International Permaculture Day Celebrations

May 6 is International Permaculture Day! It's a day to celebrate sustainable, productive, and self-reliant households and communities. Check out the Australian and international events here.



For Melbournians, here's a local Permaculture Day event.

Sunday 6 May, Permaculture Celebration at Fairfield Community Garden

Time: 10am to 4pm

Address: 1 Hamilton St., Fairfield, Vic, (behind Interactive Learning Centre)

Come and join the celebration of Permaculture Day at Fairfield Community Garden!

-10:15am Weeding and mulching the paths
-11:00am Autumn Leaf Harvest (also a TD event)

Other highlights
- Gardening workshops
- Child's play area
- Book corner
- Sustainable finger food ( 12.30 to 2pm , by donation)
- Talks on sustainability
- Music and much more!

Please bring your picnic rug, food, cups, plates, cutlery, garden tools or skills to share and enjoy a day out in the garden!

Entry: $5 or by donation

Finally, the day of our permablitz!

Saturday 21 April was our very own permablitz at the rental property I share with my 4 other housemates in Preston. The weather was very cooperative! It started out a cold misty morning when the delivery truck came by with our 4 cubic meters of mushroom compost and mulch, but soon the sun came out for a very nice day. Volunteers started rolling in around 10am and started straight to work digging the fence for the chicken run and weeding the marrow by the peach tree. There were fewer people than we expected, but that turned out to be exactly the number we needed to get the job done.

Before: the back yard

Before: the back yard

Before: the back yard

Before: the front yard
After opening circle and a round of stretches lead by Pat, we split up into the morning workshops. Phuong spoke about the importance of ponds and got several volunteers to help dig out the pond. Pat facilitated the finishing details on the chicken coop (the bulk of which was built the previous weekend), such as sanding down, painting on several layers of paint, and adding on the roofing. Moz worked on the chicken run fence with Hans and Freddy the majority of the day, digging in the chicken wire to prevent foxes and securing the fence posts. I managed the laying down of wet cardboard over the grass for our no-dig technique on the veggie patch. It took a lot more cardboard than we expected to cover the entire backyard! We actually had to make several extra trips to the supermarket recycling bin for cardboard (luckily it's close by).

Stretching during opening circle

Weeding the marrow

Digging the pond

Painting the chicken coop

Digging out the fence

Putting in the chicken run fence

Pond
Lunch was a delicious vegan serving of potato salad, dahl, chickpea curry, and rice cooked by Pat. It was an excellent opportunity for everyone to network and get to know one another. There were a few people who were involved with the transition town movement, and I got to learn a bit about how they operate. I'd love to get involved with Transition Darebin in the future - the grassroots nature of transition towns is really appealing.

Cardboard, dirt, and the beginnings of the veggie patch

A long row of bikes on our front porch

Our veggie patch before planting
After lunch, we continued to work on the veggie patch, wheelbarrowing mushroom compost from the front to the back. We were initially worried that we wouldn't have wheelbarrows to carry the compost, but our callout for tools was readily answered by our volunteers, who all seemed to bring a shovel or other handy tools. Indeed, some dedicated few even brought everything on their bike trailers. Our house setup made it easy to have two wheelbarrows going at once and soon the entire backyard was covered in mushroom compost. Chamali and I used string to measure out a circle for the bike-wheel design veggie patch and soon volunteers were planting seeds and seedlings.

Planting!

The chicken fence was finished quite early so the rest of the volunteers soon moved on to building the composting toliet. Some measuring, pounding, and many a toilet joke later, our simple little composting toilet was finished.

Composting toilet workshop
Everyone was so efficient with the work that we had our finishing cake and tea before 3pm. Vegan chocolate cake and fruit after a long day of gardening was very welcome. Some volunteers stayed on to help with the front yard. We used the same no-dig technique out there with cardboard and mulch to suppress the grass, and soon the natives were all planted. The volunteers even dug out the concrete border and hauled it to the back, where we turned it into a nice little border around the laundry line.

Group photo!
All in all, I'm really happy with what we got accomplished. It took a lot of work in organizing, planning, and managing, but it was worth it. Permablitzes generally take place on land that the host owns because let's face it, gardening takes a LOT of time, energy, and money. So there aren't very many permablitzes that occur on rental properties. But I think that it's important to show what can be done on rental properties. With a little ingenuity about where you get materials, you can do a lot. Even if we don't end up staying at this house, having a garden will increase the value of the land and add to the urban ecosystem. So now comes the fun part of watching our garden grow!

