworths and avocados.


Restrictions: This month I have HAD to cut out chocolate/snacks (hubby and I LOOOVE chocolate), and… wine. I know. Sigh. Wine and chocolate will only appear should I have leftover cash (I’m not holding my breath).

We are also NOT eating out, or getting take out (unless it’s genuinely cheaper than cooking something). If you track spontaneous buying, you’ll be amazed at how much food is bought spontaneously. No coffees or nibbles on the go. Thanks to Discovery, I’ll still be able to grab a weekly Vida or Kauai – mahala.

Baking this month will be considered a luxury. Baking uses a ton of butter which is expensive, and all sorts of deliciousness which adds up FAST. But let’s remember, we’re not on diet, we’re saving money. And by not baking, my body will thank me later.


Hospitality Clause: There is always a hospitality clause. Hospitality always trumps a diet/budget/restrictions. People matter more.

Drinks: We don’t ever drink carbonated bevvies, unless it’s tonic for gin or Appletizer on special occasions. We are water, coffee (GOOD COFFEE) and wine people. Sometimes tea. The only time I buy juice is when I buy box juices for picnics or outings with the kids. Sorry kids – it’s water this month.

With no wine this month, cheaper coffee beans and water from the Newlands Brewery Spring means I’ve already saved around R550. Boom.

Next post: what we’re ACTUALLY eating…

How I’m keeping our grocery budget to R3000 this month. 

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Anyone else feeling slightly nauseous at the prices of groceries recently? I get that I’m now buying for a (solid food eating) family of 5, but it seems like every trip to the shops seems to deplete my bank account more than it should, and it’s significant. And I know others feel the same.

We recently had veeeeery dear friends visiting us from Vancouver. Despite paying for 4 doctors appointments and numerous meds in 6 days the week prior, we decided that we’d enjoy the holiday and have fun and not be scared off by our growing credit card bill. We’d also endured a car break in (in hubby’s car), the need for new brakes on my car, new glasses for our son, and random renovation payments. But whatevs. We were going to have fun. Oh, and FUN we did! I’m sure I’ll blog alllll about it another time. Cape Town is spectacular.

Right, so on Sunday evening through tears we bid our friends farewell. Our time together had deeply satisfied our hearts, our minds, our emotions, certainly our stomachs, and most definitely the ones reaping benefits from the interest we pay on our Discovery Card.

And so, in the spirit of FUN, and not despair (this is important) we decided that we needed to replenish the available funds and be HARDCORE about it. So I set myself the most ridiculous challenge of keeping our food budget this month to R3000. We’re only allowed to spend R3000 on food this month. Can we do it? When I shared my new challenge with my girlfriends, one actually texted back “that’s impossible”. Maybe it is, we’ll soon see.

Before anyone throws any eye-rolling judgemental glances my way – I have a few DISCLAIMERS:

1) This does not include the existing food I have in my house (although I assure you there wasn’t heaps – if I did it would defeat the point).

2) While I will do my best not to deplete EVERYTHING in my pantry before 1 July, I do want to rummage through and use things that have been there a while. Use up before buying new.

3) This is not an exact science or mathematical formulae on how much each meal costs. I have given myself a R3k limit, but obviously, as with most lessons we teach ourselves, it’s more about opening our eyes to how we do things (in auto pilot) and then rethinking them…

4) Since we eat mostly paleo, we will have to be reaaaaally flexible when it comes to what we eat. Some nights very well might be bread and butter (not margarine, NEVER margarine).

5) I know that for some, R3000 for food alone can seem like a LUXURY. Budgets and money are sensitive topics – but most people in my demographic easily spend more than double that on food. Again, it’s bringing into question numerous thoughts and ways of doing things which deserve attention from time to time.


Let’s get into it, in the post to follow. This is not a bait-and-switch, I just know the most people don’t like to read long posts… so keep your eyes peeled for the next installment.

Join me! This will be fun.

With Sincere Gratitude…

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I can’t believe it has been a year since this… together with Pure Beginnings, we launched Debbie’s Pure Beginnings Pregnancy Journey.

And, as we’ve wrapped up this journey, I’ve become so nostalgic looking back over the past year. Pregnancy and parenting is such a mish-mash of excitement, stress, fear, trepidation, anticipation, joy, tears and leaking boobs.

