A guild, in permaculture terms, is usually used to define a harmonious assembly of species clustered around a central element (plant or animal) that acts in relation to this element to assist its health, aid our work in management, or buffer adverse environmental effects (Mollison, via Jacke). Dave Jacke has taken this concept further and identifies a…
‘Packed with minerals and protein, and easy to grow at home’… too right. Home mushroom cultivation is a good idea, for everyone. You don’t even need a window in your house (though we do hope that you have one), let alone a window sill or outdoor area to grow nutrient dense, protein rich, organic mushroomy…
Our Urban Permaculture Design Course is coming up fast in July, and is shaping to be pretty special. Leading the learning will be the awesome Hannah Moloney, supported by Nick Ritar and none other that the co-originator of Permaculture, David Holmgren. The great thing about this teaching team is the breadth of experience and enthusiasm they bring to share with students…
Blood sausage is a central aspect of harvest day. Large-ish animal harvest day, that is. And it’s one of the central acts of honouring the animal’s life, as well as getting close to the act of the animal’s death, because it’s something you must make the same day you slaughter. Blood sausage is a central dish of…
[wpvideo 6ErAIIU2] Yesterday’s dawn saw me waiting by the road with a large suitcase of heirloom rainbow carrots. I don’t normally take the train to Sydney with this kind of load under my arm, but I’m happy to report that it is (just) possible to transport 25kg of vegetables in this manner. Actually the suitcase…
Apples! They be everywhere. Red ones, yellow ones, green ones. Big and small. Round and wonky. Crunchy and soft. There’s only so many we can eat. Time to get creative, and try out the fancy new steam juicer while we’re at it…
Last week we built a home. A round, load-bearing strawbale tiny house with a roundwood reciprocating living roof, to be precise. And when I say ‘built’ I suppose I mean that we got it mostly done. It was amazing to be a part of. I’m going to go into the construction of this building piece…
Roll up, roll up! Do you want to learn about seed saving? Or foraging for edible weeds? Do you want to swap your way from a scarf to chilli sauce? How about swapping your way from bean seeds to bicycle parts, via seed potatoes?
‘Catch and Store Energy’ is one of David Holmgren’s twelve permaculture principles. It’s a far-reaching theme that can be applied just as effectively at the home scale as it can be at the larger level of communities and society. So what are some of the ways we catch and store energy in our home system at…
We want the Holistic Orchard site at Milkwood Farm to be super productive, beautiful and also accessible – we’re establishing this orchard on a slope just below the Tiny House (and irrigating it with grey water) so we’ll be visiting it regularly. And as I’ve mentioned, well designed paths can define and enhance a forest…
At Milkwood, we spend the majority of our time focusing on positivistic strategies for an uncertain future. This is mostly because the other way of looking at the future has a big flashing ‘here be dragons’ sign on it. Like everyone else, we know what’s happening out there in the big wide world. We know…
The Holistic Orchard site is now officially ‘tractored’. Our family of pigs have done a sterling job of turning this site from wonky pasture into well-plowed and manured soil. Next up at the orchard site, we’re planting a green manure seedmix to fix nitrogen, generate lush biomass and generally ‘hold the space’ back from opportunistic weeds until…
All around Milkwood are patches of dry-sclerophyll eucalypt forest. Variously called ‘goat country’ or other less attractive names, this type of forest is in a stagnant phase due to poor land use over the last 150 years. Can you rehabilitate it into useful, productive land? Sure you can! While also generating plenty of useful material for…