Gardening in small spaces

If you have a balcony, courtyard or small backyard and want to make the most of it, come and learn how to create an inviting oasis at a FREE two hour workshop to see the latest for gardening in small spaces.

When: 6.30pm to 8.30pm, Wednesday 30 May 2012

Where: Blue Room, Level 1 Melbourne Multicultural Hub, 506 Elizabeth Street (opposite Queen Victoria Market), Melbourne

Bookings: Entry is free but bookings are required via Healthy Habitat.

Thoughts on organizing a permablitz

My housemates and I spent all last weekend buying materials and sorting out the plan for the permablitz next week. Organizing can be hard work, especially with many different tasks! But at last, the mushroom compost and mulch is ordered, the wood sourced, the tools accounted for, seeds and seedlings bought, the call for volunteers made. We'll be expecting around 20-25 people on Saturday to come help us finish up the chicken coop and the run, dig the pond, build the composting toilet, and put in the vegetable patch.

The process of organizing such an event is in itself a really good learning experience. Here are some thoughts on how to avoid great frustration and stress:

1. It can be difficult working on your own for this, so it's important to have good team work and to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
   
2. Everyone working with you should be familiar with the permaculture design principles as well as the ethos of a permablitz (creating edible ecosystem gardens, building community networks, skill sharing). It's not just about getting the garden the way you want it, it's also about teaching other people how they can do something similar in their neighborhood and creating a knowledge network.
   
3. Task delegation is very important!
   
4. Good communication between hosts, facilitators, and designers is key so no one is left out of the loop.
   
5. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. As tempting as it can be to put in every single great idea (fruit trees, climbing pumpkins, oh my!), you have to be realistic about your budget and your time. Are you really going to spend 30+min in the garden every day to tend to everything you put in? If not, then you might want to scale back.
   
6. For plants that take a long time to bear fruit (ie trees), you can put them into portable pots for greater mobility and flexibility.
   
7. There is free material everywhere if you're willing to spend time looking for it. We got a good amount of free wood from Gumtree (Australian's version of Craig's List) and free cardboard from off the street.
   
8. Do your research! Whether it's buying materials, looking at companion planting, or designing the garden, going in with some prior knowledge will be essential.
   
9. Empowering people by letting them have ownership of the project is very important.

Some great resources for hosts, facilitators, and designers are available here on the Melbourne Permablitz website for those looking to organize a permablitz of their own. Definitely read through them!

So what's our garden going to look like anyway?

Backyard design plan
We'll have the center vegetable patch (bike wheel style) where we'll rotate different veggies in depending on the season. It's in what's known as the zone 1 area, really close to the house and easily accessible.

To the left of the patch is our chicken run, where Henrietta Lacks and sister chicken will live. Some chicken-friendly plants, like fat hen, dock, comfrey, wormwood, and dandelion will be planted along the fence for the chickens to eat. The idea of having the chicken run next to the veggie patch is so that we can do our rounds in the veggie patch and swing by the chicken coop to check for eggs every day. Easy!

Above the vegetable patch is the herbs area, for herbs like basil and rosemary. We'll have some beneficial insect plants as well, basically anything that will attract pollinators or shelter predators of pests. These include cosmos, queen anne's lace, borage, and chamomile.

Up by the bike shed, there's some frames. Later in the year, we'll try growing vertically up them with pumpkins or peas or zucchini. If the area is warm enough, we might try for passionfruit as well!

Behind the shed is an evergreen area. We'll plant some evergreen natives, bamboo, and maybe some honeysuckle to attract birds and increase the biodiversity of the garden. It'll make a good reflecting spot if we have a nice little path leading to the back.

Across from there is the wet area where the pond is going. If we're really ambitious, we may add in a bench and turn it into a really nice area for relaxing and reflecting. Mint, peppermint, raspberries, coriander, and later lemongrass and ginger will be grown there.

Next to that area is the composting toilet shed. Yes, you read that right, the composting toilet. More details on how that's gonna turn out later! Hopefully we'll angle the venting pipe so that it doesn't go straight into the faces of people in the entertainment area.

