How to let your neighbours know you're a greenie?

Over the last 12 months there has been a lot of talk about no-dig gardens. What trips me up is the need to source all the materials to make a no-dig garden. No-dig gardens just seem to have so many ingredients, when you can just call up a compost or landscaping place and they will dump a whole bunch of 'soil' at your front door. Convenience strikes again!

I haven't given up completely on the idea of creating my 'perfect' veggie patch through a no dig process and due to a number of recent random events in my life I am starting to think it might even be possible. However, the no-dig garden still needs all of those ingredients and perhaps the biggest sticking point is the current lack of compost in my life! Now compost doesn't just appear over night, you have to work at it, love it, feed it......and maybe, just maybe you might be rewarded with some 'black gold'.

When we moved in to our new place, I did rush out and buy the biggest and nastiest black compost bin I could find at our local green & red hardware store. I put it in a place I thought would be accessible and convenient, with the idea that I would be making buckets loads of compost by the time I was thinking about building the veggie patches. Well, 12 months on and I have decided that the bin is in the completely wrong spot and its location doesn't allow me to turn the ingredients to aerate them. Also, I think perhaps the type of bin I bought (a flat pack square one) is probably not strong enough to take a good turning.

Anyway, I will continue with my bin choice, but I have moved it and its current ingredients to a new location. The move brought ingredient aeration and some realisation that I don't have enough green materials (nitrogen) going into my compost bin (because the worm farm is hogging them). So this is where my neighbours find out that they have a hippie in their midst!

With the amount of green waste being utilised in my worm farm and the lack of established veggie patch to "feed" the compost bin, where am I to get this green material from? Work colleagues seem to be a little "special" when it comes to separating suitable lunch scraps and don't actually seem to have that many (or least not placed appropriately into the designated bucket in the lunch room).

So, where am I to get this stuff from? My greenie and recycling streak re-surfaced and I came up with a grand plan. Through a little initiative of mine, I am hoping my neighbours will be the source of all my required 'green materials'. How is this going to happen? Well, I have put together a flyer, that I have so far dropped into 50% of my street's letterboxes, requesting my neighbours be so kind as to drop their kitchen green scraps into a "bin" that I have conveniently placed at my front gate.

 (Source: World Changing Seattle)

I wonder if this plan will be successful? Once the rain eases I will do the rest of my neighbourhood letterbox drop and see whether this strategy reaps any rewards! Pin It

Queensland University of Technology food seasonality/growing survey

I just received the Northey Street community garden email newsletter and within it there was a request to participate in a short survey for a QUT organised research program. If you have less than 10 mins to spare and you have an interest in growing your own food or knowing about what fresh food is in season, take the time to participate in this survey. The survey is at:  http://tinyurl.com/SeasonalitySurvey.

If you'd like more information about the research and/or the researchers here is some basic information from the Northey Street newsletter and contact details of the principal researcher. 

"SURVEY: Your Experience with growing and harvesting food
As part of ongoing research at QUT, Peter Lyle (a Northey Street volunteer) and his supervisors Dr Jaz Choi and Assoc Prof Marcus Foth are investigating ways of designing technology to provide useful and engaging information on the seasonality of food. We would really appreciate it if you could take the time to fill in this 15 minute survey about your experience with growing and harvesting food, and any information you have access to through IT that may have helped proven helpful. For more information on the project please go to http://www.urbaninformatics.net/projects/food/ or contact Peter Lyle at p.lyle@qut.edu.au".

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Chickens have arrived

Last weekend I went to a local produce barn to buy some dog food and like a kid in a candy store was so excited to see the chickens they had. They sell a lot of 'point of lay' chickens, which are chickens that you basically buy and once they have settled into their new 'digs' they will start to lay. However, this produce barn also sells 'day old' chickens that are 80% guaranteed to be females and therefore egg producers and not wake the neighbours in the morning. And last weekend they seemed to be teeming with baby chicks and true to form being so adorable (sucked me in)!

