On The Up

Great news.

Kim and Ben have both nearly recovered from the bout of gastro they caught.  Even though they have not been very active today, they are in very good spirits. They were fully out of action for two entire days, with recovery taking a few days more.  


Fortunately, I did not catch the bug, partly due to lack of contact on Tuesday when Ben first displayed symptoms (I was at work), and when Kim came down with it on Thursday, I diligently washed everything she touched, spraying with methylated spirits to ward off any potential infection to myself.  I also consciously avoided touching my face, and kept my own food intake low.   By the end of the second day, a mild form of self imposed OCD had set in, especially about well lathered hand washing, but I managed to break that today without issue as I saw that the worst was over and the infection had passed.

I also feel much, much better myself.  The blues have been fought off with lots of sunshine absorption over the past two days, and the knowledge that each day is now getting longer by a few minutes, and that my family is recovering.

It is enough to put a rose in anyone's cheeks.

The Sky Will Not Fall Due To The Carbon Tax

Quite frankly readers, I am really sick of all the political and media hype about the carbon tax and that the sky will fall come 1st July.  This ABC 7.30 report from last night puts some perspective to the so called carbon tax.





Nothing bad will happen!  The sun will still shine on my solar panels as it does most days, my plants will still grow, and my chickens will still lay eggs.  The price of electricity will rise minimally, but I have been duly compensated by increased government payments.

So rock on July 1st, because like any other apocalyptic prediction in the past, stuff all will occur to you and I.  Only good can come from it, however Big polluters will do anything to try and convince you otherwise.  After all, it is their bottom line that they are more concerned about, not the fate of humanity.  


The same thing political and media bullshit happened when the Goods and Services Tax was introduced.  Mayhem? I think not!

Winter Blues

The winter blues, yes I have them.

The last few days at the house of TGOG have been quite ordinary indeed.  The weather has been cold and miserable, there has been very little sunlight, and both Kim and Ben have a very strong dose of gastroenteritis.  Pretty shitty sort of day today (literally), and I took the day off work to look after them both.  Being sustainable is the last thing on my mind today, however someone still has to feed the chooks, clean the house, do the washing, and keep them hydrated (tap water of course).

Both cherubs are sleeping right now, so I have a little time to myself, that is of course, until they wake up and I put on my nurses apron and escort them to the loo for the umpteenth time today.  I am not complaining, it is one of the joys and duties of being a father and husband.

After the recent elation I felt upon publishing my e-book, it has kind of been slow and quite, other than the gastro.  I have washed my hands - with my own soap - more times than I can remember, in the feeble attempt of warding off the bug myself.  As sure as the sky is grey, I will probably fall ill tomorrow, and have warned people away from visiting.  We are in lock down and under quarantine!

Gardening has been put on the back burner for the last few weeks, because it has been so cold and wet that it is not a pleasurable task.  The garden usually holds its own at this time of the year, so I am not that worried in the slightest.  The broad beans are about 1.5 metres tall, the garlic and onions have good growth, as does the broccoli and cabbages.  All the fruit trees have been pruned, and the deciduous varieties have dropped their leaves, much to the joy of the two bantams who love scratching through all of the leaf litter.  I have let them free range for the last couple of days, so they can do the weeding work that I couldn't be bothered to attempt.  So far so good as they are tireless weeders, and when I take a break from nursing, I pop out to watch them.  They are so funny to watch, and puts a smile and a chuckle into an otherwise ordinary day.

Both yesterday and today, I have attempted many times to begin another book, which I was hoping would just flow from my finger tips.  Alas, it is just not happening.  Every time I sit down to write, the Interwebs distract me, which I suppose is its role in today's society.  I seem to be gravitating to peak oil blogs full of collapse stories, climate news full of new tipping points and disasters, which is never good when you have the blues.  Misery loves company, so they say, and that is kind of how I feel right now.  Just a little low which I know will pass, and I will be back banging on the keyboard whipping up witty prose both here and in a new manuscript.

Anyway, I know it will all get better around here soon.  Ben is on the mend after three days of sickness.  He is eating again, but not with the appetite we are used to seeing, however it is improving.  I dare say a big breakfast will be in order tomorrow when he wakes up.  Kim will take a couple of days to recover, but that is fine, because I am the best nurse bloke they have, and am dedicated to the task.  I am just happy in knowing that I am giving them the best loving care that I can.  A speedy recovery to both my charges!

I know that so many people have it a lot harder than we do, but occasionally you just got to get things off your chest.  It can't be all beer and green skittles around here.

One can never get quite used to the smell of disinfectant.   Better light another incense stick!

Secret of Good Soap

Did you know that most commercial soaps have some of the following ingredients?

Synthetic Scents– Soaps may contain fragrances which are synthetic compounds that can lead to drying out or irritation of your skin.

