Yandina community Gardens Archives | Page 8 of 8

Fun Had By All At Our Annual End Of Year Member Event

11/12/2017 By

One of our favourite times of the year at Yandina Community Gardens is when our members come together to celebrate what we have achieved for the year. This year’s event was no exception as we fired up the cob oven and shared a delightful meal together we also had occasion to plant a tree in memory of Bill Mollison, launch our intensive orchard garden, new website and give a special award to a long-standing member and contributor to the gardens.

Tree planting At Yandina Community Gardens — Dave planting a tree in memory of Bill Mollison

Last year with the passing of Bill Mollison his widow requested that all the Permaculture organisations plant a tree in his memory. We now have a beautiful Black Sapote in our orchard that will forever remind us of his incredible contribution to sustainable living. One of his quotes that lie dear to our heart at YCG is.

“The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone”.

We also celebrated the launch of our intensive orchard garden that was made possible by the Sunshine Coast Council grant for their 50th-year birthday celebration. This garden showcases how to build a productive orchard in a very small space.

For some time we have recognised as a management committee that if we are going to extend our influence with regard to sustainable living beyond our own community we need to transform our website. This work was done in the last 3 months of the year and we would particularly like to thank Christa Louw (our IT volunteer) for the technical support in this regard. Our website has now come of age with WOO commerce, just to mention one new feature, that allows workshop attendees to book and pay for workshops online.

Our organisation would not exist without the dedication of many volunteers and we are particularly grateful to people who have made a long-term commitment to YCG. Each year the Committee will be recognising such people and this year we recognised Dave Clark, who has tirelessly supported YCG. Dave who is exceptionally knowledgeable in Permaculture design and did his Permaculture training with Bill Mollison in the early days has been with YCG since its inception. Thanks Dave for your contribution and dedication to our beautiful community space.

Dave Clark being recognised for his long-term dedication to YCG

Some of our members who attended the event had this to say…

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the Saturday morning workshops and I have gained many skills at YCC.” Louise White

“The YCG is an inspiration. So fantastic to see so many working for a healthy sustainable future. Very educational and a great asset to the community.” Meri Luke

“YCG is a fantastic place for people to learn about growing their own healthy food and sustainability. Many volunteers put in many hours to make YCG the great resource and community that it is. It was fantastic today to see YCG volunteers recognised with the help of Sunshine Coast Council.”

“Great pizzas, great people; beautiful gardens and great opportunity to keep learning about living an organic lifestyle.” -Petra

Cob oven pizzas — Thanks to Trevor we all enjoyed tasty pizzas from our own cob oven

“Wonderful to know wonderful people surrounded by gardens of beauty and wholesomeness.” – Myshell

“I love coming to these gardens! Such good people, terrific workshops, wonderfully lush plants. So much knowledge gets passed on and great concept – there should be more of them.” – Jan L

“Yandina Community Gardens is an integral and very happy part of my life. It invigorates me and I love the people involved in the gardens. Also, we learn how to care for our natural heritage to preserve our planet for our children.” – Pam P

“It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this community garden which I hope will grow with more community awareness and be appreciated by all.” – Andrew

“Yandina Community Gardens provides such a welcome respite – an oasis of learning, creativity, and community. I look forward to each visit and feel very grateful for the people who enable the opportunities afforded to me through its existence.” – Jenny L

Aquaponics System For Sale

11/12/2017 By

Aquaponics System

Aquaponics Patio Unit system purchased from Practical Aquaponics (Murray Hallum)

Large tub for fish (1250 litres) 1470 W x 1250 D x 910 H. Suitable for Australian Native Fish (new price $1309 for large tank only)
Small grow bed with clay-fired balls (approx. 100 litres)
Timber lid covered in shade cloth
Bilge pump – replaced in October 2016 with AquaPro AB3000 water pump from Practical Aquaponics (purchase price $122.50)
All plumbing including auto-siphon
Aerator
Water testing kit
Nets
Urban Aquaponics Manual 2^nd Edition by Gary Donaldson

Offers around $800 considered

If you are interested in making an offer, please contact YCG Secretary, Lissa Evans by emailing info@yandinacommunitygardens.com.au

Becoming More Self-Sufficient

11/12/2017 By

One of the objectives here at the Yandina Community Gardens is to help our members and community learn hands-on skills and become educated to live a more “self-sufficient” and “sustainable” lifestyle. Becoming more self-sufficient means becoming less dependent on outside resources and making more use of your own resources. Whilst complete self-sufficiency may not be possible for most people in today’s modern world, I do believe it is a rewarding pursuit. One that will yield many practical and personal benefits.

