A Load of Garbage on My Mind - Eco Challenge

Garbage has been on my mind for some time.

It really got me thinking when I saw the Gardening Australia presenter Josh Byrne talking about how in permaculture there is a belief that nothing should leave the block. It got me thinking. If I didn't have a garbage man come and take my rubbish "away" what would my property look like ? Where would I store all the rice cracker wrappers, drink bottles and used glad wrap. What would the pile look like after one year ? How about after 13 years ? I am embarrassed to think that every plastic bag I have ever used it sitting a couple of kilometres out of town in a big pile. Add to that the plastics of every person in my street, and every person in my little town. Whoa!

Slowly but surely I have been reducing the plastic input. It is still no-where near enough, but I began with the shopping bags and it really raised my awareness. Now I am conscious of what I throw into the garbage bin and it has started to affect what I purchase. Mind you, If i want something I still get it, particularly if I am not organised with an alternative.

Since coming home from holidays and digesting the trillion thoughts I had swirling around my brain I really feel the need to embrace the idea of 'nothing leaving the block'. Today I set up a little garbage system under the sink. I removed all the cleaning products that had been hiding under there and made some space for a garbage sorting system. I have the garbage bin, which now has no plastic bin liner, a recycle box, a compost box and a chook food box. I try and equally distribute scraps between the chooks and the compost because we badly need to build up good soils.

I have been tearing up paper and putting it into the compost bin. It breaks down really well. I love that it returns to the earth. Then, I pick up a piece of plastic and continually harp on to hubbie about how I cannot do a thing with it. I can't bury it, I can't put it in the compost, feed it to the chooks or any other thing except place it in the bin to be taken "away" ( to the spot out of town where my pile is growing by the day)

The more I embrace the idea of nothing leaving the block, the more my passion will assist me in making wise grocery purchases

One thing that will really help is the idea of only consuming things that were around in my Grandmothers' day. It seems that these items are not packaged, or are packaged in paper. Things like flour, sugar, butter are all in paper and I can avoid packaging on fruit, veg and meat.

So tonight the garbage bin goes out, full of plastic. Little by little as I work through this transitional period I hope that it will go out less and less. My first goal will be to get to the point where I only put the garbage bin out once a month. That seems so difficult from where I sit at the moment, but I think before too long it will be as natural an act as baking bread. Considering that my Grandmother didn't have a rubbish collection, I think the least I can do is make a conscious effort to do my best!

In Defence of Food - Michael Pollan

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was so challenging I read it in a day and a half whilst taking notes. There were many 'oh, of course' moments - I like that in a book.

I enjoyed the history lesson it contained. The steady removal of food from our diets, replaced with 'food like substances'. Margarine being the first example of a non-food or imitation food being introduced. Margarine, said to be 'healthier', actually ended up, according to the author, containing trans fats which were more unhealthy than the fats that were trying to avoid in the butter. Pollan also describes margarine as able to include whatever the latest trend may be - 'now with vitamin A and D' or the latest one ' omega 3'. Whatever the trend, it can be added to your marg! I also enjoyed the idea of society being more overweight than ever in a 'low fat' world. I had to laugh at the idea of instead of eating a breakfast cereal that is 'now full of antioxidant' in the form of processed blueberry extract - just eat the blueberry!


Here are the principles from the book that we will take into consideration.

1. Don't eat anything your great grandma wouldn't recognise.

2. Avoid products containing ingredients that are: unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, have high fructose corn syrup.

3. Avoid products that make health claims. ( usually an indication that it's a non-food. e.g the blueberry)

4. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle because this is where the 'food like' substances are. The real food tends to be around the edges.

5. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. I love this idea - use the fruit shop, butchers, local deli etc.

6. Eat mostly plants, grown well from healthy soils.

7. Consider what what you eat eats.

8. Eat wild when you can

9. Be more French, Italian, Japanese, Indian or Greek in your eating style.

10. Regard non-traditional foods with scepticism.

11. Pay more, eat less. ( quality vs quantity)

12. Eat meals not snacks. ( remember when between meal snacking was a sin? LOL) How we have changed - or marketers have changed us!

13. Do all your eating at the table (Pollan says 1/5 of meals are eaten in the car! )

14. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. ( food sold at petrol stations isn't real food!)

