Farm Life Food

That was the first Zero Waste Society Meetup 

The Zero Waste Society Kick-off Meetup took place at the beautiful library of Impact Hub Vienna on Wednesday the 17th of June 2015. Organized and hosted by Helene Pattermann. 

The goal of the meetup was to bring together all initiatives, projects and people, that are working on creating a Zero Waste Society in Austria. More than 25 people came and about 15 organisations were represented at the kick-off. 

The agenda

During this 2 hour meeting all the projects were shortly presented. We dreamed about how a Zero Waste Society could look like, what we need to make it happen and started the conversations of what actionable steps are necessary and possible. 

Zero Waste Projects in Austria

In the picture underneath you see the projects, that were represented at the Zero Waste Society Austria Meetup, and some more that we mentioned, but the list isn´t complete, since there is wastecooking, auferstanden, BOKU and many more missing. I will keep working on the attempt to get a more accurate overview of the Zero Waste Austria reality. 

Let´s dream

I believe to make change happen, you need an emotional picture of what a Zero Waste Society should be. In an open floor discussion we imagined our aspirations and what drives us to make the world a better place, in a more sustainable way. 

The mantra of Zero Waste “Reduce, reuse, reycle” leads the way, and is the answer to all waste-problems. But how can it be used in the world we live in. It is hard to dream a scenario, without fokusing of what is need for that change. In our perfect world scenario there would be other legislations, different consumer expectations, more responsibility, different values, innovative business models. See where our brainstorming took us:

Foodwaste is very prominant part of Zero Waste. Zero Waste is not “just” about food waste. It is about using all resources wisely. Foodwaste is a very good example of resources being wasted, when they are needed so desprately by so many. And not just on the other end of the world, also in Austria. Apart from better usage of resources, we dream of big changes in productdesign, legislations and rethinking the necessity of packaging. 

A lot of educating, showing alternatives and teaching other values will be necessary for a change. 

What do we need to create a Zero Waste Society?

We need to work together. Use synergies and help each other out, for a stronger impact. If we contribute to a strong Zero Waste Community, we can reach our goals faster. By doing that we will have more success in changing consumers behavior and we will be heard by the government. 

Quotes and notes from the meetup: 

“We do not have to be Einzelkämpfer” 

“We can share information on digital platforms”

“We can use our synergy and depth of experience”

Let´s act

We agreed to make sure the interests of the Zero Waste Movement are always represented prominently at a political level. We will identify political figures, who can lobby for change and make sure that Zero Waste Society interests are heard and acted upon. We will prepare something in writing that can be send out and shared. 

Next steps

There will be quarterly meetings of the Zero Waste Society Austria, the next will be held on the 16th of September 2015. You can find the event on Facebook, as well as the closed group. 

Following meetups will have room for short project updates, as well as discussion. There will be experts and special topics to narrow down the conversations to output oriented matters. With a questionnaire, sent to all participants of the first meetup, the goals and agenda for the first year will be lined out. 

Conclusion

There is a lot of passion and heart behind all Zero Waste -related projects in Austria and therefor a strong motivation for real change. As individuals, everyone is limited to what they can do. Forming a society can use synergies, improve knowledge exchange and make the movement in Austria better heard and respected.

The 15 organisations and 25 people from the first Zero Waste Society Kick-off will stay in touch through Social Media and quarterly meetings with a strong focus an action will be held.

If you want to participate, join the next meetup in September or contact Helene for questions, collaborations and general interest.

Cherry Blossoms for Christmas...

....that might be common as well in other parts of the world, where it is warm, but in Austria we only have the pleasure of seeing those blossoms bloom thanks to a lovely tradition. 

Traditionally on the 4th of December, Saint Barbaras Day, you cut some branches from a cherry tree and put them in a vase with water. You place the cherry branches in a warm place, e.g. next to the heater and wait. 

If you are lucky they start to bloom on Christmas Day. That stands for luck for the upcoming year and is often connected with the birth of a child within the next year. 

Mine started a few days later, but thats ok with me, since I have already 2 wonderful girls. 

It magical to see this beautiful blossom, when outside is cold, snowy and icy. 

We were about to move out of our farmhouse in Southern Spain, just around time for olive harvest and unfortunatly the only thing we managed to do with them was pretty bad. Really bad. We threw them away after trying and waiting for quite a while. 

