nature | Hear Mum Roar

Quiet Time With Caterpillars

Written on February 5th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Cognitive, Experiences, February 2011, Language, Preschool aged, School aged, Toddler

Ok, I know it’s really hard to see the caterpillars in this jar. But I promise you, there’s loads of the buggers in there. I should know. I was sitting outside, trying to enjoy a quiet cup of dandelion tea away from the chaos inside, when they were climbing all over my legs.

I went back inside, to face the noise and arguments of my two younger children. It was afternoon, they’d played everything, done everything, and were at a loose end. I racked my brains as to what I could get them to do that would get them engrossed, happy and above all, quiet. Preferably for a long time. And aside from waiting until we get our own chooks to eat up all the caterpillars, how the hell was I going to get rid of them? Normally they don’t bother me, but there were so many of them and they were becoming a nuisance.

Sometimes, two problems come together to form a solution when you’re a mum, don’t they? I scooped as many caterpillars into a jar with some grass as I could. I plonked it on the table inside and told the kids to look at it. Was there ever a simpler way to keep kids quiet for a cranky mum than this?

They looked at it for ages. They were so excited! They talked about the colour of the caterpillars, about what they like to eat, how they turn into butterflies. Missy 10 is handy to have around at times like this, as she stores so much animal trivia in her head! She told them that some butterflies like to eat their cocoon, that some caterpillars shoot out poison and it can sting and make you itchy (spitfires).

Once they lost interest, I emptied the jar back into the yard, but thankfully, further away from our house where they were bothering me. They haven’t been back. It’s amazing how things just sort themselves out somedays, isn’t it?

How to get rid of flies

Written on November 1st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Care, Challenges, Going green, Handmade, In the home, November 2010, Saving money

Flies, flies, flies! I hate ‘em. I also hate spraying toxic chemicals around the house, so unless I do something a bit more natural, I’m screwed. We have wormwood growing in our backyard, and I remembered our gardener telling us that we could make a fly repellent out of it, so I decided today was the day to try it.

To cut a long story short, I picked it, boiled it, then strained it.

This made rather a lot. Once it was cooled, I poured it into a spray bottle and squirted it around the house. It seems to be working so far! I dropped all the cooked, strained leaves around the backdoor also, in the hope it would deter flies and mosquitos as well.

I was talking to my good friend Myrtle from Mimsical Soaps who knows a lot about this sort of thing. She told me that if you boil the wormwood with some chilli, it makes an excellent spray to prevent fruit flies. So I must start growing some and I’ll try that too.

Edited to add: this mixture went mouldy very quickly, so next time I would probably add some vinegar or vodka to the water to help preserve the spray and let it last longer.

The other thing I was busy with today, was picking loads of flowers from the front garden. I stripped the bushes bare of daisies, lavender, roses and geraniums. I was worried how I was going to dry so many flowers, and didn’t want to fiddle around tying them all into bunches and find places to hang them. So, I took an ugly lace curtain that came with this house when we bought it…

..and made a hammock of sorts for my flower haul to dry out on.

How to clean carpet naturally

Written on October 13th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Going green, In the home, October 2010, Saving money

With two puppies and a potty-training two year old, we are finding ourselves cleaning our carpet much more often than ever. We have accidents, plus the puppies keep finding things to chew into confetti sized pieces, despite our attempts to hide…well, everything from them!

When we vacuum every couple of days, sometimes we want to just do something to ensure it also smells nice. We don’t like the talcum-based carpet powders or foams in the supermarkets, and my fiance and I are allergic to them for different reasons anyway. We loathe the idea of talcum around our children, as well.

Luckily, I’ve got something much healthier, cheaper and nicer right here at home. Home-made carpet powder. I remember Marita was recently asking me what I was planning to use my dried lavender for. Well, this is one thing! Stay tuned, because I will be using it for other things as well…

All that’s in this little container here is dried lavender heads and baking powder (or bicarbonate of soda, if you prefer, they’re the same thing) shaken together. The longer you store this mixture, the more the baking soda will be scented by the lavender.

You could use any sweet-smelling dried petals for this powder, just use what’s available. We have a rose bush out the front which I’m dying to use for this, but I have to wait until it flowers. Baking soda is fantastic for absorbing and neutralising odours, and obviously, the lavender smells pretty. I also like the calming effect it has on everybody.

You can use it in the same way as the store-bought powder; just shake it directly onto the carpet, then vacuum it off again.

The kids loved running through this with their bare feet, they pretended it was snowing! I love that it’s harmless and chemical free so they can do this with no worries.

…and here we are: clean as a whistle! It’s so nice to be able to have pretty smelling carpets without giving ourselves a headache, hayfever or an asthma attack.

Do you have anything in your garden you could use as a carpet freshener?

