Lack of Get Up and Go

I have been a bit lack lustre for the past week, as I have been suffering from a dying lower right molar.  Been on antibiotics to reduce the inflammation, swelling and pain.  Oh what agony it has been.  Lack of sleep makes for a grumpy greenie, and so does the cost of getting it fixed.

I began Root Canal Therapy today at a specialist in Moonee Ponds.  He was good, but he had a bill to match it.  I walked out, still in pain, and $700 poorer! 

The pain is beginning to reduce as the night wears on, and hopefully gone by the morning.  I still have 2 more visits to finish off the treatment, and the good doctor quoted me $2500 for treatment and a crown.  There goes my water tank savings!

Hopefully my blogging mojo will return in the next few days, but please excuse me if I seem to missing in action. 

Gav

Mobile Mustering

One of the few thing I picked up yesterday were some Mobile Muster satchels used to recycle mobile phones.  In Australia we have a scheme run by the Australian Mobile Phone Industry which is free of charge to consumers.   I did a bit of research and found this info from the Mobile Muster site to share with you;

Mobilemuster is the only whole of industry led electronic product recycling program in the world.  It is funded voluntarily by handset manufacturers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics Australia, Sony Ericsson, LG Electornics, Sharp, NEC, Panasonic, i-Mate, battery distributors Force Technology and mobile phone network service providers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile and AAPT.  Each pay an advance recycling levy raising 42 cents for every handset they import into Australia.


What can be recycled
Over 90% of the materials in mobile phones can be recovered and used as raw materials for new products.

• Batteries include nickel to make stainless steel and cobalt and cadmium to make new batteries.
• Circuit boards include small amounts of gold and silver that is used in jewellery and other applications.
• Handset housings and casings include plastics that are shredded and used to make fence posts and pallets.
• Accessories include plastics and metals that are shredded, sorted and then used to make new plastic or metal products.

Mining versus recycling
One tonne of mobile phone circuit boards can yield the same amount of precious metals as 110 tonnes of gold ore. 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore and 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore.  See what the materials from old mobiles can be turned into.

Why recycle?

• prevent pollution and protect our environment
• minimise solid and hazardous waste going to landfill
• recover resources to manufacture new products
• reduce the need to use raw materials and save our natural resources

Number of collection/drop off points
Over 3,500 collection points Australia wide including

• Nokia Care and Motorola One Service Centres
• Mobile Phone Retailers - Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Crazy Johns, Fone Zone, Allphones, Dick Smiths and Harvey Normans
• Cartridge World stores
• Battery World stores
• Almost 300 local councils
• participating ANZ and Sydney Credit Union branches

Click here to find your nearest collection point.

Recycle by post
Free recycling satchels are now available from participating Australia Post outlets nationwide. Alternatively you can download a reply paid mailing labelling.

Convinced?  I certainly was, and was guilty of having more than one old handset laying around in drawers.  At least I had the common sense not to throw them into landfill.

So here are the phones and the recycling satchel that I picked up.  You can only put one phone and related accessories into one satchel.

 After about 2 minutes work, here they all are ready to post tomorrow.

I was gob-smacked when I found out that there are 21.2 million subscribers in Australia (June 2009).  So that is roughly one phone for every man, woman and child in this country!  There were approximately 7.86 million handset imported into the country last year, with only 806,000 were recycled last year, and to make matters worse, the average user upgrades handsets every 18-24 months.  There must be so many handsets either thrown into landfill or squirreled away in drawers, forgotten and collecting dust. 

So round up your old handsets, take them to a collection point, or get a satchel from your participating Australia Post office.  Not only will you be avoiding potentially hazardous landfill, but you will be saving resources and preventing habit loss from the mining of the minerals required for the phone components.

Win win all around, and it is FREE.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Sustainable Living Festival - 2010

Sustainable fun in the sun.  What a great day, as it is every year.  Unfortunately it was so hot that is was quite uncomfortable in the tents where the talks and workshops were held, but we battled on.  If it was a bit cooler, we probably would have stayed longer and checked out a few more presentations.  Not to worry, it was all good clean and free fun for all the family.  Here are some snippets of our day.  Enjoy!





If you are in Melbourne it is also on again today.  If you have the time, I highly recommend a visit to the Sustainable Living Festival, even if it is just for the food!

Two Years Young

I missed it!  February 13th, 2010 was this blog's second aniversary.  What a great couple of years it has been and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing down and sharing my adventures and experiences with you all so far.

I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that in the time since my awakening in 2006, that I would have adopted the following roles;

A urban farming fanatic,

An irrigation specialist,

A cheese maker,

A carpenter and builder,

A chicken whisperer,

A soap nut,

A baker,

A stockpile specialist,

The CEO of a Solar Power Station,

A locavore,

An evironmental activist,

A writer,

A leader, and

The happiest man on Mother Earth.

As a project, The Greening of Gavin is still far from complete, and living a sustainable lifestyle just gets better, every single day.  I treasure everyone's participation via comments, and readership has grown from a humble 3 per day in the first month, to over 300 per day on average.  Not a large readership I know, but a friendly and supportive one to say the least.  With over 67,000 visits and 105,000 page views, my visitors come from all around the globe to follow my adventures, due to the miracle of the Internet.  Talk about reaching out and touching someone.  I started to read over it myself today, and could not believe the amount of information stored in these pages.  Maybe I should write a book, but I suppose that has been done to death now.

