Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1 i Pip Magazine

Alex Woodger, Zoe Ellis, Larissa Lovell, Orien Harvey, Fiona Taylor, Diana Watson, Adrian Rosenfeldt, Andrew Burbeck, Jenny Feltham, Carolyn Wells, Ruth Harvey, Very Edible Gardens, Wendy Rosenfeldt, Tony Marx, Megan Bailey, Lesley Motley, Alexis Harley, Celia Hill, Penelope Goodes, Fiona, Bec PM, Jay McMahon, Jo Staker, George Morton, Julie Goodchild, Alison Murphy-Oates, Rachel Lindsay, Gavin Palmer, David Matters, Justine McCarthy, Gabrielle Oldaker, Gavin Anderson, Caroline Wales, Nadja Osterstock, Vickie Goldsmith, Mark S Burgunder, Barry O’Connell, Helen Buckingham, Elizabeth Andalis, John Walker, Zara Pearson, Heather Kimber, Carol Rea, Sonia, Miriam Pepper, David Arnold, Linley Cormack, Sara Bear, Andrew Barr, Joanne Melville, Angela Booth, Dominique Northam, Beth Sandstrom, Jules Donne, Ben Brazer, Jaap Bel, Fiona, Murray, Athina Geordin, Samantha Cox, Lisa Brown, Narelle Clark, Jill Clarke, Goshen Watts, Denise Baldwin, Michael Cawthorn,…

Permaculture is a design system for sustainable living and land use that is being applied to every aspect of life, but it is best known in its application to food production, at scales from the garden to the farm. The focus on food in permaculture is not just an accident of history or publicity. The globalised food production/consumption chain is the greatest contributor to environmental impact, while food security remains the most critical issue in human wellbeing and social stability. Food security is a condition that ‘exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’.1 Through the 20th century the industrial system increased agricultural productivity and capacity…

Where do you live? Melbourne. Inner city enough to grow bananas, thanks to the heat-island effect. Describe your property We live in an old weatherboard, painted pale turquoise. The whole garden is full of fruit trees, edible vines, currants, berries, vegetables and flowers. When we’re in the front yard, people walking by often stop to tell us how much they like it. Who do you live with? My wife Annie, our dog Little and Lucy our housemate. What do you do? I’m a director, with Dan Palmer, of Very Edible Gardens (VEG), a permaculture design business. Mostly I’m involved in design and education. How did VEG come about? Dan and I were part of starting the permablitz (volunteer backyard makeover) network, and a wealthy entrepreneur approached us wanting to form…

Where do you live? I live on one acre outside of Margaret River, WA. Tell us about what you do I am a sustainable building designer, with clients Australia wide. In my work I express commitment to simplicity, beauty and sustainability, underpinned by core values of permaculture. With clients, I prioritise passive solar design, use of local and recycled materials, and minimum ecological footprints with maximum function and flexibility. I also teach sustainable building design (‘zone zero’) for the Fair Harvest Permaculture Design Certificate, and facilitate workshops on sustainable topics. I love co?teaching the Living Smart course which takes us all on a journey, scrutinising our households and lifestyles. What is your property like? My land has remnant marri/jarrah forest around the perimeter, with house and garden nestled inside. I…

Where do you live? We rent an old three-bedroom Queenslander for our family of six in West End, Brisbane Queensland. What do you do? I assist in the running of Food Connect, a business based in Brisbane which turns its back on the supermarket system, brings farmers together and distributes what they grow straight to families (see www.foodconnect.com.au). The business model has branched out to most Australian cities. How has permaculture influenced what you do? A lot. The business has many of the twelve principles and the three ethics of permaculture embedded into its strategic planning process and manifesto. Tell us more about Food Connect and how it works. It’s a multi-farmer community supported agriculture (CSA) enterprise, that retails and wholesales ecologically grown produce and ethically produced products, from farmers…

I’ve spent the last seven years wandering the world, teaching people from all walks of life how to use plants to dye cloth. I didn’t carry dye materials between countries because most plants yield some kind of colour and it’s better to investigate local species than import dyes, especially when producing some dyes may compromise their source environment. For example, logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum, a Mexican and Central American species) yields exquisite purple, blue, black and brown dyes; however, the heartwood is used and harvesting it kills the trees of this increasingly rare genus. The best dyes come from older trees and even if seedlings are planted to replace those that are felled, it takes at least 20 years for those to mature. On the other hand, respectable shades of purple…

