A weekend of nourishment



The Lodge at the French Village in Carterton



I went away for the weekend with a group of wonderful women and had a fantastic time! Spending time sharing, laughing, relaxing, and connecting.

Great music and entertainment (I'd never heard of Steampunk-style dance/costume/music/theatre - but it was super cool to watch), great food and wine, cosy woodfire, and a beautifully tranquil bush walk. Bliss!

Check out that gorgeous bright blue sky we had. The following morning was overcast with a light mist sitting in the valley that was equally as spectacular.

I'm here, yes I am!

Hmmm, what have I been up to?

Not a lot really and I guess that contributed to the lack of posting and then the less I posted the less motivated I was to do things. But after reading over at Johanna's about the Independence Days Challenge and how I had completely dropped off from doing that I felt it was time I refocused!

So with the Independence Days Challenge in mind, here are the categories.

* Plant Something
* Harvest Something
* Preserve Something
* Store Something
* Manage Reserves
* Cook Something New
* Prep Something
* Reduce Waste
* Learn a New Skill
* Work on Community Food Security
* Regenerate What Is Lost

Based on the above, here is where I am at...

I currently have two vege beds planted out in seedlings. I put some seeds in for onions but it seems that not many germinated. It's been pretty dry around here, so that didn't help!

Well, we finally had plenty of rain all day today. And it was really warm with it, so hopefully that will give the plants a good late autumn burst of growth.

The only veges that we're currently eating from our garden is a range of silverbeet, spinach and ruby chard, fresh herbs and my stored pumpkins.

I have random (and unplanned!) things growing in the patch of soil at the front of the house - I had swept run away dried peas and beans from my harvest into there when I was sweeping down the front porch and they've all grown lol. So in amongst the pansies there is a bunch of bean seedlings and in a couple of cracks in the concrete in unfortunate places I have peas growing!

We had a harvest of feijoas off our trees but they must be a skinny variety so not a lot of flesh and are pretty much all done now - I didn't preserve or store any.

The chickens are off the lay - they've been moulting for the past month or so, but fortunately haven't gone bald. Just thinned out, lost their tales and have naked feet. They have been disappearing on me though (I suspect they've been spooked by the neighbours cats a few tims as I've heard them being all staunch and squarking like mad) and I've had to hunt for them in the hendges, bamboo grove and overgrown weeds when it's been time to put them back in the coop. But they seem to be happy enough.

I have been working on my emergency supplies. A few weeks back I reassessed the get away bags which currently live in my car and restocked them on clothes that had been taken out for other reasons. I then moved on to the food stores and have replaced expired food. Hmmm, seems with this swine flu already making it's way around NZ (well, yet to be proven, but looking likely), it could prove useful in case of lock down at home!

We finally got around to getting the clothesline installed outside. For the past 6yrs I've been using clothing racks out on my deck that can be brought inside as needed. While this has worked well for me, I really did like the idea of having an easy access clothesline. So, we opted for putting it on our front lawn area where it will get a good dose of sun and wind as well as out of the way of other things (and can be folded down or just half up). Just need to build up my supply clothes pegs now.

We've only had a few really chilly nights, so only had 3-4 fires in the evening - going to see if I can get our 4m3 of wood to last the whole winter again like last year.

I'm looking into doing a course on Herbal Medicine so am busy trying to find the right course for me. My herb garden has been a bit neglected as well, but is looking reasonably established now (although a bit scraggly and unkempt).

Cooking new meals - well, I've been about that this year! We are still doing the GAPS diet, but over the past few weeks have reintroduced potatoes and the occasional gluten-free pizza. So for the most part we are still starch and sugar free as Nathan continues on with the steroids (another 2mths of them and then another 3mths until his immune system is fully functioning according to the paediatrician). So for now I am keeping the starches and sugars to a minimum to try and avoid his immune system being further assaulted as well as not allowing the starches to feed any fungi/bad bacteria in his gut that the steroids are prone to causing.