So, on that note, I will leave you with a simple quote;

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. - Francis Bacon

Starting the Transition Decade

As I mentioned in the post titled "Transition Decade 2010-2019", this next 10 years will be one of rapid change, bad change if we choose the wrong path and proceed on with business as usual behaviours and bury our heads deeper into the sand, or a fantastic transformation of our society if we choose to get back in tune with our home, Mother Earth.

To learn a bit more about the changes necessary for the good type of change, my sister and I went along to the Transition Decade Launch (www.t10.net.au) held at Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday.  It promised to be an action packed programme of enlightening speakers who could assist in articulating the events and actions required in the next decade to lower GHG emissions to a safe level, lower consumption and tackle the effects of a growing population, whilst all along transforming our economy from growth at all costs to a sustainable one.  If the crowd gathered in the massive auditorium was anything to go by, expectations were high.

They certainly delivered the goods.  Even this middle aged neo-hippy zombie was moved and educated by what the speakers had to say.  Of particular interest to me were the words spoken by Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne (Tas).  She openly stated that the two major political parties in this country and the US, UK and Canada were so alike in their policies and were hell bent on an economy based on unlimited growth.  For unlimited growth to be a reality, you need unlimited resources, however, our Earth has hard limits which we are quickly reaching.  Ever dwindling resources poses a major problem, not only for the way these politicians act and think, but for all of us on Mother Earth.  Even though this was not new information for me, it was very encouraging to hear this from an Australian Senator.  Normally they are full of hot air like most politicians.  After her oration the crowd burst into rapturous applause.  The truth has never been told so well.  I was also impressed that she only mentioned her own party by name once at the end, and that she portrayed an air of deep belief in the message she had just delivered.  I wish I had have taken my camcorder as Senator Milne was truly inspirational.  I believe that my sister now has a new idol!

The other speaker that got my undivided attention was Cam Walker, the National Liaison Officer for the Friends of Earth Australia.  He talked about our society and its unrelenting drive towards conspicuous consumption and consumerism, and that happiness is found within and not in the form of the latest gimmick or thing.  We only require a certain amount of material possessions to make us happy like food, water, adequate shelter, clothing and love to name a few.  Once at a certain level, accumulation of more stuff leads to unhappiness and cognitive dissonance in the form of 'must keep up with the jones', but hate the credit card debt'.  He also delivered a message that I was familiar with, but needed to hear it from someone else to confirm that I wasn't going crazy!  All of the other speakers were great as well, it was just that I had heard their messages before.

It went for three hours, but it certainly did not feel like it.  The comic relief in the form of the T10 airways crew was hilarious and we all had to fasten our sense of humour for the duration.  This act was seriously funny and livened up the proceedings.  Transition can be a dry subject, but not when the T10 airways are around.

We left at about 3pm, and headed towards Fed Square when I had parked the car and showed Sis where the Sustainable Living Festival was going to be this weekend.  She was suitably impressed, but abnormally quite.  On the way home, I knew that all the new information she had just received was being deeply processed, so I slipped on the Pulse album by Pink Floyd as thinking music, and let her think things through.  I was there for her if she needed clarification on anything.  We arrived home, and Sis was still in deep thought and tried to convey what she had learnt to Kim.  Kim is a good listener and although she has already had her green epiphany via listening to me, she helped Sis through the process of enlightenment and understanding.  I sat in the background waiting for the call which did not come.  We are all looking for this weekends activities at the SLF!   For another perspective of the launch from my sisters point of view, have a look at her post, "It's Happening Part 2".

I have included a short video that was played at the launch, so that you can understand what the event was about.  Enjoy and have a great, green week!

A Very Italian Weekend

Ever since last Thursday, Italian food or better put, the preparation of a Mediterranean diet has been occupying the house of GOG.

Another batch of Pesto was whipped up by Sis and I on Thursday afternoon.  We had to wait until after the thunderstorm which dumped 35mm in an hour to abate before I ventured out into the veggie patch to harvest the three remaining basil bushes.  I respected nature and didn't want a bolt of lightning to ruin my life. We spent the next hour stripping all the leaves and filled up a 3 litre bowl.  Kim Sis and I, all working for our dinner!  What a way to muster up an appetite.  We then had to wait for the electricity  to come back on so we could make the pesto in the food processor.  Sometimes I wish we had a mortar and pestle to by pass the need for a blender.  We managed to make four meal sized portions that would serve 4 people with each portion.  The first batch was mild so that Ben would eat it, hoever the second batch accidently had more garlic and even a rouge dried chilli.  Very nice indeed. I cooked up some locally made penne, topped with two generous tablespoons of pesto on each bowl and sprinkled on some finely grated Pyrenees with green peppercorns.  It was a wonderfully simple, yet tasty meal.

We finished off the evening with the company of my friend David, as the Sustainable Living Group were scheduled to have a movie night at my place showing "No Impact Man", but unfortunately, most of the trains from Melbourne were cancelled so many member rang and gave their apologies.  Not to worry as the wine and conversation began to flow and a fun time was had by all.

Friday.  Work.  Need I say more, uneventful but mentally draining.  That evening we had a fish bake with garlic potatoes, tomatoes and celery from the garden topped with salsa.  Kim had excelled in the kitchen as always.  All finished off with some home made mint choc-chip icecream.

