On the 8th of April 2024 I wrote:

It’s all connected.

I woke up this morning, Saturday, my usual routine wanting to kick in – go and spend money to start the weekend. Buy a coffee, treat myself, to feel alive after the working week.

I sat with the feeling, the urge, knowing that its time is over. I need to spend my time and energy today splitting wood, mulching the garden, weeding and preparing for the season ahead.

My 80s kid who lives always inside me doesn’t understand. She likes McDonalds – a lot. And adores plastic and convenience and travelling and every shiny thing that capitalism has to offer.

And this morning as I scroll to a story of women in Gaza who are doing the daily chores so that they can survive and walk together to the tent set up to replace their mosque and recite the Quran I think its time that I do the dishes and clean my kitchen and prepare for the week ahead with reverence for what I have. To sit and drink a hot beverage in my garden.

Everything is connected.

We are at a critical moment of global detox on a scale we have never known. Russia has just discovered enough oil in Antartica to fuel the climate crisis to its completion and ensure the total destruction of our wild planet. We have been tamed into obedient consumers and we are watching the consequence on our screens daily. As we witness a level of wilful violence that had once been allocated to the history books, the silence from our media and our leaders echoes a knowing that we are each apart of this violence. It is a part of us.

This genocide is not restricted to the borders of Gaza. It is happening to us all and it is being perpetrated by us all. I live on stolen land that was never ceded. My ancestors fled a genocide and found their way to Australia and made a life in the shadow of a genocide. The removal of our folklore, our earth connection, our recipes, our languages, our joy and our freedom is universal. We have traded them in for the illusion of safety, of belonging to a high power. And perhaps now Palestine is reverberating around the globe with such strength because we all know their longing, to be free, to worship as they wish, to eat as they wish, to have fresh clean water, to have dignity, to have agency to continue the legacy of their ancestors with reverence as our own longing.

A young woman recently spoke out about the concentration camp being built in Florida. She was asking, how could she continue her flower farm, her day to day, her life, knowing just down the way, a concentration camp was being erected? And all I could think was, your flower farm, your life are acts of defiance. These are acts of strength and this is ultimately what we can and need to do. We can do the dishes and cook a meal with local, organic ingredients. We can assess the carbon miles the products we are buying include. We can buy our clothes from op shops, we can sew our own clothes, we can find our local wool producer and learn to spin, we can remember how to knit like our grandmothers and bake beautiful cakes, and keep a sourdough starter alive and bake bread every weekend. These things, these acts of life and connection are not only political – they are what each and every one of us longs for. Belonging, safety and deep connection. It just takes a shift – from belonging to a power (out there), to unsubscribe from the plastic fantastic and carve your own space of belonging and remember the journey of those who came before you. In that cooking is political, living within your means is political, gardening is political, meditation is political. And politics can be enriching, exciting and empowering when leadership is given back, reclaimed and embodied.

Free Palestine means freedom to the Palestinians and it also means a reclaiming of our roots, of our ancestry of our right to a deep inner peace and celebration of everything it means to be human. How do we reconcile this on stolen land? In the wake of an empire and colonial construct that is tumbling to the ground around us? I think perhaps it is in holding the vision of life after the establishment and remembering life before it and embracing a return to living within our means, and remembering that it was rich, far richer than eating take away meals that have fun toys but is slowly killing you.

If I could write an almanac of you I would

Your timeline and your seasons.

I would trace every leaf on the pages of my journal

And press your petals between its pages.

I would describe the smells and the slow growth

The surprises, the planning, the fruit, the jams

The weekend ritual. Mowing the dandelions that reached to the sky.

My weedy garden, my first patch to call mine.

The Casuarina tree that I grew from seed, a lovers competition.

The lonely weekend trips to the garden centre and cheerful pots

that bloomed into an olive orchard.

The grafted apple trees created with the dearest friends that bore fruit out of season.

The replanted roses that survived the drought and frosts to make one last final blush

Before I shut the gate for the last time.

I would take a photo of you every day in every light and remember

How I propagated every shrub from a twig that took bloom over the tall front fence.

My sanctuary, my mistakes and my successes.

If I knew that they would remove you, I would have taken every plant with me

And potted them in my pockets, pots, pans, bags and satchels.

The grape vine, a gift from a friend now departed.

Hedges that lifted up into trees released from their weekly prune.

I will always remember the wild growth and gentle company.

My first garden.

This year, every yoga practice, permaculture principle, friendship, lesson learned, seed planted, ethic formed, prayer made, money saved and life decision has come into play. And what’s even more confronting is that every single person on this planet is going through it at the same time.

I haven’t quite known how to capture this year. Until a moment recently when I sat in meditation and saw the whole structure collapse.

I saw the political structure for what it is, a scaffolding holding up a collapsing system. I saw my fears and hopes for what they are, fleeting thoughts and emotions. I saw it all just fall apart and in its place were shapes and colours that I attempted to put down in this small painting.

Painting it helped me a lot. It calmed my thoughts and gave me focus. It gave me a map forward. I have used sacred geometry in the past to work with Yantas but this piece had a free-form landscape which sat in connection with the unseen structures of our universe that I enjoyed watching unravel.

We live on the surface of an earth, and are constantly pulled into it by gravity. Every physical form holds at its centre that connection. Its easy to get esoteric about the notion of union, but just very simply, by feeling the force of gravity on your body and remembering that every object, person and particle shares the affect of that force, there is nothing else to do. Relax. You are not alone. I hope this year has been kind on you.

‘Collapse and Create’ is available on Etsy and if you would like a similar piece commissioned with a meditation contact me here.

Music by http://www.bensounds.com

There’s nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices going! More and more I am finding the ability to sit and be present with the creative process is more important than the technique and application of painting itself. For me, sometimes the sense of forcing to sit and paint is physically painful and yet if I were to wait for inspiration to strike, to linger until that sweet spot presented itself nothing would get done. I think every individual is different about how they approach this, but here’s what I find works for me when I have a deadline and also face resistance:

1. Acknowledge the block / resistance

Take some time to actually feel it. How is it presenting itself? Pain the body? Foggy in the head? Distraction or craving based?

2. Open up to the idea that there is more

It will pass, be open to the shift … otherwise surrender to it – what does it want? A nap? A walk? A sit in a café? A sit in front of the TV to zombie out for a while with the awareness that when its done, its done and then move on.

3. Prepare

For the Japanese calligraphy artist, lovingly grinding their ink was the time to get their head in the right space. For me, my brushes and paint have never been lovingly cared for I have to admit. But I do like to have a good environment so that I can switch my organising head off and turn my creative head on!

5. Define what you want to achieve

Beginning with parameters in place allows the left side of the brain to have a plan and feel like someone is in charge!

4. Breath

The importance of breath came up in conversation with a friend who has recently commenced fire arms training. She described how she was being trained to coordinate her breath with accurately firing a weapon and I realised that I do exactly the same thing when I paint. It is also an indicator of when to stop!

5. Know when to stop

Before you get over tired and over work a piece, always end on a high – nothing is set in stone. You can re-visit it in the morning! Create some momentum in your practice by finishing with still a little something to achieve next time! I always need another project lined up before the one at hand finishes for this reason.

Sunday 1 August 2010

I went to Ceres last Sunday to get some plants and seeds and also to check out thier permaculture design course. Some ideas that I got there included using all of our bricks to build a chimney style pot! I just loved the way it created a little landscape in the raised garden bed. Also the propagating area – the shade cloth could be done simply over any area. They have also constructed a series of green houses (well white houses actually) I saw a similar example of this structure at the Southern Cross Inst. of Permaculture with simply created with steel star pickets with plastic piping placed over the picket and stretch over (creating a rainbow) to the other picket. This makes it very easy to assemble – and dissemble and recyle the material! I think some thing of this kind will be put in the back garden beside the shed.

