Not Quite a Lifestyle Block

(Quick! While everthing seems to be working!)

If you’ve noticed my comment on the previous post then you’ll already know that we’re planning a move into land ownership! It’s still not set, but looking very, very positive.

It’s happened really fast too. My husband and I had pretty much abandoned all hope of owning our own home ever and that’s been a source of depression and stress for a long while. Now, if this goes ahead, we’ll be moving about 20 km north, onto a different train line and away from the friends I’ve slowly accumulated over the last two years (and I make friends slowly). I won’t be able to send my children to the school I’d set my heart on either - the school which many of their Playcentre friends are going to go to. I love the community here so much. But I’ve been aware for several months now that we cannot afford to buy anything here, and even renting a larger house (3 bedrooms) in this area is now out of our reach.

Moving away from my friends is sad but I’m still going to see them. And by moving north we’ll be within walking distance of my parents’ house. Which is a great bonus since most of our weekend driving is taking the boys to see their grandparents. That’s the first great thing about this house - it’s within walking distance to pretty much everything a young family needs: supermarkets, farmers’ market, library, pool, playground, train station (so we can still go into the city), Playcentre, primary schools and so on.

The second really great thing about this house is that it has a huge section which has previously been the site of some pretty serious gardening. It has several established fruit trees (an apple, two plums, a peach and a couple of lemons), kiwifruit growing wild, and overgrown vegetable beds needing just a little attention before I plant stuff. There’s even a bean frame just waiting for me! It’s also terraced which will provide two active children plenty of climbing challenges, there’s heaps of room to build huts and tree houses, and I could even fit some chickens in there (this is in the alternate universe where my husband will agree to livestock ;>).

So now I’m making big plans and lists in my head - what to plant, where to plant it, what tools I’ll need to buy (eventually! I’m planning on borrowing stuff for a while to see what I really need to have). However, the problem with being excited about gardening again is that I can’t resist the glossy magazines in the supermarket. Bugger. I came home today with another New Zealand Gardener and one I hadn’t seen before: New Zealand Lifestyle Block. Even though my husband has pointed out that although the new house has much bigger section compared to here, it’s nowhere near that size…

Edited to add: Of course, the next important question to resolve is: where do I put my herb spiral?

Do You Believe Me Now?

So Peak Oil is making the evening news in New Zealand now.

When petrol in New Zealand first crept over the $1 a litre mark my husband agreed that we’d get rid of the car when petrol hit $2 a litre. It looks like we’ll be doing it soon. I wonder if he remembers that he said that?

And, because I’m such a lazy blogger, here is another link to Casaubon’s Book. Sharon explains it much better than I can at this time of night.

Live Earth

BTW don’t miss Live Earth this weekend. It did lift my heart a little to see the saturation advertising on C4 this evening - both for the event itself and for lots of little carbon reducing actions like switching off the lights and recycling your paper.

On the other hand, I haven’t seen a single one of these little ads exhorting people to stop driving so bloody much!

A Kick Up The Bum

The end of my own post last night was a such cop-out. I knew it when I wrote it. I shouted at myself in my head: “you lazy cow. You don’t have time to sit on your arse! Get out there into the rain!”.

It’s not just about laziness. It’s about despair too. It’s just so bloody hard to keep working when it just seems hopeless.

And then, while I was sitting on my arse reading about other people’s efforts I read the following which reminded me of why it’s so very, very important to change my way of living (and then my family’s way of living, and my community’s way of living…):

“The only hope we have is the notion that the assumptions we make are merely assumptions - that we don’t actually have to live as we do right now. That we don’t have to extract food from the third world, while burning our own dinners in our cars. That we don’t have keep growing - in fact, we can’t. That we can’t reduce our usage by not 50%, but 90 or 95%.

As far as I can tell, there is no better plan than this. Build soil. Plant trees. Grow food. Make Do. Do Without. Give what you can to others. Fix your mistakes. Cut your emissions to the bone, and then cut them some more. And every time it hurts (and it will sometimes), close your eyes and imagine your nieces and nephews or your children or grandchildren or your friend’s beloved children grown to womanhood and manhood in a world where there is food and peace and water. And then imagine them without. And ask yourself “What else don’t I need so I can bring about a decent future.”

Otherwise, when we say we can’t do it, we’re choosing the next generation’s future. The places we love underwater. Wild creatures that live only in zoos. The deaths of more than a billion people from drought and famine - some of them people we love personally, and all of them people we should be capable of caring about.”

Quoted from Sharon at Casaubon’s book.

Tired and Sick

A slow week for us. The whole family has been brought low by colds and ‘flu and so we’ve had a long week inside. The house was small to start with and after seven days seems to have shrunk to the size of a caravan.

On the plus side, our driving has been greatly reduced this week as we haven’t gone anywhere bar a couple of trips to the supermarket and the library for more books and DVDs. I’m not going out into the rain to check the odometer on the car though.

On the minus side, our power consumption must have leapt up with the increase in DVD viewing. Most afternoons have been spent with the kids lying on the floor in front of the TV and the adults lying around trying to doze through the millionth veiwing of whatever the favourite Thomas episode is. I’m not going out in the rain to check the power meter either!

I’m still working out my baselines for the 90% Emissions Reduction Project. I know it’s very slack to be taking this long but I keep tripping over myself in my quest for exactness. That, and I keep distracting myself in the quest for information relevant to the New Zealand situation.

Oh, and it must be admitted that, once again, I’m spending far too much time reading about other people’s efforts rather than concentrating on my own.