Sleepy time

Straying from the topic of the holidays and Christmas for a change, let us address a pretty common modern day health disorder – sleep deprivation. The lack of sleep has medically been proven to be cause or should I say be the path maker for many forms of deadly and ghastly diseases/illnesses to attack our body. In simplicity, that happens because sleep is vital to the body’s ability to rejuvenate itself.  The lack of it causes the body’s immunity to drop and hence give way to attacks.

There are many reasons that lead to having sleeping ...

Spice Tea

Fennel is a spice. It's a powerful yet ever so tiny little seed spice that has a sweet taste with a bitter undertone... In parts of South East Asia, it's very common and can be found in many dishes.

Fennel is famed to be extremely good for digestion, acting as a booster for it.  In Indian culture* eating/chewing some raw fennel seeds after a meal is a common- aids digestion of the meal and works instantly to freshen the breath like a mint.

There are many ways to use fennel seeds. The seeds can be used as a whole or grounded and cooked together with your meals, you can chew on them raw or you can like me, infuse it into a nice cup of herbal tea!

It's really simple ...

Evening Primrose

Every woman knows about Evening Primrose Oil (EPO). It’s an aged old secret brought down from generation to generations as mothers share with their daughters the about the ‘gifts’ blooming about in Mother Nature’s very own healing garden.

Now it’s very common that every woman knows that when:
she’s got spots and troubled skin that just never go away – she takes EPO she’s got nasty monthly cramps from PMS or she’s dealing with menopause/peri-menopause – she takes EPO she’s ...

Seed Balls- the Green Bombs

Personally I feel one of the greatest joys in life, is being able to enjoy the refreshing sight and soul regenerating experience of a beautiful well tendered garden. It just one of those few experiences that words can simple do no justice describing- something you just have to feel for yourself in order to truly appreciate the magic about it.

Now I can’t say that I have the best/most effective green thumb but I can get the plants to grow/live and flowers to blossom. And I’ll admit that I am a bit biased ...

Strays in your garden

Have you ever come across this problem with strays, and when I say strays I’m making a particular reference to stray cats.

You know how they come uninvited into your garden and then
leave one too many smelly ‘presents’ whilst digging up your favourite rose bush (for the strangest reasons, they strongly believe it makes a lovely natural litter box space), scare/kill the little birds nesting or bathing in the bird bath, sneakily inch closer and closer to your opened window with each unwelcomed repeating visit (presumably to try to make their ...

Mosaic - The sustainable art

Mosaic is an eminent art form that comes packed with an enormity of culture rich history. It is an art form which employs the use of small pieces of materials such as marble or other stones, glass, pottery, mirror or foil-backed glass and shells strategically and painstakingly placed together by hand to create a unified whole (picture/sculpture/decorative design).

This beautiful art form has been in existence since the second half of 2nd millennium BC and was first noted among ...

Minis on your plate

Infancy has always been associated with the ideals of vitality, innocence and tenderness. Regardless of race, gender or even species, the world feels the same about the young ones – we are all compassionate, forgiving and overly protective over them.

Babies, lambs, piglets, little baby fishes (fingerling), puppies, kittens, cubs, cherry tomatoes, baby pumpkins, baby carrots (do you see the pattern and where this is all leading?) and all other young ones (flora and fauna included) melt our hearts with their undeniable adorability. Perhaps it is something about their built ...

Lulu Bug Jewellery

I love handmade products. Perhaps it’s the way they are made- by a crafters own hands thus flawed and unique from another that makes it feel so much more special. For some reason when everything is uniform it looks great and disciplined but at the same time it looks mechanically lifeless. With handmade products, each one is an exclusive- that unintended bend, that extra stroke of white on a painted petal, all masterpieces that can never be replicated.

Furthermore from a green girl’s point of view, handmade ...

Mushroom Magic

When you hear the word fungus, what comes to mind? I’d probably say skin infection – and the icky variety at that too? But maybe the culinary lovers among us would think delightful mushroom dishes and sweet deserts, while the health enthusiasts who might be aware of the medicinal properties would say ‘health tonic’. Very rarely if ever would I expect to hear the reply ‘beauty’, because let’s face it – fungus isn’t quite eye candy, in fact some species can be downright disturbing.

Yet, there’s a time old truth in fungus (in particular we are referring to the mushroom and specific varieties ...

The Attraction of the Gardens

Out of all the amusements and attractions a city can offer one of my favorites, and one of the most overlooked, are botanical gardens. These large plots of land offer a sanctuary for more than plant species, they offer sanctuary for people too. A place to separate one’s self from the loud hustle and bustle of city life, a place to rediscover all the glory the natural world has to offer. 

    

The history of these gardens goes back to the sixteenth century, ...