CORPORATE ACTION

Our son Alex has been working for Google in Sydney these last few months before he heads off to Oxford late September and he has been telling us of the things they do there for the benefit of the employees, the local community and also the earth, surprisingly enough.

Last week he took part in a local (to the Google office) effort to rehabilitate a misused and now disused area next to a tramline at Pyrmont with a group of local residents who,with a bit of council funding, have been doing bush regeneration there over the last 18 months or so. All Google employees world wide are encouraged (and paid by Google to do) half a day a year of community service like this. That doesn't sound like much, but with tens of thousands of employees, that is the equivalent of one year's full time work for one person per 700 or so employees, or more than 10 years work per 7 thousand employees.

Imagine if every company with a few employees did this, all we could get a lot of good stuff done all over the world and, at the same time, introduce these people to places and experiences and contacts they would never otherwise have known about. This in itself could have a snowball effect as some may decide to offer their help on weekends or, through their initial good experiences of planting things, they may decide to start growing some things for themselves and maybe even start a vegetable garden or join a community garden.

We have a small company that writes computer software and I think we should start doing this and telling other businesses in the building about it...sounds like plan. Here come those enthusiasms that I am still liable to...could you do something like this where you work? Could we all do this? I think this needs to become the norm, instead of all these carbon-trading schemes where you just pay someone else money to suck up your carbon through some dodgy tree-planting scheme which, from what I understand, only serves to take over good agricultural land and make profits for investors, with no actual commitments or research into what are the benefits towards solving the carbon problems. People should have to get out and DO something, so they can talk to those who already understand what needs to be done at the same time providing the man-power to get good projects going.

Alex has managed to get himself into a weekly sailing race on Sydney harbour, through some people he is sharing an apartment with...here they are on a windless day with time to take photos!

What a life!...

Today it looks like Feedjit has measles...nice!

 

 

...Meanwhile Hugh and Amelia came around to work on some art for my birthday party...so, while Amelia did the work, Hugh read some of my recipe books - in particular one called 'Cooking and Travelling in South-West France' by Australian, Stephanie Alexander...Typical boy!

A COUNTRY CALLED BLOG

Blogs have a way of linking people in various ways and on Wednesday I saw this for myself again. Glenys and I were getting together to visit the Cleveland Garden Centre, at Stirling, but, as usual I was hungry when Glenys rang me and so it was arranged that we would meet at the Stirling Organic Market Cafe beforehand. If you have never been there, it is worth a trip and as it is always busy, go at a slightly irregular time to get a table.

We were sitting there, tucking into some delicious ratatouille soup when a face appeared at the window outside...and there were Christie and baby Peter. They joined us at the table and I was lucky enough to sit next to Peter who must be the most gorgeous nearly 1 year old ever! I was just about to check if Glenys and Christie knew each other, when Christie looked at Glenys carefully and said "I know you from the blog photos, you must be Glenys!" to which Glenys replied "What is your blog name?" When she replied 'Chook' , Glenys laughed and said "Oh yes...I know your garden from the blog too!" Shame I didn't take the camera.

Now, to me that is a lovely thing...this blog and all its readers are becoming linked together, as well as all the other blogs and their readers and writers linking together. Maybe we should all become a separate, virtual country with our own common sense laws which encourage the growing and cooking of food and the sharing of everything in the spirit of that beautiful song 'Imagine' by John Lennon. Maybe in this way we could instigate some overdue changes to show how a civilisation could be a place of collaboration and harmony, caring and sharing, all with an overarching theme of making the earth and the world a natural and life-enriching place to just be.....wouldn't that be wonderful!

Pattie, from Foodshed Planet, has written on a similar theme today, coincidentally and if you want to feel really, really good about something all day, then watch the little Youtube clip she has included in her post..it brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye; see what it does for you.

.

LIFE, AS A FRAME OF MIND; TWO PEOPLE'S VIEWS

I have just read 2 lovely things, one is Greg's recent post on Utah Valley Gardens and the other is Pattie's on Foodshed Planet.

Sometimes, like in the middle of this dreadful water crisis we are having here, despite some recent rain, it all seems way too hard. Too hard to do anything, really. I read about all the beautiful gardens and vegetables growing all over the world and I even read the posts I write about my own garden, but when I stop to think about it - the whole world is going down the drain faster than we gardeners can plug the holes. I think I spend far too much time in contemplation of these things and even more time trying not to think too much about them! One is as bad as the other, in terms of usefulness, and sometimes I just want to give up on this whole scene...but then what would I do?? It is a vicious circle, life, isn't it - I am already doing what it is people do when they 'give up on the madness of the world' . Funny. Well, maybe interesting would be a better word.

Then I read Greg's inspiring post about what it means to be a gardener, and a grower of food and beautiful flowers and be there, a part of the life of the planet, and it all seems like a worthwhile thing to do again. Here is a tiny excerpt, but please, read the rest.....

