FYI…

Since the switch over to Daylight Savings Time in the States happened, we are now 17 hours ahead of the East Coast instead of 18 (or, if it is easier, seven hours behind, the day before).  This means we are twenty hours ahead (or four hours behind) of the West Coast.

New Zealand changes back to Standard Time on April 5; therefore, we will then be eight hours behind the East Coast.  A little confusing, and it will definitely shorten the window available for getting in touch with everyone back home.  I guess this makes The Starbuck Report even more important, right?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, part of our strategy to eat healthy and fresh food, save money, and “do our part” in treading lightly on the Earth involves growing as much of our own food as possible.

We experienced the pleasure and excellent value of having a backyard garden in our last house, and we wanted to continue that here in Christchurch.  Earlier in the Summer, Rus and Christian took a pile of old bricks and made a raised-bed herb and salad garden (which we have been enjoying ever since!).  There were, however, a couple of challenges to growing a decent-sized winter garden.

First, like many urban dwellings, land for planting is scarce.  Two, since we moved in the middle of Summer, it was too late in the planting season to start a traditional Spring garden.   Conversely, there was some good news!  One, Rus and I are always up for a challenge.  Two, the ground does not freeze in Christchurch; therefore, hearty vegetables like broccoli and cabbage could still be grown despite Winter’s arrival.  Three, 20 DAH-bee has a small patch of overgrown land between the garage and the neighbor’s fence, full of yard waste, just begging to be re-purposed.

Since about half of our rubbish output is organic, we and our flatmates decided to “compost”; this consisted of throwing all of our organic waste next to the garage until we could work up a compost bin (no one was willing to buy one as they run upwards of NZ$150).  Several smelly weeks and a few feral cats later, and Rus and I asked the neighbours (landlords) for any available wood scraps to make one. We hit the jackpot!  We were given some tongue-and-groove timber and an old Formica table.  Without nails and without spending any money, Rus built a large compost bin with a lid.  We shoveled weeks of old vegetable stems, coffee grounds, and eggshells into its new home (and prayed to the Worm Gods).

Then, borrowing the neighbors’ shovels and a rake, we cleared out the area where we would put the garden.   We purchased some organic garden soil with compost mixed in, garden accessories like a hose and reel and hand trowel.  Rus and Dylan picked up about 100 used bricks at the landlords’ other property (free!) for a walkway through the garden to the compost bin.  Finally, we bought seedlings from a local home improvement warehouse: red cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce.  We also bought a lemon tree and an orange tree with large fruits already on the vines.

On one of the (presumably) last warm days of Summer, we measured out the location of each plant and put the seedlings in the ground.  With a little luck, in 60-90 days, we will have more cabbage and cauliflower and broccoli - as well as plenty of fresh salad - then we know what to do with.  Hopefully, we can find some Bean-o around here somewhere too!

So we successfully planted an urban winter garden with limited space and fund - if we can do it, anyone can!

In addition, I will keep track of the return on investment (ROI).  In our summer garden in Pennsylvania, I estimate we returned 400-500% on our initial investment of about US$150 in fresh, organic vegetables.   We spent about the same equivalent in NZD on this one, so it will be interested to see how it turns out.

Stay tuned for updates!

*Reader alert: Lots of links in this one; however, if this information is new to you, I highly recommend checking them out!

I would like to offer my kudos to the President: Michelle Obama has broken ground on the much-anticipated White House Garden.

Advocates for organic farming and sustainable living have been calling for this for months, and even though I consider myself an amateur with only a few gardens under my belt, I am a huge fan of home gardens.  Name your issue:  Conventional produce not tasty?  Organics too expensive?  Concerned about salmonella and other food-bourne illnesses?  Is money tight?  Unsure about the future?  Feeling stressed out?  Start a garden!

