#11 Tongues in Trees
Sustainable Sugar Production, A versatile plant for edges and margins, give your children the knowledge to avoid risk, the wonder of rushing water
Welcome to the Eleventh Tongues in Trees!
This week:
How the sugar industry in Australia is ensuring minimal environmental impact.
Versatile and hardy Spiny-head Mat-rush
The Value of Edges and Margins in a Permaculture Garden
The wonder of rushing water
Giving children knowledge to evaluate their own risks in nature connection
A story about changing perspectives in the garden.
This post is free for anyone to read. If you know someone who might enjoy it, please share! Or if you think it’s worth it, pop it on your social media!
Sweet Sustainable Solutions in Action
Sugar… love it or loathe it, it is a part of so many foods that we buy and eat that it is almost impossible to avoid for most people. The good news is that the sugar industry is one of the leaders in producing and using renewable energy.
Sugar Cane is the lifeblood of my new home town and when browsing google I was pleased to discover that the industry is minimising environmental impact in a number of ways.
Sugar Cane is transported to large mills nearby that process the raw cane using steam energy. This energy is produced by heating bagasse, the name given to the pulp left over after the sweet juice is extracted by crushing the large stems. One truckload of bagasse produces enough energy to power two homes for a year.
Until recently bagasse was simply left to rot, now it forms part of an impressive circular system that is truly sustainable. Some mills have gone a step further stockpiling bagasse on special pads to power mills continuously even outside of crushing season. In fact, most mills produce enough energy to send some of their generated electricity to the grid where it is distributed to homes.
Nothing goes to waste, even the ash is scraped from the large chimneys and other equipment and sent back to the farms where it is used as organic fertiliser for the next crop.
Bagasse also has other applications which are being investigated, including being used to create sustainable paper products, including sturdy, microwavable, compostable food containers.
Innovations like this are great news for all of us. This industry is providing an example of how to minimise environmental impact to produce products that are used every day in the modern Western world.
Spiny-head Mat-Rush
This Australian plant is native to all the Eastern Australian states as well as South Australia. It is an incredibly versatile and hardy plant that can be seen in many landscaped gardens in cities as well as in bushland where there are countless other closely related species.
Spiny-head Mat-rush was used extensively by Australia’s Indigenous population for thousands of years for many applications including:
food (seeds are soaked, ground and baked into bread or added to other seeds and nuts to create a nutritious paste)
fishing nets (the long stems are woven)
dilly bags (carry bags) and mats (by drying and weaving the long stems)
It is an easy plant to grow tolerating a wide range of soil types and climates. It does need water to become established but provided it has enough soil depth for its substantial root system it is very drought tolerant.
Spiny-head Mat-rush is a great plant to use in areas that are vulnerable to erosion, as it holds soil well and can be used to rehabilitate creek banks. It looks great in grass gardens, rockeries and makes a great edging plant or gap filler.
The glossy green leaves can grow up to a metre long giving it a spiky appearance. The highly ornamental flower and seed heads appear in warmer weather and last until the weather cools.
Propagation is relatively simple and can be accomplished through either root division or seeds.
This is an iconic plant in the Australian bush that looks great as a component of many different garden styles and requires little maintenance.
Use Edges and Value Margins
Permaculture Principle 11 reminds us to use edges and value margins.
Nature doesn’t create distinct boundaries between ecosystems, rather at every point where ecosystems or microclimates meet a new area is born. These areas are the margins and many margin plants are favourites in gardens. They are often the pioneer plants that appear first in an environment that is regenerating. Pioneer plants are usually quick growing and often provide important ecosystem services to other species, animal and vegetable.
A great example of a plant that grows well in margins is the subject of this week’s plant profile, Spiny-head Mat-rush. It provides food for pollinators and animals as well as shelter for small reptiles and birds.
Take a look at the areas in your garden where transitions are evident.
*where does the soil change composition?
*where does the microclimate change?
*what is happening where path or lawn meets garden?
These transitional areas have the potential to host marginal plants and create attractive edges to blend different areas of the garden seamlessly.
Rushing Water
This week’s moment of wonder is an environmental feature that forms a core element of the habitat in my new home in Far North Queensland. When we were looking for property to purchase, my focus was far more on the garden than the home, although I did want a good kitchen and storage space!
This property’s most attractive feature for me was the remnant rainforest that enclosed a permanent rocky creek. When we got to the property, the remnant rainforest was not the paradise I expected. Rather, this remnant is a wild patch of invasive species slowly strangling the endemic botanical species. This is due to neglect and the devastation wrought by cyclones that have felled large trees and opened up areas to sunlight providing the perfect conditions for the invasive species to flourish.
It took time, therefore to make it into the steep gully to observe our beautiful creek. Before we saw it, we were already bewitched by the enchanting sounds. The creek is so loud as it trickles and flows that my son no longer needs us to put on the little gadget that produces white noise to help him sleep. Instead he is lulled by the rushing water.
I was desperate to see what the creek was like and it was worth the wait! After clipping my way through vines and spines that ripped my skin I was rewarded with water so clear that the sandy, rocky bottom was revealed in all its glory with only occasional ripples to show evidence of the water covering it. Deep sections will allow us to enjoy the freezing cold water in the hot humid climate.
As I surveyed the creek I was transported to childhood memories of exploring and splashing and building rock dams! I can’t wait to take the children down there to create memories of their own.
How wonderful to have this amazing feature as a part of our home! I feel so fortunate to have this live giving water that leaves World Heritage rainforest only a few hundred metres before reaching our little patch of paradise!
If you’d like to see my creek, click here!
Knowledge is Safety!
As a mother in this day and age, I have felt societal pressure to shield and protect my children from harm. As I reflect on my childhood and experiences however I find myself resisting the pressure to keep them separate from potential risks. Rather than remove the opportunity to encounter those risks I challenge myself to minimise the risk by trusting my children to learn how to avoid harm themselves.
Nature is full of benefit and risk in almost equal measure. My children know that they need to check with me before handling creepy crawlies or eating from plants in the garden and bush.
A key example of this is our new home’s remnant rainforest. There is a temptation to exclude them from the patch of delight but this would also exclude them from the wonders within!
As I made my way to the creek, I was pleased to discover that my own childhood knowledge of the features and risks came flooding back. Thus, I will endeavour to teach my children all I know about avoiding things like the painful spines of the “Wait-a-while Vine” that is aptly named. If one of the spiky tendrils grabs your skin and you don’t wait a while and take the time to remove them, one ends up covered in long painful scratches that risk infection in the humid life-rich habitat. In a new exploration I make my way slowly, stopping often to observe the environment, keeping a keen eye out for the “Stinging Tree” that literally leads to months of pain and snakes that call the rainforest home.
So, this is the challenge of raising children to connect with nature and reap the benefits of those connections. I am constantly amazed by how attentive and resilient my children are as they learn about the natural environment. They are cautious but also enthusiastic and I hope to maintain this delicate balance to ensure a rich bank of memories for them both to take to their futures. In turn I will get my own memories as they share those experiences with them!
This week’s free reading link is inspired by one of my daughter’s experiences of nature where she revealed a whole new perspective to me. Read this 150-word story about “When my Daughter met Emilia” here.