Money does grow on trees

Money does grow on trees

rainforest during foggy day
Photo by David Riaño Cortés on Pexels.com

For all the horror of the pandemic, COVID-19 has shifted people’s thinking.

Most of us have used the lockdowns and the change to reflect on, ‘how we are living our lives’ and ‘how we want to live our lives’. Or as we describe below, ‘what we want our lives to be about.’

Environmentalist and educator Brian Wehlburg tells www.theBEATS.org that there is no more pragmatic group asking themselves these questions than Australia’s farmers – both the young and seasoned.

farmer feeding cute lambs with milk
Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

The relationship between input and output became very clear when Brian asked a group of Young Farmers Connect members recently at a workshop in the Northern Rivers to ask ‘Why’ when explaining their ‘vision’.

‘Why do you want a shed full of tractors?’ ‘Because I want to be productive.’ ‘Why?’ ‘For financial security.’ ‘Why do you want that?’ ‘For a happy life.’

And as they all delved deeper into the elements of a ‘happy life’, most young farmers describe it as ‘being secure, financially and physically’. ‘Being healthy with a healthy connection to their community and the environment’. And most tellingly, being in a ‘loving relationship’.


So, the kind of environment they (and I reckon most of us) want for a good life, is a healthy bank balance, physical health, a healthy relationship with our communities, our significant others, and the environment.

Our food producers, young and old, see the connection between the environment (how they are living their lives) and a good life, that is how they want to live and what they want their lives to be about. 

Each day they see these connections. Brian says, they report how they feel when they see that first green spear of grass after the drought. They understand how such things create moods and feelings, drive energy, desires, and behaviours.

closeup photo of green grass field
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

It is in moments like these that the farming cohort, according to Brian, understand that the quality of life is much more than a unit of production. That the kind of environment they want for a ‘good life’, has shifted from securing the immediate dollar to one of generational sustainability.

“Not one of those young farmers woke up in the morning wanting to wreck a bit of their farms!” said Brian. We reckon the CoVid-19 pandemic has given the rest of us a taste of a similar understanding.

“Dealing with this hugely complex thing, we have to constantly monitor it. We know that now.”

Whether it’s the virus, the farm and its soil health, or the oil in the tractor, they all need constant monitoring and only work when cared for.  

We have that power to combine science and care, to use our heads and our hearts.

We also have the power to destroy.  The human species in fact is the biggest destroyer of our environment. In Australia that is 84% of our species. 

The reality is that the numbers are shifting towards those who do not want to go back to that dark world. Those who trust both science and ancient knowledge systems of how best to use water and minerals, and simultaneously improve what we have.  To look to the next generation and look after and improve what we have been left.

 As Brian Wehlburg likes to quote:

“We couldn’t have an orchestra, a government or an army without sunlight shining on a green leaf.”

Read more about the power of regenerative farming at Land-to-Market(our interview with CEO Tony Hill coming up) and read our Carbon Credit Bulga Downs and RegenCo story It’s not  the cow, it’s the how and 26 June 2021 AFR story here.

They said: “Would you like to buy the sky as well?”

They said: “Would you like to buy the sky as well?”

When white men came to America, they asked the Indians if they had land to sell. The Indians thought that was hilarious – they said “Would you like to buy the sky as well?”

When white men came to Australia. They didn’t ask if they could take the land. The indigenous tribes thought it was ludicrous. Why won’t the white man understand? The earth is not just some commodity to use up and throw away.

When they look back at our generation will they think we were greedy? Our great great grandchildren need to live here some day.

We need to rewrite future history – let’s not sell the sky as well.

Ana Key sings her haunting song

Ana Key – Future History
I think country is trying to talk to us about love.  How strong and beautiful it is.

I think country is trying to talk to us about love. How strong and beautiful it is.

 

“Inevitably that story is Aboriginal,” said author, Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man, Bruce Pascoe. And in this time of ‘so-called #reconciliation’, we need to think in terms of #conciliation. As Uncle Max asks: “How did we offend?” We did nothing wrong, yet all his family bar one boy, Uncle Max’s great, great grandfather were obliterated. “If we become closer we will become so much more powerful.” 

And as Bruce Shillingworth, pictured here at the microphone said: “We are the now. We have to refuse to despise our grandchildren my brother. We have to look after our home.” 

Co-author, photographer and artist, Vicky Shukuroglou and Bruce Pascoe shared these stories and more with ABC Radio NationalsAwaye’ host, Daniel Browning at the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival when talking about their Guide to Sacred Australia, Loving Country.

“As Australian aboriginal people, we want to talk to you about humanity and our country. Our shared country,” said Bruce. Adding that, “It’s important to be slow, to look carefully, to listen and absorb. The more informed we are, the more country will tell us about ourselves. Even in our own backyard.”

A paraphrased excerpt from the section on the Birdsville track towards outback Queensland … Having driven through the heat and ‘rattled from the corrugations’ of the track, you dismount and ‘the first thing you feel is the breeze through the corkwood trees.’

The sand is soft … you recline in the shade, and you hear that sound again. ‘Soft, repetitive whistles, a churring babble, a plaintive whistle, the variety is enormous and the effect dreamlike.’ The voice of the spiny-cheeked honeyeater seems to come from every corkwood, beefwood or acacia.

‘It asks you to listen, to let the spirit of the country stroke the back of your neck’ … ‘to feel the spirit of the place of solace.’

The intention of the Loving Country guide is to foster communication and understanding between all peoples and country, and to encourage environmental and social change.  

It builds on an original book by anthropologist, geographer and activist, Professor Marcia Langton, Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies and now honoured as Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne.

With beautiful photographs, stories and a practical index of places to go to, look at and things to do in 19 special places in Australia, this ‘sacred’ guide is a way both actual and virtual travellers can delve deep into the heart of country. From the ingenious fish traps at Brewarrina and the rivers that feed the Great Barrier Reef, to the love stories of Wiluna and the whale story of the Margaret River.

Loving Country is to know more of the whole story of places like Marree for instance, at the junction of the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks in north-eastern South Australia in country where Antikarinya, Arabunna, Dieri and Pitjantjatjara languages are spoken.

What we know as Lake Eyre is just north of Marree, named after the lost early European explorer.

In this chapter Pascoe and Shukuroglou combine early Australian exploration history with Vicky’s close up portraits of echidnas, saltbushes and galahs. Of Sturt, Pascoe writes of how he, and his party of men and horses, halted by ridge after ridge of sand dunes in what appeared unforgiving desert, almost blind with scurvy and close to death, were welcomed by a gathering of 400 prosperous Aborigines, who watered the horses and fed the men roast duck and cake – the ‘lightest and sweetest’ Sturt had ever tasted.  Read more of this early tending and care of country in Pascoe’s Dark Emu.

The stories capture both past and present, and ancient times when the people of Margaret River communicated with the whales as they migrated north for the birthing season and the whales in turn communicated with them teaching them to talk their language and so linking land, sea, human and animal.

They are stories of unity and peace, of restraining human ego and letting country have a voice. In this guide we learn to pay attention and recognise the links between us, the people and the animals who have walked before us.

The authors also urge readers to think in terms of #conciliation not #reconciliation.  If we become closer we will become so much more powerful.

BEATS QUIZ

BEATS QUIZ

Select one of the following five options in each block using the number attributed to it. When finished, for a bit of fun, add up your numbers to determine if you generally like animals and nature, you’re quite good but have your limits, you’re an enthusiastic supporter or an absolute fanatic!

BIRDSYOUR SCORE
1I have a fear or dislike of birds
2Birds are OK and I know my Lorikeets from my Kookaburras
3I can tell a difference between a Magpie and a Currawong
4I know the names of almost all the birds in my area
5I am a Twitcher and I have identified hundreds of birds
MAMMALSYOUR SCORE
1I don’t like furry things – big or small
2I like my animals and I know the difference between my Koalas and my Kangaroos
3I know the difference between Wallabies and Kangaroos
4I can name at least 20 different types of Australian mammals
5I am an animal fanatic and regularly study and research their habits. I work with animals
TREESYOUR SCORE
1Trees are a nuisance especially when it comes to views
2I like my trees and can tell the difference between a gum tree and a pine tree
3I can name at least three types of Eucalypts
4I know the names of at least half the trees within a kilometre of me
5I know my trees and which ones will provide me food or medicine
FLOWERSYOUR SCORE
1I stay away from flowers. I may be allergic
2Flowers are nice and I sometimes buy them or pick them
3I have a rough idea of which are the indigenous flowers and which are exotic flowers in my area
4I can recognise and name at least 10 Australian wildflower types
5I study wild flowers and know which ones provide me food or medicine
INSECTSYOUR SCORE
1I hate crawly things and often kill the ones I don’t like
2Insects are ok as long as they are outside
3Insects have a role to play. I respect them and I leave them alone
4I actively encourage and attract certain insects to my gardens my garden would do if I had a garden
5I study and research insects
REPTILESYOUR SCORE
1Reptiles such as snakes and frogs creep me out
2Reptiles are ok as long as they stay away from me
3If I see a reptile in trouble I will move it or call for help
4I actively encourage reptiles such as frogs or snakes in my garden or would do if I had a garden
5I keep or research reptiles
LANDYOUR SCORE
1Australia has lots of land – so what?
2I regularly go to the parks and local reserves and appreciate the need for them
3I recognise the land set aside for farming another human activity is out of balance with land set aside to support nature
4I actively plant plants in my garden to attract nature or regularly work in gardens or parks that attract nature
5I actively invest in or physically support land restoration work on rewilding activities
HOMEYOUR SCORE
1Nature in annoying and belongs outside
2I like plants in my house but spiders are not welcome
3I’m not fussed about plants and most insects in my house
4I actively encourage plants and insects in my house
5There is little difference between the inside of my house and the outdoors. Wild animals regularly frequent inside
PETSYOUR SCORE
1My pets are my business
2My pets generally stay within my house or garden
3I have taken active steps to put bells or other devices on my pets to warn other animals of their presence
4I am aware that close to 80% of extinction of our Australian animals are due to pets either at home or running wild. I make sure my pets do not attack wildlife
5I actively participate in events to help manage feral animal populations
MISTLETOEYOUR SCORE
1What is that?
2Mistletoe is used as a decoration at Christmas under which lovers are expected to kiss
3Australia has its own types of mistletoe
4Mistletoe is a semi parasite and Australia has more than 90 different species of mistletoe
5In Victoria they have discovered a symbiotic relationship between mistletoe and local trees and are actively attaching mistletoe to the trees to allow them to thrive
YOUR SCOREYOUR RATING
5-15It’s my life and I will live it how I like
16-25I know I generally like animals and nature but they are not a big focus in my life
26-35I’m quite good with my attention to nature but I do have my limits and I could do more
36-45I am an enthusiastic supporter of nature but I am no an expert. I know we need to get the balance right between us as humans and our animals and plants
46-50I am a nature fanatic and love learning and researching more about nature. I’m at one with nature and in balance with my environment