Barbara Murphy

Micky Ewing wrote:The protein question has other answers besides meat, as any vegetarian will tell you. Pulses (beans, lentils, chickpeas etc.) are a great way to stock the fridge-less pantry with a load of protein rich foods. Dried, they have a shelf life of up to a year, stored in a cool, dark place (older beans gradually lose flavour and take longer to cook). They are also available in canned form, but the dried form is much cheaper. This being a Permaculture crowd, the other big selling points are that the plants are nitrogen fixers and are easy to grow and harvest.

Bring a cast iron pot of rice, beans, chickpeas or other grains to the boil. I take it outside to a wooden bench in the sun, lay it on a multi-folded towel and wrap in a blanket. Takes about 3 hours for the grain/pulses to finish absorbing all the water. Then finish it off on the fire again, adding vegies etc. Works for me!

Jackie French grows avocados in a protected, food forest type garden near Canberra where it does get really cold. Check out her book "Backyard Self-Sufficiency" for lots of really good growing ideas, including avocados. We have seedlings all through the garden and in pots here on the mountain where winter mornings can get to -5C to -7C and as long as they are well mulched and protected from the cold air seeping downhill, they are standing up to it just fine. Varieties - probably Feurte and Shephard (grown lots in Coffs Harbour).

Mid North Coast NSW Australia. elevation 500m. Sub tropical climate

My long time favourite source for vegie seeds is Eden Seeds, Beechmont Qld. All Rare Herbs, Mapleton Q. have a fantastic range of both culinary and medicinal herbs (seeds and plants). Trees we get from Daley's Fruit Trees, Kyogle. Our favourite local nursery is Total Gardens, Coffs Harbour.

We are preparing to send an order to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds who can ship to Australia without quarantine hiccups, I sooo want to try some of those "rainbow" coloured vegies!

This is our 3rd year up here and I keep a lot of my own seeds so I hope these varieties are becoming locally adapted. We harvest way too much so usually take a "Food is Free" tub in to the tiny café in our tiny village of Ulong every Sunday breakfast where the locals meet.

It's autumn here and will be a dry winter as we had a very dry summer. Usually about 50in rainfall, this year (without doing the adding up) maybe 20in so swales and mulch are very important. We had enough showers for good grass cover but a lot of farmers are cutting back cattle numbers as we will run out of feed any time soon. I guess Britain and Europe got all the Earth's water this year...

Barb & Tony