Marvellous Mulberries :: Our favourite cordial recipe

Our very favourite garden tree is our mulberry. It's the biggest in the food forest, planted 9 or so years ago, over Tiny Owlet's placenta. It grows generous amounts of fruit, provides cooling shade, juice for ink-making, leaves for tea and silk worm fodder, and a stunning autumn display as it's leaves turn yellow where the sun lands on them. Actually, all the plants in our perennial food forest are wonderful. They’re super low maintenance, and feed us huge amounts of food each year. We’re so glad we planted them when we did. If you’re strapped for time, but have some space in your garden for perennial food plants, throw some in and feed your family (friends and neighbours), for years to come. It’s well worth the investment. But back to the mulberry.
Last year, we made the mistake of not throwing a net over our mulberry tree. The tree had grown so much in the year prior, it outgrew the nets we had, and we naively thought there would be enough fruit for us and the blackbirds to share. We didn’t pick a single ripe mulberry.

So, this year we were prepared. And the extra rain we’ve had meant mulberries as far as the eye can see. The laden tree’s heavy branches are sweeping the ground, and every leaf has berries waiting underneath to be picked. Unfortunately the combination of wind, rain and heavy fruit mean the tree is almost lying horizontal at this point. It won't be the same beautiful upright tree, and the food forest is somewhat changed, but that's the adventure of gardening and tending to an ever-changing ecosystem. We’ve still been sneaking out to the garden to scoff and slurp on juicy mulberries all month - bright magenta juice staining our fingers and toes... And, of course, we've been putting some aside for winter.

Bottled mulberries for the cupboards for winter guzzling. Fresh berries and mulberry cordial to enjoy right now. We'll make some cordial into jelly and some fruit into jam. We've been playing with mulberry cordial recipes for a few years now, and here's our ultra-simple favourite. We make a habit of simplifying things, because we find we're more likely to find time for an easy recipe we can remember by heart. Mulberry Cordial

1kg mulberries 1L water 750g sugar 2 lemons 1. Place the mulberries in a large saucepan, with the water and sugar. 2. Add the zest and juice of the lemons 3. Place the pot over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. 4. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, continuing to stir when you remember. 5. Line a large bowl or jug with a fine mesh bag, cheesecloth or strainer while you wait for the pot to simmer. 6. Remove from the heat and pour into the mesh bag/strainer/cloth lined bowl.

7. Allow the liquid to drain from the fruit pulp. We like to use a mesh bag and suspend it from a kitchen cupboard handle over the bowl. Set the fruit pulp aside. 8. Use a funnel to pour the cordial into clean bottles. Sterilise the bottles first if you're going to store the cordial for a while. 9. Seal with lids and move to the fridge when cool if you're planning to enjoy the cordial over the next couple of weeks. Pasteurise the full bottles in a large pot of boiling water if you plan to store them for up to 12 months.

Enjoy your cordial mixed 1:4 parts water. Mulberry fizz is lovely if you have a Sodastream, and mulberry mixes well with alcoholic drinks, too. Use the fruit pulp (and lemon zest) in your favourite crumble, pie or muffin recipe. It's delicious added to an apple base filling. Alternatively, freeze it for smoothies or nice-cream, or for baking another day. 

Happiest Mulberry season! 

~ Lauren. xx

Ode to a worm farm :: How to make a pet poo worm farm

If there’s something we didn’t expect pet ownership would make us grateful for, it’s poo. Growing up, there was always lots of it - dog poo, cat poo, picked up before school, tied up in two plastic shopping bins, and flung into the bin for rubbish day. It was taken away so we didn’t need to think about it, or smell it anymore. When we both moved out of home and adopted pets, we continued the same daily tradition of double-bagged poo-flinging, into the stinky bin, and away. 

But then we started living waste-free, and we stopped shopping at supermarkets, so there were no smelly bins, no plastic bags, and no more away. So along came our worm farm, and the piles of poo (just poo), and the re-used brown paper bags we use to pick the poo up on dog walks, land in there. Our worm friends turn all those stinky piles into incredible compost - black gold for our fruit trees. There’s absolutely no smell. And very minimal need for us to do anything other than dig out the amazing compost, tickling the worms out of it as we go, once a year or so. 

