A Quick Break From My Book

Sometimes you just need to take a quick break.

Which is exactly what I am doing now (would you believe).  I am taking a break from transcribing my small off-grid solar power supply ebook from my hand written journal into MS Word.

I needed to focus my attention on something different, so here I am!

Writing is hard work sometimes, but it is certainly made easier when you plan ahead.  For this ebook, I took the time to write out a very basic book structure, giving each chapter a title, jotting down ideas for topics within each chapter, and then doing a heck of a lot of research on the interwebs to make sure I had my facts right.

I feel a lot more comfortable writing this book than I did the first two.  Probably because it is not a story per se, but a genuine "How-to" book with full explanations,  instructions, and pictures of components and how they all fit together.  It will be much more detailed than my series of blog posts on the subject of Energy Independence, but still written in the same, easy-to-understand style that I have previously used in my books and within this blog.

If writing one book is not enough, I am also half way through writing a separate ebook about "How To Build Your Own Outdoor Clay Oven" (working title).

This book is not as easy to write as the power book for some reason which I can't quite fathom.  However, I find that if I write at least 200 words a day (equal to about three pages in my journal), it keeps the momentum going, and writing by hand also helps keep the creative juices flowing.  Thankfully, I have ample time on the train twice daily to achieve this self imposed writing goal.

One thing that I can't handle is a blank Word document.  It is so daunting starting out, so this is where the basic book structure has really helped this time around.

Anyway, enough about books, I better get back to work.  This typing will not magically jump onto the screen all by itself!

Do you like writing?  Do you find it easy?

Sunday On The Home Front

As is the case on a Sunday, we utilised our time to full potential.

We were expecting friends over for lunch, so we were both up early getting things ready.

Kim whipped up a delicious Chocolate Ricotta Tart.

She made the shortcrust pastry, and home made/grown ingredients were Ricotta that I made during the cheese workshop, and some chooky eggs from the girls.

It was wonderful, and tasted just like a baked cheese cake with a layer of soft chocolate on top.  If you are interested you can find the recipe for this tart at Taste.com.au.

Kim then made an egg and bacon pie, with my weekly bacon ration.  No pictures of my own, but you can find the recipe and a picture for the egg and bacon pie at Insidecuisine.com.  The recipe was created by Annabel Langbein, better known as the Free Range Cook.  It was delicious!

After our friends left, it was into the garden to plant a garden bed of sweet corn, and plant out a few more cucumber seedlings.

The sweet corn seedlings were about 30cm (1ft) tall, so they are safe from slug annihilation  so it was time to pop them into their bed.  The bed had rested for two weeks so it was ready to go.

Here is a picky of yours truly with his hands grounded in the soil feeling very content.

After the corn was planted and watered, I removed most of the spring onions that had gone to seed.  I kept a few seed heads for next years crop, and then sprinkled with blood and bone and pelleted chicken manure.  It will be ready for Tomatoes next weekend.

As I am running out of room, I had to begin to intersperse cucumber seedlings among the brown onions which are starting to swell.  By the time I pick the onions in mid November, the cucumbers should be well established, with room for a zucchini or two.

Holly and Teddy were most helpful (not).  I wish to come back in the next life as a dog, especially one that lives in this house!

With the corn and all other beds planted or prepped  it was time to give the plants some seaweed solution to prevent transplant shock.  This light watering really does help the seedlings get established well.

Once that was completed, I had to complete my income tax return.  This was not too onerous, because Kim had gathered all the receipts and categorised them.  She makes things easy for me!

This weekend I will harvest the garlic and hang it up to dry.  Then, in go the various tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum (bell pepper) in that bed, and a few more pumpkins around the other side of the yard.

I also have to build a new herb garden as I have really gone crazy with basil, coriander (cilantro), and dill this year.  So many punnets, but nowhere to plant them.  So, I have a 44 gallon plastic barrel that I will convert into a butterfly bed.  Plans and pictures will be posted once I figure it all out, I promise.

Somewhere over the weekend, I also have to finish painting the laundry, and a few other odds and ends to keep the darling wife happy.  Shouldn't take too long.  Oh, and I need to put down another batch of Cerveza.

Busy or what?   Don't you find that a full Sunday just flies by?

Mozzarella and Ricotta Workshop

Today I taught a great cheese making workshop.

It was held at the Melton South Community Centre who handled all the booking, some advertising, and fee collection for me, and provided the venue.

The class started at 1pm, however Kim, Ben and I arrived at 12:15 pm and set up the classroom and cleaned all the surfaces that we were going to make cheese on.

All students turned up around 1pm with the exception of a friend who was delayed.  I started it at about 5 minutes after the scheduled time and we got stuck into the lesson.  My friend soon caught up with Kim's help.

Firstly we made mozzarella in the normal way as I have previously demonstrated in my Mozzarella YouTube video.  Everyone followed the process, and it was speeded up a little because we brought along our microwave oven to complement the one from the Centre.  This time there were no delays when heating up the curd.