Next to the house will be our propagation area. It'll be a really simple "table" made of wood or slabs on top of our rainwater tanks. We can check on it every day when heading out and make sure it's covered via a shade cloth. By putting it next to the house, the seedlings can be protected undercover.

So that's the plan! We'll see how it turns out.

Planning for Permablitz

My housemates and I are finally going to permablitz our garden in April! This is my first time designing a garden and seeing the design through. I first heard about permaculture through Wellesley's Edible Forest Garden Project in 2010, where I got to help design a fruit tree 'guild' including supporting plants for the fruit tree. But I graduated before the actual planting got started. So I'm really excited to see our design made real this time!

The first step in doing a permaculture design is to incorporate the permaculture principles. The basic premise is to model natural ecological systems in the backyard/garden so that the humans can sustainably use the space for growing edibles or enjoyment. Deep Green Permaculture has a good description of the design principles and there are many books on permaculture, notably by Bill Mollison, Dave Jacke, and David Holmgren. Here's a short summary of the principles:

Design Principles

1. Relative Location – every element is placed in relationship to another so that they assist each other
   
2. Each element performs many functions
   
3. Each important function is supported by many elements
   
4. Efficient energy planning – for house and settlement (zones and sectors)
   -Zone Planning
   -Sector Planning
   -Slope
   
5. Using Biological Resources – Emphasis on the use of biological resources over fossil fuel resources
   
6. Energy Cycling – energy recycling on site (both fuel and human energy)
   
7. Small Scale Intensive Systems
   -Plant Stacking
   -Time Stacking
   
8. Accelerating Succession and Evolution – Using and accelerating natural plant succession to establish favourable sites and soils
   
9. Diversity – Polyculture and diversity of beneficial species for a productive, interactive system
   -Guilds
   
10. Edge Effect – Use of edge and natural patterns for best effect
    
11. Attitudinal Principles
    -Everything works both ways
    -Permaculture is information and imagination intensive

(source: "Introduction To Permaculture" – Bill Mollison & Reny Mia Slay)

Our garden design incorporates most of these principles. If we had oodles and oodles of time (and money), we'd do everything here and use all the space in the backyard and front yard. Imagine passionfruit growing up the fences, herbs by the kitchen window, grape vines out front! But baby steps first, especially since this is our first year living at this house and we haven't gone through all the seasons yet. It's important to get a feel for how the sun/shade hits the space and where the different microclimates are (like how the corner by the rainwater tanks might be warmer because the sun hits the tanks and bounces off).


Our backyard dimensions
Our plan for this upcoming permablitz is to build or put in the following:

1. a chicken coop. Chickens, as I've written about before, are really great for the garden for fertilizer and pest management.
   
2. a propagation table/shed. The propagation shed is a handy protected space for growing seedlings. You can use a table or even just a tray that's undercover. We might be opting for the table rather than a whole shed for simplicity.
   
3. a composting toilet. Speaks for itself, why not? We only have one bathroom in the house for 5 people, so it'd be handy to have a second bathroom. Biosolids, if treated correctly, can be really great fertilizer for the garden.
   
4. a pond. This goes back to the idea of emulating natural ecosystems. With the pond, we can attract frogs, insects, and birds, all of which help with increasing the biodiversity of our garden. It's important to have support for the pollinators and pest managers that frequent the garden.
   
5. a vegetable patch. Our main purpose! We'll be doing the no-dig technique and simply laying down newspaper, cardboard, manure/mushroom compost, and mulch to suppress the weeds before planting. The veggie patch will be in a bicycle spoke design, allowing us to rotate veggies between the 'spokes' and easily access each section.

More details to come later when we do the permablitz!

Adaptation and mitigation of small island agricultural systems

Australia's Primary Industries Adaptation Research Network (PIARN) and National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility recently ran a webinar on adaptation, mitigation, and management of agricultural systems, focusing on the research work done on Tasmania. The webinar featured Professor Holger Meinke with the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. He spoke on improving early warning systems and risk management of the increasing flood threat, which will enable farmers to adapt cropping systems, and produce methods that will have applications throughout Australia’s flood-prone farmland.

