Living landscapes on sale

Living landscapes is on sale for only $9 until 15 November 2011.
To get the discount (it is normally $14 +GST), you need to add the discount code: livingsale at checkout.
Living landscapes is an excellent gift for your gardening and permaculture friends.
for more information on the game:
http://sustainableways.blogspot.com/p/co-operative-games.html and scroll down the page until you see living landscapes.

Back to Eden movie

We watched the Back to Eden movie yesterday and it was very inspiring. Paul, the gardener in the movie has found a way to garden in a very efficient way. Through constant mulching, he has obtained great results, such as no use of fertiliser, basically no irrigation, no or very little pest control.
He uses only wood chips from branches with lots of leaves on his garden.
This whole process reminds me of the compost Jean Pain that we used in Europe. It was amazing indeed. The difference is that Paul does not go through composting in a heap first, he just puts the woodchips directly on the soil.

You can watch the movie online here: www.backtoedenfilm.com/

As with all methods that use high mulching there are a lot of benefits and it makes gardening a lot easier. No tilling, turning the soil, less and easy weeding are only a few that make it so much more attractive to start a garden.

If you go to the FAQ on his site, www.backtoedenfilm.com/faqs/index.html you can also watch chapter by chapter, if you have particular questions. There is much more information on the site, just click all the links.

I experienced Paul as very religious and he refers a lot to the bible. He has used the information in the bible to find a solution and one that can help the world from becoming more sustainable. If his mentioning of "God" disturbs you, you can maybe try to replace it with the "Universe"

Affiliate program

I have been working on sites and this blog in the last week. I have brought all my games and tutorials together in one shop here on this site.

The reason why I am doing this is to make it easier to have help from people to promote my work.
How would you benefit from helping me to sell my work?
By signing up for my affiliate program, you can put a link on your blog or site and if someone clicks the link and buys one of my products, you will get a commission paid for that. So, you are actually rewarded in $$$ for bringing this customer to me.

For now, the games and the tutorials that I make are included in this program. You can find all the items that you can earn a commission on in my shop.

More information is available here
If this is something for you, you can Join our Affiliate Program!

I'm back

I didn't go on a holiday, just didn't take time to post here.
I am giving this blog a new outfit. I think it looks a lot better now. Just working on it at the moment.
I have uploaded my craft tutorials here as well, you can find them at
http://sustainableways.blogspot.com/p/learn-fibre-crafts.html

More to come.

Holistic Management

The first course of RegenAg, Holistic Management, (www.RegenAg.com) is going to start soon in Far North Queensland.

Here are all the details:
3 DAY WORKSHOP: AUGUST 16 - 18 2010: CAIRNS QLD
Holistic Management goal setting, grazing planning, decision making and land management planning for health and productivity of your farm...

Taught by KIRK GADZIA (USA)
Venue: Wetherby Station, Mt. Molloy QLD
Dates: 16 - 18 August, 2010
Cost: $650 (FarmReady 100% reimbursement)

This workshop is part of the 2010 Regenerative Agriculture Workshop Series regenerating Australia’s soils, profits and communities with education by world-leaders in sustainable farming...
FreeRange Permaculture is the proud QLD provider of the 2010 RegenAG Workshop Series.

www.RegenAG.com

WORKSHOP DETAILS

This workshop module focuses on improving soil health and the biodiversity of rangelands and pastures, increasing grazing and wildlife capacity, increasing annual profits and enhancing
livelihoods. Optimal rainfall usage, methods of reversing desertification, increasing food and
water security and enhancing family relationships.

Topics Include
* Improving soil health
* Increasing biodiversity
* Improving grazing productivity
* Enhancing wildlife capacity
* Increasing annual profits
* Enhancing livelihoods
* Optimal use of water resources
* Growing heather crops
* Achieving higher yields
* Reversing desertification
* Increasing food and water security
* Enhancing family relationships
* Soil Carbon Sequestration

Kirk Gadzia is a certified instructor with the Holistic Management International Center and founder of Resource Management Services, with over 20 years experience teaching the concepts of Holistic Management® worldwide.
Combined with his extensive international consulting work on many agricultural operations, Kirk is uniquely qualified to help you achieve your learning objectives. Years of assisting people on the land has helped Kirk approach this course in an interactive, hands-on style. His courses are known for a relaxed atmosphere, open dialogue and practical real-life examples.

This course is FARMREADY APPROVED, which makes it free for landholders & primary producers to attend. Go to our website www.FreeRangePermaculture.com.au
to see if you’re eligible and for all the info you need to apply.

Etsy showcase - works inspired by nature

Check out this amazing showcase of etsy artists who made work inspired by nature.

Here is the link:
http://permacultured.com.au/2010/06/from-etsy-with-love-showcase-of-21-amazing-works-inspired-by-nature/

The Tenth Australian Permaculture Convergence

The tenth Australian Permaculture Convergence is coming closer.

It is organised by permaculture Cairns and will be happening in Kuranda, Far North Queensland. Visit the website, http://www.apc10.org/ for the schedule of the event and all the other important information and details.

There will be workshops, speakers, fun and a tour around the Atherton Tablelands to visit established permaculture places.

The facebook page is:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/APC10-Festival-of-Permaculture-Convergence-Kuranda-FNQld-Sept-24-27/301346362655?ref=ts

The Dwarf and the Giant

The difference between this dwarf and this giant banana is also the difference between 750gram and 25gram,or the difference between a plantain and an egg banana...

Plantains are bananas often used for cooking. You can however let them completely ripen and eat them raw and they are delicious. The egg bananas, also called monkey bananas are a really delicacy and hard to find, at least here in Far North Queensland.

So think twice next time when you ask for a banana.

Some pictures from the garden

The garden is doing great with some vegetables ready to harvest. I regret not putting more time into gardening. I wish days would be longer.

The lettuce is ready to harvest. We struggled a bit with water supply, so we haven't been able to fill up the swales as planned. I would have liked to irrigate through the swales and than fill them up with mulch, so the whole system would stay more humid, especially with the dry weather that we had lately.

The radishes are nice and crisp. This bed has been watered the most, I gave it some special attention. Unfortunately, I am the only one in the family who seems to like them.

The tomatoes are showing their first fruits (still green).

And I love comfrey. It can be used as a fertiliser, animal feed, medicinal uses, mulch. I , bused to grow it extensively when we lived in the south of France. The climate here seems a bit more difficult, but I want to succeed. The yellow flowers are yellow cosmos flowers. I use them for dyeing wool and fabrics, they are another of my favorites.

Yesterday, I planted young capsicum plants and marigolds in between the lettuce. They will gradually take over the space, now used by the lettuce. The lettuce will soon be harvested anyway. I like to create a permanent garden without empty spaces.

Swale Construction Interrupted

We were so excited and working hard on making more swales in the garden, the weather had other plans. It has been raining and raining and everything is soaking wet.

The good news is that were the swales are dug already, the soil on the beds is nice and wet, but not soaking wet, while everywhere else around that area, we sink in the ground up to our ankles.

Very promising!

I have planted bush beans on the first bed and they are fine, even next to the swale, while beans can't stand any wet weather normally ( sorry no photo available yet). The photo above is of the second swale, halfway done.
All this is encouraging us to start digging again when it dries up.