Soil blockers are a great way to start seeds for your garden, but some of the recipes you’ll find around the web aren’t exactly sustainable – including things like peat moss and artificial nutrients.

I’ve tried to take the general ideas from other recipes, and make a more environmentally-friendly soil blocker mix. The main change is [...]

A couple of years ago I bought a soil blocker with some birthday money.

Incidentally, it was way cheaper to get it sent from the US than to buy it in Australia – something like 40% cheaper for exactly the same product made by the same manufacturer. It seems the manufacturer or distributor is not very responsive [...]

I was telling some friends at work about our new chicks, and when I mentioned that we were growing them out for meat they asked if our girls – aged 4, 6 and 8 – knew.

To be honest, we’ve been upfront with them since before the chicks hatched. We’ve been clear all along that these [...]

[ March 28, 2010; 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] This is really the April JCG meeting, brought forward a week due to Easter and school holidays. The topic this month will be a talk on backyard composting by Penny Hoswell. Penny works for Wollongong Council and has been conducting composting workshops under the Sustainable Illawarra programme. She is a master composter, with a lot of [...]

[ May 1, 2010; 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] ##FREE Sustainable Illawarra Water Wise Gardening Workshop Presented by John Gabriele, Horticulture teacher at Yallah TAFE, Kiama local and host of the Compost Heap on ABC radio, this workshop will inform participants of the importance of plant selection, mulching and moisture retention techniques and building soil structure to make your garden as water efficient as possible. [...]

[ April 30, 2010; 10:00 am to 1:30 pm. ] ##Sustainable Illawarra Vegetarian Cooking Workshop Join this fun and informative workshop and learn about what foods are best enjoyed to ensure a healthy vegetarian lifestyle, meal plan ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the importance of vegetarian meals in a sustainable lifestyle. On the day the group will prepare four delicious vegetarian meals and [...]

[ April 24, 2010; 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. ] ##FREE Sustainable Illawarra Water Wise Gardening Workshop Presented by John Gabriele, Horticulture teacher at Yallah TAFE, Kiama local and host of the Compost Heap on ABC radio, this workshop will inform participants of the importance of plant selection, mulching and moisture retention techniques and building soil structure to make your garden as water efficient as possible. [...]

[ April 24, 2010; 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. ] ##FREE Sustainable Illawarra Barren Grounds Bushwalk This fascinating walk explores the heath land that thrives on the sandstone plateau known as Barren Grounds. On the walk we will make our way to a magnificent sandstone formation known as the stone bridge. You’ll learn about the incredibly diverse array of plant and animal species thriving here, including [...]

[ April 24, 2010; 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. ] ##FREE Sustainable Illawarra Attracting Native Birds to your Garden Workshop Come to this free, interactive workshop and learn more about our local native birds and how we can encourage them to visit our gardens. The workshop is facilitated by local wildlife guru Peter Nolan from Habitat Ponds. This is a Sustainable Illawarra activity and is open [...]

[ April 24, 2010; 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] ##FREE Sustainable Illawarra Bokashi and Advanced Composting Workshop Would you like to improve your composting skills and knowledge? Come along and discuss composting styles and their pros and cons, compost activators, compost creatures, temperatures and more. Learn about biodynamic composts, anaerobic compost systems, and how to make your own Bokashi mix. Please note you must have [...]