The concept behind this work is to transform greenwaste into something useful by weaving a simple bowl. Random weaving is a traditional Japanese basketry technique used mostly for ikebana flower arrangements where the design evokes delicate birds’ nests. In this technique the material is simply woven back into itself, constructing a frame or skeleton from the bottom up. Waste to woven This is a very spontaneous, playful and intuitive way to work. Often slow, the materials’ pliability dictates the final form and texture. There is no ‘real’ pattern to follow, so there are NO MISTAKES. A lot of the weaving process has to do with learning about properties, tension and pliability of the materials. However, because you don’t have to worry about the materials shrinking – tight weaving is not…

Permaculture Australia In 2011 the long established Permaculture International Ltd registered the business name Permaculture Australia (PA) to allow it to transition into the role of representing permaculture on a national level. PA is already operating as a national body in three ways: Permafund — a nationally registered deductible gift recipient fund that can receive donations and offer grants. Last year Permafund dispersed small grants to 13 groups in Australia and overseas and a 2014 grant round is underway. Permafund also provides practical advice and mentoring support for aid and community projects. Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) — these courses (from Cert 1 to Diploma of Permaculture) were developed by a team of dedicated volunteers over many years. APT is a competencybased training package that builds on the contents of the…

Many projects start with a champion: someone who believes enough in an idea to take those perilous early risks. In our community that was Natalie Meyer. She was the team leader and able to draw on the resources of the Nimbin Neighbourhood and Information Centre (NNIC), a membership-based not-for-profit organisation that does a lot of community work at all levels. Community services typically focus on crisis relief, counselling, referrals and other support. The NNIC wanted to expand the scope of that work to include capacity building. The idea is that if we have a resilient community that is self?determined, self?supporting and highly connected we are all going to have a better life now, and be less likely to need those emergency social services when things get tough; we will be…

After the three most unsustainable days of my life, spent mostly in aeroplanes and hotel rooms, we arrived in Cuba for the eleventh IPC in late November and early December last year. First up was a conference held over three days in Havana. We were treated to a great overview of permaculture from speakers from around the globe, in both English and Spanish. Day 1 was ‘Permaculture on islands’. Day 2 focused on ‘Climate change’ and Day 3 was on ‘Urban permaculture’ with examples of inspiring community-based projects and organisational structures. Following the conference there was a day of urban tours. The food gardens were inspiring, combining permaculture with other areas of life – one with anti-violence education, another a car detailing business! The highlight was Organoponico Vivero Alamar, a…

Shiitake mushrooms are the yummiest variety, in my opinion. They’re also the most expensive in the shops, and it’s virtually impossible to find organic ones, at least where we live. Solution: grow your own. You’ll be happy to hear that making your own shiitake mushroom log is very easy. It would make a great holiday project for any family, or a great skill-share workshop in your community. Here’s how you do it. Making a shiitake log: Materials • one recently cut log – ideally 100–150 mm in diameter, and preferably no less than 600– 750 mm in length • shiitake spawn (plugs or sawdust) • hand drill • beeswax (organic, if you can) • paintbrush • mallet – preferably with a rubber head • heat source and saucepan Method The…

I think that if any of the readers of this magazine were asked if they ate local food most would say ‘yes, I shop at the local farmers’ market, grow my own vegies, swap with friends and support local businesses’. I would have said the same a year ago, but I decided to put my ‘eat localness’ to the test and to eat only local food for a month. I set myself a few stringent guidelines: • eat only food produced here on the farm or traded with local growers • cook using only the wood stove and wood I have collected locally • no other fuel use – no car for the month! It was our month off, so instead of going on holiday we stayed at home and…

• Decide what size and shape you’d like your flags. • Make a template, either from paper or fabric, and fold it in half. Lay the folded edge of your template onto the folded edge of the fabric you want to use. Pillowcases, scraps of fabric, old tea towels etc all work well for bunting flags! Cut out more flags, in pairs, according to your template. • When you have the desired number of flags, sew them together, right sides facing each other. Snip the fabric out from the tip of the triangle, so that when you turn them through the tips aren’t too bulky. Be careful not to snip any of your stitching!! Now carefully turn the flags inside out. • Now you can either iron them flat, or,…

Reclaiming our medicine Many wild plants are considered weeds in Australia, but their medicinal uses are powerful. They flourish in abundance, enabling people of all kinds to use simple and effective medicine while ‘weeding’ our landscapes. Although the first written records of herbal medicine date back 5000 years, humans have coevolved with, and relied on, plants for food and medicine from the beginning. There are many kinds of plant-based medicine used worldwide, including Chinese, Ayurvedic, Native American and Indigenous Australian. This article will focus on the plants of Europe and western herbal medicine. Using herbal remedies is a great way to reclaim medicine – allowing us to develop a direct relationship with the earth, providing an awareness of where our active medicinal constituents come from, reducing dependency on pharmaceutical companies,…

