Tuesday, January 29, 2013

February Events

Hello!

We have had a lovely 'break' and are loving this beautiful rain that we have been having over the last few days. We are excited about getting up and running with events for the year, starting new projects and finishing off old ones.

Now that the earth is a little damp we can begin planting trees again.

We are having our first Environment Day next Wednesday 6th February 2013. (Environment Day's will be becoming regular again this month, check events page for details.)

We are having a chair-cleaning working bee on Saturday 9th February 2013.

Lincon and Philippa are having a day in the Waterless Garden on Saturday 16th February 2013.
If you would like to come along and give some time, effort and love to this project they will be excited to see you there!

We are planning to have regular weekends this year for varied activities. The first one will be Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd of March 2013. The weekend's activities will include: tree planting, gardening, living systems, installing nature boxes and playing with barbed wire. (More information to come on this event, please check the Events static page for details closer to the time).

If you have a desire to join us for any of these events or future events check out the Events static page for details and listen/watch prerequisite material which can be found at the bottom of the Events static page. For more information or questions and queries please contact us via email or phone.

We feel this is going to be a year full of exciting experiments, discoveries, investigations and fun!


Pete's always wanted a bulldozer, we just didn't realise it would be God's version
not man's, giggle. Welcome to the first wombat in over 100 years or more to the
property. He's pretty cool, feisty, smoochy and very determined when wanting
to get into our house!!!



Bees & Thoughts on Insects and the Smaller Creatures

We think bees* and flies, ants** (waste warriors), bugs, mosquitos, etc, etc, insects and creatures of all types, shapes and sizes are really very clever, very cool and very interesting. The amount of things they do are amazing. They are so talented and we don't think that we would survive without them. We feel it is important to provide for the bottom of the food chain and all creatures***. 

Where would we be without the insects, microbes, little soil warriors? The worms, soil makers and all those in between. They break down our waste, organic matter and are beautiful recycliers. They pollinate, clean up, and have perfect symbiotic relationships with various other living creatures and flora.

They facinate and intrigue us and we love learning about what they do, how they do it, their purposes, roles, and their individual talents and the wonders that they are.

Since becoming interested in insects and the smaller creatures and life creators we have discovered some amazing species. We don't think they are new to Earth (we know they are not), but they are new to us and they are beautiful and awe inspiring to observe and learn about.

We were talking to a friend of ours the other day and he has seen blue bees.

We have (for the first time) seen blue/green iridescent flies with black and white polka dot undersides and yellow heads, purple iridescent ants with blue legs, rainbow bugs - jewel beetles and christmas beetles, soldier beetles; there are mud wasps working with Izabella, Charlie and Archie in their mud pits and building perfect mud castles on the underside of our veranda and in the kids curtains. The kids love bugs and are always finding species to come and show us. We are beginning to love bugs of all kinds, shapes and sizes. 

There are so many wonders in this world. So much to explore, discover and enjoy. I am grateful to our creator for making such diversity, perfection and wondrous creatures so perfectly and precicely. 

If we (the human soul) are the pinnacle of God's creation imagine what we are like in all our glorious perfection****- something to aim for, smile.

Bee and Fly collecting from the sunflowers
Bee Day (one of Michael's and the kids passions) - checking bees and setting up a new hive for a swarm

Bees checking out their new home
Check out the website http://www.aussiebee.com.au/beesinyourarea.html#locationtable for more native Australian bee information.
Golden honey from domesticated bees
A wild bee entering it's hive in a hollow in a manna gum near the creek

Wild bee hive found in the paddock. How amazing are bees to build such perfect honey
comb from scratch.
Really God has created such beautiful, perfect, precise, amazing, awe inspiring creatures both great and small! Think of all the things, all the creatures we have no idea about and yet they are working in perfect harmony all around us doing all sorts of things that I often feel we take totally for granted and are often in total ignorance about the how's and why's of. Nature is definitely one beautiful way to explore and discover more about God and God's perfect creations. Tread lightly and carefully on your discoveries. smile.

* A really cool Australian bee website is http://www.aussiebee.com.au/beesinyourarea.html#locationtable it has some great photos and basic information on lots of types of bees.

**Check out Mary's blog for some really interesting images of insects in extreme flood conditions and a documentary on ants who are seriously amazing!!

***We still are working through some feelings we have around certain insects, creatures and bugs that attack things but realise that their behaviour is to do with our emotions and projections towards them rather than just an un warranted intent to attack. They wouldn't attack if they felt loved, 'safe' protected, provided for and as important as every other creature in the environment. At the moment things are still out of balance for us. We are working to love all creatures equally. Observing ourselves in this experiment is very enlightening!

