Back to Basics Challenge Update #2

I'm not sure if this late or early LOL, but I know I won't get it done this weekend, so here it is, not that I've done much *Ahem*



Sowing Seed or Planting -
Sowing:
* Sunflowers (for harvesting for seeds).

Potting on:
* Three tomatoes.

Planting out:
* Three strawberry spinach, three eggplants.

Observing:
* The dwarf coffee trees have just started to flower for the first time.


* The root vegetable seedlings I planted in the dog-leg bed are very stunted and slow-growing, presumably because of the alkaline soil mix. Must apply powdered sulphur and a worm wee/ Seasol mix to see if that helps.
* The drying beans are producing pods, including the Borlotti beans.



Planning for the Future -

* Researching when to harvest the drying beans and how to best dry and store them for cooking.
* Ordered and received a shipment of spice plants - cinnamon, allspice and curry leaf trees, a black pepper vine, and licorice root for the future medicinal herb garden.
* Ordered more plants from Daley's Nursery - two kiwi fruit vines (male and female), a black passionfruit, lemon grass for the herb garden, and a fig tree.
* Arranging with the next door neighbours to take their broken shade pavilion frame when they pull it apart. The canvas 'roof' ripped to shreds in a recent storm and since they are beginning to build a new permanent awning, they were going to throw it away. One person's trash is their neighbour's new kiwi fruit shade trellis ;-)

Working for the Future -

* Cleaned out vegie crisper and wiped interior of fridge with vanilla spray.
* Went through my old cookbooks and noted new recipes to try.
* Decluttered another section of the study and packed up two boxes of stuff to give away.
* Packed up several boxes of kids and baby stuff for my sister.
* Cleared and arranged a permanent storage space for my fabric stash.

Managing stores:

* Sorted out the dried goods in pantry so that I know what needs using first.

Building community -

* Gave away tomato plant seedlings.
* Donated two boxes of magazines to the Salvo's.
* Discussed growing apple trees in pots with several visitors.

Learned a new skill -

* Knitted dishcloths using two new patterns, Homespun Living's waffle knit dishcloth and Maggie's Rags, Chinese Waves.

Snippets...

Harvesting:... More squash and zucchini, my very first baby carrots...


...and the first Purple King beans. Yum.

Baking: ...Chocolate zucchini muffins with toasted hazelnuts. Because it was cold, and the squash are getting away from me already.

Engaging with my community: ... The potted apple trees in our front yard look very noticeable at the moment, as the apples are now apple-sized and are starting to ripen.

Without fail, everyone who comes to the front door - or even those just wandering past on their evening constitutional - remarks on them. Usually along the lines of "Wow, I didn't know you could grow apples in pots!", or "Aren't you good!". (I have mused several times on what they might mean by "good"; keen perhaps?)

The poor things really are very twiggy-looking still, being only two years old, but I hoping that this time next year they might look like actual (dwarf) trees and I'll feel better about discussing how well they do in pots LOL.

Regardless, like the tomatoes and sweet potatoes growing next to my driveway, all discussions have been very positive and - forgive the pun ;-) - fruitful. I'm hoping that a least of couple of those people I've talked to, or have noticed gesticulating and whispering earnestly to their companion as they stroll past, have gone home and potted up their own fruit trees. Wouldn't that be cool?

Wet and cold.

A big thank you to everyone who has left a suggestion on my previous post, I am working through them all and there are some really terrific ones!

It's been raining on and off all weekend here and freezing cold, although thankfully we have avoided snow, unlike Lisa! DH and I have also managed to pick up some sort of tummy virus which has made getting the house and garden ready for next weekend's birthday party an unpleasant, but necessary, chore. Between cups of tea and some quiet moaning, at least now the cornices are cobweb-free, the walls are (temporarily) crayon-free, there is room for people once again under our pergola now that I've repotted and moved the three dozen plants requiring attention, the lawn edges are done and our paths and driveway are somewhat weed-free :-)

Phew! If we didn't feel so dodgy, a nice warming glass of red wine would be on the cards. We'll have take a raincheck until next Sunday night after the party LOL. Please excuse me if my blog is quiet this week - there's lots of birthday party preparation to do, plus the annual preschool Christmas party on Thursday!

