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. [...]
The further we get into mushroom cultivation, the more I realise just how useful and amazing fungi is. I’ve also found that it’s sometimes a little hard to find info that relates to growing edible mushrooms in Australian conditions. Finding local knowledge is crucial! Luckily, Will Borowski, that friendly expert who teaches the Mushroom Cultivation [...]
February 12, 2012 – 6:00 am
Here’s a great video of Craig Sponholtz explaining his guidelines for watershed restoration. As with much of permaculture design, it’s all about expanding the edges of fertility, and starting with what you have. Which, is the case of re-hydrating a landscape, is the wet spots! It’s important to have options for fixing erosion and repairing [...]
January 29, 2012 – 6:00 am
Permaculture and Regenerative Agriculture are fortunately two fields that have lots of great resources. Books, DVDs, you name it. But where do you start? Which to read first? I thought I’d share our most-thumbed favorites. We have this crate of books that travels to each Permaculture Design Course as the ‘student library’, and those books [...]
January 21, 2012 – 6:00 am
We have been searching for seeds of the Siberian Pea Tree (Caragana arborescens) for years. Permies in North America and Europe rave about this plant for it’s hardiness, growth, nitrogen fixing and forage capabilities. But find it in Australia, we could not. Until we found Phoenix Seeds! Phoenix Seeds is a little seed company in [...]
December 21, 2011 – 6:00 am
The super-organism of the honeybee (apis mellifera) is not only awe-inspiring, it’s worth understanding. Both for your own personal gratification, and for the pollination of your nation. This list is a part of the notes we provide to students at the Natural Beekeeping courses we run with Tim Malfroy. It’s a list of Tim’s favorite [...]
December 13, 2011 – 6:00 am
Happy Earth are a great little crew down in Wollongong, proving that you can create an abundant urban homestead. And they’re just created a really awesome community resource in the form of this garden guide, which is free to all. Regardless of whether you actually live in the Illawarra region or not, make sure you [...]
December 9, 2011 – 6:00 am
This list of books by organic market garden expert Eliot Coleman was given to us by the Allsun Farm crew. Apparently these are the 12 books that most influenced Eliot during his transition from school teacher to organic market gardener extraordinaire. They’re pretty radical! Eliot writes: “In order to understand the present and prepare for the future, [...]
November 27, 2011 – 6:00 am
Recently we had Cam Wilson up at Milkwood Farm doing some guest teaching on our Spring Permaculture Design Certificate. And he brought his lovely family along too! All the kids gave the sandpit a goodly workout while Cam worked his magic in the classroom. We became friends with Cam when he was up north managing [...]
