All for Women Birthday meet

All for Women is celebrating it’s 3rd Birthday next month (and our blogs 1st Birthday too).Yay us!

Everyone is invited! Lots of cupcakes for all (yes, I have a bit of an obsession) All for Women forum members and blog readers, we would love to meet you all who make All for Women what it is!

To celebrate, Naomi and I would love to share a celebration with those that can make it to a get together in Sydney, Sunday the 11th of May (school holidays and such make it hard for next month) venue to be advised, somewhere central once we work out who is coming and from where.

We’d love to see you there

Landscaping with natives

Let me preface this article by stating that I am not a gardening guru. I have a distinctively black thumb and I am constantly astonished that there are green things in my garden at all. But I love native plants and I love the Australian bush, so I like to try and recreate even the smallest patch of it in my own backyard.

There are many reasons why you should predominately plant natives in your backyard:

• Once established, they are water misers and will survive on whatever rain falls from the sky.
• Native vegetation is extremely hardy and you are more likely to kill them with kindness rather than neglect.
• Most natives do not need a fertilising regime because they have evolved on low nutrient soils
• Birds are attracted to many species of flowering natives.
• If you live in acreage area or close to remnant bushland, you are less likely to accidentally cause damage to the local ecosystem by having a native garden.

I’d like to elaborate a bit further on that last point. Before you decide to plant any kind of plant (native or introduced), please check with this website to make sure that you are not about to plant an environmental weed. There are many plants that look lovely but can have an incredible impact upon different types of ecosystems. There are other plants which are fine to plant if you are an avid gardener and plan to spend a lot of time ensuring spread is contained to only one area of your garden. But for the lazy gardener, they are a definite no-no. So before you buy it and put it in the ground, do a little research first to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. The majority of reputable nurseries have knowledgable staff who will be able to advise you well.

Hedges are very popular in my area and for obvious reasons, you want a fast growing plant that tolerates closeness with other plants. A lot of people opt for Sheena’s Gold (native to Central America) and it is a really lovely plant which makes a fantastic hedge, particularly in formal gardens. A great native alternative to Sheena’s Gold is the humble lilly pilly (pictured at right) which is doing fantastically as our driveway hedge. It tolerates an astonishing amount of neglect and now that it is established, it no longer requires any watering at all to maintain its current appearance. Despite not having had much rain over the past few years, our row of lilly pillies have grown from tiny seedlings into a thriving hedge.

Other types of natives that are suitable for hedging or clustering include:

• Melaleuca linariifolia (”Little Red”)
• Callistemon (”Bottlebrush”) dwarf varieties
• Dodonaea viscosa (”Hop Bush”)

As far as stand-alone plants go, I love grevilleas, bottlebrush, banksia and eucalyptus varieties. All of these natives flower so they will attract birdlife to your garden and the different cultivars available mean that there is a wide variety of colours to choose from. You don’t even have to worry about the space requirement of some of these trees. Gone are the days when you needed acreage to grow a couple of eucalyptus trees. The majority of nurseries now stock dwarf varieties which don’t grow to 30m high and threaten to damage your house in a big storm. Some of the varieties, such as the “John Evans” grevillea can even be grown in pots - so no backyard required!

(Clockwise from above left: Eucalyptus “Summer Red”, white plumed grevillea, an unknown variety of bottlebrush and Ashby’s banksia)

Remember earlier I said there are plants that you just shouldn’t plant if you do not want a high maintenance garden? This plant here is a perfect example of that. I’ll have to be honest and say I have no idea whether it is native or introduced or even what it is. But from this one isolated patch here, it has sprung up in tiny seedlings all over my lawn, garden beds and as far as six doors up the street. I might add that this particular plant is not even on my block - that is how easily it is propagated. While it serves as a mere nuisance to me, it grows quickly and could be a significant problem in a nature reserve or patch of remnant bushland where there are few people to actively maintain the area, if any at all. If for some reason you actually like this plant, do yourself, your neighbours and the surrounding environment a favour and keep it in a container instead.

All For Women Blogging Carnival

Another week, another great collection of Women’s blog posts. This weeks carnival is up at Fig and Cherry with our lovely host Christie.

Make sure you take some time to check out the rest of Christie’s blog with lots of amazing recipes, and yumminess. I am still drooling over the waffles with whipped cream!

Sydney Bloggers Meet

Last week I posted about having a Sydney bloggers meet. I posted over at Aussie Bloggers as well, and the wonderful Ian has put together a get together. Sunday March 30th at 12:30 PM at  Star Bar 600 George Street (the former Planet Hollywood) Sydney. You can find out more details at the meet site and RSVP. So come on all you Sydney bloggers, I know you are out there, don’t be shy. Come a long to the meet, would love to put a face to all the wonder Sydney blogs.

International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day, a global celebration each year of the economic, political and social achievements of women in the last 100 years.

2008 marks the 100 year anniversary of the day that started it all, and changed the lives and history of women for ever.

