The Good, The Bug and Ugly!

So which bugs are the good ones?

The Good, The Bug and The Ugly

Bees (the really good guys) play a central roll in pollination, but to do this they need a year round supply of flowers - free from sprays.

Ladybugs (the bug) generally bright red and polka-dotted, they can devour a colony of aphids in no time; even the larvae can devour 100 aphids an hour.






Praying Mantis (good but oh so ugly!) the praying mantis eats many nasty insects which can damage the garden. These predators take out more than just aphids and mites, they can also help you tackle infestations of mosquitoes, houseflies and moths.

After lots of replanting and replacing a very boring collection of box hedges and grasses with fruit, trees, vegetables and flowers we regularly see all three in our garden.

 

Last year we planted cosmos between all of our apple and pear trees

Why do we encourage these guys (especially the bees)?

The primary motivation for planting a bee friendly garden is our fruit trees and vegetable crops. When we moved in we planted nine apple and pear trees. Not long after they went in the ground we realised that we hadn't seen a single bee in our (very boring) garden. So we did some research and planted as much bee friendly food as we could manage in our relatively small garden.

What's a bee friendly garden?

One rule, and some suggestions.

• Rule #1 don’t use pesticides. Most pesticides are not selective. By using pesticides, you will kill the good with the bad.
• Plant local plants, they are attractive to honeybees; and adapted to your soil and climate.
• Plant a range of colours and flower shapes. Bees have good colour vision. Bees are particularly attracted to blue, purple, violet, white and yellow.
• Plant flowers in clumps.
• Provide accessible water. Bees need water. Provide easy access through wet sand or pebbles; do not drown the bees!
• Plan a garden with a wide range of plants - flowering across all four seasons.

What do our bees eat for lunch?

Ok so here's our menu:

A sample of a bee's menu

• Lavender
• Marjoram
• Rosemary
• Mints (lots of different types)
• Pineapple Sage
• Thymes (at least six different types on offer)
• Salvias
• Cosmos
• Comfrey
• A selection of fruit trees (apple, pear, lemon and lime)
• Berries
• Basil
• Bottlebrush
• Hakea

The seasonal menu includes:

• Tomatoes
• Pumpkin
• Rockmelon
• Cucumbers
• Passionfruit

All of these plants will attract bees and many need bees to ensure their pollination. The Australian Government has published a fantastic bee friendly planting guide, which you can access for free online as a pdf. Here's a sample of one of their planting guides.

Spring in our Garden

What space do we have in our garden?

Our house - shiny and new two years ago

We bought a 'battle axe' block - think long driveway with our house built in what was once our neighbours back yard. So we have 28 metres of driveway (with garden beds on both sides) , a small decorative garden bed at the front, a small courtyard and long narrow side and rear gardens. One of the  nice things about our garden is there's no lawn to maintain (there's a huge park across the street).

Since we bought our house a little over two years ago the biggest changes have occurred in the garden. Our priorities were edibles, or native.

What did we do?

Our courtyard (Oct 2013)

Firstly we brought in a lot of organic matter, and dug out a lot of clay! We built up the garden beds along the driveway. One side for fruit trees, the other for vegetables. Closer to the house we raised the main bed in front of the house and created a herb garden. In the courtyard we removed stones and box hedges and replaced theses with lavender, rosemary and 'snow in summer'. We also planted Wisteria. We also planted a lot of climbers, which are trained onto wires in front of the garage. 

So just how many fruit trees can you fit on a 500m2 block?

Quite a few! We've got six apple trees, three pear trees and a lemon and a lime. In addition we've got passionfruit, a grape vine, a tayberry (a cross between a black berry and a raspberry), kiwiberries, rhubarb, three types of raspberry and lots of strawberries.

Apple and pear blossom, apple tree, strawberries, rhubarb and passionfruit flowers

What are we growing for spring and summer in the veggie patch?

While we still have lots of greens (think lettuce and spinach) right now we are gearing up for spring and summer so we have lots of seeds and seedlings on the go (pumpkin, beetroot, leek, beans, lettuce, rocket, watermelon, tomato, cucumber, zucchini... to name a few). More photos to follow.

Whole food

What do we mean by 'whole food'?

For us whole food is about unprocessed, unrefined real ingredients, no additives, preservatives or funny numbers. It means we buy ingredients not processed food. If your Granny wouldn't recognise something on the list of ingredients chances are it's best avoided! This week our shopping basket included fresh meat and chicken, tinned tuna slices in olive oil, dried (Australian) chickpeas, Potatoes, Carrots, Broccoli, Spinach, Beetroot, Lemons, Whole native peppercorns, Spelt flour, selection of Australian grown nuts, Oranges, Cheese, Milk, Eggs and Yoghourt. Pantry basics include Cornflour, Rice, Oats, tinned Australia Tomatoes, and a whole lot of herbs and spices.

Why whole food?

Less waste - both food and packaging. When we buy meat, poultry or seafood we try to buy whole cuts and make use of all the 'left overs'. This week we had Roast Lamb for Saturday lunch, with local spuds, carrots and broccoli. The leftovers made over a litre of amazing stock and Shepherd's Pie for six. Some of the stock went into the pie, the rest will be used over the coming weeks as a flavoursome base for soups, slow cooked casseroles and possibly even a risotto. It's not only less waster in our kitchen - but within the whole food supply chain. For example there is more packaging required for a chicken breasts on a tray than for a whole chicken. Thanks to Woolies for these images to prove a point.

Finally we believe that you can't beat homemade stock! Meal planning is an important part of buying and using whole food. Thinking about whole cuts of meat means we tend to plan our meals for the week ahead based on what cuts we buy. By buying only the food we need for the week we tend to have less food waste.

What's on the menu this week?

This week we stocked the fridge and the pantry with food from the Dandenong markets and the Heathmont farmers market. So far this week we've had two roast dinners (lamb and chicken). We've also made Shepherd's Pie, Chicken Salad and a whole lot of stock. Also on the menu bean chilli (with Australian chick peas and local organic mushrooms); another spanish omelette (local organic eggs, cheese and spuds); and later in the week we'll make curry and a risotto.

If you haven't worked out by now we love to cook! Favourite recipes to follow in another blog.

Compost

What are the benefits of compost?

According to the City of Whitehorse food waste currently makes up 44 percent of items currently found in the average rubbish bin. So the first and obvious benefit is we are reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. Better yet making compost - and applying it to your garden improves the soil by releasing the nutrients back into the soil, saving money on fertilisers along the way. 

How do you make compost?

According to Clean Up making your own compost is a lot easier than most people realise, and we agree.  A composting system can be started in specially made containers, wooden boxes, or in a simple heap. We opted for a system that looks like a Death Star! We chose this system because we have a small garden, and we can roll the Death Star to where we want to empty it.

Composting organisms require four equally important components to work effectively:

• 'Green ingredients' such as kitchen scraps, fresh lawn clippings, weeds pulled from your garden - they supply nitrogen to the compost. If all you have is green stuff, your compost will turn into a stinky slime ball!
• 'Brown ingredients' that supply the compost with carbon for energy (heat). These items are often drier than the green ingredients, leaves, branches, straw, etc.
• Oxygen to enable the decomposition process (turn your compost regularly, or take the Death Star for a roll!)
• Water, compost should be moist, but not soaking wet.

How do we collect material for our compost?

We bought a compost caddy for our scraps, which we keep on the kitchen bench. We use compostable liners and it snaps shut to keep in the moisture and the smells. Our Death Stars are located next to the Laundry door - making it easy to access them - no trips to the bottom of the garden path for us! We also add fallen leaves and straw to keep the green / brown balance. 

What's our secret ingredient?

No it's not 11 herbs and spices, just one herb - Comfrey. The leaves are a useful addition to compost as they contain silica, nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Comfrey leaves are about 15 to 30 percent protein which is as high as most legumes.

Seasonal Produce

Why is eating seasonal produce important?

"Being able to eat whatever we want whenever we want is convenient, but it isn’t great for the planet, or even for the cost or flavour."

