The inspiration…

My son, Hugh, was inspired to find a simpler and better way to extract worms from a worm farm. He was selling worm tower kits at the local market and was getting tired of the long process of separating the worms from the castings. He knew there had to be a better way …

Hugh’s method of collecting worms had us harvesting an abundance of worms so rapidly.

The typical method – too slow for Hugh

We had taught Hugh the typical method of separating worms, but he found it was fiddly and took too long. The standard method is up-ending a worm farm on a table or other smooth surface and mounding it up like a volcano. The worms move away from the heat and light towards the centre. Bit by bit you gently scrape away the castings, wait, scrape some more etc… and you are eventually left with a bundle of worms in the middle.

The typical method of separating castings from worms. Mound it up, scrape it off …. repeat a few times…

This method is still good for collecting the castings for your garden since you are rescuing most of the worms to put back into the farm. If however you are particularly wanting to extract bundles of worms for whatever reason – to feed to chickens, for fishing bait, for a micro-enterprise as Hugh was doing – I’ve not come across a simpler way.

Hugh’s ingenious idea…

You’re not going to believe how remarkably simple this method is, and just how effective it is. I love that Hugh brought his creative thinking to a challenge he was facing and found a solution. This method he has developed is a standout – it revolutionises the process, making it so easy and convenient. Essentially, he decided it would be much easier to entice the worms to come to him. Check it out how he does this in our short 3 minute youtube clip (link above).

Please share….

Please share our little video and spread Hugh’s positive idea. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/moraggambleourpermaculturelife to get notice of each new movie I make. You can also subscribe to this blog so you get notice of each article and film.

The post Ingeniously Simple Idea to Harvest Compost Worms By 8 Year Old Boy: Film #14 with Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

1. Feed soil life.
2. Protect soil life and structure.

As you know healthy soil = healthy plants = nourishing food = good health.  Plants in sterile soil perform poorly. Unhealthy plants are more prone to pest and disease problems, just as unhealthy food leaves us more prone to disease and malnourishment.

So what are superb soils? They feel crumbly and moist. They smell earthy. Their structure is open allowing movement of air, water and nutrients to plant roots. They are full of diverse and abundant life.

You may have read the previous soil post about soils in June: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Soil and Grow Better Food http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/5-simple-ways-to-improve-your-soil-and.html. In that post I recommended to:

1. Open the Soil
2. Feed the Soil
3. Add Organic Matter to the Soil
4. Mulch the Soil
5. Water Deeply

This is exactly what we need to be doing. I wanted to add some extra information here about why.

Did you know most plants have root extenders …..?!

Plants in real soil – superb alive soils – are supported by the web of life in the soil, in particular, fungus. Did you know that 90% of plants rely on fungus to access most of the nutrients and moisture they need – the fungal filaments are like root extensions. They go finer, further and deeper than roots could ever go.  So plants and fungus live in symbiosis – a mutually supportive relationship – and plants in this relationship are stronger and more resilient.

Why gardening in the ground is so important…

This plant-fungus relationship is why I recommend, wherever possible, to grow food in the ground and work to improve the aliveness of soils. (Understandably this not as easily achieved in balcony gardens and areas of soil contamination). The importance of connecting with soil life also explains why raised garden beds that are disconnected from actual soil can limit the vitality of your garden soils and plants.

How to create soil aliveness?

The base of the soil food web is organic matter.  More organic matter = more soil life. The two main things that support beneficial bacterial and fungal growth in the soil are: organic matter and protection from the elements, this also supports the flourishing of the entire soil food web.

What damages good soil?

