Change the World Wednesday – 9th May

6am

Coffee No. 2

About to get coffee No. 3

Coffee No. 3 and marmalade on toast becomes a transient moment of bliss at this hour of the morning.

I have an early class at 7, so I doubt that I’ll get this completed before I go off into the wild blue yonder and face the rigours of the world. I’ll be back early because the second class has been canceled…

Report: My parsley has sprouted CTWW 25th April. Only 2 of the 12 haven’t shown any signs of life yet. The shoots are pretty spindly, I am worried, because I have never seen such spindly shoots before.

This week’s Change the World Wednesday. on Reduce Footprints is a biggie!

Looking at the issue of permaculture.

So this week, let’s start by observing nature. Take some time, step outside and observe everything around you. Look at sunlight patterns and the direction of plant growth. Are the plants in your area native and how does that affect their growth and care? Make note of where water collects on your property and where it comes from. Observe the phases of the moon and consider how that affects the natural world. Pay attention to insects and birds … observe how their interaction with plants, animals and each other affects the environment. Then, come back here and report your findings. Were you surprised at anything you discovered? Will you make any changes based on your observations? We want to hear it all!

*Takes a deep breath*

Permaculture is one of these words that gets bandied about a lot these days; especially if you haunt the halls of the environment. But if you’re like me, you probably haven’t stopped to think about it, or even look further. I certainly didn’t. But I found that I am already a permaculturalist.

“Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments. It is about designing households and communities that are productive, sustaining and largely self reliant and have minimal impact on the environment.” – Little Green Blog

My passionfruit vines grew wild up my neighbour’s second story, he was okay with this, he got the fruit (literally) of my labour.

Not at the moment, because my current rental situation limits what I can do to the property. I have already taken liberties in making my little gardens along the fence lines. I can do no more.

My previous situation was much more amenable and successful.

So while I can’t take on the idea wholesale, I do do little bits. I collect my rain water for the garden. I allow my plants to grow as nature intended. I do watch the insects, damned butterflies whose caterpillars destroy my passionfruit vines, the big black bees that successfully pollinate the same vines and the hummingbirds that frequent my yard.

But, I am going off on my tangent again.

The biggest enemy to permaculture is urbanisation.

We hit the ‘destry’ button with everything we touch

In an urban setting every thing has to be neat and tidy, lawns cut, hedges trimmed, weeds pulled and pretty flowers everywhere. You cannot hang your clothes out to dry because it might offend the neighbours. You cannot collect rainwater in some places because it’s against the law. Vege gardens are outlawed. Just imagine if you decided to keep chicken or ducks… Our urbanisation is full of bullshit.

We have this preoccupation with ‘neat & tidy’. But being neat and tidy destroys the very essence of nature and goes against the grain of permaculture.

Personally, I hate this neat and tidy. Orderly and useful is much better. My neighbour has chickens, a bit noisy once the rooster discovered he could crow, but I would much rather that than have him complain when my passionfruit grew up his house.

Most neighbours no longer have tolerance, a wonderful trait that we could all benefit from.

Orderly and useful

Councils who currently legislate against the grain of permaculture should be voted out and the people should be voting for more local politicians who are concerned with urban renewal that is in line with permaculture.

But the current attitude of many people who are happy with the ‘neat and green’ needs to change. We have come too far from our origins, so far that we have become completely derailed.

The idea of permaculture is also linked to the new idea of nature deficit disorder which, while not currently recognised as a clinical deficiency, exists. Remember the ‘cow poo’ I wrote about, permaculture goes some way to rectifying the problem.

Centralisation and big cities with apartment buildings and housing estates are just so wrong on every level. They go against nature, they are the cause of so many of today’s social maladies and evils. I have said it here before, and I’ll say it again. The only way to improve our lives is to abandon and dismantle the cities and go back to the country; go back to our roots. It may become necessary for our very survival if the current economic situation gets any worse.

Think about how you can shuck the ‘neat and tidy’ and embrace permaculture…

 

Change the World Wednesday – 2nd May

3:30pm…

Coffee No. 2…

Need more coffee! BRB

Coffee No. 3!

I have had a terrible day. Started off by almost over sleeping, panic to get to work. Got there with minutes (2) to spare. I normally don’t sleep more than the first 5 or 6 hours, but last night I slept seven and a quarter. Home again by 10:30. E-mails and the like, then I needed a nap. I felt so tired. My nap extended to three hours. Hence, I am here and the day has gone… whoosh! Went.

Last week’s CTWW Update:

My cayenne pepper is thriving, my parsley seeds are still an attempt. Nothing yet.

I have these outside my bedroom window, they need a feeder

Reading through some of the CTWWers from last week, two things happened. First, I was made to feel a twinge of guilt. All last year, when I had passionfruit vines growing everywhere, I had intended to put a feeder in place for the hummingbirds. They are such a beautiful bird. I never got around to it. Then I read this… by Ann.

