Permaculture Out West

Archive for December, 2009

Ingredients for Vegan Eggnog

• 2 ½ cups soft organic silken tofu
• 2 cups organic soymilk
• 2/3 cup fruit sugar or 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup rum or brandy
• 4 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp freshly ground cinnamon

Mash the tofu and blend with soymilk, salt, cinnamon, and fruit sugar or agave in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour into mixing bowl, and whisk in water, rum and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate. It may be a bit darker, on the “beige” side of eggnog, but the cinnamon is a good cover.

Use organic ingredients wherever possible

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 pint whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 ounces bourbon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 egg whites

Directions

Beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer still running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.

For cooked eggnog, follow the directions below.

Beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from the heat and quickly stir about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture to temper it. Then return everything to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture.

Are you irrigating your garden with greywater and would like to know more about the health of your soil?

The ATA is looking for households in the Melbourne metropolitan area that are using greywater (treatment or diversion) to water their gardens to trial a unique householder greywater monitoring program the ATA has developed.

Time Requirement:

Workshop at the ATA Head Office in Melbourne, Thursday 7th January 2010, 6:30–7:30pm.
Fortnightly soil testing over a two month period.
Each trial participant will receive:

feedback on the results of their soil tests
advice on how to improve soil health
information about best practice greywater irrigation
If you are interested in participating in the trial or would like more information please contact Anjali Brown, ATA Water Conservation Manager by email anjali@ata.org.au or phone (03) 9631 5405 by Monday 21st December 2009.

THE OFFICIAL WEEKLY E-NEWS OF THE GREENPAGES ISSUE NUMBER 112 | DECEMBER 2009

NEWS EVENTS PRODUCTS TIPS

COPENHAGEN – Bear In The Square

World leaders passing Copenhagen’s Nytorv for the Climate Change talks could get a chill in their spines as they come face to face with a polar bear. In Copenhagen, the life-sized ‘bear in the square’ is an ice sculpture that will melt over the length of the Climate Conference, leaving a bronze skeleton, a pool of water, and a powerful message about the impacts of climate change on the world’s people and biodiversity. Read more

EVENT – WildEndurance 2010

WildEndurance 2010 is the major fundraising and community event for the Wilderness Society of NSW, with proceeds going to support campaigns to protect the wilderness and help curb climate change. Teams compete for glory in the spectacular Blue Mountains and go head-to-head for great prizes, including a World Expeditions travel voucher. Read more

PRODUCT – Burt’s Bees Lip Balm

Burt’s Bees Sun Protecting Lip Balm SPF 8 is a 100% natural balm that provides broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection and help keep lips hydrated without using chemical sunscreen actives like octinoxate and oxybenzone. Instead, titanium dioxide, a naturally-occurring mineral, creates a micro-fine barrier to reflect the sun’s harmful rays. Read more

FOOD – Hottest Gourmet Trends For 2010

The annual “What’s Hot” survey revealed that 73 percent of ACF chefs voted organic produce as a ‘hot’ restaurant menu trend for 2010, while nutrition and sustainable menu items took out the tops spots. Organic coffee was voted the second hottest non-alcoholic beverage and organic beer, wine and spirits were also tipped to be the top alcohol trends of the coming year. Read more

HOME – Faking It?

Do you cherish braving the chill winter air — perhaps the whole family heading all the way to the tree farm — to choose a tree to bring home and decorate? Or is the natural aroma of pine, spruce or fir outweighed by the predictability of a perfectly triangular tree that’s always the right height for your living room? Read more

NEWS – Funding Secured For Electronic Vehicle Scheme

Better Place Australia today announced it has secured an initial round of funding of $25 million for its planned charging and services network for electric vehicles (EVs). The funding round was led by Lend Lease Ventures, the venture capital arm of Lend Lease and included investments by ActewAGL and several private investors . Read more

PRODUCT – Avery Dennison “Enviro” Office Products

In light of the increasing trend towards environmentally friendly products in the stationery industry Avery Dennison has launched an “Enviro” range. These products now mark a new initiative that is heavily consumer driven. Avery is seeking to address the concerns end-users have with regards to the environment and their ecological footprint. Read more

NEWS – Organic Brands Combine For An Organic Christmas

This Christmas, two leading organic brands in food and fashion, Green & Black’s Chocolate and Gorman Clothing, are collaborating in-store for women with a passion for style and chocolate. The partnership proves it is possible to combine premium taste, and maintain an ethical conscience this Christmas. Read more

NEWS – Council Approves Green Initiatives For Sydney

The City of Sydney Council’s Environment and Heritage Committee last week heard the cases for – and subsequently approved – two proposals aimed at ‘greening up’ the city centre: a fresh food oasis in the heart of the city, and new community gardens. Local residents will be invited to comment on the Draft Community Gardens Policy Read more

NEWS – Technology Helps Reduce Buildings’ Energy Use

Technology developed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has the potential to help building owners worldwide dramatically reduce their energy consumption and costs, improve tenant comfort and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The technology is the result of over 15 man-years of work by scientists at CSIRO’s Energy Transformed Flagship in Newcastle. Read more

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Srbrenka from Living Museum of the West gave me this recipe for olives. It’s a very simple, quick method of preparing black olives. The result are olives that taste sweet!

