Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 28 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…

Not a conifer or an oak as the name would suggest, the coastal she-oak is native to southeast Australia. A member of the Casuarinaceae family, she-oaks are drought hardy and fire resistant. Aboriginal use of native plants is often threefold. The plant may provide a valuable resource in the manufacture of tools, weapons and/or utensils. It may also provide an ingredient that either has medicinal value or be a source of nutrition. FOR PROTECTION Aboriginal children are told that if they get lost or are separated from the larger group, they are to seek shelter in the thick she-oak groves. This will protect them from the elements. They can light a small fire for warmth and survive comfortably for a few days if need be. When the wind picks up…

Fruit thinning involves removing some young fruit to encourage a crop of larger sized fruit. It is especially important for younger trees that might be damaged by snapped branches if they are too heavy with fruit, and encourages a more consistent crop size year to year. Complete thinning in early to mid-summer, between fruit set and when the fruit is two centimetres or so in diameter. Look at each cluster of fruit on the tree and simply snap off the smallest fruit until two or three healthy fruit are left. For trees like plums, remove fruit so that there is around 10 centimetres between each pair of fruit on the branches. While some trees will naturally shed fruit as they mature, manual thinning is still beneficial and the earlier this…

By learning more ways to cook the lesser-known vegies this season produces, you’re increasing diversity in the kitchen and giving yourself more planting options for your patch. This time of year produces plenty of vegies that often get overlooked for the garden or in the kitchen because we’re not sure how to get the best from them in a meal. But with a little bit of know-how, winter vegies like brussels sprouts, turnips and okra will go from fillers for stews and soups into stars of meals the whole family will love. BRUSSELS SPROUTS I use ‘willingness to give sprouts a chance’ as a friendship test: if someone is closed off to brussels sprouts, how are they going to go with arthouse cinema or cat memes? The key to a…

“I have had to simplify and accept that for the time being, while my kids are still young, I just can’t do it all” When we try to live our best life each and every day, things can get overwhelming. Just don’t let the thing that has to give be your own wellbeing. In an ideal world, we are doing it all. We’re practising all the old homesteading techniques our grandparents did. We’re baking bread, growing food, preserving produce, making and mending clothes and other belongings, all while being fantastic humans. Humans who are available for our kids, partners, friends, family and communities and at the same time, running businesses or working full time, not to mention looking after our own wellbeing. It’s a lot to fit in and when…

Ross O’Reilly is the visionary behind High Valley Dawn, a 140-acre seaside off-grid property nestled in the Capricorn Coast in Queensland, of which the Darumbal people are the traditional custodians. Established in 2016, it has the optimal climate for growing food, allowing Ross to work faithfully to core permaculture ethical principles: land care, people care, fair share. Ross, Judy and their family had a vision to create ‘an ever evolving, self-sustaining community model nurturing love and joy in harmony with nature for the greater good of all’. High Valley Dawn is cared for by a team of volunteers, working among free-ranging animals: cows, chickens, ducks, horses, sheep, turkeys, geese and pigs, as well as resident working dogs, all living in harmony together. It offers a dynamic eco-business model that includes…

“You can make these covers from any wool fabric; blankets that are past their best or even a worn-out machine-knitted jumper” Hot water bottles are an efficient low-cost method of taking the chill off your bed, or warming parts of your body. This homemade woollen cover will improve its efficiency. Used cleverly, a thermal layer or two of woollen fabric has the ability to improve the quality of your sleep by helping your hot water bottle retain its heat for longer. You can make these covers from any wool fabric; blankets that are past their best or even a worn-out machine-knitted jumper. The principles are pretty straightforward, and there’s a lot of room for improvisation and embellishment if you want to go beyond the basics. Australia and New Zealand were…

Books THE WIRES THAT BIND ELECTRIFICATION AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL QUARTERLY ESSAY BY SAUL GRIFFITHS (2023) The country is at a crossroads. In The Wires That Bind, inventor, engineer and visionary Saul Griffith reveals the world that awaits us if we make the most of Australia’s energy future. Griffith paints an inspiring yet practical picture of empowered local communities acting collectively when it comes to renewable energy, and benefiting financially. He considers both equity and security – an end to dependence on foreign oil, for instance. He explores the rejuvenation of regional Australia, as well as the rise of a new populist movement driven by Australian women. And he explodes once and for all the trees versus jobs binary. This is an essay about building a better world, one community at a…

