The Greening of Gavin

Resources

I thought it would be helpful to create a resource page that you can always come to for all of your sustainable living and blogging needs. I have gained and learnt a lot of knowledge since my initial greening, and can tell greenwash from a good deal.

I get weekly emails from readers asking me how I did something or where I got certain tools or books, so here they are all in one place.  Where I can, I support our local businesses.

Enjoy!

 

Disclosure: Because I blog with integrity, please note that a small number of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Please understand that I have experience with all of these products, tools or providers, and I recommend them only because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I may make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products just because they are recommended by me, unless you feel you really need them or that they will help you achieve your green living goals.


Solar Electricity (Photovoltaic)

  • EnviroShop – This solar installer (among other eco goods and services), is another long time player in the market.  The founder, Mick Harris is a passionate member of the Alternative Technology Association really gets sustainable living.  He also opens his house up to the public during Sustainable House Day.  They have some great solar packages that are affordable for the average aussie.
  • Energy Matters – This Melbourne based Solar PV company installed my 2.8 kW system way back in 2007!  The great news is that they have branches in most states and are still very much in business.  Their service was great and they explained everything in laymans terms.  No hard selling either.

Gardening

  • Diggers – I have been a proud member of the Diggers club since 2007.  They have Australia’s largest range of heirloom vegetables, cottage flowers and fruit plants that can be delivered direct to you.  Most of my fruit trees (I have over 25) are from Diggers.  Based in Victoria.
  • Eden Seeds – Their aim is to distribute old traditional open pollinated varieties of vegetable seed, preferably old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible. Based in Queensland.
  • Aero Bin – Composting on a small scale normally takes a long time, but not when you use an Aero Bin.  I can produce fantastic compost in about 2 months using one of these bins.
  • Melton Garden Supplies – When I build raised garden beds, I source all of my materials including the mushroom compost garden mix from this local business.  Reasonable prices and they deliver direct to your home.
Chickens
  • Bacchus Marsh and Melton Poultry Club – I visit the frequent poultry auctions held every few months.
  • Royal Rooster Feeders and Watering – I use and recommend Royal Rooster feeders for the simple fact that they are practical and there is much less wasted food.  The drinkers only need topping up every few days.
  • Melton Produce – I buy all my chicken feed and the odd bale of straw from Peter at Melton Produce.  He has competitive pricing and always greets me by name and with a smile.  Good old fashion service.
Cheese Making
  • Little Green Workshops – We have created our very own online business to provide you with cheese making kits, supplies, and equipment from someone you trust.  We deliver Australia wide.
  • New England Cheesemaking Supply Company – Run by Ricki Carroll (The Cheese Queen). I occasionally purchase hard to find items from the US.
  • Mozzarella Courses in Melton, Victoria – Well, I would be silly not to recommend my own cheese making courses, wouldn’t I?  Basic cheesemaking course are run in Melton and surrounds at least once a month.

Little Green Workshops

Soap Making

  • Little Green Workshops – Kim and I teach soap making classes at the Melton South Community Centre.  We also have an online store that stocks soap making kits, supplies, and equipment.

eBooks Publishing

  • Self Publishing sites – I use Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing as my two major retailers/distributors for all my sustainable living eBooks.  If you want to learn my self publishing methodology have a look at this post titled How I Self publish eBooks.
  • E-Junkie Shopping Cart – This is the shopping cart I use to sell my eBooks. It’s compatible with Paypal Standard, Paypal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, TrialPay, Clickbank & 2CheckOut. Works like a charm, very low price to use.
  • PayPal – I use this for transactional services.  You can even set up ‘buy now’ buttons, but I prefer e-junkie as they take away the pain of electronic delivery.
  • Microsoft Office 2013 – Getting the words down into your manuscript is easy with MS Word.  Both Smashwords and KDP recommend uploading your finished eBook using MS Word.
Blogging Tools
  • Blogger – Still the easiest and best way to set up a blog at no cost.  Google really have made it easy.  I use Blogger for some of my sites.
  • WordPress – I recently moved over to a self-hosted site for The Greening of Gavin.  The options and plugins are amazing.
  • Web Hosting – Most of the move to WordPress was handled by RFE Hosting.  Aaron, who managed my migration from Blogger to WordPress and set up the site, is a diamond in the rough.  As I work in the IT industry, I know fantastic customer service when I see it, and Aaron delivers!
  • Google Drive – Used for additional storage in the cloud that is accessible from anywhere.  I use it to back up all of my eBook manuscripts, podcast episodes and other documents just in case my home storage fails.
  • Voicemail widget by SpeakPipe – Set up a voicemail widget on your website or use a voicemail page on SpeakPipe. This allows your visitors to leave voice messages right from a browser. No phone calls are required!  I mainly use this to solicit questions from readers to play on my two podcasts.
RFE Hosting

Podcasting tools

  • Audacity – My preferred audio recording and editing tool.  It is easy to use and free for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  • Skype – A great video and audio communication tool.  I use it to interview people for podcasts and can also be used to call regular telephones.
  • MP3 Skype Recorder – This handy little Skype plug-in records all my interviews for my two podcasts.  It is free and easy to install.
  • Libsyn (Liberated Syndication) – Recently I began hosting “The Greening of Gavin” podcast using this service.  I find that they have great support, and the player response time is double that of Podbean.  The prices are also on par, and there is less down time.
  • Podbean – I use this service to host my Little Green Cheese podcast files, and to create the feed to iTunes.  It is an easy and powerful way to start podcasting.   If you know how to blog, you can make a podcast!  They also have excellent embedded players for your main blog site.
  • Powerpress plugin – This plugin by Blubrry is designed specifically for podcasters who run a self hosted WordPress sites.  It has so many features including category podcasting, yet it is easy to use.
  • Simple Podcast Press plugin – This amazing podcast plug in automatically adds subscribe buttons to your pages to help grow your audience.  It even features an opt-in section to drive more traffic to your email list.
  • Microphones – I use the Audio Technica ATR2100 USB/XLR microphone for all my recording needs.  This mic grows with your podcast.  You can plug directly into a USB port or use the XLR socket to record via an audio mixer.  The recent recording on my podcasts are made using this mic.
  • Audio Mixer – If you want to use more than one microphone into your PC then you will need a mixer.  I use the Behringer Xenyx X1204 USB mixer with 4 mic inputs.  Used to mix all my audio and send it into my PC for recording.
  • Bossjock – I use the bossjock iOS app for podcasting on the move.  I plug in my ATR2100 into my iPad using the camera connection kit, plug in some headphones, and I ready to go.

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Video tools

  • Pinnacle Studio 16 Ultimate – This video editing software is intuitive and easy to use.  For Windows 8 / 7 / Vista / XP.  I edit and do all post production on my video tutorials using this fully featured software.
  • YouTube – Probably not news to many readers, but this is where I post all of my video tutorials and TV appearances.