I have planted some artichoke seeds bought at the Ceres nursery. These are heading into the back yoga studio plot. Plans for the back include splitting the rhubarb and also I have added a Cardomon plant where the fuscia came out due to the heat – it is a real hot spot so lets see. The cardomon plant – as well as its seeds – has great leaves for wrapping fish or scallops for cooking!! It gets to three metres which is a little higher than I was hopeing but surely I can prune the top off if it gets too big. Right now it is in front of the yoga room – in between the windows.

CERES Community Environment Park

Toora Heritage Pear Farm – Grafting Day

Monday 16 August 2010

Toora Heritage Pear Farm

Toora Heritage Pear Farm is a living museum of heritage pear species which are being cared for and propagated by the Friends of the Toora Heritage Pear Farm. This weekend – the Friends hosted a grafting workshop in order to continue the developement and bio-diversity of both heritage pears and apples in the region. Neil inspired the group with a pep talk – taking us through the reasons and techniques for grafting and we were able to choose from about 100 species of heritage pears or apples. Taking root stock suitable to our soil conditions and also the size of the finished plant we desired we were then able to choose out species with the desired characteristics. The choices and combinations was truly overwhelming. First of all – if you are grafting more than one species – they must have the same growth rate, secondly they must also flower at the same time to ensure pollination. Finally after much deliberations I chose the Snow Apple and the Tom Pippin. Later Neil told me this was an “old timers favorite pair”. Well I completely fluked that one – after 2 hours of mucking about trying to find a way through the information that was available. A word of warning – go to such workshop with some knowledge of heritage pears or apples!!!

http://south-gippsland.com/toora-pear-orchard.htm

http://www.woodbridgefruittrees.com.au/

Melliodora Tour – September

The tour lead by David Holmgren of his property in Daylesford demonstrated to me that Permaculture is a system of care, attention and connection to the place and the people that inhabit it. Unlike other approaches that I have witnessed where the ‘low maintenance’ and ‘minimum care’ approach to a self-sustaining system has been made, David Holmgren demonstrated that the relationship with the property is one born out of a passion and immaculate attention to detail – while at the same time down to earth and practical in every sense.

Emphasis was placed on the importance of soil condition, and David offered various approaches for re-balancing soil structure for optimal mineral balance. At the end of the day – if the soil contains the correct balance of elements for the plant – produce such as pumpkin should keep through to mid Summer. I find this particularly interesting given the finding that are being made into the cause of Alzheimer’s being that of mineral inbalance, whereby the brain is becoming “rusty” from toxins.

David spoke about allowing a design to develop organically. I have experience this myself where – the garden will slowly reveal to me what will work and what will not work. It is not a matter of logic or careful planning (although these or course are recommended) so much as observation over time, trial and error. Again it returns to creating a relationship – spending time with the space and its “quirks”.

Having cultivated some artichokes recently I was thrilled to see that David has used this plant as the under-story for fruit trees. As the artichoke is active in Winter – and is busy working away while the fruit tree above is dormant and free of leaves to allow plenty of sunlight through.

The importance of tree selection for fodder (mostly for the goats who put on a real show) and also to support sun catchment was discussed. No pines or gum trees were planted on the property – but were restricted to the very outer border and are likely to be cut for fire wood. With the exception of the Bunya Bunya pine which is harvested (well it drops huge pine cones) for the pine nuts. Deciduous trees, while not native were selected as “settlement friendly”. Trees recommended included oak, willow, blackwood and black walnut. Perriwinkles along the boundaries were chosen as they are shade tolerant, soil improvers and most important fire retardants. These were planted along the river bank along with the cricket bat willow which had been cut and sent off to make … cricket bats!

