Permaculture Garden Tour

Every so often I get the amazing opportunity to spend time with my local Permaculture Group at one of the member's farms. It is a great opportunity to learn new ways of doing things and to see what I have learnt put into practice. It is this type of farm I one day aspire to creating. Hope you enjoy the pictorial.

The hill where a gravity fed tank will be installed

Permaculture gardens always have plenty of bamboo

I must ask for some Banana suckers for my garden.

Mulberry bushes and bunches of hanging bananas

I should have written down what type of bean this one is

Protecting young seedlings with poly pipe

Row and rows of productive garden beds

Leeks and spring onions

They recently added the drip irrigation system

Beneficial dandelions to attract bees, and well protected bean seedlings

I must have another go at planting sunflowers...spectacular

Love the colours and textures and diversity of this garden

A very healthy cape gooseberry. I had no idea they grew this big

They use untreated sawdust for mulch, low cost from local timber mill

A very practical outdoor sink with a view

Puts my garlic to shame

Simple Living Sunday 45

Squash, squash and more squash. I was really surprised to see how much these had grown in a week. We had some heavy rainfall which was a blessing and just what the garden needed. These guys are the size of a small pumpkin and overfilled my basket.

So, a separate photo of the cherry tomatoes this week. They are producing a decent size now which are so much more versatile than the tiny ones from last season.

I love the contrasting colours of the green and gold.

I had to go and get a box to carry them inside.

This pumpkin I photographed last week has tripled in size. 

I spent most of the weekend getting the layers of old paint off my deck upstairs...well, making a start on it anyway. If we ever want to sell this place, there are plenty of repairs and renovations to be done.

The boys and I tried sanding the paint off, but it was patchy and really hard work because the boards are not all flat.

A large tin of paint stripper was what we needed. Man my back, legs and arms are sore today!

This is a shot of the stairs showing the lovely finish...a huge improvement. That's the cherry tomatoes growing through the bottom steps.

With so many squash I decided to get a pumpkin out of storage and make a vegetable curry. Even after six months the pumpkins are still fresh and juicy. Makes you wonder how old they are when you buy them in stores.

I decided to stick with my home grown produce for this curry, with the exception of the spices and a little wombok that needed to be used up.

I didn't have any onions so decided to use some spring onions, freshly dug up.

And my garlic which was hanging on the verandah.

The beauty of freshly picked produce...look at the moisture in this zucchini. Beautiful!

 I diced up my vegies and stirred through some indian and moroccan spices...and cherry tomatoes.

Twenty minutes later in the pressure cooker. My dinner for tonight and lunches for during the week. Yay!! I think a vegie lasagne will be next on the list.

What's been happening at your place. Do you like squash?