Drying - Day 31 of 365

What else are 40C days good for?

Food Swap - Day 30 of 365

Ahh, well not my best picture but a wonderful morning none the less.

Transition Towns Foodswap 

The next will be held on Saturday February 26th from 10-11:30 at Magpie House, Upwey.

Grace - Day 29 of 365

Cherokee Wax Climbing Bean - Day 28 of 365

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

You know how I said this is my year to "act" well one of the myriad things that needs action in my life is my health.  Both Andrew and I have been working at doing more exercise together. We are also seriously considering doing yoga this year so although the exercise part of this equation isn't done and dusted it's at least moving in the right direction.

That has me down to diet..and at least in the short term this needs radical change.   As of Monday the 17th I have been sweetener and grain free and plan to be for a month.  Now before everyone starts yelling from all directions this isn't a diet aimed at weight loss.  If I loose weight that would be fine but as it is the diet is actually about rebalancing my body.  It's about remembering what my body feels like when it is working properly, so I can have the opportunity to let it guide me it actually needs to be healthy.

Sweeteners and grains, particularly glutinous grains, are something that tend to be extremely prevalent in modern diets.  Even the less refined ones are not really the best for us at the levels we often eat them and believe me when I say my diet has been biased too heavily that way, for way too long.  Now some people seem to get away with it. Unfortunately for me a while ago I started turning up grain sensitivities that I had never experienced before.

Yes, the girl who until 2 years ago could sit down and eat anything put in front of her, in any volume she chose suddenly started experiencing stomach cramping.. at times, with wheat.  Now this was a blow both financially and mentally.  If most people sit down and write down what they eat over a day many will come up with at least 2 meals where wheat is a central player and probably a couple of snacks as well.  The reason for this is that generally speaking wheat products are readily available and cheap.  All of a sudden my limit was somewhere around 1-2 pieces of bread.  OUCH!

Thankfully I tolerated spelt better but even so, spelt flour is not exactly cheap, and even there I need to watch out and not indulge too far.

Then I decided to go gluten free for a bit, for some now unknown reason.  About a week and a half in I started to get a rash all over my neck with isolated spots on my face.  It took me about 2 weeks to realise the two were connected and then another week to isolate the problem.. Corn.  Ah ha, and not just corn in it's reasonably natural form but seemingly in every form right down to xanthum gum.  Once I removed all the traces of corn I could find my neck cleared up.  The spots on my face though have remained, and I have to take that as a signal that my body is still under stress.  Thus the decision to go sweetener and grain free for a month to see if things improve.

Those that have read here in the past are probably aware we are mostly no dairy vegetarian.  Put all those dietary restrictions together and you have a recipe for.. well, crying.  Thus as the no dairy bit is non negotiable the vegetarian, for the sake of my sanity is currently on hiatus.  By western diet standards even now we are not eating a lot of meat.  There are still a lot of bean dishes in the meal rotation but they are now only around half our weekly meal plan and the vegetable based dishes that pretty much rely on a grain to make up the balance of the protein profile are now balanced with a small amount of meat.

With any luck in a couple of months I will be able to cut back our meat consumption again and maintain my health.. Until then I simply need to cope with the fact that although I don't think our current level of meat consumption is sustainable, right now, it does feel necessary.

Misty Lace - Day 27 of 365

Yup, it's been that long since they were used.

:-D

Cape Gooseberry - Day 26 of 365

Gardening from the Gut

It's well past mid summer and it's proving to be an interesting year.  In a garden first, 2 weeks ago I planted snow peas.  It's Janurary and I am planting snow peas.  Normally at this time of year planting such a firmly Autumn to Winter crop would simply be either extremely foolhardy or downright stupid.   It still might be of course but in all honestly I have given up that we are going to get any of the normal, hot dry days that we are used to at this time of year.  We have had extremely uncomfortable 29C's with 70-80% humidity, as a friend said "when did we move to Cairns?", but those dry 40's that desiccate everything in their path we haven't seen hide nor hair of.

Admittedly I am hedging my bets.  Snow peas cope with the occasional hot day much better than shelling peas.  Even so, it felt so foreign to be in the middle of January digging over one of the fallow beds to plant any type of pea.  The mental adjustment has been a bit challenging but if I have judged this right they should start producing when we are starting to cool down allowing good fruit set as peas don't like it too hot when they are flowering.

