Burning The Candle...

This lifestyle that I have chosen is not an idle one, which is not a complaint by the way.  It just is the way it is, and I love it.

So what have I been doing, and how do I manage to cram it all into a 24 hour day?

Well my day job takes up a vast majority of the day (2 hours of commuting, 9 hours in the office), so keep that in mind while I list the things I have done so far this week.  By the way, it hasn't really been a busy one, so maybe I will do this exercise once a month.

• Saturday - Fed chooks, Made cream cheese, Gardening, Archery Lesson, Cooked dinner for family (veggie curry).
• Sunday - Fed chooks, Remedial gym session, Rest, research for cheese making book, finish off making cream cheese, Finalised six monthly workshop schedule for Melton Sustainable Living Group with Kim, then wrote and published Blog post.
• Monday (public holiday) - Fed chooks, Garden maintenance, cleaned out chicken houses, wrote two blog posts and scheduled one on the Little Green Cheese blog, researched soft cheese.
• Tuesday - Fed chooks, Commute, Work, wrote introduction chapter for cheese making eBook, eBook marketing, researching ideas for future podcasts.
• Wednesday - Fed chooks, Commute, Work, research for cheese eBook  finished off book 1 of The Rangers Apprentice (thanks Dawn for the recommendation), formatted cheese eBook draft manuscript and added all cheese recipes, harvested dinner with Kim. 
• Thursday - Fed chooks, Commute, Work, bought some more bird netting for Tomatoes, Committee meeting for Melton Sustainable Living Group, this blog post, start recording new podcast intro.

In amongst all these things listed above, I am constantly looking for new ideas for blog posts, thinking about our rapidly changing climate and resource depletion, and attempting to understand what things may be like in the future (but I don't let it get me down), when these things hit our society in the face.

Also, as you can see, there is no mention of watching TV in there, because there is no room for it in my busy schedule.  In fact, it is because of the fact that I don't watch TV that I have the time to do all of these things.  Life just seems a lot fuller, so much more satisfying, and without boredom.

So next time someone asks me how do I manage to fit in all the stuff that I do, I will just point them to this post!  I know from experience that you get so much more of your life back without the idiot box in it!

Are you beginning to get more things done by weaning yourself from TV time?

Upcoming Presentations and Courses

As I mentioned at the start of the year when I set my personal goals for 2013, I will be getting out from behind the computer monitor more often and presenting or educating more people in person.

I really enjoy meeting readers and the interested members of public, and have a few presentations and courses over the next few months.  Unfortunately there are not TV appearances scheduled, but I am always willing to be interviewed if the subject matter relates to sustainable/simple living.  If anyone owns a TV station, send me an email. ;-)

So, here they are.  If anyone is interested and lives locally, please ensure that you book ahead.  Appearances are listed in chronological order.

Vasili and I after shooting his TV show "Vasili's Garden in November 2010.

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Energy Efficiency in the Home

Date: TUESDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2013
TIME: 7PM - 8PM
Ivanhoe Library, IVANHOE
Cost: Free Entry
Bookings: Must Book
http://yprl.vic.gov.au/calendar/view/459342

During Victoria’s Sustainable Living Festival, learn how you can make simple and practical changes around your home to save money and contribute to a greener planet.

Michael O’Connell, ATA technical expert, will share practical knowledge on energy efficiency, sustainable building and water conservation at home.
Ivanhoe Library
255 Upper Heidelberg RdIvanhoe, VIC 3079
Australia

The Sustainable Living Festival website mentions that my friend Michael O'Connell is presenting, but he asked me to fill in for him as he is volunteering in East Timor with the ATA and will not be available.  This presentation should be great fun, and thanks to Mick for asking me to sub.

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Mozzarella and Ricotta

Make your own Mozzarella to take home and see a demonstration of Ricotta being made. Breadsticks provided for tasting. See requirement list.

Date: Saturday 2 March 2013

From 1.30pm - 4.30pm (1 session)

Cost: $55.00 or $50.00 concession

Contact: Melton South Community Centre for bookings T 9747 8576

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Soap Making

Learn to make your own soap with the right balance of bubbles, creaminess & moisturiser, which is free from harmful ingredients. Choose your fragrance and take home 1kg (12 bars) of soap as well as a reusable wooden log mould (valued at $30.00) See requirement list.

Date: Sunday 3 March 2013

From 1.00pm – 3.30pm (1 session)

Cost: $80.00 or $75.00 concession

Contact: Melton South Community Centre for bookings T 9747 8576

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An Introduction to Sustainable Living

Ever wondered how to start living a more sustainable lifestyle? Come along and hear Gavin Webber (award winning writer), talk about his journey over the last 6 years, and how he transformed his suburban home, gardens, and family into an energy efficient, money saving, food providing, and thriving household.

Sponsored by Melton Sustainable Living Group Inc.

Venue: Arnolds Creek Community Centre

Date: Wednesday 20 March 2013

From 7.00pm – 9.00pm

Cost: $5.00 Entry - Tea / Coffee Provided

MSLG Members Free

Contact: Kim Webber Secretary for bookings T 9747 3616

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So there you have it.  Lots of presentations and courses to enjoy.  Can I ask that if you do attend any of these events, don't forget to say gid'day as Kim and I would love to meet you.  

It goes without saying that if you attend one of the courses that you will learn a valuable skill and have some fun at the same time!

What do you think?  Am I on the way to achieving my first two goals?  :-)

How To Make Cream Cheese

Who loves cream cheese?  I like it with served with a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce or spread on crackers with some sliced heirloom tomato and a basil leaf.

Well dear readers, you are going to love this version.  It is so tasty and is easy to make, with very few ingredients unlike processed cream cheese which has a list of ingredients as long as my arm.

Like any great cheese, it just takes a little bit of time.

This is a cheese that I have been meaning to make for a few months, but it has been just too hot here in South Eastern Australia.  Luckily, this weekend has been mild with temperatures in the low 20's (C).

I managed to source a non-homogenised full cream milk at a supplier in Bacchus Marsh (Jonesy's Milk), which was just a delight to use for cheese making.

So on to the recipe and method.

Cream Cheese

Ingredients;

• 4 litres (1 gallon) full cream (whole) milk
• 1/8th teaspoon, (heaped smidgen) Mesophilic direct set culture type MA or MO30
• 4 drops liquid rennet in 60 ml (1/4 cup) of non-chlorinated water
• 2 teaspoons cheese salt
• If using homogenised milk, add 1 ml of calcium chloride in 30 ml of non-chlorinate water.

Method;

Sanitise all equipment by boiling in hot water or a weak bleach (20 ml of bleach to 4 litres of cold water)

In a large pot, pour in the milk and add calcium chloride solution if necessary and stir thoroughly top to bottom for 30 seconds.  Warm the milk to 30°C (86°F).

Add the culture, stir well for one minute top to bottom.

Add 3 teaspoons of the rennet solution (discard remainder), and stir for two minutes.

Cover and allow to rest at room temperature (about 21°C or 70°F) for 18 hours.  After resting, it will have the appearance of a block of soft curd with whey.

Line a colander with cheesecloth (I doubled it over twice to make it four layers thick), or butter muslin.

Ladle the curds into the cheesecloth.

Note the yoghurt like consistency.  It also tastes slightly sour, but not quite like a natural yoghurt.

Then form a bag and allow to drain for 12 hours.  Don't forget to tie a double granny knot by gathering the opposite corners of the cloth, otherwise it may slip and fall.

 After 12 hours, untie the cheesecloth, and remove the cheese from the bag.

 Work in the cheese salt with a clean spoon, a little at a time until all used.

Refrigerate the cream cheese in an airtight container.  When chilled, you can make small logs, roll in finely chopped fresh herbs and slice, or just spread on bread or crackers.

Delicious.  Once you have tried fresh home made cream cheese, you will never eat the processed stuff again.  It is delightfully creamy with a slight tang.  Just perfect!

So, a show of hands please.  Who is going to give this cheese a go?

...Then You Win

Do you think that the fossil fuel power industry's days are slowly coming to an end?

Well I hope so, and soon, for the next generations sake.

With countries like Germany, who are setting their sights on becoming fossil fuel free for electricity by 2050, the province of Ontario, Canada set to close down their last coal fired power plant at the end of 2014,  and with wind turbines and thermal solar renewable energy plants accounting for a greater percentage of total electricity generation each progressive year, it looks like coal fired electricity generation is no longer the utility of choice.

Even China are ramping up domestic renewable energy installations, and the Japanese are replacing the lost nuclear capacity at Fukishima with a 1 GW wind farm.

So to rub a little salt into the wound, I found this short video that plots the demise of the fossil fuel industry against Gandhi's quote (which may have been misattributed to him).  Its only a few minutes long and worth a look although it may not be an accurate trajectory of the reliance of coal, crude oil and natural gas, but it is hopeful.

"First they ignore you. They they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."

It is a good message that things are changing.  I'm hoping for a win in all corners of the globe.

If we have any chance of avoiding runaway climate chaos, we as a race really need to ramp up the replacement of all coal fired power plants within a very short time frame.

Maybe Paul Gilding was right when he predicted in his book The Great Disruption, that the Great Awakening (with reference to climate change action) would happen happen around 2018.

All we need is some solid political climate change action in the USA and a big decrease in coal usage world wide, and we could really get somewhere fast.  Lets hope that words are followed by decisive actions.

What do you think?  Are we even close to a win for renewable energy, and the demise of coal as an electricity generation fuel?

Archery Update

A little off the theme of this blog, but many people have emailed me and asked how our archery has been going.  So here is an update:

Early last year, Ben and I decided that Bow Hunting was not for us.

Besides the fact that the entire premise of Bow Hunting is to kill animals for sport (not all bow hunters think like this though), which I didn't have too much of an issue with as long as the animals were feral, the main reason was that I did not get along with some of the more mature folk.  You know the type.  Set-in-their-ways, anti-environmentalist folk, who made it their mission to be rude to us by slagging off treehuggers and anyone wanting to preserve the planet such as myself.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I told these mature blokes that I was a greenie, and that I took offence to what they were saying about "my kind" (their words).  A few other members piped up with the same concerns.  However, with a shrug of their shoulders, they ignored me and kept on using the same words.

So, that was that. We left, never to go bow hunting again, as I didn't want Ben exposed to that sort of attitude.

But the fact remained that we really did enjoy archery.  The feel of the bow in your hand, with the anticipation of nocking the arrow just below the nocking point on the string.  The anticipation of whether you will hit the target or not, or loosing an arrow.  We had a yearning for the thrill of the fletching upon our fingers, and the bruises on our forearms!

Ben using a Limited Compound Bow during practice.

We looked around and found that not so far away there was an alternative.  It was the type of archery that you see at the Olympics, with a round target with concentric circles.  It can be either indoor, or outdoor, or field.  We found an indoor range and paid for an hour to see if we could get back into the swing of things.

Gavin using a Limited Compound bow during practice.

Well after an hours practice with limited compound bows, we both agreed that we would give it another try.  To our surprise, we could still hit the target.

Ben under instruction from Irene

So we signed up for an OzBow Archery Instruction Program, which consists of six 2 hour lessons.  Our first lesson was last Saturday.

We had a ball.  Ben chose to use a limited compound bow, and I preferred the Recurve bow (call me old school).  I like the feel of the wooden bow in my hands, and it looks like a real bow.  I did try the limited compound bow, but it just wasn't for me.  Just call me Genghis.

Anyway, the people were nice and friendly, as was our instructor, Irene.  The youngest in the class was a lad of 8 years old, and I believe that I am the oldest, and there were men and women, boys and girls, all in the same class.

We learnt so much in the first hour that we got to shoot and score in the second hour of instruction.  Ben and I proudly qualified for our 10 metre certificate during the first lesson.  Ben scored 176, and I managed to post 188.  We only needed a score of 150 to qualify at that distance!  Chuffed to bits with our achievement, we are now looking forward to next weekends lesson.

Ben and Jake at practice.

Suffice to say that archery is one of the few sports that the entire family can participate in all at the same time.  That is why I like it.  I get to spend time with my son, and a bit of father-son competitive spirit.

Who knows? We may find a bow hunting club is more welcoming later on down the track.  Until such time, we will continue with this form of archery.

Camembert at Little Green Cheese

Turophiles rejoice!

