A New Year (Financial)

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Posted on July 1, 2013

30th June 2013 coincided very neatly with the end of the weekend so a new week, new financial year and a clean slate. Time to take a fresh look at the finances and goals – tax, superannuation, savings, mortgage payments and other debts.

Even though we constantly track what is happening with our money, it is good to take some time and look at the big picture. Where are we now and where do we want to be in the future?

By the way, July 1st is also the first anniversary of the introduction of the carbon tax in Australia. This says it all.

And the world is still spinning on its axis.

A Challenge – Plastic Free July

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Posted on June 29, 2013

I know I said I would be back on Sunday evening with my next slow living blog post. I will do that but in the meantime I wanted to share something which I heard about today.

Plastic Free July started in 2011 as a community initiative of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council in Perth, Western Australia. From that small beginning it has spread with individuals and groups all over Australia and New Zealand becoming involved. 2013 is the year it has gone truly international.

I only became aware of this today. First, I read an article in the ReNew magazine which is published by the Alternative Technology Association. Later, I saw a link to the website posted on Simple Savings.

It seemed as though I was meant to find out more about this and I checked out the website and signed up for the challenge. Will you?

Individual bags

We do not use a great deal of single-use plastic in our home but I will be keeping track more closely over the next month and blogging about our progress every Saturday so make sure you pop in and see how I am going. It would be great if you can join in too and share your story.

Wet Washing

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Posted on June 27, 2013

Although I have a tumble drier, I try to minimise the use of it. My reasons are twofold – the electricity it consumes and also the wear and tear caused to our clothes.

We have a rotary clothesline in the backyard, however, that entails carrying a basket of wet washing down a flight of steps and around to the opposite side of the house from the laundry. This is not terribly practical and for that reason I mostly use the clothesline which is under the verandah. I can walk out of the laundry and wheel the basket of washing in the trolley to directly next to the line.

This was mounted and in place when we moved here. It is an Extendaline and potentially could be longer but it is in the available space between the wall and the edge of the verandah (about 2 metres). This means that I have 10 metres of line space and I can generally fit 1 – 1.5 loads of washing one here. Each line is long enough to hold 3 business shirts.

I have a variety of other options for hanging and drying clothes. Here you can see my other rotary clothesline. It is designed for camping and we bought it from Kathmandu. It folds up completely, comes with its own carry bag and is very lightweight. In the background you can see the mobile hanging rack which I use for ironed clothes but is also handy for finishing drying clothes in front of the fire.

This is much better than regular clothes airers as the lines are high enough to allow you to hang towels, jeans and even single bed sheets.

These hangers are perfect for drying sweaters and cardigans as there are no peg marks.

Here is a small clothes hanger with pegs attached. I bought it in Japan several years ago but I believe you can buy them here in Australia now. Apart from hanging rewashed plastic bags to dry, I use this for socks, handkerchiefs and underwear.

Finally, I have a clothes airer on castors which lives on the verandah and I often wheel it inside to dry things in front of the fire.

This post is for Kim who asked about my washing line under the verandah. It is quite timely as the forecast here is for showers and rain for most of the next week.

What strategies do you have for getting washing dry in cold and/or rainy weather?

Step Outside

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Posted on June 25, 2013

Most of the time I write about things that I do in and around our own home. These include many things that can be bundled under the guise of simple living such as growing fruit and vegetables, sewing and mending, cooking from scratch and decluttering.

There is certainly enough to keep us occupied in our own corner of the world, but what about the bigger picture? Whatever the reason, I do not think it is healthy to withdraw from the world around us. Developing and maintaining connections with your neighbours and the broader community are vital to our well-being and possibly our ultimate survival. If everything turns pear-shaped the first thing you will need is the support and co-operation of those around you.

There are so many exciting initiatives that have developed from a seed of an idea. Some, such as Freecycle and LETS are relatively well-known, however, there are many less publicised ventures that are worthy of promotion.

I am planning a series of posts to highlight some of these ventures and how you can become involved and make a positive contribution to the community in which you live. If you have any particular favourites that you would like to suggest please leave a comment or email me if you prefer.

Long Forgotten Original

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Posted on June 18, 2013

Once upon a time there was a recipe for Oven-Baked Sausages. I think the book has been moved along to the op shop in one of the culls of my recipe books, however, the general idea remains.

The original recipe consisted of a sweet/sour/spicy sauce made in a saucepan. Sausages were grilled, cooled, sliced and added to the sauce. Pasta spirals were cooked, drained and added to the mixture and combined. Finally, the entire contents of the saucepan were placed in a large casserole dish, topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven.

