Beechworth Urban Landcare and Sustainability

By Charlie Robinson

I’m tiring of the word “sustainability”.  It must be one of the most over-used words in our lexicon and every politician and company executive must be on a mission to include this word in at least every second sentence or press release.

I watch “lifestyle” shows that describe the construction of so-called sustainable homes where the owners have gone into crippling bank debt, family borrowings and maxed-out credit cards to pay for it.  Sustainable? Hardly. Sustainability should include financial factors as well as other impacts when describing an entity, whether it be a building or a way of life.

When accepting two recent awards on behalf of Beechworth Sustainability, I mentioned that even our title is purely aspirational and bears no resemblance to the lifestyles of its members or those who we seek to motivate and inspire. All of us waste too much water, use too much power, and drive cars as if our oil supplies were as abundant  as our coal reserves.  On the other hand, we do very little to store and conserve our water, few of us grow our own fruit and vegetables, and we are only just beginning to realise the benefits of solar and other alternative energies.

Since my article on food shortages in our region (June 2009), the big dry has claimed the bulk of this year’s wheat and canola crops in western Victoria and NSW (for some farmers, the tenth consecutive failure), and the Victorian dairy industry is on the brink of collapse following poor rainfalls and crippling commodity prices.  A local politician recently speculated that we may soon be importing our whole milk from New Zealand.

Australia’s population rises by around 500,000 people a year, Melbourne has 1700 new residents per week and our politicians talk about sustainable growth when water and food supplies, globally and locally, are declining (in some instances, rapidly).  While Kenya, where 4 million people are on the verge of starvation and their local politicians are in denial (sound familiar?),  may be the canary in the coal mine of the impending global food catastrophe, I see no affirmative action to support Australian farmers and to encourage greater agricultural innovation.  On the contrary, the ACC C seems to favour  the dumping of excess foreign production into Australia, at the expense of local producers, while investment into agricultural research is declining.

Where is the investment in renewable energy?  ABC’s Four Corners program of 14 September revealed the futility of the government’s investment in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology and the very next day the largest solar power array in Australia went into receivership – what an unfortunate juxtaposition of events.  Sustainable energy?  Phooey!!

Despite the bleeding obvious evidence of our demise into potential chaos, I see very little corresponding evidence that people are “joining the dots” and taking the hard decisions necessary for their future survival. I continue to see overseas holidays, new cars, and plasma TVs taking precedence over water tanks, solar power systems, and fruit and vegetable gardens.  The only ray of hope I’ve witnessed lately is the news that chickens have doubled in price on the back of increased demand for backyard chook runs, even in Melbourne.  And Yates announced a few months ago that the sale of their vegetable seeds had risen 35% – pity they’re now owned by Monsanto!

If you’re taking the high moral ground because you’ve converted to low wattage light bulbs or low flow shower heads, you may be smoking hemp rather than wearing it – the changes we are all required to make to survive will need real sacrifice (even foregoing the third car) and commitment.  This means setting financial priorities which may require keeping the old banger for one more year and buying a water tank instead, or (heaven forbid) delaying the holiday in Acapulco and using the savings to purchase a solar hot water system.  It amazes me that people will incur debts of $30,000 or more to buy the latest Commodore but flinch at purchasing a grid-connect PV system because the Government rebate has reduced.

Finances are hardly an issue with growing your own food – next month our group will be conducting its annual seed swapping day. Keep an eye on our calendar for more details.  Our tomato seedlings are doing well and should be ready to plant outside once the danger of frosts has passed.  These seeds were saved from last year’s plantings of heritage tomatoes and we can continue this practise in perpetuity.  You can do the same with peas, beans, capsicums, carrots, brassicas and corn.  Once you can grow your own food, and swap seeds with your friends and neighbours, you are well on the way to real sustainability.

By Charlie Robinson

For Fay and I, becoming as self-sufficient as possible has always been our objective.  In terms of growing our own vegetables we have fed ourselves for the majority of each year for the last twenty years.

We’ve always kept chickens and managed to supply ourselves, and our friends and neighbours, with fresh eggs for a similar period. However, we have consistently baulked at the thought of killing anything to provide a sustainable supply of animal protein.  We have preferred to let “someone else” process our meat for us. All of our previous chickens, even the roosters, have died of old age well after their productive lives were over.  We even kept a sheep that lived for about fifteen years.

The knowledge and skills associated with meat processing were commonplace in my parent’s generation, but over the last forty or so years, the emergence of supermarkets has superseded these fundamental tools.

We can expect the world’s stocks of oil to diminish rapidly in the next decade and, with oil’s demise, the availability of many of the foods we take for granted from the supermarket shelves. Hence the need to revert to the knowledge of our ancestors.

Chickens are a wonderful resource for anyone – witnessing their daily routines, both singularly and collectively, is a source of great entertainment; six hens can provide enough eggs for most households from Spring until Autumn; they can dispose of most food waste; and they can clean up pests from around your orchard.

If you have a rooster, you will invariably get chickens – some of whom will also be roosters.  Too many roosters will fight amongst each other and molest the other hens continually.  A cull is required, in which you can transform a problem into a solution (free meat). I don’t think killing animals is a job for amateurs, so we called upon a chicken-breeding relative to provide us with the necessary expertise. Once having caught the condemned birds, each rooster was beheaded with a sharp tomahawk.  This task wasn’t as problematic as I anticipated but may be initially confronting to some people.

The carcasses were then immersed in hot water.  We had an eighteen litre cast iron pot for this purpose which we heated on the cast iron stove for about three hours.  This provided enough hot water to process five birds.  After immersion, the feathers were removed very easily and I was surprised that this task could be completed so quickly.

