 The bad news: Two in three Australians will develop skin cancer before the age of 70. The good news: 95% of skin cancers can be successfully treated IF detected early. Sunscreen. It's an absolute necessity. Coming from a girl who has A LOT of freckles, listen to me when I say.... you need to wear it. I was relatively sun smart as a kid playing soccer for many, many hours a week in the California heat. A smear on the shoulders and the cheeks always seemed to suffice. However, it wasn't until I was in college that I started to wear sunscreen regularly on my face as a preventative measure. On my body? Sure, but only when I was lying out by the pool. If you live in Australia you'd know the expression "Slip, Slop, Slap" by heart. I'd obviously never heard of it before moving here, but it's a really easy way to remember sun safety. It is also a requirement for children to follow when attending school if they want to play outside! Slip on a shirt Slop on some sunscreen and Slap on a hat. Australia has the world's highest rate of skin cancer... Eek! Beach culture is quintessential to living that Aussie lifestyle, but we must look after our skin to prevent harmful melanomas, keep our skin healthy and the added bonus of a youthful complexion doesn't hurt! I've made a list of my favourite sunscreens, (and I tell you why I love them), as well as what part of the body to use them on. Couldn't spell it out any clearer.... Let's dive in shall we?
And there you have it! If you have any questions, comment below or send me an email so I can help you out. In Health, Erica x
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 Snacks. Snacks. Snacks. How many times have they utterly saved the day when you're with your kids at the grocery store... running errands.... during an agonizing road trip? I get loads of DM's on Instagram about snack ideas for kids, so I thought I'd share a quick and easy blog post sharing what we have been loving lately. Here are our latest on-the-go favs:
If you love pouches for on-the-go, you can't go past Bellamy's Organic! I've blogged all about our love for them here! What are your kid's favourite snacks at the moment? Please share below! EMK x  Gimme all the collagen! I'm officially closer to middle age (as of September) and I find myself lusting after my daughter's collagen rich skin more frequently. All jokes aside, I'm just starting to really look toward, what I call, skin repairing now. I've been on the prevention path for a while, but the time has come for lots of TLC and repair. I think that's part and parcel of becoming a mum and running on less sleep and longer days. So what two things have I been doing to warrant my latest barrage of complexion compliments? 1. Using Mukti's microneedle derma roller twice a week. The needles create micro channels in the skin which help your skin to absorb the products you already use more efficiently. 2. Using Black Chicken Remedies newest Nocturnalist Night Serum nightly. This new, uniquely formulated serum rejuvenates skin cells during our sleep cycle, so it does all the heavy lifting while you catch up on your much needed Zzz's. During the day our skin tries to stay hydrated and protected from the elements. However, during the nighttime, our skin goes into recovery mode, much like humans actually. This serum is designed to assist in your skin's recovery, hydrate and reduce oxidation and inflammation. Directions: Before going to bed, I apply 3-5 drops to clean skin and massage it well into my cheeks, forehead and neckline. HOT TIP: If I'm doing a little extra for Self Care Sunday, then I Gua Sha immediately after applying the serum. What are the active ingredients you ask? Prickly Pear: is rich in amino acids and encourages collagen production and elasticity to brighten + tighten pores Lemon: is loaded with Vitamin C. It's also one of the best-known anti-aging agents Frankincense: helps promote healthy circulation and reduces the appearance of sun spots Geranium Bourbon: helps with cellular regeneration Neroli: boosts luminosity and helps to reduce fine lines and wrinkles Myrrh: rejuvenates aging skin Cypress: has antimicrobial properties that help remove toxins from the skin I love how thick and nourishing the serum is and it smells so bloody good. You can tell they spared no expense sourcing the best of the best ingredients. My favourite part is that this serum is 100% natural, completely free of chemicals, toxins, preservatives and Australian-made. It's totes a necessity in every "30- something year old's" medicine cabinet!
What does your night time routine look like? Tell me in the comments below. In Health, EMK  We are halfway through October, which just so happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here are some fab ways that you can get around the cause while supporting some pretty fantastic brands that I know and love.