Suggestions please!

We are having a birthday party for Miss Six next weekend and we thought it might be nice to have a 'craft' theme as they all adore beading and glueing etc. So, bearing in mind that

a) their mother's won't thank me if they get paint or texta on their party clothes, and
b) I don't have the energy to pre-prepare too much for them,

I was thinking that perhaps making Christmas cards might be a good activity? Do you think that's appropriate at a birthday party? I have plenty of leftover cards from last year I can cut up to reuse and my Mum has a couple of rubber stamps, so all I would need is some cardstock, glue sticks, stamp pad and maybe some stickers and glitter? I'm going to sew them each a little tote bag to take home from fabric remnants (a basic rectangle folded in half and sewn up the sides plus a handle), so they could pop the cards inside to take home, along with whatever lollies they get from the (hopefully homemade paper mache) pinata.

There will be other family members at the party so I won't have too much time to sit and direct them in their activities, but does anyone else have suggestions for other easy craft activities?

It also looks like all the girls in her school class will come at this stage too (ten of them, yikes!), so I was wondering if I should take the opportunity to get them to make a collective handmade Christmas present for their teacher? I have NO idea what they could do though - suggestions welcome!

Edited to add: As far as the teacher present goes, I wondered if the girls could all write something nice about their teacher (favourite memory, what they like most about him etc) on separate pieces of cardboard to somehow make a 2008 memory box? I really don't know how to "flesh out" that concept, so again, suggestions welcome!

Green Meme #1

Em has tagged me for a meme. I don't normally do meme's but I quite like this one!




The Guidelines:

1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers (click on the pic above).
2. Link to whoever tagged you.
3. Include meme number.
4. Include these guidelines in your post.
5. Tag 3 other green bloggers.


Green Meme #1

1. Name two motivations for being green.
1. My family, particularly my children. I feel that it is my responsibility as their mother to try and provide the best opportunities for their future as I can, and that includes a planet that isn't disasterously polluted and unliveable.

2. It seems morally right to me to only use my fair share of the earth's precious resources. Being blessed to be born and raised in an affluent country doesn't give me the right to squander more than I need just because I can afford it.

2. Name 2 eco-unfriendly items you refuse to give up.
1. Hairspray (and my hairdryer). For the moment.

2. My computer.

3. Are you at peace with, or do you feel guilty about no.2?
1. I don't feel horribly guilty about using hairspray as such, but it's something that I strongly feel I need to stop using. But. Just. Can't. I'm not at all anal about my hair style - as long as it's neat - but it's dead straight, baby fine with no volume and I've spent 25 years trying to find a wash-and-wear style that I'm comfortable with (hair long enough to pull up in a pony tail drives me insane). At the moment I spend literally one minute blow-drying it, using my fingers for volume and styling, then spray it with hairspray all over and I'm done for the day.

2. What can I say? I love the internet! I just try to limit the amount of time the 'puter is on, and the peripherals are all turned off at the wall/powerboard except when I am using them. I feel guilty about the amount of resources that go into manufacturing a computer etc, but we do try and limit the electricals we have in the house to try and compensate. Meh.

4. What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

I feel like we stopped making progress in reducing our footprint about 6 months ago - I've done and redone the various footprint calculators numerous times to see what we have to in order to get our footprint to a sustainable level, and it appears to me that in order to get down to the magic 1.8 global hectares, we have to:

a) become completely vegan;
b) move to a smaller house (i.e. five of us in a two or three bedroom house);
c) get a much smaller car (the car we have is the smallest we can get which will still physically fit three car seats/ booster seats in it, which means it is a large family sedan); and
d) stop visiting our relatives (specifically by car, but my in-laws and BIL live 35 minutes away, out of town, and aren't accessible at all by public transport).

None of these things are going to happen anytime soon, so I suppose this is where I am feeling most "stuck". The best alternative is to get our resources use down to next to nothing, which, frankly, will be painful.

5. Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?
Yes, our footprint is less than half the Aussie average, but it is still nowhere near a sustainable level (see question 4). Sigh.