Self-Sufficient lifestyle

There is an abundance of information and tips out there on how to become more self-sufficient. Over the coming months, the gardens will be running a number of workshops to support you to become more self-sufficient. In this article, I will be focusing on three things you can do to reduce your living costs and become more self-sufficient. At the end of the article, I will include a list of tips for you.

1. Grow your own food

On average we spend about $150 a week on food and for a family, with a couple kids, this can be well over $300 a week. Almost all those costs can be eliminated by growing our own food. Get out and attend as many workshops as you can to learn the key components to growing your own organic nutrient-packed food. The main things to learn about include:

Loving your soil – having healthy soil is central to how good your food will be. Understanding how you can increase the humus content in your soil will improve your food quality and quantity.
Basic permaculture design principles – one-way permaculture differs from other methods of gardening is that it is not just a set of practical techniques; it is a way of thinking and of adapting to a particular ecology. Whether you are starting a new garden, or introducing permaculture principles to an existing garden, having some understanding of the key principles will definitely help you get closer to your self-sufficiency goals. Join one of our garden tours at Yandina Community Gardens to see what we do. Garden Tours at YCG
How to grow your own seedlings – growing your own seedlings is easy but not as easy as just throwing a seed in some dirt, there are a few key things you can learn that will increase your success rate. Join a local seed savers group so you can learn how to save your own seeds and you will have friends to swap seeds with as well.
Building garden beds and wicking gardens – if you don’t have the resources to build your own beds you can visit local recycling and demolition yards and find lots of valuable materials. Wicking beds are great for our subtropical climate and will help reduce your water use and grow super greens all year round.
Natural garden pest control – prevention is the best cure when it comes to pests. A healthy garden is the best defense. Natural pest control is cost effective and safe for your garden, your family, your companion animals, wildlife and the environment.Find out about our workshops, click here

2. Build a compost system

Organic waste comprises an estimated 20-40% of the solid waste stream that ends up in landfills. Organic matter breaks down slowly in landfills due to limited oxygen, which can contribute to methane gas production. Luckily we can compost! 🙂 Compost is the rich, black remnant of organic waste such as kitchen scraps combined with “brown” matter (i.e. soil, leaves). The result is beautiful fertilizer for your garden. Intentionally composting accelerates the natural process of the breakdown of organic matter. Composting reduces landfill waste, saves you from using chemical fertilizers, and introduces beneficial organisms to your soil. A supporter and member of our garden Costa Georgiadis has a lot to say about composting.

3. Improve your hot water heating systems

What few people realize, is that the process of heating water in homes is extremely energy intensive and therefore expensive. An average household can use around 25% of its total energy on heating water. So it’s important to use an efficient system that suits your needs. Reducing the amount of hot water you use and using a more efficient hot water system are great ways to reduce your energy costs and your impact on the environment. Given that over 85% of our electricity in Australia is derived from nonrenewable fossil fuels, the ecological cost of water heating is enormous. The warm showers that you so enjoy are most fun and likely at the same time contributing to massive greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming.

Luckily, there are other ways to heat the water that you use that are cost-effective. It is a step to becoming less reliant on the power grid. Do some of your own research online.

Once you have your own food growing, have put together an efficient composting system and have reduced your energy consumption by heating your own hot water you will be well on your way to becoming more self-sufficient and saved lots of money.
There are lots more things you can start to incorporate into your daily life – here are some ideas.

Easy Self Sufficient Living Tips

Building a rain barrel to collect rainwater for lawn and garden irrigation.
Install solar panels with batteries to store household energy.
Add skylights and large, energy-efficient windows to take advantage of natural light.
Choose a solar oven to replace inefficient appliances.
Learn basic appliance, car, and home repairs and maintenance to save time and money to keep items in good repair for a longer time period.
Using a clothesline instead of a gas or electric dryer.
Choosing reusable grocery bags instead of disposable ones, and reusing store bags as trash bags.
Growing indoor micro herbs for fresh recipe seasoning.
Choose reusable cloth diapers that can be handed down to multiple children.
Learning to repair and sew new clothing, curtains etc
Learn basic culinary preservation skills such as canning or making fruit preserves to support a larger harvest.
Learning food fermentation methods for food and health
Choosing to walk or bike to work or on errands instead of using a motorised vehicle.
Choosing a low flow toilet or composting toilet to preserve water and use the human effluents
Choose energy efficient light bulbs and appliances to minimise the need for electricity.
Using a manual push lawn mower instead of electric or gas powered models.
Buying locally produced items to minimize transport costs and to support others interested in self-sufficiency.
Starting your own business to become economically self-sufficient instead of relying on an employer.
Developing natural beauty without depending on cosmetics, hair dye, and other products.
Choosing self-sufficient recreation such as camping, hiking, or other low impact activities that do not require extensive travel or elaborate assistance to enjoy.

