Husband this Earth

Be mindfull! Husband the Earth. Protect her from greed and violence. Build humbly, plant trees, grow flowers and cloth her with dignity. Respect all her creatures.
Honer her natural laws & the universe witch cradles her.
Above all Hartley worship the source of all that is.
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This world needs secret heroes!
Be brave, speak the truth, heal the sick, make peace, be strong, serve patiently. love generously, live simply, enjoy fellowship, eat & drink modestly,
celebrate the festivals.
Breath deeply, sing & make music, walk often, cycle & recycle.
Be thrifty, prefer cash flow to possessions, and give good measure.
let your work be your prayer.
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Put on the whole Armour of light!
Unearth the beauty in everything. Inhale the spirit of goodness.
Kindle kindness, especially towards yourself.
Embrace the sweet silence of your own soul.
Fear nothing, Accept what you are & while you have breath.
Give thanks.

unknown author

A Red Wattlebird

Wattlebird feeding on aphids

The Wattle bird.

Complexity evolves and crashes like waves on the shore.
Life.
Cheeky, territorial, interactive mother of her hood.
She is gone now, deep grief and sadness.
We have had a beautiful relationship over a number of years,  I did not relies the complexity or the benefits she provided till the hawk hit the garden,, She is gone now.

About 5 years ago shortly before my first harvest of boysenberries,  I was interacting with this bird, I pledged to care for her space and provide her with food, that she could have one side of the bush and I would have the other. She honored this and told me off when I crossed the line and hit the berries on her side. I watched her fledged young ones over the years. She would come out whenever I was in the garden, have a chat then of to her life. There was an alliance with the peewee blackbird and butcher bird, They kept all the parrots at bay but two and most of the Indian miners away. home patch for this group.

She is gone now, The Indian miners are having a field day, (Bastards) . The parrots hit the blackberries taking the bulk before I realised and resorted to nets.

If only Id been more aware and in the moment ?

I feel deep sadness for the embedded knowledge and care within living community we have lost and continue to loose without any awareness. Interacting with this earth on her terms requires deep loving  knowledge and  awareness.
Re Member

HAWK - ON HUSBANDING THE EARTH

The hawk in a tree across the road with a my friend

- A NOTE ON HUSBANDING THE EARTH -

Deep ecology, I am a conscious heart. well try to be..

Husbanding the earth, I missed it, got distracted and lost a yield.

I’ve just had my blackberries crop ripen, its been hit by the parrots, three days 80%, nets to late.

Last year I had a couple of wattle birds that kept them away, No nets, high yeild.

I have been encouraging the resident birds, their fun to interact with. They don’t eat much and keep a lot of the other bird at bay,. I listen to their songs and try to understand their way.

A hawk came into my garden a couple of weeks ago, over two days it hit the residents.

I didn’t realise what was happening until it was to late. I saw a pewee telling something of, I went to have a look at the disturbance. At first it looked like a cat fleeing till it went vertical, fast and highly maneuverable through the branches, It had left a carcase of a bird. The hawk was next cited on the tv antenna on the roof with three other different agitated resident birds making a lot noise, It then flew of. I again saw it in the tree across the road with a bird carcase in its clutches.. The other carcass was still on the ground. Two resident birds taken. I believe their were a pair of hawks, They have children as well.

The next day I saw the black bird making a strange tweet tweet sound on a branch, there was a hawk on the branch above it. I intervened, the blackbird is friendlier since..

If I had been more aware in a society that was more aware, maybe I would know the right way in the moment,, and have no need for nets or fences.

She simply has a family to feed.  Ecology is a delicate balance, it takes all our combined awareness intelligence to interact in a positive constructive way. 

Interacting with this earth on her terms requires deep loving  knowledge and awareness.
Can we open our eyes to see, Can we hear to listen, can we feel...
And touch with a mindful caress.

Intergrated Ecology, Talking to the Birds

From Birds

Birds Birds Birds
I talk to the birds in my garden. that is I interact and observe.
I have fruit trees and berries, they only take a bit.
The guy down the road has fruit trees and he shoots the birds with a slug gun.
His trees year after year are devastated by the birds.
Why does this happen.
Simple.
I look after the resident birds, encourage them to stay, and occasionally give them food. I used to say I make a pact with the birds. Its a bit more complicated, its about the hood.
The resident birds, the ones that come each year to nest and the permanent residents form coalitions to protect their territory. They chase of intruders.
The guy down the road has no permanent bird populations, Its food for all that pass by.
look after your local birds share a bit and they will look after you.
We must care for the commons

October

Care for this Earth and all her creatures: Sacred Fruit - Sacred food

Food is sacred.
Why have we forgotten?
That it is our body's way of connecting with this earth.

I do not understand how people have become so blind to this life, so disconnected from this earth.
Not understanding why processed food causes disease, taking the media as some form of truth, eating from McDonald's, accepting product marketing, thinking the products sold at supermarkets have any thing to do with food.

I have been making a living as a gardener for the last twenty five years.
I understand what it is like to tend a garden.
To take a ripe natural peach from a tree and eat it.
It is the most connected spiritual experiences apart from good sex and meditation that I Know.

Maybe most people have never experienced eating with a friend or a stranger from a common tree, or experienced offering the fruit to the universe before eating it.
Maybe most people aren't sensitive enough to experience the light stream from the fruit as they hold it high offering it.

Maybe our deep conditioning has broken our connections.
To offer a fruit then eat it yourself surly has undertones of taboo!
Why have we forgotten how sacred our food is, our connection with this earth?

For this reason alone it is important to grow and engage in this cycle of life.
To practice in some way in developing local community.

