Thursday, July 10, 2014

ROCKET STOVE

Rocket Stove 

A moderate fire.
Flaming Bones, boiling water.  how hot ?
Encased in stone, earth and adobe for thermal mass containing warmth..
Oven on top of the two drums.
A heated bench. Timber slabs, backing insulation
Food for cold bones and the soul.

Fire pit -
Wasting this type of brick on this. to hot for cheap extruded bricks. The iron bit is an experiment flame/heat wick. Ill run some wide metal pipe under the grate to deliver clean heated air to the secondary combustion zone, it should rock. (failed) trial and error makes the expert

Donkey boiler - A water jacket
It need to be put to use. Wheres a home ?


The space between the drums to be wider.
A heated bench and timber back rest ?
A heated bathtub ?
A warm place to sleep for traveling souls ?

Hot water for washing.

 Steam - This is difficult getting the heat transfer to the boiler right.. 

Food cooked. 

 oven, a bathtub.

horses ass tolerances

Foundation






The metal plate buckled breaking the flue gas seal. ?


NOTE:

Aprovecho research center stove design
more photos  

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Moist carrot Cake

Moist Carrot cake.

250g flour
200g light brown sugar.
1tsp baking soda
2tsp Cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
2tsp vanilla 
1/2tsp salt
125g butter
60g room temp yogurt
260g finely grated carrots
3 large eggs
150g pecan pieces

Combine, sift the dry ingreadients.
Soften butter, add yogurt, beet in eggs,  mix in carrot.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, do not overmix.
place in pan and bake for 30 min. A tooth pick comes away clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

224g cream cheese, softened to room temperature
115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
240 - 300g castor sugar
30 ml heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt ?

Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until soft, creamy.
Add sugar and beat until thick and combined.
Add heavy cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
Add more powdered sugar until desired thickness is reached.
Add salt to taste.

Monday, January 20, 2014

The dance of genesis

A Dance of Genesis

The galaxy is made up of rotating spiral spokes of stars, carbon and dust.
Now. The centre is obscured by dust.
A long time ago it was different.
This solar system was bathed in the light of stars all the way to the center that is no center.
This solar system was plasma.

Before once upon a time, before the sun and Moon, before the planets.
There was a dance, a dance of pure joy and bliss.
There was no matter, nothing mattered, no past, no future, an eternal present.
A plasma, one but separate in essence.
They were.  There dance flowed together and apart.
One and another, simple joy,  no limits.

One danced with brilliance, totally focused in her own dance.
The others watched her, she was great.
They were looking out. They noticed a changing.
The One light was becoming dimmer, replaced with many small lights that had no heat.
They started to change their dance, cooling, slowing, conserving, condensing. Learning a new dance.
They called to their friend, the one that danced so well, she could not hear them, she was so deeply involved with her dance, she did not see. She tripped and fell, she looked out and saw no light and felt something not right. She could not conserve condense, She shattered in her new orbit, she had wasted her energy in her dance, she cracked up spaced out and hurt. She felt responsible for the lose of the light, as if it was something she did. She went mad.

Her friends saw. They love her and wanted to help her.
Her friend. The One we know as Mars today reached out and as a drowning person can drag the rescuer under, Mars lost her own balance.

Our mother. This earth, started a new dance, one with mater. Spirit soul salt, a past and future, surfaces to quicken and remember. She loves her friend. She saw what happened to Mars and decided to do something different. She decided to create a copy, a reflection of all she knew in  the image of the one light but separate like the many dim lights. She gave this being, them a task, so her friend could know.
To mine the essence of her fallen friend from her own body, to heal her, to dance with her, to teach her, to to show her friend it was not her fault the light changed and lost its heat.

So painful that she has anesthetized us, we would not do this if we were awake.
We have mined her friends soul from her own body. We have mined the plastics the metals, gave her eyes, a brain, so her friend can see. We have cast her senses out of our system so she can see for herself it is not her fault the light is gone. Her  terror grip, her gilt, psychosis is lessened. 
We have completed a task that we were created to do.

Our mother asks us now to wake. We can wake if we want.
We must wake. All the knowledge is here.

