We love a good group visit to our home, and I delight in showing others how easy it is to do some of the things that we do to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Sunday was no exception. Earlier in the year, we received an email from Milica, one of the Eastern Suburbs Permaculture Group members, who had attended one of our mozzarella cheese making courses. She asked if we allowed home visits, to which we said yes. Roll on the sustainable house tour once again.
Kim and I drafted up a list of tour options with costs, and sent it through to her. They chose option 1 which was as follows; A presentation by Gav, a tour of the outdoor sustainable retrofit and food gardens, and a mozzarella demonstration and tasting afterwards. The cost was $20 per person, which included tea/coffee and biscuits upon arrival.
So without describing the entire event, which I must say went for over four hours and running overtime because I talked way too long, I will post photographs taken by Paul and Milica who kindly allowed me use them here.
I have added in a bit of a running commentary where the pictures need additional explanation.
Our plastic bottle windmill
This upcycled windmill is attached to our berry trellis as you first walk in the gate. Pam bought this for Ben when he was a baby.
Meyer Lemon Tree
Our lovely Meyer lemon that has lots of fruit and an abundance of new flowers. We always get a good crop from this lemon tree.
Homemade upcycled climbing trellis
Here is some homemade trellis I constructed out of an old frame for a portable gazebo. Just added some mesh and chicken wire and bingo, boingo, two snowpea trellis.
Two clay ducks
These two cheeky ducks live near the greenhouse. I never looked at the ornaments like this before.
My favourite buddha
I give this little guys belly a rub most times that I walk past him. Just for luck.
Ornamental zebra
Dad, Mum, and bubs zebra keeping the grass down for me. Note the nasturtiums and parsley that is sprouting up everywhere.
Gavin Webber talking about worm farms
Here I am explaining the ins and out of worm farming to the group.
Upcycled towel rail now used as herb drying rack
When we had Ben’s room remodelled, I saved the towel rail and use it in the car port as a place to hang bunches of garlic and herbs for drying.
Demonstrating the solar shower
Here I am demonstrating our newly installed solar shower. More in a separate post soon about how we installed this shower and upcycled the screen.
Over looking the pool
This is a picture from the back fence looking north. All the lighting in this area is solar. It looks a bit like Melbourne airport runway at night.
2300 Litre Slimline Rainwater tank
This tank, which is in the pool area, collects water from half of the house roof. It is plumbed into the irrigation system, and provides water for the swimming pool.
Chooks having a mothers meeting under the mulberry tree
My feathered girls were the star attractions. They came to check everyone out. It was noted that they continuously stared at me during the my explanation of the recycled chook-house. To them, I am man with seed, which is how they probably recognise and identify with me.
Cluckingham Palace sign
I love this beautiful sign painted by Kim. My varnish job with marine estapol worked well, and it has hardly weathered.
Backyard Clay Oven
Our backyard clay oven is next to Cluckingham palace. I gave the soot on the front a good scrub before they arrived. I can see the arch bricks again!
Soap demo
A cheesy grin while talking about the basics of soap making and what ingredients are involved.
Cracking open a bean pod
Here I am cracking open a scarlet runner bean pod. Exciting stuff.
Scarlet runner beans
The pod contained the beans which before they dry are a lovely purple with almost a pink mottling.
I gave away heaps of these seeds as I always have too many anyway.
Pumpkin storage rack
I finally found a use for this old pot rack. It is under the house eaves, so it keeps dry. Perfect for storing pumpkins as there is a good air flow so they don’t rot.
Front yard veggie patch
A selection of kale and some feral potatoes that I missed from the summer crop. Garlic at the back of the shot.
Front yard veggie patch
The front yard looks so big! Mind you, when I look at it, it is nearly as big as the back yard. Lots of room for veggies and fruit trees.
Barnea olives
One of my olive trees have produced its first crop. There are enough to fit into a baby food jar. Next year will be a much bigger crop as the tree grows taller.
Small wicking bed
The salad greens in the wicking bed are growing well. They have nearly doubled in size since I planted them. Nearly time to pick the first leaves.
Homemade cheese
Just a few wheels of cheese that I have lying around the back of the cheese fridge. Now that the weather is much cooler, and the garden is under control, time to start making lots of cheese again.
Making Mozzarella
Dare I say; a cheesy grin 😉
Cheese making demonstration
The final part of the tour was the mozzarella demonstration.
Draining mozzarella in cheese cloth
Here I am talking and draining at the same time. Usually I can on do one thing at a time!
Serving Mozzarella
Once the demo was complete, Kim took the cheese off my hands and sliced it, topped it with heirloom cherry tomatoes and basil fresh from the garden, on some baguette. It was delicious if I do say so myself. I did under-salt the cheese but a quick grind of sea salt on top of each serve fixed that problem.
Well that was about it. We all talked about all things sustainable for about another 20 minutes, then they departed in dribs and drabs.
It was great fun putting on this tour. It was also a good incentive to tidy up the place a bit more and make it presentable for further tours in the future.
