Back on the Cook Wagon

The first half of this years seems to have been kind of distracting. My focus on garden and cooking became a pretty slap dash affair once the year of "Lets get involved" occurred.

That's not to say I haven't done any of either, just that the focus coming off these things seems to have been a little premature. With my attention focused more off property the little things started slipping more than I am happy with. I was doing things like not thinking to walk outside to look for dinner components before raiding the fridge or going to the organic market to buy vegetables before I knew what was available in the garden.

Now of course part of the problem is that most of the things that grow this time of year are not things I grew up eating much of. Turnips, swede, mustard greens and kale are all an adjustment. They are not lazy cook meals, I have to stretch my imagination to use them.

They are all great food sources but for me they require thought. When I have half an hour before a meeting, or I am getting a communal plate ready my adventurous streak tends to take a bit of a nose dive. All this means far too often in the last 3 months I have gone and bought ingredients when I already had stuff in the ground at home.

Luckily last week A was home on holidays which means generally I was going out less. Since I wasn't going out I didn't have much reason to be driving past the grocer. As I wasn't driving past the grocer I had much more motivation to walk around the garden looking for ingredients cause the fridge was bare and the idea of specifically going out to pick up vegetables was less than appealing. Of course walking around the garden highlighted to me that there really is food out there and I really need to "Eat The Food". It was this that prompted me to make a little pact with myself that every shared meal will contain at least one garden item.

Well, it is now near the end of the week and I am on track for success. Making a decision that this should be the rules for every meal probably isn't too sustainable for me. To keep the focus but not kill the passion I decided my aim will be a minimum of 3 meals per week.

Anyone else have a habit of forgetting to "Eat The Food"?

Water, Water Everywhere

I just pledged my only drink.

Honestly, I think I have probably set myself up for insanity here but in a fit of "Hell, Yeah!" I put my name down for Daharja's Water Challenge.

Even for this girl who generally drinks water in most circumstances.. this little challenge is looking a quite formidable.

Yes, I am already used to most people looking at me weird when I ask them for a glass of water when offered a beverage, even so I am used to having the choice. It will be an interesting 12 months where I will get lots of practice at saying "no" to myself.

I guess we will just wait and see just how good I get at that.

The Water Challenge is simple.

For one year, starting on August 2nd, I can drink only water.

So I'm not just giving up one item from my diet, like I did with the chocolate challenge.

This time, I'll be giving up:

• Fizzy drinks
  
• Teas and coffees
  
• Juices
  
• All alcohol
  
• All cordials and drink flavourings
  
• All bottled water (except in my own, re-usable water bottle)
  
• All milks - except on my cereal, and then in only enough of a portion to wet the food appropriately
  
• Anything else not specifically included in this list that is not tap water or rain water.
  

In other words, I'm on tap water for a year.

Medicines are excepted, of course. So if I need a medicine, and it is in liquid form, that's fine. That's also just common-sense. ** I am adding a small additional exemption here for Herbal Tea's.. I will not use them as a preventative but if I get sick and a herbal will help I will use it.

Soup is excepted. Soups are not a drink, and are not part of the Challenge.

Also, if I get really sick to the point where I am in need of vitamin C in juice form or my medical professional recommends I drink something other than water, I'll do as recommended.

Anyone feel like joining us?

Rain, Rain, Come My Way

MudBrick Palace Back To Basics - Week 37

Sowing seed or Planting -
Sowing

• Green Pak Choi

Planting

• 2 Spinach

Harvesting

• 6 turnips

Observing

• We are obviously in our heavy frost period, more frosty mornings than not in the last fortnight
  
• Birds have started nesting, the outside dog blankets are taking a beating

Planning for The Future -

• Organised sewing machine service
• Found source and priced for new garden bed surround
• Checked moon planting calendar
  

Working for the Future -

• Stocked the swimming pool with trout

Building Community -

• Provided communal meal contribution for PDC class
• Agreed to look at a project for A's parents
• Attended Herb Society Meeting
• Finished Knitting project for a friend
  

