Organic urban food gardening

In their book The Australian Fruit & Vegetable Garden, Clive Blazey and Jane Varkulevicius use a 12-metre by 9-metre plot to demonstrate the production potential of an urban backyard food garden, which is based on the average 640m2 block.  But backyard space is becoming smaller with more recent prolific subdivision models. And that space is … Continue reading →

My research was about urban food production within 70-km radius of Melbourne CBD. The data collection period ran from July 2012 to July 2013. This was deliberately designed to capture inter-seasonal yield. In all, 15 households took part in the research and each participant contributed 12 weeks’ worth of data. The result was impressive. The … Continue reading →

It is the end of autumn for us here in the southern hemisphere and winter is just around the corner. I believe I have just harvested the last of the zucchini for this season. It is amazing though that I am still getting zucchini this late into the season. Another late crop is chilli, and … Continue reading →

Price is a critical deciding factor when it comes to our food choice. When I initially decided to go organic, I did it gradually. I started with fresh food and vegetables and over time have incorporated other dry goods and ingredients such as cooking oils, grains, lentils and spices. It is a conscientious decision to … Continue reading →

Magician, alchemist, master builder, diligent worker …. the humble honey bee Some trivia about Apis Mellifera: Female bees make up about 99% of a colony, and they are mainly the workers, the ones that go out and foraging for nectar. Drones are the males and their one and only role is to fertilise the queen … Continue reading →

I had the best Christmas dinner in 2010.  We decided to spend Christmas with Michael’s cousin Julie and her family in the Gold Coast. Julie and her family are vegetarians.  For Christmas dinner Julie cooked a feast for the clan and she decided on Indian for 2010. With the exception of the naan bread and … Continue reading →

This post is long overdue! There is lot of confusion, misconception, misunderstanding and general ignorance about food; how it is produced, how it is distributed and why our food is under threat. A lot of people take for granted that there is an abundance supply of cheap food. The local supermarkets never run out of … Continue reading →

I had to go through Melbourne Central Station today on my way home from work and imagine my delight – the whole podium has been turned into a kitchen garden to promote Stephanie Alexander‘s Kitchen Garden program. It was a feast for the eyes. There were beetroots, herbs galore, buckets of potatoes and apples and … Continue reading →

There is a poster advocating why organic is better for our health and the planet. I haven’t seen it but fellow permaculturist Patrick Blampied did and wrote about it on the Permaculture Research Institute website. Organic produce is not covered in a cocktail of poisonous chemicals. The average chemically grown apple has 20 – 30 … Continue reading →