Chard by the Yard, so poetic… WTF is chard? I have often heard reference to this apparent vegetable, but despite being a chef, I have never known what chard is. My interest piqued, I donned my thinking cap and off I went on my tangent once again. Tangents are so much more fun than bicycles, much more adventurous. You have to keep on your toes when going off on a tangent because they don’t have a seat like a bicycle.

Silverbeet

The upshot was, that I discovered chard.

Chard = silverbeet, the vegetable of my childhood. The vegetable that grew prolifically (word used to assure SF that it is a real word) in our vegetable garden. It often fell to me through the winter months to don (I’m doing a lot of ‘donning’ today) my gumboots (Wellingtons, galoshes for those who who do not understand the nuances of NZ English) and tramp through the winter mud to cut the crinkled broad fleshy leaves for dinner.

So, a mystery was cleared.

CTWW can be so informative.

I must comment on Small Footprint’s admission. “There’s just something wonderful about getting one’s hands in the soil…” There’s a reason for that. There’s a reason that one gets a good feeling with one’s hands in the dirt. It’s the ‘cow poo effect’. Yes, you read right… cow poo! I posted on this some weeks ago on Make you Fink on Friday, go on hop on your tangent, I’ll wait here until you get back.

Ah, back already, let’s continue, shall we?

So, did you find cow poo interesting?

Gardening, nature rambles, farming and stuff feel good because of cow poo.

This week’s CTWW:

It’s one of my ideas from waaaaay back.

So, I’m not really going to participate. I’m going to sit here and see what ideas you guys come up with.

This week, consider Eco-friendly Grilling/BBQing. Please share all your ideas for cooking outside. Here’s a hint … Charcoal Briquettes are not necessarily Eco-friendly. Need another hint to get going? Check out this POST.

Or … If you don’t use a grill, please talk about other Eco-friendly ways to enjoy food outdoors. For example, consider picnics, parties, cooking over a campfire, etc.

I even hate the white ones

My main idea was that I don’t use fire lighters, those little black bricky things or those horrid little green greasy cubes to light my BBQ. I consider them a waste; a waste of time, a waste of resources and they’re expensive.

Who doesn’t have an old cardboard box around home? You, know the kind made with brown corrugated cardboard. Rip up a side into palm sized pieces, make a nest in the bottom of the ‘barbie’ (no, not the doll, your daughter would have a fit – it’s Australian and NZ slang for a BBQ), put on some smaller choice pieces of charcoal, and light. Then feed on bigger bits of charcoal. Simple.

The end result:

Perfect pork – The secret’s in the sauce

Now, what ideas are you all going to come up with?

…my coffee went cold. One of the perils of going off on a tangent.

.

Make you Fink on Friday

Cow poo – fresh ‘feel good stuff’

Mycobacterium vaccae

Cow poo

Yes, cow poo. Mycobacterium vaccae was first discovered or recoginised in cow poo hence it’s name vaccae.

It’s a bacteria, it’s a mind altering bacteria. It’s a ‘feel good’ substance. If you live in a concrete jungle and feel stressed, there’s a good chance that you are missing out on the cow poo smell.

Have you ever wondered why you feel good in the country? Why the agricultural aromas (cow poo) smell wonderful? When in all reality they should smell repulsive.

It’s because of Mycobacterium vaccae it’s everywhere in nature and is an antidepressant with the ability to enhance intelligence. Now I understand why so many bankers in their ivory towers are just plain stupid.

Mycobacterium vaccae is present in all natural soil, in compost and we breathe it in the air. The bacteria stimulates neuron growth and reduces anxiety, which increases the production of serotonin (a type of neuro-transmitter) and in turn increases the ability to learn.

Now you can see why gardeners are happy to garden, hikers are happy to hike, while the rest of the world live in their concrete jungles stressed and anxious.

Could it also be that country kids are less stressed at school than city kids?

Maybe we need the germs

Could it also be that getting kids into the country regularly to smell cow poo is important. Let our kids get their little hands dirty to improve their academic and social performance. Perhaps we should stop listening to all these soap manufacturers that tell us that their product removes 99% of the bacteria. Because to me it seems as though we need some of that bacteria. Our super squeaky clean lives might just be a major part of our downfall both as a society and in academia.

The effects are not permanent. Freshly doped up on cow poo makes learning new things easier. If the stimulant is removed, you still learn faster than those who have not had the cow poo pleasure, but not as fast as when you had had a good dose of cow poo. So there is a definite sign that you need cow poo regularly.

Cow poo, it’s the odour  of life.

That’s my thoughts on the matter, hop across to TreeHugger and read some more there, follow the links, you may just be surprised.