'puurrr, i love birds...a lot...'
...which is why the only cat around my place is stuffed!
As I dropped off my kids at school this morning three stunning yellow tailed black cockatoos flew down to munch their way through banksia seeds.
Perhaps this xmas if you want to encourage these stunning birds to visit you, buy a coastal banksia in a pot, decorate it with hand made or fair trade decorations and use this instead of a pine tree...which I doubt you'd want in your yard. But if you don't want this kind of tree this idea applies to any variety, whatever you want, could be a fruit tree. Once Christmas is over, plant it out into your garden, a little extra present for yourself.
My thoughts drift onto antidotes to the problematic things about Christmas.
Nobody wants to feel guilty on Christmas day-but gobbling up factory farmed meats, veggies and fruit that have a bigger carbon footprint than your car, then opening up sweat shop produced products, maybe containing various hazardous ingredients, then disposing of loads of rubbish doesn't seem so jolly...
I am all for peace and harmony and joy without compromising the environment, peoples rights or animals welfare-basically maintaining mindfulness and conscience.
Feel free to add you own-please do;
-Buy fair trade or hand made locally items, buy your gifts from op shops or antique centres or opt out of the system altogether and swap pre owned gifts-books or dvds and cds might work really well there. Write out your best recipes, give someone a massage, read a child their favourite story, take them to their favourite place, lend a hand in someones garden, cook a meal, give veggies/herbs from your garden.
-Buy organic sheets or towels for presents. They can be bought online or also at Target/Aldi.
-Make xmas meals organic, free range or vegetarian. Try and get your things as close to home as possible, and have lots of salads with each meal and less hot meals. In this climate it makes no sense cooking up roasts and puddings, heats up the house and uses a lot of energy. Buy those fantastic seasonal fruits and enjoy them.
-Try to donate unwanted items right now to charities-toys, books, things in good nick.
-Make your own wrapping paper/cards from materials you already have-newsprint or old magazines, or buy some organic tea towels to use, tied up in a little knot this works great for wrapping.
-Go on retreat! Duck it altogether! Chenrezig is beautiful, in the sunshine coast hinterland.
-Give inspiring books or dvds, bought from independent bookstores, like Avid Reader in West end or your local abc shop...these are wonderful books
my favourite book on gardening, its perfect for Australian gardeners.
and this is a random bunch of other books which will inspire and uplift while gently suggesting an alternative to chemicals and consumerism....
xkate
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