The Obamas are setting a great example, especially since home gardens are more important than ever for the following reasons:

1. Growing food organically and close to home is healthy for you and the environment.

Obviously, replacing a lawn that needs to be watered, fertilised, and mowed into a productive food patch is better for the environment; however, many people do not fully understand the health and environmental impacts of purchasing food from a supermarket. For example, conventional produce is grown in depleted soil, requiring inputs and fertilisers to make the soil viable for planting.  Then, it is sprayed with highly toxic, cancerous pesticides (genetically-modified “RoundUp Ready” plants are actually sprayed with RoundUp!) throughout the growing process.  These chemicals eventually make their way into the water supply and contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs), collapse of ecosystems, and ultimately ocean dead zones.  Finally, the produce is picked before ripeness to survive shipping (and is often coated in a waxy preservative!) until it arrives on your grocer’s shelf - not as tasty nor nutritious as they should be.

2. It reduces the reliance on a complex system of credit and fossil fuels to provide one of our basic human needs - food

It is estimated that it takes 10 calories of fossil fuel energy (from seed to sowing to supermarket) to produce one calorie of food for consumption! (1).  Furthermore, most farmers borrow money to plant seeds in anticipation that they will be able pay back the loans (and hopefully make a profit) when the crop is sowed.  Similarly, truckers rely on credit to fill their fuel tanks to ship food across the country, and pay off the loan (and hopefully make a profit) when they get paid for successfully delivering the shipment.  In the face of a credit crisis, Peak Oil, and climate change (droughts in food-producing areas, floods in others, etc.), this complex system is destined for disruptions that will impact Americans’ food security in the near future.

3. It relieves stress

The world news today does not exactly illicit feelings of calm and tranquility.  In fact, it can be downright scary.  Taking control of part of your food supply provides peace of mind for when disruptions occur.  Small farmers and family gardens got the United States through the last Depression.  It got the Soviets through the collapse of the U.S.S.R.  You can also avoid the risks of food-bourne illnesses associated with mass-produced food.  And what could be better than venturing out after a long day to see what vine-ripened goodies nature has provided for dinner?

4. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to do it
Remember, when you were a kid, putting a lima bean seed on a wet paper towel and watching it sprout? Plants are amazing.  A bit of water and a bit of sunlight, and plants are resilient little miracles.  Little miracles you can eat.   I do not consider myself a “green thumb” (I have killed my fair share of house plants), but gardening is easy enough for kids!

Spring is here (for my Northern Hemisphere readers), and it’s time to get planting!  No matter how big or small, I think you will be happy that you did.

1. Horrigan, Leo, Robert S. Lawrence, and Polly Walker. “How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110, no. 5 (May 5, 2002) (accessed March 20, 2009).

In a recent post, I mentioned that there are now seven residents at 20 Derby (pronounced like the Kiwis say it: “Twinty DAH-bee”.  It has been an interesting adjustment going from six to seven people in terms of hot water management (there are, thankfully, two hot water heaters in the house), laundry scheduling, and kitchen time and space.  Fortunately, our landlords (neighbours) have been accommodating with our requests for a new pot set, a cast iron frying pan, a THIRD refrigerator (in all fairness, these fridges are about half the size of their full-size American counterparts), and other kitchen essentials like a broiler pan and knife sharpener.

I have not posted much about our living situation, so I will do so now.  The house we live in is an old character home, built about 100 years ago.  It is on a quiet-ish street less than a block from one of the busiest intersections in Christchurch (and the technical City Center).   We chose the house for several reasons.  One, because our room, which was originally purposed as the lounge (a.k.a. living room), is huge, and it has an awesome sun room for Rus’s office.  Two, everyone who moved in after January 2009 would be there for a year.  This was important to us because we preferred to avoid a backpackers’ house where people were constantly coming and going.  Three, the kitchen was comparatively much larger than the six other places at which we looked.  Four, it has a huge, empty garage where Rus can do his projects, and we could store our bikes.  Finally, it is close to everything, it is in a nice neighborhood, and the landlords live next door (making them, theoretically, accessible).  All in all, 20 Derby simply made the most sense.

So, the flatmates…

Leanne & Arno (both 30ish): They are the new couple who recently moved in.  Arno is a German who moved to New Zealand four years ago.  He is a former triathlete and Ironman and still cycles often.  He is studying Health Sciences at Canterbury University (“Uni”) and is a personal trainer for disabled people.  Leanne is a Kiwi from the Auckland area studying full-time for a post-Graduate degree in Sociology. Since they are both so busy working and studying, we hardly see them except in passing and around dinner time.

