Phenomenology of Life: Plants, Planets & People

Dr Demeter had the pleasure of being in magical conversation with visionary astrologer Jaime Lee from the USA. Jaime Lee | Intuitive Astrology with Jaime. In our conversation we wove a tapestry of interconnected ideas with each other about plants, planets and bio-dynamic agriculture.

In relation to our conversation about science 'catching up' with sacred cultures, arts and agriculture this quote resonates:

““The New Story emerging in quantum physics tells us that the whole universe is a unified field. Our lives are part of a cosmic web of life which connects all life forms in the universe and on our planet. Every atom of life interacts with every other atom, no matter how distant. We are not only connected through the Internet but through the infinitesimal particles of sub-atomic matter. We are part of an ‘Infinitude of Consciousness’ which sustains not only our world, but the entire universe. This restores the original cosmology of the Great Mother at a new level of understanding.”

— Anne Baring

For thousands of years across all cultures humans have had an intrinsic interconnection with the stars, their agricultural practices and with their own bodily rhythms. Modernity has brought a mechanistic and industrial way of living that has disconnected us from our innate connection with life. We are now at a crucial point in our planets ‘herstory’ / ‘history’ to define are role as humans on Gaia.

Gaia, The Oxford English Dictionary defines this as “the global ecosystem, understood to function in the manner of a vast self-regulating organism, in the context of which all living things collectively define and maintain the conditions conducive for life on earth”.

Through my practices of herbalism, astrology and biodynamics, I am observing the tangible interconnectedness of life systems, as above so below. The diagram below is an illustration of just some of these connections and an exploration into the beauty and phenomenology of life rhythms. I look forward to continuing my observations, learnings and beautiful experiences through my connection to these activities.

The interconnectedness of Life, through practices and lens of astronomy, astrology, biodynamics, herbalism and holistic health.

“Lovelock’s Gaia theory states that, for much of the past 3.8 billion years, a holistic feedback system has played out in the biosphere, with life forms regulating temperature and proportions of gases in the atmosphere to life’s advantage”

— Nature Journal

Earth system science is now firmly established as a valuable intellectual framework for understanding the only planet known to harbour life, and increasingly vulnerable to the unthinking actions of one species. Colleagues and co-authors acknowledge that the argument continues, but endorse the importance of Lovelock and Margulis”. Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01969-y

Planets and their dance around the Earth

Biodynamics agricultural practices offer a tangible way for engaging with Gaia and the Cosmos.

Herbalism is another way of engaging into life systems. Plants teach us the ‘way’ of Gaia. As illustrated in the following meme, books can teach us in theory about the phenomenology of life and the medicinal benefits of plants. However plants growing around us go that extra way of teaching us about life systems, leading to us going deeper within ourselves and connecting to life in new ways than before. This is one theory about why ancient cultures knew which plants were connected to each planet because of being tuned on intuitive levels as well as more subtle observations about planetary positions and plant activations in correlation.

Food Forest Emergency? Or Tissue Emergency?

By Dr Demeter

Emergency?

What Emergency? Oh…didn’t you hear…we are having a major shortage of tissues, paper towel & toilet paper. Check out this quote :

“This increased demand is once again putting added pressure on supply chains, drying up tissue supplies, and leaving many shoppers frustrated.

One frustrated shopper took to Twitter to ask why more people weren’t discussing the “great tissue and paper towel shortage” of 2022. I can’t believe nobody is talking about the great tissue and paper towel shortage in supermarkets at the moment. Are people using tissues in place of lettuce or what?” the shopper wrote” via this mainstream link https://au.news.yahoo.com/woolworths-and-coles-shelves-stripped-of-tissues-as-flu-season-hits-054233896.html

Meanwhile local government authorities are telling us to spray and weed-out Mullein aka “Cowboy toilet paper” - not only can you wipe your fundament with this amazing plant, you can also make herbal teas (and more) that are of benefit to your lungs. This plant can grow beautifully among a diverse array of other beautiful plant species that also bring benefit to our wellbeing and helps us to avoid having to go to the supermarket for many items.