This is what’s normal for our kids now. A life where everything is a valuable resource, and we take responsibility for what happens to it, right here, where we are. A life where we’re all part of an interconnected system, even our pets (both dogs and worms). And that’s a lesson that will last our kids their whole lives. 

How to set up a pet poo worm farm*

It is possible to use the waste pets create as a resource in your garden. You can convert their poo to compost in a dedicated worm farm and use the compost to feed ornamental plants and fruit trees (we’d keep it away from veggies and edible herbs so as to avoid any immediate toxins). A worm farm can fit in a garden, a courtyard or on a small balcony, and when working well will produce no smell. Just luscious compost for your garden.  

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• A container to keep your worms in. Some ideas include an old bath, Styrofoam boxes, an old bin or barrel, old car tyres, a purpose-built box or a kit from your local nursery.

• A piece of mesh to cover any holes and keep the worms in. Fly screen or shade cloth are ideal.

• Some bedding material. Some ideas include mushroom compost, garden soil, coconut fibre or garden compost, or lightly dampened shredded paper (this is ideal if you’re planning on composting pet poo).

• Worm food. For composting pet poo, don’t feed them other food along with the poo as they’ll just eat the food and ignore the poo (who wouldn’t!). If you want a regular worm farm for your veggie scraps instead of poo, make sure to stay away from citrus and onions. Worms love soft food scraps, hair clippings, crushed egg shells, vacuum cleaner dust, coffee grounds, tea bags, sawdust, soaked cardboard and shredded paper.

• Worms! You’ll need about 1000 worms specifically bred for farming. Look for tiger worms or red or blue wrigglers. Common garden worms are great for soil improvement, but not so effective in a worm farm.

STEP 1

If you’re creating a layered box system to collect worm tea, you’ll need something watertight for your bottom layer. In a bath, you might choose to place a bucket under the drain hole. If you’re using a Styrofoam box, place a watertight one on the bottom. Grab the box or container where your worms will be housed and make sure there are holes in the bottom for drainage. Place it on your watertight, tea-collecting bottom layer, if you have one.

STEP 2

Place mesh over the holes. If you’re using a bath, cover the plughole.

STEP 3

Place your worm bedding material in the box or container.

STEP 4

Add your worms to the middle of the box. If you’re using a bath, place them at one end.

STEP 5

Add some poo for the worms to eat. Use your worm farm when you’re cleaning up your kitty-litter tray or dog poo, in conjunction with carbon matter like shredded paper or recycled paper kitty litter. We collect dog poo in re-used paper bags when we take the dogs for a walk, and this feeds the worms well. Try and keep a good balance between the carbon and nitrogen based matter in your worm farm, as you'd do when making compost. If you’re using a bath, just feed the worms up the end where the worms were placed.

STEP 6

Make sure not to overfeed your worms. Start with a small amount of food and watch to see how quickly they can break it down. Keep an eye on them as you add more.

 

STEP 7

Don’t feed pet poo to your worms if you’ve recently wormed your pets – worming medication may kill your worm farm! Technically the medication should be benign when it leaves your dog, but if you want to be sure, leave it for a few days before adding it to your worm farm. 

STEP 8

Place a doubled-up sheet of dampened newspaper on top of your worm farm to retain moisture and keep your worms comfy. Then pop a cover on your worm farm – a layer of hessian, or the lid your kit came with will work.

STEP 9

In a few weeks you’ll be able to collect worm tea to feed your garden! Stick to ornamentals and fruit trees if your worms are eating pet poo.

STEP 10

As your worm farm fills up, you’ll be able to place another box or layer on top and fill it with bedding and food for your worms to migrate to. If you’re using a bath, start feeding the worms at the other end of the bath and they’ll move along to their new feeding place.

STEP 11

Harvest the beautifully broken-down compost from the previous nesting/feeding box and use it on the garden. If you have cats, you might like to bury it under some soil and mulch to keep native wildlife safe, while making valuable nutrients available to your plants and out of landfill or waterways. Happy farming!

*This is an excerpt from our book 'A Family Guide to Waste-Free Living', published in 2019 by Plum. You'll still find it at most good bookshops and libraries, or signed copies in our shop. 