Once everyone completed successfully (7 out of 7 strike rate), Kim sliced up some sourdough baguette and they enjoyed sampling their fresh cheese.  Very tasty indeed.

While all participants were enjoying some banter, I started the Ricotta Master Class, which is a fancy term for a demonstration!

I used a new recipe for my Ricotta because I was sick of the final product being tasteless and bland.  I wanted a smooth, sweet flavour that could be moulded in a basket.

Well, I found a great recipe for Whole Milk Ricotta that I slightly modified, which I posted over on Little Green Cheese for all you curd nerds.

After I made the Ricotta and it was draining in the basket, people began to finish up and leave.  The feedback during the course was wonderful, and I had many requests to teach other types of cheese making classes.  I think I will have to expand my repertoire into a few other soft and semi-hard cheeses.

For the first time, I dared to try a bit of cross selling.  This is because after every workshop I have taught the participants always ask where to buy the ingredients, so I thought to myself that I should sell them.  Why not?  I usually buy my ingredients in bulk anyway, so it was no trouble at all.

I bought ingredients to make up some Mozzarella kits ($13 with ingredients for 4 batches)  for the students to buy and have a go at making the cheese at home.  Thankfully they were a big hit, and I all but sold out.  I also had muslin and thermometers for sale.

Unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures or delegate Ben as the onsite photographer for all the classroom antics.  Silly of me.  Next time I will be a bit more diligent.

I do have a picture of my sliced Ricotta (above), and I will post a picture of the Chocolate Ricotta Tart that Kim is currently making for a small lunch gathering we are having tomorrow.

It was a great class and day, with great students to boot.  Everything just worked so well.

Thanks to Kim and Ben for their helpful assistance.  It wouldn't have been the same without your hard work.

Buy Nothing New Month - Final Update

As the month draws to a close, let’s have a look at how it has been going so far.

Purchases to date;

• Second Hand - Soap making gear for workshop; including a spoon, chopping board, pot, jugs, etc.
• Second Hand - Clothing; a belt.
• Second Hand - I bought an iPad 2 for Kim from my youngest daughter Megan. She no longer needed it, so I took it off her hands.
• Swapped - Stick blender from L @ 500m2 for a gift!

• New - Today I broke the drought, and purchased something new for hygiene purposes. I bought a new apron for tomorrow’s cheese making course. We could have made one, but ran out of time. I managed to pick it up for $16, so it did not break the bank, and was the only item I bought all month brand new.
• New - Oh, I also bought a few more kit beer cans and some light malt, so I can make some more Aztec Gold Cerveza over the weekend. As it falls under the food and drink category, it was an allowable purchase, and even more so that I am making the beer myself. The batch I bottled a few weeks ago is just so drinkable, that when shared with friends, it won’t last too long!

So with only a few days left in October, I think I have done pretty well. I am not normally a big purchaser of new stuff anyway, and prefer to source what I can from stuff I already have or swap things with friends for something I need or make it from raw materials myself.

Just by my observations at the factory outlet today, where I bought the apron, I could tell that not many people are giving second hand much of a chance. There were shoppers laden with bags as they walked out of the shopping centre. I felt abnormal with just an apron in my hand (no bag required) as I travelled back to work.

This challenge has also had an effect upon Kim and Ben, who joined me on the quest for second hand. We found all sorts of wonderful things in the op shops that we visited, some useful, some not. However, we did not stray from our list, which is always a good method that we use to avoid impulse buying.

I might even take another visit to our local op shop on Sunday. You never know what I might find. I do need a new pair of dress jeans, which is how I bought my last pair two years ago.

How did you go during Buy Nothing New Month? Did you give it a go? What was your result?

Vote For Clean Energy

Have you heard that many of the big Australian energy companies talking down the Renewable Energy Target in the media?  Twenty percent renewables by the year 2020 is what it is currently set at, but they want it lower!  Not on my watch!  Let make it higher.

The great news is that energy demand from the big dirty generators is falling due to Australians taking matter into their own hands and installing solar photovoltaics and solar hot water en masse.  People like me and you have installed over 1.7 GW of solar on over 750,000 of our homes.  Now that is something to be proud of.  It is estimated that the trend will continue with a capacity of 2.3 GW of solar PV by the end of the year.  Great work one and all!

But that only accounts for roughly 2.5% of Australia's total electricity generation capacity, but if it increased, that would put a big dent in corporate profits for the fossil fuel electricity generators.  That is one of the reasons why they want the RET decreased, not increased.

100% Renewables, the ACF and others like me are helping citizens have a voice.  This is via The Peoples RET Review.  Heres the skinny;

Vote for clean energy

It's working! Pollution in Australia is actually dropping and we've switched off 3,000 MW of dirty, coal-fired generation as a result of the combined impact of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and the price on carbon pollution. But some big power companies and industry lobby groups want to slow the development of renewables in Australia. Their money and lobbying power gives them a voice, but what about ordinary citizens? 100% Renewable, ACF and our allies are running the People’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) Review. This week Australians can tell decision makers what kind of energy future we want.

