Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 4 i Pip Magazine

ELLA MCHENRY Ella is a newbie farmer and social entrepreneur, who unexpectedly spent the past two years collaboratively running a date farm an hour south-east of Alice Springs. She has sailed from the Top End to South Africa, ridden a Suzuki DR-Z400 off road from Alice Springs to Darwin and been shipwrecked near Cape Don (Cobourg Peninsula NT), and makes award winning preserves. She’s also held down various sensible but interesting jobs in the fields of community development, natural resource management and education, and is en route to establishing a farm in South Australia, with her partner Chris, in accordance with permaculture, keyline and restoration agriculture principles. See www.littlebunyip.com.au ANGELO ELIADES Angelo is a presenter, trainer and writer in the areas of sustainable gardening and permaculture, and a passionate forest…

THE ART OF FREE TRAVEL: A FRUGAL FAMILY ADVENTURE, CYCLING FROM DAYLESFORD TO CAPE YORK by Patrick Jones and Meg Ulman (New South Books 2015) In late 2013 Patrick, Meg and their family, Zephyr (10), Woody (1) and Zero the Jack Russell, set off on an epic 6000 kilometre year-long cycling journey up Australia’s east coast and back. Their aim was to live as cheaply as possible − guerrilla camping, hunting, foraging and bartering their permaculture skills – and on a diet of free food, bush tucker and the occasional fresh roadkill. They joined an anti-fracking blockade, spent time in Aboriginal communities, documented edible plants along the way, and braved the country’s most hazardous highways. The Art of Free Travel is the remarkable story of a rule-breaking year of ethical…

When David Holmgren and Bill Mollison developed permaculture in the 1970s it was an attempt to reduce the growing environmental and social crises of modern life. Their concept emphasised designing low consumption, low pollution and highly productive human settlements. Nearly forty years later, we wanted to know what permaculture-on-the-move might look like. In November 2013, we set off on a journey to find out. When we decided to travel up the east coast of Australia by bicycle with our two sons (aged eleven years and fourteen months) and our Jack Russell terrier, we had no idea how far north we would end up. When we loaded our panniers onto our bikes and set off from our home in central Victoria we wanted to achieve several things: expand our knowledge of…

Bee Winfield and her partner Stewart Seesink have transformed their eleven hectare property, at Nannup in the south-west of Western Australia, by building soil. Bee’s been obsessed with compost since she was a teenager, and is still making it forty years later. After courses on permaculture, holistic management, earthworks for water harvesting, soil biology and life in the soil, Bee was ready to improve her soil; she and Stewart are so focused on life below ground that their son describes them as ‘turd nerds’ – Bee prefers ‘soil life coach’. Over the last decade their organic farm business has grown in leaps and bounds. They regularly supply fully tree-ripened fruit, vegetables grown with compost, grass-fed meat, and eggs and dairy to the Nannup and Margaret River farmers’ markets, Perth City…

Earthbag building (or ‘super adobe’) is a technique credited to Nader Khalili, an Iranian-born architect and humanitarian. The technique uses polypropylene bag (the kind of bag your chook food comes in, before it is cut into lengths) as a continuous, flexible form to hold courses of earth, building up a structure layer by layer. Rendering weatherproofs the structure, and is the final binding mechanism holding the bags together. Earthbag building is great where we are in Central Australia, as there seems to be no shortage of soils with a reasonable sand/clay mix, and there’s not much else to build with. Sure, you need to buy the bag, barbed wire and rendering materials; but the bulk of what you’re building with can often be sourced from your site, and moved with…

Turner outside Hollywood High School circa 1937 (she completed her studies at MGM’s studio school). Inset: A THR ad on April 26, 1943, promoted her movie Slightly Dangerous. While some of us are crafty, and quite happy to darn our favourite stripy socks, others feel overwhelmed by the prospect of having to mend or alter a piece of clothing. Never fear! The following ideas for altering and repairing old clothes will have you rebirthing old clothes into a whole new sartorial array. 1. NEEDLE FELTING: FOR REPAIR AND DECORATION This can be applied to any woollen garment that has a hole or stain. It requires no skill, and only a small investment in needle felting tools, which can be purchased easily at your local craft shop or online. Please note…

How does permaculture tie in with our understanding of health? Can it realistically be seen as a ‘health promoting movement’? UNDERSTANDING PERMACULTURE Permaculture began as ‘permanent agriculture’, a sustainable food production system based on ecological principles. Growing our own food is extremely good for us and there is an indisputable and ever-increasing body of research, which supports the health benefits of gardening: it can improve our health through stress relief, exercise, mental activity and better nutrition. Certain strains of a harmless soil-borne bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae have been found to stimulate the human immune system and boost the production of serotonin – a shortage of this mood-regulating brain chemical is associated with depression. Who would have thought that playing in the dirt could be so good for you? Permaculture has grown…

