The Greening of Gavin

Getting My Cheese On

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Gavin Webber - Curd Nerd

Gavin Webber – Curd Nerd

It’s been a bit quiet around here on the blog.  Gav must be busy?

Too right I have!  Between attending trade shows with Kim to find more potential kits for our store, a marathon chook house clean out with Ben, to moving outdoor furniture around three times to suit Kim’s taste (then putting it back again because it looked better the first time), I haven’t had much me time.

Additionally, I did embark on a massive IT project to revamp my cheese blog, Little Green Cheese.  Besides the cosmetics, there is one big reason I’ve been giving it a new look and feel plus beefing up the back-end of the site.

That reason is…..Drumroll please….  I will be contributing to Mother Earth News as an authority on home cheese making!  I am writing my first contribution over the weekend.

I’ve been told the following fun facts about the site;

Your posts would be shared with a very large online audience — our website receives more than 7 million visits per month, and we share the best posts in our newsletters (about 400,000 subscribers) and on our Facebook page (1.8 million fans).

That is an incredible audience and I am very excited about that and reaching out to like minded folk about the simple joy of making cheese at home and teaching them the art of the curd nerd.  I dare say a few of those visitors will spill over to this blog as well for all its greenness.

The deal with Mother Earth News is a fortnightly commitment (minimum) where I contribute original articles to the Real Food section of the online edition.  I don’t think I will have any problems with that, because some of you may know, I was a contributor to the Simple, Green, Frugal Coop for a couple of years as well before it closed down (then restarted, and stopped again).  As before, there is no payment for articles, it’s for the love of it which is something I have no issue with at all.  After all, that’s why I write most days for you!

So that is my big news of the day.  Wish me luck on the cheese front!

Green Behaviours – Poll Results

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Well after a week of polling, the results are in with 668 responses being cast before the poll closed.

But firstly, before we get to the results,  I would like to thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on what topics are your favourite and what you would like to read or hear more about on the blog and podcast.  Your input has been invaluable and you are amazingly generous!

So what were the top 6 of all responses?

Poll results

As you can see in the screenshot, reducing waste came in at #1 with 9.13% of the vote, followed by #2 cooking from scratch, #3 Upcycling, #4 Eating healthy food, #5 composting and worm farming, and at #6 Growing your own food with 7.1% of the vote.

There were also a few interesting “others”, like winemaking, cider making, bread making, preserving, fitness, make laundry liquid, no plastic bags, and Living a vegan lifestyle.

I will focus more towards the top six in the coming weeks.  However, with that said, I will still be featuring other topics as well that didn’t make it into the top six.  After all, variety is the spice of life!

You may have noticed that I have already started to track down interviews and written blog posts that contain some of this information.  For instance, TGoG 113 featured Erin from The Rouge Ginger who strives to live a zero waste lifestyle, and recent posts on growing your own garlic and curing olives.

I will also be posting more delicious recipes that we make from ingredients grown in our very own backyard for all of you who voted for #2.  I am looking forward to eating the meals as well!

All in all, it was great to receive feedback from you and to generate some potential post and podcast ideas.  If my years of blogging have taught me anything, it’s that it pays to solicit feedback and seek the opinion of you, the reader.

Thanks again for your participation.  It has helped immensely.

What is Your Favourite Green Behaviour?

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Today we have a quick poll to help me develop ongoing content for the blog.  By completing the poll below, I will get a better ideas and valuable feedback from you to develop “How to” content and podcasts.

Because the blog is an ongoing project for me and I have a lot of knowledge in how to do most of the things I have listed in the poll, it is sometimes difficult for me to fully understand the needs of my readers.  A poll is a great way to solicit content ideas.

So if you have time, please fill out this simple poll.  You can choose multiple answers, and I will focus on writing posts and recording podcasts for the top six responses.

 

If you can think of something I have missed in the list, please leave a comment for consideration.  The poll is open for 1 week, so answer away!