"the bigger they are the harder they fall"
"slow and steady wins the race"
David Holmgren's Design Principle Number 9.
Today I'm thinking about all the small changes we've made in our lives to get to where we are today. A place where we are living better on less, much less.
Behavioural changes, attitidunal changes...
A few years ago we both worked full-time. I was in the corporate world, doing a masters degree, working unpaid overtime, trying for promotions, driving a flash convertible.
My husband was working shift work full time. We had a big house with a pool, all landscaped (none of it edible mind you!). We thought money was the answer - buy the things you need... boy were we wrong.
Now, we live on a quarter of what we earned then. The flash car's gone, 'traded' for a solar hot water service and a 1kw photo voltaic solar energy system.
We eat really, really well. We don't eat out much at all, very, very occasionally we have take away (usually only we've been out running around and haven't been home). The food we eat at home is better than what we can get in a restaurant, because we grew it and it has a story to tell, our hands have touched its seeds, its leaves, we've watered and cared for it - nurtured it and now it is nourishing us.
We spend a lot of time at home, we do this because we enjoy it.
Lots of other small changes are happening. We don't have a clothes dryer anymore, instead we have a solar clothes dryer (we like to call it a clothes line). Our low water, front loading, energy efficient washing machine water runs onto the garden and waters our bananas.
We shop a lot at op shops - especially for the clothes we wear when we are working in the garden and sometimes we find a surprise and score some great going out clothes too.
I take care of our clothes. They are repaired, kept in good order and I dry them in the shade - the sun here is very harsh and will shorten their lives. I'm proud to still be wearing t-shirts that are 20 years old.
All our purchases must be practical, useful, aesthetically pleasing and useful! An example is our wood heater. We needed a more efficient, more environmentally friendly heater than the old oil heater we had (which drew a lot of electricity). We went hunting for the perfect permaculture heater (multifunctional and useful!).
We found the Australian made Nectre brand and bought their baker's oven. It heats our home, it has an oven, it has a cook top and we could have got the water jacket option too (we didn't because we have the solar hot water system which makes more sense in this climate). It's cute and very aesthetically pleasing - just perfect for our little cabin. During winter when it is lit, we do all our cooking on it, including the roasting of our home grown organic coffee beans.
We move our bed into the lounge room in winter to take advantage of the warmth it generates and the ambience. Enough said there!
Back to our diet. I now wander around our abundant garden, basket in hand and harvest what's ripe and ready. Okay, that image is a bit dreamy and you also need to have secatuers on hand, and gloves and perhaps even a bucket to collect grubs for the chooks to eat.
But I do try to make the effort of collecting our food in a beautiful basket... I then plan our meals around what's available. Back this up with a good pantry stock of staples - all bought in bulk with neighbours and stored in cleaned labelled recycled jars - and you will always be able to put together a feast - great when people turn up unexpectedly.
Cars - we sold one and now get by with one car and one motorbike. It's a small car and fuel efficient (actually more efficient than the new hybrids coming out) so it has a place in our lives.
Recycling - we recycle a lot. Green and kitchen waste goes to the chooks, the worms and the compost. Jars are cleaned, scrubbed, labels removed and kept, plastic milk bottles are washed out and put in the recycle bin, same with tins.
We scour rubbish dumps for materials to make things.
We have a small home, and keep energy use to a minimum.
I'm trying to retrofit the inside of our home to permaculture principles. Especially our kitchen, I think the kitchen is the perfect place to practice this. Zoning, multiple function, catching and storing energy... sprouts grow in jars on the kitchen window sill, shelves are full of jars full of goodies, pots n pans are sorted...
A lot of changes have happened here and many more are still to come - it will always be a work in progress. But it's good to take stock and look back at how far you've come. To be grateful with what you have. To enjoy what you've got!
S
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Permablitz hits town
We just farwelled the last of our Permablitz helpers from our property.
Since early this morning a team of locals has been weeding, chopping, cutting, preparing, mulching and generally helping us get ahead of the game in the garden.
Our relocalisation group has regular working bees at member's houses helping each other get ready for the future by becoming more self-sufficient with our food supplies.
It's been great. Rather than everyone trying to do it all by themselves, a day with 10-15 people all chipping in and working hard makes a big difference.
