MIFGS 2013

So who else made it to The The Melbourne International Garden and Flower Show this year and soaked up all the inspiration on offer? I get a real kick out of the vast variety of different designs and styles on show, mainly because it's so totally pleasurable and inspiring to view! Just like last year I was attracted to the displays that had sustainable elements. Floriography grabbed me with their super cool rustic playground which was constructed out of recycled materials. The eco conscious Sinikka wooed me again this year as well. This time with AMAZING cork balls, hanging hills, pops of pastel and neon and a STUNNING garden wall piece. Then it was The Floral Art Society of Victoria that impressed me with their fresh crisp white backdrop detailed with shredded paper, that was up teamed with their clever minimalistic presentation of gorgeous Australian natives. Outside the weather was perfecto once again and the gardens were bursting with eye candy. It was a day filled with gooing, gaaing and absolute awe!

'Mad with Joy'

'People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.'

~Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat

Yesterday I was mad with joy surrounded by flowers because it's that time of year again....Melbourne International Garden and Flower Show time!

This year it was nice to just go strolling soaking up all the inspiration with out the pressure of competing, and to cheer on a couple of friends who created some amazing pieces.

The show is on until Sunday and full of eye candy as always. Go along and check it out and you'll be 'mad with joy' too.  

More to come next post, but for now go have a real life squizzo for yourself, you'll be just 'joyless mad' if you don't. 

Good Green Things!

During a little holiday in sunny Queensland we had the fab experience of attending The Eumundi Markets. Eumundi is a charmer of a town with an amazing market full of yummy food, stunning artworks, natural therapies and loads of gorgwaa boho things!



Another impressive element of the market is the communities commitment to reducing their impact on the environment and creating a sustainable shopping experience. They have a well promoted recycling system, are plastic bag free and stallholders use compostable packaging. They even have a worm farm managed by the local school to deal with all the waste of the many market goers and tourists that trapes through this divine place.

Go Eumundi you good green things!

'CLARENCE'

Who's met CLARENCE ? Or even better who's met 'Bobilee Shahine'? A sister in the hood of bloom loving doing it for herself! During last years flower school day trip out to the 'Gerb' farm yes I've uttered the 'G' word again, we stopped by 'Clarence'. A deliciously unique florist in Healesville that gets me all giddy with excitment just reminiscing about it! Clarence has a mix of amazing blooms, unique arrangements and gifts combined with vintage finds - insert elated opera sung aAAAaaah here! Owner 'Bobilee' is a a great example of the type of floral designer I like. Fab taste, full of personality and kicking commercial blah to the curb! Total shop crush!

The images below are of the shop front and some of their stunning wedding work. Swoonalicious!

It's frowned upon...

Something unspeakable has charmed me in a floral sense. A commoner, an average Joe, a variety of an uncool Kind. What hideous bloom am I rambling about? OK...here goes... I'll admit it... I fell for a Gerb! Yes a Gerbera! Thousands of them in fact! I know it's frowned upon florally if you want to have any point of difference from a commercial blah florist, but I was sweet talked by a field of them, and oh I don't know how... but somehow we hit off. But it's true! As uncool as it sounds.

It was last year when my flower school class and I made the trip out to the Gerbera Farm. There I was, swooning over a sea of Gerb faces in all their glory and abundance! Who would of thought me the Gerb snob head over heels for them? 

 The Big Bouquet Gerbera farm which is situated in beautiful Healesville of the Yarra Valley, really is worth a squizzo if you get the chance. Haters be warned though it may sway your Gerb judgement and just like me you may be eating your usually Gerb despising words.

Mr.Beatnik has only just given up bringing home the odd bunch Gerbs due to me telling him for quite a few years that they were super gorgwaa in like... the early 2000's. Heee! Forgive me, I am a fussy bloom lover at times!

Although, now, I may just keep an open mind to their potential. There I said it! Sorry if I made you vomit. Turn away if you must. Gerb converted I can't believe it!

Happy Day of Commercialized Love

Happy day of commercialized love. Any excuse for a floral fest is super ok with me! Although, I suggest ditching all the TAKKA-RAR-MESS wrapping and accessories and opt for just simply stunning blooms in recycled paper or a reusable vessel. Is there really need for all that OTT anyway? Flowers are so gorgwa all by their pretty selves don't you think? It's sweet to be kind to your loved one AND to the environment. The amount of waste caused by today's love whoohaa is horrendous. Get your romance on but do it thoughtfully I say smoochers ♥

Image: 'Daphne' by Baron Von Lind via Pin Up Girls and Hollywood Icon's

 

We're going on a worm hunt....

Cheers to a fresh new year! I am super excited to shake off 2012, and keen to start a brand spanking new year, hopefully full of - fun, lOve, health, good times and creativity!

The Beatnik fam's first project this year in our quest for a more Eco existence, was cranking up the worm farms we have had sitting in our backyard untouched for goodness knows how long! The stunning summer weather has encouraged us to get out into the garden a bit more and give it some much needed attention. Whilst doing that I found a nice little stash of worms in a pot plant. That find prompted me to start up the worm farming process that I had been putting off for far to long.

After briefly familiarising myself with the instructions I learnt that you need about one thousand worms to begin the farming process. Wow - that's a lotta worms! So the pot plant collection along with a poke around our compost bin didn't quite make the worm quota. With that it was off in search of worms we went!

Turns out you can buy the little squirmers from 'Bunnings' and similar outlets. Totally off the shelf, in a box and all! This information was super weird news to me, and as well as that I also discovered during my worm shopping experience they were a tad on the expensive side.

Surely there must be some super cool Eco dude farming them in his backyard I thought. After a little online research - I did discover a super cool Eco dude farming them in his backyard - win!

His name is 'Leon' from 'Browns Compost Worms', and he is a very passionate and informative worm farmer! Leon's super healthy worms are fresh as Daisies and nearly half the price of the boxed version from 'Bunnings' etc! I was much more comfortable supporting this 'super cool Eco dude' rather than buying them off the shelf.

Leon gave us a tour around his huge veggie patch, as well as the 'Crib Point Primary School's' Eco garden that his property backs onto and he has voluntarily assisted with. Leon happily donated some of his worms to the school which they are farming inside an old bathtub. He proudly told us that the 'Crib Point P.S' have received a sustainability award for their amazing Eco garden. The Beatnik clan spent about an hour with him talking about gardening, growing veggies, sustainability and of course worm farming.

Then it was off with the worms we went, not just the worms though...also a bag of complimentary fresh tomatoes from the garden. What a sweet man!

One of Leon's (aka super cool Eco dude farming worms in his backyard) tricks for healthy worms, is to add a little horse manure with their food scraps. Conveniently on our little road trip to his house we spotted some for sale roadside. So it was eyes peeled for that horse poop on the way home.

Funny thing is, we were in my tiny car so those two giant bags of horse poop we bought at a dollar each did not go down to well with the 'Baby Beatniks' on the drive home! Being a hot day it was not ideal to be carting horse poop around in a hatchback with two kids who were clearly unimpressed with our purchase, hehe! So it was all windows down and lots of complaints flowing! Next poop pick up it's BYO nose pegs, haha!

So the worm hunt was a success and now it's the actual farming I am yet to master. The 'Worm Tea' they produce is meant to be gold for the garden and the way Leon's garden is thriving I can't wait to get a load of that gear!