Monday, December 22, 2008

Green hangover cures

Treehugger has provided a list of their fave hangover cures, which include yoga, coconut water, wheat grass and playing in the snow. Seriously, the former would cause my hungover head to explode and the latter has never been attempted in adult life....

Cate's tips to avoid hangover hell...
1.Lots of water.
Lots. Inbetween drinks, before you go to sleep, when you wake up, during the day.

2. Sleep.
Lots. If you live in Australia like us, no doubt you'll wake up to a roasting hot house. Not very conducive to good sleeping. You could try sleeping in the bath (recycle the water on your plants), a dull cinema movie or of course, a local library.

3. Toast with vegemite.
Add some avocado and if you're not vegetarian, maybe some free range bacon. Hot chips never hurt either. Yes, I know Vegemite is owned by evil Kraft, but I don'y like promite, marmite or any of the imitators. Sorry.
4. Pain killers.
`Yes, I know you don't take pain killers, but you could wash them down with some organic juice.

Prevention:

1. Organic wine

Many people swear organic wines mean less headaches and kinder, gentler hangovers. And if you are sensitive to sulphur, you can get organic sulphur free wine to boot. You can also get organic beer of course, and homebrew has it's place, though it may be stronger in alcoholic content than store bought beverages.
2. Food:
Serve food at your parties. Make sure you eat. Not just chips, they'll make you thirsty and you'll drink more. Things on sticks, turkish bread, dips, cheeses all have a part to play.
3. Non-alcoholic beverages:
Mocktails are great and you can find some particularly yummy ones here. Be wary of milky, creamy drinks if you're also having a bit of alcohol.

You can also plan something special for the day after to give you an incentive not to drink, count your drinks etc etc. It's all about choices really, isn't it?

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Climate action groups


If you're like me, you may have been involved in grass roots activism at high school or university. Maybe you've been involved in politics or a member of a political party. Maybe you attend rallies and public forum and the like. Maybe (like me) you used to but became blase and jaded as to their actually efficacy in acheiving any actual structural change.
In recent media I've been reading about the unprecedented growth of 'grass roots' Green/Environmental/Climate Change groups in Australia.
Michael Green of The Age writes of

an unprecedented, unreported and largely underestimated climate movement has
sprung up throughout our cities and regions. Many of the members have dedicated
decades to living simply and sustainably. The great majority though, are new.

Victoria has about 50 currently active groups, most of which are less than two years old. Nationwide, there are over 200 groups. Broader umbrella sites such as Climate movement.org and it's political sister The Big Switch attempt to keep groups connected to each other and to the communities they aim to serve whilst providing good, clear resources such as tips for people start groups, running meetings, holding street stalls and the like.

Of course, environment groups are nothing new and can't be considered any kind of homogenous entity of shared methods and outcomes. Some green leaning people strive for personal change, such as a reduction in their individual, household and neighbourhood practices whilst others focus their energies on agitating for structural changes for government and big business. he worldwide climate movement is comprised of small groups with different goals. Their memberships can also differ greatly from architects and socialists to stay at home parents.
But does grass roots activism achieve outcomes?
Last month, Tony Windsor, independent MP for New England in northern NSW, introduced a private member's bill, the Climate Protection Bill 2008, to Federal Parliament. Windsor calls it "the people's climate protection bill". It was born about six months ago in his electorate office, following a visit from concerned constituents. Since then, 65 climate groups have been involved in its drafting.

The bill would bind the Government to deeper emissions cuts: by 2020, 30 per cent below 1990 levels; and by 2050, 80 per cent. Among other things, it also sets steeper renewable energy targets and mandates greenhouse impact statements on new legislation. (According to Karoly, even those targets are not strict enough.) The bill was loosely based on UK legislation, originally driven by grassroots organisations and just passed by their parliament. Windsor says his bill's success depends on the public will.
It's interesting to consider if similar objectives could be achieved in Australia. I thinks there's more than enough space for all permutations of environmental groups and activism, big and small. We are seeing more and more examples of success in different activist arenas. Whilst not directly related to climate change, I've been amazed at the success of the Sea Shepherds direct action in reducing Japanese Whaling, an area where legislation seems to have very little impact.

Closer to home, I've been excited to see Green architecture being built, aimed at apartment renters. The willingness of families to view good environmental practice as an area of social responsibility is better than them actively choosing to embrace poor environmental decisions. And, if parents want to take their kids on protests for environmental good, this can be only seen as children becoming involved in their future. A very good thing indeed.

