REUSE and a great giveaway

We've all heard it.  The three 'R's.  Reduce, reuse, recycle.  Thank goodness this message is being touted by schools, community groups, governments and NGOs.  I won't bore you with the same message.  It can be found countless places if you want to know more.

It's a great message and I love the philosophy.  However I don't believe it is enough.  I have a favourite 'R' and believe we should reuse, reuse, reuse.  By reusing, we automatically reduce our rubbish and conserve energy.  Recycling is great in theory, and certainly better than throwing our rubbish away willy nilly, but items can't be one hundred percent recycled and they use a lot of energy in the process.

Let me give you a couple of examples of the reuse that happens in this house.  Last week I dealt with a pure wool top.  I received it second hand from a friend.  It was so badly moth eaten as to be unwearable.  Rather than throw it in the bin, I cut it into cloths to use for cleaning.  Today I cooked pumpkin soup and all my scraps were placed into the chook bucket for the chooks to pick over. Anything not eaten by them can decompose in situ rather than become land fill.  My chook bucket itself was gifted to me by a friend when she saw the jealous longing in my eyes as I gazed at her chook, compost and worm buckets on her bench.  Old yoghurt buckets of a good size with nifty little handles!

Beware!  Can you see what happens when you start taking reusing seriously.  You start to see everything in a new light and begin coveting the neighbour's rubbish!

I also needed to buy milk in containers last week.  Due to a test I needed I wasn't allowed to drink full cream milk.  Ouch!  This goat milker who hasn't needed throwaway milk containers for a couple of years!  The upside is, I will use these cartons for soap moulds.  Perfect!

Whenever I need to make a purchase there is much thought.  Often I do it well.  We buy secondhand as often as we can.  Always there is thought about whether the item is really needed.  If it needs to be bought new, thought goes into whether it's possible to buy it locally; can it be of varying quality and therefore should I buy better quality so will it last longer. Sometimes I do it badly.  Occasionally I'll be disorganised and suddenly realise one of the kids has no socks, pants or shoes.  If the op shop don't have anything to fit the bill I end up in a department store in desperation, carting around my heavy and guilty heart as I shop.  At least I can take the offending item home in a proper, reusable shopping bag I've brought with me.

Recently I've had cause to think about my shopping choices.  A win really.  Years ago I bought the children drink bottles.  The dilemma!  I was sick of throwing away plastic drink bottles which harboured so much bacteria that they were no longer usable.  This was back in the dark ages (pre homeschooling) when the kids were at school and the rule was, they were to have sipper bottles to avoid spillage.  Fair enough really because the rule allowed children to have their water on their desks.

After much searching, I decided on stainless steel bottles for them.  I was apprehensive about my decision because the production of stainless steel products has a greater negative effect on the environment so is only beneficial if you get years of use from them.

The lovely new bottle for the giveaway

I'm happy to report that three years later after many bottles of water we are still using two of them.   I'm not quite *ahem* sure where the third one is.  These were pretty clever drink bottles.  They have a silicon insert for the sipper part and a straw, and you can buy replacement parts.  After being shoved under car seats, being lost behind the couch for a week or two, being left in the bottom of a bag for days after a day trip, they were getting pretty manky!  At first they washed up well but over time they just weren't coming clean enough.  It was wonderful to be able to hop online and buy the parts that I needed from Biome.  The sipper part and the straw can both be purchased separately which is perfect.  

I bought parts for three bottles although one is missing because I am confident Buddy's bottle will resurface one day soon from in the cubby or under a bed.

I would love more people to find ways to reduce the rubbish they create and, guess what?!  Biome kindly agreed to supply a bottle for a giveaway.  The Funtainer drink bottle is 335ml and the replacement parts can be purchased online from them as well.  The winner will be randomly chosen.  I thought I'd number the comments and get the kids to pull one out of a hat rather than an online selector.

Belle's well used and perfectly functional drink bottle with a lovely clean sipper straw

The giveaway is open to those in Australia only, due to postage costs.  As the winner will be randomly drawn all you need to do is to leave a comment (but I would love it if you could share some ideas on how you reuse).  Let's draw it on Thursday the ninth to allow time for all our Easter busyness.

Good luck.  Happy reusing.

*I'm not receiving any kick back for this post.  I just think it's a great product and was delighted that Biome were happy to support a giveaway.  I am considering becoming an affiliate with them in the future.*

Food fight

Everyone loves a good food fight, don't they?  Apparently not.  Last week the children and I travelled to Melbourne for the EatBuyGrow Rally held by the Regrarians.  We expected to see hundreds of people and hoped to see thousands gathering to stand up for this important issue.

