Abdallah House - Redesigning a Home

Expose your permaculture project in 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:10:00 +0000

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate
This post was originally published on PermaculturePrinciples.com. I'm posting it here with the hope that some of the readers of this blog may wish to contribute and publicise / share their own observations or projects.

Would you like the opportunity to feature as an example of one of the 12 design principles on the Permaculture Principles website and in the Permaculture Calendar?

With around 150,000 unique visitors to the site over the past year, and a sell out of the 2013 Permaculture Calendar, your photo submission could reach a huge audience of people interested in Permaculture. It's a great way to promote a project that you've been involved in, or to share an observation that you've made, and contribute to the wider permaculture community.

One of the images submitted for the 2013 Permaculture Calendar - now featured on the Principles website

Along with high exposure to your peers, photographer's that are selected will receive 4 copies of the calendar for each photo used along with a link to the featured project and the photographer's website. If your contribution is used on the cover you'll receive 12 copies of the calendar as a small token of gratitude for your efforts.

The Permaculture Ethics have been integrated into the design and production of the calendar and net proceeds from the sale of all products from this website are tithed to Permafund - supporting permaculture project internationally. You can see how contributions are featured on the website here, and more information about our 2013 Calendar here.

If you can take, or have already taken, great photos that illustrates permaculture in action then I'd love to see them.

Why not submit a selection of thumbnail images or point me to your online photo library? It's important that you are, or have permission from, the photographer in order to make a submission. If suitable photo/s are found I will require a few paragraphs about them so that I can see how they relate to the design principles, along with permission from people that are clearly recognisable in the shot. Tip: I love photos with people and/or animals in them. Selected photos will be used in landscape format and must be supplied as high resolution jpeg files (around 2 to 5MB), in order to be printed at over A4 size.

So, what are you waiting for? Get snapping, submissions must be made before the end of June 2013. Email your submissions to richard(at)permacultureprinciple.com - replace (at) with @

Richard Telford

The 'Super Fridge' (upright freezer conversion)

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:41:00 +0000

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change

I'm one for trying out different things, and I like to see what we can get away with before committing to something bigger and 'better'. Fridges and freezers are one of the biggest energy consumers in the household - usually behind heating / cooling and hot water systems.

Our upright freezer to fridge conversion in action

We've trialed a number of fridge systems here before settling on the upright freezer conversion.

First we used an old 150lt bar fridge that used around 670Wh per day
Then we bought a 150lt chest freezer (using around 466Wh per day) for preserving bulk food - with the idea of a possible conversion.
Our bar fridge died two weeks later so we used ice from our freezer to create a 'ice box bar fridge'
We then tried a smaller old Engel fridge (about 50lt) that I had in the Kombi that used about 420Wh per day.

After not being entirely satisfied with any of the above I finally decided to try out what I always wanted to and convert a freezer to a fridge. I first read about this in Renew magazine (I think) many years ago, along with this article about a chest fridge that captured my imagination. Freezers are super insulated compared to a fridge and the motor wouldn't work as hard, so it should (?) last longer - we will see. The chest fridge idea makes a lot of sense, as the cold air can't easily escape when opened, but after having bought one and used it for a while I found it was a pain, so I wanted to try an upright.

The things that I like about the upright are that they take up less floorspace and its much easier to access / stack goods. There are elements (if that's what they are called) on each shelf, so the air is cooled evenly throughout. The drawers are clear, and hold the cold air, even when the door is open. But they do come with drawbacks: they are less efficient that a chest design, water condenses on the elements and drips into the drawers - more of an issue in the top two shelves, so food should be stored in containers. They don't have a drainage plug, so the probe needs to break the door seal, and water removed manually. The plastic drawers are clunky, could break and be difficult to replace.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the freezer, as I wasn't sure that the system would work well. Not long ago Aldi had a 190lt upright freezer on offer for $299 and I jumped at the chance. Getting to the store on opening there was a crowd already lined up. I managed to get one of the four on offer, finding a large trolley in store to take it to the checkout. Thanks to the fella that gave me a hand with it! It's a bit of a mission taking a freezer through the checkout - and then getting it home.

The freezer I got is only a 2.5 star rated one, not great - but I figured that it would be fine for it's purpose. When used as a freezer it's expected to use 334 kWh per year - 915 Wh per day.

The Control Box

NOTE: I can't recommend that you attempt this yourself as there are high voltages involved in the conversion.

I asked a friend of mine, John - an electrical engineer, about the conversion. He had trialed one in the past and made a programmable controller for the purpose, that he kindly loaned to me. He suggested that I buy a digital thermostat controller on eBay, around $15 delivered - much cheaper than he could make one up for - and make the controller up myself (being the DIY kinda guy that I am).

The basic idea of it is that the temperature probe determines the range at which power is supplied to the freezer, so that it turns on at say 7º and turns off at 3º (these are the settings that I am currently using). I did have it set lower, but found that the temperature sensor has a delay, and so the air space continues to get colder after the power is shut off. You can also set a delay, which allows for fluctuations as the door is opened and closed - I set mine at 2 minutes.

I wanted to wire it up to a power point so that I could plug the freezer in, rather than cut the cable on it. It also means that you could use it for other devices easily. I ran my old bar fridge power cable to the controller (see wiring diagram), and then onto the power point (earth running directly). This was all fitted into a plastic box to keep everything together and looking neat. I extended the wire for the probe so that I could run it up the back of the freezer, along the top and into the back of the freezer compartment. I used white electrical tape to fix it, and used tape to reduce the air gap at the entry point where the wire breaks the door seal. I did this at the top of the door to reduce potential losses through the breaking of the seal.

Digital Temperature Controller - programmable and very flexible device.

Wiring diagram - the wire on the right (to #4) is negative, left (to #3) is positive - it wasn't clear here.

Controller fitted into a box with a power point, so not having to modify the freezer wiring.

Wire for probe extended and fed through top of freezer to be fitted at the back - see water condensing on 'elements'.

The Results

We've been running the 'super fridge' for a bit over a month now and here are the results from my testing:

19/3/13 1:30pm began testing
first 29 hours 330 Wh = 273 Wh per day
28/3/13 8:30pm (9 days 7 hours / 223 hours) 1.89 kWh = average 203 Wh per day
12/4/13 10:00pm (24 days 8.5 hours / 584.5 hours) 4.39 kWh = average 180 Wh per day
25/4/13 10:30am (approx 37 days) 6.12 kWh = average 165 Wh per day

Interesting to see that it's dropping - perhaps because we are entering a cooler time of year? Looking at the use between periods show more typical consumption once the system has settled in.

28/3 - 12/4 (approx 15 days) 2.5 kWh = 167 Wh per day
12/4 - 25/4 (approx 12.5 days) 1.73 kWh = 138 Wh per day

More testing with a better quality device would ensure more accurate results - but these results indicate some great savings. It's not uncommon for similar size fridges to use five times more electricity. The 'super fridge' uses around 165Wh per day, as compared to the same unit used as a freezer which was rated at 915 Wh per day, about 80% less power.

As a side note - I think that cool cupboards should be built into every new home, which helps to reduce the size of the fridge needed - but more research really needs to be done on how to design them well. I am looking at fitting a fan inside ours with a digital temperature controller to help it draw air through when needed - to help regulate temperature. More later...

International Permaculture Day 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:32:00 +0000

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate

Well, it's come around to that time of year again. Sunday May 5th is International Permaculture Day and we'll open the property up and happily show people around from 1pm till 4pm. You can see the details for our event here. If Seymour in Victoria (Australia) is too far out of your way, then check the above website for something closer.

I've asked Peter Lockyer, the builder / architect that I worked with on the construction, to join me - so if you've got any technical questions or are looking to build yourself then Pete's your man.

Our north facing deck with recently constructed trellis

I'm going to ask for a gold coin donation this year, all proceeds being donated to Permafund - supporting permaculture projects internationally. We'll have permaculture publications on offer on the day with net proceeds from sales tithed to Permafund. This is part of my new business venture, publishing, selling and distributing permaculture publications - mainly through my recently updated website Permaculture Principles.

