Summer is just no fun!

Lordy, summer is setting in here! Given you can always add at least 2 degrees to what they forecast for us the air cons get a work out, and this isn't even our hottest month!

I close all the house up during the day, (looks like a cave it is that dark), then once it begins to cool in the evening I open it all up again.

There are a few things you can do to make sure you dont end up with heat stress:
> Drink plenty of water or other cool, non-alcoholic fluids. (Check with your doctor if you are on limited fluids or fluid pills.)


> Avoid drinking extremely cold liquids as they can cause stomach cramps in some people.

>Avoid heavy exertion.

>Reduce physical activity and avoid vigorous exercise in hot weather. If activity is unavoidable, try to schedule activity for the cooler part of the day and rest often. Whenever possible, stay indoors or in the shade.

>Stay cool and keep air circulating around you. Use air conditioning if possible. If you don’t have air conditioning, consider visiting an air-conditioned shopping centre or public library.

>Eat regular, light meals.

>Wear lightweight clothing that is also light in colour.

>Take a cool shower, bath or sponge bath.
 
>If the fan is just circulating hot air consider using a spray bottle with water in to spritz yourself

The more I see.......

the more I wonder!

Why on earth would anyone even contemplate buying something like this?

Apparently they sell tons of them.............the mind boggles!

And environmentally friendly????  Who on earth was the bright spark that came up with that ludicrous idea? Since when has using batteries whenever an object is needed more environmentally responsible than buying one item that does its job with nothing additional required??

Have we all gone mad?

Why would you a)...spend this much money on the gaget, then b)...spend even more on buying the batteries to put into it each time it was to be used, when something as simple as a t.towel or even one of these food brollys would work perfectly and would cost you nothing other than the original purchase, and then at about about a tenth of the cost! And c)...you are being far more environmentally responsible with the simple solution than you would be with that junk at the top.

Empty Nest......

Well here I am, still trying to get used to this “Empty Nest” idea!

I must admit I have found it strangely unsettling, first with my daughter, and only just this month my son, who has moved to Perth to begin his boilermaker/welders apprenticeship.

Whilst there is no mad gnashing of teeth, desperate wailing or depression I do miss having the kids’ home. On the other hand I am proud watching my young adults work their way through this madness we call society, and I am enjoying the change it brings to our relationships, more friends than parent/child (most times lol) and certainly I am enjoying the fact there are no school runs!

I don’t have to leave work at a set time now (used to be 3.30pm), I can set meetings when it suits my diary instead of around the school bell and if I don’t feel like cooking after a horrendous day I just make do with “anything” easy like salads.

Now there is one thing I am over the moon about…..no more picking up/tidying up! Man I love that!

The washing has reduced, the grocery bill is half, the water bill and not having to nag about 4 minute showers is nothing but a blessing these days LOL!

I am about to become “Molly” again……now that is quite a strange thought! It reminds me of the person I was before I had my children, yet still seems somewhat different, perhaps that’s age though LOL!

I have planned a trip to one of my sisters in Kalgoorlie and will head to my only brother sometime towards the end of the year.

I have my first grandchild due in July so of course there will be a week at the coast with my daughter, and perhaps a week in my garden after that before returning to work.

Strangely, this empty nest stuff is making me re-evaluate just what it is I want to be spending my time on, and what I don’t want to be wasting my time with.

I do miss my kids, I loved my mother time, but I love all the new things that will arrive in this new chapter too. I have more to give, more time to give and I am thankful for every chapter.

We are losing it......

Losing what? Well, just about everything of true value, but this post relates to losing the nutritional value in our foods.

Over at Mother Earth they have a great article about the evidence that continues to accumulate in relation to our industrial food system not serving us well when it comes to the nutrient value of food.

True, agribusiness has given us one of the cheapest food supplies in the world, but science reveals this food is “cheap” in more ways than one. Here are some of the things we know at this point:
•Over the last 50 years, the amounts of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and vitamin C in conventionally grown fresh fruits and vegetables have declined significantly. We know this thanks to rigorous analysis of USDA nutrient data by biochemist Donald Davis of the University of Texas. Similar trends have been discovered in the United Kingdom.

