Issue 123, June 2020
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page THE WONDERFUL
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WORLD OF FOOD
The Around Point Cook Community Newspaper is distributed in Point Cook
page REDISCOVER YOUR
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No Dig Garden Bed Layers Dig planting holes, fill with compost/soil & plant Edging or Straw Bales Straw
VERGE
Manure and Compost
Straw 50-60cm
Manure and Compost Green Layer Sheets of Wet Newspaper Grass / Gravel Ground Level
page PHOTO PAGE
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LIFE IN LOCKDOWN
Dear Diary, Day 70 (I think.) My three-year-old is struggling... How could he not be? Covid-19 – the pandemic that took our way of life to the brink, and forced us all indoors, is having its way with us. It sucks! We have been in isolation for almost 10 weeks now, and for my kids and I, we are here until June 9th. Sure, they’ve relaxed the laws a little, but does life feel normal yet? Definitely not. I’m not even sure what normal is anymore... My daughter is 10 and incredibly sweet. She misses her friends, but feels glad that the world is “getting a rest.” For her generation, 2020 will be the year they smelled the air, thick with bushfire haze. She cried tears of deep concern, for the fire that simply wouldn’t stop burning. Relief was short lived, as concern turned to fear of an invisible monster – Coronavirus. Tucked up, safe in our houses, we try to remain grateful and optimistic... Not always easy.
My boy doesn’t get it. He is frustrated from the constant “No” of it all. Can we go to the park? No Can we go to Nonna’s? No Can Willow play with me? No – she has schoolwork to do... On the odd occasion that we do get out of the house, the “Nos” increase – three-year-olds want to touch everything! I started this time in isolation believing that what lay ahead, was a peaceful kind of pause. An opportunity to enjoy my time – my family. To embrace the nothingness of it all. The truth has been quite a bit different. There are highs and lows – such is life. But everything feels a little bit extra – especially the lows. My boy has not got a handle on his emotional output yet. His tantrums are epic and I feel him. I want to scream my head off too. I want to throw things, and cry. I do cry. continue page 3
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Hey readers, Are you still with us? Another month in semi-isolation has ticked by, and it is definitely a very different 2020 to what we expected or hoped. The year started with bushfires – a disaster that has been overshadowed by a global pandemic. It is fair to say we have bad news overload. It is difficult to keep the smile on your dial, but we urge you to try. Or at the very least, try to try. Just keep on keeping on, because you are not alone. We are all feeling some form of grief right now. And it is grief. We are grieving the loss of normality, ad it is difficult to bear. June should see the return of children to school. And cafes and restaurants will open And football will be back!! Small steps. Hope lives. Hang in there, and remember, when all else fails, there is always chocolate – lots and lots of chocolate.
See you around, Melissa Longo www.inkcloud.co
ABN 78 809 543 573
Will: 0449 834 359 Email: will@aroundpointcook.com Louise: 0403 191 084 Email: ml.goegan@gmail.com
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We are all getting through this in different ways, and whatever your version, the struggle is real. Some days, I am Mary Poppins, making everything bearable with a “spoonful of sugar.” Other days, I am Eeyore. And more often than I would like, I am Oscar the goddamn Grouch! I’m suffering fatigue, and possibly some kind of delirium. I fully intend to book a hotel room when we get to the other side of this – a room for ONE! I adore my people, and I know that there are some out there, facing this isolation alone. I can’t imagine that is any easier, but we need a timeout - no one is supposed to clock this much face time. Here’s what I am dreaming of... A heated pool, for floating in (just for me.) Sun on my skin. Silence. A meal I didn’t cook. A to-do list with nothing on it. A massage – god, do I need a massage. I mostly just want everything to be ok, because I want to put my daughter’s mind at ease, and I want my son to get some serious Yeses into his life! Restrictions are annoyingly restrictive. Melissa Longo
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Will M: 0449 834 359 E: will@aroundpointcook.com
