What's it about

...I hear you ask. Well in the words of Jerry Seinfeld, its about nothing. But its also about everything I like ... and can get rather passionate about at times ...

Like Australian native plants for starters.
I have a PhD in botany which involved growing native rainforest trees in plantations and measuring them periodically with a machine that goes "ping". Short story - there are some great opportunities to grow native rainforest timber, but we need to use different management practices than we do for growing conifers.
But even aside from that, I just love Australian native plants. I'm not a stickler for only planting local natives in our garden though - I think species distributions are not set in stone, and indeed will shift with changing regional climate. Who's to say where the range of a particular species will be in 100 years? For example, I love the flora of Western Australia (especially Corymbia species as you may have guessed) and have planted them in my garden here in Queensland ..... they are doing magnificently on their grafted rootstock.

I'm also a Mum to two preschool-aged children. I love being a Mum. Its the most demanding job I've ever had (and for those of you rolling their eyes, I've had paid jobs that were quite demanding .... but nothing compared to being the person responsible for the health and well-being for two other people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!). It can be incredibly boring at times, then incredibly scary, or fun, or frustrating, or tiring, or fantastic the next: it can also be incredibly rewarding. I breastfed both my kids: I'm quite passionate about encouraging and supporting other mothers to breastfeed their children.

I love children's literature. *I* have a large collection of children's books (I just tell people that the books are for the kids). I also have a good collection of novels, poetry and reference books. An eclectic mix of genre's contemporary Australian to crime and action / adventure books ... but *no* romance ... I Just Can't Stand Fluffy Romance Books. I'm also a craft-tragic. I bead, I paint, I crochet, I cross-stitch. I like making things.