Gav's Autumn Patch Update

Someone at work asked me today what I had growing in the veggie patch for winter.  It took me a while to remember, so thought I better post a reminder for myself.  This will also help when I look back on the blog next year to see what I had in the ground about this time of year.

A while back (February I think) I planted some brassicas from seed.  This is a calabrese broccoli being heavily attacked by cabbage moth.  Behind it is a purple cabbage, and some romanesco.

Same broccoli type, right next to the other one that was half eaten, with hardly a bite taken out of it.  I have been picking the caterpillars off each time I get a chance, and have found a bit of a decoy for the moths.  Up the other end of the garden are some nasturtiums that are covered in cabbage caterpillars, so I think the veggies might be getting a reprieve!

The four established citrus are doing well with the Tahitian limes doing the best this year.  The tree is laden with them, as I fertilised well with blood and bone in the spring and kept their pots moist over summer.

The flat-leaf parsley is sprouting up everywhere as weeds, and every time I go past I grab a few sprigs and have a munch.

All of the leeks that I planted from bulblets are doing very well, far in advance of the ones I planted from seed.

There are still a few bunches of spring onions on the go.  Kim pulls a few bunches a week for various veggie meals.  I planted about 12 more bunches from seed that are doing well now that I transplanted the jiffy pots into the bed.

I planted the garlic that I had saved from last year and it is doing very well.  The garlic has been in the ground since 8th April.

Last year I saved quite a bit of broad bean seed, and this is the third season that I have done so.  It is Aquadulce, and grows tall and prolific with white flowers.  The bed was well composted and I should get a bumper crop.

We still have one tomato bush rambling along the deck railing that sprung up in one of the blueberry pots.  We are still harvesting a handful a week for salads.

Remember my little moon planting experiment with snow peas that I started in March?  Well the green tray was planted just after a full moon when you are supposed to only sow root crops, then two weeks later, just after the new moon, I planted the black tray from identical seed stock.  Both trays have identical seed raising mix, and exactly the same amount of water.  The green tray took 7 days to germinate with two of the cells failing to sprout and are weedy and struggling.   However the black tray germinated in 5 days with 100% success rate, and are strong, long and healthy.  It just goes to show with this simple experiment that there is something in the moon planting method.  If all things were equal, the green tray should have been larger than the peas in the black tray as they were planted two weeks earlier, with the opposite being the case.  These peas will go in the bed that I pulled the pumpkins out of (see below).

With the pruning all but done, and only one big old plum tree to go, and most of the crops in the ground except for some spinach, a few more brown onions, and some more leeks, there is not much to do for a few months except pest control and weeding.

Sounds like just the rest I need over winter, so I can tackle the construction of a few more garden beds!   Stay tuned, as Kim gave me a great idea about how to maximise space in the raised walled bed (pictured left).  Just think a big "M" shape with two more beds sticking out from the long wall.  Time to maximise gardening space.

Just on the subject of moon planting, has anyone else tried an experiment like I did with the snow peas?  What were the results, because I am very interested in the subject?

Happy food security preparation, wherever you may be on this big blue/green marble we inhabit!  We are going to need it soon enough.

May all your microbes be fruitful and abundant.

Cheeky Chicken and The Pumpkin Harvest

Yesterday I was clearing the pumpkin patch as it was dying off.  A simple and rewarding task that kept me busy for 20 minutes.  However it took me more like 40 minutes due to this head cold I now have.  All this vine is heading for the compost bin when it shrinks a bit over the next few days.

I had some helpers.  The two bantams were free ranging, so I had a constant companion the whole time I was working.

Jane, the cheeky chicken thought that there might be an opportunity to find some grubs or worms, so she stuck to me like glue the whole time.

She is so cute, and very very cheeky.  If I don't let her and her friend Poppy out at about noon, then she creates such a fuss that it is louder than a dog barking.  She usually gets her way.

I took a moment to step back and see what what she was doing.  She was doing my weeding for me, so I took the time to take this little video to show her mannerisms.  She cracks me up.




Now as for Poppy, she has decided to be clucky, and is sitting on a couple of golf balls to keep her happy.  I have had chooks long enough now to not fuss over the ways of nature.  Just let it be and make sure she still eats and drinks each day. She will snap out if it in a week or two.

 So what was the harvest like? If you compare it to last years harvest it was a lot smaller, but at least 7 pumpkins is better than none.  They are all Australian Butter pumpkins except for one which decided to be a cross between and Aussie Butter and a Turks Turban!  Got to love nature for all her wonderful weirdness.  I suppose that is what you get when you save your own seed.

