Last year and maybe the year before there was a woman who worked as a pet sitter in my nearby town. She wrote a weekly column about her pet sitting experiences for the local newspaper, free of charge. It was a very popular column with the readers and I am sure it gained her more business. (I met her once.) I think the column would have been about 250 words. Anyway I was thinking that writing a permaculture gardening column for your local newspaper would be a great way to disseminate permaculture methods and awareness. Doing this could gradually help people convert their little suburban gardens to producing more food in a more sustainable way too. The first idea I had was to write about Pinto peanut as a lawn substitute with the idea of trying to persuade people to convert their grass to a legume. And this would lead on to talking more about legumes in a future column with the idea of encouraging people to grow more legumes in their gardens alongside their other shrubs and flowers and things. The second part of this idea I had was to post the articles that i write here on this forum and anyone else could use them to get them published in their own local newspaper too. And we could all share articles here with each other to use. People could rewrite or edit them up a bit to suit themselves and their local newspaper. I mean for my part, if I was doing it, i wouldn't be precious about copyright and ownership. Doing it this way would mean we'd all have more time to do other things and wouldn't have to struggle with a column each week. We could share ideas about what to write about if we didnt' think we could get an article together. Now I know i have just had this great idea but at the moment I haven't quite got the energy to write and start this column but its something that I will try to do in the future. I figure I should write a few articles before approaching the newspaper. If others think this is a good idea, perhaps we could work on this for a year or six months, writing up 52 articles and then starting to take them to our local newspapers. One point i would note about writing columns is that they should come from your own experience. I mean it works well when you write about what you have been doing yourself, rather than a detached theoretical article. So is anyone interested in having a go at this. Another point is that if anyone writes about particular plants they should say where to obtain them.
Good idea. Given the number of newspapers and syndications of each, a central submission authority might be the best option with PRI members writing and submitting articles and the central authority submitting them to the papers. This would save multiple submissions from people in the same area for the same paper.
I would prefer this not to be organised through a detached central core - a central submission authority. I think it would be best done by members locally, because for example, it makes no sense to publish all the same articles in Tassie as it would up here. Secondly i think that perhaps editors may be less interested in it and on the contrary more interested if there was a direct connection to someone locally. I think this is better for the community too. I am pretty sure that if you were going to have a column, there would have to be a relationship between the editor of the paper and the person submitting the article and running the column for that area so multiple submissions are unlikely to occur. I mean if i approached my local editor with this idea, it is unlikely that anyone else would be doing it. They would have to meet iwth the editor also and come to an agreement. Articles are not just submitted willy nilly. There is a commitment to do it periodically so it means something would have to be done say every week. I mean there are all sorts of ways or organising this to satisfy the local members but i think that should be up to them to work out. I envision this as this forum being a hub, a library of articles where individuals could take from and submit locally and anyone here can submit to. I know my local paper is a news limited paper and editors have the say as to what goes in their paper. Although this is a news limited paper its got very good support from the local community. I think a personal approach would be most popular with the local editors all over the place so that's why its good if a local person makes the choice of submission. I don't advocate a one size fits all across the country type of column, though if someone from permaculture really wanted to do that then I haven't got anything against it someone wanted to do it and thinks its a more preferable idea to what I propose. If there were a number of permie members in the same area, they could either work together on their local column or, and I think its more likely to work out like this, only one person takes responsibility for the column but who is open to input from others. That said, if i put up an article here, I wouldn't mind being corrected by others on facts. I wouldn't mind having people make suggestions as to how to improve it. If there were a group of permie members who were all keen to be the column person but the group didn't want to work together closely, they could take it in turns or they could do a few months spell each. There's many ways this could work but i think it probably needs one person to take responsibility at a time. I would also suggest that it is clearly explained to the local editors how this is all set up so there is no confusion and mis accreditation for works. If an article was written by A. and submitted by B with a little or a lot of editing done by B, then both names should be on the article but the column should still be held in the local person's name. I sort of think this is a good idea for the point of contact. I guess column's local author could named as the column editor with whoever actually wrote the piece named as the author, except of course where the local editor also wrote the piece. Is that clear? I do think its important to put people's names to their work. Its not about ego but about knowing what the source is as a point of reference which may at some point or other be important. Also if i wrote a piece and someone else changed it dramatically i may not want my name on it anymore. Or i may only want to be credited for the original article, so whoever wrote it perhaps should be consulted about the end piece that would be submitted for publication.