• tillage damages the fungi – it severs the fungal threads
• fungicides and pesticides kill the good fungus, bacterias and bugs
• lack of organic matter – no food for soil life
• no soil protection – over-exposure to sun, rain and wind kills soil life

5 Simple Strategies to Feed and Protect Soils

Here are some natural and simple ways to feed soil life, protect soil structure and tend the soil:

1. Activate your soil with compost. 
I have a range of compost systems on the go, but I really love the simplicity and portability of the movable compost bins. I take them to an area that need a real boost, compost there for a while, attracting a zone of soil aliveness, then moving the bin on to another spot, but leaving the compost there to spread out, mulch over and make a new garden. There are also a number of herbs you can add into a compost to activate it. Read about these here: http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/improve-your-soil-with-herbs.html

Movable compost bin and worm tower – creating soil life hot spots.

2. Add compost worms to your garden ecosystem.
One way to do this is by installing simple worm towers throughout your garden, taking the benefits of worms and worm castings directly into your garden soil. It creates nutrient rich zones, and zones of soil aliveness. Visit my previous post about worm towers:
http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/a-quick-and-super-easy-way-to-turn-food.html and another which links to  the 7 minute film showing you how to do it.
http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/film-5-how-to-make-worm-tower.html

3. Add organic matter, compost and leafy greens to garden beds – in a no-till way.
Making no-dig gardens feeds and protects soils and creates a great environment for your soil life to thrive. This helps so much to support a thriving vegetable garden. By using the no-dig garden method rather than digging it into the soil protects the soil structure. Visit my previous post to see how to make a no-dig garden:
http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/morags-simple-successful-no-dig-garden.html

4. Plant deep rooted plants
I plant comfrey around the edge of the garden and beside the compost. The thick penetrating roots accumulate nutrients from deep in the soil and bring them to the surface. You can then use comfrey leaves as an excellent compost activator, to make a potent homemade comfrey fertiliser (http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/film-3-how-to-make-comfrey-tea-with.html), to add organic matter and nutrients into the soil layer while making a no-dig garden, or just to chop and drop. Also fruit trees with comfrey nearby seem to do better.

Comfrey

5. Regularly chop and drop organic matter.
I am often wandering around the garden, chopping back surplus growth and tossing it around trees and garden beds to feed and protect soil life. It’s amazing how quickly it breaks down and gets taken into the soil. Because having enough organic matter is so vital, I actually grow plants especially for this purpose such as the comfrey, Queensland arrowroot, lemongrass and pigeon pea – but many other plants can be used too, such as the abundant mulberry or pumpkin leaves.

Old pumpkin vines as chop and drop mulch.

In and around the veggie garden I mostly use mulch – a seedfree grass hay that is easy to work with around the little plants.

Thick layers of mulch get drawn rapidly into our soils.

I also recommend using cover crops (living mulch) to cover bare soils, open soils, add organic matter and renew areas.

DEFINITIONS: 

Bacteria – single celled organisms that are the most abundant microbes in the soil. 

Fungal filaments – the fine white threads called mycelium you can see in healthy soil. We need this mycorrhizal fungi (symbiotic relationship between the plant and fungus) – 90% of plants rely on it. It increases plant strength, increases water uptake, absorbs minerals & nutrients and in addition stores 1/3 of soil carbon.

(Interestingly, mycorrhizal fungi does not form relationships with the Cruciferae family (eg mustard, broccoli), Chenopodiaceae (eg spinach, beets) and Proteaceae (banksia, macadamia). Fungal numbers drop in the soil with these plants, same as when the soil is left bare and exposed.)

Protozoa – single cell organisms that eat bacterias and release nitrogen to plants. 

Nematodes – microscopic wormlike creatures, that are the most numerous multi-celled things on Earth and an essential part of healthy soil ecosystems. They are found in every conceivable habitat from the deepest ocean to the highest mountain. They feed on bacteria, fungi, algae, small invertebrates and other nematodes. Gardeners immediately think of root knot nematodes, and cringe in fear when they hear their name mentioned. Having root knot nematodes are an indicator that your soil ecology is out of balance – adding more organic matter, compost and moisture can usually help regain the balance, as well as planting a crop of brassicas that are more resistant to the root knot nematodes – particularly the mustard varieties.