JESSICA RASCHKE Jessica Raschke is a writer, artist and psychotherapist. Her background includes working in the not-for-profit, tertiary and arts sectors, primarily in teaching, writing, editing, creative consultancy and research. In recent years, she has trained and worked in community and cultural development, particularly in the death literacy movement. For more details, visit www.jessicaraschke.com. ‘NANNA’ ANNA MATILDA With a history in horticulture and fine arts, Anna has worked in education and consulting for nearly three decades. She is founder and creative director of The Urban Nanna, through which she showcases and teaches traditional skills, crafts and methods of living set in the framework of a modern-day world. As well as reviving traditional ways of gardening, foraging, cooking, preserving and crafting, she focuses heavily on living a sustainable, low-waste permaculture lifestyle…

PRUNING FRUIT TREES When is the best time to prune my fruit trees? You can prune your deciduous fruit trees up to three or more times throughout the year, but the major cutback should be done in the cold winter months, before the sap rises. Start the pruning season with the early fruiters, such as apricot, nectarine, plum and peach, then come apples and pears. The really late fruiters such as quince and pomegranate can be done last. Stone fruit trees should be pruned after fruiting but while still in active growth as these varieties are susceptible to a bacterial disease called gummosis. Pruning in warmer weather will allow the pruning wound to heal more quickly and reduce the risk of the bacteria entering. For citrus you prune after fruiting…

Beta vulgaris – from the Latin word for a common beet. ORIGINS Silverbeet is native to the sea coast of Spain, Portugal and islands of the Mediterranean Sea. Wild sea beets are still found in the Cape Verde Islands, the Canary Islands and Sicily. Beetroot, sugar beet and forage beet are also classified as Beta vulgaris. DESCRIPTION Silverbeet, also called Swiss chard, has been used for human consumption and animal fodder for centuries. Rainbow silverbeet has has purple, orange, yellow, pink, red or yellow stems. CULTIVATION Popular with gardeners because it is so easy to grow. Each multiform cluster of seeds contains between two and five seeds. If you plant an unbroken cluster you will have to thin plants out. But seed clusters can be broken up by placing them…

The reasons to try your hand at grafting are many and varied. As well as increasing the varieties of fruit you’ll be harvesting each year, you’ll be improving pollination, extending your fruiting season and creating important diversity to benefit your patch. In simple terms, grafting is the art of taking cuttings from one tree and attaching it to another. If this sounds easy it’s because it actually is! So if you’ve ever pondered grafting a few new varieties of apples or plums onto an existing fruit tree, or enjoyed a variety of peach or pear from a friend’s harvest and wished you could have a tree just like it, then grafting is definitely worth a shot. With the plethora of grafting techniques out there, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with…

A considered renovation and clever retrofitting turned a small dilapidated house on Wathaurong country into a rustic, coastal retreat for this creative young family. When Harriet Birrell (otherwise known as Natural Harry) and husband Fraser West needed somewhere to live, they felt overwhelmed by the price of buying close to family on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula. ‘We had a very small budget,’ explains Harriet. But when the option arose to renovate a small, run-down house on land owned by relatives, the couple jumped at the opportunity. At 40 m2, ‘It’s not technically a tiny home, as it’s not mobile and cannot fit in a trailer, but it’s small nonetheless’. By utilising their own skills and labour and incorporating upcycled and reclaimed materials, the couple made the house liveable within six months,…

“Transforming a site that once played host to family tennis tournaments into a productive patch was a no-brainer” For Jaclyn Crupi and her partner Andrew Stewardson, transforming a disused tennis court into a productive vegie garden was about finding a design that balanced history, happiness and health. In 2019, Jaclyn and Andrew acquired half an acre on the Mornington Peninsula, less than 100 kilometres southeast of Melbourne. On it stands a mid-century home that remains practically unchanged from what would have been regarded a quite forward-thinking build in its day, right down to the pantry’s cold cupboard next to the small original kitchen at the rear of the home. Imagined by Andrew’s grandmother and designed by his grandfather in 1948, the home has been the Stewardson family’s holiday destination for…

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 our favourite will receive a copy of Slow Fashion by Megan Anderson. This issue’s winner is four-year-old Freyja Helland from Bega, NSW. SHOW US YOUR GARDEN Avery John, 4 Ashgrove, Qld Describe your garden I have four big square raised gardens to keep the dogs out of and there are lots of fruit trees around the yard. What do you grow? We have lots of things in our garden; lemons, finger limes, lemonade fruit, coffee, basil, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, chilli, oregano, thyme, cucumbers, loofahs, lettuce, snap peas, spinach and parsley. What’s your favourite thing to do in…

A CONSCIOUS HOME BY REBECCA SULLIVAN (BAUER MEDIA BOOKS 2023) In a world where climate resilience is more important than ever, Rebecca Sullivan takes you on a room to room journey to create a natural, healthy lifestyle for your whole family using easy recipes, projects, tips and tricks for all eco-minded Aussies. just starting out or already in action. Whether you’re just starting out or already in full swing, small actions in our own homes can make a massive difference – and can be quick, simple and inexpensive. THE GREAT REGENERATION ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE. OPEN-SOURCE TECHNOLOGY AND A RADICAL VISION OF HOPE BY DORN COX (CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING 2023) In The Great Regeneration, farmer-technologist Dorn Cox and author-activist Courtney White explore unique, groundbreaking research aimed at reclaiming the space where science…

“Do what you can, keep it real and be kind to yourself” Welcome to another issue of Pip. I am coming into my tenth year of publishing this terrific title. When I started Pip, my youngest child was a baby, we were living in our shed, building our house and I had a crazy idea to start a magazine. I started this because I saw a gap in the market for a beautiful well-designed magazine that was both informative and inspiring, and covered all the different aspects of living a more earth-friendly lifestyle. I didn’t want it to be just another gardening magazine, nor did I want it to be a old-fashioned alternative-living magazine, I wanted it to be stylish and attractive and inviting to read. I wanted it to…

WRITE IN AND WIN! The letter of the issue will win this canvas apron and secateurs from Aussie Gardener valued at $69 Sharing bounty My mum thinks my vegie garden is Pip worthy, so I thought I’d send you a photo. We’re looking at newly planted lettuce, baby spinach, newly seeded lettuce and carrots. Then, in the next bed; beans, bunching onions, lettuce, all sorts of herbs, tomatoes and chillies. There are sunflowers for the chickens – their house is just visible, far left – and weeds, all mixed in together. What you can’t see, hidden behind this bounty, is a patch of potatoes, shallots and pumpkins. Tristy Sheridan via email Your garden sounds beautifully abundant, Tristy. What I love seeing is all those plants flowering and going to seed,…

Striking in their appearance, Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) mushrooms have been a favourite among foragers all around the world for many years due to their immunity-boosting properties. Found in damp forests growing on dead or decaying hardwood trees, logs and stumps, turkey tail mushrooms are saprotrophic, which means they get their nutrients from dead organic matter which is breaking down. As a result, they play an important ecological role in decomposing dead trees and recycling nutrients back into the forest ecosystem. For a long time, they have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for their potential health benefits, but they are also used in some cultures as a culinary ingredient. Turkey tail mushrooms are edible but unless they’re small and young, they are usually tough and not very palatable when…

“Now is the perfect time to think about which varieties you might want to grow” Ever dreamed of picking deliciously ripe stone fruit from your own backyard? Winter is the time to put the work in if you are wanting to be picking sun-warmed fruit in summer. While great quality fruit is available seasonally at farmers markets and roadside stalls, nothing can beat the taste of a sun-warmed peach straight from the tree or homemade plum jam on toast. And it’s not just the harvest that makes stone fruit a great addition to the home garden – branches laden with blossoms in spring attract bees and beneficial insects when they are needed and provide a beautiful reminder that warmer weather is on the way. CHOOSING YOUR FRUIT Stone fruits are…

Winter can feel like a bleak, barren time in nature and many gardeners find slim pickings from the patch as we wait for our winter vegies to sweeten with the arrival of frosts. A simple solution to filling the nutrient gap is to turn to foraging. Rather than curse those weeds that crop up between pavers and in dormant vegie beds, why not eat the problem instead? Here are three weeds which are as nutritious as they are common, and really versatile in the kitchen too. CHICKWEED (STELLARIA MEDIA) Sometimes referred to as common chickweed, chickenwort, winterweed or starwort, chickweed is a sprawling, bright green plant, with a shallow thin root system, identifiable by its tender pointed oval-shaped leaves which grow on alternating sides of its stems. Those stems feature…

