Scythes are Neat

As has probably been mentioned our block is hilly. It also started being nearly all covered in grass. We're slowly replacing it with garden beds but there'll be a lot of grass for a few years yet.

For the flat(ish) bits the mower is ok but a lot required a brush-cutter. To get to edges, do some of the heavy weeds and to do the really hilly bits.

I hate using the whippersnipper/brush-cutter. We've got a good one so it starts ok. but you have to fuel it. It smells. It's noisy. It's heavy. It's dangerous. The vibrations hurt my back. I really hate rewrapping the cutting cord when that runs out.
It's just hard work.

I'm not sure if I will ever use a brush-cutter again. There is a better way.

We've had the scythe (from scythes australia) for a few weeks now and I find for us a scythe is better than a mower or a brush-cutter for pretty much everything.

It is so much easier.
You have to sharpen the blade with a stone every 5 minutes or so but that takes seconds.
You have to peen the blade which takes a bit longer but that's probably about as often as you need to fuel a mower.
You can cover huge areas the same way as mowing. The grass can be long or short.
You can do a couple of sweeps to clean up an small area with no effort. Not like the power tool with its annoying setup overhead.
So I can get home from work, wander the yard and see some taller grass I find aesthetically displeasing, grab the scythe, give a couple of swings, admire the view, walk back, peacefully tidying other grass I pass, wipe it down and put it away. All in a few minutes. Less time than getting the mower from the shed and pull starting it.
And it's easier! Did I mention that? It's light to carry, which really matters going up and down hills.
I still have to refine my technique. I can do the big gentle swings that cover a 2 meter wide frontage and are good for 'mowing' but I still get distracted and do short cuts to get some particular weed which isn't as efficient. Plus I find myself using it as martial arts practice. Explosive starts and stops rather than gentle swings that use minimal effort.
Even with the recent stupidly hot (for November) I can walk and keep the grass on the entire block under control quite comfortably. I'd be very disinclined to do that with the power tools. And after using them I'd be tired and sore.
I was worried the scythe would be bad for some of the steep hills, but its good for that.
I was worried the scythe would need the grass to be particularly long or have trouble with heavy weeds, but it does that much easier than the brush-cutter. That was what really sold me on them, when one of Belindas friends from the Community Harvest group went through a clump of weeds in 20 minutes I take hours with the snipper.
I was worried the scythe would be hard to make things neat but because you can place the blade between the plant with the back against objects and just slice away you have a heap of control even with a long blade.
Initially watching the scything technique videos I thought they were nuts doing it in bare feet but that's how I normally do it now. Sure, be aware its a 3 foot long razor blade on a stick, but its a long way from you. It won't fling rocks at you. And you are direct contact and control. You do need to be wary of chickens but hey they thought the mower was interesting too.
Quite a relaxing, enjoyable task.

What was a brush-cutter invented for? didn't they have a scythe?
Once again another aspect where our modern energy intensive tools seem far worse and use more human energy than what they replaced.
(Similarly my digital guitar amp effects are probably never going to used again now I have more homemade analogue effects boxes)

So I might still use the mower for the main yard by the house to look a bit flatter and prettier but I expect as I get the technique down I won't even need that.

Still Sick

Thought I was over it but it seems I am not.

Obviously my body has decided I simply haven't give it enough of a break to get better. It is a busy time of year in regard to community commitments as most groups are trying to wind everything up for the year. I can cut myself only so much slack in that direction as I have a lot of prior commitments to meet. Thus my act of appeasement to the body gods is going to have to be taking a couple of weeks off blogging.

I expect I will be around reading and commenting just not writing.

Cya Later
Belinda

November = 5am Watering

Wow, this is an interesting little experience. Three weeks ago I was struggling to get my summer veggies germinated and this week I am up at 5 am in an attempt to keep everything alive. It seems we are in for a year of extremes.

Andrew is in process of moving pots. Where they are right now and have been for the last two years receives the full afternoon, western, sun. Even the most hardy of plants is know to only cope with that a few days before it looks like it is just willing itself to die. In another case of gardeners serendipity I moved a couple of smaller pots and noticed that all of a sudden plants that were struggling all of a sudden flourished.

