I agree....and is topically something that really needs to interest more people.

Something we have here...not sure if you do...is a tracking map...attached to clothing and products using fibres from Australia...you can see in a blink where the fibre was grown or created, which mill it went to, what garment maker, what dyes went into it and where they came from, and into which store.

It is obviously only on the home grown stuff...but helps with education and a more ethical purchase...supporting locally created products.

There was a national data collection survey done here in Australia a few years ago, during the droughts, where aerial meaurements were taken of private dam sites, roof sizes, and private catchment areas..


...with full intent of one day regulating and having to pay per square metre of what water you caught on your own private land!


It didn't go down so well!

What a fantastic article Peccy!

It;s the same here...we are renowned globally for our fine merino wool, we grow incredible amounts of cotton, and have only small (in comparison) hemp growers...

and 90% of all our fibres are sent off overseas...

one I am really taking a liking to is the diverse uses of bamboo...from incredibly soft fabrics to flooring, and everything in between.!

Our grounds are sodden, the aquifers bulging, dams full, rivers and creeks flushed clean, rainwater tanks full....and our farmers lost 95% of their produce, be it beef, sheep or food, not just in my state but the whole east coast of Australia...and we are paying for it now...3 times the prices of a year ago!...and not all of it is in oil prices being higher!

...and I know without a shadow of a doubt that very soon, again, we will be looking to the heavens for that one solitary rain cloud....to soften the parched land.


I don't understand, with all the collected data, and knowledge, we are capable of learning, why we still continue monoculture...why we still try to beat the odds with our farming techniques.

Why humans have a need for a number of houses, when they can only physically live in one...and why people don't take some responsibility for their own food production...

I have watched over 20 years, the local government here, make strange policies, then recind them a few years later...one is grey water..shower, sink and washing machine water...it was illegal for a time to use this water on your non-edible gardens...even on your lawn...and then in a few dry years...suddenly it became mandatory to have a 5000 gallon rainwater catchment tank attached to your house, and to use grey water for non-edible plant watering.

An amazing young man has created an incredible blackwater filter...(toilet effluent/water) that has consistently produced cleaner water that is higher in quality than our local government supplied drinking water!!!...I wonder how long until blackwater filtration systems become mandatory...

We have lost the mindset of self reliance...no longer do we provide first and foremost for our own populace...in this region we are renowned as being the fruit and vege bowl of the country as we can grow all year round...the prime produce goes overseas...the second grade is what we locals are offerred..

We eat your oranges!...navel oranges are produced in the US...whereas we had a fantastic citrus region in the southern states, that ended up plowing in their produce, and burning their trees, after years of not being able to compete in the marketplace.


We've forgotten how to provide for our own, in a sustainable way...I am not on town water...I have a 5000 gallon rainwater tank...so every drop is a conscious decision...we have to be accountable for our water consumption, or it will be gone....I don't see why this mindset does not apply to every human...irrespective of where their water comes from.

I spend my days producing food, preparing beds, planting edible trees...taking advantage of the exceptional rains we had over summer...and now they exist through the water table, and grey water, and need to learn to acclimatise ready for a few drier seasons.

The biggest age gap was 20 years older than me.

I married a guy 10 months older than me.

I lived with a guy 4 years younger than me.

I fell in love with a guy 18 months older than me.




the date of birth on their driver's license had nothing to do with the 'age' and maturity of the guy.


I don't date, aren't looking, and have a circle of friends who age from 19 through to 64...

it's the 'age' in their eyes, and in their heart, I am drawn to.

Dear Diary,

you know you are getting old when you plant bamboo, and all you can think of is the 1000 and 1 uses you will have for the mature canes....and not one of them was making a bong!

Dear Diary,

I had one of those moments today...the one where you come a gutser, scramble to your feet and check no-one saw you..

Wheelbarrow full of composted manure, side of a hill, loose rocks....and ker-splat!...said wheelbarrow, holder and manure went tumbling down the side of the hill..