The kids had a joint birthday party last weekend and it was a really lovely day. It was a bit of a whole family occasion rather than just same aged kids and catering for 20 people had me slightly worried trying to keep to the GAPS diet yet provide food that looked interesting. I think we did well and the food all got eaten (and not a word that I heard of children not wanting to eat what was on offer). I had slowly weaned the kids back onto potatoes, GF pizza and chocolate for their party. But it was still mostly wholesome homemade food (aside from the bar of chocolate I broke up into pieces). My mum made both kids their own GAPS birthday cake using almond flour, pumpkin, carrot, eggs, butter and honey. I made icing for the cakes from cream cheese, honey and vanilla essense. It was really nice and went down well!

We went to a local sustainable fair a few weeks back that was great to get along to. It was neat to bump into so many friends and acquaintances who I usually only see at these sorts of events and had that lovely local community feel to it.

Well, there's the update for the past month or two!

More networking and having fun

This weekend was really the start of the now constant socialising leading up to Christmas.

This evening we got together with other Transition Town members for a Christmas BBQ. The kids had fun running around on their two adjacent properties linked via a gate through the fence, walking amongst the chickens to get there and playing with the other kids. I had fun chatting and meeting new people and remembering why I joined this group.

After my wee solar cooking trial today I feel a lot better prepared for the solar cooking get together I'll be hosting with some homeschooling friends in the next few weeks.

Next weekend will see us attending "carols by the sea", doing a Christmas lights trail and a playcentre family Christmas party.

And just coz the consumer in me always seems to sneak out, I bought myself some fairy lights...at least they're solar powered...

(well clearly the shutter speed without the flash and my unsteady hand don't go together too well!).

Oh well...

So much for getting things done without a computer lol. I managed to get my old laptop up and running and only had it cut out on me once so far.

With the rain and warmish weather we've been having this week the garden (and the weeds) are booming! The lettuces look as vibrant as ever, the brassicas that have been in over winter are finally looking close to growing heads (hehe, that sounds funny) and more potatoes have sprung up.

I planted a few tomato plants down in the garden. I'm a little weary of having done it so soon, but they're in a sheltered spot that gets good all day sun. My other seedlings are looking awesome!

Exciting news! One of my little chickens laid her first egg yesterday. I'm not sure which one it was, but whoever the poor wee girl was she must have torn a little as the egg came out as there were blood stains on the shell. I have been assured is very common and normal though.

I went to the Transition Towns movie night last night and saw What a Way To Go. I saw this last year and was quite depressed for a week afterwards, but it didn't have much of an impact on me last night. I guess I'm so far along now that my mindset has been changed, I've grieved, I sprung into action and put as much into place as possible that I feel I've done pretty much all I can within my means and we just have to face what comes whenever that might be (or are we all the frogs slowly boiling right now??).

When I did my fortnightly grocery shop today I also had a huge list of foods to add (or replace!) to the emergency supplies. I added a few more things I hadn't really thought of after reading Sharon Astyk's blog. So I added many packets of popcorn (afterall, the kids and Simon eat a lot of this and I'm sure I could bring myself to if need be).

The slack blogger

Well, it really has become a bit of a weekly update around here hasn't it?

I find I'm really only thinking and doing "garden" stuff and my mind hasn't been wandering in other directions. So along with keeping ourselves busy, continuing with being mindful of fuel usage, trying to keep my thoughts away from buying-buying-buying (albeit only auction-site things), catching up with friends and just living-life, we're just cruising along quite nicely. It's become such a seamless, mostly relaxed journey, that it all feels so...normal.

A year ago I felt anything but normal, but the more I find groups of people who I can be *me* with, have meaningful connecting conversations and relationships with, the more normal it all seems (even if I perhaps appear to others like the loopy chick who belongs to those fringe groups)! It no longer seems to matter.

I feel content and on the right path. I'm loving the various groups I'm involved in that really do enhance and make life enjoyable (namely family, playcentre, transition towns and our unschooling friends).

So! Back to what I've been up to...

