Category Archives: Eco Thrifty Renovation

crafting, Eco Thrifty Life, Eco Thrifty Renovation, reuse, wanganui

Value in all things Vintage

Leave a comment

After looking at last week’s column, I must hand it to the Chronicle editors for their mastery of the pun when writing captions for photographs. I thought I was good at word play, but I can’t handle a candle (you see there, that’s alliteration) when compared to the punsters in their new offices at the corner of Guyton and St. Hill streets. I doff my cap-tion to you, sirs and madams of our local press.
But in the world of puns, allusions, and similes, in the words of David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel (This Is Spinal Tap, 1984); “It’s a fine line between stupid and, uh…”
“Clever.”
While this week’s column addresses many things vintage, it seeks to do so only with respect.
Among the many values we hold dear to eco-thrifty renovating and living is seeing potential value in building materials no matter their age or surface appearance. We have found time and again, that below the rough surface of many a piece of 100 year-old native timber beats a heart of rock-solid, tight-grained integrity.
We have re-used beautiful, durable native timbers in many ways throughout our renovation. One of the latest examples – and last touches to our nearly finished home – is the threshold at the front door. Regular readers will recall I recently made reference to the fact that on day one (also on day 1,000) we had a gaping hole beneath our front door where one would expect to see a sloped sill, or some such piece of timber.
No Joke: No Hearth
But no – just a hole that remained until I got to item number 1,478 on my list of things that needed to be done to the villa. In April of this year, I tracked down one of the original windowsills that we had removed and tucked safely away in October, 2010. As plainly seen in the first photograph, its surface was worn and weathered from 100 years of Whanganui storms, showers and sun.
Old window sill
But beauty is only skin deep, and integrity comes from the heart, whether it is heart rimu, or another dense, native hardwood. After 100 years exposed to the elements, the sill had not a single borer hole of speck of rot. I cut it to length, and ripped it to width, nearly burning out the motor of my saw.
Hard-as timber
In houses and in human beings, there are those that look nice on the surface and those with integrity underneath. Some may have both, some may have neither, and some may have one or the other. Personally, I’d rather surround myself with walls and with people of integrity no matter how they look.
About two hours later
As a culture, we often disregard what is old, dated or worn. Often times our seniors feel the brunt of this ‘youth bias’ and may feel neglected, unwanted or of little value except when holidays come around and they find themselves surrounded by family for a brief period of time.
Eco-thrifty Christmas tree
But for those seniors who may not have family nearby or even in the country, the holidays may be especially lonely or depressing. With this in mind, we would like to invite any seniors who may find themselves alone this Christmas Day to an afternoon tea at 10 Arawa Place, Castlecliff, from 2 pm to 4 pm.
Fully decorated
We will have a platter of biscuits and a bubba that enjoys cuddles. We’ll have a grand, old time – no pun intended.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Successional Planting Maximizes Vegetable Production

Leave a comment

When I was a young teacher looking for ways to engage my students in science learning, I came across a lesson called, “Nothing Succeeds Like Succession.” It covered the topic of ecological succession (ie, from pasture to gorse to regenerated native forest). To be honest I have absolutely no memory of the lesson itself, but for some reason my neurons have retained that catchy phrase for over two decades.
Near our home in Castlecliff, ecological succession is getting a leg up on the dunes from Coast Care, whose efforts essentially speed up the process by removing non-native species and planting native seedlings with water-retaining organic matter (rather than into pure sand). 
A similar process is occurring in our back garden, although we call it successional planting. Yes, we remove non-natives (aka weeds) and add copious amounts of compost to each seedling we plant, but we do it not to reach a climax forest ecosystem, but to maximize the amount of food growing in limited space.

Our first ripe tomato: 11th December

This style of vege garden management is sometimes called bio-intensive, and it fits well with our eco-thrifty philosophy. Growing more food in less space is thrifty because you don’t need to own lots of land. For us it’s also eco because our intensive plantings thrive due to the use of rich, healthy, organic compost rather than commercial chemical fertilizers.

Garlic Day 1

Garlic Day 150
Our vege gardens consist of 8 cm of topsoil on top of 8,000 cm of sand – not necessarily a formula for success. But the strategic and generous use of high quality compost has allowed us to grow onions over a kilogram, broccoli over three kilograms, and one cauliflower over four kilograms. And, for those who remember from last December, The World’s Best Garlic.

