Category: zero waste

Interview with a Minimalist: Julie

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Simply do without.

When I was setting up my first apartment my parents kindly sent me off with all the duplicates from their house: some extra utensils, cups, bath towels, bedroom linens, things that had accumulated but that they didn’t really need. It was very kind of them. Despite their generosity the majority of the things I needed like a frying pan, a bed and a table to eat at were still among the items missing from my apartment. My instinct was to buy an inexpensive frying pan at a discount store, something that would last a few months, hopefully a year, until I could afford a good one. I felt some guilt even at the thought of buying something I knew would soon become garbage, but what choice did I have? Matt, thank goodness for him, said there was clearly a choice: Choose to do without. Do without until you can buy something you’ll own forever. Aha! He was right. Soooo right. So, I lived those first few months without any appliances and just a few kitchen tools, until I could buy a premium frying pan with a lifetime warranty. It was expensive, but we still own it and use it today. We’ve never had to replace it, likely never will.

Since this time, we have always taken the approach that we will not buy a “for now” or “temporary” item. We only buy forever things — quality things that we expect to last our lifetime, that we never expect to replace. This has meant we’ve gone a long time without some things (13 years without a bed, yep!), but it has also meant we’ve lightened our impact on the planet and overall have saved ourselves money. We’ve also learned a lot about the difference between need and want. Most things we think we need, we really, truly, simply want.

To this day we still do not have a kitchen or dining table. We eat at a desk, a writing desk. There have been countless times I’ve wanted to make a trip to Ikea and buy some cheap dining table that could comfortably seat us and a few guests. But I’ve resisted. We’ve had holiday meals with 14 people squeezed like sardines around that desk. We’ve had many cozy dinners with friends around it – elbows knocking each other and no space for serving dishes, but enjoying food and conversation just the same. We’ve done just fine for nearly 20 years eating as a couple, eating as a family of 4, entertaining guests around a desk. We haven’t really done without.

Today, I’ve got a fantastic interview to share with you, with someone who really inspires others to think about what they can do without. Julie Fathy is a mother of three, living a simple life, inspired by minimalism and living in an ecologically thoughtful way. Her blog is a great resource for learning how to live with less, much less, how to do things yourself, how to live garbage free, and how to fill your life with fun and adventure. I hope you enjoy hearing from Julie and are inspired by what she shares.

Let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

I’m a mother to teenagers and a toddler and married to the father of my youngest child. We live in Denver, Colorado. I work outside of the home at a company I started with another woman 12 years ago. When I’m not at the office, you’ll typically find me either at home or in the outdoors exploring. I get great enjoyment from time spent cooking, sewing, knitting, reading and making stuff. I also have a deep nature connection with a strong desire to protect the planet and explore the beauty it offers. My husband and I share a love for skiing, mountain biking, camping and mountaineering. We’re currently working on climbing all of our state’s 58 14,000+ foot mountains, of which I’ve summited 30.

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How many children do you have and what are they like?

I have three children ages 18, 16, and 2. My 18 year old daughter is a very driven and fiercely independent young woman. She shows a tremendous amount of generosity to others and works hard to keep a positive attitude in life. She’ll be a freshman at the University of Mississippi next year. My 16 year old son is a creative soul and a talented photographer. He has a great deal of compassion and a wonderful sense of humor. My two year old is a love bug. He has a very social and happy temperament and gives hugs and kisses freely. He loves to follow his big brother and sister around.

Do you have a favourite quote or words that inspire you?

I’m not even sure where it came from, but a favorite quote is “You can have what you want, or the excuses for not.” The quote serves as a reminder that the only thing stopping me from my goals and dreams are excuses. When I catch myself making an excuse I look hard at why. Sometimes an excuse serves as a means of filtering out things that aren’t important, but sometimes they are the stopping block for reaching a goal or dream.

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you? And, in what ways are you a minimalist?

I’m drawn to simplicity in all aspects of my life and have found minimalism to be one of the best tools to achieve simplicity. By ridding my life of clutter, both mental and physical, I’m leaving space for what I value. There’s not an area in my life that I don’t give consideration on how it could be simplified.

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What is your story, how did you start on a path toward a minimalist lifestyle?

I would say I started on a minimalist path when I became a single mom. I envisioned a different life for myself and children that was edited of extra stuff so that time, money and energy could be freed up for a more intentional and meaningful life.

For 2016 you took a pledge to buy nothing new for the whole year. What inspired this? And how is it going?

I took the pledge for a couple reasons, and I can’t really say which is more important to me. On one hand, I’m on a journey to live lighter on the planet and use fewer of the earth’s resources. With a little creativity and resourcefulness, it’s easy to use what we have on hand, buy secondhand, repurpose materials, or simply do without.

I also took the pledge to curtail my spending so that I can pay off a home debt more rapidly and ultimately achieve financial freedom. When I do pay off what remains of the debt, I don’t expect my spending habits to change much. My hopes and dreams aren’t to own more, but to do more. The hardest part of the challenge is that my teenagers have expectations of me to provide some of their material goods. Sometimes it’s tough to say “no” but I did build in a quarterly clothing allowance that allows me to stay within my parameters, but gives them the freedom to make their own choices.

