Welcome to Winter, everyone! Winter at Milkwood Farm is research time (in addition to winter farm chores) and currently we’re nutting out how to create super affordable, warm and not necessarily permanent housings for our crew come Springtime. We’ve been mulling over yurts primarily, but recently, the beauty and economy of reciprocating roof roundhouses are…
DetailsWilga Avenue in Sydney has moved their community out of their backyards and into their front yards. Squished between a busy road and a train line, it wouldn’t look very illustrious on a map, but once I got there I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face… a whole street of edible verge gardens! Yay!…
DetailsLast weekend we ran an Urban Forest Garden workshop in Sydney… it was a great weekend of design, thinking and planting…
Recently I re-discovered this fabulous diagram and accompanying notes by Paul Stamets. It’s basically an outline of how to deeply integrate mycology and edible mushroom propagation into a small permaculture farm system, point by point. Thank you, Mr Stamets. I first encountered this diagram in Paul Stamets’ most excellent book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms.…
DetailsEarthbags are a great idea for building raised garden bed surrounds because of their simplicity and their strength. Recently Nick led a community workshop to transform a townhouse patio into an edible landscape, with earthbag surrounds for a set of bathtub wicking beds…
DetailsYesterday Nick got interviewed about that viral image of Glass Gem Corn, and why the response has been so great: “When you first look at that photo it is beautiful, then there’s a realisation for people where it clicks: “That’s real.” This is a corn that’s been developed over thousands of years and there’s a…
DetailsThe latest batch of Milkwood permaculture design students are currently hard at it in Sydney, taking their Permaculture Design Certificate part-time with the fabulous Alexia Martinez. I thought I’d share some of their latest permaculture designs… These designs are all the student’s first full permaculture design, undertaken using a place they know well as the…
DetailsThis morning I woke up to a delayed Mothers Day of pancakes, sticky kisses and… a bag of pink oyster mushrooms, just starting to fruit! How amazing are they? The reason for the delay was that Nick was in Sydney teaching a mushroom cultivation workshop. But it was worth the wait to gaze apon such…
DetailsThis one is for all the heirloom corn fans out there (and this completely includes me). The genetic diversity of maize is intense. It’s also the most widely grown crop in the Americas. About 80% of maize grown in the USA is now GMO, and that makes the heirloom varieties even more precious. Thankfully, there…
DetailsThere is nothing quite like a feijoa – they are simply the most amazing fruit. Fragrant, pungent, sweet yet sour, gooey in the middle and grainy round the edges. The original yum in a small green torpedo. They also tend to appear as a surprise in large quantities when ripe, probably because they’re so darn…
DetailsI’ve been hearing it more and more – questions asked about why folks are looking at self sufficiency, stand-alone power or disaster preparedness, which are answered with the off-hand response of “oh, I’m just preparing in case of a zombie apocalypse”. On facebook, a picture of a small island with high cliffs and a caption…
DetailsYesterday Ashar and I went mushroom foraging at our local pine forest, just to see what there might be after a rainy day in Autumn. And look what we found! Slippery Jacks. Yum.
Nick was asked by International Permaculture Day 2012 to video his take on permaculture, so here it is. Recorded stealthily during naptime, to avoid the otherwise ever-present soundtrack of a joyful 3 year old. This International Permaculture Day we’re heading to the city to run an Earthbag bench workshop, but there’s a lot of other…
DetailsThe Milkwood newsletter is an occasional publication that’s a treasure trove of writings, free DIY guides, gardening tips, permaculture hacks, special newsletter-only posts and giveaways, and lots, lots more…