bean there, done that

although much is being done to protect new zealand's indigenous biodiversity, there is sadly too little focus on protecting the biodiversity of the foods we rely on.

i can't help but feel that ensuring a richly diverse range of foods must be of more importance than protecting native flora and fauna, recognising of course that if we cannot feed ourselves sustainably, we cannot look after anything else!

it would be ideal if both native conservation and food conservation were equally supported in new zealand.

heritage plants and animals are not only intrinsically special; they have been bred by humans over time to display particular characteristics - such as storage ability, pest resistance, productive season and taste.

it is only within the last few decades that these characteristics began to take a turn for the worst...

gradually, we have allowed ourselves to accept the identically mediocre foods offered at the supermarket, day after day, all year, the same foods regardless of season... because it is 'cheaper' and 'more convenient' to buy things from the supie than the eqivalent time spent gardening. good little consumers.

oh, the thousands of apple cultivars! the yellow, white, purple hued carrots, violet caulis, frilly afro lettuces, multi-coloured chickens!

these heritage varieties offer an exciting journey in cultural realisation - we can reremember that certain fruits taste better at certain times, that fresh picked is thrilling, that colour, flavour, texture can be vibrant instead of banal...

but these plants and animals need our help, because without people to keep producing them, they will vanish - and we will suffer. The corporate-controlled food production systems are only interested in a few regular uninspiring food species, so will only preserve these, and as genetically engineered crops creep into our fields we will face pollution of our heritage with dubious technology.

while preserving heritage animal breeds is a more serious commitment, it is splendidly easy to have a small tub of tomatoes growing on your doorstep (there are so many delicious choices!), sow alternating rows of different coloured lettuces, plant a heritage fruit tree... i reckon they taste better, even if that's just cos they look so damn nice!

grow, grow, grow!

cycles of life

ahh, it's impossible to adequately express what a joyous feeling it is to be a bicycler... but i'll try.

apart from the obvious and well-known financial and health benefits of cycling, it is such a nice way to integrate oneself into the surrounding environment...

although invercargill can be a hazardous cycling environment (broken glass, bad drivers, coal smoke) it is still a pleasure to be able to say hello to the people you pass, stop to sniff a flower, easily find a park in front of every shop... while drivers in their personal personnel carriers stress out, pay for fuel, for parking, for gyms...

i love my bike - i can hear the world's sounds and smell it's smells, whistle in the wind, enjoy the rhythms of the pedals - make cycling music.

i have two bikes - one a slightly rugged 'mountain' bike (try finding a mountain in invercargill!) and the other a beautifully cruisy oldschool road bike - ah, the easy gears, the mudguards, the carrier - classic.

if you don't already ride a bike regularly, consider that not only will your health and general wellbeing improve, you will be better insulated against rising fuel prices and the imminence of peak oil...

i love my bike.

inflate your spirit! cycle for victory!

urine luck!

well, however uncomfortable this might make you feel, you must read on...

the average person passes around 1 - 1.5 litres of urine every day. this material is typically flushed down the toilet (using roughly 5 - 11 litres of drinking-quality water per flush). we are fast running out of clean fresh water, our oceans are dying in places due to nutrification, partly from sewage outfalls and our croplands are fertilised with oil-based fertilisers...

it has been found that the urine produced by one person over a year is enough to fertilise 300 - 400m² of cropland - urine is very rich in nitrogen (required for leafy growth) and is also rich in potassium and phosphorous (both also required for healthy plant growth).

it is also important to note that urine may contain pathogens which can cause disease, but only if the person urinating is infected with those pathogens. The World Health Organisation has this to say regarding urine and pathogens:

"It can be concluded that pathogens that may be transmitted through urine are rarely
sufficiently common to constitute a significant public health problem and are thus not
considered to constitute a health risk related to the reuse of human urine in temperate climates"
(source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wastewater/urineguidelines.pdf ).

if you are suffering from an illness, it is therefore probably better not to fertilise plants you may come into contact with - choose a tree instead!

it is also true that urine from most modern humans contains residues of pharmaceutical chemicals ('the pill' for example...) but it has also been found that the most effective way to immobilise these residues is to be treated by microorganisms in soil...

in my experience, brassicas (cabbages, broccoli, kale etc.) adore copious quantities of urine. i try and visit my favourites regularly when the weather is clement - it is not unlike fattening a pig with food scraps until it is slaughter time (except that i don't have to kill a pig) - i get to pass my unwanted 'wastes' on to the plants which will, in time, be nourishing me back.

when it is cold and rainy, or i just can't be bothered going outside, i use an agee jar (1 litre capacity) to collect the liquid gold (literally, ha ha!) until i can take it outside. this is so easy, and living somewhere like invercargill, it makes sense to not have to walk all the way down to the other end of the house in the freezing night just to wee.

it's a nice reconnection with the biological processes which we rely on but have lost touch with. if your flatmates/ family are uncomfortable about it, be clandestine.

boycott the toilet! piss for victory!

the multiple joys of gardening

of course this would have to be my first post! i know most people who know me are aware i am a passionate gardener. there are many reasons for this.

when i was 20 years old and thoroughly disillusioned about where i was heading i had the opportunity to get involved with the community gardens in brook st, nelson. it didn't take me long to realise i had found my niche.

i have learnt so much about myself and the world through having an intimate relationship with a small piece of ground. gardening is not just food, not just beauty, not just exercise, but all of those things as well as an opportunity to experience a world from a wider perspective. it is akin to being a god, as you are able to participate in creating a whole ecosystem and are responsible for how it functions. under your guidance you can create a paradise or a desert.

it is the same in our lives - we can create paradise or deserts. it is through meaningful interaction with other organisms that we come to appreciate how diverse life really is. the spider in the bath, the moth in your cupboards, the hedgehog in the garden - we share with them all and they deserve our respect for doing their best in this human-dominated world.

food security is an increasingly important issue - i am sure you will have heard of contamination scraes, and climate change threatens ever-greater areas of global cropland. growing of crops for biofuels also threaten food production. gardening at home can provide at least a small amount of security. not to mention the benefits i've already discussed.

dig for victory!

introducing... nick

at first i thought it was a bit strange to have a blog, but i think i will appreciate the ability to externalise my thoughts a little.

whether anyone reads this or not remains to be seen, but i hope that through sharing my perspective and how i approach life, the universe and everything, i can help others feel as positive as i do, regardless of what may lie ahead.

i'm looking forward to communicating with you all.