Mustang Sal - Nature Photographer

If you have been reading this blog for a while you will have noticed that many of the photographs are outstanding. Most of these were taken by our daughter Sally. In 2001 she did a short photography course and enjoyed it so much, it became a passionate hobby. After a while she developed a special interest in nature photography and soon amassed a large portfolio of photos taken around our place or on some of our camping trips. In recent years she has started turning her work into photo-cards which she sells at the Healesville Organic Market and our open days. They are also available from http://www.redbubble.com.au/.

Sally joined the Yarra Valley Photography Club and won several of their club competitions. Her work has also featured in our local newspaper. This year Sal was invited to become part of the Yarra Valley Open Studios project which runs from 18-20 September. On this weekend each artist will open their “studio” to the public. Visitors can travel from studio to studio and view artists in action or see their work. For further information see below

If you would like to view Mustang Sal’s cards visit Healesville Organic Market (outside the railway station) any Saturday morning from 8.30am to 1 pm.

OPEN STUDIOS WEEKEND September 18, 19, 20
More than 40 artists in the Yarra Valley area are opening their studios to the public over this weekend. Visitors can spend an afternoon, a day or a whole weekend exploring the rich diversity of art as it is made by Yarra Valley artists. The program includes artists working in a diverse range of mediums, from painters to potters, from goldsmiths to photographers.

For this weekend we are setting up a gallery here at Tenderbreak to display Mustang Sal’s Nature Photography. Mustang Sal’s Studio will be open from 10am to 5pm on each day, and entry is free. Sally will have handmade cards and framed and unframed photos on display and for sale. You are welcome to come along and see her work and make purchases if you wish.

If you have got enough time you are welcome to enjoy one of our “Tenderbreak Teas”. We will have a range of teas (regular, chai, hibiscus, herbal and others), freshly brewed Yarra Organic Coffee and scones/cake available for purchase. You are also welcome to bring out a picnic lunch and wander around our permaculture garden.

More details including descriptions of all artists, their location and a map are available at http://yvopenstudios.net.au/. To reach our gallery, travel north from Yarra Glen along the Melba Highway. After DeBortoli Winery turn right into Old Toolangi Rd., and follow the Open Studios signs. Email us at tenderbreak@bigpond.com for a map showing exactly how to get here.

COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA) SCHEMES

In our last post we had a bit of a rant about the incredible amount of wastage in our food supply system. There are alternatives out there (perhaps even close to you) that restore ethics into food supply. One of these is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

CSA’s are designed to restore fairness, health and quality to our food growing systems. Most farmers have a “boom or bust” type existence. In good years there is an abundance of food (farm prices are reduced because of an over supplied market) and in bad years there are crop failures (and income is reduced accordingly).

Farmers have to pay their costs up front (seed, water, ploughing etc) using borrowed money which eats into whatever profits they make. On top of this, the big buyers (supermarkets and processors) play farmers off against each other to gain the cheapest price possible. Whilst this may lead to cheaper prices (but not always) at the checkout, it has many serious negative effects. Farm incomes do not provide a fair return to the farmer and this can lead to economic, social, environmental and personal problems.

Many farmers are forced to use farming methods that lower costs or increase size, but result in poor quality food, soil depletion and environmental damage. There is also a huge amount of waste from the large farms that supply the mass market. Supermarkets demand that produce be of a uniform size, shape and colour. Of course nature doesn’t work like that, so vegetables that do not meet the required “standard” are often discarded. When food is wasted we are also wasting all the resources (water, fuel, labour etc) that went into producing it. The overriding concern of factory farm type production is not so much on quality and flavour and service to a local community, but on quantity and appearance (this is what modern consumers supposedly demand) and on profits.

