This Sustainable House

Posts Tagged ‘Permaculture’

Well it has now been a couple of months since the pigs first arrived at TSH (see Making a Pig of Oneself) but today the day finally came when it was time for them to move on.

They have done a stirling job digging and cleaning that garden area as the video below attests. The next step, after processing the pigs, will be to erect some temporary irrigation and then sow the area to green manure. This will grow for another couple of months, before another 5 piglets are brought in the to do the job for us again. The garden area should then be ready for planting in early spring.

The video below shows the wonderful work the pigs have done for us, and the end result of the last few months. I would like to warn those who find animal carcasses disturbing that there are images of the carcasses in this video. However there is a warning page allowing to you exit the video prior to the scene of the carcasses. There is no footage of the slaughter… that’s a private, and definitely unpleasant, moment.

The pigs were all slaughtered and dressed on-site, the advantage of which is that there was no transport stress whatsoever. It was just a normal day for the pigs until that rapid killing blow (by bullet). The downside of dressing them at home was that we had a few technical issues with the hot water production, leading to the animals having to be skinned… no crackling from our pigs. Not the end of the world, and will probably do our health a world of good anyhoo…

One of the principles of permaculture is to use animals and systems to do as much of the work as possible. This comes from the premise that an under-utilized output of any system creates pollution, and this applies equally to material ‘things’ as well as non-material stuff.

In this case I was planning on spreading some mulch around inside the pig pen and, rather than do the work myself, I chose to enlist the help of the pigs. It wasn’t too hard… you’d be surprised what they’ll do for a little cracked corn!

The video below demonstrates the principle with both a before and after viewpoint.

Every weekend I set myself a task to complete around TSH that keeps the vision moving in the right direction. Sometimes this task is large, such as fencing a new paddock, but at other times it can be quite small such as improving an existing system. This weekend, my task was to build a new vege garden using the wicking bed system.

A wicking bed is a marvellously efficient garden design in which you water from below. It is basically a giant self-watering pot in which you water via a filling tube. The water creates a reservoir under the soil of the bed, and the water then ‘wicks’ up to water the plants. The major advantage of the system is that there is no free water on the surface, so evaporation is minimal.

At TSH we have two beds, both located on the back verandah, which have been designated to be wicking beds. And this weekend I created one of the beds. The location of the beds was chosen so as to allow year round growing (it’s under the eaves so shouldn’t be too effected by frost) as well as to be close to the kitchen (virtually in zone 0, if you are permaculturally inclined). It should also help reduce the amount of reflected sunlight into the entertaining area during summer which should help make this area feel much more comfortable.

And let’s not forget… produce a mass of picking greens, herbs and other vegetables for the kitchen.

A video-essay of the building of this bed can be found on Green Phoenix Permaculture.

I’ll post an update in a few weeks around how it is going. Below are some time staged photos… click on them to zoom.

Wicking Bed (Week 1)

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had created a pair of ‘sacrificial paddocks’ for the cattle. Well recently the cattle have been moved out of these paddocks, and one has been sown to a spring pasture mix (comprised of forage brassica, plantain and clover). This video highlights how the paddocks were sown, without the use of any mechanical apparatus apart from a rake, and how they are growing.

And they said it couldn’t be done…

The 'Gang' in their new Paddock

In an earlier video post I talked about the paddock clearing operation in order to create a new 0.5 acre paddock at TSH. Well the job has been done, due in no small part to a wonderful WWOOFer Laetitia and the help of a particularly tenacious neighbour.

As you can see from the photo on the right, the cattle have taken to their new homes like ducks to water, though it is obvious that I need to have a few more ‘lessons’ with the tape measure… those posts were supposed to fit a 14′ gate between them!

Anyhow, the paddock really is quite wonderful and will, I’m sure, be a grand new home for our small herd. Must be like a holiday for them…

The next step is to prepare the adjoining 0.5 acre paddock, followed by the lane way to the diary shed (also to be built). We then have two additional areas to clear to set this ‘complex’ up. Anyone have any excess energy?

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Do you purchase Free Range Eggs?

Why do you buy them? Is it because they;Free range chickens merrily picking their way over lush green grassy slopes

* taste better?

* are more nutritious?

* have a better ‘energy’?

* the chickens are more humanely housed?

All the above are reasons that many people shell out the additional sheckles for Free Range eggs but the sad truth is that there is little protection for consumers. This article, on the Green Phoenix Permaculture website, looks at the ‘definitions’ of Free Range Eggs, focussing on the housing requirements within the standards, and considers the question “Can bought eggs ever be considered Free Range?”

Check out the article here.

Well the weather has been getting cooler and already the greenhouse is begining to show some promise. A few weeks ago I spent an afternoon taking root cuttings of some Bocking 14 Comfrey. Bocking 14 is a special cultivar of comfrey, developed at the Henry Doubleday Institute, which doesn’t produce viable seed. It was chosen for TSH to reduce the weed risk associated with this plant.

Anyhow, the root cuttings were planted into some super tree tubes, and then placed into the greenhouse under the automatic misters. Today, the signs of life are more than evident…

Check out the video below for more information.