Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 13 i Pip Magazine

HANNAH MOLONEY Hannah runs Good Life Permaculture, a design, education and community development enterprise with her partner Anton Vikstrom on Mouheneenner Country, Lutruwita (Hobart, Tasmania). With a never wilting commitment to living like it matters, you’ll find Hannah striving to be her best self to help foster the best world for future generations. She has education and accolades, but more importantly she has pizzazz, focus, clarity and a belief that if we try, we can create the most amazing resilient world that provides abundance for all. NICK RITAR Nick is co-director of Milkwood, an education enterprise dedicated to teaching skills to regenerate the earth. Since 2007 Nick and his partner Kirsten Bradley have given over 7000 students the chance to learn from the world’s best sustainable farmers, market gardeners and…

THE SOCIAL OUTFIT SPLICED CLUTCH The Social Outfit are an independently-accredited, ethical trading social enterprise that provides employment and training in the fashion industry to people from refugee and new migrant communities in clothing production, retail, design and marketing. They make and sell quality products that help financially empower people and provide customers with unique pieces that tell amazing human stories. These clutches are made from offcuts donated from textile companies that want to avoid textile waste. Fabric compositions vary (linen/cotton/heavy silks, some with embroidered or flocked details). Each clutch features two fabrics spliced on the outside, and a complementary fabric for the lining. Each clutch is one of a kind. www.thesocialoutfit.org $79 HANDMADE TRADITIONAL FERMENTING CROCK This beautiful 10-litre fermentation crock has been handmade on a potter’s wheel by…

Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au. We’d love to hear what you think of Pip and if you’ve embarked on any projects as a result of our articles. Each issue, one published entrant will receive a limited-edition Pip magazine art print, printed with archival inks on beautifully textured archival 300 gsm rag paper. Thanks so much Robyn! I absolutely love the magazine. It’s so inspirational and educational and really makes my family and I evaluate our lives and incorporate permaculture, which makes for a happier family. Thanks for this great publication. Christine Clancy What a great article [Dreaming Of A House Cow by Emily Stokes, issue #11]—took me back to my youth and milking our very mad cow, moody and violent at times! Still that’s when I learned good…

Cultivating mushrooms is an excellent way to vastly increase both the diversity and the nutrition of your homegrown produce. And conveniently, mushrooms can be grown in disused areas with little light, so they slot into a home food system without competing for the same space as your other growing projects. Blue oysters, garden giants, enokitake, pink oysters, turkey tail, shiitake, reishi, pioppini—a whole world of mushrooms can be grown down the side of your house, the place where not much else grows, as well as in buckets in the empty space under the porch, under your stairs, or even under your couch. Don’t have much light? Mushrooms don’t mind. If they have a stable temperature to grow in and can be moved to a humid environment to fruit in, they’re…

Alistair Tuffnell and Christine Baro live with their cat Peppino in a two bedroom workers’ cottage. When Alistair bought the house twenty years ago, it was rundown, dark and all he could afford in the area. His partner Christine moved in three years later and they had big plans for living off the land. ‘We went to Tassie where we were going to buy a farm, but that didn’t work out,’ says Alistair. ‘So all of the things that we wanted to do down there, we thought, “stuff it, let’s do it here instead.” THE RETROFIT Hesitant to take out a loan, the couple instead started small in their foray into retrofitting their home. They purchased a solar electricity system, 1.5kW (eight panels) for $5000 in 2011, which has since…

With an endless choice of varieties that cover almost the entire alphabet, apples can be grown in every state, and are harvested from January to May depending on where you live. If stored carefully you can be eating fresh apples all year round. Whether you’re lucky enough to have your own apple tree, can snaffle a few boxes of seconds from the markets or wild harvest the trees in your neighbourhood, the apple bonanza is upon us. Here are some ideas from several Australian apple growers to make the most of this year’s harvest. APPLE SCRAP VINEGAR Recipe by Maude Farrugia Apple scrap vinegar turns a few simple ingredients into something far greater than the sum of its parts. Unlike apple cider vinegar, which is made of the high-value pure…