We must wake for this earth's sake, our sake.
We need to ask for what do we wake to. To what purpose ?
A reflection of all that is.
All that is known, that is a dance.
A dance.
Lets dance like none has danced before.
The universe, This Earth dances with us.
This life.




Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Berry Cheesecake

  Berry Cheesecake

- 24 cm pane -
 
Base 
Fresh flour 100g. Ground almond 40g. Butter 45 g,
Honey 40 – 60g. Cream 65g
Spice, ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger.
 
Work flour, almonds, spice, soft butter in a into a crumbly mass, mix in honey and cream.
keep pastry cool in fridge, 30min ,,,,. 
 
Filling
200g cream cheese or quark, 
100g cream, ?
20 -40 g honey
lemon zest and juice of a lemon, lime ?
2 eggs
Berries ?
Vanilla


 

Californian Style Chocolate Beetroot Berrie Cake

Californian Style Chocolate Beetroot Berrie Cake

Simple, take about 20 min to prepare and 30 to cook

Ingredients
100g best 100% Cacao
100g best semi sweet dark chocolate
230g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp bicarb 
125g butter
300g fresh cooked grated beetroot,
3 eggs
100ml unsweetened blackberry syrup

Method
Mix and sift flour, sugar, bicarb and cacao together in a bowl
In a bowl suspended over a pot of hot water, melt the chocolate and butter
add the beetroot and the eggs and mix well
add to the dry ingredients and mix well


Butter the pan,  spread dough in pan push beries into cake.
Cook: - 30 + min low.
let cool and turn out
pour syrup over top
 
work the recipe ,,,, 
Hella good
Gratitude for inspiration to Ola and Rain.
ॐ  ♡ ☮

Friday, June 21, 2013

Suburban keylining

Suburban keylining

- Whats the water doing ?
- multiple flows through the system
- tanks
- total landscape as surface contour
- three dimensional surface area
- variable porosity matrix
- soil system flux,
- biomass storage
- range of possibilities

The block slopes to the left in this picture. The paths are the base of the swale, across the contour and away from the house. The small pond is the overflow from the tanks. the garden beds are level raised.

- nowhere does the water run
- gradient allways used, contemplated

Spent the time and effort to watch and imagine, get out in the storms, dig some holes, 














- subsurface mitigation storage

- effect of and on biomass,
- system complexity

A fence to be., agg pipe in gravel across the slope catches the now sudden large downpours, no longer does water flow like a stream down the drive.







Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Pan baked Yeast Breads



Pan baked Yeast Breads:

- 24cm heavy non stick frying pan with lid, 
- Baking time  45-50 min + 15-20 min
- be creative

Mix water, honey, yeast, flour, salt, spice, add the oil
Make a dough, cover, let prove a bit in a warm place
Kneed a bit, place in buttered pan, let rise  .5-1 hour
Bake on small flame till brown underneath, turn and bake till brown on top 
 
- Wholewheat bread -
550g wheat flour, 1/2-2 tbsp honey, 25g fresh yeast, 390 ml warm water, 1-2 tsp sea salt,
1.5-2 tbsp sunflower or olive oil.  Spice if you like.
 
- 3 grain bread -
250g wheat flour, 250g rye flour, 250g barley flour, 1/2 tbsp honey, 40g fresh yeast, 2tsp sea salt, 
540 warm water, 2 tbsp oil. spice if you like. Baking time  50 min + 20 min.

- Buttermilk bread -
310g whole wheat flour, 310 rye flour, .1/2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1/2-2 tsp sea salt, 
600 ml room temp buttermilk, 2 tbsp oil, (100g sunflower seed). Baking time  50 min + 20 min.

- Wheatgerm bread - best ?
48g wholewheat flour, 70g wheatgerm, 1-2 tbsp honey, 25g fresh yeast, 1-1.5 tsp sea salt,
390 warm milk, 2 tbsp oil. Spice. Baking time  45 min + 15 min.
- replace 1/4 milk with good cream, ground almond for wheatgerm. 
- add chopped nuts seeds or fruit,  spice - cumin ginger and cloves

- Soya bread -
540g whole wheat flour, 90g soya flour, 1/2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt,
480 ml warm water, 2 tbsp oil.
- with 8-10 garlic cloves & onion, chop fry add.