I was with my toddler and my other half was at a conference. So being like a possessed person I rapidly sent off a text message stating that the produce store was about to close and if he approved could I buy some of these day old chicks now, otherwise he would have to wait until Monday to get some. I mean, it wasn't like we had spoken over breakfast and mentioned that I would be getting chickens that day, nor discussed it during the week to make sure we had all the right facilities to have these new chicks. No. Their cuteness took over and I needed them.

The approval came back and I purchased three Australorp chickens. Why Australorps you might say, as Rhode Island Reds are quite a common purchase for backyard egg producers? Cuteness once again. I love the Australorps, I think they are a very attractive bird even as an adult - they are all black with bright red contrasting combs. Beautiful.....so once again, decision was only skin (or should I say feather) deep.

Anyway, got the three chicks home with some additional paraphernalia, such sawdust, chook food and some water dispensers and set them up in an old cage that I had from my wildlife caring days. I then madly sent off another text message to the other half again and insisted he get a heat lamp on the way home and voila three baby chicks growing rapidly at our house. 

We have had them a week now and they have been named by my toddler, with some assistance. We have 'Cheeky', 'Peckish' and 'Socks'. They certainly have grown over the week and I have noted a significant change in food consumption, even within the first twenty four hours.

I am also amazed at the innate behaviour that they demonstrate. We have taken them outside a couple of times to enrich their environment and let them experience dirt and weeds (which I will be getting them to work on when they are a little older) and they just instantaneously starting scratching in the bark and pecking at weeds, etc. They also happily consumed three worms between them the first time they were outside. It was hilarious to watch them with these worms, it was just like a Three Stooges skit.

One week on, no regrets and our three little chicks are starting to show signs of their egg-producing adult selves, with little tail feather shafts being now visible and wing feathers being quite prominent. They haven't lost their cuteness yet and we are hoping that we aren't smothering them with love.

What an adventure this is for a city girl and I'm loving it. Pin It

Breadmaker!

I had my birthday this week and got a fabulous present...a breadmaker! How exciting to be able to wake up to fresh bread each morning. My new present is a programmable version, which can make all manner of bread types, including white, wholemeal, seeded, rye and brioche. It is even capable of making jams, compotes and some cakes.

I have made one loaf of white bread so far, which was delicious and consumed in just 24 hours! I will be a little more adventurous later this week, once the family has consumed all of the store bought bread in the house! Don't want to be wasteful now.

I would also like to try and get some sourdough yeast, instead of the dry packet yeast, but I think this will have to wait until I am a little more confident with the bread cooking process. Let the experimenting begin!

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Rosella cordial

After planting my rosella bush at the beginning of the year, I have been inundated with flowers/buds. The continuous development of flowers and the fact that I have only one bush, means that I never have had enough flowers/fruit to harvest all at once to cook with. However, rather than letting all these buds go to waste I have been collecting these lovely red buds as they reach "maturity" and placing them in the freezer. 

On Friday I finally decided that I had enough buds and associated requirements that I would try to make rosella cordial. Many people make rosella jam, but since I have never made jam before I thought cordial would be easier since there is no setting process required (which I have heard is quite difficult). 

So Friday afternoon the cook up began! I followed the Green Harvest rosella cordial recipe and below shows you how I went about it.

 

 

Extract the rosellas from the freezer

 

 Fill your largest saucepan with rosellas, until it is approximately 3/4 full. 

Cook/boil and then strain the pulp/buds off and keep liquid. 

(I put the pulp into my compost bin...don't want to waste these things)

 After you have added sugar to the liquid, let this dissolve and boiled for a little bit more 

you add a lot of lemon juice (thankfully my lemon tree is in full swing and I managed to 

retrieve 8 lemons from my tree to add to the mixture)

 Finished product! Tip of the day: don't let this boil over because it is a sweet, sticky syrup 

now and getting this off the floor is also a sticky business

 And here it is, my first batch of rosella cordial all bottled up!

Now my first taste of my rosella cordial! Yummy!

My batch made about three litres of cordial and apparently it will keep for up to a year. That is, if I have sterilised the bottles properly! So, I expect the above glass of rosella cordial will not be my last.

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Food waste

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how much thin plastic was dominating my domestic, internal rubbish bin. I thought this was so peculiar and a significant burden on the landfill to which this rubbish was destined.