Together with the incredible Team at Pure Beginnings, we created these videos, spoke at national Childbirth Educators Forums, and opened up many, many everyday pregnancy and birth related topics for discussion.

If you missed any posts – you can find them here:

I love this world; this crazy, frantic, joyful, intense, scary, emotional ride. This busy, tear-filled, beautiful, messy role of Motherhood. And I’ve felt so privileged to walk this road with you all, and the Pure Beginnings Team. What an absolute privilege.

And finally, in wrapping up, I can’t help but give you some inside scoop on who exactly it is, behind the brand. They are a family. But really, they are a real family. A husband and wife team (and some awesome extras), convicted to start Pure Beginnings when their own kids were born. Even with them living in Durbs, I’ve met them on numerous occasions, and been hosted in their home and have been incredibly inspired by their hard working ethic, their gentle and beautiful natures, their humility, care for people and their product and determination to do and be better and provide better alternatives for US.

You want to support that family sending their kids to soccer and/or piano lessons? Those are the people behind Pure Beginnings.

Thank you Kate and Bruce (and Amanda) for allowing me to start this journey with Brea in the best way possible, with a Pure Beginning. xxx

Doing the best, with what you know…

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Have you seen the latest list of Pure Beginnings’ Most Loved Products of 2016?

You can find the list here, and all of these products have been reviewed on the blog (because they are so super awesome), except I missed this one – #5 on the list, the Soothing Baby Lotion – how did it slip me by?

I’ve heard from many moms who have had issues with their kids’ skin and then changed body lotions (to Pure Beginning’s Soothing Baby Lotion) that voia la – problem solved! It is not per chance. Let me show you a bit more…

I’m naturally not the ‘scare you into change’ type, and more the ‘encourage you into change’ type, but this I must say – READ LABELS!

Why so often, does skin relax, or calm after using Pure Beginnings? Well let’s read here what they do NOT use:

  • Any ingredients that are tested on animals. Pure Beginnings is completely animal friendly.
  • Any ingredients red flagged by Ecocert such as:
    • Any petrochemical derived ingredients or mineral oil (propylene glycol/PPG/PEG, petrolatum, mineral oil)
    • Parabens (Methyl, Propyl/Ethyl/Butyl)
    • Sulphated Surfactants (SLS/SLES)
    • DEA (Diethanolamine) / TEA (trethanolamine)
    • Phthalathes (often hidden under “Parfum” or “Fragrance”. Also listed as phthalate, DEP, DBP, DEHP)
    • Aluminium
    • Fluoride
    • Synthetic Colourants & Fragrances
  • They don’t use any chemical disinfectant such as Triclosan.

If your child is having a reaction to something, it is usually something that is disagreeing with his/her skin. Badies.

For you label readers, here are the ingredients in Pure Beginning’s Soothing Baby Lotion with Organic Baobab:

Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Extract*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Glycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Inulin*, Sclerocarya Birrea (Marula) Seed Oil, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Fruit Extract*, Stearic Acid, Glyceryl Caprylate, Pelargonium Graveolens (Rose Geranium) Oil, Lactic Acid, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Xanthan Gum, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Benzyl Alcohol, Dehydroacetic Acid, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Linalool**, Citronellol**, Geraniol**

*ingredients from organic farming, **component of natural essential oils, 99.6% of the total ingredients are from Natural Origin, 96.4% of vegetable ingredients are from Organic Farming, 15% of the total ingredients are from Organic Farming.

If you didn’t make it through that paragraph above, I understand. Just let me tell you that no nasties can get through EcoCert’s super strict standards – so it is a safe and trusted stamp of approval.

Spend time with your baby, connect during paused moments of cuddling and baby massage, but for goodness sake, don’t expose them to allergy/organ toxicity and skin immune issues while doing it.

When I chat to my mom about how she raised my brother and I, it often comes back to ‘doing the best with what you knew at the time’. Baby on their back to sleep, or baby on their front? Breast milk or formula? Solids at 4 months or 6 months? Research changes the way we do things over time – but take what you have and do with it, the best you can.

How I Increased my Milk Supply

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With the boys, I had milk in abundance. ABUNDANCE. So much so that with Ryler, while he was on the 90th percentile in body weight (my little budda boy), I donated 4L’s of breast milk to the Vancouver Milk Bank based at BC Women’s Hospital. I love that place so much I would have given them a kidney if they’d asked me.


