A little bit of Dirt Girl in our backyard‏

Today, we planted potatoes. 


My three year old and I have been planning this for quite some time. I find the kids TV show, Dirt Girl, very inspiring. She has a fantastic veg garden and has all sorts of projects happening in her yard. And today, we wanted to bring a little of Dirt Girl into our day.

A while ago, maybe about 4 weeks back, we popped a handful of potatoes in a bag into the back of the bottom shelf in the pantry cupboard. I could only vaguely remember the process of getting potatoes to turn into potato plants, and I didn't Google a method for our project. I figured it would come to me as we did it.

So after about 4 or 5 weeks in the dark, our potatoes had all sprouted lovely little knobbly beginnings of plants. I must admit, today was the first time we'd actually looked at the potatoes since putting them in the pantry, so I was a little nervous about what I might find! Luckily they were perfect and ready to go in the soil.

We took the baby outside and popped him on a quilt in the grass to wiggle about, and we sat on the path with some pots filled with soil, the plastic toy spades, the potatoes and a knife. I had memories of cutting the potatoes near to the sprouts so the sprouts could be placed individually in the soil right side up. So I cut the potatoes, and Ava planted them in the pots with her plastic spade.

Next, I made sure they were all covered in soil and we gave them a splash of water.

I don't know for sure if we've done it right, but we'll soon find out when we see them grow (or not).

Considering a tomato plant has just popped up out of the crushed granite in our backyard, I figure these sorts of plants must be fairly hardy and easy to grow! And I'm sure it didn't require much effort when I grew potato plants as a kid.

If they grow, I'll let you know!

Guerilla Knitting comes to Tempe

Just as the last of the DIY Rainbow Crossings get washed away by the rain, a new wave of colour hits the streets of Tempe.

Union Street

I can imagine they take some time to put together and then install. There seems to be about 3 – 7 days between each of these splashes of colour going up. It has been over a week now since the last one appeared, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for another one popping up any day now.
On many street signs around our suburb we now have art installations made from knitted wool. Often referred to as Knit Bombing, Yarn Bombing or Guerilla Knitting, I have seen this form of colour installation many times around Newtown and Surry Hills over the years, but this is the first time it has reached Tempe.

Brooklyn Street

As you can imagine, the locals are loving it. Again, we’re all getting out there with our phones taking pictures and posting them on Facebook. The first one appeared in Brooklyn Street, and when a photo of this was posted on Facebook we all asked the mystery Knit Bomber to adorn the poles in more of our streets with these fantastic colourful installations.

We were lucky that our street was next, followed by Stanley Street behind us, Edwin Street around the corner, and then Nicholson Street.


I’ve found a UK website for a knitting collective, Knit the City. As yet there doesn’t seem to be an Australian equivalent, but there is this great Facebook page for Australian knitters and knitting fans: YarnBombing Australia.

Stanley Street

Most residents seem to be enjoying the splash of colour, and hopefully the knitting is allowed to stay on the poles indefinitely so the enjoyment can continue. If one day they do get taken down our photos will provide some happy memories.

Edwin Street

Edwin Street

Celebrate 2044, Sunday 19th May

The community spirit was high yesterday at our first ever community festival, Celebrate 2044. I love the name of this family oriented festival, as it truly represents the vibe of the day.

Whether the festival goers were locals from the 2044 postcode, or other areas of Sydney, we were all there to celebrate everything that is great about Tempe, St Peters and Sydenham.

The area is fast becoming known for the community spirit and involvement, and this festival is a way of enhancing that and sharing it. Tempe Public School had a sausage sizzle stall to raise money for the new playground, and the sausages supplied by Louise Mitchell from Agency by Glen Regan were delicious.

Speaking of Agency by Glen Regan, their team was there in fantastic black polo shirts with the 2044 postcode on the back. They are one of the biggest supporters of our community, and I believe they made a generous donation to the Tempe Public School playground fund, in addition to their support at the event yesterday.

The kids were kept busy with a plethora of free activities including an animal petting zoo, bouncy castle, face painting, SES demonstrations, Self Defence demonstrations, giant Lego, giant Jenga, Serendipity ice cream truck and of course the Tillman Park play equipment.

