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A tribute to my first friend - vale Mel Schilling

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My memories of Mel Part of me feels like a fraud. I hadn’t spoken with Mel for maybe 20 years, though we had exchanged the odd message. I first found out she was sick by reading it on the ABC news back in late 2023. I got in touch, sending her my love. “Thanks so much Richie Rich x”. It seemed that she had recovered. It wasn’t until just over 2 years later that I read a distressing message from Paul, her Dad, on Facebook, and I reached out again. But, no reply. I wanted to see her - but it was too late. She was in a hospital on the other side of the planet, closed off, from all but those closest and dearest to her. On hearing of her death from her sister Beck, the foundations of my life shook. A deep grief overcame me - where was this coming from? Memories of our journey together came flooding back. I pulled out old photo albums, and an old case filled with letters and birthday cards. Later, I went through old emails too. I’d kept everything… ------------------------ Mel and I grew up ...
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Sustainable House Day 2026

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After being assured by the organisers that they would feature our place in promotional material, I decided to go all in with another SHD. I figure it's a good opportunity to show people how our established low cost permaculture property functions.  The way it works is a bit different this year. With the one $15 ticket you can visit multiple properties by setting up your own 'tour'. Unfortunately, there's not many other properties in our region that are participating. Cooee Park  in High Camp (online tour only) or Clearwind in Glenhope isn't too far away (if you've got a car) - so you might want to check it out too.  Our place features as one of the case studies in David Holmgren's RetroSuburbia , which was released back in 2018. So if you are familiar with the book you can see how our place has evolved over the years since then. It's a hands on 'manual' on how you can live a more self-reliant life and transform your home. I'll have copies of...
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2025 report and harvest results

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Garden helpers at The Centre in downtown Seymour I decided to step up and focus more effort into food production in 2025. Of course, putting more effort in and seeing the results takes time. The effort has been in making better use of the marginal garden beds, by making use of the 3 cast iron baths I've had sitting around for years, getting seedlings in regularly / early and revisiting soil mineralisation - which was last done in 2012, not long after we moved in. The wicking sleeper beds have been performing well, and I decided to separate the produce results from our home garden so we can keep track on how that's going as well as have a easy way to determine how our home garden is going compared with results from previous years.
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How to make a mini biochar kiln

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There are many ways to make biochar. I like this small and slow solution because it makes great use of "waste" materials, as well as the heat that is generated by our fireplace. How to make a small kiln to fit your woodstove Get two cans, the same diameter. I like to use homebrew cans so I can fit in large sticks. Crimp the end of one can so it slots into the other. There needs to be small air gaps to relieve pressure as gases are released. If the fit is really tight you can knock a few holes in the end with a hammer and nail. You're aiming for an almost -airtight container, so be creative. I've used an old stainless steel pot with a lid before. Fill the cans with dried organic material – prunings, nut shells, bones, citrus peels, apricot seeds, even gum nuts; pretty much anything organic (and dry). Get your fire going well. Best to have some red hot coals in there and some nice flames with medium sized bits of wood. Lay the cans over the fire and watch. With a hot f...
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2025 Sustainable House Day - May the 4th

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  Kunie and Richard on the north deck in late spring 2024 It's been a long time since we participated in the national Sustainable House Day - way back in  2012  and  2014 . It just so happens that SHD also falls on International Permaculture Day - so we've got a listing there too . I was encouraged to participate this year by my old friend / mentor / and architect of this house, Peter Lockyer. Great to see the Mitchell Shire Council get on board to support the  6 homes in the shire  that are opening up for the Sunday the 4th of May, including 3 (or maybe 4) in Seymour.  If you'd like to make a booking to visit our place  click here . There's a bunch of info on the SHD website about our place and you can explore more about what we've done right here on the blog. I've put together a short video for SHD that you can see below without the ads. NOTE: Bookings for SHD are now closed. When last checked the 11:00-12:00 session was booked out, but the 4:00...
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2024 report and harvest results

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2024 National Tree Day planting at Whiteheads Creek Food production wasn't a huge priority for me in 2024. The flooding on the 8th of January, was a big set back in my veggie garden down by the creek. The ensuing building project took up a lot of my spare time that would have otherwise been dedicated to growing food. See the 'Wicked Sleeper' garden beds post for more about that. The flood also had an impact of the native plantings that we had made along the creek. I did what I could to salvage the plantings, and most survived. Under the banner of Seymour Urban Landcare, Vanessa and I co-ordinated another National Tree Day planting in July which local Cub/Scout groups played a big part. Biochar being made in our wood oven using homebrewing cans One thing that I became more interested in during the year was Biochar. It seems like it's a great way to improve the soil while making better use of the excess twigs that I produce on site. I've been using 2 home brew cans t...
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'Wicked Sleeper' garden beds

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'Wicked Sleeper' beds replace the Whiteheads garden (Dec 2024) On the 8th of January 2024 we had another a flood event that had a big impact on Seymour and our Whiteheads Creek garden beds across the road at my neighbours place - see image below. What you see in the image above is the finished concrete sleeper wicking beds that I designed and my neighbour financed and built (with help). The wicking bed internal design is based on the Very Edible Garden system  and uses their DIY kit, custom made to size. The Whiteheads Creek Garden after the flood (Jan 2024) I was contemplating giving up on growing food after the previous flood just 15 months earlier, when this one wiped out the garden again. My neighbour, Jim, was keen for me to continue and offered to build a raised bed from concrete sleepers. The sleepers were 2m long, and about 200mm high, 100mm thick. Initially I wasn't interested, thinking that a giant raised bed near eucalypts would soon be filled with roots fr...
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