13th on the list

Woo hoo – a smiling one. In this weekend’s Spectrum the Sydney Morning Herald’s Literary Editor, Susan Wyndham has included my book, Sustainable House, in her list of the year’s top books to buy for Xmas. 13th. That’ll do. A great incentive for me to catch up on some more writing. May the books be with you, Michael (And that’s terrific, Susan,... Read More

Burst water main today

Pine Lane water main floods From the mountains to Chippo to the sea Water bypassing trees, verge It was a strange sight in this early morning to see a torrent of water from a burst water main in Pine Lane. So much water wasted. If all the water that falls in our streets in a year were to fall in a couple of days this is how that water would look. The photos demonstrate how water... Read More

Compost with pizzaz

Left to Right, Graham Chalcroft, Bin with pizzaz on the way, Michael This morning I went to visit Graham Chalcroft, the artist at Addison Road Centre, with Helen from the City Council. Graham’s putting the last coats and images on the bin and we’re hoping to receive it next week to put back on our road gardens. May the compost with pizzaz be with you, Michael  Read More

Living with two zen masters

L to R - Bob, Bert I live with two zen masters, both of them chooks. They dwell constantly in the here and now.  Watching them doing anything is a gift; they teach me to be myself, to come into the now of the moment. If I were to say they teach me spiritual lessons and you laughed, I would, too, but it’s true. They peck joyfully.  You want to see a simple peck for what... Read More

TAFE Outreach students visit orchard farm

Today a van of we city folk visited an organic orchard run by Jeremy and Antony Wallis, called Colo River Citrus, located at the confluence of the Hawkesbury and Colo rivers, in one of the most beautiful small valleys I’ve seen within an hour’s drive west of Sydney. Tafe’s Outreach Program in association with Cafe Cana are running a sustainable living course and... Read More

Dip in the briney

To keep up with the delish of summer that’s upon us I threw myself into the Bronte pool about half an hour after sunrise today. Yum. What's around the corner? Here comes the sun Bronte pool at 620 am today And so it goes . . . , enjoy this beautiful day, Michael  Read More

Of bees, gurus and lost opportunities

In her autobiography, Images and Shadows, Iris Origo the American who married an Italian and lived in Italy but, more importantly, overcame great wealth to live and write and to love with disciplined, accessible passion and learning, describes her brief time with a wonderful teacher when she was 15. In the chapter, Reading and learning,  she describes learning Greek and Latin poetry.... Read More

Some eyesong for the heart

Compost bin with heart n soul A bin to make you smile Some things sing to the heart through our eyes and, after a topsy turvy day as this has been so far, I’ve come to this computer to find something which through my eyes brings a little song to my little heart, that thing which bebops away somewhere. Graham Chalcroft’s work painting our old compost bin is full of life... Read More

Gas drilling and fracking

Amidst the gas drilling frenzy across Australia and the limp coverage of it by our media I’ve found this recent blog by one of my favourite energy writers, James Kunstler, and some of it is here: “• The fracking fluid is a secret proprietary cocktail formula amounting to 5 percent of the liquid injected into the earth. It’s composed of: sand; a jelling agent... Read More

Mulch bin mulched

Mulcher and mulch bin Empty mulch bin Fresh mulch on road garden Yesterday a private mulching business came and mulched our road mulch free of charge. John from Treescapes (tel 9519 4790) donated his machinery, labour and his time to turn our bin of garden waste into mulch. In about 20 minutes we had the whole bin mulched and put around the road garden plants. John has said... Read More