The raw granola experiment

28 Monday May 2012

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My raw granola experiment

When I saw a photo on Facebook of some delicious raw granola that Hannah (from A Foodly Affair) made, I was instantly reminded of the super delicious raw granola from Samudra Cafe that I often crave (too bad it’s a three hour drive away!). I couldn’t believe I hadn’t attempted to replicate the Samdura recipe before now. You see raw food has a way of making you feel refreshed and full. You actually feel good after eating it, as if you can taste the nutrition. I immediately set out on a raw food adventure.

It starts with soaking

Nuts, grains, seeds and lentils have a protective enzyme layer around them, which is actually hard for the human body to digest. Another layer, called phytic acid, can also block the absorption of nutrients into your system. By soaking, you can neutralize the enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid, preparing the food for optimal absorption into the body. By kickstarting the germination process it also increases the nutritional content, particularly if you go one step further and try sprouting. This is just soaking for a longer period of time until the particular food starts sprouting. A great time chart for this can be found here.

There’s also dehydrating

Dehydrating involves drying out the product with a low temperature without losing any of the nutritional content (cooking raw foods at high temperatures is known to reduce the nutritional content). By removing the water content of the food it also inhibits the growth of microforms such as bacteria.

The experiment

After looking at a few different recipes I decided that I was going to use primarily buckwheat and almonds in my granola. I checked the soaking time (8-12 hours for almonds and 6 hours for buckwheat). I then simply put them in two separate containers and added water (note: adding salt can fasten the process but I had time so I left the salt out). Ideally you should rinse them once during the soaking process (to get rid of those enzymes and acids) or at the very least they should be thoroughly rinsed at the end.

Soaking the almonds and buckwheat

Once they were both done I decided to split the food in half and experiment. I would leave half of it raw, and I would dehydrate the other half. This was more for texture – I like a bit of crunch in my granola!

Unfortunately I don’t have a dehydrator, and if I get one I’ll be getting an Excalibur deydrator which has large square trays so I can make pizza bases (the cheaper dehydrators are circular with a contraption in the middle, so you can’t make anything with a large surface area). Until I make a regular habit of making raw food (to justify the purchase of the Excalibur) I have to experiment with my oven in the meantime. I set my oven to the lowest temperature with the fan on and placed half the soaked almond and buckwheat batch on a tray. I baked the buckwheat for about 3 hours and the almonds for about 6 hours. It sounds like a long time, but lets not forget the temperature was so low in the oven that I could pull the tray out without using an oven mit! I think the bad energy usage of the oven is probably a justifiable reason to get that Excalibur though!

Dehydrating the almonds and buckwheat in the oven

With the leftover soaked mix, using the thermomix (alternatively use a blender) I coarsely chopped the almonds and some coconut. I then mixed this together with the buckwheat, some sultanas and a few tablespoons of raw honey. It formed a somewhat wet mix so I kept it in a container in the fridge.

The raw granola mix

When I finished dehydrating the almonds and buckwheat I kept them in a seperate container so they would stay dry and crispy.

Breakfast time!

The next morning I was SO excited to try out the granola. I combined the wet mix with the dry mix and added rice milk and some sliced banana. Even my partner was pretty keen to try it out. The verdict? DELICIOUS! I couldn’t believe how relatively easy it was to make my own raw granola. The best part was it kept me full for hours.

I’m going to continue experimenting with raw granola, trying a few different combinations and trying to perfect the recipe. But for now, I’m pretty stoked with my first try. Breakfast is sorted!

A thrifty little sleeper

25 Friday May 2012

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Image from www.nidoorganics.com.au

Worrying about where my baby is going to sleep has been top of my mind lately. I thought buying the secondhand cot from a friend was the hard part done, but I was wrong.