Pin It

8 Comments -

Flower play

Written on October 10th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Fine motor, Language, October 2010, School aged, Social, Toddler

I was outside picking more lavender for drying, only to discover that the daisies growing next to the lavender were growing out of control. It seemed such a waste to just leave them there, so I picked lots of daisies and brought them inside to put in vases, and do some fun things with the kids.

Missy 10 was keen to try my idea of giving the daisies a coloured water ‘drink’. We recycled the water from the spray paint we made, as you can see in the photo above.

Missy 2 saw the goings-on, and wanted to imitate what we were doing. So, I found a disposable plastic cup from Missy 10′s birthday party and taped it to the table. I then gave her a glut of daisies to put into the cup, then take them out, then put them in. Much like posting. She was in heaven and this kept her busy for at least an hour.

She had a ball walking around with her bouquet and showing everybody in the house what she’d been doing.

Once the novelty of that wore off, I made some daisy chains for her to wear on her head. Weekend play at its best.

This is how Missy 10′s daisies look now:

If the colour gets any deeper, I’ll show how they turn out.

What have you been doing this lovely weekend?

Pin It

10 Comments -

Our fruit trees are here!

Written on June 21st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Food, Going green, June 2010, Projects, Saving money

Remember I mentioned a few days ago that on Monday we’d be getting some new fruit trees put into our garden?

Well, I was partly right. I’m thrilled to say we did get our fruit trees, but because the manure that was bought to go with it was too fresh, our gardener has decided to not plant them for the next couple of weeks. Fair enough…

But yay! Look at our haul!

New apple tree
Fruit tree

We have:
ten murrayas (pretty hedge trees), and we need ten more.
one Jonathon apple tree (top photo)
one emperor mandarin tree
one seedless navel orange tree
one lemon tree
one peach tree

So excited now!

Pin It

3 Comments -

Drying mandarin peel

Written on June 20th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Food, Going green, June 2010, Saving money

My three kids are all obsessed with eating mandarins. One day we’ll have our own mandarins growing in our backyard, but for now we just buy lots! Usually the kids want more than one mandarin per sitting, so I’m always left with a lot of sweet-smelling mandarin skins.

It seems such a waste to throw them in the bin, and they can’t be composted. Today, I asked all three kids to put their skins into a bowl for me, so I could cut them into small pieces with scissors. (Missy Nine would’ve loved doing this, but she was too busy eating).

Drying mandarin peel

After this, I laid them flat on a tea towel in my studio. It’s important that they be kept in a dry room…

Drying mandarin skins

Once they’ve dried out thoroughly, I’ll be using some of the batch for my pot-pourri creations and some to store in an airtight jar in the kitchen. Dried mandarin peel is delicious for giving an Asian flavour to soups and chicken. You can also make a tea from it.

It would’ve been such a shame to waste something so beautiful…

Pin It

10 Comments -

Home made air freshener

Written on June 8th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Challenges, Going green, Handmade, June 2010, Projects, Saving money

Having a new puppy in the house means we’ve been cleaning up a lot of puppy accidents. She’s getting more toilet trained, going outside to do her business. But sometimes, she just doesn’t make it. Ew. Today I was cleaning up the yard of all her poop, then came inside to freshen up Sookie’s kitty litter. My darling asked me to put some more deodoriser in his litter.

I hesitated.

a) Because we’ve run out of the deodoriser.

b) Because it’s full of bad chemicals I don’t want around my fiance.

c) Because I had another idea I’d been meaning to try for a while.

So, today, I was forced to try this idea thanks to the empty deodoriser bottle.

I went out to my front garden and tore petals from the prettiest smelling flowers I could get my hands on. I ripped them to shreds, and threw them into the bottom of Sookie’s empty litter box. Then I filled it with litter. So much nicer and more natural. Not to mention, totally free, and no packaging to dispose of.

I then changed Missy Two’s pooey nappy, and it stank the entire room out. My hands still smelt divine after ripping up all those gorgeous flowers. So, I had another idea. I returned to my garden, and took more petals: lavender, rose, geranium, daisies. I got out my trusty pestle and mortar….

…and crushed those fresh petals to buggery.

I know that with pot pouri, you’re supposed to dry the petals first, but hey, says who? The whole living room, kitchen and dining room smelt amazing. I’ve just left it sitting in the pestle and mortar, and everytime I want to reactivate the scent, I just give it a mix, or smash it a little.

From now on, I’ve decided I will start drying my own petals and do it the ‘proper’ way. Great to know though, that in a moment’s notice, it really doesn’t matter. Fresh, crushed petals rock.

Pin It

5 Comments -

Tag Archive: nature

Quiet Time With Caterpillars

How to get rid of flies

How to clean carpet naturally

Flower play

Our fruit trees are here!

Drying mandarin peel

Home made air freshener