topics
Simple Living
Voluntary simplicity, intentional living, and the philosophy of doing more with less. Exploring how to design a life with intention, reduce complexity, and focus on what matters most.
39 posts
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Sydney Ceramics Galleries
There are some excellent galleries in Sydney that focus on displaying the work of local artists and providing exhibition space. A labour of love for most gallery owners as the market is not large.
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Inhabit Movie
Inhabit is a beautifully produced documentary exploring permaculture design across rural, suburban and urban landscapes in North America. A compelling and well-made case that human needs and planetary health need not be in conflict.
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Making and Work
Reflecting on what it means to identify as a Maker — and how the satisfaction found in the workshop with wood and clay becomes harder to locate as professional life shifts toward management. Matt Gemmell's sharp distinction between Makers and Takers provides a useful lens.
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Permaculture Online Course Update
In a previous post I wrote about the positive experience we were having taking part in Geoff Lawton's Online Permaculture course. Having completed all the online lessons and the quiz we are now working on the practical assignment which is due by the end of August.
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Permaculture and online learning
After years of exposure to Permaculture and having spent several years a decade ago implementing a disparate set of its common patterns at our previous property in Northern NSW, I am now taking a much deeper dive into it after enrolling in Geoff Lawton's Online Permaculture Design Course.
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Lost in this beautiful world
I have been enjoying the album Lost in this beautiful world by Jon Lacey. It's a melodic piano and guitar driven folk album with an authentic feel, partly due to the raw quality of Jon's voice.
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The way of the megapode
Our local Megapodes are known as Bush (or Brush) Turkey's and can destroy a productive vege path in seconds.
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Overcoming Obstacles
This inspirational talk by Nick White at the Wellington Ignite Conference gives an insight into what its like for an avid public speaker to overcome head and neck cancer and the loss of his voice.
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Prioritising organic foods and challenges to paleo
Mark Sisson runs a business that promotes a version of the Paleo diet and philosophy. He writes some excellent posts on his blog that I often find myself nodding in agreement with.
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Permaculture ethics
A long engagment with the ideas of Permaculture
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A look behind the increasing prevalence of supermarket-organic-products
A revealing look behind the supermarket green wash, examining whether organic supermarket food is just another lie.
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Chinas rising soybean consumption-reshaping-western-agriculture
A disturbing piece by Lester Brown: saving the Amazon rainforest now depends on curbing global demand for soybeans — which means both stabilising population and, for the world's more affluent people, eating significantly less meat.
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Living with introverts
Insightful guide to living with an introvert, rings true and definitely worth a look.
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Challenges of creating for the web
A pointed comic from The Oatmeal on the realities of making things for the web — the gap between what creators intend and how the work is actually received. Painfully recognisable.
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Doing one thing at a time
A timely reminder from Harvard Business Review that sustained focus — doing one thing well rather than fragmenting attention across email, calls and meetings — is both rarer and more valuable than we tend to acknowledge.
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Finding significance in a world of distraction
Really good material here from Becoming Minimalist about finding significance in a world of distraction.
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Attack of the wolf mountain chickens
This chook post has it all - video, pictures, domes and self feeders. Also some great insight into the chicken management practises at Milkwood Permaculture.
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Sleep apnea and sonomed
An article from the BBC describes a sleeping pattern involving two sleeps of about 4 hours with a period of wakefulness in between, known as segmented sleep
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The ongoing challenge of how to spend your time
The question of how to align your working life with deeper purpose is perennial. A pointer to a piece invoking the Buddhist concept of Right Livelihood — a reminder that the challenge of finding one's true calling is ongoing, not a problem to be solved once.
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How to accomplish more by doing less
Rings true to my own experience. It's not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It's the energy we bring to the hours we work.
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CNN occupy wall street
Douglas Rushkoff argues that Occupy is not a protest but a prototype — a practical experiment in a different way of living. Its lack of demands is precisely the point: it isn't asking anything of the existing system, which is what makes it both unsettling and genuinely new.
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Seasonal Eating
Eating in season is the simplest way to reduce food miles, and it was once the only option available. In a modern supermarket economy it requires deliberate effort — knowing what's in season locally and supporting the farmers' markets that make it possible.
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Balehaus - an experimental building
Bath University's Balehaus project uses prefabricated straw-filled wall panels to create a high-performance prototype building — a promising demonstration of locally sourced, low-impact construction materials that raises the question of when such approaches might reach Australia.
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Traditional chicken ark
Plans for a traditional chicken ark drawn from Charles Hayward's 1940 book Carpentry for Beginners — still a valuable hand-tool reference. A practical design for a movable poultry shelter, with a link to the full PDF.
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In season zen cooking
A seasonal snapshot from Sydney — strawberries, asparagus and Valencia oranges in the shops — alongside a recommendation for the documentary How to Cook Your Life, featuring Zen teacher and Tassajara cookbook author Ed Brown on thirty years of mindful cooking.
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BEN - bicycle empowerment network
Its Blog Action Day - my plug is for BEN the Bicycle Empowerment Network of Namibia. Established by Australian Michael Linke who had previously edited Australian Cyclist.
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Alan Watts
Reading Alan Watts in my teens I experienced my first taste of eastern thinking which has led to a life long interest. In his essays on Zen and the Tao I could feel deep truths were lurking just beyond the words.
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Urban chickens
Backyard chickens were a common feature of Australian life during the Depression and wartime years and are making a welcome return. A reflection on the pleasures and practicalities of keeping hens for eggs — and the rather different challenge of keeping them for the table.
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More on chicken tractors
Since my post about chickens which mentioned the Linda Woodrow inspired chook dome. I have noticed that people are searching in google for information about chicken tractors.
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Resurgence slow sundays
Resurgence magazine launches its first Slow Sunday, inviting readers to bake bread as a small act of defiance against commercialism. A personal account of attempting the dutch oven no-knead technique — promising, if not yet perfected.
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Biodynamic wine in the news
Australian biodynamic wine is attracting growing media attention, and the quality is finally being recognised more widely. A roundup of recent coverage, with recommendations for mixed cases from organicwine.com.au including Krinklewood and Tamburlaine.
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Chilly chook
While browsing the website of designer Zach Debord I came across this great picture of a chook in the snow with a jumper on, she looks very cosy.
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Pursuing a simpler life
Zen Habits has compiled all its writing on simplicity into a single resource — a useful reference for anyone working through the practical and philosophical challenges of living with less and with more intention.
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Healing power of chooks
This post has been in my mind since I saw a wonderful program ABC TV. The program 'Rare Chicken Rescue' has two themes, one is depression and the other is about rescuing rare chicken breeds.
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Frightened by voluntary simplicity
An article in the New York Times tells of a couple who are shedding their possessions prior to starting a new life as organic farmers. What I found interesting was that they have had some hostile reactions on the blog they are keeping to document the journey.
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Organic vs local
These days we have a reasonable range of organic food available to us locally whether through the supermarket, our local shops and/or box deliveries. However, in common with nearly all modern food, much of it travels substantial distances before it gets to us.
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A very small farm
William Paul Winchester's A Very Small Farm is a memoir of quietly extraordinary simplicity — life on twenty acres, building house and barn, putting in a garden and orchard, taking up beekeeping. It belongs to the tradition of Thoreau's Walden and rewards return visits over the years.
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Slow food university
The University of Gastronomic Sciences in Piedmont is the world's first academic institution dedicated to the study of gastronomy — combining botany, food technology, history and sensory analysis. A glimpse of the Slow Food movement's deeper ambitions, including the remarkable Terra Madre gathering in Turin.
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Australian Organic Wine
Here in Australia we have a vibrant wine industry including an increasing number of vineyards producing organic and/or biodynamic wine. We are especially keen on the wines from Mudgee in central NSW.
