So there you have it. I'll drop by again one day to make a post. Maybe it will be another brief entry like this one, or maybe it will be substantial. We'll see.
Long days and pleasant nights.
Checking in
Hello friends, strangers and bots. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and scraping information from it, or reading it if you are humanoid. I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just haven't wanted to write anything on here. Last month I was thinking about posting frequency. I considered that posting often might make this blog more popular. But then I wondered, "Why would I want that?"
Recently read books
I finished reading a few books recently. What follows are my thoughts on some of them.
Last Exit (by Michael Kaufman)
A novel set in a somewhat dystopian future, in which old people are expected to choose to 'exit' / die as a bargain for their children's well-being. Young to middle-aged adults are often stricken with a disease which leads to premature death, and there is a treatment available for it, but only if the person's parent chose to 'exit'. The story follows a police officer who is investigating a string of deaths which seem to be related to a unofficial variant of the treatment. A good novel but not amazing. I enjoyed it.
The Pencil (by Henry Petroski)
This book is about the history of the pencil, its development, and its relationship to the economy over the centuries. I skimmed some of the less interesting parts of the book, but read most of it. I like pencils so I liked learning how pencils came to be what they are today. This book is probably only interesting if you like history, pencils or engineering.
Granite Mountain (by Brendan McDonough, with Stephan Talty)
A biographical account by Brendan about his upbringing and his time with the Granite Mountain Hotshots. I found this book to be engaging and easy to read. I was interested to learn how weather conditions, flora and terrain can affect the development of wildland fires. If you liked the movie Only the Brave, then you might like this book.
The Brutal Truth About Australian Taxes and Inflation
I'm going to share a link to a YouTube video. It highlights just how unfair, crippling and punitive the Australian taxation system is. I don't normally like to make posts about topics like this, but this is something that severely limits Australian's ability to live a free and autonomous life. I think that the video provides a good overview, so I won't add my own commentary.
If you watched the video and feel that it communicates and important message, I encourage you to share the video with anyone who will listen. It may not change the way our country is governed, but it will help other people to understand the financial prison that they are an inmate of. And once you understand the plight, you are in a better position to adjust your life and mindset to cope with it.
Reinventing the wheel
There is too much stuff on the internet. There is too much of the same stuff on the internet.
This morning I did something stupid and unnecessary. I went online and searched for the difference between wax crayons and oil pastels. The thing is that I have used both and I know what the differences are. So the search was not needed. Why did I do it?
I did it because I wanted some strangers on the internet to tell me what I already know. To reassure me. To have someone echo back with an opinion that is essentially my own. This is stupid.
While I was looking at the search results I noticed that there are a lot of web pages which are addressing the comparison between wax crayons and oil pastels. Everyone is posting up the same information. While thinking about this I considered that it also happens for a lot of other topics. How many people need to post the same old stuff that everyone else already has?
Is everyone so desperate to create their own space online in which they try to establish themselves as some sort of authority on something? An authority on crayons?
There's a lot of things that you could be doing with your day. A lot of important and necessary things. But I'll guarantee you that becoming a world-leading expert on crayons is not one of those things. And neither is looking it up online.
Minimalist oil painting
I have been wanting to take my oil painting outdoors for a while. But I felt that it was impractical with the amount of equipment that is often involved. There's the palette, the canvas, an easel, several brushes, a palette knife, paint thinner, refined linseed oil, some rags, and the paints. The thought of carrying all of that stuff somewhere so that I could paint was discouraging. I craved the simplicity of sketching, where all I need is a sketchbook and a pen. I had put the entire idea aside of doing something portable with painting. That was until I watched a video by Rachael Broadwell, an American artist who had implemented a very compact way of painting with oils.
Stealthy, Minimalist Plein Air Setup for Oils or Acrylics
The entire equipment list is:
- a small panel to paint on;
- a palette;
- two small but strong clips;
- a painting knife;
- four tubes of paint;
- one tube of alkyd gel (optional);
- a rag;
- a sketchbook; and
- a marker or pencil.
