Life hacks facts

Tips, tricks and remedies that will change how you go about eveƒday tasks, for the beer.

Recipe for roasted garlic

Preheat oven to 150°C fan bake. Separate 3 heads garlic into cloves, trim the base of each clove and place in a small roasting dish. Cover with extra-virgin olive oil and roast until soft (40-45 minutes). Allow to cool before fishing out garlic and removing skins. If not using at once, transfer garlic and oil to a jar and chill until needed.

It will keep for several weeks in the fridge. Bella: My Life in Food by Annabel Langbein

Yoga breathing benefits

Research from AUT’s BioDesign Lab shows yoga breathing (breathing through one nostril at a time) changes brain activity. Right-nostril breathing is linked to a higher sympathetic (arousal) state while left-nostril breathing is linked to a more parasympathetic (stressrelieving) state – so right-nostril breathing could help energise you, while left-nostril breathing could help calm you. This breathing technique is being explored as a treatment for brain disorders and could be used to help autistic people and those with degenerative diseases or traumatic brain injuries! aut.ac.nz

Planting natives

The right time for planting is not spring, when retail nurseries try to encourage us out into the garden. From a plant’s perspective, it’s ideal to put down roots in mid to late autumn, once the ground has been fully moistened by a good dump of rain. From that point, once the ground is really moist it very rarely dries out again, so you are giving a plant the best possible start.

100 Best Native Plants for

New Zealand Gardens by

Fiona Eadie

Take a tiny green break

Consider adding a “tiny green break” into your existing routine. These green bu ers within urban life have been shown to immediately reduce stress. It can be as simple as adding 10 minutes of green time into your daily commute. Make the e ort to visit a park during your lunch break, find a natural view to focus on, notice flowers, plants and birds, feel the weather. Combine these actions with writing down a few things in nature you’re grateful for at the same time, and you’ll supercharge your connection with nature and your feeling of wellbeing. Grounded by Ruth Allen

Pumpkin wisdom

You can’t go past pumpkins for good value for money. When they start appearing in the shops for $3.50 or less, buy in bulk. Store whole pumpkins in a cool place but don’t place them directly on the floor – use some cardboard as a pumpkin mat. Stored with the stalk on the boom, they last up to three months. Once you’ve cut one open, use it within two weeks. Roast or boil, then freeze for use in soups come winter. lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz

A word on masks

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to large increases in healthcare waste. An estimated 0.15-0.39 million tonnes of additional plastic may have entered our oceans over a year from single-use plastic masks. That’s why it’s key to keep masks secure so that they don’t become litter. Disposable masks can also be safely reused. Sustainability Trust recommends storing used masks in paper bags and having them on rotation. After 72 hours in “quarantine”, they can be reused up to five times, or until damaged, dirty or wet. N95 or KN95 masks can’t simply be tossed in the laundry. Because the masks have a special static charge that traps viruses, they should never be washed. sustaintrust.org.nz