Late summer rains arrived… timely after a dry spell and we had temperatures nothing nearly as aggressive as the bush fires in the Grampians and other regions… it would seem that every year, just as it gets warm and dry, our hills drop in temperature and the autumn mists arrive, cooling the ground to create our green oasis and tiny birds… fairy wrens and honey eaters arrive to sip at water droplets and nectar alike.
Hawthorn berries are ripened early in the arctic cold snap and the produce coming in at the moment keeps me on my toes.
Where the rest of this article went, I really don’t know but stay tuned and the next post will follow through.
Nature is in a hurry this summer… we don’t usually harvest quite so many tomatoes this early in January and the continuum is normally into May/June for the season to end. Many are still coming on and the harvest is now a daily practice again… soon I’ll start passata making, kasundi relish, dehydrate to make an intense powder to rehydrate for pizza and/or pasta sauces or oven slow roasted to preserve in oil or freeze.
In the same theme, elder, rowan and hawthorn berries are well on the way, which to me, indicates a short intense summer and an early autumn, manifesting.
Our cherry season is the best in many years and it’s always a race to pick and process them before the bloom, so to speak, is off the cherry… happily mixing metaphors here 😏
Community Kitchen
Self sufficiency is about preserving, (and as mentioned many times, not about hoarding), as much as possible in the way of healthy produce and understanding there are multiple uses and ways to preserve the goodies. Freezing, dehydrating, pickling, conserves, bottling in syrups or alcohol to name but a few. Every year I discover new methods despite many years of growing, harvesting and preserving food that sees us through winter, allowing us to share, both fresh and preserved foods.
I often freeze produce first to preserve them when I can’t process fast enough before they decay. Cherries, for instance, can be frozen with their stones left in. This also makes pitting easier on defrosting as they tend to be a little softer than fresh from the tree, which is ideal for jam making or for tart fillings, syrups, juices etc… let’s face it a harvest of 75 kg is huge and not something two people can eat alone but sharing both harvesting and the loot is a wonderful and fun community endeavour.
Preserving in alcohol is a simple way to create both boozy-soaked cherries and a syrup, versatile in their uses, such as pouring over icecream, (adults only) adding to tart fillings or simply as a syrup in a glass of bubbles or a cocktail. Brandy, vodka, gin, port, wine etc., all make a wonderful preservative together with a little sugar, lemon juice, orange peel, spices such as star anise, cinnamon, vanilla bean etc., and the purchased spirits don’t have to be the most expensive brands, either.
To start from scratch with producing a delicious cherry mead for the cold season to come is a delightful experiment, using honey, lemon, yeast and sugar for the natural ferment process and of course, cherries.
The bottles shown above will be turned upside down every couple of days to make sure the sugars are distributed through the liquid… alcohol dissolves the sugar fast but sugar can also sit on the bottom for longer than practical and if not shaken up a little, slows down the ferment process.
Orchard Harvest
Next will come apples, pears and autumn raspberries and blueberries… beans are making another round of flowers and I’ll be planting another sort for a longer season. Cucumber, melon and pumpkin are all flowering and if their flower promise makes good, then another major spell in the kitchen will arrive.
Beetroot are just about ready to harvest and as they come on all at the same time, I’ll wash and freeze for later pickled beet or slice thinly and dry for a vegetable powder or chips to nibble.
Next comes onions and I might experiment with making a powder for winter use and so that too many don’t bolt to seed quickly. I noticed packs of dried vegetable powder at the local supermarket, advertising a way to get an intense amount of vegetable into the diet but too much is also not a good thing to overload the system with and at $11.00 for 250g, that’s outrageous. Powders are great to preserve a glut and to use when a particular vegetable is either too expensive or unavailable due to crop harvest issues but can never replace freshly grown produce.
Then will come the battle to net grapes and hazelnuts so that we actually get to eat some. We may well leave some for the birds but trust me, they don’t leave a scrap for us if left unchecked.
Everything is in abundance as storm clouds gathered again this afternoon… so I disappeared into my studio to sit it out and make some inroads into finishing a few pieces I’ve been working on and also little by little setting up and Etsy shop for people to buy my prints and cards online. A safer platform for both myself and my clients, thus far, so, as they say, ‘watch this space!’
You can view from the various galleries right here on my blogsite, prints, cards and books to give you an idea of what’s on offer…
Meanwhile, it’s back to the kitchen to check on tomatoes in the dehydrator and then time in the studio setting up the store…
Walk softly… juggling life… Awen /|\
All photography, art and words copyright Penny Reilly, all rights reserved.
