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Flowing Mu

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

What to do with all my spare money?

For the better part of my time working in NRM, I decided to donate a percentage of my after tax earnings to worthy causes.

Fair Share International suggested 5% is a good amount ( http://www.fairshareinternational.org/ ), whereas Peter Singer (in his One World book) suggested something more like 1% to start with.

I ended up donating about 3%, and it went to:
But, where does the rest of my money go?

More than a third (haven't actually done my tax return yet!) goes to the Australian government. So how can I influence whether that is spent on creating a more sustainable and just society? By being an informed participant in our democracy....and that means many things (not just voting!).

Then, the rest of it goes on stuff. Some things I need (food, clothing, shelter, retaining the services of friends and family), and some on travel, bikes etc. BUT importantly, being concious about who I give the rest of my money to can clearly make at least as big a difference as giving it to these nice, charitable organisations.

After all, some of the NGO's and charities probably spend a lot of their time working to reduce the negative impacts of businesses and practices that I may support through my purchases (and the way I vote). Fundamentally, most of the businesses I deal with will change their practices, or build different products if I request and demand them....or buy the competitors / alternative products; and are able to react quite quickly and creatively when something threatens their bottom line and demands that they reconsider their products in the face of demand from informed consumers.

So, every time I go to buy a product I think about these things...and make sure that MORE than 3% of what I earn goes towards creating a more beautiful, bountiful, just, peaceful and creative world....

Just in case any of you Australian have spare money to give away right now, search on this website for someone appropriate to give it to: http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/

Monday, August 29, 2005

Karlskrona! (as the song goes...)

Well, this place is great: a wonderful orientation week, amazing people in my class, great riding, a nice little apartment....and a Trucking Festival on the weekend! What more could you ask for?



Friday, August 19, 2005

Stockholm - 'swings and roundabouts' (thanks Ruth for the term).

I originally though I would be able to write a recipe 'For getting the best value out of a $400 AUD Scanrail pass (without resorting to cheating or lying)'. I may have to change the name of the recipe:

  • Decide that you really, really don't want to pay for travel.
  • Decide you want to get from Karlskrona to Copenhagen (600km west), catch a train and bus out to pick up your gear from the port, carry 100kgs of snowboard, bikes, books and clothes back to Karlskrona. Jump back on another bus/train combo (must be before 7pm), and get to Stockholm (700km north, but via some town 200km west).
  • Look up 3 or 4 different train and bus timetables.
  • Pack breakfast and lunch and set your alarm. Get up at 4am, and get to the bus station...watch jet-stream clouds do a beautiful imitation of fireworks in the sunrise.
  • Get to copenhagen, where you surprise the shipping company employees by walking out of their warehouse with the aforementioned bulk adn weight of gear.
  • Make it back to Karlskrona after a series of heavy lifts. Hoorah, unpack your stuff and rejoice.
  • BUT THEN, with your new-found optimism you head for the bus 7pm connection to stockholm with no sleeping bags, mats, cookers or tents. Then, as more and more hostels you call announce themselves to be full for the night....you realise that 'travelling light' may be a more appropriate for your wallet than your backpack.
  • Arrive in Stockholm at midnight! Congratulate yourself that you have just gotten nearly $1000 AUD of train riding value in one day! Unfortunately your accomodation bill for the next three nights totals nearly 20 nights worth of accom in paid campsites, or rent in your Karlskrona apartment for the better part of a month.....
  • Console yourself by absolutely gorging on the buffet breakfast included in our hotel's price : )

As for Stockholm itself, it was a great city. And one where we felt we have many more things to do and explore for next time.

Highlights included the presence of a youth festival to add some atmosphere to the city centre, an inspiring nobel prize museum, plenty of inspiring fashion and design (on the streets and in museums), the hard-to-overrate Wasa Museum, and a very authrentic adn enjoyable open air museum.

The Wasa museum contains a massive, old, wooden sailing ship that sunk metres from its launching plae on its maiden voyage....but was resurrected, intact, 330 years later. The ship, a contemporary of the Batavia, is magnificent, and the insights into ship-building and culture at the time of construction round out a great experience.