In a vege garden, successional planting can take many forms. It’s simplest application takes the form of planting a seedling for every mature plant harvested – a little like a radiata pine plantation. I use this technique sometimes, but I’m more likely to plant seedlings two to three weeks before harvesting mature plants. No, it’s not magic, but the results sure seem like it.
This form of successional planting may also be called inter-planting. It speeds up succession by giving the seedlings a two to three week head start while the maturing crop is still in the ground. For example, I have tomato seedlings between rows of onions that are about to come out. By getting the tomatoes into the ground early, they will be fruiting earlier, and when they are short there is no chance they will shade out the onions.
Another example of successional planting involves running veges such as pumpkins. I like to plant them in the corners of my gardens so that their vines can run along the garden edges, up fences, and in some cases onto the neighbour’s section. As I was harvesting broad beans recently, I started in one extreme corner of our vege gardens and immediately put in three pumpkins in a mound of compost. As I harvested the approximately 40 litres of broad beans over the following week, the pumpkins were establishing themselves and beginning to spread.

Broad beans coming out and pumpkins going in. 
Using techniques such as successional planting in our vege gardens and layering among our perennial fruiting trees, shrubs and vines, I reckon we will be supplying half of our food come January from about half of our 700 square metre section. As they say, “Nothing succeeds like succession.”
Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Why is our Council so backward?

Leave a comment

Over the last three years I have searched and searched for one single elected Councillor or Council employee who has an understanding of or commitment to sustainability. I have sought to engage those who on the surface would appear to be likely candidates (no pun intended). I have sent emails. I have left handwritten notes. I have attended meetings of up to 20 community members and asked the question: “Is there a single person associated with Wanganui District Council that I can meet with about sustainability issues?”

After all of this time I’ve never had a single name come my way, unless “Useless” is someone’s name and I didn’t catch on to it at the time. “Useless” came up often, but never a Tom, Dick, or Harriet.

This would appear to be the case because from what I have observed over 36 months is that more often than not our Council works against sustainability. Just when I thought the pinnacle of idiocy had been reached, it is surpassed again and again. How can they be so backward?

The latest example comes from yesterday when I walked out to collect driftwood on our oversized beach to find my rates paying to bulldoze sand into the Tasman Sea. During my photo shoot (see below) the dozer driver came over with an angry look on his face. I greeted him with a handshake and a smile. We were having a nice conversation when the excavator driver walked over to see what we were on about. He joined in our pleasant conversation. They were just nice guys being paid to do a stupid job.

I told them I’d get out of their way, and walked home to scribble out the following Letter to the Editor:

I don’t want to Scrooge anyone’s Christmas, so I’ll keep this as jolly as possible. How comical is it that our rates are being used to plow sand into the sea? Tragically comic I’ll admit, but comic nonetheless.
I already know the responses from climate change deniers and Council rationalists. Yes, this has been done for X years at a cost of Y dollars. But I’m afraid that is no longer justification for the unsustainable combustion of carbon-based fuels and the unsustainable rates rises we’re all forced to pay. Can we please get an inkling of progressive thinking for a change?
The cost of living is forcing families to downsize. The cost of medical care has threatened to force our hospital to downsize. Changes in education funding have forced many Whanganui education providers to downsize. Why not downsize Castlecliff Beach? Let’s focus on quality rather than quantity. In the long run it would both save money and cut pollution.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Cultivating Creativity in Children

Leave a comment

After a 35 year hiatus, I am back to playing with children’s toys. Actually, not so much playing with them as tripping over them, putting them away, putting them away, putting them away, and, thinking about ways to engage my daughter, Verti, in creative play.
Fairies Treehouse

Around the time Verti was born, I heard an interview with Harvard Lecturer Tony Wagner about his new book, Creating Innovators: The making of Young People Who Will Change the World. Not only is the book’s title intriguing, but the interview was excellent, and I retained a few bits of wisdom in the back of my head otherwise full of the NZ Building Code and the Discussion chapter of my thesis.
Over a year later, I find myself less concerned about the next visit from our building inspector and the critical eyes of my thesis readers, and more concerned about cultivating the conditions for creating an innovator. Racking my brain for the title of the book from the interview, I typed as much as I could remember into Google: Harvard, innovation, creative play.