Have your say in the People’s RET Review or visit www.peoplesretreview.org.au to vote."

The voting goes from 22 - 31st of October 2012, and will be delivered to the Climate Change Authority’s Round Table consultations in November 2 (Melbourne) & 5 (Sydney).  

I believe that it will make a difference to the overall outcome, which is why I am putting my support behind it.  

Have your say today.

Thanks to Andrew Bray for bringing this to my attention.

End Factory Farming

I believe in a world without factory farming.  If you thought that factory farming only happened overseas, then you don't have the full picture.

This video will open your eyes to how your chicken, eggs and pork is raised, and how we can make factory farming a thing of the past.

If you care about the welfare of all animals, then this video is a must watch, all the way to the end. Go to Make it Possible and pledge to make a difference.  Lets end factory farming in Australia.  If you have a blog please consider posting this video to your blog.

Please, for the sake of these voiceless animals.  A life worth living has got to be a worthy goal.

Goodbye Edwina

It is sad when one loses a pet, especially one so adorable as Edwina.  She was our favourite hen (tear).

Edwina Chicken last year

She passed away this morning after slowly going downhill over the last week.  As she was five years old, it was just her time.  There were no visible signs of illness.

ISA Brown chooks only live for between 5 - 8 years because of their extreme egg laying capabilities and lack of heavy moulting.

Edwina laid eggs up until about two weeks before she died, and was productive to the end.  She loved to be picked up and be in our company.  Never flighty, and tame as could be.

Call us sentimental fools, but even though she was just a backyard hen, it felt like she was part of the family.  I have been melancholy all day, which I suppose is just part of being human.

You will be missed my fine feathered friend.  So long, and thanks for all the eggs.

Our First Soap Making Workshop

Yesterday was another first.  It was our first attempt at a soap making workshop!  Allow me tell you about it.

Previously we had provided demonstrations for members of the local sustainable living group, so Kim and I wanted to take it to the next level, and begin to teach this skill to members of the wider community.  We were excited to be teaching as a team.

However, as we like to hone our presentation technique before embarking on such an endeavor,  we wanted to make sure that we had the basics down pat.  We wanted to try the setup, safety precaution instructions, and gather feedback from people whose opinions we trust and respect.  We had a proven recipe that made a nice all-round bar of soap, so we stuck to what we knew worked best.

So we opened the workshop up to members of our community group for a small fee that would allow us to break even.  We had to purchase safety equipment, aprons, second hand equipment (due to buy nothing new month), oils, fragrance and type up instructions.  We also had to source a cheap soap mould, which we managed by using 1 litre waxed cardboard milk cartons.  I found the milk cartons easy to use, however Kim did not like them and prefers the wooden moulds we normally use.  Looks like I will have to make some wooden ones.

As you can see, the setup had everything.  I used the camp stoves that I purchased for cheesemaking workshops, and the vast majority of the equipment you see on the table (except safety equipment) was sourced from op shops.

We found that the small class of three that we taught in the morning was a good size, and everyone kept interested during the workshop.  However the larger class of five in the afternoon was a bit drawn out, even though we stuck to our timings perfectly.  It took each student 25 minutes to make a batch of soap, taking it nice and slow.  If someone looked like they were rushing things, I instructed them to slow down and relax.  To see our technique in action, and why homemade soap is better than commercially made stuff, have a look at our Soap Making YouTube video.

We learnt a few things ourselves from the experience.  Our safety precautions worked well, but I found the you still have to watch participants like a hawk.  If someone looks like they may injure themselves, don't hesitate to step in.  I few times I had to remind students to be more cautious when mixing with the stick blender, or mixing the water and caustic soda.  No one was offended when I stepped in, because I gave a warning during the safety instructions that I would take action if necessary.

The class size really can only be a maximum of four.  It is the easiest to teach safely, and the interaction between instructor and student is better.  I personally found it slightly distracting with a larger class and with a few other observers talking in the background.

We also learnt that two stations are enough, but students found it awkward sharing the digital scales, and a single candy thermometer.  Kim also mentioned that we should keep a lookout for two more sets of equipment when we are scouring the op shops.  That way there would be limited washing up in between students, and the class would flow much better.  We will fix that up before we schedule the next class.

Other than those few minor things, it was a perfect day.  We all had fun, learnt new skills, and everyone walked away with some homemade, colourful, fragrant, vegetable based soap.  I believe all the participants were pleased with the result.

We expect that there will be more classes coming soon to our local community house.  If anyone has expressions of interest in the western region of Melbourne you are most welcome to contact me via email.  Happy to share our skills for a low fee.

Kim and I were certainly pleased with the results of our planning and instruction. So after all the students had gone home, and when everything was cleaned and packed away, we indulged in a nice cold bottle of white wine and talked about how we could improve it further.

