Polluters Should Pay

To carry on my theme of power companies today, I was just reading a very interesting article in The Age newspaper, on-line. It described a letter sent by a leading Australian energy company, TRUenergy's managing director Richard McIndoe, urging both the Victorian Government and the Federal Government not to implement the recommendations of the Garnaut Review and to give polluting coal power plants free carbon credits in the proposed scheme. Otherwise he suggests that the scheme;

"would hurt the economy, threatening private backing for $100 billion in energy infrastructure needed in the next 20 years."

The only thing it is going to hurt Mr TRUenergy and his friends, are the pissed off consumers as you pass on the cost of these carbon credits to them and their hip pockets. It will also hurt investment in dirty coal power generation and coal mining. The rest of the planet would benefit from the scheme. And as for the private backing of energy infrastructure, bollocks, I say. Reflect on my argument below.

With a national renewable feed-in tariff and diversion of subsidies from the coal power industry to renewable energy industries, the renewable energy infrastructure in this country will boom, as it has in places like Germany. Every person and their dog with a decent north facing roof space will be installing solar PV a huge way as it will make the punters lots of money, which would be a better investment than the share market at the moment!

So who is going to install all this PV and other renewable energy sources, I hear you ask? Well, lets retrain the current energy and coal industry workers to do this massive installation task! Sounds feasible to me and would probably pay a lot more than working in a coal mine. Heck, I might even get into the act, if the training is free.

Once again, we see the actions reported in the Age article, as just another effort of Big Coal and Dirty Power to scuttle and delay any plans of action to avert catastrophic climate change. If you think about it long enough, those companies with vested interests by not helping humanity get out of this self made pickle, and who are major contributors to the problem, will only continue to use deceit and delaying tactics to halt the implementation of any carbon trading scheme that the Federal Government attempts to implement.

Now is the time for strong and determined leadership, and the time for our elected leaders to have the courage to stand up to corporations and start looking after those of us who might of voted for them. We are the generation that will be looked upon in the future as either those who took the moral high ground for future generations, or the generation who kills the planet for the rest of life on earth. Which is to be Kevin Rudd? I know which part of this generation I am, but do you know who you are? Signing Kyoto was only the start.

Here is hoping you, our elected leaders of this great nation, have the courage to implement a scheme, whereby those Australians who pollute the most, pay the most. This will in turn create investments in the right energy technologies and change behaviours, which will help bring us all back from the brink. I have the courage to invest in renewable energy, do you, our State Premiers and Mr Rudd?

I believe you do, so show the intestinal fortitude (i.e.guts), and get on with it. We are all tired of waiting.

Solar Power Pitfall

I had a phone call from my friendly Powercor Australia representative today. It was a very interesting call.

Unbeknownst to me, I was informed that I have to fork out A$299.20 for the privilege of putting clean renewable energy into the neighbourhood grid. This ridiculous amount is apparently for some bureaucratic project paperwork and some stickers (I couldn't quite hear the lame explanation as I was at school picking up Ben during the call), that has accompanied an application by my Solar PV installer. This has all occurred over seven months after the installation of my PV system! I am quite pissed off.

Now, don't get me wrong, I would be happy to pay something if they were actually going to do something for me. The fact that I have now been feeding power into the grid for over seven months, without receiving one single cent from any power company, wholesaler or retailer, and now they want money from me. What a joke!

On top of this travesty of errors, I now have to pay for a bi-directional power meter, which will be installed by my energy retailer, Origin Energy. I don't mind paying for this, because I am receiving a good or a service in return. This meter will come in handy, when some wise official in government decides to implement a renewable energy feed-in tariff (note intended sarcasm), so in the longer term it should pay for itself.

So, the action I have taken so far, is to call back the representative, left a message that I require a full breakdown of this so called "Project Fee", and then I will work out what the next steps are from there. From what I can tell the Powercor website, I am not even supposed to have my system turned on (see step 12 at the link). Just imagine if they had invested over A$21,000 on a solar PV system and they couldn't turn it on because of a $299.20 project fee. I think they would be just as upset.

Too bad I have already generated over 3 Megawatts of clean, green, renewable power already, that might, just might, help save us all from catastrophic climate change! Think about it Powercor, instead of worrying about small fry like me trying to do the right thing by the world, start worrying about the massive GHG's caused by the brown coal fired generators pumping power into your transmission lines! Put that in your power grid and smoke it.

Frugal Food 2

Well, we have been doing a lot of cooking and baking around the house of late, and I thought it was time for an update.

I made some more strawberry jam on Sunday from a 500gm box of local strawberries that were marked down to $1 because they were one day away from expiry date. It is just crazy how supermarkets just mark it down, and the next day throw away perfectly good food. I should have bought more and frozen them. The dumpster divers would have a field day around here. Anyway, I got about 700gm of jam which I put into one large jar that I tucked up the back of the preserves cupboard, away from Amy (who loves my strawberry jam) and put a little jar in the fridge just for her.

Kim has been busy baking today whilst I was telecommuting. She made pizza scrolls that are made from damper dough, rolled flat to about a centimetre thick, and then she spreads tomato paste all over. Then she covers the paste with finely chopped ham or devon, some herbs and then rolls up the dough like a Swiss roll. She cuts the roll into 2cm slices, puts on greased baking trays, and bakes for 14 minutes at 200C or until golden brown. They are so yummy, and after they have cooled down she wraps each one individually in foil and puts them in the freezer for lunches. They will be gone within the week!

She also made a marble cake with chocolate icing. It was so nice, that I had to have a piece as soon as the icing was set. I hope I get a piece in my lunch box tomorrow. We have also been baking a lot of wholemeal bread in the bread maker, using pre-mix in 5kg bags. The bag makes ten 1kg loaves and is cheaper than buying all the separate ingredients, to which you add warm water and yeast. I know it kind of cheating to use the bread maker, but I have figured out that it uses 400 watts per hour, which is more economical than the fan forced gas oven which uses 550 watts per hour, and a hole lot of gas as well. I couldn't believe it when I measured it with my Powermate. I discovered that the oven has a glowing element in it, that stays on all the time whilst the gas is flowing. What a waste of electricity, and what ever happened to a piezoelectric starter similar to gas barbecues, that used to be on older ovens? So, in hind site, I don't think I would have bought that model if I had have known. Who would have guessed that, in my case, it is more sustainable to use my bread maker due to my solar power and GreenPower for the remainder I draw from the power grid.

On Saturday night, Kim was craving for a chicken casserole, so she dug up an old recipe she discovered about 8 years ago. Here it is for those interested;

Chicken Casserole

2 Chicken breasts Skin off
2 Bags chunky vegetables 1 kg each (in ours was broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, green beans)
Frozen peas 2 handfuls
1 large onion
4 white potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
2 pkts of French onion soup mix
Chicken stock 2 litres

In a large bowl put in the frozen veg, chopped potatoes (large cubes), chopped onion, chicken breasts cut up into cubes (all fat removed). Sprinkle two packets of soup over the top of everything and mix in thoroughly. Put into casserole dish, you might need two if they are small. Pour chicken stock over mixture until you see the liquid appear, put lid on dish and cook in oven on 170C for about an hour, remove and check to see if vegetables are soft if not then continue to cook until they are. Don't burn yourself as the dishes are very hot and so is the casserole. Serve with crusty bread for dipping into the juice. Enjoy!!! Serves six.

