I’m outa here; looking for someone to sit in the saddle here

Dear Fellow Travellers   I’m leaving Oz for a while. Two energy-full folk, Jess and Skye, full of verve and wit, will soon be able to give the tours of the house in my place. I’m sorting out who will live here. Would you like to savour the rain water, the daily gifts of the sun to run the place and all that’s here . . . there’s Bob, Pesky, Ginger and the stylish, beautiful (“I run my own race”) Cleo to look after, too – my four chooks. And... Read More

Carriageworks Kitchen Garden stall at Eveleigh a buzz

Alice, Vera, Stef and Bob Holy stalls Batman.  That was fun. Yesterday Alice, Vera, Stef and I met so many terrific supportive and energy-full folk yesterday at our community kitchen garden stall at Everleigh Markets. Truly, Earth can give a bloke a good day every now and then and the black dog can be locked up in its kennel. Forty-eight signatures for the Sustainable Communities Plan. Several copies taken away by designers, community networkers . . . we’re on a roll. Citizens... Read More

Come gardening with us tomorrow

Chippo Nasturtiums on desk Gardeners There’s a couple of dozen buckets of good soil for us to put onto our gardens tomorrow. We need lots of us; even if you just have half an hour to help that would be terrific. We’d love to see anyone who’s never gardened, or think they can’t garden – after an hour with us you’ll be on your way and you’ll discover how easy and enjoyable it is to do something which connects you with Earth.... Read More

Nicholson Museum’s ’50 objects’ exhibition a must

Perhaps my favourite Sydney museum with terrific curating, the Nicholson – just ten minutes walk. Lively, interesting curatorial notes for its exhibitions, eclectic tastes.  And a beautiful space.  Just walking in is like breathing out well. Do see the current exhibition, ‘50 objects 50 stories‘. In particular, the small glass tile portrait is one of the most beautiful works I’ve seen for a long time. And the Taste cafe in the new building to the south... Read More

If Earth had a newspaper column . . .

In today’s Herald:  Clive James’ wonderful article about rubbish written about him.  I journalist pretending to have interviewed him in fact writing the article from the transcript of a radio interview . . . I wish Earth had a column she could write or tweet about the rubbish written about her.  Wonder what her first column might be:  ”Oh, no!”, do you think?  Or, she may quote Shakespeare . . . ” . . . what  piece of work is man . . . “. See... Read More

Wonderful writing, great start to the day

  Sometimes, we start the day, and read something that’s out of the ordinary. In today’s Sydney Morning Herald Jessica Irvine has written something which touches both our Chippendale and every community in every city; worth a read and I’ve blogged, facebooked and emailed it: www.smh.com… If you do read it, read James C Scott’s, Seeing like a state; he’s in Ostrom’s class (to whom Irvine refers), or the books by Stephen... Read More

Another turn around the sun

“Getting old is not for sissies”, said my aunt Maude. Why then, sissy that I am, do I mark today another turn around the sun? Enough already. Time to pause, consider what’s important.  Well, another turn would be beaut. Walked out early into the wild, wild wind of this morning.  Branches all over from the night’s storm. As I gathered up some branches to bring home for a fire, thinking about journeys around the sun, two people come to mind. Nelson Mandela... Read More

The Sustainable Communities Plan is on the web

Sydney City Council asked me to make a plan to make the whole suburb of Chippendale sustainable. It’s not just a plan for this suburb; it can be used to make any suburb sustainable – it’s free and you’re welcome to put it to work where you are. Now the Plan can be read on mobiles, kindles and is very easy to search, use and tweet.  Get it here: theplan.sustainablehouse.com… Enjoy. You can see some of the folks who support the Plan. Please sign the... Read More

Great new vid about how to make Chippo Plan real for us all

Mikey Leung tells stories on video.  He’s just made a beaut vid about our plan to make Chippo sustainable and the people who love it so much they’ve spent hours and hours putting it on a new web page for anyone to use to make the place where they live and work sustainable, too: youtu.be/SHkMh8wwlXY…   Thank you, Mikey – you’re terrific and so’s your vid. Join with us to make the Plan happen and watch the vid and go to the link there .... Read More

Sale at our best gardening bookshop

Imagine a bookshop you can walk to where the staff know all the writers and have most of the books you have heard of and much more you never have – all about gardening, plants and Earth’s growing world.   I reckon it’s Australia’s best specialist gardening bookshop and it’s just off Glebe Pt Road, Glebe.   I’ve received this promo from Gil, the owner, for their annual sale: We open the doors at 10.00am SATURDAY 28... Read More