Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #62 - Compost Teas & Off Grid AirBnBs | Paul & Anita Day [VueGarden]

Transcript

#62 - Compost Teas & Off Grid AirBnBs | Paul & Anita Day [VueGarden] · The Shed Organics Show

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Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode
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of the Shed Organics Show. My name is Jordan and today my
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guests. Today we have two guests, a
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wonderful Paul and Anita Day. And Paul and Anita are from View
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Garden in West Gippsland. And if you haven't come across
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them, I'm so pleased to be able to introduce them to you today.
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I think what really strikes me about Paul and Andy's journey is
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that it feels really authentic. It feels like a journey of
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learning and being able to share passion and share experiences.
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Something that they'll talk about today is how they ran this
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beautiful off grid Airbnb, traditional air bed and
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breakfast or bed and breakfast. Not necessarily Airbnb, but this
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traditional experience where people can come and get to know
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what it's like living off grid in a very modern and beautiful
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way. And also connecting with the
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land and connecting with the garden and sharing the passion
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about the things that Paul and Anita are so into.
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It really sparked a lot of my passion as well as so many of
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these conversations tend to do around soil biology and soil
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health. Because Paul has really dived
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down this avenue of working out compost teas.
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His his learnings from people like Doctor Elaine Ingham that
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he talked about and just how he's then dissecting some of the
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complexities that come with this into a nice and simple way for
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us to be able to take home and how he's then sharing that at
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workshops and garden talks and things like this.
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So a really genuine and fun conversation for me today.
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And I have no doubt that you're going to get so much value out
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of this as well. So without further ado, here are
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the incredible Paul and Anita Day.
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Well, at the moment we're maintaining quite a, quite a
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large garden. So there's half acre of of
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garden and there, you know, an orchard of fruit trees, large
2:27
vegetable gardens. We have a, a large greenhouse,
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lots, lots and lots of flowers and so that takes up most of our
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time. But the, the property is divided
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up into we're, we're 36 acres, but 30 of of the property is set
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aside for wildlife. So the only thing that goes on
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there is our we'll source wood for our hydronic heating system
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and also we cook by wood stove most of the winter at the
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moment, no, but so that's basically what goes on in there
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wildlife and harvesting of timber.
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We also keep 2 acres purely in the summer months for
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butterflies, insects and grasshoppers so that they can
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feed and breed on a native grasses that we're that it's,
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it's slowly coming over because that's so it's slightly
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naturalizing now because it, you know, it was just a, a pasture
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paddock and we don't keep animals.
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So that's, that's so we turned over that to that and, and
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presently, yeah, just concentrating on a garden and
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we've got garden tours coming up later on in the year.
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And normally this time of the year, we've been involved in a
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large festival called Creative Harvest, which is but showcases
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about 12 different food gardens across W Gippsland and S
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Gippsland. So we, we, we would have just
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come come through that, but they didn't do gardens this year.
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They were just doing workshops which we weren't involved with
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but but this year, moving along, they'll there'll be garden tours
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and of course Paul will be as part of a garden tour.
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He does the composting and the aerobic compository workshops.
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So that's sort of basically what's happening at the moment.
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That's amazing. Yeah.
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I'd love to dive into that with you, Paul, in a bit.
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We might start because I want to understand this, this garden,
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because this is I discovered your view garden.
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Is that how you pronounce it? View garden on on Instagram
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actually. And what can I understand about
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the garden? How long has it been there and
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what sort of things are you growing in there?
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I love the idea of the, the wild spaces that you've got on the
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property and bringing all the insects in.
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That's Absolutely Fabulous. But tell me about the garden
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itself. What are you, what sort of
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things are you growing or trying to grow or showcase in that
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garden? And I presume that's changed
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over the years as well. Yeah, it has the, the, the
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garden has changed over its development.
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It's about about 16 years, I think coming up, coming up to 16
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years. It was after Black Black
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Saturday, which the anniversary is just being.
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We weren't affected by the fires, but very close by, the
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only two kilometers up the road while they were affected.
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So the garden started about 16 years ago in in the winter.
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And like a lot of people who start out with gardening, we, we
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just seem to go roll from one disaster to another disaster.
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We didn't understand that, you know, in our forest, we just
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thought that there were Wallabies and Kangaroos and
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things that were living in there, but we didn't realize
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that. Skippy, Skippy lived there.
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Peter Rabbit also lives in the forest.
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Who else there? Bambi lives in the forest.
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And we, we'd come up here on the weekend because we were still
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living in Bayside Melbourne at the time.
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And we'd plant out all these trees and, and have everything
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looking wonderful. And we just get invaded, of
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course, and come back the following weekend and there'd be
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nothing, nothing here. So we had to do something about
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that. It was costing fortune, plants
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and I'm sure and and and heartache.
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So about, I think about it have to be about 8 years ago, we
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invested in electric fencing. So we had to, we had to do that.
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So that we, we made that decision that we're giving,
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we're giving the wildlife 30 to 34 acres of our 36 for, for
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them. And all we wanted was just this
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half acre. And so after that, things really
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started to flourish. But.
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You, but you really now in the garden, what you would like to
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know is what we're growing at the moment.
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So we have a lot of, we have a lot of sort of, I'd say unusual
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plants. We're very inspired by a nursery
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that's very close to us. It specializes in unusual and
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rare plants. So we've had a go at doing,
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doing different things there with trees and shrubs.
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But I love lots of flowers. So I grow a lot of in the
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summer. I grow lots of dahlias.
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But we're just finding now with with how the garden is has
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evolved and with climate change now we just don't have the water
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to maintain water guzzling dahlias.
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So as things are are are dying, which they are, we're just
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replacing them with Sylvius. I've got a quite an obsession
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with them and of course the birds adore them.
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So that's, that's the flower side of it.
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And what else are we enjoying out there?
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Well, as you say, that's the flower side and then we have the
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vegetable growing side of things where we we take that organic
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approach to growing vegetables and we always have through
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through our early life and take that real sort of natural
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approach to it. And we also, when we retired
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about five years ago, we treated ourselves to a greenhouse.
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And that that. That growing season we're at 300
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meters above sea level here, so we do get frost and it is cooler
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than the the Melbourne temperatures.
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But Anita can start the vegetables off earlier and and
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we can finish later when we've got capsicums and eggplants and
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things like that. So we get quite a buzz out of
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picking for lunch range of vegetables and it's the usual
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stuff, carrots and beetroot and beans and potatoes and leeks and
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and all the sort of range of vegetables and vine fruits,
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blackberries and and and raspberries back up our our
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garden or our vegetable side of things.
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That sounds very productive. It sounds like you've got a lot
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going on, but I think, I think you you touched on it by saying
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that, well, for a couple of things.
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One is obviously having this flourishing garden of vegetables
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in the middle of somewhere where all the wildlife are trying to
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find food. You've sort of placed this, this
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wonderful buffet in front of them.