Professor Meinke gave a very informative presentation, which is available to view below. PIARN records the presentation and also allows the public to access the presentation remotely via the internet such that they can interact with the presenter from a distance. It's a great way for the information to be accessed more widely. The presentations so far have been geared towards audiences with a basic understanding of climate change and agriculture, but are not so technical that those not in the discipline cannot understand.

Adaptation, mitigation and the responsible management of agricultural systems - a 'small island' perspective from Climate & primary industries on Vimeo.

Tram Community Art Project

This is a bit of a different post from the norm - I wanted to share the results from my community art project that just finished up.

Last month I finished up a community art project with Melbourne's Centre of Multicultural Youth (CMY) and Yarra Trams. It was my first community art project and I loved it! The task was to come up with art designs on the themes of diversity and multiculturalism for two tram stops along the Route 96 line on the corner of Elgin and Nicholson Street in Carlton. Yarra Trams wanted to install artwork in hopes to preventing graffiti on the tram stops and to promote a positive image of youth. A team of 4 young people, including myself, and CMY's artist in residence, Reeham Hakem, started working on the project in September 2011, with lots of discussions and brainstorms on what multiculturalism and diversity meant, how it can be represented via art, and what messages we wanted to send.







Our brainstorming sessions

We came up with two different concepts. The first was a text based design that answered the statement: "I am more than ___ ". Each one of us is more than what others might perceive us to be. No one is simply a face, and no one can be taken for face value or stereotyped under one word. We decided to go around Carlton to ask people to complete the statement "I am more than" and the various 'answers' would make up a word cloud for the design on the tram stop.



Text based design tram: Before

The collection of the words was great fun and we got to talk with a variety of people, from university students to shop owners to maintenance workers to schoolchildren, which sampled the diversity of the Carlton community. One kind restaurant owner even treated us to a pizza lunch!



The text design

The second design was based on the idea that we all have different paths and backgrounds, but come together to form a larger diverse community. We used abstract shapes to represent this and the final design was done in aerosol spray. The panels were stenciled before they were installed onto the tram stop and then we spent a week doing touch up work on the tram stop itself. It was pretty miserable weather during that week, complete with rain and wind, and every 15 minutes, there'd be a tram running by. But we got it done in time.



Aerosol tram: Before



Stenciling the panels



Installing the artwork

The artwork was officially launched in February 2012 after 6 months hard work. I had a lot of fun with the team, both in the discussions we had and in the art making. And the idea of transforming a public space into an unexpected art exhibition is awesome.



Text design tram stop





Aerosol tram stop





Thanks, Route 96 team! You guys have really inspired me to continue doing community art projects! =)

PIARN seminar and webinar: Adapting agriculture management to cope with high intensity rainfall

Upcoming seminar on climate change adaptation for agriculture at University of Melbourne! Check it out or attend virtually.

PIARN Webinar and seminar: Adapting agriculture management to cope with high intensity rainfall

Presented by

Jim Salinger, Stanford University and NCCARF

and Holger Meinke, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture

on behalf PIARN and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).


Date: Thursday 15 March, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, followed by refreshments

Venue: Theatre 1, 207 Bouverie St (building 379), Parkville, University of Melbourne, and available remotely via live online webinar

Cost: Free

RSVP: To attend either the webinar or seminar please register online by 9 March


Although Australia is among the driest continents, global warming will manifest in more variable rainfall and increased extreme events.

This is already having massive impacts on agriculture. Three days of extreme rainfall events in Tasmania in 2011 destroyed vegetable crops and wine grapes, and spread disease.

In this seminar, Professors Salinger and Meinke outline a new project to improve early warning systems and risk management of the increasing flood threat. This will enable farmers to adapt cropping systems, and produce methods that will have applications throughout Australia’s flood-prone farmland.

For more information and to register visit the PIARN website.

Permablitz and Sharehood videos

Here's another cool time lapse of a permablitz I did back in Nov 2011. Thanks to Tim Metherall for filming the timelapse. In the background you'll see a fox-proof chicken coup and "strawyard" being constructed, with lawn cleared and veggie beds prepared in the foreground.



