Djilba is the Noongar word for one of the six seasons they knew in our climate here in South West Western Australia. It is a season in which the yellow and white flowers bloom in profusion, and consists of clear sunny days and cold wet days too. We notice the birds starting to build nests and some of them get a bit stressed and swoop anything they feel is a threat to them.
We have had some lovely days this week -the grandchildren and their parents came over on Saturday which some home made treats for our afternoon tea, and we were able to sit outside at the patio table to enjoy it. Today however is COLD and WET by our standards (max predicted 15C!) and we are snuggled inside. I have a quilt on my lap as I am writing this post. I am a bit of a sook (an Aussie term for someone who is easily upset) about wet and cold days -I love the sunshine- but gosh, the rain is wonderful. The garden is showing lots of nice growth as a result.
Recently we started watching a TV program from the BBC called "Tales from the Green Valley" about a reconstruction of a year on a farm from 1620 in Wales. What is quite obvious is that the seasons each brought its own tasks and rhythms. In our modern world, of course, we have the technology to ignore seasons if we wish -we can turn the lights on when shorter days arrive, we can continue to eat summer fruits imported from overseas during our winters, some of us don't even have to get wet when we move from the house to the car. I once had a friend who was diagnosed as being low in Vitamin D -the vitamin which is made by our bodies after we spend about 10 minutes a day outside in summer and about 30 minutes in winter (in my climate, anyway). She was shocked to realise that from her house to the car to the garage at work to her office -meant she did not go outside at all, for whole days at a time.
What would happen if we lived more in tune with the seasons? I am convinced that we would have more variety, not less in our lives!
There is a website I found which tells me which varieties of fresh food are in season and on the market now where I live. This page has separate advice for other Australian capital cities. I have also learned, over the years of growing some of my own food on my suburban plot, that I can expect to see the blueberries and mulberries over the next few months, and the strawberries, and perhaps, one day those annoying avocado trees I have had for more than 6 years, will one day flower at this time and set fruit! I have a variety of green leaves -sorrel, nasturtiums, sweet potato leaves, fennel, dill, coriander and rocket which I can put in my salad. We were very excited to see the first asparagus spear come up last week. The time to enjoy these things is now because when summer comes the nasturtiums are gone, the coriander has gone to seed and the blueberries and strawberries have finished fruiting.
Variety like this is also cheaper -even when buying our food -because food which is local and in season is cheaper.
I subscribe to a free service which tells me what I can plant at this time of the year. This means that I can think about sowing those chilli seeds I saved from my son's plant, last summer, as soon as the rain stops for a while! I can order some eggplant seeds now, to plant soon.
The changes which have been forced on us by the global pandemic is another of those 'seasons' in life. We have to adapt, and try to find the tasks and joys of these times. My heart goes out to those in Melbourne who are now in Stage 4 lockdown -and I know there are other states and other nations which are also suffering.
In WA we are still enjoying quite a lot of freedom compared to other places, as the measures our government took in March and April have kept things pretty stable so far, although we know that it only takes one person to change that! This disease is very contagious! We have had a few dinners with friends recently, and we know that is a real luxury, because there were weeks and weeks when we could only meet via videoconferencing. Maybe this will change -we know that things change quickly, which is why we want to enjoy this season now, as much as we possibly can.
I hope your season, whatever it is, is bringing you good things, and that if things are difficult now, that the season will change soon.
Learn more about the six seasons on the Bureau of
Meteorology's website: https://bit.ly/2rP5zbx
3 comments:
What an amazing coincidence we have been watching (for about the fifth time) the Tales from the Green Valley programme this week, they made several more after that set in different periods. You can also visit that farm and stay to experience life and work in that period.
Vitamin D deficiency is a real issue here, even in the summer we don't really get enough to top us up, we take supplements in Autumn and Winter every year. It is 11°C here today with wind and rain and we are at the height of summer here so no vitamin D for us today, the last sunny day we had was Friday.
Sustainable mum -when I lived in the UK we had whole summers that seemed more wet than sunny! I think people used to give children all kinds of horrible supplements to try to boost their vitamin D levels -was that what castor oil was for? We are so lucky. In fact, Perth is officially the sunniest capital city in the world, with an average of eight hours of sun per day, year-round.
That's a pretty photo. How nice that you were able to have dinner with friends. I miss getting together with mine, but we can't right now. I do chat with the ladies at the country club when I'm at the lake. We stay six feet apart, and I wear my mask. Your food growing sounds fantastic!
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