They are all probably two meal pumpkins, which works out just fine as far as I am concerned.  I did plant them very late this year, in mid December.  At least there will be no forgotten pumpkins left in the crisper growing fungus this year.  Not that there is usually any waste around here, it is just a little bit easier to uses them within a week if they are smaller.  

How are your cheeky chickens, and did you get a pumpkin crop this year?

Those Dreaded Energy Bills!

I just received my latest energy bills, one for electricity and one for natural gas.  However before I reveal all, I have a little story.

A friend recently posted on her Facebook page her latest power bill with a bit of a whinge about the price of electricity.  Her's was modest, so she asked others what their last bill was.  There were some that were below $200 and some as high as $1200 for a quarter.  I was shocked when Kim showed me, as they were blaming everything from the carbon tax (which is yet to start in July, so has no effect yet), to greedy energy companies, and I even saw one person blame those who have installed solar PV on their roofs and the GreenPower scheme!  Not one single person took accountability for their own actions and had tried to conserve electricity through energy efficiency.

I was not surprised about the blame mentality, seeing that the media has been on a bit of a rampage of misinformation lately regarding high electricity prices.  The main reason behind the rising cost of our electricity is that the power distributors are having to replace aging grid infrastructure and expand it for the rapidly rising demand from the residential sector.

In April 2012, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in NSW released their draft report on changes to regulated electricity prices.  The report forecasts an average 16.4% increase in NSW electricity prices as of July 1 2012.  Most other states are predicting similar annual increases.

The report names the predominant drivers for the cost increases as Network costs, Retailer costs & Carbon pricing.  Their report takes into account the Clean Future legislation that comes into effect on July 1st.  The graphic from the report makes it a lot clearer.  

Interestingly you can see that 'Green Scheme's' which encompass various wind and solar programs were shown to have little or no impact on electricity increases. In fact electricity generation costs had dropped by 2% which some people attribute to the "merit order effect" from the growing volume of solar installations which are starting to influence lower wholesale electricity costs.  See, solar is not the culprit for higher prices, but a contributor to lowering the price.

As for the network costs, did you know that for every $1000 split system air-conditioner a home owner installs, our power distributors have to spend another $7000 in infrastructure, a cost that they pass right back on to the retailers and therefore the consumer.

Currently the carbon price does not have an effect until 1st July, so cannot be blamed for the current high prices.  After July, the carbon price is expected to give a 9% increase, however the majority of Australians will be compensated via the scheme, which will more than likely over compensate for the cost increase effect on electricity prices.  You can check what effect the carbon price will have on your household budget at the Clean Energy Future website.

Now I have a simple solution for all of this, and that is to use less.  Not that hard really, and I have been doing and writing about it for years.  So on to my bill for the quarter.

As we are fairly energy efficient, we are currently hovering around 12 kWh per day.  The swimming pool and air conditioning for Kim for this quarter has pushed up the average a bit, but it will go down now we are nearly in winter.  Since we applied for the Premium feed-in tariff, we have been in credit ever since.

This bill is nothing to whinge about and will be the highest for the entire year due to summer.

Yes, that is $223.38 in credit.  We used 1152 kWh from the grid in 93 days, and generated 476.4 kWh.  Like I mentioned, we could have used less, but for air-con and the pool pump.

Now for the natural gas bill.  The price of natural gas has risen as well, and our bills had been quite high.
This bill is for two months usage.  Our retailer has dropped the network fee, and added it into the per MJ cost.

Thankfully is has gone down dramatically.  Have a look at the graph below, and I will explain why.

Our solar hot water service had broke around June last year (we think).  As I wasn't monitoring the bills I didn't notice the baseline rise in energy usage.  Yes, I should have been watching the bills, but Kim is the one that pays them, so I just thought they were as low as they usually were.  However, due to the broken solar hot water service, all of our hot water was using natural gas to heat it.  The solar hot water systems was fixed back in January after two months of service calls, where they didn't really know what was wrong, even though the initial fault was a burnt out pump, they had to replace every electrical component.  The control board was stuffed, as were the two sensors on the tank and the panel.

So you can see on the graph that since it was fixed our gas bills have fallen dramatically, and our daily average is back where it should be!  Our usage is now mainly for cooking.

In summary, if you switch solar for electricity and hot water and do away with fossil fuels, you should never have issues with energy bills again and you will reduce your green house gas emissions.  The only thing you then need to keep an eye on is your own usage, which makes all the difference.

Got to love the Sun!  

Herbal Remedy for Laryngitis

If you just listened to my last post, you won't believe what you are about to read!

