Guilt free showers

Spring is a great time in WA, undoubtedly my favourite season. Here are some reasons:

The wild flowers are in full bloom in the garden and bush. WA's endemic flora is beautiful, hardy and diverse. I have fond memories of Amy and I travelling to exotic places like Enneaba and the Stirling Ranges in search of orchids and other floral wonders. We don't get out bush much these days, but it's in my mind that we should head to the hills for some wild flower spotting. Here are some pics from our travels. 

The vegie garden is healthy and productive. At the moment we're self sufficient in silverbeet, spinach, lettuce, broad beans, peas, brocoli, cabbage, celery, beetroots, oranges, potatoes, parsley, coriander and more. The retic's still off due to good rainfall. We're looking forward to asparagus, globe artichokes and garlic which are all coming soon. The summer veg are in, with tomatoes, zuchinni, squash and basil either in the ground or cloche.

Second crop of spuds                                          Celery, coriander, peas, calendulas, silverbeet, artichokes
 
The fruit trees are either in full bloom or fruiting. We have a decent crop of almonds, apples, figs and a bumper crop of strawberry guavas to look forward to. Our thoughts are turning to jam. The native quandong trees should have ripe fruit now. Last year we picked an eski full at a friend's place near Capel and made jam. If you haven't tasted quandong jam then you have something to look forward to, it's one of the best jams on the planet. The neighbourhood mulberry trees are loaded with free fruit which most people can't be bothered picking and are more than happy to let you have. I want to try Pam Jam's fruit leather this year for something different, with apples and mulberries.

 

Apple blossom, almonds and the transplanted fig tree.

The chooks are happy and healthy and most importantly laying eggs. They're not broody (yet) and we're getting 3 eggs a day from our five girls. We have recently been planning phasing in a new brood as the girls get old and less productive. Maybe they have caught wind of this and are frantically laying in order to delay their inevitable meeting with the local 'chook grim reaper' Tim Darby.

Another great thing about early spring is the guilt free shower (GFS). Dave, a friend of ours, told me about the GFS a while back and I didn't fully appreciate it until recently. Normally when we have a shower there are two things on our mind, water and power. If the source of these two are not sustainable a GFS is impossible for people who really care about sustainability. In other words, we can only have a GFS when the rain water tank is full and we have enough sun to heat our water. These two things overlapping is rare, which means that most of the time we either have short showers/shallow baths or we feel guilty about wasting our precious resources.

We recently replaced our gas storage system with a solar hot water system. We almost have a year's data for this, but you'll need to wait until November for the full report. We have had to boost our hot water with electricity over winter, which although it is from PV I would still prefer to be feeding back to the grid. In the last few weeks we have been able to get by without boosting on sunny days, so there is one half of the equation solved.

Unfortunately when the sun's shining it means it isn't raining, unless we're lucky enough to get rain overnight and sun in the day (THE perfect weather!). In WA the winter rains often switch off suddenly in spring and it's not unusual to go 6 months with little meaningful rainfall. So after a couple of months being fairly blase with our water use, this is the time of year when we start to think more carefully about turning the tap on. Even if the tank is full, we tend to be careful.

All this means that the overlap between having enough water and renewable power is brief, but it is now. We have had good rainfall this winter, the tank is full and there is more rain forecast. And we have had some lovely sunny spring days with plenty of solar hot water. I splash out on these days and have extremely decadent 5 minute showers, rather than the normal 3-4 minutes. Or I fill the bath nice and deep and splash about with Quin, the floor getting soaking around us. This brief interlude will not last long, but we will savour it while it's here.

We just had the Sustainability Fiesta this weekend, which means early to bed. It was great, we raised about $2,000 for Hilton Harvest and had a lovely time.

It just started raining and I can hear the sweet trickle of water through the gutters, we may squeeze in a few more GFS before the year's out...

Sebadoh rock

Amy and I went to a gig a few days ago, something we do very rarely these days. We used to go lots, especially when we lived in the UK. These days it's a bit harder with Quin and the fact that many bands bypass Perth when they come to Oz doesn't help. We saw Sebadoh at the Rosemount and they were great. We bought a T shirt each and the band were selling them, so they signed our shirts and we had a chat. I spoke to Jason and Amy spoke to Lou, which is good because I love Lou so much I probably wouldn't have been able to say anything remotely intelligible.

