Archive for gardening

Dispatches from a Gascoyne Cattle Station

July 1, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, feminism, gardening, relationships

Lyndon Homestead 20,06,09 001I was a bit uncertain about the wwoofing thing.  I mean, I liked the concept, but being an introvert I was out of my comfort zone.  When we first arrived I felt like a fish out of water (I wanted to run), and I was *astonished* to find that there were already 3 wwoofers here!  I thought they’d never get anyone!   This is probably the best thing we’ve done so far.  Mainly due to the fantastic people here, who were incredibly welcoming – and interesting.  It’s sort of a spiritual relief to hang out with people whose life is very different to your own.   The Aboriginal overseer and his French girlfriend.  The unhappily retired diesel fitter who found solace travelling around outback stations working on vehicles for board and fuel.   The guy who traps feral dogs for a living. (FYI, there are 20 dogger zones in WA and there are vacancies.   Wage:  $325 a day, aiming to get one dog a day.  Contact the WA Department of Agriculture).  It was kind of fun to hang around with a group of young people – I can report from the frontline that not much has changed on the backpacker scene.  Still drinking tequila and hooking up with each other.
 
P was in his element painting dongas, digging trenches and generally handymanning around.  We stayed longer than planned, and P would have been keen to stay even longer (indefinitely….  I started to wonder whether P might like a late-blooming career as a jackaroo), but I felt a bit of a spare part as I wasn’t able to do as much work  as I would like - somedays nothing apart from some minor babysitting - to feel comfortable that I was earning my keep, so to speak.  Luckily the station owners had two young kids themselves, so were very understanding of our kids’ needs, and I think just happy to have some kids visit.  The lady of the house was a kindred spirit, into kids, gardening, social issues.  How lucky can you get?  And even more so, they took T for a ride in their plane!  And on motorbikes and trucks!  T, being reserved like me, was a bit overwhelmed by joining a new community, but it was amazing watching the kids slip into the new routine.  J in particular wanted to get to the “big kitchen” for breakfast and T was always concerned that we would be late for dinner. 
 
The lifestyle here is very appealing.  It’s a little community of people working, eating and socialising together.  The mail arrives once a week – and the shopping is delivered by the postie.  They eat a *lot* of beef and have a great vege & herb garden with chooks.  They have a cook – bliss!  The station owner flits about in his plane – into town for a meeting – around the station checking things out – divebombing the homestead when no-one answers the two-way.  It was a wonderful introduction to wwoofing – but also off-putting in the sense that I realised (why didn’t I realise before?) that I can’t really do 4 – 6 hours of work around the place (I can’t achieve this around my *own* place!)  The only way I could do this would be for P to stop work after lunch and look after the kids, which would free me up….  but what’s the point when it’s obvious to that he is *so* much more useful around the place than me?  He may as well keep going…. which leaves me with the responsibility for the kids and unable to participate in the spirit of wwoof.  
 
While here I have been reading Germaine Greer’s “Shakespeare’s Wife”, which I suspected might be a bit dry, but is actually great, and is inspiring me to get back into Shakespeare, which I haven’t explored since high school.  She quotes a scholar of Elizabethan times, saying that the role of the man was very clear – let’s call that “A”, and the role of the woman was everything else…  let’s call that “non-A”.  And when the man’s availability or capability changed, than the woman’s role would expand to take up those duties as well.  For example, if the husband became ill, then the wife would take over the running of the business and develop/utilise those skills, but otherwise wouldn’t be involved.    I was thinking that maybe not much has changed.  Does the equation work in the opposite direction?  Maybe.
 
Anyway, our small stay here has definitely got me more seriously contemplating moving to a country-type property of our own.  It’s alleviated *some* of my fear of social isolation.  I would need to be closer to a town I think….. a three hour drive is just too far.
Lyndon Homestead 20,06,09 006
 
 

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Garden Update: April/May 2009

May 3, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, gardening

The only planting was some organic kale seeds from a friend (which I was thrilled to get as I have been wanting to add kale into our diet) and some carrot and peas – which will be gift to our tenant.   But, I also have a self-seeded carpet of rocket, tomatoes, capsicum, pumpkin and rockmelon!   This was unexpected, but very welcome.  My only concern is that some of these things are “out of season”?  Well, I figure that they must know themselves better than I do.  Even if all we get is greenery, that’s a vast improvement on the mulch that was all I had going.

