Good News Bad News

Good News Bad News

The spring rains aren’t really eventuating which is allowing some farms to dry out and leaving others badly in need of more rain. Next time you complain about the price of a tomato, spare a thought for the guy growing it. If it’s not too much or too little rain then it’s not enough or too much sun or as one farmer experienced an attack of fruit fly. Anyway with a 9kg box of organic tomatoes currently selling for $90 in the wholesale market it might be better to do without until the Victorian season starts. Better still replace with an avocado, who themselves haven’t experienced the best of seasons thanks to an oversupply of water. However they are currently inexpensive and damn tasty. Your other option is to do what I’ve done and just eat asparagus at every meal.

In the world of clever people the owners and investors of Gunn’s Limited, the geniuses behind the Dioxin rich Tamar valley Pulp Mill, have finally got what they all deserved, a big fat nothing as the company heads into receivership. The total stupidity, pigheadedness and lack of consultation meant that the former CEO, John Gay refused to budge from a position that wanted to build a pulp mill to world’s worst practice. The warning signs were there early when a Scandinavian backer pulled out because the amount of Dioxin rich effluent being proposed would have given them a bad name had they been associated with it. This is after the State and Federal Governments of this country gave it the green light. Had it not been for a strong and ethical campaign to stop it involving both concerned business people as well as grassroots action the pulp mill would have been built.  It’s a great example of the people of this country standing up against disastrous business practice. Of course there are losers in this, namely the workers and their families and some would say the mum and dad investors. Personally if you don’t know where your super is invested you should or if you knew and didn’t care then tough. Gunn’s Limited and its former CEO John Gay had a sorry history of shady business and personal practices. Read this link to an article in the monthly by Richard Flanagan as I can’t say it better than this. Gunn's Article Richard Flanagan It shows just what happens when a company is run by people with small minds.

Driving to work each day through the Yarra Valley made me think how great it would be if all the wineries and food producers in the region started growing organically. If the tracks of dead weeds and grass at the base of almost every grape vine I drive past is any indication then a lot of unnecessary spraying is going on. I’d be interested if anyone has calculated the environmental costs of this spraying. Including the rising costs of oil used to produce these chemicals and the added costs of transporting it to the farms. We’ll get to a point soon, if we haven’t already, when smaller operations won’t find it economically viable to use these synthetic chemicals, especially when the farmer next door has cows producing it for free. I’ll leave you with some good news Keeping the Miners out
Russ

Springtime in the Hills

Last week I talked about the abundance and fresh greens and it made me realize just how clever nature really is. How so you ask? Well after a winter of eating stews, potatoes, casseroles, pies, roasts and drinking red wine and lying around off gassing the body needs a cleanse. What better way to do this than just keep on eating what’s available. Fill the body with fresh and lightly cooked greens, eat some fish and small amounts of chicken and lamb and then run around outside doing the cleaning, gardening and child rearing. You’ll feel the body start recharging, the kilo’s drop off and that big summer smile return.

In news abroad Mitt Romney’s showed his true side telling his $50,000 a ticket lunch mates what he really thinks of the bulk of the people he wants to govern. I can’t say it better than him so here’s the quote “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax. “He fails to mention that the richest 5% or Americans also pay no income tax.  It’s little wonder America is f…ed. It’s people like Mitt and his mates who wield the power and make the big decisions. These are the very same people who spend their lives surrounded by others of their ilk in big homes, with flash cars, education, healthcare, food all on tap 24 hours a day. Most have no idea what it is like to struggle, to go broke trying to have a life saving operation for your son, to do without dinner so your kids can eat or to live in respite accommodation. The very people making the decisions keep making ones that serve them and not the society they live in. So what do they do? They put up fences and hire guards to keep the “others” out of their neighbourhoods. They go through life never experiencing true day to day hardship yet they continually make decisions making their lives easier and making other, less fortunate folks lives harder. Then they have the nerve to whinge about those with a sense of entitlement. Mitt, it’s you and your mates with the sense of entitlement, what the 47% want is a society where good education, healthcare, food and housing is accessible to all, not where it is just handed out, except in cases of hardship, just a society where everyone has an equal opportunity to these staples of a fair and just life. It’s time you took a good  look around at the society your ideals has created and realize that change is not only necessary it’s going to be forced upon you in the years to come. To quote and Americanism, Bring It On.

