I didn’t really write a lot about our pet chickens in the past three years. They’ve deserved more space on this blog, however.

There has been a major change, and thus the update.

We got three chickens in October 2008. They are wonderful pets, very useful, too. It was fun playing with them when they were tiny, very exciting when they laid first eggs and made great companions while gardening.

Sunflower, the boss, was sick several times, but pulled through. Singapore, the black one, and Princess (last in the pecking order) were always healthy. About this time last year, Sunflower stopped laying after a few months of a steady decline. The other two were still laying pretty regularly. At that time, I thought it was her age, and was happy to keep her. She has deserved a decent retirement.

Unsettled times

After stopping with the laying, Sunflower was looking the most beautiful of the three. Singapore and Princess had moulted and compared to Sunflower, they looked like the poor stepsisters. Still, everything was fine in our backyard. Till one very early summer morning. We were woken up by a terrible noise coming from the chicken coop. The first thought was something has attacked our chickens! I ran out only to find that they are fighting each other. To be precise, Sunflower and Princess were attacking Singapore. I had to rescue the poor thing.

In the days (and months) to come, we tried everything to solve the problem. The noise was unbearable some mornings.  We (and our neighbours) were at our wits’ end.  Each time we tried to get them together, the same thing happened. Singapore slept in at the time empty compost bin. She was so distressed, she stopped laying altogether, but started again after being separated for about a month. We couldn’t figure out what is the cause to all this.

Sunflower not feeling well

It was end of March when we noticed that Sunflower isn’t feeling herself. We were still trying to get the girls together occasionally, but she wasn’t up to any attacks anymore (Princess still was!). She was losing on weight. Her health deteriorated slowly but surely. Mid April she hardly walked. I had to feed her and give her water. We could see that her end is near and prepared the kids for what’s coming. Sunflower died on Easter Monday. It was sad, especially for the kids, but it’s a normal part of life and they have witnessed the whole life cycle. She is buried in our garden.

The attacks continue…

Being left with two chickens, we were hoping they would get along better. It was a long process of gradual supervised socialization, which worked some times, but sometimes was not. For a few days it would be peace, but we never knew when would we need to jump at 6 am to separate them.

As the reconciliation didn’t quite work and we couldn’t figure out what has poor Singapore done to deserve this treatment, we needed plan B. Plan A was to keep our city chickens well into their old age. The only acceptable option was to find them a new home. After a few months of searching, a friend offered to take them to the family farm.

The tree change…

When the day came for their move, I packed our two chickens in cardboard boxes with some soft hay and plenty of food for their one hour drive. The kids said goodbye to them earlier and I tried to sneak them out. But when our daughter spotted me, she broke into tears that lasted…long. Another life’s lesson. It took a while to get used to the empty coop.

The update

Our chickens arrived safe and sound to their new home. Both integrated well into the flock and have been introduced to a rooster for the first time. They love to spend the day in the paddock with the cows and have adapted well to the country life. We are sure they are happy there.

We still miss them. We miss the fresh eggs, their jumping on the window sill to watch us at breakfast, polishing all the fruit and veggie scraps and the compost with extra manure boost. Whenever I throw their favourite food into the compost like watermelon rinds, tomato seeds, corn cobs etc, I wish they are closer so I can take it to them.

For now, there are no plans to have new chicks due to plans in the near future. Although we had all this trouble, we would love to keep chickens again as they are truly wonderful pets.

A few photos…

In the broccoli “forest”…                                                                                     The first egg…

Basil’s gone!

On the window sill 1.5 meter high…                                                                      Taking a dust bath…

Sustainability is not limited to only big topics related to pollution, energy, carbon etc. but can be applied to any issue, big or small, to every aspect of our lives. When it comes to more delicate themes, well, that’s something we don’t connect with sustainability and don’t mention in sustainability discussions. Moreover, we’d rather not talk about them at all. Well, for a change, let’s talk about one of those, a topic of interest to women: menstrual pads.

Reusable Cloth Pads and Sustainability

Menstruation is a subject rarely discussed outside a close female circle of friends or family. What does sustainability have to do with periods and all that stuff I can hear some ask? A lot. Think about disposable sanitary pads: what are they made of, what chemicals and bleaches are they laced with, how much do they cost and where do all of them end up once disposed off? On average, how many are used during one cycle, times 13, times one large city not to go further. It’s a hell of a lot of rubbish! 

I used to buy disposable pads and wouldn’t like to count how much money they had cost me and they cost the Earth, too. Some were worse than other, often uncomfortable and unbreathable. However, some 5-6 years ago I came across reusable washable cloth Rad-Pads, decided to give it a go and never looked back! I haven’t visited the isle with the sanitary pads in a shop for years. It feels good environmentally and money wise. The pads are so soft, comfortable and breathable. My favourite Rad-Pads are hemp fleece/organic cotton (pictured on the right) but cotton jersey pads are great and comfy too.

