The Greening of Gavin

Archives for September 2009

After The Rain

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Finally, it has started to rain a bit in our neck of the woods.  It rained so much overnight that the soil is moist down to about 30cm.  It has been so long since we had a decent down pour that it brought joy to my heart and I had to take a movie of what it looked like after the rain and around our house and some of the eco features that you may have only seen in photos.
I don’t think the screen ratio is right, but will have to fix it up in the next video that I post.  It was good to use a video camera I picked up for $218, that can do High Def, so you will so a few more tutorials on the blog.  Instead of pictures, there will be video “how to..”
Enjoy.

Veggie Curry and Rice Soup

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What a delicious yet cheap meal I just made!  Kim had an inkling for soup for dinner, and I fancied something with curry.  We like those dehydrated Dutch Curry & Rice soups that Continental make, but they are not sustainable, cost too much, have too much packaging, nor probably good for you with all those chemicals that pretend to be food.

So I decided to attempt and make my own version, which, if I may say so, turned out even better than the packet mix.  The taste was fantastic, and we had all the ingredients at hand, so that was a bonus.  I rewrote the basic recipe that I found at Grandpa Pencil.

Gav’s Veggie Curry & Rice Soup

Serves 4. 

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Brown onions
2 Cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground Turmeric
3 teaspoons Curry Powder
2 medium carrots, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 half cup uncooked white rice
1 quarter teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
400ml can coconut milk/cream
Pepper to taste

Halve and thinly slice the onions, and finely chop garlic.  Heat the oil in a heavy pan and gently fry the onions and garlic until soft but not brown.  Add the turmeric, curry powder and ginger to the pan and continue to fry for 1 minute.  Pour in the stock and coconut cream, add vegetables, salt, pepper, and rice and bring to the boil.

Cover and reduced to simmer for 25 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Simmer until carrots are firm, yet soft to the bite.  Add lemon juice and simmer for a further 2 minutes.

Serve immediately in individual bowls with flat bread or crusty bread rolls.

Bon Appetite

Steering In The Right Direction

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After a week of pondering on my last two posts and reflecting upon all the comments, I am back with a more positive frame of mind.  I knew that others felt like I did, but I was amazed at how many, and didn’t mean to bring you all down.  However, it was one comment that really resonated with me that was written by Chris from Bushland Project, on the post Cognitive Dissonance, who rightly pointed out that it is better to be at the helm of the Titanic and help steer it away from danger, rather than be paralysed with fear, and give up all hope and smack into the iceberg.  Her comment was a kind of wake up call for me, and I thank her, because I even managed to paralyse myself with my own words hence the lack of posts last week.  The last few posts had been gloomy, and for that I apologise.  I could make some crappy excuses that I have been in a lot of pain, and the pain relief has been doing weird things to my head, but I won’t (even though I was).  Doom and gloom never inspired any individual to change the world for the better. 

It is only in positive deeds and actions that we will see the change towards a sustainable future, and whether governments and corporations want to join us on our journey, well, all the better.  After all, both these institutions are made up of people who also want a better world for their kids.  You know, I really should take my own advice.  That is exactly what this blog and my own journey is about;

An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family’s Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

Just look at the bold text as it was staring me in the face all along.  Of late, I have had a temporary lapse in judgement and maybe have been a negative influence.  This blog was not started to induced fear into peoples minds.  It was and will continue to set an example of what can and has be done on a limited budget so we can make a difference for our children’s and future generations to come.  It was and still is built to show that with many little baby steps, a lot can be achieved towards combating climate change and to prepare for peak everything by a determined person.   We can all make the small changes as my family and I have if you choose to.  The choice is yours alone.

We can let our elected officials know what we think about their uninspiring policies and proposals.  In 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt said that, “A government can be no better than the public opinion which sustains it”. I agree and believe this to be true, so our only option is to change our opinion, moving towards the sustainable, and it is, albeit slowly.  We have made so much amazing progress, but we need to force the issue even harder.  Please join me in this effort whenever or wherever you can.

We definitely can show corporations that we will no longer put up with their unsustainable antics.  This possible with the colour of our money by consciously choosing what we consume stuff.  It is our choice alone, and after all, it seems of late, that money is the only thing that has the power to make change, either negatively or positively.  This quote hits the nail on the head squarely;

An ethical person ought to do more than he’s required to do and less than he’s allowed to do. – Michael Josephson.

So, from now on, I promise a lot less doom and gloom unless I really need to vent badly (but I will warn you in advance that the post will be a rant), and focus on more educational posts about what we can all do to reduce our impact on the planet, keeping it habitable for our descendants and all species, and of course continue with the quirky and sometimes humorous adventures of the Greening of Gavin (and family)!