Want to check your carbon footprint?


Climate positive has a great resource here. You'll need to have your house hold bills handy.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Green (w)rap?

Kind of silly, but good fun :-)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

More gift-wrapping goodness...

I like this tutorial for making a gift box from a Christmas card -good for little fiddly things that need a bit of protection:
Using newspaper...



Magazines...you can see the tutorial here



And if you like using bits of fabric like me, there's always Furoshiki:

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Christmas gift bags tutorial

I must confess, I've been known to wrap christmas presents in newspaper, reused fabric or a plain old plastic bag. Despite being a crafty person, it's just not really my forte, especially when it's done the day before gift giving...

Gretchen from Junk Mail Gems really places it up a notch with these wonderful gift bags made from recycled junk mail (No junk mail at home? Try your work place recycle bin):

You can view her tutorial here

Monday, December 15, 2008

Keeping Chickens

I attended a meeting of the Food Gardeners Alliance the other day, which was very interesting, raising many issues such as the new water restrictions in Victoria, developing governmental policy and some hints and tips. One of the attendees then delivered a talk on keeping Chickens in your back yard, something that requires less space than you may think, so here's a few hints and tips...
  • Firstly Investigate and double check your local council's policy on keeping animals, there's no point getting everything in place to then find you've done something illegal and having to get rid of all your hard work.
  • Chickens will eat scraps of food, in fact pretty much anything you feed them, such as newspaper and other bits of non-toxic rubbish.
  • As with most other species in the animal kingdom, what goes in, comes out at the other end and Chicken manure is extremely good for the garden.
  • It's probably not a good idea to keep Roosters, especially in smaller properties, they're noisy, aggressive and don't give you any eggs!
  • Check the closeness of coups to neighbouring properties and also check with your neighbors before going ahead with keeping chickens, again there's no point embarking on an endeavour and then being forced to stop due to a neighbourly complaint.
  • Keep the chickens, coup and their surrounding area clean and pests under control with normal and cheap powders and tablets from your vet. If a chicken is very ill or dies, take it to a vet straight away do discover the cause and to prevent spreading.
  • Keep the coup secure to save the chickens from foxes, mice and rats. Don't cut back on costs by using low gauge netting, wire or locks. Keeping the coup clean and free of excess food will help keep away rodents.
  • Chickens food consumption and egg production depends on many things including season, light, temperature and what you feed them.
  • Aside from pellets, they need greens and vegetables. Silver beet is great for this, feeding fresh vegetables means more yellow yolks and protein filled eggs.
  • Where do you get your chickens from : From farms, $15-30 per chicken on point of laying, or somewhat past it for $1.50, but these chickens will have a lower egg production
  • A Chicken's Good laying time is between 2 and 15 years.
  • To stop Chickens flying, trim the edges of their feathers, this puts them off balance and stops them flying.
  • There's no real minimum for space, but the larger space and run the better.
  • You will need at least 2, chickens are social animals.
Interested in finding out more, take a look at www.bookachook.com

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmas shortbread!

I recently had to come up with a cheap gift (under $5 per person) for a large group of international students. I was reluctant to purchase some cheap, imported tacky Australiana as suggested by my colleagues, and decided to make shortbread:



Shortbread recipe: ( I doubled this recipe)

Ingredients:
225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
115g rice flour
115g castor sugar
225 g butter

Directions:
- Sieve flour, rice flour and sugar into a bolw.
- Rub in butter and knead until a smooth paste forms
- Turn onto a floured board and make desired shape of biscuits. Prick biscuits with a fork
- Place on greased baking tray and cook in slow oven for 45 - 60mins, until pale brown.

Costing:
McKenzie's Rice Flour Gluten Free 375g $1.38
Caster Sugar500g $0.97
Plain Flour 1kg $1.04
Butter 500g $2.61
Tinsel $1.48
Brown Paper $2.61
__________________________________
TOTAL: $10.09

Bargain!!! Of course, I could've used organic materials which would have been greener....


Wrapped and waiting: In front of the tree waiting for Santa:

Monday, December 8, 2008

Save water in your property : Grey Water

Here's the second installment of a few tips on how to save water in your rental property, adapted from a Yarra Water leaflet, but picking out the highlights relating to renters...

