FIRE, SEEDS AND THAT WORD 'LIFE'

 

Fire is beautiful. Have you ever just sat and watched the flames - so many colours and shapes and always changing. The warmth of a fire on a cold night in the bush, the hiss and crackle of the burning wood and the need to constantly tend it carefully to make it right for cooking are all things that fill up your senses when it gets dark, if you are camping. I love cooking on a fire; it is all of my requirements rolled into one activity - full of surprises, requires constant alertness, it is creative, and totally fulfilling at the end. Everything cooked on a fire tastes good because of all the effort that has gone into it and the satisfaction of having produced it at the end of a hard day's walking.

The total simplicity of dealing with a fire is tightly linked to seedsaving! It is that whole connection to the earth thing that I am always going on about. The older I become the deeper that gets until, I guess, one day I will be a part of the earth again. The circle of life and death, just like a seed. There is a pyramid of understanding, I think, about this whole food-growing movement. It can begin anywhere, maybe even at the very top with a showy display of herbs in beautiful pots, gracing a front door step, which are never actually eaten. It then seems to lure people along, step by step, until they find a little niche of satisfaction, somewhere inside themselves.

Eventually, I see these people proud to have picked something and actually eaten it. Hooked! It goes on from there, usually, to something that comes within a hair's breadth of grasping the why's and wherefores of nature. To go another step and start saving seeds and sowing them for other than your own personal gain requires a little input from outside and I hope our seedsavers group and this stuff I and others write on this blog might be the catalyst for at least one person, somewhere, to make the connection between the seed saving and the personal food production, on the one hand, and sustaining the wealth of resources of life on earth and, actually, the civilisation of the human race too. Pretty heavy stuff but please excuse me for my passions!  

 

 

Here are some things that were flowering this weekend at Deep Creek Conservation Park, about an hour and a half's drive south of Adelaide. They are all part of the seed producing process that ensures the continuation of that thing we on Earth call 'life' and which appears to be quite elusive on other land masses in our universe. It is so special, so unique to here on Earth. Take that thought with you into the rest of your life and please, take care of the earth in every way you can.

 

 

Keyhole Gardens

Kitchen Gardens International has this video of keyhole gardens in Africa.

What a fantastic idea to create a simple garden in hilly, windy or very dry climates.

What a wonderful job the Send a Cow people are doing, teaching children in schools how to build keyhole gardens & grow their own vegetables.

If you don't have room for a keyhole garden you can have a bag garden.

James Lovelock and Climate Change

Last July we heard James Lovelock speak at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas (a Biennial Event).
He spoke of his Gaia Theory and his predictions for our planet.

James talks about some pretty scary stuff and that we better enjoy life while we can.

Please read this article by Decca Aitkenhead or go to James Lovelock's website or read his books.

GNOME HEAVEN

This afternoon I have been to the lovely couple of acres owned by the two friendly and generous gnomes who have the blog Mad Gnomes. One thing is for sure, they live near the snow-line! Veggie Gnome is originally from Austria, so is impervious to today's icy winds near Lenswood but you would have to be a very special capsicum to over-winter there! Luckily I love the cold and took a jacket so I was very happy exploring every nook and cranny of the vegie patches, the berry patch and the fruit trees, compost bays, sheep field and the chooks. And the view is wonderful; I even got a glimpse of Neighbour Gnome's place down the valley opposite.

I think Veggie Gnome and I have a lot in common because, like me, she loves growing stuff just for the hell of it. There are things being propagated here and there and trials of vegetables in foam boxes - such as in this photo, just because you can.There are native edible things whose names I can't even remember, which is a bit embarrassing since I am, after all , the Australian while she is the Austrian! There are figs and apples and artichokes, there are Asian greens and European things and so much stuff - you would never go hungry there! They have redcurrants and blueberries and raspberries and boysenberries and berries I have never heard of before.

Flower Gnome grows proteas and leukodendrons and bulbs and little flowers and big flowers and it is all so lovely. There was even big bunch of proteas and leukodendrons waiting for me in a bucket, to take home.

The compost is made on these sheets of corrugated steel so the grass doesn't grow up through it all and this makes it much easier to load up with a shovel too.

