Introduction to Permaculture Part 12

After another glorious morning tea, we headed up to the food forest again, with Evan. There we planted Garlic and Tumeric, as well as Pineapple Sage and Comfrey around the bottom edge of the trees we had planted yesterday.

      Evan showing us Garlic and Tumeric.

 

                             Ginger growing in the food forest.

     Planting Pineapple Sage. (It has the most beautiful scent!)


 By this stage the heat was starting to get to me and a couple of the others, so we headed down into the shade of the porch and helped Morag with setting out lunch. The rest came down 15 minutes later and we all had lunch. This time we had some visiting wildlife!

  Morag and Evan took pity on us and after lunch we did some propagation and potting on the table under the porch. It was much cooler there, especially with the breeze coming up from the dam.
   Morag showed us how to propagate a few plants, from hard and soft stem cuttings, and by planting. A number of plants were potted up for us to take home, and Morag took those interested, out for a ramble around the garden to get getting of much admired plants! We were also given a selection of seeds to take home if we wished. I took some for the community garden.
   I took home a potted Arrowroot plant and some Lemongrass, as well as a potted cutting of  Lavender and a cutting of Pineapple Sage. So far (3 weeks later) everything is growing, although I haven't yet planted out the lavender, and the sage is in a glass of water, and still growing! I'm waiting for roots...

Plant propagation through hard and soft cuttings, and planting. Also seed dissemination!

Our weekend course was over soon after that. We walked back to the bunkhouse, packed up, and on the way out stopped to see the bamboo grove (pictured earlier). Then we took the long trek home, although we were running a few hours early due to the early start that morning.
  I found it a great weekend - I picked up a few things I didn't know, and had many more things confirmed. I also got to meet a great bunch of people, and loved having Steve there to share it with me. I hope we can both get back up there to do our Permaculture Design Certificates in 2012.
Adie,
Dec 2011.

Introduction to Permaculture Part 11

ItP Garden in Stages...

1.How it looked before we began.

2. Soil forked over, weed and worm tea poured on, the paths defined, and the worm tower installed. (Watering just beginning.)

3.Organic soil, Mushroom and Organic Compost Added. Arrowroot, Paulownia and Comfrey leaves chopped up and applied to garden beds.

4. Wet newspapered - paths included.

5. Mulched with weed and seed-free hay (straw) then watered again.

6. Morag teaching.

Then we got to plant! It was morning tea time, and as it was so hot, we didn't plant out much. Morag will fill the bed in the cool later.

 7. The kids helping Morag plant out. They were our 'newspaper soakers' also!

Introduction to Permaculture Part 10

    Cosmos with youngster beside!

    Paper Daisies.

Morag told us that beneficial insects prefer the yellow and red flowers.

Our next task was to build a new veggie garden on their young son's 'digging pit' which he'd taken great delight in making! Morag had made a worm tower to install...

 

 Morag with the worm tower. It's about 3 times as long as the ones we made for the Community and home gardens!

Introduction to Permaculture Part 9

Today it was Morag's turn to take us out. We went to the Zones 1 and 2 gardens and got to check out the weed tea, worm and normal composting.

 

 Morag showing us the Zone 2 garden.

                        Cassava.

   Daikon Radish - used by Masanobu Fukuoka (Japanese visionary and author of 'One Straw Revolution') as a soil conditioner.

     The reason why - the deep fat root that aerates and loosens the soil.

Morag then took us down to the Zone 1 veggie garden where there was a large patch of insect attracting (and just plain pretty!) flowers.

 
                   

Introduction to Permaculture Part 8

                         The Fig with a backdrop of Arrowroot.

We then planted a couple of Mandarins.

 

After we finished planting, watering, sheet mulching and then hay mulching, we were done for the first day!

     Steve and I headed for camp, where we changed into swimmers and headed for the bridge over the Mary River, reputed to be the best swimming spot nearby. The water was ICY! After such a hot day, it was quite a shock to find that I couldn't just dive right in. It took me 15 minutes to work my way from my ankles to my waist (as deep as it got), and NONE of the other adults went past their shins! It was divine – so cool and clear and refreshing. It's been too long since I've swum in a clean river. It'd kill you to swim in our nearest, the Bremer.

   After our (!) swim we headed back to the bunkhouse, where we were sharing a room with 2 of the male course participants. I had sore eyes from a day in the bright sun, so had a short kip whilst Steve chatted to some other campers at the open air kitchen. Soon after we headed to the Village Green where dinner was served by Morag and Evan - I brought my newly-discovered recipe of coconut yoghurt, and some rhubarb stewed with coconut sugar. A great hit, I was lucky to get any!
      