1. Spiritual Gangster's BCA Collection One of my all time favourite yoga apparel brands are doing a Breast Cancer Awareness Collection and it's SO cute! Their muscle tanks are my fav - so comfy and versatile for working out or hitting the streets with jeans and sneakers. The minimalist white jumper above has the precious pink heart on the front, and WARRIOR written in a bold hot pink on the back. Obsessed! What's incredible about these pieces is that 100% of the profits from these styles support Susan G Komen Los Angeles in the fight to end breast cancer. How incredible is that? HOT TIP: Sign up for Spiritual Gangster's VIP list and get 15% your first order 2. S'well have gone Pink For A Cure This October S'well is donating 20% of the retail price to support the breast cancer research foundation (BCRF).
My personal favourite is the Geode Rose bottle on the left. It has a smooth matte finish and is inspired by rose quartz geode stone which is symbolic of unconditional love. The hot pink bottle in the middle, called Bikini Pink with Silver Cap, can even be personalised. How cool is that!? These bottles are so affordable and good for our planet too, lessoning single use plastic.  3. Black Chicken Remedies Natural Deodorant, More to Love Addition Deodorant. Something we all use, and need in our lives. If you aren't familiar with their 100% natural, chemical AND toxin free deodorant, read this to learn about how you can lead a more low tox life. Black Chicken Remedies is trying to raise $40k for the National Breast Cancer Foundation by October 31st. So, why not stock up now and purchase the More To Love Addition which has 25% more paste? BCR are also running a contest alongside their fundraiser where you can win $1000 worth of Black Chicken Remedies Products! All you have to do to enter is: 1. Purchase two "More to Love Addition" deodorants 2. Post a photo of yourself on social media holding them up to your chest (like this) 3. Add the hashtag #AXILLAMORETOLOVE and tag @blackchickenremedies THAT's it... how good hey?! Imagine winning $1000 worth of BCR natural goodness - and all for simply buying deodorant!  4. SWIISH by Sally Obermeder's Pink I Can Collection Seven years ago, Sally, the owner of SWIISH, was diagnosed with cancer herself. This year Sally has put together SWIISH's first 'Pink I Can' Collection, and it's to die for! 10% of all proceeds will go to the BCNA, Breast Cancer Network Australia.  This is a great place to grab some adorable accessories, a few early Christmas presents or a little something to Treat Yo Self. My personal favourite is the rose quartz face roller, which is legit incredible, and under $40! Shop the entire range here. Want to Know More?
Here is the beacon calendar from Breast Cancer Awareness Australia showcasing other companies and BCA events this month. You don't have to shop help the cause! If you would like to raise money, join/host an event, or volunteer... please click here. Let's kick cancer's butt! EMK x Cedar + Stone is a 100% plant based vegan skincare company based in the Currumbin Valley, Australia. The company was founded by Kate and Anna, two sisters that were tired of shopping at organic health shops only to find that many skincare products still had unnecessary chemicals. The sister duo decided to whip up some homemade alternatives, and Cedar + Stone was born. Their line of skincare products are proudly cruelty free, gluten free, paraben free, sulphate and SLS free. My Latest Haul from Cedar + Stone:
HOT TIP: If you sign up for Cedar + Stone's newsletter, they will email you a voucher for $20 off your next purchase. Also, you'll get free shipping on orders over $100 Want to Learn More?