Triethanolamine – is an ingredient common to branded soaps. This is a possible human carcinogen that is linked to other health problems. When this ingredient is present, three other chemicals also go along with this: sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, TEA-stearate and tocopherol. All these do not exempt from causing mild to serious health problems.

PEG-6 and sodium PCA – These chemicals are usually found in cleansing bar soaps, they may contain harmful impurities that are linked with cancer to other health problems. PEG-6, in particular is known to be linked to breast cancer.

Chemical surfactants–Sodium lauryl sulfate is usually added to increase the lather quality. According to, The Journal of The American College of Toxicology (ACT) in 1983, concentrations of sodium lauryl of as low as 0.5% could cause irritation. Here’s something to disturb you: Studies have shown that numerous soaps have concentrations of up to 30%. The ACT has reported this to be highly irritating and dangerous.

Propylene Glycol – a common ingredient in soaps, is a penetration enhancer. All these previously mentioned chemicals can be further activated, stimulated and enhanced by propylene glycol. This chemical poses risks of other health concerns.

Triclosan - a chemical used for its antibacterial properties, is an ingredient in many detergents, dish-washing liquids, soaps, deodorants, cosmetics, lotions, anti-microbial creams, various toothpastes. However, the safety of triclosan has been questioned in regard to environmental and human health. While the companies that manufacture products containing this chemical claim that it is safe, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has registered it as a pesticide. The chemical formulation and molecular structure of this compound are similar to some of the most toxic chemicals on earth, relating it to dioxins and PCBs. The EPA gives triclosan high scores both as a human health risk and as an environmental risk.

Not only are they bad for your health, they are bad for the environment as well.  For more information visit http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

So the million dollar question is what can you do about it?  Well, the solution is simple.  Make your own soap.  Soap to stop germs, and to promote good hygiene.  Yes readers, it is that simple to make soap.

All you need is a few type of vegetable oils, (or animal fats if you choose), water, and lye (caustic soada).  Before anyone comments, yes I realise that it takes petroleum to harvest the plants that produce the oils, and if not sourced locally they have high food miles, however you can source most from local producers if needs be, and we have a readily available source of olive oil in our region.  The lye can also be produced from wood ash.  Please, if using palm oil, purchase it from sustainable sources, and not the stuff they are burning down rainforests to plant.

If you want to see how it is made, I produced a YouTube video some time back which is embedded below.

It is an easy process, that only takes about 30 minutes.

Here is some soap that Kim and I made on Sunday from olive, sunflower, rice bran, and organic coconut oils.  My recipe can be found at this post: Our Soap Recipe.

Here are the wooden moulds that we use.  Kim lines them with cling wrap so that the liquid doesn't leak out when poured into the mould.

The soap can be defrocked on about day two or three depending if it has gone hard enough to keep its shape.

Once the cling wrap is removed, the soap can be cut into bars.  Please note that the soap is still quite alkaline at this stage, so wear protective gloves as a precaution.

This one kilogram (2.2lbs) block is called Sandlewood and Musk.  We only use essential oils as the fragrance in minute quantities.

The soap is still quite soft, so it is easy to cut into bars.

Here is the finished product for this block.  10 bars in total.

This block was made by splitting the liquid into two batches and adding two separate colours, then combining the batch in the mould.  You actually get three colours if you only lightly mix the primary colour through the liquid soap before it sets.

This is the finished product for Berry.  The two kilogram blog was cut into 24 bars.

The third block was Ocean fragrance, and again we divided the batch in two and only coloured one half.  Once combined it looks like waves in the ocean.

Again, this made 24 bars of soap.

The next part of the process is curing the soap.  For four weeks you need to turn each bar once daily.  We have set up a trestle table in the front room and placed the bars on wire racks so they don't stick to it.  As the water evaporates and the lye further reacts with the oils, the bars harden and continue to do so over time.  As with all soaps, don't get it in your eyes, it stings!

The result is a nice, safe cleanser to wash yourself and your family with.  Much better than that cocktail of chemicals they try and flog to us as soap!

The Greening of Gavin - eBook Published

How does it feel to have your own book finally published?

Well, let me tell you that it feels fantastic!  Here is the cover, which you can click on to purchase a copy for a low US$3.99 at Smashwords.com.

Available at Smashwords, Amazon for Kindle, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble, Diesel Books, Kobo and Sony eBook stores.

US, UK, CA, NZ, AU

or

Available Direct as a PDF

Anyway, it took me over a month to put it together, and it has been a steep learning curve.  Self publishing is not for the faint-hearted.  From reading the style guide, writing (of course), formatting, and now marketing, the self publishing path is really a hands on affair.  You also have to find proof-readers, and edit the manuscript multiple times.

So, there you have it.  My first ebook of many, and I hope you take the time to click on the book cover or the link below it, have a read of the sample, and if you like it please consider purchasing a copy.  

Of course if anyone would like to review the book at Smashwords, this author would be humbled, and is ready for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I am looking forward to beginning the next eBook!

Giveaway Winners!

