MUSHROOM GROWING WITH BEA AND MARIO

 I went on an excellent course on Mushroom Growing at Balerno, near Edinburgh, run by brilliant mycologists, Bea and Mario in association with The Planetary Healing Centre. They have years and years of practical experience of growing mushrooms and also of the many other ways in which the kingdom of fungi can help us such as myco-remediation, carbon sequestration and soil regeneration.

Bea and Mario came up to Perth Community Farm to talk about putting on their courses with us, but we just don't have the resources to do that at the moment. So if you're interested in growing mushrooms - and finding out more about the whole fungal kingdom is surely one of the most important and useful things we can do - please get in touch with Bea and Mario via their site: MYCOBEE MUSHROOMS.

MORE COMPOSTING FUN...

 Our second COMPOST MAKING FOR BEGINNERS COURSE was great fun too...

It's really interesting to see how each group of course participants interacts and the sort of questions people ask. This one threw up loads of interesting connections - not suprising really, composting being such a core part of our gardens. You could think of your composter bay or bin as your garden's stomach in a way...

Anyway, please look on the Resources for Courses page on my blog for more about HOTBEDS, COMPOST FOR SEEDS and much more.

COMPOSTING FUN!

 OUR FIRST COMPOST MAKING COURSE AT PERTH COMMUNITY FARM

Who would have thought that compost making could be so much fun...? But that's just exactly what it was, thanks to having a brilliant bunch of gardeners on our first compost making course at the farm, all very enthusiastic and interested in all our gardening adventures as well compost making.

PARTNERSHIP WITH COUNCIL WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES

In an interesting development for the farm, I set up and presented the course with lots of help and practical input from Yvonne Bell, Waste Minimisation Officer at Perth and Kinross Council. I hope we do more stuff like this together, I think there's enormous scope for local government to help people explore how to live more sustainably in all sorts of ways. Also, it makes the course much more interesting to have two presenters with their different styles and backgrounds.

We have another COMPOST MAKING COURSE coming up this Sunday and will definitely be putting these on regularly.

COMING SOON

Follow me on EVENTBRITE to get the latest news of a whole range of SUSTAINABLE LIVING COURSES as they go live. 

WOODWORKING COURSES AT PERTH COMMUNITY FARM

 I have been having so much fun setting up and teaching these woodworking courses! 

I've worked at loads of different things in my time - including many different kinds of woodwork. Small precise things like guitars, through to furniture and kitchens, and on to a range of building projects, roundhouses, caravan conversions and a straw-bale building. I'm happy to say that all that experience is proving most appropriate to our crazy times...

These courses are for complete beginners and for women and men over 18, and we use hand tools only. On the first level, we focus mainly on measuring and sawing accurately and using cordless drills. I have a couple of pieces set up for practice, maybe a raised bed, stool, work bench or trestle, but add in things as we go depending on how people are getting on with stuff.

On the second level course, we build on those skills and techniques, bringing in more tools, planes and chisels etc., and learning how to sharpen them. I have yet more practice pieces set up, maybe a picture frame, bookcase or a chair, and encourage everyone to try all the tools and techniques involved. I just have classes for four people so everyone can learn at their own pace.

DESIGNING THE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

My thinking is to let people see just what's possible with simple tools and local resources, for sustainability but for all sorts of other reasons too, building local community networks for a start. To me it's largely a design problem - thinking about an item's shape and function and how they can be achieved in different ways.

INSPIRATION AND EMPOWERMENT

I've been getting great feedback from students - they say it's very empowering to learn these simple basic skills and have been going off making and fixing things, especially for women who might have been put off learning about all this for any number of reasons...

Re-Post: The Logcabavan Way

Just reposting this from our time at Treflach Farm in Shropshire - ten years ago now! We're planning to start composting courses at Perth Community Farm and it reminded me of our almost zero waste life at Treflach... thanks to our access to land... 

5th August 2016

Ruth and I are really proud of everything we've explored here on the farm. I do take issue with people who say or write words to the effect: "Oh dear, everything's going down the tubes but there's nothing we can really do, it's a hoax, it won't happen in my life time, scientists shouldn't frighten us, the government will sort it out etc etc, so I'll just carry on with my unsustainable life style anyway. Sorry about our kids and grandkids." The solutions are there plain to see and have been for decades, we just need to get off our backsides and get ready for change, like it or not.

!! food glorious LOCAL food !!

 PART ONE - TOMNAH'A MARKET GARDEN

We feel our main role at Perth Community Farm is to teach and demonstrate food growing, gardening and about environmental issues in general, rather than growing tons of food. So it was very interesting for me to visit Tomnah'a Market Garden, near Crieff, where they are growing a huge amount of fruit and veg, as well as building community food resilience and local people's connection to their land.

Tomnah'a from the air, five acre site with lots of polytunnels

COMFREY - HERB OF MAGIC

We always have loads of comfrey in our gardens. It's a brilliant fertiliser, bees love it and it also has medicinal uses. It's best to plant the infertile variety, Bocking 14, as other varieties will spread a bit over enthusiastically... Links to Bocking 14 for sale and an article with lots more detail on comfrey below:

Masses of foliage can be cut down 3 or 4 times a year for mulching or to make liquid fertiliser

BOCKING 14 FOR SALE

ARTICLE IN PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE