MILLS + FRANKS TIPS FOR LIVING SUSTAINABLY AT HOME
What is sustainability? There are multiple ‘definitions’ out there, and ultimately it is up to your own interpretation. In simple terms, we interpret sustainability as “the practice to support and maintain a lifestyle that keeps on going with low impact to our social, economical and environmental principles”.
As lovers of all things entertaining and hospitality (then throw in isolation in the mix), we do what we can to support best sustainability practices at home and in our day to day lifestyle.
Starting from the ground up, below is how we support being sustainable at home:
Compost - Start small, find any old vessel or container at home and use this to store scraps. We have a small ‘green’ bin we purchased from Base Warehouse that we throw 75% of our organic fruit and vegetable waste including cardboard (egg cartons are great!) and paper towel. Egg shells also work well, along with used ground coffee. This then breaks down and creates organic fertiliser for your garden.
Worm Farm - pretty sure we are now on a first name basis at our local Bunnings. Here you can purchase worm farms small or large that are fantastic in supporting breaking down the compost. We purchased 1,000 worms and store them in the back garden, ensuring a shady protected location and feed them 20% of solid compost. Venture to the beach and collect crushed sea shells or keep your oyster shells as this supports as a conditioner to balance out the soil’s acidity levels (a win win for us who love oysters, live near the beach and consume a lot of citrus based cocktails!). The worms then break all this down and produces a rich organic fertiliser
Garden - there is something really satisfying to growing your own, which also supports our love for creating a ‘farm to table’ experience. Following the above practices, this leads to having a garden with zero pesticides and zero store-bought soils and fertilisers. We chose herb staples such as thyme, rosemary, mint and chilis, with then produce including lettuce, kale, beetroot and cauliflower…for now.
Chickens - introducing “Winner, Winner, Chicken & Dinner”. These gorgeous Barnevelder chickens are not only great at laying eggs but are low maintenance, amazing foragers and love eating compost (whilst their poop also produces great compost for the garden). They have become our home pets giving us sanity in isolation and support our zero waste lifestyle. #foreggsonly #nottobeeaten
Shop & Buy Local - We are fortunate to be located in the South Coast within a region that has access to some of the best produce in Australia. We LOVE buying local and in the current climate this is important now more than ever. Shopping and buying local not only supports small-scale producers but also has environmental benefits - Keep engaged across our socials as we connect you with some of the best producers along the way.
What does sustainability mean to you / How do you support sustainability at home?
-The Team at Mills + Franks.