****We are not there yet by any means, but sometimes I like to wonder and imagine what the possibilities of my soul are if I am stretched all the way to being at-one-with-God, Wow! (I don't think my imaginings even come close).  I love wondering and entertaining thoughts about the possibilities of creation in nature of a soul who is in a state of perfection!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Waterless Nursery Project

The waterless nursery project is an ongoing project. We are keen to do some experiments with other materials to hold the water also. This project ties in with the Waterless Garden project.

Observations: We have had some really hot weather this summer and have found the waterless nursery to be fabulous. It has saved us time watering every day and worry about if plants are getting enough water or not. 

We feel that this could be modified in many ways to create plantable veggie gardens and other things. Just keep in mind root length of plants if planting in these systems as you may need to modify designs to accommodate different plants etc.

Now we are getting heaps of rain we are wondering if we needed to put more woodchip in ours so there was less room in the tops where the plants are. We have done a variety of heights and will see what happens after this rain. Also wondering if an overflow may have been a good idea so the plants don't drown, we have needed to scoop out some water over the last few days as the tops have filled out. 

How to make a waterless nursery:

1. Place newspaper on the ground quite thick (to prevent plastic tearing or things sticking though).

2. Stack two kiwi collars on top of each other on top of the newspaper:

You could also make your own out of old crates/pallets or other wood. Kiwi collars are great as they can be shaped into different shapes and have a special stacker lock hinge so they don't move when attached together. (check out www.kiwicollars.com.au for more information).
kiwi collar
3. Line the kiwi collars with plastic, peg the plastic to the sides to keep it in place (we used a double layer of builders lining plastic.
line with newspaper
4. put newspaper on top of the plastic in the bottom of the kiwi collars to prevent the woodchip from sticking through the plastic.

5. Add a piece of pipe as a water inlet so you can fill the kiwi collars with water and add water incase it gets too dry from time to time if needed. (we put a flower pot with a bit of shade cloth over the pipe inlet so that the woodchips do not block up the pipe and water has a free flow in.)


newspaper lining, water inlet
6. Add woodchip to desired height

adding woodchip
7. Put in a layer of regen felt, this stops weeds and creates a wicking effect 


felt layer
8. Add woodchip on top of the felt 

add woodchip (trim plastic if needed)


9. Add a soil layer to the top if you desire to plant into it to make garden beds



10. We didn't put a soil layer as we just want this to be a nursery, so all our plants are in pots at this time and sitting directly on the felt wicking the water up. They are working really well!!

nursery plants in their self watering beds
Other methods and ideas for waterless gardens (these have been implemented in the Waterless Garden Project):

Depending on weather conditions it could be a good idea to actually line this with plastic. I know on the illustration
it says don't need lining but Lincon and Philippa have noticed with the dry weather that it would have been a much
better idea to line it. The 'Kiwi collar' in this image can also be dug into the ground, it does not have or need to be above ground to work. Decisions can be made to suit the design you desire for your project. 
This is an experiment and not sure how it is going. We are going to also try one with small pebbles and woodchip and see what happens. Same concept as above. The layers can be used and modified for your particular project.
An experiment with collecting dew  to water plants. - we suggest plastic lining for both logs and rocks at this time
condensation collecting area in the waterless garden



Once again we suggest to line the dug out area with plastic. (The wood is underground)


'Hotspot' in the waterless garden project
Thank you to AJ and Mary, Philippa and Lincon for some of the photos in this post.
Thank you also to AJ for demonstrating and bringing our awareness to this method of gardening. 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Living Fertility Systems

If you haven't read the blog 'Creating Loving Eco-Systems -An Introduction' yet we suggest that you do so especially if you have the intention to actually create a living system yourself.

We began these systems in 2012 and it is an on going project.

It is really important to understand that you need to have a feeling of love and put love into this project. Without love it is not going to flourish and be abundant. If you don't desire to give love to what you are doing we suggest not to begin the project (better to look at why you don't want to first, and do the project at another time).

Living Systems are about creating, food, habitat, moisture (water) for Bacteria, fungus, microbes, soil-based creatures (worms, ants, white ants etc)Plants that prepare the environment (weeds, trees seemingly without “purpose”) Above ground and airborne creatures (insects, spiders, etc)

They very basically consist of putting a lot of dead matter in one place and creating a decomposing (not composting) mound or hole to give all the little life creating creatures/primary recovery organisms food and a place to flourish. 


If your intention is to get from the mound or hole, to take for yourself e.g. plant a fruit tree right away in it so you can eat rather than purely just wanting to create fertility in the soil you may find there are issues (this does not mean that eventually there wont be a fruit tree there that you can eat, but we need to be very honest with ourselves about why we are engaging in the projects in the first place, expectation and demands on plants and creatures causes negative results in our experience (this is a process). 


