Systems – Page 2 – Gallifrey Forest Farm

June 22: wattleseed pancakes

2016/06/22 Danielle 0

Of the many species of wattle native to Australia, several produce seeds which are suitable for use as human food. Edible wattleseed has rich nutty, chocolate and roasted coffee flavours, and is well suited to both sweet and savoury uses. Australian aboriginal peoples ground dried wattle seeds to form a flour, which was then baked into damper (traditional campfire bread). The green seeds of some wattle species were also eaten, cooked and consumed as a green vegetable like peas or fresh beans. Wattle seeds have also been used as food in some areas in West Africa, where the wattle […]

June 4: dehesa australis

2016/06/04 Danielle 0

Dehesa (in Spain) or montado (in Portugal) is a type of agroforestry practised across the Iberian Peninsula. Traditional dehesa is an oak woodland, mostly cork oak (Quercus suber) but also holm oak (Quercus ilex), with various shrubs and grasses – and sometimes crops – growing under the tree cover. In many areas livestock are grazed under the trees; cattle and sometimes sheep graze on the shrubs and grasses, and pigs are herded through to eat the fallen acorns. In an Australian context, a similar system of value-add agroforestry seems very plausible. The tree component could be any one of […]

June 3: mushroom cultivation

2016/06/03 Danielle 0

Last weekend, we attended a mushroom cultivation workshop run by Urban Kulture in Whitegum Valley. We came away with a wealth of knowledge (and a very informative handout, with all the instructions on it), as well as loads of innoculated mushroom kits, ready to grow us some amazing medicinal and edible mushrooms. I really recommend the workshop – it was great fun, very informative, and we learned a lot. We made up kits for king oyster (Pleurotus eryngii) and turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) on sawdust, reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) on shredded paper and pearl oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus, pearl strain) on […]

sector analysis

2016/04/20 Danielle 0

Back when we first bought the property, and we were starting to think about what we’d like to do in terms of building a house and putting in some productive systems, I did a sector analysis. This is one tool or technique used by permaculture practitioners in the early stages of creating a design, and it looks at the external factors that are going to influence a place. Things like winds, rain and storms, fire risk, noise, migratory pathways for birds or animals, flood risk, and summer and winter sun. It was brought to mind because someone posted […]

tree cover

2016/02/19 Danielle 0

Not every landscape “wants” to be a forest. Although forest gardens are a staple in the planning diets of many permaculture enthusiasts, there are (or were) lots of other complex, balanced ecosystems. For example, there are savannahs, based around perennial grasslands and large herds of grazing animals, as well as shrub and wetland ecosystems. Forest gardening is actually a slightly controversial topic in sustainability/ regenerative agriculture/permaculture circles because so many people simply pick it up as a default without looking at what works best for their location. It’s important, I think, to keep that in mind and to challenge your biases […]