Saturday.  Busy, busy, busy.  Off early to Bacchus Marsh for fresh produce where I scored a 10 kg box of local tomatoes for $10.  They were overripe, and just what I needed to make passata.  We also bought some more cider vinegar and other local fruit like plums, peaches and strawberries.  All are near the end of their season, so I am starting to buy in bulk and preserve and make jam.  I then took Sis, Kim and Ben on the cooks tour of the area, and even saw parts of the Marsh that I had never been to.  On the way home I stopped at Merrimu reservoir, which used to be the sole water supply for Melton.  Even I was shocked by the sight of the current level of water.  It was nearly bone dry, however I found out later that the water company had taken the drought as an opportunity to increase inflows into the creek on the other side of the dam wall and to effect repairs at the same time.  Not that I think that the reservoir will ever be at previous levels again.  It is a good thing that we are now connected to the main Melbourne water supply by pipeline as our taps would have been blowing out dust long ago.

Home again and after a quick lunch consisting of anti-pesto, in the form of home baked wholemeal bread, Basil pesto, three types of cheese (Shaved Parmesan, Stilton, and PepperJack), my pickled onions, cherry tomatoes, and olives.  It was a delicious spread an mostly home made or grown in my garden.  Here is some of the Parmesan that I finely grated and is now stored in the freezer for when the occasion warrants its use.  It smells better than the bought stuff.

Then it was off to work in the kitchen.  After studying my cheese book, I decided that I would give Romano a go.  I won't go into the process, but suffice to say it is very similar to making Parmesan except that you use whole milk in Romano and semi-skimmed in Parmesan.  The Romano should have a richer flavour than Parmesan with a softer texture.  It still has to mature for the same amount of time, so I will be leaving it in the cheese cave for about nine months as I did with the Parmesan.

I walked Sis through each stage of the cheese making process, from sterilisation to pressing, explaining the tricks that I have learnt along the way.  I even tried to show off and use the whey to make ricotta, however my plan backfired because I forgot that because the curds had been cooked at a higher temperature than a normal hard cheese there was not much milk solids remaining in the whey.  Basically there was about 2 tablespoons of ricotta at the end of the process which I gave to the appreciative dogs!

Once the cheese was in the press at about 1630, I turned my attention to the box of tomatoes.  I found a passata recipe that called for 1.5kg of fruit so I quadrupled the quantity.  I peeled 6kg of tomatoes in two batches after immersing the fruit into boiling water for 3 minutes.  The skins came off easily but it was time consuming.  An hour later, all the waste was disposed of into the compost bins and the tomatoes were in a large stainless steel pot (8 litres).  Here is the method that I used to process the passata.  I have listed the ingredients in their original quantities:

Passata

1.5kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste

Place all the ingredients into a large stainless steel pot and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour uncovered, stirring every 15 minutes.
Blend in batches until puree or use a stick blender in the pot.  Return to the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until thicker.

Pour into sterilised bottles/jars, seal, and water bath for 25 minutes at 93C.  Label and enjoy during winter when tomatoes are a distant memory.  The added vinegar increases the acidity of the tomatoes to stop botulism.

When quadrupled, this produced 7 x 700ml bottles of passata which should last for a few months.  I am hoping to score another box of tomatoes to process this weekend as we us a lot of tinned tomatoes in our cooking.

In between all this activity, Kim whipped up dinner which consisted of a jacket potato topped with butter, home made cheese, garden fresh cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and celery.  This type of meal has become the fast food in our diet when we don't have much time or couldn't be bothered with anything to elaborate.

That's about where the Italian food finished for the weekend.  Sunday, I cooked onion bhajhi and chicken Rogan Josh then Chickpea curry on Monday night.

But what a great few days of gastronomic delights and it was rewarding to share it with family.  To get a different perspective on the first few days of my sisters visit check out her post titled "It's Happening".

A Strange Feeling

Today, my main post is over at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op and is titled Cognitive Dissonance.

It is a rethink and rewrite of a story that I posted last year when I was experiencing a minor eco burnout!  My head certainly wasn't in the right place, and all I could see around me was doom and gloom with no-one doing anything about it. I believe it is a far better post because of my experience.

I am glad to say that I am well past that stage of my journey, and have come to believe that there is hope in all situations, if we choose to search for it.  I would rather spread a message of hope and happiness than one of despair and suffering.  Our future is what we want to make it, and we can change the world for the better and protect the environment for all creatures, great and small.

Gav

Now Back To Regular Programming....

Sorry for the absence.  I have been having so much fun catching up, showing my sister around, and taking her to eco events, that I really haven't had much time to write over the past few days.

Just as an example, we made Pesto on Thursday night, made Romano Cheese on Saturday, and travelled to the Transition Decade launch on Sunday!  In between, I managed to make 7 jars of passata, cracked open a 9 month old parmesan (yum), and cleaned out the chook house on Sunday afternoon.

What a busy but fruitful and fun weekend!  I will write more about it over the course of the week.

Gav

Very Excited!

Finally, I get to see my Sister tomorrow.  It has been quite a few years since I have seen her.  In fact, I don't think she has been to visit me in Melton, ever, but that cannot be helped under the circumstances.

We will be keeping her busy on weekends with lots of sustainable living events in Melton and around Melbourne.

Tomorrow night, we have a screening of No Impact Man for the Melton Sustainable Living group.
Sunday is the Transition Decade Launch at the Melbourne Town Hall.  See www.t10.net.au for more info.
The weekend after (19-21 Feb), we will be visiting the Sustainable Living Festival at Fed Square.  festival.slf.org.au

I will show her how to make cheese, clean out the chookhouse, and generally keep her busy in the garden (not that there is a lot to do except harvest).