The Garden… it has so many connotations, from ancient lore, to references of a simpler life… not easier, but simpler in so many ways…
There was a song from my youth written in 1970 by Joni Mitchell and just recently her words keep revisiting me, as her lyrics suggest, ‘we have to get ourselves back to the garden.’
This isn’t just about pottering in a garden or even taking a stroll in the park, rather more, finding a deeply rooted connection with all that is and looking at why we left or as many seem to think based on religious stories, kicked out for being naughty… well right now we are more than naughty and not just in the biblical sense, because the world that sustains us is diminished and creatures who have as much right to be in this proverbial garden as us, are dying out in droves and we are apparently blind!
When did we decide we didn’t need nature?
When did we disconnect from her energy and bounty. When did we believe her resources were infinite and that we could plunder them endlessly.
When did food, created practically in science labs, become more important than the growing of food in a garden or wild crafted gently from the environment in season. Yet, everything, absolutely everything comes from nature. Even man made creations have their foundation in her and she is the only planet we know of where we can survive… so why are we destroying our unique, crazy paradise when there is no Planet B?
I know there are many like-minded people “out there,” I speak to many daily and the regular posts of information on climate conditions means nobody can claim ignorance and yet, governments approved more coal and gas harvesting, more old growth forest pillaging and as a result many creatures have lost their home territories and we feel we have the right to this… the end result may well be that we will lose ours!
Well… that got that off my chest but, that said, does anyone else feel as if there is no return from the horror of the world right now… and I won’t get started on the war, madness and mayhem? If you’re interested, there are some very strange, even frightening predictions from various oracles around the globe, from Peru to Russia… not for the faint hearted.
Meanwhile in our wee, sacred wild place, summer has reached her peak early… things are ripening and ready for harvest early… the weather has been interesting, to say the least… extremes between overnight and mid afternoon have widened considerably and, although summer, we have had early morning temps as low as 1C. While the rest of the state sweltered in temps into the 40C, high humidity and hot nights, our hottest day was about 31C, thankfully.
Our haven is rich in wildlife and birds… they no longer fear me and there are many familiar ‘faces’ among them but also new ones turn up unexpectedly, moving through for a while and then on.
Life continues in a gentle way, following the changing seasons in rhythm with both solar and lunar cycles because within them, everything is revealed… nothing is hidden once we attune.
In the garden and greenhouses…
It’s looking to be an early harvest for produce… everything seems to be coming on at once and work will begin to dry, freeze or preserve surplus, jams are on the agenda for today but that doesn’t mean our daily intake of nourishing foods is limited… we tend to graze through the summer berry patches and our menu is simple with summer fruits, salads and vegetables in season, topped up by what was frozen or preserved last summer/autumn… it’s not about hoarding as some have said about self sufficiency, rather about not having to dash to the shops for things we have no idea of re their origin, treatment (sprays and gassing) or road miles and the feeling of satisfaction, when you know exactly where your produce is coming from.
Planting diverse foods and flowers brings all kinds of wonderful insects to the garden… rarer native bees and a host of ladybugs, working to keep the greenhouse free of white fly and aphids for their free supper. A large, pretty flock of Cape White butterflies arrived for the first time ever in spring, pollinating our fruit trees and the result is more fruit than we’ve ever seen… they moved on and it was then the native bees returned.
In the studio…
To express my hard working but gentle way of life, new creations unfolded through the last months that give a glimpse of something elusive to catch, which is the community of likeminded we live on the edge of.
There are the farmers who’s families have been here for generations, others who are living in semi retirement or who are pursuing, like us, an alternative means of earning a basic living through selling flowers, art, books, textiles etc., and of course, produce at the local markets. (rates still have to be paid and things we don’t/can’t produce purchased).
Each has sought and hopefully found that gentler way.
There are wine makers, cider makers, boutique spirit distilleries, berry farms, garlic growers, all contributing to the local communities and the health of our environment… there are passionate environmentalists among us who are well studied and have professional consultants in their areas of sustainability and we all found our way to this little spot in rural Victoria… I never did believe in coincidences!
So while I craft away at my art and the next book, very slowly taking form, I think of the rat race life once led and commiserate with those caught on the proverbial treadmill. In order to leave said rat race behind, one has to want more in terms of peace and freedom but less in terms of status, things and more, more, more of everything.
We lack for nothing but then it’s not the throw away kind of things… not prestigious, not empty and sterile but full of life, (we party too), community and simplicity…
We found our way back to the garden…
Walk softly… sow the seeds… Awen /|\
Sow the seeds
weave the web in time
Weave, sow, grow
in wisdom
in knowledge
of the life stream
and the soul spark
of intelligence
breathe,
all one
Awen
Cheers,
Penny
All art, photography and words, copyright’s Penny Reilly
Spring is generally wild up here but there is usually a more balanced advance through the months… this year, some trees were in full leaf before others had even shown buds and in reverse order of the species expected habits… plover had their chicks and only one survived of four and so early for hatching in this cold year.
Balance had gone from the landscape leaving unknown terrain… different images to reflect on and wet, wild weather besides, then a warm surge came and everything exploded into life.
I predict a long spring and a short summer again but with the intense growth nature is exhibiting up here in the hills, La Nina is showing her face again with mega storm cells and temps lowering overnight to autumnal frostiness… the gap between cold and warm becoming more extreme.
Are these the changes we need to observe as the sun gives off massive solar flares, volcanoes stir, the earth rumbles and Betelgeuse, the red supergiant (Alpha Orionis), in the constellation Orion, is looking to go supernova according to Astronomers and the explosion if/when it occurs will be visible in the sky. Will it have impact on us? Who knows! It just gives thought to the possibilities of unexpected change as we navigate our way through a tulmultuous time on our planet.
Perhaps Mother Nature’s shenanigans will bring us back to the core of what’s important to us (and the remaining species still existent) as food security is threatened, prices rise and common item costs go through the existential roof.
So… how do we restore a balance that is beneficial for all, not just for a few wealthy ‘men’ who take control of the world’s finances to the detriment of those who most need a lift just to make ends meet. ‘Men’ who believe in autocracy over democracy, white supremacy and the basic ‘woke’ brigade… and we’re seeing it world-wide, this terrifying shift backwards, as they seek to grab more control of all we think feel and do, particularly as women. Roe vs Wade, the rise, of Domestic Violence and Cohesive Control cases, just a drop in the proverbial ocean. Never mind how women find themselves there, after Mr Right suddenly morphs into Mr ‘I own you,’ the point is why men need to exhibit such control of another free thinking human being in the first place… yes, let’s look there. They see it as a strength when really it exhibits a raw inability to truly feel, a weakness in the need to even think of ownership over another’s will.
So here we are, on this tiny, in the scheme of things, planet, spinning in space and we don’t see our vulnerability? As many have said, there is no Planet B and yet still scientists seek another place for us to inhabit even now… just in case we wreck this one beyond compare, as if the very thought was okay. Can they not see, this jewel is irreplaceable, with its diversity of life forms and resources, used as bargaining chips for untold wealth of the already megabuck wealthy… how can we show that our home is not a commodity and reclaim a simple lifestyle of connection to all.
My greatest solace is my home space close to the edge of the forest, where daily, creatures come and go, making their way up the hill to the farmlands and our wild ponds and creeks. More recently, to specific spots where I place big bowls of water and where we all interact without disturbing one another… simply coming and going, respecting spaces between.
So I wander on fine days to the top of the hill, overlooking the forest and sit beneath an ancient sycamore tree to find some peace of mind… to cool emotions as they skyrocket between anger and deep concern for what may come and what is already a fact across the globe, of death and destruction by ‘men’ seeking control at the cost of their own kin. I re-find, rekindle that balance within me, for it’s the only place it truly exists.
I sit with my back against the ancient sycamore… pressing my face into its soft, mossy covering, I weep and the scent of harebells fills my senses with honey… I’m home…
When the world weighs me down
with its noise and violent attitude
I sneak away to lie on damp earth
to breath a sigh of gratitude
When horror edges in on peripheral vision
and wars brood within the worlds devision
I seek solace in a bee-sung song
a breath of rarified air
a beam of light, a prism
To see the world as whole is to give joy permission
Each of nature’s notes
is strung between realms of mystery
and thankful for my own decisions
to live in beauty
to let the world move on
…the rest, is history
Walk softly… wishing for you to find your balance… Awen /|\
While icy rime coats every blade of grass, already bluebells are breaking through and Daphne is showing spring blossom buds. Crocus and Calendula flower, lend a vibrancy to otherwise what have been icy, mizzle-drizzle days. Spring it seems, is in a hurry, despite arctic weather. Is it because she knows, with the climate change occurring, she must hasten the process of propagation before time runs low?
Across the globe I observe the opposites to the geographical norm in weather patterns and behaviour. We have stirred the climate pot and I’m really not sure if it can be reversed, unless everyone is prepared to their bit, forgoing owning stuff for a simpler life.
Today, after intense wild storms overnight and continuing winds, we have definitely seen possibly five seasons in one day… or just in the last three hours actually. By the calendar, spring is officially here but we have had snow. Robins are still with us, though… bright flames of colour zipping through the landscape and spring doesn’t fully happen until they leave us.