Source: Environment Victoria

Food that isn’t in season has usually travelled huge distances, which means that a lot of energy has been used to get it to your local store - a whole lot of unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not just the distance, it’s also the refrigeration along the way, and the energy that goes into packaging and storing it when it arrives. Produce which is in season tends to be local, which means much lower greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Eating seasonal produce — means produce is picked as close to the time it will be eaten as possible, which means lots of flavour, colour and nutrients. Out of season produce and produce that is transported long distance is harvested early so it doesn’t rot during transit. This doesn't do much for the taste or nutritional value of the food.

What's in season?

According to the Victorian Farmers' Markets Association right now produce in season includes:

• Beetroot
• Cabbages
• Carrots
• Leek
• Parsnips, Swedes and Turnips
• Pumpkins
• Cauliflower and Broccoli
• Silver beet, Spinach, Kale
• Oranges, mandarins, grapefruits etc
• Rhubarb

As part of our low impact lifestyle one important change we will be making is eating more seasonal produce. 

What's for dinner at our house this week?

Note - this is not an invitation to our friends!

On the weekend to supplement our small veggie patch and source some protein for the week we went to the Coburg Farmers markets. It's part of the Melbourne Farmers Markets; which are: "dedicated to Victorian food and producers, regional food cultures, seasonal produce, biodiversity, sustainable farming practices and the strengthening of relationships between the consumer and the producer." We think this is a great fit with our goal of a low impact lifestyle.

Shepherds pie for dinner tonight!

This week we brought a whole lot of lovely seasonal produce - including Kale, Bok Choi, Carrots, Cabbage, Mushrooms, Beetroot, Spuds, Oranges and Limes. We also bought fresh rye bread, cheese, organic eggs, streaky bacon, mince lamb and lamb chops for protein (we tend to eat a couple of vegetarian meals each week).

The challenge (because one of us likes to be organised) is that menu planning has to take a back seat and be done on the basis of what's in season - and available. So rather than plan our meals, and then head out with a list; we are going to be more flexible and enjoy what's on offer. The menu for the week includes: bacon and egg sandwiches, veggie soup, shepherds pie (with left overs for lunch), a vegetable stir fry, spanish omelette and lamb chops.

 

Ethical Food Shopping

What do we want to achieve?

We want to have a low impact on the planet when buying and consuming food. Things that are important to us are:

• to buy food produced locally; ideally Victorian, but definitely grown and/or raised in Australia;
• try to only buy food from companies that are 100 percent Australian owned;
• identifying which companies are environmentally and socially responsible; and supporting these companies.

Why is this important to us?

“A typical Melbourne shopping basket has travelled a staggering 70,000 kilometres – equivalent to almost two trips around the world. By purchasing an orange grown in Mildura rather than California you reduce food miles from 12,879 km to 567 km.” 

(Shop Ethical!)

We think that buying Australian is a good thing. We live on an Island with a huge range of climates and can grow almost any food; so buying food from overseas seems more than a little crazy! 

We are using the Shop Ethical! Guide as a starting point to find out which companies are environmentally and socially responsible.

Two examples of why this is not straight forward...

Identifying companies that are 100 percent Australian owned is lot harder than we first thought. For example we buy Edgell Canned Chickpeas. We know that the Chickpeas are grown in Australia and the product is 'Made in Australia'. Therefore we are supporting Australian farmers and buying Australian. Shop Ethical! gives Edgell's parent company a tick and they are a signed up to the Australia Packaging Covenant.

However Edgell is owned by Simplot which is one of the largest food and agribussiness companies in America, so a cross when it comes to being an Australian owned company.

We've been buying SunRice microwavable rice cups - the perfect side dish to a reheated curry or home made stew. We know SunRice is Australian owned and the rice is grown in Australia (one of us has even been to their rice fields). No problem so far. BUT while the packets of uncooked rice are made in Australia - the rice cups are not. They are actually a product of Thailand. We assume this means the rice is grown here, sent to Thailand, processed and then sent back. That's a lot of unnecessary food miles!

So what's next?

Back to the wonders of google and the world wide web to find out more... 
and we'd love your comments on these examples or others.

• Where do you draw the line?
• What should be the most important consideration when buying food?