A big thanks to all who had a go at the contest, which I am glad was so popular.

The winner of the first prize, the book ECOTOPIA is......

Congratulations to Katrina!

The winner of the second prize, The Corporation DVD (all regions) is.....

Congratulations to Bruise Mouse!

Can both of you please contact me via email as soon as you can, and I will pop your prizes in the post?  The only proviso is that you share the prizes with others when you have finished with them. The more people who are exposed, the better I reckon.

Well done and congrats again.

Gavin x

Mozzarella Workshop #6

Today I held a private cheese making workshop organised by VG who blogs at the Veggie Gobbler.

I had a ball, and was honoured to meet Monkey Man, the two money boys, the dog, and the chickens!  Ben accompanied me today as Kim wanted some alone time to do some craft, so we set off and set up ready for the class at 2pm.  He was a great lad, and even fixed their computer while he was waiting for me.  Talk about a value add workshop.  Cheese and IT support for the one low price!  Sounds like a good business to get into.

The normal recipe for 30 minute mozzarella was followed that you can watch at this youtube video that I made.  Easy to follow, and fun to make.

As the seven ladies enjoyed a glass of bubbly, I taught them how to make Mozzarella.  Well, in theory anyway.  See, I used crappy home-brand milk with only 3.4% fat content, and soon found out quickly during the first class that the curds would not set with just a quarter of a rennet tablet.  Only one out of four cheeses worked, and we ended up with three batches of ricotta instead of the promised mozzarella.  This is VG's mozzarella below which she shared a few balls with everyone.

So in the second class, I compensated by adding an eight of a teaspoon of liquid rennet as well (total of three eighths of a teaspoon).  This turned out to be a winner because the curds formed within a minute of stirring in the rennet, so each lady walked home with a wonderful batch of mozzarella that they were very pleased with.

The lesson for today is twofold.  Either insist that I use organic milk or simply add more rennet to the four litres of milk.  Both methods will work, however I do prefer the organic because it is a superior product to work with.  Also I learnt that people are even just happy to make ricotta, because even though I know how to make it, my course is probably the first time they have ever attempted to make cheese, so any product is a bonus!

Thanks to VG who was a great host and I had a great time.  I also think she is writing a blog post about our day, so keep an eye on her blog over the next few days!

Tomorrow, I shall be making mozzarella for my family, because Kim has requested that I fire up the pizza oven because she is hooked on the wood fired pizza taste!  I don't blame her, as it is a taste well worth waiting for.

Mega Free Green Giveaway!

Time for a giveaway to say thanks to all readers of this blog.

In fact, as chance would have it, I have two items to send two lucky winners.

The first prize is a never-been-read novel called "ECOTOPIA" by Ernest Callenbach, who I wrote about in this post titled "One Finger Cannot Lift A Pebble".  The online book company sent me two copies by mistake and only charge me for one, so I am giving away the second copy.  My copy has been read twice, which shows how much I liked it!

The synopsis of the book is as follows;

Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a "stable-state" ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, the isolated, mysterious Ecotopia welcomes its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston. Like a modern Gulliver, the skeptical Weston is by turns impressed, horrified, and overwhelmed by Ecotopia's strange practices: employee ownership of farms and businesses, the twenty-hour work week, the fanatical elimination of pollution, mini-cities that defeat overcrowding, devotion to trees bordering on worship, a woman-dominated government, and bloody, ritual war games. Bombarded by innovative, unsettling ideas, set afire by a relationship with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman, Weston's conflict of values intensifies-and leads to a startling climax.

I found the book enthralling, brilliantly written, and a page turner.   The story is timeless, and I could envisage this as the present day even though it was first published in 1975!

The second prize is a DVD titled "The Corporation".  It plays in all regions and has been kindly donated by Jason Dingley who writes over at "Zucchini Island".  It is a proper retail version.

The synopsis is as follows;

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

I watched this documentary a few years ago as part of my greening, and learnt so much about how companies are not what we think they are.  Well worth entering just for this DVD.

So what do you have to do to win?  Well, all I ask is that you either follow the blog (button on right hand sidebar), or like the Facebook page of this blog (or via the popup bar at the bottom of the blog) or subscribe via email (see right side bar) or subscribe to the RSS feed.  Then come back here to this post and leave a comment saying that you want to be in the draw for the prizes and how you subscribed.

I will post the prizes anywhere in the world free of charge, and will draw the giveaway on Sunday, 24th June 2012, using a random number generator coinciding with the comment number.

So if you have been lurking for a while, don't be shy, and try your luck.  As I receive over 500 visits a day, there must be a few of you I don't know yet :-).  By the way, if you are a regular reader/commenter, you can still enter as well!

If you don't have a Google account, that is fine, just use the Name/URL option, and just fill in you first name, as the URL part as it is not necessary.  No anonymous entries will be considered.

Once the two winners are announced on Sunday, just send me an email to confirm address details.

May the best person win, and good luck!

