ALS members Blogs

Title: Advanced Permaculture Principles: Sydney: July 2013Venue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Advanced Permaculture PrinciplesDate: Jul 13 2013 - Jul 14 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join us for a rare chance to spend two immersive days with David Holmgren; ecologist, writer, world-leading thinker and co-originator of Permaculture. This course is for folks who are ready to extend their working knowledge of biomimicry and permaculture design theory as applies to human habitats, with one of the greatest minds working in ecological design today.An advanced permaculture principles and planning tools course, for anyone ready to take the next step in effective, hands-on permaculture design skills... This course is designed for: permaculture students primary producers designers landscape architects community workers teachers homesteaders social entrepreneurs future farmers ...and anyone else looking for the opportunity to extend their knowledge of how good ecologcial design can build and enhance sustainable living, community, farming and/or monetary systems.Melliodora, David Holmgren and...

Nearly time for our next Intro to Permaculture course! It’s coming up fast on the 13 – 14 April in Sydney. Nick teaches this course as a two day intensive that aims to give students a solid grounding in permaculture theory as applies to the everyday. It’s all about taking the big ideas, concepts and advantages of biomimicry, and applying them at home…  Soil class Permaculture Design Certificate student design for a wicking bedWe’ve seen this course push a lot of buttons for people over the years. It’s so excellent to help people re-discover the concepts and principles of nature that makes our planet the abundant place it is, and then help them figure out how to apply those principles to backyard garden design. Or perhaps their small business structure. Or their kitchen. Or their community. The Intro to Permaculture course is definitely a starting point to many new paths of ecological...

Title: Organic Market Garden Masterclass: Sept 2013: Gundaroo NSWVenue: Allsun Farm / GundarooCategory: Organic Market GardeningDate: Sep 21 2013 - Sep 23 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Learn the nuts and bolts of how to run a thriving, diverse organic market garden, taught by long-term, established and successful market gardeners. Suitable for those with some prior gardening knowledge who are keen to make a livelihood from growing great vegetables.Join Joyce Wilkie and Michael Plane of Allsun Farm for three days of hard-won knowledge and on-the-ground experience of what you need to know and do in order to produce great organic vegetables for profit or community gain. This course will cover: Garden design, planning & layoutCrop rotationBed preparationPlanting techniques for different plant familiesMaintenance, seedlings, harvestingNutrient and biomass strategiesIntegrating animal systemsMarketing, value-adding and box schemes This course will involve both theory and hands-on components, with students getting a chance to understand how Allsun...

Title: Permaculture Design Course: Jan 2014: Milkwood FarmVenue: Milkwood Farm (1) / MudgeeCategory: Permaculture Design CertificateDate: Jan 12 2014 - Jan 25 2014Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: This 2 week intensive course will arm you with the design thinking and skills to create resilient, synergistic systems for living, working and community.Join us  and get inspired and skilled up for creating abundance in a world out of balance, no matter where you live. This course offers you the opportunity, skills and knowledge to design and implement fundamental and life-changing resilience into your everyday home, community and beyond. Permaculture is set of principles that result in sustainable and productive systems. Systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community. No chemicals and no excuses. Just good, thoughtful, innovative and effective design for the needs of our species. By observing nature we can use natural patterning to design and implement ideas and systems...

What to cook, right now! Last week we held a Masterclass down at Allsun Farm in Gundaroo, and the marvellous Olivier Sofo did the cooking. Using primarily ingredients from Allsun Farm, Liv had the class in raptures and yes, recipes were promised. In the interests of stacking functions, we thought you might like these excellent recipes too. Make these with Autumn produce, now.  Olivier Sofo, chef extraordinaire. Seen here during our last pig processing weekend at Milkwood. Please note that Liv is the sort of chef who just goes with the flow, both in terms of seasonality and quantities. For these recipes, make as much as you think you need for your tribe, and pick/source quantities accordingly. Bhujia – spiced veggies Gather simlar quantities of silverbeet, beans and potatoes, and steam together (add the silver beet at the end). Fry off garlic, ginger, onions and some capsicums till soft in...

Title: Backyard Aquaponics: Aug 2013: Sydney NSWVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Aquaponics WorkshopDate: Aug 24 2013 - Aug 25 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Charlie Bacon of Ecolicious and Floyd Constable from Milkwood for a practical aquaponics workshop on how to build your own aquaponics system and produce organic, water-wise vegetables and fresh fish in your own backyard. With 10% of the water usage and five times the growth rate of a conventional vegetable garden, an aquaponics setup can see fingerling fish grown to plate size in under 12 months. No chemicals, no fuss, just fresh fish, herbs and vegetables. One of the great things about aquaponics is that it is scalable. It works at balcony size, and also at farm scale. And once you get the hang of it, you can take your aquaponics system to whatever size you choose. The theory and techniques are the same.Organic...

