A Waste-less World: Embracing Simplicity

Interview by Jessica Humphries

Matt Purbick is a keen farmer and co-author (with his lovely wife Lentil) of Grown & Gathered and The Village - two books that embrace the joy of living simply and share the wisdom of cultivating and creating your own culinary delights. Though he is based in Victoria, his musings on embracing simplicity for a sustainable future are more than aligned with the spirit of Byron Bay.

We chatted to Matt about all things environment, living with less waste and discovering the joy of simple living.

What does waste-free living mean to you?

I feel like everyone always focusses in on the food but we really need to broaden the scope of this discussion so much more. It's about the house you live in, how you live in it, the car you drive, how often you drive it, the job you do, how you entertain yourself, how you vote, what you believe in. It's about all the things you buy and consume, or choose not to - including food, but it's also about the entire system we choose to live within. And right now people really need to start hearing this message and actually making the changes - doing the hard work that engenders change.

What inspired you to live a sustainable, waste-free life?

I began living more consciously on this planet after travelling around the world for 2 years in my early twenties. Towards the end of that journey, on a remote tropical island, ironically far, far away from most of humanity, I had the profound realisation that we are all one, that in fact all of life on Earth is all one, and that no one part of life could gain at the ongoing expense of another part without the whole ecosystem falling apart. Which is what we are seeing. 

When I returned to Australia I began to learn how to grow organic food, Lentil and I met and we started to farm together, and that was that. This was the beginning of our journey together, of Grown & Gathered and was the seed of everything that has led us to this point.

How has your life changed since making the switch to waste-free living? 

I would say that your life, beliefs and entire sense of purpose need to change before you can genuinely begin to live in step with the Earth's ability to support life, not the other way around. This is to say that we haven't changed because of choosing to live a waste-free life, we chose to live a waste-free life as a reflection of the internal changes we'd already made. Also, living a waste-free life is, number one, basically impossible in our current system, let's be completely honest about that! But we are doing our genuine, absolute best and find that our life is now full of the best homegrown produce, less clutter, more time together, more time with friends, we are closer than ever and life is beautiful. When you choose to live in a way that nourishes your innermost desire for peace, calm, simplicity and love, joy comes into your life from every angle. When you are driven to blindly buy whatever is put in front of you, you are simply surrounded by stuff, which brings you a lot of stress and only very short-lived joy.

What are some ways that we, as busy individuals possibly living in cities, can transition to a waste-free or less waste life? 

First, to be blunt, be less busy! There is no excuse anymore for us continuing to run ourselves into the ground, becoming so stressed that we are in survival mode, and then just going along with buying the most convenient things and living in the most convenient way. The number one thing we all need to start to do is look at our lives and decide if they are lives that we want to continue living, or whether it's time for some big changes. Asking ourselves questions like "Why am I so busy?" is a great place to start. You may have a huge mortgage, multiple loans, all of this is because of the choices we make. Simplifying your entire life is the only way to take the pressure off ourselves and open up our time and hearts to being able to grow food, grow internally, have time for each other and make better choices in general. 

Can you share some practical tips for creating less waste in the kitchen?

The most powerful thing you can do to create less waste in the kitchen is to start a worm farm or if you have no backyard or other space, start a bokashi bucket. Food scraps aren't waste any more as soon as they are being converted back into fertility for your soil. Next, if you have some space, start to grow your own food. Some, all, whatever you can. The experience of growing food will change your life. We should all know how to do it. It's one of the things that makes us humans! And it will awaken many other things inside you and lead to better choices. 

Next, stop buying all packaged foods. Only shop at places like whole food stores, markets and grocers, bakers and butchers where you can bring your own bags and containers and get foods in bulk/in the raw, unpackaged and unprocessed form. Even your detergent and other household products can be bought in bulk and placed in your own infinitely reusable containers these days. It's the thing inside you want, not the packaging. So get the thing! 

Finally, if you don't know how to cook from scratch, take the time to get lessons - they're loads of fun and will lead you to a happier and much healthier lifestyle. When we are healthy and glowing, so too will be the planet. Again, there can be no health at the expense of other life.

Matt & Lentil have just released a new organic wine label, Minimum Wines. Check it out at www.minimumwines.com

Head to grownandgathered for more!