The special thing about this permablitz was that the Sharehood, an Australian community organization about sharing appliances and helping people get to know their neighbors, donated the seedlings. Everyone who came got to take a free veggie seedling home, the only catch was you had to take two, and give one to a neighbour and tell them about The Sharehood. The Sharehood "aims to build joyful, sustainable and resilient communities by encouraging people to get to know their neighbours and share with them." There's an online tool and services trading network. Learn more at the Sharehood or watch the little video below with Michael Green, who gave a workshop at the blitz. It's a great model for community building.

Michael Green from Sharehood from Raphaela Lee on Vimeo.

Zero Carbon Australia Transporation Plan

A great clip featuring my housemate about the future of Australia's transportation system. Check it out!

Technical Director of the Zero Carbon Australia Transport plan Patrick Hearps joined ABC 24's The Drum program to discuss the future of Australia's transport system. Electric cars, trams, metros and High Speed Rail powered by renewable energy... Now that's a vision!

Time lapse of earth bag building

Here's a cool video of the earth bag building at the permablitz site. Check it out! I can't wait for the next opportunity to learn how to do the earth bagging.

A successful wicking bed building session!

Despite the slight rain on Sunday, we had a great permablitz! The wicking bed team was awesome and I had a great time facilitating the workshop. We finished our wicking bed building and even got time to plant some lettuce, beans, and strawberries into the new wicking bed. Thomas interviewed me on the wicking bed for his permablitz podcast, so I might be on air sometime soon!

I wish I had time to help out with the earthbagging, that technique seems really interesting and the garden beds that come out from the earthbagging are really flexible in shape and size, even though the bagging process is a little labor intensive.

Angela, one of the Permaculture Out West facilitators, was helping me with the wicking bed and she told me about this really great permaculture website called Deep Green Permaculture, which has tons of really detailed information on setting up a permaculture garden. Check it out if you're interested in starting your permaculture garden.

In the meantime, here are some photos from the permablitz on Sunday!



before the wicking bed was built, removing the plants



building the wicking bed frame



estimating how high the bed should go



drilling the hole for the outlet



putting the outlet in



filling the wicking bed with scoria and soil



finished wicking bed with lettuce, beans, and strawberries!

PIARN webinar on sustainable intensification of agriculture

The Primary Industries Adaptation Research Network (PIARN) is offering the second of its free, online, interactive web seminar series next Thursday, November 10 at 2:30-3:30pm Melbourne time. Registration is currently open - check it out here.

Sustainable intensification of agriculture: Producing more with less

Presented by Professor Tim Reeves and Associate Professor Richard Eckard.

Sustainable intensification of means producing more food from less land, with less water and with less reliance on increasingly expensive inputs derived from fossil fuels – whilst simultaneously protecting and enhancing natural resources and ecosystems.

Experts suggest it might be the only way to feed a rapidly growing world population without the environmental degradation typically associated with increasing agricultural production.

Professor Tim Reeves and Associate Professor Richard Eckard will help frame the challenge of creating a sustainably intensive of Australian agriculture industry, discussing the implications for food security, the research and development investment required and the sorts of transformations needed to put sustainable intensification into action.

The presentations will be followed by an open Q&A session with both presenters.

Presenters

Professor Tim Reeves is Chair of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre, and Director and Principal of Timothy G Reeves and Associates.

Tim has worked for 40 years in agricultural research, development and extension, focused on sustainable agriculture in Australia and overseas. His professional career includes positions in the Department of Agriculture Victoria, Foundation Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Production at the University of Adelaide and Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico.

Tim is a Senior Expert for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and was a member of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger.

Associate Professor Richard Eckard is the Acting Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre.

Richard is a member of expert advisory panels on climate change research in agriculture for the Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom governments. He is also a consultant on the effect of climate change on animal production and health for the joint FAO/IAEA Programme on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and leads research programs in enteric methane, nitrous oxide and whole farm systems modelling.

Richard has published over 90 scientific publications, holds a number of national and international science leadership roles, and has been a keynote speaker at numerous industry and international science conferences over the past few years

How to make a wicking bed

I'm part of a community group in Melbourne called Permablitz that does urban gardening and agriculture. Of the many cool things about Permablitz is the workshops they hold. I learned how to make a wicking bed system through Permablitz and next weekend, I'm going to be facilitating a wicking bed workshop at the next Permablitz. But before that, I wanted to share the notes on it.

