Eco building

THAT FANTASY PLAYGROUND

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Dog and ceramic pipes at the building site

Paint peeling off old wheelbarrows

That dog greeting dance

Gracie unhappy with other dog at the building site

Tom patting dog at the building site

Dog snoozing at the building site

Kids playing in the sand at the building site

Kids playing in the bags of insulation at the building site

Kids playing with insulation bags at the building site

Shoes and socks at the building site

 

When you were a child did you play on building sites, climb trees and jump off. That nervous excitement at falling and that life affirming jolt as your feet hit the ground? It made me smile to see the kids (and dogs) on the building site running amok, making ghastly potions for each other out of barbecue sauce and Tabasco and climbing and dreaming.

From what you hear that kind of play is dead, or at least frowned upon with all these identical blue and red playground with tanbark and monkey bars lowered year after year at the whisper of danger. I saw it happen while I was at Primary School the exciting timber castle replaced with shiny and slick and same same.

But, there are some big kids at heart out there letting kids run wild, what a relief everyone hadn’t lost their sense of fun.

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Eco building, Garden

THE SOUTH MELBOURNE PERMABLITZ – COMMUNITY & CURVES

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Digging out soil from earth bag garden bed, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Digging a hole for a Medlar fruit tree, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Measuring hole for the Medlar fruit tree, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Digging out the old soil from the earth bag garden bed, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Curving earth bag wall, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little boy climbing sand pile, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Pile of gloves, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Compost pile, at the South Melbourne Permablitz

Unkinking irrigation hose for erth bag garden beds, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little girl playing, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little boy sitting on the pile of sand, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

My shoulder and arm muscles had finally forgiven me after my first Blitz and I decided to try another, at which thankfully, I was neither designer nor facilitator. Not in a backyard this time, but at the South Melbourne Commons in the capable hands of designers Seila and Charlie.

It was lovely to see all those veggie beds in a shared public space, all nestled around that lovely old brick building. The earth bag beds had already been constructed at a past Blitz which I wish I’d been to as this is something we would like to do for our Blitz. They were lovely and curving, and our main job for the day was to fill them up with compost for the cafe garden. Warm windy days are not ideal for shifting compost, but after a few eye watering encounters we managed to move the huge pile before lunch.

After some serious matocking the soil gave way just enough to let us plant some Medlar fruit trees, I’ll be curious to see how they go as I don’t think i’ve ever seen, let alone tasted their fruit. Whenever someone turned their head the kids at the Blitz cheekily tried to fill in the holes again, nothing like a little bit of mischief to keep us on our toes.

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Eco building, Travel

GOLD RUSH BRIDGES

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Dylan and the old rail way bridge in Malmsbury, Australia

Orange fungi on a log in the Botanical Gardens in Malmsbury, Australia

The lake at the Malmsbury Botanical Gardens, Australia

Dylan in front of the old railway bridge in Malmsbury, Australia

The Mechanics Institute on the main street in Malmsbury, Australia

Close-up of a horse in Malmsbury, Australia

Old railway bridge in Taradale, Australia

House by a brook in Taradale, Australia

Cherry tree in the woods in Taradale, Australia

Lichen on a branch in the woods in Taradale, Australia

The old railway station in Taradale, Australia

Shadows of lichen covered branches on a fence in Taradale, Australia

Wattle flowers in the bush near Elphinstone, Australia

Ruin near Fryers Town, Australia

Purple Hardenbergia creeping over rocks near Malmsbury, Australia

Yellow flowering broom bush near Malmsbury, Australia

White blossoms near Malmsbury, Australia

Today went for a lovely day trip to Malmsbury and Taradale. Sweet little Gold Rush towns under the shadow of some stunning old stone bridges. Is there anything dreamier than a little cottage perched on a hill looking down to a little brook bumbling through a silver forest? Perhaps one at the foot of an old gold rush bridge with cows lazing in its shade?

The whole countryside has awoken and begun to bloom.

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Eco building

SLEEPERS AND DOMES

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The dome is practically finished! Just a few foot holds for kids to climb on the roof and soil to be filled in around the bottom so they don’t smash themselves when they tumble off the roof. We ended up bringing in sand for the final render as the landfill just wasn’t cutting it. The plaster already began to cobweb crack as we were finishing it off, but I really like that, I think it makes it the more beautiful. Nader developed the ‘reptiling’ because he had until that moment being working against the crack, trying to work against nature, but one day he sat up in the middle of the night and realised why not work with it, you can’t crack a reptile because it is one.

The whole course was peppered with poems and wisdom that Sheefteh remembered her father telling her as a little  girl, and this is one that resounded with the whole group.

No matter how hard you try you cannot wake someone who is pretending to sleep, but whilst in their faux slumber they will be listening and watching with half an ear and half an eye.

Do you remember pretending to sleep as a child?

Many of the people in the group were interested in green issues, many had studied permaculture and it has always been something that just leaves you feeling chilled when you speak to someone who just refuses to believe in something like climate change and what’s more belittles you for your ideals. I had a run in with a “green” developer recently who laughed uproariously at climate change and the suckers who would pay extra for a green building, practically rubbing his hands together. But as Rumi says, you can’t make someone who doesn’t want to know listen and it can just leave you feeling helpless. It is better to do what positive things you can with those who are interested and perhaps the sleepers will come around in the end. What a lovely thought. Can it be true?

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