Oh, I am a silly sausge!

Great Walks Magazine.
Silly me picked up a second copy of the latest 'Great Walks' Mag thinking it was the 'Great Walks Annual' edition with out checking first (I blame the medication I'm on). So unless I make my eyes totally unfocused and try to read both at once, don't try this it really hurts, I going to offer it up to you.

For a free copy just pop you name in the comments and in a couple of days (like, when I get a round to it) I'll put all your names into a hat and draw out the lucky winner. Easy as falling off a log, even I could do it.

Cheers and good luck

Stewart

Here's something you might want to try.

 The accumulator.
In the latest edition of 'Organic Gardener' (OG) there is an excellent article espousing the virtues of comfrey. One of those virtues is the high level of potash and good levels of nitrogen and phosphate contained within their leaves.


They, OG,  also suggested to use the leaves in layers about 5 cm thick as a mulch so that while the leaves are wilting and breaking down, which happens quickly, the nutrients are leached into the soil and become available to the plant you have mulched.

Here is my tomato with the comfrey stuffed around it. I'm using it on my tomato because it needs a good regular supply of potash for fruit setting and with all our rain lately they have become a bit etiolated.




I went one step further than OG suggested and covered my comfrey with compost and then mulched with some aging straw.


I also mulched and composted right up to the stem of my tomato. I did this because tomatoes don't get collar rot because they have a very active advantageous root system which allows them to produce new roots from their stems and thereby increasing their ability to access available nutrients from the soil

Cheers and happy tomato cropping

Stewart

Rain

 About time I put something up on the old bloggie thing. Though there's not much to write about lately except for rain. A facebook friend in San Antonio, Texas has even heard about our rain on their news and asked me how I was getting on.

I'm just going to get the machete and see if I can cut a swath through the back yard to the rain gauge to see how much we've had here. I'll be back in 30 minutes or so but just in case you don't hear from me again, then, it's been fun........

......I made it back, I have returned triumphant from my travels to the rain gauge and as I suspected my 120ml rain gauge doth overflowerth. Just too much rain for my little gauge to handle.

338, that's our official total of ml's for the 28 days of December so far, at the airport. And although we are only 6 or 7 k's away from the airport we do receive more rain here than there.

It's amazing to me that only 12 months ago I was disillusioned with the veggie garden due to the ongoing drought and having to lug around watering can after watering can of water to keep the garden alive, and now I'm disillusioned because I can't get out and work on the garden due to the incredible amount of rain we are getting. Maybe with a little luck things will balance out after these extremes and I can settle into some productive veggie gardening.

While I've been talking about rain we haven't received any to-day and it's supposed to be fine tomorrow, and though I am working all day that doesn't matter because it will still be too wet to work in the veggie garden anyway. But if we can get all the planets to line up then on Thursday I should be able to get a few hours outside, so here's hoping for Thursday.

Cheers and beers

Stewart.

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating Christmas today. Wishing all your hopes and dreams come true for you. And if your driving anywhere then please do it with safety in mind.

And those of you who don't, have a great day anyhow.




Cheers and beers

Stewart.

Time for action

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. ~Benjamin Disraeli

I'm back

 I'm back, hope you missed me just a little.. You see my dear old computer just refused to start up for me about two weeks ago and it had to go into the PC Hospital. It seems after four years I'd managed to fill it with all sorts of junk that made it noncooperational.

Besides all that I managed to hurt my back which is fine again now, not that it really mattered because it has rained nearly every day for the last two and a half weeks (I lost count at 210mls and it's still raining) and on top of all that it's the silly season for taxi drivers and my boss has gone away and I've picked up extra hours in the cab as well. So all this means that there has been next to no veggie gardening or walking for that matter but I've only got Christmas eve and New Years Eve left off the silly season and a few quite days here and there so with a little luck and a bit of fine weather I might get some veggie gardening done and maybe a short walk or two. I still want to go to Highfields Falls but it is very wet underfoot.

Cheers and Merry Christmas to you,

Stewart.

Oh! Christmas tree!

Eggstra Eggstra, read all about it.

And the winner is, after much deliberation from, me, myself and I, drum roll please, Susan who said,

'Why, I'd be simply eggstatic to receive one of those eggceptionally well knitted egg beanies Stewart :)'.
Anyone who can stroke my ego, mention knitting and slip in a few eggy words gets the gong from me.