~ Have dug up all the potato bits that I put in the trenches that became waterlogged and planted new seed potatoes.

~ One entire bed of potatoes have now sprouted and another has a few shoots above the surface. No sign of my Maori potatoes yet.

~ Spent a lot of time fluffing around and watching my chickens. They have all settled really well. The little ones start running around all silly when they see me coming now. They still tend to freak out occasionally when out free ranging and end up flying across the yard for odd reasons, but no longer have the desire to fly over the fences to the neighbours!

~ Had a few days of rain during the week which is just what the garden needed to get a good thorough soaking.

~ Decluttered my car - what a tip!

~ Went along to a transition towns working-bee today to spend a few enjoyable hours in someone elses garden.

~ Moved the chicken tractor to clear another vege patch (was amazing how quickly the previous one turned to bare mud with a few days of rain). Sussed out with Simon where they will be located over summer while the garden is full of veges growing.

~ Went for a walk down to a local river mouth with the kids and my parents yesterday and I couldn't help but look at all the weeds lol. My step dad was really helpful in identifying a few things (but then got exasperated when I asked just one too many "what do you think this one is?" and got a "geez, what do you think I am?" lol. And he recommended I bring his mother down to do the id'ing! I come from a step-family of wild foragers and I didn't really even know it! I spotted masses of unidentified wild brassica's, kawa kawa (step dad pointed that one out to me), beach spinach, ice plant, puha and plenty of other things that *looked* like they should have been something edible. I didn't bring any home since I had no plans for using it.

Plans for the week ahead...

~ Reassessing our emergency food supplies again. A few months back we had run out of rice in the pantry. So decided that the rice in the emergency bin needed rotating. After cooking it up, the smell of laundry powder through it was awful, so the entire batch (including dinner) was dumped. Despite things being double bagged, we'll need to come up with a more reliable system.

~ Finish the frog pond - cover with netting, sort out some pond weed/plants, put a few upturned pots around for hiding in and decide what plants to plant around it (I'm leaning towards peas again).

~ Going along to a transition towns movie night to watch "What a Way to Go". I'm sure I've seen this one before, but wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Putting the word out there

I've been thinking this over for the past week or so...that I really need to take a bit more action in helping those around me understand more about Peak Oil and what that might mean for them.

Until now I've just basically gone about my life, making my own changes and openly talking about what I'm doing, but not necessarily *why*. I'm not covering it up, but I'm not really putting out there what I talk about on here. I guess I still feel like the freak amongst most people.

But I'm changing!

A friend recently sent an email to her friends about Peak Oil urging them to learn more and prepare for a future where we would need to exist without cheap oil - and not just for fuel in their cars. She laid out how *everything* around them does/or has relied on oil at some point.

I then decided to become more active in the circles I run in. I have been having an uncomfortable feeling that I am aware of information that it seems most around me are either not aware of, or don't place enough importance on or not having a wider understanding of it where they can then begin to take action. So, without trying to alienate those around me, I have been gently bringing up conversations that talk of my involvement in the Transition Towns movement whose intent is to bring communities together. How by building community we can come together and share knowledge and resources and come up with ways of solving issues around transport, growing food (whether that is setting up community gardens or allotments, helping those with their own land to grow their own food, education, or planting out public areas with food bearing trees), managing water and sewage, community monetary systems etc.

But somehow I felt that I was still missing the mark. How could this be? Am I at fault here in the way I am presenting the message - or are people still not seeing further than the obvious price rises in fuel? Why is the focus stuck on the most energy efficient cars, or using less fuel, or carpooling and reduced driving - yes, all fantastic things, but there's more to it. Or is it that people don't *know* how what else to do (totally know that feeling)? Afterall, Peak Oil's still not out *there* in an obvious way and I believe it makes us all vulnerable.