The willow, which has been persecuted as a non-native, is used to create a sound rootmat along the river edge and similar to the Mellaluka in the Northern Territory is used for re-building hydrology (catching sediment and improving soil structure).
Closer to home (Zone 2-3) always the preference is towards food and fodder trees. Walnut and Hazelnuts were inter-planted with oak and tall, well-pruned Casuarina. David discussed that you shouldn’t over do bio-mass and it was clear that between the goats and his constant pruning that every tree on the property was contributing, rather than detracting from the system. Also once they reached maturity and if they were taking too much sunlight, space or water they would be cut for their wood. Walnut trees for example pull a lot of nutrients from the system and can grow as fast as gum trees if the mineral balance of the soil is right. The dam at the bottom of the property acted as a sun catcher for the main orchid, reflecting the late afternoon rays up the slope all towards the home. Even the slope was considered in the design – as to where the choockies would dig in order to bring, for example, the oak leafs down of the slope and pile up for creating humus.

It was a lovely design – not overwhelming, but intrincsic with its detail. Most importantly it worked.

Highlight of the property would have to the Pear Tree. I would never have identified it as a Pear – it was huge. Planted some time during the gold rush and nearby the remains of an old homestead. The ley lines of the property meet at a conjuction just infront of the tree and is said to be a wonderful place for healing! Well the entire property resonated with a healing vibration. But this point was certainly a lovely place to stand and take it all in!

Wednesday 13 October 2010

When wisdom comes my way I recognise it as a deep blessing. It come from time which I have yet (and hopefully still) to experience.

The gardens that I have tended have brought me this – through two particular women who I would like to thank for their Birthday Blessings.
The first is Peg – who (at 90) sculpted the most delicate, beautiful marzipan fruit to cover a fruit cake – “It is a Cornecopia” for my 30th birthday. I dropped in about a week or more ago – and she had started the process!! I remember looking at the cake and wondering “oohhh I wonder who/what that is for, it seems to early for Christmas cakes!” Thank you Peggy for the most outstanding cake.
A lot of the gardening wisdom I have learnt has come by listening to and observing friends and clients (hmmm hard to make that distinction at times) with the patience and passion to share what they know. From Betty – who like Peg inspires me with her passion and determination for life – I received a card – and I want to share the words inside. A fuscia hangs down with a Hummingbird flying towards its stamen:
Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration.Like a hummingbird, we aspire to hover and savor each moment as it passes, embrace all that life has to offer and to celebrate the joy of everyday.The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.You never know where your interests will guide you and who they will present across your path. And although the flowers that we have tended together wither season by season I have you deep in my heart.
A deeply happy Birthday. 

24 August 2014

I heard a quote today (and I am usually fastidious about referencing all quotes- a habit from University days), but tonight I am content to paraphrase;

It is what people make, not what they say or do, that tells you about humanity. Study what they make.

I have made a study of what people make and never had much patience for what people say and a terrible memory of what they do. It was an extremely gratifying TV bite and was one ingredient of today that got me back to the canvas. The others were rain, the prospect of the working week and that indescribable sense of anticipation, which sometimes masks its self as anxiety that come when an artist has spent little time expressing herself and too much time avoiding.

This week has come to an end with a great deal of reflection. Having lost a dear friend.

She made something of her life and it was a privilege to have been a small part of it. As in the last still life (Self Portrait), this piece features objects

of significance to my past; my grandfathers camera I inherited, a tin can – the same my grandmother would put on the stove to boil an egg and limes from the garden where I last lived. Peg, my friend who passed away last week, was my next door neighbour. I gardened for her and she nick-named me Green Boots, for the bright green Crocs I would wear when I spent time in her garden. We treasured every minute and didn’t waste a crumb or sip of cuppa tea together. She was everything a woman of her generation was meant to be.

Today on my daily walk I noticed a Jacaranda tree that had come into its first leaf and immediately pulled my phone out to capture this hint of Spring. I walked on with that image now safely packed away in my handbag amongst all the other paraphernalia.

