The post All Good Things Come to an End appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>With no major greening projects on the horizon or further lifestyle enhancements planned, I’ve essentially run out of things to say, which after 1,870 posts and 132 podcast episodes is quite understandable.
I’m officially passing the baton to a younger generation of bloggers and influencers who may have better luck convincing the masses further to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
I know that I’ve played my part in the rebirth of the simple living revolution judging from the amount of feedback and emails I receive every day, so I feel very proud of that accomplishment. I, like you, can make a big difference in the world.
During the journey, we’ve retrofitted the house with many green features, renovated the gardens into an organic food farm, and transformed the way we think and live. All that, as well as starting a green business teaching others some simple living skills.
When I reflect back to that crazy day when my whole world was turned upside-down, I would never in a million years have thought that the blog would have come this far and how it would eventually have impacted our lifestyle for the better.
And to you, the reader. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting and following my family’s journey and antics since February 2008 when I penned the very first post. It’s been a wild ride, sometimes controversial, but always interesting and fun.
Well, the blog posts and podcast episodes will remain online until either the internet is destroyed or peak oil begins to impact us all. Just joking, it will still be here as a valuable resource for as long as there are bits and bytes. Check out my archive for all the posts.
Also, I will still have a strong online presence as I will be maintaining the associated Facebook page and YouTube channel for The Greening of Gavin. If anything exciting happens around here then that is where I will be posting this type of update.
Additionally, the YouTube channel, CheeseMan.tv, will continue to release a weekly cheese making video, as well as my cheese making blog and associated podcast at Little Green Cheese.
To cap it all off, our home business, Little Green Workshops, is still growing strongly and will more than compensate for any time I gain from ending the blog and the podcast. We are still running cheese, soap, soy candle, and bath soak & scrub workshops each school term if anyone wants to learn these dying skills. You can find all the details of these courses on our workshops calendar.
So dear reader, this is it. Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support, and I hope to see you on my other blogs and YouTube channels in the very near future.
Goodbye, my friends and keep on striving for a more sustainable world.
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]]>The post Growing Oyster Mushroom Kits – Results appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>I was hoping to report back that I now have two boxes full of mushrooms, but it looks like the fickle finger of fungi fate struck again! Only one of the two kits actually grew some mushrooms.
They both started out looking promising, however at about day 7 the Golden Oyster Mushrooms shrivelled and stopped growing.
But the good news is that the Pearl Oyster mushrooms grew rapidly and are ready to pick!
Have a look at the video I produced during the growing process; https://youtu.be/5n5gx9B8kTo
Tomorrow, I am going to resoak the Golden Oyster Mushroom substrate again, this time placing a weight on top to hold it down for the first 24 hours. This should kick it back into action. I will take a few more photos over coming days to see if it works. I would hate to throw away a perfectly good mushroom kit.
Then I will take a few more photos over coming days to see if it works. I would hate to throw away a perfectly good mushroom kit.
So there you go. My first success growing oyster mushroom kits! Once the Pearl Oysters have finished growing, I am going to resoak that substrate as well to see if I can get another flush. The instructions suggest that this is possible, so I might get two flushes of mushrooms for the price of one.
Have any of you tried this type of kit? What were your results?
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]]>The post Quest for some Easy Oyster Mushroom Kits appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>Thankfully, after taking my feedback on board the last time I attempted to grow mushrooms using their kits, Mr Fothergill’s kindly sent me two new sample oyster mushroom kits to test.
This time, they have partnered with Sylvan Australia to produce an easy-to-use range of oyster mushroom kits for the avid fungi grower. Each kit is available for a recommended retail price of AUD$24.95.
As I’m always up for a challenge, so I will be documenting the progress of growing the Pearl Oyster and Golden Oyster Mushroom kits via this blog and on the Greening of Gavin YouTube channel.
Tomorrow, I will be opening them up and following the instructions to the letter. Apparently, all I have to do is soak the kit overnight then drain. Each day I will have to keep the surface sprayed with water to keep it moist.
In 7 to 10 days the pins should appear and I stop watering. A few days later I simply harvest the mushrooms. In a couple of weeks, I should have a nice crop of fungi to feast upon! Fingers crossed.
Let’s see if it’s really that easy.
