OK, so we have cultural drift, and we’re not so connected to the seasons that we feel the affront of pumpkins in spring. But can we do a little bit of reinvention? Dressing up is very Beltane (especially as it tends towards the burlesque), but I can connect Princess Leia or the Incredible Hulk to Beltane easily. Street parties and pool parties and water fights and icecream, parades and costumes…
LPG, LNG, CSG – I don’t blame you if you are totally confused. That’s what the mining companies are relying on. A quick pea shuffle and they will be allowed to extract a quick, large profit and leave a fracked countryside. There is a very, very well funded PR campaign of misinformation going on to rename coal seam gas as “natural gas from coal seams”, shortened to “natural gas”, and…
The Recipe
I feel so much for those who have lost homes, but also, I feel powerless. I’ve had enough years in the Rural Fire Service to know: there are fires you can fight successfully on the ground, and there are fires that you can only fight politically, and it seems we are going backwards in fighting them politically. There are the heroic people who are out there with fire hoses, and…
I make soap every year around this time so it is cured in time for Christmas. It makes a gorgeous present – just enough luxury to be special, just enough everyday usefulness to be used, and no tacky consumerism. And getting it all done this early in a lovely social morning is shopping heaven.
I so love the way the whole gaggle take on responsibility for the goslings. The adults stand guard, watching in every direction while the babies graze. Trevor (the big white male on the right) goes mental if you pick up a baby. He has no real weaponry – no fangs or claws – but he knows his role is to protect them. Jackie, in the middle, sat on the eggs,…
In the scale of foods that are Popeye worthy, kale is about as dense a source of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants as you can get, including Vitamin K which is important for bone density and for brain health, and Vitamin A which is important for skin and eyes. But more uniquely, it’s also a source of some important anti-cancer phytochemicals.