The Forest Garden

The cold weather is setting in right on cue. The fire has needed to be lit for the last three days, and today it was lit first thing in the morning and will be kept going all day.  And so begins our four or five month romance with wood smoke, maintaining heat and woolen jumpers. Some of the wood for this year Wood collection and maintenance has been a failure this summer, despite my good intentions. I planned to cut heaps of kindling and even build a larger woodshed, but the finishing of the vegetable garden and fence took priority.Luckily for us, a generous family member brings a trailer load each time they visit. And if it werent for them, we would be buying it in. Which, as a colleague of mine commented recently, seems like burning money.   I've chopped and split enough to top up his contribution which has filled our makeshift wood shed to capacity, and attempted to restock our kindling reserves as best I can. But I fear that again we will be scraping by and running out

We discussed this excerpt from a facebook post by this guy on the porch this afternoon. "Komlosy argues from a world-historical perspective that the meaning of "work" has changed since the thirteenth century so that it now refers only to those things that produce exchange values or, at best, directly support the production of exchange values through reproducing labor. The exertion of energies in ways that do not directly support the production of exchange values, by being redefined as *not* work, are thus devalued, not simply made worthless or even invisible, but even *negatively valued* as "time wasting." Moreover, it was only under capitalism and colonialism that work became associated with pain (disutility). According to the *work ethic*, expenditures of energy in ways that are fun cannot be work. By contrast, indigenous people have specific terms for each activity they engage in but no general term to denote work and differentiate it from *non*work..

1.0 Im thinking about the practical things I need to do before winter sets in. Like cleaning out the gutters, and chopping and storing the dry wood and some boxes of kindling before the colder weather gets here. When winter comes, it sets in your bones. There is something nourishing about it, even though it strips you down to barest necessities, like keeping the fire going. Last winter, my first here in the forest Garden, I got pretty grumpy being closed in this small space as we are.  The winters here are notorious, and you get cabin fever. But its also nourishing, that dormancy. That death. Because, like the ecology that surrounds us, when spring comes, you have such gratitude and appreciation for the spreading warmth, and even just the appearance of the sun, that growth is explosive. You want so much to make the most of these warm months. So, in a strange way, I am grateful for the impending dark months. We will collect wood ash to feed the fruit trees and compost when

From left: Hawthorn Berries, roadside apples, Bullrush, cherry tomatoes and blackberries All of this, except the cherry tomatoes which are from our garden, were picked free from our local roadsides and creek edges. All of it edible or useful. The Hawthorn Berries on the left were used following this poem recipe.  The Bullrush, I simply picked and tried. Finding  that it is only the inner stalk that is edible. The rest is quite fibrous.  It has a peppery flavour, and you can certainly taste the siltiness of the creek in it which may not be to everyones taste.  But it can be steamed, used in salads, and with some seasoning, I am sure would be very tasty. Not unlike bamboo shoots.   Lets face it, learning to eat and live all over again, particularly when it comes to food that is outside of our sick, convenience and sugar saturated lifestyle, is not an easy task. Preparing these things is very labor intensive. And you might say, (as I did in my mind through out this experiment)

We're going back to work today. Which means being immersed in large corporate systems, work place politics and a general disconnect from a simpler way of being. What I would really like to do today, is return to Union Jack Creek, and harvest some of those bullrushes. They have many uses, including food, making useful tools, like string, woven baskets and all sorts of things. But I must return to my day job... One of a series of Cartoons I am working on around buddhist sayings

One of my great joys about our journey, is seeing the joy in our daughters being when we get out and about picking free food. Its a stark contrast to her reaction to having to be dragged along to the supermarket which unfortunately, we do alot more often. picking berries at our secret spot Blackberries for eyes While walking along Union Jack Creek, today, we came to where the water course ends, and this is a spot where she loves to let her imagination free. Often looking for gold,  Or finding some rock that might have a fossil in it, or as she did today, picking blackberries for a little picnic. Along the way, I noticed the proliferation of Bullrush,   Something I know was a staple indigenous food and can be eaten, but I am yet to try. There is also a proliferation of onion weed along this creek in the cooler months. Despite having potentially edible plants all around us, on we went to the supermarket. While standing in the checkout queue,  with my pre packaged bags of l

We made a trip to Creswick   on Thursday to dig out some raspberry canes and some currant bushes that were offered free on a social media page. Its always inspiring when you meet people of a like mind. A family full of artists, musicians and gardeners greeted us and gave generously of their time and energy. We left feeling grateful, and inspired by the combining of aesthetics and productivity they had achieved. (they built a gypsy caravan from salvaged materials in their backyard)  Its something we are passionate about aswell, though  we are just beginning. But we  hope to grow in all directions creatively and continue growing to the point where we can inspire others aswell. Currants planted out on the south facing side of the Garden  Thanks to these generous people, we have added to our growing list of berries. Its been a delight to see our daughter picking blueberries straight from the bush to have with pancakes on saturday mornings over the summer months and showing a keen

Today I made a gate for Ginny's Garden. Its made from some old disparate bits of wood that come from very different previous uses and purposes, but have come together to create this humble, yet aesthetically pleasing entrance into a space for growing food that we have been dreaming, talking about and planning for nearly two years. The gate to Ginny's garden It occured to me this afternoon, that what we have built here, is in many ways no different to what the early European settlers built when they first arrived here and almost everywhere else in Victoria. The first Europeans to arrive from Van Diemens land with the intention of making a profit from the port Phillip District, landed at Indented Head on the Bellarine Peninsula, and set about constructing a dwelling and vegetable Garden. It didnt prosper. We know the European history of Australia is littered with failure and ignorance. We cannot hope to think that we are that much different in our thinking but we at least