I can not tell you how simple and delicious this meal is. It was just right for a very cold evening, and of course the bread was freshly made at home.

Last night I cooked an Eggplant and Potato Curry, which is pretty simple and warms you up on a cold night. I bought a cheap jar of Massaman curry paste from Aldi last week for about a $1.50 and thought it was a great way to use a few of the Eggplants I still have growing. I had all the other ingredients on hand, as I buy olive oil in bulk in 4 litre drums, 5kg bags of spuds, big bags of garlic, and cheap tins of tomatoes when my home-grown ones are finished. Here is this recipe which I modified from one I found on Taste.com.au;

Eggplant (Aubergine) & Potato Curry

3 tspn vegetable oil
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsn Curry paste (any type will do really)
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 medium eggplants, cut into 1 cm cubes
1 can diced tomatoes or 400gm fresh chopped tomatoes
1 cup water

Heat oil in pan or wok, add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add curry paste, cook for about 1 minute. Add potato, eggplant, tomatoes and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for a further 30 minutes until eggplant is pulpy and potato is soft.

Serve with steamed basmati rice and microwave papadoms.
Hint: to spice it up a lot, add 1 finely chopped chilli when softening the onion and garlic.

I have three more large eggplants still on the bush and about another 30 jalepeno chillies left, and now the birdseye chillies are just ripening, and are fiery as hell itself. I will have to pickle the chillies or give some away, as we can't possibly eat them all. I also still have 3 surviving capsicum bushes that are still producing and flowering. You just can't keep a good plant down.

The rest of the summer crop is long gone, except for one single tommy toe cherry tomato vine that continues to hang on and give us about 10 decent sized fruit a week. We haven't had a frost yet, so I figure that is the reason why all of these plants are still going strong. I have heard that you can cut chilli, capsicum and eggplant bushes back after cropping and they might produce again next season. I will give it a go, as they are not taking up much room. I kept some seeds from all three just in case, and will give them a go in October/November.

The winter vegetables are growing well and all seedlings have sprouted. I was getting a little worried about the parsnip seeds, but they germinated last Friday. So, I thinned out the hundreds of tomato seedlings that decided to grow from the compost I added to the bed, and now I have a nice row of parsnip seedlings.

The chicken coop is still in design stage, and I have some materials that Adam and I will begin to knock together on the weekend. Kim insists that I build a lattice screen in front of the cage so that no-one can see the mess. I will conform, and will grow purple passionfruit up the lattice. I dare say the chooks will probably eat a few as well. We are still looking for a place to buy the said chooks and will ring around locally over the next few days. I will make sure that their house is finished well before picking them up though. The last thing I want is the chooks to destroy the vege patch!

Well, that is all of the weekends sustainable news, so enjoy yourselves, and try and live a little more sustainable each day!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I was doing some research on Peak Oil today (I seem obsessive on the issue), and it seams that a politician, the Honourable Andrew McNamara, Queensland Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation has his head screwed on right. I read a transcript of a speech called "Highway of Diamonds", that he delivered to the Brisbane Institute on 4th March 2008. I was very impressed with his words. One section of the transcript struck a chord with me, and here it is below;

"I spoke earlier of climate change as the crouching tiger; the danger we can see. It is real, dangerous and imminent.

I suggest that we face an even graver threat, that is even more imminent than global warming, and in response to which we have chosen to look the other way for 50 years.

The hidden dragon I speak of is resource depletion; of the peaking supply of those sources of energy that have enabled our explosion from around 2 billion people on the planet in 1900 to 6.5 billion today.

This is truly the unseen threat that will confront us all soon enough, whether we choose to see it or not."

He goes on further to mention Peak Oil as the main hidden dragon.

So does this mean that certain parts of the Government, Media and general public are either ignorant of, or simply putting their heads in the sand about the issue? The popular media continuously mentions high petrol prices, but blames price fixing by Oil companies, which I think is only partly true, and the Governments solution is to put a price watchdog in place to make sure the Oil companies are being honest to conform with the public outcry. The general public struggle to pay for the higher prices, but continue to do so because that's the norm, no questions asked. The question everyone, except the dedicated few like Colin Campbell, Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, and those at the Association for Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO), continue to ignore is have we reached peak production of oil and gas in the world?

So why don't many government officials talk about Peak Oil? Many more of our elected officials other than Andrew McNamara must know about it. My theory is that they don't raise the issue so as not to panic the Australian public, who are complacent about complaining about higher oil prices. If word got out that we may soon have world oil shortages, then mass panic may ensue, and therefore panic buying, which would in turn create bigger shortages. A simple, but reasonable theory.

My very simple solutions for Peak Oil, the hidden dragon, are as follows;

• Don't Panic! (sounds like the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy)
• Grow your own food
• Drive less
• Uses more Public Transport
• Use less stuff
  
• Get in touch with your local community
  
• Live simpler lives, but still enjoy yourself
• Love the one your with, and
• Be active in the community, as everyone will need their fellow humans in the times to come

I suppose there is not much more to say than that. Those who have followed my blog over the last few months will know a bit more about the hidden dragon. How we behave now and in the near future is our own personal choice. We can chose to continue to ignore the issues or prepare for a future of dwindling resources and a lack of cheap energy.

I will leave you all with this quote, that sums it all up;

"We have allowed oil to become vital to virtually everything we do. Ninety per cent of all our transportation, whether by land, air or sea, is fuelled by oil. Ninety-five per cent of all goods in shops involve the use of oil. Ninety-five per cent of all our food products require oil use. Just to farm a single cow and deliver it to market requires six barrels of oil, enough to drive a car from New York to Los Angeles." Jeremy Leggett : What they don't want you to know about the coming oil crisis,The Independent, January 2006

ANZAC Day 2008

The 25th of April is ANZAC Day and it is a national holiday in Australia. ANZAC stands for Australian & New Zealand Army Corp, and was the designation given to the combined force that participated in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I. Many Australians believe, as do I, that the ANZAC spirit, and mate-ship that occurred during this conflict, is what defines us as a nation today.

My children and I attended the Dawn Service here in Melton, and it was the biggest crowd I have seen at this event to date. Each year the crowds at the service get larger and more and more of the younger generation take the time to get out of bed early in the morning (the service started at 0545) on one day a year to honour those that fought and died for our country. ANZAC day is not a glorification of war, but a sombre reminder of the courage and ultimate sacrifice that many good men and women have made whilst participating and continue to participate in conflicts around the globe.

We all arrived well before the crowd, because it was Ben's first time at the service. I wanted to make sure that he got to see all of the action around the cenotaph and could see the people speaking. He learn yesterday at school, what ANZAC day was for, and apparently he told me that at assembly yesterday, they had a mini service with the playing of the last post and singing of the national anthem. That was a good thing for the school to instigate.

The dignitaries at the service were the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard (she is our local MP), our State MP, Don Narella, and the Presidents of the RSL Sub-branch and the Vietnam Veterans association. Julia gave a very well received speech, and I could tell that it was from the heart and was well rehearsed. She had no notes, which impressed me, and her oration was moving. The rest of the service went very well and was a fitting tribute to our fallen service men and women. The gunfire breakfast back at the RSL was nice and the meal was a gold coin donation which consisted of a sausage, egg and some bacon, with free tea and coffee. Adam bought the first shout, and we had a beer each. When it was my turn to shout, I didn't cost me a cent, because as I was wearing my medals, veterans were served for free. Adam was mightily pissed off, so I told him to join up if it was that important to him, which quickly shut him up.

