The Seaweed Solution
Seaweed is having a renaissance. For years it has been undervalued; out of sight, out of mind. However, researchers around the country and the world have begun to explore its amazing potential as an alternative to many products and practices which are proving to be…
Aquaponics: The Low-Down
Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics to produce fish and plants in one integrated system, creating a symbiotic and mostly self-sustaining relationship.
Combining fish and plants isn’t a new concept, with its origins dating back several millennia. Asia’s rice paddy farming systems is an example. Aquaponics today…
Build Your Own Natural Swimming Pool
A natural swimming pool is a beautiful and healthy alternative to a conventional pool. By building a natural swimming pool, you are creating a self-cleaning water system that benefits both people and local wildlife, with no risk of releasing chemicals…
Darren J. Doherty
Darren J. Doherty grew up on the family farm near Bendigo, learning rural and farming skills from his grandfather. ‘He saw that they would hold me in good stead,’ says Darren. ‘As someone who had lived through the…
Crop Rotation
Crop rotation can bring great benefits to your yields, plant health and soil health, whether you’re a market gardener, homesteader or backyard grower. Crop rotation is the principle of avoiding repeating a crop with either the same crop…
Rental Gardening
Home ownership has long been considered the Great Australian Dream. One aspect of this dream is the freedom to develop and tend to a garden, for many years of creative expression and fulfilment. Yet census data reveals a slow but steady trend away from home…
Our Strawbale Build: Small And Slow Solutions
With the help of family, friends and our wider community, my partner and I built a passive solar strawbale home. Building a home is an incredibly rewarding, exhausting and empowering thing to do. It’s an opportunity to implement ethical principles, learn and practise skills, build…
Foraging Edible Seaweed
Growing in our oceans and lining our beaches, seaweed is familiar to us all. But what many of us don’t realise is the nutritional benefit that seaweed offers.
The edible seaweed industry in Australia is in its infancy. It’s only recently that scientific research is being…
Frugal Living: Live With Less So You Can Live More
Life seems to be getting busier. We are working more, the cost of living is rising and so too are stress levels. We have seemingly less time for ourselves and our families. Even if your work is satisfying and fulfilling, having to work long hours…
Flemington Food Forest: An Orchard Conversion
Food forests are a quintessential permie approach to food production. By layering plants that work together, a garden can offer a harvest with fewer inputs by mimicking an established forest ecosystem. The extra foliage and root matter in the system provides shade, water retention and…
Alternative Economies: Groups Working Towards A More Resilient Future
Bought a whipper snipper and only used it once? Fret no more, as tool libraries will stop you from buying things you rarely use by allowing you to instead borrow what you need. Brunswick Tool Library has 250 active members who utilise the shovels, mattocks,…
From Seed To Skin: Home Grown Herbal Skin Care
Kay Saarinan grows medicinal herbs, creating a range of organic skincare products in a purpose-built lab on her six-acre property on the NSW far South Coast. She started her business Saarinan Organics ten years ago, selling five products at the local markets. Kay now has…
Build Your Own Fire Bath
There is nothing nicer than kicking back under the stars in a steaming hot outdoor bath. Here are a couple of ways you can build your own fire bath.
Cast Iron And Pit Fire Bath
Our own fire bath is a simple design; basically a bath with…
Lebanon: The Power Of Community
One day you are driving to work, living in the neighbourhood you’ve grown up in and been to school in, you’ve been to university, maybe are married, had a family, bought a house. You’re employed and have a wage. Then political unrest sweeps through the…
Home Brew Beer And Cheer: Make Your Own Sustainable Beer
The craft of brewed beverages, particularly beers, is enjoying a renaissance at the moment. This is based on a rediscovery of lapsed techniques and the inquisitive minds of home and craft brewers.
For the permie, home brewing can reflect permaculture design principles. You need to ‘apply…
10 Ways To Get Kids Off Screens And Into Nature
In a world dominated by screens big and small, we all need a little nudge sometimes to switch off, look up and get outside. A growing body of evidence tells us that it’s imperative that children get plenty of ‘vitamin N’ (nature connection) in order…
Kids’ Patch
This issue’s winner is Dorian from Melbourne, for this photo with his goaty pal. Congratulations Dorian! You receive a download of Grow Do It, the latest album from Formidable Vegetable Sound System.
Parents, send in photos of your kids in the garden or with their homegrown…
Permaculture Around The World
A thriving urban permaculture project is flourishing in Tokyo. It offers hope for a positive future for young people, and aims to revive traditional sustainable Japanese culture. A group of young people who care about sustainability, permaculture and peace activism are getting together for joyful…
Pip Picks: Things We Like
Think twice about what your wetsuit is made from before you purchase a new one, and replace a petroleum- based material with a plant-based one. Patagonia’s high-performance, neoprene-free wetsuit is made of 85% Yulex. natural rubber, derived from sources that are Forest Stewardship Council. certified…
Noticeboard
The Sustainable Living Festival has been running for 19 years and is the largest festival of its kind in Australia. 2018’s theme is ‘climate crunch’, with the festival’s program specifically focused on the urgent need for safe climate action. Each year the Sustainable Living Festival…
Letters To The Editor
Write to us and let us know what you think of the mag and your response to any of the articles. The best letter will receive a Pip magazine art print, printed with archival inks on beautiful textured archival 300gsm rag paper.
Dear Robyn,
I love reading…
Permaculture Plant: Peanut
The peanut (Arachis hypogaea) is a herbaceous annual that can grow 30–50 cm tall by approximately 1 metre wide. Being a member of the Fabaceae family links them to other legumes such as peas and beans. Peanuts are…
Permaculture Animal: Silver Perch (Bidyanus Bidyanus)
Silver perch are useful, hardy native fish suitable for farm dams, aquaponics and other aquaculture systems. They are easy to feed and as they’re native to a wide swath of the Murray-Darling river system, they’re adaptable to a…
Eat Your Weeds: Acorn
Acorns (Quercus spp.) have long been thought of as a last resort food, but these small parcels of goodness pack quite a nutritional punch when processed the right way. Processing them is important, as acorns (like tea, chocolate and red wine) are jam-packed full of…
Save Your Seeds: Broccoli
BOTANICAL NAME: Brassica oleracea. The name brassica comes from a Celtic word for cabbage, with oleracea meaning ‘vegetable-like’.
ORIGIN: Native to Europe’s western coast, broccoli is a descendant of kale. It was developed for market gardening in Italy in the last 150 years.
DESCRIPTION: Heading and sprouting…
In The Garden: November – February
November: Basil, beans, beetroot, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, chives, coriander, cucumber, lemongrass, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon and thyme, English spinach, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, onion, parsnip, pumpkin, radish, silverbeet, swede, sweet corn, tomato, turnip, zucchini,
December: Lettuce, rocket, Asian greens, carrots, beetroot, celery, silverbeet, more…
Pip Brains Trust
What plants can I grow underneath my fruit trees to create a guild that will support them? [Jack, Cooma, NSW]
I would start with plants that assist in pollination, perform the role of pest control and don’t compete with the tree. Perennials that flower just prior…
Editorial
So often we are looking at the land when we talk about permaculture, so I thought for a change we would explore the watery side of permaculture in its many varied forms. In this issue we are exploring everything from seaweed to silver perch, aquaponics…
Book Reviews
This beautifully designed book highlights 40 Australian native bushfoods and incorporates them into vegan dishes.
For those with a sweet tooth, there are anise myrtle yoyo bickies, strawberry gum jam drops and passionberry granola to try, to name just a few. For more substantial meals, whip…