“Fungi extend relationships through the soil to other plants, assisting nutrient transfer and uniting plant communities” Once it was mushrooms attracting all the attention. They still are but the growing interest in mycelium and the notion of subterranean networks of fungi is changing not only how we understand fungi and forests, but life. Fungi provide a fundamental foundation to the forest and are a key to understanding how forests work. For many of us, fungi are puzzling because we make sense of nature based on our understanding of animals and plants. That’s what we were taught in school. Fungi are often defined not by what they are, but by what they are not. Fungi are very different organisms to plants and animals in the way they are composed and how…

DIGGERS Diggers invites you to learn all aspects of sustainable and organic gardening with incredible presenters sharing their knowledge. The program will evolve throughout the seasons, with something for every gardener. www.diggers.com.au/education 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 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PERMACULTURE WORKSHOPS & TOURS Absorb sustainable living skills on a mature organic farm. Learn with the Brookmans and specialist tutors at a variety of open days and short courses in permaculture, food production and straw-bale construction, or fully immerse yourself in the Permaculture Design Certificate. www.foodforest.com.au (08) 8522 6450 PERMACULTURE TEACHER TRAINING AND…

It’s pretty common to have a handful of broken, old or rusty garden tools that you’ve vowed to get around to repairing one day. With a bit of elbow grease, patience and creativity, not only can you get them back to good working order, but you just might be able to make yourself a tool you didn’t know you had. This scenario sees a snapped shovel, a broken short garden fork as well as a pair of very rusty shears that were found in the bottom of an old overgrown garden. But instead of repairing the shovel and fork back to their original condition, the decision was made to use the shovel’s long handle on the head of the garden fork – perfect for a winter compost-turning workout – and…

Q WHAT DO YOU CALL A NERVOUS TREE? A A SWEATY PALM FUN FACTS ABOUT STONE FRUIT Six things you may not know about the juicy fruits 1 Plums are the second-most cultivated fruit in the world. 2 Apricot trees are in the rose family. 3 Peach trees should produce fruit for about 12 years. 4 Astronauts ate apricots on the Apollo mission to the moon. 5 On average, a cherry tree will produce 7000 cherries! 6 A nectarine is really just a smooth-skinned peach. Q WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU CROSS A DOG WITH A DAISY? A COLLIE-FLOWER FIND-A-WORD How many of the 24 words from this issue can you find hidden in this box? APRICOT BLANKET BRUSSELS SPROUT FORK FUNGI GRAFTING HIGH VALLEY HOT WATER BOTTLE KALE…

Aussie Gardener Store CANVAS TARPS By Robyn Rosenfeldt I was immediately attracted to this tarpaulin because it is made of canvas. Most tarps these days are made of polyethylene and over time they get weak and degrade, shedding strips of plastic all over the place as they eventually fall apart. The beauty of canvas is it is strong and it won’t break down as quickly. And unlike the old blue tarps, it won’t shred micro plastics as it ages. Canvas tarpaulins are breathable and won’t sweat, and they have that beautiful unique smell of canvas, which reminds me of camping as a kid. The Aussie Gardener canvas tarps are made of a sturdy 340 gsm canvas so are great to use as covers and as part of your camping set-up.…

https://aussiegardener.com.au/ Far more than an online gardening shop offering good old-fashioned customer service, Brian and Kaylene Chapman’s Aussie Gardener Store website has built an online gardening community where you can shop, share, connect and learn. Aussie Gardener Store’s aim is simple: to simplify gardening so everyone can give it a go and succeed. Whether it’s through the rigorously tested range of products, the unrivalled customer and after-sales service or the growing online community supporting new and experienced gardeners on their journey, Brian, Kaylene and the Aussie Gardening team want to help. TRIED AND TESTED Aussie Gardener Store (aussiegardener.com.au) offers a wide range of products, from tools and gadgets, watering and irrigation, plant food and protective gear, through to pest deterrents and wildlife-safe netting. Brian says the team has tested each…