We’re post Imbolc and spring equinox now and the land is beginning to truly come to life… I snuck the first early strawberry today… but shhhhhh… keep that to yourself. 🤭
This lovely day is however, in isolation as yet again a polar front approaches. At least the seedlings are safe from harm in the greenhouses, where yesterday bees hummed their honey-drone song and I warmed my bones, weeding and planting.
There is a place that we can go
beyond the muddy tales of woe
where waters pool in depths that glow
with dreams of hope renewing
Where bee-sung songs drone of peace and plenty
bird chorus sings of a life never empty
With nature’s rhythms gently flow
barely rippling the grass
…walk softly
In stillness lies a sense of peace
within the mist and the sound of wings
and in the stillness a song up-drifts
as bird calls, the heart uplifts
Our senses soar, in stillness growing
In deepest silence, across waters flowing
In nature’s rhythm gently flow
barely rippling the grass
…walk softly
So, just a short chat from me today… I could rant about the state of the world, disappointment in humankind particularly in areas of politics, climate change, wars… but really, it mostly falls on deaf ears as we go about the daily business of life and finding sanity…
Time passes… we’re beyond Samhain and Winter Solstice; the year flies by. Through the thinning veil and beyond, galloping towards Imbolc at a mind altering speed.
Already life is pushing up below ground… crocus, belladonna, even daffodil are pushing through the frozen ground… rain has eased the way of their passing from below into the light of extending days and shortening nights.
Calendula flowers opened just post Solstice and crocus are lending a splash of colour, albeit all too short a journey. How bizarre is this. It’s only July.
I have been absent… sorry. Family matters and the loss of two family members, plus a couple of friends, kept me otherwise engaged with the process we all face through our lives… that of grief. All their passings coincided with the sixth anniversary of our eldest daughter. We have decided that May and June may not be admitted into our calendar anymore… I see the sign, ‘no admittance granted!’ I may have to invent some, fill-ins to replace the two rogue months but sadly, they also hold several family birthdays that certainly can’t be ignored.
GRIEF…
Scoured clean
Hollowed out
Grief is never prepared
Loss and despair
Relinquishing control
giving self over
no sense to make
Lives take their course
What is the source
that gives
but with little warning
takes
Time heals
perhaps
but even then
the momentary lapse
takes control
gripping the soul
opening the wound
to the edge
in a forgotten pledge
to never forget
never regret
a soul-walk
a soul-talk
before passing
Surrender
to the light and dark
in equal measure
pain and pleasure
…we are made of both
Surrender
to wellness
that boosts your joy
your immunity
and sickness
that forces you to stop
when you will not
there is no impunity
Surrender
to the world you see
beyond the personal lens
of how you think
life should be
Each believes
their truth is relevant
just as you
ask your gods
to be benevolent
we cannot know
the journey of another
even when
it appears either gentle
or malevolent
Surrender
to the interlude that is you
grow
in the seeded space
of the silent observer
…without agenda
Life continues, the family gathered and we find home in each other’s company and shared grief…
HOME…
Just as we evolve
and grow
a building
thrusts itself aloft
Foundations sunk
into the earth
our feet should seek
this depth
…to strengthen
and yet, to sink in
…to survive
against fire or flood
Warmth
inside a building
…a home
in all the wordly toil
and so
with foundations
in the soil
we hold steady
Heart and hearth as one
…to nurture
…to feed
both brain and belly
To love
to give solace
to those in need
Soaring rooves above
and under eaves
an attic snug
from those same
foundations dug
…grown, to shelter
from the rain
and in that loft
our brain
can assemble anew
safe from those storms
that brew
In this solid structure grew
the plans for family
A building
wrought through work
with ancient timbers, honed
by skin and bone
…a home
Walk softly… let yourself grieve… Awen /|\
Photography, art, and words copyright Penny Reilly, all rights reserved.
Lughnasagh came and went… autumn equinox dawned and sped away. We had a really dry spell but this week a cold, wet front came through and everything is immediately green again as if a switch was flicked into icy cold overnight.
Our air up here is so crystal clear, sunsets are legendary and already the first frosts are making themselves felt rather early this year. Our twenty rolling acres are green again.
Now, as we hurtle towards Samhain nights are becoming longer, daylight hours shorter. At this time I always feel as though I get so much more done in these shorter days because its cooler to work outside but snug and blissfully warm in both studio, barn-house and the new greenhouse. It seems after waiting so long for the second one to be built, suddenly in moments planting began and seed trays are germinating in their little seed raising unit. What a bonus to add space and length of time to our growing season.
Our haven, our bolt hole, away from the noise of even our small local town, is frankly, bliss.
Some folk are made for city living, seeking out the dubious thrill, noise and the appearance of an abundance of choices as to how to while away the time when not working the proverbial 9-5 in TikTok time. I guess I see that more like filling in time, frankly.
