Permacoach

22/08/2026

Well here’s a surprise! Our new covers for the cupcake beds seem to keep out white cabbage butterflies! 🥳

21/08/2026

Regent bower birds! I saw SIX males in the garden this morning. I admit to weeping. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve seen a noticeable increase in any species.

The bellbirds that have been part of our lives for over 30 years disappeared last year. The large flock of migratory yellow tailed black cockatoos is down to just six and what used to be a considerable flock of king parrots was just two males and a female last year and none at all this year.

Is anyone else noticing this? Is it a local phenomenon or happening elsewhere?

Now with word of bird flu hitting us I fear for what this will mean.

At the heart of permaculture is a deep commitment to all other beings. The whole point of growing some food, using less resources, and everything else has always been the protection of the remaining wild places and the restoration or recreation of others.

What’s happened to zone 5? When did permaculture become conflated with growing annuals in wicking beds? How do we reconnect people to their innate understanding of their reliance upon nature for every aspect of their lives?

I find David Holmgren’s Retrosuburbia to be at odds with Bill Mollison’s take on the significance of wild places. Holmgren derides regeneration and speaks to “novel ecosystems” and the descriptions are all about their value to humans in terms of “productivity”. He also places zones 3, 4 and 5 beyond the boundaries of a suburban block. Where is the land for all other creatures? If we only plant food for humans and no food for birds, what will they eat?

18/08/2026

Azzola! It sound like something you’d say instead of “hooray” or “huzzah” and with good reason. This generous little Australian native aquatic fern is a source of free fertiliser for the food garden. Just scoop it up and put it on top of your soil.

It’s also a source of high protein nutrition for chickens, ducks, livestock and native creatures, all while absorbing excess nutrients from my pond and keeping the water clean.

It is also edible by human animals, but not eaten routinely because it can pick up heavy metals and contaminants (like most water plants!) and because it requires special cooking to process the high levels of polyphenols, but it might be one of the building blocks of future food security.

Multiple functions!

There are loads of uses for this generous plant in permaculture systems. Please let everyone know in the comments if you have any other suggestions. Do you have it? How do you use it?

10/08/2026

Composting options: firstly, make it where you need it. Throw down green “waste” and top it with mulch. Avoid anything with w**d potential.

Next, have bins like this for w**dy things to prevent them spreading. If you have mulch nearby you can also add food waste directly to these bins, covering with mulch to prevent flies and odour. Yes, we do put every kind of food into them! The bins are rat proof because the base is buried, and they quickly become too deep to be worth burrowing.

Finally, if you need something easy for food waste, consider some kind of worm hotel. Forget worm farms which are high maintenance and arguably worm prisons. Instead create something connected to the good earth. The compost worms will “staff” your hotel and the naturally occurring earthworms will become your “guests”. As they move to and from the hotel they will aerate and improve the soil for you.

Cooperating with nature means less energy needed from you. This is how we create highly productive systems that don’t need as much work as a lawn.

09/08/2026

Some serious networking for farmers in the Hunter and nearby

📅 SAVE THE DATE

Graze & Grow - Making Every Acre Count🌱
Friday 30 October, 3pm – 7pm
Graze at the Willow Tree Inn

Got a few acres and wondering how to make them work harder for you? Ever considered a side hustle or potential new income stream from your land?

🎤 MC'd by River Cottage Australia and Grow It Local's Paul West and Limestone Permaculture's Brett Cooper, this twilight canape event will connect you with local Hunter and North West producers doing unique and interesting things on smaller blocks, with the doors wide open to learn all about how they got started, their challenges and learnings of are finding new ways to make the most of their land.

Think beautiful canapes in hand, whilst wandering on the lawns of Graze at Willow Tree, chatting to local producers, with the chance to hear Paul and Brett’s stories in building income streams from sustainable small-scale operations!

Co-hosted by the NSW Government's Hunter and North West Local Land Services.

Stay tuned for more info!

🎟️ Registrations now open: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/local-land-services/events/graze-and-grow-making-every-acre-count

03/08/2026

Love this! There’s an old paradigm that all plants compete with each other for a limited supply of nutrients. If that were true, how would forests ever come to exist?

Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” quote was taken out of context by right wing economists. He mentions it briefly. Original of the Species devotes far more time to symbiotic relationships and the interconnectedness of all things.

I love “cooperate, don’t compete” which didn’t survive Rowe Morrow’s rewrite, but in terms of human evolution it might just be the most important principle of all. Competition is usually toxic.

Instead of asking...
"What plant should I put here?"

Try asking...
"What relationships can I create here?"

🌿 Permaculture Principle #8: Integrate Rather Than Segregate

Nature doesn't grow in isolated rows and separate zones. Everything is connected.

🌳 A fruit tree provides shade, protection from predators, and drops fruit for the chickens to eat.
🐔 Chickens control fruit tree pests and produce manure that fertilises the soil.
🪱 Soil organisms and worms turn the manure into plant-available nutrients to feed the fruit tree and grow healthy flowering plants nearby.
🌼 Healthy flowering plants attract pollinators and beneficial insects that help control the pests.
🐝 Pollinators increase the fruit produced of the fruit tree.
🌳 A fruit tree drops fruit for the chickens to eat.

Each element supports the others.

The goal isn't to have the "perfect" plant or feature—it's to design a garden where everything works together.

When each part performs multiple functions and supports the whole system, your garden becomes more productive, more resilient, and often a whole lot less work.

💚 The best gardens aren't a collection of plants—they are designed as connected communities where every plant, animal and process supports another. In other words: a living ecosystem! This is the foundation of permaculture design.

Now run outside and create your integrated oasis! 🏝️
Jo

02/08/2026

After a short detour to the compost tumbler I’m back in the gathering circle making observations about shifts in growth patterns.

This garden was created to grow espaliered apple, pear and stone fruit trees but this year I’m seeing new growth in the middle of winter. These trees have not achieved full dormancy which might mean no fruit, or significantly less fruit.

We’re in a warm temperate zone but we used to get four or five frosts a year.

This is the first time we have ever seen this winter growth. Is it evidence of climate change or just a blip? Either way it’s worth recording.

01/08/2026

Compost tumblers remain problematic. Here’s some tips on how to more effectively manage one of these double barrelled systems, but beware of rats!

I only have one of these because I kept seeing them put out for Council pick up or offered for sale on Marketplace and I wondered why. They CAN be a good way to manage your food waste if you follow a few simple tips:
1. Colonise them with compost worms
2. Clearly mark the lid to avoid contaminating the side that’s maturing into compost
3. Make sure there’s enough carbon in the mix or you’ll wind up with a slimy, smelly mess.

I also recommend putting them up on a pallet to slow down the rate at which the legs rust.

I prefer to use large metal compost bins which are rat proof, and, of course, to minimise our food waste so we don’t need a tumbler system, but I can see how these might be useful in other contexts, but like everything made of plastic I’m concerned about shedding microplastics.

My experiment with this one is over and it will be going out for collection but at least I kept it from land fill for a few more years and hopefully helped you to decide whether or not you need one. (Note: the rats have made this system unworkable or I would be gifting it).

Do you have one? Have you had one and abandoned it?

28/07/2026

Look at the size of these beauties! Supervised cat for scale (he’s not allowed out alone because cats are serial killers!)
I’ve never had them grow this big before and I’m wondering if it’s warmer winter weather, the benefits of composing in situ or some kind of microclimate effect. Good design asks lots of questions and doesn’t jump to conclusions.

26/07/2026

This