This was a filling meal for a hungry family but being time-poor I quickly cut out what I regarded as unnecessary steps. It really did not need to be baked in the oven as all of the ingredients were already well-cooked. Once the mixture was combined in the saucepan it was ladled directly into serving bowls. If I was feeling particularly generous I would sprinkle a little grated cheese on top. The casserole was always received enthusiastically so the cheese was not really necessary.

The original recipe for the sauce is a little hazy but here is the general idea.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can water
1/3 cup fruit chutney
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce

I remember that I was always checking that I had fruit chutney when I wanted to make this.

Like many recipes, this one seemed to run its course and then was forgotten once the girls left home.

I thought of it not long ago and have made it a couple of times recently with some amendments.

Some of these were necessary because I now eat a gluten-free diet. Canned tomato soup contains gluten so I substitute home-made tomato paste and some additional water. Naturally I no longer mix pasta into the dish. The sausages I buy are gluten-free but you would need to check that, too.

The jar of tomato paste looks over full as I store it upside-down in the refrigerator which inhibits the growth of any mould. This also applies to commercially produced tomato paste as well.

The recipe has evolved and varies depending on what is in the cupboard/refrigerator. I made it this morning using the following ‘recipe’.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Remainder of tomato paste (home-made) – about 1/4 cup
Water – enough to rinse the jars and create the right consistencey
Handful of sultanas
Vinegar – about 2 tablespoons
Rosella jam (home-made) – about 2 tablespoons – bottle rinsed out
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce (home-made)
Tomato sauce – home-made (remnant in the bottle) – rinsed out

Here are some of the jars – on the left is the worcestershire sauce. The middle jar is the rosella jam mixed with vinegar and the last of the tomato sauce (empty bottle on the right).

I had cooked the sausages on Sunday night and cut them up ready so they were added and the mixture simmered for about 10 minutes.

Like so many casserole-type meals this sauce will benefit from standing and the flavours will develop further by the time we have dinner tonight. There is some home-made pasta in the freezer which The Duke will have with the suasages in sauce and I will have stir-fried shredded sweet potato with mine.

The Great Garlic Massacre & Other Dirty Tales

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Posted on June 16, 2013

We have finally had some of the glorious winter weather for which south-east Queensland is renowned – clear, sunny days and crisp, cool nights.

The majority of yesterday and today has been spent in the garden. I have previously shown you the 3 raised vegetable garden beds. One was planted out with seeds a couple of weeks ago. I planted 2 bean seeds together in each hole and they all germinated so I transplanted the extras. I am not sure whether they will survive the process but it never hurts to try.

We moved some lemon tree prunings which had been in this tank and filled it with soil from one of the old garden beds which is now redundant. The soil is fabulous and it would be a shame to waste it. We mixed it with some mulch (from the poinciana stump which we had ground last year) and also some mushroom compost. In the centre you can also see some bok choy seedlings. The bok choy seeds came up so thickly that I have thinned heaps of them and will thin them out again as they get a bit bigger. I could not bear to just throw the thinnings away so they were all transplanted. Some went into this old esky filled with soil and mulch.

I put some others in between the potato plants in the other raised bed. The bok choy will be well and truly finished before the potatoes take over.

The carrots, onions and beetroot have also germinated and are growing but are probably too small to identify in this photo. You can, however, see the beans and bok choy.

A few weeks ago I bought some organic garlic ready to sprout and plant. It has been languishing in a bag on the floor of the pantry but today was the day to plant it out. Firstly, we had to finish preparing the third raised bed. It was about 1/3 full of leaf litter, mushroom compost and shredded arrowroot leaves. Today we added some grass clippings after The Duke had mowed the lawn area area the vegie patch, more mushroom compost, lots of mulch and soil as previously described. Then it was time to plant the garlic. We peeled off the papery outer layer, separated the cloves and planted them in rows with the sprouting tip pointing upwards. You can see all of the shredded outer layers on the ground beside the bed. It really did look like something had been massacred. The bed is 2.4m x 1.2m and it is entirely planted with rows of garlic. If this is even moderately successful I should never have to buy garlic again!

I cleared some old cherry tomato plants out of another round tank, topped up the soil and mulch and planted these golden sweet potato plants that had been in a pot for ages since my brother-in-law gave them to us.