I was very disappointed to find around a hundred (correct me if you were there and I've made a wrong estimate) people standing up for a better food system.  Admittedly it was a week day so harder for people to attend but still.....  I found it strange.  Climate change rallies are so well attended but this one was not.  Is it possible people haven't made the connection between the way food is delivered and the damage to our climate?

Our food system has become so commercialised.  Since the introduction of supermarkets food has moved further and further from our homes.  It became easy for people to buy fruit and veggies so they stopped growing vegetable gardens.  Women left their homes to go to work and appreciated the ease of buying food from supermarkets.  Now busy families can buy pre-prepared meals and can avoid cooking at all if they so choose.  As time has gone by, large commercial food suppliers have found more and more ways to sell their products.  They market their products with a great deal of thought and their advertising works well.  Most people no longer know how to provide food for themselves without going to the supermarkets.

Families trying to manage their weekly budgets are often looking for the cheapest options to provide food.  The commercial companies wanting their dollar have responded by finding cheaper ways of manufacturing food.  Small farms are dying out as companies push them to supply food cheaply.  They simply can't make ends meet.  They've had to sell their land.  This has resulted in HUGE farms owned by corporations growing crops as cheaply as possible.  I can tell you now, the main concern of these companies is NOT your health or the health of the environment.  They encourage intensive farming and they are not focussed on environmental issues such as salinity, erosion, water conservation etc.  Their focus is how to make a profit.  The super-farms aren't worrying much about improving soils because they don't need to.   They can use chemicals to fertilise crops and kill weeds and there's now the option of genetically modified seeds.

Can you see the strong connection between buying from the supermarkets and the damage we are causing to the climate?

But wait!  There's more.  There's the issue of transport. Years back I briefly lived in Shepparton.  I was buying my apples from the supermarket and paying through the nose for them although I was in the very area that these apples were grown.  The large supermarkets were buying from the local orchards, transporting the fruit to Melbourne to their warehouses and then trucking them back to Shepparton.  I paid more for my apples than people from Melbourne were paying!  I've learnt a lot since those days.  The unnecessary use of fossil fuels was causing damage to the environment when I could have just searched for a local orchard that sold direct to the public.  Convenience has a lot to answer for!

Now think about the production of manufactured food.  The plastic and cardboard used in the packaging.  The unhealthy process of adding preservatives so food can sit on shelves for weeks/months.  Additives so that their products will look more attractive.  Do you think this is done to make your life easier, your family healthier, or to trick you out of a dollar?

Food is tampered with in so many different ways.  Milk is an issue that is close to my heart because it is such an obvious problem.  As a person who milks goats and yes *gasp* drinks raw milk, I'm very interested in what is happening in our milk industry.  Milk is taken from many dairies (again the smaller dairies are pushed to provide cheaper prices but are outcompeted by large corporations taking over and forming super-farms), put into one lot, forced through a tiny strainer to homogenise, heated to a temperature that damages vitamins and good bacteria, and then transported again to the supermarkets.  Now not only do the corporations, advertisers and supermarkets but also our government tell us this is done for our safety.

This is a half truth.  Yes, pastuerising milk ensures any dangerous bacteria are killed.  It also kills many health benefits.  It's a half truth because while they have told us about the risk, they have not explained that this risk is absolutely minute and applies to soooo many foods including foods like fruit and vegetables.  Since the tragic death of a young child (linked to raw milk) the FDA have painted such a vivid picture of the risk from fresh, untampered milk that in many people's mind the term RAW MILK equates to drinking poison.  What rubbish!!  You could die from eating a lettuce!  It's not possible to eliminate all risk from life.  We are human and susceptible to bacteria from many sources every day.  I can only think that we are being fed this half truth to encourage us to spend our money on the milk the large companies are profiting from.  Did you know that the milk in question, in the recent case, tested negative for e-coli?  No?!  Well the media haven't really been running with that very relevant information!  So before any proof of a connection with raw milk, our government have banned sales unless it contains a bittering agent (making it undrinkable) and non-compliance attracts ridiculously HUGE fines!  Just for the record, you can legally drink raw milk in many countries across the world.  I feel failed by a government that seems to value money before people.

I know that my children are being nourished by the raw milk from our goats.  I have been giving it to them for over a year now.  One of my children has suffered terribly from colds for eight of his nine years due to a low immune system.  He caught them easily, was affected for weeks, developed infections and developed hearing loss from his colds. Now he rarely catches them and recovers quickly.  Ironically, I have my first cold in two years as I write.

I had never attended a rally or protest in my life until a couple of years ago yet now I've been to a handful.  I don't go willy nilly.  It takes time, energy and effort to traipse to Melbourne with three children in tow.  I attend rallies if I think they are addressing issues too important to ignore.

