In summary (part 2) - use your teabags twice and then use them again!

I read in the Kiwi Conservation Club magazine (produced by Forest and Bird) an idea for starting seeds. Take your used teabags (we brew with ours multiple times, adding a new one to the pot which has the last few still in it - this means $$ savings at the checkout!), lay them in a tray. Keep them damp and plant a seed in the top of each one - I guess you need to make a cut in the teabag. Because the tea has been in boiling water it's sterile so there won't be any disease the little seed could succumb to.
So away we go!

I have yet to plant seeds but the weather is still a bit cold for that (for evidence supporting this claim, refer to snow outside).

Our experimenting with microgreens was fairly successful - Emma had 14 trays growing in the lounge, so we could eat them every day, replant them and they would reach maturity 14 days later. That was the theory. As it was a bit cold, they didn't reach their proper eating size in that time. They were still yummy. Emma experimented with growing them on newspaper so she could cut them off right near the roots, getting the most out of the plant. This worked, however they got mouldy near the base so eating them wasn't so appealing. We decided to return them to their time-proven preferred growing medium - dirt. We built a raised bed in the glasshouse which kept them going despite the frosts. They are now nearing eating size. I experimented with a range of different concentrations - here you can see intense (straight off of Emma's tray) in the near corner, and rows at the back. The more intensely planted ones seem to be growing faster - very interesting!

Yay! My electric bike project is finished at last! Here you can see the motor in the back wheel. The battery and controller are in the tackle-box mounted on the rack. It gets up to 40 kph but that's a bit too fast in the city - great for getting to Hornby around the ring road and suchlike though. I heavier traffic I stick to 30. The range should be around 50km but we have yet to give this a proper test. I invested in panniers for the sides so going shopping is now a piece of cake. (Of course, we bake our cakes rather than buying them because packaging is evil.)
With the baby trailer we have borrowed from Will's parents on the back, mega loads are very possible - e.g. I biked to Sun Tai and purchased 25kg of brown and white flour = 50kg! I could never manage that without a car unless I had a trailer. So we recommend finding or making a trailer for your household very strongly.
 

And finally... early in the competition we committed to not putting out our red bin - rubbish - for the duration of the competition. We succeeded! :D :D This was achievable because most rubbish is packaging so here's how we avoid this: we buy in bulk (=minimal packaging waste, and even then, most of our bulk purchases come in tough paper bags), buy veges from the St Aidan's vege coop and reuse these bags (along with any others we can't avoid), bake bread and cook every meal from scratch. AND we bake our own biscuits and cakes (remember?). It's yummier and it's preservative/antioxidant/emulsifier free. Baking is important, people!

That's all from me for the competition. We are looking forward to continuing to share our journey with the world so keep tabs on our blog! Our biggest thanks go to Matt and Sharon at the sustainabilty office, as well as the fantastic sponsors who we love and of course to the judges - you're the best! (wink, wink!) :D

It's been a blast guys!

Tim