ABC Encounter - Rosemary Morrow
Vandana Shiva:Women, Bioengineering, and Corporations Pt.1
Vandana Shiva:Women, Bioengineering, and Corporations Pt.2

August

August
Promise of joys and disappointments

Spring - The return of life from mineral to plant is starting to quicken.
The greens are changing hue. We spend more time outdoors.

Soil temp - It be better to weight a bit, till the soil warms to plant out
to sit comfortably with a bare bum on the soil , time for beans tomato corn.

The Ornamental Garden

Magnolia - Their shallow root system dislikes being planted over, roots need protection from summer sun, mulch.

Gladiolus corms - Treat with fungicide before planting, tiny bulbs will not flower this season.
Clematis - propagate by pushing stems just beneath ground to cover new shoot, mulch.
Snow in summer, Shaster Daisies, Stokesia,(perenial aster), Gazanias, gerbera, catmint, thyme etc.. divided and replanted or potted for Christmas gifts.

Delphinium - A sorry looking bunch of dead twigs, replant mulch water.
Foxglove - in the garden encourage plant growth and disease resistance.

Check for snails - they can climb and damage the stems and trunks of shrubs and small trees. Invest in some ducks.
Pest predator relationship - is complex. The pest population will rise before the predator population. if you let nature take its course you will notice a brief flush then a diminishing. Pest are food leave them alone if possible.
Cloches - sowing begins in the open or under cloches, placed out two weeks before planting will help soil warm.

Prune

Roses - prune in colder areas.
Climbing plants - trimmed of wayward growth, especially near paths and entrances.
Grape and Passion Fruit vines - will bear fruit on new growth, cut back to two or three buds.
Lemons Gardenia - remove dead wood, .
Rosemary - reliable plant for low hedges , shape before flowering.
flowering Shrubs - shaped when flowering finishes.
lemon trees - remove dead diseased crossed wood, burn galls.

The kitchen Garden

Broad beans, Fava bean - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Cabbage - Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks, Harvest from November.
Kohlrabi - Plant in garden, Harvest from November.
Mustard green, gai choy - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Onion - Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks, Harvest from March.
Peas - Plant in garden, Harvest from November.
Radish - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Shallots, Eschalots - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Snow Peas, Sugar Peas, Mangetout, Chinese Peas - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Spinach, English spinach - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Swedes, Rutabagas - Plant in garden. Harvest from November.
Peppers, tomatoes -Start in trays, indoors.

Intergrating Water Weeding Feeding in the kitchen Garden

Weed & Feed

Out of the way, under a tree, centrally located.

What I get from permaculture is inspiration on integrating systems and behavior.
They say that one year seeding equals seven years weeding.
we remove the weeds and take to the compost heap seed and all.
We cart it back to mulch
We water with dead water.
we buy feed and mix to fertilize.
We then spend most of our garden time weeding  ?

- Simple solution -

Weed Tea
The garden waste stream is processed as to type and effects. All plants Material that I want to encourage seed and all go onto the compost, Grass weeds go directly onto the lawn.  
Weedy plants that I want to inhibit go into the tea.
The seedy weeds from the garden go in large bucket, a handful of blood and bone, ferment, water the plants from watering can. the hose is only rarely needed.
200l fresh water, float valve connects to house tank, siphons into weed bucket, always full.
Makes it easy to water and feed.
Plus a rich pulp for mulch, worms or compost.
Careful management will minimize weeding
Systems can always be improved

July Garden

July
A windy Month in the highlands

cloches help with the young plants.
http://www.veggiepatch.com.au/howto.html

Gardens and Gardening are art
A process of the soul

Forever changing like the seasons.
No static picture a thing on paper with nowhere to go
Design is process, Process by design
The garden designer is a part of their creation
The most beautiful things
have been worked and reworked many times over

July

A good time to service restore garden tools, sharpen oil secateurs saws spades etc
Put a sharpening stone on a small windmill

fruit trees - winter tree care

Never head a tree, remove dead wood and wayward branches.Trees are reactive and will replace the mass removed, the more removed the more work created the next year.
Cut to apical bud. Conscious and careful attention to growth, being prepaid to spend a number of years to obtain desired results.
Select appropriate sized trees and root stocks.

Spray -
Peaches - Leaf Curl
kocide, copper compound
at Leaf fall, Bud swell & One week later.
Winter oil - General Purpose spray
Roses – fungal diseases
Before bud break, lime Sulphur

Citrus Gall wasp - Remove & burn

Take hardwood cuttings

TRIM -
STAR JASMINE shape promote spring flowering
PHOTTNIA rim to shape promote bright red growth
HYDRANGEA cut back to two pairs of plump buds remove dead straggly wood
ROSE cold climates best left until august. Pruning is essential for the best blooms & compact bushes

Oxalis & Onion weed ,The Bane of the Garden Trowel it out, burn, Cover thickly with newspaper, mulch heavily, this may have to be repeated for a number of years in heavily infested soil. Control seeding. Replace soil. It’s sensitive to herbicides when flowering.
Divide chrysanthemums


Plant -
globe Artichoke, Asparagus crown, Lilium, Lily of the valley,Roses.
Mustard greens, Oats ,Onions, Onion - spring, Peas climbing, Peas Dwarf
Rhubarb crown, Shallots bulb Senpodia Swedes Turnip
Under cover - Cauliflower, Cress, Winter Lettuce

Feed -
Feed the bulbs before and as they die down.
Much better to make compost and incorporate the needed elements into it for desired situations.
mulch with organically bound substances, leaf matter chips straw.
liquid compost for the growing plants.
soil chemistry is slow now, N&C cycle weighted in damp cold directions processes, excess available N&C will not necessarily promote growth & be lost.

Build a hot compost as well as the kitchen Heap.
This is for the summer crop.
look to the worms,