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Archives for January 2010

Day 31 – Pesto

January 31, 2010 @ 20:49 By Gavin Webber 10 Comments

Tonight I made one of the simplest pasta sauces going and it tasted wonderful.

I grabbed a big bunch of Basil from the garden as it is starting to go to seed.  I picked off all of the leaves, washed and dried them in the salad spinner.

There was about 4 cup fulls of leaves, and I put all of it into the food processor with 4 cloves of chopped garlic and 4 tablespoons of pine nuts that we had in stockpile.  I chopped it up until roughly cut, then added a cup of extra virgin olive oil and processed it till smooth.

I grated half a cup of my Pyrenees with green peppercorn cheese and gave it a quick pulse till mixed through. Then pepper and sea salt to taste and hey presto, we have pesto. It was a taste sensation!

I cooked some fettuccine, served into bowls, then put about 3 tablespoons of pesto on top and sprinkled a little more of my home made grated cheese.  We then stirred it through in the bowl and each ate it up with gusto.  Kim, Ben and I finished off the pasta in no time flat, and both of them complemented me on a fantastic meal.

I didn’t realise that pesto was so easy to make, and that it has so much flavour when you make it yourself!  I highly recommend it if you have lots of basil growing in the garden.  I still have three more bushes growing, and I know that all I have to do is blend them and put it in the freezer until it is needed for another great pasta meal.

Happy days.

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Filed Under: 160km Diet, Cooking

Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet

January 29, 2010 @ 22:05 By Gavin Webber 3 Comments

Cute, but powerful!
Thanks to the Impossible Hamster Club for the video.  It really defines resource depletion well.

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Filed Under: Sustainable Living

Lather Up Folks!

January 28, 2010 @ 23:45 By Gavin Webber 31 Comments

One of our goals for the year was to make soap and not buy any for the rest of the year.  Well we thought that it was appropriate to begin on Australia Day and we had a great time on our urban farm.  However it probably wasn’t the same sort of celebration that everyone else participated in.  No BBQ, no beach trip, no parade.  Just two wonderful things.  Soap Making, and Cheese Making!

So we embarked on the giddy world of lye, vegetable and essential oils, with half a hand of botanicals thrown in. We bought a cold press soap kit from Simply Natural Soap Making Supplies for $45 that had everything in it to make the first 20 odd bars.  I am a bit of a kit bloke, mainly because I like to have everything supplied to start with and then find the cheap alternatives afterwards.  This is similar to my cheese making hobby.  I started off with a simple kit and it grew from there.

There are two types of soap making methods that we researched, melt and cold press.  We choose cold press because you do not have to keep going back to a specific supplier to get the necessary ingredients.  Most of them you can buy from local suppliers, like the supermarket in the case of oils and the lye, or caustic soda from the hardware store.  Here is the process we followed.

Ingredients:

500gm Olive Oil
250gm Palm Oil (I know, I know, we didn’t know it came in the kit.  Never again)
250gm Coconut Oil
145gm Sodium Hydroxide (lye/caustic soda)
375ml water
25ml Rose Geranium Essential Oil
2 teaspoons of yellow china clay
Rose petals

Firstly, make sure you have your recipe and ingredients all together and lay some newspaper on your bench-top to stop any mess.

Weigh all your oils and place them in an old stainless steel pot.  We bought one from the op shop as well as a spoon and tray to place the mould on.

 

Measure the water and weigh the caustic soda in separate containers.

Do not mix them yet!  Put on your gloves, goggles, and apron.  Caustic soda is very corrosive and will burn your skin if you are not careful.  You can use a face mask if you wish, however I mixed the caustic soda and water outside and therefore negated any fumes during mixing.

Heat your oil on the stove to 50-60C.

Caution:  Then slowly pour the caustic soda into the water.  NEVER, EVER POUR THE WATER INTO THE CAUSTIC SODA AS A VIOLENT REACTION WILL RESULT.  I don’t want you to hurt yourself.  It is quite save if you do it the right way.  Also beware that once mixed correctly, it gets up to about 75C all by itself.  Carry the lye mixture carefully.

 

Now you can mix your lye into the heated oils.

Stir the mixture until it reaches trace.

Trace is when it looks like runny custard and you can pile a little on top of the surface and it stays there for a few seconds.

Now, depending on what you mix it with depends on how long before you reach trace.  I started off with a whisk and after 10 minutes had enough and broke out the stick blender (immersion) and it took about 5 minutes.  Make sure you give the blender a rest every minute to avoid burning it out.  We got a bit excited and went past trace to a thicker stage.  As it was our first go, we expected a few glitches.

We then added the essential oil, china clay for colour, and rose petals for prettiness (Kim insisted).  As we were well past the pouring stage, we had to use an old spatula and fold in the ingredients.

I then scraped it all into the mould that came with the kit, which we lined with cling wrap to stop it from leaking out.  In hindsight, we probably didn’t need to do this.  You can use any silicon cake mould or even a 1 litre cardboard milk carton.  Just make sure that any mould you use is sprayed or wiped with oil before you pour in the soap or you won’t be able to get it out cleanly.

Wrap the mould in an old towel so that it cools slowly.  Leave it in the mould for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours depending on how thick your trace was.

Break the soap out of the mould.  It will be quite soft, but will harden as it dries.  Kim cut the block of soap into 11 bars and said it was quite easy and was like semi soft butter or the flesh of a melon.

Our instructions say to leave it to dry on a rack for at least 4 weeks and to turn each block over daily.  I have read on other blogs that the longer you leave them to dry, the longer the soap lasts when you are using it.

