Bunty the High Jumper

We have had the 4 chooks now since last September, and you can review their arrival by watching Chicken Day - The Movie! It still cracks me up watching it.  All are doing well and today I saw the most hilarious thing that I just must share.  I was resting in the garden this afternoon on my lazy chair and Bunty, our largest ISA Brown hen decided that she was going to enter the Chicken Olympics and enter the high jump. 

So, I built a gate about a metre tall about 5 weeks ago during the chicken house renovation, and it has taken her this long to figure out that with a long run up and a lot of flapping, she can just get on top, perch for a few seconds and then jump down the other side.  Sounds a bit like the Chicken Run movie, doesn't it, with all those girls on bicycles in their plane?  Then all the other chickens look through the fence as Bunty then proceeds to find all the nice bugs, worms and weeds up the other end of the garden.  I can tell when she has vaulted, because the other three hens make such a fuss, it is hard to miss, and she has been doing it for about a week now.

Anyway, that is not the funny part, this is.  I added another 70cm to the top of the gate this afternoon, and as usual Bunty started her run up with wings flapping and launched, then bang!  Straight into the extra bit on the top of the gate and fell flat on her big fluffy bum.  It was hilarious!  I laughed so hard that I nearly wet myself, really.  She tried twice more until she gave up and I still couldn't stop laughing.  I suppose she will now be in her little gym trying to loose a few 100 grams so that she can get into the other part of the garden again!

As the old adage goes.  The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence (until you get there of course and look back to what you have left behind)!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Just imagine this. Kim with there with her still healing foot, and me with my sore back, out in the garden today doing a few simple tasks.

We fertilised all the fruit trees in the front orchard with a handful of blood and bone and watered it in well. Then we raked back some mulch in the two front garden beds that we grew vegetables in last summer and planted some lucerne seeds (couple of hundred in each bed), so that we can cut it back every so often for chook food, green mulch, greens for the compost. The great thing about lucerne is that it is a perennial, that goes dormant in winter, and has very deep roots that bring those well hidden nutrient to the surface for other plants, in this case fruit trees.

Then Kim thought it would be good to remove a limb from that was overhanging our roof at the front. So, I had to go and fetch the pruning saw, clippers and wheelbarrow. She managed to carry the ladder to the tree and started sawing. I thought that I could see a disaster looming, so climbed the ladder to ensure the the cut she made diverted the falling limb to a part of the garden that would cause the lease amount of damage. Well, as luck would have it, no problems and it came down gracefully. With Kim doing all the heavy lifting, we cut it into wheelbarrow sized chunks and added the big limb to the chickens playground. I am sure they will be pleased. It was quite a sight to watch her manoeuvre the wheelbarrow through the gates, with me holding back the branches so we could fit through the gates. What a pair of intrepid gardeners we were. We tidied that lot up and put the tools away.

Kim watered the veggie patch for me, and I got on my hands and knees and collected some parsley and basil seed to plant in a few weeks time. Whilst I was down there, I also did a spot of weeding, and pulling out spent lettuce plants and gave them to the chooks. The chooks loved all the fresh greens and had a good old cackle and scratch around.

Kim pruned the standard yellow rose bush that didn't loose its leaves this year, and trimmed up a few other plants like the ivy around the garden lamppost. I planted some more lettuce seedlings that I had growing into the pots I pulled the old spent lettuce out of and tried my hand at propagating some mint buy cutting off a few healthy sprigs and plonked them in a pot to see it they would take root. If it works I will do the same for the sage. Speaking of sage, we trimmed back all the old growth and I tied it into a big bunch with some jute and hung it on the front door. The whole house just smelt of the wonderful herb.

After all that work, it was our regular Sunday afternoon cheese and wine time after a big afternoon in the garden. So I got out the very first Stilton that I made 9 weeks ago, cleaned it up a little to get rid of some red mould that decided to grow on it (which I am told by my cheese books is harmless), and a Caerphilly that was ready. So an eight of each on a cheese board. Then I went looking for the cheese crackers. I prefer a water cracker with each of my cheeses, very plain that don't take anything away from the flavour of the cheese. I searched high and low, and guess what? No crackers Gromit!!!!!!!! So a poor substitute of salted crackers had to suffice. I must say, and Kim will back me up 100% that the Stilton was to die for. Lots of blue mould on the outside and just a little in the middle. I will have to poke more holes in it next time all over to get that air in. The Caerphilly was great as usual and this one had ripened for 21 days and had a crumbly texture and about a 5mm rind that was delicious.

The Stilton is on the right and the Caerphilly on the left. The Cheddar that you can see in the right middle corner is for Ben who has very simple cheese tastes. His palate is yet to develop, but what do you expect for a 9 year old.

To sum it all up, Kim and I were both tired out, and as we started to sip our first glass of red and sample our cheeses, it began to shower. Just enough so that you could smell the freshness of the rain. It made our great day complete.

We all felt wonderful and didn't exert ourselves at all. Just simple little maintenance tasks and nothing strenuous. The last thing either of us want to do is to flare up our injuries, especially my back. After 3 weeks in bed and on painkillers for most of the time, it was good to feel mostly pain free and in the fresh air doing a bit of honest work to keep us fed. I really think that Kim's little quote for the day written on the blackboard sums it all up.

Gardening makes you happy! (but so does home made cheese and wine).

Cheese at the Co-op

My turn today over at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op, and I chose to write about one of my favourite hobbies, cheese making.  I wrote specifically about Caerphilly which I have completed the end to end process, from cow to my mouth and I declare it as my favourite cheese that I have made so far.

If you would like to have a read, please pop over and visit the Co-op.

Gav

Would They Lie To You?

Hot off of the tail of my post titled "Nuclear Power is Not CO2 Free", I found this clever little animation on the Greens site that I think pushes the message home about nuclear power.  Well it did for me anyway!

