Tag: DIY

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Advanced Permaculture Design – Flow

get out there and explore permaculture design

Better flow results from design. There is flow in family dynamics, effort and energy, movement and transport. Improve your life flows.

This is the first tutorial in a short series on how to design better.

Better Design Reduces Work

See, these tiny little native bees?

Before and after native bee hive redesign. Better flow design results in less work

In our area, a native bee hive is fragile because it can get quite cool here. They thrive in warmer climates. So, I need to care for them. I don’t want them to die. It was a very costly exercise to get these little bees. And we really needed bees because our pollination rates had plummeted with the loss of the local honeybees.

Each day I’m observing them and I’m seeing their energy flow. It is surprising that they’re still producing babies through winter. The season is a very mild at the moment. Here they are disposing of the casing of the cocoon of their babies, they take each cocoon out individually and drop it.

What are they up to?

At at number one, they’re bringing the casing out of the hive. At number two, they’re dropping it. And then the poor little bees are having to lift it up over a ledge to dispose of the little casings at number three. There you can see where they’re dropping it off.

I soon realized I had a mistake in my design. it was costing the bees extra energy because they’re having to perform an extra lift to get the casing over the ledge. In my set up, I had repurposed an old wooden sign. I didn’t understand what they really needed.

So since I observed them, I’ve done a very cheap modification by placing a scrap of wood as a new front porch.

Now you can see how well this works. But I’m surprised at their dedication to the task. They hold on to the casing and throw themselves down with it. Sometimes they even get turned upside down and land with the casing on top of them. Each individual bee transports a casing to the edge and drops it off into the garden.

Flow Thinking on a Large Scale

Here is something more.

This looks like an airport, but it’s actually a railway station in China. I’m showing you this for two reasons. It’s huge. And in Australia, you’re not going to find a station this size because our population is sparse and low. But the second reason why I want to show it to you is because our culture is different and so our flow is slower just by the the way we behave when we’re traveling. Flow is regulated by behaviour.

So, this is not the busiest railway station in in China, and it’s probably not the latest one, but I was very impressed about how efficient it is. They can load a train in as quick as 10 minutes. Hundreds of people. So, this is Shanghai’s Hunga Railway Station, and it’s rather large. is 10,000 square m or think of yards. 10,000 square yards. It has 30 tracks, although the 30th track seems to be hidden there. It has a capacity of 10,000 people at any one time. The reason why I like trains is because they feel so safe and liberating. You can get up, walk around, you can work, you can talk to people. Whether they like that or not, I don’t know. With this level of flow management, the train is much faster to load and unload than aeroplane.

Separate Functions Designed for Separate Flow Streams

Below that busy area is a very quiet area where the trains are. And above that busy area are restaurants and shops and plenty of places to rest and chill out. You are not allowed to just go to the platform and wait for your train. You need to queue. And the queueing is part of a pressure system. It’s part of getting that high efficient loading. So you queue and then you go to a gate. At your gate and you have your ticket checked. If you are non-conforming, you’ve got the wrong gate, your ticket is damaged or wrong in any way or you also need to supply a passport as we did, you get moved to the side.

So if need be, you are redirected nearby and then you are dealt with with a second filter or a second person. The gate acts as a filter and a valve. It stops people from going directly to the trains. The gate allows the build-up of pressure. There is a ‘relief valve’ at the side for those people like myself who did not comply because we also needed to show the passport. But then also then we can be woven back into the stream.

Your life, your design

In the end, the design and the control mechanisms are what create effective flow. I’d like to invite you to consider what the flows are in your life or your latest projects. They could be the social flows, nutrient, financial, water, wind or energy. And the quest is to identify and describe the flow. Ask yourself ‘what are useful or harmful aspects of the flow?’. And then consider how you might measure, preserve, enhance, redirect, or filter the flows. See you next time.

You can join our Advanced Permaculture Design discussions by becoming a guild member for a one-time investment of just 190 AUD or start your journey as a new-bie for just $125 AUD. If you are a member of Permaculture Australia you can also get a 10% discount.

