Grandy’s Long walk – The Bibbulmun Track, Western Australia

Grandy's long walk 1

 

Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley  after she had completed this 1000km walk.

Linda undertook this walk on her own, it took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for.

Linda isn’t your average walker by any means,  she suffered some serious injuries  breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself  to literally get back on her feet again.

We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful chestnut farm in Nannup, Western Australia just after the launch of  the children’s book she wrote about her journey.

‘Grandy’s Long Walk’ is written for young children, superbly illustrated about her walk.

Linda wrote the book out of a concern that children today spending less and less time with nature and more and more time in front of the small screen. She hopes to encourage more children to get outside and discover the same senses of wonder and joy of nature that she had experienced on her long walk in the forest.

You can listen to her telling us all about this amazing journey below.

We were so curious about this really long walk that during our research we found some youtube videos of other people who travel from all over the world to walk this track.

Darren is one such person, he created  a video and kindly gave us permission to include it in this article. His video is just a part of the walk, you can view it here Bibbulmun track video   Darren is raising money for Diabetes  you can see his web site here   Darren’s website

There is also a specialist web site filled with information for those who want to plan their own walk..The BIbbulman Track

 

Are we rediscovering a sense of community ?

Today’s interview is really fascinating, our friends Bill Sosinsky and Rich Sapienza of Energime University discuss, coming trends, in particular the growing sense of community involvement.

Community gardens – the modern name for an ‘Allotment’ is a case in point.

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The growing popularity of farmers markets, are helping to provide locally grown produce, that is grown in season, rather than having all food always available. There are some real benefits to eating ‘for want of a better word’ the right vegetables for the season.

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We talk about water usage and the changes coming. To how we will all have to change some of our habits in these new times. In the meantime we all need to reconnect with nature, spend time to just take a stroll in a garden or park.

tree lined

If you enjoy our interviews with these fascinating people, do drop us a line with ideas or suggestions to info@grotrends.com or better still like us on Facebook 

Ann & Chris

The Growing Potential for Algae -Part two

When we started this latest series of interviews with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet we soon realised how important Algae is to life on our planet.

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We never realised how interesting or how much interest these interviews would generate.

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Here’s the second part, it’s fascinating, informative and what the future holds for us all.

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Have a listen then drop us a line with your thoughts we would love to hear from you.

You can hear our latest interview here – just click on the bar below or on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you with ideas and suggestions, just drop us a line at info@growtrends.com

 

The Growing Potential for Algae – Part one

Our interview this week is with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet, it's all about the amazing properties of algae and  the work being done today that could transform many areas of our lives. This fascinating interview is in two parts, with the second part coming next week.

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Algae has some fascinating uses :-

As an Energy Source –  a 737 plane flew from Houston to Chicago on fuel derived from algae, way back in 2011

algae for jet fuel

As a Fertilizer – from as long ago as the 16th century, seaweed has been used a fertilizer.

As a source of Nutrition – China has been consuming Algae for over 2000 years, they harvest over 70 species as does Japan, Ireland, Chile, Wales,Korea, California, New Zealand, Hawaii, Scotland, Greenland and Iceland to name a few. It was an ingredient in Aztec foods.

Oils obtained from some algae  have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids,others essential omega 3 fatty acids.

As a Pollution control –  treating sewage with algae, reducing the use of toxic chemicals that would be used. They can absorb fertilizer run off from fields. Aquariums can be filtered by algae

As a Pigment  – alternative to chemical dyes

As a Medicine – helping fight malnutrition, immune health, reducing cholesterol

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Amazingly  there could be more than 72000 algae species worldwide.

You can hear our interview with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet on iTunes at Growing Trends or here on our podcast just click below to hear 

We would love to hear from you, our email address is  info@grotrends.com

GT112 School Garden Projects have many positives, you can hear many of them here.

Children-eating-salad

Is this really salad ? it tastes so good like this !