...and NO-ONE saw!!! (I've already checked youtube for the legs sticking up out of the long grass...)

Dear Diary,

Why is it when other people come inside after doing a day's gardening, they come inside with barely ruffled hair, and not even a chip in their nail polish....and yet when I do a day's gardening, I stagger in looking like I ate the dirt, got buried in it and then had to claw my way out???

Hahahaha I wanna see how people will refer to you when they reply to you...


MBH?

Butter?

Holey?

I haven't seen THAT profile name before...

<-------- I'm just 'removed'...

I grew up in a similar lifestyle....about 1500kms further south..a tiny little suburb on the fringe of Sydney, with thousands of acres of Crown land, and National Parks behind us, and the golden sands, and awesome left handers in front of us.

So I am removed from my place of origin, but not 'tone' of origin.

I am the odd duck in a flock of seagulls as far as family goes....relatively speaking we are not very relatable...

I'm the urban hippie....all my cousins have short blonde hair, with twinsets and manicured nails, pretty shoes and glamourous lives..in expensive mansions and the 2.2 kids who are all Doctorates of something.

Whereas I am removed from the yuppie...I never really fit the mould..

They play tennis....I shovel manure and wax lyrical about the benefits of permaculture.

J.O.B...?...I currently play with fruit and veg in a supermarket...I work 35 hours over 7 days, then play for 7 days in my gardens and with my friends...I don't do what I would have done...veternarian...

My friends have diverse and varied opinions on most things...and we debate fiercely over a glass of red, a coffee, and a campfire.


My life has changed...evolved...once I removed all the dead wood obligations and perceptions from my own Tree of Life..

I B * Tch and moan, and whinge and whine, grumble, mumble and mutter...as I am hauling barrow loads of yummy earth around, or barrow loads of rocks.....but I love the outcome!!!


...the dog doesn't care, as he follows me around all day and thinks I am kinda cool.

My next door neighbour had beautiful belly pics done,

she wore a boob tube...like a band across her breasts, and a low slung skirt in the same colour...the photographer took them at dawn, and angled her belly so it looks like her belly is glowing..

you could do the same with sunset...

She also had her girlfriends decorate her belly with gorgeous artwork at her baby shower, and the photographer took shots of it...


I'll see if I can find the links...

http://marinalockephotography.blogspot.com/


have a look through here, there are some awesome pics of local people, here where I live...

Damn!....I was nodding along merrily until I saw the essential oil bit...

Most people that go on a first date are strangers to each other...it takes time to learn each other.

People always show their best face first....to impress, to hook, to catch the interest of others.

It is hard to sustain something that is not a natural state.

I suspect these kind of people, once they have 'hooked' their interest, relax...and then all the not so attractive stuff shows itself.

The leading on thing....it can also stem from poor self esteem...an illusion of who they wish they were painted on...a mask...which eventually has to slip...imagine the energy involved in constantly pretending to be something you are not?...exhausting!

In all things, 'let the buyer beware'...

For me, when I am lost and unsure, and over-whelmed, and reach out to someone I trust...I value their 'sit in this pain, acknowledge it, move through it, and get on with it.' talks.

In my day to day world, I rarely give advice...I wait for whomever feels they need me...and seek me out....I still don't really give advice as such...I ask them questions, I LISTEN more than I speak...and usually just offer a different view, and allow them to find their own solutions.

Free advice that is unsolicited is kind of funny...I tend to get a little ruffled when someone decides to share with me, what I need to be doing differently.

As to the 'cheer squad' kind of pep talk....I am not so patient or kind with those...I don't do gratuitous back slapping very well..

Beautiful H....

everyday is mother's day for me, I am shown a thousand different ways everyday that I am loved,


...and on the dedicated day for mothers...I awoke to five 14year olds at the end of my bed, with flowers from the garden, scrambled eggs and toast, coffee, and love letters...

(Rhi had her very elegant beachside dinner party and sleepover birthday celebrations the night before)..

Ohio....

Beautiful!....and perfect....I can aspire to that!