Still having computer problems so no photos today.  Sorry.  :- )


I know you probably don't want to read about this now, or ever, but global warming is a fact of life for us and it should be uppermost in your mind, particularly at this time of year when credit cards are running hot. There is no better time than now to make a stand and to stop buying into the mindless consumerism that many politician tell us is good for the country but we know is killing the planet.

I'm a proud Australian, I love my country and the people who live here dearly. But I am ashamed of our environmental policies that promote coal for the sake of the dollar when we all know it is fossil fuels that are doing the most damage.  Read this recent article for more info, and this.

This is today's Guardian headline: Australia has been named the worst-performing industrial country in the world on climate change in a report released at international negotiations in Peru.

It's a crying shame we have no political leadership on this. Those forward-thinking leaders and the new ways of industrial thinking have emerged in other countries - Denmark, Sweden and Britain. But not here. Here we choose the dollar over the environment. We're being lead down a pathway we should have left behind years ago.

I'm worried that we're not heeding the warnings from scientists all around the world that we have to change how we live. It seems to me that many people believe they can't make any changes that will matter. This crisis was created by all of us just doing what we're doing now - buying what we want with no thought of how or where it's manufactured or at what environmental cost. We don't think about how we'll dispose of all the rubbish we buy. We seem to think it will just take care of itself. And that's what we've been lead to believe all these years - that it's fine, don't worry your pretty little head over it, science/the government/new technology will save us from ourselves. Let's do it tomorrow, or next year, or ten years from now. Well, I think it's time to bite the bullet, let's do something about it ourselves - now.

It's wonderful if you've set your home up to be as environmentally friendly as possible but what will also make a real difference is if you start cooking from scratch, recycling, stop eating so much meat, grow some of your own foods, make your own cleaners, mend your own clothes, save water, cut down on electricity usage, use public transport. Be a good steward in your own home. Take back the ability to look after your own needs. Just live a simple life. If we all do it, it will make a difference.

Now is the best time of the year to stop spending. When all those Christmas specials are there luring you in, turn your back. I'm not saying you should not give any gifts, but only give half what you used to give.  Everyone will survive. Small steps. Don't do it all at once, choose your steps wisely and follow through. Once you decided to live a more simple life, don't be tempted to return to your old ways. If we can do this now we can all start 2015 with a focus on what we can reduce next year. I hope you'll join me because we're already waited too long.

What are you doing now and this Christmas to reduce your own environmental footprint?

Sometimes plans just don't work out. Yesterday I wrote a post on Irish soda bread and fresh pea and herb soup. A couple of hours later I checked the forum and came across Tessa's thread about how SPC Ardmona was petitioning the Australian Productivity Commission to place tariffs on imported tinned fruit and tomatoes. Just this year, three fruit processors have closed their doors. The iconic Rosella, Mondella Farms and Windsor Farm Foods. SPC Ardmona is one of the last, if not the last, Australian companies to process Australian fruit and tomatoes in tins. 

I felt I had to do something, so I wrote an additional post.

I decided I'd set up a petition at change.org to support Australian fruit and tomato farmers and SPC Ardmona. I got the petition underway, then decided to email SCP Ardmona to let know what was happening. But something stopped me in my tracks. When I rang their head office to ask for their email address, I heard the woman say: "@ccamatil.com". SPC Ardmona is owned by Coco-Cola. That made me stop and think about what I was doing. Do I continue and ask my friends and readers to support a non-Australian company? I decided that without doubt, I would. It might be an American company but the factory is processing fruit grown in Australia by Australian farmers, the factory is employing Australians, the company is listed on the Australian stock exchange, it and its employees are paying taxes, it is keeping many Australian farmers going and keeping Australian fruit on the shelves of our supermarkets. We all need to support that. If we don't, it's all lost.

If you've signed the petition, I thank you sincerely; there have been 739 signatories in under 24 hours. But signing the petition is one thing, we need to make every effort to help SPC Ardmona and our fruit farmers not only survive, but prosper. The next time you do your shopping, please search out SPC fruit and tomatoes and buy a couple of tins for your stockpile. That is what will really help our farmers - if we leave the imported tins on the shelves, showing the supermarkets where our loyalty lies and that we prefer to support our local people. Buy a couple of cans to stock up now and then in the future, only buy Australian; that will help us get back on track. If you're Australian, it will also help if you let your local federal MP know about your concerns and that you've signed the petition. Ask what they're doing to support Australian farmers and the local food industry.

