They say Archimedes had his breakthrough “Eureka” moment while sitting in a bathtub. Mine took a little longer, since I didn’t have a bathtub.

A very photo-heavy tour of the permaculture garden that was recently opened at Mt Terry Public School in Albion Park.

The notes from my recent presentation to Jamberoo Community Growers on swales.

We had 9 cubic metres (4.6 tons) of mulch delivered – and I have to move it all by wheelbarrow!

Photos and videos of Monday’s flooding around Jamberoo.

It took a long time, but I finally finished digging the swale across the back of my shed. With mango, banana, coffee, loquats, sweet potato, taro and more it should be a productive little area soon!

Photos and a description of a very cleverly designed chicken coop.

Some ideas from Permaculture Visions for incorporating water into your garden design to add an extra dimension in both aesthetics and practicality.

I’ve long had the feeling that more and more people are getting into things like growing their own food, keeping chickens, and living sustainably. But then my own interest in these areas has been growing over the past few years too, so I wasn’t sure if it was just that I was paying more attention to those topics or this was a real demographic trend.

As always, it turns out that Google has the answers!

Below is a graph of how the number of searches for the term “backyard chickens” has increased …

There was a very good segment on ABC TV’s Landline show last Sunday, How Green Was My Valley, on the challenges faced by dairy farmers as our climate slowly changes. You can watch it online.

The first 10 minutes or so focuses on a Victorian dairy famer, and the problems he faces when water allocations are cut back in dry years.

Then the story moves on to Jamberoo dairy famers Michael and Lynne Strong, from Clover Hill Dairies. They talk about the warming climate trend, and some of the methods they use …