However, this morning as I was travelling to visit a friend I hadn't seen in months who is also informed about Peak Oil I realised that perhaps where I was going wrong was that I wasn't being direct enough in my message (or helping others think about it) - I really need to open the conversation further by asking people the same as my friend's email did "take a look around you and ask yourself what items and goods rely on oil". Whether it's through the manufacturing process or the transporation of those items - TV's, fridges, food, bed linen, clothing, shoes, electric kettles, deoderants, toys, bikes, books, even those "green living" items, medicines and machinery/equipment to run the factories or replace parts in our homes...the list is endless. And how would their lives look without access to these things? Would their jobs still be secure in that sort of environment (ok, so that's a trickier part of the topic to approach and not something I've delved into)?

I believe it is simple enough to bring this conversation about without being alienating or off putting. With the rise in prices actually happening, it makes for an easy conversation starter. Whether or not people believe this is to be a long term thing or not is another matter - the way I see it, it doesn't really matter if this did end up being a short term phenomenon - but even living in a depressed economy for a few years could have devastating results.

Food Challenge update

Okey dokey...

~ Weeded out my herb garden yesterday in the gorgeous warm sunshine. It was a very meditative session and I was amazed at how fast the one hour out there went by so quickly and I had something to show for it at the end as well.

~ Continually getting the shopping bill down - I'm surprised that despite grocery prices rising, that I am still managing to reduce the amount of food I'm buying with not too much effort. We are not feeling too deprived (I guess the year long slow changes have made this easier on the mindset rather than just making chops all at once) - it just makes me realise that there is still more room to make adjustments too.

~ I still have a focus on eating as locally (that just means food made in New Zealand at this stage) as possible. A tricky one since even a lot of NZ made products source their ingredients from overseas. I feel trapped when I think about cereals and breads though...

~ As a gluten free family I find it challenging to think about how we would get grains/flours if they become too expensive or inaccessible. A lot of our gf breads/pastas/cereals are made from rice or corn and various other flours that are imported. Corn is really the only one that is able to be grown here as far as I'm aware (oh, and potato flour if I can learn how to make that) - so I'm thinking I might need to find some organic corn seeds (Ecoseeds don't stock them, but I have been told that Koanga Seeds do some varities) and then get a grain mill to process my own cornmeal and cornflour.

~ Seems we need to return to a lot more traditional food to take away this problem. I think I will create a challenge for myself to come up with a menu plan that is based on all whole foods, all available in NZ and no processed cereals/breads or anything using imported grains - I've been dragging the chain on making this sort of move forwards. So, please share with me any ideas - all I can think of are meat and 3-veg dishes 3 times a day with the odd soup thrown in (using herbs, but not spices)! Depending on ease or resistence from the family, I will then try to have a "NZ grown" meal day and build it up from there - as with all things, it takes time to make these types of changes if I want them to become long term and permanent (hence my slow going with cutting back on tea).

~ I'm in the process of planning out how I will increase the size of my garden this year. Last year, I had just over 50 sq metres of garden plots on the go. On the whole, that really only provided food over the summer period and didn't leave a lot to store for use throughout the year. I have another 30 sq metres that I can easily add into the mix this year which has a good nutrient rich soil (perhaps I could do potatoes there to condition the soil). If I want to increase my garden size further I would need to move onto the higher up sandy area which needs a lot of compost added to get it to a good state.

~ As already blogged - I'm in the process of replacing imported black tea with homegrown herbal varities.

~ Had friends for dinner last night and we yakked and yakked about Peak Oil, Climate Change, community, growing food and all that stuff. Was so good to talk face to face with others on the same path and not feel too weird (and hopefully not freaking them out with our weirdness lol).

Challenge update #5

I bought some seeds from ecoseeds last night in hopes of being able to start seed-saving (need to do some reading up on that - I'm sure I have a book or two (or 3 or 4) that has instructions for doing this.

I have some more garlic cloves to pop in the ground with it being winter solstice (well, yesterday actually, but we were out of the house from 10am-7pm so not a lot of time to do that!).

More rain has arrived today to water my garden - just as I was thinking yesterday that it was getting a bit dry down there again (and I don't have my roof water feeding into the water trough this time of year since it doesn't get used often enough and gets all gross and slimy).