This collective idea of relocalisation is taking a lovely form here in our town. We have the working bees, soon we'll have a seed saving co-operative and other ideas are beginning to come to fruition.
Now if someone is ordering mulch, they will take the time to phone around and see if anyone else wants some too. That way, we all get the benefits of reduced costs and it sparks everyone into action.
Other co-operative ideas we have going is a bulk buying scheme where one of our members who is a caterer orders extra dried goods, oils, honey, flour etc and we can all take our empty containers to her place for a re-fill.
Other ideas I hope to see one day here are things like bulk-buying - co-operative machinery purchases. Say we all buy one thing, but share it around.
I'd also like to see a community dairy and or goat herd here too.
I'm pretty exhausted after our big Permablitz day and I have an appointment with the lounge! We now have a huge pile of chopped up arrowroot we have to add to the compost heaps tomorrow and I need my rest.
Be wise, Relocalise!
S
Since early this morning a team of locals has been weeding, chopping, cutting, preparing, mulching and generally helping us get ahead of the game in the garden.
Our relocalisation group has regular working bees at member's houses helping each other get ready for the future by becoming more self-sufficient with our food supplies.
It's been great. Rather than everyone trying to do it all by themselves, a day with 10-15 people all chipping in and working hard makes a big difference.
This collective idea of relocalisation is taking a lovely form here in our town. We have the working bees, soon we'll have a seed saving co-operative and other ideas are beginning to come to fruition.
Now if someone is ordering mulch, they will take the time to phone around and see if anyone else wants some too. That way, we all get the benefits of reduced costs and it sparks everyone into action.
Other co-operative ideas we have going is a bulk buying scheme where one of our members who is a caterer orders extra dried goods, oils, honey, flour etc and we can all take our empty containers to her place for a re-fill.
Other ideas I hope to see one day here are things like bulk-buying - co-operative machinery purchases. Say we all buy one thing, but share it around.
I'd also like to see a community dairy and or goat herd here too.
I'm pretty exhausted after our big Permablitz day and I have an appointment with the lounge! We now have a huge pile of chopped up arrowroot we have to add to the compost heaps tomorrow and I need my rest.
Be wise, Relocalise!
S
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Ready, set, grow!
Autumn is such a busy time in the subtropics. It's my spring cleaning time. The heat and humidity of summer is over and I feel energised by the cooler mornings and nights.
Growth in the garden has slowed (finally!) after all the rain we've had. Coming from Adelaide originally, we were always reluctant to cut anything back too hard in the garden, but here on the Sunshine Coast you really need to.
Lots of work underway - all overshadowed by an ongoing problem with the neighbours chooks and peafowl getting into our winter seedlings, but that' s in the hands of the local council officials.
Composting, harvesting worm castings, mulching, setting up new garden beds, running repairs to trellises etc etc.
We've planted potatoes, corn, cucumbers, and now we've secured a safe growing area while the neighbours and the council fight it out, broccoli, broccolini, cabbage and caulies will go in tomorrow.
Also inspired to put a little fun in the garden, statues, seats, local sculptures from the markets, those types of things.
Around the house, it's time to de cobweb the outside, tidy everything up, and start thinking about extensions, and more accommodation generally. Fixing up the other bedroom (we only have two) so we can have wwoofers and guests stay. We also need a propogation area, a fire pit for outdoor cooking, and sorting the deck out so it's more usable for us.
Great time of the year though, and when the bloody pests from next door get sorted out, it will all be good.
Looking forward to the first meal cooked on our heater/oven this winter. We bought a Nectre baker's oven last year and haven't regretted it!. It's a slow combustion heater, an oven, a cooktop and we could have added a water jacket too for hot water, but we're getting a solar hot water system so won't need it.
Baked spuds, soups, stews, lamb shanks on mashed spuds from the garden....
Sonya
Growth in the garden has slowed (finally!) after all the rain we've had. Coming from Adelaide originally, we were always reluctant to cut anything back too hard in the garden, but here on the Sunshine Coast you really need to.
Lots of work underway - all overshadowed by an ongoing problem with the neighbours chooks and peafowl getting into our winter seedlings, but that' s in the hands of the local council officials.
Composting, harvesting worm castings, mulching, setting up new garden beds, running repairs to trellises etc etc.