For those of you being hit by heat this fortnight I wish you good luck.

Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics - It's Been a Year

Well If I look at the dates it's actually been more than a year.. seems I lost count in the middle there somewhere.

I have found this record keeping very useful so I plan to keep it going into a second year. Anyone that wants to join in is more than welcome, I know we have a new participant who should be settled in and start reporting in soon.

Thank you for all of you who tried it out and particularly those who stuck with it. I hope you found it useful too.

Kind Regards
Belinda

Sowing seed or Planting -

Potting up

• Eggplant (Japanese Long)
  
• Pumpkin Golden Nugget
• Lebanese Cucumber
  

Harvesting

• 425g Artichoke
• 100g Spinach
• 300g Broad Beans
  

Observing

• Raspberries are starting to set Fruit
• Chickens are stressing a little due to the heat
  
• Lots more mulch to go down with 7 days around 30 forcast
  

Maintenance

• Chicken tractoring the worst section of the T Bed

Planning for The Future -

• Filled out my weekly task schedule
• Lots of Garden planning Thunks
  

Working for the Future -

• Made Strawberry Sorbet
  
• Made Strawberry Jam
• Washed all the winter bedding
  

Building Community -

• Contributed to Community Harvest Dinner

Learn a new Skill -

• Strawberry Jam (haven't really got it right yet)
  

Sick

Sorry Everyone,

Nothing major but Strawberry Sorbet is going to have to wait another day.

Cya Monday.

Bouncing Baby Ball

Wow, for me at least it really has been a year of Baby Warmings.

The new parents of this last little girl worked very hard to make sure she came into this world. It is always wonderful to see the photo's of these newly expanded families but it is made all that much more special when you know there was a heart rending decision making process involved.

Unusually this actually the third, first birth, girl I have welcomed into the world in less than 6 months.

I always feel privileged to see, even second hand, the proud Dad and the infatuated Mum glowing with the love of her newly birthed child. Even better when it is passed on by an equally infatuated grand parent. It really is beautiful to think of just how many people these little ones have in their life that are working to make their life the best it can be.

Just after I heard this precious little person had arrived I was presented with a wonderful idea on Sew Mumma Sew. It was all the more wonderful because I had recently received a set of odds and scap material ends from a Freecycler.

Thus the multi texture Fabric Baby Ball was born. All I did was go through all the fabric scraps I had been given and chose three different materials. My criteria for choice were that they had to have distinctly different textures as well as good strong contrasting colours. This toy is designed to be about stimulating curiosity both visual and textural rather than just being pretty.

With any luck this little plaything will continue to appeal on many levels for quite a while yet.

For those of you who have, or have had, young children.. Is there anything else that would have been useful to consider?

I have just heard another announcement that means I may have another of these to make in the future.

Community as a Flexible Space

This post has been prompted by Melinda over a One Green Generation who posed that "Doing it Alone isn't Enough". I have to say I read the post with interest but mild trepidation. On one hand I agree that one family in suburbia changing the way they live simply isn't enough to counteract the damage being done on a planet wide scale. On the other as a self confessed introvert I know just how hard a hurdle community engagement can be for some people.

Being honest here almost all of my life I have lived almost parallel to community not been part of it. I respected community but didn't really see a need or feel a reason to throw energy into something, that for me, is work. I enjoy spending time in my community but the reality is that for me I am just as happy spending my time in my own space and from my point of view doing so was more productive time. In fact if someone had told me at the beginning that to be sustainable I would need to be an active part of my community I probably would have walked away.

It was about 2 years ago when I came to the realisation that community has more worth than somewhere to socialise, as important as that is for some. When I looked at it through the lens of resilience it was the only option. I simply couldn't know and be sufficiently skilled at everything my household needed access to if the industrial complex was whisked out from under our feet. I could probably keep us fed and clothed, if I have access to fabric, but only if the people around us were sufficiently skilled not to need our food to survive.