Yesterday, I lost my voice.  The virus that Kim had been carrying around for two weeks had finally won and I was suffering greatly in the vocal chord department.  When I woke in the morning, I could whisper and talk slightly, and had a painful cough.

I felt horrible all day, couldn't function very well in meetings and the like, and my boss suggested I go home at 4pm.  So I did, coughing and spluttering all the way home.  After a lovely dinner cooked by Kim, I hit the hay at 8.30pm and slept all the way through till 8am.

My chest felt on fire!  All I could do was croak and grunt, and when I coughed it felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper in my throat.  I called in sick and spent a few more hours in bed.

At 10am, I hit upon the idea of seeing if there were any natural remedy's for laryngitis.  I consulted a book titled "Nature's Medicines", published by Readers Digest, which we picked up second hand off of eBay.  There were a few remedies for sore throats and laryngitis, so I chose upon the simplest one.  A Thyme infusion.  I knew I dried all those herbs for a reason.

I put a couple of tablespoons of dried thyme into my tea mug, added boiling water and let it infuse for 10 minutes.  A wonderfully fragrant and savoury tasting tea resulted.  I drank it down, and still feeling knackered had another sleep for a couple of hours.

I awoke at about 2pm, and something wonderful had happened.  I could talk again, albeit in a deep gruff voice, and it wasn't painful any more when I spoke.  The congestion around my vocal chords had been shifted.  However it still hurt a lot when I coughed.

The book suggested 3 cups per day, and I have had a second cup now, and it has improved a little more.  As for the sore throat, I have been using the juice of one lemon, 1 heaped teaspoon of honey and topped it up with boiling water.  This helps to sooth the throat and make it tolerable.

With another cup of thyme tea before bed, my voice should be nearly back to normal tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!

Does anyone else have a remedy for laryngitis that they would like to share, or even a sore throat for that matter?  Comments appreciated.

Podcast 27 - Sustainable Living Presentation

This podcast was recorded at a live presentation about Sustainable Living that I gave to the Melton Gardening Club on 25th April 2012 before an audience of about 35 members.  

I took Ben along as my assistant, and he really enjoyed himself.  The feedback on our trip home was "Dad, I really liked listen to you talk about the way we live."


After the presentation, I was give a tin of ANZAC biscuits as a thank you which we really appreciated.  There was a Q and A session, but I didn't include that in the podcast because there was just too much background noise which is a shame because there were some great questions.

Here is the mp3 to download

I hope you take the time to listen to this presentation about our journey so far.

Feedback: Titanic Post

I must admit that yesterday's post was quite deep and a little dark, however I had some great feedback at both sites.

Kristy over at See My Footprints in her post titled "But how....exactly?" wrote about planning for the future.  She talked about writing up a plan that would help her start new actions, which was great.

However what really caught my eye was a reply from Linda Woodrow from The Witches Kitchen.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda last year for a podcast titled "Suburban Collapse - Cuban Special Period with Linda Woodrow".  Interview aside, here is her comment posted on Kristy's site:

Linda Woodrow said...

As Gavin's post said, the band often plays on when heading for disaster. People usually only start running away from bad stuff way too late, and then in a stampede that causes more problems than it solves.

But people make their way towards good stuff as quick as they can, using all the wits they have, co-operatively and creatively.

This is the basis of my hope. I don't think we're staring down the barrel of disaster. Or if we are, it isn't going to help focusing on it. Fear paralyses. I think we are at a moment in history with potential like hasn't been seen in a thousand years. It's wonderful and exciting.

It is possible to live a very good quality of life with a minuscule environmental footprint. In fact, it is impossible to live a very good quality of life sucked into the vortex of consumerism. The emperor has no clothes.

I don't know that "a plan" is the answer. I think, like Indiana Jones, it's a matter of making fast good decisions. Looking around, seeing real reality and nimbly picking the opportunities.

We don't need to be martyrs. In fact a few martyrs is counter productive. We only need a small change but from a lot of people, a cultural shift. And that is best promoted by making small, do-able changes that look and feel good.

Wow, that turned into much longer than I planned! Sorry...it just kept coming.

April 25, 2012 8:26 AM

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I agree wholeheartedly, and also believe that we will turn this around.  It will take a while, and people will rush towards the good stuff quickly.  I see this happening all around me.  So many people are changing to a more sustainable lifestyle.  It is certainly, as Linda put it, a wonderful and exciting moment in history!  

Great words Linda.

Yet The Band Played On....