Learn a new Skill -

• N/A

Participant Posts

Remote TreeChanger
Saturday 25th July

maia's update - week 37

sowing seed or planting -
sowing
nada. gave all my seeds to belinda & my sister, saved a few to give other people

harvesting

• broccoli
• silverbeet
  

planning for the future -

• worked out what i want from the next place i live
• juggling work timetables
• researching new projects

working for the future -

• searching for a new home
  
• packing, packing, packing; one box a night now saves a nightmare later
• planning a garage sale
  

building community -

• made friends with some interesting new people
  
• invited a couple of people to an interesting talk
• passed on useful information to someone looking for stuff about postgraduate studies in a particular area
  

learn a new skill -

• replacing laptop hard drives
  

Living the Theory of Anyway

The Theory of Anyway is this nifty little way of looking at the world that argues "95% of what is needed to resolve the coming crisis in energy depletion, or climate change, or whatever is what we should do anyway, and when in doubt about how to change, we should change our lives to reflect what we should be doing “Anyway.”

It really is interesting. If you think about it one of the reasons many of us have made changes is because we were not feeling connected with our lives. I certainly felt I had handed the responsibility for too many things and lost the joy of feeling competent. I suspect at some level we all recognised our dependence on a system devoid of an ability to care and it sowed the seeds of concern. If the entities that support our lives as individuals don't care that we exist it makes us vulnerable in ways that are extremely scary.

My biggest step toward living the Theory of Anyway was to recognise that my family doesn't live in a bubble. The decisions we make ripple through the world shaping both the present and more importantly our future.

Honestly, I don't want to be scared of loosing access to the trappings of modern society like mains power. Be the loss for hours, days or ever I need to feel confident that push comes to shove that although it would be inconvenient that we can do what we need to do without them. I want to know that I can live without all the help, nice as it is to have.

You know what, I want to be an Adult. One of those people that is making responsible decisions because they confident in their skills. That are aware of their strengths and weaknesses allowing them to decide to take the "hard road" when it will give a better outcome.

It might be just one small step but at the end of it all I would like to know I did what I should have done "Anyway".

A Job Well Done...

Can Only Happen If A Job is Done.

Now to say the least I am an expert at procrastination is probably understating the point.

I use moon planting not because I totally believe that it makes a significant difference to the end result, in my case it does because the plants actually end up in the ground, but because it gives me a deadline. It gives me a timetable to jog me to check if as of right now, yes today, I have enough leafy stuff, fruiting stuff or rooty stuff already in the ground. Without some type of self imposed timetable little gets done. To make matters worse I really suck at creating deadlines... let alone sticking to them.

Now I will freely admit that I probably should have just bought something for these babies. Neither mother would expect hand made gifts, but to me it just felt more personal to sit with my thoughts and sew my hopes for both families into something of use. The problem of course was, what of use?

Was it going to be foot coverings or hats or cute little dresses? Well since I haven't actually touched my sewing machine in two years due to my back and I haven't seen either of these babies to even attempt to gauge a size something reasonably quick in case I needed to do it in very short bursts and a lot of fudge factor seemed the order of the day.

It took over a week from when the first baby was born and a couple of days after the second before I managed to come up with what seemed like a reasonable idea.... bibs. Really can a mother ever have enough bibs.

Honestly, I have no idea, never done the whole child birth stage so I am making a guess here that bibs are useful things. More importantly they are useful things that tend to get diiiirrrrttttyyy.

Baby's in the first few months seem to do 3 main things and one of them bib's are sort of made to rescue all those cute little baby shower clothes from. After that, well baby feeding itself solid food just adds to the mess problems and now mothers are generally up to the clothes they have spent a minor fortune on.. so in my thought process bib==good.

Now the first decision had been made a whole raft of .. OMDog how do I approach this little problem occured. Did I mention the fact I haven't done a lot of babies?


