| Trev Wittmer
I moved to Queensland from Melbourne, attracted by the endless summers and cheap land. Twenty-five years later, the endless summers are not so attractive, and the land is no longer cheap. 
For 20 of those years, I lived the hippie dream - mudbrick house,
solar power, the wood stove, the bush. Eight years ago,
through a mixture of tragedy and serendipity,
I was fortunate enough to meet Linda, one thing led to another,
and here we are, embarked on the domestic sustainability adventure or,
as Linda characterises it, the world's most elaborate diet. I bring to the project a background in Forestry research, an applied science diploma, the ability to see the value of a good idea, and muscle. For me the issue is not whether we succeed or fail, but what we can learn from the journey, and how much of that knowledge we can share with others. Already, the benefits of our efforts so far are manifest in the feeling of well being and achievement we get when we stand on the verandah and look out over the garden. Linda Cockburn 
Linda was born in New Zealand in 1968. Of her five siblings she was judged the least likely to garden due a horror of accumulating dirt under her fingernails. As of 2004 she has managed to accrue a few kilos of the same and has become accustomed to the constant removal process of Australian soil, which she moved onto in 1992.
Now residing in Queensland she made the mistake of pondering the ability to live in a domestically sustainable way on 2180 square metres, and has spent the last five years working toward the goal, and dragging Trevor and Caleb with her.
Her hypothesis is that the experiment can succeed due to having worked up to it slowly, it will not be a sudden shock to the system. Failure would most likely be due to the vagaries of weather, early frosts, freak hailstorms, plagues of locusts and of course; a lack of chocolate and quick consumer fixes of non-organic, fat-filled and fried food. She brings to the experiment; zeal, an inquiring mind (which typically peaks at 2.00am), and a love of finding new ways to do old things, even if the new ways were once the old ways, but we've forgotten them; like making cheese. Plus the thrill of bringing up a child to recognise the most important unit known to man, that of energy - not currency. Caleb Wittmer  "Caleb do you think we can spend 6 months (that's 180 days) without spending a dollar?" "No, sweet things might run out". "What other problems might we have?" "We can't get any toys for me, - no Bionicles". "Can you think of anything good about spending six months without a dollar?" "It would be fun - like biking to school, getting challenges at home and having days off from buying and that's kind of fun". Caleb is a fruit bat and as long as we can provide him enough watermelon, rockmelon, grapes, mandarins, mulberries, bananas and no pumpkin he will be content. Possum What do you think of six months without spending a dollar Possum? Whraaaah! Click, for a quick flick of Possum. 488KB file - 3 or 4 min download for 56k modem. main page |