Take a tea break to listen to Dr Vandana Shiva interviewed on Lateline.
Listen to her full address after receiving this years Sydney Peace Award at Vandana Shiva's Website
There is also a free download ‘ Manifesto on the Future of Seeds’ on the Navdanya International website.
Check out her new book “SOIL not Oil”.
Dr Vandana talks about many issues in this speech including the future of food and seed for humans and the essential role we must play in caring for this precious planet.
If you have been following the story of my son Hugh's garden, you will know that he started with a yard FULL to the brim with concrete about 18 months ago. I got the phone call to please come and help start a garden one morning and was told to bring wheelbarrow,tools and compost! Of course I was keen to see him start to grow vegetables so of course I obliged and by the end of the day he had a little area about the size of 2 dining room tables to plant into. For some months I received frequent phone calls from an excited Hugh telling me his first tomato was ripe or his lettuce was being eaten by goblins at night or asking was it the right time of the year to plant beetroot or bananas! Every evening after work he would sit out beside his patch while having a beer and gaze in wonder, like a father with a baby. It was not a big enough area for two people to sit next to easily, and one day I had another phone call. When I arrived, this first photo shows what we had to tackle to make a second bed. This is the story of the evolution of this bed....
This very morning we finished it and I must say it is a wonder to behold and a delight to sit beside and music to my ears to hear the tinkle of water trickling off the rocks into a pond planted with watercress I originally received from Deb and water chestnuts originally from Cath.
The edges will be filled with lettuces and herbs and you can see a few young amaranth on the left which will give shade in the late afternoon when they grow. There are some tubers of cardamon behind the rocks, and although they don't flower here, the leaves can be used to wrap fish or vegetables, for a fragrance like lemony cinnamon.
The water is still murky as we had only just retrieved one of the large rocks that toppled into the pond while we were adjusting the water pipe!
It certainly goes to show that gardening is all about observation, inspiration and determination!
On the 18th of January, I arrived in Hobart, Tasmania to stay with my friend Erica and her family for a couple of weeks, looking after their house and dogs and one lovely daughter for one of the weeks while the rest were away on holidays. Well,they have now returned and I am into the 3rd week, hanging around like a bad smell perhaps.... but I have been so enjoying Hobart and surrounds that I have gone and bought a house here!
When you buy a house you need to have a few things in your mind that are so important to you that if just one of them is not right, then you must not go ahead. To me these were:
After these, there are some things that are preferable:
And here are some dreams:
This gorgeous little house in Cygnet, Tasmania, has all of the "must have" requirements and most of the rest as well. There are a couple of extras that I am so excited about..... no water meters and mains water from the Huon River area which comes from the rain forests of wild south west Tasmania.... read that word.... RAIN forests! It has a creek and associated easement running diagonally through it which makes it impossible to sub-divide in the future which means it is much cheaper than other, similar properties. The local GP has a permaculture property rather than a fancy city house. There are blueberry and other berry and fruit farms, and even some organic ones. It is 5 minutes walk to the sea and it has never ever been 40 C .....!! And every few years it snows.... oh is this paradise or what?
Like Pattie, I thought I would have a competition "Who will be the first blog-reader to come and visit me?"
Here is a photo of the future B and B..... but, as you can see, its not ready to use yet so you can sleep inside the house..... or in the quirky, old ship's wheelhouse in the garden !
There are more photos here.
Is anyone else having trouble with photos on Live writer?
A lot of vegetable gardening authorities, whatever that means, suggest planting vegetables on raised beds but in South Australia and a lot of other Mediterranean zones, this, to me is madness. In places where summer water is oh so precious, we do not need to provide drainage, we need to be preserving every drop of water for the plants. If you look at raised garden beds, you often find the paths, which are lower than the beds, grow lush crops of weeds and grasses!
Jude Fanton has found these beautiful gardens in the arid zone of western Rajasthan, India, which show what can be achieved when we look at our own environments and not those of people on gardening shows in other climates, even in the same country as ourselves.
I don't know if you remember my terracotta pots idea, but it comes from looking at my own situation and works wonderfully well in doing several things to help plants get through our extreme summer heat.
