We’ve also identified 11 bird species on the land so far: Superb Fairy Wren, Yellow Wattle Bird, New Holland Honeyeater, Scarlet Robin, Grey Fantail, Thornbill, Silvereye, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, and what was either a Wedge-tailed Eagle or a Brown Falcon circling above. We think he was looking for Marvin! We also had Kookaburras a few months ago that seem to have moved on, which is good because they pinch other small birds from their nests, and all the small birds are a sign of a really healthy system. One of our favourite birds is the Spotted Pardalote (pictured below), which we’ve only sighted twice. We borrowed a digital recorder from Land for Wildlife and have conducted some early morning recordings, so that might also identify a few more inhabitants that we haven’t actually sighted yet.
We’ve been feeling more and more in touch with mother earth and the challenges that she’s facing of late, and trying to continuously reduce our footprint. After watching some footage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (straight after complacently fueling the car up at BP!), I’ve started car pooling with the volunteers, so they now pick me up in the bus on the way through. It’s actually very nice to travel with company.
After studying food miles as part of the Permaculture IV Certificate, reminding us of just how far some of our food was traveling (and the lack of nutrition it had), we’re now managing to source about 80% of our food from organic farmers in Tasmania, with about half of that being within 50km.
We’re having somewhat of a moral dilemma with the bench top on the second hand kitchen that we bought for the garage, because it’s a bit old and tacky, and a horrible salmon colour with an awful fake marble finish. Of course it would do the job just fine, it’s just plain ugly. If we use it, the materials and energy that went in to making it will become more worthy. If we don’t use it, it will probably end up in the landfill and even more raw materials, energy and pollution will go into the manufacture and transport of a new one. I suppose it’s these every day decisions made by billions of people that will determine how healthy (or not) the earth is going to be in 5, 10, 20 and 100 years time. We may need to consider what the bench top, old or new, will say to us each time we use it. Watch this space for the outcome of our dilemma…
And some wonderful news… do you remember the little kitten we were looking after, Hedge? Well his name is Scooter now, which is so perfect because he did start scooting around like a maniac when he got better. We’ll leave you with these images of him with his new brother and best friend, Russel :o)
