What gets done when it rains? A Flimsy!

If you noticed the title of last week's blog post, you will understand that  the arrival of a couple of big cold fronts was greeted with acclaim around here. Lots of good rains for the farmers, lots of good rains for our gardens. My 3000 litre water tank was getting quite low,  but now is almost half full. There is more rain to come. The mulch DH and I have spread on our garden over the years soaked the rain like a giant sponge: no rain washed off, no soil washed off- everything was directed towards the root zone and beyond.  It is very heartening to see our hard work over the years now paying off.

So how to keep myself amused when the rain is pouring down? Well, whenever there was a break I did scoot out to do some weeding or snip back something which was getting a bit out of hand, but largely there were other things to do.

The biggest achievement is that my "Scrappy Mountain Majesties quilt top is finished! 

The quilt top is done! While listening to the ABC Classic's #classic100 I put the borders on and also got the wadding and backing organised. This will be quilted at a long armer: too big for me. The fabric was purchased during our Blue Mountains holiday last year. To be honest I am relieved I made it this far! Big project blues slowed me down for a time. #quiltersofinstagram#bonniehunterfreepattern

LOW Carbon Living inspirational seminar

I attended a great seminar in Fremantle, highlighting the work at CUSP-Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute. and their Low Carbon Living  CRC. I really recommend you browse the link here -fabulous ideas, lots of tools and tips too.  The institute was established in January 2008, headed by Professor Peter Newman

The seminar showcased seven years of leading research to support the transition towards sustainable cities and communities, including Josh’s Byrne's work on high performance housing and residential precincts.It was really an impressive day full of smart people making clever ways to cut carbon emissions from cities. It was encouraging to be there, especially given this graph of Australia's current dismal performance in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. My own state of Western Australia exports large volumes of LPG which is just adding to the problem.

So inspiration is badly needed, and I found it in bucketfulls during the day's many presentations.

Read more here 

In line with our thinking about living a low carbon lifestyle, we have decided that on September 15 2019 we will be opening our house for Sustainable House Day!

Last time we did this, I abandoned my family to their fate because I was working at Synod, and they had ALL the fun! This year we will, hopefully, meet lots of wonderful neighbours and have a great time.

Finally, thank you for reading this far and I leave you with these inspirational ideas I found in my internet browsing this week:

Inspiration
A new way to subdivide and leave all the trees!


Forest bathing: get out among the trees

A Kalgoorlie based sandalwood oil producer has become the first Australian organisation to receive the prestigious United Nations Equator Prize.

Inspirational videos from The Mumbai gardener