The EatBuyGrow Rally was of vital importance.  Costa Gorgiadis came to speak, amongst others.  He was great!  Joel Salatin also spoke at the rally.  He even waived his fee because he is so passionate about changing our food system.  The current one isn't working.  Farmers are going broke, our food is being produced overseas, some people can't afford good food and cheap food isn't good for them.  (think obesity, diabetes etc...)  Our food is poorly labelled so we can't truly make choices about what we are eating.   And now we are banned from using food which we know is good for us.

Okay.  I've painted a pretty bleak picture (because it is) but there's heaps you can do on a personal level.  You can grow fruit and veggies, buy locally, buy in bulk, buy organic, buy direct from growers, cook from scratch rather than buying pre-prepared food.  You could also link in with organisations working to create change.

Why not join Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA).  They are aware of all the above issues and their website will explain them much more clearly than I did.  They are lobbying government to try to bring about a better food system.

The Regarians are also very proactive with changing our system.  I must admit I didn't know much about them before the rally which they were instrumental in organising.

There is also an organisation fighting for our right to drink raw milk.  They are the Australian Raw Milk Movement. I'm sorry but I couldn't find a website for them, just a Face Book page.

Now, you know I'm not a food scientist, chemist, doctor etc.  I'm just a mum.  But being a mum doesn't make me inconsequential.  It gives me the strength, the right and also the responsibility to fight for a healthy and fair food system that doesn't damage our climate.  I owe it to my kids. 

The clothesline

I'm sitting here on the verandah listening to the sky rumbling in all directions.  Some are just low gentle rumblings, others are angry and threatening.  Two fires have started in the hills to our east.  One is already rated safe and the other, under control.  Our Country Fire Authority do an amazing job.

Tonight I will wait until the sky has quietened before I begin the task of feeding the chooks and geese though I know they're there waiting for me.  Now seems like a good time to take a moment and write a post.

I was hanging out the clothes this morning before the sun was too high in the sky; before it became unbearable.  I looked at the line and realised it tells so much about a family if you know how to read it.  Our line is homemade.  We don't like to buy commercial products that use a lot of unnecessary resources if it can be helped. 

It's huge!  That tells you all about Hubby and his bigger is best theory.  Today I was hanging out many tea towels as I often do.  We don't like using plastic so we drape cooling bread, rising sourdough etc with tea towels.  There are heaps and heaps of cloths (cut from old towels so as to reuse an otherwise out-of-use item).  These are used in cleaning and drying our goats udders at milking time.  There is muslin in which the cheese hung.  Again we reduce packaging and the pollution caused by the transportation of commercial milk and cheese.  There are aprons and old nappies used for cleaning cloths.  There are holes in some of the items because nothing gets thrown away while it still serves it's purpose.

On the second strand of the clothesline there is personal information about the inhabitants here.  There are children's clothes in three different sizes; there are women's clothes and men's clothes.  They are not fancy.  You can probably glean that the occupants of this home are practical and not worried about style.  If your powers of deduction are very well honed you may even pick up that these clothes are not 'whiter than white' not just because they are old and second-hand but because we use homemade detergent (which is effective in cleaning clothes but doesn't have chemical whitening agents) and because buying bleach is something this family doesn't like doing.  I do use it occasionally for cloths I've hung cheese in, or similar, for hygiene purposes but not for appearances sake.  I guess it's a balancing act between deciding what standards we feel are necessary and what damage we are doing to the planet.

There are plenty of commercial and packaged products in this home because we can't do it ALL. Heck, I even buy my favourite commercial cheese occasionally but every little bit we do for ourselves is a reduction in greenhouse gasses.  I know many people who live a similar lifestyle to us and believe that collectively we are making a huge impact on the devastating pollution our country causes each year.

What does your clothes line say about you?  Are you well on your way to reducing pollution and unnecessary wastage?

Summer heat

When I was a young girl my mother used to say, "Horses sweat, men perspire and ladies merely shine!"  Her mother used to say it to her and now I say it to my children. Possibly the saying began as a little reminder of etiquette. Who knows.  Now it continues for fun.

I've done lots of shining recently.  I'm sick of shining from droplets rolling down my face and back as I work with the goats and garden!

I find the heat and dryness of summer unbearable and have whinged about it before.  Our house becomes ridiculously hot on bad days.  We have an air conditioner (which doesn't run well) but I'm very reluctant to use a method of cooling that relies so heavily on fossil fuels.  If more and more hot days are to become the norm then we need to find other ways to adapt to our changing climate.

