Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 19 i Pip Magazine

ADAM GEORGE, ADDIKA GALEA, AIMEE BOUND, AIMEE TANG, AIRLIE BEE, AKEAN CLARKSON, ALAN CRABBE, ALEX WOODGER, ALEXANDRA POWER, ALEXIS DEVINE, ALICIA PARK, ALISHA NEE, ALISON DENYER, ALISON WORTHINGTON, ALLISON BELL, AMANDA BEAR, AMANDA REGAN, AMANDA VERNON, AMIE ALLFORD, AMY ADAMS, ANDRE PENDERS, ANDREA MANIER, ANDREW TREASURE, ANDREW WALTHO, ANGUS DOWNING, ANITA HARRISON, ANJA WILLIAMS, ANN DRUM, ANN ROBERTS, ANN SKIRVING, ANNA FEATHERSTONE, ANNA FLITTNER, ANNA RITCHIE, ANNA WARDLE, ANNABEL KENNY, ANNE JAUMEES, ANNE-MAREE ELLIOTT, ANNE-MARIE DONALDSON, ANNI CHAMBERS, ANNIE FRANKLIN, ANNINA RUEGGER, ANNSO HURLUBERLUE, ARTIST AS FAMILY, ASHLEIGH BARNES, ASHLEIGH BURNS, BARBARA NUDD, BARBARA PIERCE, BEAU BEAUMONT, BEC MCGUIRE, BEC SHANN, BELINDA CARPENTER, BELINDA DRAPER, BELINDA GEISSLER, BELINDA ROSENBAUM, BELLA ST CLAIR, BERNADINE, BETH BUSBY, BETTE MCFARLANE, BETTY JACOBS, BEVERLY WALDIE, BONNIE STEELE, BONNIE UPPILL, BREE MASON, BRENNA QUINLAN, BRETT…

Maude is an illustrator, writer and baker living on Wurundjeri land on top of a big hill in Melbourne’s north. Her illustrations and designs have featured on ethically made textiles, stationery and other treasures. Regular readers will know Maude is a dyed-in-thewool permie, who has blogged, written and illustrated for Pip since 2015. This issue (Silver Linings, page 72) you’ll discover Maude has most recently turned her hand to baking, using last year’s lockdown period to realise her dream of launching a microbakery in a small room at the rear of the bustling home she shares with her partner, two kids, chooks, quails and bees.…

We’d love to see if we’ve inspired you to embark on any projects. One letter each issue will receive a limited-edition Pip magazine print featuring archival inks on textured, 300 gsm rag paper. Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au Connections To say that I was excited to find this in our letterbox this morning would be an understatement. You know those moments you have when everything just feels so right? That’s exactly how I was feeling today, reading Pip and feeling inspired and connected while having a coffee in the vegie patch, watching and hearing the bees buzzing all around me. Thank you for everything that you do. Carmen Roche via email Hey Carmen, Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I love hearing Pip makes its…

AMARANTH WAS OUTLAWED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS Although cultivated and eaten in India, China and Australia, the original strain of pre-Colombian civilisation’s Amaranth was nearly lost. When the Spanish conquistadores invaded the Americas, they outlawed the use and cultivation of the plant, calling it ungodly pagan food. They burnt crops and punished anyone found using it, including cutting off the hands of anyone who planted it. And so the grain went underground for 300 years until it was rediscovered in the 1970s, when researchers found it high in the mountains of Mexico and reintroduced the ancient species.…

What to sow FEBRUARY Plant winter vegies including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Florence fennel, leek (seedlings) and parsnip. Once the weather starts to cool, get your garlic in the ground. MARCH Brussels sprouts (seedlings), broad beans, beetroot, broccoli (seedlings), cabbage (seedling), carrot, chives, coriander, daikon radish, endive, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mizuna, mustard greens, pak choy/bok choy, radish, rocket, shallots (plant bulbs), silverbeet and turnip. March is a good time to plant vegies that need a long growing season. APRIL Brussels sprouts, broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, chives, endive, fennel, garlic (plant cloves), kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mizuna, mustard greens, onions, pak choy/bok choy, parsley, peas, radish, rocket, shallots (plant bulbs), silverbeet, spinach and turnip. MAY Broad beans, beetroot, carrot, chives, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi,…

