How to use egg shells

Convincing Reasons to Start Using Egg Shells In Your Garden

At HideAway Haven we use a lot of eggs when preparing delicious breakfasts for our guests. So what do we do with all the egg shells. Being environmentally aware we didn't want to just throw them away or put them all into the compost. 

Here are just some of our uses.

• We do have slugs and snails in our garden and we don't want to use chemicals to deter them. We sprinkle coarsely-crumbled baked eggshells (see note below why baked eggshells are safer) around the plants where the snails like to dine. The shells’ sharp edges deter snails and slugs by abrading the sensitive foot of any land mollusc that attempts to cross the barrier. Most snails and slugs quickly emigrate from our garden in search of easier pickings.

• The eggshells are also a great way for our birds to get extra calcium into their diets.

• While calcium is considered a secondary nutrient for plants, our garden certainly appreciates the added minerals, especially our tomatoes and peppers as these plants are the most easily affected by calcium-deficiency. We bake the eggshells and then grind them to a fine powder in the Thermomix.

Eggs are known carriers of salmonella, are not present in un-cracked eggs that have been well washed. If you want to store ground eggshells that are safe sterilize them in a 100°C oven for 30 minutes. You can then pulverize the dried eggshells using a mortar and pestle, Stored in an airtight container, crushed eggshells will probably last forever.

We keep our eggs shells and pop them in the oven when preheating for breakfast cooking.

Who Funds Wildlife Rehabilitation?

Caring for our wildlife is everyone's responsibility

Each year many tens of thousands of native animals are presented for care after being discovered sick, orphaned or injured by members of the community. The primary aim of rescue and treatment of wildlife should be to rehabilitate and release the animal as quickly and effectively as possible. Animal welfare is a recognition that animals, like us, deserve a life free of pain, discomfort, distress and hunger, and one that reasonably fulfils their physiological, psychological and social needs. Animals that we rescue are often sick, debilitated or suffering from serious injuries;

Who Funds Wildlife Rehabilitation?

Everyone thinks that some agency, probably a government funded one, protects and cares for wild animals in distress. But this is not the case. Wildlife carers are trained volunteers who give their time and care free of charge. They pay for the care of wildlife, including VET costs from their own pocket.

Burn out for wildlife carers seems to occur all too frequently these days and it should be everyone’s responsibility to help each other and provide support and finance when we recognise that someone is struggling.

Even just a thank you to our wildlife carers goes a long way to showing your appreciation.  You can do here at a Thank a Wildlife Carer Event
 

It's been fun to watch who pops in for a visit or an extended stay!

Our Eco Friendly Award Winning Garden

At HideAway Haven we use Eco-friendly gardening practices. Practices that do not cause harm to the environment, including our beautiful wildlife. There are many benefits to eco-friendly gardening practices -- from improved water quality to an improved wildlife habitat. Creating an attractive, eco healthy garden takes a bit of patience and understanding, but is so rewarding.

There were several things to consider when selecting plants to create our garden. Our top priority was to use native species from our region. These are well-adapted to local growing conditions, which mean they will need fewer resources to maintain (water, fertiliser, etc.). Native plants also provide habitat for our native birds, insects, and other wildlife. The majority of our plants are from Ardess Nursery, who have an amazing selection of native shrubs and trees.

There are many plants (not native) that can help create an eco-friendly garden.

• Tough, resilient drought tolerant species with wildlife value, such as, dense evergreen shrubs, that make good nesting sites for many birds and berry-producing shrubs provide a food source for many types of wildlife.
• Planting a wide selection of flowering shrubs for a continuous bloom through the seasons ensures that there is always nectar available for our native pollinators.

Most environmentally-friendly landscapes do not have a traditional, manicured look. Keeping with the idea of mimicking a natural ecosystem, we allow our garden to be a little overgrown and disorderly -- nature rarely occurs in straight lines or looks as neat and clean as the average front yard. Eco-friendly landscapes have a different form of beauty, one that is much more aligned to natural landscapes. Dense shrubbery, piles of brush, rocks, logs and other quasi-natural features are all part of the overall design of our garden.

It's been fun to watch who pops in for a visit or even an extended stay!