First, unsealed, unglazed terracotta is simply fired clay and is porous so the water moves very slowly out through the pot into the soil, keeping plants such as lettuce and bush beans turgid and fresh even in the full sun on days over 40C.
Secondly and probably equally as important, the water in the clay pot, covered with a tile, keeps the surrounding soil temperature from rising too high. It is high soil temperatures which damages the roots of plants and causes them to burn off, in extreme heat, and stop the roots sucking up water even if it is available.
For more on this experiment see these updates:
http://hillsandplainsseedsavers.blogspot.com/2008/02/do-you-know-what-didnt-droop-today.html
Using tank water without a pumpRecently I experimented with another similar idea, where I put an open, plastic bowl full of water in the middle of a large, shallow tyre-pot and surrounded it with tiny, caterpillar-eaten bok choy seedlings. I could not believe the speed of their growth compared to seedlings I planted elsewhere and they were ready to eat in 21 days! I am not sure why it worked, maybe the water heated during the day and kept the soil temperature warmer over night..... maybe it was the humidity provided by the water..... maybe both.
They are usually full of rubbish and weeds.
Councils spray them with chemicals to kill the weeds.
No-one takes charge of them... except the rats and snakes and foxes.
But in Seattle they call them opportunities.....
And turn them into tiny community gardens like this one, above. People take charge....and colour their lives.
The larger community gardens set aside a percentage of the space to grow food to give away and they maintain them with weekly working bees.... like this one... every Tuesday from 5.30 to dusk. Nice.
In Seattle they do other creative things too with public or community land....please click on the photos to get a better look....
 |  |  |
| Follow the water pipe down from the gutter on the roof..... | into 2 quirky tanks for the garden behind and then the overflow splashes down via a tin rubbish bin and 2 metal bowls..... | ....to a hollowed rock and then into a stony drainage area which waters the lawn ..... I love it! |
So vegetable gardens and water facilities can be creative, interesting things ...which make them fun and inspiring and good places to be. They don't have to be just rectangular boxes with edges...
The community garden has escaped, below.... and is out in the street!
If they can do it in Seattle where the housing is like this.... we can do it anywhere.
Beautiful rain is falling over the Adelaide Plains.
Recently we had record breaking heat wave conditions this November.
Now I am standing at the door looking out on very welcome rain.
Most of us seedsavers started to plant out our seedlings last weekend after the over 40 degree days disappeared.
So there are some pretty happy tomato, zucchini and chilli plants in our gardens tonight.
One of the greatest gifts to man is rain.
ENJOY!
For all us new & experienced gardeners it was a wonderful afternoon visit to Claudia & Andrew’s amazing backyard “farm”. Where once the garden was surrounded by Italian & Greek backyard vegetable gardens, today this garden is surrounded by paved “Tuscan’ villas. It is so refreshing & encouraging to see what healthy herbs, fruits & vegetables can be grown for you family in a suburban backyard.
As Seedsavers it is important, as Andrew said today, to save the seeds from you favourite plants and vegetables so you are able to provide this healthy food for your family & friends.
Backyard gardening, although enjoyable does take time & effort & patience. Plants are grown, the seeds saved & then each season the seeds are returned to the soil, the plant grows & the cycle continues.
Claudia & Andrew have worked hard to save all the water coming onto their property so that through the long dry Adelaide summer their garden is watered with pure rainwater, which creates a healthy environment for their plants, their chickens & themselves.
For more photographs use this link: A Seedsavers Garden
A great big thank you to Claudia & Andrew for their great hospitality & for sharing their wonderful backyard farm with us today.
We have some more plans to visit other seedsavers vegetable gardens soon.
Water is a serious problem here in South Australia but one local council is doing something about it. In fact, they are leading the world in storm water treatment and re-use. Many years ago they began to use some dry and dusty land as a series of holding ponds for storm water runoff. It was then a rough and ready arrangement which has now grown to be a showcase for water conservation.