 (Source: Tree Hugger)

The second fact is still true, but as I washed my dinner dishes this evening I had a bit of a light bulb moment. At the time all this plastic was going into the bin I was doing a bit of a cook up. I perhaps might not have noticed the complete dominance of plastic in my rubbish bin if I had been mixing all this plastic with food waste as well. However, there is very little food waste that enters my traditional (in urban environment) rubbish stream.

Food waste in my house generally gets separated between the worm farm, the compost bin and the dogs. Hopefully in the near future I will also be sharing my scraps with some chickens too! In fact, I might not have enough food waste to sustain the chickens and may have to actually grow some goodies for them! Amazing.

All green waste from kitchen, including fruit and vegetable peelings, fruit stones, ends of herbs and old and sloppy fruit and vegetables all go to my worm farm and compost bins. The meat wastes and any small amounts of old left-overs go to my dogs! The only food scraps that on occasion goes into my mainstream garbage stream is my onion and garlic skins. Worms don't like these and as such most of the time they go into the normal rubbish bin.

 (Source: Colin J via Earth 911)

Interesting what little light bulbs turn on when you're up to your elbows in grey-water appropriate soaps suds!   Pin It

Long weekend! Woo hoo

What are you planning for the next four days? (For those that are under a rock or live outside Australia, all States in Australia have two public holidays either side of this weekend for Easter). For those that aren't particularly religious or completely un-interested in religious activities here is a list of things that might tickle your fancy to keep you busy for these four days:

• relax;
• vegetable patch planning or maintenance;
• bit of weeding;
• riding your bike along your favourite waterway;
• hang out in a tree (for all those kids);
• setting up a worm farm or a compost bin;
• de-clutter to make space for positive vibes;
• order a rainwater tank;
• plant a deciduous vine on the western wall of your house;
• hang out with family and friends;
• eat fair-trade and/or organic chocolate;
• recycle or freecycle some 'junk' around your house;
• sit on the beach and take in the breath-taking view & when you're finished take some rubbish from the beach;
• go bird-watching;
• visit your local national park;
• see what activities your local Museum or library is holding;
• plan your garage sale to take part of the Garage Sale Trail in May;
• see what you can make out of bamboo;
• have a swim at your local pool, watering-hole, river, creek or beach; 
• go camping; or
• set up a herb garden. 

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CERES Autumn Festival 2012

If you're in Melbourne here is a outing for you on the 31 March 2012. The CERES Autumn Festival. Oh how I wish I was in the area!

CERES stands for Community Education and Research in Environmental Strategies and amongst the many things that this group of enthusiastic community members do, is run a community garden and environment park and provide a hub where communities of like-minded people can gather and learn. It has a great program of environmental education!

The Autumn Festival has so many wonderful activities and show-cases, including the chance to get up close and personal with farm animals, enter a cake baking competition (theme: CERES 30th birthday...so make a birthday cake) and a chance to hear from Matthew Evans (of Gourmet Farmer fame). If you're keen enough you can also volunteer on the day to help out around the place and make the event particularly special.

The CERES environment and education centre is located by Merri Creek, East Brunswick in Melbourne. Their website is full of fabulous ideas, education seminars and so much more. Drop into their website or their centre and be exposed to some brilliant ideas and inspirations. Pin It

Seasonal produce guide

Via the 1Million Women campaign blog I have discovered a "seasonal produce guide" that lets you know which fruit and vegetables are in season and therefore the ones you should buy. Food that is in season will have shorter food miles, be fresher, be better for you and will generally be more enjoyable to eat.

I have been wanting a pocket size seasonal produce guides for ages and have started dabbling in creating my own, going so far in some instances at looking at when you should plant various crops and calculate their availability based on time till harvest. But, yippppeee, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and I have now printed out the Sustainable Table's version.

The one downside to this guide is that it has been produced (by the look of things) by people based in southern Australia. There is therefore some seasonal variation between the northern parts of Australia and the fruits and vegetables available in the fields in southern Australia, but at least it does provide a guide. It will provide you with some reference to what you should be able to buy and perhaps over time you can amend it to better suit your region. 