I’m a month into buying nothing new (with the exception of food and household consumables) and it’s going well. I’ve noticed when I decrease my spending, there’s a decrease in my desire for stuff as well. I suppose that’s because I notice my happiness level doesn’t change, and if anything, it goes up when I stop buying stuff.

You are working towards a zero waste lifestyle, can you talk more about this?

Moving towards a zero waste lifestyle is a way for me to reduce my ecological footprint. What may be surprising to some is that the lifestyle is also beneficial to those living it. It forces you to buy package-free products, which tend to be unprocessed, whole foods, goods made from natural and renewable materials, and products and ingredients that are void of chemicals, synthetic colors and fragrances. I’ve also found a zero waste lifestyle to be one of the best ways to achieve a minimalist aesthetic. Just look into the homes of some of the zero waste bloggers (here, here, and here). For those interested in learning about a zero waste life, I am sharing ideas on how to get started on my blog this month (February).

Are there any books, websites or other resources that have inspired your minimalism?

One of my favorite resources is the Center for a New American Dream. Their message is “one that emphasizes community, ecological sustainability, and a celebration of non-material values.” A couple blogs that come to mind is Becoming Minimalist and Assortment. For parents, especially with young children, I can recommend the book Simplicity Parenting. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is a wonderful book to help with the decluttering process.

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In what ways/areas do you struggle with keeping things minimal? What is your weakness?  

When we think of minimalism, we generally think of our physical space being clutter-free, but for me a far greater struggle is clearing clutter from my digital space, both in terms of time spent there and the amassed information stored there. It takes a tremendous amount of diligence and discipline to limit our online exposure, even for the most conscientious. For the most part I don’t want my entertainment coming from digital media. I’d much rather spend that time pursuing my hobbies and interests and building relationships with my family and friends. The filter I apply to help me find balance in my digital life is the exposure must be informational (as it applies to my life), inspirational, or provide a meaningful connection. Anything that doesn’t fall into those categories I make a point to clear from my space.

Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

One of my biggest struggles I have isn’t per say with family, but it’s being gracious and accepting of all gifts received from family and friends. While most gifts are loved and appreciated, sometimes a gift can feel like a burden. For someone who’s not a minimalist, this may be hard to understand. Obviously honoring a person’s generosity, thoughtfulness, and well intentions are far more important than giving attention to my own apprehensions. The best way I’ve learned to deal with this struggle is to suggest to family and friends to exchange experiential or consumable gifts, or skip the gift giving altogether.

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In what ways has minimalism improved your life?

The biggest thing minimalism affords me is freedom. It can mean freedom from debt and freedom from the burden that comes with owning too much stuff. Minimalism leaves space to pursue my dreams.

What have been some unexpected experiences (positive or negative) you’ve had with minimalism?

Although it doesn’t happen very often, there have been situations where I’ve given away or sold something that I later regret. In my ambition to reach financial freedom, I once sold a set of beautiful silver dessert forks that were family heirlooms to help pay down my debt. They would likely still be in a box unused, but I’m sorry I sold them.

I have so many positive experiences related to minimalism, but one I love to share is the mobility my minimalist camping set-up has afforded me. Although it doesn’t happen as often anymore, my husband used to call me on a Friday afternoon at 4pm and suggest we depart that evening for a weekend of camping. I never hesitated because I’ve streamlined our camping gear to fit inside of a toolbox (tent, sleeping gear and food excluded). It was so easy to grab those few things and go.

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What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

I think the best approach to minimalism is to look at ways to simplify your life. Simplifying forces the things you don’t value to start falling away. Once you get started, you probably won’t look back.

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

My husband and I are making plans to take a sabbatical after my teenagers leave for college (my daughter starts this fall and my son next). We’d like to travel with our toddler to British Columbia, Alaska and parts of the west coast. My husband has been slowly equipping our truck for overland travel, which will eventually include a rooftop tent for our sleeping quarters. After our travels, we plan to settle in Bozeman, Montana.

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Thank you Julie! Readers you can read more from Julie on her blog the beauty in simple, where she documents her family’s path to a simpler life from an ecologically thoughtful perspective. You can also find her on Instagram @thebeautyinsimple. You can find all the interviews in this series “interview with a minimalist” here.

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Zero Waste: Wrapping Gifts with Fabric

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About 10 years ago, Matt’s mother decided to wrap all the Christmas gifts she was giving in fabric. A frugal, creative woman she didn’t enjoy, nor see the point, in wrapping a gift in beautiful paper only for it to be torn off and wasted, it seemed like a bit of an obscene luxury and careless of the environmental impact. For a few years already, Matt and I had been carefully unwrapping gifts so as to be able to reuse as much of the paper as possible, but admittedly it took a little fun out of the whole gift exchange. The fabric wrapped gifts she brought, on the other hand, were beautiful and appeared fancier than traditional paper wrapping and bows, and no extra special handling was needed to unwrap them. Win-win!

