The title of today's blog post translates indirectly to "Careful!", which encompasses a lot of what I wanted to talk about today in relation to water. "Agua" by itself means 'water' in Spanish.
During one of my many explorations so far, water's drinkability and safety have come up in interesting ways. Aside from my first introduction to water from my sister as "we've got some of the best tap water", I started to think about water in a new light.
My sister is a chef at the Merri Table at CERES, a Community Environment Park just north of where I'm staying in Fitzroy North. Having gotten slightly depressed from the city center's cement jungle, it was refreshing to be surrounded by trees and all kinds of food plants. In the visitor's center, the entire bookshelf looked my dream library, with topics on beekeeping, raising chickens, permaculture, etc.
CERES is the name of the goddess of agriculture. It's also an acronym for Center for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. I read the informational sign at the front that described the park's founding. What I took away was this: In the 70s, a group of hippies decided to take over the site of an old landfill and turn it into an urban oasis.
If there was anything that I needed in that moment, it was a green oasis. My conversations with a long-time agricultural enthusiast only minutes before had me feeling a little sad. Not only did he believe that large-scale agriculture was the future of food, but he was a climate skeptic. The two-hour conversation we had was totally necessary for me to see the spectrum of thought out there when it comes to food production, but at the same time...what he said pretty much went against everything I believe in.
But back to the theme of this blog post: Water! The following sign captured my attention and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterwards.
Another informational sign said "Water wants to be free! Do you know that you can find a tap to fill your water bottle wherever you are in Melbourne via Choose Tap, an app from Yarra Valley Water?"
OMG, I kept thinking. How wonderful to have the municipal water company be encouraging people to drink tap water! I would love to see a comparable effort on the part of Lawrence's water utility company, or even just the office of sustainability. I'm a tap drinker myself, but I know so many people who believe that their tap water is contaminated or that bottled water "just tastes better". Bottled water may not be a cost consideration for some, but for how much money I make in a month, it makes so much more economic sense to just drink from the tap.
After my excitement of seeing these signs at CERES, I continued to ponder water's role in my life. It became apparent upon leaving the city for Rutherglen, about three hours north of the city, that water plays a huge role in what grows and thrives naturally. In Rutherglen, it's grapevines.
Yep, you guessed it! I made my way to wine country in probably the most uncomfortable position for a road trip I have experienced to date.I attempted to put the map below to give you an idea of where we were, but something weird is going on with the link that google gave me to embed it. The landscape seemed very dry except for the immediate areas around rural houses. It had rained a little bit in the city since my arrival, but nothing like what we got when we arrived at Rutherglen. Pretty much all day Thursday we stayed in the tent and read, listened to music, and planned out the next day.
Note to self: all the tension I had been experiencing since arrival (from nerves or stress, I presumed) disappeared once we got out of the city. It was like the first time I realized that working at Pendleton's was the best cure to my mono flare-ups! Definitely not going to forget that I am more relaxed in less congested and people-filled places. :)
But back to water. Rutherglen averages between 36 and 43 mm (about of rainfall in December and January. Melbourne, on the other hand, averages between 47 and 59 mm of rainfall during the same months. That's 1.8 and 2.3 inches, respectively. Not much when looking month-by-month, but Rutherglen averages about 586.6 mm, whereas Melbourne averages 648.3 mm annually. For some reason, just being surrounded by the natural environment makes me feel more in tune with natural cycles like rain. In the city, you can't tell that something's going to happen until it's there, because the entire sky is filled with tall buildings. The little things that I take for granted...seeing storms come in before they actually hit.
Anyways, the amount of rainfall in Rutherglen and presumably the soil type is the perfect combination for growing grapes. As such, within as little as a 5 km radius from our campsite we could drive to a winery. Across the street, or another 5-10 km out, and you were at another one. It was incredible how close they all were to each other.
So what's there to know about growing grapes and making wine? How does it compare to what's available in Kansas?
First off, some background information. I wanted to learn a bit more about the area where we stayed, so a bit of research revealed the following:
During the week that I was in Rutherglen, we visited a handful of wineries that, for the most part, all had their own specialty, whether fortified wines or a Shiraz, etc. Most places would let you try the wines for free, with a few on the list that had a tasting fee. I think my favorite from the list of places we visited was Pfeiffer Wines because of their bar on the bridge. Unfortunately my autofocus was off when I took the photos there, but you'll get the idea.
Milawa Cheese Factory
Pfeiffer Wines
Campbell's
Highly recommend their red wine called Amelie
Fortified wines were also delicious!
St. Leonard's
Best muscadello I've ever tried
Excellent menu, especially their pasta pictured below
All Saints
Felt very much like a castle
Small free wine tasting list, otherwise you pay $12, which is waived if you buy a bottle of wine
Last but not least, I have to mention Parker's Pies. We stopped there 3 or 4 times to get meat pies, which are an Australian staple.
Today I'm off to Collingwood Children's Farm, the Botanic Gardens, and hopefully the State Library to read up on agriculture in Australia. Wish me the best! And if you've got suggestions for farm-related activities I should take up while I'm here, feel free to leave me a comment below.
During one of my many explorations so far, water's drinkability and safety have come up in interesting ways. Aside from my first introduction to water from my sister as "we've got some of the best tap water", I started to think about water in a new light.