I have cobbled together all of my Camembert notes and experience and documented it all in one place. That place is in a post over on my cheese blog titled (naturally) "Camembert", which is full of white furry, creamy goodness!

If you love the thought of some home made Camembert gracing your next cheese platter, then join me over at the Little Green Cheese for today's post.  

Bread and Butter Cucumbers

After harvesting a bumper crop of cucumbers this morning, I decided to make one of my favourite preserves.  Bread and Butter Cucumbers!

However, before I started cooked, I weeded out the hard, old yellow cucumbers, whose skins were too tough, cut them in half longways, and fed them to the chickens.  The zucchini in the picture will be grated and frozen for soups and casseroles.

This preserve was made by my mother when I was a wee lad, and I have made a batch each year since I first started growing cucumbers five years ago.  This is one delicious preserve, ideal, as the name suggests, in bread and butter sandwiches.

Bread and Butter Cucumbers

Ingredient list;

• 20 Cucumbers, each about 4 inches long (10 cm).  Mine were a bit bigger so I only used seven cucumbers.  Cut into slices
• 3 large brown onions, halved then sliced
• 1/3 cup (67 gm) of salt
• 3 cups (750 ml) apple cider vinegar
• 5 cups (1 kg) white sugar
• 1½ teaspoons ground turmeric
• 2 Tablespoons black or brown mustard seeds
• 1½ teaspoons celery seed
• 2 Tablespoons pickling spice mix.

Method

Wash all the cucumbers in clean water.  You will also need a 7.6 litre (1 US Gal) pot.

Slice the cucumbers thinly, and put into the pot.

The amount should come up to three quarters of the way up the pot.  You can use any time of cucumber you want for this recipe.

Take your home grown onions (store bought will do in a pinch), and peel.

Cut in half and slice thinly.

Place the onions on top of the cucumbers.

Add the salt, and give the ingredients a thorough toss with your clean hands.

Once mixed then cover with ice, cover the pot and let stand for 3 hours.  Then drain thoroughly, but do not rinse with water.  You want some of the salt to remain.

 Prepare the brine.  In a large saucepan, add the cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seed, celery seed, and pickling spice to the boil.

Stir frequently to avoid burning the bottom of the pan mixing well.

Once boiled, add brine to the cucumber/onion mixture and bring back to the boil.  Allow to bubble for 5 minutes.  Stir every few minutes.  The mixture will release more liquid.

Pack into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1.25 cm of head room (½ inch).  Remove any bubbles of air in the jars, then apply the lids, sealing tightly.

Place in a large pot with a clean tea towel on the bottom, and fill with water just up to the lids.  Bring up to the boil and process for 10 minutes in the hot water bath.

Remove the jars from the bath and set aside to cool.  If you have button topped lids they will pop in as the jars cool.  Leave for two weeks before eating.  This preserve will keep for up to a year.

This recipe is a great way to use up a glut of cucumbers.  You can even use ones that have turned a little yellow.  It is so easy to make, and as I mentioned, delicious with salads or with bread and butter

Yum!

How do you use up a glut of cucumbers?

The Real Reason Why I Started Living Sustainably

During the last six months, I have been doing a lot of reflection about why I chose to live more sustainably way back in September 2006.

I have been reflecting, not because I want to stop living this lifestyle, but because I have been writing my series of sustainable living eBooks and needed to remember exactly how and why it started the way it did.  I also need to come up with something better than just replying back to questions with, "I saw a movie and I changed"!  A lame answer, and one that many did not understand.

As this blog is now quite large, with over 1250 posts, new readers to the blog have mentioned that they are finding it difficult to navigate particular subjects.  These emails and comments gave me the idea for the subject of my very first eBook, titled "The Greening of Gavin - My First Year of Living Sustainably".  It was useful to put it all in one place for prosperity.

The research was easy enough. I read through the first year of my blog, and then wrote the main guts of the book. 

However, one thing eluded me, and that was the root cause and the real reason as to why my green epiphany had such a great impact. 

It took me about three days of soul searching to figure out why, and another three days to write the book chapter about it, which only ended up being a couple of pages long. It was very hard work. That said, I have finally cracked it wide open.

