Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 22 i Pip Magazine

SARAH AITKEN Sarah is a radio producer and writer living halfway up kunanyi/Mt Wellington, with one foot in nipaluna/Hobart and one in the wilderness. She loves to write about community, sustainability, nature and social justice issues. Her favourite days are the ones where all three of her little adventurers are happily lost in imaginative play in the great outdoors and she can walk, stretch or sit in nature nearby. EMMA LUPIN Emma Lupin is a plant lover, sensory explorer and an environmental educator based in Darwin. With a background in horticulture and an enormous respect for the environment and its diversity, her work in tropical Australia entwines a love of place, plants and people. For more than a decade, Emma has been inspiring others to grow and enjoy edible and…

THE WINNERS OF THE 2021 PIP PERMIE AWARDS ARE… Each year, Pip recognises the individuals and organisations who are digging deep to create important and positive change. From scores of nominations, and after long and robust conversations, Pip is delighted to announce the people and organisations who best represent permaculture’s three key ethics of earth care, people care and fair share. Congratulations to this year’s winners! 10 X 10 COBARGO After devastating destruction in the small New South Wales town of Cobargo during last year’s Black Summer bushfires, a project has grown from the ashes in a bid to help rebuild the community. Dubbed 10 x 10, it’s a collaboration between the Cobargo Community Garden and supportive community groups and will see ten fire-affected households provided the materials, knowledge and…

Solanum melongena – solanum is Latin for nightshade, melongena is Greek for ‘sprung from a fruit tree’. ORIGIN The purple eggplant, now so common, was domesticated in India and Burma; it arrived in China by the fourth century. Arabic people introduced Europeans to the delights of eggplant in the seventh century. DESCRIPTION There is great variation in eggplant fruits, from the common large purple to the pea-sized yellow ones of Thailand. The first eggplants grown in England were small and egg-shaped, hence their English name. CULTIVATION Eggplants need warmth and a long summer to be mature enough for seed saving. If you have short summers, then you may need to start seeds off indoors to produce any fruit at all. They are best transplanted, very carefully, when the day temperatures…

“You can grow capsicum most of the year in warmer subtropical and tropical areas, where they are true to their short-lived perennial nature” Sweet pepper, bell pepper or capsicum, regardless of what you call it, this versatile vegetable is a firm favourite in households worldwide. As easy to grow in pots as they are in the ground, and with many varieties to choose from, capsicums are a delicious addition to the warm weather garden. Capsicums are a fruiting vegetable from the nightshade or Solanaceae family, the same family as tomato, eggplant, chilli and potato. Although commonly considered a summer vegetable, capsicums are actually a short-lived perennial grown as an annual in cooler climates due to their frost-sensitivity. Originating in Mexico and Central and South America before spreading throughout Europe and…

This system only works of you’ve got three or more tomatoes planted in rows. Bang in two stakes at either ends of your row, making sure they’re at least as tall as you expect the plants to grow. Once they reach a height where they require support, secure a length of soft twine around one stake and weave in and out of your plants – in front of the first, behind the second and so on, until you reach the other stake. Loop you twine around the stake a couple of times to ensure it’s tight before returning in the direction you came from, weaving through the row but on the opposite sides of the plants from which you came. Tie off on the first stake and repeat the process…

For a yoga teacher with a passion for permaculture, building a tiny home from recycled materials became the perfect way to connect with her family and community. Thirty-one-year-old Jess Hay grew up near Townsville, Queensland, with a large vegetable patch, free-range chickens and plenty of homegrown tropical fruits. But it wasn’t until she spent time living abroad at the end of high school that she became interested in permaculture. ‘I was living in the south of France 12 years ago with a retired couple who had created a permaculture food forest,’ explains Jess. ‘There were 10 or so houses that specialised in growing different foods and they all bartered with each other to sustain themselves. It was very inspiring.’ Eight years later, when her parents moved back to her father’s…

GREEN CONNECT Green Connect has some amazing workshops coming up; small-space gardening and seed-raising with Narelle Happ, beekeeping with Claire Brown and an intro to permaculture with John Champagne. Check the website for dates and more information. www.green-connect.com.au 0437 038 151 POCKET CITY FARMS Pocket City Farms usesurban farming environments to cultivate food, community connections and knowledge through education. It offers tours, workshops, volunteering and a hands-on, urban-focused PDC. www.pocketcityfarms.com.au 0411 274 838 PERMACULTURE COURSES & OPEN DAYS John Champagne uses Brogo Permaculture Gardens on NSW’s south coast to illustrate his three decades of permaculture experience. From open days and introductory courses through to the permaculture design certificate. www.permaculturedesign.com.au (02) 6492 7306 STUDY ONLINE, AT YOUR PACE Get new skills and habits for a better life with Permaculture Living –…