This time, the best ways to utilise greywater.
  • Greywater is waste water from showers, baths, spas, hand basins, washing machines, dishwashers and basically water used by another process that's left over, which is generally most of it!
  • Buckets are the most basic and easiest method of collecting gray water :
    • Either a bucket in the shower
    • A bucket in the sink when washing vegetables
    • Scooping out water from the hand basin
  • Waste water from washing machines can also be collected into a bucket, or if you use a simple long pipe or diversion system it can be sent straight onto the lawn.
There are however, some considerations when using greywater...
  • Don't use water from the kitchen sink, it can contain fats and left over cleaning agents, unless of course you are sure the water is fine.
  • Apply grey water directly to the base of plants, it can help reduce the survival rate of microbes.
  • Always wash your hands after watering with grey water
  • Use grey water within 24 hours of collection
  • Don't use grey water on sickly looking plants
  • Unfortunately you can't really use grey water on vegetables
  • Try using grey water friendly detergents and cleaning agents to get the most garden friendly water you possibly can
  • Don't apply more grey water than needed, i.e. after rain.
We're aware that not every one in rented property has a garden and we've concocted a few ideas of other things to do with grey water, but we haven't had the chance to test them yet though, so watch this space...!

www.epa.vic.gov.au
www.ourwater.vic.gov.au

Sunday, November 30, 2008

I Want To Live Here film competition this thursday!

Those groovy kids at Earthsharing Australia have been running a short film competition about the housing affordability crisis.Budding film makers have spent the last few months making short films, all aiming for a massive $3000 prize. A prize sure to help pay the rent!

Polka Dot Rabbit is super excited to be running a market at the finals night.Us crafters know all about the cost of rent, it's the main reason we have to put so much markup on our products when they go into shops! When you support local makers at local markets you not only get something lovely and unique to call your own, but you are also supporting your local independent industries. Buying local handmade stuff is one of the easiest ways to help your community survive a global economic crisis.

Wanna know more? Come along.

I Want To Live Here - Short Film Competition
December 3, 2008
For more details:http://www.iwanttolivehere.org.au/

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Ways to reduce waste part 2: Whose responsibility is it?

We're lucky in Australia that waste reduction is mandatory in the sense that all of us have recycle bins in our homes. So we all have an entrenched mindfullness about recycling and such. But how much are you recycling? If you're like us the recycle bin is constantly overfull and the normal bin less than a third. What if we were to buy less things that needed to be recycled in the first place, or only things that could be reused?


The US recently had a national recycled campaign organised by the National Recycling Coalition One school of thought from Treehugger is that
Recycling is simply the transfer of producer responsibility for what they produce to the taxpayer who has to pick it up and take it away.


The author highlights to role of big business in waste reduction 'shams' where waste may be recycled (with massive water usage and carbon footprints) rather than the use of reusable products or indeed deposited. Imagine how empty the recycle bin would be if we could re-fill wine bottles, milk bottles, beer bottles and the like? What if we paid a deposit which was reimbursed upon their return?

Ways to reduce waste part 1 : Plastic bags


Pretty everyone these days knows that plastic bags are a no no. In most instances we can avoid them. But how about encouraging other people to stop or at least reduce their usage? I for one am sick of the way retail staff still reach for the bags without thinking. I'm also seeing people use them for everything even fruit that needs peeling.


I know there's been talk about baning them in various areas and some businesses charge for them. Green bags are a good start but in reality they're not all that environmentally friendly .


But what if you could do more?

Morsbags was started in 2007 by a crafty woman who was sick of seeing plastic bags in local waterways.

Join us at Morsbags!

The wonderful Steph has decided to get us started with a meet up in January.

The idea is to get together with people in your local community, drink wine and make reusable cloth bags (from old duvet covers, curtains from charity shops etc) and hand them out to the unsuspecting public for free on specified dates outside different supermarkets.

Meet new people, do something marvellous for the planet and beat other pods (groups) of baggers with your morsbag tally.

Go to www.morsbags.com to be a part of a wonderful thing.. Go to the "top of the pods" page, search for "VicPod" and join us. We've also got a facebook group you can join here.

Monday, November 17, 2008

For all our UK (Bath) readers...

Probably not that many of you, but a great little publication and accompanying website that was passed to me by a friend in Bath :

www.greenbath.org

it provides listings and resources for green and sustainable resources and organisations across the area in a friendly and presentable format, produced by locals for locals!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Do you ride a bike?