Follow Cedar + Stone on Instagram or check out their Facebook Page. The also have a pretty cool Pinterest page. Follow Raw on Instagram or connect on Facebook. They have a blog too. If you want to see their beautiful products in person, have a look at their stockists.  So, long story short, I haven't purchased make up for many, many years. When I started my low-tox lifestyle transition after my daughter's birth, I threw out make up I'd held on to for years (as in 5+ years old). Shock horror, am I right! GROSS. I've been wearing sunscreen and mascara, or a simple BB cream for years now with the occasional eyeliner when I needed to really spruce up. My daughter is now 18 months old and I'm quickly approaching my mid 30's. The last few months, I've felt as if BB cream isn't cutting it. Don't get me wrong, I'm obsessed with my La Mav BB cream and tell everyone about it. I just felt like it was finally time to simply add something to the mix and help this tired mama perk up her appearance just a bit. But where to start? A highlighter? A bronzer? What are those puffy egg looking things used for anyway? I had no clue, but I decided to see what had happened within the beauty world the last decade. I'd recently seen Mon from The Beauty Journal feature some clean beauty items on her instagram that peaked my interest. I wanted them to be cruelty free, non-toxic and "clean" because it would be pretty pointless to lead a low-tox life in every aspect except what went directly on my skin. I decided to check some products out online from Conscious Kin. If you live in Brisbane, I highly recommend visiting their stunning shop which is tucked away on the gorgeous James Street. They also just opened a new shop in the Gold Coast as well if that is closer to you. If you're looking to make some clean beauty swaps, Conscious Kin is a great place/website to start your journey. My Haul
What are your favourite clean beauty brands? Tell me in the comments below! In Health, EMK
Jackie's passion doesn't stop there though, as she has also just launched a brand new business venture, Eunoia Soul Rituals, which is officially open for business as of today! They combine holistic skin care with soul rituals. What does that mean exactly? Each month has it's own theme which has been curated and handpicked, featuring a box with a collaborative product from an Australian small business, an e-ritual, and other precious goodies. Their first month kicks off with the always welcomed, Self Love. Welcome Jackie! So happy to chat with you today. Let's dive in. What is the first thing you do every morning, and the very last thing you do every night? As a pilates instructor, I have some very early mornings so I can't always complete my full routine each day. But most days I do love to wake up naturally, make myself a tea or coffee and sit on my rocking chair outside and read. It is my absolute favourite way to start the day. I love to pull an oracle card or two as well just to get a little clarity on my day ahead. The last thing I do each night before bed is a meditation. I use the insight app and it's been my favourite way to wind down at night. I try to do two meditations a day for at least 10 minutes each time. It really helps me to stay calm and grounded and I love that time alone with myself. Give us your life motto in one sentence. Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors when there were once only walls. Can you tell us a little about how your love of food came about, and why you decided to get your Bachelor of Health Science? Growing up, my mum and Nana instilled a love of food and cooking in me. My mum would make incredible meals every single night and I would always have a lunchbox packed with fresh, healthy food at school. It was my mum who taught be how to cook and really showed me how fun and creative cooking can be. I'm a very creative person, so making up new recipes and finding new ways of using healthy ingredients is a passion of mine. I decided to get my Bachelors for a few reasons. It was definitely because of my love of cooking and food, but I think it was also because my father had some health issues and turned to natural medicine for help. That particularly inspired me to look into getting a degree in natural health. "Keto" has been thrown around the news and we hear so many podcasts talking about it lately. Can you explain the Ketogenic diet in layman's terms for us? Yes, it does seem to be very publicised lately. I specialise in the high fat, low carb diet in my clinical practice which has been tricky. I think generally people have the wrong idea about what a ketogenic diet looks like. It's not lashings of butter and fat, and it's certainly not all meat and no veggies. I see people recommending that way of eating on social media and it makes me so upset! A proper ketogenic diet contains veggies, meats and fats, but not in extremes. It is higher in fat than the average Australian diet, but only slightly. A