Best solar around

We had a visit from a friendly solar salesperson yesterday. It was a big day for us, as we had avoided taking steps towards investigating solar for so long. I had read many websites and the official Consumer Guide to Solar PV from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) but a lot of the information felt like gobbledygook until we spoke to a real person face to face.

It was an enlightening discussion in many ways. I finally understood what STC's (Small Technology Credits) were and why they were so important for reducing the cost of installing solar. I also discovered how grid-connected solar is meant to reduce your electricity bills. I was glad to have the information explained with diagrams so I could ask questions. All the information I read previously started to make sense.

Yarrow

With the price they were offering (a saving of about $1200 AUD for a cash sale) anyone would think it a perfect opportunity to jump at. I must say, we are dearly tempted and still undecided. But there are still two areas I have not reconciled yet. Firstly, is value - what exactly are we buying and how do we reduce our electricity bills. Lastly, does it really meet the need intended?

Let's start with value: it's simply the best offer around. But in that offer comes two possible inverters, made by two different companies (one Asian and one Australian). I've done my research and the Asian made inverter has a reputation for breaking down. The Australian inverter does not. I discovered later (after more research) the man I was talking to was only a sales person, not the accredited solar installer that would have to design the placing of the panels on our roof, and what pieces of equipment were required. He informed me, they may need extra things that didn't end up being quoted in the price.

So what I got was a piece of paper stating what equipment would be installed, labor included, but still had no idea of the final price or what equipment would ultimately be needed. There's a vast difference between quoted offers and and paying for an operational solar system. Once you've signed that piece of paper and put down your deposit, that's it - you're committed. I would go with them if only they'd been more precise with details, and sent an accredited professional to tell me exactly how my system was going to fit on the roof. He didn't even get up on the roof.

In all fairness to solar installers though, a lot of different factors determine whether you get the value from your system or not. You could have the best equipment, skilled installers, a roof plastered with as many panels as could fit - and if your outside temperature is constantly above 30 degrees Celsius, with little wind to cool the units down, those panels won't work effectively as in ideal conditions. Same amount of money invested, but less efficiency produced.

Flander's Poppy

A lot of people shrug it off and assume that's just the price of renewable energy. I guess it is too. However it's also a bit of a design flaw. Especially in the advertising of what could "possibly" be saved on electricity bills. Apparently, the best way to reduce your electricity bill is NOT to use your household electricity during the day. Because that's when the panels will be at maximum production and can feed back to the electricity grid.

I've read a little about power traveling along cables (whether it's generated from solar or fossil fuels) losing a certain percentage to entropy. So more power has to be generated to replace the loss. It's not a huge amount compared to what power makes it through, but entropy does add up. I would think, efficient use of resources would encourage maximum electricity being used, closest to the source generating them. It's not like grid connected solar is the same as stand alone solar - where you may need to charge your batteries during the day so you have electricity at night. We have an electricity grid to plug into any time.

Less waste to entropy, would mean less demand to generate more electricity, because you're not losing entropy when the sun is feeding power directly to your house. But I gather there isn't a lot of money to be made from efficiency. The more I investigate grid connected solar, the more I realise it's about complementing fossil fuels and our existing economy - not standing apart at all. It seems consumers go to the expense of buying solar panels, taking all the financial risks that involves - only for the purpose of sending power back to the grid so we can buy it back.

My brain is still trying to rationalise that one aspect alone, LOL.

Which brings me to my second irreconcilable issue: the ideology behind grid connected solar. Does it really meet the need? We're told the need is two-fold, to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to save the planet. In it's current form however, renewable energy seems very dubious. The same wasteful fossil fuel system designed for profit, has been given a new logo called Green Energy, thanks to renewable energy input. Some might suppose, what then is a better system?

I will never claim to be a genius or a scholar, but as a gardener, I've observed the best solar around! Have you noticed all the pictures of flowers in this post? They've been directly powered by the sun too.

Day Lilly

Above is a Day Lilly. A very beautiful flower - but only opens for one day and then dies. The power of the sun makes it bloom, but it also kills it. Maybe there's a lesson to be had in that too? Everything lives and dies under the sun for a purpose. We may have more opportunities than a Day Lilly, but I wonder how many of us appreciate the wonders that come down from the sky, has more value than a dollar sign?

I've been observing my Day Lillies opening and closing for the past week, each one unique and beautiful. No-one paid me for that privilege either. Maybe I'm onto something? ;)


PS: I know there will be some people reading who have grid connected solar. Bear in mind, this post is not a reflection on your individual choices but rather my coming to terms with understanding the process. I keep looking for that golden nugget of truth, but all I see is a lot money used towards generating the same old problem. For anyone who has grid connected solar, does it feel weird sending solar power to the grid only to get mostly coal power back again?