Even if you're a veritable beginner like me, I'd encourage you to come along to the Melbourne Bicycle Film Festival from November 21st-23rd.

It includes:
  • films (obviously)
  • A bike beauty pagent
  • Bike mating
  • loads of prizes and exhibitions
  • Markets and stall and heaps more!

Polka Dot Rabbit is busily working on some specially recycled bicycle themed crafts for the markets!

Craft your own bird planter!


Check out this tutorial on Design Sponge to make your own bird feeder from recycled products!

Weekly container Gardening Spotlight!


Sick of boring terracotta or woven hanging baskets? Kate Pruitt from Design Sponge shows us how to make these wonderful hanging baskets with a personal flair.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Home going for beginners-free workshop-November 13

Paul, Adam and Nathan from Permablitz are inviting all to this free 2-hour seminar on how and why to successfully grow your own veges and fruit.Arrive at 6:45 for a cuppa before the 7pm start.No RSVP required.

For more information email permablitz@gmail.com
Address:
Kindness House - 288 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

Time: 18:45 -21:00

Free silverbeet!


Our veggie garden is overflowing with silverbeet! It's been a staple in all kinds of veggie dishes and also got me into making silverbeet and fetta pastries the other night. They were a hit for all of us, even the young child we were babysitting!


I don't have any pics, but here's how it goes...

Ingredients:
onion
silverbeet
parsley
mushrooms
tomato
fetta cheese
puff pastry
salt and pepper
nutmeg

Method:
1. lightly saute all veggies. The silverbeet shrinks considerably so use more than you thought needs.

2. add cheese and condiments and mix through. Allow to cool.

3. Defrost puff pastry ( I must confess I've never made my own)

4. Cut pastry into triangles, spoon mix to the centre and fold over pasty. Seal by tweaking the edges.

5.Bake at 200c for about 20 mins or until golden.


You could certainly add tofu and/or whisked eggs if you would like more protein.
So, if you are based in Melbourne and would like some silverbeet, please let us know. We also have an ample quantity of rosemary growing in our front garden.

Could you live on a dollar a day?

Living with the lightest carbon footprint sometimes clashes directly with the reality of living cheaply. We all know that alot of organic produce are significantly dearer than their non-organic counterparts.

A vegetarian couple, Christopher and Kerrie, decided to look at the dietary realities of low cost living, spending only $1 per day on food each with no handouts allowed. You can read about their journey here . I was shocked that they couldn't afford store bought bread (having always been taught that it's cheaper than making your own) or fresh fruit and vegetables. It's an extremely interesting story that has recieved quite a bit of press such as this article in the New York Times.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Efficient energy use really does reduce bills

We're very happy here at Green Renters towers as we have proof that being careful with your utilities usage really does reduce your bills...

For the past year or so our combined Gas and Electricity bill (from Tru Energy) has been a flat $100 a month that is reassessed every 6 months.

After doing as much as possible to reduce our usage our latest assessment has reduced our bill to $60 a month, which is a pretty significant drop.

Well done us!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

All aboard!


Sunday, October 19, 2008

Weekly Container Gardening Spotlight-Tutorial

I've been intending to do something about my pot plants for some time. I have quite a few cuttings(mostly succulents) that I potted a year or so ago and conveniently forgot about last summer as it was so hot everything in a pot except these died. We got a heap of new pots and pans for a wedding present so I decided to do something with the old ones. They don't look particularly pretty yet, but once they are thriving I'll post some decent pics.

The benefits of reusing the old pots are that you get to remove the crappy 'terracotta' plastic pots that so many plants are invariably housed in. These were cracked so they went in the recycle bin. Further, the pot handles make them easy to move and rotate when it's really hot (even putting them inside) so you don't kill them off.

You need:
  • old saucepans/pots/big lids
  • seedlings
  • cuttings
  • potting mix/succulent mix
  • water (grey ish)
  • power drill

Directions:
1.Get out power drill only to release the battery has died and it will require several hours of charging. Relax on the couch with the newspaper and a cup of tea.


2. Assembly motley crew of pots in the meantime to demonstrate productivity in between cups of tea.

3. Water all plants you will be repotting. I used water that had been used to rinse garden veggies for the veggie seedling and herbs and a little that had been for some mild cleaning for the rest. The succulents are pretty hardy and dont really know the difference.

Here we have thyme, cucumber, baby lettuce and baby spinach

Various succulents and some tired looking pelargoniums.


Do you like this watering can? Make Gardens Not War! Awesome wedding present!

3. Remove plants from their pots. If they are root bound like mine, chop em up as you wish.


4. Drill holes in pot and lid bottoms. Realise it is impossible to take an action shot by yourself. If you don't have a drill you could try a hammer and nails but that may only work on tin cans and olive oil containers.

5. Realise you forgot to take shots of soil filling and plants due to chatting with husband.

6. Fill pots with soil. If you are feeling really excited you could buy potting mix specifically for succulents which is a bit more sandy.

7. Cut and tidy succulents and replant in their improved glory along with the seedlings.

8. Arrange decoratively as you wish. These will be significantly more decorative once I get some more plants so I can make more pots.

I love the lid full of succulents here: The box is for our new bbq-the old bbq will be used as a herb planter once I buy more herbs.


You can see my pelargonium collection down the bottom. The pots were decorated by the wonderful Craftea Chat participants as a wedding present!


Close up of succulents. The jelly bean ones are cool.



Marvel at wedding present pots again. I still can't believe Rayna got asked for ID when she bought the spray paint for decorating the pots!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, give it a try and let us know how it goes.


Resource Efficient Gardening

A few weeks ago I attended an excellent talk and discussion panel hosted by The Food Gardeners Alliance, we posted a little more on them in a previous post.

Buying produce from a supermarket is perhaps one of the most un-environmentally friendly things you can do, not just the direct resource usage of farming, but the effects of product transport, wastage, refrigeration, personal transport and much more. We only have a small patch in our (mainly concrete) back yard but it's enough to supply us with just under half of our weekly food, the statistics on this are :

A 4 by 5 metres patch can produce enough for 2 people, approximately 200kg a year with only 2 or 3 hours a week of work.

Even if you have no yard or garden there are many tricks to be performed with containers, an issue we have also frequently covered here.

Lets take a look at a few more tips offered by some of the speakers at the discussion.


David Holmgren is an infamous figure in the recent resurgence in gardening, one of the co-founders of Permaculture he proposes a more holistic approach to gardening, considering micro cultures and climates to encourage growth and nature. It's a fairly involved process and there are many who offer courses, literature and insight into it. Rest assured it's not just applicable to those with lots of space, permaculture can also be practised easily in restricted spaces with processes such as Rooftop gardening, planting in containers, vertical gardening and aquaponic systems.
www.holmgren.com.au


Diggers is an organisation perhaps better reserved for those with slightly larger gardens, but for a source or certified organic seeds it is ideal. Specialising in vintage, cottage and heirloom varieties of plants Diggers maintains an impressive list of breeds that you've probably never heard of.
www.diggers.com.au


Jane Edmanson is a famous figure in the gardening world, host of TV shows for many years and generally a figure of respect and trust in the wider community. Her tips were generally a lot more practical and common-sensical, moving themes back into the home and the benefits that growing and eating our own produce can bring, such as gardening being a great source of exercise and that fresh produce could help reduce obesity. She also bestowed the virtues of seasonal planting, something that can frequently be overlooked when your attracted to the myriad of pretty plants available to you.
www.janesgarden.com.au


There was also an interesting representative from Sustainable gardening Australia, but I admit that I had to leave early, so missed what they had to say, expect something on the SGA in the near future.
www.sgaonline.org.au

Monday, October 13, 2008

Speed Renters the return!

Not strictly 'green renting', but it's about renting, so we're half there...

After a successful debut, speed renting is back on :
6:00pm - 8:45pm
Thursday 23rd October
Horse Bazaar
397 Little Lonsdale St

See www.iwanttolivehere.org.au/sr for more details

As soon as people register you will receive an email with a link to register your preferred time and whether you are a Renter/Room-Seeker or a Leasor/Flatmate-Seeker.

Here's some links about the previous event.

http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/speen-renting-takes-off/
http://www.theage.com.au/national/speed-renting-may-be-just-the-right-move-for-homeless-20080919-4k9d.html

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The benefits of growing your own veggies...

It's amazing how beneficial home growing is in terms of carbon emissions and water savings compared to veg you'd pick up at the average supermarket as the photos above illustrate. Not to mention factors like budget and taste benefits! The Food Growers Alliance do some amazing work education the public and lobbying government on the benefits of home grown and the need for increased water access for home growers.