On the 8th of March 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding more rights for women. The right to vote and the right to better working conditions. Many women of the time worked in appalling conditions, earned half that of men’s wages, died prematurely from poor health and didn’t have the right to vote.

IWD has been celebrated in Australia since 1928, when the first rally was held in Sydney calling for equal pay for equal work, an eight hour day for shop workers, no piece-work, a base wage for the unemployed and paid annual holidays.

International Women’s Day is about remembering the battles long fought to build a society that is just and fair to all its members. A society in which diversity, tolerance, safety, social justice and equality between women and men is a given. And its about celebrating what women have done, are doing and can do in the future.

IWD is also a time to contemplate those areas of women’s lives where more can be done. Women’s access to education, health care and paid labour has improved. However, there are still many places where women do not have all the same rights and opportunities as men. Despite all the work being done, women around the world are still suffering as victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and discrimination.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, spare 2mins to please join UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman in support of UNIFEM’s campaign to Say No to Violence against Women! Add you name to an ever-growing movement of people who speak out to put a halt to this shameful human rights violation. One in 3 women and girls may be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Shocking, isn’t it?

Friday Forums in Focus

Welcome to our forum roundup for the week!

At the AFW Forums, we don’t always agree on everything - there are lively debates on a range of issues. This week we’re in the midst of an interesting discussion about 4WDs - are they socially acceptable or not? If you have an opinion, we’d love to read it.

Pets - we love them but sometimes they can drive us a little crazy with their challenging behaviours. Do you have any ideas on how to stop a dog from pulling washing off the line? Or how to save flyscreen from adventurous kitties? Come and share your tips in the Pets forum.

As parents, we want to protect our children from being hurt, so when Bullying rears it’s ugly head, it’s hard to know the best way to deal with it.

If you’re currently a foster parent, have been one in the past or even have an interest in finding out what is involved, come and join in our foster parent discussion in Safety Talk with Imaginif.

And if you’ve ever experienced the frustration of an ant invasion, read the discussion in the Home Sweet Home forum to find tips on how to win the war.

See you there!

New national car seat safety laws announced

Car safety for children is an important issue for all parents. Currently 500 children under the age of ten are killed or seriously injured every year in car accidents with a further 2,300 receiving minor injuries.

Last week, Transport Ministers from around Australia announced unanimous support for new national child car restraint laws.

Babies up to six months of age must be in a rear-facing infant capsule, then in a forward facing car seat until four years of age and then in a booster seat from four to seven years of age.

Up to the age of four, children must be restrained in the back seat of the car. Children between four and seven years old must not be seated in the front seat unless all backseats are taken up with younger children.

Remember to make sure your child’s restraint is appropriate for her weight and height, that it meets Australian Standards, and that it is installed correctly.

The new laws use the child’s age as the best guide as parents will know their child’s age but may not be aware of their height or weight, however the safest position for small babies to travel in is facing backwards, so it is important to leave her in her rear-facing car-seat or capsule until she reaches the upper weight limit before moving her into a forward facing restraint.

Useful links:
CHOICE Child car rest

Australian Transport Safety Bureau – Simple Guide to Child Restraints

NRMA Q&A on Child and Infant restraints

Belletoni Association for child passenger safety - types of child restraints

Top 100 Aussie Women’s Blogs Updated

The Top 100 Australian Women’s blogs list was updated on Saturday.

Thought we could have a bit of a change this month, put some of the ladies lower down on the list in the spotlight for a change. I have the list starting at 100 and going down. You can sort it yourself the usual way if you like, by clicking the titles at the top of the columns.

Welcome to the new ladies on the list this month..

• Faz the cat
• Beyond 30
• Cherry Blossom Adventures
• A.K.A Mum
• Solidariti
• Crazy mumma
• Juggling Mum
• Red Instead
• The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl
• The Body Shop

If you have a blog, or know of one you think should be in the list. Let me know and I will add it to the big list of blogs I check each month.

NSW bloggers meet (guy +girls)

I know there have been a few night meets in the city, I would so love to meet up with some other bloggers, but getting into the city of a evening is near impossible for me, especially during the week. I dare say it is for a few others as well.

Would anyone else be interested in a day time meeting, on a weekend somewhere central and maybe family friendly. Perhaps Sunday 13th of April? Let me know if you are interested!

All for Women Blogging Carnival

This weeks carnival is up over at Never Never Never give up. Cat is new to All for Women, and I have only just discovered her blog. Stop by and check out the carnival and say hi!

You should also check out her other blog My ostomy blog, I spent an hour this morning reading through her story. She is an amazing woman, truly inspirational the health issues she has overcome. You rock Cat!

Get your submissions in for next weeks carnival hosted by the super scrummy Fig and cherry. Yes, I know, I said that last week, but Christie was flitting off on a trip for the weekend, so asked to postpone her hosting. I wonder if she will make us something yummy!

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