- Rye wheat soya bread -
325g whole wheat flour, 325 rye flour, 50 soya flour, 1/2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast,
150g room temp yogurt, 400 ml water 1-1.5 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil. baking time 50 + 20 min.

- 5 grain bread -
180g whole wheat flour, 180g rye flour, 100g barley meal, 100g oat meal, 50g millet flour,
1/2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 450ml warm water,

- Oatmeal bread -
400g whole wheat flour, 200g oatmeal, 50g soya flour, 1 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt,
1/2 tsp nutmeg, 235 ml warm water, 235 ml warm milk, 2 tbsp oil.  Baking time  50 min + 20 min.
- with 100g chopped walnuts.  

- Millet bread -
400g whole wheat flour, 200g millet flour, 30g wheatgerm, 45g soya flour, 2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 sea salt, 470 ml warm water, 2 tbsp oil, 50g dry toasted sunflower seeds.
- can replace 70ml water with fresh pressed orange juice.  

- Rice flour bread -
450g whole wheat flour, 150g brown rice flour, 60g soya flour,  1/2 tsp honey or molasses,30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 450 ml warm water , 2 tbsp olive oil. Baking time  50 min + 20 min.
- herbs 150g chopped olives garlic parsley. 

- Maize bread -
150g whole wheat flour, 150g rye flour, 300g maize flour or fine polenta, 60g soy flour,
1-2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 270 warm water, 270 ml warm milk, 2 tbsp oil,
1 tsp coriander. Baking time  50 min + 20 min.

- Rye yeast bread -
750g rye flour, 1/2 tbsp honey or molasses, 40g fresh yeast, 2 tsp sea salt, 150g room temp yogurt,
450 ml warm water, 3-5 tsp caraway seed, 2 tbsp oil. Baking time  50 min + 20 min or longer.
- much tastier if let stand to prove overnight.

- Barley buckwheat bread -
470g barley flour, 150g buckwheat flour, 1 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt,
600 ml room temp buttermilk, 2 tbsp oil. Baking time  50 min + 20 min.

- Barley soya bread  -
450g barley flour, 150g oat meal, 75g soya flour 1/2 tbsp honey, 30g fresh yeast, 1.5-2 tsp seasalt,
550ml warm water, 2 tbsp oil.  Baking time  50 min + 20 min.

- Current bread -
500g whole wheat flour, 2-3tbsp honey, 25g fresh yeast, 1/4- 1/2 tsp sea salt,1/4- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, cloves, 225 ml apple juice, 225g yogurt or quark, 100g currents, 2 tbsp oil. Baking time 45 min + 15 min.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Appletart with cream



 Cooked a bit to long, better picture next one
 
Bake 15 min mod high to brown base finish on low.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Pan Baked Sourdough Bread


Pan Baked Sourdough Breads:

- Sour dough starter -
1. 60g freshly and little bit coarsely ground rye flour, 1tsp honey, 90 ml water.
Mix, let stand in a covered bowl for 2,3 days untill you see air bubles and smelling sour.
2. Feed, 60g rye flour, bit honey, 90ml warm water. let stand over night.
3. Use required amount of starter for bread, store in fridge, feed the night before using.

The starter will  develop into an active bubbling sweetly sour living thing. 
It will rise with gas when fed and collapse when hungry.
Feed it often. Live.

-  Rye wheat sourdough bread -
Step 1. 400g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 435 ml warm water
Put ingredients in a bowl and mix, cover with moist cloth put in plastic bag,
let stand 5-10 hours until you see air bubbles. dependent on temp
Step 2.  300g wholewheat flour, 1.5 -2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil, spice how you like.
Mix all ingredients into dough, rest 20 minutes, kneed, put in pan and let stand 1 - 2 hours till dough raised up. overnight when cool.
Bake on a small flame till brown underneath, 50 min, turn 20 min 

- Wholemeal bread -
1. 450g coarsly ground ryeflour,  1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 495 ml warm water.
2. 300g coarsely ground wholewheat flour, 1-1/2-2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil, spice how you like.
Bake  on a small flame till brown underneath, 50 min, turn 20 min

- Linseed bread -
1. 400g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 435 ml warm water
Soak 100g of linseed in hot water
2. 300g wholewheat flour, 1.5 -2 tsp seasalt, 2 tbsp oil, soaked linseed. spice how you like.