This is Chinese Celery Leaf (?). You actually eat the rib of the leaf and it is delicious and sort of juicy and un-Asian like. Very nice. There was also a type of Asian spinach - help me out Please Veggie Gnome!

 

I am glad Veggie Gnome is from Austria because she made a wonderful apple cake with apples sliced differently to anything I have seen before, on the top of the cake. I want to say here and now how much I appreciate the attention everybody who reads this blog and asks me to their garden pays to the fact that I love coffee and am always hungry and will devour large amounts of delicious food whenever it is offered!

There are lots more photos and I have put them on the photos link. It was very kind of the gnomes to ask me around and I felt like we were old friends, by the time I left. Isn't it great how blogs bring people together. And we talked about all of the blogs we read, scattered around the world, as if they were all our friends and just lived down the road and over the hill.

The back of the car was filled with rhubarb crowns and stalks, artichoke plants and flowers to bring home. Gardeners are such generous people.

 

I stopped on the way home to catch a photo of the last rays of the sun dipping below the clouds and sending a warm glow across the Adelaide hills and valleys.

As I sit here eating (local) pickled sardines (from the market) on rye bread (Yes, more food!) I want to say thanks again to both of you for your time and generosity. It was great to get to know you both and feel your enthusiasm for the same things that I love to do. Life is good. Get there fast and take it slow.

ANOTHER MARKET FRIDAY

I think this regular "what happened at the market today" thing is taking a hold and should be a weekly column or something....anyway, as usual I went to the Central Market where the whole world gathers to tempt you with ingredients for everything from Asia to Morocco to France and to ...everywhere. The fresh stuff is all various stages of local from all Australian to all South Australian to little baskets of mandarins and this and that at Wilsons from local Adelaide suburban backyards, sometimes including my own. Having been going to this market since I was born, I know every nook and cranny and almost everybody who has been serving there too, at the stalls I frequent. It is the friendliest place to shop especially when you feel like all the stall-holders are your friends and they are from as diverse backgrounds as the produce they sell.

I always look out for Tony and hope to get some Italian practice but he has been a bit elusive the last couple of weeks - he told me his organic certification is coming up and he is flat-out like a lizard drinking, trying to comply with all the stupidest of requirements. There is a lovely young bloke working at Wilson's now, since my wonderful Antony left (but has now been found by Maggie at Doofdoof - the people who know 'food' backwards!) and his name is James. James and I have a secret plan for my birthday party which I bet no-one could guess (except maybe Maggie - be quiet Maggie) . How could I have a 50th vegetable party without inviting the people at Wilson's??

In Angelakis, getting some Coorong mullet, I was served by the cute little Greek bloke who always gives me a good deal and I always hope he will serve me. I said I was surprised there were any Coorong mullet left, with the soaring salinity that is killing, literally, everything in that waterway. he said, with fire in his eyes, "Don't get me started on water..." and proceeded to get started himself on water! Why aren't we catching it before it gets to the sea? Why are we letting cotton farmers take all our water? Why doesn't the government help them change to a better crop for a desert and let the water run down the river? And so on and so on...and of course I agreed and agreed and we commiserated together that we will all leave if this continues; no joke.

So, dear reader, it is not just me going on like this day in day out; even the bloke serving at the market fish shop can see what's needed but, and this is enough to make me erupt or go up in smoke, "they" have just announced they are going to spend $100 million on a new soccer stadium but have decided, in the budget announced last night, to scrap most of plans they had for water infrastructure and have made no allowance in the budget at all for doing anything about water, ever!! Oh my goodness. Death would be less painful. NZ, here we come!

I did manage to move on from that and enjoy the rest of the time at the market, you will be pleased to know. Now I am off to see the Veggie Gnome's garden!

IRISH SEEDSAVERS AND OTHER IDEAS

Early this year sometime I sent an email to the Irish Seedsavers because I thought it would be fun to have some contact with a group that looks like they do so much great stuff. One of my grandfathers was from Ireland, too, and my mother says I have a lot in common with him (that rebellious streak, evidently) so I have a soft spot for Ireland, in general. I never met him - he drove very badly and didn't 'hold with' the road rules if they didn't suit him! He was killed when his car collided with a bus.

Nothing. No email came.....until yesterday. A brief, friendly message floated through the ether to me, like a little note in a bottle, washed up onto my screen. Contact. Beautiful. That is what is so good about the internet. I would like to have contact with seedsavers groups everywhere but when I try to find them online, there are not many with websites or blogs but I search on.

