Most retail liquor outlets at best stock a very limited (commonly half a dozen) organic, bio-dynamic or natural wines. Here are six specialist online retailers that only sell these wines, carry extensive ranges and all deliver Australia wide.
Make sure you check out our comprehensive listing of Australian Organic and Bio-dynamic wineries and vineyards.
Australia has a strong local market for the production of wines that are free of or have minimal use of chemicals and artificial fertilisers. They use grapes which are grown using methods that are mindful of the environment and with an understanding of sustainability and often bottled with no or minimal use of preservatives.
We’ve compiled a comprehensive listing of all Australian wineries producing certified organic and bio-dynamic wines in addition to those which are employing these practices to some degree without full certification.
Are you eager to eat home grown veggies, have bought all the plants but aren’t having much success in getting edible produce out of your garden? The ABC Vegie Guide app for iPhone and iPad is the answer.
The app will help you find out what veggie should be planted when for your location. It provides all the information you need to produce healthy crops throughout the year, including growing tips, pest and disease control pointers and harvest guide
Look after your garden and buy a shredder. Put through it anything that won’t naturally breakdown quickly and then add it to your compost or use directly as mulch on your garden.
Let’s think about the alternative – plants grow in your garden using nutrients from the soil, they die or you cut them down and put them in your green waste bin. A man then drives around town in a truck to take your plants somewhere else where they’ll rot. Why not let them rot at home where they can help your garden grow? Abandon your green waste bin for ever and buy a mulcher!
Not so happy about the snail trails in your veggie patch? Loosing your best produce but don’t want to mix poison with your food? Install Slugga around the permiter of your veggies and your patch will be snail and slug free. The copper in the tape reacts with their slime giving them little electric shocks that quickly turn them back. Buy it online from Masters.
I’d protected the veggies from the dog and the slugs but my ripe veggies and new seedlings continued to disappear. A quick check with the thermal imaging camera confirmed my suspicions – rats. A plastic owl from your local Bunnings or online from Masters does an amazingly effective job of solving this problem.
The first couple of weeks of the plastic owl in my garden startled me when it caught my eye and owls don’t try to kill and then eat me very often. Imagine the effect on a rat! Evolution is on your side.
Do you like the idea of keeping bees but aren’t so fond of the idea of being stung? Try keeping Australian Native Stingless Bees. Keeping native bees is simple and family friendly. They’ll do a wonderful job of pollinating your flowers, fruit and veggie patches. You’re also doing your bit to help rebuild their population which has been declining due to development.
Note though that they’re not great honey producers, they need to keep most of the small quantity they make to feed on through the winter.
Never fill up or clean out your chickens drinking water again. Australian made Wet-a-chook drinkers can be mains connected and include an innovative cup design that keeps their water clean.
Anyone who has kept chicken knows that traditional water dispensers are constantly filled with refuse by the chickens, are pooed in, and rapidly grow algae. Refilling and cleaning them is a needless chore.
Combined with a Chooktred the hardest part of looking after your chicken will be collecting delicious fresh eggs daily!
Australian designed and locally manufactured, the Chooktred is an intelligent and robust chicken feeder that will cut your feed use in half. Feed is only accessible with the weight of a chicken standing on the landing board – keeping rats, mice and wild birds out of the feed. It’s also waterproof and grill is used to prevent wastage through scattering of feed by the chicken.
We replaced a traditional hanging poultry feeder and found feed consumption drop by 70%. The balance was being consumed by rats (as spotted with a thermal imaging camera).
With the right kit, riding rain, hail and shine becomes a passion and joy that will see you loathe your time in the car or on public transport.
High visibility – yes you might think it looks a little dorky, your children might poke fun at you, your friends make remarks about you being under the thumb. But, ask yourself this question – if you were taken out by a car and found yourself with a broken limb, or worse – would you really think you’d made the right choice in prioritising your vanity over your safety? If you maimed yourself properly would you really be happy with your decision? Probably not.
Our guide to everything you need for safe and all weather cycling:
