Early this Spring, I was out in the hills helping Dominic with the fencing. He needed more supplies so headed back to the shed, while I decided, even thought there was the threat of rain, to stay and just relax for a bit.
Looking around me at the landscape I remembered the phrase that Joel Salatin uses, that farms should be “aromatically and aesthetically pleasing”. I thought about that for a minute. From where I was the view wasn’t one of gently rolling green hills, but of paddocks with old summer grass and weeds, needing a really good graze to start to bring it back into condition.
Looking down at the creek there were many dead trees, killed by the bushfires in 2019, but also the sound of gently running water. Looking a bit closer I could see some of the trees weren’t dead. They were red cedars, deciduous trees that were just now showing signs of life. At the ends of branches, like old gnarly fingers, were splashes of green and pink, showing the beginning of new leaves and a new season of growth. In the air I could hear the constant chirp and song of birds, and the view of the mountains clothed in rain clouds, was still one to take your breath away.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but right then I really did believe we are on the right track to creating a place of beauty and abundance. I could smell a freshness in the air and the previous rain had moistened things just right, not too much so we couldn’t finish our job but enough to give the vegetation the feel of lushness.
So, is our farm aromatically and aesthetically pleasing?
In a uniquely Australian way, yes, but also in a soul-enriching one.
