Juniper Gallery

I like to mention new or fabulous NZ businesses I hear about, and here's one...

Juniper Gallery in Newtown, Wellington is not only a full service florist but are happily a "green" florist. Mindy (the owner) believes that a flower will survive for it's optimum time if given heaps of TLC, fresh water DAILY and kept in tepid conditions out of direct sunlight and not kept in a chiller using needless energy. She believes educating our customers on how they can preserve flowers naturally is most helpful and better for the environment.

They are also developing ways of composting their green waste with others in the Newtown community.

The Gallery stocks a range of great gifts (not organic) but some very useful items for baby including their own range of "Sewcherry baby bibs" and "Newtown Kids".

You can contact Mindy on 389 4058 .

Melbourne Travel Log

I've just returned from 5 days in Melbourne. Great city but mental note to remember a brolly next time! I flew with Air New Zealand who have the good sense to choose Living Nature Products for their in-flight bathrooms - which was fortunate because I'd stashed all my toiletries in my luggage (due to the new regulations). I was travelling my two older children, so stayed in a great (upmarket) backpackers. Since I don't have a laptop, one advantage of staying at the backpackers is the internet room - I was able to check and reply to all my business emails. Had to detour from my largely organic diet for a couple of days but found some great organic stores on Days 2 and 3 - one at Spencer St Station (formerly Southern Cross) and one in Bridge St. Also spotted a restaurant in Fitzroy (Brunswick St) which is a great shopping area if you prefer vintage and recycled clothing ... I was in shopping heaven! Unfortunately my daughter is more of a Cotton On, Just Jeans, imported from China kind-of-girl but she'll see the (green) light one day!

Chinese Imported Foodstuffs & other goods

Listen to this alarming interview on Radio New Zealand on Tuesday 10th, regarding the import of foodstuffs (seafood, whitebait) and other goods from China.

This interview can heard on the Radio New Zealand web site for the next six days only.

Recycling # 5 plastic containers

Your local council will recycle plastics with #1 or #2 on the botttom.
Up until now there's been no-where to recycle the #5's.

Fortunately, Cyclops Yoghurts have come up with a solution. They have now established a recycling system in Wellington in conjunction with Commonsense Organics.

They will even recycle other companies polypropylene packaging. That means as long as it is clean and has no paper labels you can take all your clean # 5 packaging to any of the four Commonsense Organics Stores for recycling.

It is also worth mentioning that Commonsense Organics stores also take clean, used jam jars and plastic bags (which are recycled as grocery bags by other customers).

Please post comments about any other organics stores around NZ offering recyling services, so we can let others know.