It started with the cot mattress – I wanted an organic mattress (free from toxic materials) but couldn’t justify the cost at this point in time. Eventually I went to the local baby store and bought a standard mattress. It’s hard to read what these mattresses are made of and know what your putting your baby on for up to 14 hours a day. I felt guilty. I was on my way home, checking my emails while at a set of lights, when I discovered a wonderful surprise – after purchasing some items from The Natural Newborn, the owner had noticed my email address, checked out my blog, noticed my recent blog post about the nursery and told me how she was selling her Nido Organics mattress secondhand and would I like it? YES!! It was such amazing luck that it was the right size and everything! I returned the ‘toxic’ mattress and bought the secondhand organic mattress. I felt good again.

Until last week.

I mentioned in a previous post that we weren’t going to purchase a bassinet for the baby. This was because we have a very small bedroom and because I was worried about my partner’s sleeping (breadwinners need a good night’s sleep!). But after finally purchasing a baby/child care book and reading (not for the first time) that the baby should sleep in the same room as you for at least the first three months, I was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt (again). This concept was further backed up by a SIDS pamphlet from Kidsafe (who actually recommend that the baby sleep in your room for the first 12 months!). I then researched my pram only to discover it would be a fairly unsafe place for the baby to sleep in on a nightly basis (this was my original backup plan). Uh oh.

So, after rearranging the bedroom we discovered we could JUST fit something small – so I started my research on bassinets. Moses baskets, cradles, bassinets, hammocks – there is a world of different options out there. I wasn’t too happy with the extra cost of a bassinet or the fact that it was something we’d only be using for a few months (at least), so I wanted something of good quality, easy to dismantle/fold away, and affordable. I ended up choosing a wooden bassinet as it was the most easy to dismantle for easy storage and comes on wheels for easy mobility (I don’t like how moses baskets come on a stand that you can’t easily move!). We tried to find something secondhand, but couldn’t find anything suitable so in the end we forked out the $150 for a good quality new one. But now I felt guilty about the money!

So to feel better, I decided I’d make my own mattress covers! I’d already spent money on buying brand new sheet covers and whatnot for the cot so it really bugged me to have to go back and buy more for the bassinet. It was my Gran who suggested I make a flannel fitted sheet so it was nice and cosy for winter.

At first I tried to salvage some old flannel sheets we had but the material was too old, overwashed and overstretched to make anything decent out of it. So I went and bought some flannel fabric, making sure to measure it so there was very little fabric waste. I used this tutorial from luvinthemommyhood blog as a base. I must admit, I did not use her measuring techniques (I just made up my own rough guide) but it all worked out great. I was able to make three covers for $20.

Our baby will probably never understand all the effort I’ve gone to to be so money conscious, eco conscious and safety conscious for his bedding!!

The bassinet has been in our room for a week now. It literally JUST fits. I think we’ve walked into it about 20 times when exiting the door (especially in dark, middle of the night toilet trips). Hopefully we’ll get used to it before baby comes as I can’t imagine bumping the bassinet of a sleeping baby will be good!

Handy door hook

22 Tuesday May 2012

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This is so simple you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it first. I don’t actually know who thought of it first, but in my world my Pop thought of it and installed one at my Gran’s and Mum’s house and I copied him! This is mainly for a flywire door that has the automatic shutting system – a real pain in the butt when it comes to bringing in the food shopping, heavy loads, or a pram!. Sure, there’s the stopper at the top of the door (which I can assure you my Gran can’t reach!) but this system is so much easier!

Basically, you simply install a hook upside down at the same level as the front door handle. That’s it.

You need to install it so the handle can be pushed down to go under the hook, then released back up to it’s normal position so it hooks onto the hook.

How awesome is that? It means that there is no fiddling with the top stopper, you can instantly open the door, hook it up and walk through. Easy peasy! If my Pop hadn’t already taken care of the oldies in my family, I would have offered to go around and install it at all their doors – it’s such a great idea for the elderly who would have difficulty reaching the tops of their doors. I think it’s an especially awesome idea for Mums with prams.

I know this isn’t for everyone, but it was too good not to share!