So what is a wicker watering bed? It's essentially a raised garden bed where water is stored on the bottom. For gardens in hot weather, it's a good way to help keep water storage to the maximum and keep plants alive. The water is poured into a pipe that runs through the bottom of the bed and seeps into the scoria (volcanic rock) or sand or whatever sediment that you use for the bottom storage layer. By preventing water leakage with plastic inside the bed, water can be held. Plants can then draw up moisture from the bottom via capillary action, which is the same principle as growing seedlings on a tray of water.

You can also combine the wicking bed system with a worm farm system. This way, nutrients from the worm poop can steep into the water and the plants can take it up. A worm farm is also a great way to add in nutrients into the closed wicking bed system - since you're taking out the crops (and nutrients) from the bed, you have to add back in the nutrients somehow and the worm farm is an easy way to do this. See the last step if you want to combine the worm farm with the wicking bed.

Steps for making a wicker watering bed

1. Start with a raised garden bed or any container that you want to grow vegetables/plants in. You can have anything from a broccoli box to a full-on garden bed. The bottom scoria/sand layer needs to be about 5-10 cm and plants require 30-35 cm of soil (this may vary depending on what you're growing). If you have garden beds that come up to your waist, you can fill the bottom with wood pieces or carpet (note on carpet: just make sure the carpet isn't in direct contact with the soil/scoria as there is sometimes chemicals in the carpet). You can also use carpet/wood chips to make the bottom more even or cover up any parts that might tear holes into the plastic.
   
   
2. Using a sheet of plastic, line the sides and bottom of your garden bed. It's important that this plastic not have any holes, as any water leakage would defeat the purpose of the wicker bed. Although you don't necessarily need to line the sides all the way up, it makes it easier not to have the plastic slip down over time or weeds grow between the spaces of your plastic/soil and the garden bed container.
   
   
3. Measure out an appropriate length of agricultural pipe, which is basically tubing with holes on the side so water can drain out. In small garden beds, you can just lay the pipe out diagonally, but for larger beds, zigzag it. The pipe needs to go all the way up one side of the bed to where it'd be above or flush to the top of the soil. This is where you'll pour water into the pipe.
   
   
4. Once measured out, cut the piping and cover both ends with a piece of shade cloth or some other permeable material that will allow water through but prevent sediment.
   
   
5. Fill the bottom with a 10cm layer of scoria/sand, covering the piping. Use your feet to keep the piping in place as you pour in the sand. It's important to keep the sand layer even, otherwise the water will be biased towards one side, so use a balance to see if this layer is level. As you leveling, make sure not to tear holes in the plastic surrounding the bed. Once level, dig out ridges in the sand (see below) so that even if the water level drops, the soil can always be in contact with the water.
   
   
6. IMPORTANT: Once you have your sand layer in, an outlet must be placed in. This is so that you can tell when you've added too much water to your wicker bed. If too much water gets into the bed, it gets swampy and acidic, which is not good for the soil. To prevent this, make an opening in your garden bed where the top of your sand layer is and place a small PVC pipe (~25mm radius) through to the outside. This way, if the water level goes above 10cm, then the overflow can leave the bed via the PVC pipe. Cover the end of the PVC pipe that's in the bed with shade cloth/equivalent to prevent sediment from clogging it.
   
   
7. Once your piping and sand layer is done, place another layer of shade cloth over the whole bed. The soil layers will sit on top of the shade cloth. The benefit of this is that you can periodically lift up the entire shade cloth and do maintenance on the bottom sand layer if necessary. The shade cloth should go all the way up the sides of the garden bed and over the top a bit. IMPORTANT: Make sure the shade cloth is as flush as you can get to the sides of the bed because anything that falls between the sides will contaminate the water in the sand layer.
   
   
8. Start layering on soil, manure, and dynamic lifter to the top of the garden bed. You can pretty much put whatever you have on hand, but for nutrient rich soil for plants to grow in, it's best to layer in sheep/horse manure (best for leafy vegetables) or chicken manure (high in phosphates, good for food producing plants). Other things to consider - straw, dynamic lifter plant food. Keep sandwiching different layers in until you hit about 5cm to the top of the bed.