Here's my first article. Its a bit long but i can't find my word counting tool. Do you think its ok? or do you have any objections. Go Mad with Mulch It’s the time of the year where the growth of weeds and grass seems supernatural. Unstoppable and demonic. Blink and a forest of grass has shot up between your front gate and the front door. Turn your back for a second and the Day of the Triffids appears to have arrived. Ok, I’m exaggerating a little but avid tropical gardeners know what I’m saying. The invasion of weeds and grasses through a much loved garden is the bane of every green thumber. And worse, it wears down the resolve of many a would be gardener. Most of us know by now know that mulch is the answer. Mulch is, in fact, the best answer to weeds. However not everyone fully grasps the importance and value of mulch, or the ease with which it can be made or acquired. Many continue to herbicides, persist in sending garden waste to the tip and in the absence of mulch, use copius amounts of water to compensate for the lack of it. This article aims to inspire the love of mulch amongst locals and get everyone on-side in a program of chopping up and stocking up garden debris in a bid to make our gardens thrive in wet times and dry times, without the aid of herbicides and other environmentally questionable practices. Don’t chuck your garden waste over the neighbours fence. Don’t try to poke it down storm water drains and there’s really no need to take it to the tip. Keep all your garden debris on site and you and your plants will be happier for it. Briefly the advantages of mulch are: weed control; reduced water usage; improvement of soil health - better aeration and soil structure, more good microbes and worms, more nutrients; more beautiful plants and more vigorous growth; less work and extra money in your pocket. You can save money on tip fees, herbicide products, water bills, bought mulch, professional gardeners and replacing plants that died for lack of due care. The disadvantages of mulch: frankly I can’t think of any. There are many types of mulch but in this article I am concerned primarily with making your own mulch from garden debris. However, there is one temporary inorganic mulch material that is worth mentioning for gardeners who are starting out and have large swathes of grass and weeds to deal with. I am in the middle of this task myself and have found a quick, easy and environmentally harmless solution. I only recommend it, however, if you don’t have to go shopping for this material. It’s black plastic. We happen to have meters and meters of it around, leftover from a house building project. When the penny dropped, I grabbed the sheets of plastic and laid it over the metre high grasses and weighted it down with whatever was to hand: logs; star pickets; pieces of timber. Within about two weeks the grass is dead. Moreover the ground is mulched in the same movement and I don’t need to lift another finger. The seeds in the soil should also be dead from the cooking process of the sun beating down on black plastic. I can now plant directly into a hole in the ground and then place more mulch over the top of the dead grass. You should aim for a thickness of about 20cm, (taking care not to let it build up close around fruit tree trunks because this causes collar rot). I could also mow the dead grass to break it up or if I want to use it elsewhere in the garden. That said, in the absence of plastic sheeting, other materials may serve just as well. I’ve also used some old canvas blinds that were lying around. Raid your garage or ask your neighbours what’s in theirs. Any material which is impermeable to water and preferably light will do the job. A shower curtain will do it, an old plastic tablecloth. You get the idea. These are all better solutions than herbicides. (But don’t forget to pick it all up if a cyclone is threatening). Assuming you don’t have reams of black plastic lying about and you don’t have acres of weeds and grass to deal with; assuming you’ve got a small suburban garden and merely want to improve it, reduce your labour and help get the environment back into shape, all you need do is gather whatever organic debris you can from your garden and throw it around your plants. If you are like me you will baulk at whole palm fronds and large prunings. In that case, grab your secateurs and chop off the ends of the fronds (because these never seem to break down) and cut the remainder into a few shorter pieces. Lay them around the base of your plants and cover them with smaller more aesthetic mulching materials like grass clipping and dead leaves. The same applies to prunings. The woody parts of branches are great for fruit trees. Chop them up or leave them whole but then cover the lot with something less chunky. No one need ever know. If you’ve had the tree loppers in, don’t let them take away the logs. Ask them to chop them up and you hang on to them. If you’ve no shortage of funds, hire a woodchipper, otherwise put the logs under your trees. You may even want to use them in a Hugekulture bed but more on that next time. Here’s its 4pm and cool enough for me to get back to what I love doing at this time of the day.
