Category Letters to Pip

How do I know how much honey to take at the end of summer to ensure the bees have enough honey to last them through winter?

It’s really important that we leave enough honey for the colony to survive on during the months of winter. Bees collect nectar all spring and summer to store and make honey. The honey they make and store is eaten and keeps the colony fed when there is nothing left to forage. When they eat the honey, they transform the carbohydrates into energy by vibrating their wing muscles to produce heat and maintain a constant temperature inside the hive and around the winter cluster.

The honeycomb also provides an important insulation barrier against the cold. The amount of honey you should leave depends on the size of the colony you have at the end of the season. In a standard-size langstroth hive where you have one full box of brood and bees, you should also leave one full box of honey, or about eight frames. In a full Kenyan top-bar hive, leave eight bars of honey. In a three-quarter-size hive, leave six, and in a half-size Kenyan hive, four bars. Check your bees’ stores in the last two weeks of winter to see if they’ve got enough to get them through until spring when the blossoms start to open.

We’d love to see if we’ve inspired you to embark on any projects. The letter of the issue will receive a limited-edition Pip magazine print featuring archival inks on textured, 300 gsm rag paper. Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au

Bubble rap

I love that you have a recipe for soap in the current issue (The good oil, Issue 19), and I’m wondering if you would consider following the story up with recipes for a powder or liquid that I can use in the laundry – preferably ones that actually work!

I prefer laundry liquid, but I can’t bear buying the plastic bottles and I’m usually not organised enough to go to my local bulk shop for refills. There are so many recipes out there, but I’m sure you will only print one if you know it works.

We’d love to see if we’ve inspired you to embark on any projects. Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au. Each published entrant will receive a limited-edition Pip Magazine print featuring archival inks on textured 300 gsm rag paper.

For the mums

My name is Anita and I am a mother of three boys. This is the first time I’ve bought your magazine and I think it’s fabulous. Robyn’s editorial was so spot on – it brought tears to my eyes and I couldn’t agree more about the rise in depression.

I would love to see an article written for all Australians, but mainly mums out there struggling with depression. I’m one of those mums who struggles with it every day, but I have never admitted it because how can a mum function if she’s mentally unstable?

Email your letters and photos to editorial@pipmagazine.com. au. We’d love to hear what you think of Pip and if you’ve embarked on any projects as a result of our articles. Each issue, one published entrant will receive a limited edition Pip Magazine art print, printed with archival inks on beautifully textured archival 300 gsm rag paper.

Hi Pip,

I came across an idea recently that has rocked my thinking and views on permaculture. Perhaps you’ll share my interest. It’s this: self-sufficiency is poverty.

Skills today have advanced to a point where they take tremendous dedication to master. You can be barely competent, or you can trade with someone (likely dollars) to do it better and faster for you.

If I can make $60/hr doing my work, should I be spending an hour making a loaf of bread that I can buy for $4? Sometimes it’s fun to DIY. Occasionally you can get a better result. But as a strategy, as a way of living? I’m starting to think it’s a mistake.

How do I repair burnt soil?

After fire, there remains copious amounts of ash on the ground and this contains potassium carbonates and elements such as phosphorus and magnesium. This is beneficial to all gardens at the rate of one shovelful per square metre. Dig in with an eco-hydrating soil-wetter to overcome hydrophobicity.

How do I make the right decisions about caring for fruit trees after damage from radiant heat and fire?

Don’t cut back the burnt trees immediately after the firefront has passed through. Always wait at least six weeks and check to see if there is life in the branches. Scratch the bark through to the cambium layer (the tissue layer just under the bark where plant growth occurs), focusing from the extremities towards the trunk. When dealing with grafted fruit trees, the normal occurrence is new growth movement below the graft. If there is no leaf growth above the graft, ie, the scion, you have probably lost the tree. Citrus trees seem to be more badly affected than other fruit trees because of the nature of the sap. Those that survive will need to be carefully pruned back to live growth. The application of eco-seaweed, a solution containing 16% potassium, helps relieve plant stress after fire events and will assist recovery. Apply the mixed solution over the foliage and around the dripline, monthly, during the growing season.

I was lucky enough to discover you through a friend, after she received a subscription to Pip Magazine for a Christmas present. Although initially jealous (she wasn’t much of a gardener), it has been miraculous to watch her transformation. Now she’s the keeper of flourishing beehives.

The article I want to express my gratitude for is A bountiful garden all year round (issue 15), particularly succession planting and stacking in time. Although aware of the idea of these principles, I always thought they belonged more in an orchard setting.

But thanks to the article I’ve had my eureka moment and now, instead of waiting for precious garden real estate to become available while my seedlings outgrow their trays, I will nestle them in under the bigger guys ready to complete their lifecycle. This helps give them protection from the harsh summer sun and prevents the soil washing out after storms, or from an enthusiastic threeyear- old child wielding a hose.

Questions answered by Matthew Evans of www.fatpig.farm and presenter of SBS sustainable seafood documentary, What’s the Catch.

When it says pole and line fishing on a tin of tuna, what does that mean exactly and is it sustainable? (Renee, Adelaide Hills SA)

This means the tuna is caught using a mix of old-fashioned and new fishing methods that aren’t indiscriminate, but are sustainable. The important bit is that fish are caught on a fishing rod, not in a huge net, and that is probably the best way to ensure the tuna is caught from a population that is sustainable.