We may not see a huge result from our summer crops as a result of the weather.  That will only become a large problem if I don't adjust and work with the season I am being presented with.  At my place it's been the Summer of lettuce and will probably be the Autumn of Brassica's and Peas.  Every single thing out of my garden is precious, though sometimes that's easy to forget, so even though I will rejoice each and every zucchini or tomato my garden is able to provide I can only garden the season I am living in and this year those crops are looking to be supplemental rather than diet staples.  

Are you needing to adjust or is your garden simply business as usual?

Evening - Day 25 of 365

Humid - Day 24 of 365

Invasive Elegance - Day 23 of 365

- Morning Glory -

Young'uns - Day 22 of 365

The new girls.  It's a big, big world out there...

Maple To Be? - Day 21 of 365

A Girl, Some Drawers and the Memories

It's done.  Three years and one month from when I started restoring this piece of furniture, the job is complete.  Having it done, as imperfect as it is, is a load off my heart.  Each time I looked at it unused and unfinished it bruised me a bit, a piece like this is supposed to be used.

The problem was I didn't want to muck it up.  I had spent months hand sanding every inch.  Days filling all the nail holes and the huge split that it's previous living conditions had caused.  I had spent hours carefully thinning out the finish so the brush couldn't leave marks.  As such I wanted the handles straight, I wanted everything perfect and I didn't trust myself to do it right so it waited. I tried to half heartedly convince other people to do the job on a couple of occasions but in my heart of hearts I knew the job was mine regardless of the result.

My relationship with this once tattered set of drawers started when I was around 10.  It lived in the back room of a family holiday house, which at the time was owned by my grandmother.  I was a young girl who was only just starting to understand the idea of extended family.  I had grown up in Western Australia to that point and all my parents family were either in Sydney or Melbourne.  The idea of strong family connections outside my parents and my brother was quite foreign.

That set of drawers was a resident of the room that my brother and I shared many weekends, along with  most Easter and summer holidays.  It held the blankets, towels and those bits and bobs that every house has no matter how transient the residents.  The drawers themselves were never a central player, with their faded darkened finish they were never beautiful, but they were a constant.  Blankets had been stored there by my grandmother, back at a time when my great grandmother was alive, and every family member who had subsequently had a relationship with that house knew where to find them.

Those drawers link me to the place that my father was moved to share stories of his growing up, while we were creating memories of our own.  It was the place that us kids could disappear for half a day on a "walk" and no one would be concerned, as long as we told them a general direction.  It was family time without all the modern distractions.

Most importantly it is a tangible link to people that I never knew and some that are now gone who I value.  It helped me understand the continuity of family and how important it is to feel you have connections to the past.  These drawers may now hold tea towels and preserving lids rather than blankets but every time I open one of those drawers I feel the people who opened those drawers before me.

Of course the handles are crooked, they always were.  

Autumn's Growing - Day 20 of 365

Finishing - Day 19 of 365

It's only taken 3 years and a month to complete :-D

Still - Day 18 of 365

Sassafrass Creek - Day 17 of 365

Sassafrass Creek Reserve

Commendations to The Friends of Sassafrass Creek you have done a wonderful job of maintaining this beautiful space.

At Rest - Day 16 of 365

.. Ok, well, maybe just stopped.

Pitter Pat, Pitter Pat - Day 15 of 365

Self Nurture Before Giving

What's happening all over Australia right now, be it flood or fire, is tragic.  I have family in areas of concern as many of us do.  The thing is I can't change any of it so I am restricting my media sources.

I came to the conclusion during the Victorian bush fires that I can't be ready to help when it becomes appropriate if every single minute of the day my emotions are stretched to the limit.  The media keeps presenting heart wrenching images and soul destroying stories.  If I allow them to be thrust in front of me every second of the day it breeds exhaustion not action.  Watching others in pain when I can do nothing to sooth simply increases anxiety, not empathy.

Although to some it might seem selfish to shelter myself from the reality of people's plight I don't see it that way.  I am simply putting on my breathing mask before helping the child next to me.  I am acknowledging to myself that the emotional climate the media is currently pushing into my life is not a positive force for me.  If left unmanaged it will hamper my capacity to do good when the avenues present themselves.  In a while these people will need me to be standing in my power, they need me to be thinking and caring not spasmodically reacting.

I know enough to be aware their needs are vast and pain is deep and that is all I will ever truly understand.  Solidarity is born of shared experience, the media can't give me solidarity with these people.  It's already told me all I need to know so now I choose when I allow it to intrude into my space.