80 Life Skills for Kids to Learn

We've spoken before about how the way we've educated our children over the years (at their request!),  has shifted to incorporate more of the practical. The life skills they'll need in the future, whatever that future might look like. Skills for resilience so they can care for themselves and their community. We're also educating them for the present, so that they can contribute to household life, but also so they have the skills they need to help avert climate change right now.

Over a year ago, we all sat down together and wrote up a list of skills we wanted our kids to have, or that they wanted to have, and some us adults  needed to work on ourselves - because we reckon learning and sharing skills is important for everyone, and there's always more to learn!

Our list has columns for each of us to tick off as we get to doing each task, or mastering each skill. There were 80 skills listed originally, and the kids have added more as they've thought of them. The list is now pinned to the fridge, and we've slowly ticked of skills as we've completed them after the list was hung - so there are some skills us adults have learned in pre-list days, but we're not ticking them off until we've done them again since hanging the list. It's proving motivating for all of us, and interesting to see how many are covered in our day-to-day. And it's been lots of fun learning and sharing skills!

After a few requests on our Instagram last week, we've shared our list, with blank columns for family members, here. You might like to use it for a base list for your own family, adding and removing skills as you like. Let us know how you go!

Educating our kids for the future they'll inherit.

One month ago, we wandered around the corner for a democracy sausage and to choose the government to take us forward into an uncertain future. Voting that day, it felt like choosing the world our kids would inherit. We were full of hope. It felt like so much depended on it, in terms of our response to the climate emergency, and how we care for each other as a community. We were hopeful there would be at least a glimmer of positive change. But for most people I know, the results that day were hugely disappointing. Even my own mum, an eternal optimist, was quite distraught. Friends began looking for ways to create positive change, at a personal and local level. Something we’re all about, because we know the positive impact such changes can make.

For us, it meant taking a moment to think about what more we can do. And explaining to our kids what had been chosen for them. Re-evaluating how we’re living and fighting harder to protect this beautiful planet. But also making sure our kids are prepared for what may come. For us, that also meant examining our home education program and making sure it addresses climate emergency and the consumption crisis. And suddenly the curriculum resources we’d been utilising didn’t seem so necessary any more.

In the same year we began to live waste-free, and after many years unschooling, the owlets asked for a plan. Something mapped out that they could use semi-independently, that would tell them exactly what they “should” be learning. We chose a secular curriculum, and loosely followed it. For the most part they’ve enjoyed it. The history and science learnings reinforcing some things they already knew, and they felt comforted that they were learning the "right things", what their schooled peers were learning. But that shifted for us all last month.

Suddenly, how to write an essay didn’t seem quite as important as how to write a letter to the local MP. Learning things by rote didn’t seem as important as learning from experience. Keeping up academically seemed less important than creative and entrepreneurial thinking and being good humans. Learning about events of the past seemed less important than how to live in the future. We talked about whether university education would be relevant for them and the knowledge and skills they'll need. They're undecided. And although it may seem like a dramatic response, as a family, we decided to let go again and embrace the way of learning we started out with. To trust and keep talking, and working on our passions, and keep learning about nature and how to live as part of an ecosystem, with less harm. But also a long list of practical skills needed now and into the future.

So far, our list is full of skills like baking bread, chopping wood, mending holes in clothes, fixing things, pruning fruit trees, learning how government works, learning about local indigenous plants, animals and people, catching the bus, and finding out about alternative currencies. Each of the owlets has popped their own ideas down and they’ll all be working towards doing each these things independently. Some of them they’ve already mastered. Some of them are in our book! Some are in our Seedlings eCourse, which we're doing again. Some of them we adults are yet to master, so we’ll be working on them too, and adding to this list as we go on. This sits alongside their individual interests and passions, all the books they like to read, the things we like to do and learn about for fun or necessity. We’re making the most of every minute, but also slowing down where we can. Learning what matters, together. Learning from life, and for our lives, now and into the future.

~ Lauren. x

Taking Stock :: Summer

It's been months since our last post! We've been busy as ever, doing all the things. There's much to write about. But for now, I'm ripping the bandaid off and posting a simple stocktake of where we're at now...

