Recently I read that in a car accident, you are pulled instantly into the present moment: out of your musings on the past and dreamings of the future into a true present. And that is exactly what I experienced. “Did you have lots of memories flashing past you?”, a friend asked me yesterday. No. There was only the present moment. I did not think of my children. I did not think of my husband. I was there, right there in what was happening as my car planed on a wet and oily road to the wrong side of the road and back again and finally smashed into a rock wall. I was thrown around like a rag doll, badly bruised and it feels like all the muscles in my upper body and neck have been pulled and stretched. Now I know why I’ve never liked roller coaster rides and scary theme park rides – they are a toned down version of my accident. Not my idea of fun.

So why did it happen? I may not ever know and the relief of this experience has been letting go of trying to analyse and see a message in it. It’s about sitting in what is, experiencing what is. Right here. Right now.

Today, my thoughts were constantly on the tragedy and loss that Lauren and her family of the blog “Sparkling Adventures” have experienced. In one moment, her life has changed forever. My heart aches for you Lauren. I only discovered your blog a few weeks ago and it was such a shock when I heard yesterday, via an unschooling friend, of the loss of your baby son and the events surrounding his death.

In light of this, my car accident is so insignificant. A grain of sand, less even. But it could have been such a different outcome. Today, Kayo climbed up on a wall on the 2^nd floor of a high school balcony. Kosuke noticed her and yanked her down in fear and shock. One slip and she would have fallen to her death or at least severe injury onto the ashphalt below. One moment, a different outcome.

So, the day closes with a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for the blessings I have experienced in my life and for the protection and luck thus far. Life is tenuous and it could change in a moment so all we can do is hold on for the ride and treasure this moment. Right here. Right now.

One of the best things about where we live is what is called the “greenway” behind our house. We live in an ecovillage where the houses are built in clusters called hamlets all looking in on a central greenway. There is a pathway running through and the kids can play freely without worrying about cars and without being fenced in. And I can watch from inside where generally I’m cooking in the kitchen or working on my laptop at the dining table.

And now, in June, winter has well and truly arrived. Everyone’s talking about how cold it is. “Bleak” was the word my mother used today. In reality, it’s only around 18 degrees – not that cold! But in a sub-tropical climate like this, mild cold feels colder than it really is. Here in the valley it can get down to almost zero and we do get the odd frost. So nice to have the contrast to the hot, humid summers but at the beginning of winter, it feels like a long time until it’s beach and sundresses time again.

The other day, John Palmer (affectionately referred to as our garden angel), popped in to knock the seed heads off a few noxious weeds, say hi to the kids (which usually means teach them about an edible weed in the garden and then sing them a song), praise the parts of the garden that are growing really well, and be on his merry way. But this time, there was a surprise: “Your first pineapple is ready” What?? He showed me where it had grown completely unbeknown to me. It had already fallen off its perch. In case you didn’t know (and I certainly didn’t!!), the new pineapple grows on TOP of the old pineapple top. What a strange and fascinating fruit. And you know what? I swear it was the best pineapple I have tasted in my life – no joke. John says you need 100 pineapple plants in your garden to be able to eat them regularly when they are in season. Yum yum. I will be religiously putting pineapple tops in the garden from now on.

Update: one important point I forgot to mention is that pineapples grown from old pineapple tops take 2 and 1/2 to 3 years to grow!! So don’t be expecting pineapples to come popping out of your old tops in a hurry. It really is a matter of throw it into the garden and forget about it. Even more awe-inspiring and something to savour slowly and enjooooyyyy. Slow Food at its best I say.

When we first started hearing that the floods were headed for Brisbane, I was worried that the Gold Coast would be next. I rang my husband and asked him to gather our important documents like passports (forgetting insurance papers!) and discs of photos from our computer. I tried to think of what we really didn’t want to lose in the flood. Apart from our house itself, I couldn’t really think of anything. Of course it would be devastating to have your life’s possessions washed away but I realised that really all that mattered was our own safety. As long as we (especially our children) were ok and together, we would be alright, we would get through.

Later, I saw footage of a family on the top floor of their home as they filmed the rising flood outside and watched their possessions floating away. The woman called out despairingly as her lounge suite was carried away by the flood: “my lounge! my lounge!” And in that moment, I suddenly didn’t mind my shabby old hand-me-down lounge anymore. The flood has cured me of any desire to have expensive furniture. My thoughts turned to people who have spent years building up beautiful collections of antique furniture. I wonder if they lost most of it or if it was damaged beyond repair. An expensive new lounge is replaceable – especially if it’s insured – but antiques aren’t. I’ve always loved antiques but now I’m content to admire them in other people’s homes! I think I’d rather concentrate on paying off my mortgage sooner and not worrying when my kids are bouncing all over the sofa and doing somersaults (“look at me mama, look at me!”) or my friend’s toddler scribbles all over the back of the lounge (scallywag but much loved!!).