Last year I toughed it out and tried my best to stay cool at home by all sorts of different methods.  This year the local swimming pool is our new method of adaptation.  It's working fairly well.  Basically I've decided to stop resenting and fighting the heat.  I whizz through my basic jobs of caring for the animals and garden, hang out some washing and am ready to leave the house when the pool opens.  Sometimes we meet with friends, sometimes we go on our own.  The kids are loving it and I have so much fun with them while I'm there.  I'm trying to accept that any jobs around the house and yard will have to wait until the cooler days.

Lessons

It's working well for a relaxed and happier summer except for the fact that it doesn't fix the night time issues; kids that can't sleep because of the heat, parents that can't sleep because of the heat.  I'm not sure if you handle tiredness and heat with grace but I'm revolting and grumpy on some days.  I'm also having regular tantrums about the flies in the house.   Ughh!

Playing

We plan to work on our home to make it more summer friendly but it will be a long, slow process as time and money allow.  Some very kind friends recently gave us some suggestions which we will use.  Added to the solutions I had in my head already, hopefully in a few years our home will be much more comfortable.  Blinds, shade trees to the west and south west, some ceiling fans and a well placed window are all things we will be working on.

Chilling

Now, can't chat any longer.  The children are yelling out that it's nearly time to go to the pool.  Please let me know any tips and tricks you have for coping in the heat or making homes summer friendly!

On my plate

Hi there, I hope you're doing something lovely with this beautiful, if somewhat hot, weekend.  I have a thousand things I could be doing but I'm lying in the hammock, under a tree, writing a post.  I've been sewing Christmas presents this afternoon and Belle has been working alongside me.

I'm loving this time of year.  I'm trying to fly through my household chores early, leaving the day free to teach the kids and then spend some time in the garden.  I'm trying to get out into it at least once a day.    That way, I can identify any problems early and I'm also aware of the food available for eating.

The little round garden is jam packed with veggies.  I've chosen to cram it all in because our biggest issue here is water.  I want to grow as much as possible in the smallest possible space so that I only need to keep one area of ground moist.  It's working quite well except I keep wanting to plant more seedlings so the 'one area' I need to keep moist has expanded to include two other small beds!  Oopsy!

      

In the round bed I have tomatoes that are looking very promising, eggplant, capsicum, some holey silver beet (haven't found the culprit yet), spinach, peas, leeks, carrots, dill, coriander, lettuce, nasturtiums, viola, beetroot and kohl rabi.  Of those vegetables we are harvesting lettuce, peas, a couple of carrots, spinach and the viola and nasturtiums.

I have been loving looking around the garden and planning our meals around our produce.  Yesterday I had eggs from the chook shed, goat's cheese in the fridge (thanks girls) and spinach in the garden.   Well the obvious choice was a spinach and goat's cheese quiche with a garden salad of lettuce, peas and edible flowers.  Yu-uum!! 

Now THIS is what I aspire to!  A healthy, delicious meal using ingredients from here, our place, creating next to no emissions caused by food transport, improving the soil due to us adding carbon to the soil in the form of compost during the gardening process.  What's not to love?!!

Of course, there were other ingredients, such as salt and pepper, that were bought in, but all in all, a much better way to provide food. I would be happy if I produced a meal this sustainable once a week, ecstatic if I managed it two or three times a week, and completely, absolutely smug beside myself with happiness if I could do it all the time!

Is this your aspiration too?

Irony

Last week, I packed the kids into the car, kissed Hubby goodbye and headed off to join the Pacific Climate Warriors in their battle against the coal ships.  The boot was full to the brim with our tent, little stove, clothes etc.  This particular protest meant a lot to me.  For a start, our damaging use of fossil fuels desperately needs to change and NOW but more than that, we were heading off to protest with the very people who are already impacted by rising sea level.  I spent my formative years growing up in Vanuatu and I am angry that so many people choose to ignore the plight of those in the Pacific.  The bitter irony is that the islanders' lifestyles didn't cause the issue;  nor did they benefit from the use of fossil fuels, yet they are now bearing the brunt of our actions.

Here in Australia, many would like to pretend that the effects of climate change are something in the far off future, something that can be ignored for a long time yet.  Clearly, this is not the case.  If Aussies aren't capable of looking beyond their own backyards and noticing those in immediate peril, then surely they would be aware of what is happening right under their noses!

We had planned on an easy trip up to Newcastle, using the time away as an opportunity to have a bit of a holiday.  We set up our little tent at Goulburn, planning to continue on the next day.  We were aware that rain was predicted for Newcastle but figured we could tough it out or spend a night in a cabin for shelter.  

