Climate change and the absurdity of today

No rain, hot, dry and likely to stay that way. Whether you believe almost every credible scientist on the planet or not it's certainly hot and dry at the moment.  Food growing is much harder when every season you are either flooded or totally dry. Broccoli sits in the ground waiting for cooler weather and some real water. Apples get sunburn and the end of the stonefruit drops off the tree. However the grapes seem to like it and are super sweet and juicy at the moment. You'll need to hurry in if you want to eat another mango this season, same goes for the white nectarines and the peaches, which are all fast running out. 

In that crazy world of the corporatesphere we have the following beauty
Climate change doesn't exist
However we are investing our money in Sulphur seeding the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight and then dumping iron into the ocean to encourage algae blooms.
Why don't you just stop burning fossil fuels?
Answer: We can make more money and keep polluting. In fact now we can fix the problem caused by our pollution by further polluting.
Please stop buying their ridiculous products and next time you walk past a corporate headquarters flick the bird at them. it won't achieve much but it'll feel good and probably get you arrested.

In election news our leader sells whats left of her soul to try and win votes in Western Sydney. Has it really come to this? Do our leaders need to pander to minorities to try and win government? I've no doubt they're following the pollsters who tell them to say such things as "We'll have the police keep an eye on Asylum seekers for you" Really? Is that in case one of them gets a job and tries to become a useful and empowered citizen, feeding, housing and clothing themselves? We wouldn't want that would we. If that happened instead of forking out $200,000 for every caged human we might only need to spend $25,000 and have them free range and help build a better and more tolerant society. 

Speaking of free range Coles has just announced it's new standard for free range eggs. It's 7 times smaller than the last standard but makes shitloads more money. Time we stuck the corporate headquarters of our supermarkets in a cage and put them in a tent on Nauro. 

Then there's Tony. He's going to win an election but saying and doing nothing. Then he's going to govern by saying lots of things you don't want to hear and doing lots of things you don't want him to do. Are we really going to vote him into power. It's so ridiculous it's funny.. Besides  in the end  he's not governing those damn corporations are. .
Oh and thanks for resigning Ted, you were a first rate dickhead

Russ

Ranting, Out gassing and being fracked off

Are the floods caused by global warming?
Are the fires caused by global warming?
Isn't it interesting how quickly shit hits the fan.
The floods wiped out citrus groves, piggeries, beef farms, grain growers. Not to mention millions of dollars worth of infrastructure in the affected regions.
What will happen to the cost of food?
The cost of Insurance?
With billions of dollars worth of infrastructure in regions susceptible to floods and fires wheres the money going to come from to fix or move these necessary buildings, roads, airports, hospitals, schools?
It's time the mining tax incorporated the full cost of the products they peddle.
Isn't it time we stopped buying crap and invested in our own homes and communities. Solar and wind power are logical power sources for the future.
Growing your own food for yourself and the community you live in is a logical choice.
Becoming a banker, stockbroker, investment analyst or mining executive makes you part of the problem.
We have all the knowledge, capabilities and financial ability to transform our nation into a world leader in a sustainable future.
Why don't we do it?
Because our leaders keep pandering to the corporations that peddle the products that are destroying our living environment.
Out of all the corporations I can think of none sell a 100% ethical or sustainable product.
Solution: Don't buy their products. Of course we need computers, we just don't need to upgrade every 12 months. Of course we need clothes. Buy locally made or better still make your own or buy second hand.
By the way I'm as guilty as anyone of occasional overconsumption.
Did you know that the water off WA's coast was so unusually warm lately that tasmanian fisherman reported catching fish never seen that far south before.
The permafrost is melting so fast that scientists now doubt we will avoid an irreversible feedback loop.
Land clearing in the amazon shows no sign of abating
We cut down untouched forests in Borneo to grow palm oil, to fry food in, make cosmetics and generally make things we could easily do without.
Farmers in India are committing suicide at ever increasing rates because companies such as Monsanto patent their seeds and force them to go deep into debt to grow crops that need spraying and have ever decreasing strike rates.
Farms in the States are reporting the proliferation of superweeds in farming areas as a result of using round up ready seeds to grow crops.
Nature supplied us with a brilliant way to grow food we just forgot to listen.
Companies such as Red Bull spend billions promoting a product that offers absolutely no benefit to mankind yet the founder is seen as a business genius. Go Figure
Walmart pays its full time workers below the poverty line and threatens dismissal if they complain. Yet millions of people shop there.
Have a Great day
Russ