Has anyone chosen not to make the savings on their electricity bills, to use their grid connected solar more efficiently (ie: use it during the day when the sun is available?)

Also, before all the jokes start about powering my house with flowers (that thought even amuses me, LOL) it's really a metaphorical example of how far we've moved away from the natural solutions we supposed.

Sweet taste of patience

I've been absent for a little while, observing the necessities of life. I view my relationships with people with just as much importance as my relationship with the land. Each need a contribution of time, personal investment and yes, even the moments of harvesting a fruit or two.

So it's with great joy, I get to mix the two in what news I'm about to share next. Do you remember our beloved Bluey, the pineapple? Bluey has been in the ground for two growing seasons now (so about 2 years) and his baby appeared not long after the floods passed through.

Starting to flower early 2011

It was so exciting to see something develop after such a long time of waiting. Bluey started from a simple pineapple top we stuck into some potting mix, then transplanted into the garden once enough roots had developed. Then came the long waiting game. Thankfully pineapples are happy to be left alone without too much fuss. A bit of water and a bit of mulch (lots of sunshine) is all Bluey needed to produce this...

Harvested late 2011

Goodness, what a lovely looking pineapple after two years investment. Was it worth it? Absolutely! In fact, another one of our pineapple plants decided to fruit when it came time to harvest old Bluey. We also have another dozen or so coming along (some in the ground and some in pots) but it will take another growing season or two until we see baby fruit appearing again. We have the time to wait though, because that's the nature of sweet patience.

Oh, and wasn't Bluey sweet!

Mmm...

I swear, food you pick from your own garden tastes like it's living. You can feel the sun's rays still being processed in the fibre of sweet pineapple flesh, as it goes down your throat and tickles. Your eyes light-up as if everything suddenly gets switched on! Bluey my friend, you were so worth the wait.

Goodbye old friend

We did cut you up and and eat you with a sense of - how can I put it - remorse, that you would no more be in our garden to visit on our little walks. No more waiting for you Bluey. But then you gave us something else to cherish...

Hello afternoon tea!

The joy of having tasted how sweet patience can be. The experience of having a tiny piece of the sun's rays in our belly's to savour for one warm afternoon meal. Two years of memories and we have now sown the seed of knowledge to our little girl as well. The fun of propagating and visiting the garden to see what delicious surprises are in store. The real taste of soft pineapple cores, not the stringy tough ones from commercially grown fruit.

Bluey was so impressive in flavour in fact, that our daughter haggled me for every piece of pineapple flesh there was. I've never seen her that enthusiastic to eat pineapple before. If she had been a raptor - one of her favourite dinosaurs - then she would have stripped the carcass clean.

And all we had to do Bluey, was stick you in the ground to grow. Until next time we see you in the garden again, when your new pineapple top beckons us to visit and to wait one more time. We will wait again for you Bluey II. We will play the sweet taste of patience game.

Working the land

When hearing about "working the land", many different images come to mind. As they should because no piece of land is ever the same. Although regions can share similar characteristics (for example, climate zones) how individuals work their piece of land has to be unique to their need of it, what it can provide (natural limitations) and also access is another significant player too.

Let me tell you our strategy for working the land - um, read books and websites. In truth, that's all we had to begin with. After 4 years of learning through experience however, we've come to appreciate that our biggest teacher was going to be experimentation! Now with this wonderful teacher, comes a few golden rules:


1. Expect failure - this is mandatory.

2. Accept failure - this is how you learn to observe.

3. Innovate failure. This is how you adapt!


Experimentation involves multiple levels of failure before you find the success worth building upon. Because each piece of land has a different means of success, each land owner has to be willing to find that niche of success. It often lays dormant and unnoticed, because we have our noses in books and websites, trying to find the magic clue. Books are wonderful and I wouldn't want to live in a world without them - but we have to be willing to put the books down at some point, and make a personal investment of natural curiosity.

Our experimentation phase is on-going, however we've uncovered a few gems to share at least for our patch of land. This is predominantly sloping bushland, recovering from drought, bushfire (approximately 9 years ago) flood last year, and continual weed infestation. Now if that sounds a tad depressing, take a look at what has emerged this growing season...

Brown Turkey Fig

These are our first figs at Gully Grove. They started sprouting from the wood at the same time the leaves appeared. We counted three fruit in total. That's not going to feed us, but it's a reminder of what will come in the future. It's why we planted a fig tree in the first place. At the moment, we're not getting what is deemed a "successful" crop, but remember we're also living on slopes and in a bushfire region. Not only is this fig tree going to deliver bigger crops in future, but it's holding the slope we planted it on, together. Plus it's deciduous nature means it feeds the soil every autumn/winter by shedding it's leaves, to keep it moist for bushfire season.