I’ve bought a sprouting jar for the trip.  And, we’ve become members of WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms).  So those will be the only gardening type activities I do while we are away.  Our WWOOF membership book arrived this week which was very exciting.  There are so many people out there doing amazing things.   Obviously our wwoofing is somewhat restricted by having our two kids in tow, but there still seems to be plenty of options out there….  plus I imagine that maybe we could do some more things when the kids are older.  How about an 8 week stay on an island off the WA coast, picked up by light airplane and working at an eco retreat?!  There’s so much out there that is basically free, bar your participation – which is the whole point anyway.  Bizarrely, we even know a couple of the WWOOF hosts near Perth!  Not close friends, but still,  I was excited to see their names in the book!

My only problem will be overcoming my initial shyness to contact prospective hosts to see whether we might be welcome at the times we’re passing through.

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Domestic Life: the ups and the downs

March 22, 2009 · Filed under cooking, gardening, parenting

The up.  Today I was scratching around near the pond when I saw some weird jelly-like growths all over my water plants.  Upon further investigation I realised it was frog spawn!  Yay!  I’m so proud it’s almost like I laid it myself!

The down.  I spent *all* afternoon making vege lasagne as some family were coming over for dinner.  I thought I’d do something that was completed before they arrived so I could relax in their company.  It took *all* afternoon as I have a needy two year old who is in the process of dropping his naps and likes to “try” for his poo about 16 times before it actually emerges.  Beautiful meal was finally complete just in time to receive the phone call that they couldn’t make it.  So far, so somewhat annoying, as otherwise I would have spent my afternoon doing something else.  But my overall levels of frustration peaked when T refused to eat it and I told him he was going to die because he didn’t eat his vegetables.  And then of course had to hastily retract that injudicious remark.   Normally T *would* be the appropriate person to be annoyed with that I had prepared a beautiful healthful meal that didn’t get eaten.  But not in this case.  I do wish he’d expand his vege repetoire beyond avocado (which is a fruit anyway), carrot sticks and bland tomato based pasta sauces.  I think I’m doing everything right – P & I eat veges, we grow veges and T (sometimes) helps prepare meals, but no dice.  Just won’t eat anything else.  If I could wave a magic wand and change just one thing about our lives I think it would be this – that T ate everything I cooked.

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The Home Economy

March 6, 2009 · Filed under cooking, environment, gardening, politics, society, voluntary simplicity

I read something recently about turning the home from a unit of consumption into a unit of production.  A challenge.  More so, because I realise that a lot of things that we “produce” hinge on previous consumption.  Is this a test of good consumption, that it lends itself to production? 

Things that our home currently produces (with caveats)

* organic fruit and vegetables (some, and we need to get into more seed saving from our crops)

* education  – home schooling

* maternity services – home birth

* breastmilk

* preventative health care (includes previously purchased exercise equipment)

* preventative dental care (buying toothbrushes/paste/floss)

*  meals (based on purchased ingredients)

* home maintenence (can require specific purchases, plus use of previously acquired tools)

* car/motorbike maintenence (as above)

* music (previously acquired instruments)

*art (some donated /some purchased items such as paint)

* wrapping paper and cards (getting away with this using kids’ art)

* greywater used for non-food producing plants

* this blog

Things our home *could* produce if we set our minds to it:

* clothing (would need to upgrade/learn skills and use recycled products)

* more food from gardening

* transport (walk more/use bikes)

*fuel (considering future manufacture of biofuel, but does require inputs)

*fresh water (would require tanks)

*furniture (using current tools and loads of timber lying around)

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head – I’m sure there’s more.  Not that we are necessarily aiming for self-sufficiency.  As empowering as that might be,  my view is that this is not actually a good or viable model for humanity.   It’s unrealistic to think that 6 billion plus people can all live self-sufficiently.  We need to be investing in sustainable infrastructure, and sharing our resources.   Plus, humans are ultimately a social species.  We *are* interdependent on each other, and hiding from that truth doesn’t solve any problems.   Come Armageddon, what’s the point living in self-sufficient utopia if you’re patrolling the borders with guns?

