Author: Tatyana

Song translation, lyrics and guitar cords for a Russian bard song ‘Swamp and River’

Post author By Tatyana
Post date January 11, 2012

I have recently come across this inspiring artist, Oles iz Luboistoka. As you’ve probably gathered, he is not an English performer. He is a Russian singer and song writer, who lives in an eco village called Luboistok. The village is comprised of family domains, who strive to be in harmony with nature, improve the space they live in and be happy (please see the Ringing Cedars series for details on family domains).

I am so moved by his music that I’ve decided I must share it with the English-speaking world. I’ve picked one of the songs called “Swamp and River” and tackled its translation in the most accurate manner. You can listen to the song below (as well as download it). It’s completely legal, Oles offers ALL of his music for download on his website!

Болото и Река (Swamp and River)

Food Get Inspired Kitchen Gardens Plants Stories

Aquaponics – our evolution so far…

Post author By Tatyana
Post date January 2, 2012
1 Comment on Aquaponics – our evolution so far…

Guest post by Yvonne Lee of www.bargainhunter.com.au

I first came across the concept of Aquaponics a few years ago. I think it was from reading some discussion forums on Aussies Living Simply, but it could have been from a number of places. I even bought the Murray Hallam DVD and made my husband and a couple of friends watch it with me. At the time we had a pond with a few koi and so we rigged up a simple system to cycle some water into a laundry bucket which had some holes punched into it and some blue metal. I managed to grow a few vegies in there quite well and the water did become a lot clearer. I can’t find a picture of the very first laundry bucket system but here is a picture of the pond we had:

Tags aquaculture, backyard fish, backyard pond, cycle, fish, food garden, food production, guest, how to, kitchen garden, koi, pond, strawberry, strawberry tower, Water, Yvonne Lee

Articles Food Get PermaCultured Kitchen Gardens Plants

How to Grow Your Own Mango Plant

Post author By Tatyana
Post date December 30, 2011
1 Comment on How to Grow Your Own Mango Plant

Guest post by Yvonne Lee of www.bargainhunter.com.au

It’s currently mango season and I’ve been consuming a heap of mangoes. I have been buying cases of mangoes (16 to a box) for around $10 – $20. I started buying up early due to the (then) ridiculous prices of bananas. Now the bananas have dropped in price to $0.99 per kilo I’m still buying my mangoes but have backed it off a bit. I’ve noticed the mangoes are coming from all around Australia now. Early in the season I bought ones from Northern Territory and now it seems as if my mangoes are from QLD but I’ve also seen Western Australian mangoes in the stores. I’m not sure if they have always come from those places and I hadn’t paid attention to them previously. Nowadays all the mangoes seem to have labels on them so they are easier to identify where they are from.

With the glut of mangoes at our place I was filling up our ice cream container for worm food really quickly, especially since the pit took up a lot of space in the container! I decided to google how to grow a mango tree from a pit. It seemed a logical thing to do…anyway there were some wonderful pictures, instructions and YouTube videos which helped me.

Tags balcony garden, DIY, fruit, fruit tree, gardening, grow your own, growing, guest, kitchen garden, mango, sprout, sprouting, Sydney, Yvonne Lee

Food Get Inspired Get Started Stories Sydney Local

The taste of Sydney

Guest post by Sharon Lee of FlavourCrusader

Urban honey has grown in popularity worldwide, particularly in Europe. I note that Melbourne city has picked up the trend, but what of Sydney?

“Sydney also has many city beekeepers who’ve been producing rooftop and backyard honey for many years,” said Lyndon Fenlon of Melbourne’s Urban Honey Co.

Meet Richard Foote. His bees reside in suburban Sydney. His method of production is to simply cut the caps then divide the honeycomb into sellable portions. He sells his honey online, and also through Flemington and Penrith markets.

Tags bees, city, farmers market, Food, honey, honey 101, honey health, local, local food, local honey, raw honey, sustainable, Sydney, Sydney Sustainable Markets, urban, urban honey

Get Inspired Get Started Stories Sydney Local

Winter 2011 Issue of Sprout is Out Now with PermaCultured Planting Guide

Post author By Tatyana
Post date July 15, 2011

The latest issue of Sprout Magazine, titled “A BREADUCATION”, just hit the shelves a couple of weeks ago, and with this arrived my complementary copy. Magazine’s publisher and editor Diane Jardine is incredibly warm and wonderful, and she always forwards me a copy, when there is an article I’ve written. This time it was a “Winter Planting Guide” (if you would like to see the pages of the article, please click the images below).

Tags article, Diane Jardine, gallery, local, magazine, media, planting guide, publication, Sprout Magazine, Sydney, Sydney Local, winter, winter planting guide