Autumn is my favourite time of year.

Afternoons are still warm and long, yet there is a refreshing breeze. It’s the time of year when we tend to take our dinner and eat on the deck enjoying the gorgeous fresh air and late sunsets.

Our current family favourite is Pesto Pasta, inspired by our basil which has thrived with the consistent rain. My gorgeous daughter and I attempted to make a batch the old-fashioned way with a mortar and pestle. It was certainly a nicer texture, however we moved quite quickly to the less traditional food processor, which makes the process fast enough for quick school night dinners.

It has been such a lovely summer season in our vegie garden with rocket, carrots and lettuce fighting for room. I should admit that I do have a bad habit of planting as if I live on a farm, rather than being conscious of the reality of my few raised garden beds squashed in the backyard. As a result, we have decided to go up! We have cherry tomatoes, climbing cucumber and beans all being woven between our new mesh grid panels. It’s a great way to expand the garden when space is limited.

Our autumn planting has added spinach, which is a favourite, and as the temperature starts to drop, we are adding our Coriander and Dill seeds. These herbs are my favourites, even though they seem to dislike me, refusing to flourish as I imagine! Hopefully, this will be the year we become friends! I’m also aiming to add a few fruit trees to our garden this season, although I do have some research to do to select the right trees, given our space is limited and so precious. I’d love to hear any suggestions.

We have also been busy refreshing a few of our products at Compost-A-Pak. All our larger Bin Liners will soon be available in rolls, rather than folds. We work with numerous businesses, councils and schools who are focused on reducing their use of single-use plastics, and we hope this new approach to packaging will make our commercial rolls even more convenient to use.

This month we are also launching a new Vented Caddy. The idea of storing food scraps in a caddy with holes can seem counter-intuitive… my mind rushes to the idea of spills on my new kitchen benchtop 😊However, research shows that if you let food waste breathe for the 2-3 days it is on your kitchen bench, moisture evaporates and so any smells are actually reduced. Given Compost-A-Pak bags are completely organic, they also breathe, assisting this process. As usual we have worked to make this product as sustainable as possible. The unit is proudly manufactured with almost 80% Post-Consumer Recycled content, so it’s made of discarded drink bottles and food packaging.

As we continue to work with local councils to roll out Food Organic Recycling, this Vented Caddy will be another option, particularly in the warmer regions of our beautiful country.

Speaking of working with councils, the Federal Government has committed to making FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) collection available to all  households over the next few years.

Providing FOGO facilities so all families can compost their food waste is a really powerful change. Through such initiatives, if we can lift our national food and garden composting rate from the current trends of around half, to an average of 80%, it would be equivalent to planting 314,006 trees or taking 486,021 cars off the road each year.

With Australia already experiencing such volatile weather, let’s hope climate change initiatives like these continue to be a priority for government. We need real change! In the meantime, like so many other families, we continue to make the changes we can, to ensure we live as sustainably as possible.

Enjoy my favourite season.

Mel