Photo not mine, view it and it’s source via my Pinterest board

A few years later, and I don’t remember how I came across it, I learned about the practice of Japanese fabric wrapping using a wrapping cloth known as Furoshiki. I’m certainly no expert in furoshiki, but  I can tell you that from the idea of furoshiki developed a set of wrapping techniques, where fabric is used to package things for transport or gift giving. It is said to have been developed out of a sense of waste consciousness and caring for the environment.

Since this time I’ve used fabric to wrap gifts when I have some on hand (otherwise I reuse paper).

If you ask Google you’ll find there are different techniques for boxes and bottles and other general shapes too. There are also lots of tutorials if you search ‘furoshiki’ on YouTube and I’ve pinned some favourites to my ‘ g i f t ‘ board on Pinterest.

Aside from gifts, there are also techniques for wrapping picnic lunches and meals for transport, where the fabric folding and wrapping comes out looking like a little basket. There are also folding techniques for shopping bags, flower bouquets and more. All this to say, if you want to wrap something in fabric as a gift or to travel with, then there is a furoshiki technique that can do the job. All you need is some scrap fabric (old sheets, scarves, silks, linens) to work with. No tape, no string, no glue. Although sometimes it’s fun to embellish the wrapping with a scrap of ribbon or yarn.

Photo not mine, view it and it’s source via my Pinterest board

Don’t be fooled by how pretty the furoshiki wrapping looks and assume it is complex. Every technique is simple and involves very basic folding and knotting. Gift wrapping in under 2 minutes — 1 minute for a pro.

This year I used some of Ro and Sen’s play silks from Sarah’s Silks to wrap gifts. The play silks we have are long rectangles, so I folded them over in thirds so I could work from approximately a square shape, but there is no great precision required in the size of the fabric relative to the size of the wrapped object, but generally a bigger piece of fabric is easier to work with. Using play silks to wrap gifts for children has the added bonus that the wrapping is a gift itself. Imagine a child unwraps a gift and is just as excited about the wrapping!

sarahs silks play silk furoshiki zero waste gift fabric wrap

Photo care of Sarah’s Silks

Overall, gift wrapping with fabric is easier (and faster) than wrapping with paper as you don’t need tape, ribbon or scissors. In my experience, people react positively to fabric wrapping: children find it extra fancy and adults usually have an ‘aha’ moment, like “hey, what a great idea!” In addition, fabric wrapping is more economical, encourages reuse and repurposing, and is environmentally friendly. Win-win-win! Try it out and please share the idea!

Make sure to check out my Zero Waste Gift Guide, which is great as a zero waste starter kit or for experienced zero wasters. Lots of ideas!

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Zero Waste Holiday Season: Join us for a Botanical Advent

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Around this time in 2014, my friend Emma (on Instagram as @takeapicturelady) invited her friends and followers to participate in a botanical advent. She had started one, somewhat spontaneously, the year before and, as is often the way with Instagram and other social media, it’s more fun when people join in.

The idea of the botanical advent is to work with flowers and plants (or other natural / botanical materials) to make an arrangement each day of the advent. For example, many people arrange petals and leaves in the shape of a number (the day of the advent). I personally was challenged enough by the idea of coming up with an arrangement each day, that I didn’t need the added challenge of making a number. Instead I enjoyed playing with colour (as I do!), texture and pattern to come up with a botanical arrangement to mark the advent each day. Beside being a beautiful, simple creative activity, it is a fantastic alternative advent for children and families who want to have a holiday a

dvent that is zero waste and plastic free, no to mention sugar free and healthy!

I soon realized making an arrangement each day was even more of a challenge than I expected, with very little daylight in December (and me away from home for all but about 20 minutes of daylight) it was hard to get an arrangement done and photographed in so little time — each day. Then there’s the fact that we don’t buy cut flowers or pick plants; we only collect. We soon realized we had not sufficiently collected enough natural materials over the fall to have a lot of variety to work with in making the arrangements. And then there are those days, when you don’t have creative inspiration. Some days I pushed myself through and made something anyway, and other days I asked Ro or Sen to make an arrangement for me. (Of course, I gave them full credit!)

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Botanical heart advent in process

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Botanical Heart Advent, by Ro

It turned out to be an excellent idea to ask Ro and Sen to contribute to the botanical advent making. Ro loved having a fun early morning project to wake up to, and Sen was very proud to do as his big sister and make “beautiful flower rainbows like Rowee.” He loved, too, that he was trusted to handle the delicate dried flowers. I was particularly delighted to see how gently he handled the fragile dried flowers and the fine motor skills he used to arrange tiny dried berries, the patience required to move a berry back to its place 4, 5, 6 times when it rolled away. After the advent was done they both continued to ask to play with the flowers over the course of the winter. (Previously we had mostly done this outside in the summer making nature mandalas and natural story boards.)

botanical advent flower art

botanical advent flower artSo this year, having learned from last, I’m involving the children from day 1, we’ve gathered more natural treasures (pinecones, flower petals, dried leaves and so on) and are ready to start our botanical advent on Tuesday, December 1st. Please join us! And, feel free participate even if you can’t do an arrangement every day.

