Junk Mail, Growing Turmeric and How Bad Are Bananas

A couple of weeks back we started getting junk mail again in our rural mailbox. I figured our regular postie must be on holiday, but it turns out she'd left and the replacement had just started leaving the same glut of what everyone else was getting in our mailbox. The "N/C" (which I always thought stood for "no crap", but actually meant "no circulars") had washed off our mailbox. 
I caught up with the new postie and it was quickly sorted. It was a reminder of how much I hate junk mail.

I recently read the book "How Bad are Bananas" by Mike Berners-Lee, which gives the carbon footprint of many items that we use as consumers.

One calculation was for mail:
140g CO2e a 10g letter made from recycled paper and recycled by you
200g CO2e a typical 25g letter printed on virgin paper and sent to the landfill
1600g CO2e a small catalogue sent to the landfill

Some of the other consumer products he delved into and put figures on - a pair of shoes, a night in a hotel, a load of laundry, a paperback book.
Food for thought, I found it interesting.

Turmeric

turmeric roots

Turmeric is the new wonder food, being attributed with warding off cancer, fixing joint pain and improving sleep.
I have been searching for some roots to grow it myself, and came across them last week at PutiPuti Ra, the healthy living shop in Whangarei. (Puti Puti Ra is Maori for sunflower). They were a good price too. Imported from Fiji and unfumigated, hopefully they will grow in a pot in our OLA (outdoor living area).
According to what I have read, I should be able to start harvesting in about 10 months. 

I'm watching the mailbox eagerly this week - I have some greenie products coming in...more on these next time hopefully.