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HELP US UPGRADE THE CRITICAL 24-HR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS LINE Coronavirus is having a devastating toll on people’s physical and mental health the world over. Health experts warn there will be a wave of mental illness, trauma, economic injury and burn-out associated with the pandemic. As Werribee Mercy Hospital responds to COVID-19 in our local community, it is important that we ensure the 24-hr mental health crisis line is able to respond and not stretched beyond capacity. That is why Werribee Hospital Foundation is focused on raising $30,000 to fund the immediate upgrade to the 24hr crisis line at Werribee Mercy Hospital. Werribee Mercy manages mental health services across Melbourne’s South West, operating a 24-hour mental health triage line – 1 300 657 259 – for people in acute mental distress and for referrals to support services. The line receives upwards of 25,000 calls each
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year, linking to police, community workers and health professionals across the South Western region. It’s a big job on any day, but the service is now struggling to cope with unprecedented, fast-escalating demand. The current phone system is more than 15 years old and it has no on hold function to enable speaking to a mental health clinician. At peak times, overflow calls are directed to a single answering machine. A new system will allow staff to answer and manage multiple calls at one time and people in acute stress will not be faced with a message bank. In any crisis, the most vulnerable people are hardest hit. To find out more and how you can help, please visit our website www.werribeehospitalfoundation.com.au All donations $2 and above are tax deductible and all funds donated go to the cause. Enquiries Lisa Field, Community Engagement & Fundraising Manager 0433 559 530.
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THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF FOOD How To Make Easy Homemade Pizza Step-By-Step
INCLUDING A QUICK NO-KNEAD DOUGH.
slices of your own pizza within 45 minutes.
When you start making your own pizza, you’ll realize how easy it is and importantly, how damn scrumptious it tastes.
My 7-year-old loves playing with the dough, rolling it out, then sprinkling her favorite toppings, (which definitely does not include mushroom or any other vegetables).
The most daunting part about pizza is the dough. The rest of it is just sprinkling your favorite toppings. You can use pitta bread if you can’t be bothered to make the dough. But don’t sell yourself short: homemade dough is delicious and fun to make. So worth making. There are recipes out there that tell us to knead and leave the dough for 1–3 hours to rise. This isn’t one of them. I don’t know about you, but I can be impatient and intentionally disorganized when it comes to dinners. I have a vague idea or none at all. It’s the creative side in me that loves the spontaneity of making what I feel like when 5pm rolls around. We don’t often get surprises, and this is my way of surprising myself and my family with a delish, spurof-the-moment dinner, making whatever we happen to have in the fridge or pantry at the time. What I’m going to share with you is a wonderful simple dough you can make quickly, so you can throw on your tasty toppings- and be crunching into hot, sublime 6
The dough recipe I’ve shared below involves mixing with a spoon and it’s a no-knead recipe - though you might like to play and enjoy how it feels beautifully smooth and soft in your hands. You’ll get why kids love play-doh. You can use whatever toppings you like. I want to share my latest pork meatball and pineapple pizza: Pork meatball and pineapple pizza INGREDIENTS Dough • 2 ½ cups bread flour (all-purpose will do too) • 1 cup warm water • 1 teaspoon white sugar • 1 teaspoon salt • 0.25 ounces of active dry yeast Toppings
• Cheese, grated—mozzarella or tasty cheese melts well • Tomato paste • Dried oregano • Pineapple pieces • Kabana slices • Pork mince • Onion, cut into quarters • Garlic • Salt and pepper • Fresh parsley • Fresh breadcrumbs (I love using panko or leftover sourdough) METHOD Dough 1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let it stand around 10 minutes until it bubbles up and gets creamy—sort out your toppings in the meantime. 2. Add flour, salt, and oil. Stir until smooth. Rest for 5 minutes. 3. Throw a bit of flour across your benchtop. Toss your dough onto it. Pat or roll the dough into balls. Cut it into two, if you want a couple of pizzas. Roll it out, as thin or as thick as you like your dough. Place it on a pizza tray or baking tray. Pork meatballs 1. Mix onion, garlic, and parsley in a food processor. 2. Combine the mixture with mince, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. 3. Roll into little balls. 4. Brown up in a pan. Put it all together 1. Spread tomato paste over dough.
2. Sprinkle dried oregano. 3. Arrange cheese, meatballs, kabana, and pineapple over the top. 4. Drizzle olive oil over it all, especially around the edges. 5. Bake for 15–20 minutes until cheese looks all gooey and golden, and the crust has browned a little. If you want an even quicker pizza, skip the meatballs. You could go for a classic pizza that honors Queen Margherita of Savoy: tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. My daughter loves Hawaiian: tomato sauce, cheese, ham, and pineapple. If you’re like my husband and it horrifies you to mix fruit with savoury, then leave off the pineapple. (Something to do with being Italian. As for me, I have an Asian background and we get excited about mixing tastes and textures). If you’ve got leftovers, make your own gourmet pizza: • Leftover lamb and mint • Rosemary and potato slices • Chicken with bacon and pineapple • Turkey and cranberry sauce • Salmon, capers, and potatoes Whatever you like. Anything tastes good with melted cheese. Gather your drooling family to the table - if they haven’t already been drawn out by the enticing smells - and dig into your fully homemade pizza. As my Italian mum-in-law loves to say when she places huge portions of food in front of us, expecting us to eat every bit: “Mangia! Mangia!” Cynthia Marinakos Credit: Illustration by Cynthia Marinakos
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FEEL GOOD – REAL GOOD YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE YOUR WORLD A TOTALLY STRESSLESS UTOPIA, BUT IT REALLY IS POSSIBLE TO HELP YOURSELF FEEL GOOD, EVEN WHEN LIFE GETS HECTIC. This is an easy recipe. Fill your life with music, laughter, sunshine, love, tasty food, positive emotions, helping others and top it off with exercise and a little bit of acupressure. FEEL GOOD CHEMICALS What have all these things got in common? Each of these activities can stimulate the body to produce a special hormone to make you feel good. This hormone is a type of chemical called an endorphin – an abbreviation of ‘endogenous morphine’, which means a morphine produced naturally in the body. It has a similar structure to morphine and is secreted to block pain to the nervous system, particularly when pain and stress reach critical levels. This is why some sports people can continue playing, even though they’ve sustained a serious injury and likewise, some accident victims get up and walk away, seemingly unhurt. Endorphins also contribute to wonderful, happy feelings. LAUGHTER CURE Laughter increases the good hormones, like endorphins, and decreases the stress hormones
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like adrenaline. The funny thing, is that even if you pretend to laugh, the body responds as though it’s real laughter. Have you ever seen children have a laughing competition? They must instinctively sense it does them good. Statistically, children laugh much more than adults anyway. It is well known that some hospitals have laughter clinics for their patients, who have been found to get well quicker. Laughter really is the best medicine. So, stock up on funny videos and movies and go for a good old belly laugh. Just do it for the fun of it and knowing this can make you and your life healthier. POSITIVE THINKING Is your home a place of love and peace? Positive emotions produce chemical changes in the body, including endorphin production. This explains why placebos work with some people. The positive anticipation that the patients have in hoping for and expecting a cure, releases endorphins, decreasing pain and making them feel better, even though they have unknowingly only taken a sugar pill. It also explains why a positive emotion like love, makes you feel good. If you feel it show it; if you get it; relish it. HELP OUT Helping somebody in need can also be good for your health because of the associated positive emotions.