A pic of Lou B at the Rosemount gig I got off the net

 1990's US indie rock is my favourite music, probably because the 90's were when I first got into music in my 20's. US is just better than UK for me, don't ask me why. From the time I first heard the Stone Roses I knew this was my thing (I know, they're from the UK!). My favourite bands of the era are the Pixies, Pavement, Nirvana, Elliott Smith and Sebadoh. Sebadoh formed after Lou Barlow left Dinosaur Jr around  1989. Their first few records are very lo-fi and hard to listen to at times because the band has 2 song writers (Lou plus Eric or later Jason) and Eric writes crazy, fast loud songs which suck. Thankfully Lou's greatness makes up for this, you just need to either program the CD or press skip every now and again. In 1992 Eric left (hooray!) and was replaced by Jason Lowenstein, who is a good songwriter. They released Bubble and Scrape in 93, which is the first album of theirs I bought and is still my favourite. When Nirvana hit and indie rock became big for a few years Sebadoh came close to breaking through into the mainstream, but never quite made it. In 2000 they split and Lou has done various stuff like Folk Implosion and solo stuff, some good some not so good, never with the Sebadoh magic.

Some (not all) of Sebadoh's songs are so achingly beautiful. I used to put them on mixed tapes and send them to Amy when we were apart. I think she was a bit surprised to hear how heavy the rest of their repertoire was!

 This is Jason at the Rosemount

It was great to see them play again and Jason said they may record another album soon, so fingers crossed. I used to think that rock was for young people and that bands shouldn't reform or keep going forever, but I've changed my mind now. Maybe that's because all my favourite music is being played by people over 40 now? Anyway, the gig was good , with Lou and Jason swapping instruments and lead singing every now and then. I drank too much (5 pints is binge drinking for me nowadays and I regretted it the next day). Amy wore her gig dress, which she has had since the age of 17 and still fits her! We had to leave at midnight as they were still playing because Amy was worried about our babysitter, not very rock n' roll but there you go.



These days my musical taste has widened somewhat (I even listen to some country, I love Gillian Welch), but I always go back to indie rock in the end. And yes, I realise that paying to see a band who have flown around the globe to get there isn't very sustainable but I don't care. Even us Sustainaburbers have to splurge every now and then...



We love Sustainable House Day

We had another great SHD yesterday, with about 110 sign ins, which we reckon equates to about 200 people. The weather was beautiful. How could you not enjoy a day when your house and garden look amazing and you get hundreds of compliments from absolute strangers, you make new connections in the community, you get affirmation that what you're doing is valued by people and you realise that people want to learn from you. It's a huge buzz to know that you can inspire people and teach them things that will make them and the community richer, more resilient and more sustainable. The talks were well received, with lots of interest in solar passive retrofitting and Amy's composting and worm talks.

Shani and Tim from Ecoburbia were there in the morning helping out and Shani's new kid Sunday (half of their milk supply) was a big hit of course!

 

The gardens were looking great thanks to some help from our friends. One of the great things about home opens is that it forces you to do jobs that would otherwise not get done. So we weeded the whole front garden, put cardboard down and put about 20 cubic metres of mulch down, plus we reapplied sawdust to the paths. The last time we did this was SHD 2009...



We also prettied up the place, for example:



The worm farm painted and yarn bombed the railing.



A succulent potted into a teapot.

My personal favourite, painting the compost slats. Each time we turn the compost a new message appears.

Some things worked out well, such as the orange tree loaded with ripe fruit and flowering and the nectarine tree in full bloom.



The grape vine was starting to leaf up in anticipation of another hot, dry Perth summer. It was good to demonstrate how to do some easy, cheap things like planting a deciduous vine to the north or shading an eastern window to make your house more comfortable.



Some things didn't quite go to plan, such as the sweet peas, poppies and everlastings being a week off flowering. I don't think it mattered that much though.

Here are some of my favourite moments from the day: meeting a mum with toddler in tow really interested in Living Smart (a 7 week crash course in sustainability, $20 all up) and frantically writing down info on where to get free sawdust and how to clad a west facing wall; meeting a young couple who just moved into the street (it's always good to meet the neighbours) and talking to a bunch of 20 somethings who were into everything, such as  preserves ("Wow, we'll have to look for some Vacola jars in the Quokka") and having a ride on the cargo bike. This gives me hope for the future.

We were also surprised by some things, like people saying how lucky we are to have good neighbours. We take this for granted, but we are truly lucky. A few years back a girl called Lily poked her head through the rickety fence wanting to play with Quin and now they're best mates. This is how a neighbourhood should work, but sadly they don't all seem to these days.

We've also become great friends with Lily's mum Sam (knitting guru to Amy), who often rides Quin to school or back in the cargo bike if we can't do it. A while ago we pulled some pickets off the fence, which serves a dual purpose. It allows easy access to the 'top paddock' and lets winter sunlight into a previously unproductive northern vegie bed.

Many people showed interest in Amy's dog poo composting system, so she'll do a post on it soon. Thanks to the volies on the day, Tim and Shani, Tribalivers Mary-Anne and Helen and Sam and Nathan.

