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Little Desert Permaculture

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A family’s passion to bring permaculture to the harshest of Victorian landscapes.
A guest post by Dieter and Ilse from the Little Desert.

On the edge of the Wimmera region of Western Victoria in the heart of wheat and sheep country a family is going against the status quo to create a permaculture Eden.

Ilse and I originally had a laugh over email about how my list of plants that can survive utter neglect in Melbourne wouldn’t have a fighting chance where she lives on the edge of the Little Desert National Park. In her words the only survivors without water in their “hot, sunny, parch summers and frosty winters” would be “wormwood, maybe dandelion and nettle if we have a little rain!”. Now that would make a tasty salad!! Ha!

So I invited her to write a guest post about the unique challenges she faces in her extreme climate and how she has overcome them. I was excited to find out more and I knew you would be too. Her son Dieter wrote the following post and I hope his beautiful account of their journey inspires you all as much as it did me. We’re not alone in our struggles against man and bug and the hard work pays off! We look forward to a sequel in a few months!

Permaculture in practice, practice, practice…
And, patience.
Our garden on it’s way to eden is in a hot, dry, but also frosty small town surrounded by conventional grain growing farmers, where starting a permaculture garden can definitely be demanding. Especially when there’s not too many others who share the same inspiration and can lend a hand in sharing their ‘what works’ and ‘what dries up before you can plant em’ tips and tricks. So without too much experience, much of what we do is trial and error, with more often sometimes error in the beginning phases of setting things up.

In a way, however, this is something you can enjoy. Kind of like deriving a sense of importance because you’re about the only ones who are making an effort in this line of work (apart from a few local inspirations), whilst everyone else around you is carelessly spraying, consuming, or not having the slightest interest in the stuff around them which they would really actually LOVE if they even perhaps knew it was there.

Sometimes, it is a bit disheartening. When you see greens of greens of gardens in other climates with fruit trees, and even just weeds would be kind of good, perhaps, if they grew. Winter is our wet season, but summer can be long, hot and dry without much going on unless you’ve got some good irrigation systems, or established trees.

But, with much excitement, some things do work.

This first one is the vegie patch under shade cloth, including a few wicking beds. Goji berry growing on the south end, beans on the far end (north) Frames up for cucumbers to climb to save space. Not enough morning sun in this patch though, as our double storey dwelling over shadows it. I am thinking of putting in more fruit trees and shifting the vegie patch out the back further under shade cloth that allows the morning sun and covers north and west. Even though that would be like in zone 2. Not much choice though.
This first one is the vegie patch under shade cloth, including a few wicking beds. Goji berry growing on the south end, beans on the far end (north) Frames up for cucumbers to climb to save space. Not enough morning sun in this patch though, as our double storey dwelling over shadows it. I am thinking of putting in more fruit trees and shifting the vegie patch out the back further under shade cloth that allows the morning sun and covers north and west. Even though that would be like in zone 2. Not much choice though.

Arrowroot loving the heat, but growing in a wicking bed. Have just made another round wicking bed on the hot north side of the garden and are transferring the arrowroot over there to act as a wind break.
Arrowroot loving the heat, but growing in a wicking bed. Have just made another round wicking bed on the hot north side of the garden and are transferring the arrowroot over there to act as a wind break.

Desperately trying to get grapes growing everywhere for summer shade.
Desperately trying to get grapes growing everywhere for summer shade.
Have lost quite a few thyme plants despite that they are meant to like the heat. So this time the thyme went in a bucket of water!
Have lost quite a few thyme plants despite that they are meant to like the heat. So this time the thyme went in a bucket of water!
And our little success story. Our "hugel nests" of fruit tree pruning (thanks to locals not knowing what to do with them) left over after the hugel bed had been topped up with them, and grass clippings. The idea of was to keep the summer blazing sun off around the roots of the trees, the side effect was not curly leaf that year :)
And our little success story. Our “hugel nests” of fruit tree pruning (thanks to locals not knowing what to do with them) left over after the hugel bed had been topped up with them, and grass clippings. The idea of was to keep the summer blazing sun off around the roots of the trees, the side effect was not curly leaf that year 🙂
french-millet-buckwheat-mallow2
This second one is french millet growing, with a bit of buckwheat, rocket and the forever opportunistic mallow. I’d sown the french millet as a green manure. It was watered to get it started but then no more and was lush green all through summer. The rocket and the mallow had a sprinkler over it on a timer, so some may have sprayed over at times. However, note the amaranth struggling behind the millet. Will be guerilla gardening some of our millet seed on the roadsides next summer…. maybe some farmers may take note and use it as a green manure instead of spraying weeds out in summer.
The first thing that works is definitely taking the right mindset. It seems that in permaculture many people take things very seriously. Like the world is going to fall apart if we don’t work day and night trying to save it. Save what exactly is probably the largest misunderstanding, because all things that need to be saved have a mind of their own, and DO have the ability to contribute to their own salvation, or destruction. So not getting too tied up with overt responsibilities in a demanding environment is probably a good mindset to have, and especially if you have other needs and responsibilities.