That should keep her occupied for a while, and while I am at work, Kim will keep her active making jewellery and doing craft.

What more could a Miss 40 ask for!

Addendum: 11th Feb - The gloss has been taken off the excitement a little.  Kim is having mobility problems, so I am glad Sis is coming so she can help out.

The Power of Chook

Is there no stopping the broodyness of my two little Pekin Bantams, Pippa and Poppy?  Apparently not.  For the second time this year they have decided that they want to be mums again.  So it was back into Coventry / The Cooler for both of them, in the attempt to make them as uncomfortable as possible so that they snap out of the habit and start laying again.


I figured out why they started this time around.  It coincided with a big egg day.  Every chicken, bar one, laid an egg.  There were four in one nesting box and three in the other.  As it was a very hot day, Kim did not check on the girls at lunch time like she normally does due to fatigue.  The eggs didn't get collected until I got home at 6pm.  Much to my surprise I found both little ladies warming up each clutch of eggs, rolling them over every so often to heat them evenly.  I watched them for a little while to check out what they were up too, and they were definitely settled in for the duration.  They were most upset when I turfed them both out of the boxes and stole their supposed "babies".

Last Thursday morning, Kim called me to let me know that they were at it again and that she was too scared to nudge them lest they peck her. I suggested that we buy some fertile eggs and move the clucky girls to isolation to let them hatch.  I was quite serious, but Kim was not impressed.  "Too much hard work", she said.  "But Ben would love it", I replied.  "You would have to remodel the run", she added.  I stopped, thought, and then replied, "Lets not get any fertile eggs!"  Maybe later.

I let the little girls out of isolation on Saturday afternoon, which may have been too early.  They rushed straight back into a nesting box.  So, I gathered them up and put them back into the cage.  Another night would not hurt them.

7am Sunday morning, all of the chickens were quite vocal, with the bantams making the most racket.  I let the little ones out into the front run with the other hens where they all waited for me to serve up breakfast for them in the back run.  No sooner had I opened the flap on their house, they all stampeded to the feeder, including Pippa and Poppy.  Great, they have snapped out of it, I thought to myself.  I continued to check on them during the day, making sure I collected the eggs regularly so as not to give them an excuse to continue their broody ways.

One final head count before lock up for the night around dusk and we were two chooks short!  Lo and behold, the two bantams were back in the nesting boxes, sitting on imaginary eggs.  I turfed them off, they jumped onto a perch and I let Kim know what was going on.  "Back to Coventry tomorrow?", was her question.  I agreed.

Yesterday morning, the naughty little ladies were back in the nesting boxes settling in for the day, or so they thought.  I scooped them both up, popped them in the isolation cage and gave them fresh water and food.  They are still in there today, with an estimated release date of Thursday evening or until their combs turn red again.

These beautiful little hens have such a powerful motherly instinct, and they are so bloody determined to hatch eggs that are just not theirs.  The other hens really don't know what all the fuss is about, as this instinct has been breed out of the ISA Brown.  I like the bantams determination and grit.  In a weird way they remind me of me!

Soap Central

Well, Saturday and Sunday were huge.  There was more soap in the house than a season of Young and the Restless!

The day started something like this.  Up early to do my morning jobs.  Fed the chooks, cleaned the pool, harvested more tomatoes, refilled the water butts from the main tanks.  The light rain we had on Friday helped fill the tank by another quarter.  Then off to the dentist for more root canal work.  It was harmless, and after 30 minutes in the chair, it was down to the library to drop off some books.  A quick drive to the feed shed and a few bags of chicken feed later, it was off home again.

Kim was up by now (0830), and we began to write up the items needed to refresh the stockpile.  That took about an hour to complete, but we are now well supplied including ingredients for the afternoons activities.

The plan for the afternoon was to make soap, lots of it.  We had an order from an  friend for 50 bars.  She didn't care if they worked properly (they do), just that they were home-made and smelled nice.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!  Castille soap was the easiest to make with minimal ingredients.  Olive oil, lye, water and fragrance.  I checked SoapCalc to see how much water and lye I needed to add to the 2kg of olive oil.  Then I put the goggles and rubber gloves on, and began to play with my big boy chemistry set.  It took me back.  I had a great chemistry set that Dad bought at the sale yard when I was a kid.  I was always blowing up something!

It took me about 40 minutes to produce a large batch of soap.  We chose two fragrances to add and a little yellow colour to tell the batches from one another.  Frangapani in one lot, and Coconut and lime in the other.  We used some small plastic storage boxes as moulds as there were just the right shape and size and well greased with cooking oil spray.  Kim and I worked as a team with me doing the main ingredients and Kim adding the colour and fragrances.  We even managed to stop mixing at the right moment so that I could pour the trace into each mould.  Happy with our achievement for the day, we wrapped the moulds that held 40 bars of soap in towels so that they cooled down slowly overnight.  The would be ready to release from the moulds in 24 hours.

The next day, we saw that the soap had set and I tried to remove a bar from the mould.  It didn't matter how hard we banged the mould, the soap was stuck fast and would not budge.  Now, because we could not remove the bottom of the mould, the soap was held by suction.