We are right on the change of the seasons now with lots of summer veg on their last legs and winter veg seedlings on their way up. The place is looking pretty good, and I'll be working hard over the next week or so cleaning up to make the place look spic and span - well as good as it can be at least. I hope you can join us!

Food Harvest - First Quarter of 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:08:00 +0000

Principle 3: Obtain a yield & Principle 4: Apply self regulation and accept feedback

Life has been very busy lately. I've been flat out on redeveloping the Permaculture Principles website which is now online. As part of the rebuilding of the website I have been working with Charlie Mgee in integrating his interpretations of the permaculture principles into song with the website. He launched his album last night with his constantly evolving band at CERES (most appropriate) along with this video clip featuring the 'Obtain a yield' principle - which I love. I took the family down for the event and finally met Charlie in the flesh - the latest effervescent permaculture ambassador. A fantastic night that gave me hope for a resurgence of interest in permaculture.

While working on the new website I've been trying to keep the water up to the garden during this unrelenting dry season. In the last four months of the year I recorded just 72mm of rain, and in the first quarter of 2013 we had no rain in January, 50mm in Feb and 39mm in March - 89mm in total. Comparing to the previous season where we had 194mm in the last four months of 2011 and 313mm in the first quarter of 2012.

This has resulted in a rethink about how I manage our rainwater supply (31,000lt). My plan for previous seasons has been to use most of our rainwater supply for irrigating our gardens with the assumption (based on previous years) that we would get heavy summer rains at some point during the dry season. But this year we were left with a low rainwater supply for household use, as the rains didn't come. We ended up running a hose into the house to keep our washing machine going, saving the precious rainwater for more important uses. We used about 40,000lt from the mains during the first quarter to irrigate the garden and run our washing machine. The rainfalls in late Feb and late March ensured that we didn't run out of rainwater for the household.

I know that many people think that using mains water for watering the garden is wasteful, but as a comparison I thought that I'd point out that daily average water use in Melbourne during January reached up to 238lt per person per day. To compare, we used a total of 40,000lt, or about 111lt per person per day from the mains - primarily for irrigation.

Next season I plan to keep the rainwater tanks full leading into summer for household use, and if water restrictions come in during the dry then I may be able to afford to use some rainwater to keep the gardens alive. When the dry breaks (around April) then I can afford to use rainwater for irrigation once again until September.

Part of out 2012 summer vegie harvest

You may be aware of the previous annual missions that we have undertaken - the Binimum challange of 2011 and our Food purchase analysis of 2012. This year we've decided to record our food production for the year. The table below shows our first quarter results - an interesting exercise...

NOTE: I've recorded totals at the bottom of the tables as an indicator, but they are not that important - the value of food varies a lot. Some food weights are not accurate like strawberries that get eaten before making it to the scales. Leafy greens, and chive's sometime don't get included as they are picked and used straight away.

All weights are measured in grams (except for the eggs)

As vegies and fruit often come in an abundance we have been preserving and sharing excess amongst neighbours and friends - especially the zucchini. We also have recently bought some more chickens to try to increase our egg production, to chicks and two pullets, and are going to start sprouting grains before feeding them.

Bumper grape harvest

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 06:12:00 +0000

Principle 9: Use small and slow solutions

My mate Brian gave me a grape cutting that he'd nurtured as a house warming gift not long after we moved in. Two and a half years later we got our first harvest, 9.2kg for the season - not bad... and they were superb!

Seedless grapes on a two and half year old vine

Fortunately we didn't need to harvest all of the grapes at once, as they weren't all ready at the same time. By planting the vine along the laneway on the east side of the block, near the water tank / cellar / carport, different parts of the vine were shaded at different times - which (I think) helped distribute the harvest time. Still, there were times when there were more ready than we could eat, so we gave some away and decided to dry the rest in our solar dehydrator.

Grapes picked off the bunch and spread into an old seedling tray, then stacked in our solar dryer.

I first tried an experiment of drying some grapes on the bunch and some off. The ones on the bunch took longer to dry and were challenging to remove from the fragile stalk (once dried). I felt that removing them from the stalk before drying was a better way to go.

Picking the grapes off the bunch takes time, but is quite a relaxing job and something that the kids could help with. About 500 grams worth fitted into one of our old seedling trays. During the hot weather we've been having it still took about a week for them to dry out. The dried weight was about 100 grams - we do this for love, not money. The whole process has given us a lot more respect for how much good food is really worth - and the end products is delicious. A great addition to our porridge over winter - if they last that long.

After a week or so in the solar dryer we get sultanas, about one fifth of the fresh weight

Sustainable, Simple, Slow Living Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate

Clearly we are not the only people doing this type of thing. I recently discovered this 'linky list' which collects a whole host of blogs that are doing similar types of things as us. If you write a 'Sustainable, Simple, Slow Living Blog' then you might be interested in including your own on there too.

What's in a name?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 04:17:00 +0000

Principle 10: Use and value diversity

I've been asked several times why I named our place Abdallah House. The simple answer is that the house is located on Abdallah Road, and I wanted a name for the house. But there is a bit more to it...

We are located in Seymour, in rural Victoria (Australia). Since settlement the town has a predominately Anglo past, and the name 'Abdallah' is quite unusual for this area. I was attracted to the name to challenge the stereotype of the town as being purely Anglo. Interestingly this is changing and there is a noticeable increase in migrants in the area with the controversial proposal for a mosque on the outskirts of Seymour recently approved by council.

I'm not sure why the road was named Abdallah, but I did discover that on of the early pastoral holdings in the region (from the 1850's), known as 'Glenlyon' was also known as 'Abdallah'. The area is located in the Highlands, about 30km east of Seymour. I suspect that our road was named after a property in the area. I am unsure as to why the pastoral holding was referred to as Abdallah, though I suspect that it has something to do with the Afghan cameleers who had first arrived in Australia not long before.

'Afghan cameleers in 1896' Source: State Library of South Australia B10486

During the early days of settlement the Afghan cameleers were pioneers in inland Australia. Camels were first introduced to South Australia in 1840 initially for exploring the interior of the country, and later for the camel trains that delivered goods to remote outposts. They proved to be far more suitable to the harsh climate than horses. The experienced cameleers came from the region around Afghanistan, being some of the first Muslims that naturalised in Australia. The 'Ghan' railway, that runs through the centre of Australia is named after them.

On my own exploration of the interior of Australia I was surprised to discover that many of the reliable waterholes have date palms that still survive, planted by the cameleers.

A kangaroo munching on dates in Milstream NP in 1997

On research into the origins of the word 'Abdallah' I found that the literal translation means "servant (also slave) of Allah", Allah being 'God', but in pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah was considered the creator of the world and giver of rain. I've also heard / read something about 'humbleness before god'.

While I am not a religious man I relate to my interpretation of the word, I feel that I have had to take on the 'Abdallah House' project - to demonstrate that we need to live in harmony with the earth and inspire others in the attempt to do so. While I do this for myself and my family, I am also doing this for the world as a whole - with humility before Gaia. I believe that we need to live in harmony with the earth and each other, and I use permaculture to inform and guide me in this pioneering journey.

Mouthwatering watermelon

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 05:17:00 +0000

Principle 9: Use small and slow solutions

I was thinking about which principle to use to illustrate this, and decided on use small and slow solutions, I've been realising that home grown food is a fantastic example of this principle. It's also a good example of obtain a yield.

I was given a large watermelon last year by a friend that grew it at the Seymour Community Garden, it was so delicious that I keep some seeds. This year I raised some seedlings and planted a few of them out. One of them took off and eventually produced a single enormous watermelon. It was so big that Kai couldn't lift it (about 8kg).