Dylan (34) is a Kiwi from the Christchurch area.  He is studying to become a certified electrician (a “sparky”) and works an apprenticeship as such.  He has a bach at the beach he is renovating and so often spends his weekends working on it.  He is very nice and very helpful and overall a pleasant person to be around!
Christian (25) is our resident Austrian.  He has been working and travelling the globe the last three years: Canada (Toronto), USA (San Francisco), Australia, and now New Zealand for the last year.  He works at an upscale restaurant around the corner from the house and loves everything wine - from how its made to how it tastes (we often consult him before making wine purchases).  He speaks three languages (English, German, and Italian), and is quite the comedian.  If you get in an argument with him, though, be careful - because he might send his “little brother Arnie from California” to go “Terminator” on you.

Monique (31) is a Kiwi from Nelson, which is at the top of the South Island.  She is a pediatric oncology nurse and works an ever-changing schedule; night shift, early shifts, afternoon shifts; it’s hard to keep track of her!  She has travelled to the US (upstate New York), Canada (Toronta), and the UK/Ireland.  She has also worked in Australia (Brisbane) before.  She is a lovely person with a positively infecticious laugh!

Former flatmate Radu (27).  I am going to shoutout Radu since I have mentioned him on this blog before, he was fun, and Derby Street misses him.  He was born and grew up in Bucarest, Romania, went to Princeton University for his undergraduate degree, and received his Masters and Doctorate in Mathematics from UC Berkeley.  He came to New Zealand for three months and just went back to California three weeks ago.

It has been less of an adjustment than I thought it would be going back to living with people again.  There are the occasional inconveniences of, for example, not being able to do laundry when you want because someone else is using the washing machine.  Overall, however, it has been a great experience meeting new people and learning their stories.  We went out for Monique’s birthday several weeks ago, and it was cool hanging out then (especially the miracle that everyone’s schedules matched up!).  Our trip to Queenstown with Christian was amazing, and we are tentatively planning a tramp with Dylan and a possible trip to the North Island with Monique.  Surely, there will be more news from 20 DAH-bee!

Due to the ever-changing and always entertaining “NZ Thesaurus” feature of The Starbuck Report, I have created a separate page.  You can find it at the top of the home page nestled in between the “Home” and “Archives” tabs.  Check back often as Rus and I constantly hear new terms to share with you!

Even though we did not get to swim with the dolphins, it was still an awesome afternoon on the boat.  Now, our bellies were telling us it was time to eat.  We stopped at a wine shop to get a bottle of Pinot Noir, and then at a seafood shack to get some seafood.  We bought fresh New Zealand clams, muscles, and some Australian giant prawns (there are no prawns off Kaikoura’s coast, we were told, and they looked good).  Then, I popped into the local supermarket (it was the size of a large American convenience store like Wawa) to buy butter (garlic butter, since I would have had to buy a pound of the plain stuff), a lemon, and white wine.

Back at the campsite, Rus set up the tent while I prepped the food.  I cut up a red onion we brought and washed off the shellfish.  I got the pots ready.  Then, Rus turned on the stove, and it took minutes to get the water boiling.  We boiled the seafood for a few minutes then cleared the pot to make the sauce - a little olive oil, chopped red onion, garlic butter, and white wine - yum!  It smelled so good I could hardly wait!  We poured the sauce over the seafood and dug in.  In the meantime, I made some reconstituted vegetables (camping food).   The food was fabulous!

The sun was setting, so we wanted to start the fire and clean up before darkness fell completely.  Once we did this, we drank (all of the) wine by the fire and hung out until it was time to walk around the corner to take showers. There were many RVs and campers at the site, but we did not run into many people.  Shortly before we turned in for the night, another couple set up a tent about 50 metres from ours, but we did not hear them at all.

After we showered, we crawled into our sleeping bags in the tent to go to sleep. I set my mobile phone alarm for 6:00AM so I could watch the sunrise.  Rus seemed to sleep like a rock, but I woke up well before dawn.  When we went to bed, it was cloudy, but in the middle of the night, the sky had cleared, and I could see a million bright stars, even a couple of shooting stars darting across the sky.  It was awesome!  With the view of the night sky and the sound of the crashing ocean waves, it was pleasant and peaceful, and I fell asleep again.