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So no, no doubt they were, they were heading in to come and get
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some of that. So I totally understand the, the
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fencing side of things. And then getting to know the
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climate happens like over, over certain years and you get, you
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get to recognize certain patterns that happen in the
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area. But things you, you know, do
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seem to be shifting and seasons seem to be moving and, and being
10:22
later in the season or unexpected temperatures and all
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sorts of different things going on.
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You mentioned that before you moved out to this property, you
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were living maybe by the coast. I think if I heard you correctly
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it, what were you growing out there?
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Was it possible to grow out there?
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And what was the learning curve like moving out to Gippsland?
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Because I know quite a few people that are out sort of in
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that area and some say it has been a bit of a transition and
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others maybe not so much. But what'd you find?
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It, it, it's the scale of what we did.
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We went, you know, we went originally from a little, a very
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little house in, in Footscray. So we were riding in A and I
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think I, I told you it's a part of our story.
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It's just, you know, in the, in the early years, the very early
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years of living in this, this little, little house, I was
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inspired by a magazine and that was in the years before the
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Internet and, you know, streaming services on TV and
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YouTube. People actually went to the
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library to get their information and I was, I was pregnant at the
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time and I, I gave, had to give up work and I was extremely
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bored. And so I'd make constant trips
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to the library. And I found this periodically
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called Earth Garden in, in 1986. I don't know if you've heard of
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it, Jordan. I think every, everybody who's
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gone back to the land has heard of, you know, has heard of Earth
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Garden. So I read every earth garden
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that the library had, and I think the librarian probably got
12:15
a bit tired of me. And she'd say she then sent me
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to another section in the library and said, look, there's
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this other magazine called Grassroots.
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And again, Grassroots is only just finished.
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They only finished up a couple of months ago, which is really
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sad. So we're talking about magazines
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that went on for about 40 years. So we've journeyed with these
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magazines. Yeah.
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And so everything was just in the beginning, all trial I had,
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you know, I was just at home with a little baby and I was
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trying out sort of homesteading skills in, in a suburban house
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and doing little things with the garden.
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So in, in Footscray, getting back to, to how we, you know,
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the climate at that time. So in Footscray, you'd get heavy
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frost in, in the, in the winter time, but still just little,
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just little tiny things. I'd have little box of this or a
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little section of there. And it was all just small.
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But you know, as time went on and we moved, we moved to
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Bayside, Melbourne, down down on the coast.
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We then had a much bigger garden.
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We had a lovely we had a lovely big garden when we moved.
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When big, relatively speaking, it's, you know, you're talking
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10s of square metres of just garden and and things.
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But where we lived in Bayside, I think we were the only people to
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have a chook run in the whole suburb to the end.
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Anita was growing vegetables and things and the local school
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would bring the primary kids up and have a look at chooks and
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vegetables and we were always composting.
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Yeah, nowhere near as well as I can compost now, but we've
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always had that organic approach and use the chooks to rummage
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through the vegetables and things like that.
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So we had that. We always had that approach.
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We also. Had an allotment thing.
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Too, Yes, we, we did in, in the next suburb there was a little
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allotment. So we've always, we're trying to
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grow more and then when we had the opportunity to, to, well,
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we, we had our property here in West Gippsland without a house
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and whatnot. But after Black Saturday we
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built and developed, we just bought and upscaled what we were
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doing in our passion in the suburbs out into the country.
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So it was an easy transition for us.
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We always knew we were going to grow and have a lovely garden
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and try and grow fruit and veg. As well Yeah, sorry, I was going
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to say that's really nice because it's often the dream of
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of many when you start a small garden, especially in the
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suburbs that you know like I have as well And it's often the
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dream of many to go and connect with more land and to try and
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sort of spread out your roots a little bit and to to take that a
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little step further. But it's also proving that it
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can be done. And I think that now we're
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starting to see a lot more people who are taking up these
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sorts of gardening approaches, permaculture systems and trying
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to close the loop within their own properties, which is really
15:22
nice. And schools, interestingly
15:24
enough, which is great. But it's so nice that you're
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able to start that little bit of inspiration for some of them and
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be, you know, that sort of cornerstone property that
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everyone recognizes. Because even yesterday I have,
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because we have a public bus stop out the front of our house
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on the other side of the fence. And, and there were these a
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couple of, you know, little pairs of eyes looking through at
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my chooks and the garden yesterday when I was watering.
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And the little boy said, Oh, I love your garden.
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I love your animals and stuff. So I thought it's just so nice
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to bring that joy to, to the public, even if it's just, you
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know, someone walking past you get to connect with them or, or
16:00
someone just sort of saying, saying good day and appreciating
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your garden. So now let's move on a little
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bit because then once you've got this property, you started to
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run some Airbnbs on the property and start to develop it as a
16:16
little bit of a place where people could come out and stay
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and enjoy the countryside and things like this.
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Talk to me about the the journey with that and how how I guess
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did that run side by side with the gardening.
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So, so we ran what was known as view at Jindivic Eco BNB.
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We ran that for, for nine years and it was a traditional bed and
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breakfast Jordan whereby people can't, if you've done, done any
16:52
sort of that top style of accommodation travelling usually
16:57
in the UK and yeah, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, whereby people
17:02
come and stay in your home. They, they lovely separate
17:07
accommodation. But in the morning they would
17:11
come out and have breakfast and sometimes it would be people on
17:16
the other side in the accommodation and they'd all sit
17:19
round the table together. And it was terrific because I
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would share experiences about what they'd done and where they
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ate and, and all of that. But what it gave people an idea
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of is what it was like to live in a, a contemporary, A
17:36
contemporary off grid home. I think a lot of people have
17:40
this notion about off grid that it, it's all just sort of mud
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brick and it's in a tin shed and you know, everybody's wearing
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hemp. You know, it's, it's true.
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Ours is a, a very modern home with the best eco efficient
17:59
heating and windows. And so it gave people an idea of
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what that was like. Also to the garden was very much
18:07
a part of people's stay because in the early years I used to
18:12
cook evening meals because out in Jindvig there is nothing
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there is. And you know, you have to hop in
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your car to go anywhere. And of course it, you know,
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going out in cars in the winter didn't suit people.
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So I would cook, cook for the guests and it would be and it
18:31
would be just all seasonal. So it would be what was growing
18:34
in the garden and what I could source from local suppliers.
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So it gave people here of, you know, living, living in the
18:43
season, eating in the season produce, all producing all their
18:47
food for the table, all their, their bread, their jams, you
18:52
name it, Moosely. We grew all the oranges for the
18:56
orange juice. And so we did that for, for nine
18:59
years. And we actually it, it, it's one
19:02
of these, it's been one of these situations where people came and
19:06
they stayed with us and then they came back and they, they
19:10
repeated their visit. And a lot of these people have
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become friends of ours. So.