Kai trying to lift our first watermelon, that came in at around 8kg

How did I know when to pick it? Well, I asked around and was told that I should pick it when 'you knock it and it sounds hollow'. I was also warned by another friend not to pick it too early, or too late. Hmmm... well I knocked it, it sounded hollow and I picked it. I was waiting for a time when we were visiting friends because we have no room in our tiny fridge to store it and I wanted to share the abundance. Fortunately, when I cut it open, it was perfect! Mmmm, so sweet - way better then anything that you'll find a t the stupermarket. Everyone loved it and it was finished off by the next day.

Enjoying the fruits of our efforts, perfectly juicy and sweet

Next year I think I might try some smaller melons too, it's a bit of a mission tackling a item like this.

Food Purchase analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:43:00 +0000

Principle 4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback

In 2011 we took on the 'Binimum' challenge, successfully only filling one recycle and one rubbish bin for the whole year.

In 2012 we set ourselves another challenge, to record how much we spend on food and drink for the year. We were curious as to how much we actually spend on food that we purchase at the supermarket (and elsewhere), with the idea that we could assess the information and look at where we could make improvements. We also were curious as to how much money we need to generate to live comfortably.

All of our receipts from 2012

The challenge was a bit of a nightmare actually, 100's of receipts to sort through. I went through the tedious process of recording the details into a ledger into various categories that made sense at the time. Sometimes it was difficult to remember where I categorized certain foods, like rice (processed or seeds?) or brewing concentrate (alcohol or processed?), so the results are not 100% accurate, and we may have missed some receipts - especially with regards to 'Going out'.

Some other things to note are that we did not include food or drink that we have grown, bartered or were given, as there was no money exchanged. Also, we did not factor in if we went to someones place for dinner, or they came over to our place - we figure that it balances out in the end (and it's too complex to work out). Here's the results:

Money Spent on Food and Drink in 2012

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Totals

Eggs	49.45	32.59	50.33	44.00	176.37
Dairy	273.97	203.47	253.89	308.04	1039.37
Meat	91.37	101.12	173.50	155.10	521.09
Produce	81.33	61.06	181.41	167.68	491.48
Processed	429.19	243.18	502.46	503.29	1678.12
Seeds	50.40	245.33	52.52	104.26	452.51
Going out	97.50	76.80	0.00	34.00	208.30
Alcohol	73.47	153.88	193.65	482.54	903.54
Sweets	44.98	27.41	35.94	75.73	184.06

Totals	1191.66	1144.84	1443.70	1874.64	5654.84

While $5655 seems like quite a lot of money, it works out to $15.50 per day, or $3.87 per person per day or $1.30 per person per meal, including drinks - not much at all. We purchase the best quality food that we can (often organic or biodynamic), so we eat really well. Many item purchases were fairly consistent throughout the year, the blowouts came when we bought food and drinks in bulk. Like bulk seeds in Q2 and alcohol in Q4. Other things to note that affected these results where that Kunie and our two boys were in Japan for one month in Q2.

Eggs: Since September 2012 we have been buying all of our eggs (free range) from a local supplier - $4 per dozen of eggs when available (fluctuates according to the seasons). We have 3 hens ourselves and could reduce this cost considerably by getting another 3.

Dairy: Since September 2012 we have been buying all of milk (raw goat) from a local supplier -
$4 per litre of milk (4 litres a week). While this is relatively expensive, we believe that it's worth it. I was interested to see how much we spend on dairy compared to other foods, but that's not surprising since we can't really supply this ourselves. We also buy organic (where available) which can be quite a bit more expensive than conventional dairy.

Meat: We have been sourcing meat from local growers where we can, currently goat and pig. Also we try to get our sausages from a (very good) butcher in Avenel. Supermarket meat purchases is usually Kangaroo mince, free range (or organic if available) chicken or fish (incl tinned). We are toying with the idea of raising our own rabbits and yabbies for meat.

Produce: We grow nearly all of our vegies ourselves, with the main exceptions of potatoes (we grow some), mushrooms and ginger. Our own mushrooms would contribute a significant saving. We are beginning to grow quantities of fruit as new trees and new grafts mature, so this expense should reduce increasingly in coming years.

Processed: This is a big category and should probably have been broken down more. Significant purchases in pasta and dry biscuits could be reduced by making our own more often. Other items are trickier like coconut milk, tea, sugar, noodles and coffee. Saying that we grown our own herbal teas and roast our own burdock (gobo), chicory and dandelion for a hot drink (like coffee).

Seeds (nuts, wheat, rice and other grains): I separated this category with the thought that they were relatively unprocessed and could be purchased in bulk, sometimes from local suppliers. We make our own flour from bulk (sometimes local) wheat to make our own bread, pancakes (a regular), pasta (sometimes) and other baked goodies.

Going Out: I wasn't sure whether to include this or not, but I did. Perhaps these figure are not super accurate, as I'm sure that we've been out for fish and chips more than I recorded. Still, we've included what we could remember and it does indicate the we don't go out very often.

Alcohol: This is mainly wine and spirit purchases. I've also included most home brew kits that I purchased. The Q4 figure has blown out the total because of a cellar door wine sale that we went to where we spent $300, the vast majority of which we did not consume in 2012. In December I made my first batch of wine from Cherry Plums, which was a success - so this figure should reduce in time.

Sweets: This is things like chocolate, lollies and ice-cream. Perhaps non-essential, depending on who you ask. We generally avoid these types of foods.

So, was the exercise worth it? Well, now that it's over, yes. Probably wouldn't have been so bad if I'd done the book keeping more regularly, instead of letting all of the receipts pile up after Feb. The process certainly made me more aware of how much we still use the stupermarket, and how I would like to reduce that dependence over time. This year I'm going to get the garden cranking, and we will try to source bulk foods more locally. I really admire the work of David Holmgren and Su Dennett who have managed to avoid the stupermarket all together - a long term goal of mine too.

So, for 2013 we've set a new challenge - to record what we food grow, but more about that later.

Some shade please - now!

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:39:00 +0000

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change

It's been hot this summer, bloody hot - and virtually no rain for months.

While we wait for our grapes to grow up our new trellis I added shade cloth to give some protection from the harsh sun. It's made quite a difference, helping to keep the deck cooler, reducing reflection inside and while ugly it's going to stay there for the summer.

On really hot days 35º+ we close all the windows and curtains in the house. The pelmets and curtains inside work well, but we wanted to improve on that by reducing the amount of reflected heat coming in through the windows. Once the heat is inside, that's where it stays until we open up the house at night when the weather cools down.

Playing around with shade cloth has helped me envisage what the future may hold for us, after our plants have established themselves. I'm thinking of what to plant on the west side of the house after experienceing the impact of the shade cloth that I've set up there. I'm sure that the plants will perform better than the shade cloth, with greater shade, dappled light, evaporative cooling effect and much more aesthetically pleasing, while also provinding us with a harvest.

Shade cloth added to reo-trellis while we wait for the grape vines to grow.

Shade cloth added to west side of house to help shade the small west window during a string of really hot days.

Our plum and cumquat tree are beginning to give some shade to the water tank and cellar

Preserving with a solar tyre cooker

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:21:00 +0000

Principle 2: Catch and store energy

Make sure that you read the important update at the end!

It's summer here, and it's been really hot, often 35-40ºC. We've got tomatoes coming on and the freezer has filled up. The last thing I want to do during this time of year is heat up the house with more cooking inside, and I've been thinking for some time that it make sense to take advantage of the hot weather.

I've been looking at how to make use of recycled materials to build a solar cooker. You can find out about the basic principles here. A point to note about my approach is that I am lazy and apply the proverb 'don't do what you don't have to' - seeing what I can get away with before trying to perfect the process. Or, if you prefer, Principle 7: 'Design from patterns to details'.

My first attempt (last summer) was to use a small satellite dish to reflect light to heat water in a billy (a parabolic cooker for fast heating). I had a dish, and I had some white paint. What I learnt from this experiment is that you need to use a more reflective surface than just white paint and a larger reflective area to bring water to the boil. Still, it did heat the water, but not a lot.