How CSA's Work.
Members of the CSA pay an annual membership fee to a local farmer to cover the cost of production in advance, and in return they receive an equitable share of the farm’s harvest via a weekly box.
Both grower and consumer benefit from CSA's:-
• Consumers share the risks with the farmer. Communities are more resilient when consumers and producers understand and support each other
• The relationship allows feedback so that the farmer responds to the needs of members
• As the food is locally grown, it is fresher, and has very low food miles embedded in it (refrigeration, transport and storage).
• Consumers have a direct connection with their food supply, ensuring the use of ethical organic methods
• Many CSA’s encourage consumers to participate in the growing process. There may be opportunities for low income families to obtain their food at a cheaper rate in exchange for labour.
• Food security is enhanced because the community is not dependent on some distant supplier who has no obligation to maintain supply. Costs cannot be manipulated by profiteers whose only interest in food supply is making as much money as they can.
• CSA’s lead to far less waste in terms of packaging and selection of only uniform sized products
• CSA’s bring ethics, community, relationships and quality food back into the food supply chain

CSA related Websites
If you would like to know more here are some starting points:- http://www.organicfooddirectory.com.au/general-issues/community-food-systems/community-supported-agriculture.html has an excellent summary of how CSA’s work and lists benefits for consumers, farmers and the environment

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/innovators/week5.htm In this interview the farmer outlines the benefits, particularly for the community as a whole.

We know of 3 CSA’s operating in Yarra Ranges Shire. These are:-.
• Little Feet Farm CSA run by Stuart and Luna (pictured above) in the Yarra Junction Area and can be found at http://littlefeetfarm.wordpress.com/
• Amy & Luc operate their CSA in the Healesville area. Contact Amy or Luc at lucamy@mooramoora.org.au
• Darryl runs Callavale Farm Fresh CSA at Monbulk. You can contact Daryl at mailto:darylknoll@gmail.com
If you know of schemes in other areas we would be happy to publicise them.

FOOD IS TOO VALUABLE TO WASTE

Here are some shocking statistics!Australians throw out three million tonnes of food every year – the equivalent of 145 kilograms for each and every one of us.
A 2005 study by The Australia Institute estimated that food waste was costing Australians $5.3 billion per year.
Environmental advocacy group Planet Ark looked at how much food was being wasted by Australian households. They found as much as 25 per cent of food ended up in the rubbish bin.

Food waste:-
• Is a waste of money
• Is a waste of all resources that went into producing, packaging, transporting and storing the food - water, nutrients, labour, electricity and oil
• contributes to landfill, and greenhouse gases as it breaks down
• from supermarkets is often quite edible- either has damaged packaging or past a use by date
• is unethical

There has been a recent tendency for households to purchase supersized fridges. At the same time the number of people in each household has been gradually shrinking. As with many developments in our society, it just doesn’t make sense. Admittedly Australians are eating more than they ever did, but that’s causing many of us to be overweight. Having a bigger fridge full of tempting treats does not help one little bit. Of course having a bigger fridge also means you need a bigger kitchen and ultimately a bigger house. As these monoliths are on 24 hours a day, they use up enormous amounts of electricity giving us a bigger electricity bill. And that also generally means more coal being burnt to generate that extra power.

Do we need a big fridge?
Possibly, if you have a very large number of people to feed, but if you have an average sized household I have my doubts. My guess is that the bigger fridge just means more food gets lost at the back. Most people shop on a regular basis and really do not need to keep masses of perishable food on hand for weeks at a time. Storing food for weeks in the fridge or freezer adds to its cost.
In our situation we have a limited supply of electricity (solar power) so we have opted to go with a relatively small gas fridge, and it serves our household of 5 adults very well. It enforces a discipline of common sense. We have found alternative ways of storing perishable foods. Here are some of them:-
• Roots crops such as beetroot, carrots, parsnips store really well for many months if left in the ground- they even continue to grow
• Onions and garlic store well if hung in a dry coolish place
• Pumpkins and potatoes once harvested will keep for many months if cured well and are stored in a dry cool dark place.
• Lettuces, silver beet, celery and other greens can be harvested a few leaves at a time when needed
• Most fruit will keep for a while on the tree and then for several weeks if stored well
• We collect fresh eggs from our chooks and these will keep for several weeks if stored in a cool pantry.
• Many foods are easily dried, bottled or preserved.
• Another option for food that just needs to be kept cool but not cold, is a “cool cupboard”. This is a well insulated cupboard with a pipe bringing cool air from under the house into the bottom. At the top is an outlet pipe allowing air to be vented. Warmer air rises out of the top vent drawing cool air in at the bottom. The continual movement of cool air keeps food cool.

