Latitude 14 Eastern Australia

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by sun burn, Jun 4, 2010.

  1. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    sorry to hear about your wallet being stolen .. :( that suxx.. one can only hope, the offender sees the light someday, did you look around where you were (and a bit further a field)? I've heard that most people that do that dont wander off to far with the actual wallet, but strip what they want out and fling it in a bin or in the bushes (less conspicuous than being seen with the bulky wallet) .. I hope that good fortune befalls you in other ways :)
     
  2. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Actually i didn't do that but i should have. Perhaps i will go for a look next time i am down that way. Thanks for your sympathy stingray.

    I had almost forgotten about this episode. The thing i will probalby miss most is the purse itself becuase it was made by someone i know who does beautiful bags and purses. It was denim with japanese kimono stripes. I think she gave it to me as a gift as well.
     
  3. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Buddhism, I've moved and other good things - chickens and duck insights

    Well i'm taking up buddhism and i find it a bit exciting at the moment i must say. One of the ideas was to help it motivate me but i must admit that at the moment i am using it as excuse to procrastinate rather than work. So something is not quite right there is it? lol. But seriously, i have faith that in the long run, i will get past this and so i am not really worried.

    Yesterday i moved! Yes i moved my caravan. I have been living in my caravan since i got back from my cycle journey a couple of months ago. I"ve painted it white (I should take some snaps for you to see - but when i've put all my bits in again) and then now i've moved it to its permanent location at hte other end of the block. Luckily for me the reason i decided to move it in the first place was because i couldn't get the internet where the van was. And that prompted a whole rethink about my van and how i would live in it. So that has been exciting.

    Now, rather than make building my treehouse as a first priority i am just happy to live in my van and i'll build an outdoor kitchen. After that i will build whatever i need to on an as needs basis. I still would like at least one room up in a tree but i no longer feel that i need a big house or a house of many small rooms. I am really keen to go with whatver is simplest and to keep everything as easy as possible so long as its nice.

    The current location of my van is near hte bathroom so that's another good reason to have moved it. Its funny that before the internet issue came up, i didn't not think at all about the bigger picture of living life in my caravan.

    The plan is to build up an island of crusher dust around the van so that i can have my kitchen on it. Where my van is is prone to lots of water in teh wet season hence hte need for islands. I am making a border of bessar blocks and will fill it in iwth crusher dust which is the cheapest stuff i can get i believe. Then rather than make a solid floor, a slab or anything like htat, i just want lay some clean sand over the top of it and have that as amy floor surface. If it proves to be unsatisfactory over time, i can always adjust that as needs be.

    I need to build up a garden around this area. Its going to be so lovely so long as i can motivate myself to work. I was going to do some work this morning but something upset me so i lost my momentum unfortunately. Nevermind. There is no great hurry for all these things.

    Back to buddhism, I am reading a lot and it is helping me greatly psychologically etc. I am so excited by it that i at one point i almost thought to go the whole way and become a goddamn nun of all things. But then i woke up and thought that that is probably not a smart move for me. So now i just want to learn as much as i can and practice meditation and follow the dharma as best i can. My main struggle is finding a suitable community. There's not much around here and my first attempt landed me with about the worst group one could find. Its practically a cult. The Diamond Way so steer clear of that if you or anyone is looking for buddhism. Other than that i don't know yet which tradition to follow - theravada or zen. I don't think tibettan buddhism is for me although they are ones best set up here. Anyhow, i am sure it will all work out. I am going to do a series of sessions on mindfulness with an Australian zen monk soon. I'm looking forward to that. There are some great books around on buddhism and i seem to have stumbled upon a lot of them in all traditions.

    I have even found what i think is a good forum in theravada buddhism. I think its called dhammanet.com or something like that. The first forum i found wasn't so great. Not much activity and not much to learn from the members.

    On more permie notes, i had some experiences which might help othesr a bit if i can remember them properly.

    Re the chickens and the ducks

    One day i caught one of the chickens with an egg shell in its mouth. He had broken it either deliberately or accidentally and was enjoying the contents. So i felt bad that i would have to get rid of one of my few hens. But amazingly she has not gone to become a problem. She is not doing it anymore. I don't know if that because it doesn' occur to her or if its becuase i fixed the problem by putting in a rotten egg in the nest for her to bust and discover. But anyway the problem has resolved itself. So if you ever have this problem, you might want to try it. To know if an egg is rotten or not, just see if it floats in a bowl of water.

