Monday, 30 June 2008

BEYOND THE BEAUTY

These pretty things in my garden today.....

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...are hiding the fact that we are still having a severe drought.....

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...and it looks like it will continue....maybe forever.

 

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kate, I saw those pics of beauty in your garden and felt the pain of realisation again. It happens regularly these days where I recognise that my fear of the future of our water resources is not unfounded. I sent a message to my local MP last week requesting some insight into the action plan for the Lower Murray and wetlands and was informed that the buy back was being brought forward and I should find that information consoling. All it did was raise the question... when would this buy back water become available? That question has as yet remained unanswered. I will follow up later this week. My other question was in relation to how the Local MPs planned to ensure our children are taught about using our precious resources more wisely and whether there were any plans in place to introduce ALL schools to water wise gardening. My favourite water saving concept is the wicking bed for food plants, such an easy solution to increase healthy eating at schools and perhaps help kids transfer these skills to their parents!... So far no response from the MP. It is a big project but perhpas it is up to the interested individual to attempt to introduce one school at a time. Why is there such a lack of struggle to find a solution?... Like a frog in a pot being slowly brought to the boil. Perhaps the urgency will grow in time and not see us become french cuisine, if indeed time is what we have. One thing is certain, we all need to be adaptable to change. Thanks for your thought provoking blog. It is a wooden spoon for me!

11:50 pm
Jumbleberry Jam said...

Gorgeous!! Thanks, Kate. Hugs to you all as you find your way through these water challenges.

12:53 am
chaiselongue said...

Beautiful pictures, Kate, but as your title suggests there's an ugly reality behind this beauty. It's difficult for us in Europe to understand the politics and the environmental reality of South Australia, but I do hope you have rain and / or persuade your government to do something soon. I thought we'd had a drought in the Languedoc for the last few years (until the recent rain) but I realise that our problems are nothing compared with yours. The only way for drought-afflicted areas, I think, is for people to start living in a way appropriate for the environment - all people, that is, not just the far-sighted intelligent ones like you!

1:09 am
Kate said...

Great comments but...

Now I rather wish I hadn't written what I did because, actually, I don't want to think about it at all just at the moment. I still do, of course but I just want to forget about it for a few months before the lack of action drives me completely insane! We can see obvious solutions but it will require a serious commitment by all local authorities to implement them...and because I can't do it and am being penalised for growing food, it fills me with a sense of dread.

5:39 am
Rachel said...

Beautiful photos, Kate. I try and hold onto my glass-half-full look at things. I can't help but think that we human beings will dig ourselves out of this mess we've created because we must. Not to be a Pollyana about it, but a small "for example" out of the US - Wal-mart and a few other big retailers have developed a new, square milk jug that costs less to manufacture, uses less petrol to ship and less water to clean/maintain. Lowers cost on milk about 10 to 20 US cents, allows one dairy to use 60 - 70 percent less water. Article here. It gives me hope, indeed.

Tina: wicking bed - is that the same as the rain gardens I'm reading about here in Victoria? I'm dying to do this on our tiny pocket of front yard; it's scrabbly and untended looking because I haven't done anything more than use greywater on the remnents of the turf that was here when I moved in.

3:46 pm
Anonymous said...

Sorry to get all morbid Kate. It really is beautiful in the garden at present as the plants slowly recover from the stresses of summer. My water tanks are all full and I take heart in knowing that many gardens survived droughts when the pioneers made do with what they had.. providing they had water near by or in later periods, water tanks. Each time it attempts to rain at present down on the plains.. I have approx 1-2 ml in the gauge. Add these up and do our best to 'harvest' this rain and we can find a way to make our gardens grow I am sure.

Rachel, Kate has a link on her blog to the wicking bed info which can be found at waterright.com.au
Colin has many ideas about rain 'harvesting' and better water useage. Some of it is a similar idea to the rain gardens.

4:44 pm
Pattie Baker said...

Kate: LOVE the chicken photo!

8:29 pm
Rachel said...

Thanks, Tina. I'll have a look. I appreciate your comments on the water tanks - we installed some slimline ones over Easter, and I feel positively rich each time I rap on the sides to hear the gurgling within!!

9:07 pm
Maggie said...

New camera takes good shots Kate! Very clear and good color.

8:05 am

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