6.What’s eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?
Eco-frustrating: Living in a city means that, amongst other things:
a) growing space for food is limited as our backyard isn't very big, and
b) there aren't very many local food producers to chose from, so the definition of "local" tends to be much more than 100 miles/ 160 kilometres. For example, the town of Breeza is considered "local" but it's 266 kilometres away. It is however, the closest source of milled flours and they are also organic (yay!). The Farmer's Markets also include stalls from producers as far away as Goulburn (346 km) and Coffs Harbour (393 km). Even if I made an exception for flour, I'm not sure we could satisfy the "100 mile diet" rules.

Eco-fantastic: The (mostly) regular rainfall. During the most recent drought we were one of only two local government areas not drought-declared in NSW (the other being Byron Bay, from memory). This means that whilst we don't physically have the space for large rainwater tanks, if we were very careful we could provide for our needs between rainfall events.

We are also able to walk to school and a small shopping village, and a larger strip shopping centre (including doctors and other services) and a small mall are a 4 minute drive away, so other than visiting friends and relatives, we are able to limit our car travel during the week.

7. Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow your own?
Yes, we grow what we can in our garden - and that is expanding all the time as we remove more and more ornamentals and lawn - and we buy at the local Farmer's Market and organic grocer. We eat meat about once a week, which is actually up from about once a fortnight. We tend to alternate kangaroo with local organic chicken.

8. What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

Like Em, it's explaining to my kids for the umpteenth time why we chose to do many things differently from their friends and classmates - but explaining it in a way that they don't judge their friends and classmates! My eldest is only six (almost seven) and she gets it for the most part, but still finds it difficult to be "different" at this age, such as not having a large birthday party at the local fast food restaurant like all her friends did.

9. Do you have a green confession?

I buy waaaaay too many books. I try to buy only second hand, and only books that I have looked through at the library and decided will be a good resource/ reference book, but... ahem. It's too easy to rationalise when there are so many skills I am trying to learn or expand upon. I mean really, how many books on preserving does one need? *Cough, cough*

10. Do you have the support of family and/or friends?
Pretty much. My family are great, my in-laws think I'm a bit odd but never say anything negative and for the most part, our friends have an "each to their own" attitude LOL. In other words, they mostly understand the motivation but couldn't bothered doing it themselves if it involves more than changing their light bulbs.

Now I have to tag three more bloggers. Again, I don't usually tag, but I'll make an exception here and nominate:

Busy Woman at A Vision Splendid
Belinda and
Gavin.

Thanks Rebecca!

A big thanks to Australian writer Rebecca Blackburn for donating a copy of her book for my 500th post giveaway :-)

I've just had a quick flick through it and it's very comprehensive but easy to read and chock-full of great information, especially if you are starting out on your own green journey. Well worth the read.

P.S. Emma, your parcel is almost on it's way!

Growing Challenge Update #13

I was remiss in not posting a garden update yesterday, but that's because it's been a mighty slow week. At the moment I am mostly stuck in that state of limbo between summer-producing plants getting a nice start in the vegie garden, and them actually producing anything edible. The leeks are going well and the squash are - as usual - taking over the garden and producing bountifully (remind me again why I felt compelled to plant TWO zucchini AND two Golden squash plants?), but nothing much else is producing yet. Even most of the herbs have gone to seed, so I'm feeling a bit bereft LOL.

In the greenhouse, the rocket and amaranth seedlings are up.

In the garden, the Purple King beans are setting and are almost big enough to start eating:

The Lazy Housewife beans are up:

The rockmelon (cantaloupe) seedlings have disappeared for the third time in a row; I think the Universe is trying to tell me that I will have to be content with only trying to grow watermelons this season:

And the 28-spotted ladybirds have discovered the potatoes, making a complete mess of their leaves:

We also had a hail storm on Saturday but we fared much better than those further north, fortunately not too much damage was done, just a few shredded leaves. The 20mm of rain was appreciated though, it has been getting very dry here.

Now I'm off to open the box of Digger's seeds which just arrived - I've forgotten what I ordered so this is going to be exciting :-)

And the winner is...

