wild, wild, life...

10:59 PM 2012, climate change, cooking, fauna, garden, snake No Comments

wild, wild, life...

No, not an ode to  the seminal Talking Heads tune but living in rural Australia, in the bush, one of the joys is the wildlife.  While I am somewhat Ophidiophobic Toni is enamoured, so let's continue with the story. 

I was awoken at 2 AM the other night by the raucous cackling of our chickens and wandered down to check what was happening  with my spotlight.  I had visions of either a Fox (though we had never seen any here) or a native Quoll, (we had lost a chicken before to a Quoll) but while looking around the yard, I spied a large Carpet Python in the Mulberry tree causing the disturbance, it had it's beady eye on a target, one of the roosting chickens.  Some of the chickens refuse to roost in their salubrious accommodation i.e. the chook house and prefer the vagaries of the weather.  So there (s)he was harassing the girls, looking for a meal.  I swallowed my masculine pride and raced back to the house squealing like a little girl to wake Toni...

we then proceeded to grab the rake ho's and she dragged it out of the tree, while balancing on the step ladder, bagged it and we then relocated it after daylight.  Only a little cursing for having been woken at that hour, what a sweetie.

and here (s)he is after being released, what a fine fellow

Carpet Python

working in the garden

After all the fabulous work Steve has done in the garden, Toni is continuing by prepping a couple beds for seedlings and planting seeds in other beds

Herb garden is looking great

and the Pepino's are coming along at just the right time, as most of the other fruit has finished

Pepino bush

Pepino ripe for the pickin'

and we have them as a side order with breakfast most morning

Eating the garden

Nom, nom, nom !

Just about everything on the breakfast plate is homemade or home grown, the only thing not is the cheese, pepper and Thai Egg flavouring sauce (that we got attached to while in SE Asia).  The fruit plate is white mulberries, pepino, strawberries, raspberries and brazillian cherries

Climate Change

I saw these words on a tech. forum I visit (/. for those in the know) and thought them poignant

Our economic system is clearly unsustainable in ways environmental and mathematical. That means our current way of life won't last forever. Since we don't seem to be doing much to fundamentally change, we are leaving the coming transition entirely in the hands of nature.

Over Population and Climate Change (inexorably linked, too many people using too much, one or the other needs reduction for a balance to occur) are two top of mind topics for us, often leaving us a little flummoxed as they no serious work done on them to ameliorate their effects.  Mostly just talk.. and more talk... and defense of those talks with more talks and the moving of blame for someone else (Government) to do "something" with no real objective look at the action needed.  Everyone skirts what seems palpably obvious and that is to actually do anything everyone in the western world is going to have to wear a hairshirt, something most have no interest in facing up to.

We're here trying to work our way through it by engaging practically in seeing what works in the reduction side of the equation.

From "The Conversation" the other day

Human role in climate change now virtually certain: leaked IPCC report

“It is virtually certain that this is caused by human activities, primarily by the increase in CO2 concentrations. There is very high confidence that natural forcing contributes only a small fraction to this imbalance.”

“If they can look at a short section of a report and walk away believing it says the opposite of what it actually says, and if this spin can be uncritically echoed by very influential blogs like WattsUp, imagine how wildly they are misinterpreting the scientific evidence. This should open people’s eyes as to the credibility of the alternative ‘views’ they are serving up.”