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Here are before and after photos of the sandpit area: 1995
(surrounded by kikuyu) and the same area in 2006 used for fire
making and coo
king at night by young teenagers (surrounded by
fruit trees and vines). You can see Paul in the background in '95, planting trees for privacy and food, now the trees are over
10m tall. (and so are the children - no just kidding.)
Location: Our home and office is located in Mt. Kembla
Village: a sub-urban historic mining village. [Village defined here by
a central 'watering hole' which is the pub (bar), a school and
a corner shop]. The village is surrounded on 3 sides (Southeast
- ridge, South - Mount Kembla & West - the Great Dividing
Range) by subtropical to temperate area, natural dry rainforest
and connects on the lower side to semi-rural land and a private
railway used by the coal mine. The village has a working mine
at the top, a school, a small shop, an historical society and a small Church with cemetery.
Aspect and Climate: The site has a less than ideal Nor-westerly aspect,
undulating, previously pasture and orchard trees in a
sub-tropical to temperate climate zone. The Village faces north
and is nestled within a mixed (mostly dry) rainforest with limited
solar and wind energy. Rainfall is approx 1275mm per annum. There
is good rainfall year-round. Minimum temperature
is 4c, Max temp is 38c. Site Size: 1 acre (frankly this is too big for a small family)
Natural Oddities: There is a wide variety of fungi and
lichen that pop up on paths and in beds, self-seeding trees including
strangler and sandpaper figs carried by the wide variety of birds
(wrens, bower birds, Kookaburras, Cockatoos, King Parrots, Owls,
Cat-birds and Brush Turkey.) The Cockatoos and Flying Foxes are
active pruners and eat fruit that is well out of our reach. Some
years they destroy more than we welcome. Occasionally King Parrots
damage delicacies such as snow peas. They eat only the tiny peas
in the pods! Other residents include Sugar Gliders, snakes, lizards,
water dragons and larger possums. Flying Foxes come each summer
and eat a lot of the fruits and berries. Possums enjoy pine acorns.
They munch, and call mainly as we are trying to sleep. A native
Brush Turkey moved into poultry house during the winter of 1998. Other
visitors
have included Echidna, feral deer, neighbours cows, neighbours
chickens and horses, eastern long neck tortoise and of course
there are several varieties of snakes (including the golden crown),
butterflies, 3 types of frogs (including Perons Tree frog),
insects and spiders.
Site history: The site has a few very large historic plums,
peach and apple trees and natural wetlands, which has been designed
(that section not fully excavated) to form a future poly-culture
system. A semi-commercial orchard had been planted about 70 years
ago; the land use had involved market gardening, and overstocking
of cattle, horses and geese. There is the possibility that toxics
sprays were used on this site. So, we avoid growing and eating
tubers from the soil until it is safe.
Soil type: When we started here the soil was highly compacted
acidic soil in most areas. It still is compacted in areas that
have not been mulched. The acidic soil has been improved by the
addition of humus (sheet mulched beds with worms underneath) and
at the same time the mulch has supported acid loving brambleberries.
Age: Our current site has been in implementation since
mid 1993 when the first drought since purchasing the property
broke and our seedlings were old enough to plant out. The intensive
beds are no-dig and no-soil (to combat Kikuyu an invasive grass
and to improve soil structure). This is our second permaculture
site, the first site had a SW aspect, very steep and shaded, and
the neighbours were a bit too close. Sloped sites require different
treatment, more swales and erosion management. This site has
some slopes but most beds are able to be sheet mulched. By the
10th anniversary of the site the trees were mature enough to survive
a bigger drought without any hand watering. Once we had
implemented half our original
plan the system had evolved to show more potential
and new challenges. We were moving into a dual existence:
implementation
and some maintenance. Shade and food was created in just 2
years which gave us quick rewards. In 2006 we embarked on a solar
passive extension of the house. The new shape of the house formed
a windbreak and suntrap and immediately the Mangos were able to hold
their fruit better.
Layers of Produce: The existing mature canopy species of this site
included: winter citrus and summer prunus fruits, Mulberry (now
5 different varieties) which we use for fruit and silkworms, a
large ornamental Palm (existing) Sycamore and Pines, Grevillia
Robusta (to be removed as fuel), and Kurrangong. In the next layer
down we have added species such as: Bananas (various varieties).
Davidson Plum, Tamarillo, Maple, Mango, Avocado, Jackfruit, Persimmon,
Lilly Pilly, Paper-Barks, Custard Apple, Guava, Fejoa, Lychee,
Quince, various Figs, Longan, Babaco, Banana, Irish Strawberry
Tree, Bunya nut, Apple, Chestnut, Ice-cream bean, Macadamia.
Shrubs include Mulberry, Teatrees and Camellia, Wormwood, many sages,
lavender, hazelnut, native raspberry. Understorey plants include: strawberry,
raspberry, blueberry, arrowroot, taro, mixed salad greens. Some
of the year-round mainstays are tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, and
Asian greens and sweet potatoe. There are numerous small bulbs
and culinary and medicinal herbs, Bromeliads including pineapple,
and native orchids. Perennial climbers include Passionfruit,
Kiwifruit, and Epiphiliums (Dragon Fruit) different varieties
of grape, and choko. Smaller tropical species are thriving in
microclimates such as arrowroot, cardamom, ginger, and sugarcane.
Much of the surplus is given to workers and their families.
There are some mature trees that will be succeeded by edible species
and a local wood turner or fuel in our woodstove uses their timber.
Special Interest: In the early years there was a strong
emphasis on rare and heritage non-hybrid breeds. We support Seed
Savers Australia. Now the system has become more self-seeding
and self-governing.
Integrated Pest Management: Ducks control snails but we
have learnt that they are very vulnerable to dogs. Geese deter
dogs. The other pests are cabbage moth and Stink bugs on citrus
which are controlled by hand and the use of Neem oil; and Fruit
fly which requires yeast baits and the chickens to eat infected
fruit. To combat fruit fly, we have decided to focus more on species
that the fruitfly don't eat. Chickens, the worm farm and liquid manure
in drums are
used to control highly invasive weeds such as Madeira vine. We
remove the vine and fill the poultry house with it, the chickens
are then able to browse on the weeds whilst waiting to be allowed
out each morning. Other Animals: originally we had a small family
of Guinea Pigs kept to trim edges of lawn and a cat, with clipped
nails, to deter other cats which were a problem. Now we have geese,
which eat grass and deter cats and dogs during the day but require
strong protection at night they are housed with the chickens. We
have some recent problems with Deer eating at young trees, we now
protect the young trees in Lanatana off-cuts.
Plantings: There has been on-going tree planting of endemic
species and additional introduced edibles. At first we would
plant only by hand and at the rate of one plant per day. Most
weeks we would start new beds, each day we could collect food.
Now, we rarely plant new plants, sometimes we might start some
new seed in pots and ever day we can find something to eat in
the garden. We often share produce with friends and relatives.
Often other people share with us in return.
Species listing: after just a few years implementation there
were over 60 different edible tree species and varieties, over
160 different edible and medicinal species and varieties of herbs,
bramble berries, vines, shrubs, tubers. Some species did not
succeed and we may try them in a different area with better soil.
'Weeds': we do have some species we classify as weeds
(i.e. they do not respect diversity) these include Madeira Vine,
which can collapse whole areas of rainforest, coral trees, kikuyu.
Other species to be succeeded with careful management are lantana,
croften weed and non-native wandering jew (white flowered). Fleshy
invasive plants such as Madeira vine and grass are controlled
well by chickens. Woody weeds such as lantana are manually removed
and replaced by shrubs to keep soil and wildlife protected. Invasive
trees such as Privet and Indian Coral tree have strangler figs
in them, or are lopped and the branches piled up off the ground.
We re-use all removed material. We have found various uses for
invasive plants. Most woody weeds such as lantana and privet are cut and burnt in the fuel
stove. Some are dried in raised piles are later used as mulch.
Fleshy plants are put into the poultry house - nothing survives
in there! we use branches of weeds to protect young plants from the chickens.
Workers: Mostly 1 small female of resident family and
occasional LETS workers. All work is part time and maximum of
3 woman/man hours per week. There is little heavy work as the
garden is designed to be worked by less abled and small persons.
Paths run along contour. The paths can accommodate large carts.
Materials are light and transportable. There are ramps rather
than steps wherever possible. Some workers have been students
who have studied with us in exchange for work. In the photo below
we are created a steel-fibre cement pond to hold roof water.
Robert on the Left was a permaculture student and James Hill is on the right
a LETs worker and the team leader for this project, April is in
the middle. Note the straw bales used for formwork.