Quite seriously, the emergency we are facing requires acton not as “shoppers” but as co-creators with our environment; whether you are rural, urban, suburban - the critical thing to do right now is to grow a food forest!

Below I will share with you some research on food forests and its not just because my pen name is Dr Demeter that I am advocating this. Its just commonsense to face the complex challenges of the world that we have right now integral solutions, and unfortunately for the tissue and toilet paper industry they are not going to cut the cheese on these issues.

Lets explore what a food forest is and lets get to work and make one in our community, home or school…

The people in the below video eat 70% of their food from their food forest!

What is a Food Forest… according to Project Food Forest

“A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature. Food forests are three dimensional designs, with life extending in all directions – up, down, and out.

Generally, we recognize seven layers of a forest garden – the overstory, the understory, the shrub layer, the herbaceous layer, the root layer, the ground cover layer, and the vine layer. Some also like to recognize the mycelial layer, layer eight (mushrooms). Using these layers, we can fit more plants in an area without causing failure due to competition.

A food forest does not have to be re-planted year after year. Once it is established, it is generally very resilient. Wildlife might come and munch some of the herbaceous edibles in some areas, for example, but other species will not be palatable to them or will be out of their reach. Or perhaps some children will come running through the area in wild play, running off path and possibly causing some damage to the ground cover and herbaceous layers. Not only will they usually grow right back, since many will be perennials and have healthy underground systems, but the trees, shrubs, and vines should be undamaged.”

“In summary, We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

— Albert Einstein

The industrial supply chain does not have the capability to solve the complex issues we face - however taking a living systems lens on the way we design our life can be a way to address challenges such as social isolation, physical health, local economic development. Covid has shown us we need to take back more autonomy over our lives and toilet paper or lack there of must NOT the priority focus of our attention … !

Tarkind Community Art Project Reflection

Words by DR DEMETER

Photography by NESS VANDERBURGH PHOTOGRAPHY

““Ecology becomes poetic when the creative expression of other beings stirs our own desire to become expressive, to unearth words, pictures, and melodies for this sublime experience of aliveness. When you encounter the azure plumage of a peacock, you enter a creative exchange. It is not passive, but is instead an invitation to participate in the radical poetic beauty of the world… it is about entering into and participating in the world that lies before and among you with a profound level of engagement and care”

— Andreas Weber

On Sunday 5th of June, the first annual Tarkind community art event took place to celebrate takanya/Tarkine. Tarkind initiative is all about Heart, Art and Science with the takayna / Tarkine forest in Tasmania. Our values go further than the forest: We are creating a community who values kindness for living systems: ourselves, one another, all ecologies, past & future generations. We host an annual children's art & citizen science initiatives. Go to www.tarkind.org for more information.

Reconciliation Week had just completed on the 3rd and World Environment was on the 5th. A special time to convene with Gemma O’ Rourke (an Artist, Healer and Yoga Teacher. She creates and teaches drawing on her Shamanic connection to Mother Earth and the wisdom of Celtic and palawa ancestors). And Dr Keith Martin-Smith invertebrate biologist who is a passionate teacher and photographer. Tarkind is an emergent project, my family and I met Dr Keith Martin-Smith in takanya/Tarkine in late 2021 as a part of the Bob Brown Foundations Bioblitz. Over the Summer we connected with Gemma O’Rourke and from here Tarkind was born.

Celebration of the artists works with the Tarkind banner by Gemma O’Rourke.

the day in reflection

We gathered in the takanya inspired part of the Hobart Botanical Gardens with Gemma O’ Rourke, who shared a beautiful welcome to country, sharing stories with us about the sophisticated and loving connections First Nations people had with the land for approximately 60 thousand years. The cultural story is a significant one when we talk about takanya - it is hard to express and comprehend the depth of connection First Nations people had. Feeling with our hearts into this space and imagining how profoundly different the world can be if more people had this connection. We have deep gratitude to Gemma for her sharing. In reflection: how can animistic cultures guide the process of western self-decolonisation?