Living systems are about properly preparing the soil and environment so that eventually it will be wholly self sustainable and will support all life (flora and fauna). The intention of living systems is to provide abundance to the living intelligence that knows best how to repair what is damaged - in this case the soil. Soil based living intelligence knows best how to heal, balance soil, water based living intelligence know best how to heal, balance water systems, if we create places where these primary recovery organisms have all they need to live and flourish abundantly close by then they will feel loved, not attacked and will abundantly be able to procreate and multiply which is exactly what the land needs.


These creatures are all your friends. It is only when organisms feel attacked that they can get out of balance and 'attack' back (for them they are only ensuring their survival). Example: when white ants eat your house they are not purposely attacking you out of spite, they are just doing their job of recycling dead matter. If you loved the white ants and had a whole heap of dead matter and gave the white ants an opportunity to create a home that they loved with abundant food and water nearby they could well leave your house alone. If we love these organisms as much as we love other creatures e.g. your cat or dog, and give them as much love, food, shelter, water as we can then they wont have reason to attack and can get on with having lots of sex multiply at a rate that is sustainable for where they live (totally in balance and harmony) and doing what they do best - recovery jobs. That will cut down your work and effort and make everyone and everything in the environment around you much happier and more plentiful. They don't need us, we do need them and in our arrogance we often think that we don't. 



primary soil recovery creature! These guys are truly intelligent
and completely amazing in many ways!!

Living System example, Below Ground Variety (Hole):



Living System Example, Above Ground Variety (Mound):


Basic Construction of a Living System:
Give Abundantly to your living fertility systems, both love and matter!!

note: you do not need specific ingredients to construct a living system. you can use what you have on hand and you can do it over a period of time. For example you could have a hole in your back yard and put all your organic food waste, old clothing, some tin and metal (avoid aluminium where possible), your own manure - if you are vegan and want to, (meat eaters excrement has toxins and different bacteria in it), all paper (ripped up, or scrunched to create air pockets for worms), cardboard, newspapers etc (put it in vertically so worms and organisms have somewhere to go if it gets wet), old broken furniture, bits of wood, grass clippings, what ever you have in it, cover it with a board until you fill it up (so you don't fall down it) and when a few inches from the top cover it with a thick layer of wood chip, put an optional decorative stump, log or rock on top of it and let the primary recovery organisms do their wonderful thing. You could also have little holes all over the place and put your household waste in it.

If you do have access to fallen branches, dead trees (these need to be covered and have as much surface area contact with the ground as possible to encourage decomposition and so that the organisms can eat them without being open to attack, hay, debosia, manure, etc etc, use that!


Below Ground Variety:

Dig a hole:

This can be very large to small depending on the scale of your project and how much matter you have to put in it.


or Find a bit of erosion:



Collect a whole heap of matter (be Generous): 


Newspaper, cardboard, paper, shredded paper, 



 Hay, debosia, damaged hay, mouldy hay, etc etc


Manure, horse, cow, sheep, any animal (note that bat and chicken are extremely strong, might need to mix these with less astringent manures), human - if vegan


 windfall trees/branches etc


 seeded dead weed/grass matter, lawn mowings etc


Add what you have got, what you can find, what you have on hand.


Encouraging what is already there & using what you have at hand:

We suggest if you have a pile of wood as above to begin that as the basis of your mound, stuff the other matter, cardboard, paper, hay, woodchip, smaller sticks, manure, manure slurry - for the worms etc, what ever you have in all the holes, stuff it up tight and then cover it with manure, and finish it with hay so you have a lovely big mound of dead matter that is covered as much as possible. This can be done with tree stumps also, create the mound around them where they already exist.
encouraging what is already there - feeding a white ants nest,
adding cardboard and wood chips to encourage the
life and support it where it is.


Add minerals (be generous):

You will need to identify what minerals the soil needs. A soil test is good for this. We used gypsum for the project in standby paddock as there was a clay base. In other areas of the land we have used different mineral combinations. Each hole may be different.
You can put an optional layer of newspaper (2 sheets thick) over the minerals if you want. 



Put compacted matter into the holes:

put cardboard bales, hay bales, fallen trees, tree stumps, branches -cut up to fit hole, (compacted items) in the hole.

jostling a bale into place
Pack it in tight - generously:

Pack Cardboard/hay/matter around the compacted matter to fill up the hole tight. When using paper and cardboard put it standing up ways so that worms and other organisms are able to crawl upwards to the top to get out of excess water.
Adding cardboard and newspaper

the more cardboard the better -  food
Adding more food
Add Manure and worms - generously:

Worms love manure and will chomp through it. We also created what we called 'worm slurry' a water manure brew that was soaked for a few days before putting it into the system. We did this to add moisture and a place for worms to begin feasting and breeding right away. Worms need moisture. (No need to deplete your worm breeding centres too much, take what you can and then wait till the worms breed up more and add more to the living system at a later date, if needed.)
(We put manure all through the systems and then made little worm pockets with slurry at the top of the holes to create a worm feasting/breeding area from which they can multiply and spread through the system).




Worm Slurry:

This can be a mixture of all sorts of things that worms like, could include food scraps too if you wanted to. 
Can be water, manure, decomposed matter, small bits of cardboard soaked, or just manure and water. Make use of what you have or can easily access.
make a worm food slurry/brew water, poo,
decomposed hay, small bits of cardboard 

put the slurry/brew under the newspaper in all the
holes and cracks so that there is moisture

Cover with Mulch:

to keep it moist and also add more food and places for insects to live.

adding mulch
Cover with mulch to keep moist (what a lovely 'bug' palace)

Adding dead matter:

We were really grateful to our neighbours (the Munsies) for their generous gift of felled trees to put both underground into the living system hole and also on the top of it. 
moving dead matter onto the top - creating habitat and
food sources for fauna.

Put as much matter as possible in and on top of the holes.
Cover as much surface area as possible:

Pack matter around the wood to ensure as much surface area of the logs are covered or touching hay, woodchip, etc so that it breaks down faster and so creatures can easily eat and make homes and do not have to endanger themselves or work hard to do so.
cover with woodchips (optional, you could use the wood chips in the living
system or if limited supply keep them to use for mulching around the
 regeneration 'support' plants (legumes) rather than putting it 
over the top.
Woodchip packed around the tree stumps to enable more
surface area to be available to primary recovery organisms.
(You can use hay, or any other materials you may have
access to).
Living System Above Ground Variety:

To construct an above ground living system is pretty much the same as below ground but without a hole. There are heaps of ways you can build it, some examples: on crates, straight on the ground, cut a small cut or swale into the ground before piling matter. 

Important to note that the above ground system is about decomposition not composting. You do not want it to be overheating (unless specifically designed to do so for example in the case of cold climate and creating micro climate hot spots.) Composting kills life as it gets too hot. Decomposition encourages life, (decomposition still feels warms just not hot).

above ground (mound) living system
Make a cut, or just lay a crate, hay or any other matter on the ground to build upon.
You could use an old tree stump, piles of wood, windfall branches, logs, trees. You can make living systems around what already exists if it is too hard to move. GIVE ABUNDANTLY to your Living Fertility Systems!
The beginning of the worm 'mound'
Bale of hay wedged into a bit of open soil
and separated to create decomposition not composting.
Primary Recovery Organisms don't like too much heat

fill the gaps with cardboard and manure/logs/fallen branches etc
put the slurry/brew under the newspaper in all the
holes and cracks so that there is moisture
Put it all together
cover in manure, mulch it with hay, cover with wood chips and
then put fallen branches  (ones that have not been on the
ground long and that have not begun creating habitat.) To
hold the mound in place and create habitat and encourage other
fauna and flora to come and make their homes!
cut timber for the top and middle of mounds




The mound


Creating Living Systems (to improve soil fertility) was a great day learning about the earth, ourselves and how to create abundance through giving love and supporting the intelligent life systems without expectation* that support us. 
I feel that one of the greatest gifts was the fact that if want to take and we want for everything to be given to us from the earth; If we do not desire to give and love the earth, land and all the intelligent life - the fungi, bacteria, microbes, micro-organisms, worms, insects, and all the creating things - then it is really best to not begin in the first place. The whole exercise is an exercise in giving for the pure desire to give to that which creates. To give without gain. 

Personal Note on what Eloisa learnt from creating Living Systems: I need to be like a worm hole. 

To stop expecting and demanding** from the earth and the land and to trust God's abundance and her way of creating and see the way she creates and help out the best that I can by providing food, water, shelter to everything that sustains life. To all the insects, fungi, bacteria, microbes, micro-organisms etc these are our friends and our desire to erridicate them reflects how much negative, self serving desire we have and how little we understand about the way that the world operates as God designed it. We create more and more problems that then need fixing. We are exhausting ourselves with meaningless things that could be done so much more easily if we were more humble, more logical and actually understood what God has gifted us in the first place. We humans claim to be intelligent but I am beginning to wonder, smile. What I saw today is that God's way is best*** and it is beautiful, magical, abundant and can create wonderlands.... We are excited about the experiment and to see 'who moves in' and what happens.

* Today I learnt how much expectation I have about things giving to me in order for me to get what i want. I learnt how much demand we have and how much pressure we put on the earth rather than giving to the earth abundantly and without expectation to encourage intelligent living flora and fauna to create it's own living self creating systems. 

** This is an emotional change not just an intellectual exercise that we can think into existance. It takes us emotionally releasing the demands and expectations that we have on things to sustain us. To grow our desire to love, grow our desire to give and our desire to find out about all the intelligent life that God has created and support it purely because we desire to support it and for no other reason. 

*** In my arrogance I am not always humble to this fact and try to force my way, but when it is logically explained I wonder why I thought there was any other but God's way. Much to learn and how exciting!