An ACF study found that food consumption is responsible for 28% of the average Australian's greenhouse gas pollution, whereas personal and public transport accounts for only 10.5%. So, growing even some of our own food can make a great a contribution to reducing our carbon footprint.
There is much publicity about big picture items such as turning off lights and appliances when not in use, but there is much to be gained for our hip pocket and the environment by just being a bit more thoughtful with our food purchases.
Let's all minimise food waste. If there is leftover food, feed it to chooks so it can be converted into eggs, or compost it so the nutrients can enrich soils, but please do not throw it into the rubbish. Food is too good to waste.

PERMACULTURE TOURS STARTING AGAIN IN AUGUST

After a short break over winter we are recommencing monthly tours of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm. In the past 12 months over 1000 people have attended one of our events (Some have even been twice).

Bookings are required and tours will be held on:-
Tour 1 Sunday, AUGUST 9th
Tour 2 Sunday, September 6th
Both tours run 1:30pm to 4:00pm and include afternoon tea.

Our tours are suitable for anyone with an interest in permaculture, organic gardening, passive solar house design, tank water, mudbrick building, property design and layout, chooks and ducks, solar power, grey water systems and sustainable living. In fact our tours are a bit like doing a mini Introduction to Permaculture Course.

Part of the tour looks at defensive strategies against bushfires. The fires of Black Saturday burnt most of our 96 acres, but we were able to save our house and most of our infrastructure. We can now give an account of what aspects of our fire plan worked well and what needs to be improved.

Although our property is a large bush block, we provide information and ideas that are suitable for both rural and suburban dwellers. The size of the groups is limited to ensure there is plenty of scope for questions and discussion. Other dates are available for group bookings.
Contact us for more details or for bookings at tenderbreak@bigpond.com

Fires Aftermath

It’s now 5 months since Black Saturday, but it still seems like a bad dream. It is hard getting used to the blackened trunks, bare branches and a cooked landscape. Every time we return home, a sense of sadness arises within us when the burnt forest comes into view. This feeling is only partially offset by the gradual rebirth of our environment.

Recovery of bush/animals
The tenacity of Australia’s forests is amazing. The tree ferns and grass trees were sending out new shoots within a couple of weeks and the green really stands out against the black backdrop. Many of the eucalypts are now sending out side-shoots, with some clothed in green shoots from top to bottom. Of course there are many that will never recover and will stand for years like black sentinels reminding us of Black Saturday. The forest floor is gradually turning green with a carpet of mosses and young shoots starting to hide the ash.

Amazingly some of the wildlife managed to survive, but they are not out of the woods yet (pun intended). They survived the fire, but can they survive the loss of habitat and food source? We are doing our best to help by doing regular food drops of approved food around our place – hopefully it will get them through. So far we have seen a few wombats, a couple of echidnas, one baby snake, a small mob of kangaroos, a handful of wallabies and two lyrebirds.

Odd stuff
Many people have commented that at least we now have tons of firewood. Strangely this is true for next year and into the future, but the bulk of blackened wood on the ground is green- that’s why it didn’t burn during the fires. Any dry wood (including a few piles we were saving for future firewood) burnt very well when the fires arrived. Fortunately we managed to locate enough seasoned wood to get us through this winter, but many other people may have found it more difficult.

Flue Cleaning
One consequence of using wood stoves/heaters is the need to keep the flue clean. We have aimed to do this annually, but for various reasons have left this messy job for two years. So in May we donned our overalls, dragged out the flue brush, climbed onto the roof and gave the flue a brushing. We were pleasantly surprised by the relatively small amount of soot that dropped down. Our guess is that due to the very dry nature of the wood we use (usually it’s been seasoned for 2 years or more), it burns very cleanly leaving little residue behind. From now on we’ll clean out the flues before winter every odd numbered year.

Wood Fired Appliances
Winter has well and truly arrived and with that, the need for heating. Over recent years wood has received much “bad press” as a use for fuel. In the suburbs a poorly operated system or one not using dry fuel can cause discomfort for neighbours, but in rural areas there are many advantages over other fuels.
The Australian Greenhouse Office, in their brochure "Global Warming Cool It!" lists the following Greenhouse gases (pollution) per unit of heat
• “Natural gas produces 0.31 kg.
• LPG gas produces 0.34 kg.
• Electricity Aust. Average 1.00 kg...
• Wood produces 0.00 kg.”

