One thing that I know many people do to kick start this, is to collect lots of jars from, say, a pasta sauce or pickles in brine.

To learn more about growing a permaculture garden simply and easily, check out our course The Incredible Edible Garden and learn how to design your own permaculture landscape in our Permaculture Design Course.

Transcript:

Hi and welcome back! It’s Morag Gamble from our Permaculture Life and the Permaculture Education Institute.

Now if you’re anything like me, you’re really looking all the time for ways to actually diminish the plastic that enters into your life. So I do all sorts of different things and you know often, I’m collecting jars from something that I’ve just consumed. And I’ll wash it out and use it again and again and again. And I’m always on the lookout for really interesting jars at the op shop or wherever I can find them. And sometimes, they just don’t come with lids or the litter. They’ve come with having either broken, or perished or rusted out and they’re just not suitable anymore. So what can you do instead of throwing out the whole jar? You can actually get some replacement leads now. You can online, you can find all different sorts of replacement leads. I really like these ones here, that are part of the Fowler’s we call a preserving kit. And so, it’s a really simple way. So if one bit breaks you know like this, completely recyclable. This is too and this is rubber, a natural product. So if you’ve got a jar like this, all you need to do is to put the rubber around the rim there we go. Like that, and then the lid on the top like that. And that seals that, and then the clip goes over the top. It just clips on and it clips underneath. This ridge here that most of the jars have and so that’s really secure. So this is the hemp seed milk that I made yesterday. So you can see, it’s completely sealed and absolutely fantastic. And if one of these bits breaks or gets damaged, you can just simply order another set of that. But they are so robust! I’ve had these for so many years, and if you look after them they just keep lasting and lasting.

So that’s just a little tip about how you can rejuvenate some old jars that you’ve got. Really there’s nothing wrong with the jar itself, but you just need some kind of secure lid so you can store it safely. Either in the fridge or on the shelf, and keep it nice and protected. So I know it’s hard isn’t it, during this pandemic. There’s so many things that we have been used to doing that we can no longer do at the moment. You know sometimes, we can’t do the scooping, sometimes we can’t take our own container. But at home, we can maintain a way of life that is diminishing our waste and diminishing our single-use plastics. And that’s all what plastic free July is about. Getting us to think differently, about how we can do that. So I’ve put a few links down below, about resources about how to learn more about permaculture. Permaculture gardening links to my blog and my youtube channel. And also, to the courses that I offer in learning more about permaculture. And also a four-part series, about permaculture that you can access for free there. So I’ll see you again tomorrow back in my house or my garden, talking about another way that we can really try and kick the plastic habit as much as we possibly can. And get back to some of the more really simple natural ways of living, and ways of eating. All right catch you again bye!

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Some of the bags of clothes waiting to head up to the charity stores in Maleny.

Living like a backpacker

Back in the early 1990s, Evan and I were travelling around the world a lot with our backpacks and lived amply on a handful of simple clothes. However, since we’ve had kids and settled a bit more, things have accumulated. As much as I promised myself this would never happen, it did. It was definitely time for a big clear out. I’m pretty sure what I’ve kept would be able to fit into a backpack again.

I love wearing sarongs here in the subtropics – they are lightweight and easy to store and care for.

Special souvenirs of musty space-fillers?

Not only were my own clothes filling up the wardrobe space, but clothes I had kept from when our children were little – things I thought were special souvenirs of their baby days. What they had become really were musty, stained and old (storing things in humid subtropics is difficult). I have kept just a few really special items and packed them very well.

Getting up my nose

All these surplus clothes were collecting dust which I was really starting to find was getting up my nose – literally.  Today, everything got washed with soapnuts and eucalytus, and the entire wardrobe and room was wiped down with diluted vinegar. It feels so fresh again.

How did I sort through it all?

Basically I just made one big pile on the floor  in the middle of my bedroom and methodically went through each piece.  It took me half a day to sort, wash and clean out all the dust from the back of the wardrobe  – a big commitment of time, but one that is going to save me lots of washing, sorting, putting away etc. later.  

As I went through the clothes I placed them in nine different piles and bags: 

• Keepers –  I went through this pile a couple of times to refine my choice to pick natural fibres, ethical items and ones that are biodegradable.
• Storage box – a selection of a few things for different seasons and some favourite skirts which will be good when I lose a few kilos (!?)
• Gift bag – almost new children’s clothes that are suitable for friends with young children.
• Hand-me-down pile – some retro pieces of my clothing that now fit my daughter
• Charity store bag – all the good quality clothes that were left
• Upcycling box – a few pieces I liked that had fabulous fabric, but no longer a good style are awaiting redesign (when I get a new sewing machine pedal – Monty was experimenting with scissors recently).
• Rag bag – too bad to fix but good for rags.
• Worm pile – too bad to fix and fully biodegradable.
• Rubbish – too bad to fix and not good for rags or worms. (thankfully this was the smallest pile)

My small selection of clothes for storage for another season.