Self-sufficient living tips can help anyone begin to develop their own economic and environmental independence. While it may not be possible to become completely self-sufficient, choosing just a few ways to participate in low impact living can have a profound impact on the environment as well as an individual’s self-esteem and personal satisfaction.

Roman Spur and his family have pursued a self-sufficient lifestyle for many years. To learn more about how to provide for your family in a more sustainable and self-sufficient way, join us at Roman’s workshop. Click here to book

Aibika Lasagne Recipe

11/12/2017 By

To make a Vegetarian version simply replace meat with sliced baked/flame grilled eggplant slices (quite thick cuts) topped with your favourite herbs e.g. marjoram, oregano, parsley etc.

Bechemal sauce:

90g butter, plus extra for greasing

3/4 cup plain flour (I recommend Spelt)

1.25 l milk

A few gratings of nutmeg

250g steamed spinach (Aibika – leaves only, sliced)

Sea salt & ground black pepper to taste

(my personal version I use my kefir home-made soft cheese or you could buy Ricotta cheese, then I add grated cheddar cheese, nutmeg, salt & pepper and my steamed Aibika and voila sauce done!)

Filling:

40 g dried porcini mushrooms

70 g butter

2 tabs olive oil

2 spring onions, finely chopped

750 g fresh mixed mushrooms, thinly sliced

Juice of 1/2 lemon

500 g lasagne sheets

250 g cooked ham, cut into thin matchsticks OR lean beef mince (my personal choice is minced Kangaroo meat which I cook with onions, tomatoes & herbs until reduced down to a spreadable paste to alternate with sauce & lasagne sheets)

100g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Method:

1. to make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour to cook a few minutes without browning.

2. pour in milk and whisk until sauce is thick and smooth. Add nutmeg, salt & pepper, Aibika spinach. Stir and set aside.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees centigrade

3. Cover dried mushrooms with boiling water and leave for 30 mins, then rinse and chop finely. Strain this mixture through a fine muslin cloth and reserve fluid separately.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter with the oil in a large frying pan, saute the spring onions a few minutes then add fresh and dried mushrooms with lemon juice. Cook uncovered until they start to exude juices. Raise the heat to evaporate most of the liquid before adding the strained water from the mushrooms, boil for a few minutes, add salt & pepper then set aside.

5. Cook lasagne sheets as per instructions on packet before draining on clean tea towels.

6. Mixed cooked mushrooms with Aibika sauce. Lightly grease a shallow, rectangular oven-proof dish (about 33 x 25 cm with some butter before adding a thin layer of the sauce before the first layer of pasta to make it easier to remove from dish when serving.

7. Continue to layer the meat or eggplant slices with Aibika sauce and lasagne sheets finishing with sauce and grated cheese on top.

8. Bake for 40-45 minutes until well-browned and bubbling. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving with a garden or rocket salad.

A Passion For Native Stingless Beekeeping

01/12/2017 By

Beekeeping is so much more than a hobby – it is a deep fascination and passion that grabs you, never to let go. My fascination with bees started at a very young age running around after them in my Nan’s garden as they flitted from blossom to blossom. Mom cautioning in the background “Mind, they will sting you”.

The fascination only grew as I started understanding the wonders of these beautiful insects. They are hard-working, organized and focused, all traits that I admire not only in the animal kingdom but in people as well. They are the ultimate team players with each bee fulfilling its role perfectly, no egos, simply working hard at what they do best to secure the next generation.

It is only in the latter part of my life that I became a real beekeeper with my own hives. And then I discovered native stingless bees. My first impression when I saw one was that they were ants with wings. So small, so diligent and masters at the craft of pollination.

Beekeeping has become very popular in the last few years, particularly the keeping of native stingless bees in urban environments where they thrive. I have been around beekeepers that have inspired me to be a better beekeeper. They treat their bees with a huge amount of respect and lovingly take all precautions to disrupt their hives as little as possible. I think we owe it to these hardworking insects to be the best and kindest beekeepers we can be.

