I wanted to rest my eyes on green meadows. I wanted to sit on green grass under the shade of a green tree. I wanted to eat cool green salads. I longed for arugula tossed with olive oil and parmesan, for asparagus tips dripping with melted butter, for a salad of sweet and bitter green […]
What If You COULD make a positive difference to the planet?
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your […]
The Chestnut Tree
“How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. . . . All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.” Nikos Kazantzakis Chestnuts. They’re not really a popular Australian thing. The closest […]
I was going to write something else…
“Good stories are like those noble wild animals that make their home in hidden spots, and you must often settle down at the entrance of the caves and woods and lie in wait for them a long time.” ~ Hermann Hesse This morning started as it always did. I meditated at 4am, and then rose with the […]
A Small But Positive Sign In The Shape Of A Snail
“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” ~ Oprah Winfrey When we holidayed with a friend and her family early this year, her small children asked me what I had done to earn pocket money when I was little. We didn’t get pocket money when we were growing up, […]
My Favourite Morning Job
“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?” That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only […]
Coping Strategy #73
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.” ~ […]
All Things Green In My Garden
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” ~ Victor Hugo, Les Misérables Yesterday I arrived home at my farm to find the gardens green and lush, and everything budding or already in flower. The air was […]
Adapting to Change
“When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: if you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the […]
The Winner of the Chlorite Phantom Quartz
“Home is not where you live but where they understand you.” ~ Christian Morgenstern I’m so happy to announce that the winner of this beautiful little Chlorite Phantom Quartz Crystal is: Pauline Longdon Congratulations, Pauline! I know you’ll take good care of her, and I look forward to hearing all about your adventures together. […]
Flowers with your Green Smoothie?
“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” ~ Iris Murdoch Each morning when I venture out to the garden to pick a few herbs or some kale for my breakfast smoothie, I rejoice in the flowers which grow […]
Easy Barbecued Corn on the Cob Recipe
We came home to our now flood-free farm last night. Of course I didn’t think to plan dinner, and there were slim pickings when we got here. Luckily it’s sweet corn season right now in Australia and some had survived the rain and the critters to become a simple meal. Simple is highly under-rated, in […]
Home, after Rain
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”~ Jane Austen I’m home. I slept last night in my own bed. After so long in the city it was good beyond measure to be here at my little farm, surrounded by a thick blanket of peace and the sounds of night; cattle lowing, croaking frogs, […]
Pumpkin Soup Recipe and the Writing Disease
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it. ~ Anais Nin You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~ Ray Bradbury There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit […]