17 August 2008

inspiration and anti-kindness

Last week the Relics and I made an inspired house call. Up through the hills of Jack River went the little van, dodging wallabies and wedgies*, to Churinga: 85 acres of bush and home to a couple of Landcare-Greens renegades.

The vegie garden overflowed with artichokes and mountain pepper and raspberries and garlic and chestnuts and warrigal greens and rosemary and kaffir lime and grapefruit. Its views and bounty made me green. After a tour of the river, during which we released an anti-kindness**, witnessed the pulling apart of the turbine which provides them their power (!) and stuck our heads in on the nearly-complete cool storage cellar and fire bunker… we were fed an amazing home-grown lunch in a house made from reclaimed materials! Warmed by a glass of red and a kick-ass woodstove with a fandangly system which pumps hot water underneath the concrete floor!

We left with a heaving bag of lemons and grapefruit and John Ralston Saul's On Equilibruim, which is kind of like brain-citrus: a little hard to get down but good when you know to just approach it in small bites.

I have been invited back next week for some hands-in-dirt experience.

--

*Wedge-tailed eagle, an Australian bird of prey.

**A small native mouse. I suspect this is not its real name but this is what I repeatedly heard.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love anti-kindnesses* and will always think of them that way. Antechinus is what they really are!
Here's an address so you and your readers can find out all about them
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/brown_antechinus.htm

little earth stories said...

I googled it in so many different spellings but got no joy. And all I had to do was ask you! Thanks for the link, I love the description of vital features: "Large thin crinkly ears, with a notch in the margin"!

GS said...

Thanks for the blog link - it's been lovely reading yours for the first time.

(and yes it is soooooo cold here at the moment!)

little earth stories said...

AOF... thanks for visiting! I've likewise enjoyed reading your food musings, esp about reclaiming your kitchen mojo.