A topical rework of an article I wrote back in 2009.  I recently posted it on the Simple, Green, Frugal Coop.

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Who feels like we are all on the RMS Titanic, sailing full steam ahead, not knowing that an iceberg was about to appear on the horizon?  I know I do most of the time.

The passengers and crew of this mighty vessel were unaware of the fate on its maiden voyage, as are most of the 7 billion passengers also unaware of the fate that awaits the Mothership Earth.  This post is not meant to offend the memories of the Titanic tragedy, but to offer a simple comparison against the events of that voyage, and the plight of our current civilisation and vessel that holds and nurtures us.

There is a strong connection to the RMS Titanic story within our family.  My wife Kim's Great Grandfather, William James Major, was a fireman on-board this ship, and luckily happened to be off-watch at the time the great ship struck the iceberg. Had he been at his post and in one of the boiler rooms fulfilling his duty, his chances of survival would have been slim indeed.  He was one of the crewmen allocated to lifeboat #13, and out of the 2,227 passengers and crew members who set sail, only 705 Titanic passengers and crew survived, him being one of them.  That is a 31.6% survival rate.  There were many factors that lead to the sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage, and I shall attempt to compare some of these events to the apparent chosen path of the passengers of Mothership Earth, if we to continue to maintain our current course and speed.

The Titanic was deemed by many to be 'unsinkable' which instilled a false sense of security amongst the passengers and crew.  The captain,  Edward Smith was a capable seaman and this was planned to be his retirement voyage.  Also on-board were Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line.  Mr Ismay had a point to prove, and wanted to be the first trans-atlantic liner to set a new record crossing time.  The bridge crew and the helmsmen were never really in control of this behemoth of a vessel, but mere puppets as you shall read later.  So it was inevitable that the order from Mr Ismay to the Captain upon setting sail from Cherbourg, was to increase power, and therefore speed for the entire voyage.  So with the course set in, and power and speed increased, with no regard of the safety of the vessel. Yet the band played on.

So, imagine the bridge crew as western governments around the world, and liken the Captain, Mr Ismay, and the powerful owner of the White Star line, Mr Ismay's father as some of the greedy corporations of our current time.  We, my friends, are the passengers and crew of this mighty Mothership Earth.  We have increased power for the corporations, relaxation and comfort for all those who choose to sail on her, and everything we would ever need even if we don't know we actually need it yet.

To the unknowing passengers of the Titanic, some of the lifeboats had been removed to make way for a gymnasium for first class passengers.  This left the ship without a full capability of lifeboats should the unthinkable happen to the unsinkable!  I compare this to our current fossil fuel situation.  Very soon or maybe already peak oil and natural gas production will be reached and there will not be enough supply to meet demand.  Many on Mothership Earth will start to miss out, and indeed many already do, and panic will prevail, just as it did on the Titanic.  Yet, the band played on.

Many ice warnings were sent to the ship during the voyage, in fact 21 warnings including 7 on the day of the tragedy.  As ordered, the Titanic steamed onward at top speed towards the reported pack ice that was drifting down from Greenland.  The two radiomen on-board passed the warnings to the bridge officers throughout the day, and these in turn were passed on to Captain Smith who ignored them, due to the insistence of Mr Ismay.  The radiomen were mostly kept busy during the day sending stock market messages from the wealthy on-board and receiving quotes back from the NYSE.  Even when the radiomen received a signal at 11pm from the steamship Californian, who was 10 miles to the Northwest, to inform the Titanic that she had stopped for the night by ice blocking her way.  One of the radiomen on the ill fated ship sent back a snappy reply, "Shut up old man I'm busy."

So to compare the two, the science community have given us all, including governments, many warnings about climate change and so far have done little to prevent its occurrence.  Governments, corporations and economists are infatuated by continued economic growth to the detriment of the resources supplied on loan to us by Mothership Earth.  We are ignoring our own form of ice warnings including melting global ice caps and the most glaciers around the world.  Quite an ironic comparison really.  It was an iceberg that sank the Titanic and it will be melting ice, heated by our thirst for fossil fuels, that sinks and disrupts the climactic patterns of the Mothership Earth!  We are all so busy trying to get to where we think we should be, we are forgetting about the vessel that carries us on our daily voyage.