The Dreaming

My love of the science fiction and horror genre came to the fore last night, when I experienced one of the most vivid dreams in quite a long time. Let me write you a story about it, for I will be able to tell it better that way. It features many members of my family. Illustration by my talented wife Kim.

---

He woke, shivering, in the dark of the night. The dream felt so real as Gavin shook off his slumber, not really sure if he was awake or still asleep.


"Shh, hear that?" Gavin asked.


"Yes. Please go and check Sweetie." replied Kim who also heard the loud thud at the same time.


Gavin got out of bed, put on his dressing gown to protect him from the cold, and fumbled with his slippers. Being 3 am, he picked up the portable dynamo torch that he normally used to check on the chickens each night when putting them to bed. With Kim and the two dogs behind him, he opened the front door of the house with a loud creaking sound.


"Must oil that door", he thought to himself, as he saw a shadow moving in the vegetable patch. Kim saw it as well, and the dogs began to bark. Could someone be in the yard?


"Did you lock the gate?" "I think so." said Gavin, as he struggled to remember if he actually had done so before jumping into bed earlier that night.


A long, deep moan came out from the darkness.


"What was that!?" screamed Kim, grabbing onto Gavin's dressing gown. "Sounded like something out of The Walking Dead." he relied, half joking.


Gavin took a few steps closer in the direction of the moan, to see if he could make out the shadowy figure. The soft street lights began to illuminated the area as he crept closer. Suddenly, the two dogs, Holly and Teddy, shot out of the darkness and attacked the intruder. The formless shadow struggled, moaned a little more, and fell over with a thud which sounded kind of meaty.


Approaching the intruder with a shallow intrepidness, Gavin was aghast with what he found wedged up against the concrete step. Laying there in the half light, was a bloody Zombie, and a fresh one at that, with his head split open upon the step, obviously now deceased.


During the night, the gate, which Gavin had forgotten to lock, had blown open. The zombie must have wandered in to the yard looking for a quick snack of fresh, live, brains. Luckily, Teddy and Holly's instinct to jump against the beast's withered legs forced them to give, knocking it to a quick death.


"There may be more. Quickly, shut the gate. I told you to close it last night, before bed!" Kim ranted loudly.


Knowing that saying sorry was of no use, Gavin ran to the gate and promptly fumbling with the lock, eventually managing to secure it. With much trepidation, he clambered up onto the old log propped up against the brick fence, cautiously peering through the ivy. What he saw made him shiver and sweat with fear.


"There's hundreds of them." he yelled. "Bloody hell." was Kim's whispered reply.


Where did they come from was the real question they should have asked themselves. Earlier that night, an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude had occurred near Upper Numbat, a small village some 15 kilometres south west of their home. Well, that is what the seismologists thought. It was, in fact, a small, low yield nuclear test, of a few hundred tonnes. Easily mistaken for an earthquake, but not large enough to radiate emissions that could be detected by the authorities.


Of course, this was no ordinary radiation. It quickly mutated many of the local inhabitants, who over the course of the night slowly dragged their deformed and hideous bodies to the outer limits of the shire.


"Wake up Ben. Quickly!" The panic was beginning to show in Gavin's voice, but he took a deep breath knowing that zombies cannot climb walls. The walls around their property were at least 7 feet high, which instilled a false sense of security in them both. Ben raced out of the house, armed with his softball bat, ready to spring into action.


"Let the chickens out." Gavin barked at Ben.
"Why?"
"Because they love to eat zombies as much as they do worms!" replied his learned father.


Ben ran off to the chicken house, banged on the coop, opened the doors to the run, and out flew the girls. Ben explained the situation to the chickens, which somehow they understood, and they quickly marched in pecking order over to the brick wall where Gavin had spotted the zombie horde.


"Stand back, this is going to be bloody." warned Gavin, half knowing what may happen next.


All eight hens leapt into action. Over the fence they flew, with the skill of a master ninja, lopping off zombie heads in their stride and swallowing them up in a single gulp. The zombies were far to slow for the nimble chickens, who were making a meal of the entire gathering.

It only took five minutes for the squawking and moaning to die down, but that was all the time that the chickens needed to control the outbreak.


When there was only the howl of the wind blowing through the gum trees, Gavin, Kim, Ben, and the two dogs all poked their heads above the fence line.


The streets were deserted. Where was everyone? Where had they all gone?


The ninja chickens had cleaned up the entire zombie horde, and proudly began to march back to their coop for a well deserved rest. Ben closed the coop gate, and smiled.


"Bloody amazing creatures, those chickens." remarked Ben to no-one in particular, making his way back to his mother and father.


"Shh, hear that?"


Beep, beep, beep, beep. Everything began to fade slowly. Gavin slowly opened his eyes, and wondered why his head was all fuzzy. The alarm read 6.20am.


It was now that he realised that he had been dreaming all along.


Was he really?

---

What do you think? Psycho dream or what?