This is the old garden bed where we have been digging up the soil to re-use. There is still plenty left.

The pile of mulch which resulted from the grinding of the tree stump last year has been put to good use in the garden beds. We still have more that we can take from here to build up the next round of garden beds.

It is gratifying to be able to use and reuse everything from our own property in the gardens. Leaf litter, compost, mulch, soil and grass clippings all go into creating the next lot of vegetables for us to eat. Chickens, chickens manure and eggs are also part of the cycle. Trees provide fallen timber for firewood which in turn leaves ash that we put back into the compost heap or garden bed. Permaculture in action really is the circle of life.

Quilt Update

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Posted on June 13, 2013

I have done some more work on the quilt today. The blocks are all sewn together, the batting and backing are attached and I have machine quilted between the blocks.

Here is a view of the backing with the stitching.

This is the fabric I will use to make the binding.

I was undecided about the binding until I had the quilt assembled. This was a piece which I had planned to use when making reuseable Christmas gift bags. I will buy more if I actually need it for that purpose.

No more craft posts until I show you the finished product. However, I am pleased to have set myself this challenge otherwise this would still be a pile of fabric on the sewing table.

Craft Challenge

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Posted on June 11, 2013

It is Tuesday morning here and we have had a long weekend. My mother came to visit and I have been spending time doing things other than blogging. On Saturday we visited 6 open gardens as part of the local Garden Club’s weekend titled, “Gardening on the Edge” which is a specific reference to the escarpment location where we live. These were large, mostly ornamental gardens with stunning displays of camellias which are in full flower at the moment. One garden had a large, productive vegetable patch so that was of particular interest to me.

We arrived home at about 3pm just as it began to drizzle with rain. We have had consistent rain since then with it barely stopping, day or night for 64 hours. The rain is not heavy – just gentle, soaking rain which is predicted to continue for another 3 days. I hope my new vegetable seedlings don’t get waterlogged.

A 3 day weekend meant that I achieved most of the essential housework so I had time for some other activities. Since it was raining I turned to my sewing room. As always, there are some projects underway and many others planned and waiting to start, so my goal this week is to make some real progress and I will share it with you here.

This is a pair of pyjamas I have made for Izz. I had finished the bottoms except for the waist casing and elastic so that was the first thing on my list. This fabric was given to me and I had already made pyjama bottoms for myself and another pair for Izz. This pair used the very last of the fabric and necessitated having an extra join in the back but it is not visible due to the casing. I then found the tshirt fabric in my stash to make the top. I was left over from when I was making school polo shirts for Belle (over 20 years ago).

The next project was another top made from scraps. It can be a pyjama top or would be equally suitably to wear to daycare with her jeans. The white ribbing for the neckband and cuffs is cut out and ready to sew.

This is some material that I cut out and prepared to make a sundress. It will fit a little girl from about 12 – 18 months. The style means that it is very flexible and can usually be worn for at least 2 years. I am not making it for anyone in particular but may sell it or give as a gift.

Here is a piece of plain calico and a smaller piece with teddy bears. I plan to make a patchwork cot quilt – once again, not for anyone special.

You may wonder at me making random items for which I have no specific purpose. Although I do not have a room full of fabric stashed to the ceiling, I do have a reasonable quantity of good quality fabric and smaller offcuts. I love designing and creating garments and useful things that use what I already have so my goal is to gradually work through the pile.

This week I hope to complete several projects and I will share more photos as the week goes on.

Please let me know what you are doing in the craft room, too.

No Thanks, Mr Newman

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Posted on June 4, 2013

Yesterday was a clear, sunny day with not a hint of the political storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

Our household has now been identified as one of the 180,000 households in Queensland who are the culprits responsible for soaring electricity costs.

“Roughly 180,000 households are benefiting with low power prices or getting cheques and well over 1.5 million are paying for that benefit to those people.” The Courier-Mail understands 92,600 Queensland households pay nothing for power or get money back as a result of the generous solar feed-in tariff introduced by the previous Labor government.

Our house has a perfectly angled, north-facing roof with virtually no obstructions (trees, buildings) to the sunlight.

We have 20 solar panels (3.7kW system) which were installed in November 2010. We chose this system because our research and modelling indicated that this would be more than enough to cover our current and future electricity requirements. It also means that by being judicious in our power usage, we are able to export a significant portion of the power generated by our system back to the grid.

According to Mr Newman and his government, we are making money at the expense of others. Rich greenies are wreaking havoc on the budgets of the poor people who are struggling to make ends meet.