A Simple Message

My Dad told me when I was a very young lad, not to talk about Politics, Religion or Football at a in social conversation unless you want trouble at that event. Well, Dad, sorry mate, but I feel I have to break one of the golden rules. 

Our two party political system works okay up to a point, however they are usually able to be influenced by corporations who only have short term profits at the front of their minds and never the interest of the common good.  I know, because I work for one (corporation that is), and corporate responsibility is only a new buzz word in the ivory towers of industry. 

That is where I believe our political system breaks down.  Which ever industry who can lobby the longest and hardest can usually twist the proverbial arm of which ever party is in power to their advantage.  This is exactly what is going on with the climate change issue that affects us all.  Big polluting companies may have well have written and tabled the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme because the only people that benefit are them and their shareholders. 

So to explain it all in laymans terms, here is a well written piece I borrowed from the Switch off Hazelwood blog.  Sure it is only one point of view, but it is the one that I subscribe to, and a great campaign.

"The revised CPRS is leisurely in its timing, delaying implementation for a year and setting a nominal first-year carbon price of $10 a tonne with unlimited number of permits, meaning no effective action for another three years. It has increased permits to the biggest polluters from 90 per cent to now start at 95 per cent, and preserves the outsourcing of Australia's national responsibilities by allowing the unlimited purchase of permits from overseas, so that the scheme has no mechanism for ensuring that Australia's emissions (as opposed to domestic permits) will drop by even one tonne by 2050. The Treasury modelling assumes no decrease in Australian emissions for another 25 years!! Nor will the CPRS produce an avalanche of "green jobs" because it is not designed to close down the brown economy or build a clean, renewable-energy sector."

So thats is why I like having a party like the Australian Greens in the Senate who have the balance of power when the other two parties cannot agree on a piece of legislation, which just happens to be most of the time.  They get to make the hard decisions as to which pieces of legislation pass through the Senate and which ones don't.  Of course they have to also negotiate with that unusual senator Steve Fielding and the Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, but most of the time they do the right thing.

So I have a simple message from the leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown.  Please take the time to watch it, it is only short.  I believe that they will keep them honest again when the CPRS legislation goes back to the Senate for a second time.  Who knows, we may even get a double disalution, and disolve the govenment and force an early election.  I know who I will vote for, and it won't be the clowns who are in power now, nor the other clowns in the opposition party!



Open to comments, for or against.

Gav

Education, All In One Place

Finally a bit of praise for our government.  How hard did it used to be to find out about green tips, ideas for rainwater saving, and the ever important rebates to help turn a little darker shade of green?  When I first started out 3 and a bit years go on this journey, it was almost like pulling teeth to get the right site with the right info and links to further information.  Google certainly go a bashing in those early days, but most of the time I can across U.S. sites which were a little bit more advanced than us information wise. 

Well look no longer folks, the Australian government may have just spent our taxpayers money wisely and have created a web portal that links you to all these things and more.  So, where is this magical site? 

You can find at LivingGreener.gov.au.  I found it quite comprehensive, and gave it a thourough work out so to speak.  First it educates in the Be Informed section, then it tells you what steps you can take in the Take Action section, and then lets you know what Grants, Rebates & Loans are available that you might be elegable for.  Pretty cool I thought. 

And if you still like Peter Garrett then there is a groovy little video of him plugging the features of the site.  Remember, this site looks like it only takes into account rebates and grants from the Federal government.  You will have to search you own state governments site for similar information.  Now wouldn't it be really good if they got together and did that for us.  Federal and State governments working together.  Maybe the Australian constitiution might finally be worth the paper it is written on if they managed to set aside their differences and worked together.  Environmentally, you would think we were 6 different countries with a few territories tacked on for good measure..

Anyway, have a look at the site.  I think it is well worth a visit.

Kev's Patch - Round 2

I promised you all that I would not give up regarding the Kev's Patch Campaign that a few other bloggers and I are involved in.  Here is my second letter back from the leader of Australia's department.  Only my address has been omitted for obvious reasons.

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Australian Government
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT BARTON
Reference:C09/43828

20 August 2009


Dear Mr Webber

Thank you for your letter of 17 August 2009 to the Prime Minister regarding my previous reply about the growing of organic produce at The Lodge and Kirribilli House. I have been asked to reply on the Prime Minister's behalf.

The Department is currently investigating various environmental initiatives including water capture at the residences. Water tanks are already in place at Kirribilli House which has reduced the amount of town water used there.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to the Prime Minister.

Yours sincerely
 

Suzanne de Smet
Assistant Director
Official Establishments Unit

---

Thanks for the reply Suzanne.  I do appreciate the time you take to reply on behalf of our PM.  Really I do.

So readers, what do you think?  Another fob off?  Not much detail in this letter, but at least we now know that Kirribilli House has rainwater tanks and that they use them.  I believe this response deserves an third reply asking for details of the "various environmental initiatives".  Maybe there might be an organic vegetable patch in there somewhere even though there is not a lot of reference to it in this letter. 

If at first and second you don't succeed, try, try again and again and again!  Kev's Patch will become a reality.  Please join the campaign, visit the Kev's Patch website and participate in this fine piece of environmental activism by sending our PM a letter.  Even if you are not Australian, still have a go at getting the leader of your country to plant their own veggie patch at their official residence. 

Just as important though, please take the time to plant some vegetables of your own.  It is nearly spring, so have a look at Gardenate to see what you could grow in your area.  It currently covers climates for Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.  Growing your own food is as simple as putting a seed or seedling in the ground and watering it.  It nature can do it, I am sure you can.  Go on, give it a go because you will never regret it!  Even a balcony pot or two are a good start if that is all you have available.

