March 24
Today I learnt how to help wombats
One thing leads to another. After my post on lifting weights last week, Libby offered me some personal weight training this morning at 7am so I could get stronger! I needed that ‘strength’ later in the day to face the stories I was hearing about wombats. Devastatingly, wombats are ‘rotting to death’ with mange, and in NSW it’s only volunteers working to save them! If mange is left untreated there is a 100% kill rate. Today, my action to restore planetary health, was to spend the afternoon in the Megalong Valley learning how to help wombats survive this devastating parasite. Inspiring and dedicated ecologist Melina Budden, a volunteer herself, travels every week from Lake Macquarie to train other volunteers and to check and restock the burrow flaps that successfully help administer the medication the wombats need. They’re made by the volunteers from donated For Sale signs, vegemite lids and take away food containers. We learnt to check the burrows and log our observations, clean out and refill the medication, and fix the burrow flaps that the wombats knock over. As wombats leave their burrows, the flap tips the medication in the vegemite lid onto their backs.
We urgently need to lobby government to eradicate mange, but in the meantime it’s volunteers keeping wombats alive. If you’re confident being out and about in the Australian bush, and if you have transport, then please contact Melina to volunteer, and/or to donate, on 0420 423 187 – the wombats need you. You can read more in the Blue Mountains Gazette here and listen to an excellent podcast here.
You can also check out the Blue Mountains Wombat Conservation Group on FB here
PRODUCE>CONSUME
After our weight training and a tour of the garden this morning, Libby gave me a handful of Perpetual Spinach to try, as well as some seeds so that I could grow them too. Tonight I did some night-time seed-sowing and planted 25 seeds so I can ensure a regular supply!
PLANT-BASED EATING: Sake, soy and mirin veg and tofu stir fry
All day, one thing continued to lead to another, and tonight I made a dinner using Libby’s perpetual spinach.
In a very hot wok, with lashings of peanut oil, I fried our locally grown scallions, beans, garlic and perpetual spinach with the tastiest of sauces …..
Sake, soy and mirin veg and tofu stir fry
Equipment
- 1 wok
Ingredients
- Large bunch scallions and a variety of other greens like beans and perpetual spinach
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsps soy sauce
- peanut oil
- rice to serve
Instructions
- Chop up garlic, onions and beans.
- Combine sake, mirin, sugar and soy sauce and stir until sugar is dissolved
- Cook 3/4 cup of rice in 1 ½ cups water
- Heat peanut oil in a very hot wok and add scallions, beans and garlic. Stir on high heat until reduced by at least half and the edges have begun to brown. The longer the better to caramelise the onions. Toss in tofu and spinach and cook for a couple of minutes. Add sauce and give a quick stir before removing from heat.
- Serve on rice.
WHAT ACTIONS ARE OTHER PEOPLE TAKING?
Well, Libby obviously gave me weight training and shared Perpetual Spinach leaves and seed so that I could grow them too!
Debra made a knitting needle bracelet.
Jen also signed up for Earth Hour on Saturday!
And Kieran came and learnt how to help wombats in the Megalong Valley today too!
Others have continued to email me about actions they hope to do on the 7th April for World Health Day so that we can try to reach 365 actions in one day. Would love everyone to contribute on that day if you can!
Research by academics at Leeds University, engineering firm Arup and the C40 Cities climate group has identified that 73 per cent of all changes needed by 2030 to keep the world on course to meet the Paris agreement targets need to be made by governments and industry. But private citizens have considerable influence over the remaining 27 per cent. So let’s get cracking!
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