Have attended another Transition Towns meeting - plenty of chit chat about food production - a shame I will miss the next workshop day in a few weeks which is really going to focus on food.

Have made a few more face-to-face connections with people I can talk about these issues with instead of only relying on the internet (as much as I appreciate my blog-mates where I gather energy , knowledge and a sense of belonging!)

Neighbourly relations...

Well, we've been in our home here for 5.5yrs. In that time we have not gotten to *really* know our neighbours on either side. I've had little chit chats with the woman on one side of us over the fence at various times and she became inspired to plant out a garden last spring.

Our neighbour on the other side unfortunately has been a rough ride and most recently ended in him verbally abusing my dog with language that really was not appropriate for my children's ears since we were doing some gardening at the time behind our hedge. I called him out on the language (much to his surprise I'm sure since he couldn't see me) and received a bit of mocking in exchange which I did not get drawn into - but felt really stink over the whole incident.

A few weeks later he approached Simon at his work and asked to purchase some of our old roofing iron off us - I took this as an olive branch.

Since that time I haven't seen him, so no chance to say hi or wave (previously I've been outright ignored).

BUT, tonight, as I was sitting here reading over Casaubon's Book 100 Things you Can do For Peak Oil list (slightly different to previously posted lists) I had the idea to raise some extra seedlings in Spring and take each of my neighbours a little pot of various plants. I'm not into baking or cooking, and I felt that this would be one way to achieve several objectives by getting their gardens started off for the new season - and a means of trying to mend any remaining rifts that might be there.

Food Independence Challenge

I'm not usually one for challenges. I have in the past done casual forms of the challenges out there, and found them a great motivator when I was first learning about living sustabinably, simplifying, decluttering, growing food, food storage etc - individually those types of challenges are a great learning tool and a way to create focus and habit.

However, I've been of this mindset now for a good 18mths, and have been learning along the way and a lot of these things now just slot into my day to day life. But, what I like about this challenge is that it gives me a weekly boost to keep up the pace. It's not specific, but creates just enough challenge and stepping out of the comfort zone to make a little bit more of a difference.

So I'm going to take this one up, I probably won't report daily, but will look at this as a weekly challenge - yet try to complete one of the things on the list per day. It may be trickier to keep up with since we are moving into winter, but I will try and get creative lol.

1. Plant something.
2. Harvest something.
3. Preserve something.
4. Prep something.
5. Cook something new.
6. Manage your reserves.
7. Work on local food systems.

Check out Casaubon's Book site for ideas on how to achieve each category.

Eating locally

I think out of all the *big* environmental things I'm currently working on to make a difference is trying to eliminate imported food. Since we're a small country, it isn't really possible to say "I will only eat food produced within 200km of my home" otherwise we'd be eating no food except local produce (because all the food manufacturers are mostly located up north and more like 600km away)! So for me, eating local means eating food produced in New Zealand - and even that's tricky. Particularly for our family eating gluten free - it makes it SO tricky finding alternative grains to eat that would be local. Rice is not grown in NZ, nor things like chickpeas (as far as I know) etc. Rice makes up a large part of alternative grains for the gluten free diet - even though Australia grow rice, from what I understand it's not a particularly environmentally friendly way to produce it because of the high use of water which Australia just does not have.

So for now, I am working on sticking with NZ and Australian products and see how I go. I still have work to do on that.

It's not just about cutting back on food miles that is driving my desire to do this - but the fact that food prices are rising (and becoming quite noticeable), the thought of how we would access foods that our family are used to if we are no longer able to afford some of those Australian products and having the security and knowledge on how to work with local products (so the idea is to phase them out now so it is less of a problem later).

Basically, I want to make eating local "the normal thing to do" for our family without a second thought. The more we eat locally, the less I miss the imported products. We no longer eat canned fish and we no longer eat banana's. Two biggies for us to have given away, but I don't (and the kids don't) even think about it any longer (Simon buys himself banana's still for his lunches, but hey, I can't control what he does).

I have been much more mindful when preparing a meal and thinking about just what has gone into it, the top picture was lunch last Monday - homemade guacomole (using NZ made chili sauce which made no mention of sourcing products from overseas), homemade hummus (unfortunately using imported chickpeas, but I intend on growing some sort of white beans next year to substitute in here), home grown potatoes sprinkled with NZ made (very expensive!) cheese.

The BBQ's have begun!

Yep, it's that time of year. The clocks have changed, we're onto daylight savings time and things are finally warming up.

It's been a bit of a social weekend. We've had a couple of bbq's, plenty of laughs and fun and wine and beer with friends, the children entertaining themselves and late nights into bed.

Not a lot of gardening going on, and I swear those potato plants keep growing significantly higher everytime I go down to the garden and require more soil to be piled up around them!

I went to a local Sustainability Expo this afternoon with Nathan and ran into many people we knew - what a community, love it!

I finally have "currency"

With the on and off talk of "green dollars" or "voucher systems" or "barter systems" over the years, I've always wondered what I could offer by way of exchange. Well I have discovered one way. Seedlings! A friend bought around a bag of used clothes for Danielle the other day and it felt great to finally give her something back for her generosity (considering Danielle lives in 80% of this friends hand me downs) - I had potted up some seedlings for her and knowing that she is keen to get a garden going, this has given her the incentive to get it all prepared to put some things in.

When I attended the talk with the permaculture couple a few weeks ago, they were discussing how back in older times, swapping seeds (your best ones too) was considered a very generous gift - I can certainly believe that if your family was relying on home grown produce!

My circle of friends

The lovely Sharon has awarded me with this...

"...for those bloggers who are nice people and good blog friends - those who bring good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world."

I have found blogging to be so much more rewarding that I ever anticipated. The friendships and people I have *met* in blogging-land have really added in such a positive way to my network of friends.

Two lovely ladies I have blogged alongside and known to some degree prior to blogging who I would like to nominate are:

Sandra - love reading about your garden and you're such a strong insprirational woman and I am pleased to know you.

Anoushka - the friend who I really want to meet one day soon! A blog that started off about a sad little garden, has become a large happy-garden-to-be.

xx

Will you be a survivalist or a preservationist?

More scary, depressing DVD watching going on here tonight. I received a DVD with 3 doco's on it from Robert (the guy mentioned in the previous post). We watched one written and presented by the late Dr David Lloyd called Interesting Times and he referred to the book Powerdown by Richard Heinberg who defines the difference between survivalists (those who just wish to survive the collapse, grab their guns, run for the hills and kill and gather what they can to get by) or preservationists (who form communities that wish to preserve as much of human culture as is possible in the event of collapse. These communities hope to provide useful knowledge and skills, as well as maintain and continue to form cooperatives with other such groups).

I struggle with the fear to not become a survivalist...this is where living in a like-minded community and educating as many people as we can, can only be a good thing. Preservationist all the way!

Interesting discussion nights!

I've been to my 3rd Friday night Ecovillage meeting. The last two evenings we've watched short documentaries on permaculture gardening presented by Bill Mollison (the man who coined the term permaculture) and one on making compost - using bins, open heaps and worm farms.

They have started to make tracks on the community garden with clearing weeds, mulching and building fences. The garden area is 20m x 20m. I haven't yet viewed the property as it is a bit much to be tripping back and forwards up there several times a week so will limit myself to just the information evening for now.

Next week we have a presentation by Robert of Oilcrash.com who is a part of our group. Robert is running for mayor with his main agenda being to get the word out there on peak oil.

Onwards with my 100 things list...

I was reflecting on the list again the other night and realised I have actually made more moves towards completing a few of the things - even though I haven't actively been doing that since my original audit. It seems because my awareness is heightened that I have been working on them anyway.

