Sustainability

Any general items, polls
aussieant32
Posts: 369
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:48 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Sustainability

Post by aussieant32 »

I would love bees, however, its a communal garden where people exercise, eat lunch etc. Owners of the complex wouldn't allow it.

Ont thing I did think of is preserving some meat, plenty of space to build a little shed etc.

I also have access to 3 large rooftops, however, its a bit limited as to what I can get away with
Coolabah Gas Smoker, Weber One Touch, Dragon Kamado
gnol
Posts: 1142
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:33 pm
Location: Werribee

Re: Sustainability

Post by gnol »

Put hives on the rooftops if you can. People won't even notice they are there.
They do that in Melbourne city. Never seen a bee in the city.

http://www.rooftophoney.com.au/
aussieant32
Posts: 369
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:48 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Sustainability

Post by aussieant32 »

I could always ask. Needs owners permission but you never know.

They will likely say no though as they won't see me tending to a bee hive as working productively :P
Coolabah Gas Smoker, Weber One Touch, Dragon Kamado
gnol
Posts: 1142
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:33 pm
Location: Werribee

Re: Sustainability

Post by gnol »

aussieant32 wrote:I could always ask. Needs owners permission but you never know.

They will likely say no though as they won't see me tending to a bee hive as working productively :P
If you have access on the weekends and after hours it may work.
They are rather low maintenance.

Give the owners some honey.
aussieant32
Posts: 369
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:48 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Sustainability

Post by aussieant32 »

its owned by one of the biggest property companies in the world, they wont care about my honey :P

I have 24/7 access, explaining to a multi-billion dollar company I want to keep bees on the roof,however, isn't as straight forward as you might think..

If its going on the roof it either needs to be able to be fully enclosed, or go indoors
Coolabah Gas Smoker, Weber One Touch, Dragon Kamado
niko123456
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:20 pm

Re: Sustainability

Post by niko123456 »

Another topic I'm keen on is imported charcoal vs sustainably managed local product.

In theory charcoal is carbon neutral. You cut down a tree, you burn what would have decayed, you grow a new tree etc.. but you don't want to be skipping the growing a new tree bit.

Which is why I'd love it if there was enough demand in Australia for a properly managed product.
aussieant32
Posts: 369
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 2:48 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Sustainability

Post by aussieant32 »

without knowing the answer, I buy Australian regardless. I am fortunate to not be far away from a decent bbq store that clearly indicates country of origin of their charcoal
Coolabah Gas Smoker, Weber One Touch, Dragon Kamado
alimac23

Re: Sustainability

Post by alimac23 »

Have any of you guys seen the new Flow Hive design?

You dont have to take the bee hive apart to harvest the honey, really cool design that's got the bee keeping world talking, literally honey on tap straight from the hive!
gnol
Posts: 1142
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:33 pm
Location: Werribee

Re: Sustainability

Post by gnol »

alimac23 wrote:Have any of you guys seen the new Flow Hive design?

You dont have to take the bee hive apart to harvest the honey, really cool design that's got the bee keeping world talking, literally honey on tap straight from the hive!
Yes. Couldn't miss it. Really good idea and will hopefully open up bee keeping to a lot more people.
Gumb

Re: Sustainability

Post by Gumb »

I may be wrong but hasn't the population of bees been disrupted by those bloody European wasps. They kill bees I think.
urbangriller
Posts: 9453
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Sustainability

Post by urbangriller »

Agricultural pesticides and fungicides are the biggest cause of Colony Collapse Disorder...but yes, the worlds bees are in trouble and that is trouble for food production.
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
gnol
Posts: 1142
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:33 pm
Location: Werribee

Re: Sustainability

Post by gnol »

urbangriller wrote:Agricultural pesticides and fungicides are the biggest cause of Colony Collapse Disorder...but yes, the worlds bees are in trouble and that is trouble for food production.
As long as we have cows and sheep we'll be right. :| :| :|
urbangriller
Posts: 9453
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Sustainability

Post by urbangriller »

gnol wrote:
urbangriller wrote:Agricultural pesticides and fungicides are the biggest cause of Colony Collapse Disorder...but yes, the worlds bees are in trouble and that is trouble for food production.
As long as we have cows and sheep we'll be right. :| :| :|
If we can find Cattle and Sheep who don't need to eat. :cry:
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
Narmnaleg
Posts: 1323
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:45 pm
Location: Sydney, NSW, AU

Re: Sustainability

Post by Narmnaleg »

urbangriller wrote:If we can find Cattle and Sheep who don't need to eat.
Invest in goats. They'll eat anything....

Seriously though, this is why I try and not spray any of my vegie gardens. It does however become a battle between me and caterpillars, which I often lose.

I hope it makes you feel better to know that this summer I saw more bees than I've ever seen before. They "moved in" to my nextdoor neighbour's bathroom through the window. There were thousands of them... Apparently pretty common.

Image
flyonline
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:58 pm

Re: Sustainability

Post by flyonline »

Seriously consider a de-hydrator. I got an exalibur a year or so ago and use it all the time, but especially over summer/autumn for de-hydrating fruit in particular. I'm lucky enough to have a big orchard of mature fruit trees so I can pick and choose. It's dead simple, slice, dunk in a citric acid/water or lemon juice/water bath for 5 min, then dry. I don't use sugar, but have tried a honey/water bath which was nice, but I don't need any extra sugar so I skip it now. Put into a vac-bag they last ages and I simply take a full bag to work and grab a handful for smoko every day. Peaches are the best, but any stone or pome (apples, pears etc.) will do as will berries and other fruit, kale chips, bananas etc.

I used to make a lot of fruit leather, but I figure that it takes a lot more energy (both from me and electricity/gas) to make plus I really like being able to take a bag of stuff and pick off as I want. We've got a chest freezer, so I've taken to freezing whole berries and puree for use 'ron :wink: If you don't have access to growing fruit, then buy in bulk when they're on sale and in season.

Plus, you can start your yeast in them or raise your bread if it's cold, make yoghurt, jerky/bilton etc.
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