Visit the posts that were tagged #botanicaladvent to get an idea of the arrangements people shared last year.

botanical advent flower art rainbow

Flower Rainbow, by Ro

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More Zero Waste Crafts, Projects and Inspiration:

DIY: Make all natural temporary tattoos from flowers

DIY: Citrus herbal play dough

DIY: Floral egg-shaped bath bombs 

DIY: Mother Nature costume made of leaves

Inspiration: Ecominimalism and an Interview with Robin Kay

Minimalism and Zero Waste: 7 Books to Inspire and Inform

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Make Your Own Mother Nature Leaf Dress: A Compostable Zero Waste Costume

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Mother Nature Leaf Dress Hippie in Disguise Danielle Chassin

Ro’s finished Mother Nature Leaf Dress, not perfect, but we learned from the process how to make a better one next time (see instructions below). But we did have a great time innovating to make a costume that is completely garbage free and compostable!

Halloween is Ro’s favourite day of the year. Her love for imaginative play and dress up, in combination with her outgoing personality make it far more fun than birthdays or Christmas. She just loves dreaming up a costume and then bringing it to life.

Ro is fortunate to have two grandmothers who are talented artists and very handy in the sewing department. Matt’s mother is a visual artist, she illustrates, paints, sculpts, sews, makes fibre arts, and gives an artistic flair to everything she touches. My mother is multi-talented, she went to school for fashion design, so she can design and sew up a storm of beauty. She has also put her talented hands to pottery, knitting, furniture, gardening and many more projects of beauty over the years. With these two creative grandmothers not only capable, but interested, in helping bring Ro’s visions to life, she has had some pretty extraordinary costumes over the years.

I should mention that I can sew, and while I’m not nearly as capable as either of them, I can certainly sew a Halloween costume. But, I loved that Ro and her grandmothers had a special project each fall, starting with a chat about her idea, maybe some sketching, a trip to shop or gather materials from a thrift shop, and then sewing and assembling the costume. It was a lovely tradition and a great bonding experience. At the same time, I didn’t want Ro to think that we were not capable of making her costumes ourselves — self-sufficiency is an important thing to me. I hoped the time would come, naturally, when we would make her costume ourselves.

Ro starts thinking seriously about Halloween in late summer, when her mind turns to the return to school and she sees the signs of fall start to show in the natural landscape. Last summer, we had beautiful weather and spent nearly every full summer day outdoors enjoying nature in forests, by the river, and everywhere in between. While both children have an innate interest in the natural world, I was intentionally trying to cultivate their interest by, not only spending time in nature, but also encouraging them to use natural objects for art. Ro loves fashion, not for the sake of trends, but for the creative self-expression. My mind hadn’t turned to Halloween yet, when one day in late August Ro announced that she wanted to make an ombre dress out of leaves and be Mother Nature for Halloween. To say my heart was singing to hear her say this would be a modest statement. She had, unknowingly, married her interests and mine and I knew this was the perfect year to shift to the two of us making her costume.

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Many people have since asked us how we made her dress and so I thought I would share our method here. This is just one, very simple way to make the dress, by using a braiding technique and affixing the braids to the base garments using safety pins, but I thought some process photos might help those of you who may need a visual guide. I hadn’t expected to be asked how to make the dress, so I didn’t take any photos when we made it, so I’ve recreated a few below for the sake of this post.

Without further ado, here’s how we made the dress:

  • After sketching the dress she wanted (a full length, tank dress), we found a suitable tank top and long skirt from her existing wardrobe to use as the base to pin the leaf braids onto.
  • In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we tried a few techniques, braiding and tying with string, and found braiding to be the least fussy.
Leaf braiding using simple three strand braiding technique, closed off with a safety pin, which is used later to affix the braid to the garment.

Leaf braiding using simple three strand braiding technique, closed off with a safety pin, which is used later to affix the braid to the garment.

  • On the day of Halloween, we spent about 3 hours walking around our neighbourhood gathering leaves, trying to find a range of colours to get the ombre effect. Especially looking for leaves with long stems, which makes braiding much easier. I highly recommend maple leaves. We used some oak leaves, because Ro loved the colours, but they were very hard to work with for braiding, and in some cases I had to pin the leaf itself to the garment. This can be avoided by using leaves with longer stems.

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  • It is important to gather your leaves freshly when you make the dress, because they will not last more than 12-24 hours before drying and becoming very brittle and crumbling off. We did not pick leaves fresh from trees, but rather gathered from the ground, so if you are someone who picks leaves then they may last longer. Although, I’m sure you can find plenty of leaves without the need to pick live ones from trees!
  • Next, we organized the leaves into colours: purple, red, orange, peach, yellow, lime, dark green, brown. Ro wanted a fade from purple to red through to green and brown, so we arranged the colours to make braids in this order.