What to sow FEBRUARY Asian greens, basil, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, capsicum, carrot, coriander, cucumber, leek, onion, potato, silverbeet, sweet corn and tomatoes. MARCH Asian greens, beans, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, swede, parsnip, peas and potato. Keep planting beetroot, carrot, parsley, tomato, radish, silverbeet and sweet corn. APRIL Asian greens, beans, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chives, coriander, kale, leek, lettuce, onion, parsley, parsnip, peas, radish, silverbeet, shallot, spinach, spring onion and swede. MAY Asian greens, kale, leek, parsnip, peas and turnip. Start planting artichoke and rhubarb now and peep planting Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, lettuce, onion, parsley, radish, silverbeet and shallots. What to do In February, clear out harvested beds, adding organic matter or fertiliser to the soil. This is a great time of year to plant…

Group A (cucurbits) Cucumber, pumpkin, rockmelon, squash, watermelon. Group B (brassicas) Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce*, mustard, radish, spinach*, swede, Swiss chard*, turnip. Group C (solanums) Eggplant, potato, okra, pepper, tomato. Group D (root crops) Beetroot, carrot, garlic, onion, shallot, sweet potato. Group E (corn) Sweet corn. Group F (legumes) All beans, peas. *Lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard aren’t brassicas, but are rotated within that group for convenience.…

With summer comes a bounty of fruit, often in very large quantities. Dehydration is a relatively easy and effective way to make the most of the season’s generous gifts. There are many ways to preserve fruit. You can turn it into jams, jellies, relishes or bottle it whole. But what makes dehydrating a really useful tool to have in your preserving kit is that it gives you a break both from working with hot glass jars, as well as recipes that often require large amounts of sugar. Dehydration, however, requires you to simply wash, cut and place on trays. You can disappear while the hours-long process takes place, checking in occasionally to see how the drying is going. If dried well and stored in an airtight container, the fruit will…

IF YOU CAN’T COMMIT TO ONLY EATING ORGANICALLY, TRY TO PRIORITISE THESE: Spinach, kale, lettuce, celery and cabbage – All leafy foods with large surface areas take in more pesticides and herbicides. Strawberries, blueberries, grapes, nectarines and peaches – Fruits and berries with thin skins that we eat as well as the flesh. Apples – With over 40 pests and 10 diseases affecting apples, conventional orchards use far more sprays than organic ones. Potatoes – To make harvesting easier, non-organic farms often spray herbicide to kill the plants above the ground beforehand. Tomatoes – Typically large monocrops which require a lot of pest treatment, and the skin of a tomato is often consumed.…

Your money could be racking up a hefty carbon footprint, or supporting industries that don’t align with your personal beliefs. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Have you ever considered how your money is being used beyond your daily transactions? Every day your money is being loaned and invested into corporations and industries. In return, you receive interest payments and hopefully accumulate more wealth. Recognising that your hard-earned dollars don’t sit idle in your bank or superannuation account and making wellresearched and ethical decisions about where your money is invested means your money can be as ethical as you and support a sustainable future. To align your money with your ethics, you need to take control of what your money is funding and divert it into other industries.…

One of the most important things to keep us healthy in both body and mind is sleep. But as we strive to juggle families, work and living clean and sustainable lives, the amount of sleep we get is easy to neglect and its quality is often the first thing to suffer. Sleep plays a far more important role in our lives than simply giving us the energy to live more self-reliant lives. Getting an adequate amount of good-quality sleep goes a long way in protecting us from illness and disease, too, as well as warding off the negative impacts associated with sleep deprivation which can affect our memory, decisionmaking and even our vision. If we want to be productive in the world and be able to use our time and…

NOT EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO LAND IN ORDER TO GROW THEIR OWN FOOD BUT, AS BILL MOLLISON’S BOOK EXPLAINS, THERE ARE MANY SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITY COOPERATION ALL OVER THE WORLD. COMMUNITY GARDENS Gaining in popularity right across the globe, community gardens are a small-scale example of what community cooperation can achieve. It starts with a gathering and an idea, it needs the coming together of residents to lobby council to have vacant land released, and the result is an engaged and empowered community. FARM-LINK COOPERATIVES Developed in Japan over 30 years ago, a group of up to 50 urban families establish a relationship with an existing market garden and agree to take and distribute all produce. A lower price is negotiated due to the stable market and no distribution…

Kimchi is a spicy fermented side dish traditionally made as a way to preserve vegetables for harsh Korean winters. These days, its significant health benefits have made it popular in many other cultures. The history of kimchi goes back 3000 years and it still remains an essential item on any Korean table. In Korea, it is served as a side dish with every meal or, by adding extra ingredients, is often turned into a delicious meal in its own right. Most commonly made using wombok cabbage, there are more than 200 existing modern varieties. Freshly made kimchi has a strong and unique flavour: tangy, spicy and salty with a crunchy texture. Over time, the flavour develops into mature, sour and sweeter tones and its texture softens, making it perfect to…

Our kids’ patch winners for this issue are Willow, Levi and Airlie from Kincumber, NSW, you’ve won a copy of The Runaway Dandelion by Jill Regensburg. Next issue we are giving away some snazzy kids T-shirts. Designed in Australia by Izwoz, they feature some cool vegetable prints and are made from 100-percent organic cotton. To be in the running, parents can email a photo to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au along with your child’s name, age and suburb, or post the picture on Instagram using the hashtag #pipmag…

Q WHAT DO LIZARDS PUT ON THEIR KITCHEN FLOORS? A REP-TILES! THE LOWDOWN ON LIZARDS Six things you probably didn’t know about lizards! 1 The Komodo Dragon is the world’s biggest lizard and grows over three metres long! 2 The world’s smallest lizard weighs 0.12 grams fully grown 3 The basilisk lizard can run on water to escape danger 4 Some lizards can survive on three big meals a year 5 There’s an annual World Lizard Day and it falls on 14 August 6 Chameleons can look in two different directions at the same time Q WHY DID THE GARDENER BURY ALL HER MONEY? A TO MAKE HER SOIL RICH FIND-A-WORD How many of the 24 words from this issue can you find hidden in this box? AMARANTH ROCKMELON FLYING…

NICOLE LUTZE Nicole is a freelance writer and communications consultant with a passion for stories about sustainable living and social justice. She lives on the land of the Gubbi Gubbi people on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with her two daughters, husband and their pet dog. Nicole’s vegetable garden is packed with perennials and edible natives that survive both her neglect and the lack of sunshine on their leafy half-acre property. Nicole also blogs about simple family living at www.thissimpleday.wordpress.com ANGELA EUNJAE CHUNG Eunjae is an interior designer, cook, food blogger, mum, environmentalist and smallbusiness owner. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Eunjae followed her parents to Auckland in New Zealand after finishing university. Eunjae relocated to Melbourne in 2008 where she has spent the last decade cooking, running Korean cooking…

This is the beginning of a series created with Indigenous elder and Budawang man Noel Butler from Yuin country, who we’ve asked to share his knowledge and deep connection to country. He wants to help Australians develop a connection with their place as well as an understanding of where they live, the plants and animals which exist in their environment and, in turn, develop a deep respect and concern for the environment. Because once we truly connect and understand our environment, we can’t help but want to protect it. To learn about country and culture you need to live it, rather than read or talk about it. You need to develop a connection with your country, your patch, the part of the world you belong to. Whether it’s your garden,…

Flying foxes are vital for biodiversity, pollination and a healthy ecosystem. And some researchers believe they could be functionally extinct by 2050. Just as permaculture is an interconnected system, so is Australia’s native ecosystem. Fruit bats, or flying foxes, play an important role in keeping the ecosystem in balance as many plants rely on them for their survival. They are a keystone species primarily responsible for the pollination and seed dispersal of larger trees, including eucalypts. Flying foxes can travel great distances meaning they’re capable of pollinating forests that have been fragmented by land clearing. BIG AND SMALL The largest of the megabats, flying foxes are herbivores that feed on blossoms, nectar, pollen and fruit. And, unlike microbat species which eat insects, rely on their vision instead of sonar to…

What to sow FEBRUARY Towards the end of the month, plant avocado, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bush beans, cauliflower, celery, leek, silverbeet and spring onion. Basil is happy to be planted now, so try some different varieties such as purple, Thai and lemon, as well as sweet. MARCH Beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, coriander, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsley, potato, radish and rocket. APRIL Broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, coriander, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, as well as snow and podded peas. MAY Broad beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Red Russian kale, as well as snow, podded and sweet peas. What to do Clear finished summer crops and prepare the beds for winter crops by incorporating compost or building up the beds, no-dig gardening style. Sow or plant some…

Practising crop rotation when growing annual vegetables not only increases long-term yield, it preserves the fertility of your soil while deterring pests and diseases. We can’t treat annual vegetable plants like perennials because they grow in a completely different way. Perennials are longer-lived and send their roots down deeper to access more water and nutrients. Generally slow feeders, perennials use only moderate amounts of nutrients to drive equally moderate rates of growth. Annual plants, which have less than a year to complete their life cycle from seed to seed-bearing plant, are much shorter lived. Most have 80 percent of their roots in the first 30 centimetres of soil, so they can’t reach very deep for nutrients or water. They compensate by having extremely rapid growth rates and have high nutrient…

“If the entire world adopted regenerative-agriculture practices, it’s believed we could completely reverse global warming in as little as 30 years” In a world of a changing climate and an increasingly politicised and broken food system, regenerative agriculture is a large-scale example of practices we can adopt in our own backyards which are beneficial for both our health and our environment. A lot of the farming you see in this country is what is known as industrial agriculture. Large-scale, highintensity production designed to maximise yield and profits in the quickest and most efficient way possible. But the environmental impacts it’s having not only on the soil, but on our water systems, our biodiversity and our carbon emissions is devastating. But as the name suggests, regenerative agriculture takes a restorative approach…

INGREDIENTS Firm, medium-sized tart plums Good-quality table salt METHOD Cut plums in half and remove the stone. Arrange on trays without overlapping, leaving a little room around each piece. Choose your form of drying – all of the mentioned options will work – and dry until the plums are crinkly, half their original size but still chewy with good texture. Place in a bowl and coat well with your choice of salt, working the salt into the fruit with your fingers. Once coated, place in clean dry jars before sealing and storing in a cool, dry place. Perfect to use as a condiment in Japaneseinspired rice dishes. Wipe off excess salt before serving.…

With almost one in three Australians now living in rented accommodation, it’s more important than ever to ensure permaculture practices are not just implemented by those who own their own home. Even if you’re renting, there are plenty of simple and reversible things you can implement in your home to reduce your living costs and make positive environmental impacts. INVERT AND CONVERT Portable solar electricity systems, comprised of solar panels, batteries and an inverter can be installed with very little fuss and are capable of powering many small appliances in modern homes. While the initial outlay can seem expensive, these systems can enable a move away from reliance on the power grid, reducing both costs and carbon emissions. Thinking outside the square can return great results, too, like using a…

The Ethical Advisors Co-operative uses Australian and New Zealand financial advisors to develop a rating system to help would-be investors make better choices. Using positive and negative ethical screening, voting is based on where financial institutions funnel their funds. POSITIVE SCREEN Clean technology Community development Community finance Energy Storage Fair trade Healthcare Organic produce Plantation forestry Recycling Renewable energy Sustainable design Waste management Water management NEGATIVE SCREEN Animal cruelty Carbon intensive industries Child Labour Excessive consumerism Fossil Fuels (including transportation, refinement and the financing) Gambling and tobacco Genetic modification Mining and land degredation Old and native forest logging Third world exploitation Uranium Weapons and armaments…

Chamomile and lavender are two herbs commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia, and both are easy to cultivate at home. Peppermint, lemon balm, St John’s wort, catnip and valerian are other herb-garden staples that have been traditionally used to aid relaxation. CALMING CHAMOMILE TEA INGREDIENTS 1 tbsp dried chamomile1 tbsp dried rose petals1 tbsp dried basil leaves1 tbsp dried lemon balm leaves½ tbsp dried mint leaves¼ tbsp dried orange peel METHOD Combine all ingredients well before adding one tablespoon to a cup or mug and filling with freshly boiled water. Cover with a lid and allow to steep for ten minutes before straining. A couple of tablespoons of the herb mix can also be added to bathwater in the evening to promote sleep.…

“More and more people are wanting to connect back to their garden and are wanting to know where their food comes from” Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. When it came to thinking outside the box during the enforced restrictions associated with the global pandemic, Arthur Ashe’s words rang loud and true. The result was some great and positive outcomes born out of some otherwise bleak times. When the enormity of the global pandemic started to become clear this time last year, many people’s lives changed overnight. Forced to reevaluate how we interacted with the world and the people in it, the resulting restrictions and lockdowns represented a stark shift in everyday circumstances for so many. But as the following examples prove, humans can…

By using oils and fats readily available, soap can be made at home free from synthetic fragrances and colours and can be used to wash everything from your hair and body to household dishes. There are only two ways to make soap using raw ingredients; cold process and hot process. Cold-process soap making uses heat at the beginning of the process only, while hot-process soap making continues to use heat beyond the initial stages to cure soap faster. Soap is made from four basic ingredients: animal fat or oil, lye (sodium hydroxide), water and essential oils. This will produce a bar of soap with the colour properties of the fats or oils you use. For example, lard produces a very white soap while olive oil produces a light-green soap, and…

Name Poppi-May Crowder How old are you? 13 What do you grow? We grow all sorts of vegies, but this year our broccolis, carrots and onions went really well. We also grow fruits like pawpaw, passionfruit, pineapples and bananas. What’s your favourite thing to grow in the garden? Carrots are cool! They are really fun to harvest as you don’t know what they are going to look like until they come out of the ground. What do you love most about gardening? Fresh vegies are awesome and delicious. It’s so good to walk around in the garden and pick whatever you want. Sometimes I put my pet rabbit in the garden and she loves it. What is your favourite job in the garden? Harvesting and eating is definitely the best…

THE REGENERATIVE GROWER’S GUIDE TO GARDEN AMENDMENTS BY NIGEL PALMER (CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING 2020) Review by Emily Stokes He had me at Ferments. Maybe Regenerative, or Mineral and Biological Extracts, and possibly Locally Sourced. It was a combination of the entire title that captured my regenerative grower’s heart. If you, too, are on a journey to grow nutrient-dense food resistant to pests and diseases which leaves your garden in a better state than when you started, then this is the book for you. Part one looks at nurturing diversity in our soil, the importance of soil biology and mineralogy, plus how to use a refractometer and take a soil test. The second part teaches us how to make the soil amendments using what we have around us such as fermented…

SILICONE MOULDS BY REUZE IT Whether you’re baking for the kids’ lunchboxes or making yourself a treat for afternoon tea, muffins are always a winner. Silicone muffin moulds are reusable, non-stick and made from food-safe silicone. Your muffins won’t stick to the moulds and there is no tin to scrub at the end! An excellent option to reduce waste in your kitchen. www.reuzeit.com.au STRING & SALT String & Salt Store is a family-owned business based in rural Victoria which supplies quality breadmaking, sourdough and kitchenware supplies, eco-cleaning products as well as natural body and skincare products. It has just received a complete range of banneton baskets, dough whisks, bread lames and pans in stock available to order now. www.shopstringandsalt.com.au HONEYBEE Offering waste-free, reusable, non-toxic storage, these 100-percent organic heavyweight cotton…

“We can develop a greater connection with our country and be more in touch with where we live” Hellooo 2021! Here’s to a year of positive change and hope. Over the last 12 months, we have noticed a huge increase in interest in ways to live more sustainably, self-sufficiently and with greater self-reliance. Pip’s aim is to provide lots of easily-accessible content for anyone, no matter where they are on this journey, and we have kept it up throughout 2020 despite all the challenges thrown at us. For Pip, 2021 represents the next step in our growth. We are now producing four issues a year (thanks to everyone who supported our crowdfunding project), improving our digital platform for better accessibility and we are growing our team. Pip magazine now comes…

COMPOST What’s better, a compost pile or a worm farm? It depends on how much material you have. An effective hot compost pile needs to be at least one metre by one metre at the base (even better if it’s 1.5 metres) and the same in height. You can store your garden waste until you have gathered enough material to make a decent-sized pile. If your material is more of a small but continuous stream of kitchen and garden scraps, then you might choose to keep a worm farm instead. Worm castings (or vermicast) can be used in a similar way to compost to fertilise your garden and diluted worm wee makes an excellent liquid tonic. What’s the difference between hot and cold compost? Hot compost is when you build…

Cucumis melo – cucumis is the Latin name for cucumber and melo from an Ancient Greek word relating to apple. ORIGIN From tropical western Africa and introduced to southern Europe 2000 years ago, melons have been a popular fruit for a very long time. A distinctive group of melons called cantaloupes were developed in a place called Cantallouppi near Rome, where they became very popular with the emperor Tiberius. They were then introduced to Armenia from where they reached Iran, which became a secondary centre of diversity. DESCRIPTION Rockmelon needs no introduction to most, but the wide variation that exists is not represented commercially. Their shape and size can resemble anything between a cucumber and a pumpkin, the surface can be netted or warted and their skin colour can range…

What to sow FEBRUARY Asian greens, beans, beetroot, carrot, fennel, horseradish, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, potato, radish, rocket, silverbeet, squash, swede, tomato, turnip and zucchini. MARCH Asian greens, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, celeriac, celery, horseradish, kale, leek, lettuce, radish, rocket, silverbeet, spinach, swede, turnip and watercress. APRIL Artichoke, asparagus crowns, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, onion, radish, rocket, silverbeet, spinach, swede, turnip and watercress. MAY Artichoke, asparagus crowns, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, onion, radish, rocket, silverbeet, spinach, swede, turnip and watercress. What to do As days begin to become shorter and the heat loses its intensity, remove protective shading. In March and April, feed citrus while there’s still…

HEAVY FEEDERS Asparagus, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, eggplant, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, okra, parsley, potato, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, rockmelon, spinach, squash, strawberry, sunflower, tomato and watermelon. LIGHT FEEDERS Carrot, garlic, leek, mustard greens, onion, parsnip, swede, shallot, sweet potato and Swiss chard. HEAVY GIVERS Alfalfa, beans, clover, peas, peanut and soybeans. ROTATION BY PLANT FAMILY All plants belonging to the same family have common traits and properties. Take tomatoes and potatoes, for example. Both are in the Solanaceae family, both are the same Solanum genus, but a tomato’s species is Solanum lycopersicum, while a potato’s is Solanum tuberosum. From this example, we can see that tomatoes and potatoes are closely related and will have many things in common, including susceptibility to similar diseases. By…

Build up your soil health by adding compost, minerals, biology and worms to your vegetable patch, orchard or ornamental garden. You will have the added bonus of producing more nutrient-dense food. As well as avoiding toxins like glyphosatebased weed sprays, practise no-till gardening. This means instead of turning the soil between crops, add layers of compost and organic material and let the worms do the work for you. Rotationally graze your chooks, guinea pigs or rabbits around your backyard. They will fertilise and eat grass as they go. On acreage, animals can be rotationally grazed using electric-tape fencing. Encourage biodiversity into your patch. In backyards you might encourage wildlife with bird and wildlife boxes, keep cats indoors at night, introduce frog ponds and plant beeattracting vegetation. Plant biodiversity creates habitat…

More and more people are willing to spend the extra money for organically grown and prepared food, with an Australian industry now worth $2.6 billion annually. So what’s all the fuss about and are there genuine reasons why we should be choosing organic? We’ve all been there, standing in the supermarket looking at the organic chicken, small and pale in its plastic wrapping and three times the price of the plump conventional chicken alongside it. Or the plastic-wrapped organic broccoli next to its conventional naked offering, and we have wondered is it worth it? If we can afford it and, importantly, if we’re putting our family at risk if we don’t? WHAT IT MEANS Organic food is food grown without the use of synthetic or artificially produced pesticides, herbicides or…

WHAT YOU’LL NEED A bale of strawOrganic pelletised and liquid fertiliserCompost or potting mix METHOD Place your bale in a sunny position. Ensure the edges with the baling twine is forming the sides, leaving the cut edges of the straw facing upwards. If you can, allow 10 days to condition the bale before planting into it. It’s not essential, but doing it will return far better results. Start by watering the bale thoroughly and continue to do so to ensure the bale remains wet for three days. On days four, five and six, sprinkle organic fertiliser over the bale and water in with a liquid seaweed or fish emulsion. The fertiliser will speed up the decomposition process and should feel warm to touch. Halve the amount of fertiliser used on…

There are many online websites and tools designed to provide transparency over the financial industry in Australia, and they can be a great place to start researching. The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (www.responsibleinvestment.org) tracks investments made by financial institutions and also runs a tool called Responsible Returns (www.responsiblereturns.com.au). Responsible Returns helps you compare and choose a super fund or bank aligned with your values. Leaf Ratings (www.leafratings.org) run by the Ethical Advisers’ Co-op, rates financial institutions based solely on their ethics, while Market Forces (www.marketforces.com.au) is an advocacy group focused on respectful environmental investment with a particular focus on fossil fuel divestment. Another useful tool could be Don’t Bank on the Bomb (www.dontbankonthebomb.com/australia), tracks investments by Australian banks into companies manufacturing nuclear weapons.…

Permaculture design is successful because it mimics nature’s interconnectedness. An interconnectedness which allows nature to be a self-supporting mechanism that can exist and thrive without added inputs or unnecessary waste, and it’s successful because nothing exists in isolation. If we can implement similar systems into our communities, all of a sudden we’re less reliant on external supply and better equipped to stand and face adversity. Everything in nature – and in life – is interdependent. The home, workplace, school or organisation, for example, all form parts of a larger neighbourhood. Through permaculture design we can cultivate deeper levels of connection, collaboration and cooperation. It’s something we practise in our gardens and we reap its benefits daily, but if we can apply similar strategies to our communities, we would create self-reliant…

If you’ve got a bountiful harvest of citrus to squeeze, you don’t need to mess around with fiddly squeezers or noisy and expensive electric appliances. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as being able to make something at home that produces just as good – if not better – results than a store-bought appliance. And being able to make it from bits and pieces you’re likely to have lying around is the lemon icing on your homemade cake. WHAT YOU NEED A one-metre length of 50 mm by 30 mm timber. Two lengths measuring around 500 mm will also do the trick, as long as they’re a similar width and thickness. Hardwood is best for both strength and longevity, but a softer timber like pine will also be fine. You’ll also…