Sustain Myself

The original concept I had for this site was a social network of likeminded people to share and chat about Sustainability in general. Unfortunately I ran out of time to develop the site and ended up just making it a blog.

I have recently discovered the service that Ning.com provides is very similar to what I had in mind for this site initially and have created myself a group on there for us sustainable folk to chat, post, share images and videos and generally natter about whats important to us.

I’d love it if you could join my group and contribute to the photos, videos, blog posts and anything else.

View my page on Sustain Myself

Well, my amazingly cool chook coup is now complete (bar a small addon that needs to be planned a bit more.

(No, the dog is not part of it)

I know she doesn’t look like much, but this is the greatest thing I have ever built. I’m not great with wood work, so I am extremely happy with the outcome.

This end opens to allow the chooks to roam free (which they will do during the day). The coup is also bottomless and I still need to add wheels to it at one end so I can wheel it from place to place.

The roof is slopped to one side to allow for easy water run off, which will soon be collected in a gutter and used to keep the chookies’ water container filled. This is the part that still needs planning, I haven’t worked out how to do it yet.

The nesting ‘box’ is actually just a long bedding piece to allow for the 2 chooks to have a bit more room and will be filled with hay. Its also removable for cleaning.

The whole coup uses stainless and galvanised metal bits to prevent rusting and the coup is also painted in a few coats of weather shield (by far the most expensive part at around $40).

It didn’t come in much cheaper than buying one, but I did it myself and I am seriously happy with the results.

If anybody is interested, I could draw up the plans in Google Sketchup and provide a list of the tools I used.

Next step: Find some chooks! (I can source some Isla Browns from

RentAChook, but if anybody else knows of where to get some other varieties in Sydney, I’d love to know!)

What you are looking at in this picture is a sub-week old Australian Yellow Leaf Lettuce. Planted on the 9th of February and left in last weeks rain (that was an error on my behalf but it doesn’t seem to have upset it).

This is one of two lettuce seedlings to have sprouted. Its so exciting. I want to eat it now, but I don’t think that’s too wise. Its in a seeding tray with another 3 lettuces, a Chilli and an Asparagus. In my eagerness to start growing my own food, I did not notice that the asparagus wont produce squat for over 2 years… Oh well.

I also have a little ‘Green House’ that I bought from bunnings with the same plants in it. I was seeing which one they preferred but it seems they like open air more.

Please take no notice of my labels. My daughter thought it’d be a hoot to draw all over them after I had finished writing them (I’m not even sure if they are in the right slots – that was her next trick).

Btw, the seedlings are sitting on my beautiful DIY, Luxury-spec chook coop which sports a Polyurethane roof and gutter (which fills the chooks’ water). When its finished and ready for a population, I’ll take some snaps and show you how I made it (cause, there will no doubt be people wanting to copy it).

I was reading a nice new blog that I found today (Green Change) and came across an interesting post.

This post describes the current ignorance-filled, idiotic water restrictions currently implemented for Sydney. A small excerpt from the site will give you a little indication of the level of sheer moronic thought that must have been excreted from the orifice of some Neanderthal recently revived and given this task…

Hosing residential building structures including windows, walls and gutters is allowed using a hose with a trigger nozzle or high-pressure water cleaning equipment (to a maximum of 10L/minute)

Ok, so we can hose down our houses, thats kinda cool. But…

Hand-held hosing of lawns and gardens and drip irrigation is allowed only on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10 am and after 4 pm

We are not allowed to water our gardens outside the specified 36hrs within the week…

As Darren (from Green Change) says;

Kids can run under sprinklers any time of the day, you can hose windows and walls any time, and you can wash your car at any time. You can also leave your hose running unattended to top up pools or fill containers, and you can even fill pools under 10,000 litres without a permit.

But try to hose your tomatoes any day other than the dictated Sundays and Wednesdays, and then only before 10 or after 4, and you’ll be fined $220.

As my wife said, obviously its more important to have clean cars and houses than it is for you to be able to grow your own vegies (or even use your lawn as a carbon capture! Heaven forbid…).

This insanity makes me sleepy.