Tuesday, December 1, 2009
from little things, cucumbers grow
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Giving Christmas Trees
Friday, November 20, 2009
Decisions, decisions....
There have been a lot of things on our minds of late with regard to the upcoming year and all that this will entail. There are decisions that we have to make, and we are not usually quick to make these big decisions, especially when they have such a big impact on our hip pocket & potentially the environment.
The first big decision that we have had to really knuckle down on is what vehicle we will be travelling in for the 9 or so months. As we are a family of 5, 5 seats would probably do, however, over time, this would eventually lead to people (ie those lads sitting in the back) poking, prodding, and fighting. Let's face it, we usually only last about 10 minutes in the car before that happens - no, usually there is a fight about who is going to have to sit in the middle. So, we have made the decision that an 8 seater is imperative for all of our sanity so that all can have a little personal space to live and breath in that close confinement.
Ok, 8 seater, but what next? Fuel was my next concern. I wanted something that wasn't as harsh on the environment (is there such a thing?). Bio fuel sounded fantastic, but was it viable? What vehicles were able to take it? A friend of ours makes it from waste from restaurants, we can smell him coming, and he drives a diesel. It was settled then, we would get a diesel. Hopefully along the way, we would chance upon some great people who are making biofuel who we could get it from.
Seats, fuel, next was the type of vehicle. Not as easy as it sounded. We realised that a 4wd was gong to be imperative to get to the places that we wanted to - not that we wanted to go crazy off road, we just want to be able to see the beautiful natural places in Australia that are only accessible via 4wd. So, a Van or The Big 4WD - that was the question.
After loads...and loads of research the only van that came up looking like that it could do it was a Mitsubishi Delica, an import from Japan. Had never heard of it or seen one before. Suddenly, they were everywhere - weird how that happens. I looked at loads of them on the internet, spoke to people, found the "Delica Club", had a look at one, drove one (kind of like a truck, with luxury seats inside, loads of space inside), found the dealership (only 3 suburbs away - who knew!!!), all ready to go ahead. Kids even loved it. It was kind of daggy, but lovable. Called insurance to find out what it would be - they wouldn't do it - "an import". Called RACV motoring advice to find out what they thought about the car - SLAMMED it! I don't think that the guy had one nice word to say about it. Not even that it was really comfy inside. Apparently it is really hard to work on, parts very expensive, has to get towed out (of the desert) to be worked on if things go wrong (read "very expensive"), and that it wouldn't cope well with towing constantly for 9 months.
He said that there is only 1 car for us and that is Toyota Landruiser 80 series GXL diesel (which he then repeated many times in many different ways). Reasons: most reliable, easy to find parts, anyone can work on them, economical, strong and I am sure there were others. I have since found out that people who love these vehicles, really LOVE them....
Other things we have found out:
• the early models of the 80 series are better because they are built more like a truck, stronger, the newer ones have a front panel that is not as strong,
• best to get one around the 250,000km range (very hard to find),
• according to one mechanic who check out one that we looked at, we really need a turbo to enable it to have enough power to get up the hills given that it is pulling a camper trailer the whole time,
• it will need a snorkel to keep the air clean for the turbo & air filters (make them last longer),
• it's a whole new world after driving a commodore for so long - I think I will need lots of practice.
At the moment we have one (our second one) being checked out by RACV (the car club people) to see how it is. We think it looks pretty good. Everything is crossed at the moment. I am not sure that on our return I could reasonably driving such a vehicle to drop the kids at gym and whatnot - a van seems a little more reasonable in some weird way. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to that.
Next big decision will be the camper trailer. Have already been "glancing" at eBay for one, might have to ramp it up a little.