   We had an early night, worn out by a long day in the sun, despite being entertained by the 'open mike' music at the Village Green. The mattresses on the bunks were a tad hard, but although at one stage I listened to a chorus of snores from my 3 male bunkroom mates, I had a reasonable night's sleep.
     Bright and early the next morning we congregated at Evan and Morag's for breakfast. By consensus we decided to meet for breakfast by 7:30am to get out in the garden before the sun really got hot. Another high 30's day.
    Breakfast was cereal and milk, sourdough bread and spreads, and fruit, with coffee and numerous types of teas. Yummy!

Introduction to Permaculture Part 7

We stopped then for a sumptuous lunch of sourdough breads, fresh salads and the most tasty marinated tofu I've ever eaten! We'd been blessed (?) with a very hot weekend (high 30's), and it was quite an effort to drag ourselves away after such a fabulous lunch to go out in the very hot sun.

Evan took us back up past the Mulberries and chook house...

    The mulberries provide shade and shelter and food for the chooks.

...to the Food Forest at the top of the property. There we helped him sow Pidgeon Pea, a nitrogen fixing cover crop, and plant a couple of Citrus, Galangal and Ginger. In among the forest where a number of interesting bushes and trees...

                   Buddha's Hand Lime, with a mulch of Arrowroot leaves.

     A close up of the fascinating fruit!

                        The Dragonfruit.

                        The Micro Citrus.

Introduction to Permaculture Part 6

To the left was a flower garden surrounding a regularly-trimmed Lemon-scented Myrtle. I had some tea from leaves I picked from the Myrtle on Sunday. Mmmm refreshing!

 

A close up of the Lemon-scented Myrtle about to flower.

  I rather fell in love with the rainbow wind-spinner, offset so beautifully by the flowers...

  In Zone 2, the 2nd terrace up, there were a number of dwarf fruit trees...

    The dwarf Lemonade tree.

Introduction to Permaculture, Crystal Waters, Qld 19th – 20th November 2011 Part 5

Walking back up towards the house we passed the Macadamias, then the grey water treatment system.

  Above another tank and under the edge of the house was their main composting toilet.

 

  Back up beside the ramp into the deck was a small bamboo trellis for peas and vines...

This section was level with the ramp into the deck overlooking the dam. The garden was then terraced up to the top of the property. The bottom bed was all Zone 1, intensive vegetable gardens. The next level was Zone 2, more perennial crops with some dwarf fruit trees, and above that was the mulberry trees providing shelter for the chooks. Above the chooks was the Zone 3 food forest.

Introduction to Permaculture, Crystal Waters, Qld 19th – 20th November 2011 Part 4

A little further down on the right we passed the burgeoning food forest, then below that, the newly refurbished chook house.

To our left was the next stage in their house building – each 'module' built in stages as time and money permitted, stepping down the slope. Note the solar array.

Nearest the bottom of the block was the main house...

...with a wonderful view over the dam. Note the dome house above and to the left of the centre of the dam.

  Morning tea was ready as we arrived –  tea and coffee with local fresh fruit and nuts and seeds newly roasted in the solar oven. I had to check it out!

    Solar Oven closed...

               ...and open!
 
What a fabulous contraption! We ate a number of dishes from the oven over the weekend – the aforementioned nuts and seeds, new potatoes and quinoa. 

   Opposite the garden and above the main house was the kids' playroom. It is the newest addition to the property.

After morning tea Evan took us for a tour of the property, pointing out each feature and improvement. First we headed down the slope to the dam, where there was some old citrus and an Ice Cream Bean tree.

The flower was lovely (in a cute monster kind of way!).

Introduction to Permaculture, Crystal Waters, Qld 19th – 20th November 2011 Part 3

The previous picture was the stunning Painted Bamboo.

This is a running bamboo - the type that takes over whole tracts of land... Barry kept it well under control.

Up over the hill we encountered an experimental dome house – which failed! Big cracks in the dome caused rain to leak through.... I loved the look of it nevertheless!

We then went down the hill to the 2^nd man-made dam and there on the corner was a lovely natural timber seat with a view up the hill to our destination, Evan and Morag's house. Interesting to note that years ago, when they began to build, there was no dam and just bare paddock below their house...

  Moving up the hill, we encountered the neighbour's house.

  He's been doing some experimenting with Biochar.

                              The Biochar Kiln.

A few metres more we arrived at Evan and Morag's 1 acre block. At the very top was a guest house with a tank and composting toilet attached.