Archive for the ‘Natural World’ Category

By Steve Mills

Our mind constantly narrows the stream of input it receives down to definitions,  conceptions and categories.

It makes it easy for our brain to manage the wide complexity of modern life, and make predictive decisions and inferences about what is currently happening. I am sure that we have evolved this way with good reason, and I bet we were doing it back when we all lived in caves or the wild grassland of prehistory.

Our minds treat objects not as they are, but as abstract categories of things. Men are treated with a certain subset of behaviours, women with another. We treat all physical objects as if they are the idea and not the thing. Bowls are treated all the same, as are knives, or fridges, or televisions.

But really I think that life is ultimately unquantifiable. Everything always seeks to transcend its definition, and concrete descriptions break down when you turn up the resolution. The harder you study what defines a certain thing, the more you see the diversity within the category.

It’s a hard concept to grasp, or get our minds around, which is always a good indicator that further thought and study would be worthwhile.

By Steve Mills

When I bought my house just over four years ago, the area behind the back shed was an absolute mess. There were weeds taller than I am, an old incinerator and rusty pieces of discarded metal poking out of the ground and out from under piles of rubbish.

Although I had never gardened much before (you tend to only do the bare minimum when renting), I saw this overlooked and mistreated piece of land as the perfect place to start a veggie garden. It got plenty of sun, I could catch water from the shed roof for a rain tank, and the weeds obviously loved it, so I supposed carrots, potatoes and tomatoes would as well.

It took me a few weekends, but I eventually cleared the area, made garden beds, set up a compost bin and I was on my way.  Over the past 4 years, having a vegetable garden has given me such knowledge and enjoyment, things that I would not have ever thought of. It is one of the most basic things we can do to feel some kind of connection to nature and the seasons.