The Fence Project
In our area we have a bit of a problem with Foxes, Snakes and the local overly friendly Goat getting into our yard so one of the first things we have to do to help us with our dream of an abundant Permaculture Garden is to put a decent fence around the entire property. And as we hate doing things in a half hearted fashion the fence will be made of Termite resistant 4" x 4" Brush Box Hardwood posts (locally sourced of course from our wonderful neighbor who owns his own small saw mill). The posts will each be concreted 2ft into the ground with 6ft above the ground. They will then be joined by 6ft high galvanized 50mm x 50mm diamond chain link, including an L bend (1ft x 1ft) of 2mm thick galvanized 15mm hex chicken wire. The reason for the L shape of this lower separate piece is that Foxes and other things when presented with a fence will more often than not attempt to dig under the fence. The other reason for such a high fence is that we plan to grow vines and trellises such as Pea's, Passionfruit, Choko and other runners as part of the shade and vertical part of our Permaculture Garden.
The Worm Farm Project
Part of our plan to be completely sustainable is to grow our own Red Wrigglers. Firstly because they are an amazing source of mulch for the garden, second because they produce Worm Casings (Worm Juice) which can be collected and either poured directly onto your garden beds to help fertilize them or watered down and sprayed onto the plants themselves as a source of nutrients. Finally worms under the right conditions reproduce in huge amounts and if you get it just right hardware and pet supply stores will pay good money for mass quantities of them. This will help us to one day be able to spend all our time on Dragonfly Farm without one of us having to work a day job to finance all our big plans.
The Garden Bed Project
This is the biggie of the whole plan. Our Permaculture Project overall hinges very heavily on what we are able to achieve with our garden. By this we mean the abundance we are able to achieve and the amount of time it takes to reach this level. We are hoping to be able to save enough money to have our local Earthmoving Contractor come over for a day and dig our beds for us. The plan is to have high heaped swale type beds with small 1 to 1.5 foot paths in between them. These beds will run perpendicular to the main house i.e. East West and will be Double Reach in design. We are hoping that in combination with our other projects and a well design drip system we will be able to completely cover the entire property with a living working food forest. Big plans... Stay tuned for updates and pictures as we go.
The Pekin Duck Project
Were getting two Pekin Ducks from Wifey's amazing, generous and kind Uncle Bob and Aunty Del. Why Pekins you say? Because they are the prettiest of all the duck breeds, because they are very very tasty and because well The Bear loves the noise Duck, Duck, Duck when we say it to her...lol. Also they are wonderful at helping to keep slugs and snails from your garden whilst acting as walking fertilizers.
The Meal Worm Project
The way we see it it's easier to grow our own than pay for them so what we have in mind is to put together a medium sized multi layer Meal Worm farm with racks of unprocessed bran on trays about the depth of the average cake tin for them to live in. The idea with these worms is to keep them warm and to date this has been achieved by putting them in a platic cereal container behind our TV which is a fairly warm spot for them to thrive. (when we do watch TV that is...lol). Meal worms have quite a long life cycle compared to other types of worms or so it seems and as such they take a lot longer to propagate than other types (we've read that it's around 6 months). We've also learned that by keeping them cool you actually slow them right down to the point where they go into a bit of a dormant state.
The Grey Water Project
One of the most wasted and most precious or resources on this planet is Water.... The so called experts all have these huge hangups regarding the use of Grey Water and this is not just and Australian way of thinking. On a global basis the amount of stupidity shown by the Governments of the world on this subject is incredible. The rules as they stand right now depending on where you actually live prohibit the use of Grey Water from different sources in your home. Our question is how can you say that it's ok to use water from the basins and washing machine but not bath or shower water. The Governments answer to this stupidity is that Grey Water contains skin cells and fecal matter from your body sloughed off whilst you shower or bath. Our question is this.... What exactly do you think comes off your clothes when you put them in the washing machine. For this reason we will be paying little to no attention to the Governments thoughts on this subject and rather developing a system using a series of interconnected cast iron tubs submerged in the ground and filled with different types of media. This will very much be a trial and error system but we have the desire and plans to do it right and by trial and error we are positive that we can develop a system that filters out all the bad things, leaving us with water that could easily be drinking quality. If Australian's can invent the "Life Straw" for use in Third World Countries with the use of carbon filters etc why is it so hard to imagine that we couldn't do the same?
The Internal Refurbishment Project
When we first purchased our little piece of paradise we knew that it had a lot of Termite activity in it.... That was no surprise. What was a surprise was the amount of damage they did to the interior walls of the home. Thankfully the Roof and Floors were untouched due to the type and age of the wood used to build the frames. The walls however..... well let's just say that we found a Termite nest inside the house which give you an idea of what the state of the home was when we found it. With a lot of hard work over the course of the three extremely hot Australian summer months from December to February Hubby managed pull out all the interior walls leaving just the frame..... And the best part of that other than allowing us to get a first look at how bad the damage was... Termites hate light and dryness.. So now that we know what we are up against the remodel begins. Wifey has big desires for her Kitchen and Bathroom and Hubby has big desires for a very open and light filled house overall. The Bear well....she is going to get the best childrens room a girl could ever ask for =). Like all things though this will take a lot of time and a bit of money to achieve so stay tuned... You can see the before photos on the Photo's page... just wait for the after pix.