My friend Cherise of Garden Diva fame in her seasonal newsletter alterted me to a great new site! www.Woblmarket.com is a new fatastic free site to help growers and local people together. Tim Lawrence of Mulchnet.com has come up with a fantastic idea aimed at reducing waste and connecting food and people together. I am always horrified when I see Californian Oranges for sale in our local supermarkets (yes make sure you look at the sign before you buy!) while local fruit rots on the ground.
Woblmarket is designed mainly for the suburban grower who has a laden fruit tree, excess eggs or simply an over-productive vegetable patch. Could this be you? Why let fruit rot on the tree when someone down the road may be happy to take it? Or maybe you fancy some excess produce yourself. Hobby farmers & fully commercial growers may also use the system. The site is still quite new and waiting for more growers to register, so please be patient if you can’t find something at first click and simply bookmark the site so you can come back later. I know myself I have watched as bags of my lovely oranges and lemons have gone mouldy – it’s such a pity and I’d rather give it away to people to enjoy than to see it rot. So next time I will log on to woblmarket and see if there are any locals wanting a lemon or two! Imagine if everyone did it there would be no basil going to seed, no rotting oranges on the ground and the rip off supermarkets will make less money!! Log on it’s new but worth visiting and re-visiting in the near future to see new community members loggin on and giving it a go.

Unbelievably I read the other day that only 20% of the eggs consumed in Australia are free range – frigging outrageous! Are the other 80% of people really so worried about a couple of bucks that they choose cage eggs to save money? Do they actually THINK at all about the poor chooks crammed in those uncomfortable wire boxes? There is a better way folks and it is worth every cent .. so just please have a think as you look at the options. Or even better still if you have a garden think about having your own chooks – I have Naomi and Claudia the supermodels who I love the death roaming in our garden in suburban Sydney. They eat all of the edible kitchen scraps (pretty much everything other than garlic and onion) eat garden pests, trim the lawn and fertilise the garden. two chooks provide plenty of eggs for our family. They lie down on the back doorstep and sunbake with the dog, and come when they are called. My children adore them. I’m happy to advise if you would like to consider having your own chooks and there are some great books out there too. The good karma will come back one day! Visit www.solutionliving.com.au for more good conscious choice alternatives for everyday living…

Jan 2 2009 It was a windy day and we walked from the corner of Tallows beach right up to where Tallows creek meets the sea. The sea was choppy and the wind was whipping around us as we leaned into the wind. I was in heaven, miles away from work and stress .. it started when I saw a clear plastic bag in the washed up seaweed (just the type of litter that kills the beautiful sea turtles we had seen from the lighthouse earlier that day)…. and went from there, a couple of bait packets (ironic that those who enjoy the fruits of the sea care so little for it), a plastic container lid, a condom(picked up with a stick), bottles from NYE celebrations, a straw, bits of broken balloon, a couple more plastic shopping bags .. I had quite a collection at the end of my walk and a huge sense of satisfaction in the fact that anyone else walking on that beach that day would not find a scrap of rubbish ….. Why am I telling you this? Hopefully it will inspire you to do the same one day – it’s so true one person can make a difference!