Ashar Fox is 4 this week, which I guess means that Milkwood Permaculture is also officially 4 as well. Though we started Milkwood just over 6 years back, it was Ashar’s birth that woke me up. Something went click or snap at that point, and I switched from ‘hey, living in the country is kinda fun’ into ‘I will make this work’ mode. Hence Milkwood was born. The harvest of Autumn 2009 So thank you Ashar Fox for teaching me many things about love and life and about myself as well. It’s been a wild ride with plenty of ups and downs (mostly on my side, Ashar’s been ridiculously healthy and happy throughout) but we seem to have collectively made it all the way to 4. I will hold in my nostalgia about catering for two week permaculture courses with ashar strapped to my back, and about the ongoing and really...

The other day Tim Malfroy, our mate and esteemed Warré beekeeper, came over to talk bees and check the Milkwood hives. We had hoped to split our two Warré hives into four colonies this season, but it looks like we’re sitting on that idea now. Why? Erratic flowering patterns – the eucalypts around here are still sitting on their hands, so to speak. Not a flower in sight. So while our bees have been working our market garden and all the wildflowers and weeds around here hard, they’re still doing it tough.  The bees. All good, queens laying, babies being born. But no good honey stores. Tim checks the brood while Gondry (french Warré Beekeeper) looks onA whole lot of nothing… for now… What we’d prefer to see at this point in the season – full frames of honeycomb. This photo is from this time last year however… Gigi...

Damsons are a much-loved preserving variety of plum, and with good reason. They’re intensely beautiful with their indigo skins and pale bloom, and their astringency means that the jam they make is divine. I was at Allsun Farm this week hosting our autumn Organic Market Garden Masterclass, and the damson tree by the back door was ready to drop. Time for a jam session, alongside the weekend’s action of growing new growers.  Damsons on the tree at Allsun Farm The damson de-seeding machine Slow but steady de-seeding party. Good company and a glass of red helps… only 7kg to go! Joyce’s damson jam recipe of choice Joyce Wilkie stirring 40 liters of jam, at midnight, after teaching a class of future growers in the full sun for two days. What a woman. Keep stirring and don’t look back. Damson Jam! A year’s supply and enough for everyone. And their friends. Missing from...

Biochar is a type of charcoal, made and used for specific purposes – most often as a soil amendment. To make Biochar, you burn biomass using pyrolysis – a low/no-oxygen burning environment that prevents combustion of the biomass material, and therefore produces charcoal.  Clockwise from the top: biochar made from cardoon seed head, apple tree prunings, corn cobs, bone, bamboo, lumber ends, rabbit droppings in center – photo by Harley Soltes The attributes of biochar as a soil amendment seem pretty significant – it’s like adding small, stable sponges to your soil – they don’t break down easily (with good soil management) which means the biochar can provide more habitat for the soil food web, as well as help holding water and nutrients in place. And then there’s the carbon factor – most of the carbon in the biomass (which might be wood, woodchips, horse manure or whatever) is still present in...

Everything we do, and everything we are, stands for what this short vid stands for. Regeneration and stewardship of healthy land, water, air, earth and sky. For all of us, and for the grandchildren of our grandchildren. www.CallToCountry.orgOriginal link...

I don’t know how relevant our stove is to yours but if I’m going to use the oven I will plan to cook slow and long. I remove all the ash in the fire box because that is above our oven and the ash insulates the heat source slowing the cooking down even further. I’ve found that you want a hot oven you got to get that baby cranking out the heat and cooking in your undies comes with hazards at my age not to mention the aesthetic. For all night burning I use a really hard wood, iron bark around here and ensure the coal bed is deep. Ensure your log has stopped smoking before you shut it down for the night. What I mean is don’t throw the log on and turn it off straight away. Gloria who lived in our shack before us she could cook anything...

This short documentary is about a weekend workshop hosted recently by Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center. Watershed Restoration: The Cutting Edge was taught by Brad Lancaster, Amanda Bramble, Jan-Willem Jansens, Steve Carson, and Craig Sponholtz. It focused on catching, sinking, storing, and using water where it falls. So good to see this knowledge gaining ground spreading far and wide! We loved having Craig Sponholtz at Milkwood Farm last year…Original link...

Recently we welcomed a crew of budding market gardeners to Milkwood Farm to start learning the craft of organic market gardening. The crew was a mix of city folks dreaming of rooftop farms, enterprising suburban folks, small farm owners looking to diversify and keen-but-landless growers looking for opportunities. All of them left full of good knowledge. Tools at the ready Trying out the seeder Making a bed Michael in teaching mode Compost making time! Mmm cow poo slurry, the secret of good hot compost piles at Milkwood FarmTesting the pH of the previous compost pile… all’s well here… Go diggers go!Rotation cards… it’s all in the cycling of crops, is organic market gardening… Making soil blocksAnd of course, then there was the catering, freshly picked from the same garden everyone had just been learning in…And, as always, Rose’s amazing sourdough that is just getting more awesome...