The post The 2 Best Things You Can Do To Simply Create Superb Soils for Superbly Healthy Food appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

I filmed my talk about Incredible Edibles at the Kitchen Garden Stage of the incredibly popular Queensland Garden Expo on July 10. In this talk, I share my passion for and knowledge about some of my favourite plants and strategies. The plants I talk about here are also very helpful for verge gardeners, small-space gardeners, and community gardeners.

Congratulations and thank you to all the volunteers who set up the WONDERFUL edible demonstration gardens at the Expo with the verge garden theme – a huge effort!! It was great to ramble through it with Costa Georgiadis, Jerry Coleby-Williams and chat with old and new friends.

This recording is 42 mins.

FILMING NOTE: This is the first time I have tried to film my own talk (I usually have a helper) and of course, I forgot about the camera. At one stage I moved too close – oops – half a head.  A few minutes later I realise and move back again – please excuse this!

Take a look at my other short films:

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village.

Film #2: Our Permaculture Life: Community Permaculture Garden (9 mins 30 secs)


At the Yandina Community Gardens – I’ll be teaching a Permaculture course there each Friday from 23 September.

In my award-winning garden, Crystal Waters Permaculture Village

The post Film #4: Incredible Edibles Talk with Morag Gamble at the QLD Garden Expo appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

During the celebration of community at the Yandina Community Gardens today I made this little film to share with you.

There’s lots of fun for kids here too. Check out their website for some great plant info and recipes too – www.yandinacommunitygardens.com.au

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1. Open the Soil
2. Feed the Soil
3. Add Organic Matter to the Soil
4. Mulch the Soil
5. Water Deeply

I mulch very thickly in the subtropics.

I know that in some places it’s not possible, but wherever you can, grow in connection with the soil. Get your gardens into the ground and keep your veggie gardens in contact with natural soil – activate it!  Do this and growing food will:

• become easier (living soil supports healthy plants which are less prone to pests and disease ),
• be cheaper (less external fertilisers and amendments) and
• be more nutritious (healthy plants in good soil are more nutrient dense)

All in all it becomes a far more laid back, peaceful and healthier way of gardening. It really doesn’t even take that much effort or time to do these five things.

1. Open the soil

I regularly walk around with my garden fork and open the soil amongst the plants, and on the upper side of a garden bed (if on a slope). This ensures that any moisture falling on the garden has far more chance to penetrate than runoff. By opening, I simply mean plunging in the tines of fork and gently levering, not lifting or turning the soil.

Opening the soil with my favourite old garden fork.

2. Feed the Soil

Concentrate on feeding the soil and activating the soil life, rather than feeding the plants.  A healthy soil will be the best environment for flourishing veggies. A few good ways:

• grow comfrey – chop and drop leaves around the garden, make a natural fertiliser – they draw nutrients and minerals from deep down.
• add compost when making new beds, and top-dress regularly
• install worm towers to keep improving the soil from below.

Quick sketch of my little worm tower – an upturned pot on the top helps to keep out the insects and animals.

3.  Add Organic Matter to The Soil

Organic matter in the soil acts like a sponge. Typically Australian soils are low in organic matter, and as plants grow and are harvested, vegetable gardens need it replenished. Compost is one of the best ways to add organic matter to the soil, so is regularly adding mulch and doing the ‘chop and drop’.

Have compost systems everywhere throughout the garden.

4. Mulch the Soil

5. Water Deeply

Your plants will be healthier, more resilient and more nutritious.

The post 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Soil and Grow Better Food appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

How do you get thriving permaculture garden while you’re renting?  There are particular challenges, but there’s also a whole lot of great ideas for creating abundant temporary gardens and flourishing community spaces.

In our 20s, Evan and I lived in rental houses for years before we moved to Crystal Waters ecovillage.  We grew a fair bit in pots, in the yard and along the footpath, but we also became avid community gardeners and helped to organise a food box system for the other foods we needed. Our sense of permaculture gardening embraced the community – the city farm, friends places and verges (amazing macadamias and tamarinds).

Maia checking out the community garden at Maleny Neighbourhood Centre’s community garden – one of the many local community gardens where I run regular free permaculture workshops.