Funny the traits we inherit, just like with plants. People often say to me that they saved the seed but the next generation was not the same. That is like saying that you are not the same as your parents! You have to go to a bit of trouble to save seed from the plants that worked best in your situation otherwise you have a greater chance of getting some dud plants that are tall and unproductive or very slow to mature; everyone has some dud relatives and its the same for plants!

After deciding I wasn't going interstate to be a wildlife vet, I went to uni and did languages but I also did biology and this is still a great love of mine, and fits nicely with the whole food-growing thing. After some particularly good lectures on genetics, I wanted, once again, to take the science route of study. But, things happened and I didn't pusue it but genetics is fascinating and the history of life on earth is a mighty interesting thing to read about. These days there are some fabulous books for the general public on evoltion and so on and one in particular is 'The Ancestor's Tale' by Richard Dawkins.

Below is a list of some of the courses the Irish Seedsavers are running; there are many more. Impressive, to say the least. Maybe we should be more proactive in this way...maybe not. Deb already runs courses on some of these things. I would like to run the one called "Planning your natural garden" or something similar. It would be also an introduction to permaculture at the same time. Maybe one day.....maybe not.

"Learning how to think differently about your garden" - now that is more like something I would run. It could be the first in a series about thinking. "Learning how to think differently about your food / life / impact on the earth / holidays / just about everything!"
I could do that but would anyone come? Are people ready to look beyond their own experiences for other ideas ? Doubtful. Too 'outside the square' maybe....maybe not! Or perhaps "Getting the most from the posts on this blog!" would be an easier way of saying the same thing. Ha, funny, maybe....maybe not that funny, actually. Food for thought, though. And I would just also like to say "Thanks Barb...."

Maintenance with Bud-Grafting
Dry Stone & Lime Mortar Walling
Creating an Orchard
Getting The Best Out Of Your Polytunnel Year After Year
Introduction to Planning Your Natural Garden
Introduction to Beekeeping
Lime Plastering & Cob Building Part 1
Country Wine-Making
Beginners' Organic Gardening Part 3
Writing from the Book of Nature
Making Herbal Preparations .
Introduction to Renewable Energy & Solar Power Installation
Building an Earth Oven
Exploring the Uses of Hedgerow Plants

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Today, evidently, is world environment day, someone just told me. Ha, that's a laugh. No mention of it here, in Australia, or on anything I have read so far this morning. Typical. A missed opportunity perhaps or just another excuse for selling T-shirts that say 'I care' or plastic hose fittings that have a stupid trigger which stops working after 5 minutes. Do I sound pissed off? Well, why wouldn't I be? Everyday so much common sense is washed down the drain of life that it is no wonder there is hardly any left. Are we - the 'Ether People' - the only ones left with any understanding of what is happening to our environment and the only ones with some ideas - actually common sense - to see what needs to be done? Sadly, I think so.

World Environment Day; I can't be bothered looking it up. I am sure it has a lot of nice language and some ideas for saving the planet, like turning off your lights and your computer.....at least my chooks are happy - I can see them scratching about, from where I sit at this life-line of sanity - and sometimes I think I would like to come back as a chook in a nice, chook-friendly place like mine. I always thought it would be great to be an otter but who knows now - their habitat is probably ruined and they are probably on the brink, like the poor old polar bears.

Today is dry again but at least it is not sunny. I break the law every day by watering my future meals with water from the hose, instead of using a watering can. (I don't mean I water the same things everyday, it is just that there is always something drooping...) Do you see the growers of massive food crops out with a watering can? No? Well I am not going to use one either. I don't know of any watering cans that have a misting nozzle for seeds, for a start. And I am saving my back for more useful things. If someone dobs me in, I will get a fine and you can probably guess what I will have to say about that! Now they have stopped the rebates for people installing solar panels, except for people whose income is less than $100,000. Please explain to me how someone whose income is below that amount could afford to spend $20,000 on a decent number of solar panels? Holy valotta! This is more madness. One step forward and 100 steps back.

So, I continue to be pissed off. One day soon I will get my thoughts together about something worth-while again. But, just for now, and maybe until it rains, I feel totally uninspired to even care.