A Tribute To Bill Mollison
Bill Mollison – the ‘father of permaculture’ – died on 24 September 2016. To imagine and then create a worldwide movement of remarkable resilience is an incredible feat. Permaculture books are printed in many languages, it’s taught and practised in almost every country of the…
Backyard Chicken Health
Keeping backyard chickens is a joy shared by many – the site of a flock of ladies scratching around your garden warms the soul (as long as it’s not your vegie garden). There are simple ways to keep your chickens healthy naturally: give them fresh…
Raising Meat Chickens
Australians eat a staggering number of chickens each year. An extreme minority are raised on pasture, with the vast majority confined in sheds. Even if you’re buying ‘free range’ or even organic chicken from a supermarket, chances are you’d be appalled at the conditions in…
Backyard Poultry Breeding
Watching a chick hatch from an egg is an amazing process, and to be a part of raising your own flock of chickens is an exciting and rewarding experience.
There are many reasons why you might want to breed your own chickens: just for fun; to…
Rare Trades
What is a cooper ?
Someone who makes a watertight vessel out of timber. It involves a lot of skill and practice.
How long have you been coopering ?
‘I’m a fifth-generation cooper. I made my first barrel when I was fifteen, and I came to the trade…
Growing Garlic For Year-Round Supply
Tabitha Bilaniwskyj-Zarins answers readers questions about all things poultry.
My frizzle Harriet was unwell (scaly leg mite) which is now under control but her ‘cheeks’ are still a little pale. Is there any particular vegie or something else I could feed her to help build her…
House Profile: Abdallah House
The Abdallah House project began in May 2008 in suburban Seymour, central Victoria, with the purchase of a three-roomed bungalow, with bathroom/ laundry tacked onto the side, on a 584 m2 block. The project is driven by permaculture practitioner Richard Telford with support from his…
Pickling The Harvest
People have been preserving food forever. Before the invention of fridges, knowing how to preserve your harvest by salting and drying meats or fermenting vegetables was an absolute necessity. These days the need for preserving may seem to have disappeared, but we feel it’s as…
Feather And Bone
Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard run Feather and Bone, a small Sydney butcher selling pasture-raised livestock sourced directly from sustainably run, mostly local farms. Laura shares her story.
Grant started the business in 2006, in a fit of blind enthusiasm about rare-breed sheep. He’d worked with…
Vegan Permaculture
Mention the words ‘vegan permaculture’ and you’re bound to get a mixed reaction. For many, the idea that permaculture principles can be applied without the use of animals just doesn’t sit right. Yet a growing number of people are combining the two, and .nd that…
Sauveterre Permaculture
After leaving their homeland in France, Claude and Helene Marmoux travelled to Australia where they settled in Sydney. After buying a house there, and running their own business for many years, they left to travel the country where they discovered permaculture through Robyn Francis. ‘Studying…
Natural Dyeing: Colours From Nature
There’s dye in everything, really’, says artist Deborah Brearley, as she unpacks oxalis, lichens, rusty nails and an array of other gathered materials onto the kitchen bench: all ingredients for the natural dye pot. Deb has been dyeing textiles using natural pigments for more than…
Fair Harvest Permaculture
Fair Harvest Permaculture is a testament to Jodie Lane and her dedication to community. Created over the last two decades, Fair Harvest is everything a permaculture demonstration site should be: a living, breathing example of permaculture principles in action, honouring the three permaculture ethics. But…
The Lowdown On Electric: Are Electric Vehicles The Answer?
Ideally we’d do away with cars altogether, to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and carbon emissions. We would use bikes, public transport, walk or even go back to saddling up our trusty steed. But the reality is that most people still use cars daily:…
What Does It Take To Be A Permaculture Aid Worker?
