The Gobbler crew outside Sydney’s Sustainable House

Having trialled the Bondi Gobbler at Bondi Pavilion with the cafes there and Waverley Council, and turning food waste into compost in 24 hours to be taken to John Fairley’s Country Valley Dairy farm at Picton for six months I’m convinced this is the way to end food waste, cut on farm and cafe costs and cut air pollution.

So I’m working to sell four year leases of the Gobblers to cafes, food courts and anyone who wishes to cut their cafe and farm costs.

I’m working with the importer of Gobbler machines, Closed Loop, and together we’re going to do our best to sell and lease thousands of Gobblers.

So last Friday I gave a tour of my sustainable house to some folks from the office where I’m working in Surry Hills, at Closed Loop.

They’re terrific and it was great to ‘fire up’ with them.

We love what we do.

Please call or email me if you’ld like to inspect the Gobbler or discuss a lease and the costs and savings of having your food waste gobbled:  0424 460 525.

M

I’ve replied that I’ll donate a consultation and donate a copy of my book, Sustainable Food.

So . . . check them out, enter your curb and hopefully we’ll catch up when you win – or just make contact any ole how.

May the veggies be upon your curb,

Michael

Yes, my house is sustainable as it gets its energy from the sun and water from the rain on the roof.

But . . .  my tummy uses 30 to 40 times more energy and water than my house.

Each year, by using the rain that falls with clean, natural energy from clouds, the house saves over 100,000 litres of dam water and stops tonnes of dirty energy being used to pump it.

But, eating the typical Australian diet over ten days there is over 100,000 litres of water needed to grow, transport, make my food.

So, if you’d like to know how to grow and buy and eat sustainably do come and talk food, energy and water with me in these two talks – I’d love to hear your stories and discuss solutions with you.

Monday 17 February 14

With Permaculture North

• 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
• Location
  Lindfield Community Centre, 259 Pacific Highway, Lindfield

Join Sydney’s permaculture gardeners and I for an evening of tips and stories about food.

Wednesday 19 February 14

Town Hall, Ashfield Council, Sydney

With Maeve O’Meara 

You’ll love hearing the interesting and well-travelled chef, Maeve O’Meara; Maeve and I will talk about food and my book, Sustainable Food.

It’s Floriligium at 65 Derwent St, Glebe.

Inside the cool, quiet old sandstone building you’ll find a wonderful, complete coverage of all things that grow and if you ask for help your visit will be made richer by talking to the knowledgeable owner, Gil Teague.

So I’m giving it a shameless and proud plug and suggesting that you either drop in or check out their xmas catalogue which can be downloaded as a pdf here.  And I confess they sell my two books there, Sustainable Food, and Sustainable House.

Go the plants,

M

“Conscious catering is a boutique catering company, grown from the intention to do what we can to support sustainability and harmlessness.”

To get a sense of what’s happening with food in our culture I’ve been looking at the newsletters, websites, newspapers and listening to radio.  Everywhere I hear people talking with passion about buying local food, buying direct from local farmers, and showing a strong interest in putting their money and their mouth where their heart is – healthy food.

Soup and salad dinner at our place last night provided by Conscious Catering

Bronwyn’s business can cater to up to 500 people but last night she brought carrot and turnip soup and salad, followed by bread n butter pudding to our house where four of us ate her lovely food.  The soup was topped with baked kale and brussels sprouts – all grown at Mangrove Mountain about an hour from Sydney.  Delicious.

And this morning I received a text from Sydney Food Connect about a crowd funding campaign to get a series of farm tours going so city folk can visit local farms to see, harvest and eat local food.

I seem to hear every other day of new examples of cafes and other food businesses who are buying and growing locally.

This would be what I would call, “good news”.

The Berkelouw Bookshop in Oxford Street, Sydney, is one of the more civilised, civilising and well-lit bookshops around.  With beautiful timber floors, tall windows, high ceilings and timber shelving and desks it’s a relaxing place to read, have a meal or glass of wine and enjoy the world of books and ideas.

Recommended,

M

M

We’ll be discussing my new book, Sustainable Food, and ours and your gardening experiences.

What can we do to sustain ourselves with local food, local connections, local farmers, our soils, our water and air . . . . let’s talk, and do!

Bookings essential at Berkelouw.

See you there, Michael

“Consider this: The world’s top nine wheat-importers are in the Middle East: “Seven had political protests resulting in civilian deaths in 2011,” said Sternberg. “Households in the countries that experience political unrest spend, on average, more than 35 percent of their income on food supplies,” compared with less than 10 percent in developed countries.

Everything is linked: Chinese drought and Russian bushfires produced wheat shortages leading to higher bread prices fueling protests in Tahrir Square. Sternberg calls it the globalization of “hazard.”.

This is where we are:

• No one has saved a planet before;
• Some of us – greenies, in particular, narcissists and attention-seekers – profess to have solutions which are no more than untried experiments;
• We’ve changed the climate on our planet  so we can’t grow enough food for our ever-increasing human animal numbers;
• When we can’t get enough food to live we attack the systems of government and order which we blame for the lack of food;
• Our systems of government are unable to stop the damage we’re doing to our climate, to increase the amount of food we grow, nor solve ever-increasing droughts and floods;
• Mainstream media and politicians lack the courage, wit and passion to tell these truths to us all.

Ahhhh . . . .

I write this as the unseasonable rain sings on my iron roof filling my rain tank, my bees have retired for the night to their hive, and my chooks to their straw floored hutch.  The figs flower for the first time on my young fig tree, and the tree tomatoes, too, for the first time on the Tamarillo in our road gardens.

And that’s enough; that’s all we need.

Such a simple story to tell, and be part of here where we grow food in our road gardens.

Thank you Mr Friedman, thank you rain, bees, trees, tank and chookies (Pesky and Cleo).

Til next time, may the food be at your place, in your garden and out on your road’s ‘nature’ strip.

M