I’ve been reflecting a lot on weeds for the past couple of weeks as I’ve been out on my morning walk. I stay on the backtracks so the roadsides have been left pretty much to themselves for many years. I’ve been struck by the wide variety of weeds that survive and...
I am the youngest of four brothers and grew up on a dairy farm at Yarra Glen. There were six children in our family, but the two girls were spared from farm work. As the youngest brother, I was assigned the most menial tasks. My older brothers on the other hand took...
We bought a new fermenter. It was big, and bright, being made of shiny, stainless steel. Three times as large as our existing fermenters, we expected it to significantly increase production. And it almost worked! The brewers were very keen to begin using this new...
I’ve been hand-rearing a couple of lambs. One of the lambs is an orphan, the other rejected by its mother. They are cute looking little beasts, Merino/Suffolk crosses with black markings on their heads and legs. I’m going to give you the long version of how I came to...
There are moments in our lives of transcendence when we see ourselves and the world clearly. We are inspired, floating above the trivia of life. Perhaps we are in love for the first time, perhaps we have found our true vocation, the birth of a child, we receive...
Sometimes I feel like a rebellious child who just wants to do what I want, when I want and with whoever I want. I didn’t need Timothy Leary the famous figure of the counterculture of the 1960s who told us to “think for yourself and question authority”....
This is one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs. It seemed to be saying something to me during this Covid-19 Pandemic. The message that we need to support each other and wait for each other seems very relevant as different states and countries make progress at...
As winter has set in, keeping the home fires burning has been a constant task. Even more-so because our lounge room fire is beyond its use-by date. The glass broke last winter so at the start of this winter I removed the door and took it to the wood-heater shop in...
I got up early the other morning to watch the meteor showers. A 5.00am start isn’t that much earlier than my usual wake up hour. I normally start stirring about 5.30am and listen to the ABC for half and hour, before getting on with my day. But getting up at 5.00am...
We are in unprecedented times and unchartered territory, as we are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. We need a miracle. There is no getting around the Easter miracles if you follow Jesus, but the truth is that the first followers of Jesus were not expecting the...
