Our Vision and solutions for sustainable lifestyle
First two weeks of our challenge… and we’re ON! We thought it would be more difficult and people would be reluctant to the idea, but quite the opposite turned out to be true.
For example, after hearing about the challenge a couple of colleagues told me that they too had made changes in their buying habits. One of them always takes a cloth shopping bag with him when going to the baker’s, and also uses paper bags instead of plastic for “#AlmostZeroWaste Challenge – Update” verder lezen
In our continuous search for practical solutions that make daily ecological life easier, we came up with the idea of our GANDAZWAM BOX.
But, this was not the end of our search, it was but the beginning of a series of challenges on how to reuse the waste produced daily at home.
For us, coffee is vital, because it means the difference between waking up or stay in zombie-mode 3 hours longer. Seeing how many used coffee grounds we produced, we decided to do something about it … And so GANDAZWAM was born.
But what about the rest? Other biodegradable waste (peels, flowers, cheese crusts, leftovers…)? We process it through the Bokashi. The waste from the garden (branches, damaged produce…) accumulates in the compost area of our yard or gets turned into mulch. Also, thanks to the public system of garbage collection available in Ghent, we recycle paper and cardboard, recyclable plastics, glass, aluminum c “Almost Zero Waste Month Challenge” verder lezen
Yes! Spring time! So what have we been doing lately?
Hello friends! Lately I haven’t been blogging much, but I’ve been very busy with plantlets, compost, seeds and dreams of rich harvests. As you may know, amongst other things I am a landscape architect, learning more every day about the fascinating world of Permaculture.
Permaculture is basically (though it can grow to be much more) an agricultural system based on the patterns underlying the natural, local ecosystem. Permaculture stimulates yo “In between earthworms and strawberries” verder lezen
“The Privilege Walk” – 8 march
The way I see it, in a sustainable lifestyle one should always be in search of a balance between professional and personal activities, continuously striving to realize your ideals.
A few days ago I was intrigued to find an invitation to an event called ECOsmetics in my mailbox. This is a project of Ugent1010, a student association of UGent (University of Ghent, Belgium) which promotes sustainable living inside and outside of the University. “DIY Makeup with ECOsmetics” verder lezen
In continuation of the previous post, I want to elaborate about facial cleaning. Let me share my daily routine, and then I would love to hear what routines you have at home.
For starters, I think that the first and most important step should always be a thorough cleaning of your face. This way you will be able to avoid the annoying pimples caused by clogged pores, it will help your skin breathe better and let masks penetrate more easily into your skin. Let me give you two tips / recipes, which I’ve been using the last few months and am very satisfied with. “My DIY beauty product solutions” verder lezen
Beauty care products
This is a subject I love!
I have as a rule that, just as I care about what we eat at our home, I am very picky about choosing our skin care products.
The skin is our largest organ, and while our body has an incredibly intricate design, it is clear that the pollutants to which we are constantly exposed exceed its design parameters.
For example, the skin care products we use, like creams, shampoos, balms… that have mineral oils (read: pet “Beauty care products” verder lezen
Vertical gardening: our solution for small gardens and balconies
Surfing over the unending sea of ideas… the internet, I encountered a great technique to improve the harvest of small gardens and balconies. Obviously, I could not resist an experiment last summer.
And no, we’re not talking about vertical gardens, the fantastic technique created by our ‘guru’ Patrick Blanc. We’ll be sure to dedicate a couple of blogs to him later. Here we’re talking about something a lot less complicated, something that’s easy to make at home, without need for special irrigation “Vertical gardening: our solution for small gardens and balconies” verder lezen
Gandazwam BOX
There is no other way to start this blog than with our own GandaZwam Box, recently made av
ailable to the wider public. Instead of explaining what it is, let me start by telling you how it came to be.
About 7 years ago, my husband Bruno was searching for ways to make better use of our domestic residues. He came across the idea to grow edible mushrooms on used coffee grounds, and he really took to it. During his experiments he came across a local company that offered p “Hello! Our first post – GandaZwam BOX” verder lezen