As the Titanic sailed through the night, the wealthy upper class dined in opulence before retiring for the night, and the steerage class passed time, reassured by the noise of the engines and flow of seawater upon the steel hull.  A new country and life awaited many of them, all hoping for better opportunities.  Little were any of them aware that the ship was not unsinkable and there was a design flaw in the watertight compartments.  If a certain number of the watertight compartments flooded, there was a good chance that the ship would sink.  What does that mean in our current time period?  We drive our cars, thinking that petroleum products will be available at the service station, that there will be food in the supermarket shelves, and water will run when we turn on the tap.  We live in a disposable culture, only recently discovering the value of recycling in the western world.  Opulence in the west, and dreams of a western way of life in developing nations reminds me of the different classes on-board the ship.  The Mothership Earth also has a design flaw of sorts.  A limited carrying capacity and not enough lifeboats!  We have overshot the planets carrying capacity due to the abundance of cheap oil to grow massive amounts of food, and and now are confronted by limited natural resources.  Both issues are similar to the capacity of the ship and the limited lifeboat capacity of the Titanic on that dreadful night.

At 11:40pm in calm weather and on a clear night, the mighty vessel struck an iceberg that ripped a hole in the ships side that was long enough to fill many of the watertight compartments, thus forcing the 'unsinkable' to indeed become sinkable.  The crew of the ship attempted to avoid a head on collision, however due to the vessels speed and a flaw in rudder design, the ship still scraped the side of the massive iceberg.  Yet the band played on.

The passengers and crew were not aware of the impending danger that awaited them, in fact it wasn't until at least 30 minutes later that the crew were aware that she was taking on water.  Many of the passengers slept through the entire incident and had to be woken up to begin abandoning the ship.  From 12:15 am, the radiomen began sending their first distress signal, only to get a reply 10 minutes later from the Carpathia.  Within two hours the Titanic was sinking bow first, with the watertight compartments flooding one after the other, and the radio failing due to lack of power from the flooding engine rooms.  The crew, who were totally unprepared for this type of event struggled to launch what lifeboats they had, and struggled to convince many bewildered passengers that this was necessary for their safety.  Many passengers must have thought that if the ship were so unsinkable, why where they being forced onto the lifeboats.  Many would drown, especially from third class and steerage, simply because there were not enough lifeboats and the ones that were launched were not filled to capacity.  Plus the fact that many were locked behind steel meshed doors preventing them from escaping.

The radio message sent at 1:45 am was the last message and it read, "Come as quickly as possible".  It was sent in hope, as the last of the lifeboats pulled away from the sinking ship.  Still the band played on until the deck was so tilted that they couldn't sit and play.  Those not safely on a lifeboat stood little hope of more than a few minutes of survival due to the freezing temperature of the water.  The Captain went down with the ship, as did the first officer, however Mr Bruce Ismay was one of the first onto a lifeboat. 

So, with all the scientific warnings, and with many dire new discoveries of approaching tipping points regarding climate change, with our population having gone from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 7 billion in 2011 due to the abundance of cheap oil, and with our resources dwindling whether they be fossil fuels (stoking climate change and overpopulation) or precious minerals and natural resources including a mass species extinction, are we about to hit the a proverbial iceberg?  It paints a pretty grim picture when compared to a real life event that could have been avoided.

As with the Titanic, instead of steaming ahead at top speed, we need to reassess, and slow to avoid the impending disaster that soon await the fate of all who are passengers on Mothership Earth.  Is our rudder too small, and that we may not be able to turn away soon enough, with the speed of progress, growth at all costs, resource depletion, and increasing carbon emissions hold back our inability to act in time.

As for the bridge crew, who resemble current day governments, are failing to act decisively, because of the pressure exerted upon them by the corporations like Mr Ismay and the board of the White Star Line.  Will this pressure be too great, with vested interest lobbying our poor, misguided crew at every chance?  What will happen the the passengers of Mothership Earth?  Will there be enough lifeboats, or will there be a mass die-off as in the case of the Titanic with the lower classes bearing the brunt of disaster?  These questions go unanswered as yet, but there are signs that we may be approaching the "iceberg", with the majority of the passengers of Mothership Earth blissfully unaware, and still dressed in their finest clothes dinning, or in this case, consuming until they drop, egged on by governments and corporations.  As with the Titanic, there will be survivors, how many are unknown as yet, but there have been estimates that our carrying capacity may be reduced to as little as 500 million to 1 billion passengers without cheap and abundant energy.  A sobering estimate indeed.

I am not saying that the disaster is inevitable, we just need to slow or steer away, by reducing consumption, reducing emissions, and stabilising or reducing population growth. As the passengers of Mothership Earth are loaded onto what ever form of lifeboat is available, will they still be wondering "Why?  I thought we were unsinkable!"