This is what I call, working the land on a passive level. We have to be prepared to wait longer for our windfall crops, but we're also addressing multiple needs at the same time. This process will gain momentum the more plants we get in the ground. Like our black mulberry tree, which has adorned it's new leaves and starting to fruit.

Black Mulberry

It's deciduous nature works the same as the fig tree. It allows sunshine in during winter to help break down the mass of leaves it drops. Nature is a very passive, inter connected structure that will farm better than any crop man can plant. That's because nature farms bio systems, the by-products are billions of crops which benefit each other.

Strawberry heaven!

Then there's our extremely modest strawberry patch. We watched the berries emerging around Autumn, only to be dismayed by the nocturnal marauders who ransacked them all through winter. We had no expectation of getting any strawberries, even in Spring - but then they turned pink then red, with no marauders in sight. We got one each (not present in this photo) as they were far too sweet and delicious to wait any longer!

Not only will these strawberries feed us in future, they also make a natural green mulch to keep on slopes too. Is there anything more exciting than visiting the strawberry patch? Maybe climbing the mulberry tree and getting purple fingers, LOL?

At the moment our soils are quite difficult to farm, without a load of bio-mass (aka compost) plus mulch and water. We have limited resources, which has become the perfect environment for experimentation. The past few years we've noticed how growing vegetables in traditional raised beds, was a fight against nature we couldn't win. We bought what we wanted in punnets from the nursery (last year) then planted them in our soil - watered, mulched (the usual suspects) then promptly watched a lot get eaten by insects or suddenly go to seed. Rather than being a failure however, it was a lesson in what doesn't work here.

This year we didn't pull out the pest ridden vegetables, we let them go to seed instead, and watched the predators arrive early. We let the weeds stay there and only cleared the patches we decided to plant fruit trees. Because we're turning the old vegetable bed, into a perennial garden instead! It will have some fruit trees and some vegetables, sharing an environment together. This is not going to be a quick garden. It is deliberately tailored to our conditions and our means.

Coffee & leeks

This is one of two Dwarf Coffee plants, planted in a bed of leeks. We want the leaks to stay to feed the insects and help protect the new addition. Because if we've learned anything about farming here, lone trees immediately get infested and eaten! I've got two very sick citrus trees I'm hoping make it thorough, until we finish digging the swale and can get more plants in.

The other Coffee plant is located near our nearly invincible cabbage patch however. These cabbages were bought for 50 cents a punnet, on special, because they were half dead. We had low expectations to start with - in fact they were destined to be a sacrificial crop.

I think this is a sugar loaf cabbage

We planted them close together, some struggled many died (we got a few) but we left them in for ground cover, not expecting a great deal. Suddenly a new bunch of little heads appeared. We occasionally plucked the leaves for a stir-fry or for the chickens to eat. I think the trick they had to surviving, was instead of producing a single head of cabbage, they decided to branch out!

Innovate or die!

I imagine this is what happens to cabbage plants when you either de-head and leave them in the ground, or they decided the main head isn't going to make it, so they send up a lot of little heads from the stem of the plant. I found this quite a fascinating little development. These cabbages shade the ground and keep moisture in. One of the heads are about to set seed, so we're definitely going to keep seed from this little miracle plant!

The plan this year is not buying any new veg in punnets. Instead we're going to work with the ones remaining in the garden that went to seed. A lone corn cob survived during winter, one we didn't pick and one the marauders ignored completely. It was small but we're going to work with what is present, rather than buy lovely punnets that aren't suited to our conditions.

Could be sweetcorn, could be corn sprouted from chicken feed?

Punnet plants are a great way to start growing your own food, but they come with the responsibility of raising them in the same environment they're use to (water on demand and controlled sunlight) in order to get them to deliver the kinds of crops your expecting. We cannot do that every year here, so we've accepted we're going to have to plant from seed that performs well.

But vegetables aren't the only seeds we propagate. I often walk through my garden for signs of fertility - what is flowering, going to seed or producing a crop? I want to know what's happening, so I can learn the seasons and help the propagation process along. Just yesterday, I plucked some of the nasturtium seeds and popped them in other places around the garden. I did the same for the borrage seeds. This is how I've chosen to garden. I observe what is working and I duplicate it somewhere else.

