Applewood and Earth

have yourself a merry low waste christmas

admin — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 05:21:16 +0000

‘Bake them a cake, write them a poem, give them a kiss, tell them a joke, but for god’s sake stop trashing the planet to tell someone you care. All it shows is that you don’t.’ – George Monbiot

If you also straddle the awkward fence of creeping existential dread when confronted with the grotesque display of seasonal tat and pathological consumerism that accompanies the festive season, yet enjoy giving gifts, decorating your house and generally celebrating with nice things, rest assured that there are dozens of ideas out there that can help you have a guilt-free, waste-free and bank balance friendly Christmas.

In his cheerfully titled article ‘The Gift of Death’ (steady on, George), political and environmental activist and all-round sexy bespectacled mouthpiece of doom George Monbiot takes square aim at the junk parade shitshow of overconsumption that seems to be in full force from October, thanks in large part to our increasing tendency to adopt the frenzied spending habits of the United States. Now while I love wallowing in Monbiot’s rants as much as the next guilt-plagued environmental scientist, I don’t think I can add much of value to this conversation that hasn’t already been elaborated on at great length by clever writers such as Annie Leonard or Naomi Klein. The TL;DR version: it takes a lot of resources to make stuff, we buy far more than we need, and we throw most of it away in short order either because it’s poor quality, doesn’t have a useful purpose, breaks too easily or we just want something new. And the volume of resources we throw out defies imagination. Gone are the days when the best many families could do was gifting an orange.

I’ve long been of the opinion that we focus far too much of the climate crisis conversation in curbing emissions, and we’re not doing enough to address legacy waste, overconsumption and current waste streams. We’re churning trash out faster than we can find solutions and it feels like we’re missing a massive industry that could be devoted to large and small-scale reclamation, restoration, and reuse. Where we could be tapping into an obscene wealth of usable resources, instead we’re chucking into landfill, oceans, bushland and streams. All to save a few bucks. Production, waste and disposal all cause huge emissions, alongside the wholescale destruction of ecosystems, species and foodchains.

Well, I don’t know how to save the world singlehandedly, even though I do know how to rant about it, so wouldn’t an aesthetically pleasing gallery of alternative low-waste or secondhand Christmas ideas be a nice distraction at least?

Of course it would.

Moving swiftly on…

GLASS SWEETS DISH

Old-fashioned glassware is pretty common in the secondhand market, or if your budget stretches further you could grab one from an antique shop. Fill it up with some delicious sweet treats and wrap it in a ribbon.

COLLAGE KIT

A great gift for creative kids (or adults, who am I kidding?) This is something you can gather and build on year round – decorative packaging, postage stamps, cut outs from old junk store picture books, maps, scraps of lace, handwritten letters, foreign newspapers, vintage magazine cutouts, old photos, postcards, gardening books – the list is endless. I love working on small collage pieces during my down time, the image was made from junk paper ephemera I’ve collected from flea markets over the years.

FLOWER PRESSED CANDLE

Grab a pillar candle and a small selection of flowers and foliage. Press your greenery in a flower press or between heavy books for a week or two and then arrange them around the candle. Use a glue stick to temporarily hold everything in place, wrap a strip of baking paper around the candle and apply heat using a hair dryer to melt in your arrangement.

MARITIME THEMED WALL ART

The industrial-nautical look of old barometers, ship parts or oars mounted on the wall or in your workshed make a great feature. I sometimes see these types of items at tip shops or in antique stores, with varying prices tags depending. Here’s a little inspo taken from a coastal town cafe I visited a few months ago.

RETRO POTTERY/VINTAGE CERAMICS

Admittedly about half of this list doubles as my own personal gift registry but I’ve found amazing pottery pieces from tip shops, op shops, flea markets and garage sales. From fine china to chunky West German lava vases, the world is your pottery barn. This little trio is from Tasmanian ceramicist Barbara Cauvin, picked them up at a local tip shop.

STYLED UP POTTED PLANT

Old and weathered terracotta pots have a charm that can’t be replicated. Although they can sometimes be a little more expensive than a new terracotta pot from your local nursery, you can find small antique pots for under $10. Pop in a lavender, geranium or a herb such as basil or thyme for a lovely Mediterranean themed gift.

SEAGLASS IN A BOTTLE

Literally turning trash into treasure. For any beachcombing buffs, a collection of some sea-tumbled coloured glass in an old bottle makes for a sweet decorative keepsake.