Lets all lead by example, see how many of us can start our own organic veggie patches, and keep applying the pressure to Prime Minister Rudd.  Tell him in your letter how well your garden grows, with or without water restrictions in your area.

Here's a thought.  If the PM had his own veggie patch, he wouldn't have to borrow as much money to pay for all these handouts to big polluters that he is proposing in the CPRS.  Now that is something worth fighting for!

Gav

Rod Quantock's Guide to Climate Change

The thinking persons comedian, Rod Quantock came up with a fantastic act that I obiviously missed during Melbourne's Comedy Festival.  His show was called "Bugger the Polar bears, this is serious".  He appeared on ABC Radio's Life Matters to talk about the subject.  You can listen to the interview at this link below.

Why Rod wants us to get serious on climate change, in a funny kind of way.  

The link should open in your mp3 media player.  I found the interview extremely interesting, and wished I could have seen the show!

Late Edition:  I found the show on YouTube in two parts.  It is very good and funny in a serious way.  Here is part 1 of 2



And here is part 2 of 2.  Enjoy


Gav

Selling Our Children's Transitional Future

Am I the only person in Australia that thinks that the multi billion dollar deal to sell Liquified Natural Gas from the Gorgon Gas field to China, India and other is a bad thing?

With Peak Oil looming ever so near on the horizon, which the Chinese and Indians well know, it seems that all Australian energy companies want to do is make as much money as they can in the shortest time possible, without any thought of the future.  That is what I thought at first until I found that Chevron own 50% and ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell own 25% each of the rest.  Not an Aussie company in sight and Australia just owns the royalties to the resource, which will be substantial.  This is why the Federal Government thinks they are laughing all the way to the bank. I bet they change their tune in about 10 years time when they realise what they have done! But, oh no, there will just be the normal political backstabbing and nothing will get done or be solved.  Here is the reason I think that this would be one of the most idiotic deals of the decade, if not the century.

Natural gas is probably the only fuel that we have in large enough quantities that could be used to subsitute petrol/LPG/gasoline, quickly and without much fuss whilst we look at ramping up an alternate technology for transport, for instance, renewable energy.  But apparently no-one who could make a difference gives a shit.  The receiving countries will be fine, receiving their potential 15 million tonnes per annum of LNG in massive tankers (pictured above), while we rely on the declining reserves in the Moomba/Inaminka and Bass Straight fields for our natural gas.

After doing a bit of research the only politician who said anything negative about the deal was Australian Greens Senator, Christine Milne, who echoed the very same reason for my concerns.  "These deals have been shown time and time again to have been done in a way that is very, very cheap, and in the long-term not in the best interests of the country," she said.

"We need to have enough gas in the future as a transition fuel in an age of peak oil."

At least someone is thinking of our future, but unfortunately the deal is done.  Profit before people, isn't it always the way?  Even the CSIRO are concerned about our natural gas reserves.  They state on their website;

"Australia has largely been self-sufficient in oil but local production is expected to go into decline in the near future as existing reserves are depleted faster than new ones are discovered.


At present, over 80 per cent of Australia's oil is produced locally and a one per cent loss in self-sufficiency is expected to cost around A$100 million in imports.

Fortunately, Australia has abundant reserves of natural gas and coal which can be transformed into liquid fuels.  The conversion of coal to liquid fuel produces significant amounts of greenhouse gases which must be sequestered but natural gas is a clean fuel which is readily transformed to diesel and gasoline.

However, most of the natural gas is stranded offshore and cannot be recovered economically at present without the inclusion of an offshore gas to liquids process."

Without this transition fuel, I believe that as the old saying goes, "We will be up shit creek without a paddle in a barbed wire canoe!"

Food for thought, but not a hell of a lot of thinking going on at the top!

Winter Harvest

Even though in some climate, winter is not really a big season for growing vegetables, I find that the mild temperatures (1-17C) is ideal for most winter vegetables and I still manage to fill all the beds.  The only thing that I am not going to grow next year are the purple podded peas, as the yeild is just not big enough for the space it takes up.  I will replace them with snow peas, which gives a bigger crop and Ben and the dogs just love helping themselves straight from the vine!

Today, I took Kim's camera and hobbled around the garden to take some photos of the types of food that we have had the pleasure to harvest over the last few weeks here on TGOG's suburban farm.  So, this post is a bit of a photo fest.  Hope you enjoy it.

We have been harvesting the following;

Rainbow Chard in pots for humans

Black Capsicum

Tahitian Limes

Rainbow Chard for chickens (nearly 12 months old and still not gone to seed).

Masses of Lemons

More lemons

Broccoli with very few grubs.  I pick them off and give them to the chooks.  It always starts a fight!

English Spinach for cooking as salads

Savoy Cabbages, also with no grubs

Mandarins, delish.  I have them for a snack after working in the patch.

Purple Podded peas

Bok Choi.  We have eaten about 6 plants in soups, stir frys and stews.  Some went to seed yesterday so the chooks had a feast.

Winter Lettuce.  Great with home made Feta in a salad.  Rarely bitter.

And of course eggs from the girls, on average 2 a day in winter.

So here are the other things in the garden that are not quite ready for harvesting.

Crimson Broad Beans (ready in Oct/Nov)

Garlic, Elephant Leeks and Red Onions (Nov/Dec)

All Season Carrots, Parsnips (Oct/Nov)

More parsnips, carrots and lots of beetroot

Not in my garden, but certainly dear to my heart!  Told you the cheese cave was full.

What is a garden without a bit of colour.  Last year the chooks decided to eat this cyclamin plant down to the corm level, but with a bit of blood and bone and some TLC it looks beautiful.

And last but not least here is the first blossom on our plum tree.

In about a week the entire tree with be covered in these beautiful white flowers, as will most of my new fruit tree in the front orchard.  All of them have buds on them now, and I am so looking forward to sharing the photos with you all.

