A quick note that we’re running an Aquaponics Workshop with Charlie from Ecolicious and Nick from Milkwood in Sydney soon, that gives you the tools you need to design your own system. Come and learn to grow your fish and salad here! >> Aquaponics Workshop: 17-18 Dec: Sydney, NSW Aquaponics is an emerging field of…
DetailsA hot day. A secret valley. A high hill. A shady billabong. And a whole afternoon, stretching out before us. Sometimes, you just gotta get off the farm. And go somewhere just over the ridge where the landscape rolls in a different direction, the creek contains waterholes you’ve never seen before, and different plants are…
DetailsEdible Forest Gardens – Volumes 1 and 2 by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier is a spectacular double volume of knowledge. Really, truly incredible stuff. So it was with some excitement that i found this recent podcast with Dave Jacke on Gardening like a forest. Author of Edible Forest Gardens- Volumes 1 and 2, Dave…
DetailsThe last danger of frosts have passed – finally. It is officially time to plant tomatoes at Milkwood. And plant them we did. Oh yes, how we did. The plan here is to be awash in tomatoes by early February. We want tomatoes coming out our ears and out our toes. At which point there…
DetailsDoes your loved one really need another gadget? Probably not. Do they need to learn how to propagate mushrooms, become a natural beekeeper or design their own permaculture system? Heck yes! And so we come to the season of gifting. I am all about gifting. Especially if it’s gifts of useful things made with love…
DetailsIf you want you breath taken away by wild nature, incidentally filmed on an all-girl canoeing adventure, here you are: a spectacular starling swarm. Simply beautiful. Part of a Permaculture Design Certificate is dedicated to patterns in nature and how we can use them in design. This pattern recognition flows through all things. But sometimes…
DetailsLast winter, we decided we needed a dedicated on-farm cook while Milkwood Farm is open (Spring-Autumn). I love cooking, but it was all getting a bit much. Interns, students, wwoofers and guests, all needing to be fed good food, every single day. We’ve tried me doing all the cooking. That worked until Ashar was too…
Details“Some call it permaculture, we prefer p-culture… ya dig? p-culture, starring the wonderful Miss Tasia Zalar, is a series of 10 segments designed to get youthful peeps actively involved in reducing their impact on the environment.” Great! Bring on the teen permacool. I mean p-culture… sorry dudes. Then there’s the Permaculture challenge, which is 50…
DetailsSoil Chromatography is both incredibly beautiful and incredibly useful, all at once. It’s a way of assessing your soil for humus, minerals, microbiology and more. Best of all, you can do this soil assessment effectively at home – no need to send off tests to a faraway lab. Maybe that’s why soil chromatography hasn’t caught…
DetailsA zuni bowl is a riparian restoration technique involving rocks, water, biology and time. It’s a great way of dealing with a small headcut (or erosion which is about to become a headcut) in order to prevent that headcut continuing up your catchment. Headcuts are not an uncommon sight in our valley’s many gullies. Many…
DetailsLook at this amazing bottle wall work by the crew at Bustan Qaraaqa in Jerusalem. Now these are folk who know how to make a feature of the waste they produce. Their bottle walls represent the entire through-put of bottles at their permaculture site. On a remote farm such as ours, there is no rubbish…
DetailsRecently Nick gave a talk at TEDx Canberra. He talked about stewarding nutrients, how we can solve the problem of peak phosphorous, and about how to grow the best cumquats ever. Yes, Nick was talking about why taking responsibility for our poo and our wee, our most basic waste streams, is so crucial to our…
DetailsWow, what a day. Colin Seis in his element, explaining to 30+ folks why pasture cropping is such a big deal. Farmers, permaculturalists and agri-entreprenuers seemed to make up the bulk of the crowd. There’s a lot of interest in this regenerative cropping technique. And so there should be.
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…