    I have had more snake stories recently. I caught one, took it 10km away. A week later a snake the same size turned up again. I couldn't catch it but it also didn't try to go and eat any of my ducks or chickens - yet! I am keeping my eye on it though. My chickens nest is not totally snake proof and also i've got some of my ducks outside. I have realised that its good to keep the drakes out. They can be my snake warning so long as someone is around to hear the racket htat is. So far i have been pretty good at noticing when a snake is on the hunt - oh except that first time it got my little lucy. But anyway, my idea is that with the drakes outside the nest, a snake would go for one of htem first and not try to get inside the chook house where it would have much quicker success. the drakes are big and to catch one is going to take a lot of effort on the path of the snake. As it was i heard a lot of batting of wings the other day when i raced up there and saw there was a snake attached to one of the ducks. I pulled it by the tail and it let go. and then i caught it. I suppose if i had not heard the racket, the snake might eventually have got the better of the drake but i do not know. At least becuase the snake is out of the pen it can run away and make it very difficult for the snake to kill it.

    That said, i do have to move the chook house anyway and when i get around to that, i will definitely buy some proper chicken wire the next time and do it properly. This first chook house has been quite good but my brother in law doesn't like it being so close to their place. He doesn't like the ducks. Its all a bit annoying for me becuase the duck house is also close to the main tap but i guess i will get over that in the long term.

    What else is news. My neighbour has shown me that the way to make bananas grow fast is to water them a lot. She waters hers every day. So i am starting to water mine more often though not every day. I need to find another spot for my bananas as well.

    OH yes another great duck tip!!! Ducks like sweet potatoes. I found them digging htem up and eating them. They made hard work of it so now i dig them up, and grate some of it for them so its easier for them. We have such a lot of sweet potato around here so that's really a most fabulous discovery for me. So now i am feeding them most of their eggs, layer pellets and grated sweet potato. If you've got any spare space start growing some yourself. Its the easiest stuff to grow in a warm climate and it looks nice too.

    Someone else told me that lemongrass is a snake deterrent. I haven't tested this theroy yet but i am going to grow bunches of it all around my next chicken house.

    That's about all for the moment. Till next adieu. or peace!
     
  4. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    I never thought of putting in a rotten egg!!!
    I must remember that.
     
  5. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Sounds great Sunburn! I caught a bush turkey running off with an egg the other day. Talking of snakes, I found a python skin on the tree beside the house. tI was about 11 foot long. I hope it goes up to the chook house and has a feed on the rats that are hanging around there!!
     
  6. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Finally - no extra drakes

    Well my excess drake story is finally over. I handed three over to a very nice man the other day. I didn't even ask for money. I guess when i advertised i thought no one would want a drake so i didn't ask for any. This solution was much better than killing them all. That said, i was still sad to say goodbye. What a wuss!

    In the car, one of them vomited. Poor thing.

    We are having such a dry year up here. It hasn't rained since god knows when and even one of our golden palms is dying. Its lost all its tops. This has prompted dad to get our his big sprinkler systems and start watering his mangos. We are going to have mangos coming out ever orifice this year. I might even turn orange.

    What else: progress around my van site is going slowly but it is advancing. I love my new caravan bedroom. I think i told you its painted white. I just bought a proper mattress for the bed so i can ditch the inflatable.

    Not strictly Permaculture: On Sunday night i went to a buddhist mindfulness class. (two more to go) Wow! excellent or what! If you ever get the chance, try it. Notice i am now trying to turn everyone into a devout buddhist. It could save the world - but only so long as people did it properly and applied the 8fold path. I'm curious about permies so i might have to raise the question in the miscelleanous chat branch...
     
  7. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    My ugly caravan

    My neighbour is upset with me. She is upset about my van being near the boundary of her place and thinks i have a whole lot of choices about where to put it. HOwever i pointed out that this is the best spot for me because here i can have wifi connection, shade and closer to the bathroom. But she was quite rude about the look of my van and so i am trying to placate her by erecting a screen. She says she feels i am looking at her whenever she is the pool now even though her house and pool are quite far from the boundary fence. Anyway i can sort of understand how you might feel you are being seen if you are skinny dipping in your pool. And the van is ugly. So i am putting up something to improve all that.

    Yesterday i tried with some shadecloth we had here but even two layers of 50% were still very transparent. So today i am buying some weedmat for the purpose (its a lot cheaper than 90% shadecloth). It will block some breezes for me but hopefully it will satisfy her somewhat.