ketogenic diet induces the process of ketosis in the body, whereby the body burns fat as fuel. What's so cool about the human body is that we can change it's fuel source. Most people's metabolism runs off carbs or glycogen as fuel, but when it's depleted and we add in extra fat, we use that fat as our fuel instead. That's ketosis in a nutshell. Natural medicine is _________________ ... preventative medicine. We aim to prevent disease by changing your diet and lifestyle and also to treat the cause of disease, not just the symptoms. I loved this blog post of yours about the importance of reading food labels. What's one piece of advice that you would give to the average Australian who isn’t reading nutritional food labels? Thank you! The one piece of advice I would give that's really easy to remember is that the ingredients on your food labels are listed by quantity. Which means the first ingredient listed is what makes up the majority of the product. So what I say to my clients is that if you see sugar in any form in the first 4 ingredients of your food label, don't buy it, because sugar makes up the foundation of that product. How did you come to find your personal pilates practice, and what's the best part of being a pilates instructor? I have practiced pilates for a few years now, but I think I really came to love it when I began practicing reformer pilates. It's so hard, but fun, and every session is different - which I love! Pilates is incredibly challenging, but it's easy on your joints. Before I started pilates, I was a runner and I would always have sore knees and ankles, and I'm only 23! Now, I'm so much stronger and more fit, but I never feel like I'm injured. There are many things I love about being an instructor. It's so social and I enjoy watching people progress, but I think my favourite thing is that I get to wear UGG boots and leggings to work every day!! You recently found Sustomi's incredible range of beeswax food wraps, (which I'm obsessed with too)! What are two other ways you have become mindful and responsible in reducing your waste? They have been life changing! There's a few things that I'm doing, and these are just some small changes that anyone can make. I use a glass water bottle, I have a keep cup for my coffee/tea, I use glass Tupperware, I rinse out all of my jars (like peanut butter jars) and use them to store nuts, seeds or meals and I bought a soda stream instead of constantly buying new plastic packaged sparkling water. Even with starting my new business, Eunoia, I've been really mindful about what packaging we're using. All of our products are in glass instead of plastic and we've used recyclable cardboard for our boxes. Just small, easy things that make a big difference.  Speaking of Eunoia Soul Rituals, you've officially launched today, congratulations! How did you come up with the name Eunoia and what was your inspiration? Thank you!! I first stumbled across the word ‘Eunoia’ on a tumblr account, late at night no doubt, when I was a teen. Although I had no idea why at the time, the word Eunoia and it’s meaning ‘beautiful thinking, a well mind’, resonated with me deeply. It stuck with me for years and the words have become my screen saver through many a difficult time as a little reminder to evoke my own ‘beautiful thinking’. I came up with the idea of ritual based skincare while I was traveling across Europe last year. In my time away, I spent so many days sitting in parks and coffee shops reading books on spirituality, manifesting, gratitude, abundance - you name it. Just reading about and applying those spiritual practices to my life really changed me and I knew I had to teach these concepts in a more accessible way to women. And what's more accessible that skincare which is a ritual we are already partaking in each day. What personal passions of yours are found in the essence of Eunoia? So many! Natural, beautiful skincare, spirituality, rituals and mantras, crystals. Really everything about it is my passion and that's why it's so exciting for me. What is your favourite crystal and how does it speak to you? My favourite crystal is probably my smokey quartz. I used it as my gratitude rock - a rock that I hold on to every night before bed while I list off the many things I'm grateful for. I think it's my favourite because it contains so much positive energy from all of my gratitude practices. So many nights I fall asleep with it in my hand just listing off all of the things that make me happy. Give us your fast five: I'm reading.... Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown I'm listening to.... One of Lewis Howes's School of Greatness podcasts called 'Your thoughts will heal you or kill you' with Marisa Peer on repeat! Amazing! I'm lusting after... I'm pretty content right now actually. I'm watching.... Marcella - a crime series. It's great. I'm asking the universe for... Eunoia to change lives and to help women get in touch with their spirituality.
 Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Selph Health Studios in the up and coming district of Rosebery, NSW. Selph is Sydney’s newest holistic wellness boutique which boasts their own dream team consisting of a nutritionist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, and massage therapist. Selph jumps off the curb, you cannot miss it walking, or even driving by. The large glass windows and wooden detailing catch your eye immediately. Upon entering the industrial studio, turned wellness space, one can’t help but notice all the curves and seductive bends, making the room itself an architectural marvel. This came as no surprise when I learned that the owner’s father is in fact an architect and helped to design the space from scratch. It took them 6 weeks to transform the space into what you can see today, and it’s awe inspiringly beautiful.  Selph, an architect's dream (literally) The icing on the cake, in my ever humble option, is their intimate yoga studio which is tucked away and adorned with crystals, light floor boards and Lululemon custom mats (with props included). When I arrive at a yoga studio with mats and props awaiting my arrival, I feel an immediate sense of freedom that starts from the time I leave my house without my mat. I love arriving light and leaving even lighter after an hour of connecting to breath and body with the help of asana. We started our morning with tea and introductions to the Selph team. We had a warm greeting from the owner and founders, chiropractor Evan and entrepreneur Myles Sgammotta, who told us about their philosophy revolving around their four pillars of health: structural, emotional, nutritional and movement. At Selph you won’t get a quick fix, or an abrupt “we can fix that shoulder in six visits.” The practitioners here are dedicated to serving the whole self, the whole person. Their goal is to achieve a balance in your mind and body, and that means looking at the big picture, not an isolated injury. I loved how everyone worked together like a well oiled machine. The yoga teacher might see someone in class with an injury and suggest the chiro, who might treat them and then pass them on to the nutritionist because the issue seems to be aggravated by an inflammatory diet. Conversely, the chiro might have a client with shortening fascia, so he might recommend chiropractic treatment as well as yin yoga to assist with a gentle stretching of the fascia.  The time came for our yoga class! I was so excited for it since I haven’t found a space that really resonates with me since our move to Sydney. Amy Giuliano is the Selph yoga curator and yoga teacher that took us through our practice. I loved her calming voice, appropriate playlist and mindful hands-on adjustments. I also appreciated the attention to details in the intimate space, and particularly loved that there were no down lights shining into our eyes when supine. (If you don’t practice yoga, that last sentence won't mean much to you!) After our blissful yoga class we crossed the hall and met with Jenny Boss, the in-house nutritionist. Jen gave us a quick overview about where she was from, what she studied and how she would tackle meeting a new client. Jen also explained how important the gut-brain axis is and how she would typically treat the whole person rather than discussing proper food choices alone. What this means is that Jen would go so far as to ascertain if you eat in front of the television. Why would that matter you ask? Eating before the stimulus of the television creates a stress response in the body and inhibits your body's ability to digest maifood properly. After we heard from Jen, Evan told us a bit about the chiropractic side of the business and we had a play around with his neat homeostasis assessment app that showed us where our bodies were out of alignment with a simple iPad picture he snaps! Evan also mentioned that he uses NET (Neuro Emotional Technique) on his patients as well, coupled with the chiropractic treatments. NET is a stress reduction technique, and the idea is to assist the body in letting go of emotions such as fear, anger and grief. Assisting the body to break these emotional patterns can apparently help to alleviate chronic physical problems lingering in the body. Sounds pretty fascinating to me! We then had a guided meditation with Amy followed by an out of this world catered lunch. It was the perfect morning of education and relaxation for the body and mind. Do yourself a favour and go check these guys out. I’d venture to say you can find your sense of self at Selph. EMK x What to know more?
Call: (02) 83138983 Address: The Cannery, 2H Hayes Rd, Rosebery 2018 Website: Selph.com.au Email: hello@selph.com.au IG: @selphealth Be their friend on Facebook  1. RECYCLE (duh): This seems like a no brainer, but it's one of the easiest steps you can take by simply putting your rubbish in the correct receptacle. Do you ever feel overwhelmed or confused about what can and cannot be recycled? I found this article super helpful on what the 8 most common recycling mistakes are. ---> DID YOU KNOW: In Australia, 51% of household waste is recycled. If you want to see how we compare to other parts of the world, see this. 2. Have a waste list: I got this idea from Alex Stuart, author of Low Tox Life. Write down everything you had to throw away at the end of the week. It's similar to having a food journal where you write down everything that passes through your lips. Writing down what you throw in the trash will make you more accountable, and hopefully inspire some creative dishes (soups or curries are always great for "tired" veg). Just be sure the whole family is on board so that your list is accurate and hopefully, together, you can increase your chances of success. 