Some of the many Rad-Pads benefits

Here are some of the benefits of using Rad-Pads:

• Extremely economical – save HEAPS of money by not throwing away your ‘women’s waste’. One purchase of 8 – 10 pads may cost you about $100 but that may well be all you need for many years.  Pads are often still going strong for many years (mine are) thanks to special machinery and quality control.
• Health benefits– are numerous! Many women report that their period pain and discomfort is much improved when they use Rad-pads.  In addition Rad-pads do not use plastics or nasty toxic dioxins.
• Go Organic (if choosing our hemp fleece products) – There are a lot of advantages of supporting chemical free farming. Less exposure of farm workers to potentially toxic chemicals is one, less exposure to your private parts to same is another.  Less harmful toxins being spread into the environment overall.
• Convenience – Rad-pads are always there ready and waiting for you to use.
• Conscience – support local businesses which employ people in fair and just circumstances instead of ‘feeding’ the huge multi-nationals who produce many of the disposable pads.
• Choice – Rad-Pads stock a range of colours as well as the organic options.
• Care– this is easy and Rad-Pads provides brochure with the products to let you know how to care for your pads.
• Natural – women comment on how much more in tune with their natural cycles they are when using Rad-pads.
• Versatile – Rad-Pads are also used for mild to moderate urinary incontinence and as panty liners

How to use and how to care for Rad-Pads

Rad-Pads are simple to use and care for. If you’re worried about washing and think it’s a hassle, I can tell you it’s simple – your washing machine is doing all the work. The instructions are enclosed with every Rad-Pads and there are detailed instructions on Rad-Pads website under Product Information link. In addition to reusable cloth pads, Rad-Pads have Menstrual Cup too.

Rad-Pads make a great gift and you can send it anywhere as international shipping is available for a flat rate. If you can’t decide which pack to buy, gift certificates are great solution. You can also give a present to yourself (I did) and the Earth will benefit, too!

Last week a new series started: Gourmet Farmer Series 2. The second season follows Matthew’s journey from living in Australia’s biggest and busiest city to a country life in an isolated part of the island state – Tasmania. Matthew Evans, one of Australia’s most discerning food critics, swapped city life for small farm living in Tasmania.

After spending most of his life writing about food; Matthew had to adjust to his tree-change and learn from scratch how to grow and rear his own food. Once a single guy trying his hand at pig farming and experimenting with making artisanal produce, Matthew has is now a fully fledged family man with partner, Sadie, and son, Hedley.

Gourmet Farmer reminds me of my childhood and holidays at my grandparents. They were self-sufficient and lived sustainably not because it was fashionable, but it was the only way of life. Matthew shows us how it’s done, but also how living in big cities removes us form the reality of where our food comes from.

Our readers outside Australia can watch Gourmet Farmer episodes online.

Hi there,

Summer holidays are over, school is back and so is Melbourne’s annual Sustainable Living Festival.  Traditionally held mid February and in its 12th year now it’s Australia’s largest and oldest sustainability festival.

The festival program spreads over 16 days from 12th till 27th February 2011 with the Festival’s Big Weekend event at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne on 18-20 February.

2011 Festival’s Mission: Safe Climate

There’s already too much carbon in the atmosphere and that’s heating up our planet at a staggering rate. The environment that we depend on relies on a stable and safe climate. Your planet needs you for this vital mission to restore a safe climate. Drop into the Sustainable Living Festival and find out how you can join the mission.

For more info go to http://festival.slf.org.au/

A few photos from SLF 2010

Roof gardens:

Bike Parking:

Work of art (note Yarra River in the background and see the last photo bellow)

World Environment Day (WED) 2010 is tomorrow, June 5th. Every year I mark it with a symbolic activity or deed.

This year I’ve joined 1 Million Women – A campaign of daughters, mothers, sisters and grandmothers – Committed to protecting our climate, our communities and our future, leading change for the better.  The goal is to inspire 1 million Australian women to take practical action on climate change by cutting 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the main greenhouse pollutant causing global warming.

For more info about WED and how you can take part visit the United Nations Environment Programme website

http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/

Make your Easter a bit greener and more sustainable by colouring the eggs naturally.  Brown Easter eggs are my favourite for two reasons:

1. the colour is natural and so simple to make,
2. brown is strong enough for our chickens’ brown eggs.

Here in Australia,  I rarely see white eggs.  Our chickens’ eggs range from cream to medium brown.  Singapore, our black chicken lays the lightest coloured eggs – she is very popular around Easter time .

How to Colour Easter Eggs Naturally

Here are step by step instructions with photos for colouring your Easter eggs naturally.

