Pandemic and Packaging

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Posted on May 19, 2020

As Plastic-Free July looms on the horizon, perhaps it is time consider one of the little-discussed ‘victims’ of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

For well over 20 years I have worked on reducing the packaging that comes into our home. I take my own containers to buy dry goods (flour, nuts etc) from bulk bins. I have been able to take my own bottles to the local Co-op to get them refilled with apple cider vinegar, tamari and olive oil. The local IGA supermarket and butcher accepted my own containers for meat, fish and deli items including sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese.

However, everything changed as COVID-19 arrived. I can still buy dry goods in my own jars as long as they are scrupulously clean and have no remnants of previous contents. We eat very little meat so I have not been to the butcher since the pandemic began. Neither the Co-op or IGA are accepting containers to refill at the moment. Will this change back when things settle down? Will it become the new normal and the years of action on single-use packaging be unravelled by one virus? Only time will tell.

These changes have forced me to reconsider my shopping habits. The item which has been impacted most significantly is olive oil. I used to take a litre bottle to the Co-op for it to be refilled but now I am obliged to buy a new 750ml glass bottle for $2.95 each time I wish to buy the local, organic olive oil.

This bottle will simply be refilled from the drum of olive oil as required now. No more bottles.

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We use a significant amount of olive oil so my interest was piqued when I saw a sponsored post on Facebook from Nuggety Creek Olives. After a bit of reading I discovered that I could buy a 20 litre drum of olive oil for $180.00 delivered to my door. The extra virgin olive oil is produced from olives grown without chemicals and I believe the farm is currently being audited for organic certification.

The Nuggety Creek olive oil arrived safely and is now stored in a cool, dry cupboard. I even made a drip catcher from an old dip container and a piece of wire salvaged from the shed.

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20 litres may sound like a lot of oil but I will be sharing it with at least 3 friends. Thinking outside the box has allowed me to continue to minimise the packaging that we generate.

Bottles filled and ready for distribution to friends.

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I have not bought any of the other items I mentioned as yet but my next project is to look into a bulk source of olives. While I understand that all foodstuffs must come in some sort of packaging or container, unless you produce it yourself, I am keen to buy in larger quantities, and therefore, minimise the impact.

Have you considered changing your shopping habits since the pandemic began? Would community bulk-buying be an option for at least some products?

Photos – Another Milestone

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Posted on April 29, 2020

There have been no blog posts for a few days but I have been beavering away in the background.

In my earlier post I mentioned that I was not ready to attack the large box of photos. That resolve did not last for long and I decided that I needed to work on those as well as the digital files. So, I began scanning. This did not turn out to be as onerous as I had originally imagined. The reason for this was that many of the hard copies in the box had, in fact, actually already been scanned. Nevertheless, it meant that I needed to cross-check every photograph to ensure that it had been scanned and do those that had not previously been scanned.

Therefore, I am excited to report that all of my photos are now scanned and saved on the computer. I still have a long way to go before I can declare that this project is finished. The next stage is to work on culling any duplicates or poor quality images. Once I have a curated collection for a particular folder they will then be numbered and named according the convention I have deemed suitable to ensure that the preferred sequence is maintained.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit testing as the various piles of photos took over the desk, the end of the kitchen bench and even some of the floor of the study.

One of the real highlights of this project has been the re-discovery of forgotten or rarely seen images.

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Photos – The First Step

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Posted on April 17, 2020

5 days ago in this post I unveiled my latest decluttering project. I intend to have all of my photos culled, sorted and labelled in a digital format.

I started with the files that were already on my computers – yes, plural. The very first step was to consolidate them onto one device for the purpose of this project. That resulted in reducing the number from over 18,000 images to 17,300.

I then removed further duplicates as I placed the photos in 15 primary folders plus and additional one for some assorted videos.

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The categories I chose reflect my interests and priorities. Yours may be very different.