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Over the lockdown period, I would receive a text from my next-door neighbours to say that breakfast was on my patio. Their generosity and kindness humbled me, thanking them, they would say “oh we enjoyed doing it, it was fun!” It stands to reason you can’t go round helping people only with your health in mind! It wouldn’t work anyway, because selfishness is not a positive emotion. However, don’t hold back and be shy. If somebody needs your help, give it with all your heart. It’ll do you both good. SOOTHING TUNES The human race has known for thousands of years that “music has charms to soothe a savage beast.” We now know why. Music stimulation can increase endorphin levels. The healing chemicals lesson pain and create a natural high in hospital tests, playing the right kind of music for patients decreased the need for medication in a significant number of cases. Music has been successfully used for mothers in childbirth, for operations, for pre-surgery relaxation and postsurgery healing, for depression and for everything from back pain to writer’s block. Whenever the feeling moves you, open your heart and sing or hum. Relax sometimes too, with instrumental music. Close your eyes, let the music flow through you and give yourself a musical fix every now and then. It can be any music you enjoy!
POSITIVE PRESSURE Acupressure is more than five thousand years old. How often, when you have had a headache, have you pressed some point on your head to relieve the pain? The ancient doctors conceived the idea that these points lay along pathways, connecting different organs of the body. This has been proven by science that these release endorphins, the body’s natural analgesic. TIPS FOR HEADACHE, TENSION AND RELAXING There is a point right on top of your head, in the middle, in line with your nose. Press it and hold for about ten seconds, before releasing. Behind your head, in the two hollows behind your ears are two points. Lift your elbows, so that your thumbs are down and press into these hollows with your thumbs. If you can get someone to do this one for you properly, it feels wonderful. Look at your hand, palm upwards. On the side the little finger, about five centimetres down the wrist, there’s a point just on the inside of the wrist. With your other thumb press firmly. So, love, laugh, eat and be happy! All the ingredients are there to do it for yourself. Give yourself a dose of anti-stress hormones and feel good - real good! Peace, love and good health always, Cherie de Haas
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REDISCOVER YOUR VERGE No Dig Garden Bed Layers Dig planting holes, fill with compost/soil & plant Edging or Straw Bales Straw Manure and Compost
Straw 50-60cm
Manure and Compost Green Layer Sheets of Wet Newspaper Grass / Gravel Ground Level
As I have been walking around Point Cook over the past months of isolation, I have been fascinated by the number of people who have planted out their nature strips or verges. Some have drought resistant plants or a mixture of flowers, veggies and ornamental bushes. It would be great to be able to utilise this space to grow vegetables, herbs and even fruit. Maybe we have all become a bit more aware of what we are eating and making sure that we have a more balanced plate of food on the table. I know that at my house, we are making a more conscious effort to have at least two vegetables with every main meal. Wyndham Council have a trial going with some homes setting up wicking beds, which have a reservoir of water which is ‘wicked’ or sucked up by the plants, to grow veggies and herbs on their verges. I can’t wait to see the report and see this go ‘viral’ in our suburb. For everyone else, the problem has always been that there is no water supply on the nature strip, so you would need to remember to water the garden beds of vegetables or other plants. Also, we have heavy clay soils in Point Cook, which makes it difficult to grow vegetables and many other types of plants. How about a no dig, raised garden bed, with plenty of moisture retaining nutrients? If that sounds good, then you will find this easy and economical to set up. If your verge is covered with grass, mark out the area you want to allocate to your garden bed with some stakes, roughly 1 metre x 2-4 metres. Apply a mixture of blood and bone and lime to the area and then water 10
in. Cover with a thick layer of about 20 sheets of overlapping wet newspaper. Water again and add a 10-cm layer of green waste like grass cuttings or lucerne, then cover that layer with a 5-cm thick mixture of chicken or sheep manure and soil. Follow that layer with another 10-cm of pea or sugarcane straw, as well as autumn leaves. Repeat the last two layers and add a layer of compost, if you have this. Leave the garden bed ready for planting in about a week, as the height will settle in and compost down a bit from 60-cm to about 30-cm. You can then plant directly into the bed. Open pockets or shallow holes and fill with some soil and plant your seedlings, watering them in well. You will need to top up the compost, manure and straw every month. Hand water your plants every day if it hasn’t rained, but you will find that the no dig garden retains moisture very well. For very little cost, and a bit of effort, your nature strip will be an attractive green space for your family and neighbours. The birds, butterflies and beneficial insects will also love it! Have fun creating your new green space! Cheers – Gayle Gayle Brenchley is a Landscape Designer and Horticulturist, who has been living in Point Cook, blogging and building her edible garden since 2003 – http://www.openbackyards.com.au- Get Gardening!