Biophilosopher Weber articulates that love - the impulse to establish connections, to intermingle, to weave our existence poetically together with that of other beings is a foundational principle of reality. The fact in modern life there is a disregard of this principle, lies at the core of a global crisis of meaning and ecological devastation - leading to the avalanche of species loss and in our belief that the world is a dead mechanism controlled through economic efficiency - hence the state of takanya today, which is threatened by destruction by mining and logging.

Following our Welcome to Country we went to the POD where Dr Keith Martin-Smith gave an insightful presentation about life in the forest, prior to making art.

The first art activity was a group Reconciliation canvas led by Gemma O’Rourke. Each person placed their hand on the canvas and imprinted it with chalk and reflected on what Reconciliation meant to them.

As part of Reconciliation Week this piece of art will be gifted to the Riawunna Centre at UTAS.

Artists then began to paint their own pieces based on the knowledge shared with them from Gemma and Keith about takanya. What emerged was a beautiful process of creativity, connection, collaboration and clarity!

A beautiful process and much to celebrate.

We will now run an exhibition on Saturday July 2nd, 2pm - 5pm at KIN CREATIVE SPACE at Kingston Beach Hall, Tasmania. Thank you to everyone for making the day so special and creating awareness about takanya. Thank you to Gemma O’Rouke, Dr Keith Martin-Smith, Tatjana Pejic, Emily Wood, Danielle Gilbert-Beynon, Jodi Henry, Yehuda Samuels & all parents for making it such a special day.

Introducing a project close to my Heart: Tarkind

by Dr Demeter

Friday May 6th 2022

https://www.tarkind.org Launch by Magical Farm

Tarkind: Education, Storytelling & Exploration about Living Systems

The Tarkind vision and mission is to connect with takanya / Tarkine forest in North West Tasmania as a community with a heart, head and hands approach of education. We will host an annual collective art project based in Hobart and a citizen science project based in Corinna in the takanya / Tarkine. Both of these initiatives will connect our participants to the interconnected and cutting edge wisdom and science of living systems.

Living systems are all around us, at a microscopic level all the way up to a planetary level. Within living systems wisdom we can uncover critical knowledge for the design of regenerative systems. At the heart of the Tarkind project is to educate on this topic. I am passionate about this subject area, the people I meet in the process and the emergent possibilities that we humans can create to design a better world.

As Fritjof Capra describes: “Throughout the living world, we find living systems nesting within other living systems.” Linked to this thinking is The Gaia Hypothesis proposed by James Lovelock (1972) suggesting that living organisms on the planet interact with their surrounding inorganic environment to form a synergetic and self-regulating system that created, and now maintains, the climate and biochemical conditions that make life on Earth possible. Lovelock described in 1979 “the entire range of living matter on Earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae could be regarded as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the Earth’s atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond those of its constituent parts.” – Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.

As Capra describes: One recurrent theme discussed by systems practitioners is the question of why it is so difficult to help people make the jump from a mechanistic world view to a networked world view. In this new systems view of life, we have to change our understanding of living systems as machines to a view where cognition plays a role in dynamic and autopoietic processes.

Cognition, then, is not a representation of an independent existing world, but rather a continual bringing forth of a world through the process of living. p256 A Systems View of Life, Capra

The notion of “bringing forth a world” can be compared with the way in Capra and Maria describe as holonomic thinking.

I believe as a heartfelt and caring community we can connect in a practical way through art&science and with the forest to create better understanding, empathy and even strategies to address the critical problems we need to solve in the future. I am looking forward to going on this journey with you, First Nations people and with the forest, in dialogue and in kindness.

We will be launching Tarkind on Sunday 5th of May at the Hobart Botanical Gardens in the POD. There will be two art sessions run on the day. Between 10am - 12midday and 1pm - 3pm. We will be painting art with guidance from local artist Gemma O’Rourke and biologist Dr Keith Martin-Smith.

