We have a delightfully spoiled pooch who lives with us and was formerly used to blue vein cheese, rump steak every night and coffee straight out of his Master's cup.

There are millions of sufferers of a 'syndrome' commonly known as 'adrenal fatigue' or more specifically, mild adrenal insufficiency. This means that the adrenal glands are not functioning optimally and is often caused by prolong chronic stress. This condition in its many forms has been dead-panned by the medical establishment, despite clear scientific evidence stating that it does, in fact, exist.  

So, what is 'adrenal fatigue' or 'mild adrenal insufficiency'?

So it’s been a week now since we started our full move towards homesteading at home.

By homesteading I mean setting up our home and garden to eventually provide all our food, water, meat, power and heat… and trudging around in spangly gumboots at 7am on a freezing bloody cold Blue Mountains winter morning.

In honour of Fairtrade Fortnight, from 4 – 19 May 2013 we are very pleased to be offering the most amazing prize pack in our latest giveaway. Read on to find out what is on offer and how you can win – we have 10 awesome packs to giveaway!

I love getting facials. I had never had one until a few years ago – I know, a late bloomer – but I fell in love with the whole concept immediately. I loved massages up until that point but I find a facial puts me in a relaxed state almost instantly, hence  my love of these wonderfully pampering experiential treatment.

Marriage for me was one of the hardest decisions of my life. It took me a long time to work out why and to work through that why. As it turns out, I am more of a commitment phobic than I could have possibly realised!

I love making and using my own skin care products at home. Granted, I don’t get to it as much as I would like to – and my skin tells that story only too well – but when I do it’s a source of pure indulgence and joy for me.

Whilst pushing my daughter on her swing set the other day, underneath the pine trees in our yard, I was looking at the huge mushrooms that had been popping up over several weeks.

A little while ago, hubby and I were talking and decided we would like to introduce a new tradition into our family. We have both been close to our families of origin however for both of us, rituals and traditions were thin on the ground. That is something we wanted to change for our own family.

I had such fun making my slow cooked, very rich lamb stock. I had all different types of bones – shins, knuckles, ribs in the pots and some vege and lots of spices.  It simmered on my fire place for a day or so and when the fire was off it was simmering on my stove for another day or so. All in all it made the house smell delish and produced the most wonderful stock – which I promptly used in a Pumpkin Soup recipe.

I had some left over as well as scraps of lamb from the bones so I came up with something else lovely to make so as not to waste anything...