Along similar lines, the nearby open air museum at Skansen (oldest in the world) has an excellent collection of buildings from across Sweden that are filled with multi-lingual guides knitting, baking and playing old instruments in between informing you of what life used to be like. I loved it, even the nordic animals in the zoo-like enclosures looked pretty happy!

Hoorah for Sweden!

Saturday, August 13, 2005

A brief, northern European 'What's hot and what's not'

What's hot

- The hardy, folksy Latvians and Estonians for maintaining a strong sense of national identity through occupation by: Vikings, christians, russia, germany, russia again, and now tourists...Good Luck to them and their culture to surviving economic globalisation, MTV and World Wide Web.

- Partying in Riga. No-one asleep (though the room was clearly occupied by 20 people) in a youth hostel at 3am: were we missing something?

- Vegie patches and local markets: I love 'em, every single one I see excites me. They do for me what bicycles did for H.G. Wells 'When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race'. I think it is because if I was forced to describe my vision for the future of the world, vegie gardens and markets full of local produce would be front and centre. So now, every time I see them, it eokes in me a burst of joy and confidence that a beautiful world is not so far off.

- Trying to speak the tiniest bit of the local lingo, and getting rewarded wiht a nice smile or short, pleasant conversation that you are sure you would not otherwise have been priveledged to experience.

- Guidebooks. I didn't really want to put this in, as I don't like referring to them like they are holy, all-knowing texts. But, they are incredibly useful, allow you to plan and prioritise when considering unpronouncable and unfamiliar destinations, and make you feel more independent than otherwise. Money well-spent for anyone travelling.

What's not

- Old ladies with full-on moustaches and goatees, and young men wearing white translucent pants Is saying that being superficial and culturally innappropriate?

- Latvian and Estonian traditional menu for vegetarians. Details: fat, cream, cheese and grey peas, with lard on the side.

- Latvian 'museums': no signage, look closed, hidden in back streets behind dark heavy doors, full of staff (no tourists), and mostly displaying plaster copies of something in France or Italy.

- American ex-pat writer who has lived the better part of the last 7 years in Estonia, and speaks not a single word of the local language, nor knows how the buses work/when they come. Whingeing to other tourists about the local buses not running on time, nor going exactly where he wanted to go (3kms down the road) found a limited audience. Admittedly he moved to Estonia so the bad weather and isolation would make him write more, but it's no excuse for being an idiot.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Nutty Norway (Fjords to Sweden)

I am really fascinated by Norwwegian settlement patterns.

Everywhere we went there were people living in remote villages behind mountains, on an island...yet still clearly had power, roads (tunnels and ferries everywhere) water, and most importantly: mobile phone coverage. You quite clearly need to be a very rich country with very high taxes just to service such a small population spread over such a large area.

For lots of the little settlements where self-sufficiency looks to have been a realistic prospect, though I am not sure how they make a living now: tiny fields, and no stock that I could see. Perhaps they are all summer homes, or perhaps the number one priority for those who first settled the area was finding somehwere dramatic and scenic, and figuring out how to get food, clothing and shelter later on. Smart buggers probably anticipated the money tourism would eventually bring in!

But, the villages only represented an very small part of the scenery...


The public bus into Geirangerfjorden was a bargain, especially for the mind-boggling views from Eagle Rd (?) into the fjord, with the gigantic cruise ships docked in the fjord looming larger with each of the 11 hairpins. For a while, I was not sure why there weren't more people on it the bus, until the bus driver was talking on her mobile, yawning, and turning to joke with an elderly passenger while avoiding goats and sheep on a road where I coudln't see the bitumen below the wheels.

From our tent in Geirangerfjorden we had one of the 'most scenic views on earth', easy acces to beer-cooling glacial water, and were surrounded by some great walks up the walls for a different perspective. Tragically, we spent a sunny afternoon planning the next leg of our trip, then awoke the next morning to low fog for our walk up to the waterfalls and viewpoints.

Once out of Geiranger, the phenomenal sights continued courtesy of the public transport: massive, sheer granite faces near Skei, amazing views back into the southern arm of the Glacier atop the easter part of the fjords, peering curiously into the depths of Sognerfjorden (the water is 1300m deep), and feeling queasy while sitting in the back of a packed bus creeping up a 20% grade road.