•Wheat grown 100 years ago had twice as much protein as modern varieties.

•Major declines in protein and several other nutrients have been documented in modern corn varieties

Davis lists the following causes for declines in the nutrient value of food:
Environmental Dilution Effects. Scientists have known for years that high rates of fertilizer and irrigation use can lead to higher yields, but sometimes at the expense of nutrient density of the crops. Nitrogen in particular is difficult to manage in the soil, and when farmers apply too much it causes plants to take up more water, resulting in high yields but giving us foods that have lower nutrient density.
Genetic Dilution Effects. As plant breeders develop “improved” varieties that give farmers ever higher yields, they are inadvertently causing food nutrient values to decline. Consider calcium in broccoli: Widely grown varieties in 1950 had about 13 mg/g of calcium, but today’s varieties provide only about 4.4 mg/g of calcium.

Similar declines are also being documented in meat, eggs and dairy products. Compared with industrial products, foods from animals raised on pasture are consistently richer in vitamins A, D and E, beta-carotene and beneficial fatty acids.

A compelling reason (amongst many others) for growing our own food!

Saturday sowing.....(click on pics to enlarge)

Todays weather was gorgeous in the morning, sunny but with a delightful cool breeze so out came the garden gear and in went: more amaranth, beetroot, carrots and chives.

I also took the time to trim back the shrubbery that lines the drive, fertilise the garden beds with our home grown manure (thank you wee chookies) and clean up ready for the new water tank going in later this year.

The pond really has set its' own little system on the go, the water is clearing beautifully and the edges of the pond are slowly naturalising and blending into the rest of the garden.

The marron in there are breeding madly, we found more babies in there during the week. The kingfisher is still stealing my minnows but they breed like crazy so we ignore that one:)

The Ice Cream Beans survived last winter, this year after losing four to the cold I covered them in shadecloth and left it on until the frosts had passed.



Having tasted these, I can tell you that they really do taste just like vanilla ice cream!



I only have two of these in, however I am thinking that once I pass a few around I will need to keep up with demand, so am going to try growing them from cuttings in a year or two.

Down either side of the round about in the back yard I have planted out Asiatic and Oriental Lilliums. They look so magnificent and the wide range of colours really brightens up what could be drab otherwise.

My idea is that later on as a pensioner I am going to have lots of fruits and flowers to make a little cash so I have about another 100 to plant LOL!

The pomegranate has put out dozens of flowers, I really love eating these both as a fruit, in sauces with meats and in salads. The taste is very refreshing and it really is a great health food whose nutrition includes:
* Poly-phenol Antioxidants – assist and take care of the body against “free radicals” – compounds which damage the body as time passes. Free-radical injury is often a main factor in growing old and persistent illnesses like cardiovascular disease and most cancers. Find out more about poly-phenol antioxidants.

* Ascorbic acid – facilitates and sustains muscle tissue and blood vessels, aids in the development of collagen helping your body take in iron. Ascorbic acid might also decrease the duration and intensity of the common cold.

* Vitamin K – performs an integral role in blood coagulation.

* Potassium – assists and manages high blood pressure and sustains building powerful bones.

* Iron – required by the body for the manufacturing of hemoglobin, the actual oxygen-carrying parts of the blood.

* Fiber – assists with keeping digestive regularity and could decrease Low density lipids cholesterol levels, which might aid and reduce the danger of cardiovascular disease.

Not bad for a little bundle of juicy seeds is it?

The white adriatic fig has really put some growth on over the last few months. It seems everything in the garden has finally found its spot and growth is going haywire all over.



I have 3 of the figs, the brown, white and black, all 3 have their own tastes but all 3 are equally as delicious in my book.



I am going to try drying these next year when I have more fruits, the other 2 trees are only about 1/4 of the size of this one.

This is last years chilli bush. Because our winter gone was so mild it just kept on growing instead of being the perennial it should be in this area.