My alarm went off as planned at 6:00AM, and I dressed to watch the sunrise.  It was chilly, so I had on pants and a fleece and vest.  It was still quite dark.  While I waited, I gathered rocks from the beach.  This particular beach, to me, looked like an old river bed, as all of the rocks were a similar size.  They were also egg-shaped and perfectly smooth.  The rocks were mostly gray limestone, but there were other rocks that were brown, and still others that were bright white.  I was gathering several of each color.  I also selected some cool, bleached driftwood pieces from the beach.  These would be used in a household decoration of some sort.  Walking up and down that beach, at that hour, I felt like the only person in the world.  I did not see or hear another soul.

Soon, the sky started to change many colors - purples, pinks, oranges - and soon after that, the sun peaked over the ocean horizon.  A few minutes later, it was all over and the sun had fully emerged from the water.  Satisfied, I crawled back into the tent for a long nap.

Rus woke me up a few hours later.  He had already cleaned the pots from the night before and talked to someone who said we should not have built a fire.  He was boiling water for tea.  I cut up an orange and scrounged around for other breakfast snacks.  I was feeling a little lousy from the wine and a poor night of sleep, and the hot tea tasted great.

Alas, all good things must end, so we packed up our stuff and loaded it into the car.  We found a cafe with a nice back patio and ordered nice breakfasts and coffees.  We were being stalked by the many little birds living in the surrounding trees; these little creatures were surely kept well-fed from the cafe’s patrons.  Once breakfast was over, we filled up the gas tank and started back to Christchurch.

We stopped at another campsite to check it out as another option for a future trip, crawled on some ocean rocks, and took in the salty ocean breeze.  The seas were much calmer today.  Once back in the car, we looked out across the ocean, and what did we see?   One of the fishing yachts we were on the day before - surrounded by at least 50 dolphins!  They were beautiful even all the way from the road.  We vowed to come back and try to swim with the dolphins again.

Eventually, near Cheviot, we had the option to take the “Scenic Route” home, so we took a road to a place called Gore Bay, which is a tiny, residential area with cute cottages nestled into the tree-covered hills.   We parked the car and walked down a steep make-shift staircase to the beach below. To the south, another huge cliff dropped straight down to the ocean.  The water was blue and clear and cold. There were several other people walking the beach and some even set up a picnic.  It was after noon, and it was going to be another awesome day.  I wished we could stay longer, but we had to get back.

The rest of the scenic route took us to the top of the mountains, where it was colder and wetter.  Grazing pastures (and their inhabitants) dominated this area, and we actually saw houses from time to time.  Eventually, we wound our way through to the main road and made it back to Christchurch by mid-afternoon.  We quickly unpacked the car, and Rus returned it shortly thereafter while I put things away.

I thought Queenstown was stunning, but Kaikoura is more my style.  I love the beach, and though tourism is a huge part of its economy, it does not feel nearly as “touristy” as Queenstown does.  The close-by Alps as the beach’s backdrop make the scenery in Kaikoura even more dramatic.  Like most of New Zealand, the area as a whole is relatively undeveloped.  There are no multi-million dollar beach houses covering its pristine coast, just the occasional 7m by 7m bach.  No high rises.  All local businesses - with all of the eclectism and charm that comes with them. I cannot wait to go back.

I would definitey live there.

Continued from “Kaikoura”…

Several weeks ago, Rus and I booked a trip with Encounter Kaikoura, which specialises in dolphin watching and dolphin swimming tours.  Our flatmate, Radu, had swam with the dolphins a few weeks earlier and said it was amazing, so we opted to try it!  I did not know the details, only that the tour takes a bunch of people out on a boat to see dolphins and drops a few of them (wearing wetsuits) into the ocean so they could swim with them.

Kaikoura is a small town of about 2,000 people and is unique because of the deep ocean trenches just off its coast.  The underwater canyon system merges warm water from the north and mixes it with the cold waters from the Antarctic.  This allows the nutrients to be dispersed into the deep and support the huge communities of large ocean mammals like dolphins and whales that live there.  With relatively easy access to these awesome animals by boat, Kaikoura is a popular eco-tourist spot.

