Category Archives: Eco Thrifty Life

A Permaculture Day at the Beach

February 22, 2015 Estwing 1 Comment

On Friday a mate called me to say there was heaps of seaweed washed up at Castlecliff Beach. This is quite rare.

It wasn’t until Sunday that I got a chance to get there, so we made a morning of it. Verti and Luna and I went to the beach and mama stayed home.

Verti had so much fun playing in the sand.

I had a good surf on my SUP, and then we started collecting seaweed.

We loaded the car.

Tied everything securely.

Buckled everyone in.

When we got home we added the seaweed to our compost piles straight away. We have two piles at the moment that are larger then 1 cubic metre.

The blue hose in the picture above is putting water into the pile as we have had lots of dry weather lately.

It was a perfect permaculture half-day getting “multiple functions” out of our trip to the beach.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Renovation, kiwi as, passive solar, wanganui

Reality, No TV: Our First Home

February 19, 2015 Estwing 1 Comment

Our First Home is the name of a new programme on TV One. I have not seen it, but I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. I’ve seen plenty of programmes along the same lines and ‘been there / done that’ myself.

It’s all about the drama. Renovating an old home is stressful. Living in it while renovating is especially stressful. Apparently it makes for great TV.

Our first home was in Castlecliff. The condition we found it was far worse than any house on Our First Home or The Block NZ. There were no TV cameras to document the drama, although a Chronicle reporter and photographer turned up in December, 2010 to see what we were up to.

We started our blog – www.ecothriftydoup.blogspot.com – in October, 2010 and have posted at least once every week since then. Last year we upgraded and expanded the blog: www.ecothriftylife.wordpress.com. The central premise behind our work is living within limits both financial and ecological.

Programmes like The Block NZ and Our First Home are based on the premise of “the property ladder,” which we don’t really have in our River City. From my observations we have more of a property step stool at best, and in some cases a hole in the floor. At the moment it is an unrealistic expectation to borrow money to do up a kitchen and bathroom, and expect to recoup the costs upon resale. This sets us dramatically apart from those doer uppers in Auckland, although there is still some common ground.

According to the ourfirsthome website, the “Expert Tips” for Week One include:

Try to face living areas north with indoor/outdoor flow to add value.
Indoor/outdoor flow is a key…point.
Heating is important.
Privacy and seclusion add value.

If my editors would allow me use all caps for an entire sentence it would be this:

I would never consider buying a home with living spaces to the south and bedrooms to the north.

Wait, I take that back. If I were to return to the Northern hemisphere I certainly would! But with a climate like the Whaganui region has, a home with the living spaces to the south is bass ackwards. Even the TV One “Experts” say that “Heating is important,” and free heating from the sun is the most important of all.

Free heating from the sun – aka passive solar design – goes alongside the indoor/outdoor flow that should accompany the northerly living spaces. Our first home in Castlecliff has the additional advantages of a private and secluded section at the end of a cul-de-sac. The flow is from kitchen to kitchen garden, through French doors, across a deck and past the outdoor pizza oven.

We planted the backyard with native trees for wind protection and fruit trees for healthy food production. The combination adds privacy and seclusion to that quintessential indoor/outdoor flow of contemporary Kiwi lifestyles whether in overpriced Auckland or affordable Wanganui.

But please don’t be tempted by what you see on TV to overextend your finances with the false expectation that “property prices only go up.” All bubbles burst. The Aucklanders will learn this too, and some will wish they bought here instead.

Peace, Estwing

cooking, Eco Thrifty Life

Just Another Sunday on the Farm

February 15, 2015 Estwing 1 Comment

I got a call this morning at 7:30 from my mate. He said, “I knew you’d be up because you have a 2-year old. I’ve got some goats I shot yesterday. Can I bring them over?”

And just like that, my plans for Sunday morning took a dramatic turn.

Goats are considered a pest in New Zealand and hunting is seen to be good for the native ecology. Eating the meat is a good use of the carcass.

Although the carcass is actually very lean on a ‘wild’ animal.

This meat saw I got at the auction came in very handy.

Simon was a master at butchering the meat.

We got a roast on the solar cooker straight away.

Simon had no use for the hides so we decided to return them to the earth via our compost pile.

