Academy works good

After peering at the forbes website the quote: Habit is either the best of servants, or the worst of masters. – Emmons We added it to the eco pamphlet as a crux of truth, for although habits can be capitalized on, they can also be inspired.

Good tidings to all... The Academy brings greatness in this tide of intense weather and uni commitments. The last two weeks have been full on, consisting of everything from South Korean’s to fire baths in the snow… Firstly it should be said that Bae and Ae Sook were awesome couch surfers to host, who taught us a thing or two about cooking nice vegetarian meals and how to play some sweet card games, they even corrected our nifty pamphlet on the grounds that our Environmental Sustainability Index, ESI didn’t refer to GDP and how its central to measuring a countries achievements... (fair enough we thinks)

Since our last blog we had realized our room for improvement and what we posed to gain from doing a little work and thinking on certain issues. After having a flat chat inclusive of a few guests, we debated and schemed what eco-steps both personal and impersonal we could embark upon.

After a while we established a few key things; raeward fresh and bin inn are sweet for easy baking and cheap healthy meals, (plus assists in a local/ buy what you need, way of living), preserved 2Kg of cooking apples for future use of crumble etc. Candles are good for lighting up a room, in a non-mood lighting way, blanket around the hot water cylinder can be intermittedly used for watching the odd movie, its not hard to make ginger beer making 20 litres was just the same as other beer and utilizing grey water is as easy as collecting rain and diverting the odd pipe (storm water). Ideally using the shower and bath sink would be cool, but it’d be too much hassle.. (would be good to get a plumber around and hook the toilet up to our grey water storage).

The snow days deserve a blog to themselves but we’re running out of time.. so after making a snow sphinx statue, Jess the keen baker of the flat made about 60 in total; scones, muffins and also a keesh. After that a couple of us went over and helped our friend Joe put in a new gear box to his blown mirage… Up to now three of us have been flat out into our studies, (2 geog 1 geol) together we can assess the environmental impacts and recommend a mutual answer for all parties involved… :D

The Academy, first Eco My Flat Blog

Kia Ora fellow eco warriors, sustainability at the Academy is an overriding philosophy, one that has been in place since we moved in prior to the February earthquake. Our flat is called the Academy because it is a centre of learning and knowledge. The online blog has been rather neglected but this was due to a lack of internet, not interest!
There has been many ongoing projects here, including brewing our own beer, planting a native garden, bringing in Chickens, a big compost bin and building a bike shed, just naming a few projects!
Every Sunday evening we gather as a flat and have a candle lit vegan/vegetarian dinner and share stories and experiences from our week. This is followed by an environmental or sustainable themed movie or documentary. Knowledge and understanding is key to sustainability and we have been spreading the message, with many of our friends regularly attending these Sunday night events.

Other regular flat events, include making homemade jam, baking bread, toasting muesli and making Yoghurt. These are fun times, one of which all the flat mates enjoy doing as we get to directly benefit from the fruits (pun intended!) of our labour.
shopping for edibles, we shop as a flat, sharing all food. We eat well by shopping at Raewood Fresh ( a 5 minute walk away) for vegetable and fruit, and the Bin Inn for all our bulk food requirements.

Other sustainable schemes include reducing our environmental impact and simultaneously saving our flat money. Ways we have done this include putting a 2L container in the toilet tank. (Helping use less water). The whole house has eco bulbs and we also have a supply of nice warm blankets in the lounge, helping keep us toasty warm without the aid of a heater.

Hands down one of the greatest features of our place is the forest out the back. When we first arrived it was overgrown and had a lot of junk in it (a lot of broken glass, wire, old sacks, car parts and plastics). We have spent a lot of time and effort, restoring the forest to its former splendour while also planting at least a dozen natives to complement the existing trees. A positive spinoff of this ‘healthy’ forest is the return of birds, with a number fantails, sparrows, Wax eyes and black birds taking up residence. We have also sighted a couple wood pigeons fly into our canopy, suspected to be from the Deans bush area.

Also with the forest, when we first moved in it was also covered in Yellow flag and Oldmans beard (two very noxious and prolific weeds). This resulted in a fully fledged war breaking out against these weeds, with Sun Tsu’s ‘the art of war’ providing invaluable advice for finally conquering this adversary. With these weeds gone we were able to plant Hebes and other native plants.

Our forest area is complete with a hammock, seating and soon a firebath, making this an excellent greenspace to come and relax in.

please check out the video of our progress!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTp-n4I2gA0

Signing out, - Nathan reporting on behalf of the Academy