‘He Could have Died’ – Dangerous Gardening in Australia

Earlier this year, on Australia Day, I wrote about how ‘dangerous,’ life can be in Australia. By employing a little common sense means nothing dreadful will happen, if you do visit our sun-drenched shores. Almost without exception, Australians live our entire lives without contact with a deadly snake, a Funnel-web Spider or a Death Adder.

So it came as a shock to find that …

Pottering in my garden might have inflicted serious injury or death.

[NB. this tale does not involve use of a power hedge trimmer, or chain saw].

Enter Australia’s Stinging Nettle Tree, or Gympie-Gympie.

Called the Gympie-Gympie, by the Gubbi Gubbi First Nation People, it is also known as the Suicide plant. For good reason –

Two species of the Australian Stinging trees– the Gympie-Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) and the Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa) are considered the most venomous plants in the world.

Unlike its European or North American Nettle counterparts, the Australian species are ‘particularly notorious for producing an excruciatingly painful sting.’ Covered in fine hairs like hypodermic needles, Dendrocnide species inject their toxins into skin, at the slightest touch or by brushing up against the leaves.

“Severe cases can lead to shock, and even death.

Horses have been known to die within hours of contact with this plant and one man was purported to have shot himself to end the excruciating pain. He’d inadvertently used the Gympie-Gympie leaf as toilet paper when camping in the forest.

Even inhaling the hairs of a dead 100 year old herbarium specimen caused sneezing, rashes, and nosebleeds and pain! This plant really is dangerous!

Entomologist and ecologist Marina Hurley who has been stung herself, likens the Gympie-gympie’s sting to “being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.” What’s more, the pain can last TWO YEARS!

And…..

Yesterday I discovered one growing in my Garden!

GASP!

Nature’s instrument of torture popped up along my garden fence, germinating shortly after Christmas, waiting to exact revenge on any life form that brushed passed!

That’s my dog’s furry ear is in the bottom right of the photo. How easy it would be to brush up against it while weeding! Being chemical stable, the toxins contained in the hairs are so minute, extracting them is difficult.

Needless to say, the M.o.t.h gowned and gloved up and disposed of the plant promptly. I am relieved the dreadful thing is bagged and safely disposed of.

Researchers are hoping to put this dangerous plant to beneficial use.

The poison in stinging trees was recently discovered to be a peptide, similar to some venomous spiders and cone snails, which also inflict terrible pain.

The poison works by binding to pain receptors in the nervous system, firing them up into a frenzy of activity. It’s hoped that working out how these proteins work may lead to the creation of new painkillers. [www.theguardian.com/e]

Brainy Emotions

Ayurveda lifestyle has known for thousands of years the direct connection between the brain and the body. Emotion has an instant effect on the function of our organs, bodily tissues and just about every process the body performs on a daily basis. Studies have monitored the link between the brain and the effect.

We see an instant contraction and contortion of the liver when exposed to stress. After a long period of time, the body would slowly begin to suffer the consequences of insufficient organ function.

The same happens in the gut. The gut is known as the second brain.

Stress can literally halt gut function and cause issues such as IBS constipation, diarrhoea and can go on to cause cumulative disorders, allergies, skin conditions.

Disease is very much triggered by the brain as a reaction to our emotional experiences. Mental health is a basic foundation for well-being.

Where the thoughts go the body follows.

“We have to harness the power of our thoughts and protect ourselves from forces that can bring us undone and manifest as disease.”

Chasca Summerville

Magpies – Fact or Fiction?

People also ask if magpies recognize humans?

A key reason why friendships with magpies are possible is that we now know that magpies are able to recognize and remember individual human faces for many years. They can learn which nearby humans do not constitute a risk. They will remember someone who was good to them; equally, they remember negative encounters.

theconversation.com

Sometimes Australian Magpies will swoop on someone as in this video clip and tragically can cause injuries:

Why Do Magpies Swoop?

Only 12% of male magpies are aggressive. During nesting season, the male magpie is simply doing his job defending its eggs and chicks, which are in the nest for about six to eight weeks between July and November in Australia.

Female magpies don’t swoop at all. Magpies swooping usually stops once the young birds have fledged and left the nest.

Having said that, if you get to know your local magpies, they probably won’t swoop you at all, as they recognize that you aren’t a threat to their nest.

Since moving to the Home by the Sea, I have had a Magpie family who nests near our house. Our street is their territory.

They frequently pop in with their young ones to check to see if I have some titbits for them. One of the elder birds often swoops in to reprimand the young ones for socialising with me. His actions are most likely altruistic. He prefers the kids to be independent and find worms for themselves rather than become dependent on human handouts. Who can blame him? Such a sensible chap!