The article continues: "Carbon dioxide from burning wood is not counted, as wood is a renewable resource: a natural cycle exists in which carbon is captured by growing trees, then released by burning or decaying and again captured by growing trees." Our energy utilities would have us believe that are at the forefront of environmental protection. The truth is fossil fuels are ruining the environment and our health........ This site also outlines some serious health dangers related to the use of gas fuelled heaters. See www.woodstoves.com.au for more information.

Wood is the perfect fuel if you are replanting trees to replace the wood you use.

Winter at Tenderbreak

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?
We cleared vegetation off our dam wall and resolved to keep it free of trees. Roots from large trees can penetrate the wall in search of water and this could lead to an empty dam. At times we have made attempts to get the job done, but it was just too big.

However this year the fires did half of it for us. The photo shows a small section. All we had to do was grub out the burnt trunks of perhaps 200 saplings. It still took two full days but at least it’s done and all we have to do is to regularly cutback growth to prevent trees getting established. Time will tell if we can keep up our resolve to keep regrowth down.

Whilst doing this job we took the opportunity to create a meandering path which leads to the gate valve (previously we had to battle through dense vegetation to get there). It also leads to the gully below the dam providing a pleasant bushwalk.

Hothouse

Another job we have been intending to do for many years was to build a hot house. We have now collected a pile of second-hand material for this purpose and started excavating the site. Hopefully this project should be completed in the next few weeks.

WINTER GARDEN NEWS
We’ve harvested around 70kg spuds and 80 pumpkins (Butternuts, Jarrahdales, Queensland Blues and a handful of unknown heritage). We continue to pick lettuce, celery, carrots, beetroots, turnips, silverbeet, wong bok, chicory, parsnips, daikon and many herbs. The brassicas are all doing well. We are enjoying the taste of freshly picked brussel sprouts and will soon be able to tuck into caulies, cabbages and brocccoli. Our focus in winter is on garlic, onions, (both planted in May) and broadbeans (for food as well as a green manure crop).

Our passionfruit gave us a pleasant surprise. This was the first year it provided a crop and we have been patiently waiting for them to turn purple. In the end we gave up, tried one and found it to be ripe and sweet. Apparently we have a yellow fruiting variety and are now enjoying them “passionately”.

In the orchard we have started pruning fruit trees, divided and transplanted some rhubarb plants and have prepared spots for a few more fruit trees. We’ve also cut down a few older acacias, cut back others and used our mulcher to turn the prunings into a big pile of mulch.

GREAT NEWS FOR CHOOK OWNERS

David is a woodworker friend of ours, who manufactures and sells a variety of wooden toys and other products. For some time he has been working on a chook feeder design that will prevent birds, rats and mice from stealing the chook food. We are pleased to announce that he has now developed a bird, rat and mouse proof Contented Chook Feeder.

The chook food is placed in a hopper which is covered by a lid. When the chooks step on a flat plate, a clever lever mechanism lifts the lid giving chooks access to the food. The storage hopper is large enough to store several kilos of food, allowing owners to go away for a weekend in the safe knowledge that their chooks will have a supply of food available. Of course they will also need a supply of clean water.

It takes around 2 weeks for chooks to learn how the feeder works and to get comfortable with the device. Two or three chooks can eat together, but it is also suitable for use with larger numbers of birds. We use our unit to feed 12 hens by having at least 2 days supply of feed available in the unit. The result is that hens go to the feeder when they are hungry- usually one or two at any one time.

The feeder needs to be kept under cover. This is partly to preserve the timber components, but also to ensure dampness does not get into the chook food. If feeders are left exposed to the elements the chook food can absorb moisture and go mouldy.

The units are individually handmade and there is quite a bit of work in each one. For these reasons David can only make a limited number each week, subsequently there will a short wait for orders to be filled.
David has just commenced manufacturing these units, and orders or expressions of interest can be placed with us at our Healesville Organic Market stall (Outside the old railway station every Saturday morning). We have a demo model on display at the market. If you would like more information contact us, at tenderbreak@bigpond.com and we can email more details and extra photos. Another alternative is to ring David on mob. 0420 528 606.

Some of his other great products include possum boxes, a great little art stool with built in blackboard, wooden hobby horses, and many other educational toys