Susan, you can choose two of whatever you like or one of each. Just let me know.

I also mentioned two consulation egg warmers and they go to, drum roll again please,

Olive who said...Stewart, you've become an eggspert knitter in such a short time. Beaut little bum nut warmers, I would be eggcited to win one. 

and...
seed whisperer said...
I'm only eggcentric.. may I have my ball warmers now? It's winter here and the boyfriend's complaining.
We just can't have a complaining boyfriend now can we..

I'll need postal addresses now so I can send you your egg warmers. Just send it to me via email ssjdmb@hotmail.com

Was there favoritism considered in my vote? Yes, it was an influence but that was the only I could choose the consultation eggy warmers cos they were all so good.

I'd send you all one but I've got other things to knit like a warm sleeveless pullover. And there is still the matter of a veggie garden to maintain, if it ever stops raining.

Cheers and happy warm eggs,

Stewart

An eggcellent little give away

Still time to get an eegtry in, in the eggcellent little give away.
Click here for more details.

Winners will be chosen late tomorrow. That's about 26 hours from now.

Cheers

Stewart

An eggcellent little give away

Hi there, I've been having a bit of fun knitting up these egg warmers and would like to share the fun with you.

I'm going to give these away but you'll need to do a little work to get them.

What I'd like you to do is write in the comments your favorite egg word or phrase, ie;- eggcellent or eggtravagant etc, etc (sorry if I just used your favorite word).

The eggy word I like the best will be the winner, so get cracking and send me your eggy words.

Ok, don't all scramble for the comments box at once.

Cheers

Stewart

A big bawdy.

AC/DC would have you believe they have the biggest balls of them all but I think Bendigo Wool has the biggest balls :)



Umm, of wool that is.

 And here is what it, the 12ply scarlet, will be knitted into.

Taxi Tomato

 Boy o boy o boy, how one thing leads to another.

Regulars will remember me banging on about getting this here potato scoop from 'The Lost Seed' online shop by setting aside one or two dallars a week.
So while the Queen was eating bread and honey the King (that's me) was counting out his money and found out he had saved enough to put in his order for his potato scoop Which he did, me did, I did that is. All well and good you might say but and there's always a but, afore mentioned said King (me again) couldn't help himself (and didn't really want to truth be known) and here's how.



You see while I was at the lost seed web site I started thinking to myself (often a dangerous or expensive thing for me to do ) and began wondering what seeds they had to offer considering I wasn't really after any I felt safe to browse.

Then I though, 'climbing beans' yes I'd like some of them and sought them out and clicked the 'Add to Basket' button.
That was ok but, and there's always a but, the postage for one packet of seeds was $5.20 and again started thinking to myself,'That's not very economical, I wonder what else they have and then I noticed the Lettuce link and again thought to myself, 'Yes I could use some lettuce seeds' and clicked the 'REINE DES'GLACES' button.

Then once more I started thinking, 'In for a penny in for a pound' and hit the 'CAULIFLOWER - EARLY SNOWBALL' button.

Then I stopped thinking and let curiosity take over (damn who's driving this thing) and for some left of field reason wondered if there was a Tomato variety starting with the letter Z which I was happy to find out there isn't, though I have a suspision there is a variety called Zebra but I could be wrong.
Not content with finding out there was no Z varieties I went and had a look at the Bush varieties page and you wouldn't believe it there in all its glory was a variety called 'TAXI'(about half way down the page). 'Bugger' I thought, me being a driver of a Taxi and all, how can I not buy them.
So there you have it. A little bit of thinking and a bit of curiosity and I'm now up four packets of seeds and down $18.20. but in time enriched for the experience.

I got say I'm feeling excited with anticipation to get my hands on the TAXI tomato seeds.

Cheers and happy seed buying,

Stewart.

Boiled eggs

Can you believe there is a whole Wikipedia page on the humble boiled egg?

Here is how it starts.

Boiled eggs are eggs (typically chickens' eggs) cooked by immersion in boiling water with their shells unbroken. (Eggs cooked in water without their shells are known as poached eggs, while eggs cooked below the boiling temperature, either with or without the shell, are known as coddled eggs.) Hard-boiled eggs are either boiled long enough for the egg white and then the egg yolk to solidify, or they are left to cool down, which will gradually solidify them, while a soft-boiled egg yolk, and sometimes even the white, remains at least partially liquid.
The egg timer was so-named due to its common usage in timing the boiling of eggs. Boiled eggs are a popular breakfast food in many countries around the world.

And then Sunny Queen Farms go one further and tell us how to Cook the Perfect Boiled Egg!!!  

Myths about Eggs

Eggs and Cholesterol - Until recently it was thought that cholesterol in food was a factor in high blood cholesterol. We now know that dietary cholesterol alone is not significant for most people. The body produces cholesterol in the liver especially when the diet is high in saturated fat. Research done at the CSIRO's Division of Human Nutrition has shown that cholesterol in diet is far less important than many people think. The research showed that adding two eggs a day to the diet of people with normal cholesterol levels produced no rise in the level of LDL (or bad) cholesterol. Even at three eggs a day, the effect on blood cholesterol was equivalent to eating a pat (10g) of butter or 30g of cheese.

Cheers and have an eggcellent  day/night

Stewart

Coming up!!!

Coming up! I have something little to give away!

Firstly, you prepare the soil.

How to plant and grow beans the 'My Veggie Garden'  way.

Firstly, you prepare the soil.  This is a previously used patch so I'll only need to add a bit of blood and bone and a small amount of potash.   I'll side dress with compost when the beans are 3/4 weeks old so I won't add any here now.

Diggity dig dig.  Turning,  turning,  turning.



Then the fun part,  planting the seeds.

I need to break up some of the clods to bring the soil to a finer tilth, as they say. Makes it easier to plant the seeds. A couple of rows about 25mm deep,  bung in some seeds about 75 to 100mm apart cover them with some soil and away we go,  almost.  There is one more step.

Planting,  planting,  planting.  Covering,  covering,  covering.



Watering.  The most important bit.  Bean seed can go rotten in the ground if watered too much. What I like to do is give them a really good soaking once planted which usually means about three watering cans (30l) per sq mtr but in this case I was promised rain (which I got 96mls of) so I only used the one can in this case. Considering the amount of rain we received after planting I doubt I'll need to water these guys for a while now.

Watering,  watering,  watering.



There you go,  now there's no excuse for you not planting your very own home grown beans.  And I garentee you you'll never tast anything better.

For a bit of after care you can side dress with some compost and every two or three weeks add some fish emulsion and seaweed extract but only half strength as I don't think beans need much help in the growing department.  Then there's the regular, run of the mill, maintainence of weeding and good deep regular watering.

Cheers and happy bean growing.

Stewart

That's an Eagle you idiot.

Here's a fun fact, lifted straight out of the pages of Australian Geographic, Oct Nov 2009.

It's in the bag

Who
The ethicurean.  A longish time online blogger friend,  Kelly,  who is into bags in a big way. Check out her online bag shop.

*[eth•i•cu•re•an] : noun : also adj . Someone who seeks out tasty things that are also Sustainable, Organic, Local, and/or Ethical — SOLE food.

What
Soft, ethically produced cloth produce bags.
 Here is the low down from the ethicurean website.

'All the ethicurean bags (recycled organic and fair wage) are made from unbleached cottons. Bleaching not only alters the natural colour of the textile (which here at the ethicurean we love) but is also harmful to the environment. Sodium hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide are the most common industrial textile bleaches which when expelled into the environment(ost often into waterways) oxidizes organic matter in rivers and oceans to produce chemicals called trihalomethanes, some of which are carcinogenic. They also can form dioxins – carcinogens, mutagens, and tetrogenic compounds – which the body stores in fatty tissues almost indefinitely. Bleaching also consumes large amounts of water, primarily in the rinsing process to remove the chlorines which damage the structural integrity of the fibres. Buying unbleached textiles is obviously the more environmentally responsible choice'.
When
 Now, right now. There's no time like the present 

Why
 According to Kelly, a public health academic, mum of two teenage girls and a boy bean toddler. Also a keen foodie and blogger with a passion for fresh produce and respectful, ethical and mindful living. Here's what Kelly has to say.

'The momentum for ‘the ethicurean’ was born in 2008 in the beautiful eco-town of Fairfax just outside of San Francisco. I experienced a pretty basic, yet amazingly revolutionary idea of seeing fresh, local organic fruit and veg tucked up in soft, ethically produced cloth produce bags. Never having even imagined such a thing existed and not knowing what we were all missing until I saw them, this was my own ‘ lightbulb’ moment. An “Oh Wow! these make so much sense why aren’t we all using them?” epiphany. Reusable cloth produce bags were almost too obvious for words'.

Where  
Why here of course:- http://ethicurean.com.au/

How
As above:- http://ethicurean.com.au/

Said to myself

 About a week ago now I was putting a casserole together and when I went to get the spuds I found them full of plump sprouting eyes and said to myself, 'Self, there just ain't no way you can let this opportunity go by'. So I cut the ends with the eyes off and let them heal for a week until I planted them today. Spuddies for nothing and my chips for free.

I managed a good couple of hours in the veggie garden today with the beans, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes all growing very well.
I must say though that after all our early spring rain it's starting to dry out here a bit though good rain has been forcast for the week ahead.
I'm also sad to say I had a major fail in the lettuce department. Not one of the seeds I planted have come up. I'm perplexed, but suspect I let the soil dry out too much one day, as to why but will plant out again this week with showers and rain being forecast.

Umm, what else? The lucerne seed I planted is getting a go on and I can pinch out a few tops and feed them to the chooks. They don't seem to go mad for it but it's all gone by the days end.
Speaking of bloody chooks, just shoot me if I ever get another bantam. All I seem to do is spend all the warmer months unclucking bantams.I get one fixed and the other one takes it's place. Arrrrgggghhhhh.

That's about if for the veggie garden for now. During the week I hope to plant more lettuce and follow up plantings of radish, carrots and beans. My parsley has gone too seed too so I'll need to plant more of them. I've got heaps of comfrey ready to harvest so there's a fair chance the compost will get a look at as well and then in my spare time I can weed, weed and weed.

Cheers and happy veggie gardening.

Stewart.

Bill Oddie, Knitting 0_0

How could I go past this? (If I ask a rhetorical question do I still punctuate it with a question mark?) Bill Oddie from The Goodies and Knitting. It was inevitable it would end up here.

On the Better taste, Better food, Better for us front, I have received some further news on the study and will be posting an update in the next few days.



Cheers and beers and here's to a productive weekend of veggie gardening.

Stewart.

Better taste, better food, better for us

A while ago now I remember reading a report where Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine stated that organic veggies and fruit has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food.

I also remember saying to myself, 'That'd be right, go ahead and ruin it for everyone'. I also remember thinking I'd like to come up with a decent retort their research.

Well, as it happens, I was reading Country Life magazine last night and found an article that managed to encapsulate many of my thoughts in a fairly comprehensive fashion.  

Below in italics is a copy from page 23 of the August 5, 2009 edition of Country Life.

Better taste, better food, better for us
GOVERNMENT scientists have announced that organic food is no better for you nutritionally than conventional (whatever conventional is) food.  For those of you who sit down and look at your plate as a combination of fat,  protein and carbohydrate,  this may be important news.  For the rest of us who enjoy eating,  it's irrelevant.  For us,  food is about taste and trust.  What the majority of us really care about is good farming and farming methods.  Ask any top chef,  and they will tell you that it's the quality of the produce that is the key to great food.  Local food is miles better.  If the government wants us to eat more healthily,  it should spend its energy on promoting good farming methods and it should force supermarkets to sell more locally sourced food.  It's great tasting food, not more scientific mumbo jumbo,  that will encourage better eating habits and a healthier nation.

I'd like to know what you think. The best potatoes, onions, carrots, beans, toms and more are the ones I've grown in my veggie garden. How about you?

Cheers and happy veggie gardening

Stewart 

Chili

"Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC. There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6000 years ago". Chili on facebook 

Chili on Wiki


It's chili planting time. Well for me it is anyhow.


Cheers

Stewart

Brown Beauty beans

 The Brown Beauty beans I planted in October have sprouted but I've found due to the heavy rains we've had a lot of the conditioning of my soil has been leached away and I needed to replenish it. This I've done by topping up with a side dressing of bean friendly compost. 

The soil had also crusted and become water repellent so the compost will help alleviate this problem too.

Just scattered around on the top soil and forked in with a hand trowel.

And water in well.

I'll head back up later this arvo when it's a bit cooler and water again as well as laying down some straw mulch and I should have some happy beans very soon.

It should also be a good time to start prep on the next sq. mtr patch for the next lot of beans.

Help

Help. I've consulted with my knitting guru and she has assured me that when knitting in the round on circular needles I can't get a change of colour to line up as in the photo below. Just in case she is wrong does anyone know how I can knit in the round on circular needles and get the rows to match up?