This is all that is left in my wardrobe –  a couple of skirts, shirts, singlets and long sleeve tops – and my favourite jacket with all the pockets for collecting seeds while I’m out and about.

The post How I downshifted my wardrobe by 80 percent. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Growing your own fresh produce is such a healthy and satisfying way to simplify your life, and save thousands a year. I typically grow so much that I need to give much of it away – mostly as cuttings at the workshops I give, to help other people’s gardens become more abundant.

By simplifying my life and avoiding unnecessary daily purchases, I am easily saving over $23,000 a year in just a few areas of my life.

What this means is that:

1. I don’t need to earn that amount (and can spend that time with my family, volunteering in my community, developing new skills, writing, riding, being in nature…) or
2. I have more freedom to spend the money on more interesting things, or things that will last…. or
3. Perhaps go on a journey and worldschool our kids.

I’ve found that reducing our daily cost of living can be a simple, yet powerful series of actions that can help us live a more sustainable, low-impact and relaxed way of life.

I feel happier like this – more connected to myself, my community, the place I live, the planet and global society. I feel better too knowing that I have not contributed so much waste and pollution, or impacted so much on other communities. This is important to me.

Slowing down and exploring our own backyard – finding dragonflies, turtles, waterbirds, waterlily and other interesting plants, insects and animals.

So how do I simply save over $23,000 a year:

Go Shopping With a List – save $5000

I find it’s too easy to fill shopping baskets with spontaneous buys especially when I don’t take my list or I shop when I’m hungry. I’ve noticed my register bill almost doubles. I also avoid shopping at big stores that encourage over-purchasing. Even shopping at small ethical stores, I have found this saves me around $5000 a year.

Eat a Simple Dinner at Home – save $5000

I love to cook and kindly my kids say my meals are really good  – they even go so far to say they prefer my food to meals out (phew!). We eat simple, tasty and healthy meals together at home and enjoy the laid-back vibe. Eating out with a 3yo can be ‘not-so-relaxing’.  Some days (for no particular reason) we set the table really nicely, put on some music and make it a special meal. Taking a family out for dinner weekly can be costly. I think we easily save over $5000 a year by eating at home, and taking food with us.

Maia loves creating colourful little table decorations from garden flowers, old jars, socks and fabrics scraps. Delightful!

Pack Lunch and Snacks when we go out – save $3000

Go on picnics and local outings – save $3000

A favourite local outing is a picnic at the river. It is even something we do on special occasions. We pack up our little basket with little goodies and a thermos, sometimes even a bag of potatoes to through in a riverside campfire – yumm!  By reducing the number of expensive outings and choosing to entertain ourselves in our local environment I estimate saves us over $3000 a year.

We all love heading to the river, exploring, having a picnic and cooking potatoes in the fire.

Make a Coffee Thermos at home – save $4000

We love coffee and I think we still spend way too much on coffee when we’re out.  By taking our coffee thermos from home I estimate we could save around $4000 a year  – wow, oh dear, that’s huge.  Perhaps I should just drink my herb infused waters instead – which I already carry everywhere!

Grow fresh greens – $3000

By cultivating some super-easy home-grown food –  fresh salads leaves, bunches of greens, a range of culinary herbs, bundles of cherry tomatoes and delicious snow peas, not only is your food far fresher and more nutrient dense, I’ve worked out that we easily save over $3000 a year. If we took into account all the food we grow and the eggs, it would be much more.

I grow at least 20 different types of greens for teas, salads, stir-fries, soups, curries and other meals. This is super spicy red mustard spinach and one of the open-hearted oak-leaf lettuces behind.

The self-seeding tomatoes are so delicious and abundant. I don’t have to do anything and there are many many kilograms every year.

Other ways to save money by living simply

• Assess needs against wants – check in with yourself. I find I can often easily put things back on the shop shelf if I stop to think about it. Stepping out of the consumer lifestyle can be very liberating. It helps to avoid big shopping centres too. It’s hard to come out having bought just what you needed, and quite often items are not as good as expected.
• Choose good quality items that last – It’s better to spend money on something that will last a long time and is fixable, rather than on cheap disposable versions.
• Choose good quality second hand things – there is so much scope here! Furniture, cars, bikes, computers, musical instruments, clothes…
• Declutter – finding a clarity of mind in clear spaces, spaces not filled with ‘stuff’ we own.

Voluntary simplicity

Choosing to live more simply, moving away from the work-spend cycle and finding a broader definition of richness and wealth, is often known as downshifting or voluntary simplicity. This way of thinking and living embraces the notions such as:

• bigger is not always better,
• focus on quality rather than quantity,
• see that accumulating more stuff does not make us happier, and
• a simpler life creates far less impact on the environment and society.

Did you know that every year, the average Australian family produces enough rubbish to fill a three-bedroom house, producing about 2.25 kg of waste each per day. Cool Australia 

I also strongly believe that we do need to “Live simply so that others may simply live“ as Gandhi said.

By embracing voluntary simplicity ideals, it is embracing an ethical life, that values other people, other communities, other species, other ecological communities… This is certainly connected to the third ethic of permaculture.

