I have decided to join Rhonda at Down to Earth in her challenge to give 3 gifts back to the earth this year, I hope I will continue with this forever, and I am sure that I will get used to living without these things.

I pledge to never again use a polystyrene cup, and to lobby the groups I am involved in to do the same. I will take my own cup if I plan to get takeaway coffee or do without. I will not buy disposable picnicware and I will not buy food packaged in polystyrene. This will require thinking ahead, going to the butcher as well as to the supermarket, but should be a fun challenge.

I Pledge to not accept a plastic bag, except where required to wrap meat. This will be harder I think as there are so many times you don't think about the plastic bag, eg Around the grapes at the supermarket, I am not sure if I will be able to cut out all plastic bags that are packaging on food, but I will attempt to do so. I have a friend who opens the supermarket packets after she pays for the items and pours the food into her own containers and gives the plastic back, I want to see if I can do this, but where possible I will shop at my local food co-op. It's only open once a month so this will be more difficult, and they have a very limited range.

I pledge to not buy bottled water. The energy costs in this are so extreme, when the water in our taps is more than adequate for drinking. I will not throw out the bottles I do have, but will refill them and use them rather than buy any new ones, and will use the nalgene type unbreakable plastic bottles that I have for hiking.

I want to continue to simplify my life and recognise that it is not an easy thing to do in a world where we are pushed to produce more waste. I will try and be accountable if I slip up and share any interesting events that occur in the pursuit of my gifts to the earth.

Hannah

Violet Sea Snails

I have been reading an amazing and inspiring book called COLOUR, a natural history of the palette by Victoria Findlay. It has been amazing to read as she traverses the globe seeking the natural sources of the colours that define the world we live in. The chapter I am reading at the moment is the one on Violet and it is amazing to read how these snails were found that exude purple pigment that can be used as a dye. Hundreds of years ago the women would send off their men with skeins of cotton to the coast of mexico to an island where these snails live. They would search for the snails then blow on them so that they release the pigment, smearing it on the cotton which turned green and then purple and then released the snail back to the sea.

At one stage a japanese company won the contract to collect the pigment, however when the locals found out they were killing the snails they caused such an uproar that the contract was cancelled and returned to the local men.

Some of the dyes and colours were so valuable that painters could only afford to use them if their patrons bought the dyes for them. Other colours were poisonous and caused the painters to become sick, but they were so passionate about achieving the right colour, that they continued using the paint regardless.

It was only very recently that synthetic dyes were discovered, but their relative cheapness has meant that almost all of the natural dyes are rare or extinct now. I remember as a child playing in the yard of my neighbours house, collecting the different coloured clays that were dug up as their pool was put in and making paint with them. They seemed somehow more special than the bright paints that came out of the tube. I would love to paint again with the ochres of the desert of Australia, creating the sunburnt land with colours that have been forged by the earth. I have done some natural dying of wool which was amazing, using different mordants to create greens and blues from barks of the eucalyptus trees that grow here in Australia.

Hmm, I think I might need to get out the paints. The world looks better when it's purple.

Hannah

I've been away

Hello,

I thought I would just explain my leave of absence for those who come to my blog. I am around, but life has been very hectic with the holiday period, some leave during which I led on a camp for highschoolers in my local area, (http://www.campconqueror.org/) and my mother starting her chemo therapy program. She has unfortunately discovered that the drug's ability to exacerbate the effects of exposure to the sun (some 20-30 fold) can in fact act retrospectively. She is now suffering from third degree burns to her shoulders, arms and legs as a result of a seaside stroll three days before her last batch of chemo. Please keep her in your prayers and thoughts, we are praying there will be no lasting damage on the use of her legs especially due to scarring, and tell people you know going through similar treatment to be careful.

