Living the Good Life... Tassie sounds pretty good right now!

Ugh. After all this heat, I feel like I should follow Linda Cockburn to chilly Tasmania, where the temperature today and for the rest of the week is exactly where I like it - low to mid 20s, mainly fine but with a shower or two over the week *sigh* Things outside in Melbourne are much cooler, but my apartment is still coming down off a boiling-point high, and no amount of coaxing through open windows and fans will convince it to cool it down before it's good and ready :)

Having said that, my easiyo yoghurt maker arrived today (eep! I'll be trying that out soon!), I spent a bit of time with some great friends this morning, and I have just finished sitting in front of a fan for the last half hour while sipping soda water and cordial and reading the last of Living the Good Life by Linda Cockburn. SO inspiring! I spoke to Ma tonight and she's reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and loves it already, one chapter in - I feel like throwing a big thankyou out to people like Cockburn and Kingsolver for going through things like that and writing about them. It makes it so much easier to be motivated to change the little things along the way when you know that someone else out there made changes that were far more drastic and lifechanging, and lived to tell the tale.



OK, what was it that I loved about Living the Good Life? I think it was honestly written, with all the problems and lapses (which were, however, surpisingly few considering!) included. Linda and Trev get along well but there are some real moments of tension - it's clear that they are very different people, and this means they deal quite differently with the six month challenge. It didn't feel like Linda and Trev had a really easy time of it, and that was with a few years to prepare and make changes that would help them during their experiment. However, they stick at it, and at many times you can sense how 'together' their family seems as they travel along their journey. They survive it as a family.

There were some truly hilarious moments in the book, many of them involving the goat, Possum, who sometimes seems like too much trouble, but provides the family with milk (and therefore cheese, too). Their son, Caleb, also comes across as a funny, witty, lively, child that gets a lot out of the changes that this couple made to their lives. I was really touched by the close relationship between Linda and Caleb - the decision to let him home school because he asks to, the way they play games together, the way she bends the rules to buys him chocolate from the shops for easter so that his fantasy isn't ruined... I felt like they were good people, very normal, doing the best they could - and succeeding - at drastically changing their lives. It came across as difficult, but very achievable and very rewarding.

Ooh I have just stumbled upon Linda's blog, something else to read through and be inspired by!

I also came across a segment they did on 'Today Tonight' (not my favourite program, but I'm glad that the people who do like it got to hear about Linda and Trev) that was up on youtube. Cool.

Ethical Meat? The (first lot of) findings...

I've been reading a lot of descriptions of visits to abbatoirs, like this one from The Age; I think, if I want to eat one more bit of meat that has been commercially processed, I will sign myself up for a tour.

If I'm to avoid being completely hypocritical, I'm going to have to own up to the same facts in the fishy department: no more fish eating until I have been fishing myself. I think I might head up to the trout/salmon ponds at Marysville (I'm not sure about the sustainability issues involved in fishing at recreational fishing ponds? I couldn't find much on the net anyway). I'm pretty nervous about the idea, but I guess if I find it too distressing I'll have an answer to the eat fish/don't eat fish dilemma I'm currently experiencing.

The next step is to find 'ethical' other meats for my partner and future offspring...

Bertie likes bacon and ham, so ethical (and local as possible, i.e. at least Victorian) pig meat may be on the menu: I found this Age article really helpful - it mentions Fernleigh Farm in Bullarto, near Daylesford. Apparently they sell pig meat at the farmer's market in Collingwood, where I buy my fruit and veg. Also selling at the Collingwood farmer's market is King Valley Free Range pig meat. As much as I hated looking at the pictures of pigs on these websites and thinking about them being turned into meat, I much prefer that idea to buying it from a stupidmarket. I also like the fact that they're using rare or heritage breeds of pig that would otherwise possibly become extinct. Hmm...

I also stumbled upon this butcher who's very local to us! It says on their site: "Our Free Range Chemical Free products are fed on a natural grain based diet free of additives, thus ensuring a flavoursome product. All of our Free Range products are grown with strict standards regarding animal welfare, with the animals able to roam free and graze. We try to support small individual growers and the organic industry as a whole."