Even when I am not feeling well, the garden never ceases to lift my spirits!  I hope you have enjoyed the little tour, as I certainly did.

Amish Glider Rocker

We now have one happy young lad, who simply loves to sit in his new rocking/glider chair and reading books in the evening!  Danni, our neighbour was giving away the glider on Freecycle and we popped over for some other reason and asked if we could take it off her hands.  "Gladly", she said and now we are the proud owners of an Amish Glider with cusions.  I don't know if it was really made by Amish people but from what I have seen on the net, the style is very similar

Kim gave the cusions a quick wash and Ben had it in his room within a day.  I can see many long and comfortable hours of use for this well constructed piece of furniture.  It certainly has made a 9 year old boy and Holly very happy.  I can't wait until I can sit down again, so I can curl up and read a book whilst relaxing in it!

Freecycle is so cool, and so are nice neighbours!  Thanks Danni

Forced Simplicity When It Counts

I don't know if you know, I have buggered up my back again and am spending a fair amount of time recovering in bed, but what you may not know is that there is a big financial loss associated during any recovery time.  Because my injury has now been over 12 months, and due to workcover laws in this state, I receive a statutory weekly limit which is reduced by any work that I may be able perform.  Suffice to say, my fortnightly take home pay has been cut by 48%.  So, pretty drastic measures have now come into play in our budget.

We have had to cancel the extra money we were putting on our mortgage (attempting to get ahead so I can semi-retire earlier), and the money we were saving to buy our hybrid car at the end of the lease in October has come to a screaming halt.  We are going to have to redraw from the mortgage to afford it now, which is something I really didn't want to do. 

Everything else is on hold, however we took on a fortuitous challenge last month (before the injury) to see if we could stick to $100 a week to feed a family of 4.  Well, the great news is that for the last three weeks we have achieved this goal.  Eggs from the chooks, veggies from the garden and frugal grocery shopping have saved the day.  We even had $3.50 spare last week.  We still receive our $40 sanity money, which is a trick I learnt from Anita Bell's great series of books.  I use mine to by the odd bottle of wine and milk for cheese making, and Kim manages to hold on to most of hers so that she can by craft goodies.  Megan pays me rent which equates to about $20 a months which is just enough to pay for the chicken feed so that is covered.

So, so far so good.  I am glad interest rates are low or we would be in a bit of a pickle.  We are able to cover the mortgage and all other bills, and of course our energy bills are minimal.  Gardening will be a bit of a struggle for a few weeks but I am sure I can muster the energy or get help from one of the kids to plant out seeds for tomatoes and other plants that need to be planted in punnets. 

Kim is doing a stirling job juggling the budget and looking after me, and we have been keeping each other emotionally strong, with a little sob now and then which helps get us through.  But then we snap out of it and realise that it could be much, much worse and that at least I am able to do 20 hours of work a week to keep the bills paid and a roof over our head.  I feel quite opptimistic that this relapse will heal quickly, so I should be able to ramp up my hours in September to something a little more reasonable.  Until that time though, I will rest as instructed and keep taking the happy drugs that keep the back and leg pain at bay and keep busy buy writing posts to keep me occupied when I am not working in the afternoons.  It is amazing what you can do with a laptop in bed!  The world is your oyster.

The point of the post is not to gain sympathy, but it is to show that when hard times hit, that we have put in the hard yards and planned ahead, then there is no hurdle to high to jump over for us.  Simple, Frugal and Sustainable living has helped us in the past, and will most certainly help us in many years to come.

Water Restrictions are not a valid excuse Kevin!

Back on the campaign trail for Kev's Patch last night after some inspiration from Julie and littlem over at the Kev's Patch campaign website.

Here is the second letter I wrote to the Hon Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Subject: Kev's Patch - Organic Vegetable Gardening at the Lodge

Dear Prime Minister Rudd,

I am writing to encourage you to reconsider having a vegetable patch at The 
Lodge or Kirrabili House.  I received a reply back from you stating that 
water restrictions was the main factor for not starting an organic vegetable 
garden at the Lodge.

Recently we have seen Her Majesty The Queen, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and  President Barack Obama add vegetable gardens to their place of residence.

A productive edible garden can be used to illustrate the solution to a number of important issues facing all Australians.

- Growing our own fruit and vegetables reduces carbon emissions by reducing the transportation of produce, and reduce household waste with composting.

- Home-grown vegetables save water. David Holgrem states that “every 
dollar’s worth of fruit and vegetables has needed at least 103 litres of 
water to mature. Every equivalent dollar’s worth of home grown food uses 
only 20 litres.”

- Water conservation can also be demonstrated with the use of rainwater tanks and greywater systems– one of your Government’s own initiatives.

- There are a number of drought tolerant edible plants (amaranth, beans, 
broccoli, cucumber, quinoa, rockmelon, tomato, watermelon) including 
Australian natives (bush tomato, davidson’s plum, lemon myrtle, midyim, 
native lime, native ginger, native rosella, scrub cherry, riberry, warrigal 
greens, wild raspberry) that could be grown to show that drought conditions
are not an impediment to having a productive garden.

- Gardening is a good way to exercise and can assist families save money in 
these trying economic times.

Clive Blazey of the Diggers Club has worked out that you need “only 24% of 
the potential water from roof collection or just 37% of the potential 
recycled greywater” to grow enough fruit and vegetables to support a family 
of four. Clive’s article uses figures that are based on Melbourne, which 
has a similar annual rainfall to Canberra. Alternatively, Sydney has a higher 
rainfall and more relaxed water restrictions, so there’s no reason why 
Kirrabili House couldn’t have a vegetable patch.