When in use, the panel is attached to the edge of the palette with the clips. All of the painting and mixing is done with the one painting knife. The cleaning is done with the rag. A preliminary composition sketch can be made in the sketchbook, or alternatively, the composition could be lightly outlined directly on the panel with either paint.
This setup is compact in use, and even more compact in transportation with everything fitting into a small backpack. It completely removes my concerns about carrying a lot of equipment to go painting. I have tested the setup a few times in the backyard and it works really well. The only thing to keep in mind is that I have to carefully carry the completed painting back to the car as the paint will still be wet.
Using this setup has made painting more fun than ever. I'm loving it! It keeps art simple. Just a few bits of gear and a dream.
Drawing with charcoal: a way of thinking
I like drawing with charcoal. It's primitive, cheap, messy and a whole lot of fun. It's often said that charcoal is an expressive medium, but isn't that true of every other medium?
Charcoal is primitive. There's some small part of me that relishes making art with something as simple as burnt sticks. Painting often has a lot of other equipment and supplies that go along with it. Even when I try to paint with minimal equipment and colours I still feel a degree of clutter involved. But charcoal doesn't have that. It's just a couple of pieces of charcoal, a kneadable eraser, and some fixative spray if you want to preserve the work. And if I want to work outside then it's easy to carry everything I need.
Charcoal is cheap. No fancy brushes. No expensive paints with premium pigments. No mediums. And none of the other things that one might be tempted to buy when getting into painting. Sure, there's different types of charcoal, erasers, blending stumps, and fixatives. But you really don't need a large variety of those items. And another area where charcoal is cheaper are the surfaces. A good quality sheet of paper is cheaper than any canvas or panel of equivalent size.
Charcoal is messy. Some people see this as a problem. I see it as a feature. The ease with which charcoal can be smudged and smeared is what allows for creative mark-making. Bold lines through to smooth blends and gradients are all possible with just a little practise. It allows for a lot of freedom in creating an image. I also like to see a bit of mess on my hands when I'm finished working.
Charcoal is fun. It's a medium which stands on its own, in a field somewhere between the camps of painting and drawing. Using it feels like I'm doing both in the same piece. Here are two recent examples from my sketchbook.
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| Sketchbook page (28 December 2025) |
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| Sketchbook page (29 December 2025) |
There is always something to learn. The clouds in the first picture could have been lighter in value. And in the second picture, the mountains on the right could have had more variety in form, and the lake could have been more convincing with some ripples closer to the viewer. Beyond these examples, there are always new ways to try things, different techniques, different workflows and a variety of styles. The simplicity of the medium is its greatest strength. Equipment doesn't get in the way of doing the work.
Christmas cold war
I'm a Grinch. There is no denying it. There are many reasons why I don't like the Christmas holidays, but the main one is the largess. I don't like the degree to which many people spend on the holiday.
There are the decorations and the lights on houses. They look beautiful but are so extensive that they could probably be seen by any Jetstar flight passing overhead. There is a lot of time and effort that's spent in setting up displays. Then they have to be pulled down, dismantled and put away. Although, some neighbours view that as optional until Easter.
There are the expensive gifts. Our wish to be generous can go too far. It can leave us struggling to pay for our own needs. It can also encourage a materialist mindset, and perpetuate the hardship.
Then there is the food. Oh my goodness the food. All of the tasty treats for the special occasion, prepared with care and love over many hours. And there are the bags full of sweets, chocolates and crisps. The fundamental purpose of food is lost during these times.
There is simply too much. But why?
Are we motivated by kindness, love and a desire to be generous? Or are these heartfelt urges twisted up by a subconscious concern for what everyone else is doing? Are we loving, or are we trying to keep up with the world around us?
I think that it can be difficult to keep worldliness out of the holidays. And if we try to, we are likely to worry about what other people think. Thus we are caught in the cycle. Maybe it's just a first world problem.
Start things and see where they go
Have you ever made a plan? Have you ever revised that plan? And have you ever kept revising the plan without putting it into action? I know that I have. Often.
It's a stubborn habit that pervades our lives. Lots of good ideas that never amount to anything, all because we want the plan to be perfect. We want some sort of guarantee that a plan will succeed before we do anything about it. There's a problem with this mindset - nothing ever gets done.