Want to get involved? FGA holds regular meetings on the second Wednesday of every month, our next confirmed meeting will be on November 12th. Check out their site for more information

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Milk Crate Man!



In response to reading about our love of milk crates, a Green Renters reader sent us details of the Milk Crate man, a phenomenon enjoyed by many train commuters each morning in the West. You can see more Milk Crate men here (scroll down) and here. Totally amusing and ingenious ways of recycling everyday house hold goods into art! (Aren't you just itching to put one on your roof?!)

Weekly Container Gardening Spotlight!

This is a fantastic use of plastic containers and proof that you don't need a lot of space to have a functional balcony garden:

Drink cartons can be reused for nuturing seedlings (I'd be inclined to bury the containers in the ground once they reach a decent height rather than transport the seedlings):


Here's a rather inspiring way of combating space issues in a small back yard:

although I suspect watering would be rather tricky...
Next week we'll have something from home. We got new pots and pans as a wedding present and plan to use the old ones to plant herbs and succulents and cherry tomatoes. Their easy transportability will be great in the burning summer as we can move them to cooler spots. Stay tuned for details next week...

Green Renters news


Apologies that regular aspects of our blog have been amiss. Chris and I have been busy getting married :-)

Solar Designs: The way of the future!

I was intrigued to find this solar powered table made by Intelligent Forms Design.

It can be used to power personal devices such as laptops, ipods and the like. The wheels mean it is easily portable when it needs to be recharged. Unfortunately it retails for $14000US and is not surprisingly rather out of our price range!

But solar energy products aren't completely new or price prohibitive. Western Australian company Ecopia has an exciting range of products, many of which can be practically incorporated into the life of renters. I'm particularly excited by the solar bike kit which retails for $45 and the solar torch which retails at $29












Perhaps the way of the future?

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Noble Park Permablitz

Ever attended a Permablitz?

It's a great way of learning some new techniques and methods of handling your garden, here's the next one coming up in Noble Park on teh 8th Oct :

Details

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Save water in your property : The Garden

Here's the first of a few tips on how to save water in your rental property, adapted from a Yarra

Water leaflet, but picking out the highlights relating to renters...
  • If you have grass in your garden then run hosing from the water outlet pipe on your washing machine on to it to maintain a lovely slab of green turf. If you don't have grass, then collect some of the water into a bucket which can easily be used on non-edible plants.
  • Collect rainwater in buckets or tanks for future use.
  • Group plants on their watering needs to make the most efficient use of water.
  • Check the soil before watering, if it's damp already then save that water!
  • Most plants will not need watering as much as you think, try cutting back and keeping an eye on the plant.
  • Pot plants and house plants need a lot of water, do you really need then?
  • Remove weeds from beds, they'll only use up water plants you actually want need.
  • Water plant roots, not onto foliage.
  • Larger plants and long grass can shield smaller plants from the sun.
  • Use water crystals and wetting agents to keep the soil from drying out.
  • Consider laying compost or mulch to keep soil damper.
  • Plant native or drought resistant plants instead of water greedy European varities.
www.savewater.com.au
www.ourwater.vic.gov.au

There is a $30 rebate from your water supplier for products with a value of $100 or more from hardware stores or garden centres.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Need help with leftovers?

Primarily UK focused, but anyway, if you wan some ideas of what to do with excess food, take a look here :

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A is for apples!





I've decided to include local fruit in my spring recipes so stay tuned for some lovely fruit and vegetable recipes over spring. It doesn't look particularly spring like here in Melbourne, there are dark clouds and it's been raining earlier. But anyhow....

Many different types of apples are in season at the moment: Jonathan, Golden and Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Braeburn, pink lady, sundowner and Lady Williams. But my co-blogger's favourite apple happens to be Braeburn and he was so delighted that it is now available in Australia that I'm dedicating these apple recipes to the Braeburn variety.



Apple Caramel Bars


Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups quick oats
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/4 cups butter - cold
  • 1 1/2 cups apple - peeled, chopped

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350° F.
  • Grease the baking pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray, set aside.
  • In large bowl, combine flour, quick oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and egg. Cut in the butter and mix well until ingredients are crumbly.
  • Remove 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and set aside. Press the crumb mixture into the baking pan, bake for 15 minutes in the oven.
  • While crust is baking, combine caramel topping and 1/4 cup flour in small bowl; mix well.
  • Sprinkle the apples over the baked crust. Drizzle the caramel mixture over the top of the apples. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the caramel.
  • Place back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  • Let cool completely before serving; approximately 2 hours.
  • Cut into 2" squares and serve.