Tarkind project collaborator and advisor Gemma O’Rourke local artist and Melukerdee woman shares the process of development of this art piece for Tarkind. “it was inspired by a brief that wanted to portray inclusiveness, friendliness, kindness and particular engagement for children…It is hand drawn with chalk and pastels. The chalk/pastel look I feel is very approachable and endearing for kids. They feel a sense of ownership... I took inspiration from the Moss Beetle (Dr Keith Martin-Smith’s Photograph) in terms of colours and form, weaving her into and around the TARKIND name, intermingled, interwoven , interconnected, vibrant matter. The colurs and patterns from her exterior reflecting cosmic shapes to the wildness of down deep Tarkine terrain.

Background information about takanya / Tarkine

“takanya / Tarkine is a vast expanse in a wilderness wonderland of wild rivers, dramatic coastal heathlands, button grass plains, bare mountains, ancient Huon pines, giant eucalypts and myrtles and extraordinary horizontal scrub. It is home to rare and endangered birds - like the orange-bellied parrot and the white goshawk - and countless animals such as the eastern pygmy possum. 40,000 years takanya has been home to the Tasmanian Aboriginal tarkiner people who inhabited the Sandy Cape region of this island’s wild west coast. The name Tarkine means belonging to, or of the tarkiner”

— Tarkine by WWF / Discover the Tarkine

The Tarkine is the second largest temperate rainforest in the world and the largest temperate rainforest in Australia, with over 400,000 hectares of virgin wilderness. Here are some facts to share about this beautiful forest:

1. There are three plants that are a direct link with South America’s Patagonia, New Guinea and New Zealand, with which Tasmania was connected to as part of the super continent Gondwanaland.

2. Over 2,000 hectares is covered by wet eucalypt forest areas, where trees grow to be taller than 41 metres high! These areas are said to be “large enough to be self-sustaining and support ongoing evolutionary processes”.

3. The Tarkine is home to more than 60 species of rare, threatened and endangered species.

4. The world’s largest extant carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian Devil, lives in the Tarkine rainforest.

5. The Tarkine is home to the world’s largest freshwater crayfish, Astacopsis gouldi, also known as the Giant Freshwater Lobster.

6. There are almost no introduced predators.

7. The world’s only known insect fossils were found in the Tarkine rainforest, found in sediments of true glacial origin.

8. Fossils between 100-700 million years old, algal stromatolite fossils, were found around the Arthur and Julius Rivers and are Tasmania’s oldest known fossils.

9. The Tarkine is a mix of rainforest, wet and dry eucalypt forest, mixed forest, riverine, heathland, moorland and coastal ecosystems (Reference: https://www.tasmanianexpeditions.com.au/Blog/top-facts-about-the-tarkine).

Community Art Event Details

A community art project takayna / Tarkine held at the Hobart Botanical Gardens. Lets come together as a community to express our love for this forest.

Sunday 5th of June, 2022.

Educators including a local artist and biologist will support children and teens to create a piece of art work for the Tarkind Exhibition (approx. one month later date TBA).

The presentations from educators will inspire children and teens to engage in this unique place which has the largest areas of Aboriginal archeology in the southern hemisphere and is also the largest temperate Gondwanan rainforest in the Southern Hemisphere.

takayna / Tarkine is one of the few remaining pristine wilderness' in Australia, it needs to be protected for current and future generations - by engaging in this vulnerable forest and its sacred living systems living systems we can redirect the current destruction occurring into opportunities for regeneration.

We look forward to meeting you. We are creating a community who values kindness for each other, our own self, the forest & future generations.

Link to book for the Tarkind Community Art Project.

Notolioon gemmatus (Byrrhidae) Photography by Tarkind project collaborator and advisor Dr Keith Martin-Smith.

Retreat Two: Autumn Yoga, Ayurvedic Food and Herbalism @ Magical Farm, March 2022

Written by Dr Demeter

Photos by Jessica Cherrett and Emily Samuels-Ballantyne

Starting in the sacred circle a group of intentional women convened at Magical Farm to take part in the Autumn Yoga, Ayurvedic Food and Herbalism retreat two. We shared our intentions for the day and reason for being present. A theme that came up was ‘taking some time’ as well as a moment to reflect on ways our individual lives can be lived in a holistic way. We then took part in an hour yin yoga class in the big tent, and finished with some breathing exercises. Autumn is an important time in Ayrveda to focus on the large intestine and lungs. So the yoga practice supported poses for the digestive system and the lung region. The breathing exercises we used as a way to ‘let go’ of anything that we need our bodies to release - as the leaves drop to the ground and let go of their excess, we also are going through the same process.