Our garden is a part time effort, and in a way, it makes it easier to see what works, and what doesn’t. If something gets neglected, and it survives, it stands out pretty clear. A few good things like that amongst a few likeminded people and you already have the potential to create some permanent sustainable systems.

Wicking beds work great… when they have water. A local showed us his wicking beds on an automatic irrigation system. They looked fantastic!
Hugelbeds…. still in experimentation but they certainly do hold moisture even at the end of the long hot summer, and mulch, mulch, mulch obviously makes such a difference to trees, and the soil.

Setting up your garden to receive the right amount of light is important too. Even though our climate is somewhat semi arid, we don’t want too much shade but even some small exposure to our hot sun can fry things up. We have a very hot west sun and some dry hot winds, but the right plant in the right spot with adequate water will do wonderful.

We have found that growing trees from seed do very well. We have some peaches that come up here and there and they go full bore for their first year without hardly any irrigation. The hotter it gets the more arrowroot seems to grow, and the winter is a great time for getting things started, indoors.

Our irrigation system made a huge difference to our trees, which would be too demanding on us otherwise.

And aquaponics works well too in full sun.

Probably the most interesting thing about our place is that our efforts, and those of a few, do become noticed, and gradually work their way into the minds of locals. To see a system which is so ‘advanced’, that is the current way of life that most people around here live, to make some subtle changes, to turn a few heads and pause for a moment. That really is something.

Of course it would be easy to inspire the ones who are on the edge of their seats already, but those who lay in the gutters wondering how they arrived in their misery, it is something special to watch them see the light, even if it only comes from the corner of their eye.

I know a man who is also doing some great things with his family in our area in permaculture. He has poly tunnels and aquaponics which both apparently work well. So there is lots of sun, and lots of opportunity for things to grow here. There are watercourses and swamps not too far from our area which shows excellent opportunity.

But apart from all that, working in the garden in peace, away from the busyness of the world can feel like a small reach from Heaven, sometimes.

Digging deep, 1 meter deep for our sunken hugel bed. Didn't want to go high in this hot climate. Local pine trees that had been felled at the footy oval, saved from being burnt by the council and put to better use! ( they still burnt a heap).
Digging deep, 1 meter deep for our sunken hugel bed. Didn’t want to go high in this hot climate. Local pine trees that had been felled at the footy oval, saved from being burnt by the council and put to better use! ( they still burnt a heap).

Followed by local horse poo and duck poo ( duck farms around here)
Followed by local horse poo and duck poo ( duck farms around here)
and more grass. Notice the green grass behind, this is winter here.
and more grass. Notice the green grass behind, this is winter here.

Finally the hugelbed with sleepers around its edge and flattened on top. The soil is very sandy here, water runs of and doesn't soak in too well. Everything in it struggled this year once the summer really hit, just tried to get it covered a bit with vines. (sweet potato and mung beans) Next summer it will be shade clothed and hopefully the blueberries now planted will kick off :)
Finally the hugelbed with sleepers around its edge and flattened on top. The soil is very sandy here, water runs of and doesn’t soak in too well. Everything in it struggled this year once the summer really hit, just tried to get it covered a bit with vines. (sweet potato and mung beans) Next summer it will be shade clothed and hopefully the blueberries now planted will kick off 🙂

Looking north west towards the back of our yard. Another bit of shade cloth for shade refuge. Behind the rusty water tank is our happy little fig tree on the edge of the hugel bed. To the right a young mulberry with a pile of grass at its feet, compliments of the local cemetery. Waiting for the junk to leave the old timber shed to convert it into a glasshouse hopefully. In the background the local reserve and dry grass vacant land next door, where we have planted a few nectarine and peach trees from seed which are growing, albeit slowly, with very little water.
Looking north west towards the back of our yard. Another bit of shade cloth for shade refuge. Behind the rusty water tank is our happy little fig tree on the edge of the hugel bed. To the right a young mulberry with a pile of grass at its feet, compliments of the local cemetery. Waiting for the junk to leave the old timber shed to convert it into a glasshouse hopefully. In the background the local reserve and dry grass vacant land next door, where we have planted a few nectarine and peach trees from seed which are growing, albeit slowly, with very little water.
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