The Greening of Gavin | Sustainable Living in the Suburbs

My special guest this week is Amy Webber, who gives her old Dad some feedback about his Climate Reality presentations that I gave to some students at the school she teaches at.

We also discuss the Peoples Climate mobilisation, and our thoughts on the current state of climate action.

I think you will find it a very interesting show, as we had a lovely glass of organic Shiraz before the show.  We were certainly free in offering our opinions.

Spring has finally arrived in South Eastern Australia and the fruit trees are full of blossom with busy bees everywhere doing their thing.  I love this time of year.  The soil is heating up as are the days, and finally a bit of sunshine to boost growth here in the suburban food farm.

During this episode I share a few spring fruit tree tips.  I talk about soil conditions, fruit tree pest issues, and pest removal tips for apples, pears, and citrus.

If you enjoyed the podcast, please visit iTunes and rate the show or leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

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Until next time, stay green and keep keen!

This week I answer a listener question about growing food.

Lex says;

Do you find that you need to buy much in the way of food, with this much garden produce? What kind of things do you find yourself still purchasing?

How Much Food Can a Suburban Backyard Produce? Great question!

The answer is quite a bit. I talk you through how much I can grow here during which times of the year, and how successful have we have been by quoting a yearly percentage of the amount of herbs, fruit, and vegetables that I can grow in our suburban backyard.

I hope you gain some insight on how much I can grow in a small space.  You will be pleasantly surprised!

On that note, it would be very interesting to find out how much food that you grow yourselves.  Please feel free to partake in the poll.  The results are provided after you answer the question.

 

If you enjoyed the podcast, please visit iTunes and rate the show and leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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 Until next show, stay green and keep keen!

 

The main part of this episode is an interview that I gave when I appeared on Reaction Podcast as a guest of Matt and Beau. We talk about all things sustainable living, including a bit of analysis about this podcast.

It is full of fun and laughs and the odd swear word.  What can I say, I was excited so my accent and banter was heavier than usual.

The Reaction Podcast is all about other podcasts where Matt and Beau (I believe they are brothers) review other podcasts.  You can find all their shows at reactionpodcast.com.  Previous episodes that I have listened to have been a laugh-riot, and their style of humor is infectious.  Thanks for having me on the show fellas!

After the interview, I answer lots of listener questions that have been sent in via voicemail over the last month and a half.  From growing sweet corn, to where to get african horned melon seeds and everything in between!

During the show I mention the following links

* Podcast Answerman podcast

* School of Podcasting podcast

* Kiwimana Buzz podcast

* Simple Life Together podcast

* Smart Passive Income podcast

* The Watching Dead podcast

* Game of Thrones podcast

* Fair Dinkum Seeds

* The Diggers Club

* My Salami

If you enjoyed the show, please visit iTunes and rate the show and leave an honest review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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Until next time, stay green and keep keen!

Way back at the start of the year I wrote a post about Pip Magazine.  Robyn Rosenfeldt was seeking funding via crowdsourcing to launch Australia’s first permaculture magazine in 10 years.

I caught up with Robyn during this episode to see how things were progressing with the magazine (now in its second issue), to learn a little bit more about Robyn herself and her lifestyle.

I found Robyn to be very down to earth who practices what she preaches.  Permaculture is imbedded in all things throughout her family’s lifestyle including the conversion of their 2 acre piece of land at Pambula on the south coast of New South Wales.

Robyn also talks about how she started the magazine and how you can submit ideas for articles to her.

You can find her contact details, social media links, and where to buy or how to subscribe to the magazine at www.pipmagazine.com.au

If you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to visit iTunes to rate the show and leave a review.

You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.

It would help me out so much, which elevates the shows ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

Until next time, stay green and keep keen!

 

This episode is a roundup of what is growing well, what isn’t, and what I am planning on planting for spring in a few weeks time on my Suburban Food Farm.

During the show I talk about the following items;

* Curly Kale Chips

* Veg Trug

* African Horned Melon

Also, a funny thing happened today when I went to harvest some winter potatoes which I talk about during the episode.