Food and fashion fads prevail… influencers tell people how to look, think, speak, what to eat or not eat and how to be in the world to be seen, to be recognised. It’s a trap, because really… you don’t need anyone’s recognition if you know and accept who you are. I firmly believe my work sells because the right people find it, not because I’m putting myself out there as ‘special,’ but rather different, as we all are and uniquely so. Isn’t it more positive to be different than to believe we all have to follow the masses and be the same as… the natural progression of that would, possibly, be cloning!
Food has also in my eyes, as a one-time restaurateur, serving simple but wholesome food, become a rude and elitist business with crazy fads and prices as people seek new flavour experiences, constantly. We all need to eat but what goes on a plate as a serving size of food is often obscene and much is wasted, particularly when we know some can’t make ends meet and that one meal would be several servings for them. On the other hand, high-end restaurants serve tiny portions of foam and schaum with splashes of this and that and a sprig of green. I wonder how many people, still hungry after paying a small fortune, end up buying a takeaway to fill their near-empty belly.
It doesn’t feel as if many are truly looking at the naked truth of food… it’s to feed the body and if we have choices in flavour and selection, it’s a privilege to be so well fed. Food should be blessed and savoured but for me, simple is best, where each element of the meal is full of the true flavour of the original item. A fresh bean or tomato, picked still warm from the sun makes me wonder, other than the obvious need to keep food fresh, why cold food has to be freezing, robbing it of flavour and vitamins? (That said, food miles are another huge issue in keeping foods fresh and vitamin rich, but that’s another story.)
Then there are those who avoid the plastic glamour of it all to grow the city-folk food that then becomes no longer ‘in’ enough anymore. Farmers multitask their crops and growing seasons to suit the latest fashions of food-faddery, and it’s hard enough growing large crops as it is. First Kale, then Chia, Wheatgrass, Blueberries, Cranberries, rare fruits and mushrooms etc., became the thing to keep one young and vibrant… dubbed superfoods, too much of any one of them can be toxic to many.
What happened to less is more? Potatoes, and dairy are spurned… only to find that kale has more tannic acid than rhubarb… calories and proteins are needed to build muscle, unadulterated dairy for strong weight bearing bones and a moderate balance of all food groups is the key. Skinny does not necessarily equal healthy, either.
In my experience, veganism can often equal elitism… would we be so fussy if there were only potatoes, meat and dairy available because crops of the “in-foods” had failed? Something, even a tiny, humble bug, is killed or displaced when we harvest plants and would that fat rabbit, feral pig or deer, be ignored if hunger knocked at the door? It strikes me as worth thinking about, what a human would eat to prevent starvation.
After a good table grape harvest this year, the surplus is dried for raisins… a wonderful supplement for snacks, on a cheese platter or reconstituted in curry sauces. So much food goes to waste and it’s preventable… don’t throw your surplus or leftovers away… dry, freeze, preserve, every little bit. A full pantry is a joy to have and no food waste is the result.
Hens supply our unfertilised eggs, (no rooster) they eat our kitchen scraps and get to clean out the greenhouses at the end of a season… they provide manured mulch for us to add to our grow beds to grow yet more food each year… a natural cycle.
Our hens are loved as part of our tribe and they have a huge expanse of orchard garden to find natural proteins and greens, and also clean up windfall fruit and any bugs that damage them, supplemented by a complete layer mix of seed and dry grasses in winter. We protect them by only letting them free range when we’re outside with them and lock them away from predators at night. They are a huge part of the garden workings and their eggs are sublime. We don’t eat our hens but as stated before, if anyone is starving, well?
Self-sufficiency is not about squirrelling food away for times of lack, but there’s an immense satisfaction in a simple way of being that focuses on seed to shoot, to bud, leaf and fruit that is grown in abundance to share around a table with friends and family. Contrary to those who would rather buy from the supermarket because everything’s there in one place, the taste is beyond any store bought foods… and vitamin rich, as we’re sticklers for keeping our soil healthy too.
What would happen
if we all wanted less
less mess, less stuff
less electricity
less commuting
driving, travelling
What if
we stayed put
for a while…
grew our own food
as much as
the local climate allowed…
traded what we couldn’t grow
recycled, repurposed
redesigned stuff
that otherwise
goes to landfill
What if
puffed up lips
fingernails like talons
and “perfect”
designer figures
were no longer
a must have
to suit
someone else’s ideal
What if
muscle and lean flesh
came naturally
from working in nature daily
What if
hopping on planes
to sit in the sun
elsewhere
was replaced by
sitting in the sun
talking with
a lonely neighbour
locally
What if
instead of complaining
that “they”
should do something
about the carbon footprint
whilst driving to the shops
to buy that new
influencer-touted item
that will change your life
made in sweatshops
on the other side
of the globe
What if
YOU
were to do
all you can
…and then, within it all we’re surrounded by the creatures who inhabit the land and we do all we can to keep that happening as a natural progression. We live with and interact with them… they have huge tracts of forest and wetlands around but they choose to be here in close proximity to us.