What we didn't count on was the ferocity of the weather.  Climate change, with all its power and might, saw us sheltering in a cabin at Goulburn on the second night while thunder shook the walls.  The next day we braved the trip to Newcastle knowing another storm was on the way.  We found more cabin accommodation but woke to see the State Emergency Service helping a couple in a van across the way from our cabin.  Then we heard reports of mayhem in Sydney.  Flooded train stations, snow in the Blue Mountains, over two thousand calls to the State Emergency Service for help with fallen trees etc., one hundred and seventy millimetres of rain in some areas.....  The predictions were that the wild weather was heading to Newcastle.

 Our plan to have a cheap journey to join in with the flotilla was falling apart.  The tent was not an option.  The wind was blowing us away.  So for all my passion and commitment to fighting climate change, with the children's safety to think about, we gave up and drove home. 

 I was so disappointed to have used so much time and energy to get to Newcastle and turn around without even meeting the Climate Warriors, but more so to not even get to add our voice to the protest of the coal leaving the harbour.  It felt scary though, to be so far from home with not much money, knowing no one locally and being aware that I was responsible for keeping my children safe.

There was a sense of relief to be heading back down the highway for home.  I felt worn out from driving and from trying to make decisions on the hop.  I had also struggled with providing for ourselves in a sustainable fashion while we were on the road.  We ate organic tinned baked beans one night, tinned soup with bread another.  We had to buy boxes of milk and breakfast cereal.  The caravan parks didn't have recycling facilities.  I thought about bringing our rubbish home but there wasn't an inch of spare space in the car.  The children were already drowning in a sea of pillows, blankets and tourist maps so I guiltily placed our rubbish in the bin.

As we drove home, I reflected on the irony of not being able to participate in the protest for action against climate change DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE!!!  The very areas that snow fell had been battling bushfires at the same time last year.  The previous year to that, snow!

I also reflected on the fact that we have worked very hard to minimise our personal impact on climate change and travelling away from home threw me back into a world of convenience.  I looked forward to arriving back home to our bulk foods in our own containers, our veggies from the garden, our eggs from the chooks and milk from the goats.  Year by year, we have reduced our packaging and our waste; we have reduced our personal demand on energy used to package and transport our food to our kitchen.  

So while I couldn't take part in a public and dramatic demonstration to shake the people into awareness (and they sure need to wake up to themselves) I can fight climate change here at home with my family.  I can fight in a way that is very effective yet gentle and positive.  I can fight by fertilising my veggie garden, composting our food scraps, tending our animals and poultry, by teaching my children practical life skills, by sharing our goats milk, by being part of a larger community of environmentally aware people.  Tonight we will dine on spatchcocked chicken grown here on our property, potatoes from the farmers market, spinach from Mum's and pavlova made with some of our eggwhites.  These are left over from the yolks I used to make custard, which will become ice cream for the children later today.  It's certainly not an uncomfortable way to fight climate change!  It just requires commitment to make personal changes and a bit more thought and effort into providing for our needs.

So one way or another, please join with the Climate Warriors, please join with me....  Let's fight this fight together whether it be by joining protests, signing petitions, letting your politician know how you feel or simply by growing some veggies!

Tired but productive

It's been a great week around here with lots of busy spring activity taking place.  With the school term starting, we've resumed our weekly activities.  I had missed our Social Swimming program where I get to jump in the pool with the kids and have an hour of songs and fun.

Pumpkin's bathers disintegrated through sheer overuse last term so rather than buy a new pair, I made her a swimming costume.  I can't call them bathers really because they are not very conventional but I had left over fabric from making the bags.   Using a sheet, a pyjama pants pattern and a modified sundress pattern, I came up with an outfit.  Pumpkin LOVES wearing them.

It's been a week of finding a hard-to-find rooster and a pet silky.

 

Uh huh!  You're seeing it right.  It's on her bed!!

A week of expecting six Orpington chicks and getting instead...  only one little chicken which we suspect is a moggy.

This week Argoo went on heat.  (Is that correct goat terminology?)  So we had a rushed visit from a nearby Saanen buck!  It wasn't successful because, while they both showed some interest and pranced around a bit, they didn't do the important bit.  Oh well, I'll try again next month.

The garden has been needing my attention but my efforts are paying off!  We eating lots of beautiful, fresh lettuce at the moment and I've even been organised enough to plant more lettuce to follow!

 

We harvested broad beans this week.  Have you discovered yet how much fun podding is for children?!

 

 



Most of our enthusiasm this week though, has gone into preparing for a trip away.  We're travelling to New South Wales next week to take part in the Flotilla with the Pacific Climate Warriors.   I like involving my children in actions to address climate change because I want them to realise that they are not powerless.  I want them to believe they can play an important part in creating the world they want to live in.