When you need something

17 Thursday May 2012

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When you ‘need’ something what is the first thing you do? Just go out and buy it? I’m pretty sure that’s what alot of people do. I like to think of it as “no conscious buying“. And what’s the opposite of that? CONSCIOUS BUYING. Giving great consideration to each and every thing you buy. My Mum mistakes ‘being thrifty’ as buying a super cheap knife on sale at Red Dot. That’s not thrifty because if that knife isn’t going to last it’s not only a waste of money but a waste of resources and will become landfill.

Today I bought a bassinet. It was after a long discussion with my partner and alot of research. It occured to me how much effort I had put into something someone else might have just gone out and bought without the blink of an eye. Having a baby (any day now!) has put me in what must be the biggest consumption period of my life. These are necessities (not just a new dress to wear on the weekend) but every thing I’ve bought I’ve given great consideration to.

If you still don’t understand what I mean, here’s a little glimpse into how my brain has operated for everything I’ve bought.

  • So I think I need X.
  • I research X and decide whether this is something we really need.
  • If I decide it is something we need (not just want), I then research all the different types of options for X.
  • I decide what factors to consider when making a decision for this purchase (eg. quality, colour, cost, storage, duration of use, sustainability etc).
  • I decide whether buying secondhand is an option. If it is, I check the availability and prices brand new and then compare this to secondhand. I check for secondhand via Gumtree, eBay and Op Shops. I also check the prices of hiring. Sometimes you might even be able to put the word out via your social networks to see if anyone has what you need.
  • I take my time and eventually find what I need.

That’s pretty much how my purchasing experiences have been over the last 6 months. It has applied to the new car, the cot and bassinet, the nursing chair, clothes for baby, clothes for me, EVERYTHING.

Someone might say “but it seems harder” – well the benefits far outweigh the hassles. You make a far more educated decision, you usually save money (or at least know that you’re spending alot of money for a good reason) and you can even save the environment.

And you could easily replace the ‘X’ with something like ‘new dress’, ‘bookshelf’, ‘camera’ – you name it, the same consideration should be given to everything you consume.

DIY Coloured Chalkboard

15 Tuesday May 2012

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Everybody kept asking me what ‘theme’ I was going for in the nursery. Theme? Does “no theme” count? I decided early on that I was going to make the nursery flexible for a growing human – I didn’t want to commit to a crazy wall colour or big piece of expensive wall art which I (or baby) might get sick of. Instead I decided to install a frame shelf which would run across the longest wall in the room so we could interchange art, books and toys along the shelf and keep the room interesting (see above pic!).

Once the shelf was installed I wasn’t sure where to start. I thought about getting an alphabet print, but realistically how long will it be before baby can understand the alphabet? Second I thought I might paint myself a piece of art or buy something fun, but couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted. I was pretty keen on an inspirational quote (probably more for myself than a baby!) but didn’t know how it should be delivered. Then I thought about something really interchangeable – coloured chalkboards where you can make and change the art yourself. I had seen a tutorial on A Beautiful Mess about making your own coloured chalkboard paint using tile grout and it just so happened that I had some leftover from some tiling I had done recently! It was meant to be!

Coloured Chalkboard Squares

What you need:

  • WOOD – I bought 6mm MDF wood from the local hardware store (at a cost of around $6) and got my partner to cut it into three pieces.
  • PAINT – I bought 75ml acrylic paint in three different colours.
  • TILE GROUT – You will need roughly a tablespoon per 75ml bottle of paint. If you don’t have some lying around, ask your family and friends to see if they have any. It’s the kind of thing that sits in the back of someone’s shed unused!
  • CONTAINER – You’ll need something to mix the paint in. I always use old margarine containers.

Instructions:

Simply mix the tablespoon of grout into the 75ml of paint (try to make sure it’s consistent) and paint straight onto the board. I painted both sides as the back would be partially visible as it leans on the wall.

Acrylic paint is fairly quick drying, though to be safe I waited a day until I ‘chalked’ the board. This entails running chalk over the board and then wiping it off.

Once it’s chalked you’re good to go! A great idea for pre-school children is using the board to write a letter each week to learn (think Sesame Street!), or you could write a quote, draw a picture, or let your kids draw their own art! I love the versatility and affordability of this project!