Mistakes:
1. One of the biggest problems (not our mistake as such) is that
there are heritage varieties of FRUIT fly prone trees in areas
that need to be our Zone I. This means we can't let the chickens
in to forage on the fallen fruit on the intensive beds. We don't
own enough chickens anyway - they turn their nose up at gluts
of huge beautiful yellow and pink peaches and more than half dozen
eggs a day can be a pest. We would need about 100 chickens to
that acre in summer. This would be likely to cause conflict with
the neighbours and local council authorities. We have larger
overcome this problem by not pruning the plum trees, and reducing
their fruiting capacity.
2. Having a dog that didn't like adapting to permaculture and
was taught by other people's dogs to eat live chickens. We now
have geese.
3. Novice animal husbandry: After having to remove our dog we
had to fight off brazen foxes and neighbours dogs, this was an
ongoing problem except when we had a small pony. We also lost
a duckling which could not escape drowning - (the mother hen couldn't
help, poor thing). We had bought chickens, which developed incurable
Marek's disease and having to slaughter them (the next time we
were sold bad chickens we tried to return them to the supplier
and had an unpleasant confrontation, now we breed our own and
give away the cockerels to the pet shop and others). We will
always find reputable dealers in future. We learnt quickly that
being close to nature sometimes means being closer to tragedy,
but the joys are much greater. We have since been successful
in healing a wide range of minor ailments with the hens and ducks
and the pony.
4. Not fully developing the area near the back of the house in
the early years because we hoped to build a greenhouse there.
We then put in a lot short termed plantings in that area and relocated
the trees successfully during the following construction phase.
5. Mulching during the drought was fine only the trees suffered
from too much of a good thing - they became over-productive and
too heavy. Not knowing to prop up heavily laden old trees: we
lost half a tree. The other half has now re-sprouted.
6. Having bees on contour with play area meant that we discovered
that our toddler was highly allergic to bee stings and we spent
a family day in casualty!
7. Not fully allowing for harvesting and picking time in our
schedule - at first we had to pick more than we could ever eat
because of fruit fly problem. Many neighbours harbour fruit fly
unknowingly in their compost bays or uncollected fruit. Mollison,
in a talk given here locally, said that there are over 2000 varieties
of fruit not susceptible to fruit fly, we are seeking more of
these.
8. Setting up alone. It may be easier to start out in a village
of permaculture-minded people because there would be shared surpluses
to complement our yearly gluts. There is only occasional vandalism
and criticism from some of our more conservative neighbours.
The main advantage of setting up alone is that we have been able
to show so many others some of the alternative strategies. We
now find that other people in the village are trying these same
techniques and reducing their waste. After 10 years, we still
feel this was the hardest aspect of this site. We are constantly
pioneering ideas and only sometimes learning from neighbours or
knowledge friends. We find that we need to learn a wide range
of skills and then we only use these skills occasionally (such
as bush-carpentry or plumbing, managing firewood, preserving foods,
plants or animal husbandry etc.)
We are both working parents so we know that the site reflects
what the average family can do in comparison to sites where the
occupants can be active on site full time. Sometimes this causes
us frustration because we often want to progress more quickly.
In hindsight, an acre is more than a family needs and it would
be better to have smaller permaculture site, better for the family
with less to manage and less surplus to distribute and better
as a demonstration site because very few people have this much
land.
Joys: Solving problems peaceably such as repeatedly capturing
and keeping feral neighbours chickens until the neighbours couldn't
be bothered taking them home again. Hatching ducklings under broody
hens. Hatching our own chickens. Using our ducks to suppress the
tyranny of seedling-eating snails.
Heightened observational skills - seeing many things anew; the
Children are better equipped with life skills, diverse foods (including
edible flowers), a love and respect for nature, and understanding
about death and reproduction. 
We welcome visitors free to our site by appointment only. We
would like to try more fruit fly resistant species please write
if you know of unusual fruits and suppliers of trees and plants.
Our Garden Award: We entered
Shellharbour City Council's first innovative award Waste Busters
Competition to promote resource efficient gardening. Our
garden won the overall regional prize for Shellharbour and Wollongong
combined. We were proud to demonstrate our use of greywater,
rainwater, Food 'waste', paper waste from the house and office
and waste from neighbours (cardboard and paper and garden waste).
All garden waste is considered a resource, even weeds and cumbersome
branches. Here is a copy of the flyer
about waste management we hand out to visitors. We welcome
visitors to our site in Spring and Summer on designated open days.
We would like to try more fruit-fly resistant species please
email us if you know of unusual fruits and suppliers of plants.
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