Clover, hung to dry

I even found a wild patch of clover and decided to save some of those seeds as well. My first memories of clover was at school, making daisy chains during lunch. More than those cherished memories however, they make great bee forage and mine nutrients from the soil - protecting it from exposure to the harsh elements too. All in all, Clover is a wonderful plant for the garden! I'm planning to get these clover seeds onto bare patches of ground around the place.

On the whole however, I think what we've learned working the land here is that (a) you have to start somewhere, and (b) don't pamper your garden to the point you miss the success niche designed specifically for your patch of ground. The greatest teacher is experience, so our backyards should be miniature laboratories filled with exciting (often cheap) experiments. Seeds are so cheap nature grows them for free!

Pelargoniums citrosum in flower
excellent leaf material for mulch and compost

We never thought becoming gardening failures would be so exciting and full of learning potential. But we've learned so much in the process!! We have our success stories brewing for a future, that will be more sustainable on our land. Because it isn't duplicated from a single book, or brought in with masses of bio-input. The natural elements get used first and foremost because they're indigenous. Hopefully they will always be here - if not, we'll adapt to what remains.

If we want to have sustainable systems into the future, we have to let our systems stand against the elements. If they don't stand the test, then they shouldn't be adapted as best practice. Sometimes we just have to accept, nature knows best and learn.

Do you have any hardy plants or vegetables that rose again from the dead?

Spring into action

So Spring is here, I know this mainly for two reasons. Firstly, I'm cutting up fruit salad for the fridge again. We love crisp, fruit salad after a hard day's work in the yard. It's a "must-have" in the fridge when the temperature rises.

The second reason I know spring is here, is when the bed gets an overhaul. I did this, before lunch and all the winter blankets are now drying on the line. I also decided to do something special this year, and I may do it every year from now on - and that's removing the mattress and bed slats in order to access fully under the bed to vacuum. With all that dust gone, the room smells cleaner than ever! I also gave the wood a wipe over, with a clean cloth and eucalyptus oil.

All the windows and doors are swung open today, with a lovely spring breeze coming through the entire house. It feels like winter is well and truly done for another nine months or so. My bones are warming and I'm ready for Spring - along with the Carnival of Flowers, starting this weekend up the hill in Toowoomba.

How quickly time passes, as it was only last year we enjoyed the Carnival too. There are so many wonderful things to get up to at this time of year: work, play, re-discovering the garden and seeing what new animals visit this year. We've seen an increase in wattle birds and rosellas, plus I think the flocks of tiny finches have figured out we're a safe omnivore. We notice how they flock near us when we're out in the garden, because the larger butcher birds (which prey on smaller birds) give us a wide berth.

Anyway, I hope your gardens are warming too and the birds frolicking amongst the bushes!

Liebster is German for favourite (I think)

I was kindly nominated for an award by LindaM at her blog, Hello it's me... It's was a lovely surprise to find us there with some wonderful new blogs, I've been introduced to, thanks to the gesture of the Liebster Award.

I did a little internet research and discovered this particular award has German origins, and was designed to shed light on blogs with less than 300 followers. Kind of inspiring for the little guys, which I would definitely classify as - although technically, my clothes would disagree!

The rules are simply to link to the blog which nominated you for the award, then nominate three other blogs of your own. I wanted to focus on a group of blogs which I don't technically fit into any more, but nonetheless I'm very inspired by. When I left suburbia to live on small acreage, I said goodbye to one life and hello to another. Those who continue to live simply in suburbia however, do so against a backdrop of consumerism that is hard (as I can testify) to live simply by.

Nonetheless, these particular blogs do it so well, and I'm really happy to nominate them for the Liebster Award.

Life in the Dome: Jacqui lives in the Blue Mountains, which I think is a beautiful part of Australia, and she loves chooks! So much so, that I cannot help but love her chooks also. They are gorgeous. I also love that she's a bit of a Dr Who fan too. Sorry for outing you like that Jacqui, I hope you can forgive me. :)

Mountain Wildlife: Still in the Blue Mountains region, and there's a family of four who've just found a new place to call home. I've enjoyed following their adventures in home ownership and how they try to grow as much as they can from their backyard. I also love their chooks! Do I have a theme developing I wonder?

Little Farm in the city: A lovely local I've had the privilege of meeting in real life, Emily and her family, grow as much as they can in their backyard. I love their wicking beds and have seen them in action towards the end of the drought. And yes, I also love their chooks - and a wandering duck that decided it was so great in their backyard, it would stay. :)

That's my three nominees for the award. I do have one last blog I'd like to mention however. I'm not sure if they have under 300 followers, as (like me) they don't have a widget to show. But I'm going to mention them anyway, Little eco footprints, because Tricia and her family do a great job of bringing environmental issues back to the burbs.