Just a simple example shown above, our leaf chains changed colour more gradually as the garment was full length.

  • Once we had a braided chain of leaves about the length of half the shirt, we would stop and pin it closed to keep the braid from undoing. Chains longer than this tended to pull apart with wear. We continued to make chains and lay them on the shirt, until it appeared to be enough to cover the top. Keep in mind the garments will stretch when worn, so allow space for the braids to overlap.

Leaf braiding using simple three strand braiding technique, closed off with a safety pin, which is used later to affix the braid to the garment.

  • I was set on making the costume in such a way that would not create any garbage, so we used pins to attach the braids to the top and skirt. None of the pins opened while she wore it, but if you are concerned you could tape over the pin on the side that contacts the body, or wear a second garment underneath as a barrier.

Try to pin through and around the braided stems. You can trim off the extra stems or tuck them under another braid.

  • We repeated the same process of braiding and laying out the braids on the skirt, and then pinned them in place. Note that the direction of the braids was reversed on the skirt, meaning the braids pointed down to the ground. This helped to have a smoother, more comfortable waist.

Leaf braids on the tank pointing up, leaf braids on the skirt pointing down. Separated here to show technique, but you would want to have the ends of the leaves touching to hide the stems.

  • The braiding and pinning for the top and skirt took about 5 hours. Partly because we were developing the process as we went and partly because Ro wanted to try the top on at every step of the way!

  • The last piece we made was the hair piece; Ro wanted a fascinator. So we took a left over chain of red maple leaves and braided them. I closed the braid with a regular hair elastic. When the braid was laid over the top of her head, draping down, the leaves fanned up for an interesting look. Held to the head with a few bobby pins.

If we’d had more time, I would have filled in those peeks of white fabric with some shorter braids, but time and patience ran out. Ro wanted to skip around the neighbourhood in her dress!

By the end of the evening, Ro’s dress was dried out and starting to crumble. We had a trail of leaf crumbs all around the house. As I swept up, I noticed that the most beautiful pile was gathering at my broom.

A leaf heart made from the crumbled leaves from Ro’s dress. The rest went into the compost.

Please feel free to ask any questions about process or technique if my guidance wasn’t clear. Good luck and have fun getting creative with natural materials and please share your results with me!

You might also like my post:

How to Make All Natural Temporary Tattoos from Real Flowers

How to Make Easter Egg Shaped Bath Bombs with Real Flowers

Ecominimalism: Minimalism and Sustainability Talking with Robin Kay

Top post: Minimalism: 7 Best Books to Inspire and Inform

 

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Garbage Free: Making Cashew Milk

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This is just a simple how to post. Nothing very inspired, but something I feel really strongly about sharing. It’s nothing more than how to make milk, how to have milk in your household, without any waste. Simple, but a big deal.

A few months ago I came into contact with a very inspiring family, the Devine family, who lives a garbage free lifestyle. I interviewed them here, and in hearing from them I was inspired to push myself further in minimizing my impact on the earth. I try my best, but I am nowhere near as effective as the Devines. However, I am happy to be finding ways to minimize each day and am constantly making small changes to move in their direction.

Then there is my friend Kylah, she’s a sixth generation farmer, living and working on a diverse organic farm and homestead that operates off-the-grid. She’s amazing. And, yes, I interviewed her – find it here. Kylah is also a talented chef and health coach. She develops simple, wholesome, delicious, whole food recipes, that also minimize in waste. Recently, she posted to Instagram a photo and recipe for cashew milk. Tired of soaking and straining almonds to make milk (I’ve been there and given up too), she tried making milk from cashews and found there was no need to strain. Less labour and no food pulp wasted. It was genius! I tried her recipe as soon as I could and found it to be exceptionally easy and completely delicious. Best of all her recipe is vegan, plant-based, gluten free, waste free. I’ve adapted it slightly to make it fully raw, by substituting one date in place of maple syrup, and replacing vanilla extract with vanilla bean.

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Photo by Kylah Dobson

Not only was I excited that I could be self-sufficient and make my own healthy milk, it meant I could now provide our family with all the milk we needed in a garbage-free and zero waste way!

Here’s how: I take my reusable produce bag (for example these) to the bulk store, fill it up with raw cashews, close it off with a rubber band or string. Soak the cashews in a mason jar, puree them with the remaining ingredients (water, dates, vanilla bean, sea salt) and then store the milk in the same mason jar. A closed loop without any wasteful packaging or food waste.

I’ve used the milk for oatmeal, tea, coffee, baked goods, vegetable purees (mashed potatoes), soups and a whole bunch of other ways with no issues (no unpleasant taste differences, and no need to adjust the amount of milk in the recipe).

Here’s Kylah’s recipe for “Creamy Cashew Milk” 

1 cup raw cashews
4 cups cold water
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional) or 1 date *my version
2 teaspoons liquid vanilla extract or vanilla powder (optional)
Pinch sea salt (optional)
Pinch cinnamon (optional) *I don’t include the cinnamon so that I can use the milk in savoury dishes

1. Soak cashews covered in water 4 hours or overnight in the fridge
2. Rinse the soaked cashews under running water until the water runs clear
3. Add cashews and 4 cups of cold water plus any of the optional ingredients to a high speed blender and blend on high for 1-2 mins until silky smooth

Makes about 5 cups and stores in the fridge for about 3-4 days. The milk may separate so just give it a quick shake before using. Add a little cacao powder and bit more sweetener for chocolate milk.

Thank you Kylah for letting me share your recipe here. Readers please visit Kylah’s blog and follow her on Instagram for healthy and inspired family meals. Thank you, as well, to the Devine Family for the inspiration to live more lightly upon the earth. Find them on Instagram or visit their website and shop Bee Eco Wraps.

If you have come up with a way to do something garbage free (or minimizing garbage) please share it here. We can all learn from it!

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Interview with a Minimalist: The Devine Family

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Geraldine Devine Bee Eco Wraps Butterfly beeswax wraps australia off grid family

As I said in my first post in this series, I think there are many ways to be a minimalist and many ways to focus and apply minimalism in our lives. At the same time, one area of focus tends to radiate out over time and influence other aspects of our life.

For me, minimalism started with a strong urge to have much less stuff in our home. I am a mother working outside the home at least 50 hours a week. I am also an obsessive tidier, I like my spaces neat and sparse, because it is calming to me. After a day of hustling around at work, I want a serene, low stimulation home environment to welcome me, not a trail of toys, socks, odds and ends. However, being away from my children for so many hours a week, thousands of hours each year, I cherish my time with the children, and so I have a rule that I won’t tidy and clean while the children are awake. (Confession: I’ve broken this rule a few times). When I was off on maternity leave it was easy to sneak in some tidying while the children napped, but once I was back to work, my only opportunity to tidy was late in the evening after the kids were asleep. This wasn’t a healthy situation since I was robbing myself of downtime, time with my husband, and time to myself.

One evening when I was rushing around tidying up before I went to bed it hit me like a tonne of apples: the only solution was to have way, way, way less stuff. Because less stuff equals less tidying. It’s pure math. I also knew it wasn’t fair for me to push my own clean freak ways on my husband and children, it’s not their comfort zone, it’s mine. I shouldn’t nag them to tidy constantly and I shouldn’t waste my downtime on cleaning. So I decided to immediately start giving away things that we didn’t need. Things the kids hadn’t played with in a while. The extra muffin tin. The back-up rain boots. The spare cutlery. The college books gathering dust. As time went on, I felt lighter and more at ease, the children focused their play on a few toys rather than aimlessly going from one toy to another, and overall there was a greater sense of calm and focus in the home.

A few years later I started hearing about minimalism, not the minimalism I had studied in art history in university, but minimalism as a lifestyle. I was curious, so of course I went to trusty Google for answers. There I found that there was a small “movement” growing around living minimally. I also read about people who had taken a more broad approach to minimalism. For them, minimalism wasn’t just about less stuff. Minimalism could be applied to our lives as a mode of operation. For example, friendships and relationships, cultivating close, connected friendships with fewer people, rather than having dozens of friends that we see a few times a year, it’s just quantity, not quality. I also heard about how minimalism started in different ways for people, some it was financial loss and the requirement to part with most of their possessions, and the realization that they were fine, and even better, without the burden of things. For others, it was a reaction against the fast pace of life and constant communications, the now, the instant, the quickness, and wanting to return to slower, more meaningful ways of relating and communicating with people.

Since then I’ve been intrigued to hear from people about how they got started living minimally, what their initial focus was, and how it has evolved. When I came across the Devine Family, who live off-the-grid in Australia, and are focused, by matter of circumstance, on minimizing their waste and not producing any garbage, I was immediately fascinated. Their minimalism started from a very practical life circumstance: no garbage collection in their part of the world. With their zest for life and excitement about living simply, close to the earth, and renewing older ways of living, they took the challenge head on and haven’t looked back since. I hope you’ll be inspired by this amazing family and their commitment to live sustainably, simply, close to the earth, and in a very minimal way.

Geraldine Devine Bee Eco Wraps Butterfly beeswax wraps australia off grid family

*Please make sure to follow the Devine Family on Instagram @bee_eco_wraps and visit their webshop www.beeecowraps.com where they sell beautiful, handmade food wraps from organic fabrics and bees wax. This is not a sponsored post! I just love what they do and want to support their great efforts.

Let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What are you passionate about? How do you like to spend your time? 

Farm, markets, Steiner school, organic cafe, beach. Press repeat!

Nature, community, music & gatherings of like minded people. Craft, cooking, sewing, gardening, homesteading. We embrace Permaculture, Biodynamics, and Sustainability with a goal to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Ocean is the medicine of our souls. Sun, Salt & Surf heals all for the Devine Family! Becoming parents brought us from being environmentally aware observers to active participators in making a difference. We are conscious of the current issues society faces and are serious about creating a sustainable future.