The three ethics at the core of permaculture are:

1. earth care
2. people care
3. fair share

The post Save over $23,000 a Year and De-stress with a Few Simple Living Strategies appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Furoshiki – Japanese wrapping cloth

Some simple suggestions on how to use the wrapping cloth.

The post Wrapping cloths (Furoshiki) – a plastic bag alternative from ancient Japan. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Time to go and check out the second hand shops in town, and the shop at the rubbish tip to find some interesting vessels to repurpose. Although I think I might look around home first and in my kitchen cupboards. I’m sure there’s plenty there – perhaps this can even help me in the process of decluttering.

The photographs the kids took of the pots could perhaps be the beginning of our homeschooling photographic project this term – to enlarge some images for our walls, and to gather a portfolio of images to submit into the junior photographic section of the Maleny Show. A couple of years ago both Maia (then aged 6) was awarded First Prize in the under 12s section for her picture of a peach farmer selling his wares at a farmers market in Paynesville Victoria. Hugh (then 4) was awarded a High Commendation for his B&W image of ropes and shackles on a yacht in Akaroa, NZ.

Monty’s photograph of the interesting pots. He somehow found the setting for B&W which makes it look even better! Monty is 2 years old!

The colander pot – has the bonus of good drainage.

The boot pot. I have a few boots I can repurpose – my old ones have holes in the soles which will be good drainage too!

Maia’s close-up of the succulent.

The post Up-cycling plant pots and homeschool photography appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Late at night when everything was quiet, I could hear the waves from Bass Strait roaring onto shore along the Ninety Mile Beach just over the dunes.  When we went back to Melbourne, I would imagine the sound of the traffic in the distance was actually those waves and I felt better – so much more at peace.

I really want our kids to grow up loving the water and sailing too. Our old dinghy has long gone, but Dad found another from an old friend on the Island so we can teach them how to sail.  The yacht, an 18 ft trailer sailer has been hiding in the shed for about 25 years.  We have talked about getting it back in the water for ages. This summer we are finally getting it ready to be launched again.

Maia is so excited to finally meet our old boat – she is super excited to get it out on the water.

We keep the Mirror dinghy, sailboard and kayaks on the beach, and if the wind is right we sail and paddle each day.

Dad and Maia happy to see the boat emerge from decades in the shed.

The possums in the shed had certainly mad a bit of a mess!

All scrubbed up and ready to go.

I think we were all relieved that the trailer still held together as it was towed out into daylight.

Tomorrow we start the cleanup inside.

Since we are in boat mode, we’ve been checking out other boats while we’ve been out and about riding our bikes.  It’s amazing – this size of boat was a pretty standard thirty to forty years ago, but now I can imagine it will look quite dwarfed beside the contemporary yachts and cruisers out on the lake – many of them twice it’s size.  It’s more than enough for us though. I can’t wait to the boating adventures start again – and the kids are so excited as well. In the meantime, we are practicing in the little Mirror dinghy. Hugh is becoming quite the skipper and Maia loves looking after the jib.  

The post Simple pleasures of sailing appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

In my delving today I found a handspun, hand knitted jumper from the himalayan region of Ladakh – a momento of the months I spent there volunteering 20 years ago. I kept this jumper becuase it reminded me of the amazing time I had there, because I met the woman who made it, and because purchasing this was a contribtion to the rebuilding of the local economy and handicrafts industry. The jumper is now full of holes and unwearable and I haven’t worn the jumper since I moved to Queensland 20 years ago because it is too thick and hot!  I want to keep it, but for what? Perhaps it’s time to let go. I could return it to the soil and use it as mulch under a fruit tree, or I could darn it and donate it to someone in a cooler climate.

The post Self-discovery in decluttering appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

A couple of years ago, my Mum and Dad brought up a carful of boxes from my childhood home in Melbourne – full of books, assignments, clothes, photos and memorabilia. They were doing their big clear-out. I was so thankful for this delivery, but overwhelmed too – so much that it has sat there in my studio all this time hidden under a cloth restricting access my lovely library.

This room is also filled with the love that goes into an owner-builder’s first project. This is the first structure Evan and I ever built. Before this we’d only made coffee tables and wood-carvings. We were amazed that it worked so well. I’m so glad we began with a small achievable project. Starting I think on the main house would have been too daunting.

Looking out from my desk in there I can forget the clutter behind. I love looking through the large timber windows my dad made. The spaciousness and nature looking out from this room is calming and mind-freeing. I can see our garden and the chickens scratching around. I can also see down to the lake, across to the national park and up the Mary Valley – a lovely outlook. eing in the space but I can no longer ignore the chaos around me.

I feel so sad that I have let it get so filled with ‘stuff’. It weighs on me and I know I will feel so much lighter when I am free of this clutter and accumulation of a lifetime.  It’s going to take me a long time to sort through – paper by paper, box by box – which is why I have resisted starting it. Meanwhile new boxes of workshop resources keep arriving, new books join the library, and new design plans join the collection of plan tubes.

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