A special thanks again, to LindaM for nominating our blog for the Liebster Award.

Happy reading everyone. :)

Glass is durable

What I miss since the introduction of mass produced plastic bottles, is the durability of glass. It's solid and easy to clean over and over again. So whenever I do the grocery shopping now, I strive to buy what I can in glass. It often means spending a few dollars more, but I look for the longevity of the investment, because I can re-use glass in my kitchen.

Empty glass bottle

Enter a bottle of blackcurrant cordial syrup. It's finished now but it's been laying around my kitchen bench top, reminding me it could have a purpose. I had actually cleaned a few more bottles I was sourcing cork stoppers for (there's always a back-log of activities behind my ongoing projects) all because I decided to ditch the "plastic" bottle I was storing oil in. The reason I hadn't ditched this particular plastic bottle yet, was it's convenient size.

Metal canister

I buy oil in bulk, in large metal containers - 4 litres worth. It's economical and I like the fact it's not stored in plastic. While it meets a lot of my criteria (it even looks attractive on display) but it's terribly unforgiving on the wrists if you have to drizzle a small amount in a frying pan. That's why I was keeping the smaller plastic bottle for. I don't have a picture of it because it's long gone now and good riddance to it. I kept it way too long.

For months since however, I've been trying to find a suitable glass bottle for storing the oil instead. I wanted something to stop the oil dripping down the side of the bottle once it was poured. I looked and I looked, I even looked in second-hand shops for oil pourers people may not have wanted any more. Nothing was presenting itself as a solution...I guess not the instantaneous sort I suppose, for I had the solution all along. The blackcurrant cordial bottle...

No drip top

It already had the plastic top with the dripless curved lip. Why hadn't I thought of this before? To be honest, I hadn't looked too closely at the top of the bottle, as I was going to do with it what I do with all my bottles - ditch the original tops, for cork or plastic screw tops. You can buy either at a home brew shop. Did you know you shouldn't keep re-using metal screw tops on your glass bottles? They can grind the glass and the glass can harbor moisture that stains the metal. That's why I ditch most of the original tops.

Patience pays in dollars and sense

But now I feel much relieved, as I have my smaller glass bottle stored beside the stove, ready for cooking again. Being made of glass, it's not only durable but easy to clean the outside with a damp cloth - because we all know how fat loves to spit when you're frying something!

What's more, I well and truly got the value from the higher price I paid for the cordial in a glass bottle. So next time you go shopping, don't just think about what you need to buy, but consider the storage it comes in. You could be buying two solutions for the price of one.

New season with old memories

Garden progress 2010

Welcome to Spring 2011...it was this season last year, I remember sharing pictures about our garden and how well it was coming along. Then in December I had to duck out between bouts of rain to get pictures of the vegetable patch. There were more rainy days than there were dry. Which was a first for us, since the previous 3 years saw us through the last of the drought. Only no-one knew it was going to be the end, until the floods came in January. Things changed a lot after the floods.

Winter here is traditionally without rain, so I knew I wouldn't have to worry about floods then. And we certainly wouldn't have generated the heat for thunderstorms. That changed recently and we've experienced a few storms again. It brought up a lot of memories and anxiety from last January. But it's not even heavy rain yet, just a few days where it didn't stop. Then a crack of thunder woke me in the wee hours of the morning and I couldn't go back to sleep.

Ponds are filling again and still working on the swales

I feel like a worry wart and silly for freaking out - yet I know it's a natural response too. I knew this new growing season would bring with it mixed emotions. Part the joy of experiencing the warmth again and watching plants grow, the other, fear of the unknown and concern if we'd done enough remedial works to protect the front retaining wall from washing out again?

It's something only time will remedy - I'll have to experience a few more storms to work it through my system. It's a hard process, sometimes I struggle to talk myself down and I can feel the effects for days afterwards - I find it difficult to sleep because my brain is constantly ticking over. I've received the counseling required to get me through this process, but it's not an easy journey.

January 2011

So I thought to mark the transition in a positive way, I'd give an update of "Bluey" our pineapple! After the floods, I remember being surprised by the appearance of a pineapple fruit. It was a wonderful sign that life continues after destruction. And now Bluey is almost ready to be picked!

September 2011

We called him Bluey, because compared to our other pineapples, it's leaves had a slight blue sheen. I still haven't gotten around to propagating that sucker, but I will when the days start to heat up again. There have been a few warm days and even the nights see us kicking off the blankets again. It won't be long until the heater can be stored in the cupboard.

So there's much to look forward to and much to overcome, but then isn't that what makes life interesting? I hope your season transitions, are bringing a positive sense of achievement too.