DIY cupcake lightshade

11 Friday May 2012

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My spare room has become a nursery. I haven’t gone crazy making changes – the wall colour remains, the wood floors remain (I won’t be installing carpet), the white venetians remain and the light cover – well, it was the only thing I wasn’t quite sure about. It was one of those basic rice paper lanterns we bought as a cheap makeshift lantern, at a grand total of $15 how could you go wrong? Unfortunately we discovered a few tears in the rice paper when we got it home but I couldn’t be bothered repairing it and it’s stayed that way this whole time. Until now.

The damaged ‘VÄTE” lampshade from Ikea

It sounds silly, but when it came to the nursery I wanted things to be a little bit more perfect than a ripped rice paper lantern (houseguests staying in the aforementioned ‘spare room’ dealt with the torn lantern however). I wondered what I could do? Then I remembered a great post on Design*Sponge using cupcake liners stuck to a paper lantern, and guess who just happens to have a ridiculous amount of unused cupcake liners? Me!

So I grabbed some craft glue, a bowl to hold the lamp in and the cupcake liners. I had various sizes, all unused (because I tend to use cute printed paper liners).

I then started gluing the liners to the bottom of the lampshade. I’m not sure if it was the glue I was using but the liners kept sliding, so I ended up using coins to hold down the liners. This was only going to work for the flat portion of the shade though, so eventually I had to glue a few on and hold it down with my fingers for about 30 seconds!

The key is to glue the circle base of the liner as close to each other as possible. This will cause the outward sides to curl into each other but this is the effect you’re after!

I had an oddly shaped lantern so I used some mini liners on the rounded corner of the lantern.

When it came to doing the other half of the lantern I ended up tying it to some ribbon and hanging it up so I could work on it (you don’t want to crush the underneath cupcake liners). A rounded shade would probably still work resting in a bowl though.

The best thing about this project? It cost me NOTHING. I already had the lampshade, the cupcake liners and the glue. It was just a matter of repurposing!

I think it’s turned out great, it looks quite magical in the nursery and best of all those torn holes have been covered up! I figure if we want to do something different with it in the future we could add some colour, like putting mini cupcake liners in the middle of the large cupcake liners (like the Design*Sponge project). But for now, it’s a simple and sweet baby friendly lightshade!

Mothers Day for the non-consumerist

08 Tuesday May 2012

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Baked saffron pancakes with forest berries from www.greenkitchenstories.com

Blah I kinda hate Mothers Day. It used to be a cute day as a kid where you’d make your Mum a macaroni necklace, cook her breakfast in bed and just generally be well behaved and nice to her for a day. Oh how things have changed. TV is overrun with ‘Special Mothers Day Shopping’ advertisements along the lines of “Tell your Mum you love her….  with this 18 carot gold necklace”. Yeah right. Since when did buying something tell your Mum that you love her?

So I thought I’d share with you my family’s Mothers Day tradition…… BREAKFAST. Yep, it’s that simple. Nothing says ‘I love you’ than a wholesome homecooked meal. Our family all get together and my sister and I cook all the Mums (Aunts, Grandmas etc) a breakfast (or sometimes brunch) and generally celebrate the Mums and their awesomeness. For my Mum, having me cook her something delicious and gluten free is a real treat (you’re rarely catered for when you’re gluten intolerant!).

Some delicious food I’ve kept my eye on that might be cooked up this Sunday:

Unfortunately I miss out by only a few weeks on having my first Mothers Day. I’m still trying to figure out whether becoming a mother myself means my sister has to do everything next year? Hmmmm.

Gluten Free Wholegrain Strawberry Muffins from www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com.au

DIY magnetic task board

06 Sunday May 2012

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I’m about to become a fulltime mother and housekeeper. This means that jobs that used to be done on weekends as a joint effort and only when we had the time…. has now become my sole responsibility. The idea is daunting and I haven’t been very good at it so far. It’s so easy to have the whole day disappear without anything being achieved (and I don’t even have the crying baby yet!). I also have to fit in part-time study around it all. I’ve tried different things, like a to-do list diary and planning out my days in the calendar on my phone but nothing seemed to work. Until now.