I'm a little tea pot.

 Just a super quick chunky tea pot cosy. It finished up pretty rough in the end but as it is my first one I going to be kind and go easy on myself and I had fun all the same.

Cheers, anyone for a cuppa?

What's your favorite brand/type of tea?

Stewart

Say no more.

Bottled water - pure drink or pure hype?

Bottled water - pure drink or pure hype?   
 
I don't consider my self to be the greenest of greenies but I'll do what I can where I can and on the waterfront my biggest bug bare has been bottled water. Not so much the water (though the article below would suggest I should) itself but the plastic containers it comes in. So it was with in mind that I recently purchased a 1l. stainless steel water container that I take everywhere with me and refill whenever I can.
Apart from saving anywhere between 20 and 30 dollars a week I'm now not contributing any extra plastic to land fill or energy  intensive recycling programs.


I also figure I'm preaching to the already converted here but just in case your not then here is some argument for giving up bottled water supplied from the Warm Earth magazine e-newsletter (www.warmearth.com.au) SNIPS & TIPS - OCTOBER 2010 


Despite research showing that bottled water is no better than tap water, Australians spend more than half a billion dollars a year on the bottled product. Producing and delivering a litre of bottled water emits hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than a litre of tap water. Australia's annual use of bottled water produces more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount that 13,000 cars generate over the course of a year. For many brands, a litre of bottled water costs more than a litre of petrol.


The Department of Environment and Climate Change estimates that 200 ml of oil is used to produce, package, transport and refrigerate each 1 litre bottle, so it's like filling a fifth of every bottle with oil. It also takes water to make water. Treehugger.com estimates that bottled water uses 6 times the amount of water actually in the bottle to produce it! Australia recycles only 36% of PET plastic drink bottles and even if bottled water is recycled, it uses a huge amount of water and energy in the process. So, what can we do instead? If you're concerned about the quality of your tap water, invest a little bit of money in a water filter for your home. You can then use one bottle and keep filling it up and re-using it. This is a very eco friendly practice that can help curb the amount of damage being done to our earth as a result of bottled water.

Also if your not too keen on the taste of your town tap water supply then there is a myriad of water filters available and more than affordable with the money you save from not buying bottled water.

So far I have managed to give up my car, take-a-way coffee in paper/plastic cups and now Bottled water. If I can do it anyone with half a will can.

Cheers

Stewart

Beans means Brown Beauty.

Just planted, approximately one square meter of Mr Fothergill's dwarf bean, 'Brown Beauty'.



From the liner notes on the back of the seed packet.

Bean, Dwarf, 'Black Beauty':

(Phaseolus vulgaris)

An excellent quality, fine flavoured bean that continues to crop over a long period. Particularly suited to later plantings as this is a good hot weather variety. Full of flavour and vitamins. Halfhardy annual.

When to plant: Spring and Summer.
How to grow Sow 25mm (1in) deep in dark, damp soil - avoid watering for a day or two afterwards. Sow 7-10cm (3-4in) apart, allowing 50cm (20in) between the rows. Ensure the danger of frosts has passed and protect plants from wind. Plant in 3-5 metre (10-16ft) rows and remove weeds regularly. Water well during dry periods and spray flowers with a fine rose on your watering can, this will help the pods to set.
Harvest: 8-10 weeks

Lets see how they go. I've never had trouble growing beans here before so it should be straight forward. I'll  plant successive sowings every four or five weeks so I can maintain a continuous supply of beans over Summer and early Autumn.
Preparation was basic as beans don't require much fussin over. I added a couple of handfuls of blood and bone and a small hand of sulphate of potash to a previously used bed. Turned the whole lot over with a fork, measured out  three rows, bunged in the seeds, covered them over and watered them in.

Too easy.

Cheers and happy bean planting, growing and eating.

Stewart.

A flower a day for September #29

 Oops, it's been a week since I've posted anything. It's been a hectic week.

Anyways, I was walking to knitting class last Tuesday and came across this little beauty cascading down a stone retaining wall and decided it would be a worthy addition to my 'A flower a day for September', series of posts.

 Convolvulus mauritanicus; Burke's Backyard has a bit to say about  convolvulus (not often called by its common name, 'bindweed')

Cheers for now and I'll see if I can get back sooner.

Stewart

A flower a day for September #28. A drive by shooting.

Yes it was a drive by video shooting. Just a small side garden that caught my eye.

