The road to nowhere

The flood waters have started to recede but here are some pics of the roads...

Into the future

Today is our third day of being flooded in.

I’m lucky to live in a great community where people look out for and after each other.

The hill top I live on lies between two towns, one 20km to the east and one 16km to the west. Both roads are cut. There are perhaps 200 people who live up here on the mountain.

Neighbours are checking up on each other, having spontaneous working bees to help shore up each others dams, to help fill holes in driveways, dig trenches to divert water around homes, marking deep crevasses in the roads so others are aware of them, offers of food and gas. Although I think it is not just my local community where this happens - in times of need whether it’s a flood or some other event, people rise to the challenge. It brightens my heart, knowing that people are essentially good, there is always so much bad news in the media it can skew your thinking and make you think otherwise.

Today the creeks are still flooded; the roads are in a sorry state with big chunks missing, potholes a metre deep making the roads impassable for ordinary cars. Most people in 4WD’s were turning back when they saw the state of things but a few intrepid people made it to town for supplies, with shopping list of neighbours in hand. Funny how many of us are ruled by our addictions, I think the most common things people requested were beer, tobacco, coffee, chocolate… and of course food.

As well as the intrepid 4WD’ers Peace went into town today, on his mountain bike, carrying it through some of the deeper flooded creeks. He arranged one of the neighbours with a 4WD to deliver some groceries and then later turned up with a bottle of wine and a packet of cigarettes for me. (He knows me so well!)

Being isolated from “the rest of the world”, even just for a few days gets you thinking about stuff. I’ve been thinking about disasters and wastage and self-sufficiency and the future among other things.

Some of my thoughts…

All I need to survive are my family around me, some friends and community and good food.

How much I waste.

Like many people on a low income I live week to week, I usually shop on a Wednesday. The day before shopping day is a bit of a Mother Hubbard day. But we haven’t left the house since Monday and although I was initially worried, when I looked in the pantry there actually was food in there. Not the stuff we generally eat but with a bit of creative cookery and a few fresh herbs good food all the same.

Most of the vegetables I’ve used in the last couple of days would usually been chucked out when I brought more. The beetroots were a bit soft, the greens a lot wilted but the beetroot and black lentil Dahl I made was yum! Really got me thinking how much I throw in the bin at the end of the week, how conditioned I am to shopping for ‘more’. Right now I’m blessing the half-stale pack of weetbixs and the millet I hardly ever use.

Self sufficiency

It has also brought back many temporarily shelved thoughts on self sufficiency. By self sufficiency I don’t necessarily mean the ability to exist without society at all, in fact I’d rather not. I quiet enjoy modern technology and convenience but it made me realise how wonderful our farm was in South East Queensland.

I often think about that though, every week when I go vegetable shopping I sigh.

On our farm we were flooded in many times. And it didn’t matter how bare the cupboard was. We could rely on the chickens for eggs everyday. Even when it was a bit neglected the garden (depending on the time of year) always had pumpkins or sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchinis, egg plants, basil, coriander, lettuce, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, onions, leeks, garlic, chives, rosemary, thyme.

We always had one variety of fruit in season; oranges, mandarins, lemonade fruit, passion fruit, kiwi fruit, strawberries, mulberries, tamarillo’s or watermelons.

Not to mention the bush tucker like Lillipillies, Midgims and Davidson’s plums or the weeds, dandelion, nodding top, wood sorrel, sorrel, sow thistle etc, and the pecan nuts, Macadamia nuts and Bunya nuts… No wonder I sigh at the fruit and veggie shop!

And there were the other things we’d planted that were yet to fruit; avocados, mangoes, lychees, bananas, pawpaws, blueberries, tangelos, coffee, olives, apples and pears.

Survival

Right now if there was a crisis situation, I think I’d survive a couple of weeks, maybe a month; and that would include catching and cooking up the wildlife!!!

But back on our farm we could have survived months, maybe even indefinitely. Sure, we’d have to live without coffee until our bush grew bigger but hey, all those shop brought convieniences  like coffee, bread, packaged food are things we’d probably be better off without.

My Future

And it’s made me think about my future. In my future there will be a garden. For me there is nothing so relaxing, so centering and peaceful than having my hands in the dirt. I get off on picking veggies five minutes before I am going to cook them. I thrive on looking after chickens and making herbal concoctions from fresh herbs.