I refuse to prescribe to humans as a a virus or an oversight in nature… it’s a strange way of seeing ourselves as superfluous to the equation. Yes, we have done extensive damage to many lives, many creatures, with our selfish view of development at all cost and are paying the price with climate change and the extinction of millions of species, as we delude ourselves into thinking that we are more important than any other life form. In so doing, we have upset the natural balance of a planetary, multilevel ecosystem and are paying the price for greed.
We work with nature and the creatures around us and I’m happy to see a growing movement of people aspiring to return to a simple way of living in balance with, rather than in domination of nature. We preserve life here but also protect our gardens and the food we grow because we have an equal right to live and eat. This way every living thing is fed and nurtured…
Listen
to the sounds
between the notes
howling stark
through rising dark
and whispers soft
…born from stillness
spun aloft
on fierce winds
that bring
the song
of life and death
carried on every breath
through eons
…across time and space
in a wild
cosmic movement
leaving nothing
in place
only the illusion
of separation
hidden
in the music
between the notes
…listen
Walk softly… be aware of all of life as equal… Awen /|\
As self-sufficiency and homesteading skills are shared (and methods sold) across social media, verging on hysteria, I need to say, please don’t get sucked in by the romanticism set before you. It’s not about going backwards to the Middle Ages, rather to embrace old ways of being and bring them into this century. Many apparently, don’t understand the concept of off grid living, assuming we are completely without any form of electricity at all… this is a myth. A good solar unit generates as much power needed to run a normal household. Fridge, freezer, computers, TV, lighting, power tools, my studio tools, etc., etc… we live simply but not in the dark ages and are careful not to overload the system with unnecessary gadgets. We don’t, for instance own a dishwasher (water catchment and storage are more important)… and, we have two pairs of hands.
Words are often thrown at me, such as, ‘you’re so lucky’. Well, sorry folk, there’s no luck involved, it’s methodical planning. It’s sometimes extraordinarily hard work to feed a community from a veggie patch, greenhouse and orchard. It’s weather dependent; seasonal, so it means planning ahead… it means growing what you like but also what grows well and in season, in your particular area. It’s no good my attempting to grow mangoes in a cold climate anymore than Brussel sprouts grow well in far North Queensland… and then there is the pests and predator balance to uphold.
We dreamed for many years as our children grew and set out on their own life path. We grew our own veggies and fruit to some extent and had a few hens but with four growing kids and us both working full time… you know, rates, mortgage, utilities, car registration, insurances, school fees and uniforms and running around madly taking the kids to one place or another. It was a busy life and our dream was on hold to own acres of rural land. Where we lived was like a mini trial run for the farm.
Things suddenly changed… the kids were gone, we both had jobs that we weren’t particularly content with and as things would have it, we found ourselves on the brink of making that change.
Many years ago, we found our acres in Victoria in the forested and rolling green hills, with an old derelict, 100 year old plus, barn and a derelict dairy. It’s a long tale as to how we found and acquired it, but I’ll save it for the book, currently in the writing process. (Watch this space, as the saying goes.) Needless to say, it’s a magical tale, but luck really has nothing to do with it, and we still had to work to pay for the land and for setting up the farm.
We dreamed and fulfilled our dream and then the hard work began… renovating, building greenhouses, planting an orchard and fruit vines… none of which was free. Self-sufficiency is a hard won lifestyle… we saved and had a state of the art solar system installed, which we never regret spending our money on. Even so, there are still rates to pay, a tractor, fuel for tractor and hay/grass slasher, hen feed for winter, storage containers for produce, a freezer, a dehydrator, a water pump, a generator for auto-backup in uber-cold winters, when the sun is a bit light on, (despite a battery array for storing electricity), and not to mention the cost of building everything, (and we used as much recycled timber and iron as we could lay our hands on) such as bathroom, kitchen, a plumber, a solar electrician. (A must to do properly for certificates.)
Our barn/build reno, we designed and built ourselves, but then there’s planning and building permits, site inspections…. And, and, and!
Often people are caught up in the pretty pictures on social media of women in flowing dresses and straw hats skipping between overflowing, perfectly manicured vegetable beds, with equally manicured fingernails and full makeup! Photos of buffed, bronzed young men, scything and bringing in the hay harvest, single handed, while children and women, serve lunch on gleaming platters, smiling smugly and all clean and tidy… this is Hollywood style.