- Sourdough bread with whole grains -
1. 550 g coarsely ground rye flour, 1/2 tbsp honey, 120g sourdough starter, 380ml warm water.
soak 150g wholegrains in 150 ml cooking water.
2. 50g rye flour, 200g wheat flour, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil, spice how you like.

- Plain rye sourdough bread -
1. 450g  rye flour,  1/2tbsp honey or molasses , 150g sourdough starter, 450 ml warm water.
2. 300g rye flour, 2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil, 1tbsp each ground coriander and caraway, 1tsp each ground aniseed and fennel seeds.

- Rye soya sourdough bread -
1. 400g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 450 ml warm water.
2. 230g ryeflour, 70g soya flour, 2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil.

- Sourdough buckwheat bread -
1. 400g  rye flour,  1/2tbsp honey or molasses , 150g sourdough starter, 440 ml warm water.
2. 150g rye flour, 150g buckwheat flour, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp oil

- Sourdough barley bread -
1. 450g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 485 ml warm water.
2. 50g ryeflour, 250g barley meal, 2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil.

- Sourdough bread with cooked grains -
1. 350g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 120g sourdough starter, 370 ml warm water.
cook150g wholegrain, rice or barley in 300 ml water and let it stand.
2. 50g ryeflour, 200g barly meal, the cooked grains, 2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil.

- Sourdough buttermilk bread -
1. 400g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 570 -580 ml room temp buttermilk
2. 100g ryeflour, 250g rolled rye, 100g sunflower seeds 2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil. 2 tsp ground coriander

- Sourdough yoghurt bread -
1. 400g ryeflour, 1/2tbsp honey, 150g sourdough starter, 120g room temp yogurt, 350 ml warm water.
2. 100g oatmeal, 250g rolled barley, 2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil.

- Rye raisin bread -
1. 300g ryeflour, 2-3tbsp honey, 100g sourdough starter, 125g room temp light sour cream, 270 ml warm water.
2. 200g ryeflour, 1.5-2 tsp sea salt, 2tbsp oil, .5tsp each cinnamon, ginger, .5 tsp aniseed, 120g raisins or sultanas

- Steamed bread -
Use a sixth part less water, kneed the dough a bit, form small balls or loaves and let it rise, heat the pan with butter or ghee and a bit of salt, fry for 4-5 min, half cover with water, cover pan and cook till water is away, reduce heat and bake till brown underneath.


Note - work the recipe, be creative.
guten Appetit





Thursday, June 6, 2013

Spicy Pear Medlar Cheese Chocolate cake

Spicy Pear Medlar Cheese Chocolate cake with Almond shortcrust pastry base:


Base - 24 cm pane -
Fresh flour 100g. Ground almond 40g. Butter 45 g,
Honey 40 – 60g. Cream 65g
Spice, ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger.

Filling
Ground almond 40g optional. Chocolate 250g+  best non sweet 70%+
Flour 40g. Cream cheese 200g. Cream 200. Eggs 2. Medlar syrup 150 ml.
Pears 1 ½. Honey 20g sweeten as you like ?
Spice as you like, more yes. (?vanilla?)

Topping
Medlar syrup 150 ml. Honey 40-60g?.
Butter 40g?. Cream 35g. Pear 1. 
Spice, Cloves 8-12, ginger ¼ tsp, Cinnamon¼ tsp

Base Work flour, almonds, spice, soft butter in a into a crumbly mass, mix in honey and cream.
keep pastry cool in fridge, 30min ,,,,.

Filling Cut and cook Pears in spice, honey and Medlar syrup, simmer till soft in thick reduced syrup. 
Melt chocolate over hot water, slowly mix in most of the cream.
Beet eggs a bit, with the rest of cream and add to softened cream cheese.
Mix chocolate cream, pears syrup, creamy egg cheese, flour. 
 