In 2016, we bought the neighbouring weed block, making our block three quarters of an acre now with access. We quickly built a driveway which we mostly use for our electric bikes and are now in the process of implementing our full design. When we did our initial design, we designed the whole property with the neighbouring weed block in mind, hoping that one day we’d get it and thankfully we did. This means we’ve been able to quickly roll out the implementation process (as our budget allows) as we’d already been thinking about it for four years. THE CHANGES WE MADE Our house was built in 1925 and is a simple rectangle facing north/north-east, a wonderful design for maximum solar gain. The only changes we’ve made to the house…

When looking for sustainable alternatives, rags are a great way to use up old fabric scraps, but these often contain plastic materials (e.g. elastane) that mean their eventual landing spot must be in landfill. But fear not! For those of us with a teeny bit of crafty nous or gardening know-how, there are some very simple alternatives. The two simple cleaning craft projects detailed here can be made from natural unrefined fibres, are completely biodegradable and are suitable for all compost systems at the end of their lives. DIY BROOM MILLET SCRUBBING BRUSHES Materials • Broom Millet: While this strange and wonderous fibre is not very easy to get your hands on commercially, the exciting news is that it is insanely easy to grow, and a small patch (1 m…

An important part of the creation of preserved meats is the drying process. If you are making your own preserved meats you’ll need somewhere secure to hang them while they dry and age. A DIY meat safe is a good option which you can build to suit your specific situation. Where you position your meat safe is important as the process depends on having a dry, well-ventilated place where your meat can age for several weeks and up to several months (until the meat has lost all its moisture and developed its flavour). Generally meat preserving is done over winter when the weather is dry and cool. BASIC DESIGN While the basic design can vary depending on the size and shape you want and the materials you have at hand,…

You may want to decorate your bike for a special occasion, to turn heads when you next ride to the park, or to spend an afternoon making something look good just for the fun of it! If you have a good look around your home you will no doubt find everything you need for simple and special bike decorations. Look for leftover balls of yarn, bailing twine, coloured cardboard or paper, ribbon and crocheted shapes that haven’t found an otherwise useful purpose. You might also find felt, sequins, old CDs or material. Have a look in your garden and see if you have flowers and greenery that could be used. Next you will need to gather scissors, string, glue and sticky tape. Wool or string can be woven through the…

1. OBSERVE AND INTERACT “By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.” 2. CATCH AND STORE ENERGY “By developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need.” 3. OBTAIN A YIELD “Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work you are doing.” 4. APPLY SELF-REGULATION AND ACCEPT FEEDBACK “We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems continue to function well.” 5. USE AND VALUE RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND SERVICES “Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumption and dependence on non-renewable resources.” 6. PRODUCE NO WASTE “By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.”…

Hello dear readers, Thank you for picking up Pip. We are now into our sixth year of publishing, and you know what, I feel pretty proud of that. For those that don’t know, Pip is an independently owned and operated publication running out of the small coastal town of Pambula from a converted barn on our rural property. We try to practice what we preach and often article ideas come from what we are doing here on our property. We have lots of food growing in the garden, ferments bubbling and fizzing on the bench, and permaculture design systems in place to make our place run smoothly and efficiently. But don’t get me wrong—we too, like so many of us nowadays, struggle with doing all the things we would like…

PERMACULTURE TASMANIA RESURGENCE Big things are afoot at Permaculture Tasmania as a new energy is flowing in and has given a boost to the organisation recently. Workshops as diverse as building with bamboo, cob building, bee-keeping, pruning and grafting, fermentation, and basic cheesemaking, as well as Permaculture Intro courses are being held throughout the state. A network of local groups have started up and meet monthly, with skill-sharing get-togethers, social events and film nights happening. Run by a very experienced bunch of volunteers, Permaculture Tasmania is intent on sharing skills, knowledge and resources, supporting permablitzes and building community. www.permaculturetasmania.com THE PLANTING FESTIVAL 3-5 May 2019, Sunshine Coast, QLD If you’ve been lucky enough to attend the Woodford Folk Festival you’ll know Woodfordia, the 500-acre parkland on the Sunshine Coast hinterland…