Not all renters move regularly of course and some landlords are happy for you to create an flourishing edible garden. My grandparents rented the same house for about 40 years. They always had a lovely vegetable garden out the back. Generally however, renters or not, people do move more often now. Almost half of the Australian population moves every 5 years. In Australia, government statistics show that people in their 20s and 30s move multiple times in that 5 year period.

So, whether you are a renter or just a regular mover, here are some ideas for you…

Mesclun Greens Pot

Create a fabulously productive salad bar in a pot. Densely seed up a pot with a mix of things like lettuce, rocket, mizuna, endive, coriander, asian greens, spinach, basil and mustard greens. As soon as the leaves grow big enough, start snipping a leaf here and there – a pot full of nutrients, colour and flavour. To keep the plants thriving, regularly water them with a natural fertiliser – diluted worm liquid is great.

Lettuces, radishes, rocket, basil, mustard greens all grow so quickly. Very soon you will be plucking fresh leaves for your salad bowl or stir-fry.

For getting things going in your temporary pot gardens, I recommend using a few bigger pots rather than lots of little pots which dry out so quickly. Using self-watering pots or mini-wicking gardens is also a benefit.  Here’s a few ideas to try:

Herb Garden in a pot

In large pots you can also grow a wonderful diversity of herbs together.

Try themes – teas, asian spice, pizza pots…

• For a nice tea – try mints and lemon balm.
• For an spice pot – try chilli, lemongrass, coriander, vientamese mint …
• For a pizza and pasta pot – grow sage, rosemary, oregano, parsley, chives, mini basil and thyme together.

Mix of basils and tomato in a large up cycled pot.  (source www.yougrowgirl.com)

Fruit tree guild in a pot

If you are in a temporary garden, it’s still wonderful to be able to have fruit trees, but you most probably want to be able to take them with you when you move.

Even the smallest garden can support a dwarf fruit tree or two in a pot. So many fruit trees are now available in dwarf varieties and they do really well. However, you do need to remember that these plants are entirely dependent on you for their water and nutrients – they cannot send their roots off in search of more food and water. Plant the fruit tree in a big pot  – remember that in 2 years you’ll need to trim roots and add fresh potting mix, so choose a shape of pot that you can slide the tree from.

Some good fruits plants for pots – dwarf lemon, pomegranate, acerola, finger lime, kaffir lime, jaboticaba, dwarf apple, dwarf mango, dwarf avocado (need another to cross-pollinate though), tamarillo, strawberry … just to name a few.

You could also try a multi-grafted tree to get a few different varieties on one root stock – for example mandarin, orange and lemon.

Make sure you mulch the pots well and add complementary plants such as nasturtiums (edible leaves, flowers and seeds), herbs to repel insects, flowers to attract pollinators.

Nasturtiums add great colour. It attracts pollinators, is a living mulch and has edible flowers, leaves and seeds.

Worm farm in a pot

In the middle of a large pot, sink a mini worm farm. You can feed the worms directly and the worms take the nutrients to the plant roots for you. You can simply use a large lidded yoghurt container with holes drilled in the base. Bury it in the centre of the pot, put in a little soil, add a handful of worms then start feeding them.

Use grow bags or sacks

Fabric grow bags are an interesting lightweight and affordable alternative to pots. I have a collection of old sacks and chicken food bags that are good for this, but I have also seen grow bags for sale. These grow bags are better outside than the balcony as they seep.

Old potato sacks can be reused as grow bags – chicken feed bags also work.

A type of grow bag available – shopping bags also work in this way.

Not pretty – but a simple concept. If you need to buy in soil anyway, why not use the wrapping it comes in.

Potato tower

A temporary potato garden can also be made in a tower of wire netting. A potato tower is a great way to grow backyard potatoes in a small space without digging up the soil. Keep adding compost and mulch as the plants grow. When the tops die back – undo the tower and harvest the spuds.