We're already dreaming of next year. We went to the open garden of a celebrity gardener recently and it was great, but we can't help thinking ours is as good (and we're obviously not biased). We had a 9 year start on him, but we now have the confidence in our amateur gardening abilities to pass them on a bit. So the plan is to be part of the Open Garden Scheme next spring, which I think will be easier than SHD. We'll be able to focus more on the garden, without doing the whole house too. An added bonus will be charging money to raise funds for our community garden, Hilton Harvest.

And the everlastings will definitely be in full bloom...

Sustainable House Day 2011

We’re really looking forward to Sustainable House Day 2011. We had a great time in 2009 and we’d like to show people what we’ve been up to since then. This year we’re doing some short talks (15 mins approx) throughout the day:

11am:              Adam on rain water harvesting (our system, data and tips)-front garden

Midday:            Amy on composting and worm farms-back garden

1pm:                Adam on using solar passive design principles to retro fit old homes- back garden

2pm:                Amy on composting and worm farms- back garden

3pm:                Adam on solar (PV and hot water). Economics, tips- back garden

Out the front we will have our electric cargo bike on display: ask us for a test ride!

Entry is free between 10 and 4 on Sunday September 11. Hope to see you there. Go to this link for our address (see Hamilton Hill house) and details of other houses open.

No TV, yipee

We are more than half way through our TV free month and it's wonderful. Quin is now five and seems to keep himself busy really easily. Ok, he did cry the first day he realised he could not watch Octonauts, but he got over it so quickly. The back room is a mess with leggo and pencils and puzzles, but that's okay. He's been busy pouring with food colouring...

 

and helping cardboard and mulch in the garden...

 

Maybe all kids go through a big creative stage, but I credit the TV free month. I've been amazed and Quins drawings. It seems like only a few months ago he was not interested in drawing and could only manage a circley squiggle, but now check out his 'art work'.

These are some of his best work; Caterpillar, Alien and Chef. I swear, hand on heart he has never watched South Park yet the Chef does seem familiar, don't you think?

As for us grown ups, well as I said, I love it and never want it down from the cupboard. Ads quite likes it, however he is keen on having a TV day once a week. But then it will be there...menacingly sitting in the corner of the lounge room, calling us silently, messing with our mind whether its on or off. Quin will ask, I'll say no, Quin will cry. Who needs that? Anyway the month is not over yet and i suspect there will be some heated discussion about the issue.

Quin has already decided on next months challenge - no car and cargo bike only month. Hm, now that's a challenge!

Compost is cool

After playing around for a while with composting, we've finally got a grown up three bay hot composting system, hoorah! Last summer (and winter come to think of it) was so dry that our garden really suffered. Our gutless sandy soils just can't retain moisture or nutrients without adding heaps of organic matter and the best way to do that is with compost. It's a great way of closing the loop on our organic waste and diverting it away from landfill. As a friend pointed out it's also a good way to offset your carbon emissions since it sequesters carbon. Lastly, there are few things more satisfying than making and turning good compost...

Let me show you how I built the bays. Here's what we used:

7 pallets off the verge (best quality 'H3' preferably)

6 x 75mm wood screws

4 x 1.5m star pickets

Some sheets of tin, 3 per bay

Roofing tek screws 25mm, 5 per sheet of tin

Some wooden boards for slats (preferably wide, hard wood)

Pine timber for slats to slide into (20x20mm or 30x20mm), plus nails to attach to pallets

They're fairly easy to build, however pallets are definitely not straight when you look closely and this causes problems. Ideally you want the openings of the bays to all be the same width because this means you'll need less slats and they will all fit in any bay. Anyway, I'll get to that in a mo. Here is what they will look like:  

In a cooler, wetter climate you can probably leave the tin off to allow more ventilation, but they're good in our hot dry climate to retain moisture. First thing to do is to fit two pallets together with the back against a fence for stability. We put ours against the south facing fence to be out of the heat (compost generates its own heat and therefore doesn't need it in a warm climate) and it's a great way to use a space in the garden where you can't grow anything anyway. All pallets should be the same size and facing with planks horizontally. This allows you to bang in the star pickets and to attach screws more easily (the rear pallet in the background of the photo is oriented the other way, but I had to do this because it was slightly smaller than the other pallets). The two pallets can be screwed together with a 75mm wood screw (pre-drilled), as in the photo below. Try to ensure they are on flat ground and nicely leveled. Then fit the next side pallet in the same way. You should have a bay now and you can leave it at that or keep adding bays.