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]]>The post Back on Solar – Inverter Replaced appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>The electrician turned up about 10am to swap over the inverter and a few other bits and bobs. The old Fronius IG30 was to be taken off the wall and replaced with a Fronius Galvo 3.0. Also due to changes in AS/NZ electrical standards the isolation switches had to be replaced.
I did get a couple of quotes which were all within a $100 or so, so I chose to go with the original quote as I was comfortable and knew the installer.
The DC isolation switches were replaced for each of the two 8 panel strands.
As well as the one located next to the Inverter.
Then it was a simple job of taking the old inverter off the wall and replace it with the new one.
Now as we all know nothing like this runs smoothly. They soon found that the cabling from the isolation switches on the roof was not compliant with regulations, so it was replaced. So was the wiring from the breaker box in the carport to the Inverter.
So after about 5 hours of work, it was finally up and running.
It was a bit overcast so I didn’t expect much output from the system. However I was pleasantly surprised when the system showed it was generating over 1kW.
As part of the installation, just about everything had to be relabeled (new regulations, of course).
A bit silly really when anyone with common sense could actually look up and see the panels and the thumping big inverter about 1 metre from this switchboard.
This one made more sense I suppose. Not that there wasn’t already a red sign on the outside of the main meter box. You can’t have too many signs apparently.
And then when I opened the box door, there were more signs. Can’t be too safe.
Anyway, it’s all working brilliantly now and as I hinted at before, it has WIFI! Well to be exact, it accesses our home WiFi so that it can send monitoring data to a central place so I can monitor it via any web browser. A pretty cool feature. Here is the Windows 10 app I have on my desktop.
It also comes with an app that I can monitor via my smart phone. At least I know now when its working when I’m at work.
As it starts clocking up the kilowatt-hours I can post snapshots here on the blog which is more than I can say about the old one. We estimate that during its lifetime, it helped to generate about 3 Megawatt hours of electricity over the 9 years it was in operation. Unfortunately that is as accurate as it gets because before I realised it was on the blink, the display died first and I couldn’t take a reading.
So at least the system is back up and running. It will take a while for the replacement inverter to pay itself back, but as long as it keeps working there are at least another decade or three of electricity left in those panels!
And the big question is, of course, do I regret my decision all those years ago to purchase the PV system? Not for a second!
It has been one of the best investments of our sustainable living journey. It has reduced our GHG emissions and helped us conserve energy without drawing much from the grid.
I would do it all over again, even though back in 2007 it cost four times the amount a comparative 2.8 kW system does today. I’m just glad that so many followed in my footsteps and put their very own clean power station on top of their roofs.
Clean, renewable energy from the biggest nuclear reaction in our solar system. The Sun.
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]]>The post Blessed Are The Curd Nerds appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>You know the one. The channel that has all the cheese making videos aka Cheeseman.tv!
Of late, I’ve been putting into practice the suggestions given during a few Google Hangouts with other YouTube creators and I have been creating and uploading at least one cheese making video a week.
This regular video creation has had some amazing results. Subscribers, or should I say Curd Nerds have increased dramatically.
Thousands of people are making the cheeses that I feature in the videos. Most have great results and share their experiences with everyone freely. It’s a cheese revolution to claim back our cheese taste buds! Blessed are the Curd Nerds.
On a serious note, it’s a great growing community that I enjoy serving. Curd nerds are such a generous bunch of people.
So being one of those generous curd nerds, here are a few of the video tutorials and a couple of taste tests that I’ve produced over the last month that you may want to try yourself.
This Norwegian style cheese is still ripening, but will be ready at the end of next week. It is swelling and forming eyes here in my office.
I’ve been meaning to make a video of this cheese for such a long time. It was one of the very first cheeses that I made way back when. It tastes amazing (well it did the first time) and should be ready to eat in a month or so.
A traditional Italian cheese meaning Beautiful Country, I found Bel Paese to be quite a surprisingly creamy, yet firm cheese that delighted my palate. It’s now a house favourite.
I found this cheese to be exceptional. It formed small eyes without any assistance from myself and tasted absolutely delicious as a good Edam should. Watch out for the two extra cheese tasters that appear after the end credits of the video. You should get a laugh.
Another exceptional Dutch style cheese that was full flavoured and hasn’t lasted too long (we ate most of it).