Note: the vehicle we are getting is to be a second hand vehicle
Beautiful fresh potatoes
Well, finally the plants have died off, so I decided to do a treasure hunt on the weekend to see what I could find. To be honest, I wasn't actually expecting a lot. I was beginning to think that the potatoes were all rotten as well because it has been so hot here, so you can imagine my excitement when I came across all of these little beauties!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Lessons to be learnt from rubbish
We just had our hard waste clean up this weekend just gone & I was really excited as it was a great way to clear out some of the crap that had accumulated around the edges of our life that we really didn't need anymore. We always try to be very careful with our decisions on what we purchase, we barely buy new, unless we really have to (knickers & food etc), and only buy when we really have to (the decision process, "do we need it, or do we just want it").
When we are getting rid of things, we look at their reusability, is there someone else that can use this, can we pass it on, op shop it, change it & reuse it, or is it past it? If it is past it, then out it goes.
So, that is how we got to have a bunch of stuff for the hard garbage. Not many people would pick up stuff from our pile, however, regretably there were a few things that I did put out, that probably could have still had a bit more life in them. I did put them out thinking that someone might chance upon them & take them away. They did not. They have now gone to landfill.
So on Saturday morning, I woke to the sound of the garbage truck scraping the old trolley that was ugly, but had really good wheels still (just took up too much space in my laundry) being broken & squashed, & my bubble burst as I imagined my muck becomming a blob of landfill that would never go away. I realised that I could have done better - with that & with other things.
- All of the metal could have been taken off things and taken to metal scrap yard.
- The timber - I am not sure, but maybe some of it could have been used be a salvage yard.
- The chairs might have been picked up by someone on Freecycle.
- The window frame could have gone on Freecycle too.
- The shopping trolley really should have gone to the op shop, the wheels were great, the handle great, it didn't even need new vinyl, I just didn't like the colour of it.
We live, we learn.
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Big Trip Around Australia

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Like your parks & got some time to spare?
Start of email from People & Parks Foundation:
Victorian People & Parks Foundation Volunteer Help Needed
Field Day Volunteering
If you would like to assist out in the field, we have the following events running. You don’t need any specific experience, just a happy disposition an interest in conservation and wiliness to pitch in.
This is a great opportunity if you wish to gain experience in community environmental work. A free Working with Children Certificate can be obtained for volunteers.
Please let me know which of the following days you are available:
WED OCTOBER 7 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Royal Park (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 14 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Blackburn Lake Sanctuary (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 21 RETREAT ASSISTANCE Corporate Volunteers Caitlin’s Retreat, Eltham (9:15am – 3:00pm)
FRI OCTOBER 23 GREEN CONNECTIONS Corporate Volunteers Albert Park (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 28 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group TBC (Eastern Suburbs) (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED NOVEMBER 4 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Blackburn Lake Sanctuary (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED NOVEMBER 11 SEA SEARCH School group Ricketts Point, Beaumaris (1:30pm to 4:30pm)
THUR NOVEMBER 12 RETREAT ASSISTANCE Corporate Volunteers Caitlin’s Retreat, Eltham (2pm – 4pm)
TUE NOVEMBER 17 GREEN CONNECTIONS Corporate Volunteers Werribee (9:15am – 3:00pm)
* Green Connections days consist of working in the environment with revegetation, planting, clear up etc
* Sea Search days consist of intertidal marine monitoring
* Retreat Assistance days are held at our retreat centre for special needs children and involve activities to improve the property
Email greenconnection@peopleandparks.org if interested
Friends of Caitlin's Retreat Volunteers
We are starting a Friends of Caitlin's Retreat for those that are interested in helping out on the Eltham property. Roles can include hands on assistance in the grounds, permaculture gardening, helping create programs for special needs children, networking with the local community and many other activities. The group will meet once a month at the Retreat Centre in Eltham. It is envisaged that this will be a working bee day for those that can participate and a general meeting. You can just attend the meeting, it is not necessary to assist in the working bee.
