ALS members Blogs

Just reporting back from the awesomeness that was SEED CIRCUS in Redfern yesterday… my goodness. Thank you to the 300+ folks who came from all over to learn and to swap and chat and help us eat through our glut of apples. Crikey there were a lot of you! I think my favorite part of the day (ok equal favourite with the workshops) was the incredible diversity of the swapmeet. There were boxes of braided garlic, antique scarf collections, nepalese bell pepper seeds, cupcakes, books (from self sufficiency manuals to vampire bodice rippers), and just about everything else…  Michael and Gi preparing 200 thank you bags of seeds and such (thought this would be stacks but we ran out by Midday…) Milkwood apples, ready to swap… The inaugural swappers arrive… First seed saving workshop kicks off – cucurbits and friends Swap it! Whoohoo Plant swap heaven Beautiful amaranth Seed ball making workshop. We went for...

April Growth:Snow Peas, Kale, Beetroot and Broccoli Temperatures this month:Lowest Min 4.6CHighest Min 24.1CLowest Max 16.1CHighest Max 30.5C26.5 mm RainRain: Year To Date: 67.5mm (Average YTD: 88mm)Comparison with other years: April Average is 22mm:2013 26.5mm2012  3mm2011  3mm2010 18mm2009 31mm2008 24.5mm2007 30mmWeather Highlights?The second month of autumn has been much milder. Mornings are growing cooler with 14 minimum temps under 10C. Some welcome rain and winds that have been light. This Month:Another busy month that saw us away from home for half the time, a two day market, Microman's first birthday, a trip to Adelaide for some wood shopping and again to Adelaide to stay by the beach for some grandie-sitting (yippee!!) after which we joined them for a trip to the zoo.The autumn seedlings have put on steady growth and I have been busy tidying up the garden. Harvest Tally:Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks on a daily...

The soil is damp from recent light rain...volunteer seedlings are popping up in the garden as are the inevitable weeds...with a flurry of planting out and seedling growth it feels more like spring. These volunteer Amaranth in the Old Chook Run Garden have provided some tasty additions to stir fries.Temperatures:Lowest Min 5.1CHighest Max 27.1C7.5mm Rain Propagation:Potting on:French TarragonPelargonium Ivy - several small cuttings from springPelargonium Scented OrangePineapple SageCuttings:JostaberryRaspberry Smooth StemmedPelargonium Ivy RedPelargonium Scented OrangeSoapwortDivision:ChivesPlanted out:Beetroot seedlings (purchased nameless)Broccoli Chinese Kailaan seedlingsOnions White seedlings (purchased nameless)Silverbeet White Silver seedlingsAlyssum Royal Carpet seedlings for colourThese have been planted into Bed 17Red Veined SorrelPlanted into Bed 14 The chill in the air at this time of year turns the leaves on the Lemon tree yellow just as the fruit begins to ripen.     At last I have tasted some of the Midyim Berries (Austromyrtus dulcis)...I had read that the taste of these resembled "Vicks...

Right! The workshops are up: seed saving, city foraging, tortilla making – yep, it’s all happening at our Seed Circus this Sunday at 107 Redfern St… And then, of course, there’s the ongoing swapmeet – a day of fearless barter of absolutely everything. What will you arrive with? What will you leave with? These are big questions. We’ve got a car full of dried apples and preserved everything, ready to go. So, what are you bringing?We don’t have enough swapmeets these days. You should come along just to practice your swapping skills, if nothing else. It’s not scary at all, and you don’t even have to talk to anyone, if you don’t want to. Don’t worry, this is not an iniquitous den of people pressing pickles apon each other with long and tortured stories of their origin. The idea is that there are long tables of awesome things. You...