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But what happens is that everything comes to a natural
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end. And COVID really put the that
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that was the thing that. Yeah.
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And then we just decided then we really wanted to get in.
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Paul had finally retired from work, and we wanted to get into
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travel and developing what we were doing here.
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And that's that, that that's what that's what we did, yeah.
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It's a nice, as you say, it's a nice like, even though it may
19:45
have been your hand forced, it sort of works out in the end for
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what you, you know, a chapter closes and other opens.
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That experience sounds incredible.
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I think having done a few of those in, you know, England,
20:00
Scotland, things like this, where you'd have that
20:02
traditional bed and breakfast. You get to immerse yourself in
20:06
the experience, but as you say, connect with the host as well
20:08
that that lives there and and have shared breakfast and
20:11
stories. I mean as a kid.
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It was, I think, quite pivotal for me to be able to see all
20:19
these different ways of living, which was really nice and
20:22
especially in the countryside. So that experience, you know,
20:27
sharing the stories and meeting all of these people and getting
20:30
them to connect with the garden. I can I've no doubt that that's
20:35
why, you know, you remain friends with a lot of people
20:37
because it really you do get to connect on a different level and
20:41
they get to see what's possible and experience something they
20:44
might not have experienced anywhere else.
20:48
Do you mind? I just want to, I'm curious
20:51
about your home and the setup that you had.
20:53
Paul, was that your involvement as an engineer, being involved
20:57
in setting up the self-sufficiency of the house,
20:59
the off grid nature of it? Can you talk a little bit about,
21:03
just, without going into too much detail, just some of the
21:05
systems that you'd set up that make it different from a whole
21:09
bunch of people in hemp? The the the the very first thing
21:15
is positioning on the block for solar efficiency and we face no
21:21
just also coincides with a fabulous view out over to Mount
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Bourbour. But by by positioning for the
21:28
sun correctly, everything else fell into place.
21:32
Then we used an architect to help us to make a very energy
21:36
efficient home. Double glazing, composite
21:39
windows because we're in the forest and we have natural
21:43
timber. Fall hydronic heating for winter
21:46
with a fireplace and as I need to mentioned before wood stove
21:51
and then hot water in summer is via solar panels on the roof
21:58
with a storage tank that is boosted.
22:02
Our only source is gas bottles to boost that hot water
22:08
occasionally in in winter. And our electricity supply is a
22:13
4.8 kilowatt solar system which was big at the time 15 years ago
22:18
for an off grid system. It's not now and and whatnot,
22:22
but that gave us all the needs and you can see up here that's
22:27
very big air conditioner that runs without consuming electric.
22:32
There's enough solar energy coming through the panels to run
22:35
that on all the hot days. And of course we don't pay
22:38
anything for it in winter. We do have a backup diesel
22:42
generator that occasionally when you have in Jindivic the foggy
22:46
and the wet days for three or four days in a row, you do have
22:49
to run the generator to top up. And, and we've got lovely
22:54
verandas with coverings and things like that, that by 11:00
22:58
they're in the shade and we can enjoy this and, and, and the
23:04
views and things either inside or outside.
23:06
So that's a little bit about the the design, all natural
23:10
products, earth bricks here and metres design and how we want it
23:17
to look. One big open space is our main
23:19
living area. That's the dining room, lounge
23:22
room and kitchen all together. And the bedroom that that we
23:25
occupy behind us was a boot room slash laundry and two pods that
23:31
we can guess and family now use. So all up about 220 square
23:38
metres of living space, but 50 of that is an undercover
23:42
veranda. So a relatively small home, but
23:45
there's only two of us and it, it does everything and it serves
23:51
a lot. And we're open to the, the, the
23:54
forest on, on two sides. So that's.
23:57
Incredible. I think is that something that
24:00
you that you planned for like this is that you knew exactly
24:06
that this is the type of thing that you wanted to build was an
24:08
eco house and self-sufficient. Is that the whole plan
24:12
originally? Once the quotes came in for the
24:17
getting just the electricity to the edge of the block and then
24:20
you still had to bring it to the house, we said it was far more
24:23
efficient to go the other way. The house design was always
24:26
going to be solar efficient, so it wasn't too much to add a
24:31
solar power, a generation system onto the house.
24:36
Water tanks were all were already coming.
24:38
We're already going to use solar panels for hot water heating and
24:44
and with with, with gas boosting.
24:46
So it it sort of naturally progressed that way as as well.
24:52
Yeah, cool. Well, I mean that's, it's the
24:54
smart thing to do. You want to be fully set up and
24:57
then you've got to have backups because you're not connected to
25:00
anything. You've got to, you know, go
25:02
through a lot of these scenarios and figure out if the power goes
25:06
completely, if we've got, you know, terrible weather for a few
25:10
days or if, God forbid, you've got fires coming through again,
25:14
you need to be prepared in in many different ways.
25:18
That's really interesting. Thank you for for touching on
25:20
that. Let's go, let's go back to the,
25:23
the garden now moving into sort of what you're doing now,
25:29
because from what I understand that you you've have had or you
25:33
are having people come in for workshops and teaching through
25:39
various different things. Obviously this now branches into
25:42
the compost and the aerobic compost teas, things like this.
25:46
So what sparked the move from going to from the, you know,
25:53
obviously you had this beautiful Airbnb.
25:55
It started all these practices already and you were getting
25:58
involved in this. What was the the next step like
26:02
to go, OK, let's start inviting people in and teaching some of
26:06
this stuff? What was the thought process
26:07
behind that and the journey for that one?
26:11
That that that came. That basically came with the
26:17
festivals that we would be involved with.
26:19
So with Creative Harvest, you know, they were interested in,
26:27
well, you know, you know, why are we growing such terrific
26:31
food? Or how, how come you haven't got
26:33
a lot of bugs on your food or on your, your plants and, and all
26:36
of that. And that just that just
26:38
naturally evolved and next thing you know, Paul is giving
26:43
informal talks. Then it started getting a little
26:46
bit more organized and, and groups would would come in.
26:50
But basically that that evolved from three years ago.
26:55
We, we made a decision that we weren't going to buy any more
26:59
organic fertilizers as in things like, you know, things like
27:06
power feed and sea Sol and, and dynamically we were looking at
27:11
some great YouTube about how other people were, you know,
27:16
approaching their growing and their composting and, and all of
27:19
that. And we just started to get
27:21
inspired by what other folks were, were doing.
27:25
And so we just said, we're going to go cold Turkey.
27:28
We're not going to, we're not going to buy another thing.
27:32
We're going to, we're going to make all our own products.
27:36
And that's the the path that Paul went down then?
