The house
The greenhouse effect as the key issue – fossil fuels
- Transport – car versus public transport versus bicycle
- Living close in to your work and social life – versus garden size
- Renewables from the grid – about 150% of the cost of standard domestic. Pure Energy.
- Solar panels – questions about this technology. Massive expense. $30,000 ·
- Cutting down on energy use and use of fossil fuels
Heating and cooling are the main users of energy – not lights, music systems etc.
- Fridges, air conditioning, heaters, hot water service – the appliances to worry about most.
- Why gas is a better bet than standard electricity supplies – for cooking, hot water, heaters.
- Solar hot water – expense – about $3000 versus $1000 gas system. Long term benefits in cost.
- Fridges – could try increasing your fridge insulation by wrapping it in newspaper! Special energy saving fridges. A bar fridge option. Cooling racks for veggies – vented to roof cavity – draft from under house.
- Solar passive design – point is to cut use of fossil fuels in heating and cooling the house. Can also do this by putting up with the temperature, wearing a sleeping bag to sit around the house in winter, filling the bath with cold water and so on.
- Hard if renting but maybe some options
- North face of house – sun. Should shade in summer. Wide eaves – at least 750mm. External blinds and awnings. A pergola. Deciduous vine. Use bamboo. Isabella grapes are quick. Could be done in rented place.
- North face of house – should absorb and store winter sun energy in day. Big windows, thermal mass of concrete floor with tiles, curtains and pelmets at night. Can involve major reconstruction work in an old house. Can use second hand windows, concrete is cheap etc. Ecohome as example. Could use black plastic water carriers to store heat on a wooden floor.
- Insulation in ceilings, white or silver roofs, vents in ceilings for summer, fans as opposed to air con, roof whirlybirds. – electric or wind powered.
Sewerage and water
The issues are partly energy used in transporting and storing water and sewerage. Also about wise use of sewerage nutrients and water as scarce resources. Use of these resources to grow food at home – that does not have to be transported with fossil fuels. Also about urban storm water run off and energy used in disposal of run off water, eutrophication of Lake Macquarie with nutrients carried in stormwater.
- Composting toilets – can be very simple and dirt cheap although illegal – a bucket and compost bin. Expense of legal systems – approx. $4000.
- Grey water – same kind of dilemma. Expensive if you run it past council. Cheap if you do it illegally. Renting and suldi valve. Suppliers – see list.
- Household tanks for gardening or domestic use. $900 for 4500 litre tank.
Other recycling
About saving resources that can be used for other purposes and take energy to create, about land fill shortage.
- Composting
- Recycling bins
Consumerism in general
Buying organic food and low impact products
Reasons why. The growing market in organics. Ordering food on the net. Prices. Detergents, paper etc.
The Garden
Permaculture normally associated with gardening. But a variety of definitions over time. The ethics – care of earth, care of people, share the surplus. Permaculture One. Sustainable agriculture through perennials. What is also called “forest gardening”. Later definitions stress sustainable agriculture and settlements, ethics and systems design. Systems thinking. For example the house and garden as a system – use rainwater runoff, greywater, sewerage compost, food scraps as compost, providing food for the house, the northern pergola as food supply and energy saver, the garden as a creative alternative to paid work and consumer goods. The concept of zones and the use of the energy of the gardener.
Planning the garden
- The importance of northern aspect – tree heights and shading. Veggie beds and herbs versus perennials, sun traps, dry westerly winds.
- Distance from the kitchen
- Rainwater tanks and grey water
- Compost bins
- Ponds as frog habitat and for water food plants. Marshy environments for taro. Recycling tyres, baths and sinks for ponds
- Animal synergies. Ducks and snails, Chooks, Guinea pigs, pigeons, fish, yabbies, worms, snails
- Swales and “fish scales” for trees
- Work out where your wetter areas and shady areas are.
Plants for the Hunter
- Gardening books, e.g. Reader’s Digest; Organic Gardener magazine; Jackie French. Permaculture Books, e.g. Mollison, Seed Savers, Morrow etc. Army maps for info on Hunter climate – rainfall annual average 1100 mm. Temp ranges etc. Frost requirements etc.
- Perennials versus annuals.
- What this distinction means. Most trees, bushes and vines that are perennials are easy to establish with about an hour or two of work per year. Harvesting is more time consuming and dealing with pests, especially birds, is a real problem for many fruit species. Some perennials need annual type treatment to actually get a crop – for example water chestnuts, sweet potatoes, taro. Annual veggies are what people like to eat – carrots, cabbages, broccoli and so on. Growing these regular plants organically is serious work – to supply a decent amount of food you are looking at at least an hour a day if not three!
Perennials
- How to plant a tree
- Cheap trees from cuttings (cutting powder), seeds in shops – avocados, mangoes, seed catalogue companies
- How to care for a tree – mulching, manure, drip feeds of water, swales, ground covers
Trees and bushes for the Hunter
Fruit fly and stone fruit – not a good idea for the Hunter; cold wintering requirements for many plants – don’t assume that because it is in the nursery it is suitable for this region. What is listed below is relatively easy to get hold of and works in the Hunter despite fruit fly etc.
