To raise the funds to keep this fantastic annual event run by the Australia and New Zealand Solar Energy Society happening, entry is $5 per person or $10 per family per house, children free.   Check out http://www.solarhouseday.com/  for more details and info on other houses opening in Blackbutt and Kiama. Hope to see you on the day!

Of course any trees planted need to be suited to the local climate, easy to establish, low maintenance and high yielding, produce high quality, tasty, nutritious fruit and have low potential to become problem weed species. Trees need to fit the local environment and community. With the help of some local botanical experts, and our obsessive knowledge of fruit trees, we’ve created a draft top 20 list of street and park trees specifically for the Illawarra. We’d be keen for any feedback on the species we’ve recommended, or ideas on we can spread the food growing phenomenon...

We had a timely reminder of this lesson this week. The ever expanding population of little vinegar flies hanging around in our compost bin was becoming a bit too much for my liking, especially after one flew up my nose! However I soon noticed this little grey fantail sitting on the fence, repeatedly darting out and doing a circle above the compost bin before returning to his spot. Then the light bulb switched on – he was having a feast on the vinegar flies! All afternoon he feasted, must have eaten a hundred or so of them. And today he’s back again. It’s natural pest management in motion!

The better we create a diverse ecosystem in our yard that welcomes local wildlife, the better we can keep ‘problem’ species under control – see ecological gardening for more thoughts on how we’re going about this.

So the story of our lamp base and light cover began with a seed....that turned into a vine that grew the gourds....then the vine died back and we harvested the gourds, leaving a good piece of stem on, and dried them in a well ventilated rack out the back deck....then after a few months when they were full dried (very lightweight and the seeds inside shook like a rattle) we cut the holes required in the base and top, scrubbed them inside and outside with vinegar and water and dried them in a sun for a couple days again.

Yacon plants are hardy, attractive perennial herbs, native to Columbia and Ecuador. They reach 1-2 metres tall, with large dark green arrow shaped leaves. The foliage grows up from a central knobby pink/purple rhizome, while the tasty tubers grow down. They love well drained, rich loose soil. Propagation is by planting the rhizome or a part of the rhizome which has a shoot emerging.

The bounty of tubers is harvested when the foliage dies down in autumn or winter, and you can replant the knobbly rhizomes ready for another year.

We’ve been busily spreading locally produced ‘Remin’ rock dust of late, as a key way to improve the health of our soils – and hence our plants and ourselves! This rock dust is basically rock like basalt which has been finely ground to a powder. In this powdered form, microbes in the soil can easily break the rock down into a form that is then available to plants. Rock dust makes a whole range of vital elements and trace minerals available to plants, increasing their health, nutrient value and yield – check out http://remineralize.org/ for more insight into the amazing benefits of mineralising your soils.

We spread out about 120kg of ‘Remin’ rock dust all around our yard. Ideally you’d dig it into the soil, but because we had such a large area to cover and established ground covers, we just threw it around by hand and then watered it in.

To find out more about where we got our ‘Remin’ rock dust from, see: http://www.remin.com.au

We’re silkies, gorgeously fluffy and very cute if we do say so ourselves. We’re from Kembla Grange, so it wasn’t a long trip to move here which was nice. Can’t wait till we’re a bit older (we’re 9 weeks now) and can get out and free range around this backyard – it’s incredible! Lush green ground covers as far as you can see, including heaps of chickweed, our favourite! We’re lucky we get fed lots of greens along with our grains, and we even get hand picked slugs on a plate of nasturtium leaf for extra protein. These guys are so nuts about fresh food and fruit, they even named us after the South American fruit tree - Grumichama!

We think we’ll like it here, things are looking pretty good – we’ll let you know how things progress hey.

 Catch you later :)

Households joining the 'Super Challenge' will set their own action plan to become more sustainble - and will receive $200 of eco helpful freebies (e.g. compost bins, fruit trees), support along the way, and entry into a draw for a solar hot water system!

Only 200 households are able to take part and applications close August 1st - so check out http://www.sustainableillawarra.com.au/ and go to the 'Super Challenge' page to get your Expression of Interest in!

1. Life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable, and that it's better to plan for it than to be taken by surprise.

2. Our settlements and communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany peak oil and climate change.

3. We have to act collectively, and we have to act now.

4. By unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our own energy descent, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching and that recognise the biological limits of our planet.