Homemade fairies
The search carried me instantaneously to Wagner’s website, where I found this inspiring passage: “Wagner identifies a pattern—a childhood of creative play leads to deep-seated interests, which in adolescence and adulthood blossom into a deeper purpose for career and life goals. Play, passion, and purpose: these are the forces that drive young innovators.” www.tonywagner.com
I’m sure that many parents can relate to this idealistic passage, but may feel challenged about aiding a child to such a destiny. We are all busy, and at times the easiest thing to do is to set children in front of a ‘busy screen’: TV, DVD player, computer, smart phone, video game, etc.
Verti eating strawberries in her waka
While this may be good for mum and dad in the moment, it runs contrary to Wagner’s – and many others’ – message. During ‘screen time’ most of the creativity comes from sources outside of the child’s brain. It’s more-or-less passive engagement rather than active engagement.
As a new parent, educator, designer, and one who is fully aware of the massive challenges facing humanity in the decades to come, I consider it my greatest obligation to try to create conditions that will encourage and assist the development of play, passion, and purpose in my daughter.
Driftwood seesaw.
But you know what they say about leading a horse to water. Personally, I am more about the if-you-build-it-they-will-come philosophy. Put another way, if I create the conditions for Verti to engage in creative play (‘nurture’), it will lead to the greatest probability that she’ll actually do it. That is the best and only thing I can do. The rest is up to her (‘nature’).
Story stones
Of course Wagner was not the first or even second person to come up with this idea. A little more Googling brought me to the Wikipedia page for an American company called Creative Playthings founded in 1949. According to the page: “Play has a basic role in the drama of a child’s development. It is a serious business for the child, his true means of learning and growing…Every child should have a wide variety of play materials to evoke in him a spirit of inquiry; to develop physical manipulation to the fullest; to stimulate creative expression.”
Story stones make me smile!
Aside from the dated male-based language, the philosophy is the same. Our eco-thrifty approach to ‘creative playthings’ includes: two driftwood play houses; a driftwood waka; a driftwood seesaw; two driftwood fairy houses; story stones; and, of course, all the pots and pans Verti can get her hands on!

Story stones are good for sharing.
Sidebar:
2014 Permaculture Principles Calendar with Moon Planting Guide. Available for each $20 donation to The ECO School. Available from these supporters:
• Community Education Service (CES), Taupo Quay
• Delicious Café and Wine Bar, 132 Victoria Avenue
• Riverside Osteopathy, 15 Pitt Street
• Whanganui Environment Base @ Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre, Maria Place

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Early Summer Update

Leave a comment

Here are some recent shots of our permaculture property. The main design strategies we’ve embraced are integrating fruiting perennials, native perennials, and annuals amongst one another – and using fowl to mow and fertilize what is left as grass.

Raspberries, apples and grapes. 

Lawn mowers.

Muscovies.

Community garden.

Kale, strawberries, pumpkin, guavas, apples, grapes and grapefruit.

Kale, strawberries, pumpkin, guavas, apples, grapes and grapefruit.

Pink strawberry blossom. 

Yum.

Transitioning from winter to summer gardens.

Garlic nearly ready to harvest. 

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Thanking our Partners for Three Great Years

