Burra Maluca

I think I need to post a quick reminder of what this thread is all about. Gert is a 'permaculture millionaire' - her life wouldn't change if she was given a million dollars because she is already living her permaculture dream. So she's already living the life of a millionaire.

Scenario Gert: Gert has realized the permaculture dream. Gert lives on a few acres and eats the food that grows there. Dme harvesting and preserving food. During a week or two in the fall, Gert is working a good 50 hours a week. But for most of the year, Gert is working less than ten hours a week.

If Gert had a million dollars, what would she do with it? How would her life change? Since Gert is a fictitious person in my head, I hereby declare that her life would not change. If your life does not change if you have a million dollars, then is it fair to say that you are living the life of a millionaire? Maybe we could call this being a "permaculture millionaire"?

I don't think this thread is trying to say that you are likely to become a 'real' millionaire by adopting permacultue, just that you can live in such a way that money becomes relatively meaningless.

Last week we scored a giant bag of free meat scraps which turned out to be mostly fatty beef trimmings, and a lot of pork liver.

I pressure cooked the beef trimmings, then poured the resultant liquid into a big pyrex jug to cool. When it was cold and solid, I emptied it out and cut off the fat to use as tallow then reheated the jelly so it melted again and poured it into silicone moulds to re-solidify, then froze the little blocks to use as flavour boosts to any dish that needs it. I pulled any obvious fatty tissue off the meat to freeze into portions for making liver paté, then cut up the beef into nice little chunks and froze them down for using in meals.

Today we used some to make beef and mushrooms in black bean sauce, with red peppers, galega cabbage and onions, served with my usual rice-and-lentils cooked in bone broth.

Utterly delicious!

Some pillars have put in an appearance, to help support the three bits of granite.



It's starting to feel like it's getting close to the finish line!

They're still not quite ready to pick, but they have turned a lovely colour!

These are the first of the meninas rosas, grown from pips from Austin's favourite apple, the Pink Lady. I had to get him to bond with the idea of growing food in the garden, so when he declared nearly eight years ago that the only apples worth eating were pink ladies, I let him buy some then we ceremoniously saved the seeds and planted them. And this is the first fruit to be grown from those seeds!

They are very much redder than their mommy, so we might have to think of a new name for this particular tree. But I think we should wait until the tree says that it's ready to release them for us to sample. Right now it's hanging on tight to them so I can only assume they're not quite ready. They're small too, but apparently that's quite normal for the first fruit from a seed-grown tree. The new name can wait until after a taste test though!

A few more bricks...

I think the back row is up to the required height now!



Then we have to make sure it's level all the way round and put a few support pillars or something in the middle.

Temperature is currently 30 C outside, which is 86°F, so I think we have plenty of time to get it finished.

I found this little video which explains a lot...



I've told Austin to hide the black-light for a while else the dragons will be driving me nuts playing with it and wanting endless explanations and I have too much other stuff to catch up on first.  I bet Roxa will love it though...

It's AI but's very nice and gentle to listen to and has an incredible amount of information in it.

The video aspect is pretty crappy, but if you have a way to set your device so it just plays the audio it's well worth a listen.

Explore the strange and hidden world of fungi, from microscopic hyphae and enormous mycelial networks to the underground partnerships connecting fungi and plants.

This relaxing deep dive looks at how fungi recycle nutrients, support forests, move carbon through ecosystems, help create foods through fermentation, and gave us medicines like penicillin. We also explore fungal diseases, antifungal resistance, mycelium-based materials, environmental cleanup, and what these ancient networks can teach us about life beneath our feet.

It might be useful for home-school projects too, but some of the content might not be ideal for pre-teens.

In January we had some torrential rain, and a power cut.

When the rain stopped I went outside and there was a rainbow framing my son's house.

When I was a kid I had a friend who my parents highly disapproved of.

In fact, most people disapproved of him. He was foreign for a start. And a bit of a rebel, to put it mildly. He was always playing with matches and attempting to blow things up.

I lost track of him after the age of about eleven and we recently managed to find each other again via facebook.  I was exceedingly nervous asking how his life had been. I needn't have worried. He's the absolute epitome of the problem becoming the solution and he's recently retired from a highly successful career in bomb disposal. And, you guessed it, a lot of that disposal involved gathering all the bombs together and blowing them all up at once!

He wrote a book about it too - The Trash Men of War

There are a growing number of stores that let you bring your own container to fill with whatever goods they are selling. They often accept clean containers to be reused for this purpose. It's a great alternative to recycling glass. This is a list of zero-waste stores:

Europe

Glendale Shop and Post Office: 2, Lephin, Glendale, Isle of Skye, United Kingdom - Glendale Shop

The Selkie Collective, Shore road, Broadford, Isle of Skye, United Kingdom - Selkie Collective

Zilch Zero Waste in Kent, UK
https://www.zilchzerowaste.com/

Soap Village (Aldeia Sabão): Largo dos Caminheiros da Gardunha 21, Fundão, Portugal - Aldeia Sabão


USA

Kindred Vancouver: 2213 Main Street, Vancouver, Washington. - Kindred website

The Realm Refillery: 2310 NE Broadway Portland, Oregon. - Realm website

Mama and Hapa's Milwaukie: 11122 SE Main Street, Milwaukie, Oregon - Mama and Hapa's

Mama and Hapa's Stark Street: 1389 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon - Mama and Hapa's

Mama and Hapa's Mississippi Avenue: 3806 N. Mississippi Avenue, Portland, Oregon - Mama and Hapa's

Mama and Hapa's Beaverton: 12695 SW Crescent Street Suite 130, Beaverton, Oregon - Mama and Hapa's

The Good Food Store: 1600 S. 3rd St. West Missoula, MT. - Good Food Website

Ren Market: 1918 West Superior Street, Duluth, Minnesota - Ren Market

In Grand Junction, Colorado, a store that sells various household commodities.  You fill your own container.  They have empty donated containers available.  Vinegar, personal care substances, cleaning compounds.  Priced by weight.

There are many other zero-waste stores in the world. Feel free to edit this post to add any that you know of!