Giveaway winner

The winner of the Bloesem Kids giveaway was Sarah from Canada. Congratulations Sarah, your chosen items are now in the post.

Nicole Foss- afterwards

Well, Nicole delivered a very thought provoking speech and discussion (3 hours!). The first section about how the financial crises happen was a little bit over my head, but I could follow it better than some books/speeches I've read/been to before. Basically, the global economy is screwed. I knew that, but we just have to wait and see how some major changes and disruptions will unfold. The speech confirmed that we (my family) need to keep doing what we're doing in regards to food and water security- growing what we can, water tanks etc, keep gaining skills, maintaining the home including solar power/hot water (though it would be better to be off grid), improving the soil, stocking 'hard goods'- eg tools, cooking equipment, water purification, clothing and blankets, things that may be harder to purchase or afford to buy in the future. We seem to be in a good position in regards to where we live- walkable distance to essential services etc. Many, many things to think about.

There's an interview with Nicole Foss on ABC radio available to listen to here, a good starting point if these ideas are new to you. It goes for about 8 minutes.

Nicole Foss in Geelong next week

Andrew & I are planning to go along to see Nicole Foss speak at the Gordon Institute of TAFE (Auditiorium) next Wednesday night, 22nd of Feb from 6-9pm.
Nicole is doing a world tour, and is currently in Australia, and is in Victoria while the Sustainable Living Festival is on.

This is a great Youtube clip of her if you have the time to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ESYAix1QD1E

Blurb from Geelong Sustainability Group:

She is co-editor of The Automatic Earth, where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament. The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and real politik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was previously editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.

Foss runs the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.

Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

Bloesem Kids

I'm hosting a giveaway of 2 of my garments over on super cool style blog Bloesem Kids this week, go here to enter! Good luck.

Apron Stringz

Loved this post, and it seems many others did too. It's good to know others in the world have similar ideas to you, she really hits the nail on the head!

This little sweetie...

Is now in the shop. Child not included. By the way, she had a fabulous first day of school, and is happy to go back tomorrow :)

Evie's first day at school

At school

Before school

She's been soooo excited about her first day of school, and now it's here. She looked a little overwhelmed with all the kids and parents in the classroom, we'll see how she goes!