Sometimes it's the big things in life. And that's when the hesitation is understandable. But a start needs to be made. Plans are wonderful and they are necessary. A plan allows us to make reasonable preparations, allocate resources, time and energy. With a good plan we know what we're in for. But we still need to start, otherwise even the best plan in the world is for nothing. Plan, start, and then make adjustments when under way.
It's a good strategy for both big and small issues. It's also good for things that are almost irrelevant, such as our hobbies.
The page below is from my sketchbook. I had the date confused when I wrote it in the top left corner, so don't get too excited - I haven't built a time machine.
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| From my sketchbook. |
When I sat down to draw this morning, I merely wanted to make some marks, so I practised some hatching and patterns. After that I drew two scribble doodles. That's when I throw down some random lines, try to imagine something in the chaos, and then make something out of it. Finally, I picked up a brush pen and repeated the exercise. From a couple of lines, I could imagine a sail so that's what I drew. From there I proceeded to draw a ship around the sail. Then came the ocean, the sky, and finally the island. I like the end result. And it all began with a minimal plan - start with something random and see where it goes.
The consequences of failure in a sketchbook are minimal. Although it doesn't feel that way to many aspiring artists. But getting started with what we already have works in a lot of situations. So, the next time you are paralyzed in the midst of planning something, try something different - try starting things and see where they go.
Review: God Emperor of Dune
The God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert is the fourth novel in the Dune series. It follows on from Children of Dune, in which Paul Atreides' son Leto II, takes up the responsibility of the Golden Path. A prescient vision of the future, in which great sacrifices and decisions must be made over the span of thousands of years so that humanity can be saved from extinction. This novel reveals the latter period of Leto II's reign as the tyrannical God Emperor, whose long life is made possible because of his binding with the sand trout at the end of the preceding book.
I made two attempts to read this novel. The first was nearly a year ago, at which time I only read about a third of the story. I honestly found it boring and tedious to read. But a few weeks ago I decided to continue from where I left off. This time I found the story easier to engage with. By the time I had read approximately half of the book I was hooked.
The further into the story I went, the more I appreciated the various journal entries between chapters, and the philosophical insights from Leto II during his many conversations. The insights were crafted by Frank Herbert decades ago, but they seem relevant for today. For a work of fiction it sometimes seems prophetic.
One of my favourite quotes is, "What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking - there's the real danger."
It's easy to extrude something pithy sounding from that quote and project it onto the technological struggles of today. With a little imagination I can see how our careless and reflexive use of the internet might seem related. As useful as the internet can be, it's when we use it without thought, intent or focus that we run into problems.
Eventually this novel became a real page-turner, but it took a long time getting there. It is not as accessible as the first two books in the series. Instead it feels a little more challenging, similar to Children of Dune. But if you made it through the preceding books in the series and you want to see how things continue, then I would recommend reading God Emperor of Dune. Just be patient with it.
Final score: 3.5 / 5
Painting for breakfast
There was no alarm to wake me up this morning. Just the way I like it. No place to go. No things to do. A genuine day off. Nice!
I overslept by about an hour. But I stayed up late last night reading. I'm currently reading God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert. The further I get into the novel, the more enthralling it becomes.
Back to this morning. I take a few minutes to stare at the ceiling while I wake up. Then like a cat I poke my head between the blinds. Yep, a beautiful morning outside, which will heat up soon. After my morning necessaries, getting dressed, and a glass of water, I decided to postpone the morning coffee. I decided to paint first.
It started with a landscape concept sketch that I made a few days ago. The painting itself started the day after. Working in short bursts of about 15 to 30 minutes, I have been slowly building the image over a few days. This seems to be my usual way of working with acrylic paints. Completely different to how I make oil paintings, which I typically make in one sitting which lasts no more than two hours.
My fragmented acrylic painting process suits me well. When working with acrylics I tend to think about an image in stages, almost like it's a puzzle. After the composition is established, I tend to work from background to foreground, and I often layer the paint in a way that lets a little of the colours underneath show through. For example, if there is a field of grass. I will often paint the dirt first, then the average green colour for the area, then perhaps some highlights on top. All while letting a little bit of that dirt show through.