On a positive note the Organic Gertrude vegetable garden and Orchard took it’s first steps to reality on the weekend when we marked out the contour lines on a rather wet and boggy hillside. We’re not expert growers so we’re getting lots of advice from people who know. We’ve decided on planting using what’s known as the keylines. This will allow us to move water from the wet and boggy valley out to the drier ridge lines. It will then allow us, in the future to direct excess water to mini wetlands where we hope to attract frogs who in turn will eat the bugs that would otherwise eat our plants. We’ll post some photo’s when things get a little more interesting.

If you’re in need of some good environmental news after reading about Mitt try this: Solar Power
Russ

getting in the swing of it

So after a week we’ve almost ironed out the few small issues we had with our new site. Fairly soon we’ll be promoting the site and the delivery service. If you know anyone who needs delivery in the area let them know. For the first few months delivery will be free to everyone no matter how much or how little you order.
During the last week we’ve seen asparagus arrive, we know mangoes are very close and that blueberry bushes are flowering and the bees are buzzing. The quality of fresh greens such as cos lettuce, rocket, spinach, silverbeet, kale and chard is amazing at the moment so eat up. We’re now stocking beef direct from small farmer in the Otways who you can read more about on our facebook page. His meat is extraordinary and his farming practices are seeing the reintroduction of many native grasses that had been kept dormant due to past farming practices. Of course he uses no chemical inputs and his animals only have one bad day in their lives.
Gina Rinehart’s at it again saying we should all work harder (preferably for $2 a day, which is what apparently South African workers are happy to work for. Happy! Really Gina, did you miss the strikes and shootings at one of their biggest mines), drink less and spend less time with friends and make our own fortunes. Hey Gina, when did you do all the hard work to amass your fortune, that’s correct Dad gave it to you. Anyway, we’ll just leave her working in her unsustainable world with no friends.
Does the government and big business have a plan for this country when the coal and other minerals run out? As a society we seem to be far too concerned with what’s happening to our wealth right now rather than planning for a carbon free future. Countries such as Germany will continue to invest in the future whilst we build power hungry desal plants and sell minerals to China who have been stockpiling them for years now. All the while we whinge and whine that our TV’s are too small and our electricity bills are too high. Really? Be patient because whilst coal generated electricity prices continue to rise the cost of solar power continues to fall. Turn the lights off, use less power, save the difference and put solar in. Then you can buy a bigger TV and pay less, or nothing for your electricity.
I’ve been reading articles and comments on facebook and the like lately and is it just me or do people in the Food industry think themselves a bit too important. The term Food industry legend has been in 3 articles and the word Pioneer was used the other day. Now if I’m right a Legend is someone a little grander than a cranky celebrity chef and a Pioneer isn’t someone who opens a store in a trendy part of town before someone else. Maybe I’m too much of a stickler for English (which would be a surprise to me and my friends) but c’mon let’s get some perspective.
And for some good news on the environment try this: Recycled Plastic Bottle from Pacific Ocean.
Russ

sparkly new

Hi all,

Well finally we’ve got want we wanted. A brand new sparkly website.
Now for those who haven’t been following us on facebook I’ll let you know why you need to visit this site everyday. We don’t just put up recipes or tell you why organics is better or even offer you the answers to any of your problems. What we do do though is attempt to make you think. Not just about this site but about the world in many of its complexities, both sublime and terrible. We don’t profess to have the answers to anything but we reckon we can link you up with some people who know a lot about some great stuff. From the weather to food to astro - physics to meditation to growing your own produce to finance and just about everything in between.
 We hope to make this a lively, discussion based site that offers readers something they enjoy. In reality you’re just getting the world according to Gertrude.
Who is Gertrude you ask? Gertrude is a young girl who likes her food but doesn’t like doing what she is told.

Russ