Last January post

Last night at 1am when we were setting the alarm for 5am, so we could get to the Torrens Island Market by 6am, we couldn't remember if there was a reason we'd planned to be there so early or if we'd just thought it sounded like fun when things were less crazy.

Four hours later we almost didn't get up, but we did because we wanted the adventure for the last day of the 31 Things. It was beautiful and surreil. The dawn was coming up behind us and the full moon was still glowing ahead of us. After a brief detour involving Garden Island and then the Torrens Island power plant, we found out (from the power plant security guard) that the market is actually opposite rather than on Torrens Island.

The moon was still up, but it was light by this stage. We sleepily wandered around admiring all the fruit and veg that seemed particularly large, uniform and sort of glowing with colour (in a healthy, dawn-lit, rather than the radioactive way that I've made them sound) and quickly spent our allotted $15 on: two pieces of pizza bread, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers, potatoes, plums, nectarines and eggs. The seller assured us they were free range, but in fact they turned out to be caged. Here's a link about caged hens. The compost bin will eat well tonight.
We took a lot of pretty photos, but I dropped my camera the other day and it seems to have developed a serious malfunction. I'm hoping to get them off the camera somehow later.

I'm still recovering from seeing "The Road" the other night. Researching into Peak Oil simultaneously wasn't the best idea. I honestly do not think the future after oil becomes scarce will be like "The Road", or anything like it. Later we'll be doing a long piece about it, but at the moment I think we've overdosed on unstructured, open-ended peak oil research and it hasn't been constructive. We're going to look at it further though and as the days go by the concept is becoming much more acceptable. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we've finished or at least set in motion all of the 31 Things (minus one!) Check the list out below, with some comments.

The 31 things.

1. weed tea DONE
2. get Jules' worm poo DONE
3. make gift for Anne's baby DONE
4. pesto with zucchini and basil DONE
5. work on quilt, cut patches DONE
We're making a quilt! John cut some patches in January for the challenge. We're on the look-out for vintage fabric from op-shops, or if anyone's relatives have an old bag of fabric scraps, let us know! Anything up to '50s is great.
6. investigate home brew DONE
Coopers homebrew kits at the local Foodland, and Alison's partner Mike makes his own.

7. join Sustainable Communities started
We have the details, but no money to join til Thursday!
8. food co-op started
Flinders Food Co-op and Clarence Park Food Co-op are our options.
9. get shower timer and use it DONE
10. soil test started
There's a soil testing lab really close to us who offer a free kit. We've emailed for it.
11. investigate Peter Singer's thing about income started
This challenge was to try to work out what we thought about Peter Singer's book The Life You Can Save, about donating to charity to help end world poverty. I've read it and John's going to. The idea is about the ethics of giving as much as you can to reputable charities. I don't know if we can afford it; this challenge is about trying to work out what being able to afford something means in this context. Would we give up a few beers a week to donate to Oxfam, for example? A meal or two out? What's a luxury and what's a necessity in our situation? And so on.
12. call Rudd etc. DONE
13. call Harry re: rotten wood DONE
14. make a climate change info pack for Maja started
I'm putting together a "pack" of helpful links, not yet complete.
15. smoke alarm DONE

16. book permaculture course started
Bad news on the permaculture course front. Even with the early-bird discount, it's $1427.50 each! We'll do it eventually, but not this year . Meanwhile we'll read our books and maybe go to some short courses and workshops.
17. find a source of eggs DONE
Jules suggested a colleague from the Conservation Council who sells her eggs, so fingers crossed this will work out. After today's free-range egg deception, we're really over trying to find any free range eggs that aren't actual backyard pet hens. (By the way, check out the Con Council's website. I haven't been for a while and it's looking very swanky.)
18. get a compost screw started
We've contacted a permaculturalist guy I know who told us about compost screws ages ago, but have yet to hear back.
19. Torrens island market DONE
20. go for massage DONE
We went for a joint massage down the street in one of the many swanky beauty parlours around Norwood! My "massage epiphany" (the insight you get when you are relaxed and having a massage) is that I need to relax more! Yoga and exercise would be good. And more massage!
21. go for bush walk DONE
22. Tiny Towns pieces and zine and climate change zine DONE
23. go to an escapist movie not done
"The Road" did not cut it! Nor did "Sherlock Holmes". We considered "Fantastic Mr Fox" today but we were working on the last few pieces for the show on Tuesday and didn't have time. We were also knackered after the early market start. Here's what is a complete escapist treat, and it's embarrassing, but we don't care. It started in the heatwave, when we were zonked out, but we're watching it now: "Friends". That's right. "Friends". When I was cool in the 90s I scorned it to the point of not watching it ever. Now it seems to hit the spot - back to back episodes, funny, clever, social and good for John's facial recognition practice. What can I say?
Update - "Fantastic Mr Fox" was also not very fun, (despite the impressive stop-motion animation), with the Americanised woodland creatures being hunted and a horrible orange sky throughout. We'll keep an eye out for our escapist movie. Though we want to see it, "Precious" isn't going to be in the running either.


