Nature Archives - Landscape Knowledge

Walking the The Bibbulmun Track,Western Australia

Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley after she had completed this 1000km walk in Australia.

Linda.

Linda undertook this walk on her own. It took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for.

Linda isn’t your average walker by any means. She suffered some serious injuries, breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself to literally get back on her feet again.

We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful chestnut farm in Nannup, Western Australia.

Linda’s web site can be found here…Chestnut Brae.

‘Grandy’s Long Walk’ is written for young children, superbly illustrated about her walk.

Linda wrote the book out of a concern that children today are spending less and less time with nature. Spending instead more and more time in front of the small screen. She hopes to encourage more children to get outside. Discovering the same senses of wonder and joy of nature that she had experienced on her long walk in the forest.

Listen to her telling us all about this amazing journey.

You can listen to the interview with Linda here..Walking the The Bibbulmun Track

Bibbulmun Track.

We were so curious about this really long walk, that during our research we found some youtube videos of other people who travel from all over the world to walk this track.

Darren is one such person, he created a video and kindly gave us permission to include it in this article. His video is just a part of the walk, you can view it here Bibbulmun track video

Darren is raising money for Diabetes you can see his web site here Darren’s website

There is also a specialist web site filled with information for those who want to plan their own walk..The Bibbulman Track

Today’s Public Parks

Today’s Public Parks

We were having a discussion about Parks the other day, the consensus was that whilst they are constantly evolving there was a need to include more of today’s more modern infrastructure within a park boundaries.

Do you think that is the case?

For instance – constant wifi?

24 hour video access to see wild life etc. ?

Adoption of solar energy , for example path lighting powered by solar ?

More group areas for meetings outside ?

More refreshment areas ?

Less grass areas ?

The addition of vegetable areas for people to try or see how to grow ?

More opportunities to show visitors how to do something?

What do you think?

We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas,

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends

The Chelsea Physic Garden – Linking people to plants and nature

It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673.

The Apothecaries’ Garden.

Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden on the side of the River Thames in London.

The gardens purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. Located close to the river Thames created a warmer microclimate, significantly increasing the many non-native plants that could be grown.

In 1700 the garden had started an international botanic garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day.

The gardens cover some four acres. They are leased on what is known as a peppercorn rent in perpetuity.

They are with out doubt one of London’s secret ‘gems’ and thoroughly worth a visit.

The gardens mission ” Linking people with plants and nature”

The interview starts with Ann talking for around 8 minutes to a group of school children on a field trip, the gardens have over 100 such visits a year.

Ann then talks to Michael a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful member of staff. We kept all the typical inner city sounds on the recording – the enthusiasm of the children is very heartening.

Integrated pest management is the preferred method of bug control…

They have a project called “Shelf Life’ it is just an incredible way to show children where their food comes from

You can listen to Ann’s interview on www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Results of our poll regarding our eBook.

Landscape Knowledge eBook

First of all thank you for all the replies.

Let’s start with the written requests –

1. Could we add information about Green Walls?

The short answer is certainly, this fully structural Green Wall was designed and built by us in 1984, it won an award, happily we know quite a bit about green walls, designed to last around 50 years they do not require any tie-back as they are designed as a ‘gravity wall’ . We will add a chapter about the How to and Where best to use these lovely walls.

2. Composts, Native and Perennial plants ?

A little more adventurous, next to a small pond.

We may need to add another eBook for this, what we may well do is add more about Allergies with this rather broad topic.

3. Removing and replacing a lawn – right time of year, plus best ways to water establishing new planting?

We will add a chapter on lawns and how best to use them, if you are in an area of long standing drought it is often wise to consider an alternative. It rather depends on how much area is involved , how much impact will be made. The picture above shows an area that could easily be ‘planted’ with alternatives. Sometimes a small green space in a compact garden is beneficial to the overall feeling of space – green is after all a very significant colour, and probably the most important in nature.

So the top three requests were –

Help with Veggie Growing

An eBook for consumers.

Help with water conservation.

Ann and I have taken out our quill pens and started to scribe…..the first ebook will be free for all subscribers to our blog site.

If you would like to write to us with other requests please do..

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends – you can hear our latest interviews at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Country: Growing Trends -Interview with Dr Charles Rawlings author of Living Shells

Ann and I were very fortunate to interview Dr Charles Rawlings MD , he has an interesting passion, studying & photographing 'living shells', a scuba diver for the past thirty or so years Dr Rawlings has been observing, studying & … Continue reading →

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Living Shells

Hello everyone.

Ann & I have something a little special for you today.

Ann and I were very fortunate to interview Dr Charles Rawlings MD , he has an interesting passion studying & photographing ‘living shells’, a scuba diver for the past thirty or so years Dr Rawlings has been observing, studying & photographing ‘living shells’ all over the world.

His knowledge of these creatures, their habits and habitats is extraordinary.

Recently he produced a beautiful coffee table book of pictures of these amazing creatures.

We caught up with Dr Rawlings as he was planning yet another trip.

You can hear our interview at www.growingtrends.org or on our iTunes Podcast

We hope you enjoy the interview, do send us any comments you may have.

Chris & Ann

Growing Trends

Fracking – is this relatively new method of oil & gas extraction the way of the future ?

Some of you may know that Ann & I have a new podcast as well as this blog.

Many years ago, whilst at school.I learned to write ‘joined up’ or ‘cursive’ style with a quill pen , you can imagine in my ripe old age, it takes me a little time to catch on to new methods of communicating.

That said Ann & I have made a quantum leap forward by using Internet Radio and Podcasting, we call the show Growing Trends.

Our latest podcast is all about Fracking.

This newish method of extracting oil and natural gas has caused quite a stir around the world.

Prices at the pumps have more than halved, there are stories of polluting and even earthquakes caused by this method. Then there are the stories of the huge drop in carbon emissions by countries using this oil production method.

We thought it would make a great interview for Growing Trends so we found, with the help of Bill Sosinsky, an expert, Rich Sapienza to talk to us about this oil extraction method, come and listen to the interview.. Growing Trends Podcast

Country : Growing Trends -Fracking – is this the future for oil?

Ann & Chris continue their fascinating talk with Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky. Today we spend time talking about Fracking a relatively new industry with maybe a huge potential. Rich works with the 'Fracking' industry and has some interesting things … Continue reading →

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Country: Growing Trends -Small is beautiful in modern energy production

Ann & Chris continue their talk with Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky, starting with windmills and wind turbines. Rich is a believer in 'Small is beautiful' – the idea of making incremental savings of say 25% with smaller units being … Continue reading →

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Country: Growing Trends -Sustainability for the world today

Ann and Chris interview Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky we talk about sustainable solutions for the world today. It's fascinating, interesting and very enlightening. Sustainability must work on its own, grow on its own, support itself with the built-in ability … Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download