- the whole food diary

Join us at our table and see what we’re eating, hang out in our kitchen and cook with us, we love company! Bon Appetite!

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the.whole.home

Conscious consumerism, on a budget.➡️ Keeping it simple +less judgy!

✉️:kezianeusch@gmail.com
💄:@whole.beauty
💻: ⬇️

Our happy little bees! 🐝 I love them. 🐝 . B

Our happy little bees! 🐝 I love them. 🐝
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Because of summer plans, our powerful little friends will be staying where they are. My parents’ house where we were living before. I can pop by easily and look after them, we’re still close! And then in time, we’ll move them over. I can’t wait to have them with us :)
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If you’re thinking about keeping bees - I’m a novice - but I wrote about things you should think about before you start, from my own experience. I didn’t do them all and it would have been easier if I had! So it won’t tell you everything you need to do - but it’s the bee keeping for dummies overview of things to think about I wished I’d had before starting!
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You can find it at: www.thewholefooddiary.com/blog/startingwithbees 🐝

I know I know, I don’t reward with sugar either.

I know I know, I don’t reward with sugar either. Same. 😉
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Potty training has its own set of rules k?! It’s 3 days. The first time I had a jar of little plastic animals I got second hand. By day 2 I had chocolate treats, and a bottle of wine.
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There’s a full review of the three day method, essentials for it, why I do it and do it early, and organic toddler underwear options on the blog. But my short review is: “Intense, feels like you’re failing till day 3, but so worth it. Bring wine.” Honestly, it depends on the character type of the adult doing it I think, more in the blog!
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www.thewholefooddiary.com/blog/pottytraining

Our living space in process 🥰(Swipe to the end

Our living space in process 🥰(Swipe to the end for the empty room when we moved in!)
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When we pictured our furniture in this house we knew we’d ideally have something different / in addition to fit right. I started searching then for used sofas. 3 months ago.
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When I need something I look for about 3️⃣0️⃣ seconds, 3️⃣ times a day, every day. It’s tedious. There weren’t loads that popped up in that time. Then some didn’t reply, didn’t work, I couldn’t collect, some were way out of budget second hand.
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Then this beauty popped up in my 30 second 5am search last week.⬆️ For £100. It was still on budget with the £64 I needed for van rental to collect it, and I had the time to do it. They actually responded (always a win 😆) and I rented a van and picked it up the next day. 🙌.
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I LOVE all the second hand pieces in our home. The coffee table I searched for for months, then took little Clayton and Roey in our tiny Renault Zoe to pick up and we all squished in the 1.5 hours home. 😆 The lady who owned the carpet brought it with her from Afghanistan. She loved it but her daughter wanted neutrals in the home so she sold it. I wanted to tell her she could have it back if that changed, but I just thanked her hugely. It’s so special to me now. The pillows were the one part of our beloved Airbnb eco studio we built in California we brought with us. and not second hand but I bought the monstera 3 years ago on a coffee date with @ruthmarsden_ and I’ve propagated/split it to gift 4 and fill my house with 5 others! 🥰
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What’s your favourite thing you’ve bought used?

Ok, we’ve ordered an Abel and Cole box for years

Ok, we’ve ordered an Abel and Cole box for years. Not 4.5, I was wrong. We haven’t been here that long. 🤣 I love knowing it’s the same price every week for budget… so helpful. Also the farmers are being treated fairly, it’s all organic, from a B corp, there’s no air freight, all the things. It’s such a good one. We’ve been buying their UK sourced box to keep our food local but it’s not big enough and I wanted a tad more variety.
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I didn’t realise you could swap out any item in the bigger boxes. AND see where everything is grown. 🌎 So you can switch things to make the box more local. For the same price. 👏 I swapped our bananas for local apples, and bell peppers for cabbage and it’s still all exactly the same price for my budget.
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Such a win. And 11 portions is perfect for our family for the week. 🙌
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Go to tidd.ly/3MkmUiz (or hit the link in my bio) for 50% off your 1st and 4th box! Which is a fab saving! There’s also a comparison on the blog of different UK options. Hope it all helps. ❤️

“CLIMATE.” That word: Inspiration, turn off, o

“CLIMATE.” That word: Inspiration, turn off, or trigger? 🌎🔥 It’s the reality and what motivates some. But I think it doesn’t NEED to be your phrase or anyone else’s to still make changes and care.
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“Climate” has become a buzzword used in so many places, and for some it’s lost the meaning, brings too much anxiety or is just a turn off to making change. Change we NEED. But I don’t believe it’s a word we need to still build a beautiful movement of caring for the earth and its people. 🌎
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If YOU feel turned off from making changes because of the use of the phrase or idea of “climate change”, whether that’s anxiety or belief or any reason… just hold on a second with me. I think there are tangible reasons for making changes to our impact that have nothing to do with the earth’s temperature. We need everyone on this journey, not to push people away with language. If climate isn’t your/someone’s word or motivation - it doesn’t need to matter. The change and care matters.

For example: clothing. 👖 The textile industry is responsible for 10% of global emissions. That’s a lot, from an industry that actually wastes a lot of what it makes anyway. But it doesn’t need to be emissions and climate change. We need to reduce our consumption for the swathes of landfill filled only by clothes and the damage it causes, the contamination of waterways from the dye process, the affect of chemicals on areas growing materials like cotton, and the water use. We need to slow down on our consumption because the only way to consume at this rate (on the budgets we have) is if we use unfair labour practises that hurt people. We need to slow down whether we look at climate, or whether we look at many other factors. So pick your motivation, let others pick theirs, tag someone who needs this, and we can all do this journey together. 💪 💪

Hi 👋 my name is Kezia and I just pulled that co

Hi 👋 my name is Kezia and I just pulled that compost can out of the full recycling bin I found when we moved in. It’s happily back on the kitchen counter. 😬 …And a few other corners from our new home. 😍
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My 11 year old cast iron and the draught horse that watches me cook, eventually maybe we’ll paint over her, but no rush. ✨ My little work corner - I’ve never had any kind of office or desk. I’ve run my world from the kitchen table and I really wanted to invest in a little work HQ, so this £40 2nd hand find is that. I love it. And a photo my sister @jo___lees took of a special spot by our favourite California date night restaurant where we marked some special moments. ✨ Our bathroom. We’ve gone down to one bathroom, but I love it. We haven’t had a bath for 4 years (yep, the kids do fine with just a shower!) but I LOVE that we have one again. ✨ Closets. And a lampshade I jumped to replace, but reminded myself to slow down… and the quote I have on the wall to remind me not to keep up with the Joneses (or a Pinterest board or anyone else on social media!) on home decor. Slow and second hand and low impact is the vibe.
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Oh and lastly, does anyone know what you do if you inherit a few koi carp by mistake but you want to drain the pond for safety ASAP?! 🥴🐟

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