Consumer credo

As consumers, we are persuaded to:

Spend money we don't have;
On things we don't need;
To create impressions that don't last;
On people we don't care about.

Quote from Tim Jackson

Rain garden

The 'back story'
A few years ago, I attended a Boroondara Council sustainability forum. I rode my bike there and got a little lost on the back roads through the suburbs (I try to avoid cycling on main roads. I arrived about last as the event was starting. I was offered a ticket for the door prize and I almost refused as I was in a hurry to sit down and said I never win at these things anyway.

The forum ended and panel member Alan Pears (hero and local legend in sustainability/energy) stood and drew a ticket for the top prize, a $1,500 raingarden sponsored by Melbourne Water. My spine tingled and I somehow 'knew' my name was about to be called out. And it was - I won!

Later
We were about to have our garden renovated to be drought tolerant and add some extra paving laid for the children to play on (I now question that decision to get more hard surfaces put down - we live and learn). We asked the raingarden installers to come along and start work. We talked with them about budget and design and my requirements were more than the budget - so we settled on me doing some of the digging as prep work. They did a great job and it was finished in a couple of days.

Later still
I received calls from Melbourne Water to ask if they could come and take pictures of a couple of (family) models and the rain garden for their 10,000 Raingardens promotion. I said yes, but missed the photoshoot because I was out at work.

Then they called again and asked if they could feature the garden on 'Garden Gurus'. I said yes and again missed it because I was again (unusually) working away from the house that day. Melbourne Water's GM was there and the shoot went on all day. Apparently they were disturbed by my rainwater pump kicking in as the toilet was flushed in the house!

Even later
Reading my email today - I saw the Council offering free workshops for raingarden building - guess whose raingarden was featured (in it's early days) . . .

Modifications
The raingarden area now looks quite different. As indicated above, I questioned the sanity of creating more hard landscape in the garden and was desperate for a veggie patch. So I installed a 2 x 2 metre (veggie friendly) sleeper box, bolted to the fromt of the rain garden (which forms one of the sides of the box) and filled it with prime soil. It can be seen in the background of the picture here.

It's not as 'pretty' as I would once have hoped - but then I'm subscribing more to the ideas of Permaculture - that we need to make things simply functional and useful and worry less about appearance. One reason I started to pull out some decorative plants in the prime sunny spot of our other garden area and plant veggies there too.

This water purifying device is probably the lowest mainenance feature of the garden.

Backyard farming/petting zoo

I recently attended a couple of the free workshops arranged by Boroondara Council, as part of their 'Living for our Future' program, on:

• Backyard chooks
• Introduction to beekeeping

The really interesting thing about what happened (to me) is that I had previously never considered keeping chooks at home and never ever thought of keeping bees (they sting, right?). But just attending these workshops made me realise that these things were absolutely do-able and more than that, I really wanted to give them a go.
 

 
We now have three Silkie chicks bought (just a few days ago) from Craig's Farm down in South Cranbourne. They are more 'pet' than 'chicken', I think.

For the first time today (about 16 days old) I put them into their new home for a few hours. The weather is warm and I felt sorry for them being stuck in their cardboard box in the kitchen. Better let them be proper chicks and have a peck around their new place for a while.
 

 
I was given the chook house by a nice lady named Gill who was done with it and looking for a new home. I mentioned I was thinking of keeping chooks and she just happened to have one spare. Funny how these things work out. I revamped the house to fit better into our garden space and tidy it up a bit. It's now rather grand for a few chickens!
 

I completed an excellent 2 day introductory backyard beekeeping course with Kerin at Lifecycle Learning.We were taught all the basics including how to build a hive. I built one within a week and collected one of the first bee swarms of the year (another story . . .) in late August. Having a hive is like having 'L plates' in a car - you dirive carefully and learn as you go.

I joined a new local bee keepers group attached to Permaculture Melbourne. We are intent on simple, natural, bee-friendly beekeeping and support each other as we go.

 
Last but not least, one of our budgies (Cracker) and the guinea pig (Nibbles) meet our latest addition to pets, Ash the rabbit whom we adopted last week from the RSPCA in Burwood. My son is very allergic to Nibbles so could not pet her, but he's fine with rabbits. I think it's important to have children connecting with animals as part of the natural world. I only wish they'd learn to do the feeding and cleaning . . . :-)

ACTION!

