SMH review of Sustainable Food

Carolyn Boyd at the Sydney Morning Herald has reviewed Sustainable Food and her review, ‘Truths about Sustainable Food’, published 5 February 2013, is here. Thanks to Carolyn and the Herald. Oh; and a big sorry to both Carolyn and Susan Wellings as my tweet was a twit of a tweet and attributed the review to Susan Wellings . . . a capital OOPS . . . M  Read More

New way to get local council action

There’s a new phone App that seems to be making a difference. Called, Snap Send Solve,  it says it’s “the free app that lets you report issues and provide feedback to your local council in under 30 seconds Australia wide.” It works like this: take a photo with your phone, then choose a category for the photo, then send it off as an email from  your phone.... Read More

Are Asian lizards eating our native bees?

Ghecco – feral Asian lizard in Sydney home Here’s a couple of notes I’ve received from a Queensland resident who says little feral Asian lizards are eating her native stingless bees: “Hi Michael. I have found droppings (which are a distinctive black, with a white dot on the end.Somewhat like an explanation mark!!) around the entrance and on the bee platform.... Read More

Sustainable bathrooms

Coromandel House  - and see, too, The Sled House What’s a ‘sustainable bathroom”? It’s one where the water comes from the roof which serves it, the water is reused to flush the toilet and wash clothes. That’s easy enough; it happens every day at my place, Sydney’s Sustainable House, and has been for the last 16 years.  Ho hum. The tough part... Read More

Are our suburbs becoming new farms?

Urban farming forum invite Feb 2012 On Wednesday 20 February 2013 Moonee Valley Council, Melbourne, Victoria, will host a forum, “Are our suburbs becoming the new farms?” I’ll be there speaking with Stephen Mushin from CERES, and I hope to talk to and share the conversation with you then.  There’ll be copies of Sustainable Food to buy if you wish, M  Read More

What children see at the sea

Bundeena Here is an extract from a poem by e e cummings about what four children saw at the sea:   “. . .; and May came home with a smooth round stone as small as the world and large as alone For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea” maggie and milly and molly and may e e cummings  Read More

The Fifth Estate on Senator Carr’s launch

Some interesting quotes and photos of Senator Carr’s book launch are reported in The Fifth Estate.  Read More

Of male and female lillies and cleaning up

Female lily on the left, male on the right The lily on the right of the photo with the several brownish dingle dangle stamens is a male.   The lily on the left with the single, small stamen is a female.   The receptionist I spoke to says the male drops the stamens over the desk through the week while the female doesn’t drop a thing.   Just observing here, M  Read More

Trial of new 200 litre compost bin

New 200 litre compost bin – a bit (~ 100mm) wider than a milk crate Today we began trialling a new 200 litre compost bin made by Aerobin.  It’s half the size of their 400 litre bin.  It’s footprint is half the size, too:  it’s 510mm x 510mm x 1175mm high.  To my eyes it’s more elegant.  It’s smaller size increases the range of locations it may go into.   It... Read More

Chooks die in heat when there’s no breeze

A friend, Judy, passed on this important detail about the impact of heat on chooks: “I just picked up my meat from Feather and Bone, a Marrickville butchery who buy their meat from local farmers, provenance immaculate and I asked about chickens. Sadly they have none as 320 died last Tuesday on the property of their Bellingen supplier, despite shade trees and water. Their... Read More