Coming out about "Friends".

24. free hair cut for John DONE
25. leaflet for Critical Climate DONE
After the massage we walked past a local eatery, Vego to Go, and the guy called to us frantically to stop, then gave us some leftover apple and walnut muffins. We were then approached by another guy advertising a free wine tasting at the Norwood Town Hall, which we attended forthwith. When we were drunk, we still had to leaflet for local climate action group, Critical Climate, so we did, had a lovely evening walk, and discovered an old tram barn that had been turned into apartments. It's fun getting to know the neighbourhood on foot.


"Look at my tongue, it's wearing a purple sock!" At the Town Hall in Norwood. The guy in the background, who seemed to be in charge of the tasting, was, I swear, the same person who was in the pizza delivery to Kylie Minogue ad from the 90s. This must be his new line of business.


Leafleting in Norwood.


The old tram barn in Stepney.

26. go to gym once to twice a week started
We started, but haven't been going, because we're too busy doing the 31 Things. Ha.
27. make Moroccan lentils and send others a recipe DONE
28. bake bread DONE
29. research the depression and peak oil started
This is on the list because it's hard to do. It's started but definitely not finished.
30. go for a meal at Sterling Organic DONE
Yesterday we borrowed John's parents car and went to the Sterling Organic cafe in the hills. Then we spontaneously went to Murray Bridge, where it was boiling hot (we wanted to go to the butterfly farm, but it had closed years ago. Even the mechanical bunyip was broken!) It was nice, though, to visit the Murray. Despite the drought and lack of environmental flows, it felt good to look out over a big body of water where the locals were swimming, paddling, boating and waterskiing. We're so used to dry creeks in town, and thinking about the river as an abstract concept.
The land changes dramatically once you get over the Mt Lofty Ranges (the hills) and onto the plain between Mt Barker and Murray Bridge. It was so hot and dry and yellow it was like driving through a dried out Van Gogh painting. By contrast, the hills felt incredibly lush, weirdly so to some extent, a little micro-climate enabling a European fantasy on the edge of the aridlands. We ended up grabbing a punnet of strawberries from the Beeremberg strawberry farm and then eating tea at Grumpy's microbrewery and pizza joint near Hahndorf. Here are some pics.


Perusing the brochure at Stirling Organic.


Delicious spicy tahini, babaganoush and tabouli sandwich at Stirling Organic.


Hello, Murray!


Cheeseless wood oven pizza, strawberries and a pint of Tomcat at Grumpy's Microbrewery.

31. Make a zine or a blog or both about this DONE

We're done! That's it.

Follow-up posts on the 31 things started but not complete to follow, at a more leisurely pace. Meanwhile thanks so much for everyone whose taken an interest, offered advice or otherwise encouraged us. See you soon!
xx Cass and John.

STOP PRESS!!!
John became an uncle to Jessica Ellen, two weeks earlier than expected, on the night before the Fairyfloss show!!!
Welcome little niece!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

And thank you to Trina who wrote this wonderful note on Facebook last night. You are a star!

This my list of things to do to help climate change, for the month of January and beyond!

It is inspired by Cass and John's blog http://alltheresthave31.blogspot.com/

If we only have 2 years before climate change is beyond our control, then I want to give it the best shot that I can. We all know that governments and big business need to be taking immediate action, but we often forget that change also starts at home. As our weather gets increasingly erratic and extreme, it's easy to be overcome by feelings of helplessness.

But even if we can't afford to buy solar panels or a hybrid car, everything, no matter how small, does count. They are all choices we are making that may also influence others to be more aware of our impact on climate change.

I hope to see some other lists and ideas.... :)

1. Only buy bio-degrable garbage bags from now on.

2. Always carry re-usable bag in my handbag even when I don't plan to go shopping.

3. Plant more herbs to add to the basil, plant lettuce and maybe some other kind of vegie that grows easily.

4. Get a better compost bin for easier usage.

5. Get my bike fixed so I can go back to riding it more.

6. Ride to the markets.

7. Walk and catch public transport instead of driving whenever possible, especially on weekends.

8. Only buy organic meat.

9. Only buy locally grown fresh produce.

10. Get a clock for the shower... 5-10 minute showers max!

11. Put a bucket in the shower and use for watering the garden.

12. Try to buy only secondhand or locally made furniture, clothes, books, for myself and as presents.

13. Buy stuff from food co-op to minimise food packaging.

14. Write a letter / call Rudd about climate change.

15. Save up for solar panels and an electric car ;)

Running a little behind schedule with the 31 Things, John and I held a late night meeting on Saturday with our dairies, and worked out when we can do what for the rest of the month. All going to plan, we'll fit all the "things" (actual blog posts is another story) into the month of January as well as uni, work experience and prep for our shows. It's going to be doable and busy.