The newly refurbished General Gordon Hotel in Sydenham had a stall with some tasty food options including the beef burger and chips which looked phenomenal and apparently tasted brilliant.

The music on the stage set the mood, with The Ukes of Today being my personal highlight.

Everyone we spoke to seemed to be having a relaxing enjoyable day, and hope to see the event happening again every year. From what I saw and heard, yesterday was a success so I can imagine Marrickville Council will look at Celebrate 2044 becoming a regular event.

More DIY Rainbow Crossings in Tempe

The DIY Rainbow Crossing movement continues on the streets of Tempe.  And in my opinion, the latest in the series of chalk rainbows is by far the best!  So I thought it deserved another post.  After seeing photos on the Tempe Facebook page of this fantastic rainbow crossing, I had to get down there and see it for myself.  So when my 19 week old needed to go for a walk in the pram yesterday, I used the opportunity to check it out and take my own photos.

DIY Rainbow Crossing, Samuel Street Tempe.

Kim's Daughter, Hayden on her DIY Rainbow Crossing.

Kim Skildum-Reid created this fantastic DIY Rainbow Crossing across Samuel Street in Tempe.  Samuel Street is probably the widest of the residential streets in Tempe, and is a lovely quiet street, the perfect canvas for a Rainbow Crossing.

As Kim created her crossing out of chalk to achieve this vibrant rainbow, I asked her to share the recipe / technique with us.



"For each stripe, it required:

* 4 cups (600g) Cornflour

* 800-900 ml water

* 1/4 cup flour

* LOTS of food colouring (most batches required a whole bottle)

I mixed each colour in advance in six x 75 cent Kmart buckets. You need to stir gently, as it goes all hard and clumpy when you stir hard. If that happens, just stir gently and it will once again play nice.
We applied it with a paint roller, but it could certainly be done with a paintbrush.
It's a bit subdued at first, but gets really bright when it dries."

IKEA Tempe Rainbow

We also spotted a rainbow on the floor at IKEA Tempe this week.

I'm not sure if they installed it as part of the movement or if it was just a coincidence, but either way I like it.

Chalking the Streets of Tempe

The path across the road from us.

After the removal of Taylor Square's Rainbow Crossing caused so much dismay in the community, the resulting "DIY Rainbow Crossing" movement has created such a wonderful atmosphere around Sydney.

While it hasn't brought the original Rainbow Crossing back (yet), it has already brought about small positive outcomes on a grass roots level.

Adults, children, young adults and families of all descriptions, have come together as a community and hit the streets.  Weeks on we're still seeing colour around the neighborhood, on the Internet and in the newspapers.

Chalking DIY Rainbow Crossings has brought people outside, and working together.

Those who haven't created their own rainbows have been delighted when coming across them, having their photos taken with this chalk art and adding to the community “rainbow” spirit.

The big kids started the drawing, while Ava watched

The timing has been perfect too, with the NSW school holidays coinciding with the movement taking off.  Another positive outcome I've seen is that it has re-invigorated the simple activity of drawing with chalk on the pavement.  "Back in the day", kids didn't have game consoles, iPhones, iPads or laptops.  They played on the footpath with their friends, skipping, playing hopscotch and drawing with chalk.  I hadn't seen any if these activities since I was a kid. But now with all the chalk we have left after drawing our DIY Rainbows, the kids are spending their afternoons together drawing.

When they started out the front of our house.

An impromptu 'chalking' session happened in our street last week.  It started with the Teenagers and Tweens across the road, then my Pre-Schooler wanted to join in as well as the 18 month old and 7 year old from up the street.  After they'd filled the path across the road, they came across our side of the street and covered our path and driveway.

It was wonderful to see such a broad range of ages all playing together outside on a sunny afternoon.  I'm looking forward to seeing the colour on the ground every time I look out the front of my house (until it rains).

I hope this 'chalking' trend continues amongst the Tempe kids, because it's a fun, timeless activity that brings them all together.