Withholding Frustration

With all the media attention today about yet another tour of Australia by that climate denying clown Lord Monckton, I was going to write about post about his presentation and how he has fabricated and cherry picked data to put across his point of view which opposes view and peer reviewed findings of the overwhelming majority of climate scientists around the world.

However I will not belittle myself to stoop as low as him and his ilk, including the sponsor of his tour, mining magnate Gina (I've got a bazzilion dollars) Rinehart.  I wonder if the term 'vested interest' gets a mention in his presentation at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle tonight.  It should be one hell of a show, with a hostile audience expected to attend. 

Instead I will post a video that totally debunks the Loony Lord's so called facts that he so often likes to present here in Australia. 





I dare say that there will be more crap in the Murdoch media tomorrow, especially the Australian and the likes of Andrew Bolt, but not to worry, because I don't read their trash anyway.

For tomorrow night and over the weekend, I have cheese to make and a chook house to build.  I have no time for this action stifling debate. Just get on with it and enough said.

Chicken Nipples

I have always wondered if chicken's had nipples, and now I know that there is such a thing.

Hard to spot aren't they.  I think so as well.  Luckily there is no such thing on the actual hen.  So here are some cows nipples for those who thought they were duped!

 
Well I was not exactly telling porkies when I mentioned chook nipples, because the other day I bought some.  In fact, I liked the look of them so much that I bought two bags.  The bloke I got them from was also trying to sell me a bridge!

These so called chicken nipples are a commercial watering device that you clip on to 25mm pipe so that chooks can drink fresh water all day long.  Our chooks have a habit of mucking up their water and we have to change it twice a day, and can't leave them for more than a day.  It works via gravity feed from a water barrel, and the hen puts her beak to the stainless steel tip and has a drink.  Nice and apparently it doesn't take them long to figure it out.

Further big news.  I have a big chicken house construction underway that Kim, Ben and I started on the weekend just past, which I am not quite ready to show you all.  Suffice to say, it is going to be the Taj Mahal of hen houses, with its own sustainable water supply and secure enclosure for the large chooks.

I am so excited, and can't wait to finish it this weekend, with just the roof and the wire to go!  Rock on Saturday.

Re-usable Coffee Time

Yesterday morning I received a pleasant surprise.  This surprise was in the form of a random act of greenness, not by myself, but by someone who I believe that I may have influenced over time.

This person was Kate the coffee lady.  Kate, who owns the tiny kiosk at our local railway station, makes the best Caffé Latté this side of Melbourne.  I partake in this wonderful beverage each morning to help kick-start the day, and sure, it is not very green, but I consider it one of my few vices.  I bring my own cup, so I don't add to the mountain of disposable coffee cups that get dumped into landfill each year.

So Dear Reader, let me paint you a picture.  As I walked to the counter, I began to give my order.  Kate yells out, "There he is!" in quite a loud voice.  I began to notice that many others began to stop and look my way, and she continued with "This green man brings his Keep Cup every day, and now there are two of you."  To my surprise there was a re-usable cup under the coffee machine already.  I gave the proud owner a wink and a nod for being so thoughtful, then Kate proudly stated in a booming voice, "From now on, I am going to take 30 cents off the price for those people who bring their own clean re-usable coffee cup!"  Startled, I thanked her, took my coffee, and looked forward to my next cup hoping that this trend would catch on.  

This morning, I talked to Kate to confirm that she was still okay with the discount for a BYO cup.  She said that she had talked it over with her hubby (must be a part owner) and they agreed that it was the right thing to do.  Less waste into the environment, less cost to her business, and an incentive for others to bring their own re-usable cups.  I told her that it was a fantastic decision and that I loved her work!

So as I sat sipping on my coffee from Kate the coffee lady, I smiled and felt warm from that simple act of greenness.  It feels good in the knowledge that by leading by example (it only took 18 months), I am helping others to make a difference. Now all I have to do is coax her into buying organic & fair trade, but that is another challenge.

Farmhouse Cheddar with Peppercorns

After such an ordinary day at work on Friday, I decided that it would be a great idea to start the weekend off with a bang and make cheese.  I picked up 16 litres of milk on the way home from the train station, kissed Kim, ate dinner, then got stuck into my favourite hobby.  Cheese making!