I had this old unused Ikea black magnet board which used to be attached to the wall when we had a home office (this room is now a nursery!). I used it at one point to make a six week renovation plan using post-its, which was amazingly helpful and where this whole idea stemmed from.

You see I’m one of those people that needs to visualise something before I can grasp it. I’m also an ‘organiser’. So when I came up with this idea I felt like a genius. It’s perfect for me but might not work for everyone, but I can see it being tailored to suit other people and their circumstances!

How to make the Eco Empire task board (or “Mummy Board”)

You will need:

  • Magnetic board (I used black)
  • Paint pen (I used white)
  • Self adhesive flexible magnetic rubber squares (they usually come pre-cut in A4 sheets)

I used an old magentic board from Ikea though this particular version is no longer available. They do have something similar in silver. Though I’m sure you can find magentic boards through office supply stores.

The magnetic rubber was bought in A4 size which was pre-cut to 2cm x 4cm pieces. The back is self adhesive so you can stick it to paper or whatever you like.

Instructions:

I mapped out the size of the board and made calculations for the Monday to Sunday columns. Once the measurements had been calculated I carefully drew in the columns using the paint pen.

I used Microsoft Word to create 2cm x 4cm coloured labels for the magnets. I colour coded the tasks into groups as a quick visual reference (i.e. blue = laundry related, orange = housework related etc).

I chose to split up some of the tasks into ‘hour long’ sessions. For example I had ‘basic bathroom clean’ and ‘heavy bathroom clean’. I also had ‘dust & vacuum’ and ‘wash floors’ as separate pieces. I even had a magnet for hour long study sessions knowing full well a baby might disrupt anything longer than that. I felt it was better to split up the tasks so you could really map out your day, and have the ability to shift certain tasks to the next day if you ran out of time.

I cut each task out and stuck it to the magnet pieces.

That’s all there is to it!

I think this will be a really useful tool in mapping out my day and week and not forgetting anything. Especially for my studies, if I don’t manage to do it one day I will shift those magnet tasks to the next day – which will mean I can visually see my workload increasing per day and arrange everything accordingly.

I think this could even be tailored to work for family chores and full-time students! Do you think a task board could help you?

Note: The photo magnets are Instagram photos made into magnets. You can order them through Stickygram. You can also follow Eco Empire on Instagram (just search for “EcoEmpire”!)

An eco pregnancy – the second and third trimester

04 Friday May 2012

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Previously discussed: The first trimester.

The reason for this post is for those women out there who are wanting to have a somewhat ‘eco pregnancy’. When I first found out I was having a baby I struggled to find info on what I should be doing and at what point, so I thought I’d share my experiences here!

So everybody finally knows you’re pregnant (the hardest secret you’ll ever have to keep!) and you’re probably starting to feel better too (if you experienced that nasty first trimester sickness). The second trimester is known as the ‘best’ trimester, mainly because you start to feel more normal again. It’s also a great time to enjoy your pregnancy before you start getting big!

For me, the second trimester marked the time I was finally able to eat better food and start exercising, as well as really starting to research all I need to know about the new bundle of joy about to join my life. By the time I hit the third trimester I felt like I had everything organised (well, at I at least had a list of ‘things to do’!)

Exercise

Image from askamum.co.uk

Walking is a great and simple exercise to do while pregnant, however having low blood pressure and having a summer full of heatwaves I was unfortunate enough to experience bad dizzy spells, so even slow walking as an exercise wasn’t an option for me. But I truly recommend pregnancy Pilates as a fitness regime. There are certain exercises you can’t do while pregnant so it was great to go to a specialised class where everything is tailored for your needs and restrictions. I found myself going four days a week during the second trimester, I was that addicted! I also found that if I didn’t attend a class for a few days I really felt it – my body ached which caused sleepless nights and back pain. Pilates definitely helped relief muscle tension and stretch everything out, as well as keeping me fit!

