Easter weekend

Mr J enjoys a babycino at The Collingwood Children's Farm Cafe

 

 

 Architectural details of Abbotsford Convent

We've just enjoyed a lovely Easter long weekend, with one of the days spent visiting the Collingwood Children's Farm.  I've been to the farm once or twice before, but it is certainly a very different experience visiting the farm through the eyes of a toddler.

Our 20 month old beautiful boy was just so excited to see chooks running around, cows being milked, farm cats lazing about, sheep shading under tree's and happy to be stroked prodded, guinea pigs to pet, and goats to be fed.  Combine this with lots of space to run around, pigeons to chase AND a babycino and muffin at The Farm Cafe - and he was one happy little boy.

Abbotsford Convent is right next door and is always worth a visit to admire its imposing structure.  The Children's Farm and Convent are fabulous places to visit, and a perfect mini escape for a few hours.  They feel a million miles from the city, despite being just a few kms from the heart of Melbourne town.

CERES community environment park

                                                  CERES organic cafe

Some of the sculptures at the park - love the ironwork Kingfisher and the wire Kookaburra

              Bicycle workshop - love the use of old bike wheels as trellis for the vine!

                                                       Colourful murals              

                      Some of the rather fabulous free range chooks and roosters

                                                  The CERES plant nursery

A few weeks ago me and little Mr J visited CERES for a stroll in the sunshine.  CERES is a fabulous environment park / farm, with a cafe, a great plant nursery, allotments, a chook house and all near Merri Creek in Brunswick.

The area used to be a bit of a wasteland, but over the years its been developed into a fabulous eco community space with the help of volunteers.  There are a number of environmental and sustainable initiatives including the use of composing toilets, energy efficient lighting, recycling water, solar hot water, recycling food scraps to the chooks, revitalising and selling old bikes and growing local organic food.   

"Our mission is to demonstrate how an urban city farm can anchor a community and contribute to the local economy; providing an ethical market place, employment and opportunities for farmers, producers, teachers and food workers in an environment where we can celebrate the harvest."

It's a lovely place to go for a stroll - and if you go on a Wednesday or Saturday you'll be able to visit the organic market with its locally produced fruit and veggies, freshly baked breads and fair trade coffee. Yum!

Gleaners Inc

Uh-oh..... There's a new cute shop in Brunswick selling lots of things that I like!.....

Cute details outside the ecclectic 'Gleaners Inc' 

Lots of second hand, vintage and retro goodies! 

Betty Jo's famous recycled lino brooches and clocks - and wall plates by Me Old China!

Fab owls revamped from old kitchen utensils and found objects from Focus on Art - love, love, love!

Succulents planted in metallic blue teapots, one of my Me Old China cut-out wall plates and ceramic brooches by Septembre Vintage Ceramics

Betty Jo's studio space and workshop on-site at Gleaners Inc 

Upcycled vintage fabric bags and pouches by Curlypops 

Gleaners Inc is a new shop run by the very lovely Liz Jones of Betty Jo fame.  The cute little shop is based in an old 1950's Perruci Shirts factory and has lots of second hand, vintage, recycled, retro and kitsh treasures (very dangerous for my pocket money!)  It also stocks recycled work by local designers, including Betty Jo, Curlypops, Focus on Art, Septembre Vintage Ceramics and my collection of my Me Old China wall plates.

The shop space also occupies the workshop for Liz to make her revamped brooches, clocks and jewellery from old lino.  I'm super jealous as I'd love to have a studio and retail space in a 1950's factory!!

Gleaners Inc is at 2 Ballarat Street, Brunswick (just around the corner from the Mariana Hardwick building in Sparta Place, just off Sydney Road)

Lost & Found Market

After my recent trip to the Lost & Found Market I thought it deserved a post all of its own.  Lost & Found Market is based in Smith Street (near Gertrude Street) and is jam packed with funky vintage, retro, second-hand and gloriously kitsch items!

Its quite overwhelming at first as there is so much to see spread over four levels, so you need to allow plenty of time to rummage!  There's furniture, bric-a-brac, fashion, kitchen goodies, books, records etc etc....

I can happily lose myself for quite sometime whenever I pop by for a looksy, and it takes some serious will power not to go mad!  The only downside is it's cash only - although this can help to curb the spending!  Happy shopping - I might see you in there! :)

Indigo Junction and Retro wallpaper

It's been a few weeks since I last managed a blog post as I've been busy, busy, busy with freelance work..... however, I managed to find time to spend some of my hard-earned income on some fabulous retro wallpaper from Indigo Junction!

Indigo Juntion is in East Brunswick in Melbourne and they specialise in vintage and retro furniture and collectibles.  Some of the items can be pretty pricey - but they select great pieces which are always in very good condition.  I made the fatal mistake of wandering in the other week whilst I was waiting to cross the road - and came out with two rolls of original french retro-styled wallpaper!!

I already had a couple of rolls of quite 'out there' retro wallpaper, so thought I'd add to my small collection and bought a roll of cute floral and a classic geo design.  The designs are great as sources of inspiration - and one day I hope to use them as intended and actually be brave enough to put them on a wall somewhere....