Making: Pigface Jam. I'm hoping it's a thing. We have lots of pigface.
Cooking: Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It's zucchini season and this cake feeds hungry owlets well!  
Drinking: Home made lemon and mint cordial. So good!
Reading: The Women in Black and Dark Emu. I read snippets when I can. Very slowly!
Wanting: So many more hours in the day and limitless energy. Yep.
Looking: Out the window to see when it's good beach weather. 
Preserving: Tomatoes! 
Considering: Sauce or canning whole toms for winter? I think whole. 
Harvesting: Tomatoes, mulberries, cucumbers, strawberries, rhubarb, apples, beans… Blueberries!
Wishing: Straws and napkins at cafes were an opt-in situation.
Enjoying: Hanging out at the beach on sunny afternoons. 
Waiting: For the rest of the tomatoes to ripen. And the corn to grow! I'm not sure it will. 
Liking: Starting our days with yoga most days. 
Wondering: Where the ducks have hidden the eggs.
Loving: Watching all the best 90's movies with Big Owlet. 
Pondering: Moving to a cheaper house, far away, with more land for growing more things. 
Foraging: Elderberries. Apparently I'm not the only one. If you see any, let me know!
Listening: To the rain pouring outside. Gotta love Tasmanian summer. 
Deciding: We're super happy living right where we are. Urban permaculture is where it's at. Remind me again in July. 
Buying: Milk in bottles again at the farmers market! Woohoo! And fetta and halloumi. Sundays are the best!
Watching: The West Wing and pretending its real life. Also Gossip Girl because it's the opposite of our life. Escapism can be fun!
Hoping: We can afford a holiday this year. 
Marvelling: At how much food three owlets can eat.
Cringing: At the news. See Watching. 
Needing: Firewood. 
Learning: As much as I can about herbs. This seems to be a sporadic, lifelong project for me. 
Questioning: How I'm going to nourish our soil better this year. 
Smelling: Basil. One of the greatest summer smells, I reckon.
Wearing: A new pair of Softstar shoes. My last pair lasted for 4 years! These were a little Christmas splurge for me. Barefoot shoes make all the difference for me. 
Noticing: The light is definitely changing. It's a little more golden now. I see you there, Autumn.
Thinking: That I'm glad we've taken our time to ease into this year a little gently and thoughtfully.
Knowing: The rest of the year will probably be full on. 
Admiring: Fellow homeschoolers who plan amazing, incredible and super beautiful years for their owlets. 
Sewing: Cloth pads. Practical, necessary and waste free!
Getting: Some immune system building remedies ready. All the garlic. 
Bookmarking: Fire Cider recipes. Tweaking and picking what works for us where we are. 
Closing: My laptop any minute now. 
Feeling: Excited about visiting my sister next month and giving my nephews a squoosh.
Celebrating: The long weekend in Hobart. Gotta love extra time with Huz. 
Embracing: Big, scary, exciting challenges in the works. They're the best kind.

~ Lauren. xx

Waste-free living and the anxious kid

Once upon a time, when I was very small, I had trouble sleeping at night. I worried about all sorts of irrational things, like falling THROUGH the bed. Not off, but through it - like a sieve. Then, as I got a little older, around about Little Owlet's age, I became more aware of the world around me and just how very small I was in it. I worried about everyone in my family dying and I worried about my pets… Things you'd expect a 10yo kid to be worried about. Then, one hot January night, I started worrying about the electric fan in my room as it gently whirred in the corner.

I'd cringe every time the cool breeze blew over me. Although it brought relief from the heat, there was a growing awareness of my responsibility in having this one fan blow cool air on me all night. In the next room, my sister slept while a similar fan whirred in the corner. And then I started to think about all the other kids in their bedrooms with fans blowing on them. I heard a neighbour's air conditioner humming and I thought of all the other air conditioners humming in my town. In my part of the world, which was experiencing a heat wave. I thought about the supermarkets with their refrigerators working overtime to keep the ice cream cool. Then I remembered that on the other side of the world it was the depths of winter. My friend had recently sent me a postcard from the snow. There would be heaters working overtime there.

As I lay there, the sound of the fan got louder and louder, ringing in my ears until I almost couldn't breathe. With my heart racing, I crept through the silent, dark house to see if anyone else was similarly alarmed, but Dad's loud snoring indicated this wasn't keeping him up. So I crept back to my bed. Tossed and turned for a bit,  then I snuck out from under the sheet, switched the fan off and crept back to bed. Relief. Able to rest for the fact that at least I wasn't part of the problem quite so much this time. But what still bothered me was that overwhelming feeling of being so small. Not that my family wouldn't listen or care, they would, of course. But I'm not sure they even knew. I couldn't really put into words the overwhelming sense of urgency and helplessness. That my silent act had very little impact. And that our world was slowly dying.

Fast forward 30 years and, if I let my mind wander on those long nights, I can find myself in a similar state. Things are worse now. More people, more air conditioners, more plastic, more pollution. Our government is doing very little about it. I have three owlets of my own now, who are aware of the problems. One is similar to me and is kept up at night thinking about all sorts of things when all is silent, often teary about her family dying and our planet. Our beautiful, doomed earth. I whisper to her that we are all connected, all of us stardust, and the positive energy that flows between us will help. She worries that it's not enough.

Now, when we lie awake at night, we use that time to make plans. Not to think about what we can't do, but what we can. Late night listening and thinking lead us to a family commitment to opt out of waste as much as we can. It lead to reducing our energy consumption and doing the very best we can to reduce our combined footprint. It has lead the owlets to all sorts of discussions with people we meet, about waste and "no straw, please", and "I'll take the cup home to re-use it, thanks", when they're handed plastic out and about. It's lead to our owlets becoming activists. It's lead to an understanding we all share, about consumption, and when enough is enough. About the impact each of us can make by taking responsibility for our part in it all. And it has lead to all of us sleeping just a little bit better at night. Even me.

Knowing at least three owlets from the next generation understand and care enough to take responsibility and to tell others... If that small, anxious kid with the fan had known. If she'd known she wasn't alone. That more were coming who would understand and want to change things... Maybe she'd have slept a little better too. Change is slow, but it's happening. I'm hoping more people step up to be part of it. That more children become aware of the problems and their urgency and what they can actively do about them. And that more of us hear them. Give them that space to know they can make a difference and speak up and do something. That they are doing something. Then rest, knowing that, just maybe, it's going to be okay.

Were you an anxious kid? 
Or maybe you have one? 
Was the environment ever something you worried about? 
What helped you sleep at night?

Our Zero Waste Families e-course starts this week. For all the overwhelmed kids out there wanting to participate in something they can actively do to make a difference. We're here with you. It's going to be okay. xx

~ Lauren.

2015 Gratitude

How do you farewell a year that has challenged you more than most? I've noticed this year has been a tough one, teaching many life lessons, for those around me and further afield. And while I'm not sure whether it's because of the stars or the number of people on our tiny planet, I'd say some learning, although challenging, can be good. I won't miss 2015. But I'm sort of glad for what it has taught.

Tonight I'll be standing around the campfire in my garden with those dearest to me and raising a glass of rhubarb champagne to toast the old year and welcome new energy for the new. Oh how we need it! Things to be grateful for in 2015:

1. A comfy nest, cranking garden and health permaculture system that keeps growing before our eyes.
2. The experience of living a zero waste life and the lessons that has brought us all. Awakening the activists in our owlets and a simpler lifestyle we feel happier with.
3. The experience of sharing our Seedlings e-course with loads of families and watching them get it, love it and inspire others around them  - including us!
4. The challenge of being doubted, losing friends and letting go of a community we loved. Oh it's been a ride! We're grateful that we were tested to step outside our bubble, seek other solutions and try new things. Our community has widened and our owlets feel more supported to chase their passions.
5. Music. Being pushed to find a creative way for the owlets to learn and enjoy making music. The confidence and enjoyment it has brought them and a shared passion for all of us.
6. Friendships that have been strengthened through time shared, heartfelt chats, tears and hugs.
7. Our little business that keeps ticking away and growing in a direction we're passionate about. That fits into our lives somehow, rather miraculously, and puts a little bit of food on our table.
8. Our little family. The honesty, love and enjoyable time we've shared this year. Healthy, happy and resilient owlets and the love and life we all share together.
9. My best pal. The love and support he's shown me this year and the fun we have making and working on things together.

In 2016… well my energy has been travelling outward for a while in a massive exhale, and I hit extreme burnout this year. I'm looking forward to a year of observing, catching my breath and inhaling all that is good and creative in the world. It's going to be soooo good.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful new year with all things good in your future.

How's your year been? 
Do you have much to be grateful for?
Any plans for your new year?

Love and hugs,

~ Lauren. xx

Our Permaculture Advent Calendar

One of our favourite family traditions is our activity advent calendar. For us, December is a time to celebrate, reflect and find moments in amongst the busy to be together and have fun. It's also a time to think about people around us and prepare our garden and home for long summer days. This year, we're shifting our focus to the permaculture ethics; earth care, people care and fair share - they're a perfect fit for the season. We thought we'd post our list here, just incase you feel like joining in too, or borrowing some inspiration. It's going to be a super fun few weeks!

Earth Care

1. Plant some seeds or plant a tree - A little gratitude for the earth and it's bounty.

2. Have a picnic dinner under a tree - Yay! Nature!

3. Compost! - move the compost heap, start a new one and nourish the soil around our plants for the new year.

4. Go rock pooling - A little animal observation and finding out what lives in our river.

5. Stargazing in the backyard - reminding us to pause and observe this wonderful universe we're part 

6. Plant a herb and weed foraging garden for the chooks, full of all the things they'll love.

7. Make some wildlife habitat - an insect hotel, frog pond or butterfly garden

8. Make a wreath using plants or recycled materials. - in the past we've used fabric scraps, coloured recycled paper or newspaper.* 

People Care 

9. Paint everyone's toenails - our favourite way to say "Yay! Summer!"

10. Send a Christmas card - send some love to your favourite people, far away.

11. Collect a Christmas tree - we usually forage a weedy roadside pine tree that we can mulch for the garden later.

12. Have a dance party in the lounge room - some crazy fun and lots of giggles. People care!

13. Go fruit picking - foraging or visit a fruit farm. 

4. Do some morning yoga - a sun salutation to start the day

15.  Make a gift for someone you love - handmade secret squirrel stuff!

16. Make some jam - preferably using our foraged fruit. These will make great gifts. Here's one we made earlier.

Fair Share

17. Donate a gift to the ABC Giving Tree - fair share for children less fortunate than our owlets.

18. Donate some food, money or time to a local animal shelter. - fair share for animals.

19. Give some handmade gifts to the neighbours - a chance to share our surplus, say thanks, hello and Merry Christmas!

20. Make a cake or a gingerbread house together - take turns and create something yum!

21. Celebrate Summer Solstice - a little gift and maybe a beach picnic?

22. Decorate the Christmas tree - with all our handmade ornaments.

23. Go looking at Christmas lights - community spirit and sparkly statements of christmas cheer. Good times!

24. Enjoy a Christmas movie together - a chance to relax, spend time together and share some laughs. And gingerbread!

Let us know if you join in too. We'd love to see what you get up to!

~ Lauren & Oberon. xx

So you think you're sustainable?

A little while ago, I entered a competition I stumbled across on Facebook. It was a challenge set by Sustainable Living Tasmania, and a few other local organisations, to live as Sustainably as possible for a couple of weeks.  We had intended to make some big lifestyle changes this year, which well and truly fell by the wayside as life and winter happened. We got pretty slack...

So it was with some enthusiasm that we welcomed the news that we were finalists in the challenge. We won some awesome prizes to get us started and we're in the running for some pretty impressive window sash treatment for our old 1950's nest. Mostly we're just grateful for the motivation to get started doing something and the owlets are super pumped too!

When the energy assessors came to visit, and we understood what was in store for us, we figured the extra challenge here was that we were already living pretty sustainably. All our food was composted or fed to the chooks. We were pretty conscious about things. Surely there couldn't be much more we could do that would make a difference, could there? We knew we'd slackened off a bit, but we'd have to work extremely hard. So we set out to see.

We timed our showers and were surprised at just how many minutes (and litres!) we lost while daydreaming. On average 8 minutes, but up to 18, which translates to 180 litres in our shower. That's a whole lot of water going down the drain. We kept a rough food diary, which reflected how hurried our days had been and how convenience played a part in our consumption. We tallied all the waste we produced, both rubbish and recycling, and although people have told us the amount seems small to them for a family of five, to us it is far too much for one planet to consume, week after week. Don't you agree?