Rosemary Morrow is an author, permaculture legend, teacher of teachers, aid worker and the patron of Permafund, a charity within Permaculture Australia which raises funds for projects in disadvantaged communities around the world. This septuagenarian is having a brief recharge after working with refugees in…
Nukazuke Japanese Fermenting
Nukazuke or rice bran pickles are a culinary institution in Japan. While they taste sour and salty, like any western-style pickle, nukazuke is a natural, wild ferment.
The ‘nuka bed’, in many Japanese kitchens, contains a live culture of rice bran paste in which fresh vegetables…
Natural Learning & Homeschooling
People find homeschooling in different ways, and for different reasons. I didn’t even know it existed until I went WWOOFing in Spain about fourteen years ago with my now-husband. We lived with a family in the remote Alpujarras mountain region. They practised self-sufficiency, permaculture, holistic…
Permaculture Around The World
In one of the worst slums in North America, Sole Food Street Farms is showing how growing food and connecting people to land and community provides a pathway to recovery – nourishing others as a way to heal our world and ourselves.
Sole Food Street Farms…
Pip Picks
The next generation of Tesla’s home battery system has just become available in Australia with limited numbers available as of February 2017. It has double the storage capacity and a lower cost. The Powerwall 2.0 is a complete lithium battery storage system with its own…
Noticeboard
The next IPC will be held from 25 November to 2 December 2017 in India.
The Conference, on 25–26 November, will be held at Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University, Hyderabad.
The Convergence, on 27 November to 2 December, will be held at Polam Farm, Medak District.
The…
Permaculture Plant: Yarrow
HISTORY: Yarrow has been used since ancient times: its fossilised pollen has been found in Neanderthal burial caves dating from 60 000 years ago. It’s named after Achilles, of Greek legend, who used it on soldiers’ wounds in the Trojan War. Popular as a vegetable…
Permaculture Animal: Japanese Quail
Japanese quails Coturnix japonica are an alternative in urban areas, where space and noise constraints may rule out backyard chickens. Quails will provide you with fresh, golden- yoked eggs from even a tiny space. You’ll also get pest control, fertiliser and compost making services.
Feed And…
Eat Your Weeds: Wild Fennel
Wild fennel Foeniculum vulgare also called fenkel, sweet fennel, finule, is a hardy, frost tolerant biennial or short-lived perennial in the carrot family. It originated in the Mediterranean basin and has naturalised in many parts of the world. It was first recorded in Australia in…
Save Your Seeds: Coriander
BOTANICAL NAME: Coriandrum sativum – the genus name comes from the Greek word for bug, referring to the smell of its unripe seeds. Also called cilantro and Chinese parsley.
ORIGIN: southern Europe and parts of Eurasia – 3000-year-old seeds were found in Egyptian tombs.
DESCRIPTION: a small…
In The Garden: March – June
Brassica seedlings. [March and April]
Successive crops of broad beans, English spinach and peas; and winter vegies such as beetroot, carrot, celery, Florence fennel, leek, parsnip, turnip. [late March through to May]
Green manure crops, for winter digging in. [from March to May]
Hard neck garlic. [April to…
Kids’ Patch
The winner this issue is Pearl Turnbull aged 4 from Bendigo. Congratulations Pearl you receive an original illustration by Trace Bella and a copy of her book Rockhopping (Allen and Unwin 2016)
Parents send in photos of your kids in the garden or with their homegrown…
Book Reviews
In the current climate, where lots of folks want to downsize, downshift, simplify radically, barter + trade, go no-waste, grow good food, and reconsider where working for years from nine to five in an office actually gets them in terms of health and happiness, this…
Brains Trust: Tabitha’s Tips For Healthy, Happy Chickens
Tabitha Bilaniwskyj-Zarins answers readers questions about all things poultry.
My frizzle Harriet was unwell (scaly leg mite) which is now under control but her ‘cheeks’ are still a little pale. Is there any particular vegie or something else I could feed her to help build her…
Editorial
We as humans have included chickens as part of household life for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of domestication is believed to date back to 5400BCE in China and evidence has been found dating back thousands of years across the world, in Iran, Pakistan,…