As overconsumption continues to drive the climate crisis, one Tasmanian building designer is quietly trumpeting the idea that less is actually more.

Jane Hilliard is on a mission to claw back the overconsumption rampant in the building industry. Swimming against the metaphorical tide that promotes ever-…

Growing great vegies all comes down to the health of your soil, and you can’t have healthy soil without compost. There are many different ways to create compost at home; which is best depends on your situation and what fits into your space and lifestyle.

Having…

As people look to have more control of food production, a long-held custom for Italian families in Australia has become more mainstream. ‘Tomato day’, ‘sauce day’ or ‘passata day’ – whatever you’d like to call it – is a day for reconnecting with all generations…

There are so many benefits to making bone broth, and they extend further than the many health benefits. The flavour of homemade broth is far superior to any stock you can buy, it’s considerably less expensive and you’re using more parts of an animal that…

Rising living costs and broken supply chains have seen a resurgence in backyard food growing and with it, a return to local food swapping and increased community resilience.

Exchanges come in many forms. Be it a monthly crop swap at the local park, a roadside stall,…

A once vacant and decrepit vicarage in Melbourne’s inner-north suburb of Preston is now home to Oakhill Food Justice Farm, a community space and urban farm empowering members with knowledge, skills and stronger social connections.

Situated 9 km from the CBD, Oakhill Food Justice Farm is…

An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting with each other and with their physical environment. It functions as a complex, self-sustaining natural system that meets its needs without waste.

‘The ecological imperative’ states that humans are part of ecosystems, and must acknowledge their interrelationship with…

The words Men’s Shed conjures up images of old blokes tinkering away their days with bits of wood. And for many such sheds around Australia, this is true. But there’s a shed in country New South Wales prioritising gender inclusiveness, sustainability and growing food for…

Wicking beds are a self-watering raised garden bed perfect for growing vegies. They save you time, reduce your water usage and they’re reasonably easy to make yourself.

As the name suggests, wicking beds draw moisture from beneath the soil using capillary action, and providing water to…

Food sovereignty, resilience and security has been long discussed, however medicinal sovereignty is crucial to the health of both humans and ecosystems. From our own gut microbiota, to the bioregions worldwide, medicinal plants play an essential role in recovery and repair.

Of the estimated 400,000 species…

In January this year, New York became the sixth American state to legalise human composting as a sustainable alternative to burial or cremation. Known as Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), bodies are laid in a mixture of organic material such as straw and sawdust and the…

An Australian company founded by a couple with Mexican heritage, Mexican Sole shoes sources its huaraches from a family-run producer in Mexico. Handmade by experienced weavers using sustainably sourced leather, each shoe is created using a single strand of leather that’s been woven into the…

Tap O’Noth farm is a food forest, a permaculture education site and homestead situated on the side of Tap O’Noth hill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The eight- acre farm was started in 2012 by James Reid and Rosa Bevan with the aim of showing how to…

When it comes to sourcing seed for a green-manure crop, microgreen garnishes or to keep the kids entertained during the holidays, chances are you won’t need to head to your local garden centre or crop swap to source viable seed. While it’s always advisable to…

What is soil?

About 95 percent of soil is crushed rock minerals (crystals of sand, silt and clay), about five percent is organic matter (things that have been alive at some point), and about 0.5–1 percent is living microbes. Up to 25 percent of living soil…

Downsizing I was devastated when early this year I had to leave my rental of 17 years. I had built up a huge plant collection over that time that had become accustomed to its own funky little microclimate. Due to overwhelm, and moving to a…

Known as the world’s most expensive spice, the bright-orange saffron threads have been prized since biblical times for their fragrance, flavour, colour and medicinal value.

Saffron is the stigma of an autumn-blooming bulb called a crocus. The saffron-producing flower (Crocus sativus) is lilac in colour and…

Capsicum annum – from the Greek word, ‘to bite’, an allusion to the pungent properties of the fruit; annum is Latin for annual.

Origins

There is some controversy about the origins of chillies and capsicums. While some experts believe various species came from Mexico, it is generally…

The moon’s phases and its associated gravitational pull has a significant effect on the behaviour of tidal oceans, so it’s easy to understand how the moon can have a similar effect on the moisture in our soils and plants. By planning what you sow to…

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 – you might even pick up a copy of Wilam, A Birrarung Story….

After surviving the Black Saturday bushfires, Terry Memory built his family of eight a vegie patch.

Determined to become more self-reliant in this era of unpredictable weather events and worsening health caused by highly processed food, he designed a system that combines ancient agrarian traditions with…

If you don’t have the time or the confidence to forage for mushrooms, but aren’t particularly keen on store- bought varieties, there are plenty of kits available to grow your own. As well as the common boxes of button mushrooms, there’s a wide range of…

Pip partners with brands who 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 support at www.pipmagazine.com.au TORE SOCKS Socks are a wardrobe essential that shouldn’t…

Most people are content contributing just one task or role that’s making real and positive change. Not Morag Gamble, she’s got fingers in permaculture pies all over the world and, importantly, she practises what she preaches.

Morag Gamble is many things: founder of the Permaculture Education…

A productive winter garden is created in autumn. So even though the days are still long and the garden is pumping with end-of- season summer crops, ticking off a few jobs now will help ensure there’s plenty to harvest in the depths of winter.

While it’s…

Sit and breathe. I feel like it is a time where we all need to stop and take the time to sit and breathe occasionally. When did life get so hectic for everyone? Why are we all so busy?

Exhale.

I hope this issue encourages you to…

Pip’s Issue 27 is packed full of inspiration and information to nourish yourself and the planet.
We celebrate the traditional passata making day with a how to guide for any sized tomato harvest. We give you a list of things you can be doing now…