Ingredients

Fresh black olives either picked straight from the tree or bought at market.

Sea salt

You’ll need these implements/tools

a calico, muslin or cotton bag big enough to hold your olives in a container of water

a large 9 litre cooking pot

enough containers with lids, such as icecream containers, to hold all your olives. You can also use ziplock plastic bags that are suitable for use in the freezer.

Recipe

Put your fresh black olives into your cotton bag. Close off the top of the bag so that the olives can’t come out of it; either tie a knot or use some string.

Fill your cooking pot with water and boil it. You’ll be putting the black olives in once the water is boiled so don’t fill the bucket to the top.

Once the water is boiled, remove it from the heat. Place your bag of olives into the pot, and leave for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, take the bag of olives out of the pot. Leave the water in the pot, and let it cool down to room temperature. Once the water has cooled, place the bag of olives back into the pot and leave for 24 hours.

After the 24 hours, take the bag of olives out of the pot, take the olives out of the bag and drain them.

Once well drained, place enough olives into each container, give it a light sprinkle of sea salt and thoroughly mix through. The amount of salt you use is personal taste. I use maybe 1 teaspoon of salt for an icecream container.

Then place the container of olives in the freezer. And that’s it! The olives can be used after they’ve been in the freezer for 2 days. It’s just a simple matter of thawing them a couple of hours before you use them.

Plant Propagation

T or Shield Budding

T budding or shield budding is a special grafting technique in which the scion piece is reduced to a single bud. As with other techniques of asexual propagation, the resulting plants are clones (genetically identical plants reproduced from one individual entirely by vegetative means). The plant being propagated (represented by the bud) is referred to as the scion, while the plant being grafted onto is referred to as the rootstock, or simply stock. A small branch with several buds suitable for T budding on it is often called a bud stick.

Successful T budding requires that the scion material have fully-formed, mature, dormant buds, and that the rootstock be in a condition of active growth such that the “bark is slipping“. This means that the vascular cambium is actively growing, and the bark can be peeled easily from the stock piece with little damage. T budding can be performed on certain fruit trees (peaches, for example) in June using cold stored budsticks and field grown seedling rootstocks. Many deciduous trees are budded in late July or early August after the current seasons buds have developed fully and are dormant using field grown seedlings that have slipping bark.

	Bud sticks having plump, healthy buds are suitable scions. These budsticks should be on branches that exhibited good growth during the current season, rather than ones from the interior of trees that have slender stems and closely spaced, small buds. Thick water sprouts that grew very vigorously are often poor scions. Leaf blades are clipped from the budsticks, leaving the petiole intact. This leaves a convenient “handle” for holding the bud while it is cut from the budstick.
	The bud and a small sliver of the wood underneath it are cut from the budstick using an upward slicing motion. The cut should begin about 1/2 to 3/4 inch below the bud, and should go deep enough into the wood so that when the cut is finished about 1/2 to 3/4 above the bud, the bark and a small sliver of wood are cut off. A perpendicular cut across the top of the upward cut will separate it from the bud stick.Budding knives should be kept very sharp, so that as little damage as possible is done to the bud. Dull knives strip and tear the wood, leaving cuts that do not heal properly. Buds must be cut from the bud stick just prior to grafting, otherwise they will dry out. Some grafters put the bud in their mouth for the time between when it is removed from the stick and when it is grafted in place, but this practice is not recommended. Speed in grafting is a more suitable solution.
	Some grafters make a downward cut as the second cut to remove the bud from the budstick. This works well as long as it does not result in too much of the underlying wood being removed with the bud.
	A vertical cut is made on the stem of the root stock. The cut should be deep enough to insure that the bark will separate at the cambium.
	The “T is then crossed.” That is, a perpendicular cut is made at the upper end of the vertical cut. In areas with heavy rainfall during the grafting season, or in species in which the rootstock is likely to “bleed” heavily, an upside down, or inverted T bud can be used to prevent water or sap from pooling in the graft.
	The bark is carefully slipped from the stem of the rootstock exposing a “pocket” into which the bud shield can be placed. Care should be taken not to tear the flaps of bark in the process of spreading them.If the bark does not slip easily, this indicates that the stock is not in active growth and the process should be conducted later when active growth has resumed. An alternative method for budding which does not require the bark to slip is the technique of chip budding in which the bud is cut out with a “chip” of the underlying wood. This requires that a chip of corresponding size be cut out of the stock piece in order to align the cambia for proper graft healing.
	The bud shield is carefully slipped in between the bark flaps. The top of the bark strip on the bud shield is trimmed to fit tightly against the horizontal cut (the cross of the T) so that the bud fits within the “pocket” snuggly.
	The bark flaps are held tightly against the bud as they are wrapped with a budding rubber, grafting tape or other suitable closure. This closure must either breakdown by weathering (as budding rubbers do), or must be removed in 2 to 3 weeks after the union has healed. If the material does not break down, it will girdle the rootstock.After the union has healed, the upper part of the rootstock plant can be cut away to force the bud to grow (as would be the case for June budding). If the grafting is done in the late summer, the bud likely will need to overwinter prior to resuming growth. In this case, the upper portion of the rootstock is usually removed during the dormant season, either in late winter or early spring.