27:40
And at about the same time with our memberships through Land
27:44
Care, we attended a few events, workshops and meetings at town
27:51
halls. And I struck a soil scientist
27:55
who lives locally, Doctor Mary Cole, and he changed or took us
28:02
to the next step. We were always composting and
28:04
going the organic approach, but he really gave me the mantra of
28:11
feed the soil, not the plants. And it just coincided with some
28:16
other people that were making compost tea.
28:19
And then I attended a workshop at Doctor Mary Coles Farm and
28:25
that sort of really kicked it all off so that we got the
28:29
confidence to, as the mayor said, we gave away the
28:31
commercial products and we just said, let's go all in trying to
28:36
do it with just the products that we can either supply or
28:40
neighbors. We can take off the land with
28:42
neighbors permission and go from there.
28:46
And that's, that's, that's the step stage where we're at now.
28:50
But there's three mantras that we we follow and that they are
28:57
feed the soil, not the plant biology before chemistry.
29:03
So get your microbiology right before you'd worry about
29:07
fertilisers and in PKS and the third one is 100% cover 100% of
29:13
the time. If you've got living roots and
29:16
biology, something will happen and grow.
29:19
So we've tried to apply those 3 mantras to our growing systems,
29:26
both vegetables and the and the flower and our our orchard as
29:30
well. That sounds perfect.
29:32
Honestly, though, I feel like, you know, that was very similar
29:36
for me once the unlock was there about the soil and changing my
29:43
perspective from it being this, you know, medium to that you
29:48
would just put your plants in the focus.
29:50
And it's still, I mean, it's moving in the direction, but
29:54
still the general public, which of I was one of them at the time
29:59
was, I was thinking, focusing on the plant, but depends on what
30:04
the plant is, what is the plant need, blah, blah, blah.
30:06
But then when someone explained to me the process of nutrient
30:10
cycling and the way that having the biology in the soil is what
30:15
makes the food available for the plants, then I was thinking, oh,
30:20
we're not growing plants, we're growing soil.
30:22
And that's the same exactly what you said, that mantra there.
30:25
And, and those 3 mantras are so very much what I would live by
30:31
as well. And I like the simplicity that
30:33
you've got there, the, you know, biology before the chemistry,
30:36
because it does unlock everything for you in the
30:39
garden. And it seems to mitigate so many
30:42
of the problems that people are finding with moisture levels,
30:46
watering, with pests and disease, with the nutrients
30:50
availability and all of this kind of thing.
30:53
So Paul, tell me then once you got that bit of inspiration, how
31:00
did you like I'm, I'm interested in, in the story, the journey
31:05
with the microscopy, understanding the biology and
31:09
then getting to a point of really honing in on things like
31:14
the compost tea and the Jadam and those techniques.
31:16
What was your journey like and in, you know, through all of
31:21
this? Beef well, we came from a base
31:25
of managing to make good compost through YouTube clips and things
31:30
like that. So we we had that and then we
31:33
started a a worm worm farm in an old metal bathtub and that's
31:38
that's been going about five years now so gave us a source of
31:42
worm wee and worm castings. But with the the discovery of
31:47
about feeding the feeding the soils and attending the workshop
31:52
with Doctor Mary Cole in that workshop and she has a very good
31:57
friend and another compatriot American who's just retired is
32:02
Doctor Elaine Ingham. And she is the doyen of soil
32:05
health in America since the 1970s or earlier, I think.
32:10
And I followed both YouTube clips, but also some articles
32:16
both had Co written or commented on from each other.
32:20
And that gave me some recipes for compost tea.
32:24
And I made my very first batch of compost tea.
32:28
And I thought, well, how do I check this?
32:31
Because how do you know to put it out when you've got the bug?
32:33
So I bit the bullet and took it off for analysis.
32:37
And Mary Kyle gave me a very good mark.
32:40
So really on my first batch, I thought this, this, this was,
32:46
you know, just following her directions and what what to do.
32:49
It wasn't complex. It's just like having everything
32:54
that that you needed there together to make the brew.
32:57
And then then we were off. So once I did the the tea, I
33:01
said, well, I need to, I'm the engineer side of me about this
33:06
is about measurement. So how do you know?
33:09
Hey, guys. Really quickly jumping in, I
33:11
just want to remind you, if you are not subscribed to this show,
33:14
that is the number one thing that you can do to show me your
33:17
support. So if you're finding value from
33:19
this conversation and you're deeply engaged, I would love you
33:22
to hit the follow or subscribe button.
33:24
All right, back to the show. One is measuring the biology
33:27
with the microscope, which I've learned from Doctor Mary Cole's
33:31
course. I do have a refectometer and I
33:35
measure bricks quite, quite often on various bits and
33:38
pieces. And it's so simple.
33:40
It's almost is a kitchen utensil.
33:42
Yeah. Crushing something, being at it.
33:44
And the third one is just the permaculture principle or
33:49
guideline of observation. Use your own, you know, how do
33:53
the plants look? Do they, they look healthy?
33:55
Is there mini bugs? What did they look like last
33:57
year? Your soil.
33:59
Dig it up, squeeze it and. And just that, oh, it's not
34:03
holding moisture. Maybe I need a little bit more
34:06
of something or, or, you know, and just by those 3 observations
34:12
and, and, and measurements, if you like, just keep working at
34:17
it and, and, and tweaking things.
34:19
So we, we did the compost teas and we were putting those out
34:25
and then I came across a book and you've got to remember
34:29
compost teas and are, excuse me, anaerobic process and not
34:35
anaerobic. But then I discovered wheat
34:38
teas, which form more of an anaerobic process in Jadam,
34:42
which is a Korean process. And I was trying to work out how
34:46
these two things can, can work together because, you know, the
34:50
bacteria are, are different. But as you discover, when you
34:54
get into the science of these things, it's very, very complex.
34:58
You have bacteria that can live in both or, or survive in both.
35:02
They may not thrive and whatnot. So I started to make some, some
35:07
teas as our means of fertilizer. We could add the biology with
35:12
the compost tea. And then we would make these
35:15
weed teas if you like, but our predominant weed, if you like is
35:20
concrete. We grow lots of comfrey and we
35:25
chop and put it in 20 litre drums.
35:29
And the big tip is use unchlorinated water for any of
35:34
these products. You make rainwater wear off grid
35:37
so we don't worry about it. You know, town people need to
35:40
let it stir it and let it sit for 24 hours before using it.
35:43
So we would use concrete tea and I would make let it let the
35:49
leaves basically dissolve over time.
35:51
After a whole bucket of 20 litre bucket of concrete fall to the
35:55
brim, after 8 to 12 weeks, all you have left is a handful of
36:01
debris and rest the liquid. We strain and then we use
36:07
basically on whatever we choose to garden.
36:10
You know, basically can dilute it.
36:13
Or if you want to give something a real boost, just put.
36:18
You know, straight in. Right on the on the plants.
