macedon-ranges-aquaponics: Hi Guys, Well, while I sort out some issues in the aquaponic system, I th
macedon-ranges-aquaponics:Hi Guys, Well, while I sort out some issues in the aquaponic system, I thought I would post a little about some of the other adventures we are attempting to undertake. We have been working to reduce our footprint hear on this little planet of ours, by not only starting to grow our own food, but in all aspects of what we do. Not that we were big on possessions anyway, but we began with and are still progressing with de-cluttering our house and property. Have you ever asked yourself what the difference is between an heirloom and a hand-me-down? What is sentimental and what is important? Oh and then there is the question of keeping said item ‘just in case’! Another thing we are working hard at, is reducing our personal waste, our rubbish. At the moment, we have it down to 2 house bin sized rubbish bags per week of non-recyclable waste, that is, a bin under the sink sized bags, so small to medium. But, half of those two bags are taken up with food scraps that could be easily accommodated for by something as simple as a compost bin or worm farm. Both of which are in the wings but we have not yet achieved. So, what do we do? We have eliminated:Plastic Shopping bags, plastic produce bags, foil, baking paper, glad wrap (Aussie term, I think it’s also called cling wrap?), disposable dishcloths and scrubs, just to name a few. We have replace those items with:Cloth shopping bags for the groceries, some absolutely brilliant little fabric net produce bags to bring home fruit and vegies that we don’t grow, silicone oven sheets that replace the foil and baking paper, and glass and Pyrex containers to store all food that usually sorted out by glad wrap. We also use these beaut little fabric elastic covers to cover mixing bowls and the difference in food taste and longevity is amazing, no more sweaty food in the fridge. My wife crochet’s our wash scrubs in a tight thick weave for hard to move dish washing and for general dishes we use a loose weave clothe, all can be rewashed and reused. These work amazingly for shower wash cloths and other cleaning purposes.And the list goes on and on! So, to the photos, Photo 1. Our Fabric shopping bags, we have 10 of them.Photo 2. Our beaut little produce bags. We found these at a stunning website called http://www.biome.com.au/ we have no affiliation with biome, but this place has amazing products and is well worth the time to browse the website. Photo 3. Are our silicon reusable oven mats, and save so much wasted and money on tear off baking paper and foil.Photo 4. This is our pantry on any given week, as you can see there is very very little in the way of ‘rubbish’ that can’t be recycled after use.Photo 5. Is our non-recyclable waste per weekly shop for a family of 5. Because we decant everything after we have bought our groceries home each week, this is all we are left with. It’s an average, some weeks it’s a little more others a little less depending on the meal plan.Photo 6. Is our recyclable waste per weekly shop and again, because we decant everything this is all we are left with and again, it’s an average, some weeks it’s a little more others a little less depending on the meal plan. This doesn’t include those items you can see still in the pantry.Photo 7 and 8. Ok, yes so we drink a lot of coffee! But I confess, we collected these jars over many years. This represents our ‘bulk’ (for the want of a better term at the moment) weekly ingredients. We make as much as we can from scratch, out curry pastes, our pasta sauces, chilli sauce, tandoori’s, etc the more we make from base products bought in bulk, the less packaging we have to buy. The upside is that we also know what is in the food. Photo 9 and 10. These are the elastic covers for mixing bowls and leftovers that in conjunction with the glass and Pyrex containers, completely eliminated all glad wrap. So, we are getting there, we have a lot more to do, and it’s a matter of making the time to research alternate products. Our biggest hurdle at the moment is bathroom products packaging! It’s insane! But as we address that I will let you know how. It can get a little funky, but like everything else, it’s just a matter of change. Well, I know it’s not aquaponics, but its just a little more of what we do here and just the beginning of where we want to go. Thanks so much for your time, we really appreciate it, Regards to you all, -- source link