Stonefruit, Pears and coal mines

With Christmas over and NYE celebrations finished its probably time for most of us to have a good cleansing full body enema. Thankfully for me I've decided to keep eating a little extra and drinking beer for a bit longer yet.
For those keen on the idea wait till next spring as cleansing in the peak of summer is not the best idea. Fasting involves cutting out the sugars and with stonefruits abundant, berries pouring in and now the new season pears arriving cutting out sugar at the moment is not an option. Wait till spring when the apples are tired and the stonefruit hasn't arrived. Basically follow nature's lead.
Biodynamic white peaches from the Strathbogies have arrived and they are no doubt up there with the worlds best peaches. Sweet, juicy and peachy they literally explode in your mouth.
The other meal to eat during summer is the salad. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, capsicum, beetroot, avocado, carrots and herbs are all plentiful and in any combination are a great way to eat when it's hot.

In the world around us we have Mark Vaille, Former leader of The National party, now the CEO of Whitehaven Coal. Thanks to a cheeky protester and a ridiculously lax media, a report circulated that their bank had withdrawn funds from their coal project. This led to a wipeout of $314 million from the share value. This alone raises the absurdly sensitive nature of the share market and how a piece of unchecked paper can cause such a wipeout. No doubt the very same people complaining about the hoax were buying the stock as it went down, all the while "sobbing" for the "mum and dad" investors. Personally if you invest in coal mines in this day and age you deserve to lose your money. And by "mum and dad" investors doesn't Mark mean huge corporate superfunds who invest mum and dads super all the while taking a slice here and a slice there to line their own pockets. Please, give us a break. Next we have Mark Vaille call the hoaxer "un-Australian" Seriously Mark, get your hand off it. Surely being cheeky and sticking it up the establishment is very "Australian" Or has it now become illegal to protest in this country. In fact Mr. Vaille if you told the truth about this project the outcry would increase in volume.
According to Economics at large, a public interest economics group the project is every bit as dubious and polluting as so many other mining projects that go on in the name of "the economy" As for the "happy" people living in Maules Creek. The idea of breathing coal dust, polluting the aquifer and then selling last centuries power source to developing nations hardly makes them happy.
Anyway read this article for a more balanced report, I tend to rant when people with too much power and not enough brains talk so much dribble.  
Did I mention the white peaches?
Russ

Fruit, Chickens and The Catholic Church.

What a week in the world of things that Organic Gertrude cares about. From a bountiful run of the season's first stonefruit, some serious spring growth leaving lettuces with no new homes and to top it off Christmas is just around the corner. If you do nothing else this week do everyone a favour and eat a lot of lettuce. There is simply too much of it at the moment and if we don't get busy chowing down then farmers are going to start ploughing it straight back into the ground. That's a lot of man hours, time and love that's not going to help farmers pay the bills.
The last few weeks have seen the arrival of the spring/summer's first stonefruit. Taking away the obvious,  a cup of tea on the verandah and an ice cold beer with friends then eating  just picked organic stonefruit is about as good as life gets for a busy fruiterer. The apricots from Renmark in South Australia taste like the perfect mixture of soft apricotty flesh, sunshine,  and rain. We're also stocking some super tasty nectarines and peaches with some of our favourite growers starting to bring their stock to market.
The real beauty of organic stonefruit and organic fruit in general is that it's relatively cheap, free from toxic chemicals, isn't packaged in plastic, doesn't come with a list of numbered additives, tastes like it should and by eating it you're supporting Australian farmers who care for our environment now and for the future.
In the world of the catholic church we have a cardinal who even Tony Abbott has walked away from. Now from where we sit if you're too arrogant, insular, sexist, homophobic for even Tony then chances are the rest of society has well and truly left you at the station. Maybe he'll head off to his $50 million tax free haven in Rome and hole himself up with like minded folk. I bet you he doesn't eat organic!
In the world of mainstream food production just check this advertisement out.


It drives home how detached the consumer has become from not only their food supply but their fellow humans who work in it. Not to mention the system we have set up that allows these jobs to be created in the first place.
Strangely enough the answer to these problems and a host of others may just be found in what''s now going on in Greece. Thousands of unemployed and homeless Greeks are returning to their Grandparents farms to help tend the orchards, grow the vegies, make the clothes and look after their children. Most have found this new life far more fulfilling, loving, peaceful and happy than the jobs they no longer have. Make of it what you will but the power of family, friends, food and community to enrich our lives is immensely powerful. Read more at this and other links: Greeks going back to the Farm.
I'll get to Christmas next week.
Russ