Removing the bird’s innards was challenging and you need a very sharp knife to make the necessary cuts and incisions. The birds feet were first severed by cutting at the knee joint. By careful slicing around the vent, the innards could be removed but it took longer than we thought and required a deal of physical effort – our trainers made it look easy so it’s really only a matter of practice and experience.  The feet were then cleaned and the outer skin and toenails removed.  Apparently chook’s feet are a delicacy and I’ll report back on our verdict.  The crop was then dissected, all the sand and little stones removed, and then peeled – the crop can be diced and used in soups and stews. Once everything was removed, the carcasses were thoroughly washed in cold water and stored in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then into the freezer.

The total time taken to process five birds was approximately one hour and will be much quicker with greater expertise.  The learning experience was highly significant for us in our quest for self-sufficiency and we will soon be turning our attentions to another likely food source, the rabbit.

Stay tuned!

by Charlie Robinson

I can’t honestly say I’ve ever been really hungry, let alone starving.  Sure, there have been times when circumstances meant that I missed a couple of meals and I had that gnawing feeling which precipitates lurid culinary fantasies. But not starving.

During the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad following Germany’s ill-fated invasion of Russia during World War Two, some parents ate their children, some children ate their parents, and many other people were killed and eaten by the starving citizenry. This demonstrates of the extremes people will sink to, in response to starvation.  A citizen of Sydney or Melbourne is only four days from starvation if our transport infrastructure fails and people will resort to extreme behaviour to stay alive – read the book, “Alive”, about the Andean plane crash of thirty years ago if you want some graphic imagery!

An old mate of mine was a German POW after the battle of Crete and he told me of surviving by living on cockroaches for extended periods. I take it from these examples that real starvation, and not simply skipping morning tea, is not a condition that I wish to experience.

But that may change.

Starvation caused from climate change is already happening in northern Africa and could be a global reality within a decade.

Think it couldn’t happen here? Don’t be so sure. Consider these current scenarios:

Penny Wong is inviting farmers in the Sunraysia region to sell their permanent water entitlements to the Federal Government.  For many farmers, battling increasing aridity and decreasing water allocations, this offer is too good to refuse.  However, part of the condition of sale is that farmers must pull out their existing crops (usually wine grapes, table grapes, or oranges) and the accompanying irrigation infrastructure, at their own expense.  So where will our food come from?

Last month, a number of Victorian peach growers were left to ponder their future following SPC-Ardmona’s decision to slash its annual canning peach intake by up to a quarter. Like their Sunraysia cousins, they too have suffered from The Big Dry, not to mention hail and frosts (which, in October 2006, caused millions of dollars damage).  Those growers affected by the cannery’s decision will have no option but to bulldoze their trees.  So where will our food come from?

In January this year, potato growers in the Casterton region predicted that extreme temperatures caused by climate change would render this historic potato-growing region unviable for future production.  So where will our food come from?

In 2001, Australia produced 1.2 million tonnes of rice, in 2008 a meagre 19,300 tonnes (the lowest yield since 1928), and this year 75,000 tonnes.  This has led to mill closures and job shedding by SunRice, the most recent cuts in March of 36 staff at the Leeton mill. So where will our food come from?

Around the globe, and particularly in the U.S., our insatiable need for fuel has spawned a massive growth in the production of corn, soy, and other cereals – all to create ethanol to feed our cars.  Land devoted to producing corn alone in the U.S. is the most since 1941. So where will our food come from?

In our global economy we may be able to rely on imports to temporarily compensate for our national underproduction but, since food production has not kept pace with world population growth since 2005, how long can we depend on this avenue for salvation? For instance, Cuba announced this week that it was seeking urgent food aid from Russia to arrest diminishing food stocks.

I remember the truck blockade of the Hume Highway near Picton in 1979.  Supplies of food to all supermarkets in the ACT and NSW dried up and within four days all shelves were empty.  Being reasonably self-sufficient, even then, I had no real personal concerns about running out of food, but I was curious as to what effect the blockade was having, so I visited the local Woolworths supermarket in Dickson, ACT.  I was greeted with a chaotic scene of women fighting over the last few loaves of bread and a panic gripped the shoppers – an image I will never forget and a constant reminder of the fragility of our food supply system.

Our dependency on oil is a huge concern in relation to food production.  Don’t be beguiled by the recent news of the availability of plug-in hybrid cars, they won’t solve our food supply issues.  Think about it – most of our food is produced using oil, whether it’s diesel for our farm machinery, production of pesticides and herbicides, chemical fertilisers, and then there’s the transportation of this food to storage and processing facilities and onto supermarkets where we drive our cars to shop.

A recent report by the UK Soil Association refers to the 2000 fuel protest that brought London to within three days of running out of food – the head of the Countryside Agency reported to Tony Blair that “the nation is just nine meals from anarchy”. August 2009 Earth Garden p9.

I can’t predict when the oil will run out, but it’s probably sooner than we realise, and I’m not prepared to play Russian roulette with the calendar.  The earlier we are prepared for the inevitability of food shortages, the better.  Each of us should be on the same footing as England was during World War Two when nearly every lawn, backyard, and empty space was devoted to the growing of food for the war effort.  Peak Oil and Climate Change will present even bigger challenges for us, and the rest of the world, than Hitler and the Luftwaffe did for England.

If you don’t know how to start, or what to do, I suggest you attend the numerous events being planned and conducted by Beechworth Sustainability over the next few months.  Anybody can afford to produce their own food and our last two harvests have cost virtually nothing as we have used seeds from the previous year’s crops or obtained from the annual seed swapping event. How easy is that?