Rainy Day Comforts - Day 14 of 365

Anticipation - Day 13 of 365

Wholegrain Apricot and Sunflower Biscuits (Spelt)

Spelt Apricot and Sunflower Biscuits
(approx 30 biscuits)

3 C Wholegrain Spelt Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

1 C Rolled oats 

1 C dried apricot, sliced into chunks

1/2 C sunflower seeds

1/2 C Coconut Oil

1/3 C Raw Sugar
2 Lg Eggs
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 C Maple Syrup
1 1/2 Tsp vanilla essence


Preheat oven to 180C.

To a medium bowl add Flour, Baking Powder, Cinnamon and rolled oats.  Add apricot pieces and sunflower seeds mix to distribute everything through then let sit.

Cream together the coconut oil and sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time.  Mix through salt, maple syrup and vanilla essence.  When everything is thoroughly combined add the contents of the flour bowl and mix well.  The mix at this point should hold together when squished into a ball.

Make balls of dough around about 1 Tbsp in size and slightly flatten as you put it on the oven tray.

Cook at 180C for 12-15 minutes, until slightly golden.  Once dooled enough to move continue cooling on a rack.

Home Herbals - Day 11 of 365

Cause sometimes my sanity is found at the bottom of a teapot.

It's My Year to "Act"

Rather than resolutions I tend to choose a word for the year.  It's something I tend to think long and hard about and this year I honestly hadn't connected with a word when January 1st rolled around.  Coming up to the new year it became blatantly obvious that this year my focus word was going to come in it's own time and not a second before, and the more I pushed the further away the energy felt.  Not having chosen a focus for the year perturbed me a little but I could also feel it sitting there waiting to bubble to the surface.  I chose to let go of the expectation that the word must be set by New Years Eve.  I recognised that, for me, getting the right word was more important than simply having one for January 1st.

So in it's own sweet time around January 3rd I woke up and told Andrew that this is my year to "Act".  Like many I have a tendency to over think things.  A deep need to plan 6 ways to safely traverse a bridge before being willing to set foot on it.  Now there are parts of this that are positive and work for me.  Being honest though I talk myself out of more things than I talk myself into, even when I know the fun side-streets of life are those you just said "yes" to with no idea where you were likely to end up.  It's in this vein I am going to do my best this year to "Do, not think" and throw myself at life more.

I am certainly not expecting this to be comfortable.  In fact anyone that knows me and is reading this is probably getting worried about my sanity right now.  This is going to be as challenging as it comes and I will be pushing against lifelong habits and boundaries to get there.  We'll see how I do at choosing to move forward rather than weigh every pro and con before being willing to take a step..

One way or another, it's gunna be a ride.
Project 365, here I come.........

Dwarfed by the Enormity of it All - day 9 of 365

'

Mountain Ash - George Tindale Memorial Garden

Our Adventures in Aquaculture

Hi, Andrew here.

I was looking at our pool and was going write something but then realized we'd probably never really written about the pool at all. So I should probably introduce it.

The Pool
When we moved in here the yard had a lovely above ground pool with decking and fencing. The previous owners left it nice and clean and with the appropriate pool chemicals and whatnot. I had a pool as a kid and so while the pool was not really a consideration for us to buy, it was certainly nice to have.

So while we like swimming and it is nice for summer, the idea of chlorine, chemicals and running electrical filters was not really keeping with our plans for the place.
We're pisces and like having it. Not the least for an added water storage for fire season and for the plants.
We did some reading and searching for information on Natural Pools and frankly couldn't find much. Our plan became... do nothing.

We left the pool alone, no chemicals, no filtering. We left the pool cover on to reduce evaporation.
It slowly turned green but never stinky. It started with a few bugs and mosquito larvae etc but as time progressed, wild ducks would come visit more and more often. Frogs had taken up residence and vastly reduced the mozzy larvae. We tried rainbow trout fingerlings from the local trout farm but kookaburras, the pool filter eating them and a few other issues meant they didn't do too well. But the idea was certainly in place.

Ducks!
Our next great foray into getting more use from the pool was ducks. They don't really need a whole pool. A kiddie wading pool or a bathtub is enough. But they certainly like having a pool to swim in. They use the pool cover to sit on and it makes it easier for them to climb up the edges. They also have a penned area next to the pool to eat plants, dig for worms etc. At night they are locked up in a dog proof cage with their shelter inside that. The metal pool fencing and the cage give good protection from foxes. The wild ducks still come to visit and our girls boss them around but generally seem quite happy with the visitors. However happy ducks swimming around in pools poop. Quite a lot.