,,,,Butter the pan. Knead pastry a bit, spread in pan and make edge half way up (cold hands help), dust with ground almond. Put filling into base, place pear slices in a radial paten on top skin up.
Cook: - 15min high for base, then 30 – 40min low.

Topping Simmer sliced pear in 150g Medlar syrup honey & spice, reduce.
Cool a bit, add butter cream, heat & slowly reduce, stirring constantly, caramelise a bit.
besten am nächsten Tag  
guten Appetit

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Husband this Earth

Be mindfull! Husband the Earth. Protect her from greed and violence. Build humbly, plant trees, grow flowers and cloth her with dignity. Respect all her creatures.
Honer her natural laws & the universe witch cradles her.
Above all Hartley worship the source of all that is.
.
This world needs secret heroes!
Be brave, speak the truth, heal the sick, make peace, be strong, serve patiently. love generously, live simply, enjoy fellowship, eat & drink modestly,
celebrate the festivals.
Breath deeply, sing & make music, walk often, cycle & recycle.
Be thrifty, prefer cash flow to possessions, and give good measure.
let your work be your prayer.
.
Put on the whole Armour of light!
Unearth the beauty in everything. Inhale the spirit of goodness.
Kindle kindness, especially towards yourself.
Embrace the sweet silence of your own soul.
Fear nothing, Accept what you are & while you have breath.
Give thanks.

unknown author

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A Red Wattlebird

Wattlebird feeding on aphids
The Wattle bird.

Complexity evolves and crashes like waves on the shore.
Life.
Cheeky, territorial, interactive mother of her hood.
She is gone now, deep grief and sadness.
We have had a beautiful relationship over a number of years,  I did not relies the complexity or the benefits she provided till the hawk hit the garden,, She is gone now.

About 5 years ago shortly before my first harvest of boysenberries,  I was interacting with this bird, I pledged to care for her space and provide her with food, that she could have one side of the bush and I would have the other. She honored this and told me off when I crossed the line and hit the berries on her side. I watched her fledged young ones over the years. She would come out whenever I was in the garden, have a chat then of to her life. There was an alliance with the peewee blackbird and butcher bird, They kept all the parrots at bay but two and most of the Indian miners away. home patch for this group.

She is gone now, The Indian miners are having a field day, (Bastards) . The parrots hit the blackberries taking the bulk before I realised and resorted to nets.

If only Id been more aware and in the moment ?

I feel deep sadness for the embedded knowledge and care within living community we have lost and continue to loose without any awareness. Interacting with this earth on her terms requires deep loving  knowledge and  awareness.
Re Member


Friday, January 4, 2013

HAWK - ON HUSBANDING THE EARTH

The hawk in a tree across the road with a my friend

- A NOTE ON HUSBANDING THE EARTH -

Deep ecology, I am a conscious heart. well try to be..
Husbanding the earth, I missed it, got distracted and lost a yield.
I’ve just had my blackberries crop ripen, its been hit by the parrots, three days 80%, nets to late.
Last year I had a couple of wattle birds that kept them away, No nets, high yeild.
I have been encouraging the resident birds, their fun to interact with. They don’t eat much and keep a lot of the other bird at bay,. I listen to their songs and try to understand their way.

A hawk came into my garden a couple of weeks ago, over two days it hit the residents.
I didn’t realise what was happening until it was to late. I saw a pewee telling something of, I went to have a look at the disturbance. At first it looked like a cat fleeing till it went vertical, fast and highly maneuverable through the branches, It had left a carcase of a bird. The hawk was next cited on the tv antenna on the roof with three other different agitated resident birds making a lot noise, It then flew of. I again saw it in the tree across the road with a bird carcase in its clutches.. The other carcass was still on the ground. Two resident birds taken. I believe their were a pair of hawks, They have children as well.

The next day I saw the black bird making a strange tweet tweet sound on a branch, there was a hawk on the branch above it. I intervened, the blackbird is friendlier since..
If I had been more aware in a society that was more aware, maybe I would know the right way in the moment,, and have no need for nets or fences.