My big lesson for the week has been the realisation of the importance of sleep in our busy lifestyle!  I have been struggling to sleep for some unknown reason and it's driving me mad!  I go to bed, sort of sleep but not quite.  I seem to spend the whole night in a half asleep, half awake state and it has impacted on me.  I'm dragging my feet (and feeling grumpy) during the day.  Our lives are so physical with leading goats up and down hills, carting water etc.  I've realised that after a good, refreshing sleep, I feel able to take on the world but without it I struggle to get through each day.

Now that I've made this clear connection between sleep and my ability to function well, what do I do with this awareness?  Do you ever suffer from insomnia and have you found a solution for it?

Change

In permaculture it is often said that within a problem is the solution.  David Holmgren's classic example is, "You don't have a snail problem, you have a duck deficit.".

Today I've been thinking about the fact that the answer to climate change is in the term itself.  Change.  We need change.  We need a change in government attitudes and policies.  We need change to the consumerist attitudes and indulgent lifestyles.  We need change to the way we produce and source our food.  We need major change and we need it NOW!  There is not one of us that could not make some type of change to reduce our impact on the situation.

Luckily lots and lots of people are aware of this.  Yesterday, 21st of September, saw marches all over the world.  There were huge amounts of people turning up to local marches and calling for climate action.  Yay!

Our environment group didn't hold a march.  We decided to do something a bit different.  We decided that rather than march, we would encourage people to address climate change at a personal level. We sat outside a local supermarket for four hours and sewed shopping bags.  They were made from recycled material and we gave them away for free.  We hoped to encourage people to stop using plastic bags which are so harmful to our environment.  With the bags, we gave a flier listing various easy ways people could address their personal impact on climate change.

It was a fun morning and we spoke to many people.  With a bit of luck we will have made a difference in some way.  We certainly didn't get our message across to everyone!  One older woman was delighted with her new bag and also took one to give her friend.  Then she popped into the supermarket and emerged with.... you guessed it!  A plastic bag!!  Argghh!  However, if only five of all the people we spoke to change from plastic to reusable, I would be delighted.  It would be change.

Sometimes I despair that people are hiding their heads in the sand.  I think I understand.  I believe their attitude is born from fear.  Well they should be scared; very scared.  But head burying doesn't seem very wise to me.

Other times I despair that people are so indulgent that, although they acknowledge a climate emergency, they don't want to adjust their lifestyles.  These people are looking for answers through technology.  While I totally support renewable energy and love some of the clever advances that are being made with green products, we live in a finite world.  There just aren't enough resources to go around.  Life needs to be simpler.  If only people could embrace the beauty in life that has nothing to do with beautiful homes, gorgeous clothing, owning the latest gadgets or just shopping in general.  Life is so much more.  It is family, friendship, appreciation for warm and comfortable homes, belonging in a useful and meaningful way to community, and animals, and tummies full of good wholesome food, vegetable gardens, clean water to drink and do-it-yourself and..... I could go on all day!

Change.  It isn't hard.  You need to make a conscious decision that you want to vary the way you do something and stick to it.  That's all there is to it!

Here are the small changes we suggested in our leaflet -

·         Shop with reusable bags (including veggie bags)

·         Buy local

·         Buy organic

·         Drive less (complete several tasks on one trip)

·         Use public transport

·         Grow vegetables

·         Cook meals from scratch (cheaper too!  Woo Hoo!)

·         Keep chooks – they give you eggs and when you feed them scraps you’ll reduce your rubbish

·         Buy second hand where possible

·         Repair items rather than throw them out

·         Use less electricity – turn off lights and electrical appliances when not in use

·         Cook in bulk and freeze (uses one lot of energy for more than one meal)

·         Buy only things you really need, find other ways to have fun than shopping

In summary, I'm delighted to see so many people out there are taking this as seriously as I am and are demanding change.  Together we can make a difference.

So the scenario is ours.  Personal change or climate change.  You choose.

Please add to the ideas in the comments.  I'm sure there are many ideas I haven't mentioned and the more we have, the better.

A quick note

Dear friends,

I feel like writing you a letter today.  Life's become busy here again but it's all good stuff keeping me on my toes.

I'm helping to organise an event for next weekend. Have you noticed that heaps of different organisations are holding events and rallies on or around the 21st September?  The timing is because The UN are holding an emergency summit on climate change.  Getup, Avaaz and many others are holding events.  People across the world are getting out there and telling our leaders that we want action taken.  Why not google and find an event near you?  If enough of us keep telling them, they can't keep ignoring us!

Our environment group have decided we'd like to make people stop and think about their personal actions so we are going to take some sewing machines to one go our local supermarkets. Hopefully we will be hooked up to solar power and we will sew bags to give to shoppers. Many bags will be pre made but sewing on the spot should catch people's attention. :-). Should be a fun morning!

