As Extinction Rebellion is reminding us, it is time to rebel, to stand up and to take the job of protecting ourselves, our planet and our future upon ourselves, and where better to start than at home?! There are so many ways to make better, healthier, happier choices for our skin, our lungs, our hair... our entire bodies along with the body of our amazing planet. Together we are an ecosystem and by looking after all the parts we find that we are in fact taking care of the who

How can young kids have fun without all the plastic? Here's a simple starting point for a Conscious Living Halloween. We don't do Halloween. Well, at least not until this year after the pressure of certain expectations from our 5 year old. She has been brainwashed by the American style and though we face this kind of thing head on and don't allow traditions, customs or cultural norms to prompt us into anything that sets us up for the consumerism trap or goes against our consc

Hatchimals are some seriously f*cked up stuff! Now I'm not going to dwell on this except to ask: Why do we need to create fake nature and fake nurturing opportunities for kids to feel connected and loving? OK so we've been doing it for some time... there has been all kinds of weird stuff designed to entertain kids and sure, I'd rather kids used their brief attention spans on nurturing a toy than a puppy that would end up on the street, but still, are there really no opportuni

UPDATED April 2019 New Recipes: Toothpaste, Deodorant, Soap, Shampoo & Conditioner, Laundry Powder & more... Note: I have added links to a few trusted local (to Turkey) makers and suppliers of good quality ecological products. I am not affiliated with them and I'm not getting a commission or such from them. To combat the horrendous problem of plastic waste we have to approach it from three points. The 1st point is at the production and design stage, but sadly the corporations

Make Valentine's day special without the trash and the crass! OMG, it's Valentine's day tomorrow, I almost missed it! In our house we do 'romantic' everyday so Valentine's is redundant ... well... ok.. so maybe it's not exactly romance that we do, but it works for us, having said that there are never too many days of the year that we can show off our hearts to our beloved. So here are a few odd ideas that might mean you are less of a pollutant and hazard to the future of huma

Milk is important to me, I drink it in my tea. That's about it, but then, that's a good enough reason to make a whole post about it! I also use milk in cakes, corn bread, bechemal sauce for lasagna and to make yogurt and labne. My youngest drinks it straight and we are also keen on cheese. I'm on the hunt now for a happy cow that eats the local vegetation and is not exploited, when I find her my milk supply will be one that makes me happy rather than one that I can't stand to

A year has passed since I wrote this and though my party plans for the season are less ambitious in terms of number of guests, my enthusiasm and dedication for living in a zero waste world are unremitting. So for those of you who missed this the first time around, here is my take on a festive season and party preparation that is in alignment to Conscious Living and that doesn't leave a flood of trash in its wake. Transitioning towards a zero waste home is an up hill, but sati

My breakfast. So it's happened. I'm blogging about my breakfast. I knew this was a slippery slope but had no idea I'd go down hill so fast, but in my defence there are some exonerating factors: Have I mentioned my garden? It's south facing, not huge but fertile (loads of organic manure saw to that) and since we planted it in the spring it's been chucking tomatoes and aubergines and peppers at us. Our cucumbers and courgettes were a fail, we live and learn. The lady I bo

Nut and chocolate nut spreads. (Nut Stuff) Some days you have to drop the heavy stuff and pick up something utterly doable! Though it is possible to find palm oil* free nut spreads it is virtually impossible here in Istanbul, besides, making your own nut butter is easy and fun. (Just don't blame me if you end up spooning the lot!) Important point for all Nut Stuff: 1. The nuts should be blended for a long time (about 5 minutes?) until the natural oil is released and the te

If you have a daughter of around 4 years old, one day, one way or another you will find yourself being manipulated into buying a mermaid. Our first encounter was with another kid's full blown, original merchandise type. My daughter M forgot her fear of water while she played in the pool with it so I figured it was a worth while investment and found myself agreeing to making sure she had her own mermaid too. Later as sanity prevailed I remembered that we avoid buying plastic n