Sprouts and Microgreens

You can have a constant source of greens all year round even if you have no garden at all. Right in your own kitchen you can have a mini desktop garden. Microgreens are the shoots of vegetables such as lettuce, beetroot, rocket, celery etc that are picked just after the first leaves have developed.  I love sprouting too – particularly mung beans, alfalfa and buckwheat.  They are so quick, easy and nutritious.

Turning your scraps into food for the soil

In a small space it is possible to set up a worm farm, compost bin or tumbler. They are compact and can move with you when you need to.  Collecting your food scraps and sprinkling it with a bokashi mix can really reduce the smell and activate your scraps for composting.  Have you considered a community compost system.  The city of Sydney even has some helpful guidelines on how to manage one.

Caloundra community gardeners separating the worm castings and collecting worms for a new worm farm

Growing on the verge

Verge gardening is growing in popularity. People are taking their gardening endeavours to the streets and claiming some public space in common areas for edible landscaping. It’s a way to grow food together and build community. A nearby town, Buderim, has a great example called Urban Food Street, so does Sustainable Chippendale in downtown Sydney.

Join or form a community orchard group

Cities can be places of abundance with fruits and vegetables growing in many of the underutlilised spaces. Public parks and community gardens can become community orchards – places where people can grow, tend and share locally-produced fruit. Some cities such Seattle are actively encouraging this. Often the harvest from one backyard fruit tree can be too much for a person or family, so sharing a range of plants makes good common sense. The Urban Orchard Project in Melbourne links over 200 households to do just this.

A gorgeous community food forest Evan and I stumbled across walking about Ljubljana, Slovenia many years ago.

Join or form a community garden

If there is simply not the space or right aspect at your place, consider joining a community garden, growing on the verge or helping at a local school garden. There are so many resources to help you on the Australian City Farm and Community Garden Network website

I love gardening with other people. I learnt so much this way. Big jobs just seem to disappear amongst the laughter of working with friends in the garden. Sharing the work, sharing the produce, sharing ideas, sharing knowledge created greater abundance and a sense of amazing possibilities of what we could achieve together.

Some of the lovely participants from a recent workshop I led at the city farm – some just beginning their gardening journey. City farms and community gardens are great places to learn.

We started Northey Street City Farm over 20 years ago now – and as a small community group we not only filled a public park with herbs, vegetables, fruits and perennials – we regenerated a segment of urban stream, planted a woodlot, developed a bush tucker corridor, created a vibrant community hub that continues to thrive today with an organic farmers market, permaculture nursery and fabulous education programs. There are no fences – people can wander, smell, taste, feel, enjoy and learn from the space.  Now there is also market gardens and an allotment garden section – no fences still! Fabulous.

Our involvement in setting up the permaculture educational gardens at Northey Street City Farm inspired the way we developed our garden here at Crystal Waters – which we offer too as an educational space.

These are just a few of the many many ideas for growing food in small spaces and temporary situations. Please share your favourite temporary permaculture ideas.

Living a simple life and having a thriving edible garden helps us to live a healthy life, reduce our impact, diminish the waste we produce, scale down the debt we are in and simply connect to nature, the seasons, our community and our selves.

The post Temporary permaculture for renters – 11 ideas for growing abundant food without owning land appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Brazilian Spinach

Zone 1 in my permaculture garden – can you see red hibiscus spinach, mexican tarragon, society garlic, yacon, turmeric, sweet potato, taro, madagascar bean, chia, red salvia…

The lovely young Japanese WWOOFer staying with us at the moment has been top-dressing the garden niches amongst the perennials. We first forked and fed the soil, and replenished the food supply in the worm tower. 

She’s also been teaching our homeschooled kids Japanese language and culture. She has a very interesting story to tell about her life. She comes from a town not far from Fukishima. She was just 15 when the tsunami hit and was of course heavily impacted by it’s aftermath. The chronic food shortages that resulted inspired to study agriculture and explore sustainable food systems.  She is in second year of her degree and leads a youth club that rescues food. They cook it up and sell it in a little cafe in their town.  I love having such interesting guests and WWOOFers visit us here – we learn so much and the children are exposed to such worldly issues in a direct way.