She simply has a family to feed.  Ecology is a delicate balance, it takes all our combined awareness intelligence to interact in a positive constructive way. 

Interacting with this earth on her terms requires deep loving  knowledge and awareness.
Can we open our eyes to see, Can we hear to listen, can we feel...
And touch with a mindful caress.


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Intergrated Ecology, Talking to the Birds

From Birds


Birds Birds Birds
I talk to the birds in my garden. that is I interact and observe.
I have fruit trees and berries, they only take a bit.
The guy down the road has fruit trees and he shoots the birds with a slug gun.
His trees year after year are devastated by the birds.
Why does this happen.
Simple.
I look after the resident birds, encourage them to stay, and occasionally give them food. I used to say I make a pact with the birds. Its a bit more complicated, its about the hood.
The resident birds, the ones that come each year to nest and the permanent residents form coalitions to protect their territory. They chase of intruders.
The guy down the road has no permanent bird populations, Its food for all that pass by.
look after your local birds share a bit and they will look after you.
We must care for the commons

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Care for this Earth and all her creatures: Sacred Fruit - Sacred food

Food is sacred.
Why have we forgotten?
That it is our body's way of connecting with this earth.

I do not understand how people have become so blind to this life, so disconnected from this earth.
Not understanding why processed food causes disease, taking the media as some form of truth, eating from McDonald's, accepting product marketing, thinking the products sold at supermarkets have any thing to do with food.

I have been making a living as a gardener for the last twenty five years.
I understand what it is like to tend a garden.
To take a ripe natural peach from a tree and eat it.
It is the most connected spiritual experiences apart from good sex and meditation that I Know.

Maybe most people have never experienced eating with a friend or a stranger from a common tree, or experienced offering the fruit to the universe before eating it.
Maybe most people aren't sensitive enough to experience the light stream from the fruit as they hold it high offering it.

Maybe our deep conditioning has broken our connections.
To offer a fruit then eat it yourself surly has undertones of taboo!
Why have we forgotten how sacred our food is, our connection with this earth?

For this reason alone it is important to grow and engage in this cycle of life.
To practice in some way in developing local community.

ABC Encounter - Rosemary Morrow
Vandana Shiva:Women, Bioengineering, and Corporations Pt.1
Vandana Shiva:Women, Bioengineering, and Corporations Pt.2

Friday, September 30, 2011

August

August
Promise of joys and disappointments




Spring - The return of life from mineral to plant is starting to quicken.
The greens are changing hue. We spend more time outdoors.

Soil temp - It be better to weight a bit, till the soil warms to plant out
to sit comfortably with a bare bum on the soil , time for beans tomato corn.

The Ornamental Garden

Magnolia - Their shallow root system dislikes being planted over, roots need protection from summer sun, mulch.
Gladiolus corms - Treat with fungicide before planting, tiny bulbs will not flower this season.
Clematis - propagate by pushing stems just beneath ground to cover new shoot, mulch.
Snow in summer, Shaster Daisies, Stokesia,(perenial aster), Gazanias, gerbera, catmint, thyme etc.. divided and replanted or potted for Christmas gifts.
Delphinium - A sorry looking bunch of dead twigs, replant mulch water.
Foxglove - in the garden encourage plant growth and disease resistance.

Check for snails - they can climb and damage the stems and trunks of shrubs and small trees. Invest in some ducks.
Pest predator relationship - is complex. The pest population will rise before the predator population. if you let nature take its course you will notice a brief flush then a diminishing. Pest are food leave them alone if possible.
Cloches - sowing begins in the open or under cloches, placed out two weeks before planting will help soil warm.

Prune

Roses - prune in colder areas.
Climbing plants - trimmed of wayward growth, especially near paths and entrances.
Grape and Passion Fruit vines - will bear fruit on new growth, cut back to two or three buds.
Lemons Gardenia - remove dead wood, .
Rosemary - reliable plant for low hedges , shape before flowering.
flowering Shrubs -
shaped when flowering finishes.

lemon trees - remove dead diseased crossed wood, burn galls.

