I am not sure what called me to the field that day, but I am mighty glad it did. Accepting the invitation of its lush green softness, I settled myself down.

What if we humans are meant to be the helpers and the healers of this world, not the hurters and harmers we have become? What if the animals on this planet are not here for us, but with us?

Whilst the capacity to appreciate beauty may at times escape our busy minds, it never leaves our hearts. It is always there, just waiting for us to reconnect.

On moving to our forever home here in the picturesque Macedon Ranges, not only did we secure tenure over 153 peaceable acres, but we too inherited a shipping container.

To find out where it all started is like trying to unravel a ball of string. You turn the ball over and over and see lots of threads that lead this way and that, but just exactly where it begins is hard to locate, for you know it is deep within.

Numerous are the definitions of the word “motivate”; however a common theme runs through them all, which can be distilled down to this: motivate is something that inspires someone with a reason or desire to achieve something or behave in a certain way.

The year was 1972. The location: the outer limits of the school yard. Right where the demarcation line for grade five play met that of grade four, and it was here a deal went down that would be whispered about for many a year.

Around 4.40 pm on January 11th, 2023, hope met the reality of our promise, as the last Silkie rooster was removed from the tiny wire prison that had been his home for heaven knows how long.

As busy hands and cheery hearts reach for the calendar on the wall, ready to swap it out for the one that shall help navigate us through 2023, we are reminded a new dawn has come.

Looking into the mirror just now, I touched my nose and cursed its form – a bugbear I have inherited from my dad. The nose, that is, and not the cursing.