I would love to see the Australian Prime Minister take the initiative on this 
relatively inexpensive project to set an example on how gardening can play a part in tackling water conservation and climate change.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin

For more information and other letter templates that you can use to craft your own campaign letter, visit www.kevspatch.com for more information.  Join the campaign and help the future I attempted to describe yesterday to become partly a reality. 

Watch out Kev, or I will send the chooks around! Edwina can get mighty grumpy when she doesn't get her daily greens!

Path towards Zero Carbon

This is a future scenario I have wanted to write for some time now.  Some ideas are not original and all of the technology exists today, however the basic story line is my creation and is centred around the state of Victoria, Australia.  I hope you enjoy my vision of a possible journey to zero carbon.

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Spring 2021.

It is a lovely spring afternoon, and a special day it is, because Victoria's greatly anticipated 11th annual progress report regarding the 'Path towards Zero Carbon' has just shown that we have achieved a 45% reduction in our states carbon footprint since 1990.  Twenty two years ago I would not have thought that this would have been possible.

The West Antarctic ice shelf is still melting and so is much of Greenland's ice sheets, and sea levels are set for a meteoric rise by 2100, and the impact of climate change on the Murry-Darling basin and native ecosystems get worse every year.  However it is good to know that we are on the right path, and that Victoria is leading the way by demonstrating how life is possible and enjoyable in a low carbon world.  If the rest of Australia continues for follow our lead we will hit the legislated target of 95% reduction by 2035 which is fifteen years earlier than the climate scientists believed was necessary.

When people where hit with a double whammy in 2011 with the 15th year of drought in the Greater Melbourne area, and dwindling global oil supplies and rising prices, people finally began to realise that action was necessary.  Throughout Melbourne, people are busy in the gardens planting their spring vegetables and harvesting the last of their winter crops that will supply 70% of the cities fresh food needs for the coming summer.  When food prices began to rise dramatically, the government began supplying every home with free 10,000 litre rainwater tanks, with generous subsidies for plumbing connections, so over the next two years the city's water storage problems began to subside.  Carbon Victory Gardens sprang up all over the suburbs to help feed hungry families, as commercial farming techniques began to fail due to expensive fertilisers.  With these systems so used to the addition of petrochemical pesticides and herbicides to control pests our soils were useless without them.  Organic gardening and Permaculture became the norm and people with these skills were highly respected and sought after for large community workshops.  Community gardens sprang up everywhere by mid 2012 and nature strips were planted out by local councils in 2013 with fruit, nut, and berries in an effort to help feed locals.  Roadside stormwater drains were configured so that these trees were adequately watered after every downpour.

These simple changes brought on a wave of excitement within the community.  With the roads much quieter, millions have turned to all forms of cycling.  From trikes to rickshaws and carts, people have become mobile and children and aged citizens alike felt safe to ride the streets again.  Electric bicycles turned the hills in the eastern suburbs into an achievable journey, thus eliminating one of the biggest barriers to city cycling.  No longer are the streets of the city ruled by inconsiderated drivers, with the very same former drivers began to appreciate the plight of the cyclist in former years.

When the state government went into partnership with a small Victorian electric vehicle company in 2014, and funded the construction of 150,000 small electric vehicles in one year, people were shocked.  These new cars were exempt from registration and citylink tolls that other vehicles had to pay and the price included a government guarenteed 50% reduction in vehicle insurance due to the lower number of fossil fuelled powered vehicles on the road.  These incentives were an instant hit with consumers.  They were so quiet and pollution throughout the city reduced by 25 percent in one year.  To accomodate for the additional electricity required for these electric vehicles, strong legislation was passed to ensure that all street lighting was turned off by midnight and that heavy fines were imposed on any company found to leave office lighting and appliances left turned on in unoccuppied buildings after 10pm in the evening.  With an ammendment to the Premium renewable feed-in tariff in December 2009 to include business as well as residential and non-profit premises and a removal of the 5 kW cap, saw a rapid uptake in all forms of renewable energy across the state, all privately funded much to the governments delight.

In addition to the renewable energy boom, two geothermal power plants were constructed in 2015 near Geelong providing an additional 3500 MW of  baseload capacity to the grid.  Furthermore, ten 800 MW solar thermal molten salt power plants located near Mildura were finally completed in 2018 (8000 MW in total) saw the begining of closures of some coal fired power plants throughout the state.  All coal fired power plants have been legislated to be closed before 2030 thus ensureing the 95% reduction target set for 2035.  The molten salt solar stations, alongside wind, solar PV, and geothermal baseload provided all of the electricity needs for the state.  In 2019, Victoria began to export electricty via BassLink to Tasmania due to ever increasing water shortages in that states hydroelectric system.  Even some of Melbournes electric tram systems could be reactivated and changed back over from the horse drawn system necessitated in the early years of the crisis.  City gardeners were most diappointed at the reduction in free fertiliser!

It was not all beer and skittles in during the 'Great Transformation', which occured from 2010 to 2015, it was the older  baby boomers who found it hardest to adjust.  Born during the age of rampant consumerism, many valuable skills were lost and it was up to a dedicated few to help reskill the general population to avoid mass starvation as the oil supply dwindled and climate change began to really kick in.  Water conservation became a necessity and not a niceaty. 

The cost of flying rose dramatically with only the mega rich being able to afford this mode of transport.  During the Great Transformation over 90% of the worlds airline companies in existance in 2009 collapsed into bankruptcy.  International travel once more became dominated by wind powered ships, however they are much larger and comfortable than sailing ships of the past.  With the newly created renewable energy sources, more and more manufacturing was able to be relocated back to Australia to create meaningful jobs for those people not skilled in farming, energy production and transportation.  Some of Victoria's industrial companies lobbyed and complained hard during the Great Transformation, however as carbon prices escalated and further incentives for renewable energy grew, the companies engineers found radical new ways to be vastly energy efficient and to begin to substitute with power from biogas, combined heat and power, and heat exchange technology.  As the price of oil and natural gas peaked in 2012 and began to rapidly decline, they sat back and watched their competitors struggle with the rising costs and congratulated themselves for being ahead of the pack.

