Fun activities to get kids interested in permaculture. Find out who our Kids Patch winners were for Issue 20.
Next issue we’ve got the 2021 book Bee Detectives to give away. Written by Vanessa Ryan-Rendall and illustrated by Brenna Quinlan, it’s for any aspiring bee detective who wants to learn how to attract native bees to their backyard.
The books and films inspiring you to make a difference:
Even if you think you know a lot about soil, by reading Matthew Evans’ tome on the good dirt you are guaranteed to find out more. Starting with a history of how the earth formed and created the soils we grow our food in, Soil proceeds to explain just how much we have neglected, over-ploughed, over-grazed and depleted the earth’s thin layer of topsoil that keeps us alive.
Where we use and review products that nourish us and the planet.
We review a Kimchi kit from The Fermentary, a compostable alternative to cling wrap made from potato waste and compostable biopolymers', and Robyns favourite gardening tool.
Growing your own food from such a tiny seed can be really empowering, but many people find it challenging. Successful germination is about providing the right environment for particular seeds to flourish. And once you get the hang of…
Homemade laundry detergents are more sustainable, better for your health and significantly less expensive than store-bought options. Not surprisingly, commercially available laundry products aim to do two things well in order to attract returning customers. They’re designed to get…
Successful seed germination requires three important things: warmth, light and moisture. With some recycled timber, you can create the perfect seed-raising environment.
As we wait for the soil to warm up this time of year, there are many places around our homes well suited to raising seeds for spring planting. The goal is finding a place which is nice and warm to promote germination and protect your young seedlings from the elements, but still with plenty of light to guide the new shoots to the surface.
Earthen floors have been used in buildings for thousands of years. As well as an effective way to passively heat and cool your home, they’re aesthetically beautiful, kind to the environment and delightful to walk on. It’s estimated between…
Fifteen-year-old Maia Raymond isn’t your average teenager. As the eldest child of permaculture educator Morag Gamble and a resident of Crystal Waters ecovillage, Maia has been gifted with firsthand permaculture experience most adults spend decades trying to obtain. With a Permaculture Design Course completed at the age of 12, and a network of well-connected contacts, Maia is making the most of her experience to forge her own world-changing path. And it begins with the youth.
Working smarter, not harder is a good way to create a resilient, high-yielding garden. And simple observation is the stepping stone for smart design.
To observe and interact is the first of David Holmgren’s 12 permaculture principles and arguably the most significant. It’s nearly impossible to create a resilient permaculture system without careful observation. Nature is a living, breathing ecosystem and the only way to truly understand it is to get out there and immerse yourself in it. Permaculture educators Angelo Eliades and Kat Lavers share their insights on how observing and interacting with their backyards over the years has led to the success of their renowned permaculture systems.
Getting access to pasture-raised pork is far harder than it ought to be, but there are two young Victorians working hard to make a living out of ethical farming.
Will and Emma’s work is really important for humans and animals alike. If you were a pig you would go to extraordinary lengths to live on their land, for they raise pigs on pasture as opposed to dark concrete sheds. Will butchers the meat they grow and it’s sold it through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model.
They both have off-farm jobs; Emma works full-time as an environmental campaigner and Will works at a nursery. Their Pig & Earth Farm is located on Dja Dja Wurrung country, just outside of Kingston in Victoria. They are young, passionate and committed to farming that cares for land, pigs and people.