13. Take an introduction to permaculture class, or read up on permaculture. Toby Hemenway's book _Gaia's Garden:An Introduction to Home-Scale Permaculture_ is an excellent start. Begin replacing ornamental plants with edibles that are also beautiful. Ah yes, goodbye ornamentals in the front garden to make way for tomatoes and goodbye 2m diameter circle of grass for herb spiral...my Friday group will be hosting many speakers who are experienced in permaculture gardening and other useful skills.

21. Encourage useful plant volunteers, and learn to propagate more plants by cuttings, layering and grafting. Plant your extras, or share them with neighbors and friends. Sadly my two herb cuttings I took didn't take - could have been lack of attention though (ie water!). (Anoushka, how did your cutting take? Have Melanie's wise words proven true?)

54. Sometimes you get more by giving things away than by selling them. Do you have something you don't need? Extra produce? Spare time? Give extra tomatoes to a neighbor, offer spare items to friends, go over and help out someone who could use it. Good deeds mostly return to us. Well, kids clothes seem to be the only things we are in on at the moment - I have a friend I give Nathan's old clothes to, she in turn sometimes buys bulk clothes second hand which are the size for Nathan and she knows she will get it back one day (albeit in slightly more worn condition).

85. If you have to choose between being close to family and community and being close to work, choose work only if you believe your job is quite stable in the long term. Yay, Simon has now secured a job locally! Stability long term - well no worse than what he was doing before if not more stable.

OK, so not too many things achieved, but it was good rereading the list to refocus on a few easy things that can be knocked off while keeping in mind the bigger long term goals.

While out and about...

Ha! Well I wrote a big long waffley post about our history of creating community (or lack of rather) over the past 7yrs of living in this town - but hit the delete key.

Despite having a very busy social life full of "playdates" with friends of mine and Nathan's (Danielle's yet to have any of her own), it has never felt like I've created much of a community out of that for some reason (all good friends and I love having them as a part of our lives). However, while out today running a few errands (paying dog registration, going to the organic shop and in a shop exchanging an item) we bumped into someone we knew at each of those places. And it wasn't till later that I realised they were all new people in our lives from the past 3mths under completely different circumstances - and that felt really cool! One couple who we saw in the organic shop I just met last Friday at the meeting about the community garden, a friend who I met off the internet (a parenting message board)and recently moved to this town has just started working and we bumped into her while paying our dog registration, and in the shop I was exchanging an item was the mum of a boy we met at a recent birthday party who Nathan has played with and we are catching up again with. What was so cool is the fact that if this had been 3mths ago, this afternoon's trip out for 1hr would have been just *us 3* going about our errands in a faceless society, yet today, everywhere we walked we met friends.

Add this on to yesterday at playcentre (where we have been going for 2mths) I got speaking to a mum who I found we seemed to have a lot in common with - so I have now made my first playcentre friend and we have extended that out beyond that group.

Sorry for the dribbly post - just a little bit of *feel good* going on...

Face-to-face community

Yippee! Remember this post? Well a friend called up after reading the same newspaper article as I did and emailed me info on what the group plan to achieve. They are running weekly planning and information evenings and so tonight we went along to meet some of the other members, watched the 2nd half of a documentary on peak oil called "What a way to go: Life at the end of Empire" and had a discussion afterwards. Although the group is primarily being set up to get a community garden running I will only attend the Friday night meeting to glean information and network with like minded people. It would be interesting to see the garden in action, but realistically it is too far away to put in the time (only 15mins in the car, but still, not ideal). I am very excited about the speakers that will be coming along to the meetings though and there are apparently a few people from around my area who pop along sometimes, so that will be good too.

Sometimes it feels like a solo-journey

Climate change...
Oil depletion...
Sustainable living...
Vegetable gardens...

So I was pleasantly surprised this evening when I opened up the local rag to discover a short article about a group planning on setting up a community vege garden.

"The move was seen as a local response to the increasing cost and impending depletion of petroleum, and the impact of global warming and climate change, said the organisers".

Even though they are the next town up from us, it's nice to know we're in company. If it weren't for my various internet pals and communities I'd feel quite isolated on this path we're travelling. However, face-to-face (lol Rach) communities are *definitely* worth developing.