In other cheese news, I’ve updated the print edition of Keep Calm and Make Cheese – The Beginners Guide to Cheese Making at Home. I didn’t want the reader to miss out on all the free videos I have on offer. As the eBook versions have hyperlinks, I added in QR Codes within each recipe for the paper version so the reader can scan and watch via their mobile phone or tablet.
A nice touch I think, and believe it only enhances the potential curd nerds cheese making experience!
Lots of great cheese action here at home. I have a couple of videos in production now including a new Camembert recipe and an attempt at Fourme d’Ambert, a French cow’s milk Blue Cheese. Both are ripening in the cheese fridge and will be released soon.
Enjoy the videos, and if anyone is interested in learning to make cheese, I would be more than welcome to have you join me on a Beginners Cheesemaking Course soon.
Until then, this is Cheese Man Gav signing off!
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]]>The post Fancy Soap Bars appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>This is to show them different techniques that they may want to practice and make during the class.
In this class we made two quite exceptional bars; Dragon’s Blood Scrub and a Forbidden Fantasy Scrub. Both bars contained poppy seeds as a natural exfoliant.
Poppy seeds are much better to use than microbeads as an exfoliant (the latter enters the ecosystem and doesn’t break down) and are mild on the skin. That and the fact that they breakdown and rot after a few weeks in water.
I love a good scrub in the shower and using these bars are quite invigorating!
The scent of this bar is quite unusual. So many of our students go crazy over it, but it just makes me sneeze! Yes I had to tell it like it is.
I think they turned out rather well. During the class, I perform all the chemistry, and Kim does all the layering and swirls. She is very creative like that.
Anyway, as the post title suggests, fancy soap bars are what we do. I love guiding the students during class when they make their own soapy creations. Some of the patterns and colours are just amazing.
Here’s a video I made when unboxing and cutting up the Forbidden Fantasy Scrub.
So, what do you think of our soap? Have you made any fancy soap bars of late? What process do you use? Melt and Pour, Cold Process, or Hot Process? Which one do you prefer and why?
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]]>The post Brass Monkey Challenge 2016 appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>We’ve been experiencing minimums of 0 – 5°C (32 – 41°F) during the night, and daytime temps of 10 – 15°C (50 – 59°F). Whilst it may not be cold for some of you, it’s all relative, because in summer we have daytime temps of around 27 – 45°C (80.6 – 113°F).
So to save on energy bill, particularly natural gas, a couple of years ago Kim and I decided to give ourselves a challenge to see how long we could stand not having the heating on in the house. Could we handle it and use behaviour and passive heating to keep warm?
Well the answer (for the 3rd year in a row) is a resounding YES! It’s been quite easy. We even gave it a name. The Brass Monkey Challenge!
Our single wall furnace does not even have the pilot light lit, and we have managed to stay warm so far.
During the day we wear a few extra layers and use passive solar heating by letting light flow into the north facing rooms. This heats up those rooms and we let use those rooms in the evening.
At night we shut all the internal doors of all rooms which keeps the ones we’re in warm. We also pop on another layer of clothing and throw a couple more blankets on the beds for when we go to sleep.
With my office door closed and my computer turned on, the room heats up to a comfortable 18°C (64.4°F) in the evening. As it is also one of those north facing room with a double glazed window, it gets up to about 22°C (71.6°F) during the day.
Kim’s office is south-facing, so need an hour of heating first thing in the morning with the reverse cycle air-con, then that’s it. It stays warm all day.
It has been because we’ve invested in the comfort of our home as well. We fitted double glazed units to all the north facing windows. You can read about the double glazing installation here.
We also added extra insulation batts to the roof space. That has been a vast improvement of the heat holding properties of each room. The installation of the extra insulation in the ceiling was document here.
All external doors are solid wood and have draft strips that shut when closed. We also have draft snakes against the inside of those doors, just in case.
All other windows have closed pelmets fitted to stop cold air circulating behind curtains and have draft strips where necessary.
So there you have it. That’s our Brass Monkey Challenge 2016 and staying warm and cozy. Although we are not swanning around in T-shirts and short (and neither should you in winter), it is definitely possible to not have any heating on in a cool/temperate climate and stay warm. You also save on your energy bills as well and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Wins and high-fives all around.
For other tips about how to stay warm in winter without the need for heating, have a listen to our podcast episode about our original Brass Monkey Challenge.