If you're reading this in another country, you should support your local fruit and vegetable growers as well. But if you don't have the climate to grow things like peaches, pears and tomatoes, please consider the SPC Ardmona brand if you see it on your supermarket shelf. It's top quality Australian produce, and you can't get much better than that.

If you haven't yet signed the petition and you're Australian, please click here to sign. Ask your family, friends and work mates to sign too.

Additional reading

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/canned-fruit-growers-facing-perfect-storm/story-e6frg8zx-1226667134245

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/05/01/568525_latest-news.html

Tessa posted a very interesting article over at the forum this morning about SPC Ardmona petitioning the Australian Productivity Commission to place tariffs on imported tinned tomatoes and fruits. They need the next 200 days so they can regroup and have a breather. My heart breaks when I see orange trees being burnt down and grape vines left to rot. When I grew up, many homes grew their own fruit. Now this doesn't happen so much and up until now, we've brought fresh and tinned Australian fruits and tomatoes. Now they're hard to find, you have to check every label before you put it in your trolley and I'm sick of it. Our politicians should know how important it is for us to eat our locally grown fruit and vegetables, if they don't know, please tell them.

I've just started a petition at change.org to support SPC Ardmona in their petition, in the hope it will give them the breathing space they need to reorganise and for us, the Australian shoppers, to get them back into profit again. If you're an Australian, please help, they need your voice and your signature.

UPDATED: I wrote to SPC Ardmona telling them of our support for them and our fruit farmers and just received this reply.  Thanks to everyone who have signed the petition so far. I'm sure you join me in sending the best to the SPC Ardmona workers, and to the farmers who supply the fruit they process.

Dear Rhonda,

Thank you for getting in touch with us about your endorsement of our ‘Australian Grown and Made’ efforts.

You are absolutely right, we must continue to eat local food! So it’s always good to hear from our consumers (and influential bloggers) that we are on the right track with the products we are producing and the way we are marketing them.

SPC Ardmona is doing everything possible to ensure we make Australian made and grown products. Our policy and practice is to ensure that all our peaches, pears, apricots, plums, baked beans and tomatoes are 100% Australian grown and made.

We are going out of our way to make this happen. Aside from our fruit products, our SPC “Aussie Made” Baked Beans have seen us double our Navy Bean intake from Australia to make them 100% Australian grown and made (despite incurring a significant cost premium to do so).

We believe it is the right thing to do by Australian consumers and Australian growers.

Our focus is firmly on supporting our Australian farmers and industry and the endorsement and support of our consumers is what will see us succeed in these endeavours. It’s times like this that the combined voice, strength and actions of the community become more important than ever. The message to consumers is clear; buy Australian sourced, made and produced products wherever you can. You can make the difference.

I have shared your email with our employees who I know will appreciate the support.

Please keep up the great work in spreading our message far and wide.

Peter Kelly

Managing Director

SPC Ardmona 

I think homemakers could play a vital part in helping people survive a disaster. When disaster strikes, homemakers, mothers, fathers and carers come to the fore. We are not among those running to the supermarket to stock up when the conditions are dangerous and cash registers and ATMs are not working. We rely on our stockpiles or our well-stocked pantries instead. We've already cleared the toys and gardening tools from the backyard before the storm hits, and without being told to do it. Homemakers think, we're used to doing all these things, we know our homes inside out - we know how they work, we know the dangers lurking, and where the torches and candles are. We know it's vital to conserve energy and water, we have our refilled water bottles ready, a couple of different ways to prepare food as well as food that can be eaten cold or raw. We'll be able to keep everyone fed. When you know how to feed one family, you know what's needed to feed a neighbourhood. 

Our main jobs in disaster relief could be to help people prepare as much as they can and maybe even to help resettle the home when the disaster is over. The SES, police, the military, public servants, transport and electricity and water authorities, they can get on with it during the disaster, we would carry out the important task of getting homes set up to help everyone get through the crisis in their home, if emergency evacuations were not necessary.

We have to stop thinking about disasters as something that will never happen to us, and have emergency awareness and preparation as part of what we grow up learning about. If we continue to believe we'll never be involved in a catastrophe, when we are, we're not only unprepared, we're scared because we don't know what to do. If we plan for disasters and know how to respond, how to help not only ourselves and our families, but neighbours and the elderly too, we'll be ready for most things that could happen.