When you walk past the laundry where the soap is drying, you really get a wonderful fragrance waft up your nose.  Not the over powering type when you walk past the perfume counter in a department store, but a nice soft smell.  I can see that soap making will be as addictive as cheese making.  Kim will be doing all of the chemistry next time, with me doing the supervision!

We are going to make a basic soap next time with oatmeal in it, and maybe a different colour.  As soon as we were finished, Kim went on-line and bought some more essential oil and a 5 litre bottle of coconut oil.  We will never be using Palm oil again and will be substituting it with Rice Bran Oil.  You can use many different types of oils using the cold press method but you will need a soap calculator to determine how much water and lye you will need to use because each oil have different properties that you have to take into account.  Here is the link to a good calculator which also determines how hard or lathery your soap will be.  Just follow the sequence and have a play around and you will be amazed at the combinations you can use.

Well I hope you enjoyed our little soap making expose.  It was great fun to make, and reminded me of chemistry class back in high school.  The lye was quite easy to mix, just give it the respect it deserves and be careful.  Kim was paranoid about the lye part, but once she saw how careful I was, she got into the swing of things.  Other than that part, the rest is a breeze.  Even washing up is fun, because everything is self soaping!

Update (2014):

Kim and I now teach soap making workshops in our local area and have started a simple living business where we sell our own Soap Making Kits and supplies.  You can check our product range out at Little Green Workshops.

Here is one of our soap making kits, the Deluxe Soap Making Kit 3kg.

Deluxe Soap Kit

Little Green Workshops

 

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Filed Under: Soap Making, Sustainable Living

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About Gavin Webber

About Gavin Webber

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, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. 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.

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    August 4, 2016 by floriographer from Australia

    I've crowed about Gavin's podcast before but I just have to recommend it once again - I love that he shares his learning as well as his successes - it helps the rest of us try try try again! Thanks Gavin!

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    I really enjoy listening to Gavin, he has a kind lovely voice. He covers some great relevant topics for the everyday greenie. With lots of tips or how to or what not to do. Thanks Gavin, love it!!

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    I can highly recommend Gavin’s podcast ! I have followed Gavin’s blog since the very beginning and have loved to see his journey unfold. Gavin has a lovely speaking voice so this podcast is always very easy to listen to. Gavin has a very authentic approach to his green living lifestyle. He shares the ups and downs but always provides motivation and practical steps that we can all implement.

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    This is a great podcast if you want to improve your life in so many aspects and become a more sustainable person. I love the soothing voice, the good pace, and it contains lots of useful information. Recommended!

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    This is a great podcast if you're looking for practical info on saving money by living more sustainably from someone who's made that journey over the last few years. Told in a nice, easy conversational style

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    Thanks Gav for sharing what has (and hasn't) worked along your journey for living a greener lifestyle. Inspiring and achievable for anyone, I look forward to this podcast weekly.

  • Local food equals less waste
    December 27, 2014 by allotmentadventureswithjean from Australia

    Another brilliant podcast from Gavin Webber encouraging us, and showing us how, to cut down on food miles, growing our own food, and cutting down on food waste. Gavin is a really interesting speaker, showing us how to eat better, growing our own food and how to live more sustainably.

  • Honestly australian
    December 15, 2014 by HodgepodgeOz from Australia

    Fantastic podcast, with a wide variety of well thought and researched topics. Gavin is a honest, forthright pod aster with a genuine interest in helping others get green. Like a day alongside is a day wasted, so too is a week without listening to Gavin. Highly recommended for people starting out, or those in the midst of their new lifestyle. Keep it up Gavin, wish there were more great reviews! Kimberley

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    Gavin has a great passion for living this greener lifestyle that motivates others to do the same. The podcasts are always interesting and informative. :)

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    Gavin's enthusiasm and passion for creating a more sustainable world is nothing short of contagious. Thanks Gav, you are my weekly source of motivation for living a sustainable life! :)

  • Gavin speaks from the heart
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    Gavin's podcasts are required listening for anyone planning to live a more sustainable life. He doesn't preach, but tells you his story from the heart. You'll laugh, smile, share in his concerns and along the way you'll pick up some great tips on living a simple life.

  • Green thoughts, so well iterated
    October 9, 2014 by Kwasikwami from Australia

    This is a wonderful podcast. Not only does Gavin talk knowledgeably on a range of sustainability topics from gardening tips all the way to the issues facing humanity as a whole, but he does so in such a wonderful voice, it's like listening to my Dad, love it!!

  • Easy listening inspiration on being green
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    Gav knows how to share his journey to a more sustainable life in a manner that shows just how easy it really is. Not to mention healthier, economically beneficial and generally rewarding. The podcasts are an easy way to absorb Gav's great lifestyle. I recommend to anyone.

  • Thanks Gavin!
    August 31, 2014 by Honeywoodmilk from Australia

    Great practical advice for a greener lifestyle. This podcast is for anybody interested in growing their own food in suburbia, saving electricity, brewing beer, making cheese, all that wonderful business and most of all, saving money! Thanks Gavin, love the podcast mate!

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    Like you we are having winter here in Chile—brrr! Every bit we can save on heating we will.

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    Excellent podcasts, which are full of information to help get started on a sustainable lifestyle.

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    I highly recommend Gavin's podcast and blog. Down to earth, entertaining and inspirational. Thank you.

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    Gavin & his guests make this green journey lots of fun.

  • Great green listen
    April 18, 2014 by Obscurenickname from Australia

    Gavin is a great down to earth, tell it like it is aussie with a passion for sustainability and growing food and making cheese

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