You need:

• hard boiled eggs
• old stockings, washed preferably , cut into several 15 cm (6 inches) pieces
• lots of brown onion skin (outer layer only)
• large pot
• herb leaves like parsley

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil together with the onion skin.  Boil for about 10 min.

2. Place a chosen leaf face down on the egg.

3. Tie a knot on one end of the stocking, carefully put the egg and tie the other end.

4. Stocking should be very tight to press the leaf so no colour gets under it.

5. Place the eggs into the pot with onion skin in it. The water doesn’t need to boil, but should be hot.

6. Leave the egg in the onion water for at least 5 min or longer depending on the colour of the egg and desired colour depth.  Check after a few minutes.

7. Once happy with the colour, take the egg out, cut the knot with the scissors, remove stocking and the leaf and let it dry.

8. Rub some oil to give the egg nice shine.

These eggs are safe for eating.  Happy colouring!

Do you have a natural egg colouring method you would like to share?  Please do so using the comment form below!

Seeing the photo above, some might ask:  what on earth are we doing here?  Making hay.  But why?  In an inner city backyard?  There are no big meadows or cows close by!

Well, we are using it as the chicken coop bedding for our pet chickens!  Instead of buying hay or wood shavings for the bedding, we tried to make some.  It works!

In our bid to live more sustainably in the city, making hay is one little step towards greener living.  It reduces waste and saves money.  It might seem insignificant, but all the little things do add up.

How to Make Hay

Hay is basically cut and dried grass.  It’s usually made on farms to feed stock during the winter or dry season, but also as bedding and/or food for pets.  Straw on the other hand is a byproduct from grain production like wheat.

Although you can’t make haystacks as above form suburban lawn (you’ll need taller grass and lots of it), grass clippings are excellent for making hay in smaller amount. The two most important things to check are:

1. Lawn shouldn’t be chemically treated: no weed killing solution or chemical fertiliser used.
2. The weather: do it on a sunny and wind free day.  As the saying goes: Make hay while the sun shines!

The first point is obvious and if you have kids playing on the grass area you probably don’t use chemicals anyway.  When asking the lawn moving guys to leave some grass clippings, I always remind them not to put any from the nature strip between the pavement and the road as it might contain dog’s poo or cigarette buts.

A perfect day for making hay is when it’s sunny and calm.  Spread the grass clippings in a thin layer on the ground, preferably on the concrete.  Turn it and mix it around a few times during the day.  It shouldn’t take more than half a day or so until it’s completely dry.  Before night time, gather it on a pile and store in a box or another container and leave in the dry place.

On a rainy day I don’t bother making hay, even in the sheltered area as it’s too humid.  I can’t choose the day as the grass is always cut on Tuesday.  Instead, I give a portion of freshly cut grass to our pet chickens to eat (only on the first day!) and the rest goes in the veggie garden as mulch.  The grass breaks down into organic matter enriching soil.   It is also beneficial to leave some clippings on the lawn.   Alternatively, toss it into the compost bin, but no thicker than 5-6 cm.

If you have rabbits or guinea pigs, you might like to try making hay for your pet as food.

Hay as Chicken Coop Bedding

Here you can see our pet chicken Sunflower, the boss, inspecting the fresh hay layer in the coop!

As said, we use hay as bedding for the chicken coop.  We have 3 backyard chickens and they use the coop only for sleeping. At daytime they are in their chicken run.   Fresh hay has a lovely smell, at least until the chickens go to sleep (yes, chickens poo during the sleep, too!) .  The coop is cleaned once or twice a week and the whole hay bedding and the chicken poo goes into the compost bin and makes great fertiliser for the veggie garden. Grass clipping recycling at its best!

Here are some ideas for recycling grass clippings:

• Make hay for pets’ bedding/food
• Feed it to the chickens (freshly cut only)
• Leave them on the lawn as a fertiliser
• Mulch the garden
• Incorporate into the soil in the garden
• Compost the grass clippings
• Put them into the green waste bin, anything but…
• Just don’t throw the grass clippings into the rubbish and add to the already full landfills.  Only…
• In one instance trow the grass clippings in the bin:  If the turf was treated with chemicals!  That grass has been killed long before it was cut!

Sustainable Living Festival- Melbourne is in full swing. The 2010 Festival will include 2 programs:  the Main Event at Federation Square (19-21 February 2010) and the Local Events Program (6-21 February 2010).

The Main Event at Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne will continue to celebrate the very best examples of ecological and social sustainability. The event will fuse interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances. In recognition of the climate situation, the Main Event will be inspired by the theme: Get Ready for the Safe Climate Decade!

The Sustainable Living Festival showcases a huge range of exhibitors, talks, workshops, art, films and performances celebrating and inspiring sustainable communities.

