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Wholesome Home Grown Dinners

March 3, 2016 @ 17:39 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

We’ve been eating simple fare of late, all unprocessed, wholesome, and mostly home grown dinners.

Due to the crazy heat we’re having in March (which is actually supposed to be autumn), we have been serving salads from the newly repaired Vegtrug, with organic or free-range meats.

However, last night was a special treat.

During a lovely day trip showing our friend Cheryl around, we stopped off at the Pastry King Bakery in Daylesford and picked up some delicious wholemeal rolls.  We then swung by Ballan to visit Jessie (aka Rabid Little Hippy) to drop off some wooden picture frames and to collect a bag of tomatoes.

As we were travelling home to Melton, we stopped off in Bacchus Marsh (Fruits of Life) to collect some BioDynamic milk ( I can feel a cheese coming on).

I had an abundance of home-grown Basil, so I picked a bunch and with Cheryl’s assistance began to prepare dinner.

Firstly I made quick Mozzarella with the milk.  If you want to learn how to make that, then check out my Quick Mozzarella video tutorial.


Then we sliced up the ripest tomatoes, washed all the basil leaves, and cut the bread into slices.  The Mozzarella was left to chill in the fridge for a few hours before I cut it up.

Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh Bio-Dynamic Mozzarella

This was the basis of our dinner.

Home grown dinners - Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, and Tomato

Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, and Tomato

All this was served with the wholemeal bread, basil infused extra virgin olive oil, and freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt.  Oh, and with a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar on top to add a little sharpness.

It was delicious.  Cheryl had never tasted such amazing flavours, especially heirloom tomatoes and fresh Mozzarella.  No pictures of the final serving, because we ate it so fast!

We also washed it down with a bottle or two of delicious cider from Daylesford Cider Company.

Local Map - 160 km radius

Local Map – 160 km radius

And just to think that all these ingredients came from within 160 km (100 miles) of where we live!  Not only does locally grown produce taste great, but it also has a lot less food miles, which means less carbon emissions.

Who can argue with that!

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Filed Under: 160km Diet, Cheese, food, Food miles, Locavore

Our Beautiful Chooks

September 22, 2015 @ 21:56 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

We love our beautiful chooks!  For those of you outside of Australia, most Aussies lovingly refer to their chickens as “chooks”.  It’s kind of a catchy nickname.

Anyway, all our chooks are back on the lay after a winter break, and thankfully we are back regularly to eating eggs again.  I have missed my omelette once a week for lunch.  They are delicious (the eggs not the chooks).

Bunty Chicken

Bunty Chicken

When I say all are laying, I naturally omit Bunty.  She is the matriarch of flock and top of the pecking order.  She was hatched in April 2008 and we bought her in September of the same year.  Technically that makes her 7½ years old, which is pretty good for a chook of her breed.

I shouldn’t say that she doesn’t lay, because about once a month I find a very small papery shelled egg in the nesting box that only contains the albumen (egg white), which I give to the dogs.  Not bad for an old girl!  She keeps the other chooks in check, and even makes sure the dogs don’t get too close when they are free ranging.  A bit like a pseudo Rooster.

Babs and Edwina II

Babs and Edwina II

Babs is now about 4 years old, and Edwina II is about 3 years old.  Both still lay most days of the week, but take a break over winter to allow their feathers to grow back after moulting.  Babs is a bit flighty (but has her left wing clipped).  She’s not very friendly.

Edwina is a timid and tame lass.  She likes being hand fed and picked up and stroked and she is my favourite chook.  I shouldn’t say that I have favourites because it only leads to heartache when they get sick and eventually fall off their perch.  Heaven knows that has happened a few times since we started keeping backyard chooks.  It’s just a part of life I suppose.

Chooky Chicken

Chooky Chicken

And allow me to introduce Chooky Chicken.  For want of a better name, this seems to be the one she comes running to!  She is tenacious, bold and likes jumping a lot.  Chooky is always the first out the coop door in the morning and first to the food.  She even does parkour when waiting for me in the morning.  She is an egg laying machine!  During winter she laid eggs nearly every day, and hasn’t stopped.  I would expect that Chooky will slow down over the coming year as she gets older.

Chooky is Edwina’s sister as we got them from the same flock.  She also has been getting treatment for scaly leg mites which picked up from some of the local pigeons that try to steal the chook food.

