We love seeing what kids are growing with their families in their gardens, so snap and email us an image of what you’re harvesting at the moment. Send the photo to editorial@pipmagazine.com.au to win a copy of Harriet’s Hungry Worms by Samantha Smith and Melissa Johns. This issue’s winner is Gracie Jarman from Rosebud, Victoria.
The books, films & podcasts inspiring you to make a difference
BOOKS
CREATIVE FIRST AID
THE SCIENCE & JOY OF CREATIVITY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
BY CAITLIN MARSHALL & LIZZIE ROSE (MURDOCH BOOKS 2024)
Being creative is good for us: it lowers our stress hormones, calms our nervous system and can get us into a flow state. Our innate creativity is part of being human, but it’s easy to forget, especially since many of us have been told that we are ‘no good’ at art.
Where we use and review products that nourish us and the planet
Felco
SECATEURS
Review by Julie Bennett
As someone who’s worked in vineyards, orchards and market gardens, I have a healthy appreciation for high- quality secateurs. I’ve used a lot of different brands over the years and have settled on Swiss brand Felco as my preferred pruners.
They’re not cheap, but they’re well made, ergonomically designed, have some clever features and there’s a big range of spare parts available, meaning there’s no reason why they won’t last for many years.
Pip partners with brands that align with its values. Ethical companies producing good- quality products that don’t harm the planet, instead aiming to improve it. Browse more ethical companies you can choose to supportat www.pipmagazine.com.au
Witnessing firsthand the benefits of eating healthy organic food set Ken Henderson on a path that saw Nature’s Cuppa launch in 1984.
It was the transformation he saw in a friend that convinced Ken Henderson to quit his job in radio and get involved in the health-food scene.
‘He was one of these people who was just always sick,’ Ken recalls. ‘When he and his wife made a decision to eat a healthy diet, it changed him enormously.’
Welcome to our winter issue of Pip. For me winter means the lighting of the fire in the evening, the smell of woodsmoke, growing winter vegies, exhilarating surfs in ice-cold water, knitting, fermenting and trying to find some time to rest.
As Nat Mendham explains in her article on ‘radical rest’ (p68), we too ‘can accept permission to rest, hibernate and go dormant in winter like we witness nature doing all around us’. Nat reminds us that sometimes the most productive thing we can do is to rest and restore our finite energy.
PIP TURNS 10!
February 2024 marks 10 years since Pip was born in a barn on the New South Wales south coast. In 2014, just as she is now, founding editor Robyn Rosenfeldt was not only committed to reducing her and her young family’s impact on the planet, but wanted to inform, inspire and encourage others to do the same.
After working in male-dominated industries and unable to find gear that was functional and well fitting, Melbourne-based Mimosa Schmidt launched Sük workwear designed by women and to fit all body shapes. The popular Yard Suit is one option in a wide variety of ranges available in various fits, colours and fabrics. The Yard Suit features reinforced seams, brass hardware, an adjustable waist, seven pockets and is constructed from hard-wearing 310 gsm fair-trade cotton.
Inspired by the ‘incredible edible’ movement, permaculture and other urban edible projects around the world, two friends – a horticulturalist and a human rights-environmental scholar – started Edible Bristol almost 10 years ago. The very first meeting saw people come from right across the city to envision how Bristol could become Britain’s first edible city.
Together with ‘IncrEdible’ volunteers and a lot of community education along the way, the initiative has now created more than 60 edible gardens on street verges, station platforms, pocket parks and other ‘unseen’ places around the city. And the food that is grown is provided for free for anyone to come and eat.
The group promotes growing food as positive local activism, building community and addressing food deserts. As they say: ‘If you eat, you’re in’. More recently, through the Growing Futures program, the group has offered nine months of urban food gardening education to help people move into urban permaculture growing careers.
One of the oldest featured food heroes – the apple – has starred in stories since biblical times and for good reason; ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor at bay’ is far from an old wives’ tale. There’s abundant evidence of apples putting their high pectin and fibre content to work in lowering cholesterol and fat in the blood, and their skin has excellent anti-inflammatory properties.
These health attributes are due to their high levels of phenolics which are more prevalent in the older heritage varieties. Not only are the heritage varieties better for you, they serve up a complex range of flavours.
In today’s commodity-centric world, the scale of apple orchards has grown immeasurably since the late 1970s, forcing many small-scale family-owned orchards to close. With these closures, many of the local varieties of apple have declined too, favouring instead the handful of varieties that can be picked early, stored well and transported easily in our long supply-chain food system. As a result, the more than 7000 registered global varieties are now little known.