riding bikes lead to discovery

Two of our members have been letting us know what they see as they ride around on their bikes. This week there are apricots ripening on trees in laneways and always there are items put out on the verge useful to backyard gardeners such as washing machine tubs for potato growing. So if you ride a bike and see something  useful to people working to reduce their use of resources let interested people know.

Creatively dealing with food waste

Having heard that the Adelaide Convention Centre had a good method for dealing with food waste we rang up. They were keen to tell us that there were  three procedures for dealing with surplus food and food waste. Edible food not sold is used by the chefs to make curries, stews or similar dishes, frozen and collected by the organisation Foodbank SA. Foodbank distributes the food to about 13 different charitable organisations in Adelaide. Waste is placed either in the Centre’s worm farm, the size of which is about 6 square metres; or in a Biobin, the size of a small skip, which is aerated and collected every 6 weeks or so by Peats Soils and composted.

December planting

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Originally uploaded by Royston Rascals

If you are getting your garden going, the following are good to plant in December:

Beetroots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, carrots, cauliflour, celery, sweet corn, cucumber, herbs, lettuce, marrow, pumpkin, rockmelon, salad greens, squash, tomatoes, turnips and zucchinis.

Eco display at Ecolateral Shop

Yesterday Ecolateral opened the new store at 411 Magill Road, St Morris. There is an excellent eco display with information about solar BBQs, insulating roof paint, LED lighting, efficient dripper systems, chooks and vegies and more. Drop in and have a look at this great display of ways to reduce our use of resources. There is also the sales section with all kinds of equipment to help us lower our footprint. Sustainable Communities has been invited to have a display there too – it will go up soon. Ecolateral is a member of Sustainable Communities and offers discounts on some items to members with current member cards.

Community spirit abounds

It has been an exciting week with people contacting me to offer a garden for growing vegetables and people contacting me to be a part of a community group growing food together in a backyard. We have our first detachable water meters installed from our Natural Resources Management Board grant so we can measure the water we use for growing the vegetables. These are on loan to the garden owner for 6 months.

Would you like to join a gardening group in your area? Contact me – Beth through this website, email bmylius@chariot.net.au or 8363 2295.

Backyard community garden party

Betty’s garden party was a great event with 40 people coming to celebrate the work of five Sustainable Communities members working with Betty to rejuvenate her backyard vegie patch and fruit trees. Betty is 83 and not able to do the work herself. It all started 9 months ago when neighbour Tania suggested working together cooperatively. The result is fruit and vegetables and also friendship and support. We celebrated, shared food, explored the garden and  listened to talks. Let me know if you would like to be a community group backyard garden volunteers.

Solar cars and great students

This morning I met the Willetton Secondary High School team from Perth arriving in their solar car, Solar Flair, from Darwin. The car had travelled 906 kilometres under solar power. It was driven by 4 of the adults travelling with a group of twenty four 12 to 15 year old gifted and talented students. Each student had played a part in preparing the car for the Challenge and each of them had a role to play on the trip from Darwin to Adelaide to keep a record of the journey. One 13 year old boy told me he had worked on the electrics but he was really a computer geek! I heard that along the way he had shown the Michigan State University team how to download some information they were wanting. Great hope for our solar future.

Climate Action Day

There are many actions happening around the world for climate action day on Saturday and Sunday. The aim is to bring climate change to the attention of our leaders before Copenhagen in December. We want the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to be reduced to 350 parts per million from its current dangerous level. We can all play our part in lowering our footprint by reducing our use of resources. I hope you were able to join an action. Have a look at what happened around the world on www.350.org

Feasting on low footprint food

There were 27 members at the Cooking and Feasting on low footprint food on Sunday. We had a great spread with African sweet potato and peanut stew; spinach, mushroom and walnut lasagne; mushroom, pumpkin and tofu curry; Javanese stir fried tempe; kangaroo paprika stew; egg and tomato curry with seasonal vegetables served with millet and brown rice. And there was a beetroot dip and salad with local vegetables. All the food was valued for its footprint as well as nutritional value. One of the best parts of the event was the opportunity for people to talk and get to know each other better.

Cooking & feasting

Sowing the seeds of sustainability

Sustainable Communities NPSP features on the front page of the latest East Torrens Messenger with an article about community group gardens. Let’s hope there’s a great response from the community and lots of new garden projects as a result.