Sadly housework has not made the cut. We did damage control this morning - I cleaned the sink, toilet and catbox and made another batch of dahl (not in that order!). Meanwhile poor John is back on the endless dishes after putting on a load of washing and fixing a gap in Anna and Lily's gate. This is to stop our lovely cat Larshy repeating last night's midnight adventure (picture us roaming the neighbourhood in pyjamas, rattling a bag of catfood).

Meanwhile, what a good day to call Kevin Rudd!
It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, and after freaking out in the last post, I am inspired again by the past, the present and the future. While it's important not to keep the grief and fear and tiredness about climate change bottled up, it's equally important to keep feeding our hearts and spirits with encouragement and the real examples of positive social change we can all draw strength from. And to remember our own contributions.

Here are some links, articles and videos to inspire you too.

From the past...

This is today's editorial from the Washington Post. I took note of the parts about the liberal northerners not being out-and-out racists, but being comfortably well-off with the status quo of segregation, and also the way that the historic March on Washington where Dr. King gave his "I have a dream" speech "not [all at once] chang[ed] history but, rather, confirmed that it was on a new course."

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Monday, January 18, 2010

THIS DAY has become, like most of our holidays, more an occasion for rest, recreation and celebration than for reflection. But our national regard for all things decimal suggests that Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2010 is a good time to do a little looking back and sizing up.

Fifty years ago, and just across the river from the nation's capital, children of African descent (including many whose ancestors worked the land for George Washington) were being bused far from their neighborhoods to maintain segregated school systems. Black people in Virginia were discouraged from registering to vote, interracial marriage was prohibited -- in Arlington and Fairfax counties -- and lunch counters generally expected black customers to order carry-out only. In parts of the District (where public schools had been desegregated for only a few years) and its Maryland suburbs, housing discrimination created what civil rights activists called a "white noose" around the inner city. The Washington Redskins had not a single black player.

All this unpleasant history is, of course, well known, but not really all that well remembered, even by many of those who lived it. Then as now, the concrete, day-to-day realities of segregation were put out of mind by many who weren't its victims. There were places, especially farther south, where elemental emotions of fear and hatred were what sustained the system, but in this generally tolerant and well-educated region, it was more a matter of accepting an arrangement that most could see was unfair but that didn't seem to work too badly -- at least not for them.

In 1963 blacks and whites came together in a great congregation on this city's Mall that did not change history but, rather, confirmed that it was on a new course. The nation was not wired or pre-informed then -- each sentence that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. uttered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was new to most Americans -- "I have a dream," "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners" and the exultant conclusion: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

It was perhaps the most powerful, authentic speech delivered in this city of oratorical winds during the 20th century. As always happens after such occasions, there have followed many setbacks and side trips, discouragements and disillusionments. Yet one need look back only five decades, not that long a time, really, to understand how much was accomplished that day.

America today still has deep problems with racism, even under the administration of its first African American president. But it can also be argued that in the past half-century the country has undergone a sort of conversion experience similar to that of Abraham Lincoln. In 1862 he told a group of black leaders invited to the White House: "You and we are different races. It is better for us both to be separated." Yet, less than three years later, he invoked an almost biblical vision of the Civil War as divine punishment for the sin of slavery. He had changed in important ways. So has this country. Look around now and look back 50 years. There's been backsliding and wandering, but that was not a fleeting conversion that Dr. King helped bring about.

Here is the speech.

Why remember Martin Luther King Jr. on a blog about climate change?
Like the civil rights movement and so many other people's movements for positive change that lasted for years, it is so important to view the climate justice movement as a lengthy campaign, and therefore to pace ourselves and not get overly swayed by the highs and lows of the different events along the way. We need to push hard at those points, but also keep breathing in between.

I think my last post gave in to a bit of post-Copenhagen despair, because I forgot the fact that the movement had built and was building and that, though the door still remained closed (literally to many activists at the conference) we were continuing to push against it, and that it would eventually give way. Hence the long-term perspective and the looking backwards to lengthy movements such as the Civil Rights, anti-apartheid and so on. In fact, Lester Brown mentioned his hope in this regard at the end of the interview I linked to last time, but unfortunately I had tuned out by this stage and was already too busy panicking and eating cupcakes to take it in.

So, from the present...

Here is the Movement Action Plan
It was written by Bill Moyer and describes the stages of change in a long-term movement for positive social change. The fifth stage, which I believe we have entered now, is the "Perception of Failure", and this usually comes after a big push from below and no immediately obvious change from above. Activist burn-out, disinterest and depression is common at this stage, however when you read on to stages 6-8, you realise that, though you can't see it, the snowball has started to roll by now, and that it is time to celebrate, and keep pushing!
(Snowballs, barred doors, tortoises and hares - I notice when I write about the climate justice movement the metaphors abound. I think my favourite one is the birth metaphor. No one expects labour to be over in minutes, but I can't wait to see this baby.)

Do check out the Movement Action Plan if you have a chance - it really transforms those feelings of powerlessness and despair into a sense of excitement and energy.

I found the MAP available as a resource on the website of The Change Agency, a group who provide practical skills and tools for progressive activists. I've done some training with them and they are bloody fantastic.

