Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 26 i Pip Magazine

Pip wants to do more than just inspire you to live your best life. We want to lead by example, practise what we preach and live by the ethics of earth care, people care and fair share. And although permaculture is a concept created 40-odd years ago, these ideas aren’t new. Indigenous people all around the world have been living like this for tens of thousands of years. Pip acknowledges the traditional custodians of this land; past, present and emerging. Created on the lands of the Yuin Nation, Pip respects the great wealth of knowledge and rich tradition which has cared for this country for millennia. We invite First Nations People to share their knowledge within Pip, so that we can all have a deeper connection to country and learn…

EDIBLE TOWNS & CITIES National Urban Agriculture Month is happening between 1–30 November and everyone’s invited! Brought to you by Sustain: The Australian Food Network, it’s a month-long celebration of urban agriculture, featuring a range of exciting events happening right across the country. From open gardens, workshops, tours and handson experiences, it hopes to bring people together to connect, share, learn and grow. Find out more at urbanagriculturemonth.org.au EARTH IS NOW OUR ONLY SHAREHOLDER The words of founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, who has donated the outdoor clothing company and its future profits to fighting climate change and improve conservation. Ownership of Patagonia – reportedly worth US$3b (AUD$4.6b) – will be transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust which will continue to operate the company and donate all future profit towards…

This versatile perennial herb from the Zingiberaceae family has many uses – but beware its weedy potential. Botanically Heychium coranarium, white ginger is also known as Cuban ginger and is the national flower of that country. During Spanish colonial times, women would hide messages for members of the independence movement inside the intricate flowers. GROWING White ginger forms a dense, waist-high clump that spreads slowly and can be cultivated by dividing the rhizomes. Rarely seen in nurseries, it’s naturally a tropical plant originating in Asia and will tolerate temperatures as low as–5 ºC, but will die back in winter outside tropical and warm subtropical climates. A moisture-loving plant, it does best in part shade to full sun, but will tolerate deep shade too, provided it has enough water. It grows…

COOL TEMPERATE SUBTROPICAL TROPICAL ARID Moon planting The moon’s phases and its associated gravitational pull has a significant effect on the behaviour of tidal oceans, so it’s easy to understand how the moon can have a similar effect on the moisture in our soils and plants. By planning what you sow to coincide with the phases of the moon best suited to the type of vegetable and how you’re planting, you’ll give yourself a higher chance of success as well as increase your yields. NEW MOON In the new moon phase, light increases and lunar gravity pulls water higher. In the garden, this means balanced plant growth. A new moon phase is ideal for sowing plants with edible leaves and seed heads. 24–30 November 23–31 December 22–28 January SECOND QUARTER…

Plants are a brilliant low-cost solution for shading your home, so make the most of it by utilising plants that will also feed you. Longer days and warmer temperatures may signal a time of growth and abundance in the garden, but they can also mean sweltering days and uncomfortably hot nights. What if, instead of turning on the air conditioner, you could keep your home cooler by growing shadegiving edibles instead? By utilising simple concepts and thoughtful plant choices, not only can you passively cool your house and help to reduce your energy bills (and the environmental cost that goes along with them), you can also enjoy an edible harvest. Growing shade-giving plants, or ‘edible shade’ can be of great benefit in your summer vegetable garden too, keeping young or…

This character-filled farmhouse located in southern lutruwita/Tasmania was sustainably renovated to improve circulation and connectivity with the seasons, animals and productive garden space. When Helen and Ronnie approached Jane Hilliard of Homeful by Designful to renovate their run-down farmhouse, they explained that they were tired of the dark interior, lack of circulation and sense of disconnection from the outside world. Helen and Ronnie’s choice of building designer was not happenstance, for Jane is well known in Tasmania for her ground-breaking approach to building design and commitment to rethinking the way the industry approaches both design and construction. Jane believes the key to sustainability lies in a deep understanding of the needs and values of the client, balanced against the client’s own understanding of ‘what is enough’ for them. By tailoring…

LEARN PERMACULTURE ONLINE WITH MORAG GAMBLE Morag hosts self-paced online permaculture courses: Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) and Teacher Certificate, The Incredible Edible Garden course and a global learning community for permaculture graduates. www.permacultureeducationinstitute.org MICK’S GARDEN SHED There’s something for everyone at Mick’s Garden Shed in the Blue Mountains, NSW. There’s Earthworks with Doc Spice, Food Forests with Aaron Sorensen, Small Seeds Big Feeds with Eric Brocken and Sustainability Saturday with Mick Connolly. www.micksgardenshed.com.au 0455 064 936 STUDY ONLINE, AT YOUR PLACE Get new skills and habits for a better life with Permaculture Living - learn 40+ practical ways to embed permaculture principles into YOUR life. And now Milkwood has taken its acclaimed Home Mushroom Cultivation course online, too! www.milkwood.net/courses ROBIN CLAYFIELD’S DYNAMIC GROUPS Held at Crystal Waters Permaculture Ecovillage in…

An over-barrow garden sieve can up your food-growing game. As well as helping you make low-cost and nutritious seed-raising mix, it can also make the time-consuming bits of seed saving a cinch. And best of all, they’re simple to make yourself. A sieve is one of those garden tools that, once you have one, you’ll be amazed at how you managed without it – especially if you like growing from seed and/or seed saving. Taking the idea of the small plastic sieves you can buy commercially one step further, these large over-barrow sieves are enormously useful for a variety of jobs around the garden, and making one – or even two – at home is a simple job that can be easily done in a couple of hours. SEED RAISING…

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE OCEAN Six things you may not know about the world’s oceans Q WHAT DOES CINDERELLA TAKE SWIMMING? A GLASS FLIPPERS 1 More than 90 percent of the earth’s wildlife is found in the ocean 2 The reflection from the sun is what makes the ocean look blue 3 More than 70 percent of the earth’s oxygen is produced by oceans 4 Messages in bottles were used by the Ancient Greeks to study ocean currents 5 About 40 percent of the world’s population lives within 100 km of the coast 6 Half of Australia’s 322 shark and ray species aren’t found anywhere else in the world Q WHY DON’T OYSTERS SHARE THEIR PEARLS? A BECAUSE THEY’RE SHELLFISH…

Keep Cup THREE IN ONE Review by Robyn Rosenfeldt We all know the experience of being out and needing coffee, and realising you don’t have a cup on you. But with everything else in your bag, it isn’t always practical to be carrying around a cup, not when you’re already carrying a drink bottle and all the other everyday essentials. Having to carry too many different reusable items has proven to be a barrier for many when trying to avoid single-use products. Well KeepCup has realised this problem and created a water bottle that unscrews in half to turn into a cup. Dubbed the Helix range, you can buy just the bottle (and bottle lid), or a kit, which also includes a colour-matched lid for when you’re using it as…

Pip partners with brands who align with its values. Ethical companies producing good-quality products that don’t harm the planet, instead aiming to improve it. Browse more ethical companies you can choose to support at www.pipmagazine.com.au TORE SOCKS Socks are a wardrobe essential that shouldn’t cost the earth. TORE, from TOtally REcycled – is the world’s first 100 percent recycled sock. One pack of TORE socks saves 1050L of water, diverts 2.4 plastic bottles and 0.6 T-shirts from landfill. TORE reduces the negative impacts of fast fashion, without compromising comfort or style. Use the code PIP15 for a 15 percent discount. www.wearetore.com UNIQUE FIRE PITS Whether it’s a uniquely designed BBQ to socialise around, a custom centrepiece for your backyard or you wish to maximise your backyard’s potential during the cold…

ROWAN MANLEY-CAMPBELL Rowan lives and gardens with Rebekah and their children in the shadow of Mt Karangahake, by the banks of the Waitawheta River, and on the tribal lands of the Hauraki iwi collective. Rowan is Pākehā – a New Zealander of European descent – and has an intergenerational relationship to this area spanning over 150 years. As well as spreading the word of the Milpa method of gardening, he has worked at permaculture farms in Germany, and as an organic market gardener and earth builder in NZ. Find him at milpagardens.org.nz. MEG McGOWAN Meg McGowan is a permaculture designer, writer, practitioner and teacher. She is best known for her ‘permacoach’ posts on social media, but also writes about evolving permaculture at her Smarter Than Crows website. She recently completed…

As suggested by the name cleavers, meaning to ‘cleave’ or stick together – all parts of this distinctive looking and edible plant will attach itself to nearly anything that brushes past it. Cleavers (Galium aparine) is a member of the Rubiaceae family which originated from Europe and western Asia and has colonised in Australia. With common names including clivers, catchweed, sticky weed and even sticky willy, it has fine hook-like hairs which form on every part of the plant. Its botanical name ‘Galium’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Gala’ which translates to milk. Galium verum, or goosegrass, which is another member of the genus, was stirred through milk to make it curdle when making cheese. HOW TO IDENTIFY IT Cleavers is found in late spring and throughout summer, and…

Sustainably sourced seafood is hard to find, but the types of shellfish called bivalve molluscs are not only packed full of important nutrients, they’re contributing to the protection and restoration of our precious coastlines. Seafood is good for us. It’s packed full of protein, vitamins and nutrients that are essential to our health, some of which are hard to find elsewhere. But it seems finding a source of truly sustainable seafood is getting increasingly more difficult. So how do we get all those great nutrients without harming the environment? The answer could lie in the special class of shellfish known as bivalve molluscs. Bivalve molluscs include oysters, mussels, clams and scallops and are found in the intertidal zones and shallow depths of our oceans, lakes and rivers. They are filter…

Author, filmmaker and founder of Local Futures Helena Norberg-Hodge explains how adopting an economic strategy based on the wisdom of indigenous cultures and smaller communities could be the answer to human, societal and environmental issues. ‘Buy local’ campaigns have been prolific over the last couple of years, indicating a growing awareness of the need to support our local communities. But localisation, or more particularly economic localisation, actually goes much deeper than just buying what you need from your nearby and independent stores. Because as paradoxical as it might seem, opting for small, slow and local is a big-picture strategy that can address the root causes of the global environmental and social crises we’ve found ourselves in. WHAT IS LOCALISATION? By definition, localisation is a few things. It’s the removal of…

Like permaculture, the elegance of the Milpa system lies in the variety of techniques performing a number of functions at the same time Drawing on the wisdom of Indigenous Americans, the Milpa method of gardening mimics a forest ecosystem to promote fertility and increase resilience. Adapted from the forest ecosystem by Indigenous Americans over a period of thousands of years, Milpa gardens are an elegant response to the challenges every natural gardener faces; weather, weeds, fertility and pests. The method increases drought and inundation resilience, while promoting natural fertility by recreating the managed forest gardens, the natural habitat of humanity. North American Indigenous gardener and environmental biologist Mel Landers was seduced by the gardening techniques he encountered following fieldwork with the Urarina people of the Peruvian Amazon in 1969, triggering…

We love seeing what kids are growing with their families in their gardens, so snap and email us an image of what you’re harvesting at the moment. Send the photo to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au – and you might even pick up this snazzy prize! This issue’s winners are Alex and Odie (3 & 6 years), from Atherton Tablelands in Queensland. SHOW US YOUR GARDEN Charlie & Fergus Stewart Describe your garden Bushy, with lots of worms! What do you grow? Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snow peas, rainbow silverbeet and bok choy. What’s your favourite thing to do in your garden? We like finding worms for our chooks to eat, watching the bees and picking beans. What do you enjoy eating from the garden? I love the snow peas (but not the worms!)…

Have a go at colouring in the image that appears on this issue’s cover. Once you’re happy with it, ask Mum or Dad to take a photo of you holding your finished artwork and have them email it to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au. You can post your entry to Pip magazine, PO Box 172, Pambula, NSW, 2549. The winner will be published in the next issue and will pick up Bjorn Sturmberg’s new book Amy’s Balancing Act: An Inspiring tale about clean energy. The winner of Issue 25’s colouring-in competition is Jarrah Tejcek from Beechwood, NSW. Well done to everyone who entered.…

https://www.diggers.com.au/ Founded in 1978 by Clive and Penny Blazey, The Diggers Club believes gardeners are the secret weapon in combating climate change. Whether it has been championing heirloom vegetable and flower seeds in the face of corporatisation, planting water-saving gardens or preserving historic homes and gardens such as Heronswood (circa 1857) and the Garden of St Erth (circa 1854), Diggers has always been much more than your typical garden company. NOW AND FOREVER The Diggers Club is now owned by The Diggers Foundation, which the Blazeys established in 2011 to ensure the gardens and the club’s heirloom seed-saving legacy will continue as a valuable resource for future gardeners to enjoy. All proceeds from Diggers memberships and product sales are used to help deliver programs on tree planting, seed saving and…

Become more capable of fulfilling your fresh food needs I’m really excited about bringing this issue to you. I love every bit of its content and I love the new cover art by Nastia Gladushchenko. It seems the interest in all the ideas and practices we explore in the pages of Pip are becoming more mainstream. And that was exactly what I hoped when I started the title. I didn’t want to be preaching to the converted, I wanted to reach out to people who just had a bit of an interest in living more sustainably, whether that be by growing food, reducing waste or making natural products. I wanted to open up a whole new world to those people, offering them lots of ideas and inspiration for new ways…

BYTHER FARM bytherfarm.com Byther Farm is a small permaculture farm set up as a space to educate and inspire people to grow food simply, naturally and affordably. Located in the hills of Carmarthenshire in west Wales, it’s the work of best-selling permaculture author Liz Zorab and her husband, who recently moved the farm from a ¾-acre homestead to this new, larger site to make space for a bigger food forest, larger animals, habitat for wildlife and for more peace and quiet. Her book, Grounded (reviewed in Pip, Issue 20), describes the journey in transforming the original Byther Farm from a blank paddock to a thriving food forest. They make small spaces beautiful and productive for themselves, but also to share. They host a CSA (community-supported agriculture) box system, a cut-flower…

WRITE IN AND WIN! The Letter of the Issue will receive a Compost Revolution worm farm valued at $89.00 Spinach switch I am pretty certain (as I grow all plants included on the page) that there has been a photo error on page 14 and 15 of Issue 25, Alternative Leafy Greens. Plant one, Okinawa Spinach, has a photo of plant four, which is Brazilian Spinach, and vice versa. It is possible you have already been alerted to this error, in which case I am sorry for the double up. But it is vital for beginners to have correct plant identification information for safety if nothing else. Judy Williams via email You are correct, Judy, and thanks for pointing it out. It was a labelling error at our end. Plant…

Citrullus lanatus – in Latin, citrullus is the diminutive of citrus and lana means wool, referring to the fuzziness of the young fruit. ORIGIN Nineteenth-century explorer Dr David Livingstone found large patches of watermelon growing in central Africa. They are cultivated as well as found in a semi-wild state in Namibia and Botswana. In southern Russia and the Middle East, watermelons have long been grown and their seeds roasted. They reached China 1000 years ago, where their seeds are still the sole source of oil in some remote areas. CULTIVATION A rambling vine has small male and female flowers that become large, football-sized fruits. Watermelons need a long, hot growing season and a lot of space, but they are easy to cultivate in the right climate. Pruning of the vine…

With some careful planning, observation and know-how, you can turn your vegie patch into a productive garden capable of feeding your family every night of the week. We all want to harvest our homegrown vegetables from our backyard, but ensuring you have enough variety, quantity and consistency all year round can be trickier than it sounds. Whether you’re growing on acreage or a sunny apartment balcony, there are things you can do – and not do – to ensure you’re getting the most appropriate food out of your available growing space. The important – and difficult – thing to do is to only grow what you love to eat. Then if we think about clever ways to use your available space, how much and how often to plant certain varieties,…

With a relatively long growing season, you want to make sure you get the most out of your garlic harvest before your cloves begin to sprout, indicating it’s time to get them back in the ground. Garlic is rarely consumed fresh straight out of the ground. It’s harvested and hung in suitable conditions to cure in order to give it a longer shelf life and to get maximum use out of your homegrown harvest. Because most of us tend to grow more than we can use – even after we’ve saved the largest and bestlooking cloves for seed for next season – there are plenty of things you can do with your garlic harvest in order to give it more uses before it starts to sprout. Somewhat ironically, although a…

Although this event is groundbreaking, we didn’t actually break any ground Farm My School is an initiative aiming to transform unused land within schools into regenerative market gardens, to grow community, educate youth and produce affordable nutrient-dense food. Two men with a vision have built a farm at a secondary school in regional Victoria. Created on a 1.5-acre disused soccer field at Bellarine Secondary College (BSC) in October 2022, the farm was established by local community members in a record 24-hour period. It’s the pilot project of a newly launched initiative called Farm My School (FMS), which is the brainchild of permaculturists Ben Shaw and James McLennan. The pair partnered with the school community and Bellarine Community Health to bring their plan to life. THE INSPIRATION Ben says they were…

In the small Northern Territory town of Mataranka, Yen Nguyen has created a swathe of green among red dust and termite mounds. Situated on Mangarayi and Yangman country, Mataranka is a town famous for two things: its natural hot springs and the 1908 autobiographical novel We of the Never Never, written by Jeannie Gunn. Of the region, Gunn wrote, ‘This is the land of Plenty of Time; Plenty of Time and Wait a While.’ The ‘wait a while’ bit aptly describes the patient approach of Yen Nguyen, who has set up a paradise known as Yen’s Green Corner, turning the red dust into an abundant permaculture garden. Yen feeds locals and tourists every week through her cafe. Patrons are able to find respite in the shade, wander through her productive…

Books THE GREAT PLANT-BASED CON WHY EATING A PLANTS-ONLY DIET WON’T IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH OR SAVE THE PLANET BY JAYNE BUXTON (HACHETTE 2022) Review by Emily Stokes Almost every day we hear a call for us to reduce our consumption of meat and dairy, with the long-term goal for many being the widespread conversion to a vegan lifestyle. ‘Plant-based’ has become a term so worthy and ubiquitous that many people have forgotten their historic antipathy to an extreme vegan cause. But what if the statistics driving the plant-based movement were misleading? What if it’s being driven by a coalition of vested interests that includes environmentalists, Big Pharma, Big Food, established dietary advice organisations – even a little-known but rich and powerful religious group with a longstanding commitment to a vegan…