A WORD FROM HON. JILL HENNESSY COVID-19 TESTING BLITZ Before easing restrictions, we asked Victorians to get tested. We wanted as much data as possible to inform our decisions and understand how the virus was spreading in our state. We were hoping for 100,000 tests – but 161,000 people stepped up. These results gave us the certainty to move forward and the confidence to make some changes. Now we need to maintain that momentum – and monitor how we're tracking. We've rolled out mobile testing sites at shopping centres across Melbourne including Laverton Respiratory Clinic, Altona North Medical Group and Sunshine Hospital. There is also a mobile drive through clinic at Stockland Point Cook Shopping Centre, Bunnings West Footscray, Highpoint and Pacific Werribee. And we're asking anyone with even the mildest of symptoms to get tested. FUNDING FOR SALTWATER P-9 THROUGH THE BUILDING WORKS PROGRAM In May, the Premier and Treasurer announced Building Works, which will provide $2.7 billion toward shovel ready projects – big and small – that will allow thousands of people to get back to work. This package will not only mean that communities will see projects they’ve been waiting for underway – it will also directly create 3,700 jobs. Those are jobs for construction workers, painters, plasters, gardeners,
engineers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, maintenance workers, administration staff and many others. For us in the Altona District it will mean $13.06 million for an immediate start to construction on new buildings for Saltwater P-9 to accommodate students in years 7-9. These buildings will be complete in 2022, allowing year 7s to start in 2022, year 8s in 2023 and year 9s in 2024. This construction project will also mean jobs for the local community for workers who’ll be buying their coffees and breakfast rolls in local cafes and restaurants. I have not been alone in my lobbying efforts about the need for year 7, 8 and 9 at Saltwater; I have been joined many families in Point Cook. I am overjoyed that local young people will have the very best facilities for learning and that we will see year 7 begin in 2022. Thank you to each of you who shared your story with me and with the Education Minister. Thank you to Jackie Daniali and the team of educators and support staff at Saltwater College for the incredible work that you do every day, and that you have continued to do throughout the remote learning period as well. GET IN TOUCH A reminder to the all that whilst my office is working remotely for the time being, we are still here for you. Contact me and my Electorate Office team on 9395 0221 or send me an email at jill.hennessy@parliament.vic.gov.au.
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HOW TO BE CALM AND CARRY ON
Be calm and carry on is a can-do message filled with hope and encouragement. It reminds us that when faced with difficult times, we have within us the empowering qualities of calmness, resilience, and persistence. So, although it may seem a tall order to find the inner strength to be calm, and carry on through to the end of hard times, it is absolutely doable. We can mentally refuse to feel limited, and successfully move our family, school, or work life forward. HOW TO BE CALM AND CARRY ON It has definitely been a trying time, with many restrictions placed on our normal activities at home, school and work. Yet we’ve seen calmness and inventiveness expressed by many individuals. We’ve been inspired by people expressing determination to sustain themselves and others through acts of kindness. And recently, I enjoyed this light-hearted example of creativity, buoyancy of spirit, and good humour. Rather than be thwarted by dining restrictions, a Belgian mother and daughter who wanted a McDonald’s meal – but lacked a car for the drivethru-only, made a cardboard version of a car. Fellow motorists, including police, cheered as they “drove” through. When asked about their novel approach they said, “It’s nice if we have done something to make people laugh”. “We need that.” TIPS TO HELP YOU BE CALM AND CARRY ON • Choose not to worry. If you feel down-in-the12
dumps about the present challenging situation, remain resilient, confident. Don’t fret about what might lie ahead, or wonder if you’ll get back what you’ve lost. There is a divine Love that is an ever-present help, which will make sure you have all you need, right when you need it. “So, do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded”. Bible. Hebrews 10:35 • Be calm. When dealing with frustrating family, education, or work situations, be calm, cool and collected. Don’t let anyone, or anything, “get your goat” – that is, upset you. Each day you can live your life, “with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it”. Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings p. 224. • Be ready to carry on. This testing time has revealed a wonderful capacity in each of us to be calm and carry on with life, no matter what happens. So right now, we can get ready to move forward. We can be grateful for every good thing we presently have, and anticipate receiving the blessings each future day will hold for us. We don’t need permission to enjoy being useful. Right now, we can get moving, take positive steps, achieve good things, and be calm and carry on. Beverly Goldsmith writes on the connection between spirituality and health and is an experienced Christian Science practitioner and teacher.
