Patterns in nature

Aloe vera, currently in flower

While contemplating my recent series on developing healthy immunity, the pandemic was not far from my mind. Just as I had to learn what diabetes was, and why it effected me, I would cast the same discernment over the current strain of coronavirus. It's the only way to understand what exactly, we're dealing with. What I have learned, isn't really discussed in the mainstream.

Rest & reset

Feet up in the lounge room

I've come to the final piece of the puzzle, to amend a compromised immune system. I've discussed food, mood and movement already. It all connects to the gut microbiota, to the brain and finally to the immune system response. It's a very basic overview. The ecosystem of our body, has a lot more layers of complexity. Yet it's enough to grasp the interaction, required for the most efficient biological systems. And how we can play our part developing them. Now all there is left to address, is rest.

Moving your moods

"Thinker" on the mantel

Thanks to those who shared their experiences, in the comments section of my post about probiotic foods, and strategies for building healthy immunity. I especially liked the sound of Meg's, pro/prebiotic potato salad, because it contains apple-cider vinegar. I forgot to mention, apple-cider vinegar is another great, and easily accessible fermented food. It's something I've made in the past, and should do more of.

Eat what now?

Joey says: "Australia, eat your greens!"

Thanks to those who engaged the comments, of my last post. It's incredibly valuable to read how others translate their situations, during this unprecedented time. I was going to discuss why the Medical industry, has a hard time providing answers (beyond, a cure). But was heartened to see some further advice being dispensed recently.

Lessons from disease

Constructive mess

I've been on hiatus with some construction projects. They always seem to take longer than I imagine. I haven't been oblivious to what's happening in the world right now though. Because it's impacted us in some significant ways. The kids are now at home, for the foreseeable future. Not because I believe in the social distancing strategy - I'll share my thoughts about why, soon. Rather, it conserves our resources to use this opportunity to keep them home. Serving the same goal I guess.

In the timing

Perhaps the title of this post, should read: "Just get it done, already!" For I've been dragging my tail on a few pertinent jobs. I kind of blamed it on the lack of rain, but maybe I was just finding a reason to procrastinate. Maybe drought induced procrastination? The kind you get, when almost everything hinges on that next downpour. You hold your breath, when it's all on pause, and then...

Drum-roll, please

Exhale...because it rains!! Yes, that elusive wet stuff has visited our landscape, once again. And they're predicting more for the week. What this timing suddenly brings into focus, however, is what the heck you were doing, in the dry. Like, did you clean the gutters so they wouldn't overflow - or install new rainwater catchment to take advantage of the wet? In my case - did I fix the skylight that fell down from the garden shed?

It fell down, twice. I put it back up, TWICE - knowing full well, I should replace the adhesive tape, after nine years of service. Nothing like rain leaking into your garden shed, to bring it all back into focus. I hurried like the repentant procrastinator, I was, and got it fixed before lunch.

Peekaboo, I see you!

I have some friends, who are pretty happy with the rain arriving too. Mama Roo and Joey, were both looking for the tender greens which emerge, surprisingly quickly, after the rain. My potted silverbeet, has responded well too.

It's all in the timing, no? I often observe the natural sequences, which come into play, after rain events. Everything hurries to push itself out of the ground! But I'm observing now, how exactly, it kicks my butt into gear as well. 

What is permanency?

If you read yesterday's post, you might be asking yourself, what does permanency mean anyway - especially, when I mention the possibility of relocating it? The definition for permanent, inspires words like, long-lasting, perpetual, and my personal favourite, ever-lasting.

Permanency, however, does not mean, things do not inevitably change. To cultivate permanency, effectively, it has to expect change, in order to plan for it. Whatever decision we make, therefore, should take two basic points, into consideration. What are the core values which should not change, and what are the variables I should expect to change?

Housing and employment are constant variables which change often. Sometimes, it happens through no fault of our own. Circumstance had a hand to play. But what are the things we can take with us, anywhere we go? How about the tasks we practice with our hands, on a daily basis? These will inherently come with us. So we have to make a plan, to keep practising these actions, during any transition we're presented with. This will bring us comfort and security, no matter where we find ourselves.

I suspect one of the industries, which will see some growth in the future (and already has) are those industries which produce portable products. Things which take up little space, and can be relocated without too much complication. Knowing how to build your own, portable stuff, is a valuable skill to have also. Because portable means, it can come with you and still fulfil the task it was purchased/built for.

Wherever we live, we should take the time to cultivate those skills, and gain the knowledge, which adapts us to different situations. Think specifically food, hygiene and the means to make an income. Because without food and cleanliness, we may get ill - but without the means to make an income, we lose the ability to trade with others, for things we cannot do for ourselves.