Within those folders are sub-categories. For instance, the one named ‘Animals’ contains photos of various pets we have had over the years. Each pet has their own folder. ‘Family’ which contains the largest number of photos has a folder for each year. Within that folder may be folders for specific events such as birthdays and weddings with the remainder of photos for the year simply be ordered sequentially and labelled with the person and place if applicable. Some of the folders may be removed completely once all of the photos are dealt with. The folders ‘Food’ and ‘Clothes’ are primarily for photos used in blog posts. Once these have been checked against the folders for the blog and the photos referenced then the photos and other folders may be deleted.

Although this screenshot looks very neat, there is an enormous jumble within those folders that will take many hours of work to unravel. I have plenty of time and intend to a little bit every day – a bit like eating an elephant!

The second part of the photo project is contained in a box. The box on top of the filing cabinet contains all of the photos which have yet to be scanned, along with assorted other bits and pieces. I dare not show you the contents yet as I am not ready to dive into that and the photos that need scanning until I have the digital files under control.

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The good news is that the digital files have now been whittled down a bit further to 16,500.

So, why am I doing this?

As with any decluttering project, I want to keep only that which is useful and of value. This means removing duplicates, photos that no longer have any meaning to me and poor quality images where there is a superior one that is similar.
Having an organised and curated collection means that my family and I are more likely to peruse and enjoy the photos.
When I am gone it will be easy for people to choose which photos to retain and which were only of value to me.
My descendants will not be left wondering as to who was in a photo or where and when it was taken.

Like many people, I have left this task far too long but I am now determined to complete it. I honestly have no idea how long it will take.

The Long Haul

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Posted on April 12, 2020

I have begun a new project and as the title indicates, it is not something that will be completed quickly.

The sorting, cataloging and culling of my photos has begun in earnest. The first step is the digital files, so there is really very little to show. I had files duplicated on 2 computers as well as some of them on an external hard drive. They are now all consolidated onto a single device. There are currently over 17,000 files. They include nearly 1,000 prints that I scanned some years ago. There are still more to scan but they can wait until the next stage as I want to get all of the digital files sorted before I add any more. Some of the files are duplicates and others will undoubtedly be culled. At least I only have a handful of images on my phone as I regularly download those to the computer.

There have been several attempts to do this over a number of years but it was simply to big a job to tackle while I was working but a combination of retirement and an extended period of self-isolation has proved to be the perfect formula for tackling this task.

Previous attempts have helped me to come up with a digital filing method and naming convention that will allow me to find and access particular images with relative ease in the future.

There is lots of fun in finding some blasts from the past.

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I intend to try to do at least a little bit of this project every day but I also have plenty else to keep me occupied and interested. Tomorrow I will be helping GMan with his latest garden project – building new compost bays.

What Lies Within

Projects and Phone Calls

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Posted on April 6, 2020

A few days ago I posted on my Facebook page that I had cleaned a window. Yes, one window but it was the large window above the kitchen sink. One of my Facebook friends (thanks, Helen) commented that she had chosen to undertake some ‘Projects’ during the current self-isolation regime that many of us are currently undertaking. She noted that projects have no time-frame and do not include regular day-to-day housework.

Yesterday was a very productive day here with a couple of projects completed as well as washing, ironing and some general housework.

I removed everything from the cupboard under the sink and wiped it out with a damp cloth. I did not declutter anything as that had been done long ago and everything that remains is functional and used.

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Replaced and ready to go.

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Next was the cutlery drawer. One of the great mysteries of life is how grubby a cutlery drawer can become when the only thing that goes in there is clean cutlery.

Emptied out.

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The plastic divider was washed and dried before replacing it.

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Completed – until next time.

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Today was a completely different story. There were no projects tackled but I did make and receive numerous phone calls. Some were planning, others were social calls to extended family and yet another was finalising the rescheduling of a trip to Uluru which we had been unable to undertake due to the current restrictions. I did manage to fit in a bit of sewing, too.

While I do have a basic daily routine and some projects (large and small) in mind, my achievements vary enormously from day to day.

