On the Road to Rosewood

Rosewood is a little rural town to the west of the city where I live.  The drive out there took us along city streets, busy highways and past urban sprawl. Beyond that, and much closer to town, the country "opened up" and the wide open land, with its grassy paddocks and tall gums, stretched to the horizon under the Summer's clear blue sky.

Open country outside Rosewood.

This historic township derives its name from the beautiful trees, that grew and were harvested for timber, in an extensive forest known as the Rosewood Scrub. That scrub was progressively cleared to make way for farming land from the 1860s. A railway line then opened up the area more. Today, Rosewood station is the "end of the line" for the electric trains that run from Brisbane west towards Toowoomba. Coal mining began in the late 1870s and the township grew. This mining became one of the town's main industries. The impact of mining, in the huge cuts to the landscape, is evident along the road to Rosewood. 

The impact of mining on the landscape outside of town.

A train from the city rolls into town.

Just over the railway line and running right through town is the main street. (John Street) Many characteristic old timber buildings with timber posts and awnings remain from yesteryear. Like many Australian country towns, Rosewood has more than one pub! This photo is of the Rosewood Hotel:

The original Rosewood Hotel burnt down in 1914. 
It is said a ghost/s took up residence when it was rebuilt 😉.

We took a stroll along the main street and discovered the Cobb & Co. Heritage Park:

 Penny Farthing seats.

A replica Cobb & Co coach.

(It was impossible to photograph without reflections! 

This link takes you to a clearer image that you can click on to enlarge.)

A Queensland Bottle Tree and the old police lock-up!

Over on Matthew Street, is Rosewood's magnificent St. Brigid's Catholic Church. This beautiful old timber church, listed on Queensland's Heritage Register, was opened in 1910. It is Queensland's largest timber church. We did not venture in but I so wish we had to see the craftsmanship, the pressed metal ceiling and the frescoes inside this special church.  

St. Brigid's Catholic Church.

A beautiful stained glass window.

One side of this historic church.

There are other heritage buildings and old timber homes in Rosewood that we didn't have time to see on this trip.  A great reason to return one day! 

An old fencepost in a paddock outside Rosewood.

Many little towns like Rosewood are dotted between the west-of-Brisbane cities of Ipswich  and Toowoomba. I think I'd like to spend a day exploring a few more of them for it's nice to leave the city behind for a while!

Meg

         

Close to Trees

The late afternoons of this Winter are balmy and beautiful. I love to take Sir Steve dog for a stroll, ambling along the bike paths and footpaths at his pace, his nose forever sniffing the tree trunks and grass while my eyes look up to the treetops.

The golden, mellow light highlights the eucalypts and paperbarks; a soft glow that signals the evening is not far away. I love the shapes of branches and leaves set against the sky and the shadows, cast by straight, tall trunks, as the sun begins its descent.

A paperbark down by the creek. 

Leaves in light and trunks in shadow.

Tall gums touched by late afternoon light.

Golden treetops along the path towards home.

The trees we walk by and under, and the forest that begins on the ridge close by, make it feel as though we live far from the bustle of the city here. Cooling our little pocket of suburbia, shading our streets and paths, cleansing our air, providing a home for native wildlife and connecting us to nature. Without these trees, our place wouldn't be the same.

Meg

The Source of Chocolate

From the Amazonian rainforest comes the tree that gives us the raw ingredient from which we make chocolate, one of the world's most beloved foods. Its scientific name (Theobroma cocao) is loosely translated, from its Greek roots, as "food of the gods" (Theos meaning God & Bromas meaning food). Chocolate lovers the world over would surely agree it's an aptly named tree!

 Ripe yellow pods on a Chocolate Tree.

(Theobroma cocao)

On a recent trip to my city's Botanic Gardens, we found a Chocolate Tree growing in the warm and humid environment of the Garden's tropical dome. Inside the ripe, yellow pods, are the seeds (beans) which, once processed, will yield the nibs from which cocoa liquor  is made. This liquor (which contains cocoa mass and cocoa butter) is the basis for making the chocolate so many of us love.

The tree's sign in the Mt. Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, Brisbane.

The commercial production of cocao beans is very labour intensive. Growing and caring for the trees, harvesting and the early stages of processing the pods and beans, is done by hand. For example, the ripe pods are picked and opened by hand, the beans inside are scooped out by hand & dried beans are sorted by hand. Much of the world's cocoa beans are produced on small family farms in West Africa, where the farmers live well below the global poverty line of less than $1.90 per day. To me, that's a sobering "cut-off point"  given that a single chocolate bar can cost more than that here in Australia.

Recently, I have started learning about Permaculture & have been considering simple, practical ways/actions in which to integrate its three ethics of Earth Care, People Care & Fair Shares at our place. Choosing fair trade chocolate would make sense because it encourages the ethical growing and processing of cocoa beans and the provision of a living wage to farmers, farm workers and their families.  

Delicious dark chocolate ... the end product we buy.

Considering the source/production/impacts of the foods we buy, such as the chocolate that is made from the beans of these Chocolate Trees, can certainly raise some questions, issues and ethical dilemmas sometimes. 

Meg