29 Oct 2017
Warm eddies of water through my fingers and icy cold ones at my feet. The dam was at least 4-5m deep at the centre and very dark; a blackness of cool curling up my legs. A morning dip after breakfast, very refreshing. Except for the beloved retriever who tries to rescues me each time. Its only 10am and already 31 degrees centigrade here. The fan is on full and a slight breeze is sifting through screen doors; just. Its been a long week and with the end of the PTSD course, a very welcome weekend. Until I did too much on Thursday afternoon and twisted my left knee. It seems life has a specific cause of action for me, and getting straight back to work here was not the one. Oh well. Ill just have to swim in dam some more as rehab. At least Rex loves it.
The course ending had a peculiar effect on me. I was actually wanting it to continue, despite the arduous drive there and back three days a week. And I find myself asking why is that? Maybe a sense of protective support from all the members in group, who after 12 weeks together have become close and shown a bond I never thought possible at the beginning. In fact from week one, where I peaked with anxiety, tears and frustration with demons in my head, I find that the calmness I now have is an unbelievable contrast. Twelve weeks, three days a week, confronting the shit that swamps the memory and plagues the senses. But I did it, (we all did it) and I feel privileged to have gone through it with the group. And now on a Sunday morning I am wanting to get out and work! But I wont, because the cottage is a tip and it must be cleaned. Anyway it took till now to sleep off the extra exhaustion from the driving.
Yesterday I took a drive down to Nambour to collect some second hand food grade buckets, 20 in all. And then proceeded to Tin Can Bay to collect 60kg of fish heads and frames, 8 litres of sea water and 10kg of bracken fronds. No I don't plan to go crabbing, just to begin the process of the FAA again (Fermented fish Amino Acid), and so last night I was humping raw fish scraps into equal sized buckets and topping them off with brown sugar. I did get a strange look from supermarket lady - I know I like sugar but really? 20kg?? So I felt obliged to offer a quick explanation. I don't think she understood. Anyway this new batch will be ready in 2-3 months and today I need to try and decant the completed mixtures from July; a messy, gooey gloop of sugar and fish heads, dripping in a fermented soup of glorious goodness. So yummy and surprisingly very few flies! Yes fish sauce.
Another major development with making my WCA as well (Water soluble Calcium) has come with getting the waste egg shells from an organic café in town. There was only so much scrambled eggs I could eat each day. So now Rex has lost his water bath, (well he has three dams to choose from ok!) and it is to be used to dissolve the egg shells in vinegar, aka WCA. So the first 500g batch I made last week needs straining and bottling today. Then the liquid gets sprayed out onto the orchard. And yet another odd look at supermarket while buying up all the white vinegar in shop.
And speaking of orchards, they are really taking off, with more flower still coming, mostly due to the fantastic rain fall this month - which topped 330mm across whole farm. Fabulous. And speaking of all things good, a certain little chick is now big enough to roam free in open with her adopted mummy, and to sleep in the big coop with all the other girls, and John Wayne.
Its now 32 degrees. Rex is back in the dam. Its time for a cold beer.
Warm eddies of water through my fingers and icy cold ones at my feet. The dam was at least 4-5m deep at the centre and very dark; a blackness of cool curling up my legs. A morning dip after breakfast, very refreshing. Except for the beloved retriever who tries to rescues me each time. Its only 10am and already 31 degrees centigrade here. The fan is on full and a slight breeze is sifting through screen doors; just. Its been a long week and with the end of the PTSD course, a very welcome weekend. Until I did too much on Thursday afternoon and twisted my left knee. It seems life has a specific cause of action for me, and getting straight back to work here was not the one. Oh well. Ill just have to swim in dam some more as rehab. At least Rex loves it.
The course ending had a peculiar effect on me. I was actually wanting it to continue, despite the arduous drive there and back three days a week. And I find myself asking why is that? Maybe a sense of protective support from all the members in group, who after 12 weeks together have become close and shown a bond I never thought possible at the beginning. In fact from week one, where I peaked with anxiety, tears and frustration with demons in my head, I find that the calmness I now have is an unbelievable contrast. Twelve weeks, three days a week, confronting the shit that swamps the memory and plagues the senses. But I did it, (we all did it) and I feel privileged to have gone through it with the group. And now on a Sunday morning I am wanting to get out and work! But I wont, because the cottage is a tip and it must be cleaned. Anyway it took till now to sleep off the extra exhaustion from the driving.
Yesterday I took a drive down to Nambour to collect some second hand food grade buckets, 20 in all. And then proceeded to Tin Can Bay to collect 60kg of fish heads and frames, 8 litres of sea water and 10kg of bracken fronds. No I don't plan to go crabbing, just to begin the process of the FAA again (Fermented fish Amino Acid), and so last night I was humping raw fish scraps into equal sized buckets and topping them off with brown sugar. I did get a strange look from supermarket lady - I know I like sugar but really? 20kg?? So I felt obliged to offer a quick explanation. I don't think she understood. Anyway this new batch will be ready in 2-3 months and today I need to try and decant the completed mixtures from July; a messy, gooey gloop of sugar and fish heads, dripping in a fermented soup of glorious goodness. So yummy and surprisingly very few flies! Yes fish sauce.
Another major development with making my WCA as well (Water soluble Calcium) has come with getting the waste egg shells from an organic café in town. There was only so much scrambled eggs I could eat each day. So now Rex has lost his water bath, (well he has three dams to choose from ok!) and it is to be used to dissolve the egg shells in vinegar, aka WCA. So the first 500g batch I made last week needs straining and bottling today. Then the liquid gets sprayed out onto the orchard. And yet another odd look at supermarket while buying up all the white vinegar in shop.
And speaking of orchards, they are really taking off, with more flower still coming, mostly due to the fantastic rain fall this month - which topped 330mm across whole farm. Fabulous. And speaking of all things good, a certain little chick is now big enough to roam free in open with her adopted mummy, and to sleep in the big coop with all the other girls, and John Wayne.
Its now 32 degrees. Rex is back in the dam. Its time for a cold beer.
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