Following the yoga we moved onto food! We fermented some Kim chi with some beautiful organic local produce - and reflected on the Ayurvedic benefits from these foods. India is one of the only counties in the world who include ferments in their ‘national nutritional recommendations’. Very important food for the digestive system. Then as our Ayurvedic designed lunch was prepared Jess Cherrett began her herbalism workshop. We were so lucky to receive so much wisdom from her. Throughout the herbalism workshop we learnt how to make a heart tonic with Hawthorne, rose and elderberries, a cough syrup filled with natures goodies for the winter season, lip balm to keep our lips lubricated during the winter time and a fire cider to support our immune systems.

We had many discussions about ways herbs can support health and how they are so important for people to connect to so they can empower us to take care of our own bodies.

Autumn sees the decline of the pitta dosha and the rise of the vata dosha. As the fire element of summer gives way, the air element of autumn comes to the fore. Prana, the vital breath, is everywhere. To balance vata (dry, cool, windy, irregular and light), it is important to cultivate —wet, warm, sheltered, grounded, heavy, slow and regular. Our retreat enabled a nourishing moment in time to convene together as community in our ‘new shelter @ Magical Farm’ (still to be completed cob house from the natural building retreat one!) and connect to nature wisdom in herbalism, yoga and food to support ourselves in this season and into the winter.

If you are interested to attend our Winter workshop please be in touch via our email info@magicalfarm.org

Please see our groups research and sharing from the day at this SHARE link.

Retreat One at Magical Farm: Natural Building in Everyday Life

Written by Dr Demeter

Photography by Ness Vanderburgh Photography

A Natural Building workshop took place at Magical Farm 11th – 16th January, 2022. A beautiful group of people convened to co-create an office for Magical Farm, in partnership with Clare Aston’s Elemental Earth Building. The retreat was a ‘village’ coming together to learn new skills, share food and stories. We explored Cob building (building with clay and stay and sand) and clay-straw slip technique.

I would like to share three ways Natural Building nourishes everyday life & reflect on our Natural Building retreat at Magical Farm: Introducing a concept called C.O.B!  

1. C: Convivial communities 

Convivial communities refers to people creating something autonomously outside the dominant system in a joyous and interdependent way. Put simply acting differently to the ‘industrial model’ of being and doing. 

Natural Building is an empowering approach for everyday life practice. Our dominant culture ‘sells’ building to us as a commodity which requires tradies to make it all happen for us.

However Natural Building is a creative and nourishing activity which is accessible to all - thanks to this retreat my two eldest children know how to build a shelter for themselves – they have learnt new skills that will be practical for their life. The youngest one was soaking it all up and watching everyone immerse themselves. They made beautiful friendships and had a glorious time.

Natural building is one significant way to claim back power in our everyday life. If people can build their own shelters and not have to rely on commodity building, we can begin to shift away from unmanageable mortgages. We can also put an end to drip feeding from large corporations who sell us back commodified versions of shelter.

Another important learning natural building can be done by anyone if they set their heart to it. Women are known to be avid Natural Builders. Clare Aston our teacher said that many villages and homes around the world are naturally built by women - it is their job and they are highly respected for this task. Personally, it is such a relief for me to have learnt this skill. I can contribute to building my own shelter, in a healthy, sustainable and convivial way! Woodstock comes to Magical Farm - watch this space!

Natural Building offers a model that allows for people-to-help-people. Sharing a village experience in a powerful Temporal Autonomous Zone (TAZ) for a short period of time and supporting each other to learn, create shelter and in a joyous and caring way. The community of people expressed how they will help each other on their respective future builds.

The village created during our retreat felt good – yoga in the mornings, childcare love and support, campfires in the evenings, sharing kitchen duties and making of meals, sharing stories whilst we stomped on cob and built walls together and teaching each other new skills.