Okay, so sue me for not wanting to write out 99 names to go into a hat ;-) Instead I relied upon good old Random.org's random integer generator, which spat out:



According to my calculations therefore, the winner is....

Emma from The Berry Patch!

Congratulations Emma! Email me at towards-sustainability (at) hotmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I'll organise getting your parcel out in the mail next week :-)

Thank you so much for all the kind comments from everyone else. I'm stoked to have managed to get so many readers to stop lurking - don't be strangers in the future OK?

Thank you!

Phew, there's been a flurry of 'awards' in the blogosphere in the last week!

A huge thank you to:

CeeLew for the Hot Blog award

Mandy at The Old Dairy for the Premio Dardos award

Naturewitch for both the Premio Dardos and Uber Amazing Blog awards

Joan for the Brillante Weblog award



and finally my fellow Simple Green Frugal Co-Op writer, Sadge and new blogger Greenfumb for the Proximity award.


It's wonderful to be acknowledged guys, thanks :-)

Now, I can't pick favourites, so everyone in my sidebar can considered themselves awarded :-D

** Don't forget to leave a comment on my last post to go into the draw for my giveaway!**

500th Post Giveaway!

Wheeeee, it's post number 500! So, in order to celebrate, I'm going to have a giveaway :-)

I'm not sure what is going to be in the parcel as yet, as you guys are such a diverse bunch and I want to put together things that have a universal appeal. But, rest assured, I am thinking hard about what goodies are going to go into it.

Just leave a comment on this post, and I'll put everyone's name into a draw on Sunday evening. Come on all you lurkers, now's your chance to come out in the open ;-) Overseas visitors included!

Good luck!

**Updated**

Hey, look at all the lurkers coming out of the woodwork, I'm not talking to myself after all!

Here's a little teaser of a couple of the parcel contents for you :-)

A berry good day.

Doing: ...Sorting out the pantry. I am trying to progressively swap over my storage to glass instead of plastic, but I have so much to store that it is going to take a while. I try not store anything with a high fat or oil content in plastic as any nasties are more likely to leach into fatty or oily products. Have as read of this Choice Magazine article (be sure to read all 4 pages) on the plasticisers underneath the lids of glass jars; scary stuff, and it applies to many other kids of plastics as well.



Cooking: ...Chick peas to put into the freezer for making quick meals and snacks like hummus or crispy roasted chick peas (yum).


In The Garden: ...Check it out people:

My very first raspberries. And they tasted as good as they looked ;-)

Monday again.

Doing: ...Having a chat to our next door neighbour's dad. He wandered over while I was weeding the front garden bed - the one I recently pulled the ornamentals out of and planted root vegetables into - and said:

'Ere. Are you growing vegetables in there?, pointing at the volunteer tomatoes and potatoes.

I smiled widely and said: Yep.

He nodded to himself and said: I thought they looked like tomatoes.

Yeah, they came up in the compost, I said.

Hmmmmm, he said, I used to have a compost bin out the back. Dunno why I stopped using it. Might have to clean it up and start growing some 'maters myself.

Well, said I, I've got some seedlings you can have. They leave the bought tomatoes for dead.

Thanks, he said, I might take you up on that.

Sweet.

...Meal planning for the week. When I first started meal planning, I printed out this page, laminated it, and stuck it to the kitchen wall in a discrete spot near the fridge. I use a whiteboard marker to write on it so I can rub it off each week when I change the menu. It's a great reminder, as I used to forget to check the plan otherwise and parts of the dinner wouldn't be thawed or soaked overnight in advance, like chick peas.



Making: ...Starting to knit a new dishcloth. The colour looked like a lovely fawn when I picked it up in the shop, but now that I'm knitting it it looks grey, which is a pity, as it looks like it needs a soak in some Nappysan. Meh.


In The Garden: ...A second turmeric shoot has appeared, yay. Pity the dog ran over the first one and knocked the top off it, sigh.

Dinner: Spaghetti bolognaise, heavily featuring homegrown squash ;-)

Contemplating: ...Putting something together for a 500th post giveaway! Phew, have I really posted that many times?

