March 2014 – Paul Ayling.me

Permaculture Update from Aylston

March 2014 Update

Its been all go at the house recently. In September 2013 I planted up the entertainment area in front of the house. Recently I completed a new part of the garden which is uphill from the house. We planted a range of bushes and plants aimed at increasing shade and penetration on the subsoil and adding lushness. Plants include

Agapanthus (love em – a friend got about 50 that the neighbour was chucking out)
Birds of paradise
Pumpkin – organic matter
Horseradish & Comfrey to break up the soil and provide organic matter
Oak – For shade and mulch
Wisteria – to climb the fence and provide a foliage backdrop
and a lot of other things I cant remember

The plants were planted in trenches off contour that followed the water lines as they seep from the irrigation pipe on the fence. In the video I give a tour of the new area along with some of my ideas for the new water feature and grape trellis that should cool down the north face of the house.

At Christmas I bought mulch

and this is what I did with it

A fortnight ago I wrote another post on the the estatae here

Hipster scum get nothing done

This weekend I built a new business

A clothing brand inspired by some graffiti “Hipster scum get nothing done” on a shop in Brunswick. see below

New garden beds above the house

I have been doing alot at the Estate recently and I thought readers might appreciate an update
Below is a view of the property – 20 acres in country Victoria of regrowth gum forrest (formally gold mined). Its heavily damaged withlittle top soil and although its a forresst the gums offer very little shade.

The videos below show a quick walkaround of the property showing the 20 fruit trees I planted in September, and the new area I have planted on the inside of the fenceline and the plan I have for a fountain and water feature that I hope will cool down the house when it is hot.

The fruit trees were hit hard but look like they will still survive by the unprecedently hot week we had about a month ago (where the whole week was around 40 degrees).

There is also now a new area of planting that we put in the previous week that I hope will start improving the soil and water retention.

Taking back government

Governments are out of control

With the bail outs and quantitative easing governments are successfully keeping up the illusion of prosperity at the cost of impoverishing future generations. This will effect all of us in one way or another (that includes Australia). I have written on this at length in a previous article entitle unfolding economic shift. Whilst spending vast amounts of money many governments are also eroding personal liberties, conducting illegal activities, vote rigging and working in increasing secrecy whilst intruding more and more onto our own privacy.

The recent evidence brought out by Edward Snowden highlighting the widespread government secret surveillance to people around the world shows how this is becoming routine in some countries. Privacy International recently published the a study that showed how endemic this is becoming (see below).