We believe that to 'save the world', each one of us needs to take action. Not just the little things we've done around our home, but other stuff that helps spread the word and shows other people (including politicians) it's OK for them to do the same. Things like:

• Join local community groups, environmental or others.
• Join environmental/social action campaigns on the streets, writing to newspapers and politicians.
• Supporting charities through donations.
• Assist during elections for the candidates you think will help.

Indoor Environment and Air Quality

We all spend so much time indoors and breathing 'house air' that we should consider what's in that air.

Very often, the fittings, furnishings and other items we buy are giving off chemicals as their 'newness' wears off. Ever wondered what that 'new smell' actually was? Could be formaldehyde or VOCs (volatile organic compounds)! Other common sources of poor air include dust, poorly serviced aircons and heaters.

What we've done

• Our own gas heater (see Energy - Natural Gas) recirculates house air. The return duct (from house to heater) had no filter and was thik in 15 years of dust.
• We placed the duct because cleaning wasn't feasible.
• We also installed an air filter. You would not believe how much it collected in the first month.

• We use garden and bio-friendly cleaning products around the home, so less chemicals make their way into  the air or into our water ways.
• We also use bio-friendly products (wherever possible) in the garden - but that's another story.
• We bought low emissions paint when we renovated the bathrooms.
• We used a vacuum with a HEPA filter for a few years. That reduced house based dust. Then installed a ducted (external vacuum) since the pipes were already fitted in the house. That then took the vacuuming related heat and noise outside too.
• We ducted the exhaust from the clothes drier outside too, to take away the damp air. I MUST stress that we rarely use this drier . . .
• Fitted extraction fans in the bathroom to remove steam during showers.

Links

• http://www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/publications/sok/index.html
• http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs33.html
• http://www.health.vic.gov.au/environment/home/indoor.htm

Communication

After all of the sustainability work is done (and I think we've almost reached our limit - but I've said THAT before . . .) then the best environmental return one can get on that investment is to advertise to the rest of the world that you've done it. It's a form of social marketing.

Unfortunately, naturally or by design, many of the retrofits one does are hidden from view and never noticed. For this reason we have a few signs around the property and that's also the primary reason for the construction of this website. If by broadcasting our success we can help influence other people and they in turn help the environment by taking a few steps towards sustainability, then we'll have multiplied our yield without further effort or cost. Sounds a lot like permaculture . . .

Insulation

This topic could go anywahere in ENERGY, so I decided to split it out as a separate item.

To reduce energy usage (usually for heating or cooling the home), it's a good idea to insulate the building 'envelope' (walls, floor, ceiling) to reduce the amount of heat or cold passing through it. Doing so reduces wastes of energy.

This is a typical brick veneer house with almost no insulation in the walls and some blown in fibre in the attic space. Nothing much one can do about the walls as a retro-fit, at least not without a lot of mess and expense.

The windows are also a consieration, we have about 21 big windows in the house without double glazing. The double glazing would be just too cost prohibitive considering the payback. Given the amount of time, effort and money we've put into sustainability elsewhere in the home, we've drawn the line here. Next time we move, it will be to a building with a more naturally energy efficiency envelope.

Here's what we HAVE done:

• Install reflective concertina foil batts in the ceilings to reflect the radiant heat from the roof tiles on a hot day. They seem to have significantly reduced the heat coming through to the bedrooms.
• Install reflective foil window blinds in the upstairs westerly facing windows. These stop most of the sun's heat whilst still allowing a limited view through the glass. Did get a picture of them since we only put them up in late Dec.
• Install draftproofing strips around all external doors.
• Place draft stopping 'sausages' along the bottom of every external door.
• Install 'DraftStoppa' covers for the extraction fans in the bathrooms. These stop air (hot or cold) venting into the bathroom through the fans when they are off.
• Installed white blinds to all upstairs windows to reflect the incoming heat.

Concertina foil batts in the attic (dirty job that one . . .)

White blinds on upstairs windows