Therefore I haven't dealt with a lot of bibs. Well lets just say design and sizing came down to hazy recolections of sturdy bibs I was sorta exposed to when baby sitting my neice who is now.. Um, 12. Along with an interesting process of Oh, wow that mug looks about the right size for a baby neck, let's use that cause I sure can't draw a circle to save myself. Basically it comes down to who know's what I created. With any luck it will be useful for at least part of their life. In the unlikely occurance I happen to get feedback I now have a pattern I could potentially improve thus making this little venture slightly less of an ADventure in the future.

Either way.. I have spent time thinking about the blessing these little girls and their family have recieved to have their lifes to share. More importantly only two weeks or so after the first was born the parcel will be ready for the morning post today.

MudBrick Palace Back To Basics - Week 36

Sowing seed or Planting -
Observing

• Chickens do a fantastic job of dethatching kiku
  
• A variety of the other deciduous plantings in the orchard are starting to put on buds

Planning for The Future -

• Mentally compiled the garden jobs priority list so we know where to focus our energies next week
• Started my mental PDC Project Plan
  

Working for the Future -

• Organised for the laundry door to be fixed so the dogs are not loose in the house overnight
• Started late winter decluttering
• Cleared all the laundry to cope with a possible post holiday onslaught
  

Building Community -

• Attended and supported a friend presenting at the local Permie group
  
• Finished the "Babies Here" gifts now due for family and friends
• 
  

Learn a new Skill -

• reviewed scale drawing (Boy does this stuff hurt my bwain)
  

Participant Posts

Remote TreeChanger
Friday July 10
Saturday July 18th

Cockatoo Dreaming
Monday July 13th

It's Raining, it's pouring.. but the Reservoir is falling

I don't know about anyone else but it is rather difficult to keep water conservation in mind when you look outside and you see rain. Needless to say this is a problem. In Melbourne right now we are still at 3A water restrictions, but with an added voluntary target of 155L/day per household member.

Rightly so, our reservoir capacity currently sitting at 26.8% the next summer is looking to be even more challenging for your average gardener.

What has been your biggest impact water conservation method?

Chicken Fact of the Day -#2

Drowsy chickens Coo.

It was something that I would never have expected before I was a chicken owner who must lock them in for the night. Every night when I walk down to lock their fox proof pen as long as they are properly settled into their roosting they make this cute little purr/coo sound.

It is a sound that makes me smile every time I hear it...

Active Communities.. Why is it such a struggle?

I was sitting in the middle of a local Club AGM recently watching the process. I firmly decided I wasn't going to volunteer this year because I have been a paid member of the club a total of 4 minutes. This lead me to watch in disbelief when it took 3 calls, and a goodly chunk of time, to even get a president so the rest of the meeting could proceed. After filling the treasurer position the then the incumbent secretary reluctantly accepted being voted back into her 3rd term of the position because it became clear that she wasn't going to get anyone to step forward.

The event that made that clear?

Well, filling the treasurer position, which became vacant when that member became president. After about 6 calls around the room where everyone just looked at everyone else eventually someone offered to do the job, as long as she didn't have to use a computer. This process followed with differing levels of excruciating non participation until eventually the essential positions where filled.

Now this is a club where on a monthly basis at least 15 people turn up to meetings. There were about 20 or so there for the AGM. Most of the positions required the commitment of attending 4 committee meetings that are held during the year. Ok, the top three positions require attendance at most meetings as well but from my sightings in the last 3 months or so I have been a guest at the club 90% of those people attend almost every meeting.

It really is no wonder that people on club committee's get frustrated at times. When you have to struggle that much to fill positions it makes people even more reluctant to take them on. The secretary is a good example of someone that was more than happy to do her time to keep the club running.. but at this point feels that it is time that someone else stepped forward to lighten her load. Needless to say this experience will make her reluctant to step forward again either in this club or any other she may be involved with.

Honestly I don't know what the answer is here. I know people are busy but I find it difficult to belive that committing to attending the 4 committee meetings is such an arduous task. For the higher responsibilty postions I understand that having to make sure you are available for most of the meetings can be significant..

