Community living hint to enjoy the hills lifestyle – part 1 🙂
Community living hint part 1 is Manage living in a high-risk fire-zone stress-free 🙂 Devote enough time to pull out winter crop of spring weeds and grasses to compost in October. Dry grass invites snakes to our yard rather than the bush, so this simple recipe also prevents us from ever seeing a snake. In summer, rake and compost leaves so that flying embers don’t land and set fire to our neighbourhood, 🙂
Huge benefits outweigh everything
We don’t have to pay fees and go to the gym because by caring for our little piece of paradise; we get lots of exercise while enjoying the spring sunshine, bursting with flowers, birds and all of nature at it’s best in much cleaner, fresh air. Lots of surrounding trees oxygenate our air so we feel relaxed and healthier in this slowed-down pace-of-life where some might call it “lots of work to do.”
However our “garden therapy” experiences just allow us to feel great and connected with our beautiful planet 🙂
Many hands make light work 🙂
If you have friends who don’t have the space or time to grow or tend a vegetable garden – you can invite them up to learn how to grow fresh greens/herbs in pots on their apartment window sill or porch. Why not show & tell as you weed?
Huge benefits outweigh everything
Together – pot up some spare resilient oregano, edible sweet potato leaves etc which have gorgeous hanging trailers if pots are hung up. Oxygenates their living space as well.
When there are lots of weeds in the spring, not only do you have lots of weeds to compost; you will probably have too much garden produce 🙂
So it’s a win-win.
Friends get a little snippet experience of our piece of paradise lifestyle and get to take home some fresh healthy veggies in return for lending a hand at the busiest, most productive time. Of course the flowers are at their best too 🙂
Community living hint – Plant Fire-retardant plants
Grape-vines which shade the house as well and… If the wildlife dont eat the grapes, you get to enjoy them too.
Fruit trees rather than native plants near the windows especially on the north side give shade, and oxygen, to the weakest point in the building’s temperature management. Blossoms in spring are delightful and picking daily fresh un-poisoned fruit easily compensates the time to care for fruit plants.
Research emphasised the need to water these plants sufficiently so that they have their natural water content to extinguish the fire embers that land! Hence, I invested in lots of raintanks to replace the pockets of land that needed unnecessary weeding!
Action speaks louder than words:-)
Much better than trying to talk about how we live to friends – invite them to participate as above. They get to share an experience and recieve the fruits of labour. You can also swap excess produce with neighbours or while exchanging experience wisdom at “get-togethers with like-minded local people” at the local community garden 🙂 … Third Sunday of each month at Glen Forest and there’s also a wonderful social and working-together-group doing various recycling and gardening projects in Darlington.
Share your piece of paradise 🙂
Living in nature or near the bush does require time and energy commitment which is a different type of lifestyle to that portrayed in the Great Australian Dream in the suburbs. That dream is fading but could be saved by adopting this Cohousing model. Simply share the big backyard 🙂
- build another story,
- retrofit expansive mansions to smaller dwellings
- build a granny-flat
for the increasing numbers of couples without children and single-person households to live in Cohousing or other Community Living model 🙂
Community living alleviates loneliness, mental and health challenges -> more info about vacancies 🙂
Community living will also alleviate loneliness often with resultant mental and health challenges. Have a listen to https://co-operationhousing.org.au/ and https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/for-the-public-good-and-fixing-aged-care/14138648 and check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/retrosuburbia/permalink/5784003085026212