I feel a new appreciation for my family life and the life that we are creating for ourselves here in the ecovillage. I’m told that this area would not experience the kind of flooding that occurred in Brisbane, the Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and so on. I hope not, but it has been good for me to get a bit of perspective on what’s really important. Family time has taken on new meaning and significance for us. It is unspoken but I can sense that both my husband and I are treasuring time together and as a family more than before the floods.

And as for shabby, there’s always recovering. We picked these two chairs up from the side of the road some years ago. This summer, I recovered them and our front deck now feels so different with my “brand new” deck chairs!

Some months ago, a lovely farmer by the name of Paul Graham rang me and asked if I knew anyone who wanted to buy bulk organic meat. I’ve told this story before. We’ve done two large orders and everyone’s really happy with the meat and the system. To make it easier to coordinate, I’ve created a new website called The Organic Meat Club.

If you live on the Gold Coast (Queensland) and would like to participate in buying bulk organic meat, please subscribe through the Organic Meat Club website. Subscription is free. When it’s time for a bulk meat order, you will receive an email with all the details.

This site will also have recipes and information to help you make the most of your meat. Paul Graham will soon be able to supply lamb and we are now looking for an organic chicken farmer.

Bringing affordable, certified organic, grass fed meat to the Gold Coast

We don’t keep breakfast cereal in our house because it’s generally highly processed (even weetbix) and usually contains lots of sugar. But having grown up eating cornflakes and weetbix, I do crave some kind of breakfast cereal at times. Nuts (soaked and dehydrated to neutralise the phytates and activate the enzymes) and fruit with milk, cream or yoghurt is a really nice brekky but if you’re really after a bowl of morning cereal, then Fermented Coconut Granola is the answer! Kayo loves this – she has it dry without milk, usually in the mornings but often for an afternoon snack as well.

There is a bit of effort in making it but you can make a large batch and it keeps really well in an airtight container.

Coconut Granola

8 cups rolled oats
1/2 melted unsalted butter, cooled
1/2 cup melted coconut oil, cooled
1 and 1/2 cups whole yoghurt
2 cups water
1/2 cup raw honey or maple syrup
1 tspn sea salt
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups crispy nuts (soaked and dehydrated)
1 cup raisins

Mix Oats, butter, coconut oil, yogurt, and water together in a large bowl. Pat down, cover with a plate, and leave on the kitchen counter for 2 days. Place honey, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl and set in a small pot of simmering water until honey warms and becomes thin. Mix honey with oat mixture. Spread the mixture out on lined cookie trays and bake in a very low oven for several hours until completely dried out or put in a dehydrator for 12 to 24 hours. Mix with shredded coconut, nuts, and raisins. Store in airtight container. Serve with milk, cream or yoghurt. Also, great used as a yogurt or ice cream topping.

I make double this quantity and the mixture perfectly fits into the 5 trays of my dehydrator. You can just spread the mixture out as one mass and break it up after it dries or break it up into lumps before dehydrating it. Depends on how uniform you want the final result to be. If I’m making it for others, I tend to be fussier about how it looks (see picture below), if it’s just for the family, then I do the quickest easiest way (tastes the same!).

* Recipe from Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig

This sandstone sting ray was one of Taiji’s favourites.

I loved these sand shoes. My mother, visiting from Toodyay in Western Australia, loved the sculpture exhibition too. Afterwards, we sat in a cafe overlooking the beach and had a glass of wine while the kids had some hot chips.

All in all, a lovely outing!

This weekend Taiji decided it was time to harvest the sweet potatoes that he and John had planted some time ago, so Kosuke and Taiji set to:

Taiji wanted to eat them straight away but I explained that they needed to be cooked.

We had hash browns cooked in coconut oil for dinner. Yum yum!

The second thing that has been helping me lately is the idea of taking little steps. If the big picture is overwhelming, start with one small part of it. Tackle that and then go onto the next bit. Our garden is rather large and has overwhelmed me since the day we moved here. If it wasn’t for John Palmer adopting us and our garden, we would be spending our weekends pushing the lawn mower (not really kosher in an ecovillage!). Lately, to my surprise, I’ve been enjoying gardening! Once I decided to tackle a small section at a time, I began to enjoy it.

I’ve just created a small garden bed next to our front deck. It was a weedy messy overgrown bed and now it is planted with lovely natives from Michelle’s Native Plants. Michelle kindly came to our house, looked at where I was thinking of planting and put together a group of plants that were suitable for the spot. What satisfaction I feel walking out of my front door every day and seeing the little garden I’ve created.