Comments Yoyo has made

  • GreeningTX, you're on the right track!  Here in Victoria, Australia, we've had a drought so long we've stopped counting the years ... so now many of us use a bucket or two in the shower to capture almost all the water from the shower.  The showers have low-flow heads, and we limit the time under them - four minutes is ample for a healthy person.)

    At home, we even keep a plastic bowl in each handbasins to catch hand- and face-washing water for flushing the toilet.  We also have another bowl in the second sink, which captures vegetable rinse water; this goes straight in to the compost bucket (which takes ALL non-fatty kitchen waste), which is kept under the sink, then emptied daily into the compost heap.  Between these measures and a couple of rainwater tanks, we've been able to keep our garden green AND productive throughout the drought.


    Good on you for encouraging your students to use water responsibly - keep it up!

    On Ask Umbra's video advice on showering posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago 10 Responses

  • In Plain(s) English?

    Just what, pray tell, is a "booyah" when translated into everyday English - of a variety understood internationally?  Is it (smile) A Good Thing or (shudder) A Bad Thing?On Coal-power producer will disclose climate-change risks to shareholders posted 1 year, 1 month ago 3 Responses

  • I'll see your kale and raise ya, Ruby (chard)

    mijo's list of greens: turnip, kale, mustard, collards - sounds wonderful, but I've never seen any of them except kale!  Must be an Anerican thing?  Here in Oz (Australia) we often tuck into silver beet, aka chard; ruby chard is nice, too, and both grow right through our fairly mild winters.

    Frankly, if I lived in America's New England, I'd emigrate! (or at least trek south for winter).  In Oz's New England, it's really "What winter?" - pretty mild.  If I were stuck in a cold clime, I'd definitely grow what I could indoors, if only a few greens, herbs and tomatoes.  Here (in Victoria) we can plant and harvest potatoes outside all year round, and they're the ideal vegie garden starter - so simple kids can grow them. And tomatoes grow well in tubs most of the year, as do sweet capsicums.  You can grow tubs of these last three on verandahs or in enclosed porches all year round in most climates.

    Did I mention my heritage rhubarb?  It's been growing in the same spot for decades, and makes a great addition to stewed apple and custard.  We pick year round.  We've also got a mature blood-plum tree, which bears prolifically and of which we stew and freeze maybe quarter to half each year (the rest goes to neighbours and rellies).  If you've got space for a lemon tree, pick the warmest corner of the garden and it'll fruit most of the year.

    We had a big chest freezer, but my diminutive wife and even tinier daughter kept falling in!  So we replaced it with an upright freezer with drawers from Fisher-Paykel.  Highly efficient, and not half so terrifying. ;-)On Umbra on eating locally in winter posted 1 year, 3 months ago 15 Responses

  • What can I do about it?

    Tom, great review! Very informative.

    @Hank Herrera: Your comments are right on the money! It is entirely up to you and me to think constructively about what action we need to take to get the results we want. Rest assured, if we just "rest assured" by others, it'll be them getting what they want, not us.

    So often, organising local action just seems too hard (you can't even rely on family members who share similar views to take the trouble to join in planned activities), so much so that we can be tempted to give up on developing cooperative behaviours. But remember you can often lead by example, doing, in a little way, the kind of thing you'd like your family and friends to join in on. Want fresh beans? Plant some! Want fresh tomatoes too, but haven't got much space, or time, left? Swap your excess fresh beans with your neighbour. And give a few to your relatives in the next suburb or town; they just might develop a taste for fresh food.

    BTW, Hank, you asked: "a locavore is, by definition, one who eats local food--but what is the word for the people who produce, pack, package, process, distribute and sell local food?"  

    How about "farmer"? ;-)
    On Why Paul Roberts' End of Food deserves to be digested posted 1 year, 3 months ago 14 Responses

  • When the Chippewas Are Down

    I took the "Virtual Walking Tour" hoping to become better informed.  The audio was so woefully bad that I could hardly understand a thing that was said.  Yes, I did turn up the volume, and yes, my first language is English.

    Luckily, the text was readable, so it wasn't entirely a waste of time watching.
    On A virtual walking tour of Wisconsin's Sokaogon Chippewa community posted 3 years, 8 months ago 4 Responses