When you think about the skills most homemakers have, it seems to me that many of them would be ready for most emergencies. We are already set up for survival. We don't need anyone to hold our hand because the shops are closed, there is no power and the phones don't work. We have our homes set up for the production of food, bread, soap etc. Most of us could make an oil lamp or candles if they were needed. Most of us could stretch a meal for four to feed eight.  If we're prepared for all this and remain calm, it will increase everyone's changes of survival.

Our home management journals should contain a disaster survival plan. You can find Australian information here for a variety of emergency situations - before, during and after. No matter where you are in the world, Google information about your local procedures, it's different in every country and the information you need in your town may be different to that in the next town. Find out. Phone your local authorities and ask about disaster plans for floods, fires, earthquakes etc. Work out a safe evacuation route that will take you to a safe area or your local muster point. Print out the map, mark out a couple of different routes and discuss it with everyone in your family. Small children and the elderly may need to practise leaving the house and going directly to a designated area.

My job during a disaster (I created this job for myself) would be to find all the people driving and walking through swollen creeks and rivers, along with those who swim, surf and jet ski (or light fires) just for the fun of it and frogmarch them into an area where they'd get a clip in the ear and told to smarten themselves up. Then they'd be dispatched to work with the SES for the duration of the disaster. I'd be good at that.

The above is only slightly tongue in cheek.

I would love to see short disaster preparation courses set up in our communities - Preparing your family and home for a disaster. They could be run by any homemaker worthy of the title, in conjunction with the emergency authorities. They could co-incide with community classes on life skills, cooking from scratch, preserving, mending, sewing, baking, fermenting etc. I would like our governments to realise that as catastrophic climate events become more common, and that is the prediction, we need to develop the mindset to survive them, and for that to become part of our common knowledge. The disaster preparation alone only addresses part of the problem. The other problem, cutting down on our greenhouse emissions, will begin to be addressed, in part, when many more people bring production of common household goods back to their homes again - the life skills classes. We need to know more than how to shop for what we need.

What's happening in your neighbourhood? Are you as prepared as you'd like to be?

Like many Australians, I watched Food Inc. the other night when it aired on TV here. I'd already seen the DVD of it a couple of years ago but it did me good to see it again. If nothing else, as our ex-prime minister Gough Whitlam asked of us, it helped me to "maintain the rage". And watching it again certainly helped me do that. If you haven't seen this documentary and you're in Australia, it's on SBS On Demand for another four days.  For those who haven't seen it, it's an account of the unsustainable and unhealthy practices in parts of the food industry in the USA; but the conditions discussed are happening in many Western countries, not just the USA. It features Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin and Eric Schlosser.

The program examines unhygienic conditions in feed lots, the large increase in the number of E.coli and other bacterial food contaminants, appalling factory conditions worked by illegal immigrants - with a blind eye from the authorities, how the cheap price of food does not reflect its real price, how the meat processing business has moved from having many participating and often local players to now being in the hands of four huge corporations, how Monsanto sues farmers for saving their own corn and soybean seeds, how food labelling laws are set to deceive rather than inform, and much, much more. When you see it for the first time it's shocking and very confronting. When I saw it again I was just plain mad.

It took me a while to work out how to discuss this in a sane and rational way. The subject is so emotive and the program is difficult to watch because it shows animal cruelty and the unbearable conditions cattle and chickens are routinely kept in. We keep our own animals and chickens in good conditions,  but I felt real shame that we've (all of us) allowed the conditions some farm animals are kept in to build over the years and not done anything about it. Many would argue that not much can be done, that these corporations are so powerful that nothing will stop them but I don't believe that. Our dollars will stop them.

Every time we shop, we vote with our money. Every single time. All potential customers with money to spend have the power to keep a product going or to bring it down. Buying isn't just about the product we choose, it's also about those we don't choose. By not choosing local products, slowly, the local businesses die off. That has already happened in Australia, and probably many other countries too.

The main decision I made when watching Food Inc is to support my local businesses as much as I can and to cut down on buying meat. Now I'm buying free range and organic meat only and to make up for the cost of that, I'm buying the cheaper cuts and we're eating less of it. It's the only way we can do it. I know it will be difficult at times but doing nothing is no longer an option for me. I don't approve of the way that animals and chickens are treated; I want food labelling to change; I don't think that higher profit margins justify cruelty; I think we have to get used to the fact that there is no such thing as never-ending economic growth. Not buying cheap meat and foreign foods will send that message.

