New Zealand Organic Report 2010

I picked up a copy of the New Zealand Organic Report 2010 pamphlet last week ("Data from the University of Otago" it says, in a reassuring authoritative way on the back).

In it is a nice fact: organically farmed soils store 28% more carbon.

That alone makes me feel good about buying organic food.

Winter

Rain. Having the heater on. Coming home from work in the dark. Wearing your woolies. Baked potatoes. That's what June's about.

I miss the garden.

(Love the wintry list of produce that's in season though.)

Hard-wearing shoes

Shoe lovers, I have two words for you: Minnie Cooper.

My discovery of the week - I bought a pair and I'm besotted with them!

They are:
- made in New Zealand
- all leather, apart from the heel and the sole plate they recommend you get put on
- repairable-looking - you could replace the heel and the sole plate when they get worn

They're not cheap, but I'm optimistic they will last long enough to make up.

And did I mention pretty? :)


Other notes I've gleaned about good and bad shoe brands:

Wore out quickly:
Hush Puppies
Miss Sophie
All Stars

Seemed to last well:
DV8
Sole shoes

Picking up rubbish at the beach

I love that when I start picking up plastic rubbish from the beach, people don't laugh at me and tell me I'm weird. They start picking it up too.

Even more plastic-free takeaways

I've updated the plastic-free takeaways post again, this time thanks a hasty dinner at McDonalds.

Although my quarter-pounder and fries were in fact plastic free, I did notice that I was eating 75% of my daily fat allowance in one sitting. But I leave that part of the choice up to your nutritional conscience :)


Also interesting to see a strong split between food styles: fish and chips, pizza and burgers come out generally low in plastic; various Asian takeaways (Chinese, Thai, Indian, sushi) seem to be mostly plastic-y.

Hill St farmers' market

It was my first visit to the Hill St Farmers' Market yesterday.

First thought: So that's where the organic vegie stall has gone to from the Victoria St market.

Second thought: Hmm, it is a bit of a chichi, high-end market, aimed at the eco-affluent rather than a dirt-under-the-fingernails farmers market (stalls with chocolates, cupcakes, olive oil etc. rather than earthy vegies and half sides of sheep).

Third (excited) thought: Fish?!

And there it was: Splashzone, a van selling fish caught locally off the Wairarapa coast. They say they're a family business and catch under the quota management system.

I asked and they said they catch the fish either with lines (for hapuku and one other species) or with nets. What kind of nets? I asked. They looked at me like I was a little crazy and said they had nets with different-sized holes for different species.

I guess I was thinking: gillnet? purse seine net? They didn't really give me quite enough information to know, but from the photos on the website it's clearly a small boat with small nets, so I'm thinking this isn't bottom trawling or one of those operations with nets so big you can fit a fleet of aeroplanes through the mouth. So I reckon it's probably not too bad as commercial fishing goes.

And they gave me a scoop of chipped ice in the bag to take my smoked lemonfish home in. Nice.

Plastic-free meat

If you ask at the deli counter at the supermarket (New World, anyway), they'll just wrap your meat in paper.