It was a great way to debrief and unwind after a fruitful and rewarding day.

The Fantastic Incredible Edible

Would you like your community to come together to grow fruit and vegetables in every spare plot of land that would normally going to waste?

Well that is just part of what the Incredible Edible movement have done in Todmorden, UK.

Let me allow one of the founders, Pam Wurhust explain in this TED video.

It is quite amazing that this all started around a kitchen table.  I suppose that some of the best ideas do!  In fact that is how our little sustainable living group in Melton was started out as well.

This town has managed to put itself back on the map, and grow so much more local food than it would have otherwise done.  It has helped educate children, and set up further learner in the schools.  They even have vegetable tourists, which is a novel concept.

The video below explains a bit more about what they have achieved in really what is a short period of time.

  Incredible Edible Todmorden from haymedia on Vimeo.

If anyone wants to learn more about Incredible Edible you can visit their website for further information.

It is funny how these sorts of community changes are mostly popping up in the UK.  Firstly the Transition Towns movement, and now this one.

Good on you all for being the trail blazers.  We need more people like Pam and her friends!

Changing To The Real Reality Channel

credit: bizarrocomic.blogspot.com

Life goes on day by day with the realities of the world being shrouded with a heavy fog for many who choose to remain so.  Sustainable/simple living remains outside the fog in the minds of many people still stuck in their current reality.

But how do we help to change people's world view and assist them in removing the veil over their eyes?

Well let me try and explain how I do this on a regular basis with an analogy.

Imagine that there are only two TV channels available in your area.

You are watching the "real reality" channel, while those around you are watching the "seriously head-stuck-in-the-sand" channel.   You really feel tempted to simply ask them to get off the couch and change channels.

However you need to do this in such a way as not to criticize that person's current beliefs or perspectives, because you know it would be counterproductive.

What you will need to do is talk to them at their level, knowing that they are watching that "seriously sandy" channel.  Don't belittle.  It turns peoples minds off straight away.

Instead, be enthusiastic when you talk about the things that you do, or the behaviours you have ingrained in your life.

If the conversation on the "seriously head-stuck-in-the-sand" channel is regularly about football or shopping for shoes, then begin to start your own conversations about food gardening, generating your own electricity, your lack of utility bills, or even your favourite fruit tree or chicken.

You will soon find that a few interested people with begin to watch the "real reality" channel occasionally  and start to enjoy this new channel.  The more interesting conversations that occur, the more people begin to watch, little by little.

As the presenter of your local "real reality" channel, be mindful that your viewers are beginners.  Start with basic content, and build it up.  Don't go headlong into climate chaos and peak oil just yet.   If your channel starts running this stuff too early, you will lose half your viewers in a heartbeat.

So slowly does it.  With any pop-culture TV show, it must remain interesting and relevant.  Within a few months your "real reality" channel will become a talking point, and most people will know where it is on the dial.  If someone asks a question about backyard chickens to another, they point them to the "real reality" channel by word of mouth.

This is when you know that your channel is being watched regularly with enthusiasm.  As with everything in life you will quickly find avant "reality" channel watchers come out of the woodwork!

Hopefully, this analogy and post has struck a chord with many of you who already watch the reality channel.

Let me know if you have had similar experiences helping people to change channels.

Change, Adapt, Or Both?

When I write about climate change on this blog, I usually focus upon changes to prevent it from happening in the first place.  This year, due to so many climate signals that the change is already upon us, it may be time to start focusing on adaptation as well as changing behaviours.

I know, I know.  Talking about adaptation to climate change is kind of like admitting defeat in the battle to lower greenhouse gas emissions.  As I see no real signs of "The Great Disruption" as described by Paul Gilding, so maybe it is time to do both.

Does that mean we start building seawalls to protect vulnerable coastlines from sea surges as water levels rise?  Do we begin to migrate populations towards the poles?  Do we start to abandon affected areas as lost causes?   Do we adapt in place if we think we have half a chance of making a go of where we currently are?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but some people are giving it thought.  People like Vicki Arroyo, with a background in environmental law who talks about adapting to climate change consequences.


This is one of the few TED talks I have seen on climate change that focuses on adapting rather than trying to slow or reverse it. Realistically, a comprehensive response is going to include both.  As like many other TED talks, it still has a lot of wishful thinking, however it does make you wonder if we need to take quicker adaptation action.

Do we really want be go down in history for taking the one real time that we were actually put to the test, to work together - from politics and big business all the way down to individuals and stuffing it up?  I don't want to be part of the collective shrug of humanity's shoulders and say "oh well, we can't control ourselves, so let's prepare for the results of our stupidity instead."

It is not good enough in my mind.  I will continue to campaign for emission reduction via action.

What do you think?  Should we begin to adapt instead of focusing on lowering emissions and reducing resource consumption?  Are we already too far up the creek without a paddle?

Gavin and the Beanstalks

Due to the fungal rust, it was time to harvest this years crop of Broad Beans (Fava).