36:21
Comfrey's amazing 1, isn't it? It's just one of these kind of,
36:26
you know, mines the minerals from so deep you can use it in
36:29
as a compress or a, you know, salves and all the sort of
36:33
medicinal properties as well. But then seemingly for the soil,
36:36
for the fertilization, it's incredible.
36:39
Is this, am I right in saying that this is more of a ferment
36:43
like an anaerobic ferment when you're using the comfrey?
36:47
Is that the style that you're using?
36:49
Yes, it the we do put a lid on the the the 20 litre drum and it
36:58
it just breaks down. It does the stir it and it does
37:00
produce an odor, but not much. Actually, we do.
37:04
We do the same for dahlias and nasturtiums.
37:07
When an it was in we we make a dahlia tea.
37:10
Wow. And just the J dam thing was, if
37:12
you're growing tomatoes, make something without a tomato,
37:15
you're shopping from tomatoes. So you've got the tea for for
37:17
next year. If you if, if, if you can, we
37:20
haven't mentioned all you know right to that end yet because
37:25
we're still progressing with using comfrey as the general
37:29
purpose T, but it is. But what I, what I do is by the
37:34
time you stir it and then you decanter, we put it through a, a
37:39
strainer and that you know, the haircut and then we take it and
37:44
then we tip that back into a watering can.
37:46
By the time we've done 3 or 4 of that, you've started to aerate
37:49
it anyway and then can use it on the on, on the garden.
37:54
So we haven't had an issue with sort of deluging something with
37:59
anaerobic bacteria and that all nothing, nothing's ever fallen
38:04
over or anything like that. Yeah, wonderful.
38:06
Well, it's, I mean, there's, as you say, it's quite complex, but
38:10
there is a place for all of these different bacteria and
38:14
organisms and things in that. Are you inoculating this with
38:18
anything? Like for example, I just did a
38:21
big batch of a, a fermented plant extract where I used
38:26
lactic acid bacteria or the, the EM1 to inoculate to start off
38:31
the process. And I did, I basically went
38:35
round the property and found what weed species were growing
38:41
first and foremost. I used a whole bunch of other
38:43
things like comfrey and that. But the reason being was because
38:46
I wanted to if that from what I understand, if that weed is
38:51
appearing in my property, it's usually there to be doing a job
38:56
to mine some minerals to break parts and compaction, whatever
39:00
it may be. So I'm then if it's taken some
39:03
of those minerals that it's trying to bring back to the
39:05
soil, I'm taking that weed and I'm basically using the lactic
39:10
acid bacteria to do that extraction of those nutrients
39:14
suspended in the water. And then I can then use that
39:18
ferment across the garden to apply those nutrients that it's
39:22
it's lacking. So that's kind of what I've done
39:24
recently. Are you using any of this lactic
39:27
acid bacteria EM1, any kind of an oculum for this process?
39:32
The anaerobic 1. Actually we're, we're not.
39:36
But one of the things I've just done recently is to my 200 litre
39:42
drum when I make a compost tea and I'm chasing the bacteria, I
39:47
will add the 20 litres of comfrey tea strained into that
39:52
as a myth and then brew the whole lot up.
39:55
So I have bacteria and the comfrey fertiliser together and
40:01
in that tea there are inoculates, I use humic and
40:04
fulvic acid, there's fish, hydrolysite molasses.
40:09
And so and of course, I think I would get that inoculation
40:14
happening once you've abiding those two things together.
40:17
And and we've, that's just something we've, we've had a go
40:20
at to see, you know, and again, it's, it seems to be be
40:26
effective. Yeah, so that's really
40:28
interesting because you're you're chasing the you're
40:32
basically experimenting and but chasing brewing biology and
40:36
you're trying to grow and feed the biology so that you can
40:39
multiply it to then put it across the property.
40:45
I'm I'm so interested in all of this.
40:47
Not sure if you can tell, but the, the, the soil health and
40:50
everything, the, the like Doctor Elaine Ingham, soil food web,
40:55
the whole, you know, the microscopy that she's brought
40:59
and made more available to everybody has really ignited a
41:03
lot of this stuff for me as well with your, with the compost tea.
41:08
I'd love you to give me a little bit of a, a differences, if you
41:12
can, between what a compost tea is and a compost extract,
41:16
because those words, sometimes they do mean different things.
41:21
And I and I wonder if you've got a bit of a definition, whether
41:24
there's there's something different between the two.
41:29
I would well a team, it would be interesting whether they're
41:38
interchangeable, those terms. They might probably wouldn't be
41:41
that I'm, I'm not a scientist or trained as you know, it's just
41:44
my general experience. But making it tea and I'm
41:48
brewing it with aeration and things like that.
41:52
But I my main base for that tea is 4kg of compost and worm
41:58
castings in a bag suspended in the drum.
42:02
So to make an extract, you would make probably have that same for
42:09
kilograms and you would somehow allow water to leach through and
42:15
and take out what you do at the at at the bottom.
42:19
I've never made an extract per SE if if you use that, that sort
42:24
of method and I've done the extraction by making the brew to
42:30
to bring out whatever we need. So that's really about my extent
42:37
of the difference between the tea and A and an extract.
42:41
Yeah, that's OK. Because the, the key point there
42:43
that you mentioned is that you are basically bubbling away
42:47
brewing this, this tea. And I, I tend to use that as a
42:52
bit of a descriptor saying that a tea is something that we're
42:55
brewing. You know, we're, we're trying to
42:58
grow things or we're trying to multiply things in this tea over
43:03
a process using this oxygenation and that kind of thing.
43:06
Whereas an extract is kind of just like almost like what
43:11
you're doing with the worm. We when the water goes through
43:13
it, it's extracting, it's just basically running through the
43:17
substrate and then it's pulling it out on the other side.
43:21
So there are different uses for those different ones, but the
43:25
compost tea seems to time and time again just have this
43:30
incredible reaction for our plants.
43:34
When you apply it, you can, as you said with the observation,
43:36
you can see the plants responding, especially if you
43:40
are using all of these incredible growth promoters,
43:43
like you've got the fish hydrolysate in there, you know,
43:46
all of the comfrey and things. It's just a really almost
43:51
instant result. What have you found, because you
43:54
mentioned switching away from all of these organic
43:56
fertilizers, What's the response being in the garden?
43:59
What have you seen from starting to use some of these products
44:02
that you've made yourself? What what we're doing this comes
44:06
back to the measurement and using the refactometer.
44:09
Yeah, we unfortunately I only came across the the the bricks
44:14
meter a few years ago. I would have liked to have done
44:17
it when we were using the commercial fertilizers as well.
44:21
Yeah, but our guide at the moment or our comparison is a
44:25
supermarket carrot versus what, One out of our garden?