    I am planting tall shrubs to deal with the screening aspect in the long term so the weed mat is only short term fix. But this is in a part of the property where all the water from this neighbours block runs through in the wet and its soggy for months. So I am planting the shrubs in large plastic bag pots so that the roots will be above ground and not so wet. Hopefully when they are larger they will be able to cope with the conditions. I also want to plant a shade tree over here. I've got a tiny carambola which might do the job but my first thought was a tamarind as they are great shade trees. I'll see how it goes with the carambola first. I like those fruit better than tamarinds.

    Also because of all this wetness - my caravan is sitting in what is somewhat of a pond during the wet season - I have started work on digging trenches through my forest patch to help it carry the water away much faster so i am not sitting in such a bog. I am very interested to see how it all goes this wet season. There are bound to be some issues that i will have to deal with - particualrly mosquitos.

    But its good being so close to my forest now as i am keen to get gardening in it to make it as lovely as possible. Though i doubt i will be able to grow much food in there.

    I forgot to mention before that i had flowers on my vanilla this year. I didn't try to pollinate them. Too much else to worry about.

    Also my boundary shrub area is going really well now that its warm and that they are getting plenty of water. I've just about got all the weeding done now since my return from my cycling trip and i've just started re mulching. The pumpkins and sunflowers i've planted in there are doing fine. And now i'm thinking of trying to get some paw paws growing there too. I mean with all the water from the sprinkler systems it makes sense to try to grow this area as densely as possible so that its not grass that's getting the benefit. I am very very pleased with how this boundary area is working out - despite the fact that not long ago i nearly killed all my pineapples when i fertilised them with a dilute solution of dynamic lifter. Poor things. I think most of them have survived but they are still struggling. That was really stupid to do that. Also i am getting flowers on my frangipannies in this area. Two so far. And one of them is a deep crimson flower so that's fantastic as i was afraid i'd end up with all white ones.
     
  8. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    What about growing bog loving plants to take advantage of the conditions rather than changing it all.

    Hope the tree planting goes well for you, nothing worse than being on unfriendly terms with your neighbours.
     
  9. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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  10. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Money saving breakthrough today with very positive side effects.

    Well who'd have thunk it? The manager of the quarry phoned today to talk to me about the truck load of crusher dust i ordered so that i could build up and island pad next to my caravan. During the course of the conversation he made enough suggestions to help me save money and then went further and now i don't have to spend any money at his company at all!

    Seems crazy doesn't it. But i figure he has plenty of business and I'm just a small fish.

    First he suggested that instead of using crusher dust, i use fill because its cheaper. I didn't know the quarry sold fill. Then he asked if there wasn't anywhere on the property where i could dig a hole and use my own dirt. I said no. But when i got off the phone i realised that !!! my god, this was precisely the best idea. I could have my pond and eat it too. I mean i could have my pond and have my fill. gosh another pardon the pun. Well you see i've been thinking about having ponds right near my caravan pad and now here was the perfect excuse and opportunity to start it straight away. It made so much sense that even dad agreed to move his dinghy garden out of the way. Though he was not keen at first. But when i showed him how eminently briliant it was, he couldn't be difficult about it.

    So anyway, there will be more than enough dirt in the pond hole. And i can do it when i want. (i've got to start building the retaining wall)

    Now i'm in the throws of planning a large pond with bridges and centre islands (where i can put a little table for sitting in the sun or meditating in the dark at night or something like that surrounded by waterlilies.)

    I must say there is a lot to be said for working things out as you go rather than planning all things ahead.

    I am pretty excited about this. Though i need to ring up and find out how much this butyl pond liner stuff is. I know i could use black plastic but this butyl is said to last a very long time. If not permanently. Its probably quite expensive which will mean my pond will only have to be smaller i guess.

    I already know a local machine driver and we have him coming soon to do some other work. So that won't be too expensive. I'd have had to hire him to move the quarry dirt anyway.

    This solution will save me about $300-$500 in dirt and cartage. Too easy.

    Our wet season has started very early. Its been raining for two days and seems more is in store. I wonder if we will have any more dry spells. Probably. I sort of hope so. This soak rain is good but we can wait a couple of months for the rest of it now i think.
     