MSLG Mozzarella Workshops

I find teaching people new skills exciting and very satisfying.  Saturday was no exception.  This workshop was offered to members of the Melton Sustainable Living Group and if we were desperate for numbers, it was going to be open to friends.  However it turned out to be so popular that we had 12 interested members within a week.  I offered my services for free and each student paid $15 to cover organic milk costs and ingredients.

As I mentioned in my last post, I split the workshop participants in half, and I taught two back to back mozzarella cheese making workshops, the first from 10am - 12pm, then a break and the next from 2pm - 4pm.  Both classes were fully booked, however we had a late cancellation for the first class.

You can see the setup below.  This is the undercover area just at the entrance to the house.  Nice and clean and out of the weather.

You can see six small camp stoves, rubber gloves, and clean tea towels to place their utensils onto.  Each potential cheese maker had to bring along a 6 litre pot, a 4 litre microwave proof bowl, a large spoon, an apron, and a vessel to take the finished cheese home in.

The first class of five went off without a hitch.  All class members took home some fresh organic mozzarella made with their own hands.  Not a single problem throughout the workshop.

Here is Amy looking sternly at her pot, making sure she was following her Dad's instructions.

Tammy was having a wow of a time, heating the milk up to the right temperature before we added the citric acid and lipase.

This is the second class that I taught after lunch.  Everyone was really excited during the workshop.  Left to right: Amy, Liz (our newest member), Tammy, Elyssa (out of shot), and back row, Amanda and David (out of shot).

This is after the rennet had been added and making sure the temperature was right.

This is one of the class members cutting their curd.  It looked a bit sloppy.

In fact it was very sloppy curds.  Maybe it was due to all the talking, or I got distracted somehow, but we ended up with one perfect mozzarella, and five bowls of ricotta!  No matter how hard we tried, we could not get the curds to set.  I made the call that we could not save it and just called it ricotta, so we strained it through cheese cloth and called it a day.  It still tasted really nice though and was still their first cheese attempt ever.

Tammy was the only one who ended up with the perfect mozzarella.  I could see that people were disappointed, however I figured out what went wrong.  It was two things really, firstly we did not wait long enough for the curds to set after the rennet was added, and secondly, we heated the cut curds too quickly.  Tammy was successful because she had a very heavy based pot which took ages to heat up, which gave the curds time to set properly.

Anyway, I felt upset that we did not get the correct end product, so I have offered everyone the chance to try again for free over the next few weekends.  If I make a promise that you will walk away with mozzarella, then I will do everything possible to make sure I keep that promise.  It was my fourth ever workshop and I was not going to disappoint them, or tarnish my perfect record.

Promises and results aside, everyone had a great time, an for those who did end up with ricotta, I have had glowing reports of its excellent taste and that it is now mostly consumed.  Amanda even made a baked ricotta following a recipe from Taste.com!

I had a ball, and from all reports so did all of my budding cheese makers.  It always goes to show that it doesn't matter what happens when you make cheese, you always walk away with something nice to eat!

The End (a joke by Kim)

P.S.  If any of my readers are local (Melbourne Metro and close surrounds) to our area  and are interested in a cheese making lesson, I am happy to teach these sorts of workshops on weekends, with reasonable prices.   Drop me a line via email if you are interested.

Working The Cheese

Big day tomorrow!  I am teaching not one, but two cheese making workshops and we are making my favourite 30 minute Mozzarella.

I have one class from 10am - 12pm of six people, and then a bit of a rest and another class from 2pm - 4pm including our lad Benjamin.  All of the attendees are from the Melton Sustainable Living Group, so I know everyone quite well, so it should be a good laugh out on our undercover deck area.  Nothing quite like making cheese outdoors.

I intend on taking a few pictures and maybe even interview a few of the members for a podcast.

But don't despair thinking you have missed out, because for those in Melbourne or nearby, I am teaching another cheese making workshop on Saturday 5th May at Spotswood Community House.

Details are at this link or below:

Cheese Making Workshop
In this 3 hour workshop learn the basics of making your own mozzarella from organic milk and non animal rennet.
Date: Saturday 5th May
Time: 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Cost: $50
Please phone 9391 2613 to reserve your place.

If any readers are interested then please call the number above at the Spotswood Community House, but remember places are limited.

Looking forward to a very entertaining day!

Coal Seam Gas Song

You are all in for a treat today, dear readers.  I found a great, and topical little song by The Chooks, all about coal seam gas.  Have a listen, and it is free to distribute far and wide!