15. Try not to eat alone.

16. Consult your gut.

17. Eat slowly ( as in the Slow Food movement)

18. Cook and plant a garden.


What do you think of the principles ? Are they something that you could consider implementing?
I think, looking at the principles, it would make a huge different to our budget and also the amount of packaging coming into our house. Considering that we are attempting to drastically reduce our 'outputs' this year, I think this list will be a great focus tool.

The Chook House

The chook house is coming along nicely. Hubby has been hammering away. I just have to paint it and build a little ladder. The back has a fold down door for easy access to the nesting boxes. There is a good size run for them to get out and stretch their eggs.

There is just one thing missing. Chooks! I can't get them yet because we have a couple of trips planned and I want to be around to settle them in, so I just have to wait patiently. In the meantime I can always pretend with the stuffed toy! LOL

Having chooks lay our own eggs will be another step forward in our quest for a more simple life. Hubbie is delighted by the fact that he will be able to make a breakfast omlette with homegrown eggs and home grown tomatoes.

In days gone by quite a lot of people had a couple of chooks in their back yard. It seemed to be a common sight, alongside the vegie patch and the water tank. As a child I can remember my Nanna making the best sponge cakes with fresh eggs in her wood burning stove. She had it perfected!

Friends of ours have recently got their own chooks and they have been giving us fresh eggs. They are so different to shop bought eggs. They are firm and the yolks are so yellow! When I buy shop bought eggs I forget how soft the shells are almost smash them to pieces against the side of the bowl when I am cooking. The fresh eggs seem to have much stronger shells.

So... I will wait patiently. In my wait I sit and think.... does Santa bring live presents? How many 'food miles' from the North Pole to my place?

......waiting...waiting....waiting.....

Green MeMe # 1

Julie from Towards Sustainability has tagged me for the Meme.

1) Name two motivations for being green?

a. Green Living embraces much of the old fashioned wisdom that I feel we lost during the excesses of the 80s and 90s.

b) I want to raise my children with a respect for nature and the environment.

2) Name 2 eco-UNfriendly items you refuse to give up?

a. My Lap-top

b. My Vanilla latte on skim - although they tell me it is now sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms - not really sure exactly what that is, but I guess it makes some people feel a little better.

3) Are you at peace with or do you feel guilty about number 2?

a. Often feel a certain amount of guilt about the lap top - well maybe guilt is too strong a word, but I know how much I can achieve around the place when it is not switched on! Guilt re the latte? Sorry, the addiction is far too strong to feel any guilt!

4) What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

I hate plastic packaging. I would love to be able to reduce the output in the garbage bin. We do try sometimes more than other times but there is always a tug of war between what is good for the hip pocket and what is good for the environment. Why is it always the way!!! I am guessing that this is a struggle for lots of families.

5) Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?

Our carbon foot print is less than the national average according to the calculator but I think there are a lot more steps that we can take to reduce it. The next thing on my list will be to install water tanks. If I had unlimited funds I would also add grid connected solar panels.

6) What's eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?

The frustrating thing is that there is not a bike path between my small community and the next larger town. It is seven kilometres away and on the way there are many sporting and recreational facilities. It would be good to have a cycle way that would enable people to ride out to these spots.

The eco-fantastic thing about where I live is that we have a yard big enough to grow food, we are within walking distance from our small local butcher, post office, school and newsagent and we have a huge wide river nearby where we spend most of our recreational time.

7) Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow your own?

We grow our own and try and eat local. It is somewhat difficult though. There is a local farmers market here but it only operates once a month. We have just started getting eggs from friends and yesterday were able to give our first tomatoes. I am hoping there will be more bartering amongst us.

8) What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

The same old question: budget vs environment.


9) Do you have a green confession?

OOOOHHHH I have millions of them! LOL The one that comes to mind is showering longer at the gym than I would at home!! (naughty I know! but the shower pressure is just so.....damn....good.....)

10) Do you have the support of family and/or friends?

For sure! My family had a meeting and decided together what we would include in our eco-challenge. I think many friends think I am a little eccentric but I see over time that they are starting to take a few positive steps themselves.

I tag Karen Libby and Sorcha


The Guidelines are:

1) Link to Green Meme Bloggers.

2) Link back to whoever tagged you.

3) Include meme number

4) Include these guidelines in your post

5) Answer questions

6) Tag 3 other green bloggers.