Not wanting to taint the ANZAC spirit, I saw one ironic moment during the service that I must share. The police had blocked off the road that runs past the cenotaph and did not let anyone through. All vehicles refused, excepting one. A petrol tanker! It reminded me of a period of my life that I have reflected upon many times. Let me tell you about it.

I was a sailor in the Royal Australian Navy and performed 20 years of service, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer, of which I am very proud. I also served on the HMAS Adelaide in 1990/91 during the first Gulf War conflict and was part of the liberation of Kuwait. It was a scary time, and even though I am glad I went, and returned safely, I would not wish the experience upon anyone. The R.A.N. was involved in the conflict, as part of a Multi-National force that were enforcing United Nations resolutions 660 to 665. We patrolled the Arabian Sea and part of the Persian Gulf and stopped Iraqi merchant vessels and searched for weapons and contraband that were in breach of the UN resolution. Our biggest threat were not the Iraqi Navy, but the thousands of sea mines that they had laid in the Gulf. Needless to say, it was the first time in Australian history that all combatants returned home from the conflict without a single loss of life.

I do not, nor did not get involved in any of the politics of the first Gulf War, and did not learn the ulterior motive behind the scenes (besides the liberation of Kuwait) until well after the conflict. Whilst on-board ship, we were blocked off from the media coverage that was going on all around us, and we just got on with our jobs. I received the Australian Service Medal (Kuwait clasp) for my part in the conflict, and I wear it with pride on each and every ANZAC Day.

However, now that much water has passed under the bridge (18 years in fact), and that Australians are still involved in the second Gulf War, under somewhat dubious pretences, I cannot help but think that both of these conflicts are related to one thing, and one thing only. And that one thing is OIL, and that these two conflicts were none other than the greedy protection of this asset that makes our western civilisation run. As Peak Oil has now hit, with demand out stripping supply, and with proof that oil prices are continuing to rise, and that reflects at the petrol pump, I cannot help think that I maybe correct. Recent media attention to the subject has been rife. Even predictions of long, drawn out conflicts to secure global oil reserves in the guise of climate change, or some other trumped up excuse like the "Axis of Evil", or Weapons of Mass Destruction are flooding the media. I do not want any of my sons, or daughters having to or being forced to join up to fight in another global conflict, when all of this is avoidable.

There are many sustainable living websites and books that can assist us with changing the way we live for the better. Check out the links in the blog roll to the right, as there are some wonderful people, doing some wonderfully simple things and that by adopting them, can change the way we live and behave, all for the betterment of human kind.

I did some research and stumbled across this essay by Ted Trainer from his website, The Simpler Way. The essay is titled "Why ANZAC Day is so disturbing", and is a very thought provoking piece. Whilst I link it in this post, I do not agree with all of its arguments. I just believe that it makes you think, and that is all I intend by linking to it. Armed forces, in my experience, are controlled by their Governments, good or bad, and the servicemen and women do not have much say in the conflicts they are ordered to attend. That is just the way military services are. They are the final instrument of government when diplomacy fails. And in most cases, as the essay states, diplomacy could have solved many of our conflicts well before military intervention was required.

So my advice to all who worry about Peak Oil, and further global conflict, is to live sustainably, seek a simpler lifestyle, and get active so that public opinion does not allow governments to think they have the mandate to get involved in resource wars in the future!

Doesn't The Sun Work Anymore?

I think that the marketing world has just gone crazy!

Kim told me this morning, shaking her head and angry as hell, as I was working, about this new hydroponic indoor garden device that has just come onto the market here in Australia. It is called the AeroGarden, and it is basically an indoor vegetable garden designed to grow things like cherry tomatoes, chillies, assorted herbs and some flowers. And get this, it costs $249.95 + $29.95 p&h. Add on another $30 for a silver coloured one!


So why is this crazy product? Well for one, you have to plug it in to electricity to make it work, secondly the seed pods that are not reusable and made from plastic, cost $30 each! Thirty dollars for a packet of seeds, what planet are they on? The most I have ever paid for seeds was about $4 and they were heirloom seeds! And get this, you must use special "organic" nutrient tablets. What is wrong with compost and seasol for goodness sakes. This product smells like "green washing" in a big way as far as I am concerned.

Sure, it may have its uses for an apartment dweller, but most apartments have balconies that you can grow veges in pots quite successfully. And the cost of the entire kit just blows my mind. My entire vegetable garden setup, which is now approx 15 sqm in area cost me less than $200 for the materials, soil, and seeds and now that I save seeds each season, it just gets cheaper and cheaper and aparently (not trying to sound to sarcastic), the Sun provides the light to grow the food as nature intended. Not only can I grow about 50% of the food for my family each year, I get far more variety and I don't use electricity to grow the food. Sure the kit comes with CFL bulbs and the site states that it uses less energy than a 60 watt light bulb. So in typical marketing speak, that means that it is probably rated at 59 watts. For how long is it powered on I ask? If this product is left on 24/7, which I assume it is, that equals 525.6 kilowatt hours of power each year to grow a single crop. That is just plain ridiculous!

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against hydroponics when it is the only solution available, but this product is just plainly over priced, and a marketing ploy to get the masses to consume more useless junk. I do not, in any way, shape or form endorse this product!

Try nature, water, soil, and sunshine. It works for me and many millions of others.

Don't Count Your Chickens

After much discussion (and coercing), Kim has finally agreed to let us have four chickens. I like chickens and remember that we always had some on the dairy farm that I grew up on. We decided that we would rather know that our eggs are produced with lots of tender loving care, and not to sponsor cruel egg production techniques. We will not be using them for meat, and all will have names. I think Kim has already picked them, and I think Henny Penny was one of them!

I checked the local laws for our shire for the rules, and I am allowed to have up to 12 hens without a permit. There are other rules, for example, the hen house must be 2 metres from the fence line and it must be 6 metres from any building on your neighbours side of the fence. We have found the perfect place near the plum tree as the structure is already half built. I will do a bit of research tonight about making up the shelter part of their cage with laying boxes that will have easy access.

I have also been reading a great book by Alanna Moore called "Backyard Poultry - Naturally". It has been a great source of knowledge and helped me learn about poultry keeping. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of starting off in the home egg business. So this weekend, I will need both Kim and Adam's assistance in making the cage and house! It should be great fun, and I should be able to use some recycled materials we have around the place. The other stuff, I may have to buy or scrounge. I will see how it goes.

Then, the next problem will be where to source these hens. I don't want to buy unsexed week old chicks, as I don't want the problem of disposing of the males. The trading post looks like a likely starting place, but I do know there are a few free range chicken farms around Melton, so I might check those out first to see if they sell to the public. As for all the other technicalities, I will work them out as I go along. I don't mind mucking out the coop every few days. I will just make sure that it is easy enough to do, so that it doesn't make my back flare up. The muck will go straight into the compost bin, and the garden will love it! I will take photos of how it all progresses and of the girls when we get them. I am excited. Let the fun times roll.