Give it a go and let me know what you think. Pin It

South East Queensland Food Network

There is a new push in south-east Queensland to promote local opportunities to producers and connect them to their local markets. The Queensland Business Review published an article this week entitled: Farmers Take Control of Local Supply Chain, which can be found at http://www.qbr.com.au/news/articleid/77703.aspx.

From my review of this article it looks as though producers, tourism organisations and local Councils have established the South East Queensland Food Network as an attempt to promote local produce to people visiting areas and to develop alternate supply chains.

I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but it sparked my interest as there certainly will be opportunities to find out more about your local producers (including who they are and what they produce) and potentially establish direct links to them or alternatively promote their use through your local supermarkets.

It is always great to find out more information about food that is available in your local area and where you can purchase it from.


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What is Palm Oil?

In recent years I have heard bits and pieces about palm oil and how it is used in many, many products that we consume (grocery and cosmetic items) and how it is impacting on precious tropical forests in south-east Asia, particularly orang-utan habitat. Other than these things, I don't know a lot more about palm oil or its issues.

I was reminded of this issue this morning when reading the finished box of soap as I took it from the bathroom and to the recycling bin. I think the brand is "Country Life" and it advertises itself as Australia made and owned and Palm Oil Free. You will also find in smaller print it is made from locally and imported ingredients (as most things do).

Anyway, I thought I should have a look into what "palm oil" is. WWF has an informative webpage that describes palm oil as being derived from the "fruit of the oil palm tree", which comes from two main oil palm trees (African Oil Palm and American Oil Palm). Further information about palm oil and its uses from WWF site include that

"the palm fruit yields two distinct oils - palm oil and palm kernel oil. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit, is edible and used in food. Palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed of the fruit and is used mainly in the manufacture of cosmetics."

The growing of oil palm trees seems to be quite widespread around the tropics, with palm oil plantations in our region being focused in Malayasia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Furthermore, these plantations are apparently often associated with illegal or unsustainable deforestation activities (although I will have to investigate this further).

Once again, the consciousness of the consumer can make a difference to such matters and certainly impact on businesses and activities outside our national boundaries. We can achieve this just by making informed choices about the products we choose to buy.

As the GreenPalm.org website states that if we just stop "our" consumption of palm oil, it is likely that the product will then just be purchased by another "user". But, if appropriate assistance (in the way of education and trade support, for example) can be provided to primary producers in these regions (many countries being third world nations) there is the possibility they will be able to modify their  businesses towards sustainable practices. There may also be better planning (through assistance) for new plantations, thereby reducing or preventing deforestation of these important areas.

My understanding is that the GreenPalm group is supporting such actions for this industry through the development of a certificate trading program for palm oil, which includes the labelling of products containing sustainably produced palm oil. WWF and a number of other interested groups also seem to tackling the issues and providing education to consumers and producers, as well as developing standards for responsible palm oil plantations, through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Again, it can come down to being conscious of your choices, choose products that have sustainably produced palm oil or no palm oil (where there is sustainable product alternatives) and try to find out where the "imported ingredients" come from and generally make informed decisions.  

If you'd like to know more details of what countries and brands are using palm oil, as well as their commitment to utilise sustainable palm oil sources in the future, the WWF has developed the Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard 2011: Measuring the Progress of Palm Oil Buyers.

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Do you know where your food comes from?

I have been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Wow, what a wake up call! This book has definitely opened my eyes to many issues within the current industrialised food system that I was not aware of.

The book is written based on the current American food system and I wonder how transferable the examples are to Australia, but definitely food for thought and still worth the read. It seems that much of the American food system is based on cheap corn, for example, and I don't know how much corn we produce here in Australia and whether it is as heavily subsidised as in America. Certainly products and ingredients that come from America and sold here in Australia will reflect the systems described in the book, but I don't know about our meat production and how heavily it relies on corn on its "raw" material or alternatively whether there is some other "raw" material (perhaps wheat) here in Australia that is just as heavily relied upon and subsidised as corn is described in the book.