Looking back, I believe that the greatest achievement has been the return of the overwhelming sense of community that arose mid way during the Great Transformation.  Of course there was looting and some chaos at first but martial law soon put a stop to that in the first few months of 2010.  I believe it was as people began to spend more time in their neighbourhoods, caring for their veggie patches, livestock and each other, upgrading their homes where they could and began brewing their own beer, wine and preserving excess harvest that this change happened. 

Some people still complain today, but most realize that something wonderful is happening not only to the state of Victoria, but all over the world.  While we are still very concerned about what the future may bring, we are also imensely proud of what we have achieved so far.

Pepper Jack, son of Monterey

This type of cheese is a variation on Monterey Jack which hails from the Monterey area in California.  It was bought over by the Spanish via Mexico and was originally known as Queso del Pais.  I made this cheese quite some time ago and here it is fresh out of the press around the 25th May 2009.  I waxed it after it had was touch dry.

Anyway, we cracked it open on the 1st August, after having left it to ripen for a good couple of months.  The recipe stated that it should ripen for one to three months, so I thought that two was a safe bet.  And a safe bet it was.  The end result was a crumbly, whitish cheese with a decent kick due to the organic chili flakes.  Both Kim and I agreed that it was well worth making and that it tasted divine.  What is even better is that there is another wheel of Pepper Jack still ripening in the cheese cave!

Kim, kids and friends believe that my signature cheeses so far are Wensleydale, Caerphilly and Pepper Jack.  I tend to agree, but they are yet to sample my Emmenthal, Stilton or Parmesan!  I think that I might start to limit my cheese making efforts to just a few types now that I have found some favourites.  That's not to say that I won't experiment once in a while though.

So where's the recipe I hear you all asking?  Well, hold your horses, here it is.

Pepper Jack Cheese

Makes about 850 gm (2 pounds)

8 litres (2 gallons) whole milk
¼ teaspoon Direct set Mesophylic culture
5 ml Rennet mixed with 25 ml non-chlorinated water
1 ml Calcium Chloride if using homogenised milk
1 tablespoons non-ionised salt
1 teaspoon hot chili flakes
½ cup (125 ml) water

Boil the chilli flakes in the water for 15 minutes.  I bought to the boil and just simmered and when it looked like it was going to boil dry, I added another 60 ml of water at about the 10 minute mark.  Strain and remove the chilli flakes and set aside the chili water.  I used my home-grown birds eye chilli that were sun dried on the bush.

Add the chili water to the milk and stir well.  Using a double boiler, heat the milk to 31°C (88°F). If using homogenised milk, add calcium chloride to ¼ cup of unclorinated water and mix into the milk gently.   Add Mesophylic starter, mix well for a minute, raise the temperature to 32°C (90ºF), cover and allow milk to ripen for 30 minutes.

Keeping the temp at 32°C, add the diluted rennet and stir for one minute.  Cover and let sit for fourty five minutes.  Check for a clean break and cut the curds into 6mm (¼") cubes.  Maintain the target temp and stir the curds for forty minutes.

Gradually raise the temp to 38°C (100°F) which should take about thirty five minutes.  Stir frequently to keep the curds from matting.  Once the target temp is reached, maintain for 30 minutes and continue stiring (your arms should be sore by now ;-)).  Let the curds rest for five minutes.

Pour off the whey to the level of the curds, taking care not to loose any of the curds.  Let the curds rest for an additional thirty minutes, however stir every 5 minutes to prevent the curds from matting.  While the curds are resting ensure that the target temp of 38°C (100°F) is maintained.  Line a colander with a sterilised cheese cloth and spoon the curds into the colander and toss in the salt and the boiled chili flakes.  Blend well with your clean hands, then let the curds drain for five minutes.

Line a 900g mould with cheese cloth, and fill with the curds.  Cover the curds with the corner of the cheese cloth, top with a follower, and press at 5kg (10lb) for fifteen minutes.  Remove the cheese from the press, and slowly, carefully unwrap it.  Turn the cheese over, rewrap it in the cloth and press at 15kg (30lb) for thirty minutes.  Repeat the unwrapping and turning process, this time pressing at 20kg (40lb) for 12 hours.

Remove the cheese from the press, and take it out of the mould and unwrap the cheese cloth.  Place the cheese on a cheese mat and board and let air dry at room temperature until it is dry to touch (usually 2-5 days).  Mine took 4 days to dry in Autumn.  Turn twice daily to allow for even drying.  Wax the cheese and allow it to ripen for one to three months in a humid cheese cave at 13ºC (55ºF) at 80-85% humidity.  Don't forget to turn weekly to evenly distibute the fats and flavour.

We gave a small piece to our friend David who really enjoyed the Caerphilly I gifted him a few weeks ago, however we are yet to receive a review.  We have managed to make the cheese last for three weeks so far.  I have learnt that if I cut the wheel into quarters and rewax three quarters, then Kim and I are just a little more hesitent to scoff the whole lot in one weekend.  Once I rewax, I place them in the normal fridge at 4ºC to inhibit the ripening process.  As Dorothy, my cheese instructor once told me, "Cheese is a living organism and you should treat it with the respect it deserves".

I highly recommend this cheese.  It takes a bit of stiring, however if you are new to the process of making cheese, then give it a go if you like a bitey yet mild cheese.  It is very satisfying to make and to finally eat.  You certainly don't need any fancy crackers to enjoy this cheese.  Just a plain watercracker or wafer will do fine.

Camembert Update

I can't exactly say that my Camembert cheese making efforts were an astounding success.  It looks okay in the picture, but wait until you read the rest of the story! 