We had a special visit from Herbalist Without Borders - Monica Francia to teach us about the power of herbal medicine - having autonomy over the way we look after our wellbeing - is another important aspect that we need to claim back in our everyday life!

Our convivial cobbing meant we were creating more than just walls – we were creating friendships and shared experiences and at the same time becoming a community of practice with an essential skill for sustaining life.  

Nested idea 1: Our Community / Village

2. O: Oikos 

Reimagining the concept of the home is a big task, but Oikos is a great start! The ‘eco’ of economy & ecology derives from oikos – meaning home – that which sustains life. The family property  / the house are also original meanings of oikos. The meaning of economy therefore derives from basic elements of our everyday life and how we organise ourselves in this way (‘nomy ’ means management of). As we participate more in institutional life we become further distanced from our home and Oikos. Tangible ways to reconnect back to the original version of ‘economy’ is to understand what in our lives that we purchase as essential services and products. This pretty much covers a lot of aspects of life. Natural Building is a foot in the door to reconnect, as is growing ones own food, taking autonomy over ones health & body through plants, community support and village (the list can go on here!).

Gibson-Graham feminist economic theorists describe ‘community economies’ as new ways to engage in living and working - in diverse forms of exchange. To them ‘community’ refers to the active ongoing negotiation of interdependence with all life forms, human and non-human. 

Economies are therefore not simply about monetary exchange – and never were! In a community economy there are diverse ways to create forms of exchange such as: coops, natural building in festival (like our retreat!), bartering, volunteering, gifts and many more. Economies need to be placed-based and self sustaining where we can see the flow of energy and connection to what is being traded, exchanged and created.

Natural building as a process plants the seed for us to reconceive the original meaning of the concept of Oikos – and in turn reimagine the way we are living now in place. 

Nested idea 2: Our home.

3. B: Boogie & our Bodies

To conclude Natural Building is tactile, connected to nature (literally you dig a hole in your back garden, and use this clay - this is called vernacular building) and fun!  It is an embodied experience involving our head, heart and hands & our body! Natural Building is an embodied practice, which is great for us humans as a whole. It’s a relaxing process to participate in Natural Building because of the process in which it unfolds.

There were a few moments throughout the retreat in the late afternoon usually – where we cracked open a cold drink – turned up the radio and boogied as we built. Cob making requires you to stomp on a mix of clay and sand to make it into the right composition (similar process to old ways of making wine!). 

Nested idea 3: Our body.

Summary

In summary I am a big fan of C.O.B & natural building – it is a holistic way to claim back a seriously commodified aspect of our everyday life. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in the retreat: Yehuda, Dee, Sarah, Kristine, Sean, Luke, Ness, Felix,Zach, Abe Raphie, Nico, Liz, Mon, Bridgette & Stu as participants and volunteers. A big thank you to Clare Aston for her superb and passionate teachings. 

End.

Any questions or queries into our natural building workshops please email  info@magicalfarm.org 

Photography by Ness Vanderburgh Photography

C.O.B: Natural Building Retreat @ Magical Farm Tasmania

C.O.B: Natural Building Workshop Summary 

Magical Farm Tasmania, January 2022.

By Dr Demeter

A Natural Building workshop took place at Magical Farm 11th – 16thJanuary, 2022. A lovely group of people convened to co-create an office for Magical Farm, in partnership with Clare Aston’s Elemental Earth Building. The workshop was more like a ‘retreat’ - a beautiful coming together of people to learn new skills, share food and stories. A convening of people to share dialogue and create new ways of being. We explored Cob building (building with clay and stay and sand) and clay-straw slip technique (see photos below).

Hakim Bey, American Poet & Anarchist describes Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZs) as short-lived spaces which subvert formal structures of control. Our Natural Building retreat was a place for people to reflect on ways in which they want to build differently. This process also stimulated further dialogue and discussions about ways to transform everyday life that has become so commodified.

Why Natural Building?