How many children do you have and what are they like? 

Archi, 10, is the family comedian, acrobat, entertainer and the best big brother the girls could wish for. Arjuna, 8, is the sweetest soul, gentle, artistic and caring. Mirrah, 4, is an ethereal treasure, a pixie with the wildest of imaginations. Soma, 1, is our little Lion Cub. She is raised by the Clan, participates in every aspect of our lives and never misses a beat. She is pure love, humour and has emanated peace and tranquillity since birth.

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What part of the world do you live in?

Our Farm is on the subtropical Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia.

You live off the grid in a completely self-sufficient home. Can you tell me about your dwelling and your way of life?

Simple, natural, soulful. A treehouse with enormous character. It was a 1920’s Tea House with a rich local history. Put back together by craftspeople that came at just the right times! Every piece of timber is recycled. It rattles, shakes and evolves with us. We took out the walls other than one big gorgeous family sleeping space, a big other worldly bathroom & a big cellar/ pantry space. Our kitchen is the epicentre. Massive decks amongst the bamboo were constructed out of the old railway timbers. We have treehouses, forts and fairy gardens galore!

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

A Spiral Vegetable Garden fills our kitchen & Mama’s whimsical fantasies. Fruit trees provide an abundance of subtropical fare. Mangoes, lychees, avocados, guava, over 100 Tahitian Limes. A 3 acre spring fed dam full of silver perch and yabbies. We are very secluded and completely surrounded by State Forest, yet fortunate to be close to the amazing Noosa beaches and thriving Markets.

Your lifestyle is, in part, focused on waste, that is, not creating any. Can you tell me more about your journey to a zero waste lifestyle? How did you get started minimizing waste? And how far have you come?

Slow life, Zero Waste, terms often used for this lifestyle, yet we are so very busy and love waste and the fabulous compost it provides! Our goal is to minimise the impact of our choices. Plastic is very heavily woven into this society’s supply chain. Every day we open a new door to achieving a deeper level of disposable waste free living.

Our waste consciousness was accelerated due to our remote location. We do not receive a garbage disposal service and are subsequently responsible for all rubbish that we generate. With the consequences of waste to personally deal with an awareness of the absurdity of single use disposable items came to the forefront of our attention.

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

We get busy with baking bread, cucumbers to pickle, kefir to brew, pumpkin seeds to dry out, compost to turn. The very action of these humbling tasks brings about a consciousness & presence. Somewhere along the way, the concept of single use plastic becomes outdated. An appreciation for the beauty of a sturdy fermenting jar, a pair of shoes that feel like they will last a lifetime, a hand knit woollen jumper….. a beautifully smelling, aesthetically pleasing wrap for your food…. just became essential…. a daily reminder of a state of mind that values and respects what matters.

Garbage is a somewhat recent phenomenon, historically speaking. Have you had to find creative solutions to minimize your waste or do you find yourself turning to older methods that most of us have abandoned? 

Yes! We get creative, plan ahead and study the masters of reusable. What we’re talking about doing here is not just part of a Green Revolution… It’s a Renaissance. People have been working with nature this way for eons. It seems that we’re just learning to do what society has unlearnt and forgotten. Historically, many cultures sealed jars with wax and our Outback Drovers traditionally used oiled cloths to protect their food. Homesteaders have been wrapping up food in waxed cloths for centuries. Bee Eco Wraps became our passion as we delved into the wisdom of yesteryear.

Any food we don’t grow is bought at market. Trade and commerce is a pinnacle of culture. Geraldine particularly loved this & studied Anthropology at University, exploring the daily lives & rituals of cultures worldwide. In our travels we have lived amongst market cultures and fell in love with this as a source of social interaction. We all thrive and feel nourished with our interaction with the stall holders. With baskets and jars in hand, market life has provided our waste free immersion into this bustling and enriching cultural family experience.

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you?

We don’t want to fear our future, nor put our head in the sand. We want to gain momentum, excitement, faith & confidence in paving a future that will work. And give ourselves the tools to live in beauty in the face of the adversity that will come our way in this current society. To minimalise it. What matters. For us, love, family, nature, health. To be bold, humble, conscious.

Minimalism for us has become our state of being. A daily choice to minimalise the chatter in our minds, our possessions, our interactions with anything that depletes us.

What is your story? How did you get started on a minimalist path? What motivated you to live a minimalist and sustainable life?

As we learnt to slow and pay attention to the details of daily life we expanded and moved into a deeper connection with ourselves others and our place in the world. To find a real sense of meaning and purpose.

Family is the pinnacle of it all. We have both lived quite exuberant, excessive, wild & opulent lives! Diverse existences. For Geraldine the highlight of childhood was my time spent on a farm. Pure, slow, beautiful. Defining my very being & influencing every part of my journey. A determination was etched to make this a reality for this family. For Matt the time spent in Japan infiltrated his soul & defined his minimalist existence. He focuses on the natural world. He accepts the impermanence of life and seeks to remain humble. He is actively involved deepening his knowledge. He retains simple practices that allow him to remain focused amongst the turmoil!

