Businesses

Australian Pollinator Week 2023 is 11-19 November. And BUZZBUZZ is a new shop that has opened in Leura to champion pollinators. You can too - find out how here.

Op shops and secondhand stores are booming in Katoomba, part of a growing interest in the circular economy. It's also helping locals save money while looking good in vintage and retro fashion.

As we rethink how to live in a warming world, building designers like Kirstie Wulf in Hazelbrook are exploring new fire-resistant building materials like hempcrete. In 2015 Kirstie received the National Building Designers Association Award for her first hempcrete home and she’s been designing them ever since.

The Sunshine Project supports Blue Mountains organisations to respond to climate change. The charity raises money to fund solar systems and resilience hubs. Sunshine also delivers educational workshops that address energy use in the home and explore the practicality of home solar installation.

Dr Megan Halcroft, a native bee specialist and her husband Steven Ruttley, are certified Bee Friendly Farmers in Hampton. We look at what this certification means and the choices Megan has made to ensure their sheep stud is bee-friendly as well as environmentally and economically sustainable.

Hamish Dunlop talks with Joe and Merylese Mercieca about the journey from a ‘fibromajestic’ home to their newly completed Passivhaus, and how sustainable design and building methods can support human health and the health of the planet.

Building, renovating? There is so much to think about! This week we talk with Dr Jane Aiken, a local land consultant with Consulting and Environment Services (CESsoils). We discover why soil is foundational to getting your build ‘right’ and learn how to avoid some of the ‘traps’ for the unaware.

I find myself feeling nostalgic when I think of the corner stores I grew up with. The ones I knew as a child have long-since vanished, but that nostalgia was delightfully triggered last week when I popped by to check out ‘Molly’, a vintage style van that’s just started serving coffee, drinks, snacks and homemade light meals from 71 Evans Lookout Rd Blackheath.

A home among the gum trees is a dream for many of us. But turning that dream into a reality in one of the most bushfire-prone regions in the country can be tricky. Architect Nigel Bell helps us navigate the fundamentals of building or renovating for bushfire resilience.

How an out-of-control weed-infested garden was rescued by a team of goats, themselves rescue animals.