We'll be blogging and instagraming our findings and reflections over the next couple of weeks, as we find a way to make this work, not just for two weeks, but for life. We've got some pretty big goals and we'll be tackling things like reducing our energy consumption, producing zero waste, family cloth, composting, animal poo worm farms, using less water, and grey water. There's always room for improvement!

If you'd like to join the challenge, you can find it here. If you're in Tassie, you can take your challenge worksheet along to the Sustainable Living Festival and enter into the draw to win a solar hot water system - what we wouldn't give for one of those! Let us know how you go! 

~ Lauren. xx

Our Garden Re-design :: Spiral vs Line

A few weeks ago, I looked out the kitchen window and said to Huz "I think we need to remove the spiral. We need straight beds if we're going to increase our yield". He shrugged and wasn't particularly fussed either way, a little sceptical about how much food we could actually get from our garden anyway. He'd never had much interest in growing veggies, despite his enthusiasm for everything else permaculture. Then a week later he spent the day diving into skills for growing food with Good Life Permaculture. He learnt everything from composting to market gardening, realised he already knew a bunch of stuff with his ecological background and years of gardening, and it all just clicked.  He decided it was all about two things: tools and straight lines.

Initially we chose a spiral shape for our vegetable garden in an attempt to slow the flow of nutrients, water and ourselves through the garden. We actively sought something whimsical that would take us out there and slow our own energy flow a bit, inviting us to linger. Knowing spirals to be pretty whimsical and therapeutic, it seemed perfect. An experiment in energy and growth and playfulness within a permaculture system.

The spiral worked really well for a while. We'd converted a large expanse of lawn to something productive. We'd managed to find a system of rotating guilds that flowed though the spiral with the seasons. It was pretty hippy-dippy ace. But it wasn't as productive as it could have been and the difficulty of integrating animals, particularly chooks, into the veggie garden bothered me. Plus a curved line can be harder to cultivate and a crop-rotation system in spiral format seriously messes with your head! Plus we'd managed to find that slowing of energy we craved, that space to daydream, around the edges of the veggie garden, in the food forest.

So right now, along with everything else in our lives it seems, we're going for a complete overhaul. Hundreds of convict bricks have been pulled up again and paths are being re-defined. We've begun the back (and arm!) breaking process of double-digging the soil as we create long, straight beds, slightly reminiscent of a French market garden.

It's the first time we've really dug a garden bed, always opting for raised beds in the past. But we're hoping to give ourselves just a little extra topsoil in our mega-heavy-clay-soil garden. We're observing and chatting about the history of certain patches of soil, what grew where and how and why the soil is the way it is. It's surprising the difference chooks can make to a small patch of heavy clay soil in just one month and how, even months later, you can tell that they've been there by the way the solid crumbles in your hands. We're thrilled that every little bit of effort we've put in so far has paid off. There are some seriously lush areas of topsoil there! We're so glad that our years as custodians of this particular patch of soil haven't been wasted, as slow as the progress seems to have been. It's also surprising how when you've lived somewhere for many years, you can still find remnants of those who've lived there before - old pipes, rusty pliers, broken teacups hidden beneath the soil. We're taking note and learning more as we go.

We're spending long days in the garden, working around the clock to make sure we get it going as soon as humanly possible. Each of us getting involved and taking a role into the construction of something we hope will help feed us and help the budget stretch a little further. We're buying way too many tomato plants at the RTBG fundraiser tomato sale. Huz is nerding out, planning crop rotations and putting his love of spreadsheets to good use. We're making sure we harvest the little bits we can from what's left from the winter garden, and feeling super excited to watch our spring garden evolve through future seasons.


How does your garden grow this spring? 
Have you ever created a garden you loved and dug it up to begin again?

Don't forget our next Seedlings Permaculture for Families e-course begins on October 1st - that's two days from now! A perfect time to dig deep and find your permie mojo. 

It's really important to us that Seedlings is accessible to as many people as possible. So before we begin, we're offering two full scholarships for this  round. If you, or someone you know, would like to join in but isn't in a position to afford it right now, please email us at hello@spiralgarden.com.au. We'd love to hear from you! 

Happy gardening! 

~ Lauren. xx