Then there are those pics and reels of women in floral aprons, mixing and baking, chopping and filling glass jars, with not a stain or a sticky batch of cores and peelings to be seen, when a very messy kitchen is far more the reality of homesteading. Super clean, but very messy and outside in the garden, nature is messy too, not neat rows of equally sized plants, denuded of weeds around them. There has to be biodiversity, companion planting for natural bug control and a wild garden to me is the prettiest garden but none of the above are reality. Gardening is becoming a part of nature, not controlling it… or a least attempting to and that’s a fools game.
I paused while writing this to take a short break and, lo and behold, there was an ad for an online course on Instagram on how to decorate interiors in farmhouse style. Once again, I collapsed in giggles… this is not a show or a rehearsal for life… it’s real; make it your own!
So below are a few very random shots of our barn interior… clean, often a little untidy with kitchen doings and goings on… the dining room table is covered with greenhouse plans for the new build in progress but I haven’t photoshopped, or teased to make it idyllically pretty… but it is… it’s home, it’s us… and my kitchen window has a view to our northwest boundary and the dam.
Anyone beginning this journey needs to find a middle road between fantasy and reality. Yes, a healthy body is the result of constant work outside in the fresh air, and we may well sit outside at sunset with a luscious platter of homegrown produce, but often by that time, we’re happily exhausted and often quite grubby, so dinner and a movie are often the more likely outcome to day’s end.
But then… I pause again at stove or sink in my very rustic kitchen, to listen to the birds call, admire a vase of fresh-cut roses and bunches of herbs hanging to dry. I watch the creatures that come and go through our farm from forest edge across to forest edge on the other side and I smile… because the hard work, while dreaming, working with and watching, all this life, is worth more than a hefty bank balance, it’s worth the dirty hands, muddy shoes, and wet winters. A constant cycle of observances like seasonal rituals of abundance, (most years) emerge and gratitude overflows for the fact that we dared to take the steps needed to slow the pace of our working years, moving us into a loose, rhythmic dance of life…
Waiting
for the world
to shift a gear
to slow the pace
of a working year
Slow down
let the season
show the way
drifting
into shorter nights
a longer day
Let go
the thought of chores
instead
honour what you have
what is yours
Make each moment count
appreciate the quality
not the amount
Let go
the broken thoughts
the lost dreams
the might have beens
Refocus
your misted-over dreams
as a silken breeze
indicates the change
open windows
take stock
rearrange
Think less to control
allow the flow
meander
ramble on
waiting for a heart response
Hold what is dear
close there
in a silent prayer
of gratitude
then breath
…let all else go
So don’t be fooled… this lifestyle is a philosophy about doing our bit to help this beautiful planet recover from the dreadful things we’re continuing to do as a species, and in full knowing that we’re killing the only place we have to live.
Recycle, refurbish, renew, reupholster, repurpose. Celebrate what you have.
We grow food that is free of any additives, unpackaged, raw foods, full of nutrition, (because we take care of the soil to keep it rich in nutrients) because seriously… there is no Planet B. But, if this life calls you, don’t be disillusioned, get dirty and creative, grow your own food and reconnect with the seasonal tides and shifts… dive in and feel free to chat if you need an understanding of the process we’ve experienced everyday for nearly thirty years and we wouldn’t change a thing… not even for a photo shoot of me in a flowing dress, silver hair loose and tangled, skipping through fields of wildflowers… and although I can/could… it’s done in secret without manicure or makeup, accompanied by hens and a crazy wee doglet… 😀
Author of nine books, with number ten on the way, and a professional artist/photographer and herbalist, you can also find Penny on Instagram and Facebook.
Morning dew settled on the grasses, creating tiny prisms of light on every blade, leaf and tightly closed wildflower. The second week of March already, and just nine days to Mabon/Autumn Equinox/Alban Elfed, and this morning was the closest to a frost despite more ominous weather warnings of another heatwave… for us, that means barely 30, but for others it’s a continuum of wildfires and waiting for the autumn rains. A nice drenching now would certainly be a bonus.
The Welcome Stranger swallows are getting ready to leave, filling their bellies with a myriad of bugs that have emerged in the warmer weather… they’re most welcome to any fierce March flies they can catch!
I captured them in conversation, perhaps about which route to take this year… far north of our southern eyrie or wherever they will head for winter. (The Debate… Ink and graphite with water wash on cotton rag.)
There are other wonderful creatures that have arrived though… perhaps because we are a cooler clime and pollen is widely available from both cultivar and wildflowers. Numerous black crickets, a Giant Green Slant Face and a Spotted Brown Butterfly… the latter two of which, don’t belong in our region, but the greenhouse is also full of nasturtium and tomatoes still flowering, tended by the honey bees, wild natives and butterfly, alike.
