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Pip Picks: Things We Like

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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 by the Rainforest Alliance and lined with recycled polyester jersey. They offer the same warmth and performance attributes as conventional stretch neoprene, while reducing CO2 emissions by up to 80% in the manufacturing process.

From $118 www.patagonia.com.au

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Permaculture Around The World

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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 and collaborative action. Their current project is to create a Permaculture and Peace Dojo. They have an acre of land and a traditional-style 100-year-old wooden house on the outskirts of Tokyo which they are renovating using sustainable practices. They plan to make it a centre where peace activists can explore permaculture and ways of contributing to positive change in the world. They will be ready for receiving volunteers in 2018.

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From Seed To Skin: Home Grown Herbal Skin Care

Echinacea

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 37 different products in her range, including facial cleansers, calendula ointment and moisturising creams.

Kay grows what medicinal herbs she can, right outside the door to her lab. These include calendula, echinacea, comfrey, aloe vera, nettle, borage, chickweed (wild harvest), rosemary and elderberry, to name just a few. These are then harvested at the optimal time, dried and made into the medicinal skin care range.

‘What we can’t grow on the farm, we source as locally as possible,’ says Kay. ‘As farmers we know how important it is to be supported locally. We source local low-heated beeswax and honey, lavender, echinacea, olive oil and chilli. What we can’t, we’ll buy Australian certified organic.’

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Editorial

Robyn Rosenfeldt

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 and natural swimming pools, as well as fire baths and even home brewing.

Water is such an essential part of our lives; the human body is made up of up to 60% water, 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water and beneath the top layer of water that we’re familiar with in our oceans and waterways, there lies a whole other world that most of us have little to do with.

I’ve been planning for some time to make seaweed the focus of an issue of Pip, being aware that seaweed has great untapped potential as a resource with many uses. But it wasn’t until I started researching it that I realised just what a valuable yet underutilised resource it really is.

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Rental Gardening

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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 ownership and towards renting.

Many renters face a lack of long-term stability which makes it hard to create a thriving garden. But why should renters have to forgo the joys of gardens that flourish with the abundance of home-grown delights?

The reality is, if you have a bit of space and a spot that receives a good patch of sun during the day, there is no reason why you can’t have a pumping and productive garden.

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Alternative Economies: Groups Working Towards A More Resilient Future

alternative-economies

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, axes and many other handy tools available to them, all for the cost of a small annual fee. Karleng Lim tells us how it works.

What was the impetus for starting Brunswick Tool Library?

Our founder Joleen Hess lives in Portland, Oregon, where there are four tool libraries. When she was living in Melbourne, she lamented the fact that there weren’t any in what was considered to be a progressive part of town. Being quite the DIY-er herself, she thought that one day she might start one. When the proverbial stars aligned and an opportunity came up at NORM Warehouse in Brunswick in early 2013, she took it!

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Flemington Food Forest: An Orchard Conversion

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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 organic matter.

The Flemington Food Forest in Melbourne’s northwest, sits on the grounds of the Farnham Street Neighbourhood Learning Centre (FSNLC). The garden is brimming with life, sandwiched between a children’s playground and the community vegetable garden.

Joanne Nataprawira has been involved in the project since its outset, providing design input, planning and direction. Jo began working with Pat and Tom of the Melbourne Inner Northwest Transition Initiative, Pip Mackey from FSNLC, and other local residents. Further support for the program has come from Brigidine Sisters Justice and the Moonee Valley City Council.

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Frugal Living: Live With Less So You Can Live More

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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 to make ends meet affects your quality of life.

Imagine if you could reduce your hours of paid work, giving you time to do more for yourself in your home and become more self-reliant. This is possible and achievable. To change and simplify your life, you’ll need to spend less than you earn, take control of your money and pay off debt. Read on for a series of steps you can take to start taking back control of your life:

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Foraging Edible Seaweed

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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 conducted into the nutritional benefits of seaweed and how we can start incorporating it into our diets.

Southern Australia has more species of seaweed than any other region, with 62% of species not growing anywhere else in the world. This means that we’re starting from scratch when it comes to understanding the health benefits and nutritional values that it holds.

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Aquaponics: The Low-Down

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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 borrows and combines methods primarily developed by the hydroponics aquaculture industries, along with new ideas from the innovative DIY online community.

HOW IT WORKS

The basic principle of synergy involved in aquaponics is the requirement of clean water to promote the healthy and fast growth of fish, and the need and ability of plants to use nutrients from the water to grow. One of the most critical aspects in this relationship between plants and fish is the diverse microbial community which transforms fish wastes into forms of nutrients more easily used by plants for growth.

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