Long Dark Night

Welcome to deep dark winter. As we approach the longest night of the year, I have deliciously succumbed to the cosy pleasures of hygge: warm drinks, extra layers, early nights to bed after family dance parties.

Even my chickens have begun a period of protracted rest and snuggles. We no longer receive their delicious daily eggy offerings and instead find them cuddling together in the hutch, clucking contentedly.

Our earliest astronomers, the First Australians were able to measure the solstice at the Wurdi Youang stone arrangements 80km from Melbourne. Here, carefully arranged rocks aligned with the setting sun at the winter, and summer solstices as well as the equinox. Whilst things seem to slow in winter, finding time to become observers of our inner and outer landscapes can be fruitful.

I await the cascading of the post solstice wattle burst, the sunshine-yellow flowering of one species of acacia after another as the days begin to lengthen. For now, I cosy up and slow my pace for rest facilitates rejuvenation, and gestation precipitates life anew. 

I’ll be sharing seasonal musings, parenting insights, creative practices, and invitations to reconnect—with ourselves, each other, and the earth.

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Post Harvest

After the forced slowing of 2020 our community has emerged hungry for action, creation and collaboration. Despite the fertile spring imagery you may have seen in the Easter aisles of your local Woolies, this time of year in our hemisphere is post--harvest, a time to preserve the crops that grew in great abundance during the increased warmth and energy of the summer season and to prepare for the slow descent into darker days and longer nights.  In my own kitchen, I have apple cider bubbling away in big glass vats, harvested in early autumn from the apple orchards of my in- laws. Out of the cider I will make immune boosting cider vinegar tinctures to keep the body strong through the more taxing winter months. In older cultures, a portion of cider was offered back to the strongest tree of the orchard to ensure a bountiful season the following year, cycles following cycles.

As we now wake to dripping windows and the first morning frosts, we find ourselves with less time out and about making the most of long summer evenings. We start to cosy up, cultivating our 'higge' and discovering more time to create. As our community garden has started to slow its production, we look back at a bountiful season ripe with tomatoes, beans, strawberries, sunflowers and zucchini. So too have we seen an abundance of ideas from our community take form out in the world. This time of harvest was especially potent after the long slow gestational period of last year's calm, where, in those contemplative waters, new possibilities could bubble and swirl. In this edition we look at some of these emergent creations

This time of year in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language is called Birrang Tonimbuk. As the wombats begin renovating their burrows, the arrival of the morning mists and cool yet drier weather told the local people that it was time to start the year's burn off patterns. Some areas were burnt every year whilst other areas were burnt on a multi year cycle in accordance with cultivation strategies and the totemic system. These highly complex and patterned firestick farming schedules ensured the land was managed and cultivated with deep care, folding in ancient systems of knowledge. In return, the land supported the people, creatures, plants and fungi for tens of thousands of year, or, since time immemorial as it is understood in Indigenous ways of knowing.

May we listen to First Nations voices as we attempt to reconnect with ourselves, rebuild our communities and regenerate the land upon which we work, live and play. May we listen deeply as we create and offer our works to the world.

🌿 If you’d like to keep reading seasonal reflections like this, along with parenting musings, creative rituals, and gentle invitations to slow down,
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Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.