Photo page This month’s photo page continues to highlight life in lockdown, with socially distant gatherings and a show of support for our local cafes (Waterstone Café and Nyonya House Café), who are doing their best to power through! It also captures a little project that was put together by our local Community Bank’s – Altona, Laverton & Point Cook.... It was clear early on, that the children in our community would be pretty heavily impacted by this curious new way of life. The bank put out the call – were there any kids out there who could use a little extra fun in their lives? The response was terrific and “fun packs” started finding their way onto doorsteps all over town. Good-old-fashioned joy, in the form of footballs, yoyos, skipping ropes and colouring books. Chips and lollypops, card games and puzzle books. It was great to see so many smiling faces – a well-earned distraction from home schooling!
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Jack's Corner
WINTER Cheer up! Cheer up, my boys! Winter is on the way: The end of Summer joys Like kite skiing on the bay. Winter is acoming: Snow falls on the mountains, On whose slopes there’ll be skiing, While on the plains it rains. We’ll doff the Summer creams As cricket season’s done. Our local footy teams Will have a practice run. The beaches will soon close Save for those hardy and brave Risking a “code of the doze” Catching a winter wave. There’ll be sniffles and sneezes, Ague and muscle pains; Maybe worse diseases, As well as chills and chilblains. Folk move to sunnier climes, No doubt for good reasons; But me, I love these times, And the change of seasons. Jack Nystrom
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WHEN FOUR BECOMES THREE
Hubby and I are not quite fifty, yet we are on the precipice of becoming empty nesters. In the not-toodistant future, both our children will be moving into their own home. At Easter, our daughter was the first to move out. It truly is a double-edged sword. On one hand, I am so proud of them both for all they have achieved in such a short time, yet on the other hand I feel like they need to stay at home a little longer. I am excited at the prospect of more hot water and substantially lower grocery bills, but I also feel they are not quite ready to fully adult on their own. Or perhaps I am just not ready to let go. Hubby and I became home owners at twenty-one and first time parents in our mid-twenties, when all our friends were working at the casino, saving their money to backpack around Turkey. Our twenties and thirties were a blur of swimming lessons, homework and parentteacher interviews, a zillion children’s birthday parties and endless bills for camps, extracurricular activities and braces that I thought would never stop coming.
two weeks in a year. It’s not like people get less time allocated for their use once they turn thirty. But now I understand. Let’s just say that I have absolutely no regrets starting a family early. Because now, with two young adults doing their own thing, we are enjoying doing ours. And because my Gran was right and time is speeding up so quickly, we now have the option to holiday when everyone else’s children are at school. And for me, that alone was worth waiting for! Dee xx You can also join me at www.comejoindee.com
But now, we find the tables have turned and it’s our friends that are scrimping and saving for school fees and orthodontics, spending their entire weekends driving the family sports taxi and having to coordinate vacations around school terms. My, how quickly things change. I vividly remember my Gran telling me that as you get older, time really flies. I never really understood what she meant. I mean, how could I? Everyone gets the same twenty-four hours in a day, seven days a week, fifty15
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