Category Regulars

Beetroot

beetroot

Beta vulgaris – beta is the name ancient Romans gave to the beet, while vulgaris means common.

Origin

Wild beets are native to northern Africa and the coast of Spain and Portugal. They were introduced to northern Europe by the Romans who fed them to both their troops and horses. Beets adapted very well to cold, northern winters and from them sugar beet and the round red beet were developed. Collections of the wild relatives of beetroot are being made in Sicily and Calabria for large-scale gene banks.

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Editorial

Robyn Rosenfeldt

Welcome to Pip’s 20th issue. Wow, what a journey! When I started Pip my three girls were running around at knee height and now they’re mostly taller than me. Almost like a fourth child, Pip has grown and evolved with lots of attention and love and has come a long way from the seed of an idea I started with ten years ago.

It started with a few people, all volunteering our time publishing two issues a year, to now having a highly experienced and talented team publishing four issues a year and distributing nearly ten times the number of magazines of when we started.

Back then, I set out to create a beautiful, informative and inspiring magazine that was accessible to everyone, not just preaching to the converted, and that vision hasn’t changed. Using permaculture principles as the basis, I wanted to inspire people to live more sustainably by providing simple-to-practise ideas people could incorporate into their lives. And that vision hasn’t changed.

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Kids’ Patch

kids

Our kids’ patch winners for this issue are Arvea and Isola Crosier from Toodyay, in Western Australia, you’ve both won snazzy new T-shirts from Izwoz!

Next issue we’ve got a pack of Permaculture Action Cards to give away by Brenna Quinlan and Charlie Mgee. The pack features 65 durable cards depicting characters putting permaculture into action. To be in the running, parents can email a photo to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au along with your child’s name, age and suburb, or post the picture on Instagram using the hashtag #pipmag

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International Projects

The Indigenous people of the Oglala Lakota are revitalising their culture with permaculture, Indigenous wisdom and looking for solutions for the next seven generations. Based at Pine Ridge in South Dakota, a Reservation created in 1889 – originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation – there’s a need for change.

Ranked the poorest county in the nation, it has a lack of housing, abysmal health issues, severe food insecurity and has been described as a developing nation within the USA. OLCERI is an Indigenous-led organisation aiming to cultivate skills for regeneration. It’s creating gardens, earthships, appropriate technologies and practising holistic land management. Completely off-grid, everything the organisation does is supporting affordable and accessible housing and a resilient food system. OLCERI hosts Indigenous Wisdom and Permaculture Skills Convergences and Permayouth Americas have partnered in support.

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5 Plants For Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a vital nutrient we can’t do without. The body cannot make it or store it, so it’s important to include vitamin C regularly in your diet. While scurvy is thought of as a thing of the past, it can still be found in today’s refugee camps where people don’t have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. While the body needs vitamin C for healthy function of the tendons, ligaments, skin and small blood vessels, it’s probably best known as a boost to the immune system.

You’re probably already growing plants that contain vitamin C, such as capsicum, chillies, cauliflower and cabbage, but you can also grow plants that have higher concentrations, and you can turn these foods into powders, tinctures or tonics to keep at the ready.

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Brains Trust

Should I be doing anything different in winter to keep my chickens happy?

Hens can be fed more in winter, around 1.5 times what you normally feed them. They need the extra food to keep warm, recover from high egg-laying times and to grow new feathers after a moult. Extra protein can be added to their food in the form of meat, fish and egg leftovers, as well as pumpkin seeds and mealworms.

Hens love a warm mash during the coldest months; they will be warmer, healthier and may even reward you with extra eggs. Try soaking whatever grains you are eating (rolled oats, bran, cracked grains) overnight in warm water with a dash of yoghurt. In the morning add some warm water before feeding to your hens.

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Read & Watch

GROUNDED

When a crises turns the world upside down, a garden can be a place of rest and healing – a place to remake your life. Grounded shares Liz Zorab’s personal story of courage and transformation alongside that of her small but abundant homestead in South West Wales, UK.

After a debilitating illness, Liz moves to the countryside and embarks on a journey to bring life to an empty paddock and to create a permaculture oasis and, in the process, reclaims her health and finds a new career. On less than one acre, Liz and her partner grow most of their food and produce surplus to sell through the local CSA box scheme.

Grounded is an honest and practical guide for anyone thinking of starting a small farm, or transforming an empty patch of garden. The book shares the first five years from the planning and design, integrating small livestock, creating a food forest, listening to nature and learning from mistakes. It’s an invaluable companion for living a simpler, healthier life for yourself and the land.

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Letters To The Editor

Letters to the Editor

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.

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In The Garden: February-May

map of aussie

FEBRUARY

Plant winter vegies including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Florence fennel, leek (seedlings) and parsnip. Once the weather starts to cool, get your garlic in the ground.

MARCH

Brussels sprouts (seedlings), broad beans, beetroot, broccoli (seedlings), cabbage (seedling), carrot, chives, coriander, daikon radish, endive, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mizuna, mustard greens, pak choy/bok choy, radish, rocket, shallots (plant bulbs), silverbeet and turnip. March is a good time to plant vegies that need a long growing season.

APRIL

Brussels sprouts, broad beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, chives, endive, fennel, garlic (plant cloves), kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mizuna, mustard greens, onions, pak choy/bok choy, parsley, peas, radish, rocket, shallots (plant bulbs), silverbeet, spinach and turnip.

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5 Bugs For Biocontrol

bugs

Your garden, big or small, is an ecosystem where living things interact with each other and their environment. An ecosystem is healthy when the relationships – insect/ insect, plant/insect or living/non-living – within it function well. Formed over many thousands of years, these relationships provide services such as pollination, water filtration and biocontrol.

Biocontrol is the process of using living organisms to manage plant and animal pests with minimal negative consequences. Because spraying, whether organic or not, can lead to unhealthy soil and decreasing pollinator numbers. One of the best forms of biocontrol is to have predatory insects feed on unhelpful pests. To attract them, plant diversity is key; the more beneficial insect attracting plant species you have in your garden, the more beneficial insects you’ll have.

It’s okay to have a few pests in your garden – they will feed the beneficial bugs and help prevent an outbreak. Biocontrol is a terrific permaculture concept, making less work for you and more food to share.

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