Muscovies sound the go for us.Sorry to butt into the thread, we’re looking at possibly getting ducks. Meat and Eggs.  We have a massive chook pen, gate at both ends.  I was thinking of splitting it in half and having ducks in the other end and free ranging them through the day.  Couple things, we have a small farm dam quite close, so how do we get…[Read more]

Professor Dunning did a great article that goes a long way to explain the apparent non acceptance of the Scientific Theory of AGW.  Confident IdiotsUnfortunately as articulated by Professor LewandowskyAs our physical understanding of climate change has become more and more robust, public debate has become progressively more disconnected from the…[Read more]

I don’t like the layout, way to much whitespace for me and the default text is too “fine” and difficult to read.Using Chrome x64 V38  on a Win8.1 PC 

To give you an idea of what works where we are, our fruit list runs to:Here when we bought the placeNashi Pear (deceased, long story, did well, fruit fly prone, hnd to bag all the fruit, okay as the fruit are big and not so many)Nectarine (diseased tree I removed, did well, fruit fly prone had to bag all the fruit, a pain in the butt)Thornless…[Read more]

We’re at 30 degrees south to give you an idea.We  had  very last of some Oranges and Mandarins last week, White mulberry by the billion (inside a ultra large chook enclosure and netted completely and just coming on) and Peaches.  We also have Peppino.  I would really recommend those, they seem to fruit all year around and are often the only thing…[Read more]

“but jaboticaba is still playing hard to get and so is the chocolate sapote.”Same here, both planted at the same time about 4 years ago, the J’s have barely moved, sigh… the Sapote has fruit on it this year but they kind of stopped growing and have been sitting there the size of tennis balls and green, maybe next year ?

” I’ve loved the experience of growing citrus because (touch wood!) nothing wants to eat them”I take it you don’t have possums, they can destroy a citrus tree when in fruit.  Our small orchard is netted.  The only downside is the stink bugs all over the citrus because the Spangled Drongo (which eats stink bugs) them can’t get in, so I manually…[Read more]

“It just isn’t possible for many of us to be completely self-sufficient “Without a community, so you can swap with each other, it’s impossible.  Salt, rice, wheat, pepper, coffee, tea etc.  Next level up, grind your own flour etcAs to climate change. That’s an endless debate, I don’t  have enough scientific background (though I do have…[Read more]

 trying to live a sustainable life 

Can you articulate what you mean by that ?  I moved from North Qld (lived there 40 years) , it was just getting too hot, (it’s nice 3 months of the year, shitty for 9, where as here (northern NSW) is shitty for 4 months and nice for 8)  had enough of cyclones and not being able to enjoy the outdoors.  I like the…[Read more]

Bit late to the thread, been a looong time since I was on the site… but we don’t have a TV.  We moved here about 5 years ago, we had one of those big old CRT style tellies, didn’t seem worth while carting it down here,  Gave it away and thought we would get another when we moved.  Never found the time to get one and can’t be bothered now. As to…[Read more]

Howdy, we’re a little further south outside Grafton near the Nymboida Rv.  We’re up at Kyogle around Boxing Day to buy up trees a Daley’s Nursery for their discount saleHaven’t updated our blog for a long time buthttp://menuchanechona.blogspot.com/

We sell excess produce (including eggs) at a local Farmers market in our village. My partner also makes fresh Feta and sells it, as well as bottling some in oil with herbs from the garden and selling that. All the money she makes from that goes to charity.

We have small farm dam that’s used for watering of produce (electric pump from solar to…[Read more]

Interesting topic

Tricky, I think, because “living simply” it’s subjective.

Think about the end game. 10 minutes planning can save years of hard work. Mo use buying some block of land in the sticks and then realising you can’t find work or send the kids to school, be realistic.

Think about money. I see people around us commuting long…[Read more]

earthwalker post=360052 wrote: and I must say I make a pretty mean spiced fig jam. 🙂

Ohhh. sounds interesting … could I be so bold as to ask for the recipe ?

Humbug post=360024 wrote: I honestly do not know what all the fuss is with figs :shrug:

Either do I but then I am not a fan of Pumpkin either :whistle: Just thought I would throw up a photo. I am not a huge fan but my partner likes them like this, wrapped in prosciutto, stuffed with blue cheese, drizzled with balsamic and in the oven.

I…[Read more]

I am interested to. I had thought of emergency in bushfires as well. One solution I was interested in is to use excavators, use containers, leave an air gap underneath for water to drain away etc, then back fill over the top. Then step down etc.

There was a timelapse youtube video explaining how to do it, looked quite good. American of…[Read more]

There seem to be a couple different groups. I am an avid study of human behaviour 🙂 This is not about right/wrong, just an observation.

One group have undertaken to be some what sustainable and try and transition to living lightly on the land and

another group that are living minimally through circumstance of some sort ie don’t have access…[Read more]

earthworm42 post=359862 wrote: Hi

i live on the mornington Peninsula Victoria and been using seaweed on the garden for years as a mulch.

Do you need to do anything to it before use ?

Can you make Liquid Fertilisers out them, if so how ? much like you would with Comfrey ?

lavman post=359344 wrote:
the nice goat, feeling a bit frisky with the drizzly rain,

Now you’re just bragging huh :laugh: Dry as a bone here 🙁

Snags post=358189 wrote: I think you find we export our good fish and import cheap crap fish.

That’s misleading, the wikipedia link’s talking $’s, not tonnes of fish, for example 1 x $10,000 tuna does not make up for 1,000tonne x $10 of imported “shrimp”, for…[Read more]