Eco building, Garden

CHANCE OF RAIN

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Unloading sand into the drive in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Leveling foundation of earth bag garden bed in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Dylan mixing clay and sand for the earth bags in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Clay sand mix for earth bags in preparation for Flemington Permablitz

Tamping down the first earth bag for our super adobe garden bed in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Aerial view of garden, our first row of our earth bag garden bed in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

We have finally started construction on the two earth-bag garden beds we want to have tamped and ready for the Permablitz! It is exciting to see the plans starting to take shape in front of us, but oh there is so much to do before the day!

The first sight that meets your smarting eyes at most Permablitzes is a mound of compost so tall that if you were unfortunate enough to have it dumped over your head you would be lucky to have your nose in daylight. The main task for the day is moving this pile shovel after shovel and barrow after barrow from its current location to another one some metres away. Even those with the sunniest outlooks can find this a little uninspiring.

We were determined that our Permablitz would involve a lot more variety, some interesting skills to learn and some fun, less back breaking jobs like rendering earth bag walls and planting out garden beds. Unfortunately for people to render and plant they need some of the garden beds made before the day. That is how we, and our poor dear housemates, have found ourselves shovels in hands and wheelbarrows full for the last few weeks. Hopefully their sunny outlooks are not as overcast as the weather forecast for Sunday. Hold off on the rain dances please.

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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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Garden, Recipes

UNUSUAL PETS

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Martin and Dylan putting legs on Top Bar hive, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Tom sweeping where the Top Bar Hive will go, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin putting bars on Top Bar Hive, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

View of hive from below, bees starting to construct honeycomb, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin looking under the Top Bar Hive, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Hankerchiefs blocking the bees' entrance, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin releasing the bees, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Worker bee flying off to gather pollen, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin explaining the Top Bar Hive to us, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin from Top Bar Hives, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Martin explainging how to remove the honeycomb from the Top Bar Hive, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Tom feeling the warmth of the hive, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

Watching the worker bees going off to collect pollen, at the sharehouse Flemington, Australia

The night before the bees arrived Melbourne rejected its first hot spring day with a crack of thunder. The morning spat and grumped as our bees arrived, but Martin, the bee man, said it was a perfect day for the bees to move in. I imagined them made sluggish with cold, they were unwilling to shed their pyjamas and buzz out of bed.

We sat around the table nursing peppermint tea while Martin solemly told us the tale of a man who paid too much attention to his grooming and ended up with a stung nose. But only after lathering on strong smelling gels, face creams and old spice, then sticking his nose into the entry to the hive to get a better look. Even two female clients of his who had long since rejected shampoo and deodorant had been chased back inside when they had tried a strong smelling chamomile soap. My hair was currently fresh from shower and lavendar fresh with a conditioner Ryan had gifted me so I thought it best to keep my nose well out of their business.

Sitting under a tree on its thin little legs, the hive didn’t look like the Winnie the Pooh hive I had in my head, more like a trestle table with a roof. But the beauty of a top bar hive is that it is so unlike a normal hive which involves pillaging the bees’ entire supply of honey and dooming the colony when the frost hits and the cupboard is bare. Commercial beekeepers strip the honey and then feed the bees melted sugar through winter, there’s something that feels so wrong about that. Top bar, Martin told us with the reverence of a man who believes in the good in his product, allows you to harvest the honey one “bar” at a time so you can leave plenty for the bees to drink up when autumn winds blow the last petals from their stems.

Soon he promises we should be able to see the bees forming a chain like little builders forming a living tape measure for other workers to fill with honeycomb. If I build up the nerve to lie under the hive to take a photo. No shampoo or moisturiser that day I think.

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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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