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5 Ways to Save Money and Save Planet

Live Better. Lower Costs

Save money and save your environment with simple tricks to eat healthy, get smart-productive, be comfy and chill, enjoy being active and waste less. Permaculture is intentional design to create a truly sustainable culture.

Here a few design ideas to slip into your lifestyle.

1. Save Your Health

Consider what foods you love. And find an easy way to grow them. Lets make a cup of tea. Fancy lemon grass and ginger? That’s easy to grow.

And I love eating basil, so I grow it in a wicking pot with a cage over the top. I use worm poo as the soil in the pot and the basil is bursting with flavour. This small design cycle is simple. The Food Scraps go to the > wormfarm then > to wicking pot with basil seed then > to plate. Whereas farmed basil has a more complex and expensive pathway to grow and transport the basil. And it quickly looses flavour.

Eating healthily reduces costs in medical bills and loss of productivity. Not to mention our enjoyment of life.

2. Get Smart-Productive

A food that is self sustaining and very cheap to start in a warm temperate region is sweet potato. Buy a fresh sweet potato, let it sprout in the cupboard, cut off the sprouts with a small section of the tuber and plant it close to the surface of the soil. We can cook the leaves as well as the new young tubers. The cycle is Tuber to > soil > perennial food supply > better water retention and organic matter in the soil > more tubers.

Not only are you getting years of free food, you are improving your environment by protecting soil from erosion, holding moisture in the soil for cooling in summer and creating habitat.

To take this a step smarter, grow indigenous ground covers. In our area Dianella, Pigface and Warrigal greens are a smart choice.

And to take this food to a greater level of sustainability, cook it in a solar oven or rocket stove.

Be Comfy and Chill

Design to capture cooling breezes in summer and deflect frost and cold wind in winter. Explore your microclimates (inside and outside the home) and create shelterbelts.

Enjoy More Action

What activities do you love doing? Find a way to incorporate this into your lifestyle design. I like walking, so I have put in a labyrinth of garden paths. I make time to walk to friends places. And I campaign for better walking routes, water stations and public toilets. Continence Australia has developed a national public toilet map.

bushwalk

Recently, a design client said she liked running. Her running group share ideas, fresh food and observations about the local area. And as a bonus, active people need less heating.

Finding how to hook in to our passions and curiosity helps us build a better future.

Photograph in Beechworth hotel. Victoria, Australia

Waste less Save More

Do a quick audit of what you throw away. This will help determine how you can waste less resources and money. I know we throw away plastic from purchases. If I can buy less, I will have less plastic in our system. I also know that I throw out old clothes so when I buy clothes I ensure that they can be composted. The worms love some clothing for insulation and laying eggs.

learning to glaze old windows save a lot of money and provides opportunities to be creative.

For the past 30 years we have used our paper waste in the garden. We sheet mulched more than half an acre to suppress the kikuyu (saving hours of mowing each year), and now we use paper mâché to gently reshape the landscape, building path edges and swales with paper.

Join the Live Discussion

April Sampson-Kelly, a Permaculture Elder with over 30 year of research, writing, implementing, designing and living with Permaculture principles will give us hands on experience with solar ovens, heating tricks, seed saving, wicking without plastic and making gardens from paper waste. 

April Sampson-Kelly

Bring your lunch to enjoy at the Eco Garden after the workshop. After lunch April will be speaking on Climate Change Adaptation at our monthly gathering at the same location. 

If you’re not yet a Permaculture Central Coast member, you can join us by visiting:
https://permaculturecc.org.au/… Annual Membership fees are $20 for an individual or $30 for a family. Join today and enjoy access to all our events!

Get your ticket here

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Make Soil – Enrich the World

Dr Sandra Tuszynska, a Soil Restoration Microbiologist, digs the world of soil restoration. In this video she explains how bacteria and fungi consume nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus. And then tiny predators digest the bacteria and fungi and release the nutrients in a form that feeds plants. Good soil enriches the world and creates healthier plants that require less fertilizers. This of course, feeds the us all.