Using a satellite dish to reflect light to heat water

My second experiment (this summer) was to use an old tyre with glass on top (a 'box' cooker for slow heating). I was hoping that the temperature would rise above boiling point, providing us with an alternative to cooking inside. Here's what I did:

First I found some cement sheet to use as a flat base. I used some left over insulated reflective foil (permifloor 500 left over from the house build) on top of the sheet which I sat a tyre on top of. I then filled the tyre with some wool, to help insulate the 'box', and then made up a large cylinder from the foil to fit inside the tyre. Finally I placed a large sheet of glass on top.

Tyre placed on flat base with reflective insulated foil (permifloor) then filled with wool for insulation.

I half filled a small pot with water for my first test and placed a BBQ thermometer in the chamber to observe the temperature. The pot was aluminium (a good conductor), painted black (to absorb more heat) and it was sitting on corks (no thermal bridging). On a clear 35º day the temperature inside reached 80-90ºC, not quite boiling point. The addition of a highly reflective surface, like a mirror, to reflect more light in would certainly help. I was also thinking of using a sheet of double glazed glass to help retain heat inside as ways to improve the design - but didn't have one on hand.

I remembered an article that I read in Grass Roots magazine (i think) about pasteurising using a solar cooker, and realised that 80-90º would be a perfect temperature range to do this with the current design. It's best not to boil food in the pasteurising process. We had been freezing tomato puree from our home grown harvest in order to collect enough to justify using our Vacola kit. With the Vacola process the jars would sit inside a vessel of water which is heated to just below boiling point for about an hour, where by the jars are removed and allowed to cool. This kills bacteria inside and provides a vacuum seal which means that you can store the food (in a cool dark space) for an extended period of time - even years. I decide to take a punt and try using the tyre cooker instead.

After defrosting the tomatoes I cleaned our jars and lids and filled them with the puree (not quite to the top). I fitted the lids (not too tight) and placed them in the tyre at around midday. The internal temperature rose slowly through the day to 70-80ºC, after about 3 hours I removed the jars. I left them overnight to cool and was wrapped to discover that all had vacuum sealed by morning.

The beauty of the process is that you can preserve on the go, no need to freeze until you collect enough - one jar at a time is fine - provided that it's a hot sunny day. It also means that you don't have to heat your house or use water or electricity unnecessarily.

24th Jan 2013 IMPORTANT UPDATE:
While I thought that the pasteurising went perfectly, it didn't. Yesterday I was a bit upset to discover that several jars had began fermenting. Kunie poured out the content, recooked it and bottled it using the tried and tested Vacola method. A shame because it will now taste NQR (not quite right) - (Further update: we used the tomato on pizza that night and it was really yummy). I really should have tested with just one jar - I was overconfident.
I'm still keen to experiment further with this idea - perhaps using a mirror to reflect more light in, and / or using a double glazed piece of glass. Leaving the jars in for longer should help too.

Jars of tomato with lids screwed on placed within along with a thermostat to monitor temperature. A sheet of glass sits on top of the tyre.

Wind Farms - The real story

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 01:06:00 +0000

Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and services

The local campaign to support the proposed Cherry Tree Wind Farm has taken a step forward with the publishing and distribution of this flier that I put together with the help of Leigh Ewbank from Friends of the Earth and the team at BEAM. There will be a letterbox drop in the local area and the flier will also be distributed throughout the region.

The flier has been put together in response to the misinformation that is being regurgitated by local anti-wind groups. One of the latestet claims of which is that Wind Farms should not be placed in high risk fire areas as they can start fires. This comes after news of a grass fire near the turbine site a couple of weeks ago, which (from what I've heard) was caused by a lightening strike to a tree.

On investigation further I discovered that lightening strike is the main cause of bush fires. The Wind Energy Fact sheet produced by the NSW state government concludes that fire risk at wind farms is very low:

Wind farms can be struck by lightning, just like tall buildings, but they are equipped with comprehensive lightning protection systems that transfer high voltages and currents safely to the ground.
The fire risk is very low. The flammable parts are located high above the ground, away from vegetation and high voltage connections are underground.

Lightening would in fact be more likely to strike a turbine than a tree, reducing the risk of lightening causing a fire nearby.

A well hidden tree house

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 03:33:00 +0000

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change

I've been having fun transforming this 'weedy' tree into an adventure playground, a nice shady space for the kids to play in during summer. I built a platform a bit over a year ago, after prunning the tree heavily, the space evolves as the tree continues to grow. I experimented with bending the branches over to form a dome like space within the tree canopy, which would eventually grow leaves to hide the inhabitants. It has turned out better than I could have hoped.

Left to grow after heavy pruning last year, the young branches were tied down in winter to form a dome - shown here as a work in progress.

Inside, there is enough room for an adult to stand up and a few kids to cook up a storm.

Six months later, the canopy encloses the dome giving Kai and Sen a shady place to eat home grown carrots.

Sen and Kai watch the world go by from the tree house.

All aboard the treehouse! Sen uses a bicycle wheel to steer while Kai shares his observations with Mum.

The space is a big attraction for visiting kids. The 'clam' pool is filled nearby and is well shaded before the afternoon sun kicks in, a great relief for those really hot days. "Watch out below" is the call as the bucket is lowered using a pulley to the sandpit for refilling. The kids often cook dinner and make cups of tea for us in the treehouse using all sorts of wierd and wonderful ingredients. The chickens nearby get plenty of attention, the kids can watch them nest, collect eggs and make sure that they have plenty of food and water.

Our adventure playground with swing, tree house (now well hidden), spash pool and sand pit below. Chickens to the left.

In some related news I found out the name of the tree. I'm pretty sure it's a Box Elder, an invasive species here in Victoria (Australia). In investigation the uses for the tree I discovered that it can be tapped for maple syrup.

"Maple" syrup can also be made from the sap of boxelder, which technically is a maple (it belongs to the maple genus), but boxelder sap should not normally be combined with sap from other maples. Boxelder syrup can have a heavy, almost sorghum-like flavor that may be perceived as somewhat bitter compared to syrup made from other maples. Good boxelder syrup, however, is quite palatable, and is produced and marketed in parts of North America where other maples are not common. from Ohio State University

This may lead to some more experimenting down the track. There are plenty of these trees in the area, none of which are being tapped.

Making a living, doing what I love

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:18:00 +0000

Principle 3: Obtain a yield

Dare I say it, my background is as a Graphic Artist in the advertising industry. I never really enjoyed working for agencies, I didn't find it very rewarding and sitting at the computer all day (and sometimes all night) was depressing and exhausting. I stopped working full-time back in 1996. Freelancing at agencies ceased when my son Kai was born, over 5 years ago now, though it died off almost completely a few years before that.

Cape Range National Park on the West Coast of Australia 1997 - Echidna in foreground and 'Tang' (Kombi) behind

Back in 1996 my original plan was to spend a year on the road and find the ideal place to live. It was over 5 years by the time I returned. I worked a couple of times at agencies to keep me going, never more than a few months, living frugally from the Kombi the rest of the time. While working at a small agency in Perth I attended a 'Old Growth Forest Rally'. I remember that it was raining heavily, but the crowd was huge. I was moved by the experience and spoke to the organisers about how I could get involved. I put together some fliers and ads for the Wilderness Society and later went to visit the Lane Forest during one of the big actions. From there I went to Wattle Forest Camp to check out what was going on there.

Lane Forest protest, near Northcliffe, West Australia 1998


Wattle Protest Tree platform 30m up in a Karri tree - about an hours walk into the bush.

I wanted to check out the tree platform deep in the forest, it was an hours walk along logging tracks before we finally arrived a this breathtaking spot. There was a support crew near the base of the tree who told us about how this area was marked for clear-felling. We saw clear felled forest on the way in, nothing left standing, just death and destruction. We were told that tree sitters were needed now, and I volunteered. I ended up spending a week 30 metres up. It was an amazing experience, and a turning point in my life.