Food

Food wise, I was finally able to eat most foods again (without feeling sick) which meant I could eat a well-balanced diet full of all the nutrients both the baby and myself need. Though I didn’t really have any cravings (that didn’t exist before being pregnant) one thing I did feel like eating was meat – and I’m a vegetarian. Giving it a lot of thought I decided that I would eat meat again for the iron boost. A few days after eating meat again the Obstetrician advised me I was iron deficient so perhaps my cravings were for a good reason! I tried to buy organic or free range meat and was only eating it about two days a week so I didn’t feel too bad about it, especially considering my diet is still largely vegetarian.

I also drank a lot of green smoothies during this time, they were refreshing and gave me a pile of nutrient rich food at the same time (my favourite was a spinach, banana, almond milk and honey mix!).

I also think an important thing to remember that ‘eating for two’ is a myth. Throughout this pregnancy I have eaten the same amount of food I ate before I was pregnant. Having low blood pressure I was used to having to eat consistently through the day (every few hours), but for other women this should be the only change you may experience. The only other thing I found is that I had to eat more nutrient rich food, empty calories (something full of sugar but not much else) would not see me through. Stay healthy and it will make for a better pregnancy and a healthier baby.

Nursery Furniture

I had decided early on that I was not going to buy furniture that only served one purpose. For example I didn’t want to buy a changing table. I ended up buying a secondhand set of drawers and a fixed changing mat (also secondhand) that fits to the top of the drawers. It screws in at the back of the drawers so you can remove it later which means the drawers can be used for many years to come.

Finding a nursing chair was difficult, the purpose made nursing glider chairs were comfortable but, well, ugly. I also felt like they only served one purpose and you would never reuse the chair for anything else. And do you really need to rock a baby? I considered buying a recliner/rocker which might go into the lounge room later on, but they were about $1,000! We ended up settling on a comfortable arm chair which just so happens to have a reclining feature, but otherwise looks like an armchair. It’s from Ikea so it was affordable, and we know we will definitely be able to repurpose it in the future.

Baby Bed

I was overwhelmed with the choices available. My first instinct was to look for locally made solid wood furniture or eco accredited furniture, however this was either hard to come by or expensive. In the end I bought a cot secondhand off a friend. I still need to buy a cot mattress and struggling to decide between an organic mattress (made of natural fibres) which cost $250+, or a regular but mostly synthetic mattress which cost $100+. If I decide to choose the synthetic mattress I’ll be making sure I air it outside in the sun for a few days and will be ensuring I cover it with organic mattress liners and sheets.

People still ask me if I’m going to use a bassinet. The idea of a bassinet is that the baby sleeps in this small confined bed (which makes it feel more ‘womb like’ than a large open cot) and you can have the baby in your bedroom with you. Unfortunately as I live in an old 1950’s cottage, we don’t have any space in the bedroom for a bassinet, plus it seemed like a very redundant piece of furniture that I would have to store later (and I don’t have the storage space!). There is the option to hire bassinets (for say, the first six weeks before transitioning the baby to a cot), however I decided that if  I want to use the ‘bassinet method’ I will simply put the baby in the pram which I can wheel in and out of the bedroom if need be.
(NOTE: With further research I changed my mind – see this post for details).

Modern Cloth Nappies

Image from www.bubblebubs.com.au

I was always going to use modern cloth nappies even though I didn’t personally know anybody who used them (I’ve since found out my partner’s cousin has successfully used them which brings me great relief!). I just can’t bring myself to put a plastic nappy on my child’s newborn skin let alone throw that plastic nightmare in the rubbish bin. Cloth nappies not only reduce nappy rash on babies and is a far more natural material on their skin, but it massively reduces your impact on the environment. For a great summary on the benefits of modern cloth nappies go here.