Dr Sandra Tuszynska tells us how to build the right conditions for diverse microbiology, create better worm farms and enjoy richer results.

Dr. Sandra Tuszynska – Soil Restoration Microbiologist explains the relationship between bacteria, fungi and predators which together, release nutrients that feed the world.

What Dr Sandra Tuszynska Tells Us

“My background is in Agricultural Science and I ended up majoring in microbiology because I knew that microbes can literally clean up the mess we’ve made you know pesticides and all kinds of chemical nasty stuff, oil spills. Once I found that out I was like – well agriculture is really actually riddled with with all kinds of chemical treatments that we apply to our soils and our animals and our plants, so what a wonderful way to get into this idea of using microbes to actually clean up the mess we’ve made (deleted and) and go back to the original way that it was designed to function.”

Bacteria feed, clean and heal the soil

Bacteria feed, clean and heal the soil. The same family of organisms that can clean polluted soils, also feeds the plants and provides them immunity.

Oxygen-based Microbiology Secret for Good Soil

“We want our plants to have oxygen-based microbiology around them so that they can create more oxygen and space for the roots to grow in. Because our plants are very much loving of oxygen. Even though they produce it in their leaves and we breathe it in. While they love the carbon we breathe out, they also need their roots to be in a very lovely,  friendly place for them. And that means oxygen needs to be present as well as moisture. And, as well as all their friends on their roots which are the fungi and the bacteria”. There are many benefits in working with these microbial systems and putting them back into our depleted soils.

Bacteria needs air as well as food from minerals and organic matter

Learn With Dr Sandra Tuszynska

Dr Sandra Tuszynska is running a course called soil restoration course. She says “I’m putting all these creatures and their superpowers into each lesson. There are units with several lessons each. They’re quite long and science-y and very meaty in terms of getting people to understand exactly how it all fits together and how it (the soil ecosystem) works. And then I show people how to actually create that for their soils. “

the soil restoration course by givingsoil@gmail.com

How to Boost Micro-Organism Diversity in Your Worm Farm

  1. Instead of simply feeding your food scraps to the worm farm, keep the bottom tap open so any leachates do not fester. This also prevents worms from drowning. You can catch the leachate and pour it onto plants nearby.
  2. Add more carbon. This includes egg shells, torn paper, hair and dog fur and leaf litter. This provides more nutrients and air.
  3. If you don’t have enough food scraps to feed to the worms, then feed them some weeds. Not too many as long as the pile doesn’t get too hot.
  4. Keep the farm moist enough to deter ants and other creatures.
  5. Drill a few tiny air holes into the top

Farm Your Own Microorganisms and Worms

Converting waste into good soil is something everyone of us can do. Create a simple worm farm with a tall, large, bucket with a lid or an old garbage bin. Some council contractors sell old bins. And often you can get large food-safe bins from cafes and restaurants. Recycled bins are much better for the environment and will have less freshly volatile plastics.

Simply drill a few small holes (3mm) in the bottom (for drainage). Add a couple of holes in the lid (for air). Add shredded or torn-up paper and food and enough water to keep it damp. Then, find add native worms.

finding compost worms in leaf litter

Support Our Native Worms

The worms usually sold for worm farms are the easiest worms to manage. But those of us who are skilled at raising worms, can have a go at supporting native worms instead.

Most people buy worms, but there are plenty of worms indigenous to your area, even desert areas have some worms. Research native compost worms because you don’t want to use earthworms. Look in the top layer of leaf litter of gardens. If you can’t find some compost worm, you can often buy Anisochaeta dorsalis worms in fish bait shops!

