Reconnecting with nature and community in the inner city.
Stormy weather took out the power lines so Christmas morning began with a crackling fire and smokey toasted croissants. Traditions of plastic trees, turkey and shouting matches are made to be broken: family, friends and fishing are much nicer. Chocolate birthday cake is pretty delightful as well.
The weather was finally dreaming of summer and two gloriously sunny days at the beach made up for weeks of mud and dreary grey skies above tarpaulins. We took our housemates for their first Australian beach adventure and, Antarctic water aside, I was proud of my little Australia, she really can impress when she puts a little effort in. So sun and salt washed away the tiredness, which we had been storing up, a sigh of relief that the main slog of the Permablitz was over and gently pushing the knowledge that there is so many ends untied in the garden out to sea bobbing towards the horizon for at least a few days of lazy leisure.
Clay and sand became a neat, slightly wrinkly, row of earth bags outlining our first garden bed. However, satisfaction turned upside down when we saw how quickly the pile of clay had diminished with so few bags. Luckily our friends Nicholas and Minna saved us by offering up their trailer to collect more clay.
We returned to the building site greeted by guard dogs in t-shirts, if their wagging tails and liquid eyes didn’t diminish the quality of their threat then their wardrobe sure did. The owners were kind enough to take photos of us at work, we noted that the number of people we owed a crate of home brew thank yous was rising.
As a thanks for the trailer we delivered a load of clay to Minna at her house in Heidelberg for cobbing. She and Nicholas have been running earth bag workshops in their backyard and we were met with the glorious site of their earth dome rising proudly amongst post-war brick houses with ubiquitous tiled hip roofs.The contrast will make their dome all the more delightful when they have it rendered. I don’t think you’ll find a sauna like this anywhere else in Melbourne, it’s a shame!
You can see progress of their dome at their Permastructure website.
With the weight of a big day of clay and earth bags ahead we got up early to treat ourselves to a nice breakfast at Made Cafe. It was a perfect spring morning, pink petals against blue sky. The staff at Made know Gracie well, to our shame, as the dog that hates trains. Situated opposite a train station, we provided the morning entertainment for our fellow breakfasters.Luckily they all had fluffy friends with leads fastened tightly to their hearts, so they found our blushes more hysterical than Gracie’s noise annoying.
As my egg yolk burst so did all my dreams of getting into food blogging. I realised Dylan was just too quick for me to snap a shot of his plate before the food miraculously disappeared with a blink into his belly.