Should I be feeding them at all? If so what?

Might it encourage them to swoop in nesting season?

I decided to find out.

The website- Magpie Alert – comes complete with an interactive map for cyclists to beware of popular swooping sites.

Cyclists seem particularly vulnerable to swooping attacks.

How do you get a magpie to trust you?

Taking a small morsel of meat or keeping your distance from a magpie nest may convey the message to a nervous magpie that you pose no threat. They may even become a ‘friend,’ as one young magpie did, inviting himself right into my kitchen!

Unfortunately, that was stretching the friendship a tad too far even for a bird-lover like me, so I had to ghost him/her for a while. We became friends again, but the addition of a lively puppy to the house meant this clever magpie now has a hunting dog to contend with and wisely he and his family now only greet me in the front yard – somewhere the Schnauzer has no access to.

What Can You Feed Magpies?

Lifehacker.com.au recommends feeding Magpies natural alternatives if you want to make friends with your local Magpies. This is much better for their tummies than chunks of bread or processed meat.

Rummage around in your garden; dig up some worms, turn over rocks, bricks, firewood logs, strip bark from trees, and you most likely will find some tasty tucker for the magpies.

Lifehacker.com.au

The Magpieaholic warns us not to feed Magpies raw meat, cheese and bread and exotic animal vet, Deborah Monks said raw meat and mince, although popular, did the most damage to magpie health.

What does it mean when a Magpie visits you?

Magpies are highly intelligent and can make interesting pets.

Animal Expert Dr Kaplan claims that once a magpie gets to know you and judges you to be a nice person, you will have earned a friend for life. “They will form very long friendships, like dogs,” she said. “They will introduce their young, [to you] and they will be the most charming birds. My Magpie Mate certainly confirmed this theory. She returns with his young introducing me to them every year.

Magpies have excellent memories. They can remember a face for up to five years.

Deterring Magpies. How to Scare Magpies?

I’d rather make friends with them but if you have a rogue, aggressive Magpie that terrorises you, it is possible to use something shiny or metallic to scare them away.

Hang CDs, metallic balloons, aluminium pie pans, and/or half-full plastic bottles 3 feet above the grass near any plants that the magpies are disturbing.

How do Magpies Communicate?

Magpies sing to reinforce their claim on their territory, mostly at dawn and dusk. But while we are all familiar with the magpie’s melodious carolling, we are perhaps less familiar with their other calls. Magpies use many different calls, including grunting noises, to communicate. www.environment.sa.gov.au

Above all, they are considered a positive omen of good luck and are known as “birds of joy.”

Revelations About Carbon Emissions

Co2 Emissions by World Population – pendantry.wordpress.com/

Back in the 80s, when I was studying the environment, the question of how to effect climate action in a globally just way was hard to figure out. Why shouldn’t Third World countries develop and exploit natural resources and enjoy the pleasures that a higher standard of living can bring? Just because it is “bad for the environment?” When the first world is largely responsible and enjoyed the benefits!

Equitable Climate Change

Who wouldn’t want a car, air-conditioning/heating, a comfortable home and life? Here’s a good reason:

Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation> polluting emissions and habitat and biodiversity loss> increased global temperatures> melting polar ice>disturbances of oceanic and global weather systems> increased mega-fires, drought and extreme weather events> agricultural and economic disruption>breakdown of food and supply chains> environmental catastrophe?

Carbon Emission Reduction

For those living outside the developed world, there’s some comfort from Professor Rockström, a Director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research. He represents both Future Earth and Earth League and states the latest statistics show:

..the richest 1% must reduce emissions by a factor of 30, while the poorest 50% in the world can actually increase emissions by a factor of three for the world to stay within the global carbon budget in a fair way.

Johan Rockstrom –

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Climate Action by Behavioural Change

We need to have a transition not only into decarbonisation of the energy systems in terms of technologies, but we also need 1.5°C lifestyles.

Johan Rockstrom

Seven Simple Ways to Help the Planet and Live a 1.5°C Lifestyle

• Eat Less
• Fly less
• Avoid plastic
• Buy from local suppliers
• Upcycle and re-use
• Turn off power sources when not needed
• Live sustainably – buy only what you need, not what you might want.

Lead by example and pressure your policymakers and parliamentary representatives to do the same.

We Can All Do This!

Are you decreasing consumption levels?

What are the barriers to lower carbon consumption in your region?