As far as choosing a nappy you like, this is the hard part. There are so many great brands out there. A lot of them are made by work-at-home-Mums, some are made by companies. Some of the brands start small and get so big they then outsource the manufacturing to cheaper countries such as China. Some are still made in small backyard operations. THEN there’s the type of nappy to choose from. There’s prefolds, fitted nappies, all-in-ones, pocket nappies – the list goes on. You can read an explanation of each kind here.  Every design seemed to have its pros and cons so after a lot of research I chose a mixture of The Green Nappy Co Fitted Nappies  and Bubblebubs All-In-Two Nappies (these grow with the child). I chose these companies ahead of the rest because they are Australian owned AND made. I will be providing more feedback once the time comes!

Also, if you want to save money, or want to test different nappies out, people sell their used (or often unused) modern cloth nappies online! Try Gumtree or Ebay. Once I decided what brands I wanted to buy I had a look but only once found what I was looking for, but they were all girly colours (I’m having a boy!) so I bought mine new.

I’ve also bought some Moltex Oko biodegradeable nappies. I’ll be using these in the hospital and for any overnight trips etc where cloth nappies might be too difficult. You can watch a great video on the performance comparison between Moltex Oko nappies and other big brand nappies here.

Pram

Unfortunately there is no ‘eco pram’ on the market. I did find one pram that had a lot of eco credentials made from some ethical and sustainable materials, but it was in the US and would have cost a fortune to ship over. I figured the key was to buy a good quality pram that would last the distance and be reused for consecutive children (or easily sold secondhand). Choosing a pram based on these criteria still doesn’t narrow it down, there are SO many choices. Three wheels vs four wheels, air pump wheels vs plastic wheels, the folding mechanism, the weight, the material, whether the baby faces you or faces out, reclining chairs, accessories – not to even mention the overall style and appearance! So I went for something simple. Once I had my heart set on a particular pram I looked to see if there were any secondhand, though soon discovered it was a new model and therefore hard to come by secondhand. I certainly do recommend you try to find a secondhand pram though, some people discover that they’ve just made a bad decision based on their living conditions (i.e. bought an urban pram instead of a ‘4WD’ pram and vice versa) or have a second child and need a double pram – so you can save a fortune!

Car Seat

Car safety is obviously really important. I will be choosing one of the safest car seats I can find. I want to buy it brand new so I have the latest safety technology and standards. If I was to buy secondhand I would have only bought it off someone I trusted (someone I knew) and have the car seat professionally fitted by Kidsafe (which is offered by most baby stores when you buy brand new).

The Babyshower

Now would be the time you’d start thinking of your babyshower. You might be lucky that someone is willing to plan and organise the entire thing for you, though as a bit of a control freak I pretty much planned my entire babyshower with the help of my sister. You can see details about the babyshower here.

My advice is not to buy anything until after the babyshower. My friends and family were so generous that I only need to buy a few small things before the baby comes. A gift registry or wishlist is certainly recommended to reduce any unwanted gifts and to direct people to more sustainable and eco-friendly choices (not everyone understands it!). I also asked my family to contribute to the big ticket numbers (pram, baby carrier, car seat, baby monitor etc) which they were all happy to do. This can certainly help financially.

Hand-me-downs

I started being offered hand-me-down baby gear early on. It was strange to be offered a baby rocker when your baby is barely the size of an avocado but we’ve taken nearly everything we’ve been offered. We’ve received a baby rocker, baby clothes, baby gates – all in good condition. My advice is unless you definitely won’t use it, take it! You can always give it to your local Op Shop if you don’t need it.

Can’t afford it?

This is probably something a lot of pregnant women worry about. So many things to buy on a limited or dwindling budget (especially if you plan to be a stay at home Mum). Don’t be afraid of going secondhand. Before you buy anything, look it up on Gumtree or Ebay and see if someone is selling it. Put the word out to your friends and family that you’re looking for any unwanted baby goods. There is even the option to hire things like prams, cots and car seats! This might help if you can make a decision or want to save up for a big ticket item. You can make parenthood affordable!

WHAT’S NEXT?