- Avocado
- Bananas
- Blueberries
- Bunya
- Chilean wine palm
- Citrus
- Coffee
- Feijoa
- Fig
- Guava – both types
- Lilly Pilly Syzigium paniculatum – the variety with best fruit (try Trees in Newcastle)
- Loquat
- Macadamia
- Mango
- Mulberry – English Black and also Shatoot or Turkish
- Pawpaws
- Pecan
- Persimmon – fuyu
- Pomegranate – get the one with large fruit
- Prickly pear – thornless variety
- Sugar cane
- Sugar Maple
- Tea
Vines for the Hunter
- Grapes – Lambrusco or Isabella – to avoid mould problems
- Kiwi fruit
- Passion fruit
- Cow peas – dolichos lablab
- Lima beans – madagascar beans
- Thornless blackberry
- Boysenberries
- Monstera deliciosa
- Choko
Water plants
- Water chestnut
- Nymphaea – water lilies
- Taro
- Louisiana iris
Root veggies
- Potatoes
- Taro
- Sweet potato
- Canna edulis
- Yams
Flowers
- Day lilies
- Hibiscus
- Rose of sharon
- Violets
- Borage
Bamboo
Clumping rather than running bamboos are not a problem
- Bambusa oldhamii – for furniture wood and good for bamboo shoots to eat. Tends to go straight up rather than spreading much.
Perennial veggies – leaves etc.
- Violets
- Chinese cedar – Toona sinensis
- Rose of sharon – Hibiscus syriacus
- Celery taro – Xanthosoma brasiliense
- Water celery, Lebanese cress
- Hosta
- Globe artichokes – the flower heads
- Asparagus
Spices
- Bay Leaf – a tree
- Vietnamese mint – a coriander substitute
- Oregano
- Lemon grass
- Mint
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Cardamon
Annuals
Easy veggies
- Cherry tomatoes
- Spinach
- Daikon
- Bok Choy
- Beans
- Green Amaranth
- Parsley
- Pumpkins
- Broad beans – fava
A few weeds to eat
- Dandelion
- Catsears
- Prickly lettuce
- Sow thistle
- Spear thistle (the stems when peeled)
- Swamp dock also curled dock
- Red root amaranth
- Fat-hen – Chenopodium alba
- Portulaca
- Indian strawberry – wild strawberry
- New Zealand spinach
- Turkey rhubarb
- Thick head
- Blackberries ( the fruit of course!)
Resources and Contacts
Jenkins, Joseph C. 1994, The Humanure Handbook A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Jenkins Publishing, Grove City, PA. (the bottom line on cheap alternatives to flush toilets)
Wrigley, Derek 2004, Making Your Home Sustainable, ACT.
Mollison, Bill 1988, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, Tagari, Tasmania. (Expensive but the classic permaculture text. Still amazing.) www.tagari.com
Morrow, Rosemary 1994, Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.
Organic Gardening – ABC shop for this magazine
Earth Garden magazine
Reader’s Digest 1979, Illustrated Guide to Gardening Sydney (sometimes turns up in op shops – really good on most ordinary veggies and fruit and nut trees)
French, Jackie 1993, The Wilderness Garden, Aird Books, Melbourne. (Low maintenance food gardening systems).
French, Jackie 1993, Jackie French’s Guide to Companion Planting in Australia and New Zealand, Aird Books, Melbourne.
Fanton, Michel and Jude 1994, The Seed Savers’ Handbook Byron Bay. (A wonderful guide to propagation and care of both standard and unusual vegetables, excellent illustrations.)
Cusack, Victor 1997, Bamboo Rediscovered, Earth Garden Books, Victoria
Gouldstone, Selby 1983, Growing Your Own Food Bearing Plants in Australia, Macmillan, Melbourne. (The more unusual trees and bushes)
Low, Tim 1993, Wild Herbs of Australia and New Zealand, Angus and Robertson. (Weeds you can eat – good illustrations)
Organic food supplies
Organic Feast – 62 Melbourne Street. Maitland – 4934 7351 (a box can be delivered to Newcastle – a website for putting in orders)
Natural Tucker – 108 Darby Street, Cooks Hill – 4929 12229
Hunter Organic Foods – 88 Mitchell Street, Merewether – 4963 6550
Nurseries and seed/ plant order companies
Big Flower Nursery, Ourimbah at freeway intersection – 4362 2236
Heritage Gardens Nursery, New England Hwy, East Maitland – 4966 5233
Eden Seeds 1800 188 199 www.edenseeds.com.au
Greenpatch Organic Seeds 02 6551 4240 www.greenpatchseeds.com.au
Digger’s Seeds 03 5987 1877 www.diggers.com.au
Daley’s Nursery 02 6632 1441 www.daleysfruit.com.au – will send trees in post
Bamboo World 02 6628 6988 – will send bamboo in post – expensive but comprehensive!
Perry’s Fruit and Nut Nursery, 08 8383 0268 – will send trees in post
Green Harvest 07 5494 4676 www.greenharvest.com.au
House fittings – tanks, Suldi valves, etc.
Eco Shop Hillsborough Rd. Warners Bay – they have everything you could need on the tech side to retrofit your home. 0407 272 380 OR 02 4958 6611 www.australianecoshop.com.au
Places to see in the Hunter
EcoHome 67a Hobart Rd. New Lambton 4957 4717 Ring to arrange visit. Sustainability retrofit of older house with permaculture garden.
Belmont Neighbourhood Centre – Habitat in Harmony garden. 359 Pacific Hwy, Belmont North – cnr Old Belmont Rd., Open to the public in business hours. Just go or ring to arrange visit. A wonderful example of a permaculture garden. 4947 0031
Kooragang Island City Farm – Rob Henderson. Ash Island Hexham. Ring to arrange visit. Good organic gardens, grazing management, permaculture orchard, wetland rehabilitation. 4964 9308
Organisations and clubs
HOGS – Hunter Organic Growers’ Society – The biggest local organisation for this kind of thing with their own quarterly journal and monthly field trips to members’ gardens and farms. HOGS membership secretary, write to P.O. box 822, Hamilton, 2303 or try Faith Thomas – fthomas@bravo.net.au
Permaculture Hunter Region – Ring Tom Toogood – talks and events – 4920 7763
Permaculture International Limited – the peak permaculture body for Australian practioners – guide to courses and qualifications – website – http://www.permacultureinternational.org/index.htm