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FOR DAVID GULPILIL, SUNSMART AND THE EARTH, WITH LOVE AND THANKS Written December 6 – 16, 2021 This is still being revised because it’s so difficult to find the words and tie everything together, but I thought I’d put this out in the open now. A week ago a longtime friend died on the same …
Continue reading “The Kingfisher, the Horse, and being on Country”
I’ve been trying to get a little gap for writing a journal update all day. This morning I was feeding home-made hazelnut-honey cluster muesli to guests before giving them a farm tour that lasted most of the morning. When they left to go sight-seeing on the coast, I started juggling. I was a little late …
So you’re in Australia, on the first day of a heatwave with temperatures forecast to hit 39-40 degrees C for the next three days. You do all your important work early in the morning before it gets too hot. Guests have just left and in your innocence, you say, “I’m going to air the guest …
Continue reading “The Spiderman Is Having You For Dinner Tonight”
A version of this article was published in Grass Roots 256 in Dec 2019/Jan 2020. In late 2018, I had an unexpected telephone call. The man on the line said he knew from a friend that we had a group of three donkeys courtesy of the Donkey Society – and would we like two more? …
I don’t do trail documentation very often when I go riding, but I got some lovely photos one morning late last summer and thought some people not on the Horse Forum (where this was originally posted) might enjoy seeing this. So sit back, and have a vicarious ride in Australia, complete with some natural history. …
We have eebs. What on earth? Well, Brett and I are slightly potty and enjoy language games, and early on in our homestead beekeeping careers, we decided that our hives had eebs in them, and that eebs go sssssb! Did you know that you can find umblebeebs in Tasmania, and that spoonerising is also fun, …
It started with the re-organisation of the local supermarket, which we used to frequent weekly prior to our tree change, and are now going to fortnightly at most, for items we don’t yet grow ourselves and can’t obtain directly from other local smallholders, the local butcher, or the bulk supplier who stocks local stoneground wholemeal …
As part and parcel of owner-building our strawbale house, we spent four months living on-site in a caravan. That summer is now half a dozen years in the past, and I’d like to commemorate that time on my blog. This is the original manuscript of the article published in Grass Roots 251 in Feb/March 2019. …
I’ve kept paper journals since age 14, and still find them really nice places for writing freely, as well as excellent practice for writing without drafting. Also, there’s something about the ritual of pen and paper, and about producing neat handwriting in this age of typed screens, that appeals to me. Occasionally I will share …
We’re looking forward to finally making another trip to Tasmania next year, for the first time in ten years… having meanwhile bought a farm, built a shed and outbuildings and farmhouse with our own hands, planted thousands of trees, looked after animals, planted an orchard and permaculture garden, etc etc. In celebration of that, here …