After the upper portion of the rootstock is removed, the scion bud grows vigorously.

From http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/propagation/budding/budding.html

Hello,

Firstly I must apologise for rescheduling the meeting. I want to make this simple as I am feeling it is getting complicated! We must not forget Permaculture is a positive, simple solution to the problems.

As it stands (see below): for clarity

1. MISSION STATEMENT / MISSION – at present we are using PcM vision/mission and develop that as we develop. Found on your latest PIE

Permaculture Melbourne

Our Vision is:
A bioregional network of sustainable communities living in harmony with the environment.

Permaculture Melbourne’s Mission is to:
Promote the application of Permaculture principles in the design of communities and the landscapes that support them:
Support its members in the pursuit of those goals and Network with like minded organisations

Our Core values are:
Care of the earth.
Care of people.
Sharing of skills, knowledge and production.
Reducing consumption.
Recognising that there are natural limits to growth, and our activities must restore health to the planet.

Benefits include access to field trips, newsletter, Permaculture library, social events and opportunities to participate in projects and
activities and to network and improve skills. PIE is published by Permaculture Melbourne

2. MAILING LIST – all people who have filled in the request to be added to the mailing list will be added to the POW website listing. There is a clause on the bottom of anything they receive they are able to unsubscribe. Each person subscribed will recieve an update of what has been posted during the week on the website. Deb, Kat & Mel are able to post. Anything you want posted please email to Deb, Kat or Mel. Deb is the only one with access to administration of the site for security reasons. So this means Deb will maintain the mailing list, removing those who wish to be removed. We are able to send out special emails to all who have added themselves to the list, only for POW and POW activities.

3. Roles:
These are the roles that were chosen at the first meeting. An addition is Nyree as the permablitz co-ordinator. If you want to fill any roles, please bring it up at next meeting.
Office Bearers:
Convenor/Contact Person – Mel
Treasurer – Katerina (Monica = backup)
Events Co-Ordinator – Scott
Secretary – later
Fundraising – later
Signatories to bank account – Mel, Kat, Monica (any 2 needed to sign).
Trunk Rep – rotational

4. Maidstone/Pipemaker/Woofers/etc – I suggest the people who want to be involved in these and want to start any other projects, form a sub commitee and take control of them. All correspondence should be posted on the website (please forward to “Debbie Campbell” , “Melanie Henkel” , “Katerina Gaita” to post). Please send a request to anyone who wants to involve themself in a project, they should contact/ should email the person co ordinating directly, then a subgroup can be formed just as the Maidstone has. This is to help free up the emails. Post it on our website so we can share with more people. We have rapidly growing amount of visits to our site! 2500 since its conception I am told! Well done everyone.

Take Care & Merry Christmas

Permaculturely Yours,
Melanie Henkel
Convenor

Hello,

A reminder about our midsummer eve celebrations are on the 21st December at 5pm. The location is Maidstone Community Centre.

Date: Monday 21st December
Time: From 5pm to 10pm
Address:21 Yardley street, Maidstone. Enter via Gibb Street gate.

Click here for a map of the location.

Hope to see you there!

We’re in the process of finalising a permaculture childrens playgroup in Braybrook.

The details so far:

PROBABLY monday morn – but this is not fixed yet, 2 hours every week. A chance to work on the gardens, take home food, grow things together, learn new skills. Participants will need Playgroup Vic family membership ($25 per year/$15 concession). This covers all insurance. There may be a further charge, but this is being wrangled out with the centre.

DEFINITELY Braybrook Community Centre Community Gardens

STARTING in Feb, next year.

If you have some kids and would be interested in being kept informed of developments, send an email to playgroup@pow.org.au