I am looking forward to this saturday going to our local markets at Tomerong this weekend, doing some shopping and helping at the seed savers and the local organic food co-op through the day. It's a wonderful local market where there are lovely people to make friends with, food to eat and bargains to find, and a chance to talk to people about living sustainably, especially in regards to the food they eat. In seed savers we grow and save seed from heirloom varieties of vegetables and fruit in order to preserve their existence and also encourage people to grow varieties that thrive in the local climate. Our local group gives away seeds and seedlings grown from those seeds with donations welcomed, and helps people with questions that they have about their gardens. We are affiliated with the seedsavers network www.seedsavers.net which was started by michael and judy Fanton and run courses and a seedback in northern new south wales, in Australia. Their handbook is a great resource for anyone interested in growing and saving seed, and also has instuctions on how to use some of the more unusual varieties. I can highly reccomend it. Does anyone have any unusual or rare species that they grow, perhaps we could do a swap? (unfortunately this would be geographically limited due to customs and quarantine restrictions.) I think I could swap with anywhere else in Australia but WA?? Correct me if I am wrong.

8 Things (Tagged)

8 Things I Am Passionate About
My relationship with God
My family
My friends
The young people I work with
Growing and cooking my own food
Permaculture
Creativity
Encouraging those in my life to live more simply and more fully

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
Travel through Africa
Get married
Have Children
Own a stripey cow (or goat)
Hang-glide
Write a novel
Have no regrets
Explore as much of Australia as I possibly can.

8 Things I Say Often
I love you
I miss you
You’re Cute
God loves you
The world is better when it’s purple
I think I need to go to the beach
So…How’s stuff?
Is anyone up for a bushwalk…rockclimb...surf…insert word here

8 Books I've Read Recently
The bible
The o’Malley Series
Whitethorn (Bryce Courtney)
Mao’s Last Dancer
Colour
Cookbooks
Burning up Eddy
Trauma and Recovery (for work)

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over Again
To God be the Glory
How deep the father’s love for us
Amazing Grace
Healer (Mike Guglielmucci)
Hillsong
Probably most songs from musicals
Hallelujah Chorus
Calvary (Torniquet – I think)

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends
Sense of Humour
They encourage me
They inspire me
They teach me things
That I can be myself with them
They value things that I value
They like me
They love God

8 People Who Should Totally Do This
http://duaneraegreen.blogspot.com/
http://simpleaussie.blogspot.com/
http://pleasantviewschoolhouse.blogspot.com/
http://emilyswhatsoeverthings.blogspot.com/
http://aspotwithpots.blogspot.com/
http://www.lintrezza.com/blogger.html
http://danceofsmallthings.blogspot.com/
http://avisionsplendid.blogspot.com/

I wanted to write a post on the benefits of flowers and water. This is a shot of my friend's front yard. She owns her lovely home, and I am still sharing while I am looking for a place to buying and continuing to save. The benefits of flowers and water in your garden are significant.

It makes it a pleasant place to be. This is not an ordered garden, It just grows as plants self seed or as she puts cuttings in and tends them. I am sure that some of these were there before she moved in. Some people want ordered gardens, I am more of the casual look, but can appreciate an ordered garden as well. My grandparents have every different plant in it's own bed and seperated from the next species. Whatever it is your garden needs to be somewhere you enjoy being. Put some ornaments, mosaics etc around. I love having a place where I can hang a hammock under a deciduous tree, it can shade me in the summer and be a warm sunny place to sit in winter.

It brings life into the garden. Flowers and water attract insects who come and perform an essential role in pollinating your fruit trees and vegetables. Many birds also come to eat insects, nectar and hide in the safety of the plants from predators. Kate from Our Red House (see links at the side) has just written in her blog about a nest of baby birds they found in their garden. Growing up we had a family of magpies who would generally produce at least one set of offspring each year. We had a bird bath and natives with flowers outside and could watch as first the parents sought food for the baby and later brought it out to learn to fly.

It keeps your garden healthy. Many of the insects who are attracted to the flowers you are growing will assist in managing the pests in your garden, rather than you needing to resort to a chemical spray which is dangerous for you and your family, and kills off the good insects as well, leaving your garden more susceptible to attack.