It was at that point it really hit home that one of the major differences in Oil Rich Countries is that community involvement is negotiable. With all our oil slaves, the petrol mower, the car and all our power tools most tasks are able to be completed without help. One person can wash the clothes without having to go outside the home, in fact they can do it overnight, while they themselves sleep, if they wish. One person can drive 100k in a couple of hours without having to speak to anyone.

The worth of Community had been devalued .. it had gone from a Need to a Want. For those of us that are not all that socially motivated it wasn't even a want. We are more than happy to live in our own little oil powered universe where the only community interactions we engage in are those of our own choosing.

Needless to say this realisation reprioritised community engagement in my life. In my view that little cheap oil powered universe isn't going to last. I am going to NEED the people around to know who I am. People who will need my help and recognise I will need theirs to get things done. I need them to have enough skills themselves that stealing from me isn't the only option for the survival of their family. I for the safety and security of me and mine I needed to live in a highly skilled, resillient community. Unfortunately to my knowledge outside of intentional communities, which tend to be rather cut of from their wider locality communities, such a thing doesn't even get close to existing.

I had to build my community involvement up from nothing. Two years later my current involvement looks something like this. I am a member of around five different community groups. This is up from my previous career high of one which I then needed to drop when I got hurt. It is not uncommon for at least 2-3 weekends a month be events where I am helping out on behalf of one of these group, either to publicise the group and our interests or simply get together to ensure that we are all pulling in the same direction. Other weekends I may be attending skill workshops or running one myself. During the week I often have at least one meeting, most of which are learning opportunities with a social focus.

Where my experience is useful I am running workshops for the existing local permaculture or "Community Harvest" group. The problem with this always is that getting people inspired to attend is an ongoing challenge. That said my philosophy is that my knowledge will be here as long as I am so there may be more interest later. I will simply keep offering to re run a workshop that previously garnered no interest. This is a very real attempt to start reskilling the population around me.

I am part of the B E C which is a new startup group focused on bringing community gardens to a used but under utilised parkland area a couple of suburbs away. We have to deal with the shire on getting access to the areas we need as well as gain access to funding, along with our own internal fundraising to keep the projects that we start going. As with all fledgling community groups we are trying hard to keep things moving forward while attempting to garner interest and physical support so the core group don't burn themselves out.

I am not particularly strong on the "activisim" side of things. I am more than happy to educate and express my opinions even if contrary to the general grind, if asked, but you won't find me out on the street protesting. Honestly that is just not something that is part of who I am.. at the core I am a rule follower. Luckily there are others in the groups I am members of who take up those roles and actually enjoy it.

For me it comes down to doing what I enjoy and therefore are best at. In some cases that will mean I will be the only entrant aged under 50 entering preserves in the local garden show preserves section. In others it will mean that I spend 3 hours drawing up a scale plan for a proposed garden plot that may never get used as I am the best person for the job.

The point of strong vibrant communities for me is that you don't have to be able to do it all. At the moment I do more than I am comfortable with at times because there simply are not any more able hands to pass things to but that isn't sustainable either, not long term. The problem seems to me is finding the critical mass of community engagement that means people are happy to raise their hands secure in the knowledge they won't end up spending hours or with more jobs than they bargained for just because they said "yes" once. Thus right now because of the lack of hands as much as possible it really is an all hands on deck situation and I do my best to comply.

For those of us who realise that community building will be a matter of survival in the future it can be hard at times to accept that for most others right now it is just recreation. I agree that active, vibrant communities are the only way to a safe and resilient future. The balance is that I also feel healthy community needs to be a flexible space that meets people where they are. Part of that is accepting that for some people doing it alone has to be enough. Communities have always had people that existed on the fringe, who are not completely engaged in normal community running. The problem isn't that these people exist, it is simply the amount of them causing disproportionate load on those that are active.

There is a very real need to find a way to keep offering a wide range of engagement opportunities to ensure inspiration is available if or when they are ready. All having to be done without burning out the few that are currently the actively engaged life blood of these groups.

Right now I honestly can't say I have any idea how we achieve this successfully. It is an interesting challenge that almost as complex as the wider ones of peak oil and sustainability.