No Image

flopsy, mopsy & cottontail

2013/04/29 Danielle 0

I’ve spent the last few weeks researching rabbits. I have my reasons. First reason is that K indicated an interest in spinning, and I thought I’d look into how viable it would be to have a little cottage industry setup selling yarn, and possibly raw fleece. (Answer: limited to zero for making any actual money/profit) Your basic wool animal is a sheep, but I dislike sheep. I’ve never met a bright one, or one that didn’t stink, although I’ve been assured by people who like sheep that they don’t inherently stink. After sheep, there are goats (cashmere goats, which produce […]

No Image

the fall of advertising

2013/03/14 Danielle 0

I don’t know what the crossover is between permaculture and plant nerds (and gardeners, farmers, sustainability seekers, etc.) and technology nerds, but I fall into that demographic. And, like most people who spend any amount of time online, I hate online advertising. I despise uutoplay video and audio on websites (even non-advertising video and audio, to be fair). Ads prepended to my video feeds so that in order to watch <cool new music video> I have to sit through <boring and irrelevant advert for something I don’t want or need> are obnoxious. Even the banner ads on most sites irritate […]

No Image

plant profile: sword fern

2013/02/25 Danielle 0

The common sword fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia), also called the tube ladder fern, ladder fern, erect sword fern, bayabang or fishbone fern, is common in Perth gardens. It is native to northern Australia and Asia, and it’s hardy enough that it is classified as an invasive species is some areas where it has been introduced. It survives, and even thrives in sandy Perth soils (basically beach sand) with no care or attention. What you probably didn’t know about the sword fern is that it produces edible tubers. Sword fern can be either terrestial or epiphytic. The fronds are 20 to 60 […]

No Image

holding pattern

2013/02/12 Danielle 0

It’s the middle of summer. Nothing much is happening, because nothing much can happen – everything (including us) is just trying to make it through the heat. Waiting for rain, waiting for cooler weather, waiting for the sea breeze in the afternoons. We’ve been heading up to Gallifrey every second weekend with barrels of water to top up the water tubes. So far, most of the baby fruit trees are still alive. Even the apple tree that the bloody kangaroos / wallabies tried to kill is still going, having shrugged off losing its entire top and being ringbarked during a […]

No Image

probiotics

2012/12/19 Danielle 3

Just over a week ago, I went to a workshop on fermented foods at Perth City Farm, run by the awesome Bonnie Wykman (of PeaceTree Permaculture). The workshop was a great overview of fermented and cultured foods, from yoghurt and kefir through to sourdough, ginger beer, and mead, as well as the history and some of the health benefits of eating active (probiotic, i.e. containing live microorganisms) cultured foods. Bonnie also gave us all samples of her sourdough starter, kefir culture, and water kefir culture. And then a friend of mine gave me some of her kefir grains as well, […]