Read more about these sobering facts were sourced from pendantry.wordpress.com/

Read also a wonderful post from Jill on Greta Thunberg – the Covid crisis has replaced the environment in the headlines but one still feels in awe of Greta’s words which inspire us all to do more.

The Bees Knees

When Greg North, Liaison officer for the Northside Beekeepers, first became interested in a new hobby, he was surprised to find little information for those new to keeping bees. However, that changed when he found the associations of Beekeepers, a group that’s been supporting apiarists and others interested in the management of European Honey bees and Native Australian (Stingless) bees, for over 40 years.

Why are Bees important?

Bees are the major pollinators of food crops.

“70 % of what we put in your mouth has been pollinated by bees. Mankind could not exist for more than four years without bees.” 

G. North – Beekeeper liaison

Bees love Cosmos flowers

Bee Society

A Honeybee society is highly regulated and democratic.

Not only are bee numbers adjusted according to the varying needs of the hive, but bee swarms also will not move to a new location until all bees are in agreement, communicating with each other through their waggle dance!
A bee democracy!

Every bee has its own role in the colony and works constantly to perform its duty. Although there are some that take it easy. Drones are like the playboys of the bee world, sitting around in the Drone Zone, perhaps reading playboy magazines, waiting for the Queen to fly past. Then it is time for them to do some work.

Bees and Climate Change

Bee societies may be highly regulated but one thing the bees can’t control it seems is the weather and that can dramatically affect food sources and ultimately, their survival.

The presence of flowers doesn’t always mean there’s plenty of food available for bees. A drop in honey yield may correlate with a lower than usual rainfall. In the drought of 2020, the flowers on the Forest Red and Blue Gums, (Eucalyptus tereticornis), were completely bereft of active bees or nectar-feeding birds.

Why?

The extended dry spell meant the trees only produced, ‘dry flowers,’ ones that are devoid of nectar, as an adaptive response to drought. A dry spring might also mean trees suppress flowering altogether. Without nectar, bees are without food just at a time when their hives are looking to swarm and reproduce. And no nectar means no honey.

Greg with a flow and regular hive

Native Australian bees look for all the world like insects and there are thousands of species. Unlike honey bees, they do not swarm and may be solitary.

Native Bees

How We Can Help the Bees

Homeowners can help the bees by incorporating bee-friendly plants in their gardens, particularly ones that flower in the drier months of September- December. Fruit trees, flowering shrubs including Grevillea, Callistemon, (bottlebrush), and herbaceous plants like Rosemary, Sage, Cosmos, and Marigolds are excellent food sources for bees.

European worker Honeybee

Fun Facts about Bees

• Bees swarm in spring with scout bees fly up to 70 sq. km in search of a new location
• Each female worker bee produces 1/8 teaspoon of honey in its life.
• A Queen Bee can lay up to 2,000 in a single day.
• A bee colony will not move until all the bees are happy with the chosen new location.
• Bees will replace an under-performing Queen Bee by swarming around her in a ball, raising her body temperature which kills her.
• Worker bees hatch from fertilized eggs and unfertilized eggs will turn into drones.
• Bees communicate with each other via a “waggle dance.”
• Australian beeswax is highly sought after for its purity and is largely exported for the manufacture of cosmetic products such as moisturizers and lip balms.
• Bees do drink water – they return water to the hive for the others to drink.
• The brood or nursery area of the beehive is kept at 35 – 37 degrees C to keep the bees alive
• Australia has up to 16,000 varieties of Native bees – some are easily mistaken for bugs.
• Native (stingless) bees are more adaptable to drought than European bees but the hives do not reproduce as fast nor do they produce the same quantity of honey.
• Council regulates the keeping of Honeybees on properties but Native bees are unrestricted.

Links

www.northsidebeekeepers.org.au/

instagram.com/northsidebeeks

facebook.com/northsidebeekeepers

Friendly Friday Blog Challenge – Wildflowers

Keukenhof is spectacular in bloom, Toowoomba is stunning during the Carnival of Flowers, as is Japan in Cherry Blossom season, but right now I’m thinking of Wildflowers, especially those that grow in the most unlikely or unusual places.

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  Street light pop up in Helsinki

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  Growing beside a bridge footing in Norway

To say, I was initially surprised, to spot blossoms hard-to-grow-in-Australia, growing spontaneously, by the road in the coldest of countries, was an understatement!

These beauties were busting their glorious blaze of colour beside a street light in Helsinki, beside a bridge support, or vacant hillside in Norway, or idly cheering up an industrial lot in Denmark; their location was a mere afterthought of nature, thriving as they were, with ne’er a green finger or hint of fertilizer, in sight.

