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Permaculture Animal: Silver Perch (Bidyanus Bidyanus)

Silver-perch-tank

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 range of conditions.

Description

As the name suggests, silver perch have a silvery grey appearance. They are darker on top and lighter on the belly with spiky dorsal fins along the back. They can grow up to 50 cm and 6 kg, but are unlikely to reach these sizes in farm dams.

Functions In A Permaculture System

Silver perch are good eating fish. They have a very high level of omega-3s, making them a particularly useful addition to a permaculture diet. They are generally eaten when under a kilogram.

They may be useful in keeping some problem species, such as mosquitos and filamentous algae, at bay.

They can be stocked with other species such as yellow perch to create a more diverse polyculture. Austral

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Kids’ Patch

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 produce. Not only will they feature in the Kids’ Patch page, but you’ll be in the running to win a copy of Listen to the Land. Stories and Songs for Children by Annie Bryant. This CD includes seven songs and six audio stories about growing food, living on the land, caring for the bush and bees, and listening to Mother Earth.

To enter simply send the photo with the name, age and address of your child to maude@pipmagazine.com.au

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10 Ways To Get Kids Off Screens And Into Nature

ways

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 to develop many essential life skills. So how can you encourage your kids to swap screen time for play time? Here are our top 10 ideas to make the great outdoors fun!

1. FOLLOW ALONG

When you are in a special outside place with your child, step back. Observe them. Instead of directing their play, say ‘I will follow you’, and see where they take you. What do they see? What interests them? How does the world look from their perspective? What can you learn from this? Allowing your child to be free in the natural world is extremely empowering. Sometimes they may need coaxing to get out there, but once they are, as often as you can allow them to lead the way.

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Permaculture Plant: Peanut

peanut-hand

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 a fantastic plant in any garden, but particularly for an intensive permaculture system, as they provide both food for us and food for the soil.

Growing Conditions

Peanuts originate from the northern parts of South America so they prefer a warm climate. The more temperate and tropical northern regions of Australia are best suited for peanut growing, but don’t let that put you off, people of southern Australia. The key is to make sure they are always warm. Peanut seeds (nuts) are planted in a full sun aspect during spring and harvested when the plants begin to yellow in late summer. If unsure, start growing your peanuts in a hothouse during spring and plant out into the garden long after the risk of frost has passed.

Peanuts require a very well-drained soil, so if in doubt about your drainage, plant your peanuts into the top of a small mound. This assists drainage and minimises the chance of fungal infestation.

Something

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Home Brew Beer And Cheer: Make Your Own Sustainable Beer

home-brew-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 self-regulation and accept feedback’, as a boorish drunk is no fun. There is also an opportunity to ‘obtain a yield’, with three of the four main ingredients of beer easily collected (water), cultivated (hops) or cared for (yeast). The fourth ingredient (malted barley) can be grown and processed, however this is a task for an adventurous spirit.

A DIY home brew offers several advantages over the shop bought product. Firstly you have much more control over the product, its provenance and its ingredients. Secondly you have the ability to make truly wondrous beverages not available from the run of the mill bottle shop. Thirdly you can do it for a fraction of the price. A from scratch home brew can be made for between 75 cents and $2 a litre; saving you from working for the man and saving you some cash for your next project.

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Letters To The Editor

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 Pip.

It is very varied regarding articles and lavishly illustrated.

The negative I have relates to the use of food/fibre animals as part of any permaculture system, especially the ones bred and contained. I’ve made the transition to a stock-free existence, with no pets. I eat only plant-based food. This plant power is so much healthier for the body and biosphere, and so much less hassle than managing animals. However our food growing areas are ecosystems helped by various small animals to keep pests under control.

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Pip Brains Trust

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 to and during each fruit tree flowering time will invite bees, pollinating the fruit and providing you with a harvest. Plants with daisy or umbel-shaped flowers are favoured by common predatory insects, so a handful of them in your guild during fruiting season can minimise damage. Shallow-rooting plants minimise competition for water and nutrients (with the exception of grasses). You may already have plants in your garden playing these roles, so cluster those species under your fruit to form a guild. [Justin]

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Lebanon: The Power Of Community

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 country and people start carrying guns and fighting starts. It’s unsafe to stay so you are forced to leave. You flee. How would you cope? How would your family cope? Where would you go? What conditions would you be prepared to live in, and for how long? What conditions would you expect your family to put up with?

Lebanon has an incredible lineage of cultures, in the midst of so much history. In Lebanon today, there are an estimated six and a half million people. There are four million Lebanese, half a million Palestinian refugees who’ve been in refugee camps for over 40 years, and around two million Syrians who have arrived in the past five years.

These last few years have been an incredible change for both the Syrians and the Lebanese. Many of the Syrians are people whom Australians can easily identify with—middle -class families, living urban lives. They’ve fled their homes and jobs. They left in their cars, or buses or taxis. Whatever it took at that critical moment when the decision to flee had to be made, when the threat of violence became too much. Many had little idea of what conditions they were heading towards.

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Build Your Own Fire Bath

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 a fire under it. Though not essential, it is preferable to use a cast iron bathtub as opposed to the thinner pressed iron model. The cast iron allows the heat to be more evenly distributed around the mass of the bathtub and retains heat for longer. Of course this simple design could be complicated by incorporating a rocket stove as the heat source.

How To Build A Cast Iron And Pit Fire Bath

For starters, the site needs to be on reasonably level ground and on soil which can be dug. Also try to position the bath so that you can drain the water to a lower point in the landscape, preferably where the water can be used again in the garden, for instance.

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Noticeboard

event

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 presents over 300 events celebrating sustainability. Expect a packed program filled with local and international talks, forums, workshops, film, art and design events. If you’re interested in being part of the program, you can apply now, with applications closing at the end of November.

Pip will be in attendance for SLF’s Big Weekend in Melbourne (9 – 11 February), along with a huge range of exhibitors and food vendors. Come by the Pip stall to say hello as we will be launching our special 10th issue! We hope to see you there.

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