If you can build a small pond, you will possibly attract frogs into your garden, who are great company and also great at managing your pests, especially the slugs and snails, which can be harmful for chickens in larger numbers.

Hmm, that's all I can think of for now, but if you can add anything please comment on this post. Ta and talk next week.
Hannah

A book with a view

I also wanted to share today about a great book I am reading. Back from the Brink by Peter Andrews. His story was shown on Australian Story earlier this year as a follow up to a story done a couple of years ago and when I was on the Permaculture stand at the Royal Easter Show this year probably 30% of people were talking about this story. I watched the show on the internet (either youtube or the ABC website - can't remember) and was challenged by his ideas, that fit in with my own. Recently I was in the post office and saw his book for sale, and had to buy it. Then I had a nice surprise when I went to pay for it and it was half price.

I had an early meeting this morning and had some time before work so I took the book down to the river and read for a while. He is talking in the bit I have read so far of his observations of the different conditions at two properties his family owned, one very rural and large and dry (a few thousand acres) and the other smaller (50 acres) and irrigated and fertilised. He noticed that the stock on the irrigated property would deteriorate and there were stock losses from illness, whereas stock on the other property occasionally died from thirst or fire but did not require the level of maintenance. Gradually he came to an understanding through observation of the properties and travel to America and England to look at horse properties there that biodiversity and no tilling made a difference to the ongoing success of the property. I loved the remark he quoted from an english farmer that pasture was not healthy unless it had over 40 and preferably closer to 80 species of plants growing in it.

From watching the show I know that there is more to come about him buying a property that was very run down, saline and eroded and applying what seemed crazy techniques to most other agriculturalists but as the photo on the cover of the book shows he was able to bring land that was dead back to life, and his farm is a green belt through a surrounding brown landscape.

Just thought I'd share a photo of where I was reading. Nowra, the town where I live, lies along the Shoalhaven River, which is a beautiful river in the Shoalhaven. It is lined with rocky cliffs with some of the best rockclimbing in Australia until the town where it opens to a flood plain. Where I was sitting was just at the end of the cliffline and there is a lovely spot that catches the morning sun with a comfy rock to sit on.

Visiting Port Stephens

I was in Port Stephen's for a friend's 60th birthday on the weekend. He's the one just behind me (Roger) and Ainsley his wife is in the background. My mum and I drove up there Friday afternoon, dropping in on the way to my best friend from junior high who I had not seen since then and had lost touch with after she married while I was overseas and relocated. We got back in touch with each other through myspace (thank god for the internet) and arranged to meet as she lived on the way to Port Stephens.

On Friday night there was a formal dinner and I was surprised that of the people sitting at the table I knew all bar two personally (out of ten) and had expected to know only a handful of people in the whole party. One couple were pastors of my church in Sydney I have recently left to move down the coast and their son. They were there because they started the church of the same denomination that my friends attend. Then there were a bunch of men who are all leaders on the scout camp that my friends have assisted on for years and that I went to help at this year as well, and then two men from the church (Oh and my mother) It was really nice to have that interconnectedness, and a small reminder that our huge world is not so big and definately not so far away. I love meeting new people and have made some new friends on the weekend as well, gradually as my world becomes bigger, the world as a whole becomes smaller, and places and events have more meaning because of the connections I have there.

I remember hearing that there are seven degrees of separation between everyone on the planet. Eg I know someone who knows someone who knows someone etc etc etc who knows anyone else in the world. I was thinking about this and about who would be someone who it would be hard to know. My first thought was - the president of the united states. I thought about it and realised there are only three degrees of separation between me and the president of the united states. It may be more between me and some people but in general I believe the gap is small. Between me and the Queen of England there is only two, as both my sister and my grandfather had personal encounters and conversations with her when she had a visit here when I was younger. I say this not so to namedrop but to think and to challenge us all to think about our connectedness. The more we are connected surely the better the world will become.

Anyhow, I had a lovely weekend. Above is a photo of us sailing on the bay in my friends yacht and below is the view from the restaurant where the dinner was held. The world is a beautiful place.