Welcome to the world of the mossarium.
It's kind of a microscopic forest that - when displayed in your house - can immerse you in a little bit of nature.
Also known as a terrarium, these miniature gardens create a self-sustaining ecosystem while confined in a glass container.
Monty Sharma, of Urban Botanica Collective, creates mossariums as part of his mission to incorporate nature into urban spaces to make it accessible to people.
"It's a unique thing that's in your room and a nice conversation starter," said Monty, of Adamstown Heights.
"Mossariums are an example of biomimicry. That means we're trying to replicate the same conditions for moss in its natural habitat."
Nature can ease the anxiety of the digital area. It can help people "smell the roses" so to speak.
"Mossariums help people slow down. If we were less upregulated in our society we'd all be so much better off," Monty said.
In his mossariums he uses locally grown broom moss and star moss, which he says can be found on most driveways.
"It's easy to grow. They love water. The jarring process ensures an enclosed system that keeps the humidity and temperature high," he said.
"There's a plethora of biological activity happening within the soil, which creates warmth for the moss to grow."
This includes little creatures like springtails and isopods.
"They're part of the food web. They slowly break down and create food for the moss," he said.
Some mossariums maintain their moisture.
"I have some systems that I haven't watered for 2.5 to three years. Their core keeps their moisture level the same," he said.
Monty's background is industrial design. He's worked in water quality and has an affinity with the plant world.
"I became very interested in what nature was doing," he said.
He kept aquariums, grew a lot of plants and did scientific studies on them at home.
"I'm obsessed with how beautifully and easily nature can be integrated into our home," he said.
He travelled to Costa Rica in 2019, arriving home just before the pandemic.
"I came in literally the day before the borders closed," he said.
"I left my corporate job, travelled to Costa Rica and went into the jungle to work on one of the biggest off-grid permaculture communities in the world," he said.
"It's called Punta Mona. I spent three months in the jungle, learning how permaculture homesteads work, working with the land and running workshops."
He spent a bunch of time in nature hiking and long stretches in the forest.
"I wanted to go off the grid and reset myself. By the time I got back, I was full of ideas. Now I'm fully sustaining myself with my business, Urban Botanica Collective."
While he was in Costa Rica, he did a mycology course and now runs workshops on how to cultivate medicinal mushrooms, along with running mushroom field trips to the Watagans.
He said medicinal mushrooms offered "ways to support the body with something natural that has been accessible to us for hundreds of years".
He recently won an Awesome Newcastle grant of $1000, which he used to buy mycology equipment.
"This will enable me to run medicinal mushroom workshops in 2022," he said.
Ham or Duck?
Bob "Minmi Magster" Skelton wondered whether Santa had come early when he found something unusual under his fireplace.
"I found a pair of wood ducks at the bottom of our chimney under the fireplace," the Magster said.
"Perhaps Santa dropped them off, so we could fatten and prepare them for Christmas dinner."
Bob heard strange noises coming from the fireplace the night before. When he awoke, he could still hear them.
"I was baffled. Mrs Magster was going nowhere near it, as she was panicking that it was the big python [we recently wrote a piece on a diamond python that had taken up residence at the Magster's place at Minmi]," he said.
"I put my ear to the hearth and could hear a sound. I was thinking it was a possum and I might come off second best.
"I had to partly dismantle the firebox, then with a glove I was able to grab whatever it was and drag it out."
He was relieved to find it wasn't a python or a possum, but a "wood duck and its mate".
"I felt sorry for them and released them. They quickly flew off into the wide blue yonder. So it will be ham for Christmas instead of roast duck."
A Christmas Cracker
What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas quacker.