Just some Ranunculus and small annuals enjoying the sunshine after all our fabulous rain.

Beanie and pom pom meet.

When beanie and pom pom meet. (Short and sweet)

A flower a day for September #27. Happy Snappy

Probably the greatest influences on me to be a gardener or for my love of gardening would be my Grandmothers. One had the flowers and the other had the veggies.

My mums mum was the flower one and as a child I loved going to visit (it wasn't all about the biscuits and lollies) and walk around her garden and find out about all the colourful flowers she had planted in her garden. Just thinking now I realise that I never really gardened much as a child but I must have been paying attention.

And as that child I remember liking the Snappy the most. Three main reasons for this; the first is the colour, say no more, 2nd is the size of the flower and 3rd is you got to play with the flowers and play make believe dragons with them. What more could a kid want?

 Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.  ~Alex Haley

Cheers and happy dragon slaying,

Stewart.

Slow news day today. Pikelets

Slow news day today. The weather here to-day is overcast with a few showers.  And on top of the forty mm of rain in the previous twenty four hours plus the twenty-six mm last Friday it's just way beyond to wet to do anything outside.

A rainy day treat/comfort food for me anytime is pikelets. A favorite of mine from childhood (who doesn't have a 'favorite from childhood') when my mum would make them for us. I don't remember having them hot but I do remember them cold with thick butter and jam spread over them and then made into a little sandwiches.

Cooking, cooking, cooking

Eating, eating, eating.

I found the recipe on a website called Kidspot where there is a truck load of interesting stuff all related to um, er, kids of course.

This is a link to the recipe on their website and following is a copy and paste job.

Pikelets recipe

Serving Size:

Makes 20
Category:

Breakfast, Budget, Cakes and Baking, Kids cooking, Kids food, Lunch Box, Easy recipes, Snacks, Cake stall
Ingredients:
Gluten-free (see note below), nut-free

2 cups self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup (250mL) milk
1 tablespoon butter
Method:

    * Sift flour and salt, add sugar, drop unbeaten egg into the middle of the bowl and stir.
    * Slowly add enough milk to make a thick batter. Beat well until smooth.
    * Heat a non-stick pan over a medium heat, melt  teaspoon butter and drop heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into the pan.
    * I cooked about 5 at a time. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn the pikelets (muttering and cursing and chasing them all over the pan) and allow to brown on the second side.
    * Transfer pikelets onto a plate and cover with a cloth while you finish cooking the remainder.


Notes:

    * Easy to pack in lunchboxes because you don't need to do anything else to them. Handy for afternoon tea, too.
    * I also make these for breakfast (on those infrequent 'perfect' mornings) as a change to regulation weet-bix or toast.
    * It can be a bit tricky getting the temperature right, I prefer to cook at a lower heat and potter round the kitchen doing other things while they cook slowly.

There you have it,

Cheers and happy pikeleting

Stewart.

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. ~John F. Kennedy

Simon's Cat in 'The Box'

Anybody with a cat will relate to this. Have fun and cheers

Stewart

On your bike.

I already ride to work everyday as it is. I have three main reasons for this. The first being fitness, the second is I think paying over eight hundred dollars a year for car registration is an obscene money grab by our state government and thirdly is doing my little bit for our environment, ie:- reducing my oil burning, CO2 production.
An beside all that, there is a breaky on the morning at Art Gallery Park, Ruthven Street!



Ride to Work Day

Join the Commuter Revolution and register NOW for Ride to Work Day, next Wednesday, 13 October.
Complete a free registration  and you improve bike facilities across Australia.

Changing the way Australians start their day

While most of Australia is stuck in peak hour traffic the Ride to Work program is helping Australian workers embrace an affordable, healthy, hassle and carbon emission free mode of transport.

The free program assists those wanting to try riding to work as an alternative mode of transport which can ease the pressures of modern life. It’s the only national day on the calendar, where first-timers and regular bike riders can celebrate the act of riding to work together.

Participants are encouraged to register their ride on the day at no cost which assists in understanding bike commuter behaviors and campaigning for better riding facilities to councils, local, state and federal governments.







Who's in? I'll see you for breakfast!

Dear Stew,
 
Thank you for joining the commuter revolution and registering for Ride to
Work Day 13 October 2010.
 
Your Bicycle Network rider number is: 907266

Cheers and happy cycling to work day

Stewart.