..."Gardening is a frame of mind, a lifestyle if you will that involves much more than just sticking a plant in the ground and expecting it to give you the bountiful harvest of your dreams. You will become a steward of your chosen plot of earth, a caretaker with the potential to encourage new life that will provide food not just for you and your family but for all of the surrounding wildlife, including the pest insects. The responsibility is great. If you can take it to heart and learn that every animal, reptile, bird and insect, beneficial as well as pest, plays a part in the grand scheme that we call nature, then you will soon feel what it is to be a gardener, a provider of life...."

Thanks, Greg.... Nice.

And while you are here, take a few minutes to read what Pattie from Foodshed Planet has to say in this post about the journey her family is on and the wonderful changes that they are all going through. I have seen Pattie struggling with the 'vibes' of living in the slow lane, trying to connect with them in a fast world , with a family in tow. It is not without some pride that I look at what she has done to steer her family on, believing that somewhere, sometime, somehow they would reap the intangible rewards of such a life, with the encouragement of other bloggers seeming to be the only help she was getting in the beginning. Now her horizons are vast and her experiences of the journey over the last couple of years, as recorded on her blog, a living testament to what we can all achieve, little by little, by having the courage to go beyond our safety nets and live a bit outside the square, together....

Inspiring, Pattie....Truly.

.

SHADOWS AND RAINDROPS

No gardening today because, for the first time for over a year, it rained all day...but time to catch some of the beauty that the rain leaves behind....to me there is nothing more inspiring...(click to enlarge them)

...there are the silhouettes...

..and the pirouettes...

...there are reflections...

...and refractions...

....there is the detail...

and the whole....

...then there are the diamonds...

and the ballerinas...

Agastache foeniculum, my new best friend!

One of the best things about growing different vegetables and herbs for the first time are the surprises that await you as these tiny seeds or seedlings are placed in soil and tended occasionally and just left to grow and become what they are.

Our greatest surprise last summer was a herb we bought at the herb society last year.

The label said Agastache foeniculum, Tea Herb and Bee and bird attracting. I have not yet investigated the culinary uses but this one glorious plant has attracted lots of bees and obviously the bees have done there work in pollinating lots of other herbs and veggies in the garden.

I love this plant so let me introduce you to it if you have not already met.

The common name is Anise hyssop, a hardy perennial, grows to 2-3 ft (6ocm-1m), long spikes of purple- blue flowers. Grows in rich moist soil in a sunny position flowers in summer. Propagate in spring by seed or divide creeping root. Use dried leaves as a seasoning or infuse as a tea.

There is good information about herbal teas at this site The Herbal Tea Garden

If you want an adventure check out all you can do with garden herbs at Alchemy Works

I shall be saving these seeds to share with you. It is a delightful herb to have in your summer garden.

THIS IS OUTRAGIOURS!

I noticed this article in the Hills and Valley Messenger, July 2
Your Garden, Malcolm Campbell
“A global fertilizer shortage has seen bulk nutrient prices soar by up to 200% in the past few months. The price hike, to hit retailers in coming weeks, has been caused by an export tax imposed on Chinese manufactures. Most of our garden fertilizers come from China, so it may be worthwhile stockpiling your favourite supplies at current prices.”

Why do we need to import all our needs from China?
Australia was once isolated and produced most things ourselves.
The miles agriculture inputs travel needs to be added on to the total food miles for produce .I know of certified organic farmers that import kelp from NZ and Canada, how can this be sustainable or the produce local? Many ’organic’ fertilizers have these imported ingredients in them as well as ingredients from all over the country.

Worst of all why do home gardeners need to stockpile fertilizer, let alone use it! If you answered ‘too much fertilizer’ to all the talkback gardening problems you would be right 80% of the time.
Apart from a small amount of fertilizer to start off a garden on a new block, despite our soils being old and worn out home gardens require very little in the way of inputs to be productive and beautiful. Take citrus for example, a shallow rooted feeder .The other day it was recommended to feed these plants in Spring and at 3 weekly periods in the growing season RUBISH that’s about selling fertilizer not growing plants.
Gardeners need to look to producing their own fertility. This can be done by composting both household and garden wastes. In the garden you can grow a range of plants that provide good sources of nutrients, special compost plants like nettles, comfrey and clovers as well as weeds are valuable in building fertility. Add a couple of chooks and you should never need to buy in fertilizer again and your garden will be happier and if you grow heritage plants they generally need less fertilizer. More fertilizer means the plants also need more water.

Grapefruit Sorbet

With all the citrus on the trees at the moment, sorbet is a great thing to have in the freezer.
Christina from A Thinking Stomach has a great Grapefruit Sorbet recipe and guess what Kate it has a little lemoncello in it.
You will find the post dated Saturday June 21st 2008.
I remember as a child having ice blocks made from fruit juice, I guess frozen juice could be added to other recipes like cakes and stewed fruit or fruit sauces.

Well I am off to Urrbrae High Barn Market, 9am to 12 noon 1st Saturday of each month.
Have a great day.