  11. Don Hansford

    Don Hansford Junior Member

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    Hi Sunburn - long time no see :D

    In your travels around the district, look for areas with similar attributes. Have a look at what nature is growing in these areas, and see if there are some related plants that may be of use to you.
    If the reason for the wet/dry cycle is man-made, rather than a natural ground form, you may want to look at some plants that are more annual than perrenial. Means you may have to replant as the seasons change, but that's life :)
    You could consider something like taro during the wet season (good cash crop), and I'm pretty sure there are some dryland-type taro as well, as a possibility for the dry - could be worth your while to investigate those, too. If it's not too shaded in the dry, you could consider a small cereal crop - lots of dryland varieties available.
     
  12. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Big day today - ponds and floor for living

    Well its been a bit stop and go lately but i've finally got a floor and therefore living room. Ok its not quite finished but a man with a bobcat has been here this afternoon digging out ponds and putting the dirt inside my retaining wall next to my caravan. This space of the retaining wall is to be my daily living area eg kitchen and sitting. Its under some nice shady trees but will eventually need a roof to keep off the rain.

    Where the ponds which is adjacent is where it will lovely to sit at the end of the day with a glass of wine. My ponds are four. The are shortish, rectangles at oddish angles so that in hte middle is almost an island. Originally is was going to be an isthmus but currently there are four earth bridges. Anyway its gorgeous already, even without water or waterlilies. So it can only get better. I am writing from the island. I seem to have a thing about islands. I keep referring to everything as an island, unless its a pond.

    I'll be posting some pictures soon so you can see. I took them today. I should do it right now while i am so excited otherwise they might not happen.

    From my seat i have wifi, a vewi of a hill, which has cloud on it. The view is somewhat obstructed by rather too many trees but i can see the top of it anyway. Its just lovely how my simple life is shaping up.

    Today's job cost me $300. Originally it was going to be done the other day by a man with an excavator who came out to do my brother in laws septic but they broke a track and then teh boss said he didn't have time to do my job and couldn't do it. He talked about me not having enough dirt from the ponds and how much it owuld cost and so on. In hindsight, he was probably just wanting to put me off. I don't know. IN amongst all his bullshit he did give me some good tips which was to flatten the area and clear off the grass first. Then he gave me the name of someone who could do it for me instead. Turned out that this man would lend me one of his bobcat operators to do the job and that man was the man i wanted for the job in the first place. Sometimes its great living in a small world. Carlo has done a beautiful job. Even he is pleased with it becuase he said something about how good he is at the end of it. I am so happy.

    Now there is quite a bit of mess to clear up and quite a lot of work to do just organising the basic well before i get down to putting in hte plant and making a garden.

    But hey, its all good! now i will start on this piccies. Make sure you taake a look i will make a new post when they are up.
     
  13. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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  14. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Oh it looks fabulous Sunburn!! Like a little oasis just for you!!! Are you going to put fish in the ponds or grow plants in there?
     
  15. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Fish would be nice but the last time i tried fish, they died. I htink i won't rush in with the fish this time. waterlillies are good. I had trouble iwth the underwater oxygenating plants too. They are hard to make stay below the water in their pots.

    I am sitting on my island now as i type. Its the end of the day. Must get some table and chairs for this spot soon. :)

    So much work to do though. I need to figure out how to create a kitchen. I don't really want to fill up my lovely spaces with stoves and fridges and sinks and stuff. I like just having space. I guess I will make a little fire place to cook on. In fact, i could do that already just here on my island and it would be like on my camping trips. lol. But it would be pretty toasty. Maybe i will work on that next week.
     
  16. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    What about a 2 burner gas cooker set on a base of cob, with a sink set next to it and a bench top? That would get you a pretty functional set up for next to nothing.
     
  17. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    Looks and sounds lovely sunburn ;)
    re: the pond plants .. bigger pot and place a half a brick in the bottom b4 filling with soil/gravel and plants :)
    I do that on a small scale with plants in my fish tanks.. plastic pot/cup with large stones in bottom then small gravel to fill then plant :)
     
  18. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Just a bit of catch up.

    Got back from down south at the end of january to find garden over grown with long grass and weeds as per usual. I'm weeding like mad but dad's says its a losing battle. I love weeding though so i don't mind and stick to my belief that i can win the war on weeds. I'm planting lots of pinto peanut and letting that fight it out with the buffalo grass which is also nice.

