Artwork by Scott Rathman Sr When I established Co Unity I didn’t really know where it would take me.  For I had previously worked full time for 40 years with clear roles and responsibilities for the positions I held.  I hoped that through Co Unity I could tie together the many areas of interest that I held that offered something for others.  Hopefully that can still happen. Recently I commissioned an Adelaide based Aboriginal artist, Scott Rathman (who happens to be my nephew), to create an image that represented what I was aiming to achieve with Co Unity .  The image pictured is called Threads of Impact .  A motif to describe how environmental, social, creative and cultural threads may come together. Interestingly I have landed a new job to lead a disability and retirement living service for my local community in the Lockyer Valley.  Already I see this opportunity as a way the inspiration for Co Unity can be brought together with people living in my own community. For now, I see Co Unity as  a slow growing tree rather than a rapidly growing annual.  It will germinate, it will grow, and it will provide some shade for whoever finds their way to its shelter.  The role I have is currently full time, however once I have wrangled it a little, I will drop back to part time and give more focus to the emerging Co Unity tree.  To weave the threads of impact for others to embrace.  Peace, Chris Btw Scott Rathman’s art can be accessed through his Facebook page Rusted Tin

Cultivated agriculture really took off after the last ice age ended about 11500 years ago, where grain crops were first sown into prepared soil around the middle east. Other cultures domesticated additional crops such as rice in China, root vegetables in the tropics and tomatoes in the Americas.  This farming practices intensified during the bronze and iron ages, where irrigation vastly increased production and fields.  It was in the Roman times the concept a 3-crop rotation was devised.  The first year land was dedicated to a crop for human food, the second year for feed for their livestock and in the third year the land was to remain fallow to allow organic matter to restore the soil back to health. So, if a farmer had 3 fields, each one would be in a stage of these 3 year cycles. I feel my life has been in this cycle, in the early years I devoured study and feasted on learning and gaining experience, my last professional phase saw me more deliberate in nourishing those around me for their growth, and then now, the time of fallow. For the past 2 months I really have not done much.  I walked slowing around the property absorbing and bathing nature, much to the joy of the dogs. I Poodled about and fiddled with gadgets as to allow my mind to slow down and recover.   However, I am really conscious that I can’t stay in this state of Fallow.  I need to look for new ways for to feed my physical, mental and spiritual growth.  Find sustainable ways to feed those around me and find times of micro fallow to keep all my reserves full.   May you find your way to keep your life in the balance of Food, Feed and Fallow.

Ultimately it’s about creating intentional connection to ourselves, each other, to the land and natural environment, to place and to culture. I decided to establish Co Unity, after extensive research and my own Ah Ha  moments when I witnessed people of all ages find something meaningful and soulful when they found connection. When they connected to their creative self, connected with green spaces and gardens, connected deeply with others and connected with the cultural richness of Indigenous Australia. Connection is at the heart of our wellbeing.  Unity is at the heart of harmonious being….which again creates human wellbeing. I am part of a long line of horticulturalists, my great grandfather left East Prussia in 1850, and was part of the German speaking immigrants that established vineyards in the Barossa Valley in South Australia.  I grew up on a fruit property near the River Murray, and learned to prune and harvest vines before I attended primary school.      After formally studying horticulture and working in my own business, I felt a stronger call to leave the orchard to work with people.  Back at university, I spent the next 6 years working full time and studying part time to complete my degree in human services. I gravitated to roles and to the needs of people that found themselves at the margins and dislocated from the mainstream.  My career meandered like the Murray River and has carried me to this point. A point where I wish to share my skills, my ways of working to facilitate true connection to ourselves, each other, to the natural environment, to place and to culture. I look forward to our shared journey of connection and unity, Chris