ELDERFLOWER GIN

There are simply dozen of infused spirits that you can prepare ahead of time, using a variety of readily available fruits, flowers and/or spices. Elderflower gin is made with a few fresh elderflower heads, some lemon and sugar – click here for a recipe.

BODY SCRUBS

Raid your pantry and make coffee scrubs out of old coffee grounds, salt or sugar. Generally made with a blend of oil, fragrance (essential oils), sugar/salt/coffee and any bonus fragrant herbs you have on hand, these can be made at a fraction of the cost of store-bought plus you have the added advantage of knowing exactly what’s gone into them. A selection of different recipes are just a quick online search away.

In short, these are just a few quirky, creative or unusual ideas to get you thinking outside of the gift-wrapped box. Suggestions such as gifting experiences, jam, baked goods or potplants are as thick as the Christmas tree pine needles on your carpet on the 28 December out there in the online listicle world, but I hope this encourages you to explore the secondhand market or DIY landscape a little more for cheap and interesting thoughtful alternatives to the sea of bland mass-produced products. But on a final note, if you do prefer to buy new, aim to shop small, shop local and support independent creatives.

in (longford) bloom

admin — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 20:19:17 +0000

London has the Chelsea Flower Show, Melbourne has the International Flower and Garden Show and, well, I guess Tasmania has Longford Blooms.

Driving through the agricultural township of Longford, in Tasmania’s north, you wouldn’t immediately suspect that it’s home to a hidden wealth of beautifully manicured gardens, a dozen or so of which open their doors every year to a steady stream of hundreds of visitors who come looking for inspiration, design ideas, rare plants, garden bric-a-brac and whatever the name of that plant they’ve just found in the owner’s garden is.

As a certified rare cottage plant hunter and someone whose lofty garden design ideas regularly exceed my budget, the event offers a reasonable mix of “attainable” gardens alongside a glimpse into how the other half live (although let’s be real, it’s a lot less than half these days). This year was the third time I’ve attended since 2020, and it’s something I pop into my calendar every year or two.

With an abundance of frothy roses, towering foxgloves, nodding aquilegias and manicured box hedges, the gardens themselves range from European formal to English cottage style, although I’ve yet to see any open gardens that lean more towards Australian native plants. Most of the gardens are within easy walking distance of each other provided you’re comfortable with a day on foot. There’s also an excellent selection of plant stalls set up across many of the gardens offering reasonably priced plants from specialised growers that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Finally, and I don’t want to be inviting the wrath of the weather gods by saying this, but somehow, it seems to always be a sunny weekend.

I’d love it if there could be more events like this in some of Tasmania’s other small towns. It’s great for drawing visitors to places they may not otherwise take the time to explore (and besides, who can resist a free pass to have a nosy around in other people’s gardens? Not this little black duck I can assure you).

Longford Blooms is held annually on the third weekend of November. Ticket sales go live a few weeks prior or you can buy them on the day in the village green.

evandale and elderflower

Nathalie — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 23:10:43 +0000

The mid-spring frothy white riot of elderflower heralds the start of a new season of preserving in my kitchen. Starting off slowly with some batches of elderflower cordial, stewed rhubarb and perhaps a few containers of broad bean hummus to be frozen for mid summer spreads, the pace quickly picks up until I’m drowning in jars, resolutely making as yet unfulfilled promises that this will definitely be the year I sort my jar collection and desperately seeking new friends to gift excess jam and courgettes.

I could probably keep harvesting and preserving all year in some form or another if I really put my mind to it, but I think including seasons of rest and relaxation is just as important in annual cycles as periods of growth and activity (also, any excuse to sleep in during winter).

This past weekend was a little of both, piling compost onto rapidly growing plants and taking some time out for a leisurely amble around Evandale in Tasmania’s northern midlands, visiting the Sunday market and collecting some of the abundant elderflower that grows up that way.

There are dozens of ways to use elderflower in cooking, although so far I’ve only got as far as making champagne or syrup (a dash of syrup with gin and soda makes a sublime mixer) – I follow this recipe from River Cottage, and use about 20-25 flower heads per 1.5l batch

Evandale is an adorably quaint little village about 25 minutes south of Launceston. Streets lined with Georgian heritage buildings, featuring wrought iron detail and tastefully designed gardens, any day is good to visit but mid-spring on a Sunday is an ideal time. As well as the markets, there’s a couple of antique shops worth a visit, as well as stepping back in time at the 19th century general store style Evandale Village Store. If you want to grab a bite, the Clarendon Arms offers both a lush dappled light beer garden as well as an old style pub interior. If you’re passing through with your pooches, the beer garden is dog friendly.