Once we checked into Encounter Kaikoura, a tourist shop and cafe bustling with people on this beautiful day, we waited to be summoned to get our wetsuits. From the outset, we were told that the first two tours did not go out that morning due to the rough seas from the storm.  Also, no dolphins had been spotted by any of the watching companies (there are many offering whale- and dolphin-watching by boat, helicopter, and small plane).  We were also told, in the event we did not get to see any dolphins, we would get charged a small operational fee.  I guess you could say that they did a good job of managing our expectations.  We went outside in the warm sun to await our call.

Once we got our wetsuits on (looking rather ridiculous), we waddled out to the presentation room with about 50 others, to watch an informational video about the dolphins we were about the encounter (hopefully).  Here, we learned that the dusky dolphins, were not baited or fed for the tours.  We also learned that they are quite acrobatic and love to do flips and spins; hopefully, we would see some of these while we were out!

After the video, it was time to go!  We boarded a bus for a five minute trip to the dock where two 30-ft. fishing boats awaited.  We got on our boat and soon after, we were off in search of dusky dolphins.

A little bit about the weather - it was warm (about 20C/70F) and sunny with some fluffy clouds in the sky.  The water was clear, light blue and beautiful.  After nearly two weeks of colder and wet weather (this is supposed to be Summer!), it was such a welcome change.  At first, the roller coaster-like motion of the boat as it went over the waves was fun, but some people near me were already disliking the trip (getting seasick).

On our way out to sea, we talked to a cool 30-something British couple (who live and work in Portugal).  They have spent the last month travelling New Zealand and were going to take a helicopter to the top of Mount Fyffe (which, at its summit, gives panoramic views of Kaikoura) to get married at sunset the next day.  It was going to be just the two of them and the Justice of the Peace.  The guy said they had been engaged for five years, and since their friends and families were scattered all over the world, they decided to marry privately and “make big parties” in Portugal and the UK when they got back.  As beautiful as Kaikoura is, I can see why they chose it to celebrate their special day - very romantic!

After about 45 minutes, we were told that the other boat that went out with us spotted something - an orca!  Orca are occasional predators of dusky dolphins, we were told, so my expectations of seeing those dolphins were dimished further.   By the time we had arrived, a second orca was with the first, both young males.  They were so close to the boat and beautiful!   While we were there checking out the orca, a flock of Wandering Albatross flew into the area.  These birds can live 70+ years and have wingspans of over three metres!  Rus captured some excellent photos of these fascinating animals.

Eventually, we continued on our expedition to find the dusky dolphins.  I migrated to the deck on the back of the boat to enjoy the sun, wind, and sea spray - what a glorious day out on the open ocean!  After searching for another hour and going farther and farther down the coast (we passed our campsite), the tour decided to take us over to an area where New Zealand Fur Seals live.  We had seen an odd one here and there, just laying on their backs floating, with their little front flippers resting on their bellies - so cute!  There was a giant rock off the coast where many of these little animals were resting in the sun.  There were adorable little baby fur seals too!  We floated near the rock so everyone could see them and take photos, then we were told it was time to go back.  We had been gone for 2.5 hours.

On the way back, the tour said there had been some dolphins spotted!  When I looked up, we were right in front of our campsite.  These were likely the exact dolphins we had seen this morning while selecting our tent site.  The tour guides should have just asked us, right?  At any rate, these were Hector’s dolphins - small, endangered, and very rare - and Encounter Kaikoura (actually, no one) has a commercial licence to swim with them.  We had to be content (and we were!) observing them from the boat.  They swam all around us, and we had plenty of opportunity to look at them.  One thing I did not realize about dolphins is that they sound just like humans when they inhale a deep breath.  It was cool to see and hear them!

Soon, it was time to go back to port for good.  We began the trip back and were told that we would be charged half-price for a “spectators’ tour”.  I was starting to feel a bit seasick (not from that news, although I was a bit annoyed), so I rested on the seat in front of me for the remainder of the trip and was glad when we reached solid ground again.  We took the bus back, changed out of the wetsuits, and walked across the street to our car.  We had been gone for four hours, and it was early (just before 5:00PM), but time to find dinner!