The beanstalks were starting to look worse for wear, and they really wouldn't have lasted too much longer.

So, before I started, I asked Ben and Kim to come and give me a hand.  They both jumped at the chance (well Kim did), and we got on with the task of cutting down each stalk, carefully leaving the roots intact.  The roots are great organic matter, and also have nitrogen nodules attached that enhance the soil as they rot down.  We threw the beanstalks into the organic waste bin, and composted the pods as they had none of the fungus on them.

Besides Ben, Kim and I, there were the two supervisors making sure we harvested the beans correctly.  Holly and Teddy also made sure that the greenhouse was warm enough.

And here is the result.  The beans weighed in at 1.7 kg (3.7 lbs), which is down from the 2.1 kg that I harvested last year.  The rust had something to do with that, as well as the fact that I had to harvest them three weeks earlier this year.  Kim and I sat and shelled the bean, having lots of fun in the process.  There were comments about farmers wives, monotony, then jokes, and laughter.  It is amazing what you can get up to just shelling beans!

I blanched them quickly to lock in the flavour.  You can read about this process in my post "How to Blanch Fresh Produce for Freezing".  I added a teaspoon of salt per litre (quart) of water to maintain the colour of the beans.  Five bags of beans are now in the freezer mainly for stews during the winter!  Yum.

After blanching, it was time to clean out the two chicken houses.  I took the spent bedding and saved it for use on the garden bed.

To prep this bed for next week's crop of Sweet Corn, I added four buckets of home made compost, a few handfuls of blood & bone, and a handful of dolomite lime.  I also added a bucket of charcoal that I saved when I cleaned out of the clay oven after last nights pizza dinner.

According to Peter Cundall, the charcoal gives corn a big boost, so I thought I would give it a go this year.  All topped with the chicken bedding laid on about 5 cm (2") thick as a water retaining mulch.

The chooks received the remaining powdered ash in their dust bath.  They thanked me by jumping into it straight away and taking their daily bathe.  They love wood ash mixed with sand.

Once the garden bed was completed, I gave it a good soak from the rainwater tank, and then poured myself a nice glass of Pinot Noir and took in the ambience.

It was pleasurable to be able to look out over the veggie patch, and know that there was nothing left to do for the weekend.

A great day.  Did anyone else get much done around the garden this weekend?

I Love Opportunity Shops

Today, I went hunting for stuff.  Not new stuff, but second hand stuff.

As part of Buy Nothing New Month one of the objectives is that if you really need stuff, then you go looking for preloved items.

I needed a few things for the soap-making workshop that I am holding for the Melton Sustainable Living Group next weekend, so as part of my pledge, I avoided the major shopping centres and hit the road.

This quaint little op shop is located in Melton South, and is run by the Uniting Church.  Quite a bit of furniture and lots of cloths.  I picked up a brand new brown belt for my pants for $2.  All leather as well.

Then on to Vinnies in Melton to see what they had.  I picked up two plastic jugs here for $4.

Next door was the Salvos, which is the biggest op shop in town.  I found a chopping board, two plastic bowls, some stainless steel spoons, and a stainless steel avocado cutter.  When I first picked up the cutter, I didn't know what it was, but a nice lady told me that she used to work in a sandwich shop and used it to cut avocado, strawberries, and bananas.  Nice, and for only $1.

So here is a photo of all my booty, which only cost me $20 all up.  Me thinks I got myself a bargain, and feel good giving this stuff a second life.

I am now on the lookout for a stainless steel 4 litre pot and I am set for the workshop!  I will keep looking around, and will hit some garage sales tomorrow.

To date this has been my only purchase all month, other than food, drink and personal hygiene items.  Doing well and I am nearly halfway through the month.

How are you going?  Have you managed to buy only second hand or borrowed stuff this month?

My Current Dichotomy

Have you ever been split between opposing realities?  A dichotomy so to speak.  A condition perceived as polar extremes or opposites?

Well, my life seems to be a constant tug of war between the two main parts of my day that both demand equal amounts of my attention, yet complete opposites.

Firstly, my job. I work with a multi-national in Information Technology in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. I need to travel from my semi-rural home to the city each day with a total round trip of 2 and a half hours, door to door which is 50 km one way. I drive my Hybrid car to the train station then catch a country train for 50 minutes, then a tram for 10 minutes,  and then work in a massive building, surrounded by workmates who probably do the same.

Whilst at work, I do the best I can to be sustainable as I possibly can within an office environment. I avoid printing, turn off lights in unused meeting rooms, shutdown my computer and monitor when I leave, and take the stairs when travelling between floors.

I also work very hard and am proud of my accomplishments at the end of the day. It is a complex and stressful part of my day, getting even more complex as time goes on. I often think about the diminishing returns of technology, and that increasing complexity creates larger and larger technology failures. It is this complexity that is one side of my dichotomy.