44:29
Yeah. And we will get a bricks reading
44:31
of one at the supermarket and we can get a bricks reading of 6 or
44:35
9. And, and that is, I understand
44:41
the, the reading. You know, if you can get up to
44:43
12 or 14, you, you know, you're, you're, you're the real high
44:46
end. But you, you notice the quality
44:49
and the sweetness of the of, of, of, of the fruit.
44:53
So when we're noticing it in the the bricks readings, we don't
44:58
end up with best in show looking plants or the tallest the tomato
45:03
plants or things like that. But it's the nutritional value
45:06
of the fruit that we're really, and, and we gauge that with the
45:12
refractometer and everything we grow, when you compare it to
45:16
what you've just taken out of the supermarket, It's, it's, it
45:20
is chalk and cheese. Yeah.
45:22
And just we, we know and, and we grow enough.
45:27
You know, we might put an extra zucchini plant in, but that's
45:30
when you've got 36 acres, that's no big deal.
45:33
So we we we've easily grow enough food ourselves using
45:43
probably what? We grow, probably, we grow all
45:47
our summer veg. So, you know, we're sort of
45:50
self-sufficient in summer veg, I think for about 3 months.
45:54
And of course then we, you know, like a lot of people, we go
45:56
through the hungry, the hungry gap.
45:59
But of course we, you know, we like to, we like to travel as as
46:03
well, Jordan. So we, you know, we just sort of
46:06
get to a stage and we go, that's it.
46:08
We call it quits and put the beds to bed, you know, basically
46:12
cover, cover them over, tuck them in for the winter and, and
46:16
do all of that. But but getting back to another
46:20
thing that we found, you know, as you said, you know, this is
46:22
all an experiment. Here we are now this year,
46:29
white, white butterfly. We've hardly had any Welsh
46:33
butterfly in the garden now. Three years ago the place would
46:37
be swarming with it. So hardly any white butterfly.
46:41
This year we've hardly got any aphid problem in the greenhouse
46:47
because it's greenhouse is a notorious for for breeding up
46:50
all sorts of things. And another thing, the Harlequin
46:53
beetle, we we've had couldn't beetle thick with it in flowers
46:59
and things years before. Now this year we haven't got it.
47:03
And so that's the other thing. It's not only the, you know, how
47:08
much we're producing and the bricks levels rising.
47:11
I mean, with all of that comes these wonderful plants and
47:16
wonderful healthy plants and not being infested by by bugs.
47:21
Yeah. Yeah, Well done.
47:22
I think that's that's exactly it.
47:24
Because you're starting to see the result of everything working
47:28
well underneath the soil. And especially with Peston's
47:32
disease like I, I talk about some of the work of Doctor
47:38
Philip Callahan where he, he talks about this infrared
47:43
release from the plants where by an unhealthy sick plant will
47:47
give off a signal that it's to be decomposed.
47:51
And as our insects are coming in, their role is to come and
47:55
take out the, the weak in the sick plants.
47:58
So when you're seeing zero bug damage, it means that your
48:03
plants are radiating health from, from the ground up,
48:07
literally. And the the biology is able to
48:12
to strengthen those cell walls, like the the calcium, the silica
48:15
content that's in there that really buffers that cell wall,
48:18
which is really strong. Then you're not getting the
48:21
ability for these aphids to come in and start attacking the
48:24
plants. There's no need for them to be
48:25
there. Yes, you might get a few here
48:28
and there and it's sort of all balances itself out, but these
48:31
populations are not going to be soaring in the same way because
48:34
you've got resilient plants that are, you know, built to, to do
48:40
this. And really interesting on my, my
48:43
YouTube over the last 18 months, nearly two years, I've been
48:47
running this experiment with cayenne pepper chilies, where
48:50
I've have started with a really basic potting mix that's, you
48:57
know, completely sterile from, from the garden centre.
49:00
And I've been using different methods on these ones.
49:03
First and foremost, using it a really sort of chemical liquid,
49:10
sorry, water soluble NPK fertilizer.
49:14
I've been using organic amendments, one of the products
49:17
that I've created in a second one and then the third one using
49:21
the organic amendments, but also using, you know, extracts,
49:24
compost teas, things like this as well.
49:27
The difference is just unbelievable in comparison to
49:30
bug damage to, to resilience to the, to the weather, the ability
49:35
to nutrient cycle, that size of the plants, the size of the
49:38
produce, but also what you touched on with the bricks, the
49:42
flavour, the translation of nutrient density is just night
49:48
and day. And that's when it, it really
49:51
hits home, doesn't it? Because that's the produce that
49:53
we're eating, we're fuelling ourselves with and going from
49:57
that carrot that you pulled from the supermarket versus what
49:59
you've just pulled from your garden.
50:02
It's going to be night and day in the expression of our health
50:05
as well. So obviously now with people who
50:09
are coming into your, to your gardens and doing these
50:11
workshops and things and, and teaching about all of this
50:14
stuff. What are some of the things that
50:17
really unlocking for people? What's the, what's the joy that
50:20
you get in helping people realize some of these things and
50:25
some of the, you know, aha moments that people are getting?
50:29
Is it? Is it more around helping them
50:30
understand that soil rather than plants maybe?
50:36
I, I, yes, I, I think that understanding the soil, one of
50:43
the joys is when I go and do a talk and it's a 20 minute talk
50:47
while we have an open garden and it goes over an hour because
50:51
people just keep asking questions.
50:54
That's a real buzz. You know, that people are
50:57
interested and not just one person, somebody, it'll lead to
50:59
somebody else. And then they want to know some
51:02
more detail about how do you get this good compost or how, how
51:06
do, what does your like when you and, and you can go down all
51:11
sorts of rabbit holes. That's that, that's a real buzz.
51:15
And the other thing is because it is so complex, the biology
51:20
and thing, and we're still learning about it, some of
51:22
these, the Sonic in the last 10 years, these discoveries about
51:26
how soil health, all really links and the, the, the chap
51:30
that you just mentioned as well. Now all the research is still
51:33
coming. I try and keep it really simple.
51:35
So I give those people those 3 mantras and, and, and, you know,
51:41
people can generally remember 3 things if and keep them very
51:44
simple and then just go, go from there.
51:47
And that comfrey tea in the 20 litre bucket.
51:51
That's sort of a take home and something you can go home.
51:54
And if you've got comfrey or if you don't want to use
51:57
nasturtiums or anything else, you can still go and make a,
52:01
some sort of product at, at, at your home and then move on to
52:05
the other things. So it.
52:08
Gives them a practical take make home, doesn't it?
52:11
Yes. I mean, we just like we, you
52:14
know, we just like sharing what we've learned along the way,
52:17
Jordan, It's just just as simple as that.
52:19
We get, you know, we had a buzz out of just, you know, as Paul
52:23
said about the comfrey tea. You know, I, I did a little, a
52:26
little video the other day on Instagram making a jade arm
52:32
preparation with the dahlias. And you know, I got a couple of
52:37
messages back from people saying I did it in nature.