3. Shop seasonally: This will help you to save money as well and create less waste. When I by things that are not in season, I tend to wait ages for them to ripen, and then sure enough, I've waited too long and it's gone off. Not sure where to start? Have a look at what fruit and veggies are in season here in Australia. 4. Compost your cut offs: Composting your food waste will significantly reduce what you're putting out for your curbside pick up. Not sure what can be composted? I've listed a few obvious things as well as a few surprises:
5. Eliminate single use plastic bags: Plain and simple. You don't need to put that head of broccoli in a plastic bag to then put it in another bag for it's short journey to your house. The average life span of a single use plastic is a mere 12 minutes. Nowadays you can find awesome, trendy reusable bags. My favourite brand so far is Ever Eco. I love their produce bags which are made from recycled plastic bottles and super easy to clean. They also have some pretty sweet stainless steel straws that we use daily in our home. Love cling wrap? Well, have you tried beeswax wraps? I love Sustomi and the Source Bulk Foods have good ones as well!  "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin 6. Recycle soft plastics: According to Planet Ark, 22% of the population know about recycling soft plastics. I would personally venture to say that the number is quite lower. Until recently, I never knew you could recycle soft plastics! What are soft plastics exactly? These plastics are "scrunchable" meaning you could scrunch them into a ball. Here are a few examples:
 A closer look Soft plastics are the number one source of contamination in our recycling system, so please do not put them in your recycling bin at home! You can recycle your soft plastics at your local REDCYCLE. ---> DID YOU KNOW: You can even recycle toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and floss containers at TerraCycle? Well, you can. 7. Meal plan BEFORE or AFTER you shop: I don't like meal planning at the beginning of the week. I prefer to head to the market and see what is fresh and allow myself to get inspired. Regardless of whether you plan before or after shopping, have a plan, buy what you need and use it. 8. Say no to junk mail: When is the last time you actually looked at or read the junk mail? If you head to your local $2 shop, you can purchase a small plastic or metal sign that reads "No Junk Mail," and eliminate a bunch of wasted paper from even entering your recycling bin. 9. Find a community: Join a local co op or a Facebook forum to help get new ideas, tip and tricks about waste management. Bea Johnson started the Zero Waste movement, and she has a fantastic blog. You can also connect with her community on Facebook and Instagram. 10. Donate your scraps: When my compost bin was too full to use anymore, I got in touch with Share Waste and wrote all about that experience here. You can also donate your food scraps and off cuts to your local community garden. Hope this helped you guys out! I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments! EMK x Looking for more information?
Head to The War On Waste here to see some excellent clips and tips from the show. Here is clip on how you can fight food waste at home ___ Good for the Hood (as seen on the War on Waste and Q&A) are based in Sydney and they, "Fight the war on waste in your hood." Download their tool kit here for free! Like Good for the Hood on Facebook. They also started the 5 for Ryde and share how to make 5 easy changes to reduce what goes to landfill ____ Thanks to TerraCycle (Colgate and Chemist Warehouse) you can win a community garden for your school _____ Low Tox Life is now available for purchase in the USA!!! Highly recommend this book!  I am new to this war. I’m learning every single day. I have a longgggg way to go, and I’m building awareness constantly. That’s the thing about this learning curve and mindfulness on lessening your waste . . . you can’t forget what you've learned, and the only way is forward. That means there are days when I get frustrated or feel like a failure. Last week, I bought a quarter of a watermelon wrapped in GLAD wrap out of habit. I could have bought an entire watermelon, eating some and making popsicles or watermelon margaritas with the left overs. I was only thinking about the immediate scenario in front of me, and that was a simple snack for my daughter for the next three days. Is it the end of the world? No. Is that piece of cling wrap going to exist forever? Yes. Sometimes we need to allow ourselves some grace, especially when making changes to a lifestyle you've led your entire adult entire life! Like Alexx Stuart said in her book, Low Tox Life, “At the end of the day this is a bit like learning a new language. You're not going to be fluent in a week." Ridding yourself of the disassociation with your waste takes time. Changing your shopping habits takes time. If you’ve been following along, you’d know that our family recently moved to Sydney, Australia. We are living in council parameters of Canada Bay, and it’s so lovely here. It’s