1 Comment

With American Thanksgiving this week, it seems appropriate for a couple of ex-pats to give thanks to all of our partners and supporters in Whanganui. We came here three years ago with next to nothing to a villa with no power, no water, no hot water cylinder, hardly any wiring, a handful of broken windows, and thousands a tiny holes in the roof. Oh, one other thing, we were newly-weds, and there literally was no threshold at the front door.
No threshold at our front door.
Note to readers: Think twice before undertaking a major renovation two months into marriage.
But that was then and this is now. Now we have, in no particular order: one of the most sustainable suburban properties in the country; a section full of healthy, organic kai; a power bill that averages under $30 per month; an active, healthy toddler; and one of the best grass roots, community-based, sustainability education programmes in the ‘Western World’ (ie, OECD nations).
While the first four items on the list we did more-or-less ourselves (using qualified trades people where required), the last was only accomplished through partnering with dozens of individuals, community groups, and businesses across this awesome city. Aside from the core work on our villa, nearly every other project we have successfully engaged with in Whanganui has been the result of partnership. We appreciate all of our partners, and hope to continue our work together. There are too many to mention without forgetting a few, so best just to say, “Thanks to all. Chur! Chur!”
Community Garden @ Day One
Together we have: attracted respected international thinkers and writers to Whanganui; offered over 50 free and donation sustainability programmes; run 20 below-cost workshops offering expert advice on eco-thrifty renovation and organic food production; visited 10 local and rural schools; delivered close to 80 free home energy audits; answered dozens of telephone inquiries on energy efficiency; and, developed a community garden on our ‘front lawn.’
Solar Sausage Sizzle
Some say, “success breeds success,” and we have certainly witnessed that, going from strength to strength as more River City residents see the logic of eco-thrifty design thinking. Granted, it’s hard to argue against creating win-win-win situations that save money, help people, and protect the environment, but it is shocking how many people and organizations try! What is that about old dogs?
Note to readers: If you are a climate change denier, please don’t ring me to argue your point. I am far too polite to hang up on you, and far too busy to listen to your conspiracy theories.
Interestingly, a completely unexpected form of thanks that has come my way lately appears to be associated with some opinion pieces I wrote for the Chronicle: one connecting the WDC rates structure, widening wealth inequality; and social problems; one on the futility to shifting sand around Castlecliff Beach when it all blew back into place in a fortnight; and, one on the comic tragedy of wasting approximately $200 of ratepayers’ money per year running outdoor lighting during daylight hours in front of Central Library.
Since the first piece ran in October, I’ve been asked by complete strangers to: a) run for mayor; b) run for Parliament. (Previously, I had only been asked to stand for Council.) I reckon that is about as fine a “thank you” one can get from a stranger.
But with no elections on the near horizon, what’s a poor boy to do? I reckon I’ll continue to build local partnerships, help those in need save power and money, tend the community garden in front of our home, change nappies, walk on the beach with bubba, surf as much as practicable, and grow the world’s best garlic.
Community Garden @ Day 500
And what can you do? Come visit us at the River Traders Market on 7th December for free advice on healthy homes and healthy food.
Also make a $20 donation to The ECO School and receive a free 2014 Permaculture Principles Calendar. Available at these locations:
• Whanganui Environment Base @ Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre, Maria Place
• Community Education Service (CES), Taupo Quay
• Delicious Café and Wine Bar, 132 Victoria Avenue
• Riverside Osteopathy, 15 Pitt Street
 
Happy Mo-vember, Estwing
 
 

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Local Newspapers Still Relevant to Democracy

Leave a comment

Democracy is not a spectator sport. It is participatory. At best it is a contact sport, but unlike rugby or gridiron, the contact is done through communication not bone-jarring hits. In my experience, however, our local government appears lacking in its willingness or ability to communicate.
As a researcher, I seek to draw conclusions based on data and observations. Expressed in research-geek language, the data from my personal experience over the lat three years suggests that there is roughly a 40% probability that council staff will respond to a phone call, email or hand-written note, and about a 25% probability that an elected official will do so. Please note this data is based on a small sample size, and should be considered indicative only.
Some council staff have been excellent in their communications with me, and one Councilor has scored 100% (1 out of 1 email). As I have written many times in my regular column, I have a high regard for Building Control, but I do not necessarily consider them WDC employees for two reasons: 1) we pay them extra to do their jobs (ie, It does not come from rates.); 2) my understanding is that they answer to central government, not local government. As such, I did not include them in my informal research above. Chur, boys.
One thing research-geeks do is discuss their findings. A discussion is an attempt to identify relationships in one’s findings to those of others through a literature review. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not complete a thorough or even partial literature review on this topic. But I have mentioned the tendency toward non-communication with some friends, who have suggested that a great strategy for those in positions of power is simply to ignore those who appear to lack power.
Using my case as an example, the response may go something like this: “Who is this nobody? An unemployed, pesky Yank trying to complicate my day by offering positive suggestions and constructive feedback. Bugger that. If I ignore him he’ll just go away.” Fair enough.
That strategy probably works most of the time because many people are busy and don’t have the time, inclination, or patience to follow-up on what may seem like a lost cause. Fair enough. We are all busy, and life does get in the way. Unfortunately, this reality is exploited by the ‘powers-that-be’ across the planet, often to favour powerful interests rather than the people. Nothing kills democracy like non-participation.
This is why an independent press is critical to vibrant democracy. A free press gives voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless. Any tiny influence I may ever have on our fair city – like turning off outdoor lighting during sunny days – has come through the Whanganui Chronicle. That said, I am not a supporter of the Chronicle for the Chronicle’s sake, but for the sake of democracy.
Please note that I’m fully willing to hold the Chronicle to account, although my wife was the one who has done so most recently. Also note that I have never been paid for my contributions to the paper. Approximately 90 pieces of writing and close to 400 photographs representing over to 300 hours of work have earned me one flat white from previous editor, Ross Pringle, although current editor, Mark Dawson, has promised me another coffee before the end of the year.
This is what democracy looks like, and anyone can do it. From my perspective, the Chronicleremains an extremely relevant entity in our community, and I encourage everyone on every side of every issue to write carefully constructed, well-supported arguments to support their point of view. If your case is strong enough, those in positions of power will no longer ignore you. (Although after all of my constructive feedback to Council, I suspect they’ll do their best to ignore me until I join them at the Council Table.)
One final example: After three years of inaction on the lights outside the Central Library, it only took three days for WDC to get in an electrician on the job after my opinion piece ran last week. The moral of this story appears to be: If you want something done in this town, do it through the press. Get writing you lot!
Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation

Permaculture Explained by Examples

Leave a comment

Permaculture, an eco-design system developed during the 1970s, is sometimes known for the paradoxical statements of its founders, such as “Lazy gardening,” or “The problem is the solution.” To the uninitiated, these types of statements may only add confusion to an already enigmatic word: permaculture.
Lazy Gardening

Personally, I have come to define permaculture this way: an eco-design system that seeks to recognize and maximize beneficial relationships while minimizing or eliminating harmful relationships. In this column, I’ll provide some examples that illustrate this definition, as well as one that demystifies the paradoxes above.
The results of Lazy Gardening
In an agricultural/horticultural application, maximizing beneficial relationships can include: companion planting; attracting beneficial insects; integrating animals such as ducks (snail and slug control), chickens (grass and insect control), and in larger systems sheep or small cows (periodic grazing between rows in an orchard or vineyard).
Our muscovies are snail vacuums. 
A home can be designed – or in our case re-designed – for its relationship to the sun. For example, we added glazing to the northeast and northwest sides of our villa to increase the amount of free warmth provided by winter sun, while removing windows from the southeast and southwest sides to reduce heat loss. Additionally, by removing the southwest window, we limited the overheating of our home during the summer caused by late afternoon sun.
From an organizational perspective, our tiny non-profit – The ECO School – seeks out mutually beneficial relationships with businesses, organizations and individuals that share our kaupapa of healthy homes, healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet. For example, we have excellent working relationships with the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Community Education Service, Central2Health, TreeLife NZ, the New Zealand Maters Games, YMCA Central, and the Wanganui Chronicle, Midweek, and River City Press, among others. On the other hand, despite our best efforts, we have failed to develop relationships with other organizations with whom we thought we could work successfully. And in the rare case, we have cut off relations with those entities with whom we felt we were only giving and not receiving.
And now to address the paradoxes of lazy gardening and problems as solutions.
Like many residents of our fair city, we have an abundance of kikuyu and couch grass on our section. These grasses, among others I cannot identify, compete with our shallow rooted fruit trees for nutrients and water, and encroach into our garden beds. The eco-thrifty ‘solution’ to these ‘problems’ that I have adopted involves a firm grip and a stack of newspapers.
Freshly mulched area.
When I find an area needing attention, I simply pull out as much grass as I can comfortably handle, lay down the newspaper, and lay the grass back on top. The grass I have pulled acts as a mulch that keeps the newspaper from blowing away while blocking sunlight to the shoots that emerge from the roots below. The ‘problem’ grass has become a ‘solution’ mulch, and I have not had to move my body any more than a simple twisting motion while kneeling. I have not had to go to the shop to buy a bale of straw, nor have I had to involve a wheelbarrow. Problem sorted, with plenty of time to go for a surf.
Interested in learning more about this type of eco-design thinking? Check out the upcoming events.
24th November, 3-4 pm: Food Forests. Diverse, productive, low-maintenance ‘ecosystems’ of edible trees, vines, bushes and fowl. Donation.
1st December, 1-4 pm. Permaculture Design for a Suburban Section. How to design and install a low-maintenance/high-productivity food system by working with nature, not against it. Sliding scale, $25 – $45.
8th December, 1-4 pm. Driftwood Structures for Gardens and Landscaping. View a wide variety of ways we’ve used driftwood as a beautiful, durable, free building element. Learn how to make some of these items. Tools and galvanized nails provided. Sliding scale, $25 – $45. 

Eco Thrifty Renovation

A Few More Potential Photos

Leave a comment

Here are a few more potential shots for Permaculture magazine.

The draft article has a section on encouraging creative, independent play. Here is Verti in her play waka, next to a patch of her favorite food: strawberries. She is making her sign for “more”, and pointing to what she wants more of.

 
“More please.”
“That’s what I want.”

“Chur, bro.”

Also, here is a before and after shot of a garlic bed.

July, 2013: Cheerful observer.
November, 2013: Eager helper.

Peace, Estwing