Resources
A is for Apples and Autumn Leaves
Apples Do you have an apple tree growing near you? If you live in Banyule then a wonderful day trip is to head out to Petty’s orchard. If you keep an eye out on their social media page you may even be notified when they are open to the public for taste testing their extensive…
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B is for Book Week, Bushwalking, Buy Nothing and Buy in Bulk
Book Week Do you want to enjoy Book Week but don’t want to add to your footprint? Start planning, sourcing and sewing/creating well in advance. Here are some ideas you can use to tread lightly during Book Week: Up-cycle what you already have in the house Buy pre-loved online or from your local op shop…
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C is for Celebration, Communication, Compost, Cooking from Scratch and Cultural Safety
Celebration We all love to celebrate and regardless of the occasion it is made all the more special when we consider how we can decrease our footprint while getting our party on. Reimagine birthdays by taking along a low waste picnic to a local park. An example is a birthday celebration that we organised at…
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D is for Dancing and Decluttering
Dancing Recently I participated in an international book group that discussed the book, ‘Surviving the future’ written by David Fleming. What was interesting about this book was the emphasis placed on celebration, ritual, music and dance. I began to wonder what is available locally here in Banyule? While I haven’t experienced her classes myself I…
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E is for Edible Gardens, Electricity and Earth Buildings
Edible Gardens Growing up I associated edible gardens with growing lettuce and carrots and other fresh produce that we find in the aisles of our local green grocer. However, as I attended Indigenous led workshops about food, my perception changed. I learnt that many of the common native plants that grow all around us also…
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F is for Fermented Foods, Local Food and Flowers
Fermented Foods Treading more lightly is supported by harnessing the power of bacteria and fungi to enhance the nutrition of foods. This is the ancient practice of fermentation. Fruit vinegar, kombucha and sauerkraut are easy ferments that everyone could make. They are a common starting point for many people’s exploration of traditional foods and reconnection…
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G is for Gifts and Gratitude
Gift giving in a way that doesn’t cost the earth is first and foremost a cultural hurdle. Every day we are bombarded with propaganda telling us that purchasing ‘new’ gifts is a good thing when actually the contrary is true. To help with this cultural shift it is helpful to surround yourself with people who…
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H is for Healing Country, Hard Waste and Housing
Heal Country This year’s NAIDOC week theme is ‘Heal Country’. Have you considered what we can do both as individuals and as a community to look after country here in Banyule. Local resident Megan has shared some of the everyday things that she does to responsibly look after country. One way to heal country is…
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I is for Indigenous Plants and IPCC
Indigenous Plants Providing habitat and forage for local fauna, less garden maintenance and connection to place are common reasons local gardeners opt for Indigenous plants. Enjoying the flavours of edible varieties is another great motivation for growing these often underrated plants. There are thousands of edible plants native to Australia and many grow in Banyule.…
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J is for Jam, K is for Kids
J is for Jam A few times a year I walk past a fruit tree (usually a cumquat or plum) growing in a someone’s front yard untouched with fruit laying rotting on the ground. My daughter insists on knocking on the door to ask if we can pick some to make jam. So far not…
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L is for Lemons, ‘iridescence’, Listening and Learning
Lemons Reimagine Citrus Do you have a laden Citrus tree in your yard? Perhaps you’ve seen one in your neighbourhood during a walk and started thinking about how you could make use of the fruit. I have been passing a citrus tree in our street for sometime and am working up the courage to walk…
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M is for Meditation, Mending, Minimalism, Mushrooms and Music
Meditation “If every 8 year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” -Dalai Lama While this statement might oversimplify the challenges facing humanity, it does acknowledge the power of meditation to build health and happiness, and with as many variations on meditation techniques as there…
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N is for Nappies, Nature Play and Nature Strips
Nappies Choosing to use cloth nappies is a great way to tread more lightly with children. Learn: With Banyule resident Elana at local reusable nappy workshops www.clothnappyworkshopsmelbourne.com.au Banyule City Council runs online information sessions to help you become a familiar and confident Cloth Nappy user. www.banyule.vic.gov.au/…/Reusable-nappy… Attend the workshop and you get two modern cloth…
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O is for Op Shops
The delight of the “op shop find” feeds the hunter gatherer instinct. Devoting some hours to browsing Banyule’s op shops to renew your wardrobe, find your child’s next Book Week costume, and fill gaps in your kitchen cupboards and book shelves, pays back with a tenth of the footprint of buying anything new. Most of…
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P is for Plastic Free July and tips for Polystyrene recycling
Plastic Free July Plastic Free July is a grassroots initiative that started in 2011. Deciding to go plastic free for one moth is a wonderful way to experiment with different alternatives to plastic. If you choose to do this during the month of July then you will be joined by thousands of people all over…
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Q is for Quolls and "Under the Quandong Tree"
Do you know that Quolls used to live in Banyule? We often think about the animals who we are living alongside. But what about those whom we have already displaced? What is our responsibility to them? The good news is that we can make a difference to the habitat of the animals who…
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R is for Repair, Repurposing, Reciprocity, Respect, Retrosuburbia
Repair Repair is about more than repairing something that’s broken. It’s about repairing ourselves and the world around us. A couple of years ago I attended a repair café run by Sustainable Watsonia. I went along with some broken earrings and was able to have them glued back together. Rubbish was being rescued from landfill…
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S is for Schools, Seed Libraries, Signage to Support Sharing and the 3 S's (Soak, Solarise and Submerge weeds!)
Schools When local resident Asha started at a new primary school she noticed that there were some simple changes that could take place to decrease the amount of waste that the school was producing. By engaging in a positive dialogue with the principal, teachers, students and school community, she was able to contribute towards the…
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T is for Textiles, Transport and Trees
Transport Walking For many years I worked at Austin Health and lived in Watsonia. Some days I would catch the train to work then after work I’d walk home to get my daily exercise. It took over an hour but I was happy because I didn’t need to pay for gym fees. I really enjoyed…
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U is for upcycling
Upcycling is about seeing value in something that would usually be destined for composting, recycling, downcycling or landfill. It can be as simple as cutting up a old holey shirt to use as dishwashing/cleaning cloths OR can be as complex as getting out the sewing machine for a home DIY upcycling project. If you don’t…
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V is for Volunteering and Video projects
Volunteering From Latin voluntarius “of one’s free will”. Volunteering is a wonderful way to learn new skills, meet friends and to contribute back to the community. We have enjoyed volunteering in the local community gardens, for various Boomerang bag making groups, joining the local ‘friends of’ groups, picking up rubbish at festivals (usually scores you…
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W is for Water, Women and Waste
Water I grew up in a rural area along a creek. As a child I remember playing in the crystal clear water, I would go down to the waterhole and drink the most delicious water that I’d ever drunk in my life (just like a kangaroo). It was a dangerous creek, deep and always flowing,…
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X, Y and Z
X is for sex At the heart of treading lightly is the ability to control our population. Indigenous Australians developed complex and sophisticated ways of managing reproduction so that even in times of scarcity there is still enough food for everyone, including local animals. To add to this, in order to ensure that babies being…
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Reimagine Easter
Reimagine Easter Swap #1 Hot cross buns Things to think about when buying hot cross buns (or any bread): Waste avoidance: Can I use my own reusable cloth bag or ask the person serving you “Would it be ok to put my order in these bags?” Where is my local bakery? #Banyule Micro Bakeries we know…
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