The garden is happy. We've had more rain which keeps the plants growing quickly and looking lush.  My young silver beet plants aren't quite ready yet so we're eating lots of kale.  Last night we made burritos with some lovely minced chicken and of course I threw in some kale. We buy our chicken monthly. A lady nearby has a business that sources true free range chooks and we receive our delivery once a month.

Our bantam is sitting on some Orpington eggs at the moment. Unfortunately she began sitting too early and only has five eggs under her. I would have liked to hatch more. Yesterday we discovered that one of our orchard chooks is gathering a clutch in our store of hay so I might replace her eggs with more Orpington eggs. She'll do a good job of raising them for me.

We discovered that the ducks, that we thought were slow to lay this spring, are actually laying under a bush!  We don't have a drake, so no ducklings, but know that we know their hiding spot, we'll be able to collect the eggs daily and use them.

The children are doing well and seem very happy. I'm very satisfied with how their natural learning is going. Their interest levels in reading and writing have increased out of sight since I have stopped forcing them to sit and do it. The little ones are forever asking about new words or asking Belle how to spell things. A good example is yesterday's.  Buddy wanted to write a 'keep out' type of message for his door so Belle told him which letters to use to spell out his message.  She then came to me, "Mum, do you know Buddy knows all his letters?!! I only had to help him with the e and the s."  (Lol! Of course I know!). This boosts Buddy's self esteem better than anything. I bet he writes heaps of notes now that he knows his sisters are so proud of him.  And I had to laugh when I quizzed him on the conditions of the notice and apparently I'm allowed in their room to help them tidy and to kiss them goodnight!  Cute. And just now, to illustrate my point, Pumpkin is sitting trying to read my RACV insurance booklet!


It says, "No one comes.  Just us."

Belle is very enthusiastic about our goats and takes pride in being the main milker. She knows how to make up their feeds, prepare for milking, the importance of hygiene, how to milk and measure and record their milk.  She spends a lot of time reading her goat book Get Your Goat by Brent Zimmerman and often quotes me stuff from it that I didn't know.  We are soon going to start recording our costs around the goat's care so that we know the actual costs of our milk right down to including vet bills etc.  I'm going to put her in charge of keeping the records so that she learns about basic bookkeeping.  I know she'll be keen because we are thinking about buying another doe as well as kidding Argoo.  She's very excited at the prospect at increasing what she refers to as 'her herd'.

So as you see, there's lots happening at our place and we are all very well and happy.  I hope life is good for you.  How are your family and what's happening in your neck of the woods?


Lots of love,

Linda

Secret girly business - reusable pads

You may have noticed a button appear on the right of my blog.  This button leads to the Rad-Pads site.  Rad-Pads is the company from which I first bought my reusable pads.

I've been writing here for four years now without any thought of benefitting from my blog.  While I need money just like everyone, I don't like the stuff very much!  Money seems to do strange and very unattractive things to many people.  It kinda revolts me that people can be thoughtless of others or the environment due to love of money or material 'stuff'!

I am motivated by the idea that we can do things for ourselves, work together as a community and make do with much, much less.  I read a lovely quote the other day, "Some people are so poor that all they have is money".  It really resonated with me because there are so many things that I value above money or owning things.

Perhaps I should spend a little more time thinking about money though.  I'm pretty sure I frustrate close family and friends as, every now and then, we go through what I like to term a 'rough patch'.  Luckily they don't happen too often!

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I didn't want to advertise on this blog and encourage people to add to the problem of everyone buying more than they need.  We try very hard to buy only what we actually 'need' (a word that is misused so often).

However, I've now decided it would be okay to affiliate with a couple of companies that I use myself and feel comfortable with.  Rad Pads is one of those companies.  I love re-usable pads.  Firstly I love them because they are re-usable.  Using these pads doesn't create much of a footprint at all, whereas the store bought disposables waste energy, have been transported and come wrapped in heaps of plastic packaging.  Secondly I love them because they are nicer than the disposable alternatives.  When people ask me about their comfort, I always liken it to wearing paper knickers.  Wouldn't that feel horrible!  Well I think it is the same with pads.  My cloth pads are really comfortable.

Re-usable pads are very easy to make yourself.  Some friends of mine just made a heap of them.  They researched several different types and then came up with a style that suited them.  The material was op-shopped and they look great!

There are plenty of instructions online.  I found this site which has links to several different styles of pads.

If you are time poor and would prefer to buy your pads ready made, then I thoroughly recommend Rad Pads.  They pay for themselves over time and are well made and last well.  It works out heaps cheaper than buying disposable.  Do the maths and you'll be amazed at the savings.  They sell different thicknesses of pads and liners.  They can also be used for incontinence issues. If you choose to buy them by clicking through on the button on the right of my blog, I receive a small percentage of the sale. 

