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Epsom salts in the spring garden

Versatile, naturally occurring, inexpensive and beneficial – Epsom salts have been used in homes and gardens for generations and certainly deserve a place here at Spotless. Epsom salts have plenty of uses in the home (more on that another day), but with Spring in full swing I’ve been particularly enjoying their many benefits in the […]

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strawberries with Artemesia

Protecting your strawberries, naturally

Strawberries must surely be one of the most beloved of fruits. Delicious heart- shaped pockets of sweet pinky-red juiciness… Yum! Like little exposed hearts, they are also very fragile, and as inviting to every passing insect as they are to us. It is still certainly worth the effort of growing them yourself though. Apart from […]

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Meditating on the meaning of growing a vegetable

I was recently considering what images to use in a post I wrote about organic food. I thought the point I was making might best be illustrated by contrasting an image of a pre-packaged bag of shop-bought organic salad leaves, with a shot of a lettuce growing in my garden. It really got me thinking. […]

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Spotless meat

The production and consumption of factory-farmed meat is an issue we should all take seriously. Intensively farmed meat is detrimental to: our health the environment the livelihoods of small farmers the lives of farmed animals Cheap meat does in fact have a hefty price tag, one we are paying for in our deteriorating health, our […]

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The herb garden: Lavender, part one

There are so many herbs, with such a vast array of properties and uses, that it would be nigh on impossible to document them all. I’ve decided to begin by simply focusing on a few of my top favourites for a post from time to time. There is a great deal of information available about […]

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Freshly ground, part five

As promised, here’s how to use coffee grounds to help care for your pet, as well as several other uses I’ve not mentioned elsewhere. 1. Before or after washing your pet, rub her down with coffee grounds. Work the grounds right through the fur to the skin. Leave for a few minutes if you can, […]

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Eggshells

Talking on eggshells

I love eggs – they are one of nature’s miracle foods. But did you realise that the shells of eggs are an incredible resource too? They are so useful and versatile, they definitely deserve a place here on spotless. Here are ten ways to use them. (Many uses for eggshells require them to be crushed. […]

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