Here are some photos demonstrating the process. These are not from the painting that I have been working on. They are of a quick demo completed in a sketchbook.
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| First layer - earth and sky. |
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| Second layer - grass (single colour). |
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| Final layer - grass (highlights). |
While this is a mere fragment of how I work with acrylics demonstrated simply, it represents my method. If anyone is interested in the colours used they are:
- Earth = burnt sienna + ultramarine blue.
- Sky = titanium white + cobalt blue.
- Grass = cadmium yellow + cobalt blue.
- Grass highlights = Grass mix above + more cadmium yellow.
Starting the day by doing something like this can almost feel like a luxury in our busy lives. Many of us have developed the habit of reaching for our smartphones immediately upon waking. Once the scrolling, checking, and notifications start capturing out attention it can be difficult regain any sense of deep peace and mindfulness. But if you find simple activities which keep you away from the online world, and build them into brief morning habits, then I'm sure you will agree that your day gets off to a better start.
The return ...to whatever this is
Hello, hello, my friends. How are we all today? My name is Geoff. And this is my blog.
I found this old thing in the drawer. It was under an assortment of yellowing faint-ruled notepaper, paperclips, and half-used 2B pencils. Once I dusted off the ...well, dust, I was hit with a sense of nostalgia.
Blogging has been a long-running fascination. I remember my earliest attempts at something like it. I had one of those MSN Live Spaces. I can't remember a great deal about it, but I know that I had a profile picture in which I was wearing a backwards cap. The cap was inspired by the character of Randall from Clerks 2. I liked his laidback attitude, and his assessment of the Lord of the Rings films - "Three movies about walking to a volcano."
I briefly wrote a newsletter about an online game, Chosen Space, which was shutdown a long time ago. The layout was a quaint design which reminded me of school newsletters from back in the 1990s. I would report about the happenings within the game each week. It didn't last too long. It felt too much like work. But my fondest memory of it was getting paid. It was a single modest tip from a reader. It wasn't much but it was nice.
I wrote a political blog back in the day. I tried to write about Australian politics from a relatively neutral perspective. Now that felt like work. I kept it going for several months, until I realized that it was just an unpaid job. And that's often how regular blogging feels. The highlight of that blog was that it gained significant traffic. That was the first one which brought in over a 1,000 pageviews on some posts. Mind you I used to promote the blog on Twitter and Facebook.
Other than the abovementioned, I have tried personal blogging more times than I can remember. And I have quit personal blogging just as many times. It's interesting how I always run out of steam. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks. Sometimes a couple of months. But it always happens.
Earlier this year I returned to the hobby of art. Painting and drawing has taught me a lot about myself and my motivations. There's a lot to unpack. But the most important takeaway has been that I have to love the process more than the result. If I'm focused on making a pretty picture to impress other people, then I end up hating the process of making art. When I flip it around, so that I love the process regardless of the final outcome, then I have a lot more longevity in my practice.
So what does that mean?
Maybe I need to blog. Maybe I need the wordplay and creativity. And maybe I would stick with blogging for longer if I shift my focus toward the process, learning to love it regardless of the outcome. That's probably a little inaccurate. The process exists because of the goal. A journey exists because of the destination. So the end still matters. Maybe a gentle rebalance is all that is needed.
Review: The Paradox of Choice
The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz. Just go and read it. I mean it. It's not often that I could honestly recommend a book to everyone, but here is a rare exception. The content of this book would stand to benefit everyone. Barry approaches the matter of choices in our lives from a variety of angles, and they all point to an important theme - while some degree of choice is needed for us to feel happy, too much choice tends to make us unhappy. Anyone who lives in a relatively wealthy part of the world, in which supermarkets and stores abound with a baffling amount of things for sale, would benefit from reading what Barry has to say in this book.
Most of us tend to think that we are rational decision-makers, and the pressure of marketing doesn't sway our choices, but the truth is that we are usually wrong about it. Our lives are an ongoing series of choices, and this book highlights how easy it is to act against our own best interests and remaining ignorant while doing so. Barry also makes some useful suggestions for us to tackle the problems of choice.