I also found another article on the Change Agency site, by Anthony Kelly, and reading it was like an energy bar, stabilising the chemicals in my body after the rollercoaster workout of the Copenhagen highs and lows. I wish all activists could read this article today. You can read it in the title link in its entirety, and I've pasted the most relevant bit below that.

Anticipating and Avoiding Demobilisation

Perception of failure

U.S. activist-educator Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan or MAP has provided valuable insights into key trajectories, trigger events, factors and influences impacting upon grassroots social movements. It is based upon the analysis of dozens of contemporary social movements and has been widely utilised as a training and analysis tool by movements throughout the developed world.

If the second or third post COP 'Outcome' outlined above come to pass, the Australian climate movement's may find itself in what could be called a 'Perception of Failure’ stage. This is often cited as a ‘Stage 5’ following a movement 'take-off' period' and often seen to be preceding a period of mainstream acceptance of movement goals.[4]

According to Moyer, the characteristics inherent in this stage include: the widely held belief amongst movement activists that its goals remain un-achieved and power-holders remain unchallenged. Numbers are down at demonstrations as people feel that repetitive and formulaic actions are ineffective. Despair, hopelessness, burnout, dropout are common, membership, particularity active membership of groups declines. Numbers of 'negative rebels', those activists willing to take high risk actions without movement support emerge and garner negative public attention, which further alienates concerned people.

MAP as a whole seeks to alert activists to the common dynamic which Moyer labels a 'culture of failure' within social movements. In The Practical Strategist[3], Moyer writes:

Belief in movement failure creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and produce the following unhealthy movement conditions:

Discouragement, despair and movement dissipation

Movement participants and leaders who believe their movement is failing become increasingly discouraged, hopeless, despairing and burned out. This leads to a high drop out rate and lower levels of energy to carry out projects.

Reduction in recruitment of new members

The depressed state of the movement discourages new people from joining. No one wants to join a group which is negative and in a state of collective depression.

Getting stuck in “protest” mode

When activists believe they cannot achieve change, they can get stuck in the role of the protestor or dissident, without balancing this role with strategies and programs for positive change and alternatives.

Attitudes of anger, hostility and frustration lead to activities that turn the public against the movement

When activists believe that their movement is having no effect, frustration and anger at injustice can spill over into acts of desperation, without realising that such activities hurt the movement by alienating the public.

Inability to acknowledge and take credit for success

Failing to take credit for success deprives activists of a major resource for energy, enthusiasm and hope. It also allows opponents to claim movement-created changes for themselves, furthering the perception that the movement is powerless and that opponents control everything.

It appears likely, if not somewhat inevitable, that the Australian Climate movement will experience aspects of this perception of failure in the months following the Copenhagen conference. Whether these dynamics appear immediately or whether they exist for months or years depends somewhat upon how the movement prepares for and responds to the dynamic.

The Australian grassroots climate movement may be perfectly able to minimise the negative consequences of a post COP demobilisation, however it would be extremely difficult to avoid it altogether. Moyer's MAP pays scant attention to the pervasive role of the mainstream media in highlighting and shaping public opinion.

How the international and Australian media frame and portray COP and its eventual outcomes will largely determine public perceptions of success or failure of the climate movement in Australia. The intense media interpretation and framing of COP outcomes will also shape and influence the perceptions of new and even experienced movement activists. The role then of movement leadership, communicators and activist educators is to provide alternative, realistic and long-term movement views for engaged activists, new recruits and the interested public.

What can climate groups do to avoid the doldrums?All the action groups, networks, organisations, and institutions that make up the ‘climate movement’ in Australia are diverse and operate in different contexts. Each of the suggestions below may be more or less relevant depending upon those differences. Groups should be able to analyze their own post-COP situation and develop unique approaches to avoid de-mobilisation. Ideally, maintaining and building upon the past decade of movement building would be a widely shared and mutually reinforcing goal.

Don't put all our eggs in one basket:

Campaigners can be forgiven for trying to get everyone to focus on their action or initiative but in this context placing all our resources and garnering the efforts of so many people on a single event is potentially dangerous.

Campaigners need to develop and communicate realistic outcomes of COP and refuse to paint it as the ‘last, best hope’. It’s not, and to get people to think that is self-defeating. Despite the urgency around the climate science, movement leadership has the responsibility to provide clear, realistic and untainted information to its membership and constituents particularly of the long term nature of social change struggles.

Whilst providing an opportunity to mobilise people, immediate issues and one-of events such as international conferences can divert and diffuse efforts towards longer term structural change aiming to transform economies and institutions. Making sure other campaign strategies, projects or initiatives are kicking along is vital in the lead-up to December.

Highlight genuine successes:

It is vital that we celebrate what we have done, not what political elites have told us we should be celebrating. In the context of the Australian climate movement trajectory over recent years, the mainstreaming of climate science and media coverage of climate science events and news, the emergence of Australia wide grassroots climate activist networks, the first nationally organised direct actions and events, the coal industry's own admittance that coal is a 'now a much maligned product', all point to tangible and strategically relevant 'successes' for the movement.

