How green can you be?

It is one thing to sit at home and search the great big internet for eco-friendly ideas that appeal to you, but how can you really know what is out there unless you go to an event designed to showcase all that is green and environmentally minded like where I was lucky enough to attend on the weekend.

I am amazed at the inventiveness of people, who have seen a need or a better way to do something and ran with it.  The Go Green Expo was an incredible showcase of passionate people looking for a better way of life.  There was even a hydrogen powered Harley Davidson motorcycle.

I was there because I had been asked to speak to the visitors about gardening and so on the Saturday my audience were reminded that food actually comes from dirt and there was nothing to be afraid of. And on Sunday I shared 10 compelling reasons why everyone should grow their own food.

But the show itself was fascinating.  There were many things I hadn’t considered I needed, but now I have a bit of a wish list.  One of the cool things that stuck with me was the coffins!  You were confronted with your mortality the moment you walked through the doors.  Why would you want an expensive oak coffin when you could have a beautiful basket one, or a very affordable cardboard one?

Then there were the kinds of things you would expect to see at a green expo – solar panels, fair trade, natural cosmetics and organic everything.  It was a very popular event and we were jostled by so many people wanting to improve the planet.

Coloured pencils from recycled newspaper.

Organic tea in fine china cups – how else would you drink it?

Saurkraut and kimchi – new found friends of mine – so very good.

Composting toilets – as we’re not hooked up to the great sewage network, I think this may not be for us, but it is kinda cool.

Go Green Expo Beewax infused food wrap – such a cool idea

There were two main areas that drew my attention.  Firstly the food.  There was so much on offer.  The key to a healthy life is to make sure what you put in is healthy.  The hardest part of it was not a lot was local, and in the spirit of the Eat Local challenge the most we could do was look longingly at the natural chocolate and coconut based products.  Although I must confess curiosity drove me to try fresh almond milk and coconut kefir.  Both were very interesting – an acquired taste we could say.  We did however find the most incredible local salted caramel gelato…  so very good.

A serpentine stone pot make the ancient way. I need one of these. Need maybe a bit strong – but want just doesn’t seem to convey the desire to possess one of these incredible pots.

Seed infused wool mats. I need a new lawn, but even better was the microgreen range of seed infused wool mats – perfect for windowsills. Want, want want. I really shouldn’t be allowed out sometimes.

A hydroponic tower, ideal for small spaces.

I’d love a living wall too, but I think first I’d need to build a wall in my garden… unless… well there is the side of the chicken coop and the side of the shed and off the back of Hubby the Un-Gardeners boat….

Worm farms were really popular

Indoor composting

But for me personally the best parts of the expo were the green things – the garden green things.  There were living walls made from fibre spun from recycled plastic bottles.  There was a cool compost machine that you keep inside and plug into the wall and it turns all your food scraps over and over and makes compost in two weeks.  I’d need several of them or at least the industrial sized one to make enough compost for my garden.  There were worm farms and composting toilets, and hydroponic towers sprouting fresh salad greens.  They were so healthy looking people kept touching them.  I think they must have thought they were fake!   The grass seed infused into a wool mat was a great idea that held my attention as I explored the possibility of turning our mowed paddock into something more respectable.

Ways to process the harvest were also represented and this also drew my attention as I’m always looking at interesting things to do with my crop.  There was a cool solar oven, an amazing stone pot – I just have to have one – hand carved from serpentine stone, the likes of which have been used for a thousand years.

But what really caught my eye was shiny and lovely and I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame – I so desperately want a lovely copper still set.  But want and need are two different things and while it would be cool to have so I could make things when the desire strikes me, to be honest it would probably sit beside my cheese making equipment and my wine making gear and possibly my sewing machine and be used more by Hubby the Un-Gardener to prevent me from buying the next shiny thing I see.  I can hear it now “But you don’t use….xxxxx…..  so why…..”  I still want one though.

Aside from an expanded number of things on the “I want” and “I must have” list, the show was a fabulous way to spend a weekend and be inspired by hundreds of people wanting to improve our world and catching a hold of their collective passion and taking it home to continue our bit.    If you want to find out more you can check out the Go Green Expo >HERE<

Happy Earth Day for Wednesday.

Come again soon – I’m thinking of spring this autumn

Sarah the Gardener  : o )