Abdallah House - Redesigning a Home

Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal The tree house, which should soon be overgrown with new foliage I had been wondering whether or not to remove this large tree from the backyard for some time. I've had it identified by a couple of people but never written down the name and forgotten it promptly. It's an elm of some descrition I think and I'm pretty sure that it's considered a weed. It's a fast growing and brittle timber, very light like balsa wood. I prunned it heavily to about a third of it's height about a year ago. There have been a few good reasons why I've kept it, even though it shades out my minimal prime vegie growing land. It's deciduous, providing shade in the summer for the kids to play under, it can provide an ongoing timber source (firewood, garden use) and I saw potential for it to become the base for a tree house for the kids. Creating space where there wasn't any before - important stuff on a small block. After a y

Principle 4: Apply self regulation and accept feedback Produce available for swapping and sale without packaging at our second Black Market Our mission to only fill one rubbish bin and one recycle bin for the year is hitting some challenging times. Our 240lt recycle bin is about 70% full, but our 120lt rubbish bin is about 90% full. I feel confident that we can use just one recycle bin for the year, but I'd pretty much given up on the idea of only using just one rubbish bin. Then an interesting development unfolded, Kunie and the kids decided to go to Japan for a couple of months to visit family, while I stay at home to finish off some projects. So we might still be in with a chance to reach our goal after all. With a more productive time in the garden ahead as Spring begins, there will be less need to purchase packaged food. As my 40th birthday approaches I've been thinking about how I'm going to manage waste if I have a party here. I'm madly brewing beer, and sh