Kim was upset and thought we would have to start from scratch.  Not I!  I did not yield to defeat that easily.  Into the tool shed I sprinted, and out I came with a paint scrapper.  It fit into the individual moulds well.  I worked around each bar and managed to lever them out, one by one.  They were shaped a little like a small banana by the time I had extracted them, but still worth saving.  After all, who likes wasting stuff?  Certainly not me.

About an hour later, I had pried each bar from its prison, and joined Kim at the dinning table, who had already begun to resurrect each bar by hand shaping it into the correct geometry.  This took us a good two hours to hand craft each bar into something that resembled soap and not playdoh.  I kept our spirits up by cracking soap jokes to keep Kim smiling.  Here's one.  What do you call someone who steals soap?  A dirty crook! Ha ha.

We both hoped that the potential buyer would still take them off of our hands, otherwise, I know what everyone is getting for birthdays and Christmas for the next few years.  We can always grate them for soap flakes for the washing machine.  Or, we could sell them for a premium, being rustic and individually hand crafted.  No two are alike, I should individually number them all and charge $15 a bar! 

Looks like we have about two years supply on our hands, as Kim has decided not to sell them, and has purchased 2 x 2kg soap moulds to start again.  I am sure we will have better luck next time.  Now we have 4 more bead boxes for Kim's jewellery fetish, and I am out of pocket for not only the old moulds and materials, but for the new wooden moulds as well.  Bummer.

Another soap star saved from an untimely death, and fun was had by all concerned.  I can't think of a better way to spend time with my lovely wife (well I can, but not fit for this blog).

“The clear layer is glycerin. You can mix glycerin back in when you make soap. Or You can skim the glycerin off. You can mix the glycerin with nitric acid to make nitroglycerin. You can mix nitroglycerin with sodium nitrate and sawdust to make dynamite. You can blow up bridges. You can mix nitroglycerin with more nitric acid and parafin and make gelatin explosives. You can blow up a building, easy. With enough soap, you can blow up the whole world.”

- Chuck Palahniuk quotes (American freelance Journalist, Satirist and Novelist) 

Day 38 - 160km Diet

Lessons learnt:  Don't forget to turn on the main isolation valve to your drip irrigation system before the automatic system turns on!  It took me a little while to figure out why all the vegetables were starting to look a bit tired, and it took me until this afternoon to figure it out.  That is what happens when tomatoes grow over the valve and block it from view.  I forgot to turn it back on after transferring between water butts, and missed two of the watering days that we are allowed from the mains.  I gave the vege patch a big drink from the tank today for an hour, and it looks much healthier.  Water works wonders for gardens.  D'uh Gav.

The other lesson I learnt was that stockpiling tinned food and local eating do not go hand in hand.  I had a dilemma.  I respect the need to stockpile food for hard times, have had to use it now more than once.  However, so much canned food is imported from overseas.  So, I made a decision this week to only stockpile food that was at least labelled as Product of Australia, dried Australian produced goods that store well like beans, or failing that, at least an imported organically grown variety.  It felt like a bit of a cop-out regarding the diet, but I know that it is essential to maintain a store of food that won't spoil and that you can use and cook without the need for electricity or natural gas.

The tomatoes are coming in thick and fast now, with so many vines yet to ripen.  I will be able to preserve (canning) a lot of passata this year for pasta sauces in winter.  Just remember when preparing tomatoes for a water bath that you add in either a little vinegar or citric acid to raise the acidity so that the tomatoes remain safe to eat.  I certainly wouldn't like to introduce botulism into the mix of local fare.

Both Kim and I have taken quite a fancy to mint tea.  I like it hot, but she make a nice iced mint tea every couple of days.   I still have a cup of coffee about twice a week, as we still have some in stock.  I am hoping that before we run out, the tea bushes will be a bit bigger and that I can start making green tea to quench the caffeine addiction.

Making: Ice-cream, yoghurt, dehydrating chick peas, and bread.

Harvesting; Zucchini (will they ever stop?), Tomatoes (bucket loads), Basil, Cucumber, Dried Lazy housewife beans, egg plants, mint for tea, spring onions, chilli, Spanish onions and garlic, average of 6 eggs a day.

Planting; Mint cuttings to keep up with the demand for mint tea. It grows well in pots from a simple cutting, and takes about a week to become established.  Just keep it moist and it will thrive.

Menu for the week.

Day 33 - Tuesday
Breakfast: Yoghurt and apple. 100% local
Lunch: Leftover vegetable curry.  100% local
Dinner: Jacket potatoes with rice, cheese, tomato, cucumber and capsicum.  90% local

Day 34 - Wednesday
Breakfast: Special K (stockpile) with local milk. 50% local
Lunch: Scone, apple and a peach.  100% local
Dinner: Bean patties in a wrap with home grown salad.  75% local

Day 35 - Thursday
Breakfast: yoghurt and peach.  100% local
Lunch: Leftover bean patties with 4 types of cherry tomatoes.  100% local
Dinner: Beef burgers (sliced thinly) in a wrap, home grown salad with pesto.  Home made ice-cream for desert.  60% local

Day 36 - Friday
Breakfast: Special K with milk and yoghurt. 75% local
Lunch: leftover vegetable curry.  100% local
Dinner: Ratatouille.  100% local.  Kim and Ben did not like this much, but I loved it.

Day 37 - Saturday
Breakfast: Special K with milk and yoghurt. 75% local
Lunch: Meat pie.  0% local
Dinner: Chicken curry.  100% local


Day 38 - Sunday
Brunch: Eggs, Bacon, and baked beans.  25% local
Dinner: Jacket Potato with tomato, Pyrenees cheese, cucumber, and mayonaise (stockpile) and home-made ice-cream for desert.  90% local.