Turning a challenging piece of land into a productive permaculture patch doesn’t need to be as daunting or as difficult as you might think. Successful design starts with providing honest answers to the right questions. Michelle and her two kids live in the northern suburbs of nipaluna/Hobart on a 750 m² urban property. Chosen for its low-maintenance house and the relatively large land size, other would-be owners saw overgrown lawn and a steep slope, but Michelle saw her future edible landscape. As a passionate gardener striving for a productive patch, Michelle wasn’t interested in just popping in a garden bed here and there, she wanted to completely transform the property. We worked with Michelle to first understand what she wanted and how we could realistically achieve it given her challenging…

Patricia Ellis has devoted her life to teaching Aboriginal language and culture. Not only helping Indigenous Australians reconnect to their heritage, but also teaching non-Indigenous people ways to develop a deeper connection to Country and a genuine respect for the oldest culture on earth. For Aunty Trish, as she’s often respectfully referred to, teaching culture and language is about uniting Indigenous people, empowering them to connect with traditions that have been lost since colonisation. After 30 years working in Aboriginal-identified roles for government, schools, TAFEs and the private sector, she established Minga Aboriginal Cultural Services in 2017 to respectfully share the rich diversity of Indigenous culture and heritage. As well as running tours, she hosts workshops in bushfoods and medicines, Dreamtime stories, fire making, cultural awareness, smoking ceremonies, tool making,…

Subsoils have varying degrees of clay content, so four tennis-ball-sized tests will reveal what you’re working with. First mix one part clay soil with one part sand, add a little water and make a ball. Repeat this with increasing ratios; one part clay to two parts sand, then three parts sand, then four parts sand before labelling them and leaving them to dry. Observe the balls, if they shrink a lot and crack there is too much clay, if they are weak and dusty, it means there’s too much sand. The strongest, crackfree ball will be your ratio for your mix.…

F.D. Ryan Tools FLYING DUTCHMANS HOE Review by Kel Buckley Far more versatile than it looks, this Australian-made take on a traditional Dutch hoe features a sturdy triangular face at the end of a particularly long 1500 mm timber handle. With three sharp edges, it can chip, cut and slice weeds out of all sorts of surfaces, from friable soil through to concrete paths. The length of the handle means you don’t have to bend down, while also allowing you to reach the far edges of your beds without having to step on and compact the soil. As well as dealing with weeds effectively, the pointy edges allow you to dig furrows for sowing seeds, before smoothing out the soil over the top, and the triangular shape is great for…

RECIPE FOR A KINDER LIFE BY ANNIE SMITHERS (THAMES & HUDSON 2021) Review by Kel Buckley Chef Annie Smithers takes us on a generously honest journey of finding, connecting to and regenerating land that can support her family, her restaurant and her desire to live more sustainably. Part cookbook, part journal, Recipe for a Kinder Life is a warts-and-all account of the realities of caring for the land and reaping its bounty. Sincere, frank and often laughout-loud funny, Annie details the lessons she’s learnt through chapters such as Land, the Productive Garden, Buildings, Water and Weather, each punctuated by her favourite recipes from her decades of experience. ‘The path I have chosen over the past dozen years does not make me an expert in sustainable living; I’m just a regular…

“We too have a responsibility to care for these landscapes” We have all been spending a lot more time at home lately. And it has given us an opportunity to become more familiar with our local spaces. Whether that be our own gardens, if we have them, our verges, our local parks and, if we’re lucky, our local wild places. We’ve had more time experiencing them, exploring them, getting to know them and potentially feeling a deeper connection to them. These are our local spaces, our bit of land that we are a part of. You may have started to notice things about your local place. You might have noticed particular animals that reside in these areas, or plants when they blossom, fruit or drop their leaves. You might notice…

Hello Snowglobe REUSABLE GIFT WRAP Every year, Australians throw away around 350,000 km of wrapping paper. Why not opt to use reusable wrap this festive season which can form part of your gift for friends and loved ones. With a large range of festive and decorative designs printed on 100 percent cotton, the reusable wrap is designed to make use of traditional Japanese wrapping styles, where knots and bows are tied in the fabric to wrap the gift. From $19 www.hellosnowglobe.com.au Team Timbuktu ELEMENTS WATERPROOF JACKET Using recycled plastic bottles, Team Timbuktu creates high-performance waterproof raincoats and sweatwicking activewear. This design, called Banksia Forest, is the result of a collaboration with Australian Indigenous artist Shanai Kellet from Maloga Art, a Yorta Yorta woman living on Boonwurrung Country. Waterproof, windproof and…

Native to Europe, Asia and northern parts of Africa, wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis), also known as field mustard or charlock, is one of the tastiest and most versatile weeds in the brassica family. The whole plant of wild mustard is edible and its botanical name, Sinapis, comes from the Greek word ‘sinapi’ meaning mustard. As well as making it easy to spot, its bright-yellow flowers make it a great pollen crop for bees and other important pollinator insects. HOW TO IDENTIFY IT Wild mustard is found right throughout the year, but is at its most abundant in spring and summer when its vivid yellow flowers are tall and on show. It favours a heavier red clay soil over light soil and is often found on roadsides and along creeks where…

This popular spice is actually a variety of capsicum that was bred in Hungary and also goes by the name of Sweet Capsicum. Bearing slightly smaller fruit than the common capsicum, paprikas can be eaten fresh, dried and ground. Growing your own paprika is easy, and their abundant fruiting habit means that you can end up with a decent amount of dried paprika from just a few plants. Hang fully ripe paprika capsicums in a cool, dry place with good airflow and allow to completely dry. You can speed up the process by halving them, removing the seeds and drying in a dehydrator. Once fully dry, break open the capsicums and remove the seeds making sure there is no evidence of mould inside. Grind up the dried capsicum flesh in…

“Any industrialised version of these gorgeous traditional style drinks are never going to the be anywhere near the quality you and I can produce at home” Beet kvass is becoming well known among the fermented drink offerings now, but Sharon Flynn from The Fermentary in Daylesford, Victoria, loves this darker, more beer-like version made from bread. Drink your stale bread? Yes! Ferment those leftovers and within a week or two it will have bubbled and fizzed into a delicious and nutritious drink with a flavour profile somewhere between cider and beer. Depending on how long you ferment your rye kvass for, and how much sugar you add to it, the wild yeasts can produce an alcohol content of up to 2.8 percent alcohol by volume, so this is not a…

NOOSA FOREST RETREAT Noosa Forest Retreat and Bellbunya Eco Retreat offer residential and online permaculture courses as well as education and techniques around syntropic farming. There’s a free online introduction to permaculture course and a fun design certificate from $49 per week. www.noosaforestretreat.com (07) 5409 7599 GOOD LIFE PERMACULTURE Based in southern lutruwita/Tasmania, workshops to get you living the good life include a summer PDC, beekeeping, growing food, fostering healthy soils, keeping goats, small-farm design and more. www.goodlifepermaculture.com.au ROBIN CLAYFIELD’S DYNAMIC GROUPS Held at Crystal Waters Permaculture Ecovillage in southeast Qld, Robin offers a wide range of permaculture and leadership courses. Next up is Social Permaculture (27–29 November), Crystal Waters Co-op PDC (6–20 March 2022) and Dynamic Groups (8–13 May 2022). www.dynamicgroups.com.au (07) 5494 4707 PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSES Join David…

The upheaval of the past two years has had many people contemplating making a change. Whether it be a tree change, a career switch or something personal, it can be tricky to translate that hope into reality. Two friends, Jo Smith and Bonnie Tuttle have both made enormous positive changes in their lives and now concentrate on helping others do the same. Jo through her holistic wellness farm on Bruny Island and Bonnie through her Hobart-based business as a consultant. They also collaborate on workshops designed for individuals who are looking to develop a clear and strong foundation for their way of life, their business or both. AN OVERWHELMING TIME Times of great uncertainty can naturally lead us to want to stay put within what feels secure. But they can…

1. Lots of root competition, small flowers or grasses only 2. Three evergreen feijoas 3. Existing citrus with two roses and flowers beneath 4. A stepped retaining wall with four leaucadendrons 5. Mixed herbs and flowers 6. Two annual vegie beds 7. Annual garden beds with one mobile compost bin 8. Worm-farm seat made from a recycled bath 9. Mixed native correa shrubs for aesthetic and habitat 10. Courtyard for sitting 11. Existing half stone wall 12. Gravity-fed rain tank to water the garden 13. Mixed dwarf fruit and/or nut trees, bulb understory 14. Seaside daisy path border 15. Stone retaining wall, max height of one metre 16. Grape or kiwi vine growing over wire pergola 17. Six mixed currant bushes 18. Espaliered apples along fence and globe artichokes 19.…

‘You don’t have to be on Country to do Dadirri, you just need a quiet spot,’ she says. ‘It’s about connecting to Country, connecting your soul. Find a quiet spot and sit comfortably. ‘Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. Hold it in and let it out and feel the tension leave as you let it out. Then just listen. Try and identify at least five different sounds. Any sounds around you; birds, wind, an aeroplane, animals, waves splashing, whatever you can hear. ‘Try and identify as many smells as you can. It might be salt or grass, the earth or a fragrance from a tree. It’s about getting your senses in tune with your environment. ‘Then just sit and look up at the sky and think…

Patches and brooches are fun to make and a colourful way to express yourself or your feelings. They can be made from just about anything, be sewn or pinned on a bag, on a cushion or worn proudly on your chest. The only thing that makes a brooch different from a pin is that one can be pinned to something whereas the other is generally sewn, either as a standalone statement or as a personalised way to mend a garment. Limited only by your imagination, these can be flat, colourful shapes, a three-dimensional item representing something you love, or they can portray a message with words that might be humorous or honest. This tutorial covers the basics of all three scenarios, giving you the know-how to create a patch or…

Our kids’ patch winners for this issue are Hettie & Poppy Knight from Raworth, NSW, you’ve won a copy of the 2021 book Bee Detectives, written by Vanessa Ryan-Rendall and illustrated by Brenna Quinlan. It’s for any aspiring bee detective who wants to learn how to attract native bees to their backyard and we’ve got another one to give away next issue. SHOW US YOUR GARDEN Adelaide/Kaurna country, South Australia Name Asha Potter-Khatri How old are you? I’m eight years old. Describe your garden We have 19 fruit trees and bushes in our garden and a small grassy area where I like doing cartwheels. Our garden is pretty and green and there are lots of flowering plants. We are visited by lots of birds who nest in our garden but…

WOOLLYKINS Using organic merino and other renewable fibres, Woollykins has your family covered from top to toe. From nappies and towels through to slipper and tops, Woollykins has Australia’s largest range of ethically produced organic wool garments. And there’s a wide range of wool-care and mending supplies, too. Use the code PIPKINS for a 10% discount. www.woollykins.com.au GOLDFINCH THE LABEL Goldfinch the Label creates zero-waste wearables designed to last. Organic cotton, linen and merino wool make up the small collections made in Pambula, New South Wales. As well as a curated mix of ethical fashion, accessories and body products, Goldfinch also has a pre-loved retro range called Goldfinch Revival. www.goldfinch.store THUNDERPANTS Since 1995, sisters Josie and Sophie Bidwill have been producing Thunderpants – Fairtrade, organic cotton undies and clothing known…

When Matt Ryan purchased a vintage caravan and decided to document the renovation on social media, he didn’t know the hand-drawn illustration of his new van would be more interesting to his followers than the restoration process. So under the banner of vandrawings.com, he launched a side hustle of creating custom drawings for caravan owners, and the rest is history. Matt lives in Victoria’s Ocean Grove with his young family of five and when he’s not drawing caravans, he works as a product designer for an Australian tech company.…

From the start I just wanted to say a huge thank you! I recently subscribed and I have learnt so much already from one issue. The articles are written in a way that are easy to read and understand – particularly for those, like myself, who are at the beginning of their permaculture journey. I found there was just so much information online that it became overwhelming finding what were good starting points. Your magazine gives clarity and easy steps to make humbling progress. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t wait for the next issue. Kassandra Banglevia email Hi Kassandra, I’m so glad to hear that the articles are easy to read and understand. That has been an aim of mine from the beginning. I want Pip to…

Pulling weeds out of your garden is one thing, but disposing of them once out of the soil in a way that ensures they don’t reshoot can sometimes be a struggle. Turning them into a weed tea gets rid of them for good while producing an inexpensive and nutritious fertiliser for your garden. Composting your weeds is a great option, but the time taken between pulling them out of the ground and turning them into something you can return to feed the garden in the form of compost can take months. Fermenting them in water over a few weeks, however, is a fast and effective way to not only dispose of them, but to turn them into food for your garden. WHAT TO MAKE IT IN You can make your…

There are so many variables when it comes to working out the best technique for trellising tomatoes. We can learn a lot from people who grow them for a living. Opinions on the best way to trellis your tomatoes are many and varied. And for lots of gardeners, experimenting with different methods each year is all part of the fun of tomato season. But there are people who have grown more tomatoes in the last decade than many of us will grow in our entire lifetime. People who, depending on their climate, conditions and required results, have perfected tomato trellising techniques. KNOW YOUR PLANT Tomato plants fall under one of two types: determinate or indeterminate. Before you can think about your trellising options, it’s important to know which of the…

Laksa is a delicious medley of flavours originating in Malaysia and South-East Asia. Full of fresh ingredients, many are medicinal and most are easy to grow, especially if you live in a tropical climate. Laksa has become iconic in the Australian city of Darwin, a multicultural melting pot that is reflected in its cuisine, colourful markets and local produce. From food stalls and restaurants vying for the fame of making the city’s best laksa, where recipes become closely guarded family secrets, through to the launch of the annual Darwin International Laksa Festival in 2019. THE SOURCE Laksa originates from just a few hundred kilometres north of Australia in South-East Asia and there are hundreds of variants of this fresh and famous dish. Essentially it is a coconut-based noodle soup that…

“I’m demonstrating that it’s possible for anyone to do it. We don’t have to rely on ‘big ag’ and individual millionaires to do farming” With just enough money to pay for compost and mulch, plus a generous donation of land, Justin Hartley established the thriving and popular Duck Foot Farm: the first notill, small-scale and land-share farm in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales. The importance of soil biology and health has become more apparent in recent times, partly perhaps spearheaded by books such as Matthew Evans’ Soil and Charles Massey’s Call of the Reed Warbler and, of course, a flourishing community of passionate permaculturalists across the globe. After centuries of using aggressive agricultural techniques that heavily cultivate land, many contemporary farmers are simplifying their farming methods by using…

‘Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your lower abdomen. Take a few slow and mindful breaths in and out. When you feel the space you can ask yourself: “What do I want my day to look like and how do I want to feel?” Then we can sit with this without judgement and actually notice if we are aligned with the answers. If not, we can slowly make small changes that are sustainable and nurture the whole self. Small and slow changes are the best.’…

1 CLIMATE Sun, wind, rainfall, temperatures2 LANDFORM Slope and aspect3 WATER Sources of supply, flooding, pollution4 ACCESS/CIRCULATION Pedestrian/vehicle access, patterns and frequency5 VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE Existing flora and fauna, invasiveness6 MICROCLIMATE Aspect, sun/shade patterns, frost pockets7 BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE Size, shape, location and boundaries8 ZONES OF USE Property lines, existing zones, neighbours and passersby9 SOIL FERTILITY AND MANAGEMENT Structure, drainage, fertility, toxins10 AESTHETICS/EXPERIENCE OF PLACE Qualities, feelings, functions, features…

“It’s important to stick to the ratios to ensure the most efficient burn” Whether it’s for pizzas, bread or slow-cooked roasts, earth ovens are delightful to use and made from natural and breathable materials. Building your own earth oven is a great place to start your natural building journey and an excellent way to test the clay content of your subsoil. The following is a guide for a medium-sized oven. You can increase or decrease the size of your oven, but it’s important to stick to the ratios which not only ensure the most efficient burn, but means you’ll eliminate the need to incorporate a flue. PREPARE YOUR BASE Your base will need to be at least one metre square to accommodate your oven and having it raised one metre…

Q WHY DID THE TOMATO GO TO DINNER WITH A PRUNE? A BECAUSEIT COULDN’TFINDADATE THE SCOOP ON TOMATOES Six things you may not already know about tomatoes 1 Most tomatoes are red, but they can be green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, white, purple and even striped! 2 Spain hosts the annual La Tomatina festival where a huge tomato fight erupts between 40,000 people! 3 According to Guinness World Records, the world’s heaviest tomato weighed 3.51 kg 4 There are more than 7500 different varieties of tomatoes grown around the world 5 The world record weight of tomatoes harvested from a single plant is 522.464 kg 6 If you pull a stem off a tomato plant and poke it in the ground, it will grow a new plant Q HOW DO…