Now to make things more interesting, and to save time and effort, I have decided to expand production by purchasing a new pot.  Usually, I make a kilogram of cheese from 7.6 litres (1 gallon) of milk, so I bought a 15.1 litre pot so that I could simply double the recipe and make two 1kg rounds in the same time I normally make one, and all in the same pot.

It is a beauty and I picked it up for $15!  The only problem is that whoever made this pot couldn't count.  It only held 14.8 litres of milk and there was no way that I could have fitted in another 300ml.  Anyway, I figured that it would make enough curd to fit in two cheese moulds, which may have been a bit of a problem if I hadn't have purchased an additional cheese press.

I purchased the press from from Green Living Australia and it arrived in 2 days.  Luckily I had planned ahead and ordered it earlier on in the week about the same time I bought the large pot.   The press also came with a 50lb spring, and a 1kg cheese mould and follower.  I was all set.  I sterilised everything in the pot except the plastic stuff, which I put on a 65C wash through the dishwasher, then sprayed with vinegar.

I set up all my ingredients.  This cheese is very simple to make.

Farmhouse Cheddar

recipe for 1kg
7.6 litres full cream milk
1 heaped smidgen (1/32 teaspoon) Mesophillic direct set starter culture
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 60ml cool boiled water
1/2 teaspoon Calcium Chloride diluted in 60ml cool boiled water (if using homogenised milk)
1 tablespoon cheese salt (non-ionised salt)

Then I set up the sink area.  I sprayed the area with vinegar and wiped it all down with a clean dry cloth.

Here is the method:

Method

Heat the milk to 32C (90F).  Add the Calcium Chloride (if necessary).  Add the starter and stir well.  Cover and let milk ripen for 45 minutes.

Add the diluted rennet and stir gently for 1 minute.  Cover and let stand at 32C for 45 minutes or until you get a clean break.

Cut the curd into 1.25cm (1/2 inch) cubes.  Increase the temperature to 38C (100F) slowly, no more than 1 degree for every 5 minutes.  Stir to ensure that the curds do not mat.  This should take about 30 minutes and the curd will shrink a bit.

Cover the pot and let stand for 5 minutes.  Pour the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander, drain for a few minutes then tie the corners of the cheesecloth into a knot and hang the bag and allow to drain for 1 hour.  The curds need to stay warm so hang at room temperature.

Place the drained curds back in the pot and gently mill into walnut sized pieces.  Mix in the Salt, then pack into lined cheese moulds.

Fold over cheesecloth, top with follower and press at 5kg (10lb) for 10 minutes.  Remove the cheese from the mould, gently remove the cloth and turn, re-wrap, and press for 10kg (20lb) for 10 minutes.  Repeat and press for 25kg (50lb) for 12 hours.

Remove from the mould and air dry the cheese on mats at room temp on a wooden board.  This may take between 2-4 days depending on the season.  Turn the cheese often, at least 4 times a day so that moisture does not collect on the bottom.  When a thin yellow rind has formed, wax the cheese and age at 13C for at least 1 month.  The longer it is left the sharper the taste.

Peppercorns

I added pink and green peppercorns to my recipe.  To modify this recipe, add 1 tablespoon of peppercorns (green or pink but not dried black ones) to 1/2 cup of water and simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain and reserve the water and add the liquid to the milk just before the starter.   At the milling stage, add the peppercorns and mix gently but thoroughly before putting the curds into the mould for pressing.  Press as per the recipe.  I find this adds some zing to this cheese, even though it is wonderful without it.  You will find this has a sharp taste and crumbly texture, which improves with flavour as it ages.

The entire process took about four and a half hours from milk to the last pressing.  Pretty quick for a very tasty cheese.

Maximise Your Solar PV Investment

I wrote this piece yesterday for the Caroline Springs Community Update which is a monthly publication in our shire.  I write a regular column titled "Green Living Tips", and thought it would be nice to share it here as well.  It does specify Victorian information, however the recommendations should apply to most owners who receive a Net Metering Feed-in Tariff.