So when I took my youngest for her check ups and she was not growing as much as I was used to a baby growing, it caught me off guard. Sure, breastfeeding was going ‘fine’, but this busy mom of three was, well, busy, and it was summer, and it was HOT, and if I thought about it, I wasn’t getting letdown as often as I remember… CUE the intentional breastfeeding.

Can I just say outright, that baby formula is GREAT, and it absolutely has its place. I’m not anti-formula at all, but having had 2 exclusively breastfed babies, I felt strongly that I needed to put time, effort and energy into ensuring I’m giving this the attention it deserves. Fortunately I have a friend who is a Lactation Consultant and Pediatric Dietitian and so I went straight to her and my clinic sister for advice.

This is what I did to increase my milk supply:

I drank Jungle Juice. I had never heard of it before (seems it’s quite popular around these parts though)…

Here’s how you make it:

  • 2 L’s of boiled water
  • 1 L apple juice or rooibos tea
  • 1 sachet Blackcurrent Rehydrate
  • 60 mls Schlehen Berry Elixier
  • 8/10 drops of rescue remedy (if you think it necessary)

Dosage: Day 1: Drink 3L’s of Jungle Juice, thereafter, drink 1 1/2 L’s every 2nd day.

Along with this, maintain hydration. Healthy diet – you know the drill. I also drank Carmien’s Nursing Tea.


Then there is Power Pumping: 

This, my friends, requires a GOOD (ideally electric) breast pump and time. The below image is taking into account you have a double breast pump, which not many of us do, so if you don’t, power pumping would look like this: You would pump 20min on the L, pump 20min on the R, then 10min L, 10min R, 10min L, 10min R. And then you take yourself for an ice cream for all your hard work.


Also, “keep pumping after feeds, even if it seems empty and pointless, it will increase your demand, which will boost supply” – as told to me by Lactation Consultant, Deidre Lindeque.

Medicines:

Please consult your doc/pediatrician/lactation consultant before you go ahead with any medications. I managed to power pump and drink enough jungle juice to increase my supply enough to not need a script of any of the below (I did request one, but never filled it), so I am no expert in this. Please chat to someone medically trained, and who you trust (you’ll need a script for all of the below, so you will have to chat to your doc regardless) :

Some good options are:

  • Domperidone/Motilium.
  • Vomi-guard (a anti nausea drug which has a side effect of increased milk production)

At one point, above what I already needed to pump for my daughters carer to feed her daily (you pumping-working moms – you’re FREAKING AMAZING!), with a looming business trip, when I had to pump and store additional feeds, I asked my paed for a script. For personal reasons, I declined eglynol (which is a very commonly used breastfeeding booster drug) and requested the ones above (Domperidone/Motilium/Vomi-guard). Remember, you have options. Do what works for you!

I also want to encourage you to join Breast Feeding groups such as the Le Leche League in your area for support, encouragement and help. Contact LLL South Africa here.

Final thoughts: Be easy on yourself. This momming thing is HARD. Go with your gut. And please don’t give up too quickly either (unless you’re crying yourself to sleep each night – because then you need to do what you need to do to survive). There have been many times with this 3rd child, where I’ve being humbled by the difference between having a lot of time off with my newborn, and a mere 4 months. I am often whats-apping my working-mom-friends while sitting on a towel on our office bathroom floor, with the ‘zhuuut zhuuut zhuuut’ sound of the pump in the background as we send pics of the amounts of breast milk we’ve successfully retrieved or chat about how ‘pumping is going that day’. It’s no joke.

Friends, I’m with you. Share with us! What have you done that has helped you?

Waste-Free Living 101

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Every Wednesday morning around 7am, we hear the garbage truck drive up the road. My boys jump up, scream for me to open the front door so they can run outside and watch the garbage men grab our bin, toss it into the truck, empty it of all our waste and drive off again with great gusto, all with a smile and a wave and a “good morning!”

And ‘Poof!’ Just like that, our mess, our waste; broken plastic toys, styrofoam trays, plastic bags, food waste, takeaway containers, greasy tin foil, plastic wrap, and and and is taken off into a magical land, never to be seen again. Right? Wrong. Oh so very wrong.

I first heard of Lauren Singer’s Blog, Trash is for Tossers in 2014 and was completely inspired by her approach to producing no trash/garbage/rubbish. This is the amount of trash she has collected over the years.