I actually cannot stand them, but staff at work and the neighbours love them so I pick and share, it's a good feeling and it does make for some pretty reds in the garden:)

Well, thats me for the day, tomorrow it is more planting out and tying up of tomato bushes that are wanting to climb everywhere but up the stakes!

Enjoy your weekend:)

Tag.......and you're it......

Recently I was tagged by Liz from Eight Acres, (Thank You, Liz, it is an honour). Her blog is one I always enjoy reading, full of info, reality and inspiration. Despite her being a banana bender (said in jest-slang for Queenslanders for those who are not aussies) I thought it would be fun to pass it on.......rare that I do this so please enjoy the blogs I have chosen from my 200+ list, some favs and some are randomly chosen........

Leanne from Hazeltree Farm
Rose from GreeningtheRose
Lynda from Alternative Homesteading
Annie from Edifice Rex
Jo & Joe from the FunkyFrontyardFarmers
and two others: Wisebread & The MicroGardener

There is so much to be found amongst these bloggers. From the hard realities of learning homesteading and the failures as each grows to marvellous successes as the learning continues.

You will find tips and hints for just about everything you can think of, and then some. They write with passion, honesty and wisdom, I hope you enjoy them all as much as I do.

If you visit my profile you will see my complete list. I would recommend each and every one in a heartbeat, they are marvellous writers and educators, and always with some humour and/or deep insight:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR......

Today is our last day in what can only be called a year of recognition by many.

I believe the community in general is very slowly awakening to the fact that we have some very real challenges ahead.......peak everything!

For the New Year ahead I wish for you all Peace, Compassion, Health, Love and all that is needed to keep you safe, secure, fed and somewhere you can call home.

Shopping Local......

Last week I went shopping to our local butchers, who also has a local fruit and vegie counter. He is producing our Christmas ham himself from local pork. His meats are all local or no more than a couple of hundred kilometres away, he knows his suppliers and can tell you anything you want to know about the product and the same goes with the local producers of the fruit and vegies. Now perhaps I am a bit of a nerd, but to me this is exciting, wonderful stuff!

In a world that is gripped by one financial crisis after another, in a world where the dollar needs continual growth but is attached to finite resources, it is about time we all took stern stock of how we can increase our own local resilience ready for the challenging times ahead where oil costs increase considerably....and we have already seen how that will make our food much more costly.

It's time to consider the real costs to a community that loses its local business base. Independent local businesses employ a wide array of supporting services. They hire architects, designers, carpenters, sign writers and contractors for construction. Opportunities grow for local accountants, insurance brokers, computer consultants, lawyers, advertising agencies and staff to help run it. Local retailers and distributors also carry a higher percentage of locally-made goods than the chains, creating more jobs for local producers.

In contrast, a new chain store typically puts in place a clone of other units, eliminates the need for local planning, and uses a minimum of local goods and services. In a company-owned store, the profits are promptly exported to corporate headquarters.....and that more often than not is overseas!

If we all chose to shop locally we would have more choice and a better price, it's the same old game of numbers. Instead we chose cheap nasty products, made god knows where most times by people who are paid a pittance and the money flies not just out of our community, but out of our country in many instances. Stop and think about your community right now... If it's anything like many smaller towns, the food is controlled by Coles & Woolies, if they left town tomorrow where would you be?

Local owners with much of their life savings invested in their businesses have a natural interest in the long-term health of the community. Community-based businesses are essential to charitable endeavors, frequently serving on local boards, and supporting a variety of causes. Local businesses build our community, give it greater strength when times are hard and often provide a far superior product.

Have you ever thought about your food miles when you're eating snow peas from China?

Food Miles in Australia: A Preliminary study of Melbourne, Victoria by Asha Bee Abraham and Sophie Gaballa, estimates the distances travelled for food items found in a typical shopping basket and the resulting greenhouse emissions from this transportation.