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Garden Update: February 2009

February 13, 2009 · Filed under gardening

Based on encouragement from a friend, I did do some more planting last month.  More tomatoes and greens in a border where they get some shade from the eaves.  And a “bean den” inspired by a children’s books from the library.  This is a teepee structure, with bean seeds planted beside each stake.  The idea is that the bean plants will grow and create a living tent.  Unfortunately not all the beans have germinated (some were planted under other plants due to space restrictions) so the coverage may be a bit patchy.

All the corn has been eaten, and I actually have a (small) crop of eggplant and capsicums!  One bed that is otherwise finished got a reprieve when I noticed that the self-seeded rockmelon had actually produced three melons.  So I will wait to harvest them.  I have put the growing melons onto pavers in the garden, as in the past I have lost pumpkins as the side of the fruit on the ground has slightly rotted.  I’m not sure whether this is the right thing to do, or if there is something else that would be better. 

P built the chook tractor and the chooks have made the adjustment to their new quarters.  I no longer have them free ranging in the garden, which is a bit sad as they looked so nice in and out of the garden, but the upside is it’s less work and I’m not losing veges to the chooks before I’m ready to.

My main learning this month is that I *really* need to get on with the planning of the planting – including staggered planting.  We’re in feast or famine mode at the moment.

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Garden Update: January 2009

January 16, 2009 · Filed under gardening

It’s a bad time for gardeners.   The desert wind roars over my poor plants and we’re pushing 40 degrees.   I’m watering – a guilt inducing activity, despite my belief that, in terms of food production, your own garden creates the smallest environmental footprint. 

All the english spinach, rocket, coriander and basil have gone to seed completely, and what’s left is chook fodder.  Only one zucchini flower became a zucchini – and was eaten in the context of a completely home grown salad – success!   The curious variety of beans came and went – in salads and stirfries.  The tomatoes have seen armageddon and are wildly fruiting.  The corn will soon be ready, and both the capsicums and eggplants are flowering. 

The grape vines are almost to the top of the pergola.  The potted grapevine that I brought with us from the old house and  thought might be rootbound, was planted in a less than auspicious spot along the back fence, and is now fruiting!

Pressing garden tasks include building the chook tractor – as Blackie and Brownie are quickly outgrowing their temporary hutch - and picking and freezing the remaining silverbeet and chard.   Really nothing much can be planted in these conditions, so the garden may be fallow for a month or so.   If we can get the chook tractor started on its cycle through the garden,  that will give me the impetus to ‘plan the plantings’.

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Tree Planting Day

December 14, 2008 · Filed under gardening, homeschooling, spirituality

I just want to record for posterity that last weekend, on J’s birthday, we finally planted a tree to commemorate his birth and celebrate his arrival.  We hosted a tree planting day for T when he was about 3 months, but due to our impending move, we waited (and waited) with J.  I was so glad to finally do it.   P was too – at last the placenta is out of the freezer!   The boys’ Spirit Guides planted two olive trees- one for J, and a second tree for T – seeing as we live here now.   If we move again we’ll just have to plant more…. get those Spirit Guides working!  

As we are such social recluses, having a party is quite the event.  I hired a clown for the kids who were coming.  When I mentioned this initiative to one of the Spirit Guides she spoke in hushed tones…. ” Jane, that’s not like you” (subtext:  are you Ok?)   My general tight-fistedness was overcome by the more pressing concern of the socially challenged:  ”I’ve invited all these people and what are they going to be DOING??”  In the two days prior to the event I whipped myself into a frenzy of preparation – though a week later I can’t tell you what that actually involved, as I’d asked all the guests to bring a plate.  I do recall feeling a sense of doom as the minutes ticked down and the toilets needed to be cleaned and P was outside doing some mulching.  Mulching!  Mulching can wait – let’s have toilets without poo  – at least for the first few users!  

