It’s been six months since we had to say goodbye to our old house and garden. It’s sad to lose all that productive space, anyone who has bought or built up beautiful new soil will know how it feels, but I guess the positive is that it has really driven me to pour my heart and energy into the community gardens I’ve designed.
I had a lovely email from Annelies asking me to answer some questions for her research project on backyard food growing and I thought this was a good chance to share my last thoughts and photos of our garden which six housemates could get a salad out of for every dinner and a lot more in peak harvest season. It wasn’t going to replace farming, but with nearly every baby spinach encased in plastic nowadays it sure cut down on our garbage, water waste and pesticide ingestion. We’re not going to cover our wheat and rice requirements in a 9x9m backyard but salad is easy, and everyone, even an apartment dweller can do it and be a lot healthier for it.
It was actually really therapeutic to reflect on our first permaculture garden journey and I’d like to thank Annelies for the idea. I had forgotten how much we actually got from that garden and it has given me the inspiration to transform our new garden! I hope it inspires you too!
I love reading your comments and enjoy responding to your questions, so keep them coming! 🙂
How much of the food you eat do you grow on your property?
SALAD NOT STAPLES
– know your gardens limits & understand your climate
We didn’t grow staples such as rice, wheat, lentils, chickpeas or corn. We have experimented with them, but with our climate, space constraints, time required in ground and their nutrient demands it just wasn’t feasible.
We concentrated on growing greens and fruit. We were about 90% self-sufficient in greens (e.g. lettuce, spinach, chard, bok choy, tatsoi, etc). We grew almost all our herbs including bay, rosemary, oregano, thyme and chives. Our fruit and nut trees required a few years to fruit productively but by the time we left we were getting: bananas, avocados, apples, nectarines, peaches, almonds, plums, babacos, strawberries, lilly pillies, oranges, lemons. We also had kiwiberry, currants, pomegranate, elderberry, passionfruit, goji berry and lime trees that were yet to fruit. In a few years this would have easily been enough fruit for the year, but not enough nuts.
Other seasonal treats such as tomatoes, cape gooseberries, eggplants, broccoli, pumpkin, zucchini etc were enough for 1-2 months of the year when they were in season, but there was not enough to preserve for the rest of the year.
How have you managed to grow this quantity?
PERENNIALS, KING OF THE LOW MAINTENANCE POTAGER
We had raised garden beds for annuals, but from experience you can get a greater yield with less maintenance from a food forest system primarily comprised of perennial edible plants.
GROW UP – make use of vertical space in small gardens
Where space and light is limited using fences and other vertical space is important.
KNOW YOUR MICRO CLIMATE
Careful analysis of miroclimates on your site is important, for instance our garden was south facing, but one corner in the south west got sun all day and this is where we planted out cool banana.
WICKING BEDS
– save time, water and grow more resilient deep rooted veg
The most effective annual garden beds are wicking beds as they require less time for watering in summer and plants in them are more resistant to extreme heat which were are getting a lot of in Melbourne.
CROP ROTATION
We practiced a four year crop rotation to reduce the risk of disease and keep proper nutrient balances in our soil. Plants from the same family generally have different nutrient/pH requirements as well as propensity to fall victim to the same soil borne diseases so letting the ground have a rest from a plant family for three years helps avoid issues. Green manures and legumes help fix nitrogen in the soil and improve its quality.
AVOID CHEMICALS
Chemicals are a quick and dirty fix that lead to long term problems. Killing pests will stop beneficial insects immigrating to your garden to take care of the job for you and might even harm the good guys you already have. Likewise herbicides & fungicides damage the delicate balance in your soil not only getting rid of weeds but killing off the good bacteria, mycelia fungi and earthworms that contribute to rich beautiful soil.
It might take a few years to get your garden in balance and some plants might be sacrificed, but once it is filled with soil life, ladybugs, birds and bees you’ll never look back.
COMPANION PLANTING
– nurse maid plants, beneficial pairings and alleopathy
In Australia we have plenty of light so the English way of planting in neat little rows with a halo of dirt around in unnecessary. Grow plants tighter so they shelter each other and use a mixture of plants to confuse pests with silhouette and smell. Some plants work especially well together such as carrots and onions.
companions-planting
RETHINK WHAT IS A WEED
Nutrient filled, hardy, self-propagating, edible, when is a weed not a weed? Instead of pulling out those dandelions why not try the leaves in salad and the peeled root in a stir fry? Nettles make a tasty pesto and attract butterflies and protect their larvae.
edible-weeds
WORM FARMS & CHICKENS
– garden helpers to improve your soil
These permaculture pets area great source of manure and soil conditioner without the need to increase your lettuce’s food miles with the bought stuff. Worm castings also help your soil retain moisture and both are great way to quickly process food scraps.
diy-worm-farm
pascoe-vale-permablitz
MULCH
Protects your soil from drying out and adds nutrients as it decomposes. Why note try 1. Living green mulch – ground covers such as clover, 2. Chop & drop, 3. Seaweed.
seaweed-mulch
using-seaweed-mulch
chop-drop
Where else do you get your food?
FIND A FARMER’S MARKET
– buy direct from farmers (reduce food miles, buy fresh, organic & ethical)
We are very lucky in Flemington, every Sunday there is a farmers market at the local high school.
flemington farmers market
vic farmers markets
australian farmers markets
SHOP LOCAL
– support small business rather than the duopoly supermarkets (people versus corporation)
We also support our local Foodworks grocery store where the owners know us and we feel loyalty towards them. For staples we visit various organic grocery stores and buy things in bulk and use our own containers. Some include: friends of the earth, Ceres, Lygon organics
BUY IN BULK
(affordable organics, dried staples, less packaging)
Organic food is more expensive and as backwards as it seems things made in Australia can also be! If you buy dried instead of tinned and buy in bulk organic is a lot more affordable (about the same as the small packets of non organics in the supermarket. Plus there is the added bonus that you use your own containers so you don’t have to feel guilty about packaging.
wholefoods
friends of the earth
ceres grocery
What changes have you had to make to your diet to source food sustainably?
ETHICAL MEAT
(reduce over consumption of meat, degradation of land, animal cruelty & trawling)
We now eat mostly vegetarian with the exception of fish/seafood we have caught ourselves or sustainably sourced. Dylan also has a little bit of kangaroo or beef from the Farmer’s market where you can talk directly to the farmer about how their animals have been raised.
fishing adventures
BUY AUSTRALIAN GROWN & MADE
We limit tofu and soy in our diet and try to get bulk NSW rain fed rice and Tasmanian quinoa. This is starting to sound a bit Portlandia so I might as well go all the way there…we eat a lot of Australian nuts, seeds and berries. (Yikes what hipsters! ha!)
only oz
aussie farmers
buy australian made
EAT SEASONALLY
Affordable, fresh, local, nutrients not lost, well-rounded balanced diet
David Holmgren’s wife Sue told us how one year she didn’t eat tomatoes all winter because she hadn’t grown enough and couldn’t bear to buy any. She said she felt really good, better than she had felt in ages and although she would preserve tomato for the coming winter it illustrated how even good things should be eaten in moderation because toxicities can build up. It’s good to give your a body a break every now and then like we would have before cheap oil made all year tomatoes, bananas and strawberries a thing.
sustainable table
http://lifehacker.com/why-eating-seasonally-and-locally-is-better-for-you-an-1563025065
LESS PACKAGED & PROCESSED
(reduce waste, fewer chemicals ingested)
I try to limit packaged foods to reduce waste and plan on trying a rubbish free month this winter which hopefully will help me develop better habits.
We try to eat as seasonally as possible and buy organic preserves such as canned tomatoes if we can.
abdallah house
no trash in 2 years
BE PREPARED
(don’t get caught out when your at your most vulnerable – tired, hungry, under pressure)
Being prepared is a must: soaking dried pulses for future meals, making excess so we have meals to take to work makes a huge difference so we don’t end up having to head out for a sneaky takeaway too often. We try to make eating out a fun treat not a lazy convenience (but we haven’t perfected this one).
I work full time and Dylan is at uni so our blender has made a huge difference in making it possible to quickly and painlessly make pasta sauces and soups from scratch come dinner time.
Has there been an impact on your wider lifestyle?
With only a small shady backyard there has been a real incentive to actively contribute to local food security. The Flemington Food Forest I designed with the support of The Farnham St Neighbourhood learning centre has morphed from a fun community garden in a local park to an education tool with signs for school students and I get a lot of joy from it. I have also taken over organising the Flemington Food Swap which my housemate set up, I am really trying hard to develop a nurturing sustainable community in my suburb to bring together like minded people and make sustainability fun and social. Someone’s glut is someone else’s zucchini brownie after all.
What are the groups/networks that you utilise to source your food? Both formal and informal.
Flemington Farmers Market
Racecourse Road Foodworks (if you ask them to get something organic or ethical they are always happy to oblige)
Organic Wholefoods Brunswick & Flemington
Friends of the Earth
Ceres
Natural Tucker Bakery
What food items have you found difficult to source locally and/or sustainably?
Coffee
Tea
Fish/seafood
Chocolate
Coconut
Monocultures – corn, rice, wheat, etc
Bananas and other tropical fruit
Sugar
Cashews
Pine nuts
Brazil nuts
Pepitas not hulled overseas (many are grown here then exported to China for processing)
Dates
Are there any alternatives to this?
We use a lot of beans for our main staple as we can grow some at home and they add nitrogen to the soil.
Almonds are the main nut we eat and we occasionally make almond milk as it is not so easy to find milk such as Elgaar where they rest their cows and reuse their glass bottles. No soy milk!
Honey instead of sugar and maple syrup, we keep our own bees. We are also growing yacon as this is meant to be a great sugar substitute. We grow stevia, Dylan likes it, but I don’t.
Peppermint and other herbal teas
Dylan likes his coffee but he gets it from Streat where it is Faritrade and they hire & support local homeless people.
