When nothing is plenty

I get the impression sometimes that a few of my friends here think I'm a bit of a saint, and that I selflessly work from daylight to dusk to provide my family with their needs. While there is an element of truth in that statement, there are times when all I want to do is nothing.

And that is what I did do on Saturday.

It was a cold and gloomy day and I started off replying to a few emails but there were so many I gave up and organised my desk instead. That didn't feel right either so I looked around for something to do - it was still dark and I wanted to work in silence - I found my knitting. It was then I decided that it was time for a day off.

I made porridge for breakfast, I made bread and soup for dinner, I made the bed, but that was all I did. The rest of the day I swanned around taking photos, reading, knitting and napping. I am better for it. I feel refreshed and ready for everything now. It is surprising just how good a day of nothing feels.

That is Rosie on the left. She is watching Rosetta who has decided that she much prefers the company of dogs and humans to that of her sisters. She's a funny chook and Hanno spoils her by carrying her around and letting her sit INSIDE the grain bin. Yes, inside the bin. She scratches around in there picking out pieces of choice grain and when she has her fill, she flies out and wanders around with Alice and Rosie.

Hanno did his own cooking on Saturday. It was his kale and pork day and he made up a big pot of it, enough for about five meals. It slotted in perfectly with my workless day. Here he is on the back verandah with Alice. Hettie, our cat, is asleep behind him on the green bench.

He is inspecting each leaf of kale for bugs. He then strips the green off the stalk and places it in another bucket. When the whole lot is done, he takes it inside for washing, chopping and cooking.

Like many men, Hanno has his meal favourites and kale and pork is the food he loves most in Winter. It reminds him of living in Germany, and his mum, and I think the smell of it cooking during the day and the memories that invokes is as much a part of the experience as sitting down to eat is.

It's a good experience for me too. I love to see the process of vegetables being harvested, prepared fresh and made into good healthy food for the table. It's not so much the single elements of gardening and how we live that I enjoy, it's the connection of all those elements that make it into something more - that is what gives me pleasure and satisfaction. Of course it's a wonderful thing to see vegetables growing in a garden but when you see those vegetables used for their purpose, when they are harvested and cooked to provide nutrition; that connection of elements is what is significant. The completed circle, combining our skills with what we are able to produce in the backyard, that is what makes my life a joy. That, and knowing we can do it.

We have recently spread our food production from the backyard to the front. We have been growing two avocado trees in the front garden, and have at times grown tomatoes there, but now we've moved up a notch and have planted potatoes along the front drive. You can see them in this photo as they've just started to show their green tops in the straw mulch.

We are lucky to have the amount of land we have. It's not huge by any stretch of the imagination, we have an acre, but it is certainly enough to provide us with the food we need. We are also blessed with the amount of rainfall we get. If we are prudent, we can harvest enough water from our roof to enable us to continue growing food, and to provide enough fresh water for ourselves, the chooks and animals. Being self sufficient in one of the things we must have is very empowering.

I wonder though if, with climate change, that will remain as it is. Australia is in the midst of the worst drought in our history and we are reminded of that fact every day as our state government is currently building a huge pipeline to carry water from our local dams into our capital city, about 100 kms south. That pipeline is being built quite close to our home and although we can't see the work being carried out, we can hear trucks working every day. It's a powerful reminder that we are all responsible for the harvesting and storage of water on our own properties and that when we have more than enough, and even when we don't, we share what we have.

I hope you have a wonderful week. I am moving into this week with a feeling of optimism and joy. I hope you feel something similar in your own life and that we all look back on this week as a good one.

SHARE: