Spring has Sprung, the grass is ris!

Moorepark Apricot blossom

Every spring Trevor and I can be heard reciting this gorgeous little poem from Arlene Dahlgren. Think of a strong Bronx accent when reading. Caleb thinks us a little odd but indulges us as we remark on all the blossom, the daffodil and snowdrop laden paddocks where they grow wild.

Wings
Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where the boidies is
The boids is on the wing,
Don't be absoid
The wings is on the bird!

Arlene Dahlgren


Flavourtop Nectarine Blossom

Would you trust this man?

Trev's been hard at work on the sunroom - he's placed all the structure, joists etc, and he's been given a thicknesser for Father's Day which should make putting the deck down an easier job. Half of this length is the sunroom, the far end will be plain decking, though Trev's done a great job of putting the last double joist on an angle to try and obfuscate the too many right angles feel. I'm about to embark on my first mud experience by putting up a mud wall about 1.2 metres high. It's school holidays here, and I've figured the kids will love to get in and get muddy with me.


We're going to have a dark slate, stone flooring in the sunroom to create a thermal bank of heat - while it will help warm things in winter I'll be planting wisterias, or grapes or something that will provide shade in summer and hopefully reduce it's abilities to turn into a heat trap. I bought these gorgeous pieces of diachroic glass to use as a feature on the otherwise dark floor. I'm hoping they will glow when the light falls on them.

Cover Design Debacle continues

Well, they've come up with a 'winning' cover. And before you say, 'hey, it's not much different from the last one', I know. Must admit that after almost six months of carry on you'd expect something better than this. But, having said that, if it means they hurry up and reprint it I'm happy with whatever they come up (within reason). I came home to another email from a book buyer asking for their money back (who can blame them, but it made me feel physically ill that it has come this far).

The publisher has also decided to rejig the wording, so it will be a different subtitle, and they'll fiddle with the wording on the back cover too. They say this will happen within the next week, and then it will go to print, which usually takes a fortnight before it's back at the warehouse. There are 83 unsold copies coming back from NZ (book miles alert!) so it will be whichever ones turn up first that we'll get a hold of. So for you wonderfully patient people out there who bought the book back in April, the end is in sight! (hopefully).

On a brighter note, the last three weeks of rain, drizzle and sleet appears to have almost cleared and Trev is back out there working hard on the sunroom.

Trying to be Proactive

Only partially successful I ended up sending my own possible cover off to the publisher with a small rant attached. The book sold out in April and we are half way through August. Apparently the hold up is the design cover so I decided I'd give them one! Took me a couple of hours in Photoshop, but it felt good to DO something. I'm so very tired of having to explain myself to people who understandably want to know where their book is. Rest of Rant Suppressed.

Anyway here's the one I knocked up.



Oh, and we had snow this week down to 100metres with road closures etc, but not enough for anything more than a few snowballs. Caleb was whirling around in the falling flakes at nine o'clock at night, but too much rain in the mix to amount to much. It's been raining for almost a week, and nothing is happening on the house, in the garden and the chooks spend most of their time fluffed up and looking miserable. The goat, Bella, spends most of her time in the carport/Trev's workspace peeing and pooing and making the place smell like goat. On the up side, we purchased the roofing iron today - finally decided after much deliberation that corrogated iron wins the sustainable roofing contest - shingles might have been better, but we're getting older and can't see ourselves up on the roof replacing them when we're 80... though, maybe? I'll go ask Trev...

Green Publishing and Printing

On my soapbox!

What with one thing and another I've recently decided not to approach a publisher with my latest scratchings. I figure no one does things quite as well as the person for whom it means so much, so I've decided to go it alone. One of reasoning behind this decision was I want to try and do it as sustainably as possible. There are a lot of trees chopped down each year that end up on bookstore shelves, and a formidable amount of chemicals, water and waste. We'd tried to go print green with Living the Good Life, and the publishers were amenable about looking into some aspects, but not really going the whole hog. We were in the process of moving to Tasmania so didn't really get into the research side of it. Now I have it seems there are lots of options to explore, not just recycled paper, but vegetable inks, acqueous varnishes, elemental chlorine free, FSC stewardship, waste management programs etc.