Growing Challenge Update #12

Melinda's Growing Challenge update time! Click on the banner for more information about the challenge.

This week I managed to get some more seeds sown for my summer picking garden - rocket, coriander and salad burnet, plus Lazy Housewife beans and amaranth, cumin and caraway, to be harvested for their seeds. I suspect the rocket (arugula) and coriander (cilantro) might bolt straight to seed but I will plant them in part shade and see what happens. I've not grown any of these from seed before (except the beans), and I've never grown any but the beans, rocket and coriander before, so nearly all qualify for the Growing Challenge ;-)

I also potted on some more of my seedlings; Early Long Purple and Udamalapet eggplants, Amish Paste and Brandywine tomatoes and some Strawberry Spinach.

I also planted out two Strawberry Spinach a couple of days ago, and two rockmelon (cantaloupe) seedlings this morning. In the vegie garden, I finally found the tip of one turmeric shoot peeking out of the ground this morning - phew! At least one plant will grow :-) I mulched the ginger and galangal, as they are all growing well now with quite big shoots.

The Purple King beans are flowering:

As are most of the drying bean varieties, and the Hunter River brown onions are starting to bulb up:

The first flower has appeared on the Butternut pumpkins (the pink leaves on the ground are from the bougainvillea on the fence above):

And the celery is going to seed. I hope to save the seeds for cooking and for sowing again next season, although I've never done this before. I hope it sets seed quickly, as I have this space ear-marked for tomatoes, LOL.

Elsewhere, the few apples on my small trees are starting to blush. This is an Anna variety (the tropical low-chill apple equivalent of a Jonathon):


Although something has already gotten to one of them! Neighbourhood kids perhaps? It looks like physical damage, not pest?

The grapes are also starting to fatten:

Out the front, the renovated root vegetable bed is coming along well, with one of the coloured sweet potatoes finally sprouting, although I don't know if this is the white or purple one (Note to self: label all plants as you plant them!):

And the Yacon plants are doing well:

Although I am still battling with the next door neighbour's cats using the bed as their personal toilet! Particularly this one (named Twinkles - very apt don't you think?):

The volunteer lettuce that came up in the compost are doing well, like this Cos Freckles (I like this one in salads, very pretty):

And the volunteer tomatoes are setting fruit already I notice, yay! No idea what variety it is, but I bet it tastes better than stupormarket tomatoes, regardless.

Finally, I couldn't leave off without noting that the frangipani is bursting out in leaves, and there are little flower buds on the tips (I love the smell of frangipani flowers - ahhh, quintessential summer!):

And speaking of smelly flowers, the Gardenia near the front door is starting to flower. Mmmmmm, heavenly. Summer must be just around the corner ;-)

Happy gardening everyone :-)

Back to Basics Challenge Update #1

It's already time for my first Back to Basics Challenge for Belinda. I'm still feeling a bit ordinary, and now seem to be coming down with something else (argh!), so it's a pretty slow week. Ah well, it's nice to see that I still have actually managed to get a few things done.

Plant something:
* This week I sowed seeds of coriander, rocket, salad burnet, amaranth, cumin, caraway and Lazy Housewife beans. I potted on Strawberry Spinach, tomatoes and eggplants, and planted out two Strawberry Spinach seedlings.

Harvest something:
* This week I have been picking the last of the Tuscan Kale as it bolts to seed, and the last Mini-leprechaun cabbage (there is one left I am letting go to seed), as well as the last celery (the last two are bolting to seed, again I want to try and seed save). The leeks are producing nicely, but the asparagus has finished.
* Today I picked the first Golden Scallopini Squash and Black Beauty zucchinis (yes, I picked the zucchinis very small).


Planning for the future:
* Weekly meal planning.
* Ordered seeds from Diggers, mostly more salad greens.
* Ordered plants from Shipards Herb Farm (licorice, black pepper vine, curry tree, cinnamon tree and allspice tree). The licorice will go in the medicinal herb garden we are planning for the front yard, but haven't had time to start yet.
* Put money aside for ceiling fans for the lounge room and dining room (the only two rooms without fans) for the summer.
* Have been shuffling around furniture to make the house more workable, and have created a sewing nook for myself to stop the dining table being covered in my sewing machine and paraphernalia.
* Slowly getting a list of Christmas presents for kids and nephews and nieces organised.
* Turned an old change table into a storage shelf.