The main actions a the camp were less peaceful. Road blocks actions to stop trucks coming in was a regular part of the camp - lock-ons, road-dragons (old cars with people 'locked' into to the earth inside) and tri-pods were used - often together. Very confrontational approaches in an attempt to change the system. Angry local mobs, police and frustrated workers. I recognised similarities from when I got involved in the Anti-uranium campaign in Darwin a year earlier. I didn't like the approach of SAYING NO to things and confronting the system, I felt that we needed to SAY YES.

My interest in intentional community as an approach to live positively grew and I got my chance to try it out immediately after my stint in the Karri tree platform. I intended to stay at Carters Road Community at Margaret River for a couple of weeks as a WWOOFer, but ended up staying a couple of years. The community embraced the ethics of permaculture: care of the earth, care of people and fair share and practiced permaculture principles. Just what I was looking for.

Compost making workshop at Carters Road Community 1998

14 years later...

Since then I've been looking for ways to use the skills that I developed in advertising to promote what I believe in. I built the Permaculture Principles website in 2008 and helped produce the first Permaculture Calendar in 2009 with David Arnold. This year I took over the co-ordination of the calendar and now handle all aspects of it's production, marketing and distribution.

The calendar embraces the same values that I do, it's a part of me. The cover photo this year was taken by Jodie Lane, co-founder of Carters Road Community, now Fair Harvest Permaculture Venue (you can even see the tank stand in the background of both photos). Income from the calendar and website supports the work that I do in developing Abdallah House, and the Permaculture Principles website. I've committed to the ethic of Fair Share by giving 10% of the net return from the calendar to Permafund, a trust set up to distribute funds to worthy permaculture activities worldwide. It's not much of an income, but it's the beginning of something bigger.

Finally I can make a living from doing what I love and contribute to the world at the same time.

The Permaculture Calendar is available from PermaculturePrinciples.com

Part-time schooling

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Principle 1 : Observe and interact

We've been interested in Home Schooling for our 5yo son Kai but have been put off by the fact that we couldn't find any support networks locally. Every parent that I've spoken to who has expressed interest in home schooling have raised the same issues.

We don't feel ready to take on full time home schooling, but don't like the idea of sending Kai off to school five days a week (he doesn't either). We are stay at home parents and are flexible and willing to help our kids learn from home. We are not interested in creating school at home, I think that they would be better off at school if we were trying to do that - rather I see this as helping our kids learn life skills according to their needs.

A friend of ours was taking one of her children to a nearby small country school part-time last year, and was telling us how the principal was open to this. Her child went full-time at the school this year, it was right for him. On hearing this we have explored further and discovered that having a curriculum for homeschooling is no longer necessary, which was previously a big stumbling block for many parents.

In order to be able to officially be a home schooler you need to register with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority. In the documentation it states "The VRQA will not assess the home schooling program at the point of initial registration or annually. The VRQA will not mandate a curriculum for home schooling nor will it be necessary for home schooling parents to follow a school schedule. The eight key learning areas form the broad framework for the homeschooling programs. The method of delivery will be at the discretion of parents, based on the needs of their child".

Requirements of instruction in home schooling:

It is a requirement of registration of a child for home schooling that the child must receive regular and efficient instruction that—
(a) taken as a whole, substantially addresses the following learning areas—

The Arts;

English;

Health and Physical Education (including Sport);

Languages other than English;

Mathematics;

Science;

Studies of Society and Environment;

Technology; and

(b) is consistent with the principles underlying the Act, being the principles and practice of Australian democracy, including a commitment to—

elected Government;

the rule of law;

equal rights for all before the law;

freedom of religion;

freedom of speech and association;

the values of openness and tolerance.

With regard to partial enrolment "Students registered for home schooling, and their parents, will be eligible to partially enrol at their neighbourhood Government school for specific activities as agreed by the school and parent." Principals have the discretion to decline enrolement where there are 'reasonable grounds' for doing so (such as class sizes).

It's interesting isn't it! So, we don't have to send our kids to school, we can teach them as we see appropriate (see above) and government schools are compelled to take on kids part-time.

Tallarook Primary School has been open to this, the other schools in our area seemed had not experienced this type of approach before, they seemed less appropriate for our needs. We thought that we would give it a go at TPS next year for a day or two a week and see how it went. We can always change if things don't go as planned.

In discussing this idea with other parents we have discovered that there is a lot of interest out there, and virtually noone knew that part-time schooling was possible. I've spoken with a number of parents about forming a local network of 'home schoolers', or as I would rather word it "home learners". Perhaps once a week we can get together at someone's place and work on a project? Fun and games ahead!

UPDATE (29/11/12): For more, check out this post by Melbourne woman Asphyxia, she's seeing a future that I do too and has been homeschooling for quite a few years.

Seymour Community Garden with Costa

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:20:00 +0000

Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal

Article in the Seymour Telegraph 21st November 2012

I've had an interest in the development of the community garden in Seymour since participating in a meeting which discussed the concept and possible locations at the community house a few years ago. While I've been supportive, I haven't been very much involved. My focus has been on building our home and gardens here.

I've watched with interest as Mark Padgett took on the project, originally as part of his Permaculture Diploma, working in collaboration with the Salvation Army. It certainly wouldn't have got as far as it has without the ongoing help of Greg, who kept the project moving when there was little interest or involvement from the wider community. While I don't know Rick, I hear that he has given the gardens a real push more recently and developed the Seymour Community Gardens website, which I was quite impressed by. Credit to the whole team, especially the volunteers who have transformed the wasteland behind the Salvos Op Shop into a beautiful space that brings local people together.

The gardens connect in well with the Salvos, with a large section dedicated to provide food for the kitchen that offers a community lunch for locals on Fridays, while another section make plots available for individuals or groups to manage themselves. The community lunches are well attended, with 50-100 people turning up each week. I see the gardens demonstrating, particularly those who rely on support from the Salvos, that you can provide for at least some of your own needs by growing food yourself. Here's an inviting way to do it.

Costa pours out a green smoothie made using green leafy vegies straight from the gardens with apple for sweetness and avocado

For those who don't know, Costa is the presenter of Gardening Australia on the ABC - and a poster boy for the permaculture movement here in Australia. I haven't seen Costa on TV since his show on Channel 31, where (from memory) he wandered the backyard gardens of Coburg in the mid 90's - but I did watch a YouTube clip that he did recently on the ABC about Taranaki Farm.

In talking with him at the opening I was impressed by his passion in encouraging people to grow their own and his disgust of the industrial food system - bring permaculture to the people. He gave some great examples during his 45 minute presentation on making a 'green smoothie'. In his captivating 40 minute 'performance' before making the smoothie, he discussed how food is medicine and that growing your own food is the best medicine there is. Industrial food (which isn't really food), backed by the chemical industry, is making us sick with fertilisers, insecticides and GM crops, then keeping our heads just above water with pharmaceuticals.

He spoke of supermarketing. That's what supermarkets are really - super marketers. For example they have convinced many of us that paying $3 for a pumped up bag of chemically grown lettuce leaves picked days ago and sprayed with something to make them look fresh is a really good deal. But is it? You can buy a packet of organic seeds from places like Greenpatch for around the same price, that will feed you, your family and your neighbours for generations - just let a couple of the plants go to seed and spread them round. Look after them and you'll get super fresh, organic lettuce that will put a spark in your day, everyday. And it's much closer than the stupermarket, now that's convenience! Then Costa went on to make a green smoothie using lettuce along with other greens that I picked from the gardens.

Growing our own transforms us from dependant consumers to responsible producers.

Finding balance in the wind

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:44:00 +0000

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate

A family visit to the wind farm near Dalesford in Feb 2012

I've been feeling uncomfortable with the division that has been emerging in our community about the proposed Cherry Tree Wind Farm. These tactics, employed by the Australian Landscape Guardians, have been used before to divide the local community and create angst. Who wants their community divided? I don't like it, and have been looking at what the two positions have in common.

