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Writer's pictureCecilia Macaulay

Don't Let Them Take Your Stuff

Updated: Feb 6, 2019


You earn money, then oh dear, your landlord, shopping centre and others want exactly that amount. You plant a garden, then oh dear, the water evaporates, the tresaures get eaten by wildlife.


Defense is something we have to get good at, even in a 2019 Western Democracy. But nobody wants a life with fences. Love and cleverness are the way to go.


Defence Without Fences


Here is a garden I designed to work without fences. The water is buried in wicking beds, the deliciousness is raised, giving kangaroos the idea to go elsewhere. The whole thing is shaded to keep the water in, and has a person installed, to watch over and make sure everything is okay.

I drew this from my Inner Sydney house, humming a really silly Australian song.

Here I am, a one-minute drawing session:


In March last year, my landlord took the house back.


Defenseless!

But I've got a skill for landing on my feet, and making even unwilling change benefit me.


Who would have thought I'd end up living every bit of the lyrics, here in Gardenfarm, Gippsland. Today I had Farmer Bob's fresh-picked plums for dessert, and watered my pumpkins. Tomorrow I'll have vegemite on his fresh-baked bread, and pop in to Woolies for whatever he hasn't grown.


Here is the song:

By B. Brown/W. Johnson


I've been around the world

A couple of times or maybe more

I've seen the sights, I've had delights

On every foreign shore

But when my mates all ask me

The place that I adore

I tell them right away



Give me a home among the gumtrees

With lots of plum trees

A sheep or two, a k-kangaroo

A clothesline out the back

Verandah out the front

And an old rocking chair



You can see me in the kitchen

Cooking up a roast

Or Vegemite on toast

Just you and me, a cup of tea

And later on, we'll settle down

And go out on the porch

And watch the possums play



There's a Safeways up the corner

And a Woolies down the street

And a brand new place they've opened up

Where they regulate the heat

But I'd trade them all tomorrow

For a little bush retreat

Where the kookaburras call



Some people like their houses

With fences all around

Others live in mansions

And some beneath the ground

But me I like the bush you know

With rabbits running round

And a pumpkin vine out the back



Heres how the pictures started. Funny Kangaroo.

Give me a Home Among the Gumtrees. Illustration By Cecilia Macaulay

 

Maybe its time for you to make your paradise. Gardenfarm has a monthly intern program, and its delicous. If you want to get your own plum tree, gum tree and the rest one day, come, stay, and get powered up. Draw your next reality into being.



My reality every day, living in Gardenfarm. Photo, Cecilia Macaulay


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