Where did this obsession to document fleeting moments of beauty originate?

Is it a bi-product of our love affair with social media or does it run more deeply through our human psyche?

Often I will find my mind shift into seeing ordinary scenes or objects as subjects of immense beauty and meaning, sometimes it is when I have had a couple of glasses of wine (not recommended as the only way), other times it is when my heart has been opened up either out of joy or grief (also a somewhat painful process at times). All of sudden everything around me stops looking mundane and starts looking precious and fleeting. And in those moments I am drawn to capture them. To spend time with them. To interpret them.

Is this obsession with documentation a meaningless grab at holding a moment on a memory stick, or are we tapping into a primal desire for permanence or at the very least relationship?

After several years of art school, going through the motions, I vividly recall after an evening painting class, a moment when it all came to a screeching halt. Suddenly it had no meaning for me anymore. What was the point of locking myself in a room painting pictures when life was out there to be lived. To be breathed, to be touched. I was relieved when on a trip to Paris the Louvre was closed and I was excused from the duties of an Arts Graduate and could sit in a café and look out and sketch.

Always, I was taken back to a desire to capture.

And ultimately what this gesture offers me is a moment to relate. To see. To truly see another person, place or object. Because each year spring comes just as quickly as it goes and if we don’t look up we miss that sacred moment.

2011 – Its been just about a month and the grafting has been a success.

The objective for grafting came after a visit to Mama Longo’s garden last year. She wanted to have a graft of the plum tree we have here at the Miyoga Garden.

Unfortunately by the time the grafting workshop at BAAG was organised it was too late to graft Plums. Also Mama Longo didn’t have a plum so we have this weekend planted one ready to graft next year!

Some tips for Grafting sucess:

In the Southern Hemisphere July – August is the grafting season. When the sap is rising, the tree must be growing, not dormant, but also not flowering.

Drop flowers off below the graft as you don’t want them taking precious moisture away from the area.

For Soft Wood a cleft graft is recommended – for other woods a tongue and whip

Keep your grafting knife sterilised with a jar of 1/2 metho and 1/2 water – this is also a good practice for your pruning tools.

Dwarfing trees is made possible by intersecting a species with a segment of a dwarf stock. For example a Pear tree – grafted with a dwarf apple – followed once again by the pear species.

Use small plastic bags to seal the graft and keep moisture in – however watch the temperature on the day.

If you are north facing – then make the graft on the south side of the plant – so that it won’t be dried out too quickly.

Always remove buds off the root stock – otherwise it will take over.

Who goes with whom?

Apricot go with Plum
Citrus go with Citrus
Apple go with Pear
Quince go with Pear
Persimon go with Persimon
Plums go with Plums
Apples go with Apples
Nectarines go with peaches
Figs on with Loquot

Benefits of grafting include choosing root stock that is suitable to your land and conditions. For example if you are flood prone then you can grow on root stock that tolerates a wet soil and graft an apple that normally wouldn’t survive these conditions.It also assists in cross pollination and allows for a longer fruiting season. Ideally you could have an apple tree that provides fruit all year round! A challenge.

Graeme George is a National Treasure. His wealth of knowledge is like non other that I have crossed, not am likely to ever come across this life time. We were lucky enough to have him for an afternoon of grafting at the Ballarat Observatory in August. The heritage conservation of fruit trees through grafting is something that I came across at the Toora Heritage Pear Orchid and so it was lovely to have this experience re-enforced during this weekend workshop. Withing the process of harvesting heritage species the importance of good record keeping is essential – and while labeling your stock and cyam is the obvious first step – keeping an electronic record is probably more critical. Which reminds me to photograph and blog what I grafted and planted!