We've planted potatoes, corn, cucumbers, and now we've secured a safe growing area while the neighbours and the council fight it out, broccoli, broccolini, cabbage and caulies will go in tomorrow.
Also inspired to put a little fun in the garden, statues, seats, local sculptures from the markets, those types of things.
Around the house, it's time to de cobweb the outside, tidy everything up, and start thinking about extensions, and more accommodation generally. Fixing up the other bedroom (we only have two) so we can have wwoofers and guests stay. We also need a propogation area, a fire pit for outdoor cooking, and sorting the deck out so it's more usable for us.
Great time of the year though, and when the bloody pests from next door get sorted out, it will all be good.
Looking forward to the first meal cooked on our heater/oven this winter. We bought a Nectre baker's oven last year and haven't regretted it!. It's a slow combustion heater, an oven, a cooktop and we could have added a water jacket too for hot water, but we're getting a solar hot water system so won't need it.
Baked spuds, soups, stews, lamb shanks on mashed spuds from the garden....
Sonya
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Winter crops and favourite books
I've been waylaid with a minor flu, so been spending time indoors and catching up on some reading.
I've got out Robin Clayfield's Teaching Permaculture Creatively (I did the course in late 2006) and it's got me all fired up again about teaching permaculture, although there doesn't seem to be much interest in it from the community unfortunately.
I thought when things started to hit - as they seem to be now with reports of houses being repossessed, the economy going into a spiral, food and fuel prices they highest they've ever been - people would start looking for things like permaculture, but I think what will probably happen inititally at least, is much more chaotic than that.
I'm also reading Rob Hopkin's The Transition Handbook, which is a goldmine of information and well worth getting hold of.
As for the garden, my husband's doing a great job getting potatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, lettuces etc in. The weather's perfect at the moment - a little rain overnight with mild 26 degree days. Autumn, winter and spring are definately the best times here on the Coast.
The only problem we have is with our neighbour's animals - their chooks, peafowl and horses keep eating our plants. It's unfortunately got to the point we'll have to go to the council to see what they can do. I've already called them and it's clearly their responsibility to keep their animals out of our place, so we'll see what happens.
Lots of composting being done, lots of garden beds being set up and lots of mulching. I love this time of year (except for the flu thing).
S
I've got out Robin Clayfield's Teaching Permaculture Creatively (I did the course in late 2006) and it's got me all fired up again about teaching permaculture, although there doesn't seem to be much interest in it from the community unfortunately.
I thought when things started to hit - as they seem to be now with reports of houses being repossessed, the economy going into a spiral, food and fuel prices they highest they've ever been - people would start looking for things like permaculture, but I think what will probably happen inititally at least, is much more chaotic than that.
I'm also reading Rob Hopkin's The Transition Handbook, which is a goldmine of information and well worth getting hold of.
As for the garden, my husband's doing a great job getting potatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, lettuces etc in. The weather's perfect at the moment - a little rain overnight with mild 26 degree days. Autumn, winter and spring are definately the best times here on the Coast.
The only problem we have is with our neighbour's animals - their chooks, peafowl and horses keep eating our plants. It's unfortunately got to the point we'll have to go to the council to see what they can do. I've already called them and it's clearly their responsibility to keep their animals out of our place, so we'll see what happens.
Lots of composting being done, lots of garden beds being set up and lots of mulching. I love this time of year (except for the flu thing).
S
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ahoy there!
Time for some lifeboat building...
It's a term Richard Heinberg uses to describe part of the solution for peak oil. People preparing their own homes, gardens and communities for peak oil.
The main gist of the idea is a) to reduce consumption and b) to produce locally.
Producing locally doesn't mean just food production either, it also includes; energy, electricity, water, firewood, mulch, seeds, animal fodder... your list depends on what you have going on in your own backyard.
There is a lot we can all do in our own realms to help relieve the pressure on the bigger systems that are affecting and being affected by energy use and related climate change.
It's about moving from being a dependant consumer to a responsible producer. Moving away from big centralised systems to more local decentralised systems that are more robust and resilient to impact.
It's also a time to head out into the garden
So, machete in hand, we've started reclaiming the garden from the weeds, the summer growth and the pests... and it's time to start getting ready for our peak growing season.