The kitchen Garden

Broad beans, Fava bean - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Cabbage - Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks, Harvest from November.
Kohlrabi - Plant in garden, Harvest from November.
Mustard green, gai choy - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Onion - Start undercover in seed trays and plant out in 4-6 weeks, Harvest from March.
Peas - Plant in garden, Harvest from November.
Radish - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Shallots, Eschalots - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Snow Peas, Sugar Peas, Mangetout, Chinese Peas - Plant in garden, Harvest from December.
Spinach, English spinach - Plant in garden, Harvest from October.
Swedes, Rutabagas - Plant in garden. Harvest from November.
Peppers, tomatoes -Start in trays, indoors.

Intergrating Water Weeding Feeding in the kitchen Garden

Weed & Feed

Out of the way, under a tree, centrally located.
What I get from permaculture is inspiration on integrating systems and behavior.
They say that one year seeding equals seven years weeding.
we remove the weeds and take to the compost heap seed and all.
We cart it back to mulch
We water with dead water.
we buy feed and mix to fertilize.
We then spend most of our garden time weeding  ?

- Simple solution -
Weed Tea
The garden waste stream is processed as to type and effects. All plants Material that I want to encourage seed and all go onto the compost,
Grass weeds go directly onto the lawn.  
Weedy plants that I want to inhibit go into the tea.
The seedy weeds from the garden go in large bucket, a handful of blood and bone, ferment, water the plants from watering can. the hose is only rarely needed.
200l fresh water, float valve connects to house tank, siphons into weed bucket, always full.
Makes it easy to water and feed.
Plus a rich pulp for mulch, worms or compost.

Careful management will minimize weeding
Systems can always be improved

Saturday, July 9, 2011

July Garden

July
A windy Month in the highlands

cloches help with the young plants.
http://www.veggiepatch.com.au/howto.html


Gardens and Gardening are art
A process of the soul
Forever changing like the seasons.
No static picture a thing on paper with nowhere to go
Design is process, Process by design
The garden designer is a part of their creation
The most beautiful things
have been worked and reworked many times over

July

A good time to service restore garden tools, sharpen oil secateurs saws spades etc
Put a sharpening stone on a small windmill

fruit trees - winter tree care
Never head a tree, remove dead wood and wayward branches.Trees are reactive and will replace the mass removed, the more removed the more work created the next year.
Cut to apical bud. Conscious and careful attention to growth, being prepaid to spend a number of years to obtain desired results.
Select appropriate sized trees and root stocks.

Spray -
Peaches - Leaf Curl
kocide, copper compound
at Leaf fall, Bud swell & One week later.
Winter oil - General Purpose spray
Roses – fungal diseases
Before bud break, lime Sulphur

Citrus Gall wasp - Remove & burn

Take hardwood cuttings

TRIM -
STAR JASMINE shape promote spring flowering
PHOTTNIA rim to shape promote bright red growth
HYDRANGEA cut back to two pairs of plump buds remove dead straggly wood
ROSE cold climates best left until august. Pruning is essential for the best blooms & compact bushes

Oxalis & Onion weed ,The Bane of the Garden Trowel it out, burn, Cover thickly with newspaper, mulch heavily, this may have to be repeated for a number of years in heavily infested soil. Control seeding. Replace soil. It’s sensitive to herbicides when flowering.
Divide chrysanthemums


Plant -
globe Artichoke, Asparagus crown, Lilium, Lily of the valley,Roses.
Mustard greens, Oats ,Onions, Onion - spring, Peas climbing, Peas Dwarf
Rhubarb crown, Shallots bulb Senpodia Swedes Turnip
Under cover - Cauliflower, Cress, Winter Lettuce

Feed -
Feed the bulbs before and as they die down.
Much better to make compost and incorporate the needed elements into it for desired situations.
mulch with organically bound substances, leaf matter chips straw.
liquid compost for the growing plants.
soil chemistry is slow now, N&C cycle weighted in damp cold directions processes, excess available N&C will not necessarily promote growth & be lost.

Build a hot compost as well as the kitchen Heap.
This is for the summer crop.
look to the worms,