My pads are mainly purchased from Rad-Pads but I also made a couple myself.  I don't find reusables to be difficult to manage.  I just have a little bucket with a lid that I keep in the laundry cupboard.  When I need it, I just soak the pads in water until I'm ready to wash them.  Then I give them a rinse and pop them in the washing machine.

The only time it has been a bit awkward was when an occupational therapist wanted to go to my clothesline.  He was working on Buddy's fine motor skills and every occupational therapist loves pegging activities that encourage pincer grips and strengthen weak hand muscles.  I can't remember what excuse I mumbled but there was NO WAY I was going to let him near my clothes line at 'that time of the month'!

I hope you already use reusable pads or that you'll get on to making or buying some straight away.  You won't regret it!

Are you self-sufficient?

Oh dear, oh dear!  Earlier in the week a delivery van came here.  The driver pulled up in the drive and hopped out.  The first thing he sais was, "Are you self-sufficient?!" 

It wasn't until he left that I realised!  He couldn't see into our yard from where he pulled up.  He couldn't see our veggie garden, compost heaps, orchard or the dairy.  So what made him ask this question?

That gave me a good giggle!  What gave him the clue that we try to do things for ourselves?  Was it the chooks, ducks and geese wandering everywhere?  Was it the children running feral on a school day and coming to investigate the stranger that had arrived?  Maybe it was my attire!  A baggy pair of tracky dacks, boots, beanie, scarf and a filthy jacket!!  Haha!  Perhaps I need to work on the impression we make when people turn up unexpectedly.

The question certainly started me thinking though......  We certainly are not self-sufficient by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I think we are  aiming to be.  To be self-sufficient, we would need to be able to provide our own clothes, grow enough food for ourselves and our animals, extract oil from olives or similar, to be able to make all our fencing and animal shelters from natural materials etc. etc. 

 Maybe not a hope in hell we could do all these things but would we want too?  Every waking minute would be filled with providing the basics for our needs.  This got me thinking about our motivation for living the life style we have chosen.  It's as simple as this.  We are trying to live a comfortable life while being respectful of the environment.  We don't want to add to the climate crisis that is occurring.  (And it truly is a crisis!  We're not doomed yet, but damn close, so you might want to give it some thought if you haven't already.)

 I make our own soap but find I don't do it regularly enough to keep us supplied.  Ditto with bread.  We are producing goats milk.  We make cheese.  I knit and sew.  We garden.  Hubby builds many things that we need and often uses natural materials when it works.  It's all wonderful stuff but there aren't enough hours in a day to do everything all the time. 

A temporary chook shelter in the garden they're digging over.

I still buy crackers, coffee, bread fairly often, all my staples like sugar, rice,  pasta and a heap of other things.  We try to buy household items and clothing second hand.  Most of my shoes are from the op-shop but I buy my workboots new and usually buy the children new shoes.  I would happily buy them from the op shop but, more often than not, I don't notice they are falling apart until it's too late.  When I notice the children wandering around with flapping soles, there's no time to scour the op shops so I race to the shoe shop feeling like a neglectful mother and buy the best option I can find.  All in all, our impact is fairly low compared to the average family and we keep working our way toward a greener life.

There's another very important element here too.  People.  If we truly spent every minute trying to provide for ourselves, we would be too busy to connect with others around us.   It would be an insular and lonely life.

So when I ponder the question of self-sufficiency I realise, it's not looking after ourselves in isolation that I'm after.  I want to connect with those around us and work together to create a better world.  I want to swap my goats milk for their pickles that I didn't get around to making for myself.  I want to use my friend's lard and repay her with the soap that I create with it.  I want to spend time with friends learning (or teaching) new skills.  I want to come together with other families so that our children can play.  I want to share meals where everyone brings a dish that they have cooked with fresh ingredients from the garden. 

It has been an unexpected benefit for me to discover that in trying to address climate change, in trying to create a good future for my children and others, that our lives have become more fulfilling.  We feel grounded, connected with nature, our food and our community.  We feel a sense of achievement that comes from being creative and learning new skills.  It's not doing it on our own that I'm after.  It's being a part of something bigger.  I want my community to be with me in this way of living.  A non-commercial life of thoughtfulness and creativity and appreciation for the simple things in life that really matter.

So now I need a new term.  It's not self-sufficiency.  Help me coin a new phrase.  Mine don't have a ring to them.  Is it 'community-sufficiency'?  Is it 'friendship-farming'?  Is it 'the-way-life-should-be sufficiency'?