Freedom Harvest Challenge

I have signed up for the "Freedom Harvest Challenge". The challenge is for people to collectively grow 1 million pounds (453 600 kgs) in their backyards, (or front yard, or window sill, or where ever). Anais at Little Homestead in the City says this amounts to about 400 pounds each (181.5 kgs) eeek!

Oh, well, one of my goals for 2009 was to get the garden back up to scratch, I guess this will help get me more motivated.

I wonder if I should weigh every handful of parsley I sprinkle on our dinners?

Anyway, I'm off to plant some zucchini to pad out my total, ;) they always grow like weeds, he he.

Sign up here: http://www.freedomgardens.org

Another 2009 goal

I have enrolled in The Northey St City farm's Permaculture Design course.
My first day was great. I am always really nervous meeting a group of new people.
I also had these wierd half formed ideas, that maybe everyone would be uber hippy green and they would think that i was terrible for eating cheese, or using soap, or something. He he. After awhile, I felt really comfortable though, with everyone so welcoming. There was a lot of diversity, in age, political leanings, "greenness", etc.

I have learned so much, my head is swimming. It is so refreshing to study something that gels with your worldview. (Unlike so many university arts subjects, which are approached from either a feminazi, socialist viewpoint, or focussed on past world events, and really can't be applied to life.)

Lunch is provided for the students, by the students, on a roster. (And everyone has to pitch in with dishes and cleaning up after, which gives you a chance to chat. Not like uni, at all! Reminded me a bit of school camp lol.) Every week lunch focusses on a different subtropical seasonal ingredient. This weeks ingredient was Bunya Nuts. We had bunya nut stirfry, with rice, and bunya nut patties - think felafel, with lilly-pilly chilli jam. It was so exciting for me to see Bunya nuts 'in the flesh'. I've read about them before, and have always wanted to try them. There was also a presentation about the nuts, you know, habitat, uses etc. We also discussed how the Bunya nut is a special tree to Indigenous people. A lot of the significance of bunya nuts is only allowed to be shared within the Indigenous community, which I respect. For an interesting insight into the Bunya nut festival visit this blog. The festival is invitation only, which i think is great, because it stops it from turning into a tourist attraction.

I also loved that I was eating a meal prepared by other people, yet I could eat everything on offer... It was all vegetarian, yay! No making excuses, or apologising for putting people out. The ratio of carnivores to vegos was about 50/50, so i didn't feel odd.

I am thankful this is something I am able to do, and I hope to put my knowledge to use at home now and on our property, when we get one.

A new year begins.

Well, the first week of 2009 is over.
I'm not one for making new years resolutions, mainly because I either break them or forget them. Instead, I plan, I dream and I formulate goals.

Some of my goals for 2009:

• As always to reduce, reduce, reduce my family's impact on the planet. (This is the main goal I have and most of the other goals are related to this.)
• Reduce the amount of processed food my family eats. This means I will need to be more organised. I will have to make work and school lunches in advance and freeze up some home made "ready meals", for days when neither of us wants to cook. Sorry boys, no tuck-shop or take away.
  
• Complete a Permaculture design course. I have researched this and I am lucky to have Northey St City Farm just down the road from me. This is the website here. Somehow, I will fit this into my existing work, school and family schedule.
  
• Finish everything in my mending basket. Sigh. How does a grown man manage to rip so many pairs of shorts?
  
• Bake our own bread, biscuits, muffins etc. I love to cook, and my boys love to eat what I cook, but somehow I only manage to bake for special occasions. I need to make it part of my weekly routine. I really want to try this recipe I saw in Mother Earth Magazine.
  
• Make my own pasta. I have been promised a shiny pasta maker by my handsome husband. I know, I know, I could just roll it out and cut it, but when I do it this way, the texture is all wrong and my lasagne is too thick.
  
• Walk, ride or catch the bus to school.
• Be on time for school everyday. Last year, my son's teacher was so frustrated by my lack of punctuality, I think she was on the verge of giving me detention.
  
• Get my Driving license. I don't want, or need a car of my own, but for emergencies, it's probably a good idea to be legally allowed to drive one.
  
• Get the veggie patch up to scratch. The poor patch has suffered, due to storms, heat, humidity and general neglect.
  
• Make soap, at least once. I have relatives who own an olive business and they make their own olive oil soap, which is so luscious and creamy. I just don't see them enough to keep us supplied in free samples, lol. So I will try to make my own.

I will post through out the year about my attempts at achieving these goals, and keep you updated about my successes, or failures :1