Alternatively, when I arrive home, my entire day changes. Simple tasks like checking on the chickens, enjoying good food from our garden, savouring time with loved ones, and just enjoying the little things like pottering around the garden at my own pace.

Life just slows right down. I don't need to think too hard about being green and sustainable at home because that is just the way we have designed everything around us, the way we all behave, and what we like talking about. A very simple lifestyle and we continue to simplify it at every chance we get.

So, as you can see, I have opposing forces at play each Monday to Friday. One of complexity, hustle and bustle of city life during the day, and a slow, simple lifestyle during the non-job times. I often remember back to what my life was like when I only had one reality to deal with. It was unfulfilled, boring, and mind numbing.

Now that I have this yin and yang thing going on, I find that feel kind of in balance and certainly in tune with the things that really matter in my life being, family, the environment and sustainable living.

However, if the balance was tipped the other way towards a completely slow lifestyle, would I still strive so hard in my endeavour.  Would I continue to make my local community a better place to live by promoting and educating other about the joys of a simple and sustainable lifestyle?

I don't really know the answer to that question because I haven't reached that part of my journey yet, but I reckon that I would be busier than I am now.

However I can tell you that I know which one I prefer, which is the sustainable lifestyle that our family constantly strives for. I bet by now you are wondering why I don't throw away the complexity and fully embrace the simple life I so enjoy and desire?

Well, there is this little thing called a mortgage that still needs to be paid off. We have been pulling together all of our resources together to pay it down as quickly as possible, and all being well, I predict that it will be paid off in 3 and a half years, just in time for my 52nd birthday!

When that happens I believe that my dichotomy will vanish, and all I will need is part time work to earn enough for the few simple needs we will have.

Do any of you have the same dilemma? City by day, and country or 'burbs by night and weekend. What are your experiences and what plans do you have to embrace a simpler lifestyle?

If anyone has already made the switch, I would love to hear about your experience.

Broad Bean Rust

Four years in a row I have saved broad bean seeds and sown them successfully.  This year it has been a little different.

I use a variety called Aquadulce which is a suitable variety for our cooler winter climate.  The bean stalks grow to about 1.8 metres (6 ft), and then I pinch of the tips so that the pods swell quicker.  I even eat the tips, wilted down in a little butter with garlic.  Delicious.

Not this year however.  Many of my broad bean plants have caught a fungus commonly known as bean rust.  It starts off as a small infection and grows rapidly.

According to the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, the scientific name is Uromyces viciae-fabae, and is not very common in commercial crops.  It certainly is not common in my crop.  It causes leaf drop and may reduce the size of the pods.  It spreads by wind, and multiplies rapidly in warm, wet temperatures above 20°C late in the season.

Well wouldn't you know it, it has been unseasonably hot (31° C) here last week, especially when the long term spring average is 19.7°C.  Again with the abnormal weather, but this is not late in the season.  I didn't harvest my broad beans until mid November last year.

I only noticed the fungus it on Saturday, so I would say that it blew in from from some farm up north of us.

From watching Gardening Australia, I have learnt that there are a few treatments to prevent a fungal infestation, but they only usually work before your plants get infected or very early stage of infection.

You can spray the fungus with a 1 part milk to 10 parts water mix which also works on powdery mildew on any of the cucurbit family (zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, squash).

Another organic fungicide is a Bicarbonate of soda based mixture.  2 litres of water (2 quarts), add a few drops of vegetable oil (any type will do), a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid, and four teaspoons of bicarb.  Mix it up well and spray the leaves.  The bicarb soda makes the leaves alkaline which inhibits fungal spore development.

Both these mixes are safe to use, however must be reapplied after heavy rain.  Herein is my problem.  Since I discovered the rust, it has not stopped raining.  So I have decided to harvest the crop this Saturday, and cut my losses.

An additional side effect of the rust is that I will not be able to compost the bean stalks or pods due to the risk of the rust infecting my compost bins and reinfecting broad bean crops again next year.  I also will probably not be able to save the seed from this crop either, so will have to start anew.

Anyway, I still get to harvest a big crop of broad beans, and blanch them for storage.  Hopefully I will still get as many as last year.

Bloody hot weather!

Has anyone else had a broad bean rust problem this season?

Black Aphids On Garlic

A big part of gardening is discovery and learning.  This year, I have learnt a few things about my veggie patch. 

For the first time, my garlic crop is suffering from an infestation of black aphids.  Below is a photo of the most infested plant.  They just love sucking the sap out of the leaves and stem.  And here was me thinking that garlic had no natural pests.  I was so wrong.

I have been keeping an eye on them for the past week, hoping that a beneficial insect predator would come along and cull the infestation.  So this morning when I checked, it had just got worse and no friendly insects in sight.  Instead of losing my entire crop of Australian Purple Garlic, I had to take action.

Sap sucking insects do not like being sprayed with Eco-oil.  It gets clogged in their spiracle and they suffocate.  I rarely uses a spray, but this infestation was not going to get better by itself.  Eco-oil is an organic product made from plant oils and an allowed miticide and insecticide in organic systems.