After some great whitewater rafting in Voss, Bergen signalled the end of our fjord experience. Loads of tourists kept us company through the old wooden buildings precariously balanced on the water front, and up the funicular railway. Though strangely, I was left alone in the Norwgian fishing museum. At least it gave me time to have a decent discussion with the guide about aquaculture , disease and climate change!

Bailing out of beautiful Bergen, the train trip to Oslo was brilliant. Especially beautiful was the ice-cap and alpine areas, where I was surprised to see more cycle tourists than I have ever seen in my life: along the trail parallel to the rail-line, there was a cyclist every 10m or so! I can see how it is a popular trip, and reckon the downhill to Flåm must be pretty good!

Oslo was great, with the Thor Heyerdahl museum (Read his books: Kon-tiki, Ra, etc!!!!), and as Jason Smith called it 'one of the best overviews of contemporary art', in addition to the sister exhibition on populism (mentioned in previous Finland blogs). I've momentarily forgotten what else we did in Oslo; anyway....

In making arrangements to leave Oslo, I wondered whether we were developiong a habit: that is of painstakingly researching (using books and internet time) detailed bus and train connections to get to our next destination, THEN dramatically abandoning our plans for some other option. In this case it was deciding to dash to Copenhagen to try and get our shipped goods, rather than using our pre-booked (and non-refundable) reservation to Stockholm!

Minor highlight of the train trip to Copenhagen was catching glimpses of the famous 'Mormon underwear' being worn by our sleeping cabin buddies from Utah. If you don't know what I am talking about, then you should (and everybody should, even non-Aussies) watch John Safran Vs God on DVD.

Tourism, and Religion

What a funny beast tourism is: the world's biggest industry. And, it has more than a few similarities to other big industries. Certainly the way I see some tour groups move around, I can't help but think of herds of cattle, grazing on the tidbits of local culture, nature and history. And in terms of waste, the average life of a glossy brochure must be less than 12 hours, and that millions of these brochures are heading straight to landfills across the globe at an alarming rate! I could go on, but want to keep this brief!

Before coming on this trip I was really unaware of the range of different types and levels of tourism available: all I knew about was camping, eco-tours (from a guides perspective) and cycle touring. I didn't know whether the guides had to disclose if they were on commission; I didn't fully understand how lazy and pampered you can be if you are prepared to pay for it; I had no idea how many ways your money can be diverted from the local people after leaving your hand to pay for a tour in their country; and I just had not thought about the number of ethical questions that can be thrown at you by the menu of Contiki tours, boat trips and hop-on, hop-off buses.


Which brings me to religion...

'If you are not a fan of organised religion, the least you can say is that it leaves and produces some great buildings' is what I have thought more than once on this trip. However, immediately upon thinking this, I have wondered about those cultures that left no monuments, and may have arguably been just as interesting, creative and advanced: e.g. Australian Aboriginal people and other nomads.

In these more mobile cultures, you can not simply look at a few buildings and think that you have experienced something of their cultures. Instead, when seeking a cultural experience, you may be more inclined and encouraged to seek out a tour lead by a local; learn the language; or something about they way they lived (rather than what their noble classes lived in). For me, being encouraged to interact with practices and language is a more meaningful and insightful process than observing relics. E.g. Ilhara gorge in Turkey, some of the open air museums, the folk displays in Tartu's museum etc.

Although I have adored some of the churches and towns; of far greater interest is the people who are there worshipping. Happily, I've had a number of meaningful, genuine conversations and meals with local people along our trip...and they were the most memorable parts of my trip.

http://www.responsibletravel.com/home.htm

Sunday, August 07, 2005

The luxury of a cruise liner - you MUST try it sometime

Sitting on cruise boat is like watching Baraka (if you don't know what this is, go and ask for it at your video store): these incredible, slow, high quality image drifting across your field of view while you are warm inside a box: protected from the harsh elements.

After our extended period of free camping adventures, this was a dream. A daily routine of 'nanna naps' in between vegetating, swedish lessons from the book (which we have discovered too late, is excellent) and watching the scenery drift by: glacial valleys, fishing villages, aquaculture cages, islands everwhere, lingering sunsets silhouetting lonely lighthouses... seemed to suit us just fine.

I did, however, interrupt the sloth by using the ship's gym a couple of times. I've never been to a gym really, but thought maybe I should get in some practice for the cold, dark, nordic winter that I am soon to experience. Really though, I was just trying to do something to try and do something that would justify me eating a meal.