I ran out of time to have a shower, but I did put on a long skirt and whipped out my “vintage” mascara.  This was definitely worth it, as my two most fervent admirers walked around me in slow circles exclaiming how pretty I was…. they could hardly get over it.  P was obliged to join the chorus of compliments for fear of being forever marginalised. I should really get out more.

The half hour or so before the event begins is always the best.  When your sense of humour returns and you shrug your shoulders fatalistically.  What will be, will be.  So the toilets aren’t clean – so be it.  So everyone has a bad time – shit happens.  It’s a similar feeling  to handing in assignments, or finishing an exam.   The relief of things being now out of your hands. 

Well, the clown had a great time anyway.  He was full of praise for the lovely children (parental highlight was when they corrected him on something and he queried “Oh – do you go to school?” and they chorused:  “NOOOO”) and he loved the food- the best he’d ever had at a children’s party.  I didn’t tell him that it had all been brought by the guests!

The trees are in, and I feel like a great big item on my “to do” list has been ticked off.

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Fruitful Daze

November 20, 2008 · Filed under cooking, gardening

Yesterday T and friends raided the mulberry tree over the back fence.  Berries everywhere!  I think my clothes are irretrievably stained, and I have a trail of purple splotches through the house, but who could mind?  It’s like one of those old-fashioned tales of childhood.

At the supermarket T was keen to buy a whole watermelon.  “Do you like watermelon?” I double-checked.  “Yes”.  So we bought this huge heavy green melon.  What a luxury!  Who wants those pitiful plastic-wrapped segments?  Not us!

This morning we were keen to cut it open.  It was perfect, dark pink, dripping juice.  Yum!  I started serving pieces, when T advised me “Mum, I don’t like watermelon”.    No, I didn’t think so.  He has obviously acquired some sense of the social niceties, as he did feel obliged to eat a small amount.  We had fun singing the watermelon song.  I can report that we have an enormous surplus of watermelon.  I’ve cut up segments, and blended loads into juice, and am contemplating freezing more into ice cubes.   I need a cocktail drinker to turn up with their vodka!

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A gift from the heavens

November 19, 2008 · Filed under being present, gardening

I should be in bed but I have been up worshipping the rain.  It smells SO GOOD.  I’m like a farmer – so happy for my little crops!  I didn’t know it was going to rain, so it is like a double blessing.  I had almost watered tonight – now I’m so glad I waited.

At our old house you could see the weather coming.  Even on a bright clear day, I could announce with uncanny accuracy that it was going to rain, because the ocean would start running from the north west, rather than the south west.  This is a meterological phenomenon that I can’t explain.  My dad put me onto it, and it was pretty much always right, though the arrival of the rain could vary from one hour to one day.   

We would be able to watch the rain cross the ocean towards us.  First a few drops, then more, then the downpour.   After some of those stinking hot days T & I would have nude showers in the rain at night - the thank you dance!  P would watch and laugh that the neighbours could probably see us.   When you’re troppo with the heat you don’t care.

It’s not hot enough to do the thank you dance tonight – I was appreciative from the doorway.

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Meditations on an egg

November 17, 2008 · Filed under cooking, ethics, gardening

I am currently experiencing some cognitive dissonance, as in one part of the kitchen I carefully rotate my eggs in their incubator, while over at the stove I crack them open for cooking and eating.   Last night I had a bad dream that my incubator eggs were dropped and cracked and I saw the dead chicks inside.

I am forced to contemplate what I am actually eating.  I have a (non-vegetarian) friend who refuses to eat eggs as they are “ovulation”.  Hmmm.  I don’t want to have to give up eggs! Whenever I have an inward twinge about not feeding my kids meat, I think, “at least they eat eggs!!”  Plus, one of my most satisfying meals is when I make a quiche of home-made pastry, filled with garden greens and home-laid eggs.

I think eggs are in our diet to stay, and I salve my conscience with the fact that they aren’t fertilised, and that it is a very local part of our diet.

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