Getting started is easy and maintaining the system is almost as simple as putting the scraps in the landfill bin. Once the bucket is full, start another one. Eventually you can just tip it back into the garden.

grow your own soil solutions using food waste, worms, fungi and bacteria

Make Your Own Continuous-Flow System

Sandra strongly recommends that we do not disturb the rich mix of bacteria, fungi and worms. The worms don’t just eat the food, they eat the fungi and bacteria on the food. So try not to disturb this invisible microbiology. Simply leave the top 60cm undisturbed and harvest the content from below. This is achieved by either having access at the bottom of the system. In some systems, there is a grid to hold the bulk of the material and you scrape out from underneath this grid. Whereas, other systems, like the hungry bin, are more rate proof. The hungry bin has a funnel shape that compresses the bottom section that you harvest from. But the design needs extra security because the hatch has blown off ours too many times.

In truth, the cost to the environment is drastically reduced if you make a worm-farm in a tall (60cm+) recycled bin. Captain Matt shows how to make a continuous-flow wheelie worm bin.

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Extreme Range Driving an Electric Vehicle

pride in local production

We drove our trusty short-range electric vehicle slowly over the dusty Hay plains. Along the long stretches where the radio crackles, the weeds tumble and the trucks roar past impatiently, we started doing the mathematics. We formulated a coping strategy to monitor our use and enable long range driving in our modest electric vehicle.

Our short-range electric vehicle did extreme range driving 3000kms in the countryside. We expected few surprises. After all, it was going to be just more of the same. We have driven interstate from Brisbane to Melbourne along the coast with little to tell. But in those journeys it was from one town to another, never across open countryside. As a result, this trip was nail biting. And when it wasn’t stressful it was…..rather dull. [And here’s a quick shout out to Waikerie hotel for accommodating us with a standard power point off their garden maintenance shed.]

Welcome to Range Anxiety

Recently, at a busy charging station in South Australia we met a lovely couple on a romantic escape. They had flown over from Western Australia, hired a car, and were looking forward to exploring the exclusive wineries for the weekend. But, when they went to pick up the car they accepted the offer of an upgrade to an electric car as potentially exciting. With very little instruction, they zoomed off. Suddenly, their fuel dial started dropping. When they got to their destination winery, the charger was broken. They didn’t know where other chargers were, or how to find them.

We’ve been driving our electric car for 2 years now. So, how did we get caught out?

The Best Coping Strategy for Range Anxiety

When your electric car is full of charge it displays an estimate. Let’s say it estimates 250kms. For extreme range driving outback, be sceptical. Simply halve that estimate. The estimate is about right if you plan to travel at 60kms/hr, on a flat road. As soon as you travel uphill, at speeds over 80kms or use air-conditioning, headlights, hazard lights or the windscreen wipers (depending on the type of vehicle), the estimate drops. Rapidly.

To feel secure, start the journey at a modest speed [80km/hr] until you are 100 kms from the next destination. Then keep the watching the estimate and only drive faster if you can keep the efficiency and maintain an estimate that is double of the distance to go.

trying to get a new charging station to work

Never assume the next charging station is going to work for you. Everything breaks when someone is using it. It could be your turn. So, we only book accommodation after getting our final charge. And we carry bedding and a tent, just in case everywhere is booked out. But don’t assume you will be welcome to charge. For example, Yass caravan park doesn’t have a policy to enable charging even if you pay for a powered site. Call before booking to get permission to charge.

The PROS

The main advantage of the electric vehicle is that it runs on a fuel that is nearly everywhere. Wherever people are, there is usually a power-point. Whereas diesel, petrol or indeed hydrogen isn’t everywhere, and mostly imported. An electric car can be charged overnight with a simple wall power point.

Every Community Benefits

Best of all, the main community benefit from electric cars is huge. An electric car saves money from leaving the country. Every drop of electric is generated in your own region/state whereas most countries import fossil fuels. According to Saul Griffiths, the money spent on charging an electric car is more likely to be spent locally than money spent on fossil fuels.

By rewiring our energy use, we save money as well as taking pressure of the environment.

