Summer 2012 plus some before and afters

A little update on the garden this summer. I hate that I am forced to not plant during this season but it would be a ridiculous exercise in this heat.

Sharing some of our fruit with a "local"

Pomegranate fence

"The Orchard" Oct 2008

The Orchard January 2012 (3 years 3 months old)


Apple trees under nets so we actually get some fruit

The Seven year bean has gone crazy

Carrots that actually survived repeated attacks from the chooks

Nursery area cause I just can't stop myself from sowing seeds!


The long view March 2009

The long view January 2012

On the no supermarket front we are 19 days in and still going strong (LOL huge achievement I know). Even managed to shop for a weeks camping without succumbing.

New Years Revolutions

So here we are in 2012!!
Wow where did the last year go?
We have had a great year and achieved some of our eco challenges.

• The solar panels have been installed for nearly a whole year and I am happy to say that 2011 was a no electricity bill year...woohoo!!
• We put in a few rainwater tanks but much more are needed.
• The garden grew taller and the soil seems just a little more water retentive.
• We achieved nearly 9 months of buying nothing new

So onto 2012!! What are the challenges for this year.

• To coincide with the nothing new challenge that we started last year we will continue to buy nothing new unless it is replacing something large that is broken/worn out. Even then we will look at second hand options first.
  
• We are joining the Little Eco family in not buying food/supplies from supermarkets, shopping malls and super chains.
  
• We are uping our green lunches with new Kids Konserve lunch packs to create waste free lunches now that all 4 children will be attending school ( scary I know) We have been fairly good in the last few years but this will eliminate the plastic element.
  

• We are majorly cutting back the kids extra activities to just piano ( walking distance) and one sport. This will give our family more time together and cut our travelling miles down immensely.
• We will start looking seriously at a new house with larger space for our children to enjoy the outdoors more often and take a step closer to a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Increase the use of our solar oven. We just received an upgrade from the builder of our solar oven ( posting soon on that development) that will increase our oven temperature by another 15 degrees. Will be using that to it's full advantage.

We will do a fair amount of air travel this year so I am very keen to offset that impact with our daily living choices. So here's to a fabulous and greener 2012!!