These represent real successes but not dependent upon political statements, policy positions or as yet unfulfilled promises by elites. Clear strategy and planning helps groups to indentify these objectives and recognise them when they are achieved. In this way the movement maintains control of successes and refutes elite attempts to paint successes as theirs and the movement as less or not responsible for it. Each movement success identified can be highlighted in a variety of ways. Although articles, news stories, positive reports and other pro-active communication strategies are important, in particular, large public and participatory celebrations are most effective for challenging negative attitudes of movement failure.

Celebrating anniversaries, (“Ten years since the first climate action arrest in Australia”, “12 months since Australia’s first Climate Camp”) are one such way of marking progress and successes.

Locate the movement:

Movement leadership and spokespeople need to encourage and assist people to locate themselves along a movement trajectory that is longer than 2009 and goes far beyond Copenhagen in December.

At conferences, rallies and within all internal communication systems, movement spokespeople need to highlight the years of struggle behind and in the years ahead. Spokespeople should deliberately highlight the fact that the climate will not be 'saved' by an international agreement and it is only a large and viable social movement that wields enormous political power that will. Key movement figures should place more realistic timelines on movement activities.‘10 years to continue the campaign’; ‘This organisation has a 15 year goal’.

Plan and act beyond COP:

Already, movement groups should be speaking about, planning and highlighting actions, events and initiatives in 2010, sending a clear message that the movement continues after COP. Although it appears important to mobilise all available resources to target COP delegations and influence the outcome, having people actively planning and preparing for 2010 activities is equally important at this stage. It is strategically vital that planning and resources goes into viable and effective initiatives in 2010 and beyond that will inspire and maintain momentum in the post COP period. Activists who are engaged about future post COP events will provide much needed enthusiasm for other activists.

Develop tactics and strategies that don't rely on elites:

Numerous activists have highlighted how the climate movement in Australia has been heavily dependant upon lobbying strategies aimed at influencing policy and government action. Postcards, online petitions, office occupations or vigils, hunger strikes, marches, rallies, human signs, bike rides and other tactics adopted by the movement have all largely sought to generate public concern in order to influence decision-makers. Even the majority of coal infrastructure direct actions have focused upon influencing government policy. The development of tactics and a strategic framework that does not rely upon elite endorsement of the movements’ policy objectives is a vital process, particularly in the context of a widespread perception of failure in a post COP period. As Brian Martin and others have often pointed out, the limiting impact of relying purely on lobbying tactics can lead to movement entropy by itself.

This does not mean that movement's actions do not influence government policy. In fact the tactics deployed within a framework of strategic nonviolence should aim to undermine the both the power and will of an opponent in order to make it impossible to actually carry out a negative policy objective and force the adoption of favourable policies and behaviour.[5]

Lobbying and associated protest actions are a form of political action that seeks the 'conversion' of officials and decision-makers with logical or moral arguments without any tangible threat, beyond those of the ballot box. Strategic nonviolence, however, recognises that opponents often do not change their policies unless 'coerced' to do so economically or politically. Nonviolent tactics are designed to provide that coercion.[6]

The historically demonstrated insights of strategic nonviolence can play an increasingly influential role in movement strategy over the coming years. Large scale tactics of non-cooperation and intervention can gradually replace pure protest and lobbying action as movement activists become more experienced and the engaged and concerned citizens become more willing to take higher levels of risk. History has demonstrated that mass-based movements rise most powerfully when there is a widespread recognition that elites and mainstream institutional processes have failed to bring about the necessary changes.

It may be that the widespread perception of the failure of international institutions after COP could generate a renewed urgency and more effective political action. Hopefully we may see the Australian Climate movement develop effective tactics such as boycotts, strikes, mass occupations and interventions that will mobilise and engage the renewed activist energy in the years and decades after COP 15.

Anthony Kelly, June 2009

From the future!

Finally here is a beautiful video from our favourite climate justice organisation 350.org

If you haven't been to their website, you'll love the hard campaigning and heartening documentary work they do in facilitating the global movement for climate justice. This video is a summary of the last few days of Copenhagen and the need to continue the push from a 20 year old English climate youth delegate. It'll make you cry and feel good about the efforts you're making.



I dedicate this post to the lovely John. xxx

22. Tiny Towns pieces and zine and climate change zine

Things are gearing up for the start of February for the 2010 Adelaide Fringe! Yay! This is an exciting and busy time of year for us. Thing number 22, for me, is all about doing the work and starting to promote the three events. Check out our Fringe Guide blurbs!

To start with Ferris Wheels & Fairyfloss.
From a cowboy's fairyfloss-induced dream, from carnies to acrobats, to ferris wheel tattoos, John Willanski and Cassie Flanagan combine black and white drawings, colour-saturated photography and digital art to enter the hyper-real world of the traveling showground.