The markets, meanwhile, offer everything from new potatoes to vintage fur stoles, antique toby mugs to old tools. Also live chickens if you’re looking for that special gift for someone who’s impossible to buy for. It’s dangerously easy to walk out of there with armfuls of bric-a-brac that you never even know you needed, which is absolutely a skill I’ve honed down to a fine art over the years. Although I haven’t come home with any poultry yet. Yet.

there’s snow on the mountain

admin — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:41:37 +0000

A pair of black swans flash their white wing tips against the indigo-grey sky. The weary limbs of apple-burdened trees hang low in the groves. The first hint of yellow in the poplars, and a hint of woodsmoke in the breeze. There’s snow on the mountain.

Autumn is a long drawn-out affair in Tasmania’s south. Does it start when the pears begin to drop? When the spiders and mice turn up on your doorstep seeking out some dry comfort? When it’s time to net the grapes or when you resume the hunt for where you stashed your fluffy slippers?

Autumn always comes with a sense of relief as the pace and urgency of summer starts to slow. It’s a season that suits my lackadaisical tendencies to put that thing off until tomorrow. That crop won’t fail if I don’t water it Right Now. The lawns can wait for another day. Outings with the dogs don’t have to be planned around the fierce heat of an afternoon. I can shape and trim and prune and get a sense of what exactly has happened in the garden over the riot of summer. There are still crops to look forward to and the wineries are in full force.

Speaking of wineries (of which there seem to be more every year down here – I’m not sure who will emerge victorious between the cherry orchards and the vineyards but it does keep the netting industries in business I guess), early March signals the return of the annual Southern Open Vineyards Weekend, a ‘self-guided journey through the iconic Tasmanian wine regions of the Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and the Huon Valley / D’Entrecasteaux Channel’.

Some of that self guiding involves keeping a close track on how many standard drinks all those wine samples add up to as you negotiate a network of winding roads with terrifying speed limits and no shoulder, but it was significantly less hectic than the time I did a bicycle tour of New Zealand’s Marlborough region (not nearly as romantic or whimsical as a bunch of golden rolling misty tranquil mountain backdrop landscape promotional images might have you believe). And minus the hangover of a winery bus tour around the Sonoma Valley.

The cold, hard (with notes of peach and a zesty mineral finish) reality of winery touring is that you can only do so much in one day. Whether or not you’re the designated driver, if you’ve got the average amateur palate that I’m blessed with, everything starts to taste a bit the same after the third winery. And if you’ve also got an average amateur bank balance like I do, well…

Relieved of the constant demands for hydration and nutrition from my garden, autumn is also a time for mini-breaks and day drives; exploring New Norfolk’s bustling assortment of antique stores, taking in the rich Georgian architecture of southern midland towns like Ross or Oatlands, watching the fagus turn at Mount Field national park or taking the short ferry ride over to Bruny Island to devour a rich selection of cheeses (and where your dogs can hang out with you to remind you of how perpetually cheese-deprived they are).

I’ll be sure to tackle at least some of this travel writer selection of destinations eventually, not least of all to continue supporting the illusion of a windswept and interesting life that I’ve been carefully crafting over on the gram.

goodbye summer

admin — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 10:46:20 +0000

Summer has left us for another year as autumn rolls in like a gentle morning fog. Like all tragic hipsters, autumn is my favourite month (I wish I was more original in my choice but autumn has the alluring smoky, sophisticated charm of a gentleman who dresses well and drinks fine single malt whisky – look, just bear with me, I’ve been single forever and the men I’ve been involved with of late have all the charm, allure and sophistication of a bowl of three-day old salted porridge). But I digress – here’s some highlights from the end of the season.

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endless summer afternoons

Nathalie — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 03:08:56 +0000

A few highlights from January, the first half spent swanning about on my summer break, finishing off painting my spare room (goodbye to tatty cream and hello to a cool and sophisticated grey) and getting the garden back under control and the second half dealing with three weeks worth of post-holiday emails. Here’s a little of what’s been feeding my soul this month.

