Pip Magazine Issue 10

KIRSTEN BRADLEY Kirsten Bradley is the co-founder of Milkwood Permaculture. She lives with her family on a small permaculture homestead in Victoria where they grow food, milk goats, keep bees, forage, teach courses and write books about permaculture skills. She has a tendency to pickle and ferment everything available, usually with grand success. Milkwood’s first book is due out September 2018. FABIAN CAPOMOLLA Fabian Capomolla is passionate about food and gardening; in particular, where the two meet. He co-founded The Little Veggie Patch Co. and coauthored three gardening books. In 2014, Fabian sold his share of the business and moved his young family (wife Beck and kids Jack and Olive) to Lucca, Italy, to reconnect with his roots, which is the subject of his latest book, ‘Growing Food The Italian Way’. Fabian has…

Hello people, For those of you who haven’t noticed the double digits on the spine, I am proud to announce that Pip has reached issue no. 10! It’s a coming of age, a marker of success, and a sign that we are here to stay. We are coming into our fifth year of publishing and starting to really reach out to the world. This issue, we focus on what we can do in our lives right here and now to live more simply. You don’t have to sell up and go and live in the country; you can do a lot to change the world right from your very own kitchen table (hence the teapot on the cover). We have an extract from David Holmgren’s book RetroSuburbia (Melliodora Publishing, 2018), which focuses on…

INCREDIBLE EDIBLE TODMORDEN, UK www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk How we address food in our communities is a powerful agent for positive change. Incredible Edible Todmorden is an example of community permaculture in action. People from this old textile town in West Yorkshire are coming together as volunteers to grow fruits, herbs and vegetables around the town for everyone to share. It’s simple and powerful, and has grown into a movement. You’ll find herbs at the station, a pollinator street garden, medicinals at the health centre, and community food everywhere. They encourage people to shop and share locally and work together to create markets, festivals, meals, classes, gardens and a thriving network. The community has transformed itself through this project. There is a feeling of cohesiveness, positivity and a rippling out of influence. Their focus on relocalising…

BIOME BEE HOUSE This house is crafted so beautifully that if we weren’t way too big to fit, we’d be moving right in. The Biome Bee House is designed to provide a safe home for Australian native bees, who are more fragile than the European honey bee. They also like their own space, which is why the nooks and hollows of this design is perfect for them. Sold through eco store Biome, the bee house is made by members of the Indooroopilly Men’s Shed. The materials used come from recycled pallet boxes and weed bamboo that has been cleared from around Brisbane. $65 www.biome.com.au WECK JARS Weck make beautiful, high-quality and zero -waste preserving jars for a wide range of purposes including fermenting, jam and sauce making. The jars come with natural rubber food…

DANDENONG RANGES OPEN STUDIOS 5 & 6 May 2018, Upwey, Melbourne Featuring 30 artists and collectives, the 15th Dandenong Ranges Open Studios event offers visitors a unique exhibition and open studio weekend. Explore and connect with artists, ignite your creative imagination and step into the hidden gems, curious constructions and awe-inspiring spaces of the artists’ environments. Many of the artists engage with natural and environmentally focused processes, and live in sustainability-aware studios and homes. You will have the unique opportunity to purchase artwork and hand-crafted items directly from the artists, informed by new insight into their creative world. www.burrinja.org.au AUSTRALIAN PERMACULTURE CONVERGENCE 15 – 19 April 2018, Canberra The Australian Permaculture Convergence (APC14) kicks off with the ACT Permaculture Festival at Canberra City Farm on the Sunday, followed by four days of connecting and learning at…

Justin Calverley, Morag Gamble & Kat Lavers Question for the Pip Brains Trust? Email editorial@pipmagazine.com.au My cucumber seedlings wilt every day in the hot sun. They come back to life every evening after a good water, but is this ideal? Should I have planted them somewhere shadier? [Nicole, Umina Beach, NSW] When plants lose more water than they can take up from the soil, the pressure inside their cells is reduced which leads to wilting. Generally plants have stopped growing before wilting is visible and there is a point beyond which plants cannot recover. Cucurbits like pumpkin, zucchini and cucumber have large, broad leaves and it can be difficult to prevent them from wilting on hot days, even with good soil moisture, but they usually bounce right back as you’ve observed. It’s not…