The Australian version of fracking is all about profit and is doing nothing to enhance the local energy mix.  The vast majority of this gas is sold overseas where the demand is very high.  
Personally, I would prefer untouched farmland, and clean drinking water over a quick buck.  Lock the Gate and don't let them in.
Yes, I am emotional about the subject, simply because so many farmers have been stung by the lies of these companies.   The gas mining companies don't give a flying fat frack about our future or our food security!  

Can I Change Your Mind About.... Climate

I don't normally write another post so quickly, but wanted to spread this far and wide.  If you get this in time, and live in Australia, please have a look at this show.  Also there is a survey, so lets use our voices to show politicians who will probably act on these results, that we are concerned about our changing climate and want them to continue to act in our best interest!  You can fill in the survey before the show airs.

Alicia over at Missus Moonshine is as concerned as I am about the negative impact on climate action that this may have.

After the show next week, I will post my thoughts.

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Thursday 26 April 8.30pm ABC1 A provocative ABC1 event designed to kick-start a new national conversation about the big issue dividing us. Separated by a generation, and divided by their beliefs, two passionate, intelligent and successful Australians, former senator Nick Minchin and youth activist Anna Rose, go on a journey of mutual discovery to see if they can change each other’s minds about the most divisive issue in Australia today: climate change. It’s an adventure that will challenge both their beliefs, while giving the Australian public a much-needed opportunity to think afresh about where they stand on the defining issue of our times: what to do about global warming? In a unique interactive experience over 2 hours of riveting viewing, a one-hour documentary is followed by a live studio audience. At home, and on-line, the national audience joins in, leading to a cliffhanger decision. Have we shifted the national mood? Have we changed people’s minds? Followed by a Special Edition of Q&A at 9.35pmTAKE THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE www.abc.net.au/tv/changeyourmind What do you think about Climate Change? What does it say about you? The data from this survey will be used to determine Australia's differing attitudes to Climate Change. Premieres Thursday 26 April 8.30pm ABC1

Anna Rose Anna is co-founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. With 70,000 members, it has more members than the Liberals and ALP combined. 28, Anna has led AYCC delegations to the UN, Copenhagen and Montreal climate conferences.

Nick Minchin Recently retired Senator, Nick Minchin has been the kingmaker of conservative Australian politics for a decade. A senator for 18 years, he spent 11 years in Cabinet. He is a committed climate sceptic.

Victoria University's Gardening Workshops

I love gardening workshops, and here is a community announcement for a series of workshops in our local area.  They look good, and if you are struggling to grow your own food, you could do no better by going along and learning this skill.  Contact details are below.

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Victoria University’s Urban Green Living and Learning Hub proudly announces their new Gardening Workshops over the coming year for people who want to grow their own fresh vegetables and be more sustainable.

For beginner garden lovers and gardeners who want to know more.  These three-hour workshops are designed to give you the skills to grow your own fresh vegetables, propagate your own plants, make your own compost and learn the right methods to prune your roses and fruit trees.

Calendar for 2012

Propagation                                                                       Saturday 21^st April

Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces/Pots                          Saturday 5^th May

Composting and Worm Farming                                       Saturday 2^nd June

Pruning Roses                                                                    Saturday 21^st July

Pruning Fruit Trees                                                            Saturday 4^th August

Propagation                                                                       Saturday 1^st September

Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces/Pots                          Saturday 15^th September

Create a Kitchen Garden                                                   Sat. 13^th and 20^th October

Composting                                                                       Saturday 21^st October

For more information:

Phone: 9687 8740 or
email urbangreen.hub@vu.edu.au

Address 113-115 Albert Street, Seddon                 

Podcast 26 - Shop Less, Live More

This episode is about why we should Shop Less, and Live More.  It includes observations about the state of consumerism in the Bourke St Mall, Melbourne, and a slightly edited interview from ABC Radio with Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Here is the raw audio file in MP3 format.

Let me know if you found it interesting.  I always welcome feedback to improve the show.

Connecting The Dots

Whilst I am working on the next podcast, I thought I would leave you with this video from the Connect the Dots campaign that is happening on May 5th 2012.




The world is indeed a big place and sometimes we just do not make the connections that we should about climate change.  All of these extreme weather events are inter-related, and it takes a video like this one to help put it all together for us.  Check out the campaign and see if there is an event near you.  
Gav

My Favourite Podcasts

Someone asked me the other day what my favourite podcasts were.  Well besides my own podcast, which I love producing, there are a few outstanding podcasts that provide me with inspiration and information.

One of my old time favourites is the KunstlerCast, featuring James Howard Kunstler and hosted by Duncan Crary.  I discovered this podcast way back in 2008 when it first started, and it has partially helped to shape my world view of the current shitstorm we are facing.  Have a listen to the promo clip on the episode page to get a feel for what Jim is all about.  It was this very podcast that spurred me into action to produce my own.