Stormwater is water that runs off surfaces such as roofs, roads, footpaths and driveways when it rains. Much of this water flows into stormwater drains and then into creeks and rivers, eventually making its way into the sea. About 160,000 million litres of polluted stormwater was being released into Gulf St Vincent each year, much of it into the Barker Inlet.
In the 1990's the City of Salisbury defined a vision that it would seek to eliminate the flow of polluted water into the marine environment of the Barker Inlet of Gulf St. Vincent. The Barker Inlet is a delicate marine environment of mangroves and sea grass meadows serving as a nursery for a majority of the State's fishing industry. However, years of neglect and polluted inflows have reduced the Barker Inlet to a delicate state.
The creation of wetlands to cleanse stormwater was Salisbury's key strategy to help the ecological rehabilitation of the Barker Inlet while providing cheaper water to local industry and other users. Nutrient and pollutant loads are typically reduced by up to 90 per cent and the treated water salinity is less than 250 mg/L. The system is designed to hold stormwater for around 10 days to ensure optimal treatment efficiency.
Stormwater is treated and harnessed in a series of more than 30 wetlands along urban stormwater paths to slow the flow and allow pollution to settle out. The wetlands cover an area of 260 hectares enhancing the landscape and creating habitat diversity.
All the wetland plants are propagated at the Council's nursery and they play an important role in the treatment of polluted stormwater. The nursery has developed a high level of expertise in propagating various wetland species, and it sells wetland plants to users all around Australia.
As drought hit our state, demands for water also increased and the council researched storing cleaned stormwater underground in aquifers for re-use later. Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) is the process of injecting water into a suitable underground aquifer for storage and later reuse, and it can be a means of artificially recharging depleted underground water supplies.
ASR is a modification of the natural system that has been occurring for millions of years. Natural recharge occurs by filtration of rainwater through the soil profile, past the vegetation root zone and down to permeable rocks known as aquifers.Aquifers can store large quantities of water without losses from evaporation and with reduced risk of contamination, both of which are problems associated with surface water storage areas such as reservoir.
In March there was an excellent talk given at the Rare Fruits Meeting, by Colin Pitman, the Director of Projects at the Salisbury Council. He explained that they have now mapped the whole of Adelaide and made plans for supplying enough water to Adelaide to make it independent of the River Murray. The wetlands and aquifer system is suited to Adelaide's winter rainfall and underground geology and can hold the best solution for all our water needs, relatively cheaply and will return a profit, as it does for the Salisbury Council. I would be very happy to dispense with our current, antiquated water authority and buy my water directly from such a system as this.
I have a CD of the talk which is inspiring and full of information. If anyone would like to borrow it please email me.
Last week I went for a walk at what is now called the Greenfields Wetlands and found it to be not only useful but full of wildlife and photo opportunities! It is amazing to think that what once a dry, barren and awful part of the outskirts of Adelaide, in a triangle between 2 major roads, is now home to thousands of birds, frogs, lizards and insects. It is worth the drive.... go and look for yourself.
 | There are many bridges through the Melaleucas |
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 | You can see the oxygenating of the water happening here as nature cleans the water |
 | If I had binoculars, I could see my house on the top of one of those hills, from here. |
So, what does a gardener do when its raining?
Cook, that's what.....
... three simple examples of home-grown food. What more could anyone want?
.... slow cooked capsicums from garden to pan to plate in 1 hour....
My mother's baby mango tree produces a perfectly ripe, 1kg mango that just fell off in my hand... no cooking required....but a lot of eating....
The best garlic I ever grew was made into the best garlic soup ever.... a recipe from Ian's neighbours, in France... which I will put here....my back teeth are dipping...gggg...
Bob and I saving water from a burst water main up the street from where we live.
This is the 4th burst water main we have seen near us in the last 6 months.
We were walking the dogs and saw the water running down the gutters.
We were not alone with taking the water for our front gardens.
There were 3 at home Mums out with their buckets.
One mum was going in for a rest as she had been bucketing for an hour. It may have been nearly 1 1/2 hours before someone arrived to turn the main off.
Niki and Tara had fun as we walked them through the water filled gutters.
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