The research revealed that food items like oranges, sausages, tea, baked beans etc with ingredients sourced from overseas have seen more of the world than most people. The report estimates that the total distance travelled by 29 of our most common food items is 70,803 km—that's nearly two times the distance around the Earth.

Calculating road transport alone, the shopping basket travelled 21,073 km, almost the whole way around Australia's coastline. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions estimate for all food transporting trucks carrying these 25 items on any given day is the equivalent of 2,830 cars driving for a whole year. And that's just for one shopping basket of 25 items.

The Solution? What about choosing to buy organic, that will help the planet?

Well, no Food miles still count here, what you need to do is:
• Buy Locally Produced direct from farmers either at the farm gate, farmers markets or shops that buy local produce and sell on.
• Buy in Season avoid summer fruits in winter.
• Grow your Own - now we are talking food feet, not food miles (This is my all time favourite thing to do, nothing better than walking outside and picking your dinner)
• Learn to preserve the excess and
• Buy canned or bottled goods from your own country by preference.

Buying local is all about bringing resilience back into your community. It is about US taking responsibility for creating demand for local sustainable practices and doing something about it through our choices.

I think it is time to ask ourselves the hard question.....why buy another countrys product when we can support local, or at least Aussie! For many I fully realise there is a budget in mind, and not much room to move in it. But that is where smart shopping comes in, buying on special, using less and making it go further etc.......there are options that would allow even those on a budget to buy local, it just takes smart planning and usuage in most cases.

It eases the load on our environment, it builds local community resilience, it is often healthier, you have greater knowledge of the product you are purchasing, and being local you can build some great networks and friendships.

GM contamination continues...

The latest debacle over GM foods, again only a few towns away from our farmers here, the story on one of my favourite sites HERE.....Ian and Jodi James have been farming near the small WA town of Cunderdin for over 15 years. They’re proud to grow conventional canola that's not genetically modified. But on 3 November, a violent storm washed GM canola from a neighbours’ paddock across their farm.
Ian and Jodi suspected they would have GM canola seeds on their farm, so Greenpeace provided Ian and Jodi with free GM canola test kits.

Over two days of testing, they found numerous GM canola seeds up to twenty metres into their crop. Ian and Jodi were devastated. They have lost their crop, and now face the expensive task of trying to get rid of GM canola from their land. They might even lose their premium for GM-free canola in the future.

Ian and Jodi have lost their right to grow safe GM-free canola. Why should the James’ have to pay for the costs of GM canola contamination, when they didn’t want to grow it?

Greenpeace is urging the Western Australian Government to protect farmers like Ian and Jodi from the costs of GM contamination by introducing Farmers Protection Legislation.

Want to know what's in your food? Tough luck!!!
Around two years ago, the federal government set up an expert panel to make recommendations to improve Australia’s food labelling laws. They needn’t have bothered. The public’s call for comprehensive labelling and testing of all GM ingredients fell on deaf ears. While the panel’s recommendations weren’t as strong as we need, the government snubbed them anyway. Once again, Australians are being denied the fundamental right to know what’s in our food.

Baker's Delight commit to GM-free bread
With Australia on the brink of commercialising GM wheat, we called on the biggest bakery franchise – Bakers Delight – to support the call for better GM labelling and to rule out using GM wheat when it becomes available. Baker’s Delight quickly promised customers that they wouldn’t be using GM wheat in their baked goods.
When will mankind ever learn?.... believe me, there is much still to be discovered about GM effects, and none of it will be want we want to hear.

Rain, Rain and more Rain.....

Yesterday saw a huge thunderstorm here. We had an inch in about 30 minutes! Roads were flooding and of course I was loving every minute of it, but felt desperately sorry for the farmers who stand to lose money because of it!

Again the odd roof flew off here and there, one whole one landing neatly in front of the premises in the middle of the street!

Flash flooding of course, a few shops inundated with the surge of water poor things and one building hit quite hard with a lightening strike!

This street had completely vanished after about 15 minutes of the downpour.

As awful as it was for some I am so glad I don't have to water for at least 3 days.