1000 Visitors

Today was a momentous day! At 11:30 am, the one thousandth visitor since February 26th viewed my blog. I had a tear in my eye, and never thought that in my wildest dreams that many people from Australia, let alone, the world, would be interested in my journey and my sometimes crazy opinions.

To all that have visited, and are yet to visit, I thank you for reading about my family's journey towards a sustainable lifestyle. I promise to post interesting and thought provoking stories for a long time to come. Here is to the next 1000 hits!

Warm regards,

Gavin

Smoke Haze

A word of warning. This post will be a rant, sorry, but I need to get this issue off of my chest!

The last few days we have been suffering from smoke haze and a burning smell every morning and for most of the day. This is because the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria are reducing the fuel in some of our state forests. The smoke was so bad here yesterday that I thought that it was fog, until I went outside and smelt the burning eucalyptus smell. We had to keep Ben off of school all day and kept him inside where the smell was not so bad, and Kim and I were coughing on and off most of the day.

So why are we pouring tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, in Autumn which is notorious for calm, sunny cool days, that keeps the smoke lingering at low levels for many days? Are the DSE crazy, and have lost their marbles? Can someone please explain this to me? Why would a department that is responsible for the environment be burning off in forests, killing native animals, and destroying habit, and my families bloody lungs? Here is the official response.

"EPA regional fire manager Bernard Barbetti said fuel reduction burns were necessary to prevent the impact of fires on communities and water supplies."

Last time I looked water doesn't catch on fire, and don't we have things like fire breaks in our state forests to help fire-fighters if we have a bush fire? And to reduce the impact on local communities, we pollute a city with a population of 3.5 million? Time to rethink the strategy fellows, me thinks. It won't be long when some bright spark lodges a civil case against the DSE and Parks Victoria for lung damage or increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. Last time I looked, smoke contained some very nasty things that are bad for the environment and planet Earth.

Who will come to our rescue? Will it be the toothless tiger, Environmental Protection Agency, who issue us with Air quality warnings that blind Freddy could figure out for himself. Melton has a EPA monitoring station but it only monitors for Ozone, and not all the other contaminants listed in the air quality warnings. At least the rest of Victoria knows what's going on in their area, which at the moment is VERY POOR air.

So not only are we burning brown coal to make over 90% of our electricity in our state, we are burning our forests as well, just in case we have a fire over summer. Seeing that we just had the hottest summer on record, and the least amount of rain since records have been kept, it is a wonder there is any fuel to burn off. Let just burn the entire planet and be done with it, DSE! I though this department was supposed to be helping. With friends like this, we don't have much hope combating climate change, do we now!

Here is a link to some video footage about the issue. I tried to embed it, but failed (a bit like the DSE). Told you it was a rant, sorry.

Why growing food at home is good for you

Lately I have been thinking about why growing your own food is good for you. So over the last few weeks I came up with this list in no specific order of importance;

• Children learn about the cycle of life
• It is relaxing working in the food garden, especially with music
• Exercises your body regularly
  
• Reduces food miles
• Teaches important skills for the future
• Helps combat climate change by sequestering carbon
• The food is tasty and nutritious
• Uses less water than normal agriculture methods
• Fun watching plants grow each day
• Keeps you in touch with the seasons and the way nature works
• Provides cheap food
• Easy to maintain
• Better variety of foods than one would normally buy
• In season food tastes better
• No packaging other than what nature intended
• No refrigeration required for most foods, just keeps on the plant until required
• Great talking point with friends
• Food gardens attract wonderful insects (and some not so wonderful ones)
• You get to find out where real food comes from
• There are beautiful flowers on most food plants
• Left over plants get recycled into compost as nature intended
• There is no waste by-products
• It delays Peak Oil by not requiring any fossil fuel to make
• You can pass on your food growing skills to others
• The joy of spending time in the food garden with family
• Your own food is healthy
• Excess food can be swapped with other food gardeners
• You can grow good not readily available in supermarkets
• It is all grown with human power!
• You don't need advertising to convince you to buy or use your own food
• Saving seeds from the previous harvest is simple
• You can preserve excess for the off season
  

I don't think that this list is comprehensive, but it kept me thinking for the entire week! Have fun food gardening.

We Campaign

Today, I send out an email to many people, asking them to sign up for an international campaign to help fight the climate crisis. Here is the email, which I slightly edited from the form mail that was available;

Dear Friends and Family,

I've signed up for the We Campaign because I believe that by working together, we can solve the climate crisis. Will you join me in convincing the U.S. Government to act sooner, rather than later? Just click on this link to sign up and add your voice to the million-plus call for an end to global warming:
http://wecansolveit.org/page/s/signupmain

The We Campaign is an effort launched by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to promote solutions to the climate crisis. It's an urgent issue, but the climate crisis is also solvable if we work together and unite our leaders around solutions like renewable power and enhanced energy efficiency. We can leave the next generation a healthy climate. Please add your voice by joining the We Campaign today:
http://wecansolveit.org/page/s/signupmain

Thank you.

Gavin
http://greeningofgavin.blogspot.com

I sent it to many people who I do not personally know, however, I do know that they care about the environment and the planet we live on, so I hope they don't mind when they receive the call to action. If anyone else would like to join the campaign simply follow the link above. Voicing our concern about how we feel about climate change is the only way I know to get the message across to those who can legislate on our behalf.

For more information go to wecansolveit.org.

Ban the Bag and put Deposits on Cans

How hard is it, really? When I see the news that the Federal Government and States cannot come to a simple agreement to ban plastic shopping bags, what chance do we have when we need them to get to the hard decisions about carbon taxes or cap and trade? Will all of our elected officials continue to give in to the corporate giants every time a hard decision has to be made? If our politicians continue to pussy-foot around even the simplest issues, then we are well and truly stuffed!

The sunshine on an otherwise dull environmental minister conference, was that South Australia are going it alone, and are going to ban the bag by the end of 2008. Victoria are going to "trial" a levy of an undisclosed cost per bag, in two undisclosed localities. South Australia really stick out as forward thinking in this and all recycling issues. I grew up in South Australia and remember when the 5 cent deposit was levied against every glass and plastic bottle and aluminium drink can. I can't remember an outcry then, and it was a boom time for all of us kids. I remember waking up really early on a Sunday morning and heading down to the Loxton North Football Oval after a local football match with my brother Jim. We would carry about four big empty wheat bags with us and go around the oval and collect every single beer bottle and can we could find. We would make a small fortune, because each 375ml bottle was worth 1 cent and cans were worth 5 cents (and this was in the mid 1970's). This was the way we made pocket money each week. Some weekends we would make at least $10, which to us was like finding the crown jewels and we would split it 50/50. We would even walk the road sides around our little community and do the same thing, hoping more for cans than bottles of course. Bottles were heavy! South Australia still has this system in place now. Sure, the cost of the deposit is passed on to the consumer, but it changes behaviours, because after about two years, there were less and less cans and bottles for Jim and I to collect. Football games were our only windfall, because drunk people didn't care about littering and there were lots of those at country football matches! You only have to go over the border from Victoria to South Australia to see the difference this scheme has made. Victorian side dirty, and the S.A. side clean as a whistle! A national scheme would not only keep our streets clean, but increase the recycling effort many times over.