The local newspaper, the Seymour Telegraph, has been publishing letters from both sides of the debate along with regular updates of how the planning application is progressing (or not) with Council / VCAT. The paper has provided an important outlet for the local community to express their opinion, but it tends to fuel more adversity. I've contributed a couple of letters recently - picking out elements of the 'anti-wind' letters that align with the 'pro-wind' letters:

Published 7th November in the Seymour Telegraph

Lee Stephenson raises an important point when she discussed the issue of reducing our consumption of energy to help address global warming in her letter to the editor (31/10/12). It's something that we can all do as individuals that will benefit our hip pocket and our environment.
Our family manages quite comfortably using 85% less electricity than a typical home in our area. Our 1.5kW solar PV system produces over twice the energy that we consume. We've been able to do this by making better use of the sun's energy, directly and indirectly.
Plants play an important part in how we reduce our dependence on external energy sources, providing us with food, mulch, compost, fuel, shade, building materials and habitat for wildlife (including our kids) - all at our doorstep. Plants are the most efficient converters of the sun's energy.
Rather than turning to "our scientists and great thinkers" to solve the worlds problems at some point in the future we should all do something to address these issues now, using existing technology and ideas (like permaculture). We need to do this here and now or, as Lee says, "we may well be doomed".
Let's reduce our dependence on polluting fossil fuels so that finding sustainable solutions isn't so challenging.
- Richard Telford, Seymour

Published 14th November in the Seymour Telegraph

As Peter Hill points out in his letter to the editor (Telegraph, November 7) most residents in the Whiteheads Creek and Trawool Valley "are in favour of all renewable energy sources as was evidenced at the special general meeting of council". Not only that, most (if not all) councillors voiced their support for renewable energy.
Consensus in the science community along with acknowledgement from council and residents alike, accept that climate change is real and is negatively affecting our environment. It's clear that we need to replace fossil fuel energy sources with renewables, and the sooner the better.
Climate change is everyones problem, it affects us all. What are we doing in our local area to address this issue? Are we expecting that other people, somewhere else, are going to do 'something' about it? What sort of sacrifices are we expecting 'them' to make for us?
If not here, then where? If not now, then when?
- Richard Telford, Seymour

I caught up with a friend recently, who does not support the Wind Farm, who asked me if BEAM (the local environment group that I am involved with) would be interested in hearing from a member of the local Landscape Guardians. I was surprised and quite excited by the prospect, not that I expect that we will resolve the issue, just that local people are prepared to sit down and listen to each other. Perhaps we can "acknowledge the profound differences and discover the common ground", as a BEAM member suggests.

Giant geodesic sphere from scrap

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Principle 7: Design from patterns to details

The completed sphere made from scrap polypipe and recovered bolts

My friend Dylan spoke to me of making of making a sphere from polypipe, as a project for kids at the upcoming fete at his local primary school. He discovered the video below that explained how to do it, so we spent the day (my birthday) working on it. My best birthday yet!

We soon realised that the project was a bit beyond the abilities of a primary school student.

The key bits of information that we gleaned from this video was: using the soccer ball as a guide, the calculations for the lengths that we needed and the quantities of lengths.

A soccer ball (football) is made up of 20 hexagons and 12 polygons, all of the stitching is the same length. We called this length 'Normal' (N). The diameter of the sphere is about 5 x N. We wanted to make a 2m high sphere so N = 400mm. We needed 90 lengths of polypipe at 450mm, 25mm extra at each end to give us room to drill a hole. We wondered if we would need to include the star shapes within the polygons (P) and hexagons (H) as was done on the video clip for a large dome, so we thought that we would leave this for later. After all, the soccer ball didn't use them. We recorded the lengths of the 'stars' anyway, just in case.

N (400mm) x 90 lengths 20 hexagons and 12 polygons in a sphere on a soccer ball
6 triangles in a Hexagon, 5 in a Polygon.
H = 20 x 6 = 120. P = 12 x 5 = 60
P (400mm x 0.8696 = 348mm) x 60 lengths
H (400mm x 1.0224 = 409mm) x 120 lengths

Dylan cuts short lengths of discarded 25mm polypipe where it is kinked

A jig is set up to cut the polypipe to the correct length (N + 50mm = 400mm)

A jig is set up to drill a hole that is centred and 25mm from the end of the pipe

Our jig for drilling the second hole of the polypipe at 400mm (N), with a coach bolt with it's top cut off to hold the pipe at one end.

Polygons and hexagons made up using the the soccer ball (football) as the guide

The construction got too complicated to work on the ground so we hung it up in a tree

The completed 'sphere', like a flat balloon without the triangle shapes for support

If we had thought about it more we would have realised that the sphere wouldn't hold it's shape without the triangle shape for support. A triangle is the most stable form, it holds its shape. So we needed to make up the stars to fill in the gaps.

We started with the hexagons, and with each one we added the sphere became more stable. It required some pressure to add 6 pieces of polypipe to a single bolt, which was fine when we were assembling the stars on the workbench. It was a much greater challenge when fixing them to the sphere. The joins needed to be on the ground so that we could stand on them, the job would be much easier with some sort of compression tool.

When calculating the length for the polygon stars I neglected to add the 50mm to our 348mm (P), so they were all too short. We continued with the H stars and found that the sphere held it's shape without the P stars, and also gave us access to the inside of the sphere. I'm sure that the sphere would be more stable with the extra support, but it's fine without it.

Six pieces of polypipe fixed together with a single bolt to make a six pointed 'star' -

Dylan fixing the first of 20 'stars' within the hexagons, each making 6 triangles that gives the sphere strength

The project took the entire day, and was quite exhausting. Great fun. We'd like to make another, using a home made tool to help compress the joins. Thinking about it we could probably use 3 pieces at twice the length (H) with a hole in the middle for the stars in the hexagons, which would make the job a bit easier. Amazing what you can make from bit's of other peoples waste, just for the fun of it.

Build your own: consume less, live more

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:55:00 +0000

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change

A couple of months ago I read an article by Michael Green in The Age. It spoke of a new target of 5kWh per person per day, the "Go 5" campaign. I was horrified. We used less than half that amount of electricity for a family of four!
In the article there was a link where you could find out how much energy was typically used by a household in the same area with the same number of residents. For our household it was 18.1 kWh per day on average over a year. That's less than the target! What's the point of setting such a target if most of us have already made it?
I wrote to Michael Green of my concerns and he replied with this:

The idea is that we can bring down overall consumption by establishing a norm that's slightly less than the mean (more like the median), by shifting the really high consumers. Still, it seems such an unambitious goal...

Michael checked out this blog and was interested in writing about our project. He interviewed me over the phone for about an hour and wrote the article below which was published in The Age on the 4th of November 2012. You can see the article with links on Michael's website.

It was great to have a well written article about our project, in such a high profile newspaper. The traffic on the blog has gone through the roof since it was published. I wonder if something else will come of it?

Cleaning old beer bottles for brewing

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:20:00 +0000

Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and services

Bottles like this, filthy on the inside, can be cleaned with a bit of effort and good technique

I've been home brewing beer off and on for more than 20 years. It was my first venture into fermenting and making my own anything. I used to turn up regularly to parties with a crate of homebrew. It's a financially rewarding pursuit, each bottle of beer costing about 70c to make, while they retail for $5 or more. The trick is to set yourself up right.

Cleaning bottles is the least fun part of the process by far. It's the type of job that you only want to do once. To avoid going through this process more than once make sure that you rinse the bottles a couple of times to ensure that they are clean after you've used them, and stack them away in a cupboard somewhere near where you bottle your beer.

The newer 750ml screwtop bottles can be used but are of poor quality. They are made to be recycled, not reused. The glass is thin and they often break. I use them, but dislike them. My favourite bottles are the old long necks, 750ml thick glass. By using bigger bottles you don't have to clean so many and are encouraged to drink with someone else. Nothing quite like sharing a bottle of beer! The old bottles (and even the new Coopers ones) are designed for reuse and are like gold for homebrewers like myself. I've collected old bottles from the side of the road, full of mud and gunk, and taken them home with the idea that I'd clean them one day. That day has come.