I believe that climate change is real and acknowledge that we all need to make an active contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
I have a long-standing commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and do so by a variety of means. Installing solar panels is just one of them.
We funded the purchase of the grid-connected solar panels through a bank loan.
The feed-in tariff was set by government to encourage people to invest in renewable energy sources.
We chose a grid-connected system and pay all of the associated service charges to enable us to access power at any time of the day or night from the electricity grid.
The feed-in tariff is contracted for 20 years (ending in 2028).

We will reconsider our position if any attempt is made to penalise those who have chosen to install grid-connected solar panels. Our preferred option will be to move off-grid and we will invest in batteries to enable us to do this. Therefore, the power generated by our solar panels will be used only by our household and none will be exported to the grid, resulting in a net loss to the electricity grid.

I do not deny that we do receive a monetary gain from the excess power that is generated and exported to the grid, however, all of the households who do this are providing a net gain of green power to the grid. This is then ‘sold’ to other consumers who choose ‘green power’ with a premium cost, so it is only reasonable that we (the producers) should be paid a premium price (feed-in tariff) for our product.

The following information has been taken from here. I cannot articulate these thoughts any more succinctly.

The market fails to take into account the true value and many benefits to the electricity network which arise from the adoption of renewable energy technologies embedded within the electricity grid.

Solar PV, like other renewable energy sources, provide environmental benefits through reduced atmospheric pollution, and social benefits through industry development and job creation – for example through the installation of grid-connected solar systems, each with related economic benefit.

When electricity is transmitted over a distance, some is lost through what is known as line loss. By installing rooftop solar arrays on houses, the electricity can supply not only the house on which it’s installed, but the surplus can feed other houses close by.

Centralised power generation facilities also provide a relatively easy target for hostile parties and can be destroyed in natural disasters such as cyclones or fires. A decentralised network or grid connected systems allows for better energy security as it’s much cheaper and faster to repair a sub-station than it is to replace an entire plant.

It’s in the interests of our national security to decentralise power generation.

During the summer months, it’s becoming increasingly common for blackouts to occur due to an overload of the mains grid. It’s during these months that solar power installations can make their greatest contribution.

A feed-in tariff for grid connected systems redresses these systemic market failures and threats and rewards solar electricity generation for its true value to the electricity market and wider society, by providing a financial incentive for the adoption of renewable energy.

So, to sum up I would like to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to Mr Newman. Try to penalise me for choosing to make a positive contribution to the environmental footprint of this state and I will take my bat and ball (and solar panels) and go off-grid. I am sure I will not be the only one.

Slow Living – May

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Posted on June 3, 2013

Another month has flown by and it is time to review it in the spirit of the monthly round-up at Slow Living Essentials . {nourish*prepare*reduce*green*grow*create*discover*enhance*enjoy}

Here are the Slow Living categories:

{Nourish} Apart from the everyday cooking I discovered that I could make very acceptable gluten-free cupcakes by simply substituting gluten-free flour for regular wheat flour.

{Prepare} I retrieved several kilos of cherry tomatoes from the freezer and made some more tomato sauce. I gave some to Missy and restocked the supply in our pantry.

{Reduce} When I look around our home I can see how much ‘stuff’ we do not have. It feels so much lighter not to have excess in our lives.

{Green} Another raised bed made which brings the total to 3 so far. These have all been created entirely with salvaged or leftover materials.

{Grow} This is the time of the year when we harvest with seemingly almost no effort on our part. The citrus are all producing luscious fruit – oranges, grapefruit and lemons as well as so many avocadoes that we can almost eat them at every meal. We have planted more seeds and the bok choy seedlings are poking theirs through the soil. We planted seed potatoes in another bed.

The harvest…………….

{Create} I made a dressing gown for Miss O.

{Discover} I am discovering some more family history snippets as I keep working on my family tree.

{Enhance} We have applied to have our home included in the Sustainable House Day in September. It was interesting to write the application and really think about all of the things that make our home sustainable. Many of them are things we now simply take for granted.

I also made enquiries about joining the local Friends of the Library group.

{Enjoy} We enjoyed having visitors. Our daughter who lives in Melbourne was here for a weekend – she managed to tack it onto the end of a work trip so that was good. We enjoyed her company and dined at a local restaurant one night. Miss O came to stay for a few days before she went back to school after having had her tonsils removed. She and I had lots of fun and you can read about it here and here. Taking time to savour afternoon tea with friends is special.