I did everything as per the recipe, including all the tips I remembered from the mould cheese making course I attended, but things just didn't go my my way.

The white mould formed well on all four rounds that I made in the first batch.  We cracked open one straight from the cheese cave at about the three week mark.  Althought it was very runny around the inside rim, the centre was nice a firm and the nose was sweet and mild.  This is what happened when I cut into it.

It oozed all over the cheeseboard.  It did tast very nice, however Kim is not a big fan of runny cheese at the best of times.  So I scraped up the runny cheese and ate it myself, and put the cheese board and Camembert back into the normal fridge to harden up. 

The next day we tried it again, this time being quite firm.  The rind had a mild, flavoursome taste, and the centre was firm and delicious.  So the 3 week old Camembert was a success, but a big note to self; refrigerate first to harden the cheese!

That left 3 more rounds in the cheese fridge.  We decided to leave them for another week as the recipe stated that Camembert ripens from 4-6 weeks.  So after a week, I put one in the fridge to cool down to 4°C on the Friday morning in preparation for a cheese tasting that evening.  What a difference a week made.  All of the centre was runny even when chilled, and the white rind was pungent and extremely strong in flavour.  Kim was not a fan at all, and I could only handle the runny centre.  The rind just left a lingering bitey taste in my mouth for what seemed like ages!  Not very pleasant at all.  Mind you, Butch and Holly thought that all their Christmas's had come at once, because even though we didn't like it, they wolfed it down and cleaned up the plate as well.

I was unsure of what to do with the other two rounds so I left them in the cheese cave for a few more days until I made a decision.  Big mistake, because the cheese had made the decision for me!  I opened the cheese cave on Wednesday to turn over a few wheels of cheese and oh my goodness, what a smell.  It was like the Camembert had grown legs and wanted to escape.  The stench of the over ripe Camembert flew through the entire house like  a screeming banshee on speed.  We had to open every door and window just to get rid of the odur.  I then had the sorriful task of taking the remaining rounds of Camembert out to the wheelie bin just to get the offensive odur away from everyone.  Even the dogs didn't follow me this time!

Next, I had to remove all the other wheels of cheese from the cave and proceeded to desanitise every surface, tray and rack with lashings of white vinegar to kill any mould build up.  I used a spray bottle filled with the vinegar and a clean sponge to complete the task.  Once clean, and very vinegary, I put all the cheese back into the the cave, placed them on clean sushi mats just incase they were harbouring any mould and then lit about 5 incence sticks to get rid of the vinegar and cheese smell that had replaced the cheese odour!

So the lesson in this story is to eat your Camembert young, and only use half of the milk that the Camembert recipe states and adjust all the other ingredients accordingly.  Next time I will be removing the Camembert rounds from the ripening box at the 3 week make, wrapping in cheese wrap, and placing them in the normal fridge at 4°C to stop the ripening process.  Hopefully that will solve the problem and produce some very edable cheese.

Well, you win some, you loose some.  Not dissappointed, just more determined to succeed!

A Change Is As Good As A Holiday

Well, I thought it was about time I threw off the blogspot shackle and got my own domain name.  Hopefully it will be easier for people to find, but will take a couple of days to register at all the planetary Domain Name Servers throughout the Internet.  For those who have not cottoned on yet, my new blog address is http://greeningofgavin.com

I have been assured by Blogger that the old address will continue to work, so no need to change any links or such things.  It will certainly be easier to tell friends as well!

What a great present for my 451st post and all for a measly US$10!

Keep on greening on,

Gav

Commentary on a Sustainable Future

My main post is over at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op today and is titled 'Shifting Towards Global Sustainablity'.

I hope you can pay a visit and have a read of the most controversial essay I have posted on the co-op.

Gav

Out of Action

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend. I have had a major relapse with my back injury and have been doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers for the since Friday afternoon. I am working 4 hour days from home (probably from bed) until my back decides to improve. Oh, and Valium makes you dopey but helps immensely with muscle spasms!

The posts will be intermittent over the next week or so, but I have been busily writing down my posts on paper and when I am able to sit for more than 5 minutes I will type them all up and begin posting.

Keep on keeping green

Gav

Australia’s Future?

C

lick to Enlarge. Read the real message.

Nuclear Power is not CO2 Free.

There have been quite a few articles in the press from the nuclear lobby and the opposition party touting the climate change benefits of Nuclear Power. Besides the harmful nuclear waste that the process leaves behind, the claim that nuclear power generation is CO2 free is simply a myth. In my search to find proof, I stumbled upon this great post. I cannot claim the words in this post. They belong to Dave Kimble from http://www.peakoil.org.au/ and they are wise and well researched words as well.

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Proponents of nuclear power always say that one of the big benefits of nuclear power is that it produces no Carbon dioxide (CO2).
This is completely untrue, as a moment's consideration will demonstrate that fossil fuels, especially oil in the form of gasoline and diesel, are essential to every stage of the nuclear cycle, and CO2 is given off whenever these are used.


This is Ranger Uranium Mine's Pit Number 1.
All of the material removed from this hole, over-burden and ore, was moved by truck.

These trucks run on diesel. It would be interesting to know how much diesel is used for how much ore in a year at Ranger. If we are to increase the number of nuclear power stations, we also need to increase the number of these trucks (which obviously take a lot of fossil fuel energy to build), and the volume of diesel fuel. Currently Australia imports 26% of its diesel consumption, and this figure is rising as our oil production falls. The tyres on these trucks are also particularly energy-intensive to make, and there is a world-wide short of these tyres.

The ore is taken to a mill, usually nearby to keep trucking costs down. The mill crushes the rock to powder. The powder is then treated with sulphuric acid to dissolve the uranium, leaving the rock (depleted ore) behind.