So how do you get started?

Well firstly decide why you want to keep bees and what type of beekeeper you want to be. Some of the reasons for keeping bees might be to improve the pollination of your vegetables and fruit crop or contribute to their preservation. Native stingless bees are particularly suited to teaching children how to care for the environment as they don’t sting and are easy to maintain. You might enjoy their honey, which is unique and has excellent medicinal properties as well. Others simply keep them for relaxation, sitting and watching them after a long day as they rhythmically come in and out of the hive.

Having a hive is like having pets, it is a long-term commitment so be sure that you are up for it. The way to be sure would be to attend courses and do as much reading as you can before getting a hive. Native stingless bees do not cope well with cold climates so be sure that your climate is suited for them to thrive.

Now find yourself a reputable beekeeper that will provide you with all you need and guide you where needed.

What is some of the basic information you need to know when keeping native stingless bees? Firstly Australia has 11 species of native stingless bees. The most popular being Tetragonula Hockingsi and Tetragonula Carbonaria. You are most likely to get one of these species from your chosen beekeeper.

Native stingless bees have a foraging range of 500 metres so they require a plant-rich environment that has pollen, nectar and resin. They are particularly fond of native plants for which they are well adapted. So get to know your native plants and start planting or potting up if you have a small space. Locate your bees where they get morning sun, are protected from the wind and afternoon sun. You can place them on balconies, in buildings, under gazebos or trees. Native stingless bees are pest and disease resistant and only have a few pests that could invade the hive. But they have excellent defences that stave off most attacks. You can support them by ensuring the hive is off the ground so that pests like the small hive beetle find it more difficult to invade the hive.

What do you need to start?

In the beginning, all you need is a hive and bees placed in a good location. There are no standard hives such as in the honeybee world although there has been an attempt at standardising using what is termed the OATH (Original Australian Trigona Hive) hive. Important to note is that not all hives are equal. Good construction is key and although a lot of different materials are currently being used, a natural hardwood, in my opinion, is preferable because of its ability to absorb moisture and regulate temperature.

Native Stingless bees, unlike honeybees, do not have an ability to dehumidify their hives and excess water can invite all sorts of unwanted bacteria etc. The hive sides should at least be 45-47 mm thick. This mimics the wall thickness of the logs that are used in their natural environment. There are currently a lot of different hive designs and materials being used. Given that the keeping of native stingless bees is a very young science, there are many questions still unanswered. But I think that keeping things as natural and close to what is used in nature is probably a safe bet. Also to enable observation of your hive, put in an observation window, although the bees eventually cover this window up with resin it allows you, in the beginning, to observe how your bees are doing.

If you are interested in harvesting honey, get a hive that has a honey super where excess honey can be stored by the bees and harvested by you. You might also want to split your hive in the future. If so, consideration of a hive that has a good splitting system that does not disrupt the hive too much is also important.

For the next 12 months observe the bees. If the bees are carrying out debris from the hive then you know that bees are hatching and there is a cycle of life happening. Bees coming and going with full pollen sacs tells you there is enough food in their immediate environment. If it is a very dry season, give your bees supplementary feeding with a good, sugar-based syrup (recipes can be found online). Also, use your sense of smell. When there is a good run of pollen and nectar you will be able to smell the beautiful honey when standing close to your hive. All of this is an indication that your hive is growing and thriving. After 12 months you might want to split the hive or harvest honey, but that is a topic for another post.

Most importantly never stop learning. Read as much as you can and do as many courses as you can. Also, document things happening in and around your hive. That way you can contribute to the building of the science around Australian native stingless bees.

Honey Bees	Native Stingless Bees
Hexagonal comb to rear young & store food	Rear young in special brood cells & store food in large pots
Sting	Stingless
One queen	One queen & princesses in waiting
Build nest from wax	Build nest from mixture of wax & plant resin
Tight control of the temperature in the hive	Limited ability to control the temperature in the hive
Honey bees feed their young regularly	Mass provision of the brood cell
Establish a new colony through swarming	First build a new nest & gradually move in with a new queen
Foraging range 5 Km	Foraging range 500 m
More adaptable to different environments	Mainly in the tropics & sub-tropics
Need a permit	No permit needed
Make about 50-100kg of honey/year	Make 1kg of honey/year

Fun Had By All At Our Annual End Of Year Member Event

Aquaponics System For Sale

Aquaponics System

Becoming More Self-Sufficient