Garden, Recipes

ONE PERSON’S CLAY…

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Laura and Tom moving clay at a building site for our Permablitz

Dylan and Tom moving clay for our Permablitz

Dylan, Laura and Tom collecting clay for our Permablitz

Tom and Laura collecting clay for our earth bag garden beds for our Permablitz

Tom and the wheelbarrow at the building site

Dylan and Tom packing car with clay for our Permablitz

Unloading the clay from the car for our Permablitz, Flemington

Pushing car to have a spot for the clay for our Permablitz, Flemington

Cups of Russian Caravan tea

Pile of clay for our Permablitz, Flemington

The countdown to our Permablitz has begun and we put our new housemates to work not five days before they moved  in, after all manual labour is the building block of a beautiful friendship right?

Sadly, at our house the greater part of our subsoil languishes under a thick layer of bricks, concrete and, on preliminary investigation old rusted metal including the odd bike. The foundation of a  permaculture garden shouldn’t be built upon bought earth. We had to look elsewhere. You don’t have to look far when you are an architect.

After filling a few wheelbarrows of some quite uninspiring clay* we left the building site with Gracie dog in the back of the ute riding high on the mound. (She didn’t find it as amusing as we did.) Then a quick refreshment of Russian Caravan tea and a brief push of the vintage car that has been renting space in our driveway to make way for the mound of clay. Just your average Saturday really.

*Note: uninspiring earth is the best kind of earth for an earth bag garden bed.

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Eco building, Garden

THE SOUTH MELBOURNE PERMABLITZ – COMMUNITY & CURVES

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Digging out soil from earth bag garden bed, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Digging a hole for a Medlar fruit tree, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Measuring hole for the Medlar fruit tree, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Digging out the old soil from the earth bag garden bed, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Curving earth bag wall, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little boy climbing sand pile, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Pile of gloves, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Compost pile, at the South Melbourne Permablitz

Unkinking irrigation hose for erth bag garden beds, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little girl playing, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

Little boy sitting on the pile of sand, at the South Melbourne Commons Permablitz

My shoulder and arm muscles had finally forgiven me after my first Blitz and I decided to try another, at which thankfully, I was neither designer nor facilitator. Not in a backyard this time, but at the South Melbourne Commons in the capable hands of designers Seila and Charlie.

It was lovely to see all those veggie beds in a shared public space, all nestled around that lovely old brick building. The earth bag beds had already been constructed at a past Blitz which I wish I’d been to as this is something we would like to do for our Blitz. They were lovely and curving, and our main job for the day was to fill them up with compost for the cafe garden. Warm windy days are not ideal for shifting compost, but after a few eye watering encounters we managed to move the huge pile before lunch.

After some serious matocking the soil gave way just enough to let us plant some Medlar fruit trees, I’ll be curious to see how they go as I don’t think i’ve ever seen, let alone tasted their fruit. Whenever someone turned their head the kids at the Blitz cheekily tried to fill in the holes again, nothing like a little bit of mischief to keep us on our toes.

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