Verdict: The maths for this week is 78.8%, which is a little down on last week, but still pretty good. 

Footnote: I don't think we will be having Ratatouille again for a very long time, which is a shame because I just loved the taste.  I have been consulting one of my favourite cookbooks, the cook's companion by Stephanie Alexander, the complete book of ingredients and recipes for the Australian kitchen.  What I like about it is that all the recipes are listed by main ingredient, for instance if you have a glut of zucchini, then you got to Z and find a bunch of recipes that usually have other seasonal ingredients listed with it.   It like the title suggests, it is a good companion for someone who grows and cooks their own food.

Oh, and we just finished watching the movie, Julie & Julia, staring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.  It was a great story.  I laughed, I cried, and could really relate to both the cooking and the blogging!  Both Actors deserve an Oscar for their performance and Meryl has been nominated for this years award. 

Once again, as in the movie, blogging changes lives. I too, have discovered this fact again this week.

Transition Decade 2010-2019

This decade will be the defining moment in human history.  Countries around the world are setting emission reduction targets that will be measured in the year 2020, so that means that a heck of a lot of action has to happen during the next 10 years.  We all have the power within to tackle the biggest issues that are now being presented to the human race, and unfortunately for us, they are all of our own making.

Whether you believe in man made climate change or not, weather patterns throughout the globe are shifting and the planet is heating up.  Dryer and hotter in some places and wetter or colder in others.  Extreme weather events are occurring more often and both poles are melting, the north more so than the south.  There are undeniable facts.  Just visit your meteorological bureau and look for climate change information to check how much the average temperature has risen in your part of the world.  Here is the link the climate variability and change trends at the Bureau of Met in Australia.  This change will affect us all in some way or another.

Climate change aside, we will be forced to deal with other global issues, such as the peak of oil production, population overshoot, water and food shortages, social cohesion, and resource depletion.  Just facing one of these issues is scary enough to deal with but to tackle all of them during the next 10 years and beyond is a daunting thought to say the least.  We will be facing change on a major scale, and this social and behavioural transformation will be felt all over the world, but more so in the so called developed nations.  A shock to the system, more likely!

Currently, the argument is for limited change, but without the loss of our current lifestyle.  Most governments are too gutless to commit to fair and binding emissions targets, and have yet to make the public aware of the other major issues.  I would argue that our current western lifestyle is not all that it is cracked up to be, and it is shallow and destructive.  However, I agree that we can transition to a more sustainable lifestyle without a massive loss of the current paradigm, however many people and corporations are hedging their bets on a series of 'Techno fixes', so that they can continue on with business as usual, for example Carbon Capture and Storage, or Ethanol as a replacement for transportation fuel.  In my humble opinion, I believe that we are kidding ourselves because we are too far down the rabbit hole.  Tipping points may have already been reached in the environment and with population growth.  The gap between the have and have nots widens every single day, and will widen as the price of oil continues to rise.

So what are we to do?  Well, we could just all party like it is 1999, or we can take individual action that becomes a groundswell of larger actions that actually make a difference.  So, lets take my families transition over the last 4 years as an example of what is possible without waiting for the development of a Techno Fix.  We have lowered our environmental footprint dramatically over that period, with a bit of determination, and a bit of research.

All the technologies that were required to assist us in our goals are still available today, and have been for many years.  Solar PV was installed to reduce our reliance on coal fired electricity, and we simply purchased GreenPower for the excess that we could not generate during the winter months.  PV is currently available in many countries with large tax credits or government grants to assist with the costs.  There are also feed-in tariffs available in many states and provinces now that will assist in payback costs of your system.  Same goes for Solar hot water, which has been available for many decades in Australia, but is now only just being fitted as standard to new homes due to building codes.  Wouldn't it be a great leap forward for the planet if the government planners mandate that a small Solar PV system had to be installed on new homes during construction.  We produce 75% of our own electricity and most of our hot water is free with little natural gas being utilised.

Then there are what I call the "NO Tech" solutions.  What I mean is that you do not need any marvellous new technology fix to lower your eco-footprint with any great cost.  Some examples are collecting your own water off of your roof with rainwater tanks or water butts.  Once you have collected some water, then you can plumb to the toilet (or get a composting loo instead), and washing machine.  I personally exclusively use the rainwater to grow and maintain an abundant vegetable garden and fruit garden, all without increasing our consumption from the mains water supply.  Also, through water conservation, we have lowered our household water consumption by about 30%.

The next NO Tech solution is waste handling, and I always cite the 4R's.  Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Not only waste, but all material things or stuff.  We refuse products on the basis of needs or wants, refuse products with excessive packaging, reduce consumption of unnecessary stuff, reuse items we already have or fix them if broken, and if all else fails, we send it off for recycling.  Using this simple methodology we have reduced our landfill waste output by over 75%.  As for food waste, there isn't any.  If we don't eat it as leftovers, the dogs, chickens, or worms eat it.  Any garden waste goes straight into the 3 compost bins that I maintain.

My favourite NO Tech solution is growing our own food.  What joy I get from watching a plant grow from seed and nurturing it all the way to harvest.  To feed the needs of the garden, I use the chicken manure from our 8 hens.  The chickens eat our kitchen scraps, make fertiliser and give us eggs as an added bonus.  Talk about very useful pets!  You can even keep meat birds if you like to supplement your diet, but I personally don't do this as I have a very squeamish wife.