This stuff is easy to use and I added 5 ml to 1 litre of water in my spray bottle, and sprayed the entire crop of garlic.  It took about 6 litres to spray everything, and I must say that the garlic looked much better this afternoon.  The instruction mention that I should spray again in 3-5 days, so will give them the once over on Thursday to make sure.  

Tomorrow I will share another gardening problem that I have experienced for the first time.  It has to do with broad beans.

Has anyone else had this type of infestation?

Second Hand as Our Default Setting

When I was a wee lad growing up in Loxton North, South Australia, we lived on a dairy farm. Our humble farm house was furnished with mainly second hand furniture because that was how it was done back then in the 70’s.

Gavin (left) and James in Loxton North

I remember that the bunk bed I shared with my brother Jim was purchased at an auction, as were most of the other furnishings. Lots of kitchenware was passed down, as were our kitchen table and chairs. Even my chemistry set was bought at an auction. Many of these auctions were deceased estates or farmers selling up. They were a treasure trove of goodies for an eagle eyed man like my Dad.

In fact, just about everything had a second life and things were built to last!

Back then, people used to share stuff as well. If you didn’t own a certain tool that you needed for a once off job, more often than not you could borrow one from a neighbour and friend. There was no hyper-individualism like there is today.

With designed obsolescence, and cheaply manufactured crap, those days of hand-me-downs and borrowing have all but faded into history. This makes an event like Buy Nothing New Month difficult for the average bloke.

I have been thinking a lot about Buy Nothing New Month since I pledged to take up the challenge. It soon became evident to me that our Con$umer Kulture is so out of kilter with the basic premise of this challenge, that to be successful I would have to reshape my default setting of buying new stuff, to one of buying, borrowing, sharing second hand stuff instead.

This leads me to the conclusion that to make this work permanently, I would have to make buying second hand my default setting, and revert to the ways of my parents and grandparents. This is not a bad thing by any means. It is just a different way of thinking. Instead of buying from, say Target or Kmart, I make my first stop second hand instead.

So far my challenge has been on track, and I haven’t bought anything so far, but I know that will change soon. I do have an ample supply of beer that will be ready in two weeks, so I am okay there. It is just that Kim and I are planning to teach soap making workshops soon, and need to source a stick blender and a digital kitchen scale.

We will put an ad out on our local Freecycle, but I am not holding my breath. I will also scour the op shops and secondhand stores we have in our town, so maybe we will come up trumps there. We could also ask friends if we can borrow these items, but I am after a more permanent solution, as we plan to teach these courses at least once a quarter.

I could buy these items under the ‘personal hygiene’ part of the challenge as we are making soap after all, but I would feel that I had cheated a little.

Fingers crossed, we will get lucky. I am very excited about what I may discover around town.  I may also discover something of my past as well!

I am now ready for my default setting to be reset. How about you?

Coal World

Australia used to ride on the sheep's back.  We were the biggest wool exporter in the world at one stage.  Today, we are famous for our mineral exports, and bloody big holes in the ground.

What do we dig out of the ground?  Well many minerals like iron ore, nickel, copper, bauxite for aluminium, and fossil fuels.  Fossil fuels mainly in the form of coal.  Here in Victoria, it is mainly brown coal, but it is so polluting that no one wants to buy it from us, so we burn it to make electricity instead.  How wonderful!

The other type of coal is black coal.  Now further north in New South Wales and Queensland, we have gigantic deposits of the stuff.  So much so that our coal exports are now Australia's biggest contribution to climate change.  As the Arctic sea ice melts to record lows, our coal exports are reaching record highs.  Something is just not right in the land of Oz.

Here is the skinny from Greenpeace Australia about Coal World;


So do we really need these billionaires getting richer while our planet continues to warm up and melt?  Personally, I don't think so.

Did you know that if Australia's Galilee Coal Basin was a country, it would be the seventh biggest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuels in the world. If you want to learn a bit more, read the full report, 'Cooking the Climate, Wrecking the Reef'.  It is eye opening.

In a burning world, there are no winners!

Bottling Beer

One of the more pleasurable tasks around here is making beer.

Even though drinking it is better, I get a certain sense of pride by making my own home brew beer.  I have mentioned before why I think that making your own beer is more environmentally friendly than buying it from the shops in this post titled "Gav's Eco Beer".

I reuse glass bottles, or brown PET plastic for darker beers, and use local ingredients where I can.  There is little in the way of transport except for the can of mixture and brewing sugar.  The water comes straight from my rain water tanks.

Best of all, I can make it mid-strength at about 3.6% alcohol, and still maintaining a full flavour unlike some light beers I have tasted.

Did I mention that it was cheap?  Only about 20 cents a bottle.  Now that is being frugal.

Anyway, I bottled the beer that I made the day before Sustainable House Day.  It was in the fermenting barrel for three and a half weeks because I did not add any external heat.  It fermented between 16 and 20C, which is within tolerance for the yeast.

