A day in the life

It’s been a big week at Melliodora.
We are still coming to terms with Venie’s passing. Kevin Childs, in The Local magazine, wrote a beautiful account of Venie’s funeral, which you can find on page three here.
Earlier this week we had two MIAOWs (Melliodora Interns and Other Workers) arrive. Brianna is an architect from Brazil who is passionate about permaculture. Before she arrived in Australia Brianna spent over a year volunteering in Asia.

Tom (who’s camera shy) is from Castlemaine. He has a PDC, and has experience gardening, and with chickens and goats. When asked why he wanted to come to Melliodora, Tom said that he wanted to understand the property, the way elements interact, and to immerse himself in functional design language. Welcome both!

When you call the HDS office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it’s highly likely that Meg will answer the tromboncino phone. Meg has worked here in the office before. It’s great to have you back as part of the team, Meg.

Our intern Mitch has been with us since September 2015. If you’d like to know more about what Melliodora interns do, have a read of the Melliodora Apprentice Journal. When Mitch isn’t working or updating his journal, he likes to play hide and seek. Here he is hiding in the corn while David tries to find him.

If you don’t already subscribe to Pip Magazine, we highly recommend you grab yourself a copy. Pip has plenty of goodness to offer in the way of vital food for thought. The latest issue, whose theme is inspired by Nick Rose’s book, Fair Food: Stories from a movement changing the world, brings together ‘a collection of ideas and stories about people working hard to create a Fair Food future’, writes editor Robyn Rosenfeldt.
The magazine has gathered a great collection of people who are showing fair and sane alternative ways to producing and acquiring food. Along with Penelope Dodd from ‘Produce to the People’ and Angelo Eliades from ‘Deep Green Permaculture’ Melliodora’s own local food advocate, Su Dennett is profiled. Su has been working at the Rocklyn Yoga Ashram this week where a PDC is taking place. We miss you here in the office, Su!

And here, quiet as a mouse deep in thought is David working on his upcoming book RetroSuburbia: a downshifter’s guide to a resilient future Due to be released later this year, the book highlights the ongoing and incremental changes we can make to our built, biological and behavioural landscapes as we collectively strive to rebuild our household economies.

That’s it from us here today. We hope your soils are rich and fertile and your larder filling up with bottles of summer loving.