Our kids’ patch winners for this issue are Elkie and Kade from Light Pass, SA, you’ve won a Patternation Eco-City magnetic game which lets you design your very own sustainable city! Choosing from 140 tiles, Patternation allows you to incorporate elements such as community gardens, renewable energy, recycling and emission-free transport to create a great place for the community to live.
SHOW US YOUR GARDEN
Smithfield, Queensland
Names Archer and Ayla Strauss
How old are you?
Archer: I’m five and a half.
Ayla: I’m three and a half.
What do you grow in your garden? Dragon fruit, citrus, bananas, custard apples, beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, miracle berries, herbs, tropical spinaches, pepper, pineapples, taro, paw paw, peanuts, eggplant, peanut-butter fruit, yams, elderberries, flowers and lots more.
What’s your favourite thing to do in your garden?
Archer: Planting trees, playing in our tree house and camping in the backyard
Ayla: Finding worms and feeding grasshoppers to our chooks.
What do you enjoy eating from the garden the most?
Archer: Tarragon flowers and dragon fruit.
Ayla: Peanut flowers, peaberries and dragon fruit.
MAKE YOUR OWN TEACUP CANDLE
By Emily Gray, Permaculture South Australia
Turn your unused teacups into a great homemade gift
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Beeswax
Box grater
One or more teacups (if you don’t have any, your local op shop will)
Saucepan
Braided cotton wick
Skewers (two per cup)
Blu-tac
Essential oil, dried herbs or crystals you might like to add
Scissors
DIRECTIONS
- Grate enough beeswax to fill your teacup twice, which is a good rule of thumb for knowing how much wax you’ll need.
- Transfer the grated wax into the saucepan and begin to melt it over a low heat on the stove.
- In the meantime, grab your wick and position it in the centre of your teacup and hold in place between two skewers laid across the top of of your cup. Four small pieces of blu-tac will help keep the skewers in place.
- Take the wax off the heat and mix in a few drops of essential oils.
- Pour a small amount of melted wax into the base of your cup to seal the wick in place before carefully pouring the rest of the wax into the teacup.
- As soon as the wax turns opaque, gently press any herbs or crystals into the surface and, once cool, snip off any excess wick with sharp scissors.