Here in the subtropics winter is the best time to grow food, sunny days, not too much rain, minimal pest problems, and it's more pleasant being out in the garden - less humidity.
We will grow pumpkins, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs and salad stuff over winter.
We'll also get ready for our coffee harvest in the middle of the year and we'll plant out lots of kale, spinach etc and enough for the chooks too.
It's important to remember to include all the mouths you have to feed, chooks, worms, goats etc in your planting planning.
Coming up to Autumn it's a real time of transition in the garden. It's cooler, egg production has slowed, some of the older chooks probably won't make it through winter, weed growth has slowed, leaves are changing colour, more shade in the garden...
It's also time for compost making and compost harvesting from last spring. We have so much good quality compost now and with the huge in ground worm farm working at maximum capacity, we've got humus coming out of our ears.
May/June is the best time here in this garden - it looks a treat. We've organised some tours of permaculture groups then.
Like most of Queensland, we've had a lot of rain this year already and the garden looks lush and green.
Plans for winter also include;
organising our solar hot water service
exploring PV panel options and prices
getting louvres and fly screens installed on the southern side of the house to allow more ventilation
building a propogation area
drying and preserving more food.
Last night we had pumpkin curry (pretty much all from the garden) and tonight we have spaghetti bolognaise - damn fine!
It's a term Richard Heinberg uses to describe part of the solution for peak oil. People preparing their own homes, gardens and communities for peak oil.
The main gist of the idea is a) to reduce consumption and b) to produce locally.
Producing locally doesn't mean just food production either, it also includes; energy, electricity, water, firewood, mulch, seeds, animal fodder... your list depends on what you have going on in your own backyard.
There is a lot we can all do in our own realms to help relieve the pressure on the bigger systems that are affecting and being affected by energy use and related climate change.
It's about moving from being a dependant consumer to a responsible producer. Moving away from big centralised systems to more local decentralised systems that are more robust and resilient to impact.
It's also a time to head out into the garden
So, machete in hand, we've started reclaiming the garden from the weeds, the summer growth and the pests... and it's time to start getting ready for our peak growing season.
Here in the subtropics winter is the best time to grow food, sunny days, not too much rain, minimal pest problems, and it's more pleasant being out in the garden - less humidity.
We will grow pumpkins, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs and salad stuff over winter.
We'll also get ready for our coffee harvest in the middle of the year and we'll plant out lots of kale, spinach etc and enough for the chooks too.
It's important to remember to include all the mouths you have to feed, chooks, worms, goats etc in your planting planning.
Coming up to Autumn it's a real time of transition in the garden. It's cooler, egg production has slowed, some of the older chooks probably won't make it through winter, weed growth has slowed, leaves are changing colour, more shade in the garden...
It's also time for compost making and compost harvesting from last spring. We have so much good quality compost now and with the huge in ground worm farm working at maximum capacity, we've got humus coming out of our ears.
May/June is the best time here in this garden - it looks a treat. We've organised some tours of permaculture groups then.
Like most of Queensland, we've had a lot of rain this year already and the garden looks lush and green.
Plans for winter also include;
organising our solar hot water service
exploring PV panel options and prices
getting louvres and fly screens installed on the southern side of the house to allow more ventilation
building a propogation area
drying and preserving more food.
Last night we had pumpkin curry (pretty much all from the garden) and tonight we have spaghetti bolognaise - damn fine!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Our plans....
Firstly I guess my plans for this blog - this blog is about poweringdown and lifeboat building.
Poweringdown refers to using less power, less energy - most commonly applied to a whole region, or town or even a household I guess. Making all the changes necessary to cut back on energy use... and that doesn't just apply to electricity. It has to do with pretty much everything in our lives; food production, transportation and mobility, infrastructure, planning, land use, food supply networks, goods and services, education, health, communication, land stewardship, finances, economics, employment... everything. And it's all these things that form the framework for our lifeboat building...
Lifeboat has to do with an individual building their own lifeboat - their rescue package, their life saver. Preparing your home - looking at water, energy, waste management, what you buy, what you bring into your home. And I must say I still want comfort, quality and a good life! It's not about living in a cave, in the dark and eating raw meat.
Lifeboat building is also about preparing your garden - food production, permaculture, creating a food forest in your backyard, learning new skills, relearning old skills, sharing, knowing who your neighbours are, be part of your community, building resilience in your community. Knowing what to do and who to contact when you need them.