Well-designed food forests and forest gardens are a versatile food production solution that, in addition to producing food, are able to provide for a wide range of animals and fungi that create the connections between the plants in our garden. As well as being focused on food for the people who are involved in the project, the plants that are selected for a food forest garden need to provide food and habitat for beneficial birds, insects and other animals. Without these supporting elements, these creatures will not inhabit a forest garden and instead of a designed plant community that mimics the patterns and processes of a natural ecosystem, there will simply be a collection of plants. While there is a wealth of information about the plants that can be grown…

A YEAR OF PRACTICULTURE: RECIPES FOR LIVING, GROWING, HUNTING & COOKING WITH THE SEASONS by Rohan Anderson (Hardie Grant Books 2015). Review by Robyn Rosenfeldt The second book from the author of Whole Larder Love: Grow, Gather, Hunt, Cook (Power House Books 2012), A Year of Practiculture focuses on ‘a way of living where daily choices are made based on their practical outcome’. When you give up your main source of income and stop buying food from the supermarket, you need to know how to survive by hunting, foraging and growing your own food, and knowing how to cook it. Starting in spring and working through the year, this book takes you on a journey of living with the seasons and off the land. The 100 recipes are interspersed with…

I am so happy to bring you issue four of Pip Magazine, with its bee friendly focus. I have learnt so much about bees and their lives, their needs and their importance to our lives on this planet. A huge thank you to Adrian Iodice, whose infectious passion and enthusiasm about bees has opened my eyes to the wonder of our tiny friends. My own passion for bees slowly crept in as I began to hear and read about natural beekeeping and the importance of caring for bees. I then got a beehive of my own and did a natural beekeeping course, and now I am hooked. Putting together this issue I have talked to many dedicated bee advocates and have come to realise that everyone needs to understand how…

DIGGING DEEPER INTO SOIL 18 October, 2015, Samford, QLD Be inspired by and learn from renowned thinkers and soil advocates. Millen Farm is hosting ‘Digging Deeper into Soil’, a half-day conference that will set the scene of soil in Australia. Featuring the most recent research from local scientists, see how this research can be used to improve soil health for food production in everything from home gardens through to commercial farms. Come along to dig down deep into soil topics, debunking some long-held myths about soil management. Our expert speakers, Hugh Lovel, Peter Kearney and Mike Smith, will focus on how to understand your own patch and develop solutions specific for your soil and growing aspirations. Unearth the complexities of soil through a range of topics including soil testing –…

Without the pollination services that bees provide our tables would begin to look very bare. Bees are responsible for one-third of the food we eat. In Australia around two-thirds of European-introduced horticultural and agricultural crops are entirely dependent on bees. Without bees, forget your apples, almonds, avocados, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cherries, cucumbers, celery, macadamias, mangoes and more. All these fruits and vegetables exist only because the bees exist. Bees are the planet’s circulation. As plants have no legs they’ve evolved in ways that enrol insects to be their ‘legs’: bees spread pollen from one plant to another, leading to seed development and fruit growth. Bees are the lynchpin that keep the whole web of life alive: if they stopped moving pollen around the planet, life as we know…

Fifteen years ago, permaculture grew roots in Timor Leste after the Timorese people’s incredible and tragically brutal passage to gain independence from Indonesia. Permaculture was introduced to Timor Leste by Steve Cran and a group of Australian permies which included Lachlan McKenzie, Julianne Hartmann, Rob Swain and others. They were hoping to help rebuild and renew the country in a sustainable, culturally appropriate way. They teamed up with some of Timor Leste’s student activists from the occupation, led by Eugenio ‘Ego’ Lemos, who had already started an organic farming movement pre-independence. Permaculture grew and slowly spread through training and demonstration sites. It was already clear that permaculture went hand in hand with community based development work and could help guide growth, livelihood and agricultural development. It was also clear that…

Edible perennials are at the heart of a successful permaculture garden. These plants live for several years, are abundant, and bring diversity and resilience to the garden. They perform many functions in the system, and dramatically increase the harvestable yield. Not only do perennials provide an ongoing supply of food, fibre and medicine for the gardener, they also provide structure to the garden, mulch, in-garden windbreaks or shade, habitat for beneficial insects, hides for birds and frogs, pollen for bees, and organic matter for the soil. Perennials are easy to grow and harvest. Well-chosen perennials need little maintenance to be healthy and come back year after year. Their root systems access water and nutrients deep in the soil, making them typically more hardy and self-reliant than annuals. They can withstand…

A permaculture-designed diet is healthy, local and sustainable, with much of the food grown in our own gardens, farms and communities. When we choose to eat what’s in season, and to eat locally grown foods, we reduce or remove the harmful and wasteful aspects of processing, packaging, transport, storage and additives, and we begin to take control of what we eat. Most people want to know what a good diet is, and many want to heal their bodies through eating natural foods. For some it’s because they appreciate good food and diversity of tastes. But for many it’s because our wealthy Western diet is making them sick. Millions of Australians suffer from a range of serious digestive diseases including diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, coeliac disease and food…

WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND IN PERMACULTURE? I did my PDC with Bill in 1983 in Stanley, Tasmania, when I was thirty. Everyone loved the course. I was studying Environmental Science at Murdoch Uni at the time, and had the opportunity to explore permaculture in one of my units. I kept studying until it got in the way of permaculture. HAS CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTED YOUR PROPERTY IN NANNUP? 2010 was our first seriously dry year. We went away for a few months and returned to find our soak was merely a puddle. We had to stop irrigating several acres, and ended up watering only our annual veggies, by hand. The established plants and trees had to suck it and see! I was amazed at what survived. We raced out and bought a…

Permaculture theory and design are concepts traditionally communicated in an adult forum. Children may pick up snippets of information living within and around a permaculture system, perhaps learning more as they grow older. However, children can reveal themselves to be very adept at taking on permaculture concepts when they are presented to them at an early age, or adopted as part of the family vernacular. The ethics – earth care, people care and fair share (or return of surplus) – make sense to a child’s sense of justice and understanding of their place in the world, so the best time to begin talking about permaculture as a family is now. But how do you introduce permaculture to children? Here are some ideas. SET THE SCENE Create a comfortable space where…

Bees are under threat worldwide. As we urbanise our environments we remove bees’ natural habitat – we create flowerless landscapes when we substitute concrete and lawn for flowering trees and shrubs. And agricultural practices, such as monoculture, remove the variety of floral resources bees need for good health. Add to these the increasing use of pesticides in crop management and domestic landscapes, and the future for bees looks bleak. Mention bees and people invariably think of honey bees. Humans have had an important relationship with honey bees for millennia, managing them for honey and pollination services. The social European honey bee Apis mellifera can be found in most parts of the world, and was introduced into Australia in 1822; however, this species is only one of 20 000 species of…

With so much focus on the plight of honeybees in the media these days, beekeeping has had a huge resurgence. Beehives are popping up in every suburb, in every city of the world. Everybody wants to help the bees! WHY AND WHERE TO KEEP BEES? Bees are the best pollinators: our gardens thrive with fruit and vegetables when we have a hive in the vicinity. Raw honey and wax are amazing gifts of nature. And the enjoyment bees give can be overwhelming. Bees need all the help we can offer them at the moment, by giving them clean organic gardens to forage in they will be much healthier. Bees can be kept on your roof, in your backyard or on acres of land. They can be kept in all sorts…

All terrestrial life depends on soil, directly or indirectly. Although our understanding of topsoil has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decades, we are still losing this invaluable resource at a frightening pace. Less than thirty per cent of the world’s topsoil remains in fair or acceptable condition. The fragility of this vital layer can be illustrated through a simple comparison: if one imagines the earth as an orange, the extremely thin topsoil layer is no thicker than the shine on the skin of that orange. An astonishing variety of creatures rely on this ‘shine’ for all of their basic necessities. Our growing knowledge about soil has formed the basis of new soil services, soil analyses and many well-intended soil conservation attempts, yet we are still losing soil…

You may shy away from the idea of eating cane toad leg stir-fry; Emma Lupin will not. As a Northern Territory resident for the last seven years, Emma has channelled all her efforts into learning the ways of the tropics, finding local produce and searching for sustainable ways to grow it and delicious ways of cooking it – including cane toads, which she doesn’t recommend because they’re poisonous. Finding and using local produce in the remote city of Darwin isn’t easy. Emma says a lot of dry goods can travel up to 30000 kilometres to reach there. Motivated to change how Territorians view their exotic local produce, Emma began a website ‘tasteofthetopend’ where anyone can go online to view and share their produce and recipes: ‘I thought there was a…

Co-operatives are re-emerging as a global movement, as workers around the world – faced with rising unemployment and a slow transition to a sustainable economy – employ themselves in jobs they would rather be doing. Co-op laws provide a flexible framework for members to organise alternative ways to buy, sell, and manage work and pay. While companies benefit shareholders, co-ops serve their members, who participate in the business as suppliers, buyers, workers and/or owners. The co-op model is a natural fit for a permaculture business – selfdetermination and independence, member participation, integration with other co-ops and valuing diversity are all core co-op principles. A business model that reflects permaculture structure also aligns with the principle of designing from patterns to details – co-op structures are flexible. CO-OP TYPES Buyers’ co-ops:…

For us at Good Life Permaculture, permaculture design incites deep excitement of what’s possible, but it also humbles us: landscapes and people-scapes are vast, complex, ever-changing and unique. I think that’s why we hold onto permaculture so strongly. Permaculture is the best tool I’ve found to date (I’m always open and looking) which: helps navigate not just landscapes, but life; grounds you in a solid ethical framework; but still allows you to be responsive, and work in any context. We design from urban to small farm properties, and offer a sliding scale of design options which allow everything from a one-off site visit for a casual chat, through to detailed concept designs with fat, written reports. In recent months we’ve started collaborating with Tasmanian building designer Jane Hilliard, from Designful.…