Baked Stuffed Apples

I'm trying these for breakfast!

Ingredients

1 Braeburn apple

2 g ground cinnamon

1 g ground nutmeg

10 g white sugar

30 g cream cheese

8 g dried cranberries


Directions


1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. Cut the stem out of the apple and hollow out the center until it is about 1 1/2 inches wide without going through the bottom. In a small cup, stir together the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Set aside half of this mixture, and mix the rest with the cream cheese and dried cranberries.

3. Sprinkle some of the reserved cinnamon sugar into the apple's cavity. Fill with the cream cheese mixture, and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on the top. Place the apple in a small baking dish.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the apple is tender enough to easily pierce with a fork.

ambiguity is the devil's tetherball...

Recipe: Apple & Cucumber Sammy


1 slice of Bread (Organic White or Wheat)
1 TBSP Cream Cheese
1/2 Braeburn Apple, thinly sliced
1/4 English Cucumber, thinly sliced

Toast your bread, and spread a thin layer of cheese. Cut your slice of bread in half. Cover one half of the slice of bread with apple slices, and the other side with cucumber slices. Assemble sandwich. (Eat any leftover apples and cucumbers, cause they're good for you!)

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Cycling related links...

Perhaps one of the easiest things to do if you're interested in leading a sustainable existence in rented accommodation is to cycle everywhere!

When you've been doing that for a while, here's two links that may interest :

Ride to work day, Oct 15th
Around the Bay in a Day Challenge, Oct 19th

Monday, September 8, 2008

Make your own Worm Farm

This article had a little bit of guidance from a post found on Sustainability Victoria, which now seems to have disappeared off their website. It's a wok in progress project for us, so we make no guarantee that it will work, but I see no reason it wont. Our aims were to keep it as easy and cheap as possible, so in reach of almost everyone's budgets and limitations.

Worm Farms are great ways of making fertilizer from food scraps in any rental property with a bit of space. You can buy worm farms with everything you need, but they're quite expensive ($100+) and larger, it's not too hard to make your own, here's how!

Find yourself three (in fact two initially, the third is for future expansion) containers, old polystyrene vegetable boxes like the one pictured below are ideal.

We'll start here with two boxes and add a third in the future, so take one box and using a sharp implement (I used a small screwdriver) make some holes in it's base, they don't need to be particularly regular, but you will need a fair few



These holes are for oxygen, but also for the worms urine (which forms one part of the fertilizer) to pass through into the second box below. Ending up with something like this.



Next you need something to cover the bottom of the box, to allow the urine to pass through but so the worms don't fall through, we used several layers of newspaper, which should hopefully work. We also placed a few sheets of dampened paper around the inner edges of the box.



Next we add the worms! When I first started down this path I thought I could go digging in the garden and chuck a few earth worms in a box. Firstly you actually need special worms and secondly you need about 1000 of them to start, so I would have been there for a hell of a long time! This is the singly most expensive part of the process, but 1000 worms cost me $50 and included a healthy amount of dirt for the worms to live in. Carefully pour the worms on top of the news paper and evenly spread them about.


Next add another thin layer of paper on top of the worms, paper is mainly good to balance out the heavy nitrogen content of the food scraps.



Now it's time for the food scraps, again spread them thinly and don't put too much in at once. Ensure everything is nice and moist, when we made our worm farm it was raining, ensuring that everything was sufficiently damp!



Now find a cool and shady spot and something to raise your farm off the ground (perhaps an ever helpful milk crate weighed down with some bricks), place this box (with it's lid) on top of our unmodified box and voila!



Add your food scraps on a regular basis, ensuring that you don't add too much
, keep everything damp and be patient, things wont happen overnight.

We shall return to this topic as we discover more and as our own little farm develops.

TIPS :

What composting worms like to eat
- Plate scrapings (cooked vegetables and stewed fruit leftovers)
- Fruit peelings (not too much orange or lemon peel)
- Vegetable scraps and peelings (not too many onions)
- Hair clippings and vacuum cleaner dust
- Stale biscuits and cakes
- Coffee grounds and tea bags
- Crushed egg shells
- Saw dust
- Soaked cardboard

What composting worms don't like to eat
- Manures
- Acidic foods (onions, citrus, garlic, shallots)
- Garden waste
- Dairy products
- Meat