Working for the Future:
* Sorted through the pantry and rotated dried goods. Noted those that need using up so that I can base meal plans around them in the next couple of weeks.
* Gratefully received my FIL's old whipper snipper (ours has died), and fixed it up. Deliberating what to do with the old broken one as I don't like the thought of it all going into landfill, but it's beyond repair?

Building community:
* Shopping at the local Farmer's Market and buying the rest of our fruit and veg requirements and the local organic grocer.

Learning a new skill:
* Nothing as such this week! Next week I plan to knit up some more dishcloths in a new pattern.

I hate shopping malls.

Doing: ...Battling the local Westfield shopping plaza for the first and last time this year. They are in the middle of a massive two-year expansion and parking is an even bigger nightmare than usual so I've been once since they started (this time last year) and then again today. Ugh. I can't believe I ever used to think that visiting these place was recreational. I could do a whole post by itself on how architects and interior designers set up these places for maximum dollar-extraction, but then I suspect that most of you don't shop at them anyway ;-)

...I didn't watch any of the American election coverage yesterday and had tried to avoid having much to do with it in the build up, because frankly, I considered that either candidate was a better alternative to George W. Bush. So I completely surprised myself with an enormous exhale of relief when I heard the election result last night and discovered that Obama had won. I've only caught snippets of his speech since, but he is certainly very charismatic and full of potential positive change. I have to say that from an Australian's point of view, I feel FAR more comfortable with any future friendships and/or alliances between Prime Minster Rudd and President-elect Obama than I ever did between former Prime Minster little Johnny Howard and George Dubya.

Making: ... Ginger beer.

In The Garden: ...Putting in an order with Shipard's Herb Farm (i.e. author Isabell Shipard's herb shop). I have been waiting for them to propagate some black pepper vines (i.e. table pepper), which have now become available, yay! I've also ordered a licorice plant, since she raves about it so much LOL. Their extensive catalogue can be found here.

Dinner: Spinach and lentil lasagne (substituting the last of the kale for spinach), garlic bread and salad.

Reading: ...This article, written in response to a recent article in the New York Times, calling Peak Oil activists such as Sharon Astyk, "extreme", "energy anorexics" and "fanatics", implying that anyone who checks their meters has a "serious disorder". I wonder who sponsored the NYT article (I note that it is filed in the "Fashion & Style" section of the paper)? On the other hand, I *love* the response article's use of the word "astroturf" (i.e. fake green) to describe the plethora of new, so-called "green" products now flooding the marketplace.

Clearly "brown" is the new "green", although "Brownie" doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it? Although on second thoughts, weren't Brownies the juniors' version of the Girl Guides?

Back to Basics Challenge

Belinda recently invited her readers to join her in a Back to Basics Challenge, a concept based on Sharon Astyk's Independence Days Challenge.

As Belinda puts it,

"The Back to Basics Challenge for those who choose to accept is to report weekly or fortnightly on either their blog or in comments here on the topics of

Sowing seeds or Planting

Planning for The Future - meal planning, the next seasons garden plan, working out storage plans or more long term goals and projects like plans for digging root cellars

Working for the Future - storing food, managing stores, preserving, building that home made cob or solar oven, adding house insulation, saving for manual grain mills etc

Building Community - volunteering, donations, joining an existing community group, forming your own community group, taking a cake to a friend having a hard time, calling someone you just let drift out of your life, etc

Learning a new Skill"

I think it's a terrific way to both keep track of the little things we do each day to plan for a more independent future, and to provide incentive and inspiration within a group. So, now that I am feeling a little bit more "normal" (whatever that is LOL) I have joined up. I hope to be reporting once a week or so, probably on Saturdays (as I do my Growing Challenge updates on Sundays).

Why not join in too? Click on the banner above, or in my sidebar, for more information.