February – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

February – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, self-sufficient and sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. February is one of the hottest months in our subtropical parts of Australia. Hot and humid! We are thankful for every single drop of rain and appreciate the food we are harvesting at this time of the year, and there is plenty to harvest! We are not running out of jobs in the garden, however, we are limiting the work to the early morning and very late afternoon hours. Additional to the summer gardening jobs described in my post here, February is the month when I prune… Read More

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Summer – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

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

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Poor Man’s Bean – The Forgotten Bean

This is the article I wrote for our local magazine The Beacon issue #12 Poor Man’s Bean – The Forgotten Bean by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture Consultant, Designer and Educator Poor Man’s Bean – also known as Old man beans, Hyacinth beans, Dolichos, Lablab beans, Rongai bean, Fuji mame I just love easy to grow vegetables and the Poor Man’s Bean is one of them. It is a short-lived perennial and according to a lovely lady I got the seeds from, it has been grown in Australia for a very long time. It has beautiful dark green leaves, the flowers are deep pink and purple and the young pods are pale… Read More

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Wolkenschieber – Clouds Slider Slice

Wolkenschieber! Some people call it Prophetenkuchen. I know this cake from Germany. It is a perfect way to use egg yolks when you made Pavlova the day before 😀 Quick, easy and delicious! I have this recipe from a German page. You can serve it  Wolkenschieber – Clouds Slider Slice 6 egg yolks 6 tbs sunflower or other oil 80-90g (depends how big the egg yolks are) wholemeal or about 100g plain flour 6 tbs 40vol. alcohol like vodka, scotch, rum or other (you won’t taste the alcohol after baking) 80g melted butter some pure icing sugar Baking time: 5-8 minutes at 230-250°C. Pre-heat the oven. Whisk the egg yolks… Read More

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