I should have done it sooner.

We need to think about the environment more. We know the climate is changing but many people think it's up the "the government" or "them" to do something about it. When I saw those huge feedlots and thought about all the methane going up into the air, it almost made me weep. The faecal waste of piggeries and chicken farms floating down what were once clean waterways made me feel sick. We all have to make our own changes - we have personal responsibility in this. The buck stops with all of us.

I'm not going to harp on and on about this except to say out loud: every time you shop, you vote with your money. Please think about that. I'd rather hand my money over to farmers who treat their animals well, who harvest organic or local foods and who are more interested in producing fresh, heathy food than in what a faceless stockholder will think. We may not always eat in the way we used here in my home but I can no longer be part of the shopping majority who keep these conditions going.

When I first decided that I'd had enough of my rampant spending and the insidious system that encouraged it, I realised that a lot of the products I bought were advertised under a veil of misinformation. I knew that if I was to go on to develop a better life based on my values, I'd either have to disregard advertising altogether or at the very least, read and understand ingredient lists, examine products carefully and look beyond face value.

My path from then on was to think about everything I bought, particularly the ordinary and mundane things that fill up our fridge and pantry as well as clothing, shoes, makeup, appliances and most of the other "must haves" that make up modern life. Over the course of about a year, I cut many things from our grocery list by asking myself this simple questions: What is the truth of this? I realised that for many of our common items, I could make them better, healthier, cheaper and in a way that didn't impact on the already overstretched planet.


The "What is the truth of this?" question works well on food and groceries. The truth is that generally these products have been based on a simple recipe and then various preservatives, colourings and flavour enhancers are added because nothing tastes as good as home made and these commercial products have to sit on a shelf until someone buys them. I used to be one of those buyers but not now; now I make everything I can.


Cleaning and laundry products are the shining stars of what can be done better and cheaper at home. You don't need wood cleaner, bench cleaner, wall cleaner, glass cleaner, floor cleaner, bath cleaner, or any of the one-job products stinking up the cleaning aisles of most supermarkets. Most things can be cleaned effectively using vinegar, soap, bicarb, citric acid or just water and a stiff brush, or a recycled, soft, cotton cloth. You can make your own soap. The soap I make has four ingredients - caustic soda, olive oil, coconut oil and rain water. Regular bar soap contains a list like this: Tallow (this is animal fat), water, sodium cocoate, glycerine, fragrance, sodium chloride, titanium dioxide, ethidronic acid, tetrasodium edta, CI73915, CI74160. Your skin is your body's largest organ, you should trust what you wash yourself and your clothes with. The story's the same with laundry products. They can be easily made MUCH more cheaply than commercial products and they work really well. I make laundry liquid using four ingredients - soap, borax, washing soda and water. Have a look on the packet of commercial liquid and you'll find the story is completely different.  And it doesn't have to be. The recipe for making laundry liquid using four ingredients is in my side bar.

Calendula oil, made by infusing calendula petals in olive oil and just sitting the jar in the sun for a week or so. This can be used for itchy and inflamed skin, nappy rash, eczema, stings and bruises and also as a base for lip balm and ointment. If you make your own soap, you can also use it to make a soothing soap.

When it came to products not purchased as frequently, I still asked that question. "What is the truth of this?" The answer could be anything. It could be, in the case of clothing or shoes, that it was made in a sweat shop. In the case of makeup, it could contain harmful ingredients or that the ingredients hadn't even been tested for safety. For appliances, the answer may be that it was made to break and be unusable in a short amount of time - generally just outside the time the warranty expired. So I started teaching myself to make clothes and while I'm not making everything, I do make some things and I'm happy that I do. I can't make shoes but I'm still wearing the shoes I wore when I was working for a living. I have certainly stopped wanting new outfits and matching shoes  every year. I never look fashionable but at least my clothes are clean and tidy. And when I'm shopping for appliances, I look for those that can be fixed, have a low need for electricity and, hopefully, made in Australia; although that is now becoming a rare find indeed.

Cheap and easy biscuits - recipe is here  and to make the condensed milk you need in the recipe, that is here.