Excellent :D

Well I feel that's a good start anyway. I can get pig products for Bertie at the Farmer's Market, and look for other 'ethical' meats while I'm there; then I'll speak to the people at Belmore Biodynamic Meats about their free range meat. If I like what I hear I'll get any meat I can't get at the farmer's market from them.

Next meat-related research project: kangaroo meat (the only non-fish meat I might consider eating).

Is there such a thing as 'ethical meat'? Why bother looking?

=

*sigh*

I have a love-hate relationship with meat: I love the taste, but hate where it comes from. As I've mentioned before in this blog, at ten years old I made the decision to go vegetarian. That was relatively problem free until I hit my late teens/early twenties, when I started craving and even dreaming about meat. Since then I've been on a rollercoaster of meat-eating/vegetarianism/pescatarianism. Inevitably, when I give in to the cravings and eat meat or fish, I feel guilt and even, occasionally, self-loathing - which is harder to bear than the dreams and cravings.

Right now I'm in a pescatarian "stage" (I often feel that anything but pure vegetarianism is wrong and therefore when I 'regress' to meat-eating, it feels like a 'stage' I'm temporarily going through). I'm trying to make the most ethical fish-eating choices I possible can, so I'm following the Guide to Fish by Hilary McNevin. However, I want to resolve the 'ethical meat' issue in my own mind, once and for all, so that if I ever do eat meat again, I can do it in a more informed and open-eyed way, as a person who knows where to find organic, free-range meat from as local a source as possible.

Besides, if I can do this research properly, I can buy 'ethical' meat for the much loved meateater in my life, and any little carnivores we may produce along the way...

Feelin hot, hot, hot...

I sweltered my way through the third day of 43+ degree days here in Melbourne, ugh! I am not made to endure heat; anything over 30 and I wilt and cannot function properly.

No air conditioner at home (a good thing, environmentally, but that's little comfort in 43 degree heat), but the other aircon-users in my area managed to make the power go out for most of the evening. That meant not even a fan for me, little-miss-whingey-pants.

So... I sweated and cursed my way through the evening, ordered a very unhealthy takeaway dinner as my oven and microwave were out of action, and sat outside in the shade to read Living the Good Life by Linda Cockburn in the dying light of the day.

Thankfully the book was so awesome I read my way through the power outage, and found to my delight that both the power and the promised cool change arrived at 9pm. I even managed to feel a little ashamed of how reliant I was on power as I munched on my oven-cooked-takeaway-pizza, in front of an electric fan, blogging on my energy-consuming-computer.

How true that we don't know what we've got till it's gone :)

Right now I'm reading under my newly-appreciated electric light, trying to coax the cool air into my stuffy apartment via open windows and doors...

2009: the year of preparation and self-education

It's nearly february already (whew, where did that month go?) and I've started to think about what I want out of this year in this journey towards sustainable living. I think there are some big-ticket changes like solar power, water tanks, growing a proper veggie garden etc that probably need to wait until next year when we buy our own place. So I feel that 2009 is my year on training wheels - I am going to learn some of the skills and implement some of the strategies that will eventually add up to a more sustainable lifestyle, and build up to a bigger and better year of sustainability in 2010.

Here are my ten main goals for 2009 -

1. learn to clean the whole house without chemicals
2. Learn to cook some nice, easy vegetarian fare as well as foods like cheese and bread - I might finally use some of my huge collection of cookbooks - and cook them in bulk so I can put half of everything in the freezer to save money, time, packaging, and bad last-minute food choices
3. Educate myself about how to build/retrofit units/houses to be environmentally friendly so that when we buy I am informed and prepared
4. Learn to sew (focus on being able to repair and alter clothes) and knit
5. Buy my food from the collingwood farmer's market whenever possible; failing that, psarakos/preston market; use the stupidmarket as little as possible
6. Focus on reducing my personal water use
7. Get into a stricter habit of turning lights off when I leave rooms
8. Declutter regularly, use freecycle (hooray, gave my first thing away using freecycle today!)
9. Read through all of my many books about the environment, self-sufficient/sustainable living, ethics etc and write about my reactions to them on this blog
10. work towards a 2009 xmas where all presents are handmade/homemade!

Slight change to dish washing technique...