Final score: 4.5 / 5
Review: The Light Years
The Light Years, by R. W. W. Greene, is a dystopian science fiction novel which I finished reading yesterday. It was thoroughly enjoyable.
The story is set in a future in which humanity has fled to the stars and colonised several planets. Societies have continued to deteriorate as the schism between rich people and poor people keeps expanding. Most people live out their lives planet side, but others find work in space and spend most of their lives onboard spaceships travelling between the planets at speeds nearing that of light itself. The novel is presented from the perspective of two main characters, told in alternating chapters. One character, Adem, he is a space trader. The other is Hisako, and she isn't even born at the start of the book. And yet they have been arranged to be married when she is an adult. At first it seems bizarre even though the reader is made aware of the impact of relativity. But as the motives of each character's parents are made clear, it's easy to understand why such a marriage would be sought.
As the story progresses we see Hisako go through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, all while Adem barely ages. As both characters struggle with the internal conflict of the arranged marriage individually, we see the various worlds change around them. Families, people and neighbourhoods come and go in a short span of time for the spacers. But thanks to some excellent storytelling, I never felt that their lives were insignificant; if anything, it made their fleeting lives seem even more valuable. And when Adem and Hisako eventually meet, which is on their wedding day, this novels starts to feel like a good romance novel in which I really wanted the best for the two main characters.
There are a lot of interesting themes and feelings that came up while reading this book. I won't go into more detail, because I think it's best if you feel the full weight of those emotions as you discover the story for yourself.
Final score: 4 / 5
Unexplained absence
A fair bit of time has passed since my previous blogpost. Obviously, I have been attending to other matters, and I think that's all the explanation I'm going to provide. I hadn't forgotten about this blog, but I simply chose to give my time toward other activities. Maybe I'll write a new post soon. I hope that everyone is doing well.
Forget that which shines
Of late, I have noticed my thoughts tending toward matters of unnecessary complexity. The pursuit of a simple life of basic needs, along with a few small comforts, has been usurped by cravings of a worldly nature. Money, possessions, reputation and recognition have become dominant thoughts. In essence - greed and ego. This shift in thinking has decreased my happiness a bit. Not a drastic change but enough for me to notice it. I don't like it.
It has prompted me to return to the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Re-reading the early portion has reminded me of the confusing and sometimes complex pursuits of modern life, always chasing after more of various things, drawing people away from the bare necessities of life. Reading it provides a measure of peace to my mind, calming the turbulent desires and bringing them under heel.
This morning I spared a thought for the chores at home - cleaning dishes, sweeping floors, folding laundry, dusting shelves, and other tasks of this kind. As I went about these chores I stopped thinking about the things from the world beyond - news, politics, markets, employment, and so on. The outside world was ushered from my mind and escorted back outside where they belong. I simply did the tasks at hand, and that was enough.
Obviously, we cannot ignore worldly concerns forever, but neither should we entertain them for longer than necessary. The same is true for most thoughts and matters. There are times when our thoughts on some topic are no longer useful. When we have moved beyond helpful reflection, and begun to ruminate, rehash and reinforce counterproductive lines of thought, then it is time to lay them aside to go do something. Keep it simple.
Stop trying so hard
I have read the book The Underachiever's Manifesto by Ray Bennett some years ago. I don't recall much specifically about its content, but I do remember the feeling that its core message was important. It was also a message which flew in the face of conventional rhetoric about how we should aim to live. Instead of championing the values of working harder, striving more and trying to forever climb the many vague ladders in life, we might be better served by taking things easy.
The encouragement to become an overachiever becomes dominant toward the end of high schooling. There still seems to be a lot of pressure on young people to attend university to get a qualification. But the value of qualifications has decreased over time. As more people completed degrees the qualifications became more commonplace. Some people continue on with post-graduate studies to increase their value in the job market. And there's something interesting about degrees - they don't directly and reliably indicate the potential value of an employee. At best they serve as a proxy.
