Light a candle and switch off your lights for an hour this Saturday; take the time to reflect on our planet...

To find an event near you.

Platbos is the incredible ancient, indigenous forest discovered by Francois and Melissa Krige, just off the coast of Gansbaai, in the Overberg. Africa's southernmost forest - a beautiful space.

If you haven't visited the forest yet, make a date. And now you can stay there too...(read on)

Nothing like your own grapes to make you feel like a homesteader! Juicing them entails cutting, washing (you've no idea the number of little spiders and bugs that use grapes in which to house), plucking and then juicing - hard work, but satisfying.

If you're in the neighbourhood, drop in for a bunch...

Not exactly a 'green' trend, but definitely a revolution. Yarn bombing is knit and crochet graffiti – colourful pieces of knit wrapped around telephone posts, around branches of trees and over abandoned cars.

It's creating graffiti, with yarn (the not SA word meaning 'wool'). And those who do it, consider it artistic vandalism. It's also a girl thing (mostly), as opposed to street art and graffiti, both of which are dominated by guys.

It's turning what is considered a distinctly 'matronly' craft and making it part of the urban streetscape. And it's a global phenomenon (google it, and you'll see). Who needs an aerosol can, if you've got knitting needles and ball of wool?

It's a way of reclaiming public space, without defacing it – knit and crochet work are hardly permanent now are they? A yarn bomb is a piece of crochet or knit that is made a little smaller than the object you intend it to go around or on, so that it can stretch and hug the given object.

And to sew it in place? Well, some use cable ties, some sew, some do both.

Anyone seen any around SA?

We're seriously impressed with the Vineyard Hotel's latest recycling venture.

They're recycling wine corks and converting them into floors for schools for underpriveleged children.

'The aim', say the Vineyard, 'is to take something totally recyclable that is usually thrown away and create from it something that will benefit the children of our community.'

This they are doing together with their wine partners – Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, Boschendal and Anthonij Rupert, and a combined effort by Villiera and Groot Constantia.

In just three months the project, run by David Wibberley, collected 25 000 corks...

Eerste Rivier Empowerment Centre, a safe house for children from abusive homes, is the first to receive a 24 sq metre floor in the playroom.

Looking for an alternative to the red roses, chocolates? Adopt a pair of penguins (R500) and help SANCCOB to save them from extinction. It's called 'doing your bit'...

Got to SANCCOB's website, click on 'adopt' and the rest is straight forward (you get to name your penguins too).

You will get a note via e-mail to present to your loved one on the day, and the full adoption pack will follow in the post.

For FAQs visit their website.

We've just got one of these really nifty, and pretty solar jars from Consol.

The solar jar has a wee solar panel in the lid of the jar that stores energy during the day. It then releases light at night; a fun and sustainable alternative light supply - great for when the lights go out (they're threatening blackouts again soon).

The solar panelling, when placed in the sunlight, powers the LED batteries for almost six hours before it needs to be recharged.

And it comes with a little click or ‘switch’ so that the light can be controlled - it is not automatically 'on' and working when you don't want it to be.

Great gift idea, and green credentials - the glass jars are 100% recyclable and on average each Consol Glass container consists of 35% recycled content.

cost: R120/R150

where can you get one? At Consol retail outlets in Woodmead (Gauteng) and Stellenbosch (Cape Town) or on the website www.solarjar.co.za

We do one of 5 new trails in the Cape West Coast Biosphere

After another average week, similar to the one most of us experience – rush, dash, hare down the road, swerve round that corner, beat that deadline, race to fetch/buy/get – the drive out to Paternoster did little to relax me.

The sun beat down on us, as we drove towards the slowly setting star that is the source of our energy, and the traffic was, well, it was Friday traffic, need I say more?

But as we strolled down onto the beach in Paternoster and I felt the sand between my toes – no watch, cell phone or child (he's been left safely with relatives) to distract me, bar the camera I hold in an attempt to capture the moment – it is as if I sink into a comfy and well-worn sofa.

For more about the trails – here's a whole blurb about each, who you need to contact for more information, and to book.

“The Five Bay Trail, Darling Stagger, Wheels of Time, Eve's Trail and the Berg River Canooze are hospitable Cape West Coast trails for everyone, from hardcore mountain lovers, twitchers and botanists to family groups and modern-day strandlopers.”

The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve, for those of you who, like me, didn't know of its existence, lies between Diep River in Milnerton in the south, the Berg River, Velddrif in the north, the N7 at the towns of Moreesberg and Malmesbury in the east and the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

It is one of only six biospheres recognised as such by UNESCO in South Africa.