Really aren't the services the club provides both you and the community worth the inconvenience? Or am I just being too crystal wavey, hippy commune about my outlook here?

MudBrick Palace Back To Basics - Week 35

Sowing seed or Planting -
Sowing

• 2 Rows Leek Autumn Giant
• 1 Row Leek Musselburg
• 2 Rows Nandas Carror (round)
  

Planting

• 6 Chinese Spinach
  
• 4 Wombok
• 6 Bok Choi
  

Observing

• Chickens are settling and deciding that this whole flock idea just might work
• one of the potted grapes is starting to look like it is budding up (seems early)
• now that Maia is not planting I have many seedlings
  

Planning for The Future -

• Attended the Planning a 12 month harvest workshop Community Harvest
  

Working for the Future -

• worked on brochure for the BEC community garden project
  

Building Community -

• Provided meals for Community Harvest dinner
• Attended Club AGM
  

Learn a new Skill -

• N/A
  

Participant Posts

Remote TreeChanger
Saturday July 4th

There is a Little Space, There is a Little Place

There are dreamers in this world of multi faced hues. They vision, ignite passion, challenge our ruts and cheer us to change.

Their enthusiasms usually overtake their entire being. They stand before us vibrating in tune to sights that only they can see. Speaking of a future that exists only in their mind, but is as strong as the reality where they absent-mindedly skinned their knee. Finding potential in everyone or every place. Be it a railway siding, a park or someone's backyard everything is fodder for a better future.

These people are precious. Their ability to believe in the vision no matter the challenges that there is no such thing as a mistake.. just an unexpected change of direction with new and exciting opportunites.

Thank you, to the dreamers who love us enough to speak.

Second of the First's

It might have taken a restart and quite a bit of angst but chickens really are an animal I can appreciate.

Today, 15 days after our first egg, we were blessed with our second first, the "Two Egg Day"

possessions as identity

no sooner had i spoken than the world altered. we've been given 60 days notice to move. clumsy timing, i was hoping this would happen at the end of the year, but it's not out of the blue - the house needs major repairs, and the owner has been making moves in that direction for some time.

after the initial shock passed, our household went into crisis management mode. we made inquiries, held emergency council of war, made a timeline, organised lists, created a rough plan of attack... we're doing fine. the three of us are going our separate ways, but we're all happy and amicable with the situation. i'm looking to stay in the same area but downsize.

i live in a large suburban house. three large bedrooms, a study, two massive living areas, a large backyard, storage space - pretty sweet setup. the flip side is, in the five or six years i've lived here, i've accumulated rather a lot of things. almost all things that meet the eye - crockery, crap in the laundry cupboard, the laundry cupboard - are mine. i've been de-cluttering in small ways for some time, partly in preparation for this situation, but it's time to get serious.

this week i've been walking round my home critically examining each object. do i need this? when was the last time i used it? how does it fit in with who i'd like to be? do i want to remain the sort of person who owns such an item, or is it time to shed? in other words, does this item belong to maia of the past, or maia of the present?

maia of all tenses i've encountered would like to be free to travel, to move, to fit into a wide range of spaces. to that end, i've created three broad categories:
a) item i need
b) item with emotional significance
c) item that is weighing me down

i'm putting a lot of energy into transferring the bulk of my possessions from a) and b) into c). many things, thankfully, i'm happy to let go. i'm subdividing the last category into:
c1) asset i can sell
c2) stuff to freecycle/op shop/give away
c3) crap going to hard rubbish collection (almost nothing fits here)

there have been a couple of existential crises as the packing began, which were highly valuable in making me realise i didn't have my criteria refined enough. once i got those sorted, everything became much simpler. for example, i know that everything i need is right in front of me; all i need to do is look. i also know i am capable and intelligent, and can find ways to get around all sorts of situations with not that much, really. i enjoy shared living, and i'm likely to move in with people who already have plenty of homewares. i have access the gorgeous mudbrick palace, that can home my fridge & washing machine in the medium term, and my cacti and lime trees in the longer term (i don't think it will come to that, but i am grateful for that ability). another important fact: many things in category a) are replacable; they are just things.

