A Sad Day

Early yesterday morning my mother passed away in her sleep. She would have been 89 tomorrow. She was a kind and gentle soul. Ever since my father died 5yrs ago she has been drifting away but thankfully she has always recognized her children, me and my 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We have been blessed with 2 wonderful parents and now they are both gone.

More PDC

On Wednesday we looked at Soils and Water . Two really big subjects, so Mark spent the morning looking at Soils - the basis of food production, and the afternoon on water - the hydrological cycle and the by happy coincidence there was a talk at our local Permaculture meeting on harvesting water around the house and disposal of waste water through grey water systems; composting toilets tanks etc etc. So off we went. It was also a great opportunity for the guys to meet other permaculturists  and hear about what's going on in permaculture here in the Hunter.

A talk on plants suitable for grey water systems

A close up of some of those plants

Some produce to share

Some different sorts of Basil- the plant of the month.

Books for sale

Surrounded by lovely people, great information And a cup of tea and a piece of home made cake. What more could you want?

Day 2

Today we looked at map reading, Design methods, the climate and micro climates. We rendered the front of the propagation house, with a cow manure render, to increase the heat absorption when the sun hits the bricks as an exercise in micro climates

Embellished with an 'Om'

Mulberry Harvest

We have quite a large Mulberry Tree in our house yard. There are a few bantams that live under there. They love it . It is a deciduous tree so in winter the sun shines in and the hens are nice and warm.  In spring the tree quickly grows leaves and provides some shade for those hotter days. When the fruit starts to mature the branches get very heavy and hang down to the ground so that on really hot days the hens are really well protected form the heat.

And when the fruit is mature we are harvesting everyday.....

and there's still plenty that fall to the ground for the hens, ducks and geese.

I've been freezing them, making  syrup, and baking with them...

mulberry muffins

As soon as I get the time I'll make some Jam. But at the moment we are flat out. We ran a workshop for a neighbouring council on Natural Pest Control and Companion Planning. It was a great group who really picked up on why we choose not to kill anything either with natural products or chemicals. Quite often when we do these workshops all the participants want to do is kill and they don't hear anything else.

On Monday we start our Permaculture Design Course. It runs for 12 days straight with participants staying here for that time. It is very intensive and I may not get the chance to Blog. I apologise to you all in advance and look forward to catching up in a few weeks.

A Frog Pond

On the weekend, as part of our workshop we made a frog pond.....

We used an old tyre, having first cut off the rim on one side. The trye gives the pond strength and stability and also gives another level inside the pond. The hole was dug 38cm deep (min) the width of the inside of the tyre, levelling out at the top to the width of the outside of the tyre so that the tyre sits flush with the surrounding earth. In the hole place some fatty sand or thick layers of newspaper. This protects the liner. Make sure everything is level and then add the liner, (we used 2 pieces of builders plastic). Fill with the hose making sure you even out pleats as it fills. When water is at the top of the inner hole place the tyre on the ledge, placing the piece you cut off underneath ( this disposes of it ). Finish filling the pond and when it's full place a stick in the pond, making sure it sits inside the tyre so that you don't pierce the liner, for lizards and birds. Over the rim of the tyre place some rocks to hide the tyre but also for habitat for beneficials, being careful not to push down on the rim.

One of our participants was a mother of a toddler with another on the way. She was a little concerned about the safety of the pond with children around and asked if there was another way to attract frogs. ..

There are many frogs which don't like deep water and will live in and around shallow water and make themselves quite at home in bromiliads.

A Beginning, A Middle and An End

Talking with a dear friend a week ago and she said ."Do you know that everything has a beginning, a middle and an end? " Well I can honestly say that I'd never given it much thought, until now and it's been on my mind ever since she said it. The one thing that came to my mind straight away was life,- The beginning is birth,  in the middle is life experience and death at the end. But does it apply to everything like Nicola said? And what is the implication? I think she said that it was a Buddhist statement and it was important to remember it to help us focus on our tasks. I could be wrong. I was so caught up with the statement and trying to find the one thing that breaks the rule that I stopped listening to what she was saying. Typical of me!

Anyway it has affected me in numerous ways...Sleeping's not finished until the bed's made
                                                                       A meal's not finished until the dishes are washed AND put away                                          
                                                                       The laundry's not finished until the clothes are put away.

I have found that I approach activities with mindfulness when I know that the activity / work must end.I'm mindful of the beginning- I find this quite easy, I am mindful of the middle while it still requires effort or concentration but I lose it near the end with the consequence that sometimes I don't finish, but there it is, it has to end and what happens is that I carry it around some where in my mind weighing me down til it ends. Sounding a bit like Feng Shui. So over the past week I having been pushing myself to end things and it has had a positive effect.

Preparation- beginning

Cooked- middle

End- Let's eat.

But of course it doesn't finish there.It crosses into all areas of my life. I know that I am mindful of the things I consume. What has been it's beginning- Has it been produced ethically and sustainably ,will it be consumed efficiently ( The middle) and what becomes of the waste at the end. Mindless consumerism thinks very little about any of the 3 stages but especially the beginning and the end.

Relationships. We try hard at the beginning, are present and focused and mindful of the others needs-courtship, then during marriage we can become distracted and lazy and treat it mindlessly which can lead to separation and divorce- an end. Or we can be mindful and keep the relationship going to the end- Death


I see this being connected to will development and maybe something that has been missing in our education.
 Anyway I know I'm prattling on a bit but it has been on my mind.

Backyard Vegetable Production

This weekend we ran our backyard vegie production workshop. It ran over 2 full days and covered a wide range of topics based around 4 main areas.
                                                                  Design
                                                                  Propagation
                                                                  No dig gardens and
                                                                  Natural Pest control

Design covers aspect and site analysis. Participants draw a rough plan of the property, put in north ( or south for our Spanish participant) and existing structures etc and then we start adding various aspects of the property that will have an effect eg winter sun, summer sun, strong winds etc. We ask them to make a list of things they would like in their backyard and look at how all these are best placed.

Propagation is next and we look at making our own seed raising mix and potting mix, how to sew seeds, when to pot up, how to plant out and much more. We discuss what vegies to grow, how much of each for family requirements and how often to plant to have continuous supply.We construct a simple propagation house using hay bales and an old window, and discuss where to place it in the backyard for maximum efficiency.

We get our hands dirty making  a nodig garden and planting it out discussing placement of various seedlings depending on size, access and time needed to mature.

Natural pest control starts with the Web of Life game where we try to show how completely we are connected to everything else and how disruptions such as pesticide use will disrupt the web.

We build a frog pond...

and a worm tower..

Some comments....


"Very informative and inspiring and helpful. I have learnt enough to start my home vegie gardens"


" I learnt heaps, loved and valued all points covered. Appreciated knowledge shared by Mark and Kate"


I love the people go away after a workshop feeling confidant enough to get started on the path of producing their own food.

Around the Farm

6 bantam chicks

The secret garden down beside the house

Across the other side of the path. You can just see the blue box for our solar panels on the wall

The house garden with chook run under the mulberry

Baby goslings just starting to hatch. I risked life and limb to get this shot!

Garlic patch

Raspberries just starting to flower

Dinner time!

Todays haul

Our pecans are flowering for the first time

Another little bantam has gone clucky, so I've taken away her little eggs , dowsed some full sized  eggs in the hope  that I choose females to pop under her in the morning.

Here you can see the heart shaped pendulum that Mark made me from brass angle and braising rods.

 As you may be able to see, the day has been quite overcast and drizzling with rain. We have had quite a lot of rain over the last week or so and everything is looking green and abundant. I love how the farm looks in Spring.

Transition Town - Maitland

Last Thursday we went to our monthly TT meeting. We had planned an Open Space where people have an opportunity to bring a topic that interests them to the group, with the purpose of bringing everyone's thoughts concerning said topic(s) out, and put down on paper. It is often through these open spaces that working groups form. But it turned out that not very many people could make it so, after a very social shared dinner, we  talked about the what's been going on for us over the month.
S. said that she'd been without her car for a few weeks and is seriously thinking of selling it. She is close enough to public transport to either walk or ride her bike to the train and when she needs to go by car somewhere she'll see if she can catch a lift with someone else going in the same direction. Mark and I have had similar thoughts and often catch the train if appropriate, and sometimes ride our bike. We will still need our farm ute for farm stuff.. It inspired us to ride our bikes to the Organic shop to do our shopping on Saturday, a ride of roughly 11km each way. Not a bad ride but I did find the hills a bit challenging on the way back with a heavy basket.
L. said she had applied for a community liason position in the hopes of influencing some community activities.She talked about the Wonder Rug and plans to take it to the Art Gallery to be displayed.
V. told us about a new community radio that has started up and she agreed to contact a local community station to see if TT can get some air time.
J. had just bought herself a new push bike and was planning to do a lot more riding.She is quite fit now and rode from our place to the end of the road 7klms each way on quite challenging roads.
Plans were made to involve LETS next gathering at Organic Feast, and Bev the Bottle will be there to advertise the cash for containers campaign.
Mark and I have been approached by 2 different areas to conduct workshops with residents of housing commission developments. One with residents with only courtyards and the other with a community garden in mind. So much going on and so much to do, out in the community as well as here on the farm. We are running our Backyard Food Production workshop this weekend, looking at design, propagation, natural pest control and no dig gardening. Hopefully enough to give participants sufficient info and confidence to get them started growing their own food.
Next week we screen our next Movie that matters. A film on bees.
Next TT meeing will be addressed by our local sustainable house owners. They will tell us how and why they decided to retro fit their house, what they have done so far and what plans they have for the future.

Gift Giving at Christmas

 Mark and I were given this book by participants from a past Permaculture Design Course. It's full of great ideas for living simply, perfect for someone starting out on the path of sustainability. My daughter from Melbourne was asking all about growing her own food and it prompted me to get the book out.

I said to Mark that I thought it was a really good and practical book and that we should buy it for everyone for Christmas, and he said why buy it for people who would never look at it . ( he actually said something about me being a hippy and people rolling their eyes and throwing the book into a corner) and I said well maybe we should buy (or make) presents this year that we think are worthwhile and add something positive to the world and then find people who would appreciate them, whoever 'they' may be. Just a thought!