For more info go to http://festival.slf.org.au/

Finally, after more than one year since applying for a plot in the local community garden, we’ve got one!  Coincidentally, we received the news on the day Sustainable Echo was celebrating its first birthday.  It felt like a real anniversary present for us.

A few years ago, the waiting period was much shorter as the turnout was quicker.  Nowadays, people are committing to their community garden plots.  Our application was timely because the waiting list grew longer and longer so much so that no applications are accepted for a year till June 2010.  Also, to accommodate the interest, all full plots that become available are split into two half plots.

Our small veggie patch at home is just not big enough for us.  We gave up more than a half of it to our three chickens and added a container garden.  However, in winter we can’t grow anything as it’s in the complete shade for months.  This community garden receives full sun year round and we are really excited to finally be able to grow our broccoli, cabbage and other winter veggies.

Join a Community garden near you

If you would like to grow more veggies, but have little or no garden space, see if there is a community garden near you.  Not only is this a best way of getting fresh organic veggies if you have no garden, but also there is a great sense of community. We’ve already met some wonderful people.

Some form of fee, like joining fee, annual fee or similar is offset very quickly once you start to harvest the produce.  Our joining and annual fee equals the amount we spend on fruit and veggies for a month.  Every year after there is only an annual fee – the amount we spend on one trip to the farmers market.  Plus, all the produce from our plot will be organic!

Our Two-stage vegetable planting project

As summer is approaching and we are experiencing unusually hot spring weather, we rolled our sleeves up.  As you can see above, we first needed to loosen the slightly compacted, but very good soil.  We inherited a cauliflower and a bunch of silverbeet (chard) on the right in the picture.  The pest ridden cauliflower was devoured by our chickens, but silverbeet is left so we can collect the seeds.

The picture below is stage one finished, taken after sunset.  We’ve planted cucumber, corn, sunflower, zucchini (courgette), eggplant (aubergine) and tomatoes (self-seeded and Roma).

The next evening stage two was finished.  We had to work late to avoid heat and give the plants a chance to soak up the moisture during the night.  We added beans (green and butter beans), spring onions, beetroots, peas, red capsicums and marigold (calendula) at each corner as it deters several garden pests:

This picture below was taken early next morning just before watering.  We’ve added some mulch to retain the moisture.  Due to years of drought watering is allowed only twice a week in the morning, other days we use rainwater and watering cans.

It takes only 7-8 minutes on the bike to the garden and 5 minutes from (it’s downhill on the way back ), nice and close so we can pop in very often.  All plants are still OK and hopefully will establish themselves before the hot Australian summer.

Four weeks later:

Yummy organic veggies:

Latecomers: Eggplant and Green Capsicum, harvested march 2010

9 – 15 November 2009 is National Recycling Week (Australia) founded by Planet Ark in 1996.  This post is Sustainable Echo’s contribution to NRW.  It’s about finding another use for something otherwise destined for the dump: the coconut shell.

Recently I bought a whole coconut to make some coconut cookies.  Packaged shredded coconut sold in shops usually contains preservatives I try to avoid.  Opening and shredding a coconut is more work but it was worthwhile the effort.  The taste was great!  One half of the flesh was shredded finely for the cookies, the other half made into flakes and dried for homemade muesli.

How to open a coconut

There are several methods on how to crack open a coconut, but this was the simplest for me:

1. Using a screwdriver, corkscrew or a metal skewer make holes in two out of three coconut “eyes”
2. Drain the coconut water
3. Wrap the coconut in a towel
4. With a hammer tap around the coconut’s “equator” till the coconut opens.  If you need straight lines, use a hand saw.
5. To release the flesh insert a butter knife between the flesh and the shell and break off small chunks
6. Shred or slice  using a greater, V-slicer or similar

To store for later use, bake in oven on low temperature until dry to touch but still white.

What to do with coconut shells?

Coconut cookies have long disappeared, homemade muesli was delicious.  The two halves of the coconut shells were left outside to dry.  But, what to do with them?  In different countries different things are manufactured from them, eg. buttons, musical instruments, baskets, bird feeders, jewelry even briquettes for BBQ.

We had a brainstorming session the other day and the kids came up with these brilliant ideas:  one half become a basket for egg collection, the other a pot holder!  Both very simple to make.

The basked needed two holes drilled and a short length of ribbon (actually a fabric off-cut).  Done.  See the picture above.

The plant holder was even easier as it required only one hole to be drilled and screwed to the fence.  Fill with the soil and plant a seedling.

For the plant holder we used the coconut shell half with the “eyes” for the drainage:

This is our way of reusing things around the house.  Do you have a tip on reusing coconut shells or any other reuse tip for everyday items usually destined for the rubbish tip?  Please share in the comments below.