Two Striped Cats is named after my beloved felines, Obi and Yoda. They have been a part of my life since before my kids arrived. I like cats.
But this blog is not very much about cats, and a lot about the other things that are important to me…all under the banner of trying to live as sustainably as possible. As a mum of young children I spend a good deal of my time doing kids’ stuff…being a fairy for my four-year-old daughter, making play dough cookies and baking them in the pretend oven, building towns with wooden blocks, changing yet another cloth nappy on my baby boy, reading story books to my little audience…(and of course lots of cleaning up mess, washing clothes and dishes, etc…but I’m sure you know all too well about this…so no need to dwell on it)! I’ll have some things to say about kids…mostly fun I hope!
I really like making stuff from scratch – especially if it involves upcycling – so I’ll share these with you, too. As my list of projects grows I’ll add them onto my blog here and hopefully do some posts that describe the creation process! Hand made items are often the most environmentally-friendly, because they can mean minimal packaging, allow you to be selective about what an item is made of, reduce the impact from transport, give you control over how something is made (you might use water that you’ve collected from rain or power from the sun plus a bit of your own energy too) and give you a sense that you can do anything, when you create them.
I try to do things like making my own lip balm using local macadamia oil, local honey and beeswax. Preserving my own fruit and vegies (and growing my own, too of course – that’s the best part)! Baking bread rather than buying it in plastic bags fastened with things that will harm or kill animals that ingest them. Making my own play and craft supplies, such as play dough, glue and paint. I’m not perfect, though, and some of this creating takes extra time which is not always available when you’re looking after little ones. So I do buy these items too!
When I can’t make something myself, I like to buy second-hand – I especially get excited over antique and vintage goodies. So I’ll just have to mention this in my blog here and there. I won’t be able to help it. If I can’t get something second-hand (who wants someone else’s undies!?) then I choose products with minimal impact on the environment – certified organic, fair trade, locally made (you get the gist).
My passion for growing things…well, I mean gardening in general…is enormous, so I hope to have some snippets of this from time to time. I’m currently limited to container gardening due to living in fairly inflexible rental accommodation, but will be back at my lovely semi-rural bush garden very soon I hope. I get a real buzz from watching plants grow…but the biggest thrill (if you’re not a gardener, just trust me on this one…I know it doesn’t sound right) is from growing my own food! And this of course is a big plus for our precious planet as we know it.
I hope you’ll enjoy coming here and seeing what I’ve been up to…or hearing my thoughts and ideas about Making Growing Living Green. And I’d love to hear yours too!
Two Striped Cats 