There are some good products out there but you have to know what they are and if they suit you and your budget. Do your research. Don't buy something because you always do, be mindful of your family's health when you shop and if the price is an issue, see if you can make that product at home. Most food and cleaning products can be made at home, just like our great-grandmothers and all her antecedents did. Most of the products we use regularly arrived in our supermarkets in the 1950s and 60s. It wasn't always like this.
We've been spun a line, a line that contains mostly a commercial core and I've stopped believing that our products have been tested and are safe. I no longer believe that our government protects us. They're more concerned with keeping big business profitable. I want all our countries to continue to prosper but not at our expense. So at every opportunity and small step by small step, I look at something I need and continue to ask the question. What is the truth of this?

Are you a mindful shopper? Do you check ingredients lists and country of origin?

When I was 17 or 18 and started going into the city to have fun with my friends, I clearly remember my mother lying awake waiting for me to come home. She would say: I can smell smoke, have you been smoking?  No mum. I was in a room where people were smoking. Where have you been? King's Cross/Darlinghurst/the city/a party. Then she would tell me every time: They will cut your throat for nothing there. They charge you sixpence everywhere else. It was her attempt to gently warn me of the dangers lurking in the Sydney of my youth. You all know my age. I'll be 65 next April so I'm talking about the mid to late 1960s. Sydney was different then. I felt safe wandering around at night and coming home late on the train; most women did. I would never do it now. I progressed through my childhood and teenage years without knowing anyone who was a victim of violent crime. There were no break-ins where we lived and we didn't hear of any gangs except "crime gangs", sometimes we read in the newspaper about a murder.

I'm not going to white-wash those times, I don't have my head in the sand, there were violent crimes happening then. Two I remember were the Graham Thorne kidnapping and murder and the girls who were killed at Wanda beach. I remember them to this day because it was unusual for children to be killed then. Men would kill each other, men sometimes killed their wives, but kids? No, they were, for the most part, out of the scope of random and senseless killings.

Just this past weekend, two boys on the Gold Coast were robbed of their skateboards and one had his throat slashed. Close to my home, two alpacas were bludgeoned to death with an iron bar. Just recently a young woman walking home from a club in Melbourne was abducted, raped and murdered. I could go on and cite more cases of violence and a quick look in your local newspaper might reveal a similar situation where you live.

I guess you're wondering why on earth I'm writing about this. 

I believe we are all partly to blame for the violent times we live in now. I know I shoulder some of the blame, not because I took part in it, but because I didn't stand up before now and say something. I think we all should do that.  We, as a society, have stood by while more people were murdered, more children abused, more women raped. I have complained about it to friends and family but I have never said anything to my local member of parliament and I've never written about my concerns publicly.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. ~ Edmund Burke

Civility, respect and responsibility need to be a big part of what we teach our children, and more importantly, what we model for them. Grace seems to have disappeared from our lives and we need her to return.  We're desensitising our children by allowing them to "entertain" themselves with violent computer games. I think we have desensitised ourselves into believing, for the sake of convenience, they do no real harm. I have no doubt that the daily happenings we are surrounded by - TV news and the continuous reports of violent crimes, computer games, the bullying and hatred on Facebook and Twitter, are making us believe that crimes of violence, and computer games that reflect them, are inevitable and it's just how things are now. And yes, it is how things are now but it has descended to this in my lifetime. I hope we can get back to a more civilised society before I die because I don't want my family to live like this and I don't want yours to either.

We are better than this.

I remember writing about how Hanno and I bought chooks for our boys when they were young - chooks were their first pets. We used the chickens to teach our sons gentleness, responsibility, respect and trust. Those chickens helped them incorporate common sense into their daily lives and build self-confidence. I thought then that girls did not have to be taught how to be gentle; I thought it was part of a girl's nature. Sadly, I don't believe that now. I look at some girls and women around me and they're as tough and brutal as some of the men.

This is a problem that effects all of us; it's not just about children, violence, abuse or cruelty. We have to stop living as if it doesn't matter that this is now "normal". Like almost everything, it has to start with us. We are the only ones we can change, we have to step up and be better roles models - all the time, not just when it suits us. But we also have to talk to our politicians and the media, and blog about it, to get the message across that this is a major problem. We have to talk to our friends and neighbours about it and give it a much higher profile. We have to show that we want change and that we've stopped ignoring the problem and accepting it as part of how we live now.

What are your thoughts on this?