The world in Harmony

Book Review: - Harmony, a new way of looking at our world.  By HRH The Prince of Wales.

I finished reading this book a couple of weeks ago, and I have since ordered myself a copy.  It is a really beautiful book, both physically and philosophically.

I grew up hearing about Prince Charles and his love of nature, he was often derided for 'talking to his plants', for being at the 'extreme' end of the green scale, and for butting his nose into the areas of architecture and town planning.  But we all know how the media likes a good story, and doesn't always let the full truth get in the way.

Reading this book will tell you more about Prince Charles as a person than you will ever get from any magazine or newspaper report.  It will reveal a man who was ahead of his time in his concern for the earth in a truly holistic way.  A man who has an incredible respect and even reverence for the different peoples, cultures and religions of the world, and sees their commonalities.  An intelligent, interested, well read & hard working man.  But don't think this is a self-congratulatory book, that is just the impression gained from the thoughts he expresses.

But learning about Prince Charles the man is far from being the primary reason for reading this book - it is for its holistic view of the interrelatedness of life on earth, how one thing affects another, of how our view of the world and our place in it has caused us to reach this point of imbalance, and how we might change our view and work towards rebalancing and renewing our connection and sense of place in the grand scheme.

He starts out with geometry.  Yes that's right, basic mathematics.  How beautifully complex patterns appear in nature over and over again and how ancient peoples identified these and used them in their sacred art and architecture.

He talks about how man viewed his place in the environment, and how that has changed over time. The importance of beauty and how our sense of what is beautiful relates back to the geometry found in nature.  Of walkable towns and civic design.  Of psychology and how our environment affects it. Rainforests and their importance in creating rain, especially the Amazon, the 'lungs of the world'.  Of education and organic farming methods (he's been farming organically for about 30 years).

Strong views are expressed - gently.

It is a lovely read.

This is the lecture that inspired me to read this book in the first place.

One of the foundations that Prince Charles has set up to work towards creating a better world is the Prince's Foundation for Building Community, but there are others.  Behind the scenes he must work pretty hard.

Ravs

Pests!

I've been experiencing some pest issues lately.

First - grasshoppers are having a feast on my wee little apple trees.

I've never seen the shed skin of a grasshopper before.  Have you?

And from a different angle.

I manage to catch quite a few, then I go up to the chicken coop, call the girls, and give them a real treat!

Then there are the crows.  Not after the eggs this time, but they find the nearly ripe passionfruit before I have a chance.  Pull them off the vine and dig in.

Also damaging the passionfruit are our first FRUIT FLY!  I noticed a mark on one of the fruit in the bowl, and the fact that it was going a bit soft, cut it open and found the delightful wigglers inside.

It is important not to put infested fruit in the compost - as the maggots actually need to burrow into the earth for the next stage of their life-cycle, so you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Instead, I went around the garden picking up all the fallen fruit (some unfortunately have probably already deposited their load of larvae) and putting them in a black plastic bag.  This is now hung on the post of the steps, where it can catch the sun (not that we've seen much the last few days).  This is called solarising.

Solarising the Fruit Fly

I thought they then had to go into the bin - but according to the link above, and this book (which is in my personal library), when the maggots are properly killed off I don't have to waste all that organic matter and can add it to the compost.

Also microwaving, cooking, drowning or freezing (which is what I do to avoid weevils, pantry and clothes moths - yes I put the woollens in the freezer) are supposedly also effective.  I wonder whether fermenting like I do with the invasive weeds before composting them (and using the diluted 'tea' as fertiliser), would work as well?  I guess that would come under drowning.

The chickens haven't been exempt either - or at least their food hasn't.  During the day the crows (yes, them again) have a go mainly at the scraps (though they do wait until the chickens have finished), and the spotted turtle doves go into the coop for the seed.  They are going through it at a rate of knots!

And last night there was a RAT in the coop when I put the chickens to bed!  Too fast for me to tell if it was a native or a feral species.  It was pale to mid grey, not black, obviously larger than a mouse, but only about  1/2 to 2/3 the size of the rats you see in the pet shops.  It ran rather than hopped.  But like I said, it was too fast to see the tail properly (i.e. whether it was scaly or furred).  Either way, it's still eating the chicken's food, and potentially spreading other, even more annoying pests.

The sooner I move the chicken coop into the (old) vege patch, with a rat proof wire mesh underneath, and a bird proof net above, the better.

An ounce of prevention, as they say.

Ravs

Organic Certification in Australia - for Beginners

In my last post I said I was going to investigate what 'organic' meant in Australia - so that I could make more informed decisions regarding (primarily) my food purchases.  This was especially motivated by learning, through "The Ominvore's Dilemma"  that 'organic' chicken, pork and beef might not necessarily be what the layman thinks it is.  I.e.  meat from animals that have not only been feed chemical free food, but food appropriate to their evolutionary preference (eg grass for cows) in situations that as closely as possible mimic their natural environments.  For example, somewhere quiet to lay eggs, room to scratch & forage, social interaction etc.  At least in the USA this doesn't appear to be the case - the organic label seeming to be determined more on not using chemicals or antibiotics, and ensuring the feed is also organic, but cows could still be fed corn in feed lots rather than grass in paddocks, pigs confined inside for the majority of their lives, and chickens raised in crowded barns - withhe h only nominal access to the outside.
So, as promised, I have started looking into it.