Here`s the story.

Our landlords came and said they would help us with the olives. In Spain you hardly find black olives to eat, they are always green. Really nice and fresh. So he showed us how to treat and marinate them. 

So we picked them early December and cracked them open with a hammer handle. Then we soaked them in water for 1 day, changing the water 3 times.

Then we added to half a bucket full of olives, 3 little jars of dried oregano, very much (he said, that is to make the pretty unripe olives digestable). Then we added two crushed garlic heads, half a red bell pepper sliced and a lot of wine vinegar and salt. And water. 

He said to wait for a week and then to eat it within 2 weeks or so. They are not made to last. 

It tasted uneatable. Awful overdose of dried oregano and bitter, toxic tasting olives. He said to add more vinegar or salt or water to taste. So we experimented a little bit, but nothing changed the fact that it tasted poisonous. 

So after eating 3 or so, I decided I never want to have to eat that again. So I through the whole bucket on the compost. What a shame. I love olives and it is sad that that was my one and only approach to preserve my own olives. 

This chapter is over, so no more olives for me. 

Brown rice lemon asparagus risotto

Brown rice

lemon cest, sliced onions, garlic

green asparagus

fresh sage

veggie buillon

butter

parmesan

white wine

I love my brown rice risotto. I prepare the brown rice like usual. In other pan I fry the sliced onions and garlic, then add some sliced lemon cest (cut as small as possible).

In the meantime I biol the asparagus and cut in bigger pieces.

I add the cooked asparagus to the onions. Add the white wine. Then add the cooked brown rice. To make it a "risotto rice" I overcook it with some veggie broth, stop when you are happy with the consistency.

To give it the rich risotto touch, finish it with a big junk of butter and parmesan. Sprinkle fresh sage on top and decorate with more fresh graded parmesan.

GOOD-BYE SPAIN!

Almost 2 years ago we started a big adventure. Without  knowing what might happen we moved to this wonderful mountain village in Southern Spain and were welcomed with open arms in a loving, great and special community in a breathtaking nature surrounding. 

We learned Spanish, faced challenges like starting preschool, selling car, moving, ...

It made us a stronger family, a better couple, enriched our lives it so many ways, we made many new friends and caught up with old friends.

It could have not been better, we were incredible lucky and I am so thankful for all of it.

Still I had to walk out of this bubble and take on with my life back home.

A friend gave me a big box of Pomegranate. Great. But then a bunch of fruit flies immediately invaded our kitchen. 

So my husband took the wooden kitchen spoon and went to action.

Many of you might know that trick, but for those who don't. 

The best way to get the seeds out of the shell is to cut the pomegranate into half and put it with the cut open side in your palm and hit on the outside with a big wooden spoon. It works great, all the seeds fall in your hand and bowl, that you wisely place underneath.

Last year I froze some seeds and made recently a pomegranate frozen yogurt out of it.

This year I went for juice.

I put the seeds into the blender, blended it just for a second.

Then strained it through a colander to part the seeds, right into a pot.

Then heat it up and add a lot of sugar. Bring it to a boil and fill hot in sterilized bottles.

This syrup is great for cocktails, but also as a regular soft drink with water or even better sparkling water.  

Winter has arrived in Southern Spain and it's chestnut-season. I went with my family to pick some chestnuts next to the road. My family wasn't very happy with me, because I forgot to bring gloves. Chestnuts have very spiky shells. 

Our open fireplace makes us miserable, because it fills the whole house with smoke and doesn't heat the house well, but one thing it is great for: roasting chestnuts. 

I always thought that you have to slice open chestnuts, before roasting, because they would explode. We tried it out, without cutting and they didn't. It is good to put them in the fire, where it is really hot, but then you have to watch out that they don't burn. A lot of moving around. 

Here in Spain they sell those chestnut roasting pans, with holes in it. I have never seen such a pan before. 

What I did in Austria without such a pan and open fireplace: 

I sliced the chestnuts, preheated the oven to maximum and then put the chestnuts and roast them for about 15 min. 

My father likes to boil the sliced chestnuts before roasting in water for 2 min, so that they peel off their skin more easily. What you can do instead of that is put an ovenproof pot with water into the oven while roasting the chestnuts. 

So what I think the most important thing is that they oven is really hot.