Sustainable, Simple, Slow Living Blogs: Join the Linky List | Sustainable Suburbia

Sustainable, Simple, Slow Living Blogs: Join the Linky List | Sustainable Suburbia

This is a great blog with links to heaps of other fascinating blogs from all over the world (even Australia).

Have a look at what people are doing out there while I struggle on with sticky soil and wood gathering.
I will post photos of the finished beds.

It's back to work/school again soon, so my posting will taper off for the term, I will try very hard to update at least once a week though.

Cultivate Social and Emotional Skills with Ecoliteracy | Edutopia

Cultivate Social and Emotional Skills with Ecoliteracy | Edutopia

This is a great post about environmental education. lots of information.
I became an environmental educator because of principle one of this post; empathy for all living things. Having empathy doesn't mean that we don't eat meat, it means that we give the animal we are going to eat the best possible life it can have and kill it quickly and as painlessly as possible and treat the sacrifice with the respect it deserves.

We have a grace we say which encompasses my philosophy perfectly;

"Great are the life forms that let us eat them,
one day our bodies too will be food.
Great is the Goddess that made things so yummy,
and great are the hands that make them taste good."

A semi permanant fencing solution.

I love this idea!!! My partner is a solar installer and technician (and TV and computer guy) so he has pallets come in all the time, we have used them for flooring (temporary at best) and fire wood (D'oh) but this design looks good. I think I will trial it as a small paddock first though.

Eight Acres: Permaculture - design from patterns to details

Eight Acres: Permaculture - design from patterns to details

This is a great post about Permaculture design; well worth the read.

More reading while you wait

I have been doing more reading about Hugelkultur and I am getting quite excited by the possibilities.

The Half assed hugelkultur bed 
got me excited with its reference to raised soil temperature.
I work as a garden coordinator in a primary school and I can see some experiments coming up in term three.

Now all I need is some kid friendly links to show the kids where, how and why.

Hugelkultur fever

A few months ago a friend of mine shared an idea she had about hugelkultur, which is basically burying wood in soil and planting into it. At the time I filed it away for later research, then today I got to researching.

Have a look at these links;
The basics
In Australia

After all that reading I went out and collected my first 5 wheel barrow loads of old wood to make garden beds in my vegetable/ chook runs.

As you can see, the sheep thought it was a great idea, and even my dog Bandit thought it might work once  I had laid the scrap wood out in the rough shape of beds.

Tomorrows job is to find soil to cover the wood. See you then.