using those principles, i have the freedom to live without three couches, four cupbaords, seven identical screwdrivers, fourteen mugs ... you get the picture. i'm keeping the whitegoods, and one smaller couch, but if it came to it, i'd let it go. my current plan is to move many of my garden and food-preserving things to belinda & andrew's. i remain the sort of person who makes jam and grows vegetables.

anybody need a wardrobe?

MudBrick Palace Back To Basics - Week 34

Sowing seed or Planting -
Planting

• 2 Long Island Brussel Sprouts
• 2 Spinach
• 2 Sugar Loaf Cabbage
• 2 Scotch Kale

Observing

• chickens can be mean, it isn't called a pecking order for nothing
  

Planning for The Future -

• wracking my brain for small business ideas

Working for the Future -

• organised sample date for HOBS
• built makeshift chicken tractor
  

Building Community -

• Provided meals for PDC Days
• Met the co convener of the Community Harvest Project
  

Learn a new Skill -

• N/A
  

Participant Posts

Remote TreeChanger
Monday June 29th

Chicken Fact of the Day

Chickens really are clutzy.

Don't have anything in their pen that can be flipped, rolled or fall over as they are most certainly going to trip on it, fall off it or end up under it.

I am sure there are many of you out there wondering just how I came to talk about this well know but seldom talked about section of chicken care.

Well, as you do last night after a hard day at PDC I went down to the coop to shut up their fox proof pen. As it was 5:30, well into roosting time, I was approaching the coop keeping my eyes out to see if the girls had put themselves to bed in the right place or not. Their perches were moved on the weekend and they are still settling into the new routine so even though they both got it worked out yesterday I wasn't totally certain I would find them both there tonight. Anyway peering into the darkness I could only see the outline of Tundra, new black chicken, and Natas seemed to be missing.

She continued to stay missing until I started to open the door of the coop and through the falling darkness I noticed this flattened creamy brown smudge in front of my eyes. Of course my first thought was that a fox had got her and left the body. Then I registered the fact that the entire chicken was in front of me head and all... pinned to the floor by a small coop door.

With the coop remodle on Sunday we ended up with an reasonably light but sturdy coop door that was no longer needed as a permanent fixture. Presented with such an opportunity I decided that having the door leaning on it's side just inside the main entranceway. It would be a great way to keep the chickens contained for those infrequent times when I would like to be able to just throw some greenery in the coop without having to fight about keeping them in the run.

Everything was fine for 24 hours, or so it seemed... Well, until I was going to be away for the day and unable to check on them every couple of hours, either in their tractor on in the run, the way I normally do.

All indications are that Natas decided the top of the door was an AWESOME roost spot sometime early in the day. Taking that thought and making it action means she lauched herself and landed on top of the barrier, 'tis all good... as there wasn't really a chicken front or back width between the barrier and the main coop door the girl gave things a little nudge to make herself fit. Thus unbalancing the door and tipping everything over pinning herself under the door.

After lifting the door off the poor girl it took a few seconds for her to realise she could move now. Slowly she toddled toward the raised night perches but the unevenness of her gait told me this girl wasn't flying anywhere right now. She was still in shock and her co ordination was all over the shop. I swooped her up off the floor, and placed her on the sheltered night perch with her buddy and hoped for the best.

Needless to say I was rather happy to see her this morning protesting the entire lack of service this accommodation provides... i.e. acting normally.


Boy, was I a lucky chicken keeper this time round. Luckily the door was light and there was a little space under it because of construction and uneven flooring in the coop. Luckily it was a reasonably cool day and the fact she didn't have access to water didn't kill her. Luckily the day although blustery and cool wasn't as freezing as it is possible to be this time of year so when she went into shock she didn't die.