As Naomi Klein puts in her book “The Shock Doctrine” – the free market has come to dominate the world. In relation to building…large monopoly renovation stores and developing companies with cookie cut designs is the dominant way that we build. As a consequence we are becoming further distanced from using our hands and skills to create our shelters and this in itself has significant ripple on…

Guy Debord describes in his book Society of Spectacle a critique of contemporary consumer culture and commodity fetishism, dealing with issues such as class alienation, cultural homogenisation, and mass media. In relation to building…a building is not just a building – it is nested in a home, community, village, however this is becoming further from the case as suburbs and towns are planned to further disconnect people with place. One issue is the fact that most of our homes these days are designed via the individual title system. Eco-villages that can embrace connection and diversity are a niche form of building development.

 Ivan Illich in his book Tools for Conviviality states that “Societies in which most people depend for most of their goods and services on the personal whim, kindness, or skill of another are called underdeveloped, while those in which living has been transformed into a process of ordering from an all-encompassing store catalogue are called advanced”. In relation to building here – our values as a society are upside down and we need to bring ‘heart’, ‘head’, ‘hands’ and body into our way of building and living. This is also going to be about localising our economies and building with what materials are around us - vernacular building.

These authors and thousands more have scripted the same critique and message for decades with regards to their concerns for industrialisation and commodification of everyday life. We are now in a position for a multitude of reasons (Climate, Covid, Crisis of global economy, Matters of Equity, Decolonisation , living in virtual realities etc) where we need to shift gears and redesign in the realm of our everyday – for the better. Natural Building is a great way to start this process! 

In this brief article I would like to share three simple nested ideas to reflect on our Natural Building workshop/retreat at Magical Farm: Introducing C.O.B. 

1. C: Convivial communities 

Convivial communities refers to people creating something autonomously outside the dominant system in a joyous and interdependent way. Put simply acting differently to the ‘industrial model’ of being and doing. 

Natural Building was an empowering experience. Prior to the workshop I would have told people that I do not know how to build – now I can. My two eldest children also know how to build a shelter for themselves – a great school holiday learning.

I can see that Natural building is one significant way to claim back power over our everyday life. If people can build their own shelters and not have to rely on commodity building, we can begin to shift gears away from unmanageable mortgages. We can also put an end to drip feeding large corporations to sell us back commodified versions of shelter. 

Natural Building offers a model that allows for people-to-help-people. Sharing a village experience in a powerful TAZ for a short period of time and supporting each other to learn, create shelter and in a joyous and caring way. 

The community created during our retreat felt good – yoga in the mornings, campfires in the evenings, sharing making of meals, sharing stories whilst we stomped on cob and built walls together and teaching each other new skills. We were creating more than just walls – we were creating friendships and shared experiences and at the same time becoming a community of practice with an essential skill for sustaining life.  

Nested idea 1: Our Community / Village.

2. O: Oikos 

Reimagining the concept of the home is a big task, but Oikos is a great start! The ‘eco’ of economy & ecology derives from oikos – meaning home – that which sustains life. The family property  / the house are also original meanings of oikos. The meaning of economy therefore derives from basic elements of our everyday life and how we organise ourselves in this way (‘nomy ’ means management of). 

Gibson-Graham feminist economic theorists describe ‘community economies’ as new ways to engage in living and working - in diverse forms of exchange. To them ‘community’ refers to the active ongoing negotiation of interdependence with all life forms, human and non-human. 

Economies are therefore not simply about monetary exchange – and never were! In a community economy there are diverse ways to create forms of exchange such as: coops, natural building in festival (like our retreat!), bartering, volunteering, gifts and many more. 

Natural building as a process plants the seed for us to reconceive the original meaning of the concept of Oikos – and in turn reimagine the way we are living now in place. 

Nested idea 2: Our home.

3. B: Boogie & our Bodies

To conclude Natural Building is tactile, connected to nature (literally you dig a hole in your back garden, and use this clay - this is called vernacular building) and fun!  It is an embodied experience involving our head, heart and hands – but most importantly our body! There were a few moments throughout the retreat in the late afternoon usually – where we cracked open a cold drink – turned up the radio and boogied as we built. Cob making requires you to stomp on clay and sand to make it into the right composition (similar process to old ways of making wine!). 

