Melton Sustainable Living Group

The group had a stall yesterday at the Djerrawarrah Festival, which is the main event of the year in our town.  Our stall had display boards, educational pamphlets, drought tolerant succulents, vegetable seedlings, and buckets and buckets of sheep poo.  Everyone who volunteered had a great time telling people about the sort of things they can do at home to grow their own food, save energy and money, and to green up their lifestyles.  We even had about 6 people express interest in joining the group, which is a fantastic outcome.  Hopefully they will join our merry band of environmentally aware citizens. Here are some photos and commentary from throughout the day. David, Jonathan, Caroline, and Amy David and Renata, The growing section of the stall The undercover educational display boards and pamphlets Gavin holding up the tent, looking friendly in an attempt to entice the crowds in to the display. Jake manning the displays Jake, Gavin, Rick and...

On Sunday 23rd of October the group held a Soap making demonstration at Gavin & Kim’s house in Melton West.  It was well attended by 12 members who were keen to learn the basics of cold processed soap making. Here is a slide show of the gathering. To learn a bit more about how this process works, have a look at this video tutorial made by Gavin & Kim a few months ago. For the recipe that we used visit this article titled, “ Our Soap Recipe ”. For a pictorial guide and a details step by step guide visit this article titled, “ Lather Up Folks ”. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email us via the address on the side bar to the right.

Here is a radio interview that I gave over the weekend promoting Sustainable House Day.  I think you will find it entertaining, and it is formatted as an episode of my normal not-so-weekly podcast over on The Greening of Gavin . Sustainable House Day will be held across the country this Sunday, 12th of September and for more information about houses open in your area, please visit www.sustainablehouseday.com . The Melton Sustainable Living Group hopes to see you all there! Gavin Webber, President, MSLG Inc.

The group is proud to present one home in Melton West that will be open to the public on Sunday 12th of September 2010.  Visit http://sustainablehouseday.com for the address closer to the date. I hope you take the time to visit and get some ideas about how to make your own home just that little bit more sustainable.  The ideas you take away will most probably save you money as well! Gavin Webber President, MSLG Inc

On Saturday, the Melton Sustainable Living Group hosted a home brew workshop at my house.  Kim filmed the workshop, and I have edited it into three parts.  I hope you find the time to watch this educational documentary, courtesy of the MSLG.  Part One Part Two Part Three with Q&A session The next day, I checked the Cider to see their progress.  The cider was not bubbling, so I took off the lid to ensure that it was indeed fermenting (which it was), so I screwed the lid back on super tight.  This sealed it correctly this time, and the airlock started working ferociously.  And as for the Cider today, well due to the fact that I only put in 500gm of Dextrose, it looks like it has finished fermenting as well.  I will check it with the hydrometer and possibly bottle it tomorrow night!  I can taste it already.

I attended the 3rd ACF GreenHome Community workshop on Tuesday night.   It was a great evening, with many passionate people from Caroline Springs, Melton West, Melton South, Altona, Werribee, and Bacchus March all who want to make a difference to our local communities. Terry White from Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action gave an inspiring presentation about some of the bigger actions that are possible in the Western region of Melbourne.  I filmed the entire presentation and managed to cut it into two parts and place them on YouTube.  Terry's presentation was very inspirational, and well worth watching. Please put your hands together for Terry! Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action - Part 1 Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action - Part 2

David appeared in the Melton Express Telegraph this week hugging his solar PV system! You can read the article titled " On the path to solar rebates " promoting the latest bulk Solar PV buying scheme for the Melton Shire residence. Well done David, for promoting the benefits of Sustainable Living!

Kim and I visited David on Saturday afternoon.  David is now the proud owner of a 1 kW solar PV system after a very, very long wait.  Here is a shot from the road. Another view of the system from the backyard. Of course, I couldn't miss a photo of the proud owner himself! Look for David and his solar PV system in this weeks edition of the Express Telegraph promoting the Melton Shires bulk PV scheme with EnviroGroup. Gavin.

  You’re invited to four FREE workshops You’ll be able to: • learn from energy & gardening experts • meet your neighbours • tackle climate change and sustainability in new and creative ways with your community. The Australian Conservation Foundation GreenHome program will help you reduce your environmental impact and take practical steps to save water and energy, produce less waste and grow local food. Tuesday 11th May Greening your home - part 1: Becoming energy efficient Learn more about energy efficiency, workshop ideas and hear from energy experts. Tuesday 18th May Greening your home - part 2: Gardening towards a sustainable future Special guest: Vasili Kanidiadis – presenter of Vasili’s Garden SBS. Hear form Vasili and other gardening guru’s about having a water efficient veggie patch, composting and worm farming. Tuesday 25th May Community actions for tackling climate change - part 1 Hear from inspiring speakers and tackle climate change in new and c...

Being resilient is about being able to withstand a shock to the normal way of life.  Recently there has been a shock in the form of the Global Financial Crisis, however I believe that it was tame compared to what is about to come in the next decade. Two big issues come immediately to mind.  Climate Change and Peak Oil. You have probably heard about the concept of Climate Change, and we are already feeling the effects of extreme weather events in our part of the world.  Doesn't it seem strange that we are getting more and more '1 in 100 year events' closer together and they are becoming more like 1 in 10 year events?  Not strange, but normal according the climatologists.  Climate change means more extreme weather, not just getting a bit warmer. Of course the climate changes over time and has many times before in Earth's history, but not in a matter of years or decades, we are talking centuries for these events to occur naturally. You can't take millions of ...