All About Ants

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Posted on March 20, 2020

We had mushroom risotto for dinner but this post is not about a recipe. As I was beginning to prepare the meal, I went to the pantry for arborio rice and stock powder and discovered…………..ants! They seemed to be everywhere on one particular shelf and I quickly traced the source to a sticky patch near the jar of honey. Thankfully, there were no ants in the honey.

Cleaning out and re-arranging the pantry was on my mental ‘to do’ list but it was hastened by the events of this evening. While the risotto was simmering I set to work. Since the pantry is relatively modern with melamine shelves, I just needed a cloth and plenty of hot water. In order to speed up the drying process I used a hair dryer.

Naturally, a bit of rearranging was required and I completed the 2 affected shelves plus the floor of the pantry.

Here is the result – 2 shelves done. I still need to tidy and sort the 2 undershelf drawers. The top one contains herbs and spices and the lower one is various seasonings and other small containers.

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On the floor is a paper bag for storing potatoes, a box of the excess of homemade tomato sauce, marmalade, jam, chutney and worcestershire sauce, the attachments for the food processor (stored on the shelf above) and a large stockpot.

The are 2 higher shelves which the ants had not invaded so I have saved them for tomorrow as well.

Here is a before photo.

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Coincidentally, as I sat down to write this post I decided to check my blog reader and there was a post from my dear friend, Julia, on the other side of the world. Her post was more appropriately titled, Spring Cleaning the Cupboards and contains some great information about ‘Best Before’ dates.

As we are choosing to curtail our social interactions during the COVID-19 outbreak there will be plenty more posts on jobs I catch up on around the house.

Crazy Corn

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Posted on February 8, 2020

We were away for 4 days but by the time we arrived home 2 days ago the corn was ready to harvest. I picked a total of 28 cobs. Apart from setting aside 1 cob for GMan to have for lunch today I processed all of the corn.

My preferred option is to blanch the cobs then strip the kernels to freeze and use as required.

To see the full details of the process I use please check this old post from 2014.

This year I ended up with 2.5kg of frozen corn kernels.

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The corn is not the only produce we have in abundance at the moment. We have been picking, eating and giving away figs aplenty. The persistent rain over the past week has been the enemy but I am not about to complain. Additionally, we have been fortunate to able to pick dozens of mangoes from a neighbour’s trees. I shared some with friends and family as well as freezing multiple jars of pulp and containers of mango pieces.

Processing large quantities of a particular harvest can be a bit time-consuming but it ensures that as little as possible is wasted as well as providing the opportunity to enjoy your own local produce for an extended period through the year.

No Longer Needed

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Posted on January 27, 2020

I am sure I have mentioned it before but I am not a fan of the ‘massive purge’ style of decluttering. I liken it to any radical lifestyle change. If it is too violent a disruption to the status quo it is almost certain to be unsustainable in the long-term.

A much better option is to work slowly and intentionally on reducing your possessions. This should always be a two-pronged approach – minimise things coming into your home and move along those things which are no longer required or loved.

This weekend I have found new homes for several items by listing them in a couple of local groups on Facebook.

The dolls’ house was sourced from Gumtree several years ago and has provided many hours of entertainment for our granddaughters. They are now a little old for this and so with the consent of the younger one, I listed it to giveaway and it was picked up yesterday by a very excited little girl and her parents.

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Today I listed 3 more items. The first was this bag which I used for work as I carried a laptop as well as my lunch and general handbag item to and fro. It removed the weight from my neck and shoulders. I no longer have a need for the bag and it has sat in the corner of my bedroom for 6 months so it was time to go. The bag is showing some signs of wear and tear, however, it was quickly snapped up and will be collected tomorrow.

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Finally, there were 2 pairs of footwear. The well-worn RM Williams boots will last for many more years with a bit of refurbishment are taken and will be collected tomorrow. The red shoes have not had a lot of wear but are probably marginally too small so it is time to fin a new owner. I am sure someone will find them suitable.

I find it worthwhile to take the time to find recipients for specific items if possible as this reduces the chance of them being deemed to be unsuitable for sale and ending up in landfill.