We layered up plenty of wood shavings and sheep manure to ensure a very hot compost – over 60 degrees Celcius.

The pile is well over one cubic metre and should make a beautiful compost in about three weeks time.

Peace Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, growing food, no-dig gardens

Best Tool in the Shed

February 12, 2015 Estwing Leave a comment

I am impressed by the number of families in our region that are embracing permaculture landscape design and management. I have been out and about across the city and around the region advising couples who live on small sections, large sections and lifestyle blocks.

If busy is the new black, then call me midnight. But I’m not complaining. What a pleasure it is to share my experience and enthusiasm for eco-design with a wide range of people who see the clear benefits of low-input / high performance systems.

During a consultation the first things I ask are: What is your vision? What are your motivations?

Last weekend I was working with a lovely couple on their lifestyle block and they said one of their motivations was to “work smarter, not harder.” As a former market gardener, that phrase runs through my head like mantra. When I am working my land it is an automatic way of operating. How else can I get 12 hours of chores done in 8 hours?

In my opinion, the key to working smarter is good design, and the best designs are holistic and four-dimensional. (Time is the fourth dimension.) For a market gardener, four-dimensional design conjures up another mantra: tools, timing, technique. In other words, using the right tool at the right time in the right way.

For example, I would never use a pitchfork to turn a large compost heap – way too much work!

Ironically, the best tool for low-effort / high production vege gardening is essentially unknown in New Zealand. It is the best tool you have never heard of: the stirrup hoe.

I have been using stirrup hoes for over a decade. When it comes to managing my annual vege gardens I use the stirrup hoe for roughly 80 percent of my entire tool use. In other words, when I pick up a tool, four times out of five it is a stirrup hoe, and the other time it is any other tool in the shed. This dominance is akin to the All Blacks who have held the world number one ranking for over 80% of the time and all other nations combined have held it for less than 20%.

So why haven’t you heard of the stirrup hoe? Probably spending too much time weeding your garden!

Like a torpedo hoe or Dutch hoe, it is a surface weeder with the advantage that the leading edge always digs into the soil because it pivots between pushing and pulling. This back-and-forth motion accounts for its other name: the oscillating hoe.

That’s the tool, now what about the timing? Sorry, another mantra: “Once a week, every week, on a sunny, windy day.”

Gently working the soil surface back and forth uproots tiny weeds as soon as they germinate. The sun and wind desiccate them within hours and they simply remain on the surface until they decompose back into the earth. Ninety-nine percent of my weeding is done without ever bending over.

As you can imply from the description above, the technique involved is gently working the soil surface – 10 to 15 mm deep only. The tool is held with the lightest of touch between your hands. It reminds me of my childhood when I spent spring afternoons raking the long jump sand pit for my father who was a track coach.

After about six weeks the soil surface is essentially devoid of weed seeds. That’s when another tool comes in handy: a bottle opener. Sit back, relax and enjoy a cool drink as you admire the immaculate vege garden. That’s working smarter!

Eco Thrifty Life

Sustaining Sustainability: No Easy Task

February 5, 2015 Estwing Leave a comment

In my experience, the sustainability movement suffers in two primary ways: misinterpretation and low stamina.

On the first point, we hear local officials yammering on about “sustainable growth” when in fact there is no such thing. What they mean is sustaining growth, which is the dominant message we get from the WDC despite advice to the contrary from economics experts. Of course Council has every right to put forth any message it wants, but it would be most helpful not to confuse things by placing the words sustainable and growth next to one another.

On the second point – low stamina – we see many sustainability initiatives ultimately fail in the long run. They may start with a bang but often end with a fizzle. In other words, it is very hard to sustain sustainability.

With the rise of digital cameras, smart phones, and social media such a Facebook, we have seen a proliferation of cool photos of tidy gardens and interesting things made out of shipping palettes taken on the day they were built – looking all shiny and new. These often go viral with likes and re-likes and shares and re-shares.

I am always left wondering, “What will they look like after two years?”

Doing a one-off project is easy. Maintaining it for the long term is hard. By definition, sustainability relates to the latter, and this is where I have seen it fall down time after time due to lack of stamina.

