It’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the right time of year to cook up a brew of solar tea. Remember, your kettle is one of the biggest energy vampire gadgets you’ve probably got, so change the way you make your tea this summer? You’ve heard of slow food, this is slow tea.

Step 1: You’ll need a big jar or wide mouthed bottle.

Step 2: You can make teas with all sorts of herbs, whatever you have on hand. I used 4 rooibos teabags and 2 springs of fresh mint. Bung them into the jar and fill with cool filtered or tap water.

Step 3: Place the jar in full sun and leave for as many hours as you can wait.

Step 4: Strain and drink warm, or chill for iced tea. Sweeten with honey if desired.

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For an eco-friendly Xmas, make your own decorations out of garden and household waste. Twigs make an excellent Xmas tree, the bottoms of plastic bottles make gorgeous stars, and aluminium drink cans make sparkly baubles.

mini Christmas tree

Make miniature Christmas trees from a few twigs, or make a bigger tree with thicker branches and a threaded rod on a base, that you can decorate like a traditional Christmas tree with garlands and balls. Make recycled stars and baubles for your tree too.

mini Christmas tree [esprit cabane]

wintry stars

In the past, glass bottle bases were recycled to make tiles. Today, we can recycle the bottoms of plastic water, juice or olive oil bottles into twinkling stars with just a pair of scissors.

These transparent Christmas stars reflect light from every direction and make beautiful beaded garlands or hanging decorations suspended from a bit of wire.

wintry stars [esprit cabane]

creative Christmas balls

Make these fun balls yourself out of aluminium cans. They’re perfect for decorating your home-made tree with, or any other tree for that matter.

creative Christmas balls [esprit cabane]

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