Earthquake!

Yes, I am for real.  We experienced a tremor here in Melton, with the epicentre being about 170km (106 miles) away from us near Moe, Victoria.

It was recorded at 5.3 on the Richter scale, but no major damage has been recorded so far.  Here is the latest from news.com.au

I was sitting in my computer chair drafting a post on the Simple Green Frugal Co-op, when my chair began to shake.  I called out to Kim to see if she felt it, and she obviously did because at the same time, she called out to me.  Kim started to call friends to see what was going on.  It lasted for about 7 seconds.

I hit the social networks straight away to see if anyone else had experienced anything, and almost instantly, Facebook and Twitter lit up with the news, at least 30 minutes before the mainstream media got a story to air.  Thank goodness it wasn't major.

Anyway, enough excitement for one day!  I still feel a bit funny and now I know what it feels like to dance with Gaia!

In Defence Of Tap

I love tap water, in fact that is all I drink. There are none of those trumped up claims attached to tap water except that it is safe and cheap to drink. Even if you don't think the fluoride that they add to it is any good for you, you can simply filter it out with little effort.

If you are some of the few fortunate humans on the planet to be connected to clean drinking water, then there is no better place to go if you are thirsty. Once you have had tap, you won't go back!

On the other hand, there is bottled water, which is a product that is usually no cleaner than the water that flows from your tap. The so called demand for this product is purely manufactured by beverage companies trying to make a buck, and sucker us along for the ride.

So what is the real story about bottled water, and that of our tap water? Well, I did some research and found a few videos that explain it all.

Firstly to lay down the foundations, here is The Story of Bottled Water by Annie Leonard.

Then to get down and dirty, here is a Penn and Teller clip from their TV Series Bullsh*t.  It shows how easily people are led to believe that bottled water tastes better and is better for you.

 

Next is one of my favourites, Tear Of a Cloud, by Do The Green Thing. When life's a bitch, grab a Mitch!  This is a parody of manufactured demand.

 

Then finally, there is another little ditty about Tap (water that is), called Tip, Top, Tap and is a little like a Noel Coward song! Again this video is by Do The Green Thing.

 

If you are not convinced that bottled water is actually worse for us, the planet, and uses valuable resources that we are quickly running out of, then here are some stats from Green Times who source part of the data from The Australasian Bottled Water Institute Inc which is an industry lobby group:

• Australians spent $385 million on 250 million litres of bottled water in 2006. 
• It takes 3.4 megajoules of energy to make a typical one-litre plastic bottle — or 850 million megajoules to bottle 250 million litres of water. 
• A barrel of oil has 6000 megajoules, so it takes 141,666 barrels of oil to make the PET plastic. 
• The energy required to bring bottled water to market — converting the PET plastic into bottles, bottling the water, transporting and refrigerating the bottled water — means the amount of oil required equals 20 per cent of the bottle's volume. 
• For 250 million litres of water, which equals 50 million litres of oil — 314,465 barrels of oil. 
• In addition to the water in bottles, twice as much water is also used in the production process. So that every litre sold represents three litres of water. 
• Drinking water out of a tap uses only 0.2 megajoules according to EPA Victoria.

Tap is clean, tap is ultra cheap, and best of all most homes have a supply of it.  All you need is a glass or cup to put it in which you can reuse, over and over again.

Ahh, so refreshing!

Pizza Oven Party

Saturday night was a hoot!  It had been about a year since we started making our clay cob oven!  I still remember laying the first brick for the base, and once it was down there was no turning back.

About six months ago, Kim and I were putting together the half year schedule for the Melton Sustainable Living Group and decided to include a Pizza Oven Party.  Many of the group members attended a workshop that I ran where they got some hands on experience and helped stomp the clay, sand and straw for the first of the five layers of cob that we applied to the oven.  

You can see how we all contributed in my youtube video titled "The Ultimate Clay Cob Oven Video".  

So now it was payback time for lending us a hand.  The invitations were sent out and many accepted.  Here is what the layout looked like.

It was very cold, so we asked everyone to rug up.  I had chopped some wood that I had stored, and lit a brazier in a clear area so those who were so inclined could sit around it to keep warm.

We set up lots of tables, because we had RSVP's from 26 people, so it turned out that we could just fit them in undercover in case it rained. Kim was after a cafe look, which I think she pulled off.  Everyone loved the set-up.

This picture is looking down towards the oven, and my friend David helping out with maintaining the fire in the oven.  We lit the oven at 2.30pm for a 3 hour burn to ensure that the oven was saturated with heat for the entire evening.  

We found some very old candle holders, and some large pillar candles that made the area look special.  After a clean they were as good as new.

Kim put tealight candles in the pizza herb garden, and when it was dark it lit up and looked wonderful.

David was about an hour into the burn at this stage, making sure the fire was not too powerful and  raging up the flue.  He did a great job at keeping the fire just right.