Princess Fairyfloss

Secondly Urban Jungle.
The city can be a stark unwelcoming place but the jungle is coming back to play. Street artist John Willanski invites you to come play too.

Some dresses waiting to be part of the Urban Jungle show.

and Finally Tiny Towns.
Exploring a new future of technology, energy and community Tiny Towns holds a mirror up to the way we live now and the way we will need to change.

Desert winds, a part of the Mini Art exhibition related to Tiny Towns.

I'm hoping that my work will entertain and enlighten. This year I'm also hoping to get to grips with timelines and trying to go that extra mile to turn something good into something very good. In the past I've over-committed and found that once the hatchet fell I'd fulfilled the briefs but I felt I could have done a bit better. By focusing on three smaller exhibitions I hope to have a bit more control and a bit less stress.

In other related news I'm going to be starting a short stint at the Science Exchange where I'll be learning about curating and running a space, managing a bump in and out and a marketing and media campaign as well as a whole bunch of other stuff.

There's a also session about Science Blogging at the Science Exchange that I'm really looking forward to next Monday.

As for the second part of thing number 22, the Climate Change Zine is Cass' and here she is!

The as yet untitled Climate Change Zine will be the third in an annual series of enviro-poetry zines presented by "Triple Bottom Line" - originally a trio but now a duo of environmentalist poets. (Why am I talking about myself in the third person?) When the three enviro-poets in question started the zines, we were all working as campaigners with different Adelaide environmental NGOs, but as of zine number two, there didn't seem to be room for both sorts of work simultaneously in our lives.

Jules remains with the Conservation Council of SA, and not with the zine, and Rachael and I are both studying higher degrees in creative writing at Adelaide uni, doing the zine, and no longer working at jobs in the movement.

I've been looking for other ways to stay involved though. Sustainable Communities is one, and this latest edition of the zine is another. It's going to be about the emotions involved in coming to terms with climate change and peak oil.

Rach and I also both take photos that have been part of the zines to date.

We were planning to launch it at this year's Format Zine Fair as part of the Fringe in March, but we have ambitious plans for length and content that make it seem more sensible to hold off until mid year. So we're now planning to release the climate change zine at a joint photo show, as part of SALA month in August.


Photo show meets zine and a powerful blend ensues!

Stay tuned, and please do come out to our fringe shows meanwhile!

Which reminds me, our friend Anna from next door has taken a challenge to go to as many fringe shows that her friends are in this year as she can! I'm planning to tag along to some as a way to narrow down the otherwise overwhelming options.

27. make Moroccan lentils and send others a recipe

This post is epic, but it's central to the whole 31 Days Challenge, as it features among other things lentil shopping, our monthly Sustainable Communities meeting where the challenge originated, numerous photos and links, a book review and three recipes.

Bon Appetit!

The lentils are still soaking and may by now have reached gigantic proportions (if anyone's seen the Young Ones episode where Vyvyan's hamster gets soaked overnight and blows up like a giant farty balloon, you'll know why I am slightly afraid to check on their progress after all this time submerged.)

No, actually, we're going to eat them for tea tonight to complete the number 27. "make Moroccan lentils and send others a recipe" challenge, but sadly not entirely Moroccan-ised as per Kelly's recipe as we are nearing the end of a pay fortnight and so will be substituting some of the ingredients we don't have for others that we do. Plums or apple instead of fresh ginger?

Here is the original recipe from Kelly, the founding member of our Norwood-Stepney Sustainable Communities Group (I finally found out the name last night at the meeting.)

This is one of my favourite recipes of late - sooo yummy and good for you.
I cook up a batch then freeze some. Happy cooking!

2 cups brown/reddish lentils (soak them overnight first in a large bowl of water)
(2 or) 3 fresh tomatoes grated or finely chopped
1 medium onion chopped
3 - 4 cloves fresh garlic crushed or finely chopped
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or coriander (fresh coriander is best, and put it in near the end so it doesn't go too mushy)
2.5 teaspoons cumin powder
2.5 teaspoons paprika
1.5 teaspoons fresh chopped ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup olive oil (or thereabouts)

In a large soup pot, fry onion, garlic and ginger for 2 mins or so then add spices and continue to fry for another minute.
Add lentils and stir in.
Add 2 litres water and fresh tomatoes and bring to simmer.
Simmer lentils over medium heat about 1.5 hours, or until lentils tender and sauce is not watery. Add extra water if required to prevent lentils burning.
Add coriander or parsley near the end.
Adjust seasoning if desired and serve with rice or bread.

And this is Kelly!


While I'm at it, let me introduce the others in our little group. These pics are from the meeting last night at Rapsodie's place.

Rapsodie.


and Eleanor.


But to backtrack to yesterday's lentil mission. I don't know if the aforementioned Young Ones conditioned me at an impressionable age, but until recently I always associated lentils with the character Neil and his giant vats of bland, brown slop, a props department's dream.

My sister became a vegetarian as early as she was allowed to, which was 15, and I joined in when we moved out of home together when I was 20, due to a combination of the example she set, having to cook all our own food and so chop up a lot of meat, and reading Peter Singer.