Our skills have been outsourced, more and more, as the industrial revolution expanded. So we tend to take our skills and intelligence for granted. It's because we've only given our personal skills one vocation - to receive wages, that we're easily led into industry's cul-de-sacs. Take the permaculture approach however, and you have to find more ways to apply your personal skills, than just one.

When we start contemplating things on a broader network, we find new ways to reference everything we do. You can explore different ways to diversify your income, for example. You will start to see the things around you, as a means to produce something, rather than simply consume it. More importantly though, learning to derive income by your own means, takes the pressure off waiting for job opportunities to "arrive" instead.

People were meant to form industry, but instead, industry has come to form people - and their values. When we learn to identify and maintain, our own core values however, this starts to become our new compass to make decisions by. The variables can change (we even plan for that) but the core values determine the application of our focus. These only change, with our personal evolution.

Think of the variables that change, and the core values which are more permanent, as nature's own network of succession. On barren land, the first wave of succession, are variable, short lived weeds. As they die back, it starts to create the broader network of systems, which can sustain the longer living, perennial plants. These plants can bear fruit indefinitely, as the network of shorter-lived species, continue their life and death cycle, around them.

People are the ultimate succession species, but we live our lives, more like the short lived weeds. Our decisions are short term, but we have the capacity to blossom into the ultimate perennial system. Given we learn how to till the ground, only where it needs it, and fallow the ground around us, otherwise. So when I talk about permanency, that is the kind of system I'm talking about. What should we uproot and transplant? But also, what should never be moved?

Where better to find an example of what I'm talking about, than from a farmer? I have a Joel Salatin video, I'd like to share. It's over an hour long, but worth the viewing if you have the time.

It's about making the path to succession possible, even when the circumstances have changed. His opening statement begins with, "the truth is, every place, has it's asset and it's liability."

There's quite a lot of inspiration in this video, for those endeavouring to develop their land - or how to step into the arena, if you don't have land. It can also be applied to anyone with a connection to family, or making connections in the community. Basically, how do you make connections, and pass things on that need to continue.

It's a discussion we all need to have more of. How do we do things differently, when the situation changes - but still keep those elements of permanency (roots) attached to what we do?

My next post will be about our experience on acreage. Anyone want to share their personal experience, or pearls of wisdom, of how "permanency" is practised (or impacted by) in their daily life?

2015 Christmas reveiw

There is such anarchy that comes with every Christmas. I keep telling myself not do so much, and to plan better. To be honest, I don't actually write this stuff down though. So I've decided to start documenting on my blog, what worked and more importantly, what didn't, this Christmas.

To what did work though, and I'm quite proud of these, because it has to do with food. Presents, are secondary in the line of importance, as you really want to feed your guests food they will remember at Christmas. Not stuff which will leave a bad taste in their mouth, and a belly ache.

Gingerbread

I wrote about the gingerbread men and summer holiday loaf already.  But here is where they worked in particular for us. The gingerbread men were the first gluten free ones I've made, in the past eight Christmases, we've had here. I only missed one year of making them. Being gluten free now, however, meant I could enjoy a treat with everyone else, without suffering. This was important, because making gingerbread men has become a tradition - something I really didn't want to be saying "no" to eating, when everyone else could say "yes".

Pull apart loaves, ready to bake

While I couldn't eat the gluten filled bread, everyone else enjoyed it. Plus it used the excess tomatoes and basil, we went to the trouble of planting in winter/spring. Which brings me to another deed which worked this Christmas. Planting food in the garden, to be eaten at Christmas.

I cannot tell you the relief of not having to buy a stack of "fresh" fruit and vegetables. Especially things like tomatoes, which often lack taste and come to you hard. Mine just sat in the garden, getting more tasty, until I needed them.

 Fresh tomatoes

Not only did we use cherry tomatoes and basil in the bread, but we also used regular sliced tomatoes for our steak burgers. We also found a way to use our excess zucchini, believe it or not! We made vegetable skewers on the barbeque, using our own zucchini, mixed with other bought vegetables (including peaches). If you've never tasted barbequed mushrooms with peaches, you don't know what you're missing!

So making skewers really worked on the barbeque. We made prawn skewers and vegetable ones. We would have made chicken ones too, only another family member offered to bring cold roast chicken, instead. Just add sausages and steak, some salads, and you've got a Christmas feast. One that tastes good, and shouldn't sit in your guests stomachs for hours!

