Sydney study into native bee health

Leafcutter bee A research project is underway in Sydney, led by Tanya Latty, into the health of native bees. In their new facebook page Tanya Latty says:. The goal of the Urban Bees project is to study the ecology of native bees in community gardens within greater Sydney metropolitan area. Specifically, we will address four main questions: 1) Which species of native bee are present in community gardens and in what numbers? 2) Which plant species/flowers are attractive to bees? 3)... Read More

Janet Laurence’s plant sculptures

One of my favourite sculptors is Janet Laurence.   Kimberley botanical Janet recently went to Australia’s Kimberley and brought back some plants and is making sculptures from them.  Here’s Janet’s description and some photos of her work. “The great majority of Australian plants and animals are found nowhere else on earth. They are precious repositories of unique genes and evolutionary strategies living in unique ecosystems and, as Tim Flannery has... Read More

Elke’s bee photos

Inside the honey bee hive This weekend I met a friend, Elke Haege, a landscape architect and consulting arborist, at the Australian Garden Show at Centennial Park and she promised me some photos of her introduced honey bees and hive in her garden at Paddington, Sydney.   European honey bee Elke says: “I was inspecting my hives this morning and took a few pictures.  This time of the year is really all about regular inspections to prevent swarming. Gee you have to really... Read More

Go wild

Here is my review for the Sydney Morning Herald last weekend of George Monbiot’s new book about rewilding ourselves, our culture and our countries, Feral: the enchantment of rewilding –  review . . . Go wild, M  Read More

New game to save the world to save a bear

There’s a new game being developed for kids around Earth, Habitat the game. The site says: “. . . players will undertake actions to keep an endangered animal alive. In this first iteration of Habitat game players will adopt a polar bear. To keep the bear alive and healthy, players need to successfully complete events in the game and undertake real world actions. By completing these TASKS players will progress through levels, increasing the health of their bear and... Read More

Axel Munthe’s house in Capri

“My house must be open to the sun, wind, and the voice of the sea just like a Greek temple and light, light, light everywhere”  - Axel Munthe A friend, Jeni, is leading a tour to Italy and will show folks the house of Axel Munthe, a Swedish doctor who made his life in Italy. So beautiful, as it appears in this photo, it seems words can’t do. From Chippo, where I am now, it prompts the question:  where do I find beauty in my life where I am now? I  don’t... Read More

David Whyte, poet – when poetry can be enough . . .

TEN YEARS LATER When the mind is clear and the surface of the now still, now swaying water slaps against the rolling kayak, I find myself near darkness, paddling again to Yellow Island. Every spring wildflowers cover the grey rocks. Every year the sea breeze ruffles the cold and lovely pearls hidden in the center of the flowers as if remembering them by touch alone. A calm and lonely, trembling beauty that frightened me in youth. Now their loneliness feels familiar, one small... Read More

New short uni course on sustaining neighbourhoods

Do join me in the new uni short course I’m running at UTS, Sydney, called, Building Sustainable Neighbourhoods. There will be three blocks of uni, each of a day and a half. I’ve described it like this on the enrolment site: Meet industry, council and community leaders who are designing and building sustainable neighbourhoods. Learn how to make your neighbourhoods sustainable. Whether it’s water, wastewater (sewage), designing and building cool roads to cool... Read More

Steel Stewardship Forum sponsors an ecopops

The Steel Stewardship Forum has sponsored an ecopops.   The Forum represents all those involved in the steel industry in Australia, from mining through to fabrication of such things as rain tanks, steel rods and steel mesh.  The Forum’s website notes that the recovery rate for steels at the end of life in Australia exceeds 90 per cent.   The Forum sees the ecopops as a billboard for sustainability in our cities.   I’m delighted to have the Forum’s... Read More

When a black kelpie rounds up the chooks

Helen, Jeni, Amanda’s mum and Amanda at some of the road garden Yesterday, Sunday 4 August, I went to look at a verge garden that Amanda Townsend and her family have built at Maroubra.  Beautiful and inspiring. Then Amanda took us out the back of the house and I saw the funniest, most tender thing; a beautiful, so smart, black kelpie herding some chooks.  Both dog and chooks are on good terms. It’s hard to photograph a black kelpie so the photos aren’t too... Read More