This week's dream

Well, it's not a new dream and I don't think it's going to go away once Sunday passes .... but imagine starting a flower farm. Crazy, I know; many challenges. BUT the reward, oh it would be so fantastic. I've dreamt so often about what I would grow and how I would do it (bio-dynamic of course). There are so many beautiful things, often very traditional and understated that you just don't see grown here in Australia.

But it's not just that, why not grow a beautiful flowering garden (ok, a pretty big one) and cut the blooms as they are needed (and at their best) to supply you're small floral business? I can't think of anything better.

And today, I found (via the magic of the interwebs) a gorgeous young lady who does exactly that near Seattle, in the U.S.

Erin Benzakein, I want to be you.

You've got to check it out, her blog is here and surprise, surprise the gorgeous Charlotte at Lotte and Bloom has already grabbed the low-down, here.

Maybe, just maybe, these things are possible?

In the meantime, I've been learning lots about propagating all sorts of things. I am completely absorbed by  my new A Modern Herbal (found a second hand one on the Ebay) and A Druids Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine. Now don't freak out at the hippy, neo-pagan title of the latter. True, it's got a section about the author, a Druid priestess, co-chief of the Order of the White Oak, professor at the Grey School of Wizardry etc. etc.  in the front. Essentially, the rest is just about the history, folklore and uses of each of the native British trees. I love that shit!

Pilfered Mum's garden - which of course, made no dint at all - for all manner of cuttings. They're now all happily lined up in pots, some under plastic bags, in my urban back yard. The peppermint geranium's doing particularly well. Yay :-)

This afternoon I am going to pull up all the acanthus and try and move them to the front yard where they will be much better suited. All the websites say that I am probably biting off more than I can chew, but I'm going to give it a try anyway. I'll show 'em.

Oh, and my bike is finally all finished and she is super dooper perty; I'll have to take some pics for you.

The picture above is from a job I did with Mel a month or so back.

And that reminds me, there's more news ... but that will have to wait for another day.

Sanctuary

I have returned to my Sanctuary and there can be no doubt that that is indeed what this little patch is. I have spent the morning basking in Mum's garden; thinking that it truly has never been so beautiful and trying to imagine what my life will be like without this Heaven to retreat to. We will of course, have a new Sanctuary and not so far away; but it will be different and I don't think there is a member of my family who won't consider themselves honestly blessed to have been able to experience the beauty of this home.

I am also in a fog of Victorian Romantic literature as is probably showing in my own proper and verbose tone today. Hell, I even just used the word verbose! It has long been curious to me, how comfortable I am with rediculously pompous and lengthy phrasing. During my schooling, my ever succinct and practical Mother used to edit out massive swathes of writing in my essays and exclaim that she had never met anyone so capable of saying basic things with such a large volume of words! It seems I have slipped back into old habits ...

You can attribute all this wordiness to Possession, by A.S.Byatt and the fact that after my recent trip to the NGV International I went on a bit of an Ebay binge. I have this received The Works of Emily Dickenson and an anthology of English Romantic Poetry this week in the mail; it's so exciting getting parcels! Now, I have banged on about the brilliance of A.S.Byatt before, here. This novel, a very popular one in the early 90's - which I have only just come to - has created for me another fantastical web of imagery and words that seems to constantly echo in my real life. I thought, when reading The Children's Book that Byatt couldn't have combined more of my favorite topics and themes in one book. Yet it seems to have happened again, whereas before I was tangled up in the Edwardian arts and crafts movement, the renaissance of fairy tales and magical puppet shows and the eager adoption of Ruskinian ideals. This time I have been absorbed by romantic, metaphysical poetry of the Victorian era. Again fairy-tales and celtic story telling feature strongly; but this time with a Breton influence and thus the inclusion of French language - yay for me :-)

Now that is, by far, enough talking for today. I'm off to research traditional herb lore and read poetry...
I fear hitting the publish button on this one; I think I might look back on it and cringe. Oh well folks, you're laughing with me, not at me!

"Just keep following the heart-lines on your hand."

The obsession continues

... with grass that is.I even got to put some in this weekend's bouquets - yay!I've been drooling over the Diggers catalogue and creating an amazing garden in my mind. I would dearly love to make it reality but feel constantly disillusioned by the other reality, that is I live in a rental property and could be thrown out at any point. I am also intimidated by the fact that these things cost money. "They don't have to cost much" you say or "A little, but the enjoyment you get out of it is worth so much more"... And I start to feel feeble. But truly, I don't have much to spare and nothing is going to grow here without a significant soil injection! Then again, I hear the voice of a very good friend echo in my mind "Lindsey, just fucking do it." Hmmm, so maybe the reality is, I could actually get over all that stuff; if I only had some more time. This seems to be a continuing theme in my current existential crisis. I continue to ask the Universe for guidance.In the mean time, I take solace in looking at the details...

For the love of Grass

It was the obsession of our summer holiday; well for me anyway. Graceful, arcing, delicate and oh so intricate. I was absorbed by the plethora of different grasses that we came across on our treks through the High Country. It seemed that they each had their own little personalities. It made me want to draw again.

Summer trekking

This year I took a real summer holiday, you know, the kind that everybody else has. Took 3 weeks off work, had a nicely relaxed Christmas with family and then hit the road. It was a simple affair and all the better for it! Just me, the man and the 4WD packed with all that we needed for two weeks of camping. The vague plan was to head north, slowly. So we did, travelling through the Victorian High Country, then down to the coast. We crossed over to NSW but after a few days in the bun fight that is the coast just after Christmas, we gave up on the beach and headed inland again. Then we made our way through the Kosciusko National Park before heading home again. We swam everyday except the last; either in sea or river and came back looking like a pair of bush babies! It was absolutely divine.

People got married

A wedding that I actually went to as a guest; what a lovely change!
Check out the size of that gardenia. That's a proper tropics specimen, due to the fact that we were in the Byron Bay hinterland at the time. The bride's family just picked these from their own shrubs on the morning; heaven.
It was a weekend full of much, much love, great friends and excellent food. What more could you ask for? Beaches? Sunshine? Swimming before breakfast? Oh, well we had all that too :-)

We also had a birthday

or two in the last month.

Wanderings of the lost blogger

Aka: me.

Yikes! How did we get here already? Freaking crazy times have been had and clearly, I didn't think to sit down and document any of it here. So, as per usual, I will be playing catch up again.

There was a market: A Christmas Design Mini Market that is....

A gaggle of very clever friends set up a little market in the Kuwaii store in Brunswick the other week.  There were flowers and plants, jewellery and accessories, clothing and footwear and baked goods too!

Cecilia Fox was there and Tara Shackell, Trotski & Ash and Anna Varendorff, a few more without linkies and some home made lemonade too. Yum. 

I am always amazed and encouraged by the level of creative talent housed in this average sized suburb!