I shouldn’t write the way I’d like to, purely because if some time in the future what I have written begs the question “how could you right something like that about us, we didn’t want our private lives exposed on your badly written blog“, I might feel bad.

It could be the Calea having a passive effect. We have done a few cuttings lately and they all seem to be thriving?! Be it that or just  the Universe intervening in an extraordinary way, I don’t care which, things are unfolding as if I were having a lucid dream. Lucid because I am able to take cognoscence of it’s unfolding, while being dreamlike in it’s uncanny synchronicity.

I’ll take one example so as not to labour on about all the surreal movement that has steered our sail in directions that have made me question normal again. That would be cliche. That example would be our water situation.

I mentioned before that we were blessed with two house flooding scenarios this summer, both coupled with the falling down of trees. Blessings, because we have our wood pile well stocked for winter, and with my insistence on collecting and harvesting rain water as a priority, I can hardly complain about the supply She (the Universe) has sent our way.

It seemed to come as a response to my father and I finally agreeing on a location for the damn / catchment area – a small but significant break through in the human condition that needs to look and stare before a decision is made, but comes after the solution has been identified. The only challenge left was to accurately read the water’s approach for the harvest and then consider the implications beyond our property that might render ill effect as a result of our capturing efforts.

We’ve loosely agreed that we should approach it’s build with the caution of any ordinary person approaching the build of a swimming pool. At least in my father’s perspective when it comes to mainstream development. Cost, mess, result – all worth paying attention to! Ironically, however, being that catching rain water is not mainstream (yet), he was prepared to start with excavating prior to planning and I have had to stop him on numerous occasions where he has contemplated putting Mark and Zachais to digging.

When you want to catch water, you better know what you’re dealing with and then check your plan a few times before starting the project. Do NOT underestimate water, nor the damage of disturbed ground when the water won’t stay where you want it to. Water is a law unto itself, as are pioneer plants in a disturbed clearing – be prepared to tend to their needs, or is that YOUR weeds.

Here’s the big amazing point. The family that have moved in next door, align with us in ways I can’t count on both hands. First and foremost, the man of the house is a water sustainability systems consultant. Now I know consultant is just another word for paid adviser who need take no responsibility if the advise didn’t work on account of the risk that you might not have done what he advised or whatever, this guy has a vested interest in our plan, considering he is down stream from us. Not really in line with the water, but I am sure, their place gets what we get in water too.

So now we have someone to pose our questions too, who will care very much what we decide in the end.

To mention just another sync…the lady of the house is geared to running an education facility, supporting home schooling students. NEXT DOOR!!!! and is studying politics, political economics and so on and so forth, and we speak the same language! I was starting to think there was no one who could (besides my immediate family).

I feel wide awake and alert to anything that might change my first impressions. Like in a lucid dream, the tiniest detail and most trivial sequence is so rich and fascinating. However the wisdom of hindsight is a solemn robe to wear.

This shifting sure feels like there’s been a distinct gear change of sorts; is it global or local, real or perceived? Is it the same for you or is this just my reality?

I read a sex scene in the book I’m reading on my kindle from “The Garden of Temptation” by Cynthia Wicklund; it just worked out that way, I had 15 minutes waiting for my son to finish school sport, I did not seek it out! In the story, after the event, back home and alone in her room, her reflection in the mirror bore a different person staring back at her than had been before. Though she knew why she looked changed, she could not place what, in her appearance, it could be.

I feel the same the last few weeks, like something changed. Something natural, but irreversible. Like I’m shedding my skin and emerging as someone new.

What’s happening with you?

My winter seeds have come up – the lettuce, peas, brassicas. I’ve broadcast carrot seed, because they are a constant and I prefer to find a carrot here and there as if nature provided for me outside of the designated gardening area. However I found this weekend, that where I did not thin the rows of carrots, they in fact managed just fine. More over, they showed me that when they grow close together,I can just pull a few at one time – obviating the collective noun found in a ‘bunch of carrots’.

I am still waiting for my Living Seeds order, but I did receive the cloning gel I ordered from Fairy Gardens on Gumtree. So Tony and I enthusiastically tested it on more Calea Zachetichichi cuttings. We have the idea that if we multiply them we could plant a hedge of Calea and provide ourselves with all that we need for lucid dreaming well into our old age. That is a dream worth living for!

I updated my CV this morning. I’m off to see someone about work today at 1pm. I Googled CV layouts and was amazed to find that there is room for a creative layout in a CV, and to accurately reflect my interest in off beat reporting, I styled it in a newspaper print layout- now to see if ordinary printers can print onto news print type paper. I hope for recycled paper at least.

I have to run, will post the results of my meeting in due course.

We’re days away from the Autumn Equinox and the seed sites are making their last call for winter seed germination. You should be busy planting and if you’re not, don’t let your human condition convince you it’s too late. Do it. Check the Projects page if you are curious about our garlic, brassica’s, herbs and rain water harvesting efforts.

I ordered some winter seeds from Living Seeds Heirloom Seeds yesterday. Some fresh Brassica’s (cabbage family), and herbs. It is my intention to give the vegetable garden a structure with perennial herbs that can be used abundantly, but more importantly, can be cut back and shaped aggressively to be the hedged borders around the tender vegetable crops, guarding them from pests and setting the soil conditioning naturally.

To do this, I am following Margaret Roberts‘ book Companion Planting, in conjunction with her Essential Margaret Roberts book, spelling out the most valuable information on 100 different herbs. Not valuable so much for the guidance of herb growing as much as valuable for her experience of the climate and region we are in. All the books in the world can tell you how to grow any plant, provided you create the right conditions. Margaret Roberts is as local as I can get in genuine expert terms and has been champion in her generous information sharing.

Not only will I use her books to grow the best herb crops, but I am also following her Herbal Teas for Healthy Living book, in which she refers to the use and preparation of the same herbs in the simplest, uncomplicated descriptions, making it impossible not to be at least a bit curious. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a herbal tea lover, but I am a natural remedies advocate, and I assure you, these teas are far more flavourful than most medicines, allopathic or not. I will post my findings, successes and failures in this regard on the home remedies page as I go.

We are also embarking on some plant multiplication. Tony made a small incubator with a transparent plastic container and a couple of glass panes to close it with. We took a good many Calea Zacatechichi cuttings and after dipping them in semi woody stem rooting powder, have incubated them and this morning they’re looking great.

I have to say, and I’ll say it now – we have not taken any money to punt any products or services. If we say we like it here, we do, if we don’t, we’ll say so too. Which brings me to Biogrow compost activator. I’ve been composting for a while now, sometimes with more enthusiasm than other times. Last winter we did not do our compost duty and  managed to layer a compost heap fresh at the beginning of the summer only. After the first turn, sticks and all, I realised it would be a while before it would be ready and bought some Biogrow at a nursery and applied that to the next turn. Only now on the brink of Autumn, have I gone to collect compost to sieve for seedlings and have discovered a medium so perfect that the earthworms and moved in made a breeding ground of it. Compared to the effort that has to go into worm farming, which is not extraordinary, this appealed to my lazy (actually busy) nerve, very much with results like those you’d get from a seasoned farmer. Go get some… it is well worth it.

Help!!! we need some advise on some of the projects we would like to plan and research. If you are or know of a dam fundi, no really – for our rain water harvesting project, we would love to avoid easy to recognise mistakes that people in the know can point out to us. Mail us if you have any suggestions.

That’s Sunday’s Status Quo… see you soon!