Here is the drinks table right next to the oven.  The base doesn't get hot, however later in the night, the outside of the oven heats up to about 50C, so it is a nice warm position after sunset.

The tables are all set up for an efficient operation.  Each person bought their own freshly made pizza's, some homemade from scratch, some store bought pizza bases with extra toppings, but all looked excellent.  I put some cutting boards which were just scraps of laminated wood so I could put the hot pizza's straight on without making a mess.  Each person cut their own pizza and served themselves once I let them know their meal was ready.

David was very excited and getting into the festivities early.  Whilst he was maintaining the fire, I was inside giving Kim a hand with preparing all of our food.

Nice and hot, with about an hour to go before the guests arrived.  As it was getting dark, around 4.30pm, the first guest arrived and the party got going.  Lots of laughs.

No further pictures, however here is one of the oven in action that one of the guests took.  Once the 3 hours had elapsed, I pushed the coals to each side and tested the temperature with our Infra-red Thermometer.  The walls were 627°C (1160.6°F),  and the oven floor was ~400°C (750°F).  I let it cool down for 15 minutes before we cooked the first pizza.  When cooking, I wore a ball cap that has LED lights in the brim, so I can see into the oven to ensure the pizza was browning on top.    The first pizza took about 3 minutes to cook, and the last took 10 minutes.  All infused with that lovely smoky flavour that one only gets from this type of oven.

Once sufficiently brown on top, I then removed the pizza from the tray, popped it on the peel (paddle) and browned the bottom of the pizza on the floor of the oven.  Every meal turned out well, and the final count was 21 pizzas, 8 jacket potatoes, and 3 garlic breads!

One thing that I learnt was to keep the oven at cooking temperature (above 250°C) by putting a few small logs either side on top of the coals every 15 minutes or so.  Not too much flame, just enough to make fresh coals.

When all of the cooking was finished I declared the kitchen closed, and sat around the brazier for the evening.  Besides the cooking, which I really enjoyed, the highlight of the night was Kim's sing-along.  She had prepared a song list that included old favourites such as Country Roads by John Denver, I'll Be There For You by the Rembrandts, and my favourite Delilah by Tom Jones.  Kim played her guitar so well that it was very easy to follow along and many were singing all the lyrics.  So cool, and it made the evening come alive.

What a great way to thank friends and members of the group for helping us to make the oven.  A great celebration!

Watching A Solar Installation In Action!

I must be in awe of the amazing rate and vast capital outlay of solar PV investment in Germany, because everywhere I look around the net, I find stories of big, and I mean big instalations.

Like this one near the city of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia.  When complete it will have 44,000 solar panels and produce 10 Megawatts at peak.  The initial outlay is about €12 million Euro.

That is enough to produce electricity for about 3,000 average 4-person households.  The solar power plant is located in a gravel and sand pit (novel relationship).  I would hate to have to clean all of those panels after a sand storm!

Anyway, being a enterprising bunch, the installers have set up a web cam so you can watch the plant being constructed.  Here is the web address to the web cam.  It is so cool to watch this marvel under construction!  If you wait a for a couple of minutes the camera will pan to all four pre-set positions and you can get a better idea of the immensity of this project.

(rant)
We need investment here in Australia like this.  So I say this to our government.  Grow some hairy ones, make a decent decision and plant the seeds for this type of investment!  We need to get off of our addiction to coal based electricity generation before it is too late for us, our kids, and future generations to come!
(end rant)


(Source: Clean Technica)

From Our German Correspondent...

Those who read regularly will know that my son, Adam is living in Cologne, Germany.  He has been sending me a renewable energy story when he travels around the countryside, and this story amazing.

He was about to fly to Venice (a birthday present from his girlfriend Sina), from Airport Weeze when across the tarmac he spotted this solar array (double click to enlarge)

I took the liberty to zoom in for a close up.

He had stumbled across the largest solar installation in his state of North Rhine-Westphalia.  Adam had this to say about it, "I was pleasantly surprised that across the far side of the runway, braced up against the old Luftwaffe hangers was this (see pictures).  I couldn't get the whole array into one picture frame but it runs from one end of the runway to the other, which is long enough to 737-800 planes to be taking off on."  Quite an understatement as you will discover as you read on!

The press release that I found on the airport's website has this information about the array;

"Since December 2011 the largest solar power station in North Rhine-Westphalia is in operation at Airport Weeze. The station has an output of approximately 14 megawatt and generates around 13 million kilowatt hour electricity. This equates to the electricity used by approximately 3,300 four-person households. At the same time more than 8,500 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year is saved.

100 % of the renewable electricity is supplied to the net according to remuneration rules of the feed-in tariff (EEG); however, a large part is being used directly at the airport. With its solar power station the third largest airport of NRW already complies today to standards which are required in conjunction with the energy transition policy by 2050.

The photovoltaic facility was created on a 300,000sqm large area to the north east of the airport grounds which comprises 6 million sqm. The extensive grounds which are characterised by its watch towers and bunker systems were until the 1990s part of the former British Air Force base.

