Soil By Design

24/11/2023

You may recall back in Feb 2020 I posted about cleaning the solar panels because of all the dust accumulated from the dry, dry summers, we'd averaged only 250mm rain for two consecutive years, the improvement in performance was really significant then.

Well, with the move to Aotearoa New Zealand, and it's the end of winter that the panels need cleaning, but here it's because of the accumulated and growing lichen, one of the few downsides of now experiencing nearly 2000mm of rain on average. Once again the performance is markedly improved.

25/02/2023

As mentioned in my last post, the soil here isn't the best for vegetables, so we put together a raised bed off the front of the porch. It is around 7M long by 850mm across and around 500mm deep.

The frame is just some old fence railings with a sheet of rubbish ply cut to size and then surrounded by leftover corrugated iron from our 3-bay garage build. It was mostly filled with scrap wood and soil dug out from an in-ground pool that was being constructed. On top of that, we added our compost mounds, a few bags of purchased soil (cheaper the better) and liberally watered with worm p*e from the worm tub.

As you can see, it's done rather well with lettuce, basil, fennel, tomatoes, NZ spinach, silver beet, chillies...plus a bunch of avocado sprouting from the compost.

The basil has mostly been turned into pesto and the tomatoes are being trimmed and strung up to make sure they get enough sun to ripen well. The spinach is used nearly every night and the pesto, tomato and lettuce make a great wrap in the middle of the day.

The principle is, there really is no excuse for not having a few fresh veggies on hand and so much yummier than store-bought...and cheaper.

14/02/2023

This update has been a while in its creation and for all those interested to know what we moved onto once the Cowra property was sold, it was high time I started to fill in some gaps.

I have been coming to the New Zealand property over the last couple of years since it was purchased, to start organising things. It is a small 1.5-acre property around an hour West of Lake Taupo. It was purchased because it was smaller and easier to manage, plus it has around 2m of rain per year, compared to the 600mm in Cowra.

Here are a few shots of the property for now, but I will go into more detail to explain the soil, off-grid and electrical system, renovations and building work done, and planned.

The property is an old school built around 60 years ago but closed 5 years later. The first image is of the original schoolhouse in the foreground and the teacher's house in the background.

The next shot is of the 40 or so trees that were planted a couple of years ago and although starting to bare fruit, are obviously still limited in their production.

The next is some of the 35-plus truffle trees on the property. They haven't really been looked after but there is still traces of truffle mycorrhizal on some of the roots - work to be done!

The house is a basic government-built teachers' space. Funnily enough, it is exactly the same design as the government-built houses in Canberra for all the workers.

It is all off-grid and I have swapped out the lead
-acid batteries for a lithium BYD stack plus a heap of other efficiency measures such as air and water heat-pumped systems. I will go into more detail about that design in the coming days.

As the place gets so much rain and the soil is around 100mm of top soil, 500mm of pumice (due to the explosion of Taupo around 1,700 years ago) then clay, grass is the dominant succession point, and therefore growing vegetables isn't easy, consequently the raised bed off the front of the porch...for now.

And all the leaves in front of the house are because of the winds over the last few days from cyclone Gabrielle, not because I am a messy landowner 😉

Will write some more as time becomes available. Cheers everyone.

16/10/2021

Tomorrow, Sunday 17 Oct, is Sustainable House Day. This year the program is all virtual and free so if you are looking to build new, retrofit or just upgrade one thing at a time there'll be a session to interest you. Check it out.

Sustainable House Day provides a unique opportunity to visit some of Australia’s leading green homes.

25/08/2021

Our first blood orange, true to name huh?

We have often struggled with citrus here, we'd put them in the orchards and they get fried with the hot winds, the heat or not enough water, dig them back up and bring in stressed to nurture them back to health in the growhouse, try again ........rinse and repeat.

So last year when we finally got the big grow house finished, see previous posts, we repotted the citrus into large pots and set them out along the sheltered side with automated irrigation. Happy citrus.

14/01/2021

Trying to live as sustainably as possible is hard work and so often we can get caught up in day to day tasks, or focused on what to plant this season for next, we can forget how far we have actually come. So when Photos threw up a 'look back on this week 8 years ago' I did.

I got the camera and went and tried to take a comparison shot, hard to get it exact, it's a bit wider angle. The throwback photo was taken 13 Jan 2013, we had owned the property for two years. We observed it for much of the first year and focused on getting a shed up for water capture and camping in, and a container for tools and equipment, as we were weekend farmers.

Then we planted out perimeter trees and wind/shade breaks, all tiny tube stock, got our fruit trees we'd been nurturing in Canberra into the top orchard and weekends were spent hand-watering.

The second photo was taken from roughly the same spot as the first but the dam wall obscures the comparison, so the third photo is taken on the dam wall to be able to see the growth not only in the plants and trees but also the addition of terra-forming and two more orchards, plus the 5 bay shed angled for maximum solar gain.

It's been hard work but the benefits have been unbelievably good.

19/12/2020

I had the honour of meeting the former GG and National Soil Advocate Michael Jeffery, and his wife Marlena, prior to him founding Soils for Life. A very inspiring, generous and passionate man who displayed genuine interest and care in soil health and regenerative ag practises.

He has delivered a terrific legacy in Soils for Life. His vision – to encourage all Australians to focus on soil health and the urgent need to regenerate our rural landscapes. He will be sadly missed. We extend our condolences to Marlena.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Soils For Life founder and patron Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery passed away peacefully at home this morning.

13/12/2020

Well here it is again or for those who haven't seen my home fruit dehydrater before, it goes like this.

Black card table with legs sitting in water to keep the crawling critters away, a spare window with wood chocks to keep it proud of the table and a food throw over the top pegged around the legs to keep the flying critters away.

Halve the fruit, in this case "cotton candy" apricot/plum cross, hence the lighter colouring, and leave out in the sun for about 3 days. Make sure you top up the water baths as they evaporate quickly too.

I don't treat the fruit so they will go brownish rather than retaining their chemical preserved bright colouring of commercial packets. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge and can be used all year.

05/12/2020

World Soil Day 2020

Keep soil alive, Protect soil biodiversity!