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exploring egg islands

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 09:51:15 +0000

The Egg Islands are a marshy patch of land located in the middle of the Huon River, running alongside the small township of Franklin. The enticingly moody forest-lined entrance to the 140 year old man-made canal dividing the island is visible from the Franklin shore and it’s a spot that I’ve always wanted to explore – when the ‘one day’ dream of owning and confidently making regular use of a kayak came to fruition. In the meantime, joining the occasional tour run by actual kayak owning professionals is a good alternative.

Although it was once farmed, the Egg Islands are now a reserve area that’s home to many rare and threatened species including Australian bitterns and grey goshawks. The Black Gums and Brookers Gums that have re-established on the island are also a threatened ecological community, making this spot even more important for the local environment. Spend even a little while in this area and you’re likely to spot White-bellied Sea Eagles, Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagles and Swamp Harriers, usually engaged in some kind of low level skirmish. The Huon River is relatively calm at this section, perfect for anyone who’s still gaining confidence in their kayaking or simply wants a relaxing paddle

something like summer

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 09:41:30 +0000

It’s mid-summer in the garden. With barely any rain for weeks the surrounding paddocks have started to brown off, baled up hay decorating short stubbled field that remind me it’s well past time that I should have mulched my flower beds. The light has shifted into its soft golden phase as it slowly leaves us on a trajectory to the north and before long the evenings will be tinged with the dampness and woodsmoke of an autumn approach…although I’m not ready to think about autumn just yet.

Most of my summer seasonal produce is late this year. After a spring that tended more towards a wet winter, everything struggled to flourish. I can only boast one courgette so far which gives you some clue of what our summer has been like…but until I get a greenhouse I’ll just have to accept what the weather gods have in store and take my chances. With a rapidly changing climate (yes, it is happening sooner and faster than you’d expected, you’re not imagining it), every season is a gamble so whether it’s still questionable if I’ll get many tomatoes, and my garlic failed for the first time thanks to rust, my peas, rhubarb and redcurrants were a roaring success.

The transition from early to mid-summer flowers is seeing aquilegias replaced with achilleas, valerian with verbena and poppies with penstemon. Dahlias new and established are unfurling and after receiving an accidental double order of ‘mystery dahlias’ from a local supplier in spring, I have about 20 introductions to look forward to over the coming weeks. I, like so many others over the last few years, have fallen into the absolute mad dream of tall, majestic and romantic dahlia beds scattered around the garden and must now suffer the injustices of competing with everyone else who’d quite like that too, thanks. Not just any dahlias of course, only the most coveted and difficult to source ones will do. As always, I blame Instagram.

spicing up your cuisine with herbs

Nathalie — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 09:56:10 +0000

Spring is here in the southern hemisphere – time for epic garden planning for the green-fingered. Vegies and herbs are of course the backbone to any kitchen garden plot, but this week I put my mind to a top 10 list of less ordinary herbs that I’d recommend to someone wanting to expand their culinary horizons.

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winter in the valley

Nathalie — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 03:06:36 +0000

A time for cosy fires, mulled cider and contemplation, winter in the Huon Valley brings snow-capped mountain views (though often hidden behind a dense fog bank round my way), muddy soils and a chance to raid the pantry for the spoils of summer.

This winter (now almost past) marks the third year anniversary of my house purchase, and I celebrated in true Tassie style by installing a long overdue and most welcome woodburner. Fitted into an old boarded up fireplace, my home’s new heart is helping to keep the edge off the winter chill, keep my formerly freezing kitchen/dining room nice and toasty and bumping up the ambient overnight lows which could dip below 10 degrees indoors. Brrr…It’s also comforting to know I’m no longer 100% reliant on the grid for warmth – and I’ve even been lucky enough to source a good supply of free firewood that will keep me going for a few years.

That’ll do nicely, thank you

Spring is now well and truly on its way however – with the usual tug of war between warm and dry and cold and wet weather. The almond, apricot and blood plum have all started to pop with flowers, the broad beans are a few short weeks from harvesting and the peas are starting to push up through the soil. There’s been a lot of spells of remarkably mild weather, and I’ve been able to get a huge chunk of work done. Top of the list was removing a few unwanted trees and their stumps – this included a large, rotting and straggly rhododendron that was probably planted in the 50s, when the house was built. I wish I could say I feel any kind of guilt about it…but ugh…I’m really not a fan of the rhododendron. This work cleared the way to make a start on a new ornamental front garden (largely native plants in a cottage garden style). The hardest part is of course waiting the 3+ years it will take for it to start looking like the vision in my mind, they’ve got a lot of growing to do!