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I am the proud owner of my very own power station! I have had a solar power system installed since September 2007 and believe that I was an early adopter of this grid connect technology. I have sixteen Sharp 175 watt panels on my carport roof, and a Fronius IG30 inverter which feed in to the National grid. During that time I have generated 14,612 kilowatt hours (kWh), and avoided emitting 17.9 tonnes of CO₂-e. This equates to $3,067 in savings at the present electricity tariff of 21 cents per kWh. Nice stats and it has gone quite a way to paying for itself already.

As we live in Victoria, we are lucky to be paid the Premium Solar Feed-in Tariff of 66c per kWh for every kilowatt hour we export to the grid via a Co-generation Smart Meter. This is what is called a Net Metering scheme as you only get paid for the electricity that you export above and beyond the amount you consume in your home from the solar PV system first. The other type of scheme is a Gross Metering scheme where you get paid for all the electricity you generate. Unfortunately, this scheme is only available in the A.C.T., so we are stuck with Net Metering in Victoria until a national Feed-in Tariff is announced.

Most of our homes electricity usage is during the night after sunset, because I want every single watt of electricity that I generate to be fed back into the grid during the day, so that I get paid the premium rate. Common sense really. To maximise your return on investment you need to use the least amount of electricity during the day so that the excess is fed back into the grid. Here is a more detailed explanation:

My pool pump only runs at night, as does the washing machine, iron, and dishwasher which are all the heavy energy demanding appliances and pumps we own. We buy 100% Green Power to help with carbon neutrality, which only costs me 25c per kWh, and we try not to use the day time power generated by my Solar PV system which is worth 66c to me.

For instance, if it was a sunny day and I generated 10 kWh, and I used 10 kWh during daylight hours I would mostly be drawing that electricity straight from the solar PV system because my home would use it first. There is none spare to export. Therefore, I would be ripping myself off by 41c per kWh utilised in the home. If I did this every day it adds up to a loss of $4.10 a day or over a 90 day billing period it adds up to a whopping big $369. This is massive loss as you can see. If I had have exported all of that electricity into the grid over the billing period, I would have been paid a massive $594, and would be probably be in credit on my bill. The way I see it, by using most of our electricity during the night from the grid when I am not generating electricity and feeding as much as I can into the grid during the day, I am still carbon neutral (due to GreenPower) and am simply using the Solar PV system to my financial advantage! There is certainly no crime against that. Being green does pay in the long run.

Just because you may have bought your solar power system to reduce your environmental footprint, it doesn’t mean you can’t get the most out of your investment. I highly recommend that you try and restrict your consumption during the day, and think about utilising the heavy powered appliances at night to maximise your Solar PV investment.

While you are at it, have a think about how you use your electricity. If you practice energy efficiency measures around the home, you will save even more on your electricity bill. Turning that light off in that empty bedroom doesn’t sound too difficult once you get into the habit, and you will save a few bucks as well.

Paid To Be Green?

Two big surprises in the last couple of days.

Yesterday, I had a call from a lady who is a member of the Newport Organic Collective and have been asked to run a cheese making workshop at the Spotswood Community House.  The date is yet to be confirmed but it is a paying gig at $30 an hour and all materials supplied, which will keep the chooks in feed for a month or so.  We will be making Mozzarella and Ricotta cheese during the workshop and I am really looking forward to it.  I better brush up on my Mozzarella skills!

Today, I took a call from Grass Roots magazine, and have been asked to write another story.  Apparently the feedback from readers to the publishers has been great, so I will be writing about what projects are currently going on and what I am planning to do over the next few months.  This is also a paying gig, and the going rate is about $80 per page.

I don't really care much for the money or really need it for that matter, but it is nice to be offered some small compensation for my time and skills.

With several new projects on the go around the suburban farm, like a large arbor in the pool area for grapes (I called in professional help), a new bed and climbing frame for passion fruit, an extension to the chook house, and a clay cob oven in the pipeline over the next few months, I am very excited and thrilled that I have many action packed weekends ahead of me.

That should take the sting of going back to work tomorrow! Sustainable Living has never been so much fun.

Who Loves Porridge?

I love porridge and so do my chickens!  In fact the whole family loves porridge, even the dogs.