Ann & I were fortunate to talk to three amazing ladies from Tennessee a little while ago. They wanted to start a school garden at their school, here is their story, the school garden is now in its third year.

Raised beds

Some of the main points we heard were:-

It's essential to have teacher as well as parent support.

Take time to plan carefully

Initially growing from seed is harder , due to the school calendar. 

Choose plants that will fit into this schedule.

The children want to take ownership of their plants !

Educating children in the different choices of produce increases the varieties they will eat.

Children really take pride in taking home to their family the produce they have grown.

In a blind radish test, the children could tell which were home grown as opposed to store bought and much preferred home grown !

strawberry picking

Ann & I would love to hear from you.  info@grotrends.com

If you would like us to put you in touch with these wonderful ladies,or if you would like more information on starting your own school garden just send us an email to Growing Trends and we will be in touch. If you would like us to interview you, send us a picture of your garden along with contact details, we will be adding a section to our web site www.grotrends.com specially on School garden projects.

Thank you Penny, Peggy and Emily, this was a fascinating interview.

Ann & Chris

 

 

 

 

GT111 Eating fresh local food

Here in the USA its Spring, time to think about fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. It's even more important this year with the continuing drought in California where a lot of the countries fresh produce is grown as they now have a mandatory 25% reduction in water use.

If you are growing at home one of the most effective methods that has passed the passage of time is Mel Bartholomew's  – Square Foot Gardening method – Ann and I will be interviewing Mel very soon.

Square Foot Gardening

Before we do, Ann and I were privileged to interview Nellie, she is a young mother who is passionate about eating fresh produce on a low budget.

Our interview is inspiring for those who want to find the best way to eat fresh local food. Nellie explains how to balance your budget and yet find good healthy fresh food.

This is one very astute young lady, who is passionate about food – her mum tells me,she is also a great cook..

GT 110 Norma Burnson – Sustainable Food for the Globe

Ann and Chris interview this remarkable lady, Norma is on a mission.

Norma's mission is "Sustainable Food for the Globe, One Square Foot at a Time," and that is also the title of Norma Burnson's book, available on Amazon.com. At Burnson & Associates, we are passing along the baton of youth leadership development and involving our U.S. Veterans in our projects and workforce.

sustainable food for the globe

Be inspired to help Norma, but first listen to our interview.

GT107: Alternative sources of energy power & storage – it’s looking good for the future

windpower

Ann & Chris continue their talk with Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky, starting with windmills and wind turbines.

Rich is a believer in 'Small is beautiful' – the idea of making incremental savings of say 25% with smaller units being preferable to building huge systems that may or may not work.

Most of the savings will come as we discover more efficient energy storage and they have been exploring some interesting options.

We then move on to hydrogen power, thorium, Tesla and so much more. It's fascinating to listen to the bright picture they paint for future generations..

GT106:Sustainability for the world today.

Ann and Chris interview Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky  we talk about sustainable solutions for the world today.

It's fascinating, interesting and very enlightening.

allotment

Sustainability must work on its own, grow on its own, support itself with the built-in ability to endure and grow naturally. There must be a plan. As long as we rely on subsidies and philanthropy as the means by which we re-establish our sustainable balance on this planet, we are ultimately doomed. This lack of strategy insures we run out of sufficient monies way before we have fully addressed these essential challenges. The simple answer is that everything must work together and their needs to be a singular general vision that incorporates the best efforts of all the contributing parties

GT105:Bill Sosinsky talks on empowering the world to re-establish a sustainable environment.

Bill continues his visionary journey creating Energime University. 

Empowering the world to re-establish a sustainable environment.

The Tipping Point

World Wide WEsponsibility

As far back as I can remember since we as people began to recognize our potential to destroy our planet’s environment, experts have spoken of a tipping point. This is a theoretical time frame where our collective action would no longer offset catastrophic damage to our biosphere. The reality is we passed that tipping point years ago.

You can visit Energime University here