Maia was out in the garden working with Rin from Japan and took this photo and the others of her included here. I am looking forward to these mandarins ripening.

The colour and contrast of the Red (purple) Hibiscus Spinach is such a wonderful addition to the garden, here with Red Salvia. I pluck the lemony flavoured leaves for just about every meal – in salad and in stir-fries, pasta sauces, soups….

Watering from the rain and hand-watering – my main ways of watering the garden.

Keyhole Path

I took a picture before we added mulch so you can see how I have reformed the keyhole pathway to give me access to the garden niche. It comes off my main contour pathway which collects rain and distributes it to these little keyholes, and is wide enough for a barrow. These little pathways need only be big enough to squat and step in. Small paths mean more garden area. 

Bamboo teepee Trellis cubby

The teepee trellis cubby near the swings is screened by a yacon, pelargonium, salvia and turmeric hedge while the beans are starting to form over the structure. A great little hangout space – our garden is an edible playground.

Herbs hanging over the walls of the terraces soften the edges. I give them a good trim every now and then, give away many cuttings and spread them around the garden. Soon we will get in with our scissors and secateurs to give haircuts to the oregano, thyme, weeping rosemary, vietnamese mint, menthol mint. That’s going to be a wonderful sensory overload!

The post Planting our new season lunches – creating garden niches amongst abundant permaculture perennials appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Today’s shopping at my local coop – plastic free – hooray!!  Bulk organic flour, organic tahini, freshly crushed organic peanut paste, local organic honey, organic buckwheat, organic rolled oats, organic chia, organic nicola potatoes, organic Australian dahl, and toilet paper.

My dinner tonight was salad with tahini, and I’m looking forward to buckwheat and chia porridge with honey for breakfast.

I love taking my own glass jars and buying in bulk – honey, tahini, olive oil, tamari, fresh peanut paste …

Another way I reduce plastic coming into my home is buying loose fruit or veg. I just pop them straight in my shopping basket as is – no need for plastic carry bags. I will wash and peel these spuds before I eat them anyway.

Buy loose vegetables to reduce plastic waste.

My old pasta maker is probably 20 years old and a little rusty on the outside, but it works just fine.

Hugh’s first pasta experiment – organic wholemeal spaghetti and fettuccine. It was absolutely delicious.

In trying to reduce plastic, I also notice that many of the personal items and cleaning products I buy are now in refillable bottles and unwrapped.

In the local food coop, there’s a whole range of household cleaners and personal items available in bulk – dishwashing liquid, laundry liquid, body lotions, conditioners, shampoos and body wash…  I simply take my containers in and refill.

This hand-made soap is made by Self Managed Soap, a South-East Queensland co-operative. They are a community based group who have social justice and environmental ethics. Their soap is made from pure vegetable oils with no added chemicals. Actually, the cold-pressed virgin coconut oil is extracted by the coconut farmers themselves which means the oil is fresher and of higher quality, and more profits stay in the local community.  The world coconut oil trade has been controlled by trans-national corporations, buying copra cheaply from tropical producers and sending it to Europe or Asia for processing.  

I love this soap – unpackaged, palm oil free and really affordable – and just $1.50 a bar. They have a great range of natural scents – my favourites are the peppermint and cinnamon scrub.

Paper wrapped 100% recycled loo paper that’s nice on your bottom.

I sometimes get caught out and don’t have enough cloth bags so I grab a box from the shops instead.  The boxes always find another few good uses – for mulching, for craft projects my children are doing, or for workshops I run. I dislike the poly reusable bags. they don’t last that long, then become rubbish too. I think it’s better to buy or make strong cotton bags instead that go back into the soil when they can no longer be repaired.

 

 

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Today was the grand opening of The Owl’s Den Cafe in our carport – a monthly pop-up cafe run by our 9yo daughter as a homeschool project.

She’ll need to bake more of these orange-poppy seed cakes next time!

Creating opportunities for community connection, building relationships with neighbours, creating a fun space for local kids, sharing healthy food, supporting endangered animals, raising money for a local children’s tree planting project, raising money for her own use, and learning many valuable skills were the reasons my 9 year old daughter has spend the past few weeks organising this pop-up carport cafe as one of her homeschooling projects. I am so proud of her – she was just amazing.

A relaxed environment for community conversations and play.

She thought of spaces and activities for little kids, big kids and adults.

Flowers from the garden in up-cycled decorated jars, collections of sewing project fabrics as table cloths and wall hangings.

Getting the driveway chess set up.

This was a homeschool project for Maia. This cafe gave her an opportunity to explore so many topics in an integrated way – doing something that she loves.

Helpful Hugh was delighted to assist – by being chief biscuit maker, provider of finance for the float, cake taste-tester (!?!),  selector of toys for little people, and carrier of boxes to the carport.

The menu:

• Fair trade organic espresso coffee
• Fair trade organic tea
• Lemon myrtle and chocolate mint tea (from the garden)
• Locally made lemon and lime iced cordial (thanks Lizzie!)

Fresh lemon myrtle leaves for the garden tea.

• Orange poppy seed cake – sugar free (except for the icing) – organic flour, organic coconut oil, local eggs, local honey, local orange, organic ground sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, local lime icing
• Chocolate mini muffins – sugar free (except for the icing) – organic flour, organic coconut oil, organic ground sunflower seeds, coconut, local eggs, local honey, cacao, local lime icing
• Bliss balls – dates, organic sunflower seeds, organic tahini, organic coconut, cacao, local honey, cinnamon
• Sunflower shortbread biscuits – organic flour, organic ground sunflower seeds, coconut, organic sugar, butter, honey, cinnamon, ginger

The source of power for the coffee machine and kettle (and the cooking) was solar power. She even sent up a little solar fountain.

The solar-powered mini-fountain was a lovely cooling off point for the kids.

Monty spent most of the time cooling off with his head in the little fountain

Community Conversations

It was just so absolutely lovely sitting in our garden on a barmy afternoon, cooling off a little with the easterly sea breezes  – chatting with old and new members of the community, watching the kids play, admiring Maia’s capability and determination. She created a beautiful and peaceful space for people to just relax and connect.

The environmental projects supported by the Owl’s Den Cafe:

Fundraising for the local tree-planting and supporting a critically endangered species. Maia had prepared information sheets for these too which she emailed to everyone, and had just a few copies on hand today. The preserves were donated to us to help raise funds.

Children’s Tree Plant: 

Maia has been involved in planning a children’s tree-planting to create a shaded walkway between the Crystal Waters village green park and the Mary River swimming hole. The planting happens in just over a week. The trees have been donated, the mulch is being collected locally too, but we need to buy the tree guards and stakes to protect the plants from deer and kangaroo.

At Maia’s cafe today she invited people to sponsor a tree. She had lots of great response and will continue to fundraise for the trees over the next week.

Critically Endangered Species: 

I cannot remember a time when Maia was not passionate about protecting wildlife, particularly critically endangered and vulnerable species. As a 4yo, she taught herself how to research online to find out more information. Today she chose to raise money to adopt a Lynx through WWF – she chose the Lynx because it is one of the most critically endangered species on the planet.

She has already repaid me for buying ingredients, paid back Hugh for the float, gone online to adopt the lynx and has put aside the remaining money to be able to seed her next cafe. Her budgeting was spot-on.

Being a good leader and communicator, building community, caring for the environment, starting a social enterprise and learning about ethical entrepreneurship are such valuable skills for young people have – for them to be resilient and adaptive in a changing environment. With these skills, I hope that wherever my children find themselves – that they will be able to cultivate a sustainable livelihood, through sharing and connecting, creating and giving.

The post Pop-up Carport Cafe – cultivating community conversation & conservation through youth social enterprise appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Our diversity garden includes flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruits, perennials, self-seeding annuals, natives, water, lots of worm towers, a moveable compost bin, lots of organic matter and thick mulch.

I like to think of it as a peaceful way of gardening – about being mindful and observant in the garden. I don’t do ‘pest management’. I don’t fight pests or disease. Instead I observe and work with nature to create a ‘cultivated ecology’ – an ecological balance in the garden that has resilience. 

I do not use any sprays or traps – natural or chemical.  Even natural sprays can harm beneficial insects which help to pollinate and keep pest insects under control. 

Without any spraying or ‘active’ methods of pest management, the vegetables in my garden look amazingly healthy and unaffected by pests. There is always lots of flowers (mostly seeding vegetables) that attract beneficial and predatory insects into the garden.

Instead I work to create healthy dynamic soil environment that supports healthy robust plants, and I invite many helpers into the garden that will help to keep the balance.

Small Insectiverous birds have declined in the cities. They are vulnerable to predation from the bigger birds that do well in the cities such as currawongs, noisy miners, butcherbirds.   Also in cities, there is less habitat for insects (their food) and often people spray insects (poisioning their food). Image: www.birdsqueensland.org.au

I feel that an important part of this approach is in the way I perceive the garden and the insects, and manage my expectations.  For example:

• I expect that there will be some damage. 
• I accept that various insects come in flushes. 
• I understand that things come back into balance in a healthy system even though there may be times of chaos and uncertainty. 
• I accept diversity and difference and hold a more flexible notion of what is ‘perfect’. Did you know that we waste up 40% of crops at the farm because they do not conform a certain aesthetic. This is beginning to change with the ‘ugly food movement’ – but who is to say it’s ‘ugly’. It is just natural!
• I am also quite certain that ‘holes cook well’.  For example, I cannot tell the slightest difference in taste between a silverbeet leaf with a whole in it and one without.

Holes cook well too!

My ‘do-nothing’ pest management approach is primarily about cultivating residence. My strategy includes:

1. Selecting plants well. By choosing plants that are seasonal, locally adapted and hardy they are more robust and resilient.
2. Planting at the right time. I do not expect plants to flourish in conditions that not conducive to their growth.
3. Keeping plants healthy. Healthy plants are more resilient to pests. I make sure the soil is healthy, that the soil fertility is maintained, the soil temperature kept relatively stable with mulch, and I maintain the organic matter in the soil to hold soil mositure and diminish the water stress of the plants.
4. Building healthy soil. Healthy soil nourishes the plants over time and supports their healthy development. Healthy plants are less prone to pest attack.
5. Watering deeply. As far as possible, I try to rely on rainfall to water the garden- setting up terraces, swales, and adding lots of organic matter and mulching thickly. When things are really dry, I will water but give the soil a big long soak. This encourages the plants to root deeply seeking out that deeply soaked water  – and nutrients. If plants are watered regularly with just a little bit, they form shallower roots. These plants are more vulnerable to heat, dry and pests because they are stressed. 
6. Perennialising plants. Where possible, I encourage plants to keep producing over a long period of time, just harvesting the edge leaves. The deeper and stronger root system they form makes them more resilient. Disturbing the soil less also helps to cultivate good soil structure.
7. Creating habitat for my helpers. Growing a diversity of plants helps to develop a cultivated ecology which provides homes for a range of species that become helpers. An example of this is insectiverous birds (there are many more that I will write about another time). I attract these little feathered helpers into my garden by providing protection from predators. This means cultivating dense bushes and layers of cover – such as native shrubs, sacred basil, dwarf fruit trees and plants like pelargonium. It is also essential to ensure a constant supply of water. Importantly too, is leaving materials and spaces for nests – not cleaning up too much. For more information: http://birds of queensland.org.au

Superb Fairy Wren (Image: www.birdsqueensland.org.au)

As well as supporting the ecological development of your edible landscape system, this approach gives you more time to sit back and relax, and ENJOY your garden.

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