For a few years I have been watching fruit trees die at a poorly designed community garden at the top of Carson Street. Knowing their ultimate fate, I asked if I could distribute the suffering trees to homes around the Castlecliff community. I was told no. Finally, after all but three of the fruit trees had died I was given permission to rescue the survivors. I dug the trees from the abandoned garden and relocated them.

Experiences like this have provided me with a realistic caution when approached by groups or individuals to get involved with this or that project. I always say yes, but I am no longer as free and generous with my time as I once was.

On the other side of the coin, however, I have developed an increased level of respect for projects that have stood the test of time, especially those that are sustained by voluntary efforts. Some examples in our fair city include the River Exchange and Barter System (REBS), the Sustainable Whanganui Trust, Mark Christensen’s weekly working bees, and our annual Permaculture Weekend.

Aside from extraordinary volunteer efforts, the other way to sustain sustainability is to make it institutional. In other words make it part of the kaupapa of an organization. In order for this to happen there needs to be strong leadership, a member of the organisation who will take it on, and good design.

A local example of this is the New Zealand Masters Games. During the 2013 edition of the Games in Whanganui a successful recycling effort diverted over 19 jumbo bins of rubbish from landfill. We hope to replicate this 95% recovery rate of materials this year, but it would be impossible without strong leadership and support from within the organisation.

With another world-class waste management result this year, the deeper the kaupapa of waste minimisation permeates the event, just as it has done with SKIP Wanganui’s annual Children’s Day. At some point the discussion changes from, “Should we do recycling and composting again this year?” to “This is what we do.” That is the point at which sustainability is sustained.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, growing food, no-dig gardens

Drought-Proofing is a Matter of Eco-Design

January 30, 2015 Estwing 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: One of our District Councillors recently made statements to our newspaper about his concern for the volume of water our city was using while we have had essentially no rain for a month. By why did he have to say to the reporter, “I don’t want to sound like a greenie…” This is my response in the same newspaper.

“I don’t want to sound like a greenie…”

Why is it that many people in our community – especially elected officials – feel it is necessary to preface common sense statements with this phrase? Is there such antipathy toward the so-called “greenies” among us to warrant this fear of association with them? It is such a constant theme in our local politics that I often wonder how and why it came to be.

Lets take a common sense, conservative concept: wasting a resource is bad. Does anyone disagree with this left, right or centre? But as long as we associate common sense, conservative issues with the left-wing, the farther Whanganui will fall behind progressive councils around the country that are ahead of us already and stretching their leads. If we were truly a “Smart!” city we would embrace eco-design thinking fully and unapologetically to improve the lives of our residents, save money and conserve valuable resources such as water.

Water conservation in the home comes in two forms: efficiency and behaviours. Efficiency can take the form of low-flow showers and taps, dual flush toilets, and appliances that are Water Rated. Behaviours include closing the tap while brushing teeth or shaving, taking short showers, or washing dishes like an Aussie.

But at this time of year, in many cases more water is used outside of the home than inside. I don’t want to sound like a greenie, but there are many ways in which eco-design can be used to develop and manage a drought-resistant property of any size from residential section to lifestyle block.

A drought-resistant section in the middle of a drought.

Eco-design as applied to lawns and gardens is about mimicking nature. In other words, we observe how nature is so successful at providing the conditions for life to thrive, and then we copy it.

Any good farmer will tell you that growing plants is all about the soil, so that’s where we’ll begin. Undisturbed, natural soils consist of 50% particles (sand, silt, clay, and humus), 25% air, and 25% water. Put another way, it is half particles and half empty space.

By contrast, most paddocks, lawns and gardens are more like 80% particles and 20% pore space because they have been compacted over many years. Compacted soils do not readily absorb water during rains and result in excessive runoff into streams and rivers, which adds to flooding danger. On the other hand, because the water has flowed across the earth’s surface instead of soaking in, there is less groundwater available during drier months. Groundwater works like a bank account with deposits and withdrawals.

A swale can help drought-proof a lifestyle block.

Additionally, compacted soils are largely devoid of life due to the lack of air and water. Where soil life is marginal, many types of plants struggle to survive and require additional inputs of fertilizer, “weed killer”, and irrigation.

