Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00As summer comes to an end, the forest evokes so much beauty.
00:08We get some heavy rains before the dry season comes.
00:11The creeks undulate and glisten and we spend our afternoons resting in their flow.
00:16We've been continuing the project of renovating our cabin in the woods,
00:20but we've also been balancing the hard work of building with meals cooked straight from the orchards
00:25and lots of time spent relaxing in nature.
00:30This week I've been feeling a bit guilty.
00:34This big project of renovating our cabin in the rainforest has felt like a lot,
00:39and after finally finishing the floor last week, I'm feeling exhausted and a bit overwhelmed.
00:44To offset this, I've been spending a lot more time relaxing,
00:48and sometimes I feel like I should be hard at work and not playing with my duck in the stream.
00:53But I look at the animals, at my little duck named Happy playing in the stream,
00:57and you could argue that duck's lives are very much about survival.
01:01They do things like eat, drink, find a safe place away from predators all just to survive,
01:07but if you look at their lives closely, they do so much more.
01:11They understand the importance of balancing these acts of survival with things for fun.
01:16Happy plays in the stream for hours sometimes, flapping her wings with joy.
01:21Sometimes she lets the stream carry her way like a waterslide,
01:26and sometimes she sits on a rock just for the warmth.
01:29She does these things for no purpose, no greater reason, and no means of survival.
01:34She does them just to have fun.
01:36So I'm learning to be like Happy, and just do things for the fun.
01:40Life isn't just about survival, and it's not just about completing jobs or working hard.
01:46Mostly, it's about the moments like these, perched on a rock watching my tiny duck play in the rapids.
01:52And Happy's teachings leave me so full of energy to then complete all of the jobs that I've been avoiding.
02:19These plastic awnings were a project of our dads.
02:22Years ago, he collected them from a pile at the rubbish tip, and used them to protect the building from the north.
02:28We get a lot of rain here, with a yearly average of over 2 metres or 7 feet,
02:32and we often have storms with hundreds of millimetres overnight.
02:35So the weather can be intense on the buildings, especially this old shack built of hardwood sat straight into the soil.
02:42But these plastic sheets have become so degraded and yellow that they were making the place look so drab.
02:49It's such a change already! It feels so beautiful about that big plastic on here.
02:54I'm not sure what to do next here, because we do need some sort of awning.
02:58Because we get so much rain, we need to protect it from the rain.
03:01But the plastic was just so ugly, and not even protecting it that well.
03:05So we never had an idea.
03:08We could make a roof gutter, but there isn't a fascia board, so that might be impossible.
03:13Or we could build another big awning.
03:17We can't let anything go to waste, and this was originally from the tip that our dad got it.
03:23And then we were about to give it back to the tip, but we realised that these holes will be really handy for them.
03:29So, don't let anything go to waste, ever.
03:47As we move into autumn, this is the best season for growing here.
03:55The summer growth is wild! These are so tall. This is chia, so it'll be ready to harvest in late autumn or early winter.
04:05And then we've got some big marigolds and lots of herbs underneath. Lots of basil. Yum!
04:11The fruit trees are abundant and the garden is thriving.
04:16I always let the seasons dictate what to cook, and this week, mint, green papaya, banana bells and shallots are calling my name.
04:24So I'm going to cook a big feast.
04:29This is our fruit picker, which is basically just a really long pole with a bag on the end.
04:34It also has a rope which pulls on a knife, so that you can carefully cut the stem of the fruit and then it will fall into the basket.
04:40It's a lot easier said than done though, and normally the fruit falls in every direction.
04:45The joy of collecting food that you've grown yourself for a meal is incomparable.
04:52You start finding more and more delicious ingredients from the garden and find inspiration on every branch.
04:58Chillies, limes, and then my favourite ingredient that I've never actually cooked with before, a banana flower.
05:08At the bottom of the bunch of bananas is a flower, or it's also called a banana bell.
05:12This blossom can be cut early from the banana bunch, and then the bananas will be encouraged to fatten up instead of putting energy into the flower.
05:19I've been learning a lot about banana farming for the last year, and while I still have a long way to go, I'm proud that we constantly have a right bunch at the moment.
05:27It's such an amazing resource to have, grown organically from our garden.
05:40I'm starting by covering up all of the surfaces with lime juice.
05:43This helps to slow down the oxidisation process once I start cutting the flower, and will keep it from going brown too quickly.
05:57The heart of the banana flower is hidden under many layers of petals.
06:01These need to be pulled off until you get to a yellow centre.
06:04Luckily, instead of a bin, I have the trusted goats who love scraps more than anything else.
06:27That girl is back for more. This is why we can't plant bananas anywhere that the goats get to, because goats love bananas so much.
06:41It's actually a really good diet for them.
06:49I used to think that creativity was only what I did for hobbies.
06:52When I sewed, or I drew something, or I tried to learn crochet, I thought that these experiences were guided by my sense of wonder and creativity.
06:59And they were, but at the same time in my life, when I spent my weekends being creative, I thought that when I went to work on the weekdays, I was not creative.
07:08When I did my life chores, like cooking or cleaning, or just all of the things in between the mundane and the extraordinary, I thought that these tasks were lifeless.
07:17Now I realise that I was so wrong. There can be so much creativity, even in the most menial tasks.
07:24Creativity is the act of expressing your inner thoughts outwardly, and we can do this in everything that we do.
07:30Cooking can become an art, a dance of flavour and colour and texture.
07:35At its core, cooking is an expression from within, even if it's just the expression of our appetite.
07:41Even just reheating some beans or toasting some bread can become creative through a wondrous lens.
07:47Cooking something just how you like it, or appreciating the simple flavours of your favourite snack.
07:52I've realised that creativity is much less about the finished piece, and it's more about the process.
07:58Sometimes a meal doesn't taste great, a dress doesn't fit well, a painting's perspective is off, but these things are still all creative.
08:07Because in the process, we learnt, we gave, and we created.
08:11So many people in my life have told me that they're not creative, and honestly, I don't believe a single one of them.
08:17Just because you can't paint well, or draw perfectly, or write music, it doesn't mean that you aren't creative.
08:23At our core, humans are creative.
08:26These same people that tell me they aren't creative go on to tell me a perfectly rounded joke.
08:32They connect to people in the room that share similar interests, they talk about maths formulas like poetry,
08:37they share their niche passions, or in some way, they show me how they express themselves.
08:42The idea of creativity has been skewed within capitalism to only encompass arts of consumption.
08:48We think of creativity alongside hobbies, alongside crafts to consume or courses to devour,
08:54but the truth is that every aspect of life is creative.
08:57And to be creative, you don't need a new set of paint brushes, or a brewery thread, or an e-course, or a sketchbook.
09:03Because just to exist is to be an artist.
09:06The way that we cook, or clean, or the way that we connect to others, or think, or discover, or wonder.
09:12All of these things are who we are, and how we express ourselves.
09:15All of these things showcase our creativity.
09:17It's ready!
09:18Yeah!
09:19It's ready!
09:20Yow!
09:21It's ready!
09:51So I have lots of plans for this kitchen, I've got a bit too many ideas, I'm thinking we could do some sort of thing where we build a big kind of island bench potentially, but then I like the idea of the kitchen being along here, so that could be good, and then at one stage we'd love to get a pizza oven here, which I think would be amazing.
10:13So there's that, I'm trying to think of where the pizza oven would go in regards to the kitchen, and put them together.
10:20I don't know!
10:21I have so many ideas about this space, I thought you could even make some sort of hanging bed situation here, or a hanging chair, but I kind of like the idea of a hanging bed.
10:30And then, I don't know, somehow have a rope or something that you can pull it so that it moves more into the rainforest, or something, I don't know, I don't know why.
10:40I have too many ideas and none of them really make sense, but please suggest any ideas that you have for this beautiful place, because I feel like there's just so much freedom to create these fun jungle things.
10:49Julia walked down the valley to come brainstorm and decide on what project we do next, and with her, all of the ducks and goats followed.
10:58It's a long way for the ducks little legs, and they usually never come this far.
11:04Julia's health has still been bad, so she hasn't been able to join me much in this project.
11:09I think this is the goats and ducks way of saying that they miss her, following her every footstep through the hills.
11:15Now I'm just hoping that this doesn't become a habit for the ducks, walking through the forest so that they can play in the dam.
11:35But I think that they're good ducks and they wouldn't wander far without a human to guide them.
11:39So I walked down the hill to visit Anastasia, and this single animal just followed me, the ducks and all, who aren't supposed to be down there, so I don't know what to do.
11:50Now the kookaburras are singing in celebration.
11:52And there's some butterflies as well.
11:54We're trying to decide where we put the kitchen and the arrangement of all of the benches and tables.
12:11Having the animals in here is a good reminder that this is very much outdoors and open to the elements, so we're working with that knowledge.
12:18Making sure that everything is easy to clean, and framing everything around a beautiful view.
12:27I think the goats believe that this is their home, because they often take cover here in a storm.
12:31Maybe they're upset that I'm renovating their special space, and I don't know if they'll let us get away with transforming it back into a human space.
12:38They'll forever use their little log bridges to cause chaos in here.
12:43I'm going up high into the loft to see what building supplies we have out there.
12:56I have a feeling there's a slab that we could use that would be amazing, and there could also be a window.
13:02Maybe.
13:04That ladder's not very good.
13:07There's a lot up here, but there's probably also definitely a lot of snakes up here, so it's a balance.
13:14Go away, snakes!
13:16I'm up in the shed's loft, which is the studios on that side, and then this is kind of where we store all of the second-hand materials that we've ever collected.
13:24So there's hundreds of windows and old beams and big slabs and lots of fun things up here.
13:30But it's also really hot because we're up in the roof.
13:33There's these old windows that might just be the perfect size.
13:36They might be a little bit too tall, but potentially I could get them in or maybe trim them a bit.
13:41And they're really beautiful, so they'll fit the space perfectly.
13:45There's no slabs that are the right width or length, so I think we'll give up on that idea.
13:50But these windows are really good, and I didn't expect to find those, so I'm very excited.
13:5413.40, which would be just okay maybe.
14:00And then by 4.10, which is exactly what we wanted. We wanted 8.20.
14:06I think it's going to be the perfect length in this.
14:09Join us next week for the exciting project of making a camp kitchen in the cabin build.
14:26Thank you so much to our patrons for your support on our journey.
14:30Thank you so much.