Our Top 5 Tips for a Sustainable Month

Keep Your Christmas Local: Buy your gifts at local stores, or better still seek out some local home made gifts (or make your own); and as much as possible make your Christmas feast from locally produced meat, seafood and veg.
Water Wise – Summer’s here so remember to water early morning or late evening and make sure your vege garden is well mulched to retain water.
Cool Your House: Shade northern & western windows during these hot months with eaves, awnings, pergolas and deciduous trees.
The Two Wheeler: Dust off your old bike and leave the car at home and explore your neighbourhood this Summer. It’ll keep you fit, it’s free and it’s good for the environment.
Get Down to your Local Library: Get thee to your local library & borrow our free Home Sustainability Kits, or one of our great resources from books about sustainable gardening, retrofitting your home or permaculture; as well as some fun children’s DVDs & make and do books. Read More

Attend an Open Sustainable House and Tour in Bega on Sunday 11^th September and find out just how easy it could be to make your home more sustainable.
Tune your radio into ABC South East on Wednesday 12^th September at 10:35am and hear the last of our 6 week sustainability series on why it’s important to buy fresh food and how to build resilience in your local community.
Sow Seeds – Spring is here and now’s the time to plant. Early frosts are still possible so raise your seeds in a warm place or on your window sill.
Stop mowing and reduce your lawn by planting drought-resistant ground covers like Native Violets, Kidney creepers or Creekping Boobialla
Grow Your Garden Right – by booking into one of our free Garden Reviews or by reading our regular Sustainable Garden series in the Crookwell Gazette.

Having problems warming your house? Check your insulation first before turning up the heat. Make sure your doors, windows, air vents and skylights are well sealed. Put on a warm jumper, have a throw to snuggle up to at night on the couchand remember that old-fashioned draught-snake your grandma had? It is in fact a fantastic, easy and low-cost method of keeping your house insulated.
Buy local! Try and buy locally grown food as much as possible – you’ll be supporting your local producers and cutting down on transport-fueled emissions.
Save power – are you fearing your Winter electricity bill? Book in for one of our FREE Home Reviews – only available in our 13 shire council regions till December. Book now: Tel - 1300 994 289
It’s estimated that every household could be recycling up to 70% of their green waste. What happens to your green waste? Why not start a compost, a worm farm or a chook pen.
Get informed: Sign up to G Magazine’s electronic newsletter, there’s lots of interesting stories, hot tips and all the latest news. Read More.

Get ready for the colder months – seal draughts around doors and skylights, and make sure your curtains are in good form – ideally full length with pelmets – to keep the cold out on those frosty nights.
Check your fridge – according to our Sustainable Home Advisors, fridges are one of the main energy consumers within the home. Are your seals working, is it in a well ventilated position and how much is in your fridge? If you answered no and “Too much!” to the last question, your fridge could be costing you money.
Get Planting – move out your summer crop, now’s the time to plant broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, radish, turnip, lettuce and spring onion.
Meat-Free Mondays – communities in the UK have embraced this initiative so why not get healthy, get creative at dinnertime & help the environment. Every little step counts!
Knowledge is Power – Pick up a copy of Sustain: a fantastic magazine on sustainability issues for communities in south-eastern NSW, or catch up on their website.

Save energy this Summer & keep the house cool by shutting the doors & closing curtains early in the day before the heat gets in.
Save water by putting a bucket in the shower and use it to water your plants. (But make sure you’re washing with only natural soaps).
Put down mulch on your garden beds and use a water-saving nozzle on your hose to cut down on water.
Reduce waste & don’t buy wrapping paper this Christmas – make your own! Why not decorate some old newspaper with paint, crayons or collage; re-use old wrapping; or even wrap your present in something useful your loved one can use later – like a scarf or a calico bag.
Make your own Christmas presents – there’s nothing like a good pot of home-made tomato relish, a bunch of flowers from your garden, a home-made decoration for the Christmas tree or a handmade brooch to impress & show you care.

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