9. WORM FARM: An easy way to add nutrients to the wicking bed (a closed system) is to have several worm farms along the sides of the bed. Simply take a plastic bin (such as an old ice cream tub), cut out the bottom, and place against the side of the bed and on the bottom of the shade cloth. This way, the worm droppings will steep into the water and be diluted enough for plant uptake. You can have as many as you want, depending on how big your garden bed is. As you layer in the soil and the manure in the bed, fill around the bin to secure the placement. To activate the worm farm, fill it with straw/moistened cardboard, or newspaper at the bottom and worms. On top of that, place your kitchen scraps (vegetable peelings, uneaten leftovers, coffee grinds, tea leaves, etc). Eggshells can be used, but since they're harder to decompose, crush them first. Avoid citrus or onion peels because they're acidic and worms don't like them. Keep this worm farm covered to keep in the moisture.

Before: Empty raised garden bed
Seila and Sophie tying the shade cloth onto the ag pipe
The bottom layer of scoria with ridges. Seila here is adjusting the overflow pipe
Layering on soil and manure
After: The finished wicker bed

Translations of sustainable living brochures

I just found something really cool - Environment Victoria in conjunction with their Sustainability for Diverse Communities Resource Hub has provided translations of various sustainable living brochures. They're all available here. The translations were done by different organizations so the topics vary from climate change to water to chemicals to gardening and food. I think it's a great idea to have this information for different communities in different languages, especially considering how multicultural and diverse communities can be. Hopefully once people get access to this information, they can act on it.

Greywater guidelines

In a continent where water scarcity is a common phenomenon, Australia's been taking a lot of steps towards more efficient water usage. During the last ten year drought, strict guidelines were set up for activities such as watering gardens and washing cars, limiting how often and what kind of water could be used. Water saving flushing toilets are standard, as are signs on showers in commercial accommodation suggesting a 4 min or less shower for guests.

This attitude towards water also includes using greywater, which is pretty much recycling water that's already been used, such as shower water, rainwater, and sink tap water. There's some microbial risk from reusing such water (which will be the focus of my upcoming PhD, incidentally), but in general, good water filtration and treatment methods can reduce the risk to acceptable levels. Some examples of filtration systems can be found here from Minnesota Public Radio, which includes septic tanks and concentrated wetlands.

A useful set of guidelines was recently issued from the Australian Clearwater organization on the best ways to harvest and store stormwater (ie run-off from drains or creeks) and roofwater (ie rainwater). These stormwater harvesting guidelines describe how to go about setting up the greywater collecting project, including what kind of roof characteristics to look out for to avoid contamination, types of rainwater tanks and piping to use, and monitoring/maintenance of the project. This might be useful for those interested in using greywater for non-drinking purposes. Other guideline publications from Clearwater can be found here.

What's important though is changing public perception. Many people still have much aversion towards using treated greywater, despite the fact that the microbial risk in the treated greywater can actually be LOWER than the risk in regular tap water. Using greywater is going to become more and more necessary around the world with climate change, but especially in Australia since the continent is already so water vulnerable. So the more the public can understand the process, the better off they'll be.

Biking innovations

Two great ideas in time for "Ride To Work/School" tomorrow in Victoria, Australia

1) Self service bicycle repair station: In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, a DIY bike repair station called Bike Fixation was recently launched to help stranded cyclists. Open 365 days a year from 6am to midnight, you can come buy tire repair kits, pump your tires for free, and make adjustments with tools available from the kiosk. It's a great way to make use of vacant lots in a way that would help the local bikers and also present new business opportunities.

2) In 2007, Minneapolis built the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge to help route cyclists away from the Hiawatha Avenue lane crossing. Quotes from the article:

The first cable-stayed bridge of any kind in the state, it’s breathtaking, even to the people who have been riding it for years. It provides a safe, continuous crossing and offers up a glorious view of the downtown skyline (especially at sunset!). The sleek Hiawatha light rail line runs beneath it, and there are benches to sit on and take everything in.

Used by an average of 2,500 riders a day, peak use can hit 5,000 to 6,000 per day on some gorgeous summer weekends, according to Shaun Murphy of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works.

Here's a video to check out about the bridge.



Have a great bike ride tomorrow!

DPI Climate Dogs

The Australian Department of Primary Industries made these really cute, but informative videos about the interactions of El Nino and La Nina affecting the weather patterns in Australia. They're one of the reasons why Melbourne had a cold and rainy year. Check them out! More information can be found here at the DPI website