I noticed that there seemed to a cabbage missing from the patch.  After getting enough spuds for dinner, I asked Kim if she picked it, as it was nearly ready to harvest.  We were both surprised to find that the cabbage had been taken by persons unknown, who obviously likes cabbage more than we do

The Brass Monkey Challenge is something that Kim and I came up with this winter to see if we could avoid using the natural gas heating in our home for the entire winter.

Join Kim and me as we talk extensively about what this challenge has thrown at us over the last three months.

So far we have achieved our goal, and have come up with inventive ways of staying warm without heating.

We also talk about the recent Thermal assessment we received from ecoMaster, and what additional work we are going to get done to our home to make it more comfortable in summer and winter.

If you enjoyed Kim and I on the podcast, please pop over to iTunes and rate it and leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help us out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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 Until next time, stay warm and keep keen!

Last week, I was interviewed by Andrew Moore from Radio 2GB in Sydney at 7am.  Talk about dedication!

His radio show “Wake Up Australia” has a segment called Blog of the Week.  Anyway, we talked a little about the blog, but a lot about how we started greening our lifestyle.

If you think this topic could have the legs for a longer episode about how to start greening, then let me know and we can focus on that during next weeks show!

Please pop over to iTunes and rate it and leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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 Until next time, stay green and keep keen!

When the price on carbon legislation here in Australia was repealed on July 17th 2014, I along with many concerned citizens, were distraught.  Our country went from an effective price on carbon emissions to a big fat nothing where major polluters are free to pump as much greenhouse gas as they like without financial consequences.  You can read about my reaction in this post titled Black Thursday.

I had the good fortune this week to talk to the team at the Massachusetts Climate Action Network about the repeal of the Clean Energy Future legislation, lessons learnt, and how events unfolded.  This was to help them with their own efforts of getting action on climate happening over there in the US.

Have a listen to the podcast, and let me know how we went.  I know that at 7am on a Sunday morning, when the interview took place, I had just finished my first coffee for the day, so I was a little slow to begin with!

I also promised that I would keep on talking about this and solutions as much as I could.  There have been so many opportunities to do so since then.  I have two Climate Reality presentations locked in locally, which I am looking forward to cutting my teeth on.

If anyone would like to book a Climate Reality presentation anywhere in the greater Melbourne area, so that you can get a better understanding of climate change and the current situation, please drop me a line via my contact page, and I am sure we can organise something soon.

If you got value from the podcast, please pop over to iTunes and rate it and leave a review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.  It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs and all the things I talk about on the show.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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 Until next time, stay green and keep keen!

Pollution in Australia is not too bad compared to other countries. During this episode I talk to Kate Nye-Butler and Amy Webber about the pollution they encountered in their recent travels through China and Southeast Asia.

It is not pretty folks, that’s for sure.  Airpocalypse and the Beijing cough come foremost to mind.

Then around the 21 minute mark we go off on a tangent about sustainable travel and excessive consumerism.  I really enjoyed this episode.  We managed to stay on topic for just over 20 minutes, then all hell broke loose and it was just a very interesting general sustainability talk.

A well-rounded episode that I am sure you will enjoy.

Here is the detailed show notes with time markers (in minutes)

* [00:54] Australian pollution

* [04:27] China

* [10:37] Vietnam

* [15:46] Cambodia

* [17:44] Nepal

* [19:20] The root cause; Western consumer culture

* [20:48] Overpopulation

* [21:51]  Unsustainable travel

* [22:44] Long distance travel in the near future

* [24:30] Xenophobia

* [25:20] Excessive consumerism

* [27:32] The Brass Monkey Challenge

* [20:57] Stew and Helen in Tasmania

* [32:15] Amy’s recycle bin project

* [32:46] Climate Reality Leadership talk

If you enjoyed the podcast, please pop over to iTunes and rate it and leave an honest review. You can also do the same within Stitcher Radio if you use that service.

It would help me out so much, and elevate the ratings so that others can find out about the podcast and learn about sustainable living in the ‘burbs.

You can subscribe to the show via RSS or iTunes or Stitcher for your portable device.  Just use the subscription buttons below.

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Until next time, stay green and keep keen!