Castlemaine in Central Victoria has a long history of permaculture and it’s no accident that Growing Abundance (GA) emerged here. GA is a great example of people in a country town combining to grow and share sustainable food. Each element of GA performs many important functions, and each function supports others. GA is part permaculture group, part Transition Town and part social enterprise. Put another way, GA is more than the sum of its parts. When different projects combine in complementary ways special things happen: people rediscover an enthusiasm for their fruit trees, they meet their neighbours, they learn new skills, and tonnes of fruit that might otherwise go to waste gets harvested, eaten or preserved. By 2009, after years of dry weather, our reservoirs were almost empty, and the…

Cecilia Macauley’s pearl of wisdom #1 Permaculture design is about solving whatever real problems people have. My clients are mostly mainstreamers, so their problems aren’t of a vegetable nature. They are; ‘My children don’t listen to me’, ‘I’m always rushed’, ‘Life is such a chore’. If good design creates cared-for, surplus-sharing people, Bill Mollision would be pleased. Our houses could be our cheer squad and support crew, but so often, they just defeat us. We intend to do something lovely: wrap a present, shine our shoes, make a cake. But we end up stuck. ‘Where is the sticky tape?’ ‘Who took the scissors?’ ‘Do we have any white laces?’ Create household guilds. Make families of objects so that they are able to fulfill their purpose when they are in each…

What is permaculture? Is it gardening, is it chooks and composting, or as one concerned Japanese mother put it ‘angry people growing vegetables’? It must be something more. How did two plant lovers in Tasmania create something that grew so big? It is nearly forty years since Bill Mollison and David Holmgren began piecing together the jigsaw puzzle that became the permaculture concept during the 1970s. Since then it has been practised by millions of people globally, and become a household name. Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and nonmaterial needs in a sustainable way. Bill…

What food forests are and how they function Food forests are production systems that try to mimic nature. Rather than growing trees in grass, we aim for a variety of plants of different shapes and sizes among the trees. Like natural forests, food forests include layers from the ground up. By selecting plants relevant to each layer, space can be used efficiently and competition reduced. We also want to replicate the interactions between animals, soil and plants that make a forest ecosystem function. In 2010 I was invited by a Canberra primary school to revive its garden which was started in 2008 and develop a food forest. The following guide uses that project as an example (see green text). Setting goals and budgeting Start by setting goals and intentions for…

Grapevines hanging from the ceiling, trees growing inside, passionfruit within an arm’s reach of the bed – Anneke van Tholen’s greenhouse home takes the term living with nature literally. Anneke lives on a five acre block in the beautiful Bega Valley in NSW. What stands out most when you enter her home aren’t her abstract paintings, hung from every wall. It’s not the open, spacious design that exudes rustic charm, nor is it the recycled steps leading up to her artist’s studio. It’s the large and bountiful greenhouse that runs the length of the building. Unlike most greenhouses, Anneke’s is part of her living space. There is no wall or window or barrier between the two; the greenhouse is part of the inside of her home, and it is this…

Creator of the permaculture principles calendar and the permaculture principles symbols that are used throughout this magazine. Where do you live? Seymour on the Goulburn River in Central Victoria. Who do you live with? My partner Kunie, our two kids Kai (6) and Sen (3), a dozen chooks and a rooster. What do you do in your creative practice? I spread the word about permaculture. Most of my computerrelated work involves creating visually appealing information in bite-sized chunks, the Permaculture calendar, the website www.permacultureprinciples.com and my blog. I see permaculture ethics and principles as tools to empower people to become creative in their own lives, to help them adapt to change, to find their own solutions – so I reinforce them in my work. How did you come to creating…

You can have your permaculture and eat it too by Robin Clayfield (2013, Robin Clayfield Earthcare Education) Robin Clayfield has just released the third edition of this book. The information is drawn from years of experience in gardening, cooking, design, research, teaching and creating. This is a tome of information, covering everything from permaculture principles and ethics, through hands-on practical gardening advice, to everything you need to know about cooking and catering. Whether you’re after a legume crop species list, a chook poo tea recipe for the garden, a menu for a crowd of twenty for a week, or how to make an oatmeal face scrub, you’ll find it all in here. Changing gears: a pedal-powered detour from the rat race by Greg Foyster (2013, Affirm Press) Greg Foyster gives…