I've been vegetarian for years now so I love beans, tempeh, hummous and so on, but I never really got lentils. Hippie friends would wax lyrical about the virtues of their dahl, but I continued to carry this prejudice towards lentils as a desperate last resort, a source of protein for the last few days before pay. This meant that I have actually hardly ever tried them.

Which brings us to challenge 27. make Moroccan lentils and send others a recipe!

I was excited when the N-SSCG (the Norwood-Stepney Sustainable Communities local group) decided to share recipes and Kelly mentioned her Moroccan lentils. Would we finally learn the secret mysteries of dahl? If I can get into lentils, they are such a good cheap food.
Let's do it!

Step one
Plan to eat the lentil meal a day in advance to incorporate the overnight soaking. I'm not sure if the soak is just to soften the lentils for cooking and make them less farty or if it's also to remove toxins in the way that for soaking beans is an absolute health requirement. So we'll soak overnight until further clarification.

Step two
Head to the market, bulk food store, food co-op or other place of dry goods. We're trying to use less cans, to save money, waste and because they have a plastic lining that isn't so great for your health, but this means allowing enough time for the soak. When we first started with beans I found it a real hassle, but now it seems pretty simple (and even fun) to whack them in a bowl and cover with water overnight (and there's always the cans or the falafel house if you forget or don't feel like it).

This is us at the Adelaide Central Market, the repository of all things fresh, preserved and delicious.
About to grab a chai. But not with Bonsoy!


Despite the drought, Adelaide is blessed with an abundance of good, local food - anything that grows in a Mediterranean climate, plus a few adaptable varieties of produce that really thrive in more tropical or temperate places - like our tough little banana tree (half the size of its Queensland cousins), or apples and berries in the cooler pockets of the Adelaide Hills.
Unfortunately I was so busy taking a photo of John and me in the mirror that I forgot to take a shot of the market stalls - another time!
Actually it was Monday, which is not a market day, but a few shops stay open all week, including...Goodies and Grains.
Here we bought red, South Australian lentils for $2.50/kg. We bought 500 grams and I think it's going to make left-overs.

There were about five different varieties of lentils, some local and one organic. We went for the local.


Step 3. Soak lentils overnight, then next day follow Kelly's recipe!
(Later tonight.)

While we were in Goodies and Grains we also checked out the eggs. We've recently stopped being vegan and become ovo-vegetarians - with specific requirements for the eggs to be genuinely free range. We're really looking for eggs from chickens living as pets in suburbia (close to us) so we can buy or trade them regularly (zucchinis anyone?), visit the chickens ourselves to make sure they get to run around the garden permaculture style, and have no rooster to fertilise the eggs.

Our objections to commercial free range set ups are that even free range commercial hens can be the offspring of battery hens, and the male chicks in these operations are killed as unproductive (this is why we're not eating free range dairy, because of the male calves). It was hard to figure out this decision, which was for health-convenience reasons - strict veganism is a lot easier to follow than this nuanced version - but we don't think unfertilised pet hen eggs are dodgy, for us.

Anyway, more of this in a forthcoming egg post (and thanks Leticia for the "egg route" suggestion - we'll make that excursion part of the challenge!)

Meanwhile, here is a weirdly shaped biodynamic freerange jumbo egg at Goodies and Grains!


We bought some as backup before we find the pet hen eggs, but later heard at the meeting (from Kelly, who's doing a vegan challenge for January) that if they don't have an Animal Liberation sticker on them, they're not kosher free range. Does anyone else know more about this?

Soap.


Ghee. What is ghee? Is it vegan?


We also bought some organic wine from the market bottle-o, as planned for the meeting. I had hoped to take photos of the delights of the institution that is Wilson's Organics, where we first discovered these gorgeous wines and much more wonderful organic goodness, but it was closed for the holidays.

Here's the wine.


I might add that yesterday's excursion was undertaken with 10 kilogram weights strapped to our legs, or rather what felt like 10 kilogram weights due to the 48 hour post-exercise rule - that you will feel it the worst two days afterwards. We were crippled after the Mt Lofty bushwalk - the bracing to walk 4k down the hill. But we want to go back (it can only get easier, right?)

We borrowed John's parents' car and drove to the meeting, which was one suburb over. We rarely drive anywhere, yet we've driven to 2 out of 3 meetings, one of which was about 1km down the road. I don't know if it's some sort of balance redressing thing ("We're doing something good so we can "afford" to drive there") or a rebellion ("We're sick of being righteous all the time, let's just drive!").

More likely it's that we're running short of time. I want to write a post about juggling environmentally sustainable behaviour with full-time work (we're studying and creating stuff using savings and government pensions for money, so we have more flexible schedules, but I'm starting to realise not much more time than people with jobs).

Last night, I was fighting a cold (which has now gone), we had to get to the meeting, and we remembered that we needed to water my folk's garden before the next hot weather period, which has started today. (I want to write another post about enviros and feeling the need to make excuses. Whatever - our legs hurt!) So we borrowed the car and made it home after everything at about 11pm. I don't feel bad. Absolutism can kill any enthusiasm for trying to change.