Large collection of old beer bottles being filled with water and left to soak

I started by gathering all my old bottles and cleaning the dirt and labels from the outside. Kai them helped me fill all of the bottle with water to soak - at least overnight before internal cleaning.

After tipping half of the water out I add small (5mm) rough edges stones to the bottle using a funnel. I give the bottle a good shake for a minute or so and then empty the bottle through a tea strainer to retain the stones for the next bottle. I find that this gets rid of the majority of caked on gunk that has stuck to the glass.

A small hand full of rough-edged stones, about 5mm in diameter, are added to the dirty bottle half-filled with water

After shaking the stones around in the bottle for a mintue or so I drain the water out through a large tea strainer into a container so I can reuse the stones for the next bottle

I add some clean water to the bottle and give it a bit of a final clean with a good quality bottle brush

The next step is to fill the bottle about a third with clean water and use a good quality bottle brush to a bit of a scrub. Tip out the water and hold the bottle up to the light to carefully inspect it. If you wouldn't drink out of it, give it another clean.

Clean bottles are then put into a crate, by the time the crate is full (12 bottles) I've had enough, and stack them into a cupboard in the shed. The cupboard is within arms reach of my bottling bench where I refill the bottles with freshly brewed beer (more about that later).

I carefully inspect the bottle to make sure it's clean (this is the same bottle as the first photo)

Clean bottles are stacked in a cupboard in the shed ready for bottling

Standing up for renewables

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal
The proverb for this principle "don't think you are on the right track just because it is a well-beaten path" seemed appropriate for this post.

As a committee member of BEAM I helped write our submission to council with regards to the planning permit for the Cherry Tree Wind Farm. In our submission we raised some concerns that we felt needed to be addressed, but felt that, in balance "the overall benefits of the project outweigh the negative impacts", and were supportive of the proposal.

At a Special Council Meeting held last night, just 2 days before the conclusion of the council elections (held by postal vote), BEAM was invited along with other people who made submissions to present their case to council. The extraordinary meeting was called as Infigen (the developer) had put their case to VCAT because council had not made a decision on the development with the 60 day time period. I assume that council was forced by VCAT to take a position before the issue is presented to the tribunal early next month.

In the Agenda I discovered that there were 117 objections and just five letters of support. I heard that there were going to be over 40 presentations to council, each with a time limit of just three minutes. I suspected that BEAM would be the only ones who would be supportive of the development.

I helped prepare the speech and agreed to present it, being the only one in a position to do so. I had been concerned about presenting our position in front of a hostile crowd in the lead up to the meeting. Peter Lockyer was with me for support. I had never spoken in a formal setting such as this before and it wasn't until 36 negative presentations were made, many applauded before a group of well over a hundred supporters, that Mitchell Environment Advisory Committee (MSEAC) presented. In their speech they did not oppose the development and made suggestions on how to address some concerns about flora and fauna, which was detailed in their submission. This presentation was heckled briefly.

I was up next, and managed to read my presentation through without interruption or faltering, with just a few seconds to spare, to my own relief. My speech is reproduced below:

BEAM Mitchell Environment Group
Statement on Cherry Tree Wind Farm
Read to Mitchell Shire Council on 25th October 2012
by Richard Telford, BEAM Publicity Officer

BEAM Mitchell Environment Group supports the development of wind farms in areas that have already been cleared of native vegetation and that have minimal overall impact on existing native flora and fauna.
We believe the Mitchell Shire Council should support the development of the Cherry Tree Wind Farm, in line with the vision for a sustainable future outlined in the recent Mitchell 2020 Community plan. The key Council vision statement, developed with community input, acknowledges both climate change and peak oil as significant challenges for our communities in the next decade and beyond.
Climate change will cause severe if not disastrous consequences for many people across the world, including Australia and here in Mitchell Shire. The evidence that this is caused by our use of fossil fuels is overwhelming. We have both moral and practical reasons to move away from a highly polluting coal industry towards renewable energy production.
Council’s role in responding to the challenges of climate change and peak oil is clearly articulated in the various sections of the Mitchell 2020 Community Plan. The role of council includes providing leadership and wisely using its planning powers.
Here is a key opportunity to provide leadership on a key challenge for our time, in line with the many shire residents who provided input to the development of this plan.
Renewable energy will come from a wide diversity of technologies that will balance the day-to-day variations in input from the sun, wind, tides etc. Wind power is one valuable source of renewable energy and is already a significant part of the mix of renewable energy sources across the world and in other parts of Australia. For example, in 2011-12, approximately one quarter of South Australia’s energy production was from wind power.
Any concerns about the location or building of wind farms should be considered alongside the benefits of reducing carbon emissions locally and compared with the negative impacts associated with fossil fuel power generation. We do not see why the bar for wind farms should be so much higher than for other developments.
We have some concerns in relation to the Cherry Tree Wind Farm, regarding the impact on native vegetation and wildlife, and these are fully outlined in our written submission. BEAM believes these issues can be adequately addressed within the planning permit process.
We feel that the benefits of the proposal outweigh the negative impacts, as it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a real need to transition to renewable energy sources, in response to declining resource availability and climate change. The wind farm appears to us to be well sited, is on already cleared land and we see opportunities to get good outcomes for the land and biodiversity of the area.

Immediately as I sat down a woman behind me asked me aggressively "Where do you live?", and the feeling in the room was hostile to say the least. A few more opposing presentations followed before the session ended. One man interjected and insisted that he be heard, which was denied (the session ran overtime), he later approached me and spoke told me in an unfriendly tone that I "didn't mention the people". Meanwhile two Infigen representatives were being abused by another woman. I got out of there and caught up the Infigen and MSEAC reps at a fish and chip shop for a drink to quench my dry throat, while we waited for the council meeting to be held soon after.

I watched four of the councilors present their positions on the development before walking out exasperated. All of them caved in to the pressure of the group before them, some were clearly supportive of wind energy, but "not in my backyard" (NIMBY). There was also an amazing conversion of councilors, along with objectors, to 'concern for wildlife' and a general support for renewables - people would just rather that it was somewhere else. Interesting how these people didn't listen to the ways in which issues regarding wildlife could be addressed by local, respected environmental representatives.

There was huge concern by local residents about possible health implications, I believe largely fed by the Australian Landscape Guardians and their relatives the Australian Environment Foundation and Waubra Foundation. I discovered an investigative article entitled "The ugly Landscape of the Guardians" about these groups recently that exposes them for who they really are. They have whipped up residents of the immediate area into a frenzy of worry, feeding on fears of the unknown. I believe that health fears are largely exaggerated, as Simon Chapman illustrates in his talk on ABC's Science Show: Curious distribution for wind turbine sickness.

I was asked why I supported the wind farm and have been thinking about it since. We (modern humans) depend heavily on energy for our way of life. I believe that 'we' are headed for a long period of energy descent, as the peaking of oil supplies and climate change events converge while economic conditions continue to deteriorate. We have a limited opportunity to use the currently available energy to build the infrastructure that can help glide us down the path towards a low energy future. The alternatives are not that attractive, collapse being one of them. For more about these "future scenarios" check out David Holmgren's essay of the same name. I see permaculture thinking as the only way out of the mess that we have created for ourselves.

I'm glad I stood up for what I believe in, even if I wasn't heard.

JUST IN: Have your say on the Renewable Energy Target that energy companies want to reduce. Let's set our own target.

Home grown popcorn

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 01:09:00 +0000

Principle 9: Use small and slow solutions

As an experiment in the garden a couple of years ago I planted some shop bought popcorn (from a bulk foods store) in the front yard. Most of it grew, but it wasn't much good for eating fresh, unless you picked it at just the right time. After it dried on the plant I gave most of it to the chickens. Then I got to thinking that I should try popping it. At first I didn't have much success, with not much of the corn popping. I think this has more to do with my technique than the corn itself, a technique that I have now perfected (the corn just burns if the pot isn't hot enough to pop it).
Our kids often have 'Corn Thins' as a snack, a commercial product made from popped corn. These are often buttered and painted with Vegemite. When you think of how much fat and salt is consumed with each one, popcorn with limited butter and salt is probably a healthier alternative.