I don’t know yet how all this is going to happen but it will be a bigger and better garden than I ever created before. A wild, tangled permaculture food forest, neat, tidy beds of annuals, fruit trees, bush tucker, flowers and herbs, tree houses and shrubs and paths to follow and chickens and ducks and beauty…just beauty.

Floods, vampires and society girls...

To get to my house from Mullumbimby you have to drive over two bridges and across 19 cause-ways. The road winds along a river valley and then up into the hills where my house is set at the very top. The drive here is beautiful. I love winding through the green fields and then the rainforest. But the fact that the road crosses the river 23 times means that when we get a bit of rain I am often flooded in here, no way to get to town.

Being flooded in is no big deal when you live in sub-tropical country areas of Australia. I’ve lived in a lot of rural areas and usually people are prepared to be cut off for a few days.

The biggest hassle is boredom or cabin fever…you know when the kids have made cubby-houses, played 100 games of monopoly, read books, watched DVD’s and are now bored and cranky and all they want is to get out of the house. In the ordinary circumstances of wet weather you can always take them to visit friends or to go to the movies but when you are flooded in there is no choice but to stay put and try to find more games to play.

Actually I am being a bit unfair here. The kids haven’t really been bored at all, they quiet happily go between reading and playing and building and watching. It’s actually me who gets ants in my pants and “needs” to get out of the house. But never mind me, I am learning to sit and be still and wait for inspiration to strike and if it doesn’t then I just go and play dolls with Tui.

It is rather wonderful being up in the clouds though!

Earlier in the week we were flooded in and the kids wanted to play dress-ups.

Rain came up with a plan to play it like a make-over show.

She took Tui into her room with a pile of dress-ups and make-up and I was to dress and make-up Mr T… we had ½ an hour to create our characters.

Here are the results.

The Vampire.

And the princess (although I think she looks more like a society girl!)

...yep, a bit of a natural model there...

During the last 24hours we have had another 200mm of rain fall. The cause-ways are all flooded again. Unfortunately I was supposed to get a gas bottle delivered this morning but the driver couldn’t get through, as serendipity would have it my gas ran out at about lunch time. So I am hoping the water goes down sometime soon. I can cook on the camping cooker and boil water in the kettle for dishes and washing but it is nice to have some luxuries!

Today the kids are all at Peaces house for the night. And after spending lots of time sewing lately I took out my crochet again. Last week in Nimbin I saw some beautiful knitted dresses for sale. They really inspired me. Not to make a copy but just set a whole bunch of ideas running through my mind. After drawing a couple of designs earlier in the week I started work on one yesterday. I finished it this morning... photos coming soon.

x

Still here

I am still here! But I haven't been on the internet much lately. Sometimes because my internet reception isn't working but mostly through choice.
I'm trying to balance my life and I'm finding I'm enjoying real life a bit more lately.

The weather this Summer has been wierd.
We've had so many cold, windy, rainy days. There has really only been a handful of hot Summer days.
So when they do happen we are making the most of them and heading to the beach, the pool or this lovely local waterhole we found recently.

But like my little Buddah here, mostly we are just being...

Eye Strain

Do you suffer eye strain?

Then these hand crafted leather goggles, with built in strainers could be for you!




My latest invention! zombie post-apocalyptic sink-hole, anti-photon eye-strain protection goggles.


...or maybe they'd come in handy as protective gear when the Zombie Apocalypse happens...

...or maybe they'd make a great accessory for your next costume party...

Anyway, they Do come in handy for putting on, telling your kids you are Ariad the Mad Scientist and Inventor and telling them that for your next invention you are building a creature and all you need to finish it are some kids toes... and chasing them around the house to gales of screams and laughter...until they band together and capture you and wrestle you on the lounge room floor...

Wet weather gear

It hasn't felt much like Summer so far this season.
We have had so many cold windy, rainy days. The kids have been getting a bit of cabin fever.
But we've been keeping busy, with games and puzzles,

doing craft and reading. I am reading the Harry Potter books to the kids.

Mr T has been helping me pull apart an old sewing machine, I love how he is fascinated with the gears and moving parts.

And we made Tui some wet weather gear out of old shopping bags so she could go play in the rain.