As you can see, the barrel is full, the bottles are clean and sterilized and the capper is ready for use.  

After 45 minutes work the barrel is empty, and the bottles are ready for secondary fermentation.  In two weeks the beer will be drinkable, but gets better with age.  I like to drink it after a month.

As you can see, I am very excited to be making beer again.  Just think how excited I will be in a months time.  Finally, I will be able to use more of those limes I have on my tahitian lime tree!

Bottoms up!

Buy Nothing New Month

Who thinks that our con$umer culture has gone crazy? Has Affluenza gone wild? Are people trying to break long ingrained spending habits or still shop till they drop?

I know that I used to buy all sorts of stuff that never got used, or played with, or even looked at after I brought it home from the store. Thankfully those days are well behind me however it was such a waste and according to some research I was not alone in these wasteful behaviours;

A paper from the Australia Institute by Clive Hamilton, Richard Denniss, and David Baker tells us “Aussies have admitted to spending over $10 billion every year on goods we do not use: clothes and shoes we never wear, CDs we never listen to, DVDs we never watch and food we never eat and each year in Australia nearly 20 million tonnes of waste goes to landfill. By way of comparison, this amount exceeds spending by Australian governments on universities and roads.”

That was back in 2005. I dare say that because people are a little more frugal with their money now, and that the Global Financial Crisis is well into its fifth year, people are a little bit more cautious with their spending habits. With more and more retail outlets going into administration each month, this trend may be downward.

However, not one to being shy to take up a new challenge, I am going to participate in Buy Nothing New Month. Here is a blurb about the event;

“Buy Nothing New Month is the global movement for collective, conscientious consumption.

It's a little idea that started in Melbourne and is spreading to the Netherlands and USA.

It's a one month challenge to buy nothing new (with the exception of essentials like food, hygiene and medicines)

Buy Nothing New Month isn't Buy Nothing New Never. Nor is it about going without.
It's literally about taking one month off to really think, "Do I really need it?" If I do, “can I get it second-hand, borrow it or rent it? What are my alternatives? Can I borrow from a friend? Can I swap with my neighbour?"

It's about thinking where our stuff comes from (finite resources) and where it goes when we're done (often landfill) and what are the fantastic alternatives out there to extend the life of our 'stuff'.

It's easy. It's fun. It's moving from consumption-driven to community-driven.

It's good for us, our wallets and our planet.

Hop on board!”

According to the website, it is easy to buy nothing new for a month. There are simple some rules and exceptions to help you get through.

Pledge to Buy Nothing New during October, then with the exception of essentials (food, drink, medications, hygiene products) you can beg, borrow, barter, swap or buy second hand whatever you need.

You just buy nothing new.

So now that I have submitted my pledge and let it known to the world that I am participating, I need a few virtual friends to join in and see if they can buy nothing new for the month of October.

You can pledge at Buy Nothing New Month, and also share with friends.

Are you up for the challenge?

Hurry – Last Days!

If I told you that this blog was closing down in a few days, what you be your reaction? Would it be to read more of it, or urge me to continue writing? Or would it be to wonder about my motivation?

Well, rest assured dear reader.  This blog is not closing down; I just wanted to prove a point.  This is just another of my observational consumerism posts.

So did you experience an emotional reaction? I know I did by just typing the words!

Let me share a little secret with you. This method of provoking an emotional reaction is a very basic marketing ploy that urges you to buy stuff when you don’t really need it. Others statements similar to this are “xx% off everything”, or “Sale - Limited Time Only”, or even “Closing Down Sale”. From my experience, these are usually false promises, and the mark down in price is not real, neither is the closing down sale. Sales are rarely for a limited time, and most stores have a ‘Sale’ sign in the window all year round.

These false promises are a tool to instil a sense of urgency, or a feeling of missing out on something. The problem is that this tool works on most people and not always in the consumers favour. They walk into the store, and buy a sale item, thinking that they got a bargain when they really have not. Anyone who has worked in the retail sector would have seen this time and time again.

So what was my motivation to write this? Well, my lunchtime walk today was to a Direct Factory Outlet mall, which was anything but. It was designed to appear to be a factory outlet with a polished concrete floor, Spartan fittings, and sale signs everywhere, even a few signs like the title of this blog post. It was just another piece of the marketing con job.

People were obviously engaged with their surroundings, because the dollars were flowing. I spent half an hour browsing a $5 discount bookstore, which had some titles I was interested in, but upon closer inspection, the non-fiction books I looked at were dated and new information had been published. Not worth the paper they were printed on. Others however were buying like there was no tomorrow.

So, to sum it up, the only sale item you really get value for money from is the one you choose not to buy, especially when you didn’t really need it in the first place! If you really are shopping for something that is a need as opposed to want, and looking for the best price, it is probably best to do some on-line research first. Only with prior planning, will you find a truly cost effective item.

If a sale that sounds too good to be true, it usually is.