Sun Hives are a hive design coming out of Germany and now gathering interest in Britain. They’re part of the world-wide movement towards ‘apicentric’ beekeeping – beekeeping that prioritizes honeybees firstly as pollinators, with honey production being a secondary goal. The Sun Hive is modeled in part on the traditional European skep hive, and is aimed at creating a hive that maximises colony health. The main thing I love about this hive and the enthusiasm surrounding it is not the hive itself, but the philosophy behind it, that of apicentric beekeeping. In brief, the Sun Hive has an upside down skep hive at its base with curving frames in the top section and no frames in the bottom section. The hive is placed well above ground level (optimal for bees – they never choose to create a hive on the ground). Like a Warré hive, the Sun Hive allows the...

Never underestimate the power of a simple, bush-pole structure. Our market garden shed might be rustic, in every sense of the word, but it is 100% pure awesomeness. It keeps tools and organic minerals dry, ordered and available, all in the center of the action. Shed under construction… And completo. A rustic revelation. So this is about as simple as a shed gets, but it’s a great start, and way better than no shed at all. It’s constructed with ‘bush poles’ – young trees with the bark knocked off to lessen termite invasion. Add some scrap corrugated iron, a bit of old insulation from Nick’s dad’s junk pile, some recycled hardwood beams, and there you go. Shelter. Not that I’m trying to oversimplify the importance of, or the effort that went into, this structure. Quite the opposite. Since we started this market garden in August 2011, ‘we need to build...

We’re excited to announce that Milkwood Farm veggies will be available in Sydney from this afternoon at the Real Food Projects pop-up shop at 27 Enmore Road, Newtown, Sydney. The best corn, beans, eggplant and cucumbers you’ve ever tasted, grown with love, care and a great deal of compost at Milkwood Farm, by us! Available for a limited time the big city! Milkwood market garden In the bean patch – silvereye’s nest Yesterdays pick (a very small portion of) Andy cleaning cucumbers Karen scrubbing beetroots Meanwhile, Lawrence is manning the passata machine for the day (we’re still deep in tomato season) Rose stealing some of the corn haul for dinner… Yesterday was a big day for the Milkwood market garden crew… picking, packing, buffing and washing a ute-load of our beautiful summer veggies which are at their prime. This morning, Nick and Floyd are off down the hill to Sydney...

Title: Starting an Organic Market Garden: Sept 2013: MudgeeVenue: Milkwood Farm (2) / MudgeeCategory: Organic Market GardeningDate: Sep 27 2013 - Sep 29 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Learn how to start a market garden from scratch, and take bare ground to thriving, intensive vegetable production in one season. Suitable for those keen to grow enough great vegetables to feed their surrounding community, in urban or rural areas.This jam-packed 3 day course will teach you how you can establish a small, effective and profitable market garden using organic techniques and permaculture principles, just like we've done at Milkwood Farm. Course covers: Garden design, planning & layoutTools, resources and other considerationsPropagating healthy seedlingsBed preparationSoil fertility and managementDesigning appropriate crop rotationsHarvest & storageIntegrated Pest Management (IPM)Irrigation strategies This course covers the nuts and bolts of starting up a small market garden operation, from tools, seeds and planning through to what to expect from...

Title: Serious Backyard Vegies: Sep 2013: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Serious Backyard VegiesDate: Aug 31 2013 - Sep 1 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Do you want to grow seriously great vegetables in your backyard this Spring? Are you finding that it's a little harder than you thought to get your beloved seeds from their packets all the way to a super, plentiful harvest?Join Michael Hewins, Milkwood Farm's market gardener, for 2 days of hands-on knowledge, tips and tricks on how to grow truly awesome backyard vegies using organic permaculture technique. This course will cover: Vegetable garden design, placement and retrofittingCreating great garden soil using DIY, organic techniquesRaising great seedlingsPlanting techniques for different plant familiesWhat different vegetable varieties require to grow really wellBackyard nutrient cycling strategies to ensure enough plant foodIntegrated Pest Management Michael has a heap of experience in growing many types of annual vegetables in temperate...

Title: Mushroom Cultivation: Sept 2013: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Mushroom CultivationDate: Sep 14 2013 - Sep 15 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Will Borowski for two jam-packed days of hands-on skills in edible mushroom propagation. Learn how to grow delicious oyster, shiitake and many other mushrooms at home, organically! This practical workshop will take you through the details of home mushroom propagation and introduce you to the fascinating world of fungi. You'll also receive a host of take-home mushroom resources to get you growing.Will Borowski's approach is designed to ensure a sustainable mushroom supply. Will uses minimal intervention with his mushroom propagation and focuses on creating resilient strains of mycelium which can better handle natural environments, rather than the climate-controlled approach of conventional large-scale mushroom propagation. By the end of this course you will have the skills to take any suitable store-bought or foraged mushroom, clone and...