Such a versatile breakfast, all full of goodness to start the day.  Rolled oats (or Quick oats) and milk (or water) in a ratio of 2:3 (oats to liquid) and cook until thick.  Kim and I have it with a teaspoon of jam to sweeten it up, and I have an extra dash of milk, but other than that, no other additives.  It is also one of the cheapest breakfasts you can buy. 

The chickens get it straight up and thick which they love.  Here is some pictures of me feeding them some warm porridge this morning.  They just go crazy for it.

Fever pitched excitement amongst the chooks.

They just can't wait to eat it straight from the spoon.

We've got lumps of it out the back.

Line the wagons up in a circle, Pilgrims!

Nice breakfast Mr Man.  You're welcome, Miss messy face.

Don't worry girls, there is lots more.

I just love their messy little faces.

As you can see, they prefer the warm porridge than they do their complete seed mix.  Well, if I was a chook, so would I.  It is full of protien and calcium for making strong bones and eggs and warms up their tummies on a cold, cold morning.

Go for it girls!

Greening Omnibus

Being on long service leave has given me time to reflect upon my life and the green journey that I embarked upon with my family back in 2006.  I go back to work on Thursday to a different world from which I have become used to for the last 9 weeks!  It will be interesting to say the least.

It seems like so long ago when my green journey began, however I know that it has been a fruitful and amusing trip so far, which I believe may not have a final destination.  Not a problem really, because I enjoy what I do and how I live much more than I did before my awakening.  Promoting a sustainable lifestyle seems second nature to me now, and just part of what I do and who I am. I love it.

So when I started watching all of the YouTube movies I had made previously (which some may think narcissistic of me), I felt a wave of nostalgia that I just had to share with you.  I spend quite a few hours cutting and pasting the last few years into a 9 minute omnibus of those enjoyable moments that I have captured on video.  I spent the time smiling and thinking about great times and happy days.  I think you will enjoy what I have put together.




Oh and by the way, this is not my swan song.  I just wanted to do a bit of self refection so that I could focus on when I have come from and where I want to go.

Gav x

Connecting The Dots

I am a fan of Bill McKibben who recently published a hard hitting opinon piece in The Washington Post about the connection between climate change and recent extreme weather events.  I respect his opinion, the way he founded the 350.org movement and the action that this movement has promoted throughout the globe.

He has written quite a few books on the subject of climate change including, "Eaarth", "Fight Global Warming Now", and "The End of Nature" as well as many more.

Besides stating the obvious that the media should stop reporting individual events without correlation to the bigger picture i.e. climate change, the video has a stab at our relationship and obsession with fossil fuel powered energy and that of ever increasing CO₂-e emissions.  It also has a go at the U.S. House of Representatives for their crazy vote against the existence of man-made global warming.  Even Australia's recent floods, droughts and crop failures get a mention amongst other global events.

It is time that we all connected the dots and took a step back to see the bigger picture.  Yes it is scary, and yes, we may have locked in 2°C of warming already (so the scientists tell us), but we can reverse the process if we take strong action now. If you haven't done so already, have a go at lowering your own CO₂-e emissions.  It is as simple as being mindful of those extra lights that you may have left on in that empty room, or buying and using a clothes airer instead of using the clothes dryer, or composting your own food scraps.  There are so many things that individuals can do instead of waiting for governments to act, and you will save a few bucks and our race in the process.

Anyway, a guy called Stephen Thomson took the Bill's opinion piece and turned it into a video.  Here it is, and the message is loud and clear.  Caution, Sarcasm alert!

So what are you waiting for?  Connect the dots yourself and start your sustainable living journey now!

Busy Boy

Have you ever been so busy that it hurts?  Well this week I have discovered that being a lot more active comes with a challenging result.  That is the return of pain!  Thankfully nothing I can't handle, as it is just my body repairing itself.  I feel great other than that little issue.

That aside, I have been working on my favourite hobby of cheese making as you have probably gathered from the last few posts, and doing a fair bit of gardening that I have really missed for so long.

We have been meaning to dig out a tree stump out of the front orchard for such a long time, and thankfully I managed to corerce my daughters boyfriend Jake and Megan into helping me get it out of the ground.  Well to be honest, they did the majority of the work.  It took a good hour to remove the stump but once it was out, the hole was massive, which we gave to the chickens.  They loved picking out the worms.