Corn grown from shop bought popcorn seed, 2nd generation.

The following season I tried again, using the second generation corn seed. After the plants and cobs dried out I harvested them and stored them in the cool cupboard. When the kids call for a snack we thumb off the corn from a couple of cobs, heat a pot (gas on full) with a tablespoon or two of Rice Bran Oil until the oil is real hot. Then we tip in the corn and give the pot a bit of a wobble from time to time. It usually all pops within a minute or two - which the kids love to watch through the glass lid. I tip the popped corn into a large bowl, and then add a knob of butter into the hot pot. The heat from the pot is enough to melt the butter which is then tipped slowly over the corn. With a pinch or two of salt it's ready to eat, and the kids love it. Good for a family movie session too.

Dried popcorn cobs. Kernels are 'thumbed' off into a bowl in preparation for popping.

Two full cobs make a large bowl of popcorn, a great snack for the kids.

Curved reo used as trellis

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 02:44:00 +0000

Principle 12: Creatively Use and Respond to change

I've become a big fan of reinforcing mesh (reo) as trellis around the garden. When the mesh is curved it has strength to stand on it's own and support plants. With a small backyard we need to be creative in how we can use vertical space and provide other functions at the same time, like shade.

I've been thinking about how to best shade the decking in summer for quite a while. Peter had suggested sails - but there is a need to remove them during the cooler months, which often doesn't get done, reducing the advantages of passive solar design. I wanted to use deciduous fruiting plants instead, as they perform multiple functions and change with the seasons.
What put me off using mesh earlier on is that I felt that the space would become too enclosed and feel like a prison. Mesh does have an industrial feel to it. I got around this but using three strips of heavy duty reo, running wires between them which will eventually support grape vines. I'm going to play with the plants as they grow up the trellis, guiding them on their journey. In time it will look beautiful.

Gaps were left in between the trellis to allow for solar access (for solar oven) and a place to sit to enjoy the garden. The curve gives the reo (reinforcing mesh) strength.

8mm reo-trellis with 200mm squares inserted into holes in the gutter support beam

The base of the trellis had it's end cut off and pressed into the ground 200mm. It was then fixed to the decking for support. A Ruby Seedless table grape was planted at the base.

Three trellis sections with wires linking them cover the entire deck, which will eventually be covered in grape vines and an espaliered apple tree

I used three sheets of thinner mesh (5mm with 200mm squared) around the water tanks and in the netted orchard, with 2.4m star pickets at either end to hold the shape. The bottom row of the mesh was removed and ends pressed into the ground, the curve the top holds its shape pretty well. A gap of about 300mm between the tank and the mesh allows for picking / pruning access and should provide enough space (with maintenance) so that the tree does not rub the galvanised protective layer off the water tank. The water tank should provide a micro-climate that will benefit the fruit tree and can act as a support to help net the tree as the fruits ripen.
The mesh was snaked in the netted orchard / chookyard to give it strength and support. It also provides more growing space in a smaller area and with the different angles should help the fruit to ripen over a longer period. The small corrugated iron fence faces the sun and will provide an ideal space for espaliered fruit trees. I've planted a quince, with the thought that the chickens might leave it alone and a fig, just because I had one sitting around. Eventually I'll set up a grey water system to irrigate the trees.

Used around main water tank with grafted plum (on cherry plum stock) espaliered around the water tank which will help keep it cool during summer.

Reo-trellis curved around cellar / water tank with grafted plum being espaliered to proved shade. There is a 300mm gap to prevent the tree rubbing off the galvanised coating on the tank.

Snaking reo trellis in chook yard with beginnings of espaliered apple / plum / apple. Berries planted against trellis on far wall, fig and quince on short north facing (sunward) wall on the left. Rubble around base of plants to prevent chickens digging up roots.

UPDATE: 17th October

After a comment from an online guest I was inspired to fit corks to the ends of the reinforcing mesh, to head height - to reduce the change of injury. I'd had a shopping bag of corks hanging around since my days of living at Commonground, a venue where groups and residents don't mind a drink every now and then. Back in the old days... corks were used in wine bottles too, but I found that the larger champagne corks were better suited and I had enough for the job.
I held the corks in place with a vice and used a 7mm drill bit for the holes, making sure that I didn't go all the way through. With the mesh being 8mm the fit was tight enough that the cork shouldn't come off too easily.

Champagne corks added to the decking reo-trellis to reduce injury of potential sudden impact

Roof top maintenance

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:08:00 +0000

Principle 6: Produce no waste

An important element to the principle of produce no waste is regular maintenance. Often maintenance is left too late and requires major work or replacement. If done on a timely basis it's not a big job at all.

The reason I went up onto the roof in the first place was to investigate a bird that was stuck in our chimney. On investigation I discovered that the the bird was stuck at the base of the chimney, not nesting at the top, which was my original thought. When I lifted the flue from the stove top two Indian Myna birds took off and flew about our living room, giving us all a bit of a fright. It had been over two years that we had moved in and this was the first time that this had occurred, I decided to leave the top of the flue uncovered figuring the chance of reoccurence slim.

When on the roof I noticed that the Solar PV Panels needed a clean, so I did so. I decided that this should be part of my 6 monthly maintenance regime, which includes termite inspections - made around the equinox each year.

Cleaning solar PV panels, you can see one in the middle that I missed

Cleaning flat plate solar hot water panels, the first time in two years.

I'd known for a long time that I needed to do something about the lagging on the hot water system. I could see that the foam was deteriorating in the sun. On closer inspection I realised that is was much worse than I thought. This would take more than a coat of UV paint to maintain.

Lagging on our hot water system pipes was deteriorating from sun damage

Solar hot water system pipes left uncovered and exposed to the elements

Some underfloor insulation material left over would be suitable for the job of re-lagging the pipes. I used heavy duty tape to wrap it up, and painted the lot with acrylic paint, for UV protection. I'm hoping that this will last up to ten years, but will have to keep my eye on it.
I'd read in ReNew magazine about the wiring box for the heating element on the hot water tank being uninsulated. We are not using our heating element so I used some left over wool to fill the void and insulate the tank further. I also fitted the end covers that came with the system, helping to further protect the exposed pipework.

Left over underfloor insulation taped around water pipes to protect and further insulate

Pipes re-lagged. Small tank to the left is the expansion tank for the wetback (wood fired hot water heating).

The wiring box for the heating element of the hot water tank, which is unused, was filled with wool to insulate the tank.

End cover for water tank fitted, pipes re-lagged and painted for UV protection.

Just a day after having removed the birds from the flue we discovered another bird within the outer casing of the stove itself - it was probably there the whole time. It was stuck in the lower soot tray and took a bit of gentle persuasion to get out, alive but a well blackened blackbird. It did a great job off cleaning the soot out from around the firebox, but I decided to cover the flue with mesh to prevent further bird entries.

Wire over stove flue to prevent bird entry

In the (local) news

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Telford) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate

We were in the news twice this week, local acknowledgement for our achievements at the GreenSmart awards and for running a tour for the Seymour Garden Club.

There is something deeply rewarding about being recognised for our efforts, especially locally - by the people that we bump into around town. When I met the postie at our mail box the other day he asked me how we went at the awards in Sydney, we had a bit of a chat about what we were doing. It lit up my day. Nice to know that people care, reminding me that we are all human, not just strangers going about our business.

Something that I have found when appearing in the local news is that there always seems to be something in the article that's NQR (not quite right).

I didn't realise that our house was so clean!?! The owner-builder function - a BBQ.

After reading this my neighbour asked if we had a daughter... Kai is our son.