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June – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate

30/05/202331/05/2023Ewa

June – Permaculture Food Gardening Australia – Subtropics and Warm Climate by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. June is the first winter month in the southern hemisphere. Sitting around a fire at night and appreciating the warming sun rays during the day make the time of the year so enjoyable. It is also the time when we grow and start to harvest our winter crops. The ‘summer bugs’ are nearly gone, and radishes, brassicas, and other subtropical winter veggies are thriving! June is also a good time to extend the growing beds or to build new garden beds. I got two favorites. Very… Read More

May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

01/05/202301/05/2023EwaNo Comments

May – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. We are in the middle of the subtropical autumn. The very first “cold-weather” greens and veggies are ready for harvest. Others are starting to compete with each other and with the self-seeded ones which are also trying to claim some space in the garden bed and around, and I love it! Food everywhere 😀 This happens when you allowed them to go into seeds last season. They are simply popping out everywhere and the only job you have is either harvesting or replanting to create more space in the… Read More

Creamy Cottage Cheese Recipe from Dairy Leftovers

12/04/202312/04/2023EwaNo Comments

Mum taught me not to throw away any food and I thank her for that. This recipe is one of her fantastic ways of transforming boring ingredients into delicious treats everyone loves. This homemade creamy cottage cheese is a also perfect way of utilising dairy products that are close or slightly past the due date and still perfectly fine. Creamy Cottage Cheese Recipe from Dairy Leftovers Ingredients: Transfer all ingredients in a pot and put it on low heat for about 2-3 hours. It should get very hot but it shouldn’t boil. Stir in between. Move into a colander placed over a pot and lined with a cheesecloth or clean… Read More

April – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

30/03/202331/03/2023EwaNo Comments

April – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. April is the month when we start to feel Autumn, and we love it! The lower temperatures make gardening so much more enjoyable. The first winter seedlings are emerging out of the soil, and you can watch them grow, or at least some of them. Let’s have a look at the jobs that we usually do during this month. General jobs in April Sowing, planting, harvesting I am pretty sure that I forgot about a few, but if so, I will update the list during the month as I… Read More

March – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

06/03/202330/03/2023Ewa

March – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. March is the month when we get busy! Very busy! Even dough it still feels like summer, we do have autumn. The winter sowing and planting have started and I am really excited about it! I also look forward to the following weeks when I can spend more time in the garden. The summer heat and humidity didn’t make it very easy lately. General jobs in March I have prepared a list of what is happening in our food forest in March. I’m pretty sure that I forgot about… Read More

Autumn – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

05/03/202306/03/2023Ewa

Autumn – Permaculture Sustainable Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia by Ewa Bekiesch, Permaculture designer, educator, sustainable living consultant, and healthy food advocate. March, April, and May are autumn months. The days are getting shorter and the summer heat is slowly going back. Very slowly, I would say. The ‘summer bugs’ are getting fewer, which is a bonus! We can start to sow and plant the winter crop. Yes! The time of radishes, brassicas, and other subtropical winter veggies has finally arrived. Yummy! While March is still very hot and humid, the following two months will bring some relief, and the garden work becomes a pure pleasure. I promise! Listening to… Read More

February – Permaculture Food Gardening in Subtropical Australia

01/02/202319/02/2023EwaNo Comments

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

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

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