From an eco-design perspective, drought-proofing a paddock, lawn or garden is about bringing the soil back to life. Living soils have both good drainage and good water retention. In the long term, healthy soils maintain themselves. Yes, nature will do it on its own but we can jump start the process by breathing life into soils in three simple ways.

First, compacted soils need to be mechanically aerated. A farmer might use a chisel plough where a homeowner would choose a broad fork or sturdy garden fork. Next, the application of lime – one handful per square metre – will raise the pH of soils, which increases microbial activity. Finally, top-dressing with organic matter in the form of composted manure for a paddock or finely sieved compost for a lawn will feed soil organisms.

The same three principles – aerate, raise the pH, add organic matter – can be repeated for vege gardens and perennial beds. Additionally, with regards to water conservation, these can be heavily mulched to reduce soil evaporation.

Both vege gardens and perennial beds can easily be managed as no-dig/no-till areas with healthy soils that maintain themselves, but lawns and paddocks will inevitably receive a certain level of foot and hoof traffic. For these areas a more regular programme of maintenance is required to promote healthy soils, but it all can be done within the realm of eco-design.

Workshops:

Drought-Proof Your Residential Section

Wednesday, 4^th February, 5:30-6:30 pm.

Drought-Proof Your Lifestyle Block

Sunday, 8^th February, 9:00-11:00 am.

Limited spaces. Registration and deposit essential.

theecoschool – at – gmail.com

Eco Thrifty Life, environmental education, growing food, permaculture

Permaculture Internship

January 13, 2015 Estwing 11 Comments

We are offering an internship for the next two months for a very motivated individual interested in learning aspects of permaculture design and land management, organic horticulture and agriculture, animal husbandry, and eco-renovation. The internship is free with accommodation and meals included, but we expect a lot of work in return: some stimulating and some mundane. All serious inquiries should be directed to me. Feel free to pass this along to interested parties.

Over the last four years we have developed a premier example of a suburban permaculture property. We are now in the process of doing the same on a 5 hectare farm. Below are some examples of projects we have going.

Here is a hugelkultur swale we have been building.

Here is a small commercial garlic crop.

Hanging to dry.

This is an example of alley cropping with chooks.

Here we are tractoring chooks through a young food forest.

This little chook is raising these 5 orphaned ducklings.

Minor breed sheep and water harvesting.

We are renovating the kitchen.

And always adding insulation.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, wanganui

Waste Management: Biological and Technical Nutrients

January 2, 2015 Estwing Leave a comment

William McDonough is a designer, architect and author. I reckon he is one of the greatest thinkers of our age. If you are a person who gets inspired by TED Talks or the RSA Animate website, you will be over the moon with McDonough. Google his name and you’ll see what I mean.

Central to McDonough’s philosophy is a simple maxim: waste equals food. The first time one hears this statement may be a little jarring. But take a moment and think of compost in a garden or leaf litter on the forest floor. What McDonough means is that the ‘leftovers’ of one process serve as fuel for another process. In nature there is no end-of-the-line, no landfill.

Using nature as his design inspiration, McDonough advocates for two ways by which materials should flow through industrial society. He identifies all stuff as either ‘biological nutrients’ or ‘technical nutrients.’ Biological nutrients are those that come from nature and can be returned via composting or similar biological processes over and over again.

Biological nutrients ready to return to the earth.

Technical nutrients include things like metals, minerals and plastics. McDonough argues that all inorganic (non-living) and synthetic materials should be designed for infinite and easy recycling indefinitely.

Some technical nutrients we found at the beach.

The problem arises when biological and technical nutrients are mixed into what McDonough calls “monstrous hybrids,” which are very difficult to recycle or compost because of the mixture of materials with totally different properties. An example of this is a Tetra Brik ‘juice box’ with layers of aluminium foil, cardboard and plastic.

McDonough is the kind of person who would design a wastewater treatment plant for our city where so-called “sludge” is a valuable resource instead of an expensive liability. He would scoff at spending close to a million dollars on a silly, useless “odour fence.” (Where was he when we needed him!)

Using the same types of design thinking as McDonough, a very small team has helped develop an exceptionally successful waste management programme for public events in our community. You may have noticed our Big Green Flags at Connecting Families Day, Children’s Day, and Castlecliff Children’s Day.