So, in a very small nutshell, that's powerdown and life boat building.
This blog will focus mainly on my home, my family, my garden and my community and the actions I'm taking to prepare for a future in which we not only survive, but thrive.
So our current situation is;
we have a small timber home on 2.25 acres in the hinterland of Queensland's Sunshine Coast. We have a composting toilet, we only use rainwater, my husband works part-time and I'm developing my own part-time work from home job.
We grow a lot of our own food; we have vegie patches, food forests, coffee plantation (arabica variety), chooks, worm farms, compost systems, etc etc etc.
We try to have one car between us - bit hard and my husband's had to buy a motorbike to commute to work. We buy only organic food and products.
Our plans include;
building a second dwelling on the property - a studio - I hope it will be able to be strawbale because I just love them, but at least hopefully some adobe feature walls internally.
converting our organic garden (we bought it as an established organic garden) into a permaculture garden (making it much more user-friendly, practical and LESS WORK!)
we have a solar hot water service on order
we plan to have a solar PV system in place by the end of the year
growing more and more food each year for ourselves
learning about dehydrating and preserving food
learning a lot more skills that will improve the quality of our lives
So, that's where we are at and a few dot points of ideas we have for the future. There are so many people doing the same type of thing - it's great.
Poweringdown refers to using less power, less energy - most commonly applied to a whole region, or town or even a household I guess. Making all the changes necessary to cut back on energy use... and that doesn't just apply to electricity. It has to do with pretty much everything in our lives; food production, transportation and mobility, infrastructure, planning, land use, food supply networks, goods and services, education, health, communication, land stewardship, finances, economics, employment... everything. And it's all these things that form the framework for our lifeboat building...
Lifeboat has to do with an individual building their own lifeboat - their rescue package, their life saver. Preparing your home - looking at water, energy, waste management, what you buy, what you bring into your home. And I must say I still want comfort, quality and a good life! It's not about living in a cave, in the dark and eating raw meat.
Lifeboat building is also about preparing your garden - food production, permaculture, creating a food forest in your backyard, learning new skills, relearning old skills, sharing, knowing who your neighbours are, be part of your community, building resilience in your community. Knowing what to do and who to contact when you need them.
So, in a very small nutshell, that's powerdown and life boat building.
This blog will focus mainly on my home, my family, my garden and my community and the actions I'm taking to prepare for a future in which we not only survive, but thrive.
So our current situation is;
we have a small timber home on 2.25 acres in the hinterland of Queensland's Sunshine Coast. We have a composting toilet, we only use rainwater, my husband works part-time and I'm developing my own part-time work from home job.
We grow a lot of our own food; we have vegie patches, food forests, coffee plantation (arabica variety), chooks, worm farms, compost systems, etc etc etc.
We try to have one car between us - bit hard and my husband's had to buy a motorbike to commute to work. We buy only organic food and products.
Our plans include;
building a second dwelling on the property - a studio - I hope it will be able to be strawbale because I just love them, but at least hopefully some adobe feature walls internally.
converting our organic garden (we bought it as an established organic garden) into a permaculture garden (making it much more user-friendly, practical and LESS WORK!)
we have a solar hot water service on order
we plan to have a solar PV system in place by the end of the year
growing more and more food each year for ourselves
learning about dehydrating and preserving food
learning a lot more skills that will improve the quality of our lives
So, that's where we are at and a few dot points of ideas we have for the future. There are so many people doing the same type of thing - it's great.
Welcome
Welcome to my blog...
well, more an online diary of what I'm up to and how we are personally preparing to live more sustainably, like so many other bloggers around the world.
I hope this becomes a record of what we're doing so I can look back on it and hopefully marvel at how far I come and how much we've achieved...
One of the main influences in my recent years has been Richard Heinberg's book - Powerdown, hence the name of this blog.
See you soon,
Sonya
well, more an online diary of what I'm up to and how we are personally preparing to live more sustainably, like so many other bloggers around the world.
I hope this becomes a record of what we're doing so I can look back on it and hopefully marvel at how far I come and how much we've achieved...
One of the main influences in my recent years has been Richard Heinberg's book - Powerdown, hence the name of this blog.
See you soon,
Sonya
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