I believe that the impact was so great because leading up to that day of awakening, I was a rampant consumer, stuck in the rat race, getting deeper and deeper into debt, with no end in sight. I was damaging my self financially, my future, and the future of my planet. I would buy the next latest and greatest electronic consumer item without real reasons or any thought of the consequences financially and environmentally.

I just had to have it, mainly because I had been programmed that way. Years of living in the consumer culture had altered the way I behaved, acted, and consumed. Advertising was my master and I was its slave. All that consumption was playing in the back of my mind, and I had this niggly little feeling that something was wrong, but I didn't quite know what. 

 
I had also become lazy. Previously, I'd make things like my own beer, a little of my own food, and took pride in construction projects around the home.  Over time I had slackened off and just paid for things to be done, because I was too lazy to do it myself.

Due to this consumerism, I knew it would be a very long time before my mortgage on my home would be paid off, if ever. 

I felt very, very lost.

Then I had, what I call my green epiphany, which was a pivotal moment in my life. I remember it as a true awakening, like I had been shaken from a dream state and slapped silly with a big wet fish. However, it was only because I was in such an abnormal and sorry state before the documentary, that it was one of the reasons that the experience did have such a transformational effect upon me. 

Otherwise, I believe that I would have walked out of the cinema, thought a little, shook off the feeling that I should do something about this climate thingy, and promptly put it in the too hard basket. Just like everyone else who saw it that day did!

Well, the rest is history. I did choose to act, and act decisively, albeit not quite in the order that I would green my lifestyle if I had to do it over again. Hindsight is always 20/20, but when I think about it, I probably wouldn't change too much.

 All of my actions have had a purpose, whether it was a large statement, or making our family feel good that we were actually doing something worthy of our time and effort.

So why explain this in post?  Well, I suppose that I am trying to say is that all it takes is one simple action in the right direction. Then another, and another, and another. It doesn't matter what triggers the initial action, all that does matter is that you start.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." ~ Lao Tzu

All of these actions are small, yet powerful steps towards a larger goal of voluntary simplicity. You are the one that has the choice to live simply, without it being forced upon you. Kind of like beating the rush that many of us see on the horizon.  An early adopter, if you like.

Love a good climate change rally!

So by consuming less or consuming ethically, you will find that you will live a happier life a result. It is certainly the only way I know how to start living simply!

It is also better to start on the road yourself, than have it forced upon you by circumstances, seen or unforeseen, in the future.

So that is how I started my journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle.  How did you start yours? What was your awakening moment? Or did it just grow inside you?  Or are you just beginning with that first step?  I would love to know.

Blog Survey Results

A big thank you goes out to all readers who took the time to complete the feedback survey.  I realise there were some issues with Apple iOS users (iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac), so sorry about that.  Withstanding that, the participation rate was 40.5%, which is quite good considering the exclusion of many devices.

So the results are in, but you can still leave feedback if you like. Click to enlarge.

The results from highest to lowest are as follows;

1. Food Gardening Tips
2. Frugal Living
3. Personal Stories
4. Anti-Consumerism
5. Chickens
6. Energy Efficiency
7. Renewable Energy
8. Cheese Posts tied with Opinion Posts
9. Climate Change News
10. Video Tutorials
11. Peak Oil News
12. Podcasts

Now a little analysis, if I may.  I was very surprised with Frugal living, coming in at #2, because Frugal living is really a result of the action I take at most of the other topics.

However my biggest surprise were Podcasts, mainly due to over 800 people subscribing to them via iTunes.  Maybe these listeners are not readers of the blog?  I must do something about that, and promote the blog more within each episode.

As for the rest, I am comfortable with the results, because none of them received total votes lower than 25%.  To me, that means that just about every topic has an audience, which is really backed up by the wonderful comments that I also received with the post.  

I really appreciate the time you spared to either provide feedback or leave a comment.

Where to from here?  Well I take it all on board and write less of the lower rated ones, and more of the top rated topics.  After all, I do write for you, my readers, and adding opinion pieces when I get frustrated or need to get something off my chest.  

Once again, thanks for for voting and reading this blog.

Gav x

Blog Survey

I have been out of action lately with an illness, so I would like to use this downtime collecting ideas and information from you, dear readers.