60,000 polycrystalline solar modules were installed on the solar field area which covers 42 football fields. The biggest photovoltaic system in North-Rhine Westphalia was created in record time. Up to 120 employees have installed 2,000 table-shaped frames and mounted solar panels. Altogether 87,000sqm modular surface convert sunlight into electricity, which flows via 280 km of cables from the facility to the inverter stations which are as large as a garage. To protect the site a 3,700 m long fence has been erected around the facility.

The airport company is leasing the 30ha site to BaySolar AG (Freising). A subsidiary company of BaySolar AG (Freising), located in Weeze, has invested around 25 million Euro in the construction of the solar power station."

Now, Adam's photos do not do it justice.  This is what it looks like from the air.

Look at the size of it.  I have never seen anything quite amazing (Double click to enlarge these two photos).

Now that is a solar PV installation!  The 60,000 panels puts my 16 grid-tied panels to shame (below).  However, they are mine, and I love them!

In fact it puts most installations to shame.  The Germans know how to install solar PV with flare and in a scale that makes a difference to their energy mix.

Now if these reports from the Aussie lad in Bundesrepublik Deutschland can help with influencing our policy makers, we may start to get somewhere with our renewable energy targets here in Australia.

If the Germans can do it, why can't we.  We have twice the amount of sunlight falling on this great brown land, but no political will to harness it.  I am sure we can do something better than the handful of small installations we currently have installed.

What an amazing way to reduce carbon emissions on a grand scale.  I would rather live next to this or a wind farm, than a stinky old coal fired power station any day.  Bring it on team Australia, and stop with the crappy reversal of renewable energy targets and policies.

How are we even to begin to ramp up to a clean energy future if business keeps getting inconsistent messages and continual policy degradation from state governments in this country?

Buggered if I know!

Finishing Touches

As it was the Queen's Birthday long weekend, I had lots of plans to get many tasks performed around the urban farm.

However, as the weather would have it, most of the stuff I wanted to do got compressed into one single day.  Saturday and Sunday were cold, raining and miserable, but gave me time to work a little on the eBook and to watch a movie or two.

So lets have a look at what we got up to.

Suitably dressed for the cold weather and looking about as fashionable as I get at home, I picked beans.  Managed to harvest a whole bucket, and laid them out to dry in the greenhouse.  I will shell them next weekend and store for eating.

Kim and I put the finishing touches on the clay cob oven.  We had procrastinated for far too long regarding rendering the besser brick base because I didn't want to use any more cement on it (high CO2-e emissions), so in the end, we found some spare outdoor paint and just painted it.  The base came up a treat!  We then finished off the rest of the grouting around the mosaics, and filled a few cracks in the outer cement shell.  It looks great.

While we had the paint out, we made the wicking bed look prettier, and planted it out.  We had a ficus tree that had become pot bound, so gave it a new home hoping that it will bush up and fill a large space.

We planted a herb garden around the base including sage, rosemary, oregano, and thyme.  When bigger we can use the herbs in cooking performed in the cob oven!

We also did a general tidy up, because the space on the east side of the house was getting messy and unloved.  With all the paint, and a bit of TLC, it now looks great.    Just in time for a Pizza party for the sustainable living group next Saturday.  It should be a great little shindig!

Blogs vs Books

As I have very recently discovered, writing a book takes time and patience and as such is a different beast than blogging.  Allow me to compare the two.

Blog posts are a great way to document an idea or story quickly.  If I have a thought about some green/non-green event or witness something during the day, I can write it down in my A4 text book, that I carry around with me, and then type it up when I get home that evening.  The story/post is online the same day for the world to read.  All with minimal proof reading and editing (which is something I should take a bit more car wit).  Done and dusted, with a post being as short or as long as I want it to be.  The post can be rich in visual or audio content or simply text and photographs.  You can also write from a first person perspective which I find suits my writing style, and you can be as random regarding topics as you like.  I also love the instant feedback in the form of comments.

Writing an eBook is a different kettle of fish entirely.  It is a structured writing form, which has to flow from chapter to chapter in a logical sequence, which also has to stick to the theme of the book.  It has to be proof read, edited, re-written, proofed again, and formatted correctly for publishing.  Most importantly, it has to be something that people will want to read and enjoy.  There is no point in writing a book that no-one reads or likes!

Most authors write books because they have something to say, not because they want to become rich and famous.  I am in the same boat, as I have something to say most of the time.  I want to take the next logical step beyond blogging.  I am not in it as a get rich quick plan, that is for sure.

What I have written so far in my book is part mini-biography and part 'how to', so I can get away with my writing style.  I don't have to write in the third person, and can treat it a bit like one big blog post.  That said, Kim reviewed my first draft and has given me a lot of food for thought.  She grounds me often, gives me honest feedback and pulls no punches when it comes to reviewing.  I now plan to expand each chapter further and add a few more topics that I had forgotten.