One part of the book that left me gob-smacked, was Michael description of "organic beef". Due to marketing and my own pre-conceived ideas, my understanding was organic beef came from cattle roaming freely on green grassy pastures and spending an idyllic life as a cow should, until slaughtered and ending up on my plate, but Michael describes in the book that there is some organic beef (in America) that is now is produced in exactly the same way as traditional meat, being initially grass fed and then off to feedlot. The only difference being that the organic meat gets fed organic corn based food within the same feedlot situation and the cattle is not fed "enhanced" food that has antibiotics. The later, in fact, potentially results in less healthy animals, because of the likelihood of disease that results from being within a feedlot situation and being given food that isn't necessarily great for them. This completely did my head in! Have to check out how my local organic meat is produced now!

If you're not into reading, you catch watch the Food Inc dvd, it covers the topics described in Michael Pollan's book and shows Joel Salatin's farm, as an example of a non-industrialised food system working in America. 

Great read and fascinating watch! A definite read to peel back the layers of anonymity in our food systems.

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Pineapple update

In early June I wrote about my quest to grow my own pineapple from a top of a pineapple I purchased on the side of the road. 

At the time of the post, I hadn't planted the pineapple top yet, but was letting it cure, as recommended by Gardening Australia. After the week of rest I planted the pineapple top into a styrofoam box (for ease of transportation) with some potting mix and sugar cane mulch and maintained as with any new seedling/plant, with a nearly daily watering regime. The tips of the leaves did brown off during the early stages, which concerned me a little and just prior to our move I thought it was going to give up. But I am pleased to announce there is new life in my pineapple top, in the form of new central sprouts since arriving at our new place. 

Now I just have to continue my maintenance program, worm wee every now and watering every few days and maybe in a couple of years I can tell you how succulent my pineapple is. Here's hoping! Pin It

Food Matters

There is currently a Internet movie available free called Food Matters. It is only available until the 8 October 2011.

It is available at: www.FoodMatters.tv/ScreeningEventCinema.

I have started to watch it and it certainly provides an alternate position about nutrients in your food and our food chain. The supposed experts tell you how the food that is commercially available is not all it is cut out to be, in that it doesn't contain the nutrients your body requires.

Also in the bit I have watched so far it mentions that our body isn't truly able to cope with cooked food and "raw" (uncooked) food is better for you. The figure mentioned in the movie is that 55% of every meal you eat should be raw. My understanding is the less cooked your food is the more nutrients available to you. This sounds reasonable to me, but I certainly don't practice this.

Watch for yourself and see what you think. Pin It

New garden

I am so daunted. We are about to move into our new home and we have a significant amount of land. Well it seems like it to me who originates from the suburbs. We have a 1.25 acre block which probably has about half of it covered in regrowth and remnant native vegetation and the rest of it planted gardens and open space. Given my passion for both producing my own food and native plants I feel overwhelmed with the ideas that I have for the land. Organising these thoughts and making them work is bringing me to panic. I think I should be taking some of my own advice and just do one step at a time. This surely will be the best plan of attack.

Photos of the blank canvas to come.


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Native Bees

Native bees here in Australia have a significant role in our native ecosystems and presently with the overall world decline of pollinators they have a very important place in our backyards. There are apparently over one thousand native bee species here in Australia, with the honey bees, that we typically associate as honey providers, being an introduced species. Native bees are generally solitary with only about 10 of our native species being communal or social, with these occupying a variety of habitats, but a primarily hollows in trees.

There are many reasons for the reduction in the number of native bee species and other pollinators here in Australia but some of the primary reasons are the reduction of their habitat and the widespread use of insecticides throughout the community.

Native bee hives in tree hollows are not visually prominent and as a result are often destroyed when areas of native vegetation are cleared. If these nests are identified prior to clearing activities, they can be salvaged, as has been done with this one that is now located in the Mt-Cootha Botanic Gardens in Brisbane, Queensland.

Native bees provide an important ecosystem service for humans, with these insects acting as pollinators for many of our food crops and also native vegetation. If these species are lost, overall food is likely to become more difficult to produce and in the long-run more expensive due to higher production costs and increased scarcity.