right on the water, super clean and pristine. I was really impressed with the caliber of our neighbors and our surroundings. Within a few days of arriving I bought a Maze compost bin (smaller version of mine, here). I had recently watched The War On Waste, and learned that food scraps that are placed into landfill emit crazy amounts of methane, which is 28 times more potent that carbon dioxide. Eek. In Australia alone, 4 million tons of food ends up in landfill, which is enough to fill 8,400 olympic size swimming pools. That would be a methane powerhouse! Anyhow, I couldn't believe how quickly we cut our waste down by about 60%. Every night we would add our scraps to the bin, spray them with friendly microbes and use the fermented juices to fertilise our veggie patch and garden. An added bonus is that you can also use the juice to clean the toilets in your home! Once my bin was completely chockablock (full) I decided to contact the Canada Bay council because we are not in a position to turn it into mulch or bury it where we are living. I asked them what could be done with my compost and why the green bin wasn't for garden waste AND food scraps (as it is in America and other parts of Australia). This was their response to my email: Thank you for your email regarding collection of food waste in the garden organics bin. Council supports the recovery and composting of food waste, and previously funded a major trial of food waste collection in the green lidded garden organics bin. Unfortunately, we’ve found that there is currently limited infrastructure for composting food waste in and around Inner Sydney. (Not going to chat about the email now, too much to say, hah). However, I was pleased to read further and see that the gentleman recommend a website called Share Waste, and also added that I should get in touch with my local community garden because they are always eager for compost. If you head to Sharewaste.com you'll see their clever tagline, "Give your waste a second chance." It's free to join, and then you simply choose if you're receiving scraps or looking or seeking a compost location.  I found a "host" in less than ten minutes and she lived eight minutes from our house. I got my daughter loaded her in the carseat, and then loaded the compost bin in the front seat with an extra baking sheet loaded with fruit and veg cut offs. (No, I did not buckle them in)! My lovely host (Let's call her Mrs R) mentioned that she was typically home, but that I could leave the scraps in the compost bin at the side gate if no one answered the door. How handy is that? When we arrived, I almost didn't knock, but I'm SO GLAD that I did. Mrs R answered the door with a big smile and popped her hearing aids in. I pegged her to be in her 70's and I could tell she had a heart of gold. She took an immediately liking to my daughter and said that we should take her over to see the pet quails in her front yard! After that we each took a hand and helped my daughter walk to our car to grab all the food scraps. We slowly, and patiently, made our way around the backyard where we were greeted by a huge pen of hungry chooks (chickens). My daughter was so excited and started pointing and giggling, "Ducks! Ducks!" Not quite right, but it was pretty darn cute. Mrs R grabbed the compost and the baking tray and heaved it all into a pile for chooks who proceeded to go nuts, pecking with joy. "They will eat most of that by tomorrow morning, but they won't touch the citrus. Whatever is left will just go into my garden compost."  Meeting the chooks for the first time I said how cool it was so see my scraps going to a good cause and not into landfill, and I explained to Mrs R that I was new to Share Waste. "I've always cared about the planet, but now I'm learning about how I can actually look after it a bit better." Mrs R smiled and said that was normal and that each season of life will teach us different things. I added that I also wanted a green thumb and dreamed of having my own chooks one day, to which is added, "Yes dear, another season, you'll get there." Ok fairy godmother... whatever you say. As we were watching the chooks chow down, Mr R came outside to say g'day and he offered that we stay for a cuppa in the sunshine on the balcony. I thought that sounded glorious, so we all had a seat and soaked up the sunshine. I had a delicious cuppa and they also gave my daughter a snack too which she had while playing in the garden. I was deliriously happy sitting there in silence at times, chatting away in others. We talked about their life in Germany, where I lived in Poland, how many kids they had and what life was like in Sydney (we both had recently moved). To think that waste brought us together is a funny thing. As I drove away from their house I couldn't help but think that I had made two new friends and made some chooks quite happy too. P.S. After sharing the company with all my Instagram followers, I got a ton of messages from people about their good Share Waste experiences as well. So many of you had found hosts to take your scraps to, and that means, little by little, we are making a small difference. EMK x Added Resources:
Want to get in touch with the Canada Bay council too? You can here. Prefer to talk to them on the phone? You can do that by calling 9911 6555 - 24 hours, 7 days a week. Awesome FOOD WASTE Facts from the incredible team at Oz harvest |
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