It was a beautiful day for the second walk of the year. Maree and I joined Teresa of Horizon Guides who had a full complement of walkers. We were in the Mount Barney National Park around the foothills of Mount Maroon. We walked along Paddy's Gully stopping at the Paddy's Falls before continuing up the creek and then along a side creek coming from Mount Maroon. This is what we were expecting: Walk 2: Paddy’s Waterfall (Mount Barney NP) Approx. 6km return. 3 ½ hrs return. Easy (one‘climb’) ½ DAY Description: Paddy’s Creek flows roughly SE between Mt May and Mt Maroon. Generally it runs intermittently however there are usually permanent pools along its short course before it joins Mt Barney Creek. The walk follows a fire trail that crosses Mt Barney Creek then runs up the valley through open forest making for easy walking conditions. The only small challenge is a...

Two good years. Two full Spring to Autumn seasons stacked with sourdough, rabbit ravioli and crazy beautiful desserts. And a quietly grounding presence for our entire farm crew, and for every student lucky enough to share a taste. Tragic (no, really) though it is, I must share with you that Rose, the permachef whom we do love so, is off to seek the next chapter of her fortune. To design and run a new inner-city eatery in Brisbane, to be exact. I hope those Brisbanites figure out how good they’ve got it coming to them…  Rose’s sourdough croissants. She didn’t have enough to do that day… And on, and on. Fresh food, treated with love, cooked with care, and eaten with gusto by us all… Rose probably wouldn’t want me to make a big deal about this. Every time we threw back our heads when dinner was served and yelled...

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Apr 2014: Milkwood FarmVenue: Milkwood Farm (2) / MudgeeCategory: Natural BeekeepingDate: Apr 5 2014 - Apr 6 2014Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Tim Malfroy as he leads you through the basics of bee-friendly, natural, organic, small-scale beekeeping. You will leave this course with a competent knowledge of the fundamentals of natural beekeeping, and be ready to take the plunge and keep your own bees, Warré style!The course will focus on a style of apiculture that is exclusively designed for the small-scale beekeeper.Warré beekeeping is a bee-friendly method that aims to care for the bees, allow them to control their own environment, and is a gentler approach than conventional beekeeping, resulting in healthy contented bees, and superb raw honey. This course is a series of presentations that draw a wide perspective on the evolution of flowering plants and honeybees, and the long and rich tradition of apiculture. There will...

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Dec 2013: Milkwood FarmVenue: Milkwood Farm (2) / MudgeeCategory: Natural BeekeepingDate: Nov 30 2013 - Dec 1 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Tim Malfroy as he leads you through the basics of bee-friendly, natural, organic, small-scale beekeeping. You will leave this course with a competent knowledge of the fundamentals of natural beekeeping, and be ready to take the plunge and keep your own bees, Warré style!The course will focus on a style of apiculture that is exclusively designed for the small-scale beekeeper.Warré beekeeping is a bee-friendly method that aims to care for the bees, allow them to control their own environment, and is a gentler approach than conventional beekeeping, resulting in healthy contented bees, and superb raw honey. This course is a series of presentations that draw a wide perspective on the evolution of flowering plants and honeybees, and the long and rich tradition of apiculture. There will...

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Feb 2014: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Natural BeekeepingDate: Feb 22 2014 - Feb 23 2014Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Tim Malfroy of Malfroy's Gold as he leads you through the basics of bee-friendly, natural, organic, small-scale beekeeping. You will leave this course with a competent knowledge of the fundamentals of natural beekeeping, and be ready to take the plunge and keep your own bees, Warré style!The course will focus on a style of apiculture that is exclusively designed for the small-scale beekeeper.Warré beekeeping is a bee-friendly method that aims to care for the bees, allow them to control their own environment, and is a gentler approach than conventional beekeeping, resulting in healthy contented bees, and superb raw honey. This course is a series of presentations that draw a wide perspective on the evolution of flowering plants and honeybees, and the long and rich tradition...

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Nov 2013: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Natural BeekeepingDate: Nov 2 2013 - Nov 3 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Tim Malfroy as he leads you through the basics of bee-friendly, natural, organic, small-scale beekeeping. You will leave this course with a competent knowledge of the fundamentals of natural beekeeping, and be ready to take the plunge and keep your own bees, Warré style!The course will focus on a style of apiculture that is exclusively designed for the small-scale beekeeper.Warré beekeeping is a bee-friendly method that aims to care for the bees, allow them to control their own environment, and is a gentler approach than conventional beekeeping, resulting in healthy contented bees, and superb raw honey. This course is a series of presentations that draw a wide perspective on the evolution of flowering plants and honeybees, and the long and rich tradition of apiculture. There will...