I'll have a read later when I get some time Re putting articles into local newspapers, a couple of thoughts. One is that some publications won't publish something that has been published elsewhere, or at least they have some restrictions on this (this is because they survive by selling the articles so if they're available elsewhere free it undermines their publication). The other is word length - there will be editorial policy on this and it might be good to suss that out first if you have a particular newpaper/magazine in mind.
On word length, yes i am aware of that. I expect it might be something between 250-500 words. This piece above is probably a bit long as it is. Its only a first draft. I thought i'd put it here before i tried cutting it back. And definitely i would discuss all that with the editor before getting too carried away. I think if they were going to pay money for an article they would be more fussy about exclusivity but i don't think a free article would cause too much high horsey stuff like that. But as i sort of indicated if anyone else wants to take this up, they should negotiate terms and such with their own local paper. I'm aware of a few things with regards to publishing but some others might not be.
That's a well written, interesting and useful article sun burn. It might be good to put something at the start about what kind of garden is being mulched. Also, one of the difficulties of mulch is sowing into it, or even planting small seedlings if the mulch is deep.
Thanks for the word count and the feedback. Gosh its a lot of words. And i just realised too that i hadn't mentioned newspaper or living mulches. Obviously it will need serious revision. About sowing into, yes i have come up against that. Its offputting. I think most people in this area are not making vegie gardens and i haven't actually got vegie gardens in mind either at this stage. The mulch would be mostly for shrubs. There are not many flower gardens up here. I didn't realise it was Saturday and not long ago i went off to phone the editor to talk over my idea. (There's not much writing more articles if they have no interest). No wonder they didn't answer the phone.
I think it is a great idea sunburn - best of luck with it. I would love to do something similar and to put the article up here for input is great too - well done.
I phoned my local paper just now. They could be interested as they are redesigning their paper. They will be in touch with me in the New Year. 400 words maximum seems to be what they are interested in. 250-400 is the usual.
I'm actually in the same boat as you, sun burn (might be a pirate ship, aaaargh!). I currently have a loose arrangement with the local community radio, for a monthly spot, and I'm looking at the 2 local papers as well. The radio spot is not really planned, it's usually just a sort of chat between the host and myself, but I'm looking at maybe tying in the newspaper articles with the radio spot, so they feed off each other (sounding like a marketing shark, now!). I was going to start writing some articles over Chrissy to build up a buffer, so I'm not fighting deadlines. Running up against the word-count monster is a bugger. Trying to make the balance in the article between technical content and a "good read" is painful. I was actually thinking of leading off with an article on mulching (great minds DO think alike) :rofl: so I don't mind working with you on it. I'll have a go over it with the red pen tonight I think a repository of articles, or even "skeletons" of articles would be great. There is only so much time in the day, and the "last minute" is usually pretty full
Good one Don. Regarding word count, i think the thing to do is break down the article into several. I think that should be quite doable with mine. If i get into this, i am certainly going to write a few for back up.
Sorry Sunnie - I let this one through thinking that it was a genuine response to a post and now that I see it in the context of the thread I can see that it isn't. It was amongst about 40 other posts that I was wading through at the time - see the recent post on behalf of the mods for explanation. And DwachNess - if you are real - please contribute something useful soon or I'll ban you.
Thanks eco. Its a troll. The poster expects to be banned, that's why they have created a profile specifically to write this post. I even have a suspicion who it is likely to be. Someone who is a regular but not always around but who just happened to be here on the same day as this was posted. While i gather the troller doesn't approve of my idea, I can't see exactly what his point is. People are so vague.