However, the easiest NO tech solution is energy efficiency.  It is so very often overlooked, and not may people realise that by leaving unused appliances on, they are driving demand for electricity generation that is simply not necessary.  In our state of Victoria, which has a heavy reliance upon Brown Coal for its electricity generation, each kilowatt hour you use equals 1.2 kilograms of CO2-e released into the atmosphere, along with particulate matter and mercury.  So every time you turn off an unused electrical item, you are saving money as well as our atmosphere.

Other NO tech solutions are riding a bike to run errands, buying second hand goods, buying local organically or bio-dynamically grown foods, making things for yourself.  Learn to cook for yourself instead relying on takeaway or process food.  Not only is it more nutritious, but quicker than driving to the golden arches in most towns I bet!  Even these simple acts will make a difference but will not lower your standard of living one little bit.  In fact, I am willing to bet my next zucchini that you will find that you will become a happier person and you will become more aware of the things going on around you.  Now that can only be an outstanding change in lifestyle for you and your family.

So, in conclusion, if my family and I can lower our environmental footprint by actually enhancing our standard of living, then others certainly can do so and embrace the transition neccessary to right the wrongs of the industrial age.  The action we all take this decade will shape the future of life on Earth for time immemorial.  In my view, if we don't change something by the year 2020, then the graceful transition that might have been possible will all but disappear, and only a rapid decline will remain as our legacy.

If you care about learning what needs to be achieved in this decade, and you live in Victoria, Australia, come along with me and some friends to the Transition Decade Launch on February 14th at the Melbourne Town Hall.  For more info, check out www.t10.net.au.  It looks like a great event, and you might just learn a bit more than I have articulated here.  I don't know all the answers, but collectively we do!

A Great Soapy Outcome

Fantastic news everyone!  Remember all of those wonderful comments on my post "Lather Up Folks!", where some of you started a conversation about the damage that the clearing of Indonesian and Malaysian Rainforest for Palm Oil plantations is doing to the habitat of the Orangutan due to western demand for the product.  Well, I received an email yesterday from Yvonne Cowell, who owns Aussie Soap Supply.  I would just like to point out that, I have in no way, received any financial or material gain from Aussie Soap Supply at any time.  I simply want to thank her for a good deed and thought I would share it with all of my readers.

Here it the email, reproduced with Yvonne's permission;

Hi Gavin and Kim,

 

Not quite sure where to start.  I have received quite a few enquiries from your Website - The Greening of Gavin.

 

I would like to say that I've had a look and am very impressed with what you've done here.  Thank you very much for referencing Aussie Soap Supply in your work.

 

I have read your blog, and think that you have done a marvellous job. I have added some information on your comments section for your followers.

 

I'd like to add a few comments for you - (just for your info) this is not on the comments posted.

 

*  You are quite right about Palm Oil.  Unfortunately its been used by soapmakers for years as it is a fantastic oil that aids in producing a harder bar of soap, along with other desirable qualities.

 

But, the use has serious consequences on our environment as you've explained.

 

In response and in an effort to do something myself for our planet - I would like to limit the use of this product myself (ie. NOT USE IT and deter other people).  I will also include a message to people informing them of the consequences of its use, on the product details. So everyone can make an informed decision before purchasing it.

Unfortunately there are many soap makers that do use it and are reluctant to change.  There are plenty of other Oils to use in its place that are a much better choice, in my opinion.

 

The Soap Calculator you've included on your blog - is the one I use and is the best in my opinion, as it basically tells you the qualities your finished soap will have and also the amount of Caustic to use. Other soap calculators tell you the amount of lye to use - but they don't tell you the finished properties which is fantastic if you are not a chemist. (Like me)

 

I feel in the interest of our Planet and our Wildlife and in an effort to do something myself - I am going to change my kit to not contain this ingredient.  The new kit will contain Olive Oil and Coconut Oil and a new recipe to go with it.

 

It is so great that lots of people such as you and me actually "THINK" about the impact their footprint has on our environment.

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing my business as your supplier for this activity and hopefully many more.

 

Talk soon,

Yvonne Cowell

Aussie Soap Supply - QLD

Well, sometimes talk is cheap, however not in Yvonne's case.  She is a lady of action!  Have a look at the contents of the Cold Pressed Soap making kit now!  Don't forget to read all the way to the bottom of the kit page, it is humbling.  I was so impressed that I sent off this reply.

Hi Yvonne,

I just checked out your site and I am humbled!

Thanks for the kind words and for linking to my soap making tutorial.

I have also noticed that you have beefed up the kit.  Kim just informed me that you have included the mould and caustic soda now.  That is probably the only complete CP soap making kit in Australia.  Great work.

Also, on behalf of the orangutans and other wildlife of Borneo and Sumatra, I thank you very much for making the decision to remove the palm oil out of your kit.  If there were more folks like you out there, no one would have to worry about the future of this wonderful ape.  No action is too small as far as I am concerned.

Warm regards,

Gavin

It just goes to show that every small action (i.e. my blog post and decision to make soap) has a consequence, and no action is too small to make a difference.  Thank you so much Yvonne for caring enough to make a positive environmental change.  As I said, if more companies took simple actions like this, the world would be in much better shape.