Children’s Day at Springvale Stadium.

I hope it goes without saying that we should be exhibiting positive behaviours in front of children at all of these events. One of the first things that my daughter taught me is that children are great imitators. If we engage in ‘dumpster mentality’ as a community then we are setting up our children for the same.

But littlies are not the only ones who can learn. Even the ‘old dogs’ that make the biannual pilgrimage to Springvale Park for the NZ Masters Games can learn new tricks. In 2013, a small, organised team was able to divert over 95% of the Games waste from landfill. To put this in perspective, the total volume of material that would have filled 20 jumbo dumpsters in 2011 was reduced to one in 2013.

Put another way, the equivalent of 19 jumbo dumpsters of glass, plastic, paper, cardboard and food scraps that were trucked to Bonny Glen and buried ‘forever’ in the ground in 2011 were recycled and composted in 2013.

Castlecliff Children’s Day.

How was it done? Simple, really. Technical nutrients (mostly glass and plastic bottles) were recycled while biological nutrients (food scraps, serviettes, paper plates, bowls and cups, beer boxes, etc) were composted. The success of this effort brought widespread attention to our city and what this extraordinary programme had accomplished. Just last week I was contacted by two people from other centres who wanted to learn more.

If you would like to be a part of the waste minimisation effort at the 2015 Games, please contact the NZMG office at the Wanganui Events Trust office at Springvale Park. 06 349 1815 or email at info@nzmg.com. Please specify that you want to volunteer for the Zero Waste programme.

Peace, Estwing

Sidebar:

World’s Best Garlic

2015 Permaculture Principles Calendar

Available today at the REBS (River Exchange and Barter System) stall at the River Traders Market.

Eco Thrifty Life, Story

It’s All About Water

December 31, 2014 Estwing 3 Comments

Met Service predicted 15 mm of rain for us last night – we got 3 mm. That just about sums up water – too little, too much, and unpredictable. And the prediction is for more unpredictability in rainfall in the future. With this in mind, we are in the process of trying to ‘climate-proof’ our property with regard to water.

There are places on the property where we want more water and places where we want less water. For example, high on the property we are holding water with a new water tank…

… and building swales.

Other places, we are trying to direct water away from structures…

… and in this case away from a fence that is rotting because it has remained waterlogged for many years.

Here is a batten rotting from the bottom upward.

The drainage around the house is especially appalling and has required major intervention, such as this.

And this.

Underneath the house looks like this – relocating water from the ‘high side’ of the house to the ‘low side’

Three drains uphill of the house end up here – draining out and underneath a garden path.

Everyone loves Water!

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Life, garlic, growing food, organic

World’s Best Garlic

December 29, 2014 Estwing 6 Comments

It has been a long and cloudy spring but summer is finally here. We have staggered our garlic harvest over three weeks due to three different plantings in June and July. On the new property it was a rush to even get the garlic in the ground before August.

But with some help we managed to get about 800 in (on?!?) the ground.

It was a dry winter so we had to water a little, but the heavy mulch did a great job of suppressing weed competition and ground evaporation.

Although we got this garlic in 3 weeks later in July, we harvested only one week late because of the greater hours of sunlight in December. The first thing to do is pull a few bulbs and check to see if the cloves are separating or the skin is starting to split.

Then go hard and get it out of the ground.

Yow! This couch grass grew right through this bulb.

I hang our garlic for three weeks to cure and then cut off the stalk. The bulbs can keep for up to 12 months, but many will only last 10. We sell much of our garlic at the local market on Saturday mornings in the city. People who love to cook appreciate great garlic. It is a niche crop that serves the small holder fairly well.

Peace, Estwing

Eco Thrifty Living

Category Archives: Eco Thrifty Life

A Permaculture Day at the Beach

Reality, No TV: Our First Home

Just Another Sunday on the Farm

Best Tool in the Shed

Sustaining Sustainability: No Easy Task

Drought-Proofing is a Matter of Eco-Design

Permaculture Internship

Waste Management: Biological and Technical Nutrients

It’s All About Water

World’s Best Garlic

Wedding Renovation Baby Life