Tag Issue 1 Premium

This category can only be viewed by members. To view this category, sign up by purchasing Digital Subscription, Print and Digital Subscription, Print and Digital Subscription with 2024 Pip Kitchen Garden Calendar, Issue 1 - digital edition or Lifetime Digital Subscription.

Pip Picks

pip-picks

Permaculture design is about solving whatever real problems people have. My clients are mostly mainstreamers, so their problems aren’t of a vegetable nature. They are; ‘My children don’t listen to me’, ‘I’m always rushed’, ‘Life is such a chore’. If good design creates cared-for, surplus-sharing people, Bill Mollision would be pleased.

Our houses could be our cheer squad and support crew, but so often, they just defeat us. We intend to do something lovely: wrap a present, shine our shoes, make a cake. But we end up stuck. ‘Where is the sticky tape?’ ‘Who took the scissors?’ ‘Do we have any white laces?’ Create household guilds. Make families of objects so that they are able to fulfill their purpose when they are in each other’s presence. Find a beautiful box or container for them. Label it with a spot-on title. Don’t dilute or pollute the box with things that don’t really belong.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Permaculture Groups

permaculture-groups

In 2011 the long established Permaculture International Ltd registered the business name Permaculture Australia (PA) to allow it to transition into the role of representing permaculture on a national level. PA is already operating as a national body in three ways:

Permafund — a nationally registered deductible gift recipient fund that can receive donations and offer grants. Last year Permafund dispersed small grants to 13 groups in Australia and overseas and a 2014 grant round is underway. Permafund also provides practical advice and mentoring support for aid and community projects.

Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) — these courses (from Cert 1 to Diploma of Permaculture) were developed by a team of dedicated volunteers over many years. APT is a competencybased training package that builds on the contents of the PDC. APT courses can be used in schools and colleges across Australia and have the potential to create jobs in the training sector. PA retains the rights to the curriculum registration and is negotiating with a national curriculum provider — Agrifoods Australia — to expand the use of the courses.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Swapsies

swapsies

Have you ever had the overwhelming feeling that our wardrobes, or in many cases, floor-drobes, are an unbalanced ratio of what-wedo- wear to what-we-don’t-wear?

It seems that so many of us have wardrobes that consist of 25% clothes we actually wear while the rest is jeans we’d like to fit into again one day, our formal dress, the sick-as frock we got on sale but will never have the chutzpah to wear, the T-shirt that we wore on the first date with our lover, the shoes that went with that outfit but never with another, or the slacks we wore once for that interview.

These first-world conundrums, where excessive clothing is an increasingly modern ‘drama’, struck my friend Sara and me as an opportunity to facilitate a community event that was not only enjoyable but raised awareness about recycling and reducing landfill — and Swapsies was born.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Robert Pekin

robert-perkin

We rent an old three-bedroom Queenslander for our family of six in West End, Brisbane Queensland.

What do you do?

I assist in the running of Food Connect, a business based in Brisbane which turns its back on the supermarket system, brings farmers together and distributes what they grow straight to families (see www.foodconnect.com.au). The business model has branched out to most Australian cities.

How has permaculture influenced what you do?

A lot. The business has many of the twelve principles and the three ethics of permaculture embedded into its strategic planning process and manifesto.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Random Weaving With Greenwaste

random-weaving

The concept behind this work is to transform greenwaste into something useful by weaving a simple bowl.

Random weaving is a traditional Japanese basketry technique used mostly for ikebana flower arrangements where the design evokes delicate birds’ nests. In this technique the material is simply woven back into itself, constructing a frame or skeleton from the bottom up.

Waste To Woven

This is a very spontaneous, playful and intuitive way to work. Often slow, the materials’ pliability dictates the final form and texture. There is no ‘real’ pattern to follow, so there are NO MISTAKES. A lot of the weaving process has to do with learning about properties, tension and pliability of the materials. However, because you don’t have to worry about the materials shrinking – tight weaving is not characteristic of this style – you can even gather fresh green plants to use from your garden, or bushwalk and weave at the same time. The weave can be either very dense or very open; surprisingly solid and strong as well.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Hannah Moloney

hannah

I grew up on a city herb farm in Brisbane, my dad’s business. While I had heard about permaculture plenty of times, I first understood what it meant when I was eighteen and spent time with the Brookmans at the Food Forest, in South Australia. They made a massive impact on me and I love them to bits as they showed me what a good life really looks and feels like.

In 2008 I finally did a permaculture design course with Rick Coleman from the Southern Cross Permaculture Institute, and it rocked my socks. It joined so many dots in my head, and both humbled and empowered me to commit myself to this thing called ‘permaculture’ in a significant way.

To me, permaculture is an established yet cutting-edge approach to living well. It has nothing to do with having to revert to caveman ways, and everything to do with designing and developing stable systems that offer more security than the bank can ever hope to.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Noticeboard

noticeboard

In 1994 Robyn Francis acquired a compacted cow pasture to create permaculture’s first purpose-designed education centre and demonstration farm as a living learnscape of permaculture in practice. Djanbung Gardens has trained, inspired and empowered many thousands of students and visitors from around the world. The team at Djanbung invite you to come and celebrate, 7—9 June. Program includes the annual open day, a permaculture symposium, tours, workshops, lots of music, fun, local food and special guests. Former students are invited to give workshops and short presentations on their work.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Growing Abundance in Castlemaine

castlemaine

Castlemaine in Central Victoria has a long history of permaculture and it’s no accident that Growing Abundance (GA) emerged here. GA is a great example of people in a country town combining to grow and share sustainable food. Each element of GA performs many important functions, and each function supports others. GA is part permaculture group, part Transition Town and part social enterprise.

Put another way, GA is more than the sum of its parts. When different projects combine in complementary ways special things happen: people rediscover an enthusiasm for their fruit trees, they meet their neighbours, they learn new skills, and tonnes of fruit that might otherwise go to waste gets harvested, eaten or preserved.

By 2009, after years of dry weather, our reservoirs were almost empty, and the bush fires of February 2009 had a major impact on the environment and communities. The fires, drought and the news of global warming were distressing and pointed to our fragile existence.

GA emerged after the fires, partly from a workshop on community gardening and partly from discussions about Transition Towns.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.

Autumn Farm

autumn-farm

When visiting the Autumn Farm property it’s hard not to feel like you’re in a 1992 SBS screening of a foreign film, set in the heart of a family-run farm, breathing in the warmth of the grass and feeling the rays of the sun on your skin. Just turning in to their driveway and walking down to the house can feel like you’ve walked on to a film set. The romantic setting and visceral vibe from the place is nuanced by the paced buzzing, set by the daily ‘grind’ of the Autumn Farm family.

Autumn Farm is, in fact, not a cinematic dreamscape but the small rural property of Genevieve Derwent, Annie Werner and their delightful offspring Olive and Oscar. The farm is also a picturesque tribute to all things permaculture, organic, ethically sourced and homemade.

The decision to move from inner-western Sydney to the Bega Valley came after first considering Wollongong as a possibility, where commuting to work was still an option for Genevieve. But that didn’t satisfy their itchy feet enough and, because of their past relationships with the far south coast, the decision became obvious.

Genevieve’s dad soon pointed out a property to the ladies and the tree change ensued.

To read the rest of this article, sign up for a digital subscription from $3.50.

 

Current subscribers login here.