Title: Natural Beekeeping: Sept 2013: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Natural BeekeepingDate: Sep 14 2013 - Sep 15 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join Tim Malfroy as he leads you through the basics of bee-friendly, natural, organic, small-scale beekeeping. You will leave this course with a competent knowledge of the fundamentals of natural beekeeping, and be ready to take the plunge and keep your own bees, Warré style!The course will focus on a style of apiculture that is exclusively designed for the small-scale beekeeper.Warré beekeeping is a bee-friendly method that aims to care for the bees, allow them to control their own environment, and is a gentler approach than conventional beekeeping, resulting in healthy contented bees, and superb raw honey. This course is a series of presentations that draw a wide perspective on the evolution of flowering plants and honeybees, and the long and rich tradition of apiculture. There will...

Title: Intro to Permaculture: Feb 2014: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Introduction to PermacultureDate: Feb 1 2014 - Feb 2 2014Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join us for 2 days of permaculture design theory and action. You will leave this course with a solid grounding of how you can apply permaculture principles in your home, garden, apartment or farm. You'll also be in an informed position to further your journey into permaculture design.  This course will give you a comprehensive overview of how to apply pro-active, sustainable design techniques to your immediate environment - whether you live in a small apartment, a quarter-acre block, or a rural property.In a rapidly changing world, we are all looking for solutions that can aid our community's stability. We're talking systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community: Effective ways of growing healthy, organic food in urban environments Regenerative farming that can both...

Title: Intro to Permaculture: Oct 2013: SydneyVenue: Alexandria Park Community Centre / SydneyCategory: Introduction to PermacultureDate: Oct 5 2013 - Oct 6 2013Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm Description: Join us for 2 days of permaculture design theory and action. You will leave this course with a solid grounding of how you can apply permaculture principles in your home, garden, apartment or farm. You'll also be in an informed position to further your journey into permaculture design.  This course will give you a comprehensive overview of how to apply pro-active, sustainable design techniques to your immediate environment - whether you live in a small apartment, a quarter-acre block, or a rural property.In a rapidly changing world, we are all looking for solutions that can aid our community's stability. We're talking systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community: Effective ways of growing healthy, organic food in urban environments Regenerative farming that can both...

A guild, in permaculture terms, is usually used to define a harmonious assembly of species clustered around a central element (plant or animal) that acts in relation to this element to assist its health, aid our work in management, or buffer adverse environmental effects (Mollison, via Jacke). Dave Jacke has taken this concept further and identifies a range of different types of guilds that generally (but not exclusively) can be applied to aid forest garden design process. Like many permaculture design elements, these guild types at once simple, and deeply complex… Resource-Sharing or Resource-Partitioning Guild This type of guild is a group of plants that inhabit the same community niche (ie have the same general needs), but which also find a way to partition resources so that their competition is minimal. I think we humans have a lot to learn from this guild type in how we relate to each other, but let’s leave...

The weather is cooling at last and quickly the leaves are changing colour before the cold of winter strips them from the trees and vines.Temperatures:Lowest Min 4.6CHighest Max 23.4C19mm Rain Propagation:Seeds:Kohl Rabi in Bed 2 top up of ones stolen by thieves!!! probably earwigsSpinach Tape in bed 9Potting on:Cabbage Red DutchCauliflower Macerata GreenCrystal LeafRed ChoiCuttings:Blueberry Evergreen "Nellie Kelly"Golden Daisy Bush Euryops pectinatusLoganberryRosemary PinkVariegated Elderberry Planted out:Cabbage Red Choi in bed 9Onions Red in Bed 2 Purchased seedlings Parsley Curled Parsley Italian into Bed 14 with the Loganberry  We are busily clearing areas and moving beds in between planting...as I chop back plants I take cuttings so I'll have more to plant around the garden later.The Blueberry cuttings came from a broken piece off a damaged plant from Bunnings. The man there marked the price down by half and said I could easily take some cuttings from the broken bit...(do you...