I have been meaning to get some olive trees into the ground as they dry out so quickly in pots so this was the ideal opportunity to get at least one of the three olive trees that I have into a new home.  I think it will like it there.

Then I removed the chicken wire from around a rosemary bush that I planted in the chick run about a year ago.  I wanted to make sure that it had a well established root system so that the girls would not dig it out.  Once I removed the protection, they found every single worm and weed that had grown around it over the past year.  It was fun to watch them getting stuck into it.

Last Friday, I made a Farmhouse Cheddar.  Here it is drying below.  It is so simple to make that it is a crime not to make another and film a tutorial for you to watch.  That is the plan for this weekend.

Back in late May, I was invited to a friends house to pick some olives that she had an abundance of.  Kim and I picked a big 4 litre icecream container full, and I used a different method to cure these ones.  I made a brine with about 10% salt and soaked the olives for just over 5 weeks, changing the brine once a week.  I started to taste them at the 4 week mark and found that after 5 weeks the bitterness was starting to abate.  Just before six weeks were up, I made up a final 2 litres of brine, added two tablespoons of vinegar and bottled them up as the photo below.  To seal them from the air, I poured over a layer of olive oil, which you can probably make out.  They taste delicious now, but I am going to try them again in two weeks.

So how did my first set of olives go?  Well they were mainly green and so large that I had to put a cut in each one, and I only used fresh water to remove the bitterness.  They taste so good that Ben and I finished off this small jar of olives shortly after this picture was taken!  I am very impressed with the flavour.

On Tuesday, I had the urge to make some Parmesarn after some fruit loop left a comment on my YouTube tutorial saying;

"This is not even Parmesan. Parmesan reggiano is made completely different and it's aged for 2 years. This stuff is crap,don't be cheap and buy the real thing. Even the Parmesan that comes in shakers is low quality."

With my reply being;

• Why don't you get a life? This cheese tastes as good as any Parmesan that I have bought from Italy! When did you visit my house and eat my cheese, you clown?
  greeningofgavin 1 week ago

Quite frankly, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.  Well that is what my Nana taught me anyway!  Provercation aside, the Parmesan is easy to make, and very, very tasty after just 10 months of maturation.  I have left one for 12 months and the flavour improves even more, but because the round is only 1kg, it starts to dry out if you leave it much longer.  I am going to wax this one which is shown just before I added the brine for 24 hours.

Now I have some bad news.  The Camembert that I made recently was a flop.  Because I stored them in the normal fridge to mature, they did not develop their traditional mould rind.  They started to flop and run instead.  I should have put them into the cheese cave for the first 14 days then put them in the fridge to mature further after I wrapped them in cheese wrap.  That is 6 hours down the drain and 8 litres of milk.  Not to worry as the chickens will get a treat over the weekend.  Nothing like a bit of extra protein!  This picture was take about 4 days ago, and they are much worse now.  Think of oozy runny stuff all over the cheese mat.  Yuck, it reminds me of the Blob.  Better luck next time I hope.

Other than all of that, I received a call from a producer at the 60 minutes TV show, who was doing some research about "Where does your food come from".  I helped out where I could, but don't think I will be offered a stop on the show for this story as home grown has been done to death lately on TV on current affairs shows on the commercial networks.

On Tuesday, I sent off our application form to enter our home in Sustainable House Day again this year, which was accepted.  It is being held on Sunday 11th September 2011.  We are planning a big local media campaign this year and hope to double the number of visitors.  Luckly I have lots of willing volunteers to help out as always.

Also, I had an assignment due for my Diploma of Carbon Management yesterday, which I finished off at the 11th hour and presented today (I passed the assignment).  Today and tomorrow I am at Uni doing my next workshop for the diploma.  It was great fun to see all of the other course members today, and the Instructor, Tony actually mentioned that he stumbled upon my blog when searching for information about raw milk, which he now buys for his family.  It is amazing who actually reads this blog, and how it has become a knowledge base for many others to refer to.  It is humbling and flattering all at the same time.