This was made even more real for me after spending some time on Galiano Island off the west coast of Vancouver. A fully functioning island (with views you could stare at for years), but a warning: that you take back to the mainland (Vancouver) what cannot be recycled, composted or is biodegradable. So, you literally pack your garbage in your boot for the ferry trip home. Reality check.

There are two sides to this way of thinking: by reconsidering ease and convenience, and being more proactive in caring for our ever-faithful environment.

What’s clear from the ever-increasing solid waste in the world, and the phenomenal and escalating expense of dealing with it, that while important, the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) are not enough. This is the driving force behind the emerging trend towards waste-free living. But looking at how much waste Lauren Singer has accumulated, how do we do it? 

The key to waste-free living is to prevent waste coming into your home in the first place. Here are 5 easy ways to move towards waste-free living:

  • Stop buying, using and discarding single use items.  Believe or not, there are easy alternatives to paper towels and tissues, plastic bags and wrap, aluminium foil and baking paper, even dental floss, plasters and ear buds. In this stage of my life, many of my reusables involve breast pads and cloth nappies.
  • Eliminate all the disposable items you bring into your home, and replace them with reusables. A simple example of this for women waste warriors is to replace tampons and sanitary pads with the increasingly popular menstrual cup.  When you consider that each woman over her lifetime may dispose of as many as 12 000 tampons, changing this monthly habit can greatly reduce your waste.
  • Buy without packaging by shopping for second hand goods and clothes rather than new; and buying bulk food items using your own glass containers and reusable bags. This is a new way of thinking for us here in SA, but it common practice in most awesome first world countries. 
  • Stop accepting freebies. YES! For real! We’re often on autopilot when someone hands us something, and most often out of politeness accept things we then want to get rid of. By being conscious about what you agree to accept from others you can prevent taking into your home what are essentially unwanted and unnecessary items. You can say ‘no thank you’…
  • Add another R for ‘Rot’.  Your green food waste is nutrient dense and can sweeten the place where you live if you compost instead of throw away. If you don’t garden at home, find a community garden or school food garden in your neighbourhood and contribute your kitchen waste to their composting efforts – or build a worm farm.
  • Ensure you have reusables ‘on the go’.  Go out and about in the world with the reusables you need on hand.  Always have reusable shopping bags with you.  If you can’t live without your favourite takeaway coffee, get a travel mug. Carry your own reusable water bottle or flask, and bring along a reusable straw. If you regularly eat takeaways make sure you have your own reusable plate and cutlery. If you are not sure how to get this together, see this Waste-Free-Living starter kit from Faithful to Nature which provides you with a glass water bottle, stainless steel straw, bamboo coffee cup and two mesh Fresh Bags for your groceries.

While these five steps might seem small, they go a long way towards waste-free living. Four of the biggest polluters of our environment are plastic bottles, bags and straws, and disposable coffee cups. These items used just once, but so frequently and by so many, result in phenomenal accumulations of completely unnecessary solid waste.  

Essentially, waste-free living doesn’t have to mean doing without. It’s most often about working out what is really important to you, and then switching to the waste-free alternatives. The pioneers of waste-free living often attest to a life greatly enriched by the simplicity and peace of mind that they experience through their commitment to embracing the eco-friendly options.

YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN one of these very cool Waste-Free-Living starter kits of your very own from Faithful to Nature.

All you need to do is comment below/on the Facebook comments thread and mention what reusables you love using in your home using the hashtag #wastefreeliving. Tag a friend on the facebook post for an extra entry…

Thanks for entering. Good Luck!

Contact Faithful to Nature
(t) (021) 785 3268
Web: www.faithful-to-nature.co.za

Terms and Conditions

The competition runs from Tuesday 18 April – Tuesday 25 April 2017.
This competition is open to South African residents only.
The winner will be chosen randomly and contacted via email.
Winner will be announced on the Our Greenish Life website and social media channels on Tuesday 25 April.

Visit www.faithful-to-nature.co.za to find more solutions that will help you on your green journey.

Image credit: crushmag, Galiano Inn & Spa.

Living Close to the Ground

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So yes, I often splurge my dreams out on this blog about moving to Galiano Island and roasting our own coffee beans, running along the shoreline, slowing right down to a snails pace and pulling homegrown veggies out of the ground – and throwing it straight onto my plate. That whole farm-to-table idea of thinking. Foodscaping. Heard of it?