As this blog is about how we live a sustainable lifestyle, with a big heart and sense of community, I am always looking for ways to improve the way that articles are posted.  Sometimes I lean too much towards a certain topic, and I realise that of late I have been focusing on eBooks heavily, because of course, that is what I have been working on the most.

So to remedy that, I am after your opinion.  Opinion about the sorts of things you would like to see here on The Greening of Gavin.  I have created a little poll that you can cast your vote on which topic or topics that you are most interested in, and I will try to add more of these types of posts as we progress on the journey.  You can choose more than one answer.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

I appreciate your feedback, which will help this blog to continue and grow!

Thanks in advance for taking the time to vote.

Gav x

Cheese Temperature Question

Rejoice curd nerds!

Today's post is over at the Little Green Cheese, where I answer Albert's question about the criticality of cheese aging temperatures.  He lives in Catalunya (Spain for the moment he tells me ;-))

Join me over at the post titled (funnily enough), "Cheese Temperature During Aging", on my cheese blog.

Enjoy.

Growing Sweet Corn

Corn (Maize) is normally classed as a grain, however this variety, Sweet Corn, can be eaten as a vegetable.

As a vegetable it would have to be one of the most delicious veggies grown fresh.  Store bought, so called fresh, sweet corn is always found lacking due to one important fact.  After harvesting corn cobs, the sugars in the corn rapidly convert to starch, unless you eat it raw quickly, cook it or store it just above 0°C (32°F) until blanched and frozen.  Store bought sweet corn tastes bland and starchy because these conditions are not met.

So knowing that fact, one would naturally want to grow ones own sweet corn to get maximum flavour, wouldn't one?

Let me tell you that growing corn is easy.  It is grown from seed, which you can either sow early to get a head start in your green house by planting in it tubes, like I did this season, or plant directly in to soil which has had lots of home made compost dug through it.

Planting Sweet Corn from seedlings

I managed to get my corn in the ground in late October.  Normally the soil would not be warm enough for the seed to germinate until late spring in our climate, So I managed to get one months head start.

Sweet Corn needs regular watering, after all, the corn kernels are mostly water.  I tend to irrigate every few days after testing the soil with my finger.  If it comes out moist, I check again the next day and water if necessary.  A heavy mulch, 10 cm (4 inches) deep, of either straw or sugar mulch helps trap in the moisture during our long dry summer.

I don't fertilize my sweet corn, as I add so much organic matter into the soil before planting.  Additionally, I also planted about eight lazy housewife runner beans throughout the beg after I planted the seedlings.  These plants provided additional nitrogen for the corn, which helped keep them healthy.  Your corn stalks will grow to about 900mm (3 feet), but some varieties grow taller, with more than one ear per stalk.

Sweet Corn fully grown

Most varieties these days are F1 hybrids which you cannot regrow from saved seed, however you can buy heirloom cultivars from places like Diggers or Eden seeds which you can save seed from.  This year I grew hybrids Honey Sweet, and Early Sweet, however I cannot tell the difference between the two.  They just taste delicious.

You can tell when the ears are ready to eat by doing a couple of little tests.  The silk on the ear should be dark brown, and if you open the husk and press one of the kernels with your thumb nail you should get a milky liquid.

Sweet Corn ears ready for harvest

To harvest the corn, grab the ear firmly, then pull it downward and give it a twist.  It comes off quite easily, leaving the stalk intact, which is essential if there are more than two ears per plant.

Corn harvested by Ben!

Then, if you are going to eat them raw I would recommend that you eat them as quickly as possible for full flavour.

Sweet Corn in husk

Once the corn cobs are cleaned, you can throw the husk straight into the compost bin or worm farm.  They decompose rapidly, and worms love them.

De-husked, ready for the pot.

If you are going to cook them, then quickly pop them in a pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Bring down the the simmer for 10 minutes.  Then drain and serve with a little butter smeared over the ear.  Eat whilst hot, and it is delicious.

You can also freeze sweet corn by blanching it for 5 minutes to stop the sugar to starch conversion, then cut in half and freeze.   It stores for about six months if then vacuum packed and frozen.

So, with the favour differential between store bough sweet corn and home grown fresh being a factor of a bajillion, it pays to grow your own if you have space.  You will never regret this decision and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

I love fresh sweet corn.  How about you?