I had the pleasure of working on a wonderful example of interplanting edibles with non edibles on this largely native garden. It reminded me that veggie gardens don’t have to stand alone – but can enhance the trees / shrubs already in place. I think this is the feel that the Spiral Bed really needs. The pathway in the front native garden demonstrates how you can make the most out of the space you have. By dividing it in two by a narrow path you can walk within the garden and appreciate from within – rather than simply looking from a frontal perspective. The compost bins are also a feature which I would like to replicate with a huge pile wood down the side that needs a use. This property which was once a Dairy is an absolute pocket of country living in Melbourne. Again it reminds me that you don’t need the hobby farm – just start now where ever you are!!

I had the chance today to sit in on David Holmgren’s Retrofitting the Suburbs for Sustainability at The Wheeler Centre.

It was very timely. Getting into work – a colleague spoke about how crazy the amount of time it took him to commute into the City given that he lived just North/West of the CBD. We had both experienced not being able to board 2 trains/trams simply because we couldn’t fit in!!

As I took the tram up Swanston St and compared the volume of foot traffic to when I was studying in the city 10 years ago … it feels as though it has doubled.

With what David describes as our Energy Descent Future and the subsequent reduced mobility of people and goods – moving either closer to the city or re-locating to a job closer to home is already looking like an appealing option.

At the moment riding my bike is an option – but even along Swanston St – with the new MEGA Tram Stops (no more Trams actually servicing these stops) the bike riders are currently battling with pedestrians and tram, so bridging the South Side of Melbourne has become ever more of a challenge for our warriors on 2 wheels.But above the doom and gloom David’s talk was humorous and engaging. I live in a street very much like the one he described in his talk on ‘Aussie St’ – a neighbourhood of four houses battling to come to terms with a failing economy and energy crisis. What rang true for me out of this talk – was how much richer in community we can potentially become. Choosing your neighbours wisely in this scenario was critical. I see the ‘incremental adaption’ that David described already emerging. I run a small business – using recycled material – not only because I love the vintage look – but because having worked for a multi-national fabric company – I know the extent of price exploitation on imported fabrics. I am also aware of the social and environmental impact fabric manufacturing has on our Asian neighbours – where most imported fabrics are sourced. I see the increments becoming leaps and bounds before we know it. Its not only a rather confronting time to be alive – but if you are willing to move out of old habits – its a really very exciting time – to watch and see – can our innovation overcome our fears.

The All Season’s Permaculture course has moved into Spring and we celebrated with a Farm Stay at David Arnold’s place Murnong, at Violet Town. Having now visited several Permaculture properties, what struck me about David’s design was its clear Zones and forward thinking. Consideration to succession planning was not obvious at first, but after spending the day walking the land with David, the complexity of his design became more evident. He had made use of Peter Andrew’s leaky wear system to create a miniature delta flood plain (while the drought is over), with nearby town run off, that runs through his property, much the same as at David Holmgren’s place at Hepburn Springs. Two elements of David Arnold’s property got me really excited – the first being the emphasis on Agroforestry and the second his approach to grass or paddock spaces as microforests also to be managed through seasonal “pulsing”. David’s consideration of tree species for optimum yield – for both fruit and timbre has developed over years of working with re-forestation projects and also through the simple method of trial and error. This is an area which has scope beyond what we could cover over the weekend and hopefully down the track an agrofrestry course may follow this PDC! At first glance of David’s design, there appeared to be a lack of layering as is seen in the common design of food forests. However, as David spoke about the spacing of his orchard species, in relation to rain fall and soil type the picture above the surface of the soil began to make more sense. This is a farm which is harvesting soil life and plant complexity in all forms. What appears to be grass is in fact a microforest of species for trapping and ultimately recycling micro-organisms and nutrients into the orchid and farm system as a whole. What is critical for this element of the system to work is timing the cutting of the grasses, allowing for enough growth to harvest the full potential of the plant life both above and below the ground. I admire David’s ability to “Accept Feedback” and relate the land as a teacher.