Sustainable Living - Permaculture Haven Life Design Education

Permaculture Gardening – Keyhole Garden

08/01/202308/01/2023EwaNo Comments

Permaculture Gardening – Keyhole Garden recommended by Ewa Bekiesch – certified Permaculture designer and educator, sustainable living consultant – Permaculture Haven An amazing all-in-one solution. Great for any size of the garden. Perfect for small-size backyards and gardening with kids as it can be built at a different height depending on your needs. The keyhole garden is a combination of a compost bin and a raised garden bed where both complement each other perfectly. The compost bin is functioning like any other compost bin and should be treated like that. However, no need to remove the compost Think about keeping the right balance of TWO parts of brown material: ONE… Read More

January – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

02/01/202304/01/2023EwaNo Comments

January – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture sustainable living designer, consultant, and healthy food advocate. The summer is here. This is the time when we try to slow down mostly because of the high temperatures during the day. However, there are still some jobs you can do if you love your green space and if you want to harvest all year round! I have prepared a list for you below and I am aware that this might be just a fraction of what is possible in January in subtropics. I have purposely limited it to the edibles I have in my food forest and got… Read More

Fermented Cucumbers – Quick and Simple Recipe

14/12/202214/12/2022EwaNo Comments

Everyone knows that fermented foods are healthy and considered a superfood. Many years ago, when I helped my mum by fermenting all sorts of food, it was not about health only. Lots of veggies are in abundance when in season so preserving them was a good way to use them all, avoid spoilage and enjoy them for longer. Preserving food was also a must if we wanted to enjoy summer veggies in winter as the shops didn’t have the variety on offer like today. Only seasonal fruit and veggies were available. Apart from fermenting foods, we also dehydrated, pickled and frozen all sorts of fruits and veggies, and you will… Read More

December in the Garden- Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

01/12/202201/12/2022EwaNo Comments

December in the Garden- Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. Summer is here! Hot and humid days are going to be our companions for the next three months or so with more or less rain however, this doesn’t stop us from producing healthy and delicious food! There is no “food-growing brake” in a self-sufficient homestead. Firstly because we love naturally grown food without any additives, and secondly because there are many different foods that are happily growing during this time of the year. This article might give you some ideas about what can be done, sown, planted,… Read More

Mulberry Orange Jam Recipe – Delicious!

29/09/202229/09/2022EwaNo Comments

I just experimented and the result is fantastic! If you also have lots of Mulbberries you might want to try this simple-to-follow recipe. Mulberries don’t contain lots of pectins so orange and lime are helping out here. They also add a nice flavour. Any questions or comments? Simply use the comment section below. Mulberry Orange Jam Recipe – Delicious! Tips:

July – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

04/07/202204/07/2022Ewa

July – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. We are pretty much in the middle of our subtropical winter. It feels to me like this is the perfect time for reflection. Reflection and appreciation about what is important to us and what we can do to maintain, or improve it. Strolling through the garden while enjoying the warming sunrays, meditating, sitting around the fire, enjoying the time with your loved ones, with the garden, and with yourself. I personally think that garden is a perfect place to reflect, meditate, and create while feeling the connection to… Read More

Elderberry Cordial Recipe – Elderberry Syrup

03/01/202208/05/2022Ewa

Elderberry Cordial Recipe – Elderberry Syrup This is a very easy to follow recipe. Elderberry – Sambucus nigra, grows very well in most parts of the world. If you are interested in this plant, check my article here for more info about this amazing plant. This is a basic recipe and can be used in different ways: diluted in cold or hot water, as a topic for cake or ice-cream or you can use it to make a delicious liqueur. Per 1.5kg Elderberries, only black ones, cleaned and without green stalks, you need 750g sugar and 1L water Place water, sugar and elderberries in a large pot and bring to… Read More

Summer – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

02/01/202208/05/2022Ewa

Summer – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture and sustainable living designer and consultant. January, February and March are the hottest months in Australia. Well, this is the summer time so what else should we expect? This is also the time where we slow down with seeding and planting, and enjoy our hardy self-seeding and perennial edibles in our food forest. The garden beds need to be watered every day unless we get some rain, which may come or not, while we still harvest our annual spring vegetables. The gardening hours are limited in this time of the year. The most work is done in… Read More

Time to Reflect on 2021…

25/12/202108/05/2022Ewa

Time to Reflect on 2021… Hello my lovely friends, What a year this was! We all know that the recent past wasn’t easy for many. The last two years have shown that nothing can be taken for granted and it doesn’t take much to bring uncertainty and anxiety among people. However! There is a Polish saying that “it doesn’t matter how bad things go, they will turn to something good at the end” or “there is no evil that would not turn out to be good” Well… I was reflecting on it and I found one very important positive change: huge number of people have started to grow their own… Read More

Community Gardens – Sustainable Living in an Urban Environment

11/11/202108/05/2022Ewa

Sustainable Living Choices on the Fraser Coast Community Gardens – Sustainable Living in an Urban Environment By Ewa Bekiesch – Permaculture Designer, Educator and Sustainable Living Consultant website: www.permaculturehaven.com email: permaculturehaven@gmail.com Homegrown is best! We all know that. I was talking about the benefits of backyard gardening in the Issue #5. Community gardening is another great way of growing healthy food and connecting with others.Community gardens are public places where people come together to grow food. This is a welcome, but not new, trend within an urban environment. “Community gardens have a long history dating back as far 100BC in the UK and the small Celtic fields of Lands End,… Read More