The upside down fire technique rocks. It’s a cleaner burn with far less smoke and better combustion, gives off more heat, needs less tending and uses the embodied energy in wood more efficiently than the tipi-esque fire method.
As an added bonus, the first time you make a fire like this in front of a ring of uninitiated folks, you exist in a ring of utter skepticism. Which makes your rockin upside down fire all the better when it works beautifully. Read More
Reciprocating roof roundhouses are pretty darn cool. They look gorgeous and they are a very good way to quickly make a strong structure with simple, available materials, the right knowledge and a bunch of willing hands.
We’ve been researching reciprocating roof structures, but hadn’t as yet had a chance to build one. Luckily Harris has been champing at the bit to get a roundhouse up since attending a workshop on them in New Zealand. This last week became the window of opportunity… Read More
Here’s another of Floyd’s aquaponics systems that have been designed to merge economy with beauty and food production, using mostly recycled materials.
This system was made for a Darwin Cafe, to help create a customer-friendly courtyard that was serviceable yet green with the trickling sound of water, all the while producing fresh herbs for the cafe… Read More
Rose has moved into the Earthbag Dome at Milkwood Farm and we can now report that it works. There’s the woodstove to stoke up on cold nights, and the rest of the time it’s a very quiet, very temperature-stable bedroom, with only slight hobbit connotations.
One of the things about this earthdome is that it’s very tricky to photograph internally, given that it’s so darn small (yet comfortably spacious, in its way). Prepare for lots of close-ups – hopefully you’ll get the idea… Read More
No-one knows how old this door is – it came off a shed that pre-dates Nick’s family taking over this farm… bet you its maker never imagined that it would wind up keeping the wind out of a earthbag dome, high on the ridge at Milkwood Farm…
Shane sanded this door back, oiled it and added some beaut hinges (also scavenged). Then he put a little window in it, cut the top to fit the curve of the shape of the door hole, made a curved door frame (no mean feat) made a step, and there you go. One solid door, good for at least another 100 years. Read More
Charlie has been busy in Sydney making beautiful and functional aquaponics systems far and wide of late, of which he’ll be sharing the designs and process during our Backyard Aquaponics Workshop happening in Sydney next weekend on the 20-21 October.
While he’s still making lots of bathtub aquaponics systems, Charlie’s also find that a lot of people want a system right next to their living space (for easy access to the veggies, herbs and the sound of trickling water), which means aesthetics is an important part of the system’s success.
While worm farms are pretty normal to find nowadays in many yards, their capacity to cycle essential nutrients and make nutrient dense soil additives available to you, for free, can’t be understated. Worm farms rock, seriously.
Our bathtub wormfarm next to the kitchen garden, with it’s built in vertigation (direct worm juice injection into the irrigation system for the veggie beds), has been going strong for a couple of years now. However Michael needs lots of worm castings (worm poo) as an ingredient for his soil block mix for seedlings, so we’re souping up production. Read More
We are very excited to announce that we’ll be hosting Ernie and Erica Wisner in April for a Rocket Stove Prototype Workshop! Anyone familiar with Milkwood knows how we feel about rocket stove technology, and many of our wider network are the cleaner for it, thanks to our rocket powered shower.
Ernie and Erica Wisner are two US based, world-class pyros who specialise in rocket stove, fire science and cob oven education. And they’re coming to Milkwood Farm for a 2-day intensive on how to build a bunch of different rocket stove technologies. Read More
Here’s a great little DIY vertical aquaponics design that Floyd has recently installed outside a studio in Darwin.
It’s a simple system, designed to transform a simple patio into a space of low-maintenance beauty that includes the sound of running water, the cooling effect of a pond, and bountiful herbs! Read More
At the risk of creating a series of seedy posts, just thought I better mention the other Seed Freedom event we’re running: The Seed Savers in conversation with Costa, in Redfern on the evening of the 12th Oct.
I only put it up last night but it’s already 4/5 full. It’s heartening to know that seed saving floats so many people’s boats! It will be an amazing night so it you’re near Sydney, please rsvp and we’ll see you there.