The next step is to ram a star picket in between each pallet towards the front. The trick is to adjust the pallets and star pickets so that all the bays are of equal width. Get as close as you can and then wedge small pieces of timber in between the pickets and pallets to fine tune:

Next you can attach two timber battons on each side of the pallets leaving a big enough gap for the slats. Lastly, attach the tin sheets if desired with the tek screws. We don't have a solid floor to ours, just dirt. There are pros and cons to this, you'll lose some nutrients without a slab, but worms and other beneficial beasties will be able to get into it more easily.You can also attach some wooden boards on top of the pallet ends to stop things falling down and to place your cuppa/beer on. Then cut your slats to fit with a bit of leeway. Hey presto, you have some beautiful, functional compost bays all in a row:

I think three is a good number. You have one bay composting, then you can turn it a few times and it will be ready to go. You can leave it in there and start another brew and you'll still have the spare bay for turning in to. Our bays are 1.1m square. The main cost is in the star pickets and screws. We got the tin for free from a friend and the wood for slats dirt cheap at the tip shop. I'm not sure about the legal implications of picking up pallets off the verge, but there are so many of them around I don't think they'll miss them. No-one seems to blink an eyelid when I pick them up. I like to think of them as a form of corporate sponsorship (unknown to the sponsor); thanks Cockburn Cement, you need the good PR...

Now the fun bit. We usually take a few days to gather the makings of a brew. I've been told that making hot compost is like baking a cake, you add all the ingredients at once and let it bake. We pick up as many vegie scraps as we can from the local shops (up to 0.5 cubic metres) over a few days, plus straw and manures, shredded paper, fallen leaves, etc. This seems like a lot of stuff, but most of it is free (we buy sheep poo, blood and bone and straw, but use the straw in the chook yard first).

I'm not going to give a compost lesson because really I'm no expert, but we make several layers of the following ingredients:

Vegie scraps, plus any green waste from the garden

Straw (from chooks is best)

Blood and bone and sheep poo

Shredded paper
Dry leaves

Saw dust

Worm juice

Egg cartons

Dynamic accumulators (eg comfrey, nettles)

Starter from your last brew/worm farm.

Lastly, add water (lots of it all the way through, especially if you live in hot dry Perth and you are making it in summer). You probably don't need to add worms. If you build it they will come.

Slide in the slats as you build it up and go as high as you can (we got to 1.2m last time). Then cover with something like carpet and wait for the magic to happen.

Compost is magic. You put all this waste stuff in and in go the worms, beetles, bacteria, etc and it heats up and produces beautiful, rich organic matter which will suit any plant. You can turn the compost every 3-4 days if you have the time and energy (when I first turned compost it felt great, it was like this rite of passage I was going through as a gardener).Turning will speed it up but is not essential. It should take between 3-6 weeks to make good compost.

I know what some of you are thinking: I don't have the time! Don't worry, you'll get around to it some day. It took me a while to realise that I needed to do it. Once you get the hang of it it's not that hard and you'll notice the results. Yes, you can buy compost but fresh compost is alive. How alive will it be after being put in plastic bags, on a truck for X kms, sitting in a shop for X days/weeks/months?

My dad used to make good compost. He'd pee in a bucket and pour it on. I wish he'd taught me his secret knowledge. I can't blame him though, I was probably a snotty kid who thought compost was really uncool. Now I'm older and wiser of course I know compost is very cool and an important skill. Hopefully I can pass on my knowledge to Quin, but maybe he'll be a snotty kid who thinks compost is uncool (and then realises later in life that it's not and writes about it in a blog).

We have a few other ways of composting and worm farming but these are the subjects of future posts...

TV free for a month

I don't want to say I won but more accurately, I have negotiated with my family to put the telly away for a month to see how we go without it. We are in to this a month with/without thing. July was our month with out purchasing any plastic packaging (trying at least) with the Earth Carers. It was a challenge, and we put our purchased plastic in the dilemma bag for show and tell...so here is ours:

The plastic bag itself was the funniest story. We ordered take away on the first night and made sure to explain the challenge over the phone. We got a positive response and took our containers in to be filled, which they did, no problem, but before I could say 'and here is my calico bag' the full containers were whipped up in a plastic bag quicker than a flash! Oh well. 

Anyway about the TV free month, how did I negotiate such a thing? Well, with my partner I employed the tried and true method of nagging, off and on for the last six months. He could not argue around my sound logic. For my four year old son, I used my new plastic purchasing freedom to bribe him with a packet of Chuppa Chupps. Easy. 

Here he is helping Ads unplug.

And Ads putting it up. He didn't seem as worried as he looks in the photo.

So what have we done in our first few TV free days. Well, Quin did cry on the second day when I said we would not get the telly down for Ocotonauts but he got over it. Quincey has drawn about 80 pictures and been read to a lot. Yesterday he said he was off to daydream on the couch. How wonderful. But here is the big news, he helps me with the washing up. 'Mum wets, Quin dries'. Perfect (but I cannot hope this will last). Ads is currently installing a pelmet in the living room and I have done a newsletter for our community garden. All this for giving up images of Colin Barnett scrapping the feed in tariff, famine in East Africa and America edging towards economic collapse. Fantastic!