While I was travelling in Java recently on a design exchange, I became very good friends with Tempeh. We even learned to make it – village style. Everywhere we went in Java, tempeh was sold freshly made and wrapped in banana leaf at the markets, or often as a meal option in the small warungs…
A backyard full of kids toys, chickens, veggies and bees is one kind of backyard that we love. Kids and bees, though. Can they happily co-habit? The answer is Yes! We caught up with Emily Gimellaro from Wilton recently about how she keeps bees in a warré hive in her backyard chicken run, alongside two…
If you live near the coast, seaweed can be a fantastic resource to forage for fertilizing your garden. There’s lots of easy ways to use it to increase the health of your soil, and your veggies and flowers too. First of all, check the local regulations where you live around collecting beach-cast seaweed. Collection is…
The range of different natural building techniques out there are many, and all of them are exciting. But when to use which technique? Here’s a starting guide for choosing what to build your walls from. Though all very different, and used for different reasons, all the natural building methods below have some common aspects. And the…
The future of small scale organic farming belongs to those who are willing to find a way to grow, regardless of where they begin from. Linda Machon is a perfect example of a farmer who has made the most of what, and where, she has found herself. The concept of the multi-enterprise small farm makes…
If you’re wanting home-grown eggs but don’t have quite enough room for chickens, keeping backyard quails are a super option – they’re easy care, lay protein rich eggs, don’t need much space and are great fun to have around. There’s many different breeds of quails, and some are more suitable for backyards than others. Let’s start with…
Seaweeds stand alone as an incredibly nutritious, regenerative resources like no other – and for many Australians, they’re right on our doorstep. Here’s the basics of foraging, drying and eating a few of them. Firstly, the question that I’ve been grappling with of late… what’s with Aussies and their seaweed? Our continent has incredibly diverse algae,…
Here’s four stories from across the planet of growing mushrooms in the city, using waste products and offcuts to make nutrient dense food. Great examples of growing where you live, using what’s around you to nourish your community. These four urban mushroom farms are in very different situations – Exeter UK, Vienna AT, Milwaukee USA, and Perth AU. They’re…
Retrofitting the suburbs – imagine an ordinary Australian suburban street full of houses, whose front and backyards are dripping with food, catching and storing all the water they need, and generating some of their own power. Imagine using your immediately available space to provide for your family’s needs, in a way that creates community, more…
Recently we had the honor to steward a beautiful bunch of people through Permaculture Design Certificate training in the rainforest at Otford. The insights, mushrooms + wallaby tracks were many. As is usually the case with our PDCs, there were folks from all over this planet in attendance. We were especially happy to provide a full scholarship…
Sauerkraut has become a primary cog in the engine of our kitchen. We eat it hot, we eat it cold. On eggs, in soups, and on the side. You can make it with whatever you’ve got. Or nearly. So of course there’s traditional sauerkraut, which is made from just cabbage, i.e. kraut. And it is…
The scarlet runner bean and me. We go way back. I’m sitting here, in the middle of packing up our kitchen. We move out tomorrow, after a year in this riverside cottage where we grew food, worked hard, and swam, and watched the sky. The year’s harvest of scarlet runner beans are sitting before me…
Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy is a book that will get you excited about fungi, whether you like it or not. That’s because, aside from being a competent guide to the technical aspects of mushroom cultivation, it’s a book that is literally sporulating with enthusiasm for the world of fungi, in all its forms. Don’t want to…
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