After a few days of washing the dishes using the soap shaker in one sink and plain hot water in the rinsing sink, I have discovered that my dishes end up coming out with soap scum on them, despite my rinsing efforts. It comes out looking like a white stain on cutlery, plates, saucepans. Ew.

So I had a closer look at the book today, and talked to my A.S.I.L. about it, and worked out I need to add bicarb to the soapy water (2 tsp) and some vinegar to the rinsing water. It worked so much better! Hooray :D

A Year of Slow Food

Well, things seem to be moving at a super fast pace this week - getting ready for my new course, finishing my last week at work, trying to get around and do things socially and at home on my crutches, organising youth allowance and a concession card etc.

So it was nice to occasionally take a time out and read a bit of A Year of Slow Food by David and Gerda Foster. It wasn't a revolutionary or an inspiring book, it didn't electrify me like some of the books I've been reading lately. Instead the writing reflected the way of life - it was a lovely, gentle, slow look at a couple living a sustainable, largely self-sufficient lifestyle with their family: growing and cooking good food, keeping bees and livestock, working, raising a family, and just generally getting on with life. Each time I read a chapter I felt satisfied, content, and cheerful. It felt like those times you eat yummy, healthy food and get that good feeling deep down in your belly. Which seems to be what slow food is about.

I highly recommend this book. It goes into the 'soul food' category.

Great recipes too!

My first ever batch of jam!

I went to my grandparents' house for Australia Day this year. I took some of my zucchini slice, cut up into small "zucchini bites", and my grandparents and my uncle apparently enjoyed it. Yay :) After lunch Grandma took me up to her backyard and we picked some of the plums off her tree - there were so many! I've never seen so many plums on a plum tree. Grandma sent me home with a stash of them (plus jars and instructions on sterilising them). Here they are below, with a copy of A Year in a Bottle by Sally Wise. I used her recipe for plum jam (but reduced the amount of sugar from 1.5kg to 1kg).

Here are my plums starting to break down:

Ooooh it's nearly jam:

The final product (I'll never eat all of it by myself!), along with all of the leftover plums. I think I'll stew those up to have on weetbix in the morning, or with icecream for dessert. Does stewed fruit freeze ok?:

Dwayne is clearly exhausted from watching me make jam:

It's funny how after only one zucchini slice and one batch of plum jam, I'm starting to feel capable in the kitchen! I mean I'm no master chef, but I can follow a recipe without stuffing it up. Who would've thought? I guess a bit of confidence goes a long way :)

Going green one zucchini slice at a time

Tonight I made my first-ever zucchini slice. I grew up eating this, and was thrilled to finally get Mum's recipe for it. I made it into one big slice (to be cut up and frozen) and one little one (to eat tonight). When I was little I remember thinking it looked yuk - mushy and green - but tasted yum. Now I think green and mushy looks pretty damned appealing...

MUM'S ZUCCHINI SLICE

Ingredients:
5 whole whole egg

1 1/3 cup self-raising white flour
375 g zucchini
1 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
150 g Mainland Grated Light Tasty Cheddar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm slice tray. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

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So in other news I've only just ordered a bokashi and an easiyo today, and my cursed mind has turned to the next 'i want' before those have even arrived. Oh well I'll post about how bad an idea it is and that might help...

I'd really love a cent-a-meter to measure our electricity use, but it's about $200 and it also needs to be installed by an electrician (more money harrumph). The other thing to consider is that we're living in a rental at the moment. So we'd need permission from the real estate to install it, and even then we might end up moving and have to leave it behind/get it uninstalled somehow.

Methinks I'll have to be patient (ha!) and wait until we buy a place. There's nothing stopping me from reducing electricity use as much as possible without the help of the cent-a-meter anyway. It'd just be nice to be able to measure and monitor it.

Compost and cheese

One of the things that has really annoyed me about my otherwise-much-loved-inner-city-apartment has been my inability to compost. There's no courtyard or balcony for a bin, and we couldn't have the delightful smell of compost wafting through the place... I heard about the bokashi compost bin, which you can apparently use inside with little to no smell. I ordered one today! Yay!

I'll get to using it as soon as it arrives, and let you know how it goes :)

I also ordered an easiyo yoghurt maker for all of about $20.

I'm planning to try making yoghurt and quark and other tasty cheesy delights. Stay tuned...