Category 23

If you are into homemade, then a fruit press – sometimes called a torchietto – is a great addition to your kit. As an amateur beekeeper, I purchased this as an alternative to a spinner as a way to extract honey.

The costs of conventional honey spinners are high and I only had a small amount of honey to extract. A press is better suited for honey extraction from a Warre or top-bar hive because you need to remove the comb from the bar regardless of whether you’re spinning or pressing.

Extracting honey from a Langstroth hive, however, which I have, you need to cut the honeycomb out of the frame and its wires in order to fit it into the twolitre pot for pressing. But when using a conventional spinner, your comb staysin tact and you can put the already-drawn-out frame back into the hive.

Our kids’ patch winner for this issue is Taj Sol from Rosebank, NSW. You’ve won a Patternation Eco-City game which lets you design your very own sustainable city! Choosing from 140 tiles, Patternation allows you to incorporate elements such as community gardens, renewable energy, recycling and emission-free transport to create a great place for the community to live.

Costa’s new book has been a long time coming. This is the culmination of all the ideas and knowledge that Costa has been sharing verbally to people and communities across Australia for the last few decades.

Costa’s World challenges us to look at the world through a different lens, one that is full of awe and wonder and positivity. The big theme is community and working together to create a better world.

As the host of Gardening Australia, as well as at the many community events and workshops he’s involved in, Costa is continually sharing his knowledge. He has a way of relating to people young or old, from toddlers to teenagers and through to the elderly, and will go out of his way to make every person he meets feel special.