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  Marine industry site near the fjord

Knowing their time was short, these blooms took full advantage of the extended summer sunlight, exploding into intense hues that had me gawping at their vibrant intensity. Even simple grasses and weeds seemed aesthetic.

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Enchanting architecture and backdrops increased the aesthetic appeal of the wildflowers.

Wildflowers on the roof in Sunnfjord, Norway

What are these flowers called? Does anyone know them? They were almost buried in a patch of grass in a disused paddock.

Here in my country, the native flowers are showing their best winter coat.

Unusually for Australia, parts of our country are in a snap Covid lockdown and due to that fact and it being winter, it’s more difficult to get out and appreciate the world, but not impossible, and there’s always the archives, isn’t there? The native blooms such as Banksia, Swamp Mahogany and Xanthostemon put on a display.

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WordPress has added a feature in the image photo block where by you can add a tonal colour to your photos, using shadows or highlights. Why not try this out this fortnight? It is a blogging challenge is something in which both hemispheres of the world can participate, no matter the season.

Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Prompt – Wildflowers

Breaking News – Third Host for the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Team

Sandy and I have been having a ball hosting the Friendly Friday Challenge, we’re really excited to welcome Sarah from the blog, Travel with Me, to our Blogging Challenge team, as host, every six weeks. Sarah is a blogger who loves landscape, architecture, wildlife and street photography. Here is a little more about Sarah:

Those of us with the means and inclination to, [travel], are rewarded with amazing opportunities to learn about different cultures, different landscapes, different environments. And in seeing those differences I think we discover something very important, which is that however different our lifestyles, at heart people have more in common than you might think. We learn to value diversity, to respect other viewpoints and to rejoice in our similarities ~ Sarah

www.toonsarah-travels.blog/who-am-i/

Sarah will be posting the next Friendly Friday prompt in two weeks time, ie. Friday 16th July, over at her blog, Travel with Me. She will concentrate on a particular theme for her prompts. Are you curious to see what that theme might be? Sarah will be posting clues on her blog, next week, so keep an eye out for that post.

Find the next challenge at: toonsarah-travels.blog/

Instructions for Joining the Friendly Friday Blogging Challenge

• Write and publish a post inspired by the prompt, remembering this is a challenge not restricted to photography only. It can be a recipe, story, (fiction or non-fiction), or art in visuals or words: For this prompt it might be a snippet or anecdote of somewhere you visited or even an image of a pressed wildflower you may have received long ago. You are only limited by your imagination.
• Please remember to Tag your post – ‘Friendly Friday.’
• Include a ping-back* to this blog post adding a comment, (with the url of your published post), here on this post.

*NB. You must ping-back to this WordPress post itself, as link or ping-backs to the home page of a WordPress blog doesn’t trigger a notification to the host blogger. That’s why posting a comment here is good practice, so that your hosts can always find your post.

This Friendly Friday Wildflower Challenge runs until 15th July.

Friendly Friday Challenge 16th July – Host Blogger Sarah at Travel with Me

Friendly Friday Challenge 30th July – Host Blogger Sandy at The Sandy Chronicles.

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Further instructions on joining in are found on the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Page.

Sunday Sayings – Planting Trees

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” ~Greek Proverb

Goodreads.com

The Chinese sages also appreciated their value:

Let us not forget the importance of creating nature; fostering and nurturing Mother Earth.

Trees provide so many benefits to our everyday lives. They filter clean air, provide fresh drinking water, help curb climate change, and create homes for thousands of species of plants and animals. Planting a Billion Trees can help save the Earth from deforestation.

Helping to Plant Trees

Depending on location, it costs between $1-$3 to plant a tree including ongoing maintenance and stewardship. Including organizational overheads, I see this as a real bargain, especially for something that might last 70 years!

The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a major forest restoration effort with a goal of planting a billion trees across the planet.

So you don’t have the time or don’t want to get your hands dirty? I hear you, but you can still support the various organizations around the world depending on your preferred location.

Tree Planting Organizations

Landcare – Australia; (not for profit)

Greening Australia – 20 locations around Australia (also not for profit) 25 million plants established; 15,000 hectares of habitat restored; 150,000 tonnes of carbon sequestered per annum

Reforestnow – based in Byron Bay Austalia (not for profit) -planted  105,227 trees to restore rainforest in Australia on behalf of donors from around the world (as at 23 Mar 2021).  $5per tree.

Onetreeplanted – a global not for profit organization working against deforestation. $1 per tree.

Graph Source: One Tree Planted

Plant a billion trees initiative – South America, Africa and China

Go Ahead.

