{"id":3664,"date":"2013-07-16T16:08:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T08:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cathmiller.com\/blog\/?p=3664"},"modified":"2013-07-22T19:54:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T11:54:39","slug":"writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cathmiller.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing and Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20130716<\/a>I don’t want to be a writer, but I do want to tell the story of this beautiful patch of earth, the creation of our home and its evolution as a farm. \u00a0When we bought the property in 2008, it was just paddock with a patch of trees in the middle, there wasn’t even a driveway. \u00a0It had been well used over the years, people had taken what they could, when they could. \u00a0The tallest, straightest trees were gone from the forest and the open land was a degraded piece of unproductive farmland full of rocks and weeds. \u00a0Cattle had been grazed here, even through the forest destroying the understorey, and some gravel had been quarried. \u00a0Not much had been put back into it, but it still had beauty.<\/p>\n

\"DSC01084\"<\/a>We looked at hundreds of properties in our search, shortlisted close to 100 and drove to over forty. \u00a0As soon as we approached from the east and saw the trees rising up on the ridge, I knew it was home. \u00a0In the first couple of years, the forest revealed its beauty, the ancient trees, some over 7m\/21 feet around their trunks, the flowering trees and shrubs and of course the secret orchids<\/a>\u00a0that appear at different times of the year. \u00a0 The first thing we did in 2009<\/a> was plant 3500 trees on the southern boundary. \u00a0 The primary purpose was as a windbreak, but we planted a hardwood gum that can be used for saw logs for furniture and flooring or coppiced for firewood. \u00a0We laid gravel for a drive following the natural contours and breaks through the forest so we didn’t have to cut down a single tree. \u00a0 We built the stables, shed and water tank and moved in.<\/p>\n

Then the real journey began. \u00a0So far we have learned about weeds<\/a>, oats<\/a>, chickens<\/a>, guinea fowl<\/a>\u00a0and goats<\/a>, fencing, farming and some amazing\u00a0wildlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To help me document the experience, I did a great online\u00a0journaling course<\/a>\u00a0in March 2011 through ed2Go. \u00a0Some of the best things I learned in the course were the tips and tricks to fool yourself into writing\"20130716<\/a> when you feel you have nothing to say. \u00a0These include free writing or stream of consciousness dumps, writing lists, asking questions and writing prompts. \u00a0 I use prompts almost every day writing words in the diary to remind me of everything I see. \u00a0\u00a0When I first committed to writing a daily diary, I was worried that I\u00a0would run out of things<\/a>\u00a0to write. \u00a0I now know that I will run out of days before I run out of things to write about. \u00a0 Back in April<\/a> I recognised this when in one morning\u00a0\u00a0I found a new weed<\/a> in flower, a fungus bursting through the ground, the guineas eating the couch grass seeds<\/a>, some tiny snails on a log, gumnuts nibbled by parrots<\/a>, and a paper wasp nest<\/a> with its beautiful construction.<\/p>\n

\"20130716<\/a>Photography has been a natural progression as images are so important in describing and documenting this wonderful place. \u00a0All the photos from the first 3 years, were taken with my phone, even the early\u00a0orchid<\/a> ones. but I could never capture any birds. You can get as close as you like to a wild flower, not so much to a wild bird. \u00a0Almost a year ago I got my first Digital SLR<\/a>, and am loving the images I can capture now. \u00a0Last week I got my first images of the rare black cockatoos<\/a> and today, I just fell out of bed, and snapped images of quite extraordinary beauty, just outside my door.<\/p>\n

Journaling Course<\/a><\/h2>\n

These were the lessons covered in the journaling course, and if you would like to start writing, I would recommend it. \u00a0People always say it is best to write about what you know about and what do you know more than yourself and your life.<\/p>\n

Lesson 1: What Is Journaling?
\nLesson 2: Journaling Tools, Aids, and Resources
\nLesson 3: Beginning to Journal
\nLesson 4: Filling Your Journaling Toolbox with Techniques
\nLesson 5: Art and Journaling
\nLesson 6: Journaling for Self-Discovery
\nLesson 7: Journaling for Emotional Well-Being
\nLesson 8: Journaling and Creativity
\nLesson 9: Journaling Through Chaos, Crisis, and Change
\nLesson 10: Journaling Your Dreams
\nLesson 11: Journaling to Develop Your Career
\nLesson 12: Evaluating Your Journaling Habit<\/p>\n

I wrote this after reading this\u00a0post by Jon Katz\u00a0<\/a>on a facebook page inhabited by creative people from all over the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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