We are deciding whether the meeting will be held on a weekday or a weekend. If you are interested in being involved specifically in the Friends of Caitlin's Retreat please let me know your preference by emailing volunteer@peopleandparks.org
Office Volunteers
Do you have a day or two spare and would like to volunteer? We have the following skilled activities that require volunteer assistance.
Event Calendar Creator Volunteer needed for 1 day to conduct internet research and put together forward calendar of environmental events that People & Parks Foundation can participate in.
Park Database Creator Volunteer needed for 2 days compile information on Victorian parks and community groups including maps, photos and contact details for future volunteer projects.
Graphic Design Brochure Volunteer needed for 1 day to create brochures for volunteering days.
Writer / Marketing Volunteer needed for 1 -2 days to write copy for corporate and school volunteering programs.
Survey writer Volunteer needed for 1 day to write survey questions for volunteer groups
eLearning Creator Volunteer needed for 2 days to create induction PowerPoint for volunteers. Option to evaluate interactive elearning opportunities if interested
Data preparation We are transferring to a new CRM system(salesforce) and would like 1 days assistance in preparing and cleaning our data for this
If you are interested in any of the above activities, our preference is for volunteers to help on one or more of the following weekday dates during business hours.
October 9, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 29 or November 6, 9, 10, 13, 20, 27. Email volunteer@peopleandparks.org if interested.
** Please note that we have attempted to have volunteers work remotely, however, with a small staff we have found this difficult to manage this successfully and projects have become drawn out. We realise that this is not ideal for volunteers and I have therefore set the above dates aside to work with volunteers directly on projects in our offices.
Current Volunteers
Thank you for to those volunteers who have been helping us out already. We are working through some of the projects that people have started for us and this assistance has been very useful for us.
Next Volunteer Meeting
Our next group volunteer meeting is at 5:30pm on Wednesday 28th October at Level 10, 535 Bourke St. This is a great opportunity for you to meet other volunteers and to find out about the work People & Parks Foundation will be undertaking. Please RSVP to volunteer@peopleandparks.org if you are attending so that I can ensure there are enough biscuits!
End email quote from People and Parks Foundation
I hope that you can find something interesting in there!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Ad hoc planting
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Get your Trashbag
Trash bags! I love these bags for many reasons and one of them is because by buying, you would know that the money goes to the people who have laboured over it, and it would help support the communities throughout the Asia Pacific region who are using recycled materials to make these fantastic useable (and some of them very flashy) bags. The bags grew out a very important problem in the Asia Pacific region which was the rising amount of garbage. This is just one of the many bags that they have on offer on their website or at some of the retail outlets. The company has very strong ethics with the bags all being made using fair trade practices (ensuring amongst other things fair pricing, fair pay, prompt payment, gender equality, safe & healthy working conditions) and an active role in environmental sustainability. Something that we can get behind and support. Thanks to Amber for pointing Trash bags my way!
Friday, September 18, 2009
save your seeds
Here are the details.
Introduction to Seed Saving Workshop
This is a rare opportunity to learn everything you need to know about seed saving from two of Australia's best...
Jude & Michel Fanton, Seed Savers' Network, Byron Bay - www.seedsavers.net
WHEN: Sunday 20 September 2009, 10am to 3pm
WHERE: Randwick Community Organic Garden
Northern End Paine Reserve Cnr Rainbow & Botany St Kingsford (enter via Botany St)
BOOKINGS: essential as numbers are limited.
Contact Emma Daniell on 9371 1602 or mobile 0402 287 393 or emmadan13@gmail.
COST: $60 - please pay cash or cheque upon admission at the workshop.
You will learn about:
seed identification & collection
seed gleaning and storing
germination testing & isolation
and much more
WHAT TO BRING:
a plate of food to share for lunch (morning and afternoon tea provided)
BYO hat, water, gloves and secateurs (optional).
ORGANISED BY:
Randwick Community Organic Garden (RCOG) - www.rcog.org.
Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network (ACFCGN) Sydney - www.communitygarden