Our planet depends on it.

Reliance on Power and Technology

When the circuit breaker blew on our home’s power connection, my explanation to the then-teenager as to why nothing was working in the house, included telling her wide-scale electricity generation was not available in our area until the 1930- 40’s.

Furthermore, I explained, her own Grandmother remembered the introduction of what was referred to as, “the electric light.” On hearing this, my teenager responded with a pained, then incredulous look, before asking, “So you grew up without electricity?” (Certainly not, I retorted. I was born well after the war!)

Life before Cell Phones

The teen then continued to ask how our generations could possibly have managed social arrangements and meetings without even a mobile phone to help us! If no one turned up at the agreed time, what did you do? she asked. I explained how we’d:

• wait or wander off nearby, feeling either disappointed and confused and come back to check a short while later
• find a payphone and call the person, if we knew their home phone number, (which we often did), or if the phone book was in-situ, we could look the number up. [How long has it been since anyone saw a phone book in a payphone box?]
• go to their house and find out what happened
• give up and go home

The conversation made me acutely aware of how reliant modern society is on energy and information in the form of the world wide web and cell phones. I wondered:

Could we cope without cellular or internet connections?

Fifteen years ago, such a question would have been superfluous, but now I’m not sure. My older sons certainly act as if their jugular vein has been severed if the internet connection drops out, for more than a few minutes. (In Australia, this may be fairly commonplace). Without mobile phones towers operating, we are effectively shut off from technology and information.

Consider for a moment,  how really powerless and vulnerable the modern world is without the internet, cellular networks and electricity?

Years ago, we never knew any different, particularly in rural areas. Scores of people throughout the world still live this way. Would I now find it hard to go for or days without internet access or a few hours without a power source?

GOING OFFLINE and OFF GRID

Feeling determined to reject the confining chains of modern society, and re-acquaint with my inner hippie, I decided to experiment with a personal challenge to go OFFLINE and OFF-GRID – ie. voluntarily go with out power and technology for a day.

As soon as the challenge began, I was having problems.

I needed a phone number to call a tradesmen so instead of searching the net for the phone number, I tried to look it up in the phone book. No luck there as the hard copy of our phone book was not only out of date, it was buried in the darkest recesses of the junk cupboard, never to seen again.

Instead, I thought to do some holiday planning… Nope: that didn’t work as I needed to look up accommodation venues on the net.

I decided to continue with my genealogical research and reading, only I needed census information and names to cross-check details and dates.

Forget that –  I will make a nice meal/dessert if only the oven would work without power.

For food: I kept the refrigerator on but tried to eat food from the pantry that did not require refrigeration.

Make a cup of tea? – How would I do that?

Perhaps I could chat to the neighbour? No luck there either, as she’d gone out somewhere or was already asleep. This was not going well.

Watch some TV? Nope! Wasn’t possible.

Do some sewing/embroidery craft hobbies/ paint/fix something. Not enough light after 6pm.

Read a book or write in my journal?

YES!- I could do that – but it was night-time. And who can see by candlelight once you are past the age of 40?

Only one thing left for my other half and me to do, I guess. Go to sleep.

No wonder people had so many children before the advent of electricity.

Our reliance on energy and connectivity is obvious.

Could you take the challenge to go powerless for a day?

Earth Hour March 27

The Earth Hour initiative began in Sydney in 2007 by WWF and is now an annual worldwide environmental event.

Held every year on the last Saturday of March, Earth Hour engages millions of people in more than 180 countries and territories, switching off their lights to show support for our planet. 

But Earth Hour goes far beyond the symbolic action of switching off – it has become a catalyst for positive environmental impact, driving major legislative changes by harnessing the power of the people and collective action. 

Earth Hour is open-source and we welcome everyone, anyone, to take part and help amplify our mission to unite people to protect our planet.

https://www.earthhour.org/our-mission

Switch off your lights for an hour on Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 8:30 pm your local time.

Take up the challenge to Go OFFLINE and OFF GRID

For 12 hours:

• Turn off your mobile phone
• Turn off or refuse to use powered appliances.
• Blog about your experience.

It is not as easy as you think.

#SwitchforNature

“Take part in the Digital switch off” in 2021

The Earth Hour global organizing team is recommending all individuals to take part digitally when possible, and to wear a mask and follow local guidelines if you are planning to be in a public space or are thinking of spending the ‘Hour,’ with friends and family, outside your home.

https://www.earthhour.org/take-part

 David Attenborough speaks on Climate Change

Watch Greta Thunberg introduce one of our biggest allies against climate change