As I planted I sang to myself, as I’m wont to do. High trilling notes joined my chorus and a tiny scrub wren sat watching me… probably hunting tiny insects disturbed by my digging in mulch and soil, but her rippling song, lifted my spirits high.
Writing my next book has become a very intense and lengthy task, and I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but it’s taking me into more uncharted waters that are harder to share in words… I’ll persist, slowly but surely and in between writing I create some of the art and poetry that will accompany this Journal of Wild Spirits…
Our bees are happy, foraging far and wide and apparently completely heat resistant in the high temps we’ve experienced, until today. Sunflowers are covered with feeding bees and there’s nothing like the taste of raw honey. 🍯
Not so happy in the heatwave was a tiny long-eared bat, who clearly exhausted, excepted water from a soaking cloth before escaping into the open air as the afternoon began to cool. A distress indicator is seeing a bat in broad daylight and usually means hunger, thirst or a need to escape when trapped inside a house.
We’re used to micro bats living with us for most of the year, coming and going under the eaves of the house, then slipping between the walls into the rooms, but this was a little larger, quite friendly for all that it was probably terrified. I imagine it got in but couldn’t slip back out where the tiny micro bats come and go with ease.
All the signs of equinox are here, with hedgerow crabapples, fresh onions and herbs in abundance… tomatoes are still producing and rhubarb is just on the verge of ending… it’s a busy time in both kitchen and garden but the heat has slowed everything down.
After a ten day heatwave, crickets (both outside and in) and frogs are singing in duet, the mist is rolling in bringing much needed moisture and cooling has happened rapidly as we dropped from 27 down to 16 in a heartbeat.
There’s a curious air of something coming… like the stillness before an earthquake occurs somewhere in the world… as a sensitive I pick up on these phenomena and feel as if I’m vibrating right along with the silence as frogs and crickets, birds and the wind become absolutely still… not a breath but the mist creeping across the hot earth.
I took a wee sabbatical and it’s been a couple of weeks since my last post but brightest blessings for 2024.
Family gatherings have been high on the priority list and with their departure it’s been more difficult for me to get myself back into a routine of daily writing. It’s been an interesting time, social media and blog free and very tempting to remain so but as author and artist it’s ‘the way’ to maintain a presence and to, as we all have do, make a living… although I try not to push my work on my followers and subscribers.
Before we knew it, another year passed and we’re half way through January. Flux and change have been the predominant aspects of these last years more than ever and I think we all may need to reimagine our lives, even reinvent ourselves, to find a simpler way of being that encompasses change and allows for more of a flow through.
Perpetual flow
rolling in
season to season
Blessed days of sunshine
rain and shadow
reflected
in how we
walk our way
in balance
wading
through emotional
waters deep
or rivulet shallow
or exhilarated
dive
immersing self
into life
and grounded
let seeds fall
in fields, once fallow
Needing less, wanting less, declutters our spaces, just as it declutters our entire lives… freeing us from having to maintain and care for items long redundant. I’m really not saying we rid ourselves of cherished items, loved for many reasons or to live the lives of monks and nuns, but rather to see how clearing space of physical things, also clears our internal space, our very consciousness, of so much neediness. There are always others that truly need what we hang onto, senselessly. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions quite honestly but this could be just the one we can easily adhere to… letting go those out-worn things.
We started our yearly declutter in the pantry, cleaning and checking use-by dates on home preserves or canned good and checking that dry goods such as flour or cereals were not invaded by weevil. What a simple task and yet what a lovely feeling to know our pantry is clean and renewed… actually making room for this year’s harvest as it comes around.
This is abundance for me… fruit and vegetables, flowers in bloom; mostly those that provide sustenance and that can be frozen, dried or bottled/preserved in a well stocked pantry that is constantly used and replenished as produce is harvested. No clutter to be seen ☺️
This year our olive trees flowered profusely but whether they will produce after the very cool wet summer we’ve had is another matter. Their scent is wonderful and their bloom so delicate and pretty.
As the summer season heads towards autumn at a frightening speed. and Lughnasadh is but three weeks away, hay harvest is done and there is an early chill on the air… although our summer’s are getting cooler and more like those of twenty five years ago. Our deciduous trees are changing their cloaks of green to amber hues very early, dahlia are in bloom and autumn berries are already ripening in the hedgerows.
…and so the wheel turns on again, birth, renewal, harvest, death and rebirth cycles on and on… where do you find your peace in the war-torn landscape of life?
Penny Reilly, all rights reserved.
Penny Reilly Artist Beyond the Gate 
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