52:41
I went and I, I pruned, you know, all the, the old, old
52:45
frazzled blooms and I've got it all set away, tucked away from
52:50
my fertilizer for, for for 12 months time.
52:53
So those little things, you know, when you can, just as Paul
52:56
said, is, is taking away the small things that are achievable
53:01
at home, you know, comfrey tea, starting a starting a we worm
53:05
farm or, you know, a little little composting system.
53:09
And yeah, we, we, yeah, we just get a yeah, getting a real buzz
53:14
out of just just doing it. I definitely relate to that
53:17
because it's just seeing something light up in the other
53:20
person and seeing them unlock something where they can go and,
53:24
you know, do better in their gardening journey and and then
53:27
help somebody else and the the ripple spreads outwards is
53:30
really, really nice. Those little children looking
53:35
through your front fence, when they see them, they they end up
53:41
sampling something. Maybe it'll put a spark in them
53:44
later on. You're absolutely right.
53:47
I think that is what it's all about, even for, you know, my
53:52
little boy, he's nearly eight months old.
53:54
He's starting to explore the garden and really that's
53:58
unlocking a whole nother level of meaning and and joy for me
54:02
out there as well, which is really nice.
54:05
And you're right. Hopefully it sparks the seed
54:07
and, you know, starts to to build that within him and and
54:11
then spreading after that. Just before I forget, I want to
54:16
touch on that. The one of the last mantras that
54:18
you said, which was keep the soil covered all of the time And
54:24
talk to me about what you would suggest in that instance for
54:28
people, whether because we've got a couple of different, I
54:33
guess, techniques in this. But then also one where you're
54:38
staying in the garden, you're working in the garden, what are
54:41
you doing to cover it? And then also when you're going
54:43
away, when you're travelling and you want to sort of, as you
54:46
said, tuck them up for the winter, what what are your
54:48
process in keeping it covered? I think the best approach would
54:53
be to grow like taking vegetables first.
54:57
You've finished your vegetable, your plot is empty there.
55:01
Grow a grass, particularly loosen.
55:05
Loosen is particularly beneficial.
55:07
Like some, I think it's protozoa that very beneficial.
55:13
So chop and drop a loosen crop in in into your garden.
55:17
You've got the roots that go down a long way.
55:19
That would be the ultimate. The second thing is if you can't
55:24
cover with a a living plant cover, then I would be looking
55:31
at a mulch. Now a mulch for us, we we use
55:35
two 1:00 we we have loosen hay that that we use it could use
55:41
store as well. It's not as not as expensive or
55:45
wood chip, wood, wood chip and, and, and, and loosen together.
55:52
Is, is, is a very good combination as well.
55:55
And just layer that on things like the do that in our, our
55:59
flower beds. When you know, when, when you,
56:02
you know, you've chopped and, and you just want the perennials
56:05
to come back. We will cover the soil with,
56:07
with those. And then the third one is if you
56:11
have enough, is a, a, a, a compost, but we never can make
56:18
enough compost to be that generous with it.
56:22
We, we will make our compost and put it right around the, the
56:25
plants as, as we consume it needed.
56:27
Particularly vegetable garden is a, you know, it's a big consumer
56:31
of or, or organic matter. So they're our sort of, well,
56:38
two main ways of covering so that you give you the soil that,
56:43
that protection. And we get enough rainfall in
56:47
winter here in in West Gippsland that the soil remains damp and
56:54
there's there's activity and, and life underneath that mulch
56:59
ready to go again in in the spring.
57:02
Yeah, you definitely need that moisture in there, but that's
57:04
it. That's a really good point,
57:06
especially the loosen. I think that one's underrated.
57:09
Too many people are just overlooking that one.
57:12
And even just like you said, growing it as a living mulch I
57:15
think is so magic. I developed early on a multi
57:21
species cover crop blend which essentially I use in my beds in
57:27
in between things, generally over the winter because it has a
57:29
lot of Clover. So I can grow these things up
57:33
and I can use some of them as an understory or in and around main
57:36
crop plants as living mulch because it has those living
57:39
roots. The ability for the, the, the
57:44
plants to cool the soil when you've got beating sun,
57:48
especially in our Brisbane summers, we've got, it's just
57:52
cooking the soil and there's the moisture is going, I'm having to
57:54
water, you know, twice a day sometimes if there is not plants
57:58
on there. But if there's plants and living
58:00
roots, the ability for it to, to get that heat off the soil is
58:06
just incredible. So that's really interesting.
58:09
And then your, your compost. I wonder if we can just touch
58:12
quickly on your composting. What is it that you've learnt
58:17
about composting that's changed the game for you?
58:19
And maybe a little bit on your process as to, I mean, obviously
58:25
you, you share this, so it's not necessarily a secret, but
58:28
what's, what's your composting process?
58:32
The well, as I should say, the one line I use in my talks is
58:38
there's six things you need to know about good compost and you
58:41
only have to remember one of them after you make your first
58:45
batch. So you need air, water size,
58:50
temperature, and you need a carbon nitrogen ratio.
58:55
The greens are brown and the big one and the gorilla in the room
59:00
is time because you compost anything if you give it enough
59:03
time. But our main secret is I bought
59:07
a chipper when I retired and I really reduce and increase the
59:13
surface area of all our garden things that we go through.
59:17
It is a chipper, but I use it as a shredder and a mulcher as
59:20
well. And a lot of nearly everything
59:23
we have in the garden goes through that chipper.
59:26
And then we have lawn clippings and cow manure from our, our
59:31
neighbors. Yeah.
59:32
And then I will sprinkle with handfuls of rock dust.
59:38
We've just got they're, they're our main and maybe a handful of
59:44
wood ash as well from the eucalypt forest as and, and mix
59:48
it up a bit like a lasagna. So we have sheets of the, the
59:54
grass is the lasagna sheet and the, the, the meat sauce or the
59:58
vegetarian sauce is the, the stuff that goes through the
1:00:02
chippers. And we, we just regularly do
1:00:07
that and about 10 to 12 weeks and we will have compost that is
1:00:14
ready, that smells rich and, and dark.
1:00:19
Dark brown or black and smells sweet and it's just friable and
1:00:23
crumbly and you can use it straight on the garden.
1:00:26
And that that's really the secret.
1:00:29
The secret with the brown and the green is, is, you know,
1:00:31
there's all sorts of things and and there's a whole sort of
1:00:35
thing that that ratio is by white.
1:00:39
And nobody has a set of scales next to a compost heap.
1:00:42
And it's dry way. There's even less chance of
1:00:44
something with an oven. Yeah.
1:00:45
So it's very important. So you have to come back.
1:00:48
We'll have you do this in your backyard.
1:00:50
So it becomes a volume thing. And then you hear people mention
1:00:53
a bucket of this and two buckets of that sort of thing.
1:00:57
So grass is an ideal general purpose starter for compost.