‘Packed with minerals and protein, and easy to grow at home’… too right. Home mushroom cultivation is a good idea, for everyone. You don’t even need a window in your house (though we do hope that you have one), let alone a window sill or outdoor area to grow nutrient dense, protein rich, organic mushroomy goodness… Check out these gorgeous mushroom cultivation posters by Victor Paiam… So now you have no excuse. Before beginning, do check out our posts on growing shiitake mushrooms which has all sorts of excellent ebook resources in it. And also our post on growing oyster mushrooms in a bucket (actually two buckets, one inside the other) as a great space-saving strategy for homestead mushroom production… oh and you can grow them in laundry baskets also. And while you’re at it, support artists producing excellent, useful work about skills we all need. You can buy Victor Paiam’s posters...

Our Urban Permaculture Design Course is coming up fast in July, and is shaping to be pretty special. Leading the learning will be the awesome Hannah Moloney, supported by Nick Ritar and none other that the co-originator of Permaculture, David Holmgren. The great thing about this teaching team is the breadth of experience and enthusiasm they bring to share with students of urban permaculture design – Hannah is a long-time urban community cultivator, Nick’s focus is the small farm / urban permaculture resurgence, and David Holmgren, well, he’s David Holmgren. Need we say more. But we will.  Hannah in her most recent rental home garden in Hobart, Tasmaina We’re really proud to be working with Hannah Moloney as the lead teacher. Hannah has been working in community renewal and practical permaculture for over 10 years, and is a positive force to be rekoned with. One of the things we like best about Hannah is her ability...

Blood sausage is a central aspect of harvest day. Large-ish animal harvest day, that is. And it’s one of the central acts of honouring the animal’s life, as well as getting close to the act of the animal’s death, because it’s something you must make the same day you slaughter. Blood sausage is a central dish of whole animal eating – it doesn’t get much more thrifty than this. Doesn’t get much tastier, either, if done right. And it’s not very technical to make, if you’re up for it… **please note – this post contains photos of people making blood sausage, from start to finish** We made our first batch of blood sausages from our pigs that we home-harvested, but you can make blood sausage from any animal, really. The point is that it’s mostly fresh blood. and spice and sometimes cream or egg. Blood Sausage has as many variations as there...

Yesterday’s dawn saw me waiting by the road with a large suitcase of heirloom rainbow carrots. I don’t normally take the train to Sydney with this kind of load under my arm, but I’m happy to report that it is (just) possible to transport 25kg of vegetables in this manner. Actually the suitcase was stacked with nicola and ruby lou potatoes as well as the rainbow carrots. We’re pitching in for TEDxSydney’s crowd farming project, which is aiming to crowd-source all the food for TEDxSydney on May 4th. And I had to get our veggies down to the Big Smoke without our truck. So train it was… The suitcase haul, and Michael, who grew them all They fit! Just. Wait’n for the train… actually a bus now replaces part of our trainline, but we still call it the train… Nothing like a carrot to flag the bus to stop… Huzzah!...

We started this year's bush walks today with a relatively easy walk in the Main Range National Park. Teresa of Horizon Guides was our guide. Teresa describes this walk as: Walk 1: Gap Creek Falls (Main Range NP) 9.8km Approx. 5 – 6 hrs return. Easy –moderate.Description: This ridge walk is a pleasant outing that starts at Cunningham’s Gap. Beginning within the closed canopy of sub-tropical rainforest the vegetation changes to open eucalypt forest as we descend to the east. The track is not difficult as it follows the contours of the land, winding down the ridge and eventually ending at the top of the falls. This is a pretty creek and a lovely spot to rest before we return by the same route – this time easily gaining altitude all the way. The route overlaid on Google Maps Today started out as a glorious autumn day after storms last night. When we...