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	<title>The Pool Room</title>
	<link>http://www.pool-room.com</link>
	<description>Where all the good stuff ends up.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 03:05:49 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Now They All Get Elfed!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After watching Grace&#8217;s elf video several times over the last two days, Sarah and Hannah also want to get in on the act. So, without further ado&#8230;

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/12/now-they-all-get-elfed/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Grace Gets Elfed!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A bit of Christmas silliness&#8230;

Send your own ElfYourself eCards


]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/12/grace-gets-elfed/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Family Bonding Day</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was a huge family bonding day, although we didn&#8217;t all spend it together.
Megan and Grace went up to Sydney with the Peterborough school for the Rotary Club of Turramurra and Pathfinders Jumbo Flight. Qantas donated the use of a jumbo jet, pilots and cabin crew donated their time, and Rotarian volunteers provided ground support [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/11/family-bonding-day/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sustainable Illawarra Super Challenge</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We have signed up for the [Sustainable Illawarra Super Challenge](http://www.sustainableillawarra.com.au/The-SuperChallenge.html), and Monday night was the official launch of the programme.
The idea is for 120 households across the Illawarra to spend the next 12 months moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Sustainable Illawarra provides participants with information, workshops, guidance and resources (as well as some nice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/11/sustainable-illawarra-super-challenge/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Mint Pesto Recipe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s one I haven&#8217;t tried yet, but I do have a lot of mint and parsley at the moment so maybe I will soon.
###Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped mint leaves
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
###Directions
In a food processor, combine mint, parsley and garlic. Slowly add oils [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/10/mint-pesto-recipe/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Wicking Beds</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**NOTE:** I have moved this post to my other blog, [Green-Change.com](http://green-change.com), as it fits in better with that blog&#8217;s theme of suburban sustainability. For futher updates check out [Wicking Beds - Water Efficient Gardening](http://green-change.com/2009/05/01/wicking-beds-water-efficient-gardening/).
A wicking garden bed uses a waterproof container or layer below the soil surface to form an underground reservoir of water. There [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/09/wicking-beds/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Magic In The Garden</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What I love most about this photo is that Sarah actually disappeared into her bedroom to get dressed for gardening, and this is what she came out in. Click to embiggen.

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/09/magic-in-the-garden/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Growing Mushrooms From Mushroom Compost</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In July I took my trailer up to the mushroom farm to get a load of mushroom compost. It was $2.60/bag, and I got 16 bags for $40. I was really just thinking of using it on the garden as a mulch layer at that stage.
 
When I got home, though, I realised there were [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/09/growing-mushrooms-from-mushroom-compost/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Soil Blockers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently bought a [soil blocker from Peddler's Wagon](http://www.peddlerswagon.com/p-107-soil-block-maker-4-blocks.aspx) with some birthday money. It was way cheaper to get it sent from the US than to buy it in Australia &#8211; like 40% cheaper. Aussie sellers need to learn to be less of a rip-off now that we have access to a world-wide market.
By the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/09/soil-blockers/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Chicken Ark</title>
		<description><![CDATA[An updated version of this post is available over on my suburban green living blog, Green Change: [Chicken Ark Plans](http://green-change.com/2008/11/17/chicken-ark-plans)
When thinking about a coop for our chickens to live in, we wanted something practical, non-permanent, and space-efficient. Looking around the net, the ['chicken ark' or 'chicken tractor'](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tractor) concept seemed the best for our needs.
To get [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/08/the-chicken-ark/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Good Podcast</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
It might sound daggy, but lately I&#8217;ve been watching the old BBC series [The Good Life](http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/goodlife/index.shtml) (a friend at work lent me the DVDs). Megan thinks I&#8217;m getting old.
You&#8217;ve got to admit, though, that there&#8217;s something about Barbara Good (Felicity Kendal). It never sat right with me that that Tom guy wound up with her!
Watch [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/07/the-good-podcast/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sarah&#8217;s Birthday Party 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For Sarah&#8217;s fifth birthday, she had a &#8220;princesses and pirates&#8221; theme.
   
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/07/sarahs-birthday-party-2008/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Chinese Silky Chicks Arrive!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After a lot of searching, emailing and ringing local breeders looking for silky pullets, I finally found a lady up in Marulan with some chicks for sale. I originally didn&#8217;t want to get chicks because of the mucking around with heat lamps etc, but since it was the only way to get some silkies for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/07/the-chinese-silky-chicks-arrive/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>How To Speed Up Microsoft Outlook</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Repair your .pst file!
Rather than copy the instructions here, refer to [How To Fix Your Broken PST File](http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/microsoft-office/fix-your-broken-outlook-personal-folders-pst-file/).
It&#8217;s not just for use when Outlook stops working &#8211; it&#8217;s a useful preventative action you should run occasionally to repair little problems before they become big problems. Anytime Outlook starts running slower than normal, give this a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/how-to-speed-up-microsoft-outlook/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>How To Disable Yellow Print Confirmation Popups In Windows</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**The Problem:** When I send anything to my networked printer, Windows XP pops up a yellow confirmation bubble telling me the item printed. How can I turn that annoying option off?
**The Solution:** In Control Panel, choose Printers and Faxes. Click File, Server Properties, and select the Advanced tab. Near the bottom, uncheck the box for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/disable-yellow-print-confirmation-popups-in-windows/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Video: How To Make Compost (Milkwood)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Another great video series from [Milkwood](http://www.milkwood.net), this one explaining how to make compost without too much effort.
Don&#8217;t these videos have great music? I also really like the way they use the &#8220;Benny Hill effect&#8221; of speeding up the video, so you get a good idea of what they&#8217;re doing without needing to sit around and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/video-how-to-make-compost-milkwood/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>How To Stop Internet Explorer Opening Office Documents In The Browser</title>
		<description><![CDATA[By default, Internet Explorer opens Excel and Word files within the browser window. This can be annoying if you want to work with them in the real applications. To get IE to always open these files using the correct application:
- click Start >> Control Panel >> Folder Options
- click on the File Types tab
- find [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/how-to-stop-internet-explorer-opening-office-documents-in-the-browser/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Video: Soil Food Web &#8211; And Nature&#8217;s Soil</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
##Notes
- Manzano Mountains, Central New Mexico, USA
- Michael Martin Melendrez, founder of [Soil Secrets](http://soilsecrets.com)
- Michael is also well known for his coining the phrase and writing the first paper ever on the Soil Food Web titled &#8216;Soil Ecology and the Soil Food Web&#8217; in 1974
- sugar maples, drop leaves to provide a protective mulch
- we [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/video-soil-food-web-and-natures-soil/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Video: Fallen Fruit</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s an interesting video about [picking public fruit](http://kcet.org/explore-ca/web-stories/sustaining/fallen_fruit.php).
- Fallen Fruit is a group that maps local fruit trees and encourages sharing through group plantings and &#8220;forages&#8221;
- take people on walking forages to collect public fruit growing in the neighbourhood
- fruit growing on public property or hanging over fences onto public property is &#8220;public fruit&#8221; and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/03/video-fallen-fruit/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Video: Edible Estates</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Watch the video at KCET, [Edible Estates](http://kcet.org/explore-ca/web-stories/sustaining/edible_estates.php).
##Notes
- why are people growing lawn?
- Fritz Haeg converts homeowners&#8217; front lawns into working vegetable gardens
- Descanso Gardens invited Fritz to build a demo garden to show people what he does
- one third of the garden is planted as plain lawn
- two-thirds is planted as an edible vegetable garden [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.pool-room.com/2008/02/video-edible-estates/</link>
			</item>
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