Things that you can do to encourage and maintain these species in your garden:

• Become aware of their plight (including increased competition for food resources from the European honey bee) and their physiology (they are stingless and therefore don't pose any threat to people with allergies); 
• maintain their habitat;
• alternatively if clearing is necessary salvage a native bee nest; or 
• invest in a salvaged nest to include in your garden. 

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Veggie gardener threatened with jail

If you hadn't already heard there has recently been an American case where a lady was taken to court for growing vegetables in her front garden. The Organic Gardener magazine reports that her case has not proceeded. Thankfully!

It is with utter amazement to me that it is possible for a "city" to take someone to court for trying to provide themselves with fresh produce in their front garden. It started with an infringement notice leading to a charge requiring an appearance in a court. Apparently this gardener's choice of plants were not considered to be "suitable living plant material".

Thankfully common sense has prevailed!

The lady who's war this was has a blog which you can also visit: http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/ Pin It

Local food...how am I going?

In a post earlier this year, I discussed the concept of obtaining my food from within 250km of my house. So, how I am going? Well I haven't tried very hard, but started at least to make some conscious decisions when I am in my local grocery store (independent brand) and at the local "farmers'" markets.

What have I been successful in obtaining within this area?

• strawberries
• bread
• mandarins
• chicken
• yoghurt
• milk
• mushrooms
• fish (whiting)
• pesto
• honey
• eggs

This list doesn't look extensive to me anyway. Have a look at your shopping trolley next time you're unpacking it into your car and see where your grocery items are coming from. Are local products readily available from your store?

The obvious flaw with the bread (which has been consistently raised with me) and the pesto, is that I don't know where the basic ingredients are sourced from (basil in pesto is local, but don't know about the other ingredients). This fact could actually lead to an increase in my carbon footprint as a result of extra transportation of primary ingredients to the location of manufacture, but at least I have considered one step in my food chain and this is what I consider a step in the right direction. 

I have other local products available fairly readily but have not required them to date and I also have sourced herbs from my garden, mostly parsley at this stage and therefore don't have any transportation impacts on these. 

Where to from here? Further investigations into the availability of many of the staple products in my pantry would be useful.  Quizzing the sellers at the farmers' market where the products they are selling are coming from would also help and only buying what is seasonally available. All of these steps will assist in purchasing only products available from my local (250km) area. 

Have you tried and what success are you having? 

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Landshare

Have you heard of Landshare? Its basically a dating agency for people wanting to grow their own food but don't have any land and those that have land on which the first group could grow their food. What a fantastic concept! I have seen so many parcels of empty land begging from someone to use it for something other than a never-ending mowing circuit.

Landshare's website allows you to express an interest in either sharing your land or get connected with someone with some spare land. The website includes some useful tools, such as sample legal agreements ensuring the protection of everyone's rights. There are also case studies showing some successes and nothing more useful than planting guides for different regions in Australia and recipes for produce available from your landshare garden.  

Currently there are just over 1100 members and growing rapidly. What an effort for something that was only started four months ago. Have a look at their map indicating locations of people wanting land and people offering land and see whether there is someone you can match up with in your area. Pin It

Basil

I have had a couple of recipes in my weekly dinner plan that have basil in them for the last couple of weeks. I chose these recipes a little while ago and added basil to my shopping list. My basil plant in my garden wasn't doing so well, wilted leaves, large seed heads and bitter-tasting leaves (picture was taken when the basil was in its prime). I just thought this was a result of the poor soil it is currently planted in, being in terribly non-neutral (pH) mushroom compost in a bath tub.

However, from my continual search for basil in the shops and farmers' market and its lack of presence on the shelves I have come to the conclusion that basil is out of season.  And due to its complete lack of presence in the supermarket I assume it is a herb that is too fragile to transport over large distances for any reasonable price.

Once again, lesson learnt, no basil in winter and will start to think about sorting my recipe book into suitable seasons in which to cook them rather than under categories such as 'pasta', 'meat', 'chicken' and so on.

The lesson: shop seasonally for fruit and vegetables and also herbs and you will shop for less and have less impact on the planet through reduced transportation impacts/costs. Pin It