The Short Term Downside

Short range electric vehicles have adequate range for urban living. When you turn ours on it claims to give you 280kms. But drive it with the air-conditioning running, and on rainy nights, that range estimate begins to drop, rapidly.

So for long distances you slow down to conserve energy. But, as you slow down to save energy, you begin to realise a timing issue. Because you can’t afford to arrive so late that you need headlights and heating. The trick for driving electric cars in a time of slowly emerging infrastructure is planning and flexibility.

The traffic behind you is doing a minimum of 110kms/hr, and you are slowing to 80kms an hour. You begin to feel vulnerable. Especially, as the sun is blaring across the horizon. You are crawling and the traffic behind can hardly see you in front of them. In the countryside there are no slow lanes.

The first time we rolled into the charging station with just 6% charge left, we started to question our expectations. Had we known then that our backup plan (see below) would not be fail-safe, we might have parked the car and caught the train.

The other downside currently, is we needed to take a longer route, in order to reach the next charger. The chargers are not yet there to serve the long distance short range driver. They are well positioned for locals, who do short trips out of major cities. And they are not being commissioned as quickly as the number of electric cars are being sold. You learn to sit and wait. A trip that normally takes 2 hours by petrol car, can take 4 or more by electric car. Allow time to queue for others to charge as well as time for your own charge.

Driving Slowly Is Tiring

It can be more tiring to drive slowly. You watch the meter drop and grip the steering wheel as the trucks swerve past. At night, you can’t rest until you have charged again. For this journey from Wollongong to Adelaide Hills we had to charge the car 4 times each day over 3 days. And each charge takes a minimum of 40 mins. Sometimes a charge takes a couple of hours on slow chargers.

You are always better off to ‘top up’ the charge than to pass a charger in the blind hope that the next charge will be available and working. Also, occasionally people plug in their car and walk off for dinner. You get to wait in the cold and dark until their belly is full.

The Failed Backup Plan

Our backup plan was, and has been on previous trips, to carry a simple cable, plug into a powered site at a caravan park. It takes about 10hours to charge as we sleep overnight in our tent, a cabin or motel within walking distance. On the final night of our journey, the caravan park was full, as were all the motels, and the powered sites.

Back up plan failed no powered sites available

Most places received us with interest and support. A few told us they are waiting on charging stations to be installed. Many chargers only charge Tesla cars, yet Tesla cars often use the chargers that we need because they are cheaper. This inequity is slowly being addressed by government subsidies [a lot less than fossil fuel subsidies] and simple economic forces. For example, the NRMA will soon have an app that charges users.

Backlash

Surprisingly, some hotel and caravan park managers eyed the car with suspicion. Some hosts are apprehensive because the price of the electric car is high. Yet the price of a short range electric car and charging is equal to about 8 years of fossil fuel. Some managers see the electric car as capable of guzzling electricity. And to be fair, electricity prices right now are high. So, we try to cut costs by not using air-conditioning in our room or cabin and always offer to pay extra for the use of electricity. In fact, the cost of a charge overnight is about $7. Some hotels happily take the offered bonus, some don’t charge.

Hotels and Caravan parks need to develop a charging policy and
determine a reasonable fee for the service.

Education about how electric cars work and use electricity is the challenge. On a previous journey, our host accused the car of causing her microwave to burn out! So, we can’t assume everyone supports electric cars. Indeed, for some rural towns, it is only a few generations since their first light pole. This is a time of rapid change.

Your Turn to Drive

Driving an electric car is one of the few ways an individual can act to reject fossil fuels. Domestic demand for electric cars embarrass governments and force them to plan a cleaner future. “New research shows fossil fuel subsidies over the forward estimates have increased to a record breaking $57.1b, up from the $55.3b forecast in 2022.” In fact, our defence force could easily become world leaders in Electric vehicle technology.

Once again, we find brave families car pooling, going the slow road, and daring to make the switch. Individuals are driving change. Plan now to make your next car an electric car and help pioneer a better future.