We are also expected to look after our bodies. So, many people end up spending as much time working out as professional athletes do, when there's no need for it. Young people want the good looking body which is hopefully desirable to potential partners. But do you really need to workout five times a week? Or would you be better off by doing some basic compound lifts twice a week, a little moderate cardio, and otherwise simply staying active in your daily life?
Then there is the matter of money. I have read quite a few news articles which share social media posts which complain about the cost of living. But how many people are living within their means? There was an absolutely priceless example recently - a woman took to social media and complained that her $40 grocery spend couldn't create a meal. Look, I'll admit that life is expensive these days, but if you can't create a meal for $40 then you're not seriously trying very hard. ...either that or you have a very, very large family. The lady then showed a picture of the items she bought and they included many convenience items, and some prosciutto. If anyone out there is buying prosciutto, they have immediately lost all rights to complain about the cost of living. Go buy a bulk bag of rice, some vegetables, some dried beans, and along with the fundamental items that are in most people's pantries, you can create many meals quite affordably. It isn't fancy? So what? Stop watching cooking shows on television, or those luscious food pictures on social media, and set some realistic expectations.
There are many areas of life in which we try too hard. Obsession is the problem. We spend too much time obsessing over what everyone else is doing. And where do we get this perception? Social media in many cases. By now we all know that the way in which people present their lives online is inaccurate. So please, stop believing the nonsense.
Simple pleasures
This morning I opened a new jar of instant coffee. A nice start to the day. Some people might not see the value in such a simple act, but I'm sure that many of my fellow instant coffee drinkers will know the joy that's found in starting a new jar. I've been a bit of a coffee snob in the past. I have owned some espresso machines, and honed my brewing skills to be able to consistently make coffee the way I like. But I can still enjoy a cup of instant coffee. It requires a little bit of luck to get a good cup. Even when I think I'm getting the proportions of coffee, water and milk just right, I will sometimes end up with a nasty flavour. But there's something about the first few brews made from a freshly opened jar of instant coffee - they just taste better than usual. So, I find some joy in that. It's cheap, simple, doesn't require specialized equipment, and can be tasty.
Cold showers are another simple pleasure. Now maybe you're reading this from a cold place, or you could have some health reasons that make cold showers a bad idea, in which case you might want to skip the cold showers. I enjoy them though. I like that the water doesn't have to be heated, which saves me some money. I like how invigorating a cold shower is; it's like being supercharged for the next hour or so. The cold water can provide some relief to sore muscles. These are all good reasons. But what I like most about cold showers is the mental discipline required. It's not a monumental challenge, but it is slightly unpleasant for the first few moments. As I get into a cold shower and feel the mild jolt of initial discomfort I think: Okay, so it's cold. Don't complain about it. It will feel nice soon.
There are a number of other simple pleasures that I enjoy. But I find it interesting that many of those simple pleasures require a small degree of discipline or self-control. Some degree of an expectation of comfort or convenience needs to be rejected. With coffee, I know that I could go buy a tasty coffee from a cafe or store, and it would taste better than my homemade instant brew. With cold showers, I could easily make the water temperature more comfortable initially with the turn of a tap. It's seems like I've become accustomed to seeking quick joy or pleasure in many areas of my life. And the more that I indulge in such conveniences, the more undesirable the alternatives seem.
When I do push past the almost reflexive urge to seek immediate comfort or convenience, I feel something peculiar - feelings of freedom and deep-seated joy. Maybe the feeling of freedom arises from exerting my willpower and going beyond animalistic cravings. And the joy that I feel seems to be an extension of the freedom; knowing that I'm not compelled to do things a certain way, feels like a weight being lifted from off my shoulders.
Review: The Great Depression - A Diary
The Great Depression - A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. I decided it was time to learn something about the Great Depression, and this book is what I went with. Roth was a lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio. From the market crash in 1929 he started to write a diary. His entries describe the local, domestic and international events. Observations range from the shopping habits of everyday people, stock market movements, political news, and everything in between. Over the span of the book he paints a vivid picture about what life was like in America from 1929 to the conflict of WW2 reaching Hawaii. Roth continued to make diary entries for the rest of his life, but this book doesn't cover that latter timeframe.
