Over the past month, we’ve been on two camping trips, each for two nights. It’s not much but the amazing thing for me is how little time I need to forget everything that’s going on and to refresh. Each time we came back to our house, I thought that I really needed to check the […]
No supermarket challenge – update
It’s been a little over four weeks since I posted about our intention of not shopping at any supermarket. It’s time for an update. How it’s going First things first, we didn’t manage to stay away from any supermarket completely. First, there was a shopping trip for our camping trip to get the necessary […]
Designing a sustainable house
I want to dive a bit deeper into what makes a sustainable house and explore in particular issues of design and construction. In that research one simple equation stood out for me: the bigger the house the less sustainable it will be. Although size matters, it is not the only factor in determining whether a […]
Digitising my life
In an attempt to declutter, downsize, have less stuff, and be more in control of what I physically own, I have started digitise as much as I can. In particular, my office is part of that project. It’s amazing to see all the stuff I have accumulated and then forgotten about. Documents My main […]
Backyard beekeeping and bees with a personality
In my attempts to know where my food comes from I took a little trip, 10 minutes down the road to my local beekeeper. I wanted to see how my honey has taken from the hive and learn a bit about bees on the way. We’ve been visiting Luke, the beekeeper, in his garden for […]
Avocado oil
My absolute favourite among the oils for skin care is avocado oil. This rich but heavy oil is perfect for dry and very dry skin. I discovered its healing properties in a very cold and dry European winter. It’s perfect for moisturising and also healing dry and cracked skin. Being a heavy oil, it leaves […]
The outdoors are good for me
All too often I hear and read how important it is to be outdoors. I encourage my kids to play outdoors and I try to be outdoors as much as possible. However, “as much as possible” is often very little. I spend too much time indoors, from sleeping to working at the computer. So, while […]
Thinking about the energy efficiency of a house
Whenever I think of an energy efficient house, I tend to think of the amount of power it needs to be heated or cooled. However, energy efficiency starts a long way before the actual occupation of a house. It starts with studying the location, the orientation of the house, thinking about windows and construction materials, and […]
Our no-supermarket-challenge
In our family, we like to give ourselves challenges every now and again. We did the no-sugar-challenge a while ago (no piece of cake, literally), I’ve tried a vegan challenge (unsuccessfully) and now we’re preparing our next challenge, the no-supermarket-challenge. The premise is simple: we don’t want to shop at a supermarket for a month. […]
Why and how I make my own deodorant
In my quest to making skin care at home, I have made my own deodorant. It wasn’t so much because I was unhappy with the commercial one I used or because I had read about all the bad stuff it contains. It was simply a matter of wanting to determine my own scent. The good […]