Anyway, back to the bags. Kim and I have been conscious reusable bag users since they first came out. The boot of our Hybrid is full of the things, and I can only remember having to throw one reusable bag away, because it was overworked and developed a hole in the bottom. We take them everywhere, to the supermarket, the greengrocer, hardware stores (Bunnings have stopped selling plastic bags ages ago), the library, taking stuff to charity shops etc. And would you believe that even though I pile the reusable bags up onto the conveyor belt at the supermarket as the very first thing in our shopping items, the checkout staff still reach for a plastic bag first. Weird, when you think they can see the mountain of reusable bags in front of them! Behaviours are easy to change, if you put your mind to it, and after a while it becomes habit. And as we all know habits are hard to break.

I know that it will be a resounding success in South Australia, partly because the deposit scheme is already in place, and mostly because if governments go with popular opinion on environmental issues, they, our elected officials, will come out smelling like roses every time. I still cannot believe that the Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett did not push for a national scheme. I really did like his band's music, but I am beginning to believe that he is just too scared to take on the bigger decisions that are required in these next few years. Let just hope that the other states see the error of their ways and adopt a similar stance as S.A. has soon after.

Environmental Insanity

I was just reading an article in The Age newspaper (online of course), and it made me think. The headline read "Most Australians alarmed at climate change", and goes on to say that 9 out of 10 Australians are worried about climate change. Fair enough I say, and a realistic enough survey, but the real point was missed. From what I observe daily around my town, and I do a lot of observation because of my twice weekly journeys to the city, nothing has changed with the majority of Australian's behaviours towards the environment, nor has the awareness level risen regarding the series of peaks (climate change, peak oil, overpopulation, mass species extinction) that we are quickly approaching. The headline should read "Most Australians alarmed at climate change, but it is someone else's problem, not mine!" Harsh I know, but a fair observation I believe. Let me explain further.

Electricity consumption continues to rise (due to poorly designed electronics and energy inefficient homes), petrol consumption continues to rise (due to larger vehicles), McMansions continue to be built throughout the country (which are costing a fortune to heat and cool, not to mention the massive mortgages and habitat clearing), credit card debt is at an all time high, and I guarantee that as a result of all of these, emissions are rising at an alarming rate. All of these things are within our own control! We are the ones that choose to buy plasma TV's because it is all the rage, buying the biggest fridges on the planet to store food we don't eat and throw away after two weeks, and driving 4x4's (SUV) just to travel 3Km to pick up the kids from school. All these choices are easily modified, but do the average Australians really want to change their behaviours to save the planet? That is the question I ask. From what I see, it is a resounding NO.

So who do we blame for this complacency? The media for not bringing it to our attention years ago? Advertising Marketing urging us to consume? The Federal Government for lack of action on our behalves? Or the typical Australian ethos of "she'll be right mate, I will get to that tomorrow". Well, I have news for the complacent ones and that is "She will not be right mate, and tomorrow is now". If we all continue to sit on our hands, and believe it is some one else's problem, the current stagnation will continue ad infinitum. Recycling the odd beer can, milk carton or cardboard box and changing the one or two CFL's just doesn't cut the mustard any more! It is time to get serious. Where are the energy efficiency programs rolling out amongst our communities? Where are the disincentives to buy massive cars? Where are the people lining up to fork out the $5000 for a Solar PV system instead of buying the latest LCD TV or Plasma? Where are the campaign's to promote and increase the viability of our public transport systems? And where are the feed-in tariff incentives for renewable energy systems to promote rapid uptake to reduce carbon emissions? When was the last time you saw a coal power plant close down? Or is it all too late?

I know there are some wonderful, early adopters, who are doing a great job of raising awareness about the simple things inspire people to do the 3R's, self sufficiency, sustainable living, and organic home gardening (just look at my blog roll to the right), and that gives me hope. But when I walk around the city, seeing so many people still practising a consumable and disposable lifestyle, with every second person with a disposable coffee cup in their hand, it just makes me so angry, and to cap it off, the half baked article in The Age!

I am usually an optimist when it comes to human behaviour and believe that globally we will all do the right thing, but since I have been on my journey towards a sustainable lifestyle, it feels to me that no one else, either gives a damn or are blissfully ignorant of the damage they cause on a daily basis. I would hope that it is the latter, and to solve a big chunk of the problem, all we need to do is educate. But then you can only lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink! I have seen many education campaigns, but I still remember the night I presented to our local Rotary Club about Sustainable Living, and remember the look of shock and awe on their faces when I said that we all caused the mess the planet is in now. Look, I can't change peoples behaviours by ranting at them. They must be gently coerced in to thinking that the changes they make (for the better) are their own ideas. I know this is true, because that's how I educated my family. I didn't rant (much anyway), and they all know the consequences of their actions, via a simple education program, and choose to reduce consumption.

Change is a scary thing, we all have experienced that in our lives, and it is always made easier if you know others have experienced it before you and have survived unscathed. So read, learn, and inspire yourselves, there is so much information out there. There are so many people like myself that have turned their lifestyles around and have inspired others to act. There are NO dumb questions, ask away, we don't mind you asking. In fact, most green bloggers love questions about our experiences, and how we went about making permanent changes for the better. We wouldn't be blogging otherwise. So, go ahead, do a little something each day to make a difference. It is not that hard, honestly!

Healthy Eating and Living

Kim and I have decided to eat even more vegetarian meals. In fact we even shopped for it this week. Kim found a website with some recipes on it that she liked the look of. It is called Vegan Village, and it is a UK site. So we picked a few of the recipes and bought the ingredients for them. We also talked today at lunch, that we have just kind of fallen into eating more vegetarian meals, and it is really just an extension of our current way of life. Since Kim and I started our healthy lifestyle in January, I have lost 10Kg and Kim has lost 13Kg. We are very pleased with the results so far, and still have a way to go before we both reach our goal weights. Kim has dropped 2 dress sizes and I have had to make extra holes on my favourite belt.

We started off on the "Biggest Loser Club" method of eating, which Kim joined, and I tagged along. She is still a member of the club, and uses it as motivation to keep her going along. As I can't do any medium to high impact exercise due to my back injury, it was the best way for me to drop kilos and change our lifestyle. I mentioned my weight loss to my Neurosurgeon, who I visited on Friday and he said that it was a fantastic result. He said it will assist my recovery even quicker. Very encouraging news indeed, as after 8 months, I have nearly had enough! I try and go for a short walk every day, and walk Ben to school when I work from home, and when I don't feel in too much pain. I also go for a slow walk around the block when working at the office. We were both swimming up until about 4 weeks ago, before the pool became too cold. That was really good for my back, and is a very low impact exercise. As I heal further, I will be able to ride the bike that Santa bought me for Christmas, but not just yet. It hurts too much. Speaking of riding, I am very proud of Ben, as he learned how to ride a bike yesterday. It was a joy to watch, but he still needs a little more practice before we venture from the back yard.