It proved very hard to leave when faced with the prospect of finding somewhere to sleep, drink and go to the toilet. But, we managed to drag ourselves off (at 1am!!!) in Alesund and find a rough, wet, smelly patch of ground under some powerlines on the side of a mountain: we were dirty and wet within an hour of getting off our lovely luxury liner...

In case you don't recieve hers, I included excerpts of Gabrielle's group email below:


now, after camping for far too long.. not having access to basic facilities.. i´m sure we looked a treat when we stepped on board... we were overwhelemed by the hospitlaity they provided.this is what you can get here

.....running water.... for free.. whenever you want it; a toilet - also free - also for use whenever you decide; a shower - same thing applies; couches - to sit and yes to be slept on.

(The boat originated not as a curise but as transport for the fisherman.. so being the very equal society that they are.. they think travellers should have the same acecss to facilites such as this boat.. thus you get scrungy backpàckers.. complete with packs and sleeping bags and self catering equipment..... spread out in the loung room of the cruise ship with the old ladies playing bridge and chess. pure genius if you ask me.)

A sun deck.. although god knows why they bothered with this;24 hour bar and cafeteria should you ever get hungry; washing machines with dryers; gym; sauna;and probably more.

i still regret EVER getting off this boat.. although alas.. as usual, most good things come to an end at one stage..... i´m sure we looked far more presentable getting off than on though.. so we have them to thank for this.on top of it all.... and this is pure gold my frineds... here in norway they have an, and i kid you nt, an "accompanying spouse discount"....... andrew got half price becuase he is a student.and bless their souls...but then i was entitled to half price as well becuase i am the " accompanying spouse" of the person travelling with a discount card. now.. that is pure gold!!!so, we still haven´t done the maths as to how much this cost us in australian money.... but all in all this ship is gold. just gold.

we love norway

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Vikings don't surf - the Lofoten Islands

The Lofoten Islands are famous for their winter fishing grounds, dramatic scenery, and excellent opprtunties for mountain adventures...so we thought we better go!

We caught the express boat from Narvik on an incredibly calm day, with not a white cap in sight as we zoomed past scnees of grey granite, green vegetation, deep blue sea, and occasional white birds and red fishing cottages.

All the settlements in the Lofotens are similar: red traditional fishing huts on the water front, and cod-drying racks on the peninsulars with large, modern shipwrights and fish processing factories out the back and around the corners. All the villages advertise their wonderful art, but in reality there is a limited amount to do in the towns. It is one of the most scenic places I have ever been (mountains rising out of the sea, old boats, quaint cottages etc...) but there is only so long that stuff can keep me entertained if I have no way (or time) to climb/ride/explore it.

Unfortunately I didn't get to learn much about the current fishing industry here, apart from the fact that most of Europes fleet seems to go there for winter, and that the herring stocks have somewhat recovered after a crash 20 years ago. We did get a first-hand look at the industry's waste management practices though: on the first night we camped very close to what appeared to be the local rubbish dump - very scenically located, mind you.

My highlight was a visit to the Viking Museum, where I was lucky enough to get to tour through on a day when they were having their first annual Viking festival. The huge, smoky chieftans house was filled with traditional food and artisans (singing, sewing, blacksmithing and knitting) and the long-boat shed was surrounded by costumed men very-convincingly trying to hack through each others chain mail and wooden shields with axes and swords. I'm pretty into this Viking stuff, and may have to read some of their epic stories (Sagas) and research my family tree : )

Gabrielle decided not to come in to the Viking museum, and instead sat in the coffee shop for a few hours.....FUN!

Before and after the Viking museum, I tried quite hard to organise a surf at nearby Unstad, especially as the waves and wind looked good for the next morning. Unfortunately the bus timetables, time and a likely expensive couple of taxi rides meant I had to miss out on a surf above the Arctic circle. You can check out some photos at the following websites to see what I missed out on:

http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Europe/Norway/unstad/

http://www.the-arctic-challenge.com/galleri.asp?aar=2005

http://www.globalsurfers.com/spot.cfm?travel=Unstad&surfing=1334&land=Norway








Friday, August 05, 2005

Helsinki to Narvik (draft)

Where/when: narvik 4th

Train to savonlinna. Walk around: strongman contest, markets - food and craft, opera festival in a castle, camp next to hiking trail. Our run of camping spots has been pretty good - no waking up to the sound of regular thundering freight trains, usually dry, and nowhere really illegal. That's the beauty of camping kn scandanavia: as long as you are respectful and leave no trace you can camp wherever you want!

