This is my first ever blog so bear with me while I find my feet. Last year, we moved into our newly built house in a new ecovillage in a valley in southeast Queensland, Australia. Every day, things happen that I think would be great to document but I am not a diary writer. So am I an Internet blogger? I guess I’ll find that out by trying!
As an adult, I have always been ‘green’ in terms of my politics, interests and philosophies but when it comes to gardening and growing things, I can only say that I am a ‘wannabe’ gardener who hasn’t yet found her inner green thumb. My mother is a passionate gardener who grew up on a farm and loves all things country. Every time I manage to kill yet another pot plant (mainly through neglect I confess), I wonder why on earth I didn’t inherit her green thumb (not to mention her cooking skills). So is a green thumb inherited or learnt? Hopefully, it just takes dedication and practice - both qualities I have yet to develop. I think about it a lot but the doing is another matter. It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg at the moment, I don’t really know where to start so I borrow gardening books from the library and read and think and wonder and ask other people, hoping that there is a quick and easy solution (other than having lots of money to pay someone to design and put in a complete permaculture garden for us which is not an option at the moment). So, reading library books is about as far as I’ve got. No, not true. I’ve made one mulch bed but it hasn’t got any plants in it yet. Well, that’s not true either. I did take a native violet that was growing across someone’s path and put that in the mulch bed, but it started dying and then the chooks finished it off. I confess I didn’t think to water it when it got very hot because we’d had so much rain.
Eventually, this ecovillage will be a permaculture, food-producing and fairly self-sufficient community with 143 homes grouped into hamlets on 200 acres with lots of shared green space, a community building, a village centre, and a lovely creek and waterhole. Right now, it’s an ex-dairy farm with about eleven houses on it and lots of grass. That means lots of mowing. Our house is in the Creek Flats and sits on 1100m2 of boggy clay which turned into mushy swamp in the recent torrential rains we had. The land is pretty much flat except for 2 mounds made from digging the foundations of our house and our driveway. On top of one mound, to keep them up and out of the swamp, we have a chook tractor with 4 chooks which we recently inherited from a friend. The chooks are named after precious stones: Opal (who is black and green), Ruby (who is dark red), Pearl (who is white) and Amber (who is browny red).
After we moved into our house, I started dreaming and scheming of how I could get 4 chooks and a chook tractor without spending any money, when a friend said they needed someone to look after their chooks for at least a year. Ask and ye shall receive so they say. So I happily offered without knowing anything about keeping chooks. Don’t you just throw scraps to them every day while saying “chook chook chook” in a high-pitched voice and then you’ll get at least an egg a day from each of them? Not so as I was soon to learn….
About the Author...
Filippa lives in an ecovillage in southeast Queensland with her husband (K), her young son (Mr T), and "tummy bug" - due late September. She is passionate about nutrition, and enjoys nourishing dinner parties and luscious swims in the nearby waterhole. One day, she's hoping to say that she loves gardening too. First though, she's got to get past those childhood memories of Sundays spent pulling little weeds out of a manicured suburban garden bed.
Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hi Filippa - welcome to Nourished! I think you are going to be a great blogger - I loved your first post! I love “chook chook chook” ha ha excellent. My sister kept chooks in her suburban backyard for a little while (there was an unfortunate incident: 2 whippets + 4 chooks = 0 chooks. yikes!). This particular sister is also a horticulturalist and has a beautiful garden (it was in a Commonwealth Bank ad some years ago - the one with the treasure chest). She studied in her 30s and before that never really had any interest in gardens so, yes, I would say it is something you can learn, not something you need to be born with.
Your place sounds absolutely amazing! I am so envious! Keep us updated OK! K xx
Feb 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Thanks Karina, yes we feel very blessed to be living here. My son loves following the kangaroos around - we often wake up to them grazing in our garden. Your sister’s story is inspiring - there is hope for me yet!
Feb 7th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Hee! Hee! Yes I believe that is how you do feed chickens. I have vivid memories of being on my Nana’s farm in NSW and every time we went out to feed the chickens she would throw them food and in a high pitched voice and so fast (I could never say it as fast as she did) say…’heeerrree Chook, Chook, Chook, Chookeeee! Yep. That is about as much help as I can be. :-)
Feb 7th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I so know what you mean. People like Henriette with her remarkable garden in Denmark make girls like us look positively dull. Hopefully she’ll come to your rescue Filippa. I must say I’m impressed, I’m too scared to even step into the garden. We did try with our chook dome construction and 8 chooks. All but two fell to skin disease and we had to terminate - not pleasant. The last two and the dome are waiting patiently for the Permaculture Trust to come and take them off our hands.
I hope one day to be inclined to garden. Until then, I’m hoping to be joined by a mad gardener who hates cooking.
Very keen to hear the stories of your chookies though, do go on..