The depleted ore is washed and neutralised using lime, and the slurry is pumped to the tailings ponds.

Maintaining the tailings ponds, with more diesel powered machinery.

Hard rock ores, such as quartz conglomerates and granites, are approximately 3 to 4 times more energy-intensive than soft rock ores (limestones and shales) to crush.

The dissolved uranium solution, including other metals, is then treated with amines dissolved in kerosene to selectively separate the uranium, which is then precipitated out of solution using ammonia, forming Ammonium di-uranate, or "yellowcake". All of these chemicals, sulphuric acid, lime, amines, kerosene and ammonia are energy-intensive to make, and the energy required is in the form of fossil fuels, that produce CO2 when used.

In the final stage, the yellowcake is roasted at 800°C in an oil-fired furnace called a calciner. The Ammonium di-uranate is converted to 98% pure Uranium oxide (U3O8), which is a dark green powder that is packed into 44-gallon drums for shipment.

Drums of Uranium oxide are stacked by forklifts, while they await shipment, sometimes to the other side of the world.

The next stage involves dissolving the Uranium oxide in Hydrofluoric Acid and excess Fluorine gas to form Uranium hexafluoride gas : U3O8 + 16HF + F2 => 3UF6 + 8H2O Hydrofluoric Acid is one of the most corrosive and poisonous compounds known to man.

The Uranium hexafluoride gas is then transported in cylinders to be enriched.

Naturally occurring Uranium consists of three isotopes: U-238 = 99.2745% ; U-235 = 0.7200% ; U-234 = 0.0055% Despite its tiny proportion of the total by weight, U-234 produces ~49% of the radioactive emissions, due to its very short half-life. The standard enrichment process for pressurised water reactor (PWR) fuel converts this mix to: fuel stream : U-238 = 96.4% ; U-235 = 3.6% tailings stream : U-238 = 99.7% ; U-235 = 0.3% The centrifuges are powered by electricity, so this stage can be powered by nuclear power. However building the centrifuge cascades requires lots of fossil fuels.

Low-enriched (3.6%) Uranium hexafluoride gas is then transported to the fuel fabrication plant.

The UF6 gas is converted to Uranium dioxide (UO2) powder, pressed into pellets, and baked in an oil-fired furnace to form a ceramic material. These are then loaded into a tube made of a zirconium alloy. Several of these tubes form one fuel assembly.

Zirconium is a metallic element derived from zircon, an ore of Zirconium silicate (ZrSiO4), which is a by-product of rutile sand mining (another energy-intensive business). Naturally occurring Zirconium is always found with Hafnium, which has to be removed (with difficulty) for nuclear uses. For every tonne of Uranium in the fuel, up to 2 tonnes of Zirconium alloy are needed.

Fresh fuel is only mildly radioactive and can be handled without shielding. The fuel assemblies are then transported to the reactor by truck or train. A 1000 MW(e) nuclear reactor contains about 100 - 130 tonnes of Uranium dioxide, and usually one third of that is replaced in rotation each year.

If you ignore the vehicles that the workers use to get to work, the reactor does not produce any CO2. But it does use electricity, as well as produce it, and to the extent that electricity is largely produced by fossil fuels, this needs to be counted in the energy balance.

It takes a lot of steel to build a nuclear power station, and steel is made by smelting iron ore with coking coal.

And a nuclear power station uses lots of concrete, which is made from cement. Cement is made by crushing limestone and roasting it, using fossil fuels, to drive off Carbon dioxide. So cement is particularly CO2-intensive.

Spent fuel rods 'normally' spend six months in cooling ponds located within the reactor building, so that short-lived radio-activity can decay, making the material easier to handle. In the US and many other places, these spent fuel rods stay at the reactor a lot longer than that, while politicians argue over what to do with it next.

Reactor waste moved by road and rail.

Spent fuel is kept under water until it is reprocessed. This keeps it cool and acts as a radiation shield. In the 'once through' process, the fuel rods are dissolved in acid, and the Plutonium is extracted, and the remainder including the Uranium becomes high-level waste. In the 'recycling' process, Uranium is also recovered.

Recovered Plutonium and Mixtures of Plutonium and Uranium oxides (MOX) are sent by road back to the fuel fabrication facility to be used in new fuel rods.

This is not really a waste repository, (it is the NORAD military bunker at Cheyenne Mountain) but this is what one might look like if one was ever to be built.

This is a security policeman, well , it does say POLICE on his bag. I do hope everything is alright.

Ah, that's more like it. How many miles per gallon do you get out of one of those ?

Security surveillance is needed to prevent terrorists from getting access to radio-active materials.

And increasingly these days, one also has to defend ones nuclear facilities against attack by an increasingly sophisticated enemy. This is the Tor-M1 - a fully integrated combat vehicle with anti-missile/anti-aircraft missiles, that the Iranians are getting from Russia to protect themselves from the peace-makers.

As you can see, every step of the nuclear power cycle involves the expenditure of energy derived from fossil fuels, which nuclear electricity cannot replace. Thus it is untrue to say that nuclear energy is greenhouse friendly.

In the paper "Nuclear Power : the energy balance" by J.W. Storm and P. Smith (2005) download here, the authors calculate that with high quality ores, the CO2 produced by the full nuclear life cycle is about one half to one third of an equivalent sized gas-fired power station.

For low quality ores (less than 0.02% of U3O8 per tonne of ore), the CO2 produced by the full nuclear life cycle is EQUAL TO that produced by the equivalent gas-fired power station.

So the question is :
Given that the greenhouse claims for nuclear power are false, and if the only way the nuclear industry can operate is with massive amounts of cheap fossil fuels, especially diesel derived from oil, and with oil going to be very much scarcer in the future, is this a good time to be thinking of increasing the nuclear industry ?


I think not!