Bus to porosalmi, walk with no lift, get canoes, lost then ok interupting nude bathers who sent us on our way with clear instructions.

Families on small island. Speaking broken english and scribbling on bits of paper until an older son returned from berry-picking and acted as interpreter. Funny though, we probably still needed an interpreter who understood 'drunk-talk'

Paddle over to main island, farm, nature walk. Paddle to next spot, camp alone, bathe naked. Very still, beautiful, fish jumping, boatmen walking on water. Set off with corrected compass bearings, and navigated without doubt until the last island.

Relief to get shuttle bus the 9km to rantasalmi in pouring rain after a long coffee in the warm resort where we hired our boat from. Bus to peksiaimaki, where a late-leaving train completely revised our well-planned schedule: which had taken numerous phone calls, pages of paper and frustration to plan.

Series of trains and buses next 24hours to abisko: 3hours on a park bench, dazed walking across the border with no controls, lulea was nice, museum and organic food market and vegie cafÁé, dazed and slOw wandering around the only supermarket open before 10am.

Alighted at Abisko with other, more-serious-looking hikers. Turns out there was some serious hiking race on (fajl-raven classic)...

Expensive camping but lovely place and a deep sleep (after a good shower). Our first time of actually zipping up our sleeping bags.

Next morning long walk across the driest (322mm) and most biodiverse hillside in sweden. Nice rapids, clean, crisp air...might have been a bit much for us both though after too little sleep, as we really started to fade a few kmas from

Picked up our bags to camp in the bush outside the nat park and save a few bucks. Lots of mossies, but few trains: probably because the tracks were getting repaired.

then on to bus to narvik: picturesque, remote 'summer' cottages and an increasingly dramatic landscape as we headed towards the northern norwegian coast...

Fore (fourth) thoughts (draft)

Where: Geiranger to Sogndal

Even if Karlskrona sucks, it will be great.

I am really starting to feel good, brain getting back into gear, feeling healthy, interested in reading the course books I brought with me.

And most importantly, I am once again starting to try and respond and not react: to think before I speak, observe my reactions before they affect what I do...

Third thoughts!

Where: Helsinki

Oh scandanavia how I love you so. Free bikes, clean streets, black metal goths, striking blonde girls, clean design, bike and pedestrian lanes wider than the roads, manicured parks and public art on every corner.

And don't get me started on the rockabillies in big old cars, the hackey-sack championships next to the lake, and free 24 hour art exhibitions...

The 24-hr art was an open-air exhibition of some of the photos from the classic 'earth from the air' book. I have the book, but just like anything, seeing it big and for real is always better. I was also really stoked to see WWF involved in the exhibition, and promoting memberdhip of a 'Friends of the Baltic Sea' group to help protect the 'unique marine environment'. Sounds like something with potential as a thesis topic during my course!

Linking in with the WWF panda, was a little underground (literally) art and design space inhabited by youngsters. One of them had heard there were only 1000 pandas left, and so had amassed and created a roomful of images of pandas. They'd evn made 1000 pandas out of beads and invited you to take one, as long as you promised to look after it, and the earth's ecosystems. Of course I grabbed, and will cherish one of them : )

One other cool artsy things noticed included a whole newspaper and contemporary arts program around the topic of 'populism'. Might have to and catch some more of the works in the Oslo part of the exhibition! (NOTE: I have since seen the exhibition in Oslo, and it was really good!)

Helsinki did feel a bit deserted though. I thought many people would have been on summer holidays somewhere. These thoughts were confirmed as we headed out into the countryside.

All this had me pretty excited about the coming year - how could it not be a great experience in this sort of environment!

Second thoughts

Upon arriving in Tartu, a university town of 100 000 people in central Latvia, both Gabrielle and I had moments of doubt about life in Karlskrona - a likely similar place.