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

In what ways do you struggle with maintaining your lifestyle? Have there been any struggles with the other people you live, friends or family with about living in the way you do?

When the children get lured into the trappings of consumerism, we have learnt to see it as an opportunity for growth & learning. To extend ourselves to offer a better natural option. To grow our imaginations as well as theirs.

The children are technology free. People often ask how how we have the time. Take away television, shopping centres, time opens up. Children are helpers, participatory in daily life. The children’s imagination is their greatest gift. We push through boredom barriers. Steer them away from quick fixes, immerse them in nature, saturate their souls with the raw & natural opulence & beauty of nature. Simplicity. Attainable goals. Gently allow them to witness the perils of plastic, sugar and the harsh realities in an age appropriate way. Make it an exciting mission to be on board the coolest train in town. The kids feel they have the magic golden ticket. The good cause.

As we said no to plastic, sugar and technology we took it as our responsibility to offer a better option. To be creative in enthralling and enticing them with delicious organic food that they took part in sourcing, growing, preparing, serving. Or by surrounding them with fodder for their imaginations. Tree houses, wooden toys, craft, animals, books. I have put boundless energy into creating self motivating tools for the kids. To nurture their minds to think for themselves and weave in and out of magical wonderlands in their imagination. To offer tasks that teach them the practical skills of cooking, weaving, building, cleaning. To minimise their lives, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and so they don’t shut down through fear. Nature offers the best tools for learning.

It has been a journey! A minimalist point of view has been hard for well meaning friends and family! I give our family and friends enormous credit in supporting us in upholding our values and complex criteria for each purchase. To embrace our choice in stepping away from consumerism. We all have quite a laugh at our different choices and paths in life! Love and a great sense of humour conquers all!

What have been the benefits of your lifestyle?

As we tune in to and get excited about the rhythms of Nature’s bounty we feel grounded and a part of a whole. We delight in the company of local farmers and growers, market stall holders and local artisans. We feel inextricably connected to the cycles of the Seasons, the rhythms of Nature and from this comes a deep sense of purpose, simplifying our understanding and acceptance of life. The children also emanate peace and stability. It is a world that they can see, feel and understand.

We have slowed and channeled our energy toward specific tasks with intent and positivity. To impose order on our wandering minds through the acts of gardening, cooking, creating, singing.

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a more minimal, sustainable lifestyle?

Get excited. For us it has been the best journey of our lives. We found as we were strengthened by the inherent benefits of the lifestyle we were able to face the challenges with greater confidence. The research and preparation is fun! The information out there is limitless! Learn from your elders. Visit the dairy with your own pail to make our own cheeses, butter, yoghurt. Many Farmers offer butchering to your specific requirements. We have found local butchers love the idea of wrapping meat plastic free and lament the loss of butchers paper. Buy in bulk with your own jars or baskets. A little preparation yes, but when you see the beauty of your produce in a wicker basket and jars, you will know and feel that this is the way it should be!

Allow yourself a gentle awakening to the perils of plastic! Create a list. Step by step challenge the disposable parts of your life. Sustainable toothbrushes, shampoo bars, henna, beauty products. As you get healthier through this lifestyle you need less! Equip yourself with the tools to reduce waste. A mason jar each, a favourite op shop spoon. Lots of wicker baskets. A great dishwashing cloth, scrubber, soap nuts for laundry, solar power, tank water.

Look at ways to trade goods, or delve into the magical world of vintage!
It doesn’t necessarily have to be land driven. We have lived on a standard block & embraced an enriching & sustainable life. So much to learn about fermenting, felting & sewing tapped into a local like minded community.

Are there people you look to as role models in terms of your lifestyle?

The market families, each other, our family, the other cultures we have come to know on our travels, the cultures that have retained a minimalist sustainable life with a reverence for nature.

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

To remain simple, minimal and inspired as we traverse a sustainable life with four children a farm and growing business. To strengthen our goals and daily rhythms to encompass a broader gathering and flourish in the inspiration and energy of makers, growers, bakers, artisans, families and community. To maintain the serenity that comes from slowing down and paying attention to all we find meaningful. To connect with moving slowly and treating things, people and ourselves gently. To have gratitude and reverence for the beauty of life. To feel empowered to make a difference. To harness a consistent, grounded and authentic Eco business that is a subtle tool in a burgeoning change toward a minimal, conscious and sustainable way of life. Bee Eco is a simple product, a daily change of habits that might spill over to other areas of life as it becomes apparent just how easy and beautiful reusable items are! In turn a broader attitude change may envelope our collective habits!

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family

Devine Family Children tree house zero garbage waste Geraldine Matt Devine Bee Eco beeswax wraps australia off grid family


An immense thank you to the Devine Family for sharing their life, words and images with my readers. Readers: you can find the Devine Family on Instagram @bee_eco_wraps and read more about their life as well as purchase their Eco Wraps on their website www.beeecowraps.com.

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