 Healthy fridge - 5 days, post Christmas

Which brings me to our final thing which worked this Christmas - reducing our food offerings. We deliberately wanted to cater small, because we wanted to avoid food waste. It also ensured our guests weren't bamboozled with too many selections, and risked over eating.

This year was the first year, we didn't have oodles of food to eat as leftovers, after Christmas. It covered Boxing Day, lunch and dinner only, then it was gone! Well, mostly. Which brings me to where we went wrong this year.

Still left over from Christmas

We purchased too many convenience desserts. We should have just stuck with the pavalova. We didn't need two Christmas puddings (one gluten free) and also a gluten free Christmas cake. We didn't need two litres of convenience custard to go along with them either. Not to mention the waffers and mince pies, which mostly got eaten by my crew. There was way too much and it was completely unnecessary. We would have been better saving the money in the bank, instead of saving it to our waistlines.

After all, it adds no further enjoyment to Christmas, once you've had your fill.

 

 Gluten free fruit cake

Also on this point, I want to declare not to purchase gluten free desserts again. The Christmas cake was dry and tasteless. It will be thrown away because it was so horrible. That's $22 down the drain. There are certain tricks to gluten free baking, which if not done properly, lead to dry bricks. I'd rather have spent the money on our own ingredients, and baked something edible myself.

The reason I haven't attempted to bake our own gluten free, Christmas cake before is, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of them. I'd much rather eat a fresh pavlova, with whipped cream, fruit salad and Dutch chocolate-sprinkles.

Muesli takes a walk on our nearly finished wall

Another thing which went wrong was organising an involved project, too close to Christmas. Deciding to start such a hefty project at the end of October, meant we were scrambling right into December (up to the last week before Christmas) to get it done. Something I suspected would happen.

Everything else had to be crammed in around this project, and it felt like we were constantly running a race with the clock. I'm such a plodder by nature, and get less enjoyment from having to race. But as we had something big happening in early January, David took the opportunity to start the wall project, late 2015 instead.

 New retaining wall

In hindsight, if you don't want to be scrambling like a mad chook at Christmas, leave those large projects until the new year - or whenever you can fit them in next year. Because it's stressful to stretch yourself between fixing up your house/yard, which you pull apart to complete the project - while also preparing your house/yard for receiving guests at Christmas too. Both are important tasks. Both require time and forethought to complete. Doing them at the same time, means one (often both) are compromised on.

Problem is, I'm a perfectionist and won't compromise on details. So inevitably, I'll burn the wick at both ends to get things done to my satisfaction. Exhaustion isn't exactly a fun place to start celebrating from. We managed to pull it off this year (and have fun too) but I don't fancy doing this particular balancing act, as a Christmas tradition.

So this is what I wish to aspire towards, for Christmas 2016:


- Gluten free gingerbread men
- Our own gluten free desserts
- Reduced dessert selections on the whole
- Fresh bread, using offerings from the garden
- Limited food range for lunch, with quality food
- Growing more fresh produce in the garden
- Don't start large house/yard projects, past September

I didn't write in depth about these, but also want to note them:

- Look for gifts throughout the year, especially from local businesses
- Make our own gift tags, from old Christmas cards, instead of buying them
- Start cleaning the house and yard in December, not the last week!
- Note storage issues throughout the year and address them. Don't put it off until Christmas, to sort all the storage issues!!
- To this end, start de-cluttering in Spring, to find new homes for items no longer used.


A lot of the work we had to deal with at Christmas, was stuff we put off throughout the year. So if we keep on top of it early, we should avoid the bottleneck, by the end of the year.

Do you have anything you did well or wish you didn't do, this Christmas?

And just like that...

...the power went out...it happened around 5pm as I was giving thought to what to cook for dinner. There was no storm, which would've had me filling sinks and a bath for kids in anticipation. Instead it just went out, and stayed that way until 10pm.

David gave his routine call in the afternoon to say hello from work, which thankfully had him bringing home some dinner for a hungry crew. I had butane gas to heat a kettle, which thankfully gave the baby his bottles too. But I suddenly realised how vulnerable we were with a baby now. We've had power go out before, but it's not really an issue when those who can eat from the pantry can help themselves. A baby which hasn't quite reached eating solids though (and very picky with the ones he will eat) it suddenly made that butane gas (and formula supply) look all the more essential.

It was a good reminder to stock up on more butane gas, candles, baby gear and start filling extra water bottles. David even suggested we do a random emergency weekend, where we switch off the power and see how well we are prepared.

As I drove Sarah to school this morning, I saw the work crews out trimming the branches around power lines. There were several trucks with cherry picker buckets to hoist the workmen up high. I guess its that time of year to consider the implications of safety and being prepared in case of an emergency.