Gabrielle especially, wondered aloud: 'The parks and old town are lovely, but is it really big enough to be interesting? Big enough to provide employment?'

These thoughts only served to grow the seeds of doubt sown by a random Swede in a Riga hostel. He scoffed at my suggestions about Karlskrona's size, and whether there were any real universities there...

Later, in Tallinn, we met up witn 'Ritchie'. A builder from Perth, he'd been working in Oslo for 7 months. He emphasised how different the Scandanavian people were: reserved, unfunny, and he thought many were lazy (as it is hard to get fired). He assured us that the cost of living was sky high: quoting the prices of meat, cheese, alcohol and baked beans (though only the last one really concerned us). On the upside, Ritchie thought that both the people and the prices were more extreme in Norway than Sweden.

At the end of our time Ritchie, I can't say we felt better, but at least we had someone to talk about it with. Heck, he probably thinks we will fit right in based on our reluctance to get drunk moments after we arrived.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Places not to fish: an evolving list.

We've seen a lot of people fishing on our travels, usually in what I would have thought was the worst possible spot. WA recreational fishers do not know how good they have it!

Places not to fish:

The Bosphrous strait, which divides the European and Asian halves of Istanbul. It clearly has a high rate of tidal flushing/flow, but not enough to keep it clear of a LOT of rubbish! Everyone seemed to love the fresh fishburgers though.

The Ilhara river (Cappadocia region, Turkey). Anywhere downstream of town, where we witnessed a recently evacuated poo enter the flow.

The moat around the once-walled, medieval city of Riga, Latvia. Scenic, old, functional, but I don't want to know what any fish would live on...

The Thames!

Places to fish:

Anywhere in Norway. Aquaculture cages everywhere, very short, deep boats, old wooden boats that must still make a buck, etc. Massive fishing fleets in the peak season e.g winter in lofotens.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Senses

A quick go at reviving an old diary technique: started this on 1st Aug, Finland

Smells:
* Grungy, mildewy toilets in turkey
* Smoke and grime in the air in london
* Fish markets and smoked, bbq'd, marinated fish everywhere (istanbul, riga, helsinki)
* Body odour: turkish buses, finnish trains, latvian? And probably us everywhere else!!!
* Wonderful, colourful, aromatic spices piled high in the egyptian spice market in Istanbul.
* SCUBA in the finnish bush toilets (only for those who cycled around tasmania).

Sound:
* Pachinko parlours (gambling using thousands of ball bearings) in tokyo
* The crackling roar of the hot air balloons jets in cappadocia (goreme)
* 'bir milyun' = one million lira, from hundreds of street vendors on the shores of the bosphrous (istanbul)
* The occassional splash of fish creating ripples of sound and water on an otherwise long, still twighlight on the waters of linnansaari.
* Very noisy aeroplane tokyo to london

Taste
* The yoghurt/mineral water/salt drink in turkey (aksaray)
* The fig/apple/sultana/nut....dessert in istanbul (taksim square).
* Plate-covering servings of heavy, creamy, sauces in tartu, estonia.
* Brilliant Indian cuisine in Tallinn (estonia) - hoorah for a good veggie feed! Spicy chickpea masala and cottage cheese and spinach stuff.
* Fresh raspberries straight off the bush on the side of the trail on linnansaari island. Weren't game to try the mushrooms though
* Great vietnamese restaurant recommended by two people from opposite sides of the planet.
* Organic, mostly vego, all you can eat lunch in tokyo.
* Turkish delight, great soy coated nut mixes, fresh cherries, honey-sesame coated almonds in turkey. Plus really cheesy pastries..Ä

Feel:
* Humidity in tokyo
* Sore arms in linnansaari after canoing for three days
* Dry heat in turkey
* Walking barefoot on lush angora, silk, camel hair and wool carpets and kilims in selcuk, turkey.
* Flying through the air on a magical fantasy way to travel, hot air balloon (goreme, turkey
* Stomach cramps before your thirteenth diarrhoea for the day. Fun!

Seeing:
* Why turkey may be competing with aussie wheat growers. Plenty of fields, and modern harvesters working one field while the one next dooe is being harvested using a sickle / scythe and cheap labour
* Women working while men play backgammon and drink tea (turkey)
* Fan-bloody-tastic veggie patches everywhere.