Hello, here is a rather sad story about my Halloween pumpkin. I forget when I planted the seeds, and also what kind they were. And maybe I was a bit late getting them in. Our bees seemed to have left when the lavender and thyme and all
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LEAF PEEPING IN AUTUMN I love my little village of Blackheath. I do joke and call it Bleakheath, but only with affection. It’s in the upper Blue Mountains of New South Wales, so the seasons are well defined. Spring is gorgeous and snow can occasionally transform it in
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When the troopship Geelong left Hobart on October 20 1914, it carried the Tasmanian contingent of the 12th Battalion to Egypt, and thence to Gallipoli and France. There was a unique mascot on board, a Tasmanian devil. I’m not sure whether the practice was officially sanctioned, but
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TIMES ARE A’ CHANGING AT THE SHOW As I wandered around Sydney’s Royal Easter Show last year I was struck by how accurately this iconic event reflects changes in our society. The cookery section is a classic case in point. If we want it to survive we will
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THE LITTLE WEBSITE THAT GREW! Recently this website clicked over to 200,000 visits. Ad yes, there was a small celebration with hazelnut chocolate. Maybe not a great deal by some standards, but amazing to me. When I began in late 2012 I had no idea about
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A CONTINUATION OF THE STORY, THE STRANGE LIFE OF EDWARD RIDLEY – PART ONE. In May 1933, police were called to a crime scene at a damp hovel below what had once been Ridley and Sons Department Store complex, on the Lower East Side of New York. The Ridley family had disposed
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Hello from Editor Des, MY MUSHROOMS Well my guardian Pauline Conolly wrote a story about fungi the other day called Fungi: Flowers of the Fall . So I thought I would do a better one. Mine is about very special, magic mushrooms. I think you will love it
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A FESTIVAL OF FUNGI Autumn is always stunning here in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, but instead of looking up at the changing leaves I find myself enchanted by all manner of beautiful fungi on tree trunks and stumps, and popping up through the leaf litter. I must confess
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WARNING – THERE ARE PICTURES OF SNAKES IN THIS ARTICLE. ALSO, I MUST POINT OUT THAT SNAKES ARE VERY INOFFENSIVE. THEY NORMALLY ONLY BITE WHEN CORNERED, OR WHEN SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL THEM. THEY ARE NOW PROTECTED IN AUSTRALIA, AS THEY CERTAINLY SHOULD BE. A BLIGHTED CHILDHOOD Being
Read more →I grew up on a farm on the north west coast of Tasmania. In the late 1950’s a man came to see my father on some business or other. While he was there he produced a sugar bag which he carefully opened to show us the most ferocious creature imaginable. It
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