#13 Tongues in Trees
Paving the way with Plastic, Dragon Fruit, Permaculture Principle 12, Field Guides, Forest Kingfishers
Lucky 13th Edition!
Thank you for your support!
This week:
Paving the way with Plastic in Kenya
Dragon Fruit Profile
Permaculture Principle Twelve: Creatively use and respond to change
Forest Kingfishers and Ecosystem Health
Children in Nature and Field Guides
A Recipe for Sorbet
Don’t forget to let me know if you want me to profile a particular plant! Leave a comment!
Paving the way with Plastic
This news may not be new news but it’s certainly not old news to me. A young entrepreneur in Kenya has developed technology to turn plastic into bricks that are stronger than concrete.
It makes one wonder why this good news is not common news.
Engineer Nzambi Matee, went from the fossil fuel industry to entrepreneur when she identified a way to solve the problem of plastic waste. In her mother’s backyard she experimented and eventually came up with a solution. Her plastic pavers are now used in Kenyan schools, kindergartens and the streets of Nairobi.
She was awarded the United Nations Environment Programme's 2020 Young Champions of the Earth prize for this invention which she developed with a grant from a social entrepreneurship training program. This program took her to the United States of America.
In 2021, her company recycled 50 tonnes of plastic waste. In addition her work has created more than 100 jobs for her community.
To create the pavers, plastic waste is melted and combined with sand before being compressed at high temperatures. The pavers are more sustainable and more durable than existing products.
The next step is to create bricks for housing which Nzambi is already working towards.
To read more, click here.
Plant Profile: Dragon Fruit or Pitaya
This South American native cactus is becoming very popular in subtropical and tropical Australia. I was delighted to find out that a mature plant is growing at our new house. Of course, now I have to figure out how to care for it. After much research, it turns out that it’s the kind of plant that is both easy and finicky.
Easy – full sun, well-drained soil, a structure to climb, trim as necessary to create good shape, propagation from seeds and cuttings.
Finicky – susceptible to fungus, mould, sap suckers and caterpillars, needs regular fertiliser
Let’s start at the beginning with propagation. To propagate this plant from cuttings,
1. cut a mature section from an existing plant
2. Place in a shady spot until the “wound” has healed over.
3. Plant into a soil that drains readily in a pot or the ground.
To propagate from seeds:
1. Squash some of the ripe flesh with seeds on to a piece of paper towel.
2. Keep moist until germination.
3. Plant out into punnets.
Once you have your plant make sure that it gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day and provide it with a structure that it can be tethered to. Fertilise every month or so to ensure a good crop.
Flowers only appear on new growth so you may need to trim it back to force new growth. Any sections that are significantly affected by pests and diseases should also be trimmed off.
Dragon Fruit flower in the warm Summer months, but each bloom comes out for only one night before withering. Around one month later, there should be ripe fruit where the flowers were.
This week’s free reading link below is an easy recipe for Dragon Fruit and Raspberry Sorbet!
Creatively Use & Respond to Change
Our world is changing and scientists predict that as the climate warms we can expect more extreme weather events. This claim is supported by events around the world. Permaculture encourages us not just to grow plants but to grow a new approach to the world around us.
In terms of extreme weather events changing our lives, we can respond by preparing for these events.
How does one prepare for extreme weather events?
Develop an action plan for the emergencies most likely to impact on your family. In my previous home, we knew that extreme weather was most likely to come in the following forms:
1. Floods
2. Droughts
3. Bushfires
To prepare for flooding we made sure that we had a generator and fuel on standby, as our water supply was contingent on running an electric pump from the underground rainwater tank. We also kept two gas bottles, one in use and the other full, so that we could always use the barbecue to cook food.
Over 6 years we were flooded in at least once a year with the longest being 3 days flooded in and 5 days without electricity. The first flood caught us unawares, but we were prepared for every one after that.
In our new home, I am preparing a “Cyclone Kit” as that is the most likely event, apart from flooding, to affect us.
Which extreme weather events are likely to impact on your life? What preparation can you undertake to minimise the impact on your home?
A Sign of Health
Forest Kingfishers are amazing little birds. They are quite small and nest in arboreal termite nests. To build the nest they pick a spot facing the termite nest and fly at it so that their beaks penetrate the outer shell. They do this until there is a hollow space inside where they can build their nest.
The thing about Forest Kingfishers is that they are very sensitive to environmental change. They avoid noisy areas and in our old neighbourhood I went from seeing them daily to seeing them rarely as development in the area increased. They are one of the first species to abandon an area that is losing the integrity of the ecosystem.
I was thrilled, then, to see not one but three as I walked around our new neighbourhood last week! They perched on power lines, watching and waiting for insects to pass by before flying out to pluck them from the air!
Look at their gorgeous blue wings! They have to be one of my favourite birds!
Pique their Curiosity with Field Guides
I have a lot of field guides, hard copy field guides. I do love hard copy still despite the availability of many good phone apps. They usually end up in a pile on the patio, so that they are close to hand when I see something new or simply want to browse while enjoying the sounds of birds in the garden close by.
The other benefit of having them randomly lying around is that the children are drawn to them. They will pick one up and start flipping through pages, marvelling at the colourful pictures and looking at the distribution maps to work out whether they have the chance of seeing them.
This has a number of benefits. Even though it’s not out and about in nature, it provides a connection and stimulates a desire to get out and see the organism in question. It also promotes literacy and skills like map reading. It’s an effortless way to build their literacy and spatial skills while connecting them to the natural world.
The most important part of the process is making sure that the children see you looking at the guides and that the guides are left where they can pick them up. Once they’re engaged, it’s easier to get them learning and building skills. They won’t even know that a lesson is taking place!
The only downside to this approach is that inevitably the field guides disappear only to resurface in their bedrooms or in odd places around the house and yard! But, who am I to complain when they are obviously enjoying the books so much that they can’t put them down as they continue on their daily adventures of wonder and connection with nature?!
This week’s free read as promised, is the Dragon Fruit and Raspberry Sorbet… trust me it’s a great treat on a hot day!