You guys can have as many guns and as much ammo as you like. But please don’t resort to becoming materialists about it, which is so common in the American prepper movement. Rather than getting on with it they seem to talk more about gun paraphernalia, and brand names, and so on.

I think the reason people love them is because they think they have the best, and they have probably had a few crappy cheap ones along the way. 😛

James Dyson has proven to be a marketing genius. To successfully make people think that his machines are good. I run a cleaning business. My employees and I use our clients Dysons (they are the most popular machine) on a daily basis and never, never, have I dealt with a more overengineered, clunky machine in my life. If one loses suction, heaven…[Read more]

They’re delicious little morsels, aren’t they? It’s amazing how many you fig trees you will discover growing ‘wildly’ if you look closely enough. I have about a dozen within 200 metres of my house that are either growing publically or are overhanging fences and are thus ripe (pardon the pun) for the picking.

Can you freeze them? Yeah, but you’re…[Read more]

Absolutely. In fact, when I move out to the Murraylands I have no intention of buying one.

/raises hand

I’m here. I’d love to see more engagement too. Perhaps we should be a little methodical about stoking things up again. Perhaps we should each start a new thread on something of interest – something to get people talking?

Food Forest, at Hiller (near Gawler), has a straw bale extension on the main (1800s stone) house. They also have a straw bale studio out amongst the carobs that was build at one of their workshops. I think the bunk house is also straw bale.

Annemarie and Graham Brookman (owners of Food Forest) are two of the best people in SA to speak to about…[Read more]

In a short space of time there seems to be quite the band of straw bale aspirants emerging.

Geoff is insanely passionate and stacked to the brim with knowledge and wisdom.

Whilst we’re sharing, keep an eye on David Holmgren’s great blog. His writing tends to go deeper than some of the others. Lawton is practical. Holmgren is more academic. Lawton shows us how to do permaculture. Holmgren tells us why we should bother.

Congratulations on the purchase, Russ. I have family down at Yankalilla and Normanville. I love it down there.

A few things:

– Get a PH test done on the water. You can buy kits from your local hardware store for pocket change. I was recently at a workshop at Food Forest, a permaculture farm near Gawler, and they told the story of a bloke that…[Read more]

She included her email address in the initial post. 😉

maureen@esperanceholisticfarm.com.

I know of a few energy efficient / sustainability focused designers:

House of Bales – Lance Kairl
Bohdan Dorniak & Co
Emilis Prelgauskas
Ecopolis – Paul Downton
Troppo Architects
TS4

froot_loopz post=359103 wrote: wow those squash look great

Ive been picking roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and zukes, and the usual spinach and silverbeet for the chooks.

leaving the house in a few weeks for perth. I may lose the vegie garden depending on who looks after the animals while we are gone

as long as the animals are fed I’ll try…

[Read more]

Don’t feel bad for straying off the path. I am not entirely on the path yet. I don’t cook anywhere near as much as I should and find myself slothfully on the couch more often than I should be.

But I know where I want to / need to be at. And I will get there. Soon. (Yes, I am full of excuses.) But I am having trouble breaking it during this phase…[Read more]

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. Lovely spot, too.

If I could have afforded the Adelaide Hills I would have bought there. But I didn’t want to have to take on any debt to purchase property. And thus, I bought in the Mallee.

Thanks, Froot_Loopz. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, though, as it doesn’t settle until mid-January.

Welcome, Gav. My name might be familiar – I’m a fairly regular commenter over at your blog. You’re a wealth of knowledge. It’s great to have you participating here.

It’s in Peake, in the Murray Mallee.

Gah. This forum is damn glitchy sometimes. I wrote a comment and it got eaten. Anyways.

Tipper – I share your utopian bubble to a degree. (Hope I am not taking up too much space!) However, economics exists regardless of whether we live in a capitalistic society. Economics is concerned with the “production, distribution, and consumption of goods…[Read more]

Gah. This forum is damn glitchy sometimes. I wrote a comment and it got eaten. Anyways.

Tipper – I share your utopian bubble to a degree. (Hope I am not taking up too much space!) However, economics exists regardless of whether we live in a capitalistic society or other. Economics is concerned with the “production, distribution, and consumption…[Read more]