Besides that, we really enjoyed talking to like-minded people. I think they all really enjoyed the presentation, tour, and mozzarella demo as much as Kim and I enjoyed preparing and presenting.
If anyone is interested in a group sustainable house tour (minimum of 10), just drop us a line via the contact page, and we will see what we can organise.
Hope you enjoyed all the wonderful photos. They were great weren’t they? A Big thanks goes out to Paul and Milica for letting me use them.
If there are any Pinterest fans out there, and any photos take your fancy, then pin away! They are there for the sharing.
Hi Gavin
I would love to attend your open garden/ talk to you about sustainability but I don’t have a group of 10 . If possible I would love to join any group for your next garden tour.
If you could put me on your list I would be very grateful.
Very new to gardening so I’m still experimenting in my small garden. Questions would be wicking beds vs normal vegetable beds with drip irrigation or square foot gardening.
Thanks
Mei
Hi Mei, unfortunately I cannot open the property to individuals due to public liability insurance complications. It must be a group tour that have their own insurance. We are such a small operation that insurance is prohibitively expensive.
Sorry.
wow !!!! wish I lived in Melbourne, I would be visiting CLUCKINGHAM PALACE, I am also interested in wicking beds vs square foot gardening.
The tour looked like a lot of fun, and very informative.
Cheers Theresa.
Love your pumpkin drying rack Gav. Love all your photos actually – feel like I was at the tour too. We’ll done.
Cheers Sarhn. It did feel a bit like a tour, didn’t it. I was hoping that it came across that way, so thanks for the confirmation. x
hi gavin
we all had a lovely time. Thanks to Kim and you for your great hospitality. the talk and tour were both great and it’s amazing what you have managed to fit in on your ‘average’ block.
I can recommend a visit by anyone/group.
Claire in Kalorama (espg member)
Thanks Claire. It was lovely to meet you a second time, and thanks so much for the jam and honey. x
Thanks for having us Gavin and Kim. We had a great afternoon, I especially enjoyed the cheese making but was also impressed by your systematic recordkeeping. At home I have made similar changes but no real attempt to measure the impact on our “footprint”. Well done – inspired!
You’re welcome Leanne. As I always say, You can’t manage what you don’t measure. It has certainly helped us to measure progress towards our goals
Looks like a great tour Gavin! I would love to say I lived in Melbourne but it must be cold down there by the looks of that coat 🙂 I enjoyed seeing more of your property.
Cheers Tanya. It was rather chilly, and will be this weekend as well. The photos taken by Paul and Milica were brilliant. It gives me a new appreciation for the hard work I have put in around here. x
Your house and gardens are always mightily inspiring Gav and I’m stoked the tour went well. Your pumpkins look fabulous and much bigger than mine. I love the idea of your rack too. Great upcycle.
My mouth is watering at the sight of your cheeses. I must check out how my latest caerphilly is going, carefully of course. 😉
Cheers Jessie!
Always a pleasure having you visit. The idea of the rack was suggested by Kim. She is an ideas woman!
Oh, and you always make me laugh with that lame cheese joke! 😉 x
Makes me laugh too, particularly remembering the first time I told it! 😉
And that gorgeous wife of yours is a bit of a clever one isn’t she. 🙂
She certainly is Jessie!
Hi Gavin, I noticed in one of your photos a big bucket of coconut oil. Do you buy it from a bulk bin here in Melbourne?
Hi Erin. We have to buy the coconut oil in 20L drums from Qld. We cannot find a cheap supplier here in Melbourne.
Thank you Gavin. That is a little too much for me!
What an delightfully informative & educational blog!
Thank you!
Everything is looking abfab and my gosh, a man multitasking (impossible). The only things i think you could possibly add is the aquaculture bed and gosh (going for gold) a wind turbine (small one). Then i think you would have the works. You do realise that all of this would be for naught if you were not Mr Personality. Imagine turning up for a tour and finding a dry toneless monologue with no humour. Your family is the best advertisement for this lifestyle.
Hi Lynda. I have often thought about a wind turbine, but we have so many tall trees around, it would have to be a vertical axis turbine. Not a lot of those on the market, however there is no reason I can’t make one is there? Not sure about the fish, as Kim is squeamish at the best of times, but I am up for the job off dispatching them if necessary.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, my friend. x
Hi there
I really enjoyed the photo tour everything looks wonderful. Congratulations on a successful ‘tour’
Excellent pics Gav.
Oh I really enjoyed that tour – if I lived closer I would join in on a “real” one. I keep aspiring to do just a tiny bit of what you do, and then most of the time before I have completed the task you come up with another nifty idea 🙂 I just love following along on your journey.
Thanks Gillian. It is my pleasure sharing it with all of you.
I loved this tour! If I ever get down to visit the rabid little hippy, she’s promised to bring me by for a visit. It’s a long way to go, though, so for now this was perfect. thanks a lot, Gavin. ~ Linne
Cheers Linne, glad you liked it.
Gav