My sister is a chef at the Merri Table at CERES, a Community Environment Park just north of where I'm staying in Fitzroy North. Having gotten slightly depressed from the city center's cement jungle, it was refreshing to be surrounded by trees and all kinds of food plants. In the visitor's center, the entire bookshelf looked my dream library, with topics on beekeeping, raising chickens, permaculture, etc.
CERES is the name of the goddess of agriculture. It's also an acronym for Center for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. I read the informational sign at the front that described the park's founding. What I took away was this: In the 70s, a group of hippies decided to take over the site of an old landfill and turn it into an urban oasis.
 |
| Garden plots below the outdoor eating area |
But back to the theme of this blog post: Water! The following sign captured my attention and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterwards.
Another informational sign said "Water wants to be free! Do you know that you can find a tap to fill your water bottle wherever you are in Melbourne via Choose Tap, an app from Yarra Valley Water?"
OMG, I kept thinking. How wonderful to have the municipal water company be encouraging people to drink tap water! I would love to see a comparable effort on the part of Lawrence's water utility company, or even just the office of sustainability. I'm a tap drinker myself, but I know so many people who believe that their tap water is contaminated or that bottled water "just tastes better". Bottled water may not be a cost consideration for some, but for how much money I make in a month, it makes so much more economic sense to just drink from the tap.
After my excitement of seeing these signs at CERES, I continued to ponder water's role in my life. It became apparent upon leaving the city for Rutherglen, about three hours north of the city, that water plays a huge role in what grows and thrives naturally. In Rutherglen, it's grapevines.
Yep, you guessed it! I made my way to wine country in probably the most uncomfortable position for a road trip I have experienced to date.I attempted to put the map below to give you an idea of where we were, but something weird is going on with the link that google gave me to embed it. The landscape seemed very dry except for the immediate areas around rural houses. It had rained a little bit in the city since my arrival, but nothing like what we got when we arrived at Rutherglen. Pretty much all day Thursday we stayed in the tent and read, listened to music, and planned out the next day.
Note to self: all the tension I had been experiencing since arrival (from nerves or stress, I presumed) disappeared once we got out of the city. It was like the first time I realized that working at Pendleton's was the best cure to my mono flare-ups! Definitely not going to forget that I am more relaxed in less congested and people-filled places. :)
But back to water. Rutherglen averages between 36 and 43 mm (about of rainfall in December and January. Melbourne, on the other hand, averages between 47 and 59 mm of rainfall during the same months. That's 1.8 and 2.3 inches, respectively. Not much when looking month-by-month, but Rutherglen averages about 586.6 mm, whereas Melbourne averages 648.3 mm annually. For some reason, just being surrounded by the natural environment makes me feel more in tune with natural cycles like rain. In the city, you can't tell that something's going to happen until it's there, because the entire sky is filled with tall buildings. The little things that I take for granted...seeing storms come in before they actually hit.
Anyways, the amount of rainfall in Rutherglen and presumably the soil type is the perfect combination for growing grapes. As such, within as little as a 5 km radius from our campsite we could drive to a winery. Across the street, or another 5-10 km out, and you were at another one. It was incredible how close they all were to each other.
So what's there to know about growing grapes and making wine? How does it compare to what's available in Kansas?
First off, some background information. I wanted to learn a bit more about the area where we stayed, so a bit of research revealed the following:
- Rutherglen is one of three wine-growing regions in the state of Victoria (Yarra Valley and Swan Hill are the other two). Across the country, however, there are about 60 regions total.
- During WWII, wine exports were practically non-existent because there was no shipping space for it.
- Australia is the home of the wine cask!
During the week that I was in Rutherglen, we visited a handful of wineries that, for the most part, all had their own specialty, whether fortified wines or a Shiraz, etc. Most places would let you try the wines for free, with a few on the list that had a tasting fee. I think my favorite from the list of places we visited was Pfeiffer Wines because of their bar on the bridge. Unfortunately my autofocus was off when I took the photos there, but you'll get the idea.
Milawa Cheese Factory
Cheeses we bought which I highly recommend:
- Milawa Brie
- David Brown Select Cheddar
- King River Gold Cow cheese
- Milawa White
- Definitely check out the Bar Bridge!
 |
| View from the bar on the bridge |
 |
| Our lovely spread of wine and treats |
Campbell's
Highly recommend their red wine called Amelie
Fortified wines were also delicious!
St. Leonard's
Best muscadello I've ever tried
Excellent menu, especially their pasta pictured below
 |
| Penne, rocket, butternut squash, roasted garlic, fried sage leaves, cheese of some kind, breadcrumbs |
Felt very much like a castle
Small free wine tasting list, otherwise you pay $12, which is waived if you buy a bottle of wine
 |
| Next to the rose garden |
 |
| Not actually a meat pie, I discovered, but delicious anyways! |
 |
| Sausage roll, meant to be eaten with tomato sauce |
Today I'm off to Collingwood Children's Farm, the Botanic Gardens, and hopefully the State Library to read up on agriculture in Australia. Wish me the best! And if you've got suggestions for farm-related activities I should take up while I'm here, feel free to leave me a comment below.
Comments
Post a Comment