There's an interesting read to be had at this Melbourne University site called
'The Little green Guide to Publishing'



Eco Directory have these printers listed. Their websites are worth having a look at. Some of them have been at this for many years and have environmental publishing honed. If you print brochures etc as a part of your business, or who you work with does a lot of printing, perhaps it's an idea to pass this list under their noses. It seems it's only marginally more expensive if at all to conventional practices. It also means you can print lots of goodwill inducing words on the paper that shows your business is environmentally responsible.

North Coast Print Solutions NSW ·
Eco-friendly printers.
Black Rainbow Vic ·
Environmentally responsible printers.
Complete Colour Vic ·
Environmentally friendly printing.
EcoDesign EcoPrint NSW ·
Eco-friendly design/printing.
Finsbury Green Printing NSW, Vic & SA ·
Environmental printers.
Fishprint Vic ·
Eco-friendly, waterless printing.
Focus Press NSW ·
Eco-friendly printing company.
Goanna Print ACT
Environmentally friendly offset printers, Canberra.

Pristine Publications Pty Ltd NSW ·
Eco-friendly printers.
Spectrum Printing NSW ·
Environmentally friendly printing.
Think Vic ·
Environmental printers.

My latest project is raising money to publish something that's not about the environment, in fact it's fiction with an Australian bent, the only environmental thing being that it will be published using best practice. I wrote it a year or so ago, and Penny, my proofreading friend has been very supportive about getting it happening. Who Killed Dave? is a comedy whodunnit about a dysfunctional group of neighbours living in Kaos Crescent. Here's the first draft cover.

$10,000 dog?

Nuju and little ramses provided us all a good giggle recently. The little black ram decided to have a go at ramming Nuju, repeatedly, backing up, putting his little head down and charging Nuju. Nuju, of course, just stood there and 'grinned' before leaping away, though not being so quick that he didn't get the occasional smack. Caleb and I raced outside to record it. Caleb was keen to send it in to Australia's Funniest Home Videos, so we did. We heard back in the last couple of days that they'd like to use the clip. Caleb is so excited and calls Nuju the $10,000 dog. If it wins Caleb is going to get the other half of the kayak he's been saving for, and hopefully we'll get a roof over our heads! It would be nice.

Here's a retrospective image of a much smaller Nuju and a much smaller Caleb and the doomed to failure attempt to combine the two of them with gardening.

Inside Daze

It's been a month since my last entry - a good reflection on the weather more than anything else. We've had lots of inside days, a good opportunity for Caleb and Trev to practice guitar - especially Caleb who received an electric guitar for his birthday (not necessarily the most conducive thing to peaceful days inside a small shed). I'm looking forward to hearing more than Smoke on the Water one day.

We've planted more bare root trees and had a go at grafting different types of apple and cherries. Looking forward to finding out the success rate.

We're eating potatoes, pumpkin, yams, carrots,onions, garlic, brocoli, cauliflower, rainbow chard, parsley, coriander, lettuce and our bottled apples and tomatoes (also dried), along with eggs and honey. We still haven't gained a milking goat - Bella has been retired and a new companion has been planned for some time, but one thing or another has disrupted various plans. Hopefully soon.

The house is going slowly at the moment, but we're expecting a big burst forward soon. We're going to employ someone to help with the roofing - it's too much for one person, and with the next step being 24 rafters 200mm X 50mm X 5 metres long it will be good to have someone on the other end of them.

Caleb is enjoying his school gardening project. But I'll let him fill you in on that on his blog sometime soon.

I'm plodding away at a wind break propagating trees and buying them, and trying to make them goat, sheep, rabbit and wallaby proof all the way up the 100 metre fence line. There is a great variety of natives that I want to use as a windbreak, source of nectar for bees and eventually be able to burn inside the stove. Quickly learning that not all pollens are equal.