 

Bob the Office Zombie

Carrying over the zombie theme from my post today at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op, here is some light hearted messages about using your brain in the office. I couldn't stop snickering, because I have met a few people like Bob in my time!  Note: Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental!




Watch Zombies inflitrate your workplace. Don't be like Bob; use your brain, bring a cup or mug to the office.



Watch the further adventures of Bob in the office. Don’t be like Bob, Use Your Brain. Use the tap.



Watch the further adventures of Bob in the office. Don't be like Bob, Use Your Brain. Use Both Sides.

Bob cracks me up, what a character!  Too bad there are people like him in the real world.

Day 32 - 160km Diet

Lessons learnt this week:  Home made icecream tastes fantastic.  Kim whipped it up in her new icecream maker that set me back about $150.  I am such a sucker for home made things, but this was worth the investment.  To the left is the cherry ripe icecream she made for me, from left over cherry ripes from Christmas and local ingredients.  We still have treats left over from the festive season, so thought that it would be a shame to waste them.  From what I have seen, making icecream is very easy.  Local milk and cream, sugar, a drop of food colouring, so essence, and some chocolate bits.  It was the best icecream I have ever tasted, and that is not just because my wife made it.  It was only about 60% local, but much better and cheaper than the store bought stuff.  I figure that we will only have to make about 20 litres to break even, then it is savings from there on in.  We can make it for about $3 a litre, which is a lot cheaper than the gourmet varieties you can buy these days.  Nice one honey x!

We still have a lot of fruit left over from last week, so before it goes off, I will be making some more jam during the week for the winter.  It is very easy to make, especially when you use the breadmaker!

We also have quite a supply of meat products in the freezer and find that because we are eating much more vegetable based dishes, we are only slowly eating through the supply.  Mind you, I can't wait to get some Bio-Dynamic meat from Queen Vic markets in the city!

I visited the Melbourne Information centre at Federation square today to see if I could find some more local food producers.  Well, I found lots of brouchers from within my food zone that have small food producers in them.  I will be scouring through them for our next outing on the weekend.  We will make it through this week without any purchases, but by Saturday we will be running out of fruit.

I have cheated a bit this week as we had a farewell lunch for one of our team members at work.  There wasn't much local on the menu, but as Barbara Kingsolver states in her book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" when locals saw them eating in a restaurant, they would behave as it they'd caught the cat eating the canary.  She explained to them, "We're converts in progress, not preachers.  No stone tablets."  Well that was kind of how I felt, because all my work colleagues know that I am on this challenge, and typically Australian, they took the mickey out of me!  By the way, I finished reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Our year of seasonal eating" yesterday.  It was a great read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the humour in it.  She is a very good writer, and I learnt so much from it.  I will be taking it back to the library tomorrow, so if any locals in my area want to borrow it, I highly recommend this entertaining book.

The pesto was a delight to make and the taste really surprised me. It was so easy to make.

Making: Pesto, Caerphilly cheese, pita chips, icecream, yoghurt, frozen yoghurt, and bread.

Harvesting; Zucchini (of course), Tomatoes (finally), Basil, Cucumber, Dried Lazy housewife beans for soups, egg plants, mint for tea, spring onions, chilli, spanish onions and garlic (harvested in early January), average of 6 eggs a day.  We had to sell two dozen eggs, because we just can't eat them all!  The lettuce has all gone to seed with the hot weather, so I have planted some more which should be ready by next weekend.

Menu:


Day 26 - Tuesday
Breakfast; Greek Yoghurt, with Vegemite toast.  100% local
Lunch;  Sandwiches with Bread & Butter cucumbers.  100% local
Dinner;  Leftover frozen ravioli toasted sandwiches.  80% local


Day 27 - Wednesday
Breakfast; A peach and a nectarine, with a ramekin of yoghurt.  100% local
Lunch;  Farewell Lunch.  Roast Duck and Porchini mushroom risotto. 0% local
Dinner;  Jacket potato with salad.  90% local

Day 28 - Thursday
Breakfast; Rice bubbles with milk from within zone.  50% local. 
Lunch;  Leftover home made vegetable curry. 100% local
Dinner;  Omelettes.  100% local. 

Day 29 - Friday
Breakfast;  Home made scone, with a nectarine.  100% local

Lunch; Vegetable soup.  100% local

Dinner;  Roast Chicken drumsticks.  Free range chook, with garlic potatoes and tinned peas and corn from stockpile. Desert; home made icecream.  80% local. 

Day 30 - Saturday
Breakfast;   Home made yoghurt and a slices peach mixed in, plus 2 cups of mint tea.  100% local
Lunch;  Home made cheese scones with a slice of tomato.  100% local

Dinner;  Vegetable satay with noodles.  10% local


Day 31 - Sunday
Brunch;  Buffet breakfast of egg & bacon muffins, fruit and champagne.  approx 30% local. (a guess as I thought it was rude to ask)

Dinner;  Fettuchini with Pesto.  Local pasta, home made pesto.  90% local


Day 32 - Monday
Breakfast; Yoghurt.   100% local
Lunch;  Vegetable curry.  100% local
Dinner; Jacket potatoes with Spanish onion, tomato and cheese.  All from local sources or home grown.  100% local.

The maths this week comes in at 81.5% from 20 meals.  To supplement in between meals, we usually have a scone, or a piece of fruit.  That way we are not feeling hungry or ravenous.  Our meals are of ample size and I always feel full afterwards.  Eating locally doesn't mean you have to starve yourself!