So recently I invited my friend and ex-colleague Lyle from Grow Forward to come help us get a grip on growing our own food. Hubby bought some pallets, with the idea of making raised planter boxes. We LOVE handy hubby. And oh.my.goodness! I haven’t been so inspired in a long time (I’m sleep deprived and heavily relied upon to change nappies/find lunch boxes/discard of rotten food/read books/build puzzles/rock baby to sleep/negotiate dinner eating etc. and so you can see where I might’ve lacked inspiration). Lyle is the epitome (the EP-IT-OME) of someone who has found their calling in life. He is passionate, knowledgeable and full-on inspiring. Invite him into your home (garden) and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

We made an early evening appointment at our house (so hubby and my mom – the one who we hope to manage the ‘home-farm’ – were present). Lyle arrived, gloves in hand and not scared to get his hands dirty – literally. He took a look around, and heard our pleas. We spoke about what we envisaged; our hopes, our ideal crop, dining choices and aesthetic preferences and what we want to a) save money by growing ourselves and b) what we won’t completely stuff up trying to grow ourselves. Lyle gave us amazing new ideas, really helpful tips, practical suggestions, and looked around thinking through what we could already use and how to get going, one step at a time. What I loved was that it did not involve us outlaying a small fortune to get going. It was using what we had, and taking it one step further.

I was sooooooooooo, soooooooooo inspired.

Look at what we (when I say we, you all know I’m talking of the hub) have been doing…




Keen? Of course you are!

There are basically two different ways you can do this with Grow Forward.

We went the Home Food Coaching route because, well, we want to try get our kids involved (something Grow Forward wholeheartedly believes in) and we’re keen to get our hands dirty. Sure, let’s be honest, I’m already trying to keep multiple small lives alive around here, and so if I had the money and no room for error, I’d get Lyle to do it all. But how great to have our kids grow up in a home, where we EAT what our garden produces.

Only 2 days after our meeting, I received our consulting notes from Lyle, with everything we had discussed, and lots of tips, suggestions, pictures, research and a plan as to how to g(r)o(w) forward.

This is brilliant. Who doesn’t want to pull organic, homegrown food from their garden? But for most of us, all with great intention, we don’t have the time to research, plan, build and grow ourselves. We just need someone who understands the ecosystem of a healthy garden to pop their head in and give us some instruction. Lyle is that person.

You can contact Lyle on: info@growforward.co.za or follow him on facebook or Instagram.



Aluminium under your armpits, anyone?

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There was this amazing underarm I used to buy overseas. It was made by a popular store brought brand, and it smelled like watermelon. I LOVE anything watermelon and so this had my name all over it. With coupon culture as it goes in North America, I often used to get it half price, so… I was stocked up, on watermelon underarm.

I must now ask myself a few questions:

  1. WHY ON EARTH would I want my underarms smelling like watermelon?
  2. Surely there is nothing attractive about watermelon smelling underarms.
  3. (The glitzy sticker on the tube should’ve given that away)
  4. There is nothing normal about ones underarms smelling like watermelon.
  5. Oh, and… aluminium.

I will extend myself some grace as a then-ignorant-20-something, who just loved all things watermelon. But really, wow, how I’ve grown.

I had no idea that 99% of underarm/roll on/deodorants (call them what you will) have aluminium in them. Aluminium. ALU-MINIUM. Did you know this?

Most antiperspirant concerns center around the active ingredient – an aluminum-based compound that temporarily plugs the sweat ducts and prevents you from perspiring. Typically, antiperspirants are coupled with a deodorant, which contains the pleasant scent that stops you from smelling.

That pleasant fragrance comes with it’s problems too – often accompanied by the endocrine disrupting phthalates. A number of studies in recent years have clearly linked aluminum-based antiperspirants with the increase the risk for breast cancer. Source

Right then. Fresh perspective. We need an alternative. We need to be more careful.

Here is it. Pure Beginnings have 4 different natural deodorants which do not contain aluminium. Their amazing different scents include Monsoon, Forest, Sahara and Fragrance Free (for super sensitive skins).

These eco-deo’s are awesome. They are safe, natural and smell amazing. While I do still perspire when I use it, I’m okay sweating. I know it is our bodies’ natural way to cool ourselves down. What makes me more concerned is when I don’t sweat. And so this deo ticks all the boxes for me.

Give it a go, and tell me what you think? You can order it online here and it retails for only R59.85.