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Monday, September 16, 2024

A Micro Flower Farm In Trentham Decades In The Making

Sandy McKinley lives and breathes roses. The self-trained florist has a lifetime of experience in flower growing and wedding design, and she also has her own tiny flower farm!

With her heart set on a weekend country house surrounded by flowers, in 2007, Sandy set out to transform a humble miner’s cottage in Trentham, Victoria and its surrounding paddocks into her own micro flower farm and dreamy country retreat – and so came about the idyllic Acre of Roses. After a recent upgrade in 2018, Sandy and her partner Rob have transformed the property into boutique accomodation.

Though those of us in metropolitan Melbourne aren’t going anywhere for the next little while, bookmark this delightful gem for future travels. And for those of you who can get out and about, this is the perfect weekend getaway!

Cruden Farm · The Garden of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch – The Design Files | Australia's most popular design blog.

Cruden Farm at Langwarrin, south-east of Melbourne, was given to the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch in 1928 as a wedding present from her husband, Sir Keith Murdoch.

The exceptional story of this garden, created through the dedication of Dame Elisabeth and gardener Michael Morrison, is told through the pages of  Cruden Farm Garden Diaries. This beautiful book charts the evolution of a quiet, creative and incredibly productive relationship between two kindred souls.

Gardens columnist, Georgina Reid of The Planthunter, learns more from the book’s co-author, journalist Lisa Clausen.

Heide Museum’s Enchanting New Healing Garden

Landscape architect Liz Herbert from Openwork describes a “healing garden” as a plant-dominated environment designed to meet the physical, psychological, social, and spatial needs of users. Whilst these spaces are often linked to hospitals, nursing homes and other health-related environments, Melbourne’s newest healing garden sits within the grounds of Heide Museum of Modern Art! 

Designed by Openwork, this beautiful new garden combines elements of conventional therapy and healing, with productive and edible gardens, and spaces intended for art and play.

Located on the site of Heide co-founder Sunday Reed’s first kitchen garden (later repositioned), this new environment reflects the late art patron’s keen interest in the symbolic and medicinal properties of plants, as well as Heide’s growing desire to provide restorative spaces for visitors of all ages and abilities.

Is Your Fruit Habit Unhealthy?

Weight LossIs Your Fruit Habit Unhealthy?

Low-carb and low-sugar have overtaken low-fat in popularity, according to Google trends for the past decade. Today, you know too much sugar won’t do any favors for your physical or mental health. And fruit, often touted as nature’s candy, can be first on the chopping block. Here, a look at three common claims surrounding the sugar in fruit — and what you need to know before you reach for your next banana.

A large banana, at 17 grams of sugar, has almost as much sugar as a Kit Kat Bar (22 grams). However, the nutrition label paints an incomplete picture — you see total sugar but not added sugar, which is the kind health advocates say should be limited. Fresh fruit has zero added sugar. It’s also packed with valuable nutrients like vitamins A, C, folate, potassium, fiber and other antioxidants.

Fruit contains fructose, a type of sugar that’s processed exclusively by the liver. Eating too much fructose in a short time frame can be harmful since the liver converts it into fat and stores it. A buildup of too much fat can cause fatty liver. While that might sound scary, it’s harder to unintentionally OD on fructose than you think. The liver won’t turn fructose into fat unless certain requirements are met. You’d have to surpass your calorie goal, eat a high percentage of those calories from fructose and do this regularly. A meta-analysis found adults eating 100–150 grams of fructose per day increased their blood triglycerides, a sign that precedes fatty liver.

The reality is we eat much less fructose, averaging just 55 grams per day. To put that in perspective, 100 grams of fructose would mean you’d need to consume 10 apples, 18 bananas or 44 peaches.

True. It doesn’t matter if glucose (aka sugar) comes from soda or an orange — they both spike blood sugar. In a healthy individual, it’s normal for blood sugar to rise after eating carbs. The body releases insulin to bring it back to regular levels. Blood sugar isn’t a good reason to equate oranges to soda unless you have insulin resistance or diabetes, in which case you might need to limit your fruit intake.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Don’t ignore the evidence that fruit helps with weight control, heart disease, diabetes and more. Rather than obsessing over the sugar in fruit, focus on eating a healthy, well-balanced diet that includes a mix of colors and food groups and minimizes added sugar. For example, instead of adding a ton of fruit to your smoothies, make sure you also have a green like spinach or kale, a source of protein and healthy fats.

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