    Tragedy in the chook house today. I left the door unlocked last night out of sheer laziness and this morning i found two chickens dead. I can only suppose a dog got in there. I do'nt know if its ours or a neighbours though. Now i've got four left. We also had to behead the rooster the other day because someone complained to the council. I asked dad to do it as i can't do hte killing anymore. I felt so bad about the rooster. I liked him. Although i had been feeling worse and worse about killing hte ducks the more i did it, i have to say that becoming buddhist makes me feel even worse about killing things - except mosquitos and the like. so i guess i'm still a hypocrite.

    Kitchen work is going slowly. We had a mini cyclone one night last week and it tore my tarps to shreds. I'd only put htem up a few days before. I can't find the receipt so i can't get a refund. I'm so sick of shovelling dirt that i've run out of steam for my kitchen floor. I have just about finished with removing the extra dirt but i've still got to concrete in the last layer of bricks on the front. Just haven't got the energy for that task at hte moment which is not so great since it means i am still annoying dad in his kitchen. I told him i've lost energy adn could he help me yesterday. He seemed agreeable but we don't seem to have a plan yet.

    So i'm mainly digging out extraneous green growth and planting bits of things. I put in some coconuts along the side near my ponds hte other day. I am keen to clear out this area and get this particular garden looking great. I' ve finally planted some of the ornamental pineapples in one corrner near the pink and yellow frangipannis i also planted and which i only started as cuttings a few months ago but which have done really well.

    Along the fence where the neighbours-I-no-longer-get-on-with live, i've been planting aralias. These were quite mature as i had them planted up hte back road and as agreed with my brother in law i'm pulling all those plants out and replanting them. I am vaguley afraid at the same time i might be killing htem with too much dynamic lifter.

    Before xmas i had my skinny bamboos planted up in plastic bags cause i thought they'd grow faster than anything else to provide effective screenign while i got something more slow growing happening.

    I transplanted - finally- the two huge bamboos that i had wrongly planted in teh forest. Now they are on the front corner where they can get lots of sun and where there's tons of room for them.

    Many other little things but not much food is growing i have to admit.

    I've been thinking of getting rid of my chickens and ducks so that i can go away more often and not leave dad iwth the unwanted task of minding htem. But every time i think about it i feel so sad and then also i will miss having that wonderful compost making ability they chickens have. Last year i got so much from them with the bale of hay and their pooh just. I do love the deep litter system. I vaguely hoping that maybe i can find someone to sit my chickens at their place when i go away. I'm going to advertise on my local permie site. right now....
     
  19. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    slow progress but progress nevertheless

    Well i've been overly addicted to my computer of late so i have not been doing a lot of work in the garden. But now i've got a little bit of energy so have started again.

    Also when it was raining so much i would try to dig up a post and the hole would fill iup with water so then i couldn't dig it out. The ground is starting to dry out now so i guess i can resume post digging out.

    I replanted a banana today. I've more to go. I had to wait for my father to poison all the long grass. The long grass that couldn't be got at by any other way and the which the council were on our backs about even though its not really a problem at all from any other angle but gardening. Stupid council.

    I've jsut about got a whole row of coconuts planted in the right place now. Some are newly sprouted and some were started last year.

    I had to spread a whole trailer load of mill mud on top of the ground around my every so slowly growing white hibiscus hedge because i think they are so slow grow for lack of root space. HOpefully they will get going now a bit before winter comes.

    My purple cotton wood hibiscus are doing better than expected. If i keep the water up to them i think they will make a fast job of becoming trees. They are getting lots of sun where they are so that would help of course.

    Joe the farmer is still keeping me stocked up with stuff. He gave me some cumquats the other day and i've made some lovely jam. I collected some roting ones so i could germinate some new seedlings because i had planted some seedlings which i thought were cumquats but he told me on a visit that they were custard apples. I didn't want quite so many custard apples trees there. I will have to dig them out. I do hope hte cumquat seeds will take off. The paw paw seedilngs are doing quite well.

    I bought some new sprinkler heads at bunnings yesterday. I need to put htem on my bamboos in preparation for the dry season which, were it not for this mornings weather forecast predicting rain at the end of the week, i was starting to think had begun already.

    My front road ornamental planting is looking very good. I must take some shots soon. Everything else around here looks pretty much messy as usual.

    Something that i have found to grow well in my forest is the philodendrons. They look great with their big leaves so i've planted some more just by chopping off the tops of an overgrown one near the bathroom.

    So nothing much edible happening around our place. Oh well the rosellas are ripe but i am saving hem for seed as i want to plant a lot out the front behind my ornamental front road bed.
     

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