GROWING They may not grow to Jack and the Beanstalk proportions, but broad beans are almost as easy to grow as those fabled magic beans. Pop them in a sunny spot come autumn (in temperate regions—they’re not suited to tropical climates) and see them burst forth with vigour, quickly overtaking other plants you’ve mollycoddled through seedling-hood. Before planting it’s common practice to soak seeds overnight to give them a head start, but this isn’t strictly necessary, especially if you’ve got a few good days of rainfall forecast. Beans are best planted in blocks for pollination and wind protection purposes, as they will help each other to stand up. Some people like to stake their beans, while others (myself) don’t bother and put up with a few unruly plants at the…

Compared to bucket or jar cultivation, you need a lot of prepared substrate for a mushroom garden—we’re not just talking about small volumes. We’re talking wheelbarrow-loads of woodchip substrate. Fear not, it’s entirely doable using simple tools and zero energy inputs. This technique is a very low-tech hybrid pasteurisation/fermentation method that prepares the woodchips while effectively drowning or smothering any microbiology that might compete with your mycelium. It was taught to Nick by Paul Stamets in the USA, and we now use it at home. To use this technique, take the required amount of hardwood woodchips and submerge them in a big drum of clean water for a week. We use a garbage can lid that fits inside the drum and place a brick on top to hold the woodchips…

Food expresses our cultural identity and helps define us. In some cultures eating is always a social activity. Sit down at an Arab or Chinese dining table and you will not eat from a single plated dish per person, you will eat from shared, communal platters. Immigrants take their food traditions with them to new countries and cook the food they know as a way to preserve their culture. If you grew up with the smell of Nonna’s slow-cooked sugo wafting through the house, it will have created a bond with your family that will be there for life. For many of us, food traditions are not part of our social fabric anymore. They have been lost amongst a busy life of full-time work, running a household and trying to…

Electric bikes (e-bikes) may be the solution with their energy efficiency, the ease they offer in urban environments by eliminating parking and traffic jam issues, their lack of pollution, and their suitability for riders with compromised fitness or health. HOW DO THEY WORK? E-bikes are pedal bikes that have been modified or manufactured with an electric motor that is powered by a battery. Most electric bikes come with either a lithium-ion (Li-Ion) or a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. This battery assistance is commonly known as ‘electric-assist’ or ‘power-assist’, as they need pedal power to enable them. The electric motor augments whatever power you produce as you pedal, allowing you to go further and faster. Some e-bikes have a throttle system, which with the press of a button propels you forward…

There has been a focus in the news lately about where honey comes from and what it consists of. There have been concerns over honey being diluted with other syrups and these blended sweeteners masquerading as honey are now appearing on supermarket shelves. WHAT IS HONEY MADE OF? The composition of honey is mainly sugars and water, but it also contains several vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins as well as amino acids, proteins, antioxidants and various compounds with antibacterial actions. Dr Nural Cokcetin, a honey researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, says a common misconception is that honey is a standard product. ‘It is incredibly complex, with over 200 components such as different simple and complex sugars and amino acids, many of which vary depending on which flowers…

It is most sustainable not to buy new products at all, and instead buy from op shops, repair clothes when they need mending and simply reduce the amount of clothing we own. But if we are going to buy something new, which, inevitably we will need to from time to time, it is best to buy good quality clothing that will last and from a reputable company that has proven ethical standards. You can look for clothing made from organic materials, but that is only one part of the manufacturing process—there are the dyes used, the environmental impact of the growing process, the energy consumed during manufacturing and the disposal, not to mention the welfare of those involved in the production process from paddock to wardrobe. There are many things…

We love to see our Pip kids out in the garden growing food and we would love to see some pics of what you are getting up to. We’re looking for photos of little kids, big kids, school groups and community groups. So if you have a garden and you’re growing food, send us a photo of you in it. Our Kids’ Patch winner for issue 13 is Olive Woodhouse from Officer in Victoria. Congratulations! You’ve won a a digital download of Formidable Vegetable Sound System’s album, Grow Do It. Next issue we are giving away a CD of Formidable Vegetable Sound System’s album, Grow Do It. To be in the running, kids, parents or teachers can email a photo through to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au along with your child’s name, age and…

COLOUR IN THE BIKE Colour in our beautiful bike girl and her vegetables. Take a photo of your finished artwork and either: • email it to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au• post it on Instagram with the tags #pipmag or #pipcolouringin• send it to Pip Magazine, PO Box 172, Pambula, NSW 2549 The winner will be published in issue 14 of Pip Magazine and will receive Thunderpants ‘Colour Me’ underpants and a fabric crayon set, so you can colour in your own undies! The winner from issue 12 is Nell McClure Wheatley, aged 7 from Cedar Creek, Queensland. Q. WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS A BIKE WITH A FLOWER? A. BICYCLE PETALS. BICYCLE FACTS • There are a billion bikes in the world, 400 million of them in China.• The first commercially…

RECLAIMING THE URBAN COMMONS Anthology edited by Nick Rose and Andrea Gaynor (UWA Publishing 2018) Review by Emily Stokes As we continue to become a more urbanised society, the question of how we can live and eat well in our cities has never been more critical. This collection of real stories explores past histories of urban food production in Australia, plus we hear from current food production innovators on what they’re doing and why. Part One reflects the diversity in urban edible gardens, Part Two acknowledges the important role played by the permaculture movement in training a generation of urban gardeners and farmers, Part Three contains stories that represent the new face of urban agriculture in Australia, and Part Four ties it together with an urgent call for transformative change.…

With a bit of good planning, it’s possible to have a supply of carrots from your garden nearly year round, and what a food to have on hand—this versatile vegetable is an absolute powerhouse of nutrition. Raw, steamed, baked or juiced, carrots are packed with vitamins any way you eat them. And the humble carrot has a beautiful secret that only carrot growers will get to discover. SOIL Being a taproot, carrots need soil that their roots can easily grow into. If a carrot has to push its way through heavy clay, compacted or stony soil, then this can slow down growth and cause deformed roots. Sandy, loamy, loose soil that is deep and well dug is best. You will find that different parts of your garden will grow better…

‘My family food traditions revolve around roast dinners and creamy rice pudding. All seems right in the world when you can smell it cooking. But that’s just half of it—setting the table beautifully with napkins and candles turns sharing a meal together into something special.’– ANNA MASLEN ‘Something we are trying to resurrect in our family is grace, not in the religious term but to thank the farmer (who we are so disconnected with today) for keeping us healthy and alive.’– BRIAN WEHLBURG ‘My Nanna from Port Lincoln would visit us in Ceduna with a Mazda full of apricots. When she arrived we’d sit around the table for the afternoon stewing apricots, making jam and eating apricots. Definitely handing on the preserving fruit tradition.’– ROBYN MARTIN…

PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE SOUTH COAST NSW WITH JOHN CHAMPAGNE 16–28 April 2019. A challenging, immersive and affordable 13 Day Permaculture Design Course. www.permaculturedesign.com.au brogopg@bigpond.net.au | Ph: (02) 6492 7306 PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE Illawarra – Spring 2019 www.elementalpermaculture.wordpress.com Ph: 0424 241 881 PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE IN THE RAINFOREST AT OTFORD NSW Join Beck Lowe, Brenna Quinlan, Nick Ritar + guests. You’ll leave this PDC ready to create abundance in a world out of balance, with solid design skills and techniques. Two week residential, fully catered. www.Milkwood.net | Ph: (02) 5300 4473 FARM TOURS. MAITLAND, NSW. Farm-based Children’s Activities School Curriculum Excursions Next Internship, Spring 2019. www.purplepearfarm.com.au STUDY PERMACULTURE IN BEAUTIFUL BYRON BAY Cert III in Permaculture* (AHC33816) Cert IV in Permaculture* (AHC42116) | Modular PDC *Austudy Approved | Fee Subsidies available…