Rus and I were supposed to go up to Kaikoura (about two hours North) on Saturday night.  The plan was to drive up, find a place for dinner, set up the tent at the camp site, and relax before Sunday’s activities. However, by the time Rus was finished with work and it was time to pick up the rental car, a huge storm was raging - bringing torrential downpours and tropical storm-force winds.  Our packs were ready to go, but the weather was terrible (in Forrest Gump rain terms, it was “rain that came in sideways”), so we opted to go in the morning.

Saturday night we made dinner and chilled so we could get an early jump on the trip in the morning.

By the time we woke up on Sunday around 7:30AM, the sun was shining brightly and warmly, and there was not a cloud in site.   Everything smelled so fresh!   We ate breakfast, packed up the car, and were on our way.  The trip up to Kaikoura is straight up the coast on State Highway 1 (a two-lane highway) and is so stunning!  It was hard to believe there was an optional “Scenic Route” (which I think is redundant); we decided we would take on the way home.

We first drove through Waipara wine region, where we had been wine-tasting a few weeks prior.  Then we hit patches of rural grazing areas - lots of deer and horses and sheep (of course).  We stopped in a tiny town called Cheviot for a coffee, then jumped back in the car for the rest of the journey.  We drove up into the mountains, on roads that dropped off hundreds of metres into deep valleys.  Trees and heavy vegetation covered these mountains, and the sight of it all was simply spectacular.  Once again, except for the odd power line or farm shack, this scenery was virtually untouched.  There did, however, seem to be “more traffic than usual”, i.e. we saw several cars on the trip.

Eventually we made our way to the top of hill and a glorious view of the sea awaited us.  The sun was glistening off the azure water.  The rocky coast and mountains in the background, in contrast, were dark.  It was like a living postcard!

We winded our way back down the mountains to near-sea level; the road, at this point, traced the coastline.  The waves in the ocean were large from the storm that had passed and crashed against the rocks in giant splashes.  I could not get over the color of the water - simply beautiful!  With the fresh, salty breeze and the warm sun, it was going to be a great day!

We continued winding, passing by several scenic lookouts where others stopped to take pictures.  We went through short mountain tunnels and alongside a train track which we knew continued North into another area we have yet to visit - Marlborough (one of our future trips involves taking same coastal train to Marlborough with our bikes and biking to visit several of the 30+ vineyards there).

Several kilometres down the road and we found our campsite, Peketa. We stopped into the office to book a tent site and found a spot that would be suitable.  The campsite is right off the beach in the grassy dunes (no sand).  Walk a few metres, and the rocky beach and ocean waves await.  There were no other tents around us at the time. We gathered damp driftwood and left it on an old picnic table to dry in the sun; we would use it to build a fire later.  Looking out into the ocean, not far off from the breakers was a small pod of dolphins.  I was getting excited!

At this time, it was getting close to our scheduled time to swim with the dolphins, so we made our way to Encounter Kaikoura to check in!

It seems, lately, that I am playing catch-up with the blog; as of yet, I have not written about our short (but awesome!) trip to Kaikoura.  If you’d like to get a pictorial “sneak preview”, you can visit our Kaikoura album on Flickr.

Otherwise, we have been busy preparing and planting our winter garden, getting to know two new flatmates (which brings the total at Derby Street to seven!), and - for me - embarking on a more aggressive hunt for employment.  We are also planning to squeeze in a few more weekend camping trips or tramps (hikes) before the weather turns colder.

Please bear with me while I work all of this out :)

Cheers,

Courtney

From Catherine Austin Fitts’ Solari blog:

I’m a lunatic farmer, that’s my new catch phrase. I have a Ph.D. That stands for Post Hole Digger. Today we only need to buy toilet paper and Kleenex, everything else we make here. The only reason the framers of the Bill of Rights did not include freedom of food choice along with the right to bear arms, worship and speech was that they couldn’t conceive of the day when food would have to have a USDA sticker on it.

- Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm, from www.organicconsumers.org

Hopefully, someday soon, Rus and I will reach this level of sustainability and freedom!