Another favourite is More Hip Than Hippy.  Val and Dori are hilarious, informative, sometimes over the top, but well worth a listen.  One of their signature segments is chocolate and beer from all over the world that listeners send them.  They have one heck of a following, but well deserved, because they discuss many green/eco topics and do a fair bit of research.

More closer to home is the newly discovered Environmentality, in which I recently appeared.  It is really a radio show converted to a podcast, but I reckon this still counts.  They have a lot of informative interviews that help inform us about what is happening in our local area in the environmental community here in Melbourne.

On the gardening podcast front, one of my favourites is Alternate Kitchen Garden by Emma Cooper and hails from the UK.  Even though the seasons are out of kilter for us Aussies, it is still worth a listen because I like the way she presents, being informative and climate change aware.  She even has the occasional report from some guest presenters here in Melbourne.

Finally, a newly discovered podcast about all things that will help you wake up and smell the coffee is Radio Ecoshock by Alex Smith in Canada.  He describes the show as;

"RADIO ECOSHOCK - LATEST SCIENCE, AUTHORS, ISSUES - FROM CLIMATE CHANGE, OCEANS, FORESTS, POLLUTION, PEAK OIL, THE ECONOMY, AND PEACE."

I look forward to the up to date climate news and views about resource depletion and energy descent and the extensive show notes/transcript on his website.  If you want to learn the what is really going on around you on this planet, you could do no better than listen to this well produced radio show/podcast.

Also on a personal note, don't forget to have a listen to my very own podcast "The Greening of Gavin" for great interviews and information about sustainable living tips and thoughts.  I am currently producing podcast #26 which is about Shop Less, Live More!  It should be released in a few days, and will contain a walk down Bourke Street Mall here in Melbourne and a few audio bites that I have found to round out my thoughts.  It should be entertaining!

All I can say is that if you have a long commute like I do each day, you can spend your time wisely listening to informative podcasts to help pass the time away.  Besides writing blog posts, researching my next project, and reading the odd sustainable living book, I can thing of nothing more enjoyable to do on a train heading to and from work.  It is the simple things in life that are often the most enjoyable.

If you have any favourite eco podcasts, please leave a comment to share the love!

Pump Me Up!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I now have a 12 volt, 40 psi water pump, which I installed yesterday.  Ben and I built the box out of the last of the plywood, which was quite easy to put together, and I made a lid to fit without hinges.

I installed most of the components in the box before putting it in place, then ran the wiring from the battery box, along the wall, across the top of the pool gate and along the ground to the pump box.

Here is the inside of the box in all its glory.  The dead leaves are from the conifer tree that I had to wrestle with to get the box in position.

The water comes in from the right with both tanks being connected to this hose.  I had to step down from the 19mm pipe to 13mm pipe which I forced onto the 15mm connector on the pump.  It was a bit of a struggle to get it attached, but I don't seem to have had any loss of water pressure due to the reduction.  I realise that my wiring job is not that pretty, but by the time I hooked it up I was fairly knackered.

The rainwater passes through a small filter to keep the pump clean,

and out to the left to the garden irrigation system.  The reverse conversion happens this side from 13mm pipe to 19mm.  

Finally the switch to turn it on and off.  I didn't opt for an electronic timer switch as I already had this toggle switch in my box of bits, and didn't want the extra expense.

I showed Kim, and the first thing she said was that it was not painted, which I must admit was an error and oversight on my part.  I gave it a lick of grey exterior paint to help waterproof it which was a pain in the butt because I wasn't going to disconnect the wiring or plumbing, so just struggled and painted as much as I could.

The result is outstanding.  All of the micro sprays I have in the veggie patch work better than if I was using mains water, and the pressure is better than I expected.  The solar charge controller indicates that it draws about 8.2 amps when running, so well within the 10 amp tolerance of the AWG 16 wire I used for the wiring to the pump.  It was the first time that I have seen the solar PV input via the charge controller above 2 amps, and it hit 9 amps when charging the battery during the pumping.

The pump can draw 17 litres per minute, but as I am using drip irrigation and micro sprays, it is not pumping that much water.  In fact when the pump ran for 20 minutes, I estimated that it should have used  340 litres, however the tank level had hardly dropped at all.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the project, and Kim will be putting her very creative side to work and painting the name on the lid in the next few days.  Pimp my pump box so to speak!  It will be the coolest, pimped up pump box in Melton.  Something to be proud of.