an experience

I feel bush-bashed and bush-battered.

I wouldn't describe it as fun. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, traversing 25km through the dense rainforest was tough, and add to that the constant effort of pushing aside and dodging spiky vines and ferns, pushing through thick scrub, scrambling to get under dead tree trunks, stepping on slippery boulders to cross creeks and sliding down steep rock faces,  whilst carrying a tent, sleeping bag and food. 

At one stage, the ground was covered by dead leaves, sloped quite steeply, and we were holding onto one tree at a time as we moved ahead to prevent us from rolling downwards. 

Without paths, every step required preliminary assessment. I was not careful enough, as I expended my energy just keeping up with the others. My legs constantly hit into logs, which were hidden under ferns. Spikes of branches and vines caressed my arms. On one occasion, in order to get through some staggered rocks, I had to descend from a higher rock face to another below. I clung onto the crevices of the rock and lowered my feet. My landing foot missed the surface of the lower rock, I lost my balance, and my bodyweight swung my other leg into the vertical surface of the rock above.     

It was my first experience of the rainforest as unforgiving, or rather, as having a dark sense of humour, which requires a taxing level of mental and physical strength to handle. At times, I felt like a weakling engulfed in a maze...exhaustion sets in, yet the hurdles are endless, and the end is not in sight.     

Flowers of endives

Salad greens, if left uneaten, would result in flowers that are so surprisingly unique!

Genus:  Cichorium

Species:  endivia

Family:  Compositae (Asteraceae)

A cloudy day along Hermitage Foreshore Walk

Nature of Kangaroo Valley

The movements of little flowers in the breeze, the whispers of trees, 

the dancing of light on the surface of a creek into which water dragon lizards dive,

 the heavy steps of sleepy wombats, 

the singsong of birds,

.......the trickle of rainwater along the crevice of a mossy stone...

 

 

Micro discoveries

Recently, I have started looking at things, anything, under a microscope that would otherwise continue to collect dust in the garage, as it had done so for the past fifteen years. And I have been enthralled by the details of things which previously appeared the most ordinary - the translucent quality of a human hair, the intricacy of the patterns of a dried loofah sponge..the hairy legs of a flea!

Today, I was annoyed to find colonies of white bugs along the stems and pods of my bok choy plants...until I placed a few of them under the microscope!!

The smaller one is a baby. 

I 

This one has beautiful eyes and symmetrical dark markings on its body. I was kept on the edge of my seat, watching it move around, wave its antennas, and then go on to attack the other one on that I had placed on the plastic make-shift slide. It was actually more thrilling than an action movie, there were legs going everywhere, and all this time one of them held a baby bug on one of its legs and kept brushing the baby with another leg, whilst fighting with the other adult bug with the rest of four other legs! I enjoyed the show but I am still not sure what this was about. 

                         A parsley seed after soaking.

 And I found that soaking seeds before planting actually makes them open up and begin the sprouting process - hence the old gardener's trick.

Childhood

'

Can ants swim?

Really?

A special feature on my broadbean experience

 

It has been a long ride - having purchased  seeds from a private seller, received them in the post, and sewn them in February, untilnow. The beans, when they are finally ready for picking, are delicious. The leaves ofthe plants, are also tasty as toppings and salads. The younger leaves at the top of the plants are the most tender. 

A few plants were ruined when the leaves became brown which soon spread to the rest of the plant. Apparently this is called 'Chocolate Rot', a common disease in broad beans for which there are no chemical solutions. Raised bedding for good drainage and spreading out the plants for good air circulation may help. 

Getting the beans out of the pods involved breaking of the tip of the bean to let loose a green string that 'unzips' the side of the pod as you pull it away! What a neat arrangement! This led me to wonder how the broad bean plant came about - what did its ancestor look like? A quick search suggests the ancestor plant (ie. wild relative) of the particular species (Vicia Faba) is yet to be identified: 

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/aotm/displaypicture.asp?venue=&id=259

 It seems that more sample collection is needed, attention botanists!  

Other questions came to mind - when did people first start planting broad beans? A site claims that broadbeans are 'most likely native to Mediterranean Africa. It is one of the most ancient of beans, with a history dating back to the Bronze Age and the ruins of Troy. By the Iron Age broad beans had spread to Europe.' 

Other website state that 'Along with lentils, peas, and chickpeas, they are believed to have become part of the eastern Mediterranean diet around 6000 BC or earlier.' and that 'archaeological findings at Iron Age and Bronze Age settlements in various parts of Europe show that they have been an important staple food for millennia.'  

A survey carried out by Jones (2005)* on nowaday garden cultivation on the Greek island of Evvia has found that broad beans is often grown as a common staple food in private gardens. This seems to suggest that the long history of broad bean cultivation in the Mediterranean is continuing, at least as a localised custom on the island itself. 

If broad beans has been a key part of people's diets, has this inspired artists to make great art featuring broad beans? 

Supper at Emmaus, by the Venetian artist Titian (dated 1530-5) 

For the biblical story which this painting portrays, goto: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/aotm/displaypicture.asp?venue=&id=259

Looking closely, the branch on the table on the left hand side of the central figure Jesus resembles that of broad bean plant, but perhaps not.  The Liverpool Museum states that the painting features broadbean pods, which I cannot see in this electronic version: 

' Here the simple wine glasses, bread-rolls and chicken (brought in by the servant-boy) are unusually accompanied by broad-bean pods and delicate little bright-blue borage flowers scattered across the table. 

The broad bean was considered peasant food, typically served to poor pilgrims on their travels. But this curious combination may also reflect a Venetian custom of eating candied broad beans (fave dolci)at the Feast of the Dead on All Souls Day, 2November. Broad beans were thought to possess the soul of the dead and borage, which was used to freshen wine, was believed to drive away sadness and bring joy. The bread and wine relate to the Eucharist, the key Christian ceremony.' 

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=2&id=259

There are more paintings that I have found - will add them when I have time!

 *Garden cultivation of staple crops and its implications for settlement location and continuity. World Archaeology Vol. 37(2): 164–176