Like most things that I have tackled so far on my green journey, I am doing most of the work myself.  From writing (of course), formatting, cover design, research, and most importantly, self publishing.  eBooks are quite easy to self publish, with the aid of a third party site like Amazon or Smashwords.  Distribution will also be handled by the third parties who take a small percentage of the overall book price.  Some take as much as 40% with a few as low as 20%.  It is a small price to pay for the global reach that these distributors have.

The illustrations are a different matter.  I have never claimed to be an artist, with stick figures being my best work to date, however I do have a talented wife who recently graduated from London Art College with a Diploma in Children's Illustration.  Her drawing skills surpass mine by a factor of millions, and I love her cartoon work (not biased much).  So, I commissioned Kim to illustrate all of my books, to give them a light hearted and humorous tone.  I thing her work is amazing, and I am truly a lucky man to have her in my life.

The final thing that I have realised about writing a eBook is that it takes time.  It is a work of art, and good art does take a lot of time to get right.  This process is enlightening and a great creative outlet after a hard day at work.  Similar to this blog in a way, or not unlike cheese making, it helps me to relax and wind down.  Some people watch TV, but I choose to write, and live sustainably.

So what is the title?  Well as I write, it keeps changing.  These are some of the working titles so far; The First Year, One Person Can Make A Difference, The Beginning, My Green Epiphany, and probably a few more that I didn't commit to paper.  None of these made the cut, and I have one that is warming to me as I continue to refine the books contents.  Time will tell if it makes it to the presses (so to speak, as there are no presses for an eBook)!

Because I enjoy writing the blog so much, it will continue on as usual.  I will continue to document my journey and any actions that I take, because I have been told by many hundreds of readers during my four and a half years of writing the blog, that I am making a difference to their lives through my behaviours, thoughts and actions.  I am humbled as always, especially when I think back to when I started the blog, as it initially set out to be a way of recording my personal journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle, albeit in a very public way.  Call me naive, but I never expected this much attention from readers or the media, let alone be attempting to write a book.

Anyway, enough of my rambling for now.  Suffice it to say that writing a book or eBook is a labour of love but oh so rewarding!  I am glad that I am giving it a go.

Money IS Time

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the phrase "Time Is Money".  Let me give you my spin on the term.

Everyday, most of use use money to purchase goods and services from other.  Things that we can't or don't make ourselves, like food, shelter, clothing, and entertainment.   In their basic form these things represent someone else's time to which they have assigned a value to, or cost, in your local currency.  We consume other's produce.

Here is a better explaination.  When you purchase an item of an agreed value, you use a form of time to buy it.  You are using money, which was exchanged for your time by giving to someone else i.e. working for an employer.  The work could be a job, it could even be produce that you made during your time, or a service you provide others during which you sacrifice your time.  Money is time.

Now lets take it one step further.  You go shopping and you see a shiny new iPad that you believe you just may need.  The top of the line model costs about A$899, which is quite expensive for an electronic consumer item.  Lets say you get paid $20 and hour (after income tax).  It would take you 45 hours of full time work, just to pay for that one item.  That is just over a week of your time.  This calculation is not taking into consideration that you have to also work to put food in your family's belly and a roof over your head!  It is also assuming that you have been patient, have saved your money (aka time) and paid with cash savings.

So what happens when you buy the item on credit (loan)?  Well you get the item instantly without sacrificing your time as yet, however you then enter into a legal and binding contract with your credit provider for your future time.  You also have the added burden of paying back extra time in the form of interest payments, usually at a high rate depending on your ability to pay or have asserts that they could recover if you default on the loan.  Sounds a bit like a type of slavery to me.

Let me mention one last example, albeit a small cost, but equally damaging over the longer term.  In my recent Co-op post, I wrote about frugal food and how I take my home made lunch to work at least four days a week.  If I bought my lunch at work at one of the expensive cafes around my building (between A$10-15), it essentially means that I would be spending the first hour of my working day slogging out just to earn the money to buy my lunch for the day.  That doesn't sound right, now does it?

Buy making your own lunch or forgoing that shiny new consumer electronic, not only are you saving money, you are saving your own time as well.  What would happen if you diverted all of that spare money to your long term debts like your mortgage for instance?  You get your time back because you don't have to pay as much interest, that's what would happen.  Would you rather retire from full time work at 53 or at 65 or maybe never?  I know which one I am choosing, because I would rather be young and grey, than work for the rest of my time.

I have so much more to offer, and I want to keep my time to myself!

Frugal And Wholesome Food

Today's post is over at the Simple Green Frugal Co-op, and is titled "Frugal Food Like The Old Days".  My love of the humble scone comes to light, as does my ingrained habit of taking a home cooked lunch to work at least four days a week. It saves me a blooming fortune, and I get to use the yummy jam I make, with lashings of cream.  

Simple pleasures are the best!