Think globally, act locally”, “People of Place”, Rewilding” – these are all concepts to do with connecting with our physical being, a living creature occupying a niche in a particular place on a living planet. It’s a key to our survival, but it’s also glorious to kindle awareness of that.
I’ve been down a rabbithole. I started with some research about the probiotic bacteria in Dosa batter, and how good it is for you. I like Dosa and we eat it a bit, so the research was fascinating. But it led me on to research about lactic acid bacteria and the surge in recent research about the relationship between gut microbiomes and all sorts of physical and mental health effects.
The Bureau of Meteorology says that it’s likely that this will be an El Niño year, drier and warmer. That is, it says, on top of the drier and warmer conditions that climate change predicts anyhow for much of Australia, especially the south east. It brings with it an increased risk of extreme heat. And my ‘470’ research came to the same conclusion as this week’s article in The Conversation – Australia’s…
First of the season’s pawpaw (papaya) for breakfast this morning, with Cavendish banana, black passionfruit and homemade yoghurt. The pawpaw in last year’s winter fruit bowl had more black spot but this year I think I’ve beaten it.
This morning on my picking walk, I picked silver beet, lucullus, chives, spring onion greens, nasturtium leaves, dandelion leaves, chickweed, scurvy weed, aragula, leaf amaranth, sweet potato leaves, lemon basil, dill, oregano, parsley, sorrel, curly kale, dino kale, rocket, warrigal greens, molokhia. So I made a last minute pie to take to a picnic lunch.
We made bamboo biochar on the weekend. There’s some impressive science behind the idea that biochar, and especially bamboo biochar, might be a cheap, fast, effective way to remove huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and add it to the soil. And biochar does such good things for soil quality.
I don’t plant the supermarket kind of large head broccoli any more. It’s too slow, too short a season, to low a yield, too prone to pests and diseases. And broccolini fills the spot so much better. I have two favourite kinds, favourites for different reasons.