I’m writing this blog post at 35 weeks pregnant. Technically my baby is fully developed, in that if he was born today he would not be considered premature. I’m sure I’m about to learn a lot about how sustainability and parenthood work together. I think parenthood gives you the perfect motivation and drive to be sustainable and creative and I’ll be sure to document it all here!

Wish me luck!

A retro eco babyshower!

30 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in eco adventures, eco baby, homemade + DIY

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I was probably being a big pain in the ass when I specified in my gift registry that I would prefer eco friendly gifts for my babyshower. I felt very strange ‘asking’ for presents as it was, but after a friend suggested I make a gift registry I agreed it was an excellent way to get things I actually needed and to show people what I liked – thus reducing any unwanted gifts! And it worked – I got the most gorgeous gifts from my very generous family and friends and in return I tried to throw a really fun (and delicious) retro garden tea party disguised babyshower!

As extravagant as that sounds, nearly everything from the party was DIY or homemade or just a simple case of using what we’ve already got.

The decorations such as tissue paper pom poms (as seen below) were made using this youtube tutorial. These are such easy and beautiful decorations to make, which also become reusable or recyclable. I reused my Christmas bunting (hopefully nobody noticed the little Christmas trees in the print!).

It’s almost mandatory to have games at a babyshower (mainly because the guests are usually a mixed bag of family and friends) so it’s a great way to get everyone chatting and working together. The games were all handmade by myself.

I made my own retro housewife quiz based on Dr Spock (Infamous writer of a 1950′s baby book), Betty Crocker (infamous cookbooks & baking corporation that started in the 50′s), Housekeeping based on 1950′s books on the subject, old housewife tales and retro pop culture. I’m going to share my questionnaire (and answer sheet) at the bottom of this post if you want to use it! Some of the questions (and answers) were so funny it made it lots of fun.

I also made a ‘Guess the baby photo’ game where previous to the party I asked some of my guests to send me a baby photo. I hung all the pictures up on an old pallet and used pegs to hold the photos in place. I numbered all the baby photos and strung them at the bottom, then I hung the person’s current day photo on a above (in a different order) and made everyone guess what baby photo is who.

We also played baby bingo while I opened my gifts to make it more entertaining for everyone.

My sister and I handmade retro aprons to give away as prizes for all the games, as well as making our own aprons. They were a big hit! Here is my sister and I sporting our new favourite aprons!

The food was all homemade by my family and friends and myself. As I’m gluten intolerant it was great to see my family made 90% of the food gluten free! And as you can see, I put my DIY upcycled cake stands to the test!

We also used all my family’s collection of teacups, tablecloths and doilies (some were my great grandmothers!). I think my Grandmother was glad to see some of it coming out of storage and actually being used! I only used eco recycled paper plates.

I also made everyone dress up as a retro housewife for the day (aprons too!) which I was glad everyone enjoyed doing (I sometimes forget people might not like dressing up as much as I do!). It certainly made all the photos fun! Here is a photo of my friend Michelle and her prize apron for winning the baby photo competition!

To top it off, every single present I received was gorgeous. I’m obviously not going to share with you the entire lot, but here are some presents I did receive that were especially amazing.

Like this wooden toy made from sustainable plantation wood (they clearly got the eco message!).

This gorgeous homemade knitted blanket and toy. There really is something about being ‘made with love’.

I think everyone understood I love organic or sustainable fabrics with this collection!

I love this gorgeous homemade sock monkey!

These hats are handknitted by a local crochet designer!

This was an amazingly clever homemade gift – a playmat that, once the drawstring is pulled, converts to a carry bag for all the toys! Love it!

And a very special gift from my best friend living overseas – a gift voucher for a newborn photography shoot with my amazing photographer friend Louise from Capture & Rapture Photography. Louise has also given me a gift of family photography too! I am feeling very spoiled!

I feel truly blessed that I have such amazing (and creative!) people in my life who went to alot of trouble to give me such personalised and amazing gifts.

.

DOWNLOADS (pdf’s):

Retro Housewife Questionnaire with Answers

The Retro Housewife Questionnaire – Answer Sheet

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