1:01:03
It has a carbon nitrogen of 30 right where you want it.
1:01:07
Perfect. Your kitchen scraps, your
1:01:10
peelings, it's about 20 to 1. And if you've got sawdust that's
1:01:15
dry, it's about 500 to 1. So you don't need much sawdust
1:01:19
to put on and it's just trial and error till you get that mix
1:01:24
right. And the other thing, again with
1:01:27
temperature and time, if you can get our compost bins are a cubic
1:01:32
meter we but because we use the chipper, the volume shrinks
1:01:37
tremendously. We can get half a cubic metre of
1:01:41
material and we can get it. Your ideal temperatures are
1:01:45
between 55 to 65 to kill the pathogens.
1:01:50
I've just checked this morning and ours is up to 70.
1:01:53
It's not a, it's not a race to the highest temperature.
1:01:55
It's just, it's just really reacted quickly.
1:01:58
And we, we'll only turn it four times in that 12 weeks.
1:02:03
OK, so where you can make faster compost and I have tried, but
1:02:08
you have to be very fit and do lots of turning to get the air
1:02:12
into it. Yeah.
1:02:14
And on the way through, when you turn it, you might come across a
1:02:18
bit of dry grass or something like that, or 9 litre watering
1:02:22
can is about all we use in a cubic metre of compost just to
1:02:27
dampen things down and then set it on its way when you're, when
1:02:31
you're turning it. And that's really the, our sort
1:02:36
of idea of, you know, the, our approach to compost.
1:02:40
And it just seems to work very well for us.
1:02:44
It sounds like it is. Really, really good.
1:02:47
Results. Yeah, yeah.
1:02:48
And it's, you're just simplifying it.
1:02:51
I like that, Paul, you've just taken taken the knowledge of
1:02:56
what the complexity of how there are many different ways that you
1:02:59
can go and you're just simplifying it so that if you
1:03:02
get those basic steps right, everything else sort of you're
1:03:06
just well more in the in the ballpark of getting things in
1:03:09
where you want them. And then it's about that
1:03:11
observation, the tinkering and the sort of observing, oh, this,
1:03:15
there's some dry pockets here or maybe I use too much water.
1:03:18
It's starting to go anaerobic. All of these types of things.
1:03:22
The time 1 is so crucial though, because especially on, you know,
1:03:27
YouTube and, and social media, we're seeing these get amazing
1:03:31
compost in 2-3 weeks, 4 weeks. And it's like, is it amazing
1:03:36
compost? I think the timing like, yes,
1:03:39
you probably got to be really fit.
1:03:41
You can you're going to have a, you know, soar back by the end
1:03:44
of the three weeks and you probably haven't yes, you got to
1:03:47
constantly be doing that to to be making as much for your
1:03:50
garden that you need. But it's like, I think the time
1:03:53
allowing the biology to do what it does to break it down to to
1:03:57
build the populations within this compost, I think is also
1:04:01
really, really important. So I love that you've put time
1:04:04
in there as as a bit of a caveat to, to an ingredient.
1:04:09
Look, lastly, last little question for you both, What's
1:04:15
what's interesting to you at the moment?
1:04:17
What's the, what are we thinking about between the two of you as
1:04:21
to where the next year or so unfolds?
1:04:24
Because there's always something.
1:04:26
I feel like we're always either, you know, tinkering or sort of
1:04:30
interested in something new or want to grow something or
1:04:33
experiment with something. Where does the interest in the
1:04:37
passion lie for you currently where we are today?
1:04:44
I, I, I know for myself it will be on the, the chemistry side of
1:04:51
that. I think I've got the biology,
1:04:55
you know, as, as best as I, I can do it and, and, and, and
1:05:00
brew it up and whatnot. And it's just bringing in
1:05:02
sources of because you don't, once the biology is there, you
1:05:06
don't need much NPK to get things to grow.
1:05:11
It's getting natural sources of that.
1:05:13
So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, I discovered only
1:05:16
recently that the NPK of comfrey I think is .511 point 5 and just
1:05:23
enough to, with the biology to, to kick it away.
1:05:29
So looking at natural sources of we don't have chooks here, what
1:05:33
means we don't have chook pen scrapings to add into the
1:05:37
compost. So it's a case of what plants or
1:05:40
where can I get that source from?
1:05:42
So that's my sort of sort of direction in the next year or
1:05:46
so. I think for me, it's always
1:05:48
just, you know, applying Paul's latest brew, you know, and, and
1:05:54
sort of, yeah, just, you know, where are we going to target
1:05:57
this particular brew And, and just observing, you know, what
1:06:00
happens, you know, we two weeks, you know, four weeks after,
1:06:06
after we've done something and, you know, with us now it's it's
1:06:10
a matter of now what did we do and what was in that brew and,
1:06:13
you know, just just just remembering what we were doing.
1:06:17
But I think it's again, it's just an experiment and having
1:06:20
fun with it. We just, you know, and, and
1:06:24
another thing too is we've, you know, we're meeting like minded
1:06:27
people as well, you know, like yourself there Jordan and, and
1:06:33
just, yeah, just getting together and, you know, we, we
1:06:36
had a wonderful nerdy afternoon here a couple of weeks ago with
1:06:40
some, with some friends who who specialized in rare plants and
1:06:46
they bought their microscope over and we had our microscope.
1:06:50
We were just looking at each other's brews and things, so
1:06:54
that sort of thing, having a lot of fun with that and using the
1:06:58
brews and seeing what it does for the garden and yeah, and
1:07:02
taking it from there. There we have it, ladies and
1:07:21
gentlemen. Thank you again so much to the
1:07:24
both of them. They are are wonderful people.
1:07:26
They are very connected with what they're doing.
1:07:28
And I think the transparency in sharing and learning and growing
1:07:34
and just giving all of this sharing the joy as we spoke
1:07:38
about there at the end, just being able to see it light up in
1:07:42
somebody else is something that I relate to so much.
1:07:45
So please go and check them out if you haven't heard of them
1:07:47
before or this is your first experience.
1:07:50
The links, as always, are in the description and the show notes,
1:07:53
so you can go and follow them. Follow the journey, connect with
1:07:56
them. If you're in West Gippsland,
1:07:58
make sure you go out there and see the garden.
1:08:01
I would absolutely love to if I'm ever in the area.
1:08:04
But please support this episode as well.
1:08:06
If you found some value from it, if you enjoyed it, share it
1:08:09
around. I would greatly appreciate that.
1:08:12
It would be wonderful to help more people connect with this
1:08:14
show. But that's it for another week.
1:08:18
I'm so excited to see you again next week.
1:08:19
These are rolling through with some incredible, incredible
1:08:22
guests. I'm so lucky to do what I do and
1:08:25
you are the listeners that make this all possible.
1:08:27
So thank you again. Take care and bye for now.