Most of the diseases that my flock have caught over the years have been introduced by visiting birds.  That is why it is best to keep your girls as healthy as you can.  I give them lots of greens as well as most of the kitchen scraps and their daily grain allowance.  They also get crushed garlic with their feed once a week which keeps intestinal worms at bay, and I add about ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar to their water once a fortnight as a tonic.  It seems to keep them healthy and happy.

They also get their little house cleaned out once a fortnight to prevent keep away pests.  It’s an easy task and provides brown material for the compost bin which is also a great activator.  The bedding that is not too soiled is laid on garden beds as mulch.

As Bunty is getting on, I checked out my YouTube video collection and found a video that I made the very first day they arrived in our coop with her three sisters (who have since passed on).  Seven years is a long time, so see if you can spot her as a youngster!

Our suburban food farm wouldn’t be the same without our chooks.  They are the best weed and bug controllers around, and turn them into the most amazingly rich eggs.  Besides that, I treasure their compost making ability with all that scratching and pooing for creating the most fertile soil to using in my veggie patch.

If you haven’t got chooks in your life, I highly recommend you get some if local laws permit.  We haven’t looked back since getting our numerous girls over the years.

Shout out if you love your chooks too!

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Filed Under: 160km Diet, Chickens, compost, food

I Support Food Not Lawn

July 28, 2015 @ 23:02 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

For those who don’t know, I have a passion for growing my own food here.  In fact I am so in to growing our own food that I ripped up all our lawns and replaced them with garden beds and fruit trees.  The vast majority of our plants are edible which is by design.  I’m a big advocate for Food not Lawn!

Gavin Webber's lawn before

Before with Lawn

Now, I had often wondered if this trend was catching on.  It didn’t seem to matter how far I walked around my neighbourhood, I couldn’t find anyone else with food growing in their front yard.  Maybe I’m not as trendsetting as I think I am.

Grow food not lawn - Veggie patch, January 2010

After with Food

Anyway, I was pleasantly delighted when I was contacted by Sue St Jean who lives in Rhode Island, USA, who also grows food in her 464 sq metre yard.  I caught up with her over the weekend and recorded a chat which will be published via tomorrow nights podcast episode.  It was really interesting to learn how she grows so much food in her small urban block and her front yard, and still manages to make it look really nice which gets the neighbours onboard and manages a big crop.

Then as luck (or fate) would have it, Christie, one of my Facebook followers and podcast listeners brought this story to my attention.  It was regarding food not lawn!

http://tedxinnovations.ted.com/2015/06/25/spotlight-tedx-talk-the-new-neighborhood-trend-lawns-made-of-food/

It’s about Tim Rinne who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, who was very worried about climate change and food scarcity, so he decided to take action.  He ripped up his own lawn and started to grow food.  This had a massive ripple effect throughout the neighbourhood and many other families now grow their own food in their yards.

His story was so inspiring that I had to embed the TED talk into this post.

 So here’s to growing food not lawns and all the trailblazers throughout the suburbs who are trying to make a difference and set an example to show that it is easy growing food with a bit of practice.

Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for my chat with Sue St Jean!

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Filed Under: 160km Diet, food, Food miles, Gardening, Locavore

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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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Podcast Reviews

  • Always inspiring and entertaining!
    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!

  • ms
    July 22, 2016 by Ketaea12 from New Zealand

    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!!

  • Well worth your time to tune in
    October 23, 2015 by A Vision Splendid from Australia

    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.

  • very good
    June 28, 2015 by Scared pax from United Kingdom

    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!

  • opened my eyes
    May 25, 2015 by Gorn4lyfe from Australia

    A wonderful show!

  • Inspiring
    April 30, 2015 by Alan Whelan from Ireland

    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

  • Green Living, inspiring and practical
    January 8, 2015 by EliseMac from Australia

    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

  • Morning motivation
    December 8, 2014 by Bunnyworm from Australia

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

  • Passionate Advocate
    October 18, 2014 by BoomOpGirl from Australia

    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
    October 13, 2014 by Green gavin from Australia

    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
    September 24, 2014 by Broomedy from Australia

    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!

  • Enjoyed those ideas for staying warm
    August 15, 2014 by enduringdragon from United States

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

  • Green Podcasts
    July 26, 2014 by Carneu from Australia

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

  • Practical ideas and inspiration
    July 19, 2014 by HeathrowHeath from Australia

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

  • Interesting & easy to listen to
    April 27, 2014 by Velocity3 from New Zealand

    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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