So here is a sample of what I had to eat today. For breakfast, it was Vegemite on home made toasted bread that I made yesterday, and lunch was a pickled egg and bread & butter cucumber sandwich made from the same bread, with a small serve of fruit and nut mix. For dinner we had Caribbean Bean Stew which Kim made. It was very tasty and spicy, and went well with the Sweetcorn rice, that she also made. After a big bowl, I am very full. Kim's favourite saying after we eat a vegetarian meal is quickly becoming "You wouldn't even know there wasn't any meat in that meal!" I agree, and it seems as if we don't even miss it. We still give the kids the option of eating different meals, and the older kids have a try and usually eat it all down and ask for seconds, but Ben is a little fussy and doesn't like spicy food, so he opts for something a little more simpler. To finish off dinner we had a scone with strawberry jam, both home made, and some fresh fruit. What a truly satisfying day of eating. I feel fulfilled and don't feel like I am missing anything. To the contrary, I feel like I have discovered a whole new taste sensation, as I have mentioned before. And quite possibly that is why vegetables, grains and all things besides meat feature so heavily towards the bottom of the food pyramid!



I am not going into the debate about whether eating meat, poultry or fish is a bad thing or a good thing, but if we eat these things in moderation, then not only do our bodies thank us, so does the planet. I was reading about the amount of CO2 it takes to produce meat compared to vegetables. This article, titled Eating Meat and global warming, suggests that we should only eat 90 grams of meat a day. Whilst some may think this is a bit over the top, I tend to agree. I remember when I have gorged my way through a 300g steak, and felt bloated for days afterwards. Look, don't get me wrong, I will still have a steak now and again, but not to the levels I was eating red meat six months ago. I just find that it is not necessary and I feel healthier for not eating it. Nor am I going to the other end of the scale towards Veganism, not that there is anything wrong with being a Vegan. It is just not for me either. I like dairy products and eggs too much. I still have to figure out a way of convincing Kim to let me keep a few chickens for egg production. We, as a large family, probably go through about a dozen eggs a week, now that we are baking more. Time will tell, I may yet find a place to make a coop yet Maybe I will just buy some chicks and she will fall in love with them, and then the job is done!

In touch with your inner self

It was such a beautiful morning, I decided to get a few things done around the house, but found myself getting all flustered and my head was full of clutter and I didn't feel settled. So I went inside, got my iPod and plugged it into some PC speakers I have outside on the deck, and put on some calming music and meditated. As Adam would say, there is that middle aged hippy at it again! I have missed the practice so much, but got into a meditative state fairly quickly.

After about 40 minutes I felt totally calm and at peace with myself. I felt like I had this bright aura around me for the rest of the morning. After I finished meditating, I left the music playing and went into the vegetable patch, got down on my knees, and began to weed the grass and tomato seedlings that had sprouted everywhere. I think that because I was so calm, I had no trouble determining which were weeds and which plants were supposed to be there. The remained of the day went remarkably smoothly. I mixed up the compost with my compost turner, rebuilt the pea trellis after the windy day, did a little watering from the shower buckets, and checked the beer fermenter to see if fermentation had stopped. It has, at last, so Adam and I will bottle it, and then put another brew down to begin all over again. I have picked a dark ale this time, as we are going into winter. It is much nicer to drink a denser beer when it is colder. Kim even took Amy, who is on her learners, out for a 2 hour drive. They had a great time.

I cooked a lovely soup for dinner. Here is the recipe;

Bacon, tomato & lentil soup

Olive oil, 1 Tbspn
Onion, 2 medium, diced
Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed
Celery, 1 stick, diced
Lean bacon, 4 rashers, rindless, trimmed and chopped
Thyme, dry 1 tpsn
Lentils brown, dried, half cup
Canned tomatoes, 400g
Water, 1000 mL
Bay leaves, 2

Heat a large saucepan over a low heat and heat oil. Add onions, garlic and celery and cook gently for 3 minutes until soft. Add bacon and thyme and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add lentils, tomatoes, water and bay leaves. Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring a few times. Cook until lentils are tender. Serves 4, about 200 calories per serve.

Kim worked out the calorie count with her calorie calculator (clever lady). We had two slices of wholemeal bread to help fill us up. The soup was a simple, slow meal, that was very wholesome, hearty, and tasty. Once again, it is the simple things that are the best in life. It made me think of something I read the other day that was written by the current Dalai Lama. I will leave it with you to ponder over.

The Paradox of Our Age
by The 14th Dalai Lama

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgment;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicines, but less healthiness;
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
Tall men but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.
It's a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

It kind of sums up our current civilization, doesn't it!

Being Green Doesn't Cost The Earth

If you thought yesterdays post was a bit weird, this one is positively sane.

The verdict is in! Our families contribution to lessening the effect of climate change has just taken a huge leap forward. I received my power bill today, and not only is it the lowest cost I have ever received for a quarterly bill, it is the lowest summer bill ever in the 8 years since we have been living here in Melton! Here are the summer electricity statistics for the last few years:

1. Jan-Mar 04 - 3967 kWh = $604.32
2. Jan-Mar 05 - 3678 kWh = $606.56
3. Jan-Mar 06 - 3557 kWh = $587.64
4. Jan-Mar 07 - 4290 kWh = $726.35
5. Jan-Mar 08 - 609 kWh = $160.02

How fantastic is that result! Kim and I are over the moon with joy. It just goes to show you that, with energy efficiency and Solar PV, you can make a big difference to your CO2 emissions and energy needs. Remember, we have 6 humans, 1 dog, 1 fish (one died), and a pool pump living on our 779 sq metre suburban house block! That is a massive saving of $566.33 and 5.148 tonnes of CO2 compared to the same quarter last year. You can stick your brown coal where the sun doesn't shine, Mr Power company, you!

Other than that, the other events of the day seam pale in comparison. But here I go anyway. Most of the broad beans are up now, and look great, as are the two variety of peas I planted. I will have to put the bamboo pyramids back up on Saturday, because now I know where all the seedlings are. Just before sunset, I planted some bok choy seeds to see what would happen and watered well. I love making stir fry's so they will come in handy, as will the snow peas. The spinach is up now and growing well, and I think that the brown onions, spring onions and leeks have sprouted but I am still unsure. I used a fair bit of horse manure in that patch, so grass seeds have sprouted and I am not game to start weeding or mulching until the onions develop a bit more so I can tell the difference! There is no sign of the parsnips or beetroot seedlings yet, so I will wait another week before giving up hope. There are so many tomato seedlings appearing in the root vegetable plot because of the compost and the warm weather, I am not sure if they are beetroot. This is mainly because last year I planted seedlings and not seed, so I don't know what they look like when just sprouted. Time will tell, as with all things in my garden.

I was listening to a podcast from The Environment Show whilst walking to school to pick up Ben this afternoon. It featured David Holmgrem who was the co-originator of Permaculture with Bill Mollison. David talks about reclaiming suburban backyards for food production. You can listen to it here. If you prefer a visual stimulus, I have added a video interview that is about the same concept of backyard's providing us with most of our food needs. It is the path to the future, and I am glad and proud to be growing some of my families own food.

My Dream

I had a vivid dream last night that I must share with you all. It was a bit weird so bare with me.

Somehow, I was voted the "Greenest bloke in Australia", (I am far from it), and was visited by the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd and his deputy Julia Gillard (who is also my local Federal MP). It was like a carnival. The press coverage was incredible and the media was all over me. I held a press conference on our deck, thanking my family for their efforts towards this award, and that I could not have done it without them. I also thanked the Melton Shire Council for promoting sustainable living (now I know its a dream). I was then handed the award which was a massive sculpture made from solar cells that I could plug into my existing PV array. It was a bit like the Solar Mallee tree sculptures at Adelaide Festival Centre.