All in all, a very busy boy.  Rock on the weekend!  Oh, I just forgot that I am hosting a Moon planting workshop on Saturday at my house for the MSLG.  My friend Jan (hi mate) is presenting as she is a qualified Permiculture person.  Never a dull moment in this lifestyle!  I love it.

Stilton - The King of English Cheese

I love this cheese.  Stilton, it just has it all.  So creamy, and smooth with that unbelievable blue vein flavour.

This is the fourth time I have make this cheese, and it just gets better and better as I learn how to make it.  I am so confident with my method that I am now able to share it with you all.

Please enjoy my Stilton video tutorial on how to make Stilton cheese.




A good blue cheese, a good red wine and great friends is all anyone could ask for!

Caephilly for Kate

A week or two ago I had a request from my friend Kate in Cygnet (who I interviewed for a podcast) to make some cheese for her, which she would pay for.  When she was visited in the middle of last month she taste tested a few of my favourite cheeses namely, Wensleydale, Pyrenees with green peppercorns and some 11 month old Parmesan.  She loved them as much as we do.  

Anyway, long story short, Kate called me up via skype and has offered to pay me for a cheese and send it via post to Tassie.  We settled on Caerphilly as it is quick to mature, and I made one up for her on Saturday.  Here it is today drying in my cheese alcove before I pop it into the cheese fridge tomorrow (click to enlarge).

I have been so inspired that I also made a Stilton, which I am putting the finishing touches on a video tutorial for, and made four Camemberts on Tuesday which I am going to make a smaller video documenting their progress until they are ready to eat.

Tomorrow, I am going to make another cheese, probably Emmentaler because we are just about to crack open a wheel of it and Kim requested some more of that nice Swiss cheese that I make.   I hope it is holey and nutty just like the last one.

Camembert Video Tutorial

I know it has been a while between drinks, but this one is well worth it.  Camembert, if made correctly can be a very rewarding cheese to make.  It should go well with my quince paste.

Wikipeadia states;

"Camembert was reputedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, following advice from a priest who came from Brie.

However, the origin of the cheese known today as Camembert is more likely to rest with the beginnings of the industrialization of the cheesemaking process at the end of the 19th century. In 1890, an engineer, M. Ridel invented the wooden box which was used to carry the cheese and helped to send it for longer distances, in particular to America where it became very popular. These boxes are still used today.

Before fungi were understood, the colour of Camembert rind was a matter of chance, most commonly blue-grey, with brown spots. From the early 20th century onwards, the rind has been more commonly pure white, but it was not until the mid-1970s that pure white became standard.

The cheese was famously issued to French troops during World War I, becoming firmly fixed in French popular culture as a result. It has many other roles in French culture, literature and history. It is now internationally known, and many local varieties are made around the world."

From experience, Camembert can be a tricky cheese to make if you haven't done so before, so please watch the tutorial for the first part of the process (milk to culturing container).  Over the coming weeks I will make another video updating the progress of this batch as the mould grows over the cheese.




Enjoy!

Planting Salad Greens

As I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, when we returned from the city we planted some seeds.  Here is Ben and I going about the task.

Happy snap!

Filling the seedling trays with seed raising mix.

Ben using the dibber to make small holes for the rainbow chard.

Extreme concentration!

We planted the following together:

• Spinach - Winter Giant
• Rainbow Chard - Pink & Red
• Red Cabbage
• Kale - Chou Moullier
• Spinach - English Medania
• Lettuce - Red deer tounge
• Lettuce - Wild Arugula
• Lettuce - Mesclun Mix
• Lettuce - Italian Lollo Mix
• Lettuce - Yellow leaf
• Lettuce - Freckles Bunte

Hopefully they will grow in the greenhouse as it is quite cold outside for this time of the year.  Once they get started I will pop most of them in the spare garden bed that I have resting at the moment, and the rainbow chard in the bed next to the chook house.

I love it when Ben helps me out in the garden.  Great Father and Son time.

Climate Change Rally Melbourne

Happy World Environment Day trendsetters!

On this sunny day in Melbourne, Amy, Megan, Jake and I attended the Say Yes Australia rally at the State Library on behalf of the Melton Sustainable Living Group.  The event was very well attended, and I hope that it sends a message to the decision makers in Canberra that we want action on climate change right now.  I saw a story on the ABC News which mentioned that it was estimated that 40,000 concerned citizens attended throughout all the rallies Australia wide.  Well done everyone!

