Permaculture St George

After months of searching, I finally found the details for a local permaculture group (turns out I had the wrong name, duh).

So tonight I went to my first meeting. I had a great time and went home with lots of food for though as well as an aloe vera cutting and some cos lettuce seeds. They meet each month and membership seems to also include some other bonuses such as LETS membership.

Here is the web site if you are interested and live in the southern Sydney area:

http://permaculturestgeorge.ning.com/


On the weather front - it is freezing. Who would have thought the beginning of winter could be so cold. Was it like this last winter? Each summer I believe it will never again be cold and each winter I believe it will never again be hot.

On the way home tonight the car registered the outside temperature as 9oC and this morning Miss Berry's room was 13oC. I think I might make more of a note of the temperature in this blog so I can look back next year and compare the temps. It has also been pretty windy. We haven't had any rain for a week or so and the wind has really dried everything out - I must water this weekend.

Thankfully we don't get frosts in this area. Although the veggies have slowed down I can still plant throughout the winter without worrying about frost damage.

Last Minute Morning Tea

Today I was on morning tea duty at Playgroup and as always I was my usual organised self and did not get around to baking a cake yesterday. I really didn't want to buy a cake, not only are they really expensive but they also aren't very nice.

So, this morning I cooked 2 batches of scones and served them still warm with strawberry jam and cream for morning tea.

I was amazed (and a little shocked) at the response from the other Mums. Everyone seemed really impressed that I had scones for morning tea. In particular, they were surprised that I actually made the scones instead of buying them at Baker's Delight. (at $4ish each?) They were surprised in a good way - I received a lot of thank yous.

The thing is, I see scones as a last minute thing - the sort of things you cook when unexpected guests drop in or when you don't have time to bake a cake. I also think they are super yummy - as did the other Mums.

I guess it just goes to show that most people are not living simply. People do not take the time to bake, even though scones take about 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook. For less than the cost of 2 packets of biscuits, we had a lovely homemade morning tea that was super yummy and not full of sugar and preservatives. And even though it was a morning tea that is one of the quickest, cheapest things you can make, it was a special treat at Playgroup.

I think that is a little sad.

What a Nice Man

It stopped raining for a bit yesterday afternoon so I bundled Miss Berry into the pram and went for a walk. On my way back home it began to drizzle and then began to rain. I wasn’t getting very wet and I had the rain cover on the pram so I wasn’t worried, but I passed a nice man who was in his front yard and he offered me an umbrella.

This is not me (obviously, since I am female) and this is not the aforementioned umbrella. It is an image by atomicjeep and I thought it was appropriate to my post.

I thanked him for such a lovely offer but declined the use of his umbrella as I wasn’t getting very wet and only had a few streets to go. He was a complete stranger and had no idea whether I would return the umbrella or not (of course I would have – but he didn’t know that).

Such a simple, friendly gesture gave me a bit of hope that the community spirit in my area is still alive, even if it is only smouldering.
So, man-that-I-do-not-know, thank you for your offer – you buoyed my spirits.

Bushfire Appeals – How to Help

For those wanting to help the Victorian Bushfire Victims, Hello! It's Meet Me At Mikes! has a list of links for crafty and non crafty appeals.

I have decided to put my crafty hat on and contribute to:


Here you can donate a handmade item to either give to the people affected by the bushfires or to auction on eBay or Etsy to raise funds for the Red Cross

And

These are packs for little ones to provide some comfort and distraction whilst the parents are dealing with the aftermath of the fires. The packs contain a comfort toy and a distraction toy and can be made for all ages.

So, I had best get making. I will keep you updated with my progress.