Then Kevin and I posed for some photos in the vegetable patch. These were then shown throughout the world. After the photos were taken, Kevin and Julia handed me a cheque for A$200,000 to pay off my house and buy a wind turbine. They then made me the spokesperson for all things green attached to the Australian Greenhouse Office. Then someone pulled a plug out of my neck and I was back in reality, back in the real world fighting against the unknown foe.

It was about now that I heard a beeping in the background, which happened to be my alarm clock! It was 0630 in the morning and I arose feeling very weird indeed. You see, I haven't remembered having a dream this vivid for a long, long time. I know the why as well. The reason for this crazy dream time was Pizza. I have vivid dreams after having eaten pizza for dinner. I don't know what are in them, or what combination of ingredients that cause it, but is is like awakening from a vision quest. Vision quests are still performed today by some indigenous cultures to find meaning and the true path.

Does this dream mean anything? I don't know, but I do know that I always strive to be all that I can be when I take up the gauntlet for a cause. If helping to save the future of our planet isn't the ultimate cause, then I don't know what is! Maybe it means that I have a sub-conscious deep need or desire to be recognised for my efforts (very deep). Whilst in reality, all around me, I see pollution, uncontrolled consumerism, resource depletion and people living in a "Matrix" like world, unaware that if we all fail to act soon, they will be in for a hell of an awakening.

Maybe the dream meant that I have followed the white rabbit, and met my Morpheus, who has offered me the choice of the two pills, and I chose the red pill. I now know what the Matrix is. I see our current civilisation for what it really is, which is a distraction whereby most westerners are infected with Affluenza and the masses are very, very confused about the true reality of things.

Or maybe, I just ate too much pizza last night and felt guilty for straying from the path of healthy eating, and therefore it was a sub-conscious manifestation of ego and guilt. Whatever it meant, I will continue to strive towards a sustainable lifestyle and promise to eat healthy homemade pizza from now on.

I will leave you with this very thought provoking quote from The Matrix character Agent Smith speaking to Neo;

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realised that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure." Agent Smith.

Green Log Awards

Well it is the big day. I am an official voting site for the 2008 GREEN LOG Home & Lifestyle Awards, and voting has opened today. Here is a brief precis of the award;

"The GREEN LOG Home & Lifestyle Awards™ were created in response to the growing demand for green building solutions, products, and information. The goal of the awards is to locate and shine a spotlight on those companies and individuals who are enabling healthier homes and lifestyles. The GREEN LOG Home & Lifestyle Awards™ were founded by the non-profit organisation, Green Log Awards, Inc., in cooperation with the Environment News Service (ENS)."

My blog also gets a big thank you here for being a virtual polling booth. I believe that green bloggers should encourage these sort of awards because in a small way it helps to promote a sustainable way of life, that would otherwise be ignored by the masses.

So have a look at the awards via the voting banner at the bottom of the page, and vote for a category.

Sustainable Living Group

Not a huge post today. I have been busy researching about how to start a community group in our local area, and what the process is. As the posts title suggests, Kim and I would like to start a Sustainable Living group in our shire, as we feel that an organisation of this type is missing in our local community. The purpose of the group would be to educate, promote and practice sustainable living in our shire. Sounds like a big challenge, and we are not sure of the level of interest in the shire. We are willing to start off informal, and if we get over 5 members, will think about creating an Incorporated Association, for legal purposes. I have read everything I can find and it looks pretty simple. For Victoria this site explains all the legal stuff.

The real fun will be meeting other like minded people and helping them along the journey towards sustainability. I will let you know how we get on. We are very excited about starting, so let the community spirit begin!

A day in the garden

We have had a wonderful day. Let me tell you all about it.

I arose at 0700 and watered the garden, and noticed that our first broad bean has emerged from the soil, as have some of the peas. The radishes are all going well and I will have to thin them out next weekend. I think the beetroot is through but there are so many tomato seedling coming through (from the compost) that I am not sure. I will let everything grow a bit more and see it a row of something forms! I gave some of the plants in pots a dose of Seasol with their water, just to keep them hardy and to keep the soil in the pot absorbent. I find it works wonders if you have forgotten to water a pot for a while and the potting mix has become dry and water resistant. I also checked on the beer that is still brewing, and it is about half way through fermentation. Adam and I should be able to bottle it next weekend.

At about 0845, Megan, Kim and I went to the local dog pound, as we saw a cute dog up for adoption in the local paper. Her name was Janie and was a Silky/Australian terrier cross, just like Butch. Unfortunately, she had already been adopted, so we went home empty handed. Megan and Kim were sad. But Megan saw a wild rabbit, and I tried to catch it, but it was too quick for me! Could have made a good stew!

When we got home, Kim cleaned the pool the best she could, and we found that the rubber skirt around the Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner had worn out, so we have to get the pool guy in to fix it up and condition the pool for winter. It is now too cold to swim. Such a shame, as I wish that there was something I could do with the pool in the winter, like aquaculture or something.

Once the pool was reasonably clean, I got down on my hands and knees and started doing a bit of weeding around the stone parts of the garden. This saved the strain of bending over on my back. It looked quite comical and Butch joined in and tried to help. Kim started pruning her dead azaleas and we cleaned up the plum tree side of the house. We had been neglecting it since we have had the deck built, so it was due for a clean and tidy up. Adam moved the two large ficus trees we have in pots so that they get a bit more rain. I took down the old fairy lights we had strung up everywhere (more like pulled them down), and Kim kept pruning. I got down on my hands and knees again and swept the floor with the dust pan and broom, and we put all the leaves and dust into the compost bin. The area looks quite nice now, and once we sell the little beer fridge and some of Ben's old tricycles/bikes it will look even better. I will post a photo when it is all finished. I then had to go and pick up Amy from the bus station, as she has been visiting her boyfriend, Thomas, who lives in Young, NSW. It was great to see her, and I gave her a massive hug. We then visited the supermarket to get some baking needs, and I had to buy my first tomatoes for 5 months. Tear. We also bought some semolina so that we could make a pudding for desert and some batteries for the smoke detectors.

By this time, my bottom and legs were sore, even though I took great care not to aggravate my condition. So as Kim made some more scones and some ANZAC biscuits, I lay down and read a book called "The Practical Australian Gardener - Seasonal tasks using sensible organic methods" written by Peter Cunadall of Gardening Australia fame. I made sure that I read the chapter for April to make sure I hadn't missed anything important that I should be doing or could be planting! The work in the morning had tired me out so much that I fell asleep for an hour.

Kim woke me at 1600, so I started to make dinner. It was to be Butternut Pumpkin soup, as it is one of the kids favourites. Here is the recipe;

Golden Butternut Pumpkin Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium onions, chopped
1 small stalk celery, chopped
750g Butternut pumpkin, peeled and cubed
4 cups low sodium vegetable stock
half teaspoon dried oregano or 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh
2 bay leaves
quarter teaspoon black pepper

In a large saucepan, melt the butter in the oil so the butter does not burn over a moderate heat. Add the onion, garlic and celery; cook, uncovered, until the onion browns a little and is soft - about 5 minutes.

Add the pumpkin, stock, oregano, bay leaves and pepper, stir and gently bring to the boil. Adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Check to see if the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a fork. Remove and discard the bay leaves and let the soup cool for 5 minutes.

Blend the soup with a hand-blender in the pot, or transfer to a blender in a few batches. Careful as it is still very hot. When smooth, return to the pot and reheat gently for about 5 minutes. Do not boil and it will burn on the bottom of the pan. Ladle into bowls and serve with crusty bread. Yum.

The family finished this off in no time flat, and Adam asked if there was any more, but it was all gone. Then I thought, why not make one of those semolina puddings that I had on Friday at Crossways! Kim found a similar recipe on the internet at a Hari Krishna blog site. Hopefully no one will mind if I share the recipe here with you;

Hare Krishna Halava

2 1/2 cups (625 ml) water
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) raw sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) raisins
140 g (5 ounces) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) coarse-grained semolina
1/3 cup (85 ml) walnut pieces

1. Combine the water, sugar, and raisins in a 2-litre/quart saucepan. Place over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to very low and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

2. Place the butter in a 2- or 3-litre/quart non-stick saucepan and over fairly low heat, stirring occasionally, melt the butter without scorching. Add the semolina. Slowly and rhythmically stir-fry the grains until they darken to a tan colour and become aromatic (about 20 minutes). Add the walnut pieces about half-way through the roasting. Stirring more carefully, raise the heat under the grains.

3. Raise the heat under the sugar water and bring the syrup to a rolling boil. Remove the saucepan of semolina and butter from the heat, slowly pouring the hot syrup into the semolina, stirring steadily. The grains may at first splutter, but will quickly cease as the liquid is absorbed.

4. Return the pan to the stove and stir steadily over low heat until the grains fully absorb the liquid, start to form into a pudding-like consistency, and pull away from the sides of the pan. Place a tight-fitting lid on the saucepan and cook over the lowest possible heat for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, allow the halava to steam, covered, for an additional 5 minutes. Serve hot in dessert bowls as it is, or with the toppings suggested above.

I followed the instructions above to the letter, as I had never made Halava before. It turned out just like I had on Friday with Jen. It was very tasty and filling. This recipe served 5 generous portions (probably better if we had a little less each). Ben had a little, but didn't like it but what do you expect for a fussy 8 year old. I was surprised that Megan did not like it. Her excuse was that the texture was unusual. Amy ate her portion as well as Megan's, and Adam and Kim said it was unusual but great, and that I can make it again any time. Now that the kids are used to vegetarian meals every so often, I have not heard one complaint like where is the meat! Kim is looking for more vegetarian recipes we can try this week.

It is great to have discovered a different way of eating. So many different flavours to savour!

Quest for new tastes and adversity

As one grows older, the quest for new tastes from our food becomes more of an adventure. Kim and I have been cooking more vegetarian meals of late and on average eat this way about 3 days a week. Vegetable soups, and Chickpea curries are our favourites so far. Our uptake of these types of meals are partly because of an abundant garden, stocked with foods we wouldn't/couldn't normally buy from the supermarket, and partly because we know it is good for us and for the planet. I won't harp on about impact of meat production on the environment, which is well documented elsewhere. I just love the taste of the vegetables I grow and the new types of meals we can make with it. I know that the food I grow is not covered in poisons and grow at a slow rate as nature intended. I don't think that I will ever convert to becoming a full vegetarian, however, if push came to shove and if in future we have no option, I certainly would not mind the change. All changes start with acceptance of the facts.

Yesterday, I travelled to the office which is based in the central business district of Melbourne, and got stuck into my work. I travel to work two days a week and spend the other three days telecommuting at my home office. This is because my back injury is still persistent after 7 months. Anyway, after a demanding morning, my green friend Jen and I decided to go out for lunch for a vegetarian meal. We found a hidden little place called "Crossways food for life" which is up on the first floor at 123 Swanston St. It is run by the Hare Krishna, and not that I am into this religion, I must say that the food was fantastic. For $6.50, you received a vegetable curry with jasmine rice and a huge papadam, a semolina pudding with custard and a drink (water or soy milk I think). It was very filling and a good wholesome food. And further more the restaurant was packed full of people. As Jen and I were leaving, the line at the food counter was nearly out the door! If you are ever in the city, and looking for a cheap and nutritious meal, give Crossways a try. Maybe I am becoming a middle aged hippy, like my 20 year old son Adam keeps telling me!

After the meal we walked slowly back to the office mainly because I was in a little pain from sitting, and because Jen has been sick on and off for the last few weeks, and it was the most exercise she had done for ages. We talked and talked (Jen can talk the leg off a chair) about all things environmental, and she has some great ideas about environment and community projects that she is working on. She is a great friend, and I treasure our friendship. It goes to show that my employer cares about the environment and climate change, like most corporations should. I feel privileged to work for them.

We arrived back at the office, went up to Jen's floor and I had to have a lay down to stretch out the back, and took a muscle relaxant to get rid of the spasms in my legs. Jen and I talked some more about planet saving ideas, and then lunch was over. It was nice to see her again.

Back to work and then home by the train. Unfortunately, the train was cancelled and replaced by a coach which thankfully was express to Melton station. I had no opportunity to stand during the trip as the coach was full to the brim. Consequently my legs and lower back hurt like someone was pushing a knife into them, and had to rest when I got home. I was so low and in so much pain that I felt so depressed to the extent that I nearly gave up blogging. Some of my readers may have even seen a brief shut-down note. Fortunately I have a very understanding wife, who convinced me to keep going, and not get down about my injury, and keep saving the planet one blog at a time. So I removed the shut-down note and here I am again.

Kim is such an understanding soul, and has to deal with demons of her own. You see, she has Multiple Sclerosis and is fatigued a fair bit of the time, and I care for her when she has a minor or major MS symptoms. She doesn't drive because of her condition, but is not in a wheelchair or anything like the typical MS stereotype, and to look at her, you would think she was a normal, happy go lucky type of lady, who cares about her family very much. She lost her sight twice over the last 10 years and each time it took about 3 months for her vision to return to normal. The first time was when Ben was 1 month old, which was a very stressful time in our lives. We have learnt to deal with it as a team, and are closer than most couples we know. I love her so much. With tears in my eyes, here's to you my love.

Soppy stuff aside, you can understand that with my injury, it has taken a toll on our normally family life. We rarely go out for more than a few hours (cabin fever happens regularly), as I find it hard to tolerate driving more than about 30 minutes without pain (I have to stop and stretch and recover for 10 minutes). I don't do any heavy work around the yard, and the kids do all the heavy lifting for me. Thank goodness for stay at home adult children. We have become very local folk. Even with the annual leave I took last week, I think we left home twice to go and get some essentials and to take Megan to the dentist. Neither of us could handle the travel involved with a holiday away. On the positive side of things, I am not used the car much and our fuel bill is about $15 a month in the Hybrid and our GHG emissions are much lower. As I now catch the train to the city, there is not much call for driving outside of our town.

So when forced to live locally, it really opens your eyes about what might happen in the future. We have a few good friends locally, but the majority of mine I have found through work. We need to create a community in the suburbs and would like to start a Sustainable Living group in our town for like-minded people, to share ideas with and to help make our local community a better place to be.