Reading about the severity of The Great Depression was shocking. I hadn't studied anything about that period of history, and my encounter with this first-hand look at it was revealing. The levels of scarcity, unemployment, and malnutrition were hard to imagine. The fortunes that many people lost along the way were equally horrifying. This book sheds light on a lot of details and challenges of the time.
While reading this book I reflected upon the challenges faced in our present time. Here in Australia we have many people struggling with the cost of living, and a lack of affordable housing. And as tough as things are these days, they pale in comparison to what life was like during The Great Depression. In a way, it was comforting to read the book, knowing that life these days could be an awful lot worse.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to read about The Great Depression. It might also appeal to diary or journal enthusiasts. This book provides a view of world changing events, but through the eyes of the individual.
Final score: 4 / 5
Reflecting upon summer crops
I have heard it said that many people expect to be able to buy common fruits and vegetables all year round. I wonder if that's true. I personally don't have such expectations. Maybe that's because I'm a vegetable gardener, and that experience has shown me the difficulties of growing good crops. There's the obvious problem that a lot of species don't grow well at all times of the year. But there's also the multitude of other problems - pests, diseases, drought, too much rain, rain at inopportune times, low temperatures, high temperatures, and so on. Sometimes I can give my best efforts toward growing good food but it just doesn't work out because nature has other ideas.
I was recently considering the differences in yields from this summer compared to last summer.
Summer of 2022-23. That was a good season for cucumbers, beans, maize, millet, watermelons, carrots and sweet potatoes. But my pumpkins, tomatoes and capsicums (sweet peppers) all struggled.
This present summer of 2023-24. Nearly everything struggled except for tomatoes and pumpkins. The sweet potatoes seem to be growing well, but I haven't harvested them yet. And I have grown two new crops this season, ginger and peanuts, which have good growth so far but are yet to be harvested. My watermelons had started well, but most of them split after some very hot weather alternated with many days of heavy rain.
So I've begun to wonder what I might do differently next summer. I think that I might reduce the number of varieties that I grow, and instead focus on the strong performers with high yields per square metre. I tend to want to grow as many different crops as I can because of my curious nature. But it might be better to change that habit. The more that I can grow well and in good quantities, the less I will have to buy from the shop. This should allow me to dedicate more growing space to each crop, stagger the plantings more, and providing for a longer harvesting window.
Another opportunity is to trial some more resilient varieties. I have already started moving away from growing Roma tomatoes toward growing cherry type ones. And I might move away from Golden Nugget pumpkins toward a different one.
Whatever the coming year of gardening yields I'm looking forward to learning from it and trying to adapt the best that I can.
Review: Dirt Music
I just finished reading the novel Dirt Music, written by Tim Winton. I have enjoyed a couple of his other novels - The Shepherd's Hut, and Eyrie. I particularly liked Eyrie, and I might have read it twice but I'm not sure though. Anyway, I'll put Dirt Music right up there with Eyrie.
In the three novels that I've read by Tim Winton, I'm always enchanted by two things - the landscapes, and the male characters.
The landscapes and locations that he writes about always seem to transport me to them. The way he describes those places makes them feel like they belong to some faded memory of my past. They feel lived in, a little sad, but leave me with a sense of longing for some place that I've never been.
The men that he creates for his books feel relatable, often in shameful ways. They're not perfect; not even close. But that makes them feel realistic. The men in Tim's novels feel like they're from a bygone era. A time when men were men, but not quite fitting into a world of changing sensibilities. These guys feel truly human.
Dirt Music covers a lot of bases. There's romance, tragedy, emotional and literal journeys. The locations are beautiful, but the people... not so much, and that's a good thing. Their pasts, their flaws, their raw humanity is what makes them relatable. If I had read it on Kindle I would have highlighted numerous segments of artful prose, many of which could stand on their own. But this was borrowed from a library so I wasn't about to deface the book with highlights or underlines.
If you have never read one of Tim Winton's novels then I would say that Dirt Music might be a good one to start with. I really liked this novel. The ending was clever, but it also left me craving a little more certainty about what future might lay ahead for its characters.
Final score: 4 / 5
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