Have you tried a similar challenge at home? We would love to hear about it in the comments!
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]]>The post Inverter Saga Continues appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>Something else that’s come to light is that due to electrical regulations for solar PV systems, the isolation switches have to be replaced. As well as that, due to the inverter being completely replaced, the system has to be inspected again.
So here’s the quote by Energy Matters (aka SunEdison);
Item | Cost (incl. GST) |
1x Fronius Galvo 3.0 Light | $1881.00 |
4x DC Isolators | $933.97 |
1x Earth Fault Alarm | $7.24 |
1x Label Kit | $79.21 |
Service (labour, shipping & installation) | $385.00 |
Site Inspection | $140.00 |
Total | $3426.42 |
A fair bit out of pocket, and I estimate that it will need at least 3½ years of operation to pay itself back. Not too bad, but it was certainly not an expense I expected after only 9 years of operation.
I will have to draw down on my mortgage to pay for it, so that means I have to work longer to pay it off. Swings and roundabouts I suppose because it has been due to our very low electricity bills since 2007 that we’ve been able to pay down our debt rapidly in the first place.
The only way to proceed is forward, so I’ve asked the work to proceed. Once the installation starts, I’ll give you another update. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong in the process.
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]]>The post Little Green Workshops – End of Year Update appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>We got the inspiration to start this venture because many of you asked for more information about how we make and do some of the things we perform on a weekly basis, living a more sustainable lifestyle here in the ‘burbs.
Many of you may be wondering how it is all going. Well let me give you an End of Year update.
This financial year (1 July 2015 – 30 June 2016) we clocked up the following stats;
We are pleased with these statistics, especially when it is only our 1st full year and 20 months of operation. We are also very proud of what we have achieved so far and are seeing sustainable growth month on month (besides the Christmas spike).
You know I’m a fairly modest bloke, but it’s taken a lot of hard work to get where we are today.
They say that many small business tank in the first five years due to debt overload and other factors. We haven’t taken out loans or borrowed to support the business.
I’m one who believes that debt is a form of slavery in disguise, so we have avoided this as we’ve started up. And because of it, we sleep better at night!
Thankfully due to the low startup cost of setting up and maintaining an eCommerce presence on the Internet, and in part this blog and our YouTube channels, we have been able to reach a wider audience of students than we would normally have been able to. Students who are keen to learn and create their own sustainable products, knowing exactly what goes into them and keeping it all natural.
We also began regular shipping to five new countries besides Australia this year due to demand; New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, and South Africa.
All in all we are ecstatic that we’ve kept managed to our core green values in every business decision we make. Sustainably sourced packaging, avoid single use products and plastic, run a carbon neutral worksite and websites, and sell products where others can make and do instead of just consume.
So as a special thank you and a gift for you, and to share in the success that you have helped to create, we have just launched a limited two-day sale over at Little Green Workshops, offering 10% off all products (excluding course bookings). Sale ends at 2359 hr (midnight) 30th June 2016 Australian Eastern Time.
You can use the coupon code in bold below in your cart or checkout to apply the discount;
Thank you once again for reading, watching, and listening to our blog posts, podcasts, and videos during the last 12 months and following our sustainable living journey.
Without you regularly visiting this site, I would still be a conspicuous consumer, unmotivated to strive to be greener, stuck in the rat race, plodding through life in misery.
By being able to share our sustainable living journey with you, I’ve given myself permission to live, love, and enjoy life to the fullest!
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]]>The post Quick Inverter Update appeared first on The Greening of Gavin.
]]>He tested the voltage from the array, which was fine and the grid voltage which was also fine. So at least there is nothing wrong with the panels and wiring.
It looks like the main controller within the inverter itself is faulty. If it’s not under warranty, may cost a bit if they can even get the part for such an old model.
Also, he mentioned that if they cannot find the part it needs, then the inverter will have to be replaced. This means I may have to foot the cost of a new inverter as well as rewiring and new isolation switches as well because the electrical regulations have changed since I got the system installed.
Pretty ordinary news all round. Just waiting for news back from the installer to see what our options are. I will update you know when I know more.
So much fun (not), and we have gone back into energy efficiency mode here at home to save more on our power bill. Fingers crossed that we can get the solar PV back up and running soon.
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