So wanting to learn more I went to an aquaculture course with Nick Romanowski and came back all inspired to get more active with the pool again.

Bathtubs, Buckets, Lilies and Duckweed
We have a bathtub in the ducks pen that I decided to use as a separate aquatic plants nursery as I expected the ducks to be 'pigs with webbed feet' and try to eat everything I introduced.

It turned out this was a wise plan.

I acquired a few varieties of duckweed, water lilies and water hawthorn.

The plants use the nutrients from the duck poop and help move the water through the nitrogen cycle.

All are edible and the lilies and hawthorn should have pretty flowers. Duck weed is one of the fastest growing plants there is by volume and is high in protein.

Tricksy Ducks and the Special Area of Specialness

I repotted one of the water lilies in a bucket and submerged it just below water level with a chain. I moved some of the duckweed to the pool, which is a pure water surface floating plant.

The ducks gobbled the lot in a day.

And this is why I had the nursery bathtub, with wire mesh on top.

I had to separate the pool into 2 sections, one for the ducks, one for the plants to grow in.

Of course the ducks thought the special place with tasty Duckweed was awesome and found their way in there as fast they could. Even when they'd eaten all the duckweed and the lilies had been moved back to the bathtub to recover. It was special!

After a few iterations of wire mesh, underwater bird netting and strategically placed buckets they now have been blocked from the Special Area of Specialness and the duckweed is growing away brilliantly and the water lily in there is going ok.

It's not 'pretty' yet but should be getting there.

There are frogs in the pool making charming froggy sounds at night. There are minnows living in the the nursery bathtub and a few in the pool. Most of the water lilies and hawthorn are still in the tub at the moment. I move about a handful of duckweed from the bathtub to the pool every day and it all regrows. This goes in the ducks area which they eat with breakfast. The special area duckweed is expanding well and I'm not resupplying it from the bathtub at the moment.

I have water channels made from metal roofing flowing to swales above a main garden bed and the orchard. So on 40 degree days I can easily send a few buckets of water to where they are needed.

It's all going very nicely.

Future Plans
We have plenty more plans for our aquatic ecosystem. We'll move some of the potted lime trees down to the pool deck where they'll get excellent full sun, I can easily water when I feed or put the ducks to bed. This will help give some shade, be weights on the duck fences and bucket chains and look neater.

I'm using the bathtub as an area to learn. So I try to keep the pH correct and it had an aeration system until it died. I'll do the same with the pool now. Only a small amount of aeration should be needed and I hope to run it on a solar panel. Now the ducks seem to be kept out I'll move more (but not all!) lilies and hawthorn to the pool.

Ducks lay eggs and poop. Minnows swim and eat duckweed and general junk that falls in the pool. Plants use the nutrients from the animals. I want to put Perch in the pool to eat the minnows. We can then eat the perch. I definitely also want to try yabbies. This will require more fencing as ducks will happily eat baby yabbies. It will also need a ramp for the yabbies to walk from the bottom to the surface, I plan to use hessian and also use it for the aquatic plants roots to grow into. Sooner or later all this will be hooked into a little wetlands to help process the water on the property.

I like our pool. Not really for swimming now and a bit of setup but low maintenance really for

Eggs, high protein plants, fish, shellfish, nice sounds, pretty flowers and a nice cool area.

Deeeeeep Breaths - Day 8 of 365

Well... it's certainly time

Warm, Sweet Delight - Day 7 of 365

Rise 'N Shine - Day 6 of 365

It's Breakfast Time

It's the Unexpected Beauty - Day 5 of 365

Red Chicory 

That Leaves me in Awe.

From Strength We Fall - Day 4 of 365

Eucalypt Roots - Sherbrooke Falls

Potential - Day 3 of 365

Wild Blackberry

Some Days Life Just Sings - Day 2 of 365

An onion flower head breaking through it's outer skin.  

Living for the future just waste's time.. it's now that's full of beauty

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day.

It's a new year and I have decided to be part of the 365 photo project.

I sure hope you enjoy following my camera's journey through the year.  I am going to admit here and now that this one is a little bit of a cheat because it was actually taken on 30/12/2010.  The thing is, I love the photo and really wanted to share it with all of you.  

This intense little fella is way too tame for his own good but when your home is a picnic ground sometimes that happens.  We'll just say this Kookaburra has his tactics worked out when trying to gain food from humans.. and this was taken about half a second pre flight.

Happy New Year, best wishes and highest hopes for all your endeavours.