Here are a few snaps of our day.  Photos by Megan (click on them to enlarge).

Jake, Amy & I waiting for the VLine train

 

Waiting for the Rally to start.

Inside the Latrobe Reading Room - State Library of Victoria.

Latrobe Reading Room

Unawares shot.

Very Excited to be here!

Behind us.

To the right.

To the left.

Those turtles always turn up to these events!

Love the signs!

We had a great few hours in the city, and I felt so inspired that I had to plant some salad greens seeds in my greenhouse.  Weird I know, but what better way to act than to grow your own food!  Power to the people.

To see what happened at the Sydeny event, visit Sarhn's website "Greener Me".  Nice video Sarhn!

Common Sense Required

With so much political rhetoric and media hullabaloo from opponents of the carbon tax or any such action on climate change, I thought I would let everyone know my thoughts on the current political debate being held across Australia. 

I believe that a good dose of common sense is required to understand the real issues.   A dose of common sense to decipher the media bullshit and political one-up-manship that is being thrust at ordinary Australians every single day in the mainstream media.  A dose of common sense to get back in touch with the reality of it all with the realisation that the furor of anti-climate action is being created by vested interests who choose short term profits and greed over the future of our children's children.  A dose of common sense about the true meaning of not acting on the voluminous amounts of carbon dioxide and the five other greenhouse gasses that we spew into the atmosphere and oceans every day.

As far as I can tell it all comes down to risk management.  We make a choice based on the risk of action or inaction on what we are doing to our home.  Here are the four choices as I see it.

A.  If the majority of scientists are correct and man-induced climate change is happening and we do something about the cause to lower emissions, then great, it was money well spent and we have a future.  No issue.

B.  If the majority of scientists are incorrect and man-induced climate change is not happening, and we still do something to lower emissions, then no great loss, we have a clean planet to live on, species decline may stop and we begin to care about our planet.  Money well spent.  No issue.

C.  If the majority of scientists are correct and man-induced climate change is happening and we do nothing, then we spend no money and we are stuffed.  Changed climate, species loss including our own, and a general shit storm if the IPCC reports are anything to go by.  It's life Jim, but not as we know it!

D.  If the majority of scientists are incorrect and man-induced climate change is not happening and we do nothing, we party like it is 1999 and we spend no money on reducing emissions, we still end up with a shitty place to live with a polluted environment for our children's children.

Our choice is simple.  A nice place to live as in choice A and B, or a shitty place to live as in choice C or D.  The vested interest would like us to choose the latter.  I personally choose A and B, and am doing something about it in my own special way.  Our capacity for inaction in the face of the facts about climate change continually stuns me each day in this country.  It could be all of the media hype, which is hard to avoid these days, but I have weighed up the research and have made an informed risk based decision.

Now because I choose A and B, I will be attending one of the many family oriented rallies being held throughout our great land on Sunday, 5th of June.  Check out the Say Yes Australia video below for more information or click on the link.





This rally is great but lets not stop there. I find that you can influence other at a more personal level.  Think of it like this.  One person starts doing something out of the ordinary (taking waste coffee grounds home from the office for the garden, keeping chooks, turning off their work PC overnight, whatever), and then a whole bunch of other people will start doing it.

It's almost like nobody wants to be the first to go out on a limb, but once that first person has broken the ice, it's suddenly much more socially acceptable for others to do the same.  We really are social animals.

So lets get social and lead by example to tackle it from both angles!

Cover Boy for the Sustainable Living Movement???

To my surprise, the local newspaper decided to put the article that I was interviewed for back in early May on the front page and is the featured cover story for this week.

Here is the front page (click to enlarge);

The featured preserves and cheeses are from left to right; Dried Cayenne Pepper, Brandy Cumquat's, Preserved Apricots, Pickled Jalapeno chilies, Cured Olives, Wensleydale cheese, Pyrenees style cheese, and Parmesan.  Kim has decorated our kitchen with that lovely country feel.

To read the article online, just click on the image below.

The interview was a lot of fun and the article was well written by Meg Sobey. 

What do you think of the article?