Nested idea 3: Our body.

Summary

In summary I am a big fan of C.O.B & natural building – it is a holistic way to claim back a seriously commodified aspect of our everyday life. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in the retreat, as participants and volunteers. A big thank you to Clare Aston for her superb and passionate teachings. 

End.

Any questions or queries into our natural building workshops please email  info@magicalfarm.org 

Photography by Emily Samuels-Ballantyne

Why Local Organic Food?

Food is part of our everyday life, so it crosses our paths many times in our days weeks and years. That is why the choices we make around food are so significant. Our choices cause ripple effects in wider systems. If we look at the industrial food system today we have been “designed” into this system. So it makes it hard to avoid the monopoly supermarkets and the mechanised food system that they reinforce.

So how do we ‘design’ our way out?

It’s a question I have been reflecting on and actioning for over a decade. At its essence, it is POWERFUL to buy local. Support local farmers. Eat food that is not laced with pesticides. Your local dollar does make a difference and can reinforce a regenerative food system. You also enter into the exciting and reassuring world of ‘living systems’ what I describe as “Con Viv” (with life)! Engaging with healthy and alive soil, meeting dynamic, zesty and caring community members and discovering opportunities to vision and share regenerative stories for healing the past and embracing the present and future in a new light.

Helena Norbert-Hodge from Local Futures states that

“If you want to create a more sustainable society, a good place to start is by helping to rebuild your local food economy: food is something everyone, everywhere, needs every day, which means that even relatively small changes in the way it is produced and marketed can have immense effects. And since eating is a natural part of daily life, we all have frequent opportunities to make a difference.”

So the Magical Farm food box is a special project for us to create. We hope we can inspire more regenerative conversations, local dollars spent, more support for our local organic farmers and growers, convivial celebrations and gastronomical events and further spread the much needed regenerative changes in our world. You can order our food box on this website www.magicalfarm.org

Local and organic veggie boxes are available fresh from the farm to your table. Magical Farm will provide you with delicious produce every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. We will post 7 days prior to the next box so you can order before the end of the week prior to the ‘box day’. You can pick up from our farm gate in Allens Rivulet or our distribution points in Hobart. We are more than happy to hear from you! info@magicalfarm.org

Basil leaves - so yummy but also representing opening our hearts, minds and hands to a new way of living on our planet.

Magical Musing by E Samuels-Ballantyne

Magical Farm Opens an Organic Pantry for Hobart

We are very excited to announce the opening of our organic pantry. We will be delivering our fresh, local and organic veggie and fruit boxes to Hobart and surrounds. We are passionate about sourcing the best quality produce from our farm and local farms. The boxes will be available for pick up from our farm gate, pick up points or via delivery on every 1st or 3rd Friday of the month.

We will also be providing beautiful organic dry goods soon, so stay tuned!

Welcome to Magical Farm

Magical Farm welcomes you to our website and community. We have a vision to make holistic lifestyles a reality. Everyday life is our ‘canvas’ and the seven elements of food, art and crafts, conviviality, the land, hand skills, wellbeing and rest are our ‘paint brushes’. Everyday life makes up the seven days of the week so we have many opportunities to create moments, practices and actions that can change our life and systems (social, political, economic and ecological).

We are a critically focussed, convivial minded and heart centred business :) that offers:

• educational workshops and courses that enable holistic lifestyles such as living systems thinking philosophy, conviviality philosophy, food systems design, wood working, local food project making and much more.

• services such as local food production and delivery, wellbeing classes such as fencing, meditation, yoga and massage.

• products such as aromatherapy oils, flower essences, herbs, local food, local art and crafts.

Thank you very much to the talented Louise Thrush Graphic Designer and Illustrator from Tasmania for working with us on the brand for Magical Farm. http://www.louisethrush.com/

Thank you also to the beautiful rainbow which also has seven sacred colours that can enliven our everyday life canvas. The rainbow has been a wonderful symbol that has inspired me for over a decade, and as it happens now live in a valley surrounded by mountains, so I see rainbows on average once per week. Just recently for the first time in my life I saw a night rainbow!