We had a good night. Here are some pics.
Rapsodie's cute little street seemed to have a fashion for painted garbage bins.




The house we assumed was hers due to the shade cloth and lemon tree watering systems.


Check it out. I'd been wondering how to water our own four trees effectively and now we know!


Rapsodie's actual house, or rather, garden, built on top of a former swimming pool!


Rocket gone to seed.


Rainwater tank!


Slightly hijacked by the wine, the one we brought plus a bottle of organic red of Rapsodie's, we nevertheless made plans to attend a screening of the movie "Fresh", which will be put on by another sustainable communities group in western Adelaide, for John and me to have our soil tested for toxins from our railway sleeper garden bed (Rapsodie lent us a soil testing kit to check out the PH, too), and heard about the other's January challenges - Kelly to go vegan, Eleanor to cook a vego meal once a month for 2010 and Rapsodie to try for no waste for a month.

We found out that the soft plastics waste recycling depot is no longer taking household plastic, and planned to contact Zero Waste SA to demand an alternative, that I have been overwatering our tomatoes and tomato-related veggies and need to give them tough love so they'll fruit, what people's eco footprints are in hectares and what's making them that size, various details about government rebates for solar, insulation and water tanks, and more that I'll remember when I see the minutes.

We also invited Kelly, Eleanor and Rapsodie to contribute to this blog about their January challenges, so hopefully we'll feature some of their posts in the next couple of weeks.

Meantime here is Eleanor's recipe, this time a dahl soup option. Don't forget the lemon!

Madhur Jaffrey recipe.

Serves 8 people

275gm green or yellow split peas (washed)
1.5L of vegetarian stock
24 peppercorns and 15 whole cloves (tied in cheesecloth)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2-3/4 tsp salt to taste

Garnish
8 lemon wedges
croutons

Combine the split peas and stock in a pot and bring to the boil. Remove scum from the top.
Add the spices in the cheesecloth, the turmeric, and the salt. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 1-1.5 hours or until the peas are tender. Remove cheesecloth from soup, squeeze its juices into soup, and discard.
Press the soup through a strainer (well worth it guys), using the back of a wooden spoon, or put it through a food mill.

Serve with lemon

Freezes well - just make sure you use the lemon!


And here is our recipe. I realised at the meeting that my current infatuation with eggs would leave Kelly hungry throughout January, so pancakes are off the menu and a garden salad (literally, woo!) is on.

You will need:

One salad plot.


You could also use ingredients from the market - super, farmers or whatever, but I have to rave about growing salad because it is so amazingly rewardingly fun I want to share it! So, even if this is the lengthiest recipe you've ever followed, if you some time make it from your own salad plot it'll blow your mind, your tastebuds and make you happy.

This is a revolutionary, invaluable book:
One Magic Square
After reading the introduction you are basically inspired to go outside and make a 1 metre square garden bed on the spot. (The author is a local woman, Lolo Houbein and she is appearing at a session at the Friends of the Earth Reclaim the Food Chain convergence on all things food, From Plains to Plate, this February in Adelaide.)

Magic squares are great, but large pots are good too. You can even pick up ready to eat herb pots already containing chives, basil, lettuce etc etc, or some cheap seedlings from a nursery to transplant into a big pot, or keep in several small ones. Then just pick the ingredients for the salad leaf by leaf. So good!

I made this salad while John was pulling up weeds for the weed tea the other night. You can use anything that's to hand for the greens. Our salad plot is an old bathtub gleaned from down the street (the one that drains onto the lemon tree).

Summer Bathtub Salad



Ingredients

a handful of various greens (in this case cos and other lettuce leaves, basil, baby rainbow chard and beetroot leaves)

4 small zucchini, preferably with flowers attached (we have 4 zucchinis and admittedly the plants are enormous, but you could grow just one in a big pot, or substitute zucchini for tomatoes that are very pot-friendly.)

handful of walnuts

Dressing -
1/8 glass olive oil
1/7 glass balsamic vinegar
teaspoon mustard
teaspoon honey/brown sugar/maple syrup - anything dark and sweet
herbs finely chopped (we had chives, marjoram, sage and basil in the bathtub)
1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped

Steam the zucchs until tender but still crunchy (about 10 minutes) (or slice up 3 tomatoes) and arrange on top of a bed of the various greens.
Sprinkle walnuts on top and toss.
Mix dressing together with a fork til mustard and sweetner dissolve and pour over raw salad.
Toss salad and taste, adding another batch of dressing if needed to coat all the salad with a generous amount of delicious dressing.

Ok John's home and I think it's time for the Moroccan lentils.

Here's some Kelly made earlier.


I'll post a pic of our version later, and email the link to this page to the rest of the group to fullfill the "send others a recipe part", but having got this far I think I can say that we're already converts to the way of dahl.

Neil would be proud.