Author: Peter Van Beek
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Build Your Own Shade House with Poly Pipe and Battens
This six metre by four metre shade houses protects against excessive sun, wind, and pests such as insects and possums. A simple structure can be made using materials that can be purchased at any good hardware store. This design minimises waste and time, with an estimated material cost of $500 as of March 2025. Use…
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Saving Macadamia Trees, the deadly cost of transplanting trees without their soil biology
In mid-April 2020, 11 young macadamia trees had been transplanted to the Bundaberg Botanical Gardens. These trees are a subspecies of Macadamia jansenii, as are the commercially grown ones. They are being grown to ensure that all genetics of the native macadamia tree are preserved, not just the commercial ones. Holes were dug, the trees…
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From 30 steers to 90, how Brent tripled his farm’s carrying capacity in 20 years
This is the story of Brent Lashford ’s change to regenerative grazing, starting in 2000. Brent bought his property in the Machine Creek area behind Mt Larcom, Qld, 25 years ago, after looking around for 18 months. That included getting to know and learning from people like Peter Andrews and others who have pioneered natural…
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Improving Soybean Yield by 9% with Bio-Booster and Humic Acid and Sea minerals
Bio-Booster, plus a 50-50 mix of humic acid and sea minerals, was applied to soybeans to test for any effects on yield and soil in two paddocks. The Bio-Booster is an extremely high concentration of living soil biology based on a wide range of locally-sourced soil biology and was ‘grown’ on farm. (See our guides…
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Known Functions of Sea Minerals
As a society, we are still learning the roles and functions of Sea Minerals in both plants and soil biology. The list below shows the ones we are aware of, but there are many publications that we are not aware of. If you want to find out more, check out our introduction to sea minerals.…
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Growing Avocados, a demonstration of increasing bin weight with Humic Acid and Sea Minerals
Building Soil Carbon Nature’s way is, amongst other things, about diversity in the soil biology and feeding it with what that needs. They require more elements than what artificial fertilisers provide. One source of the most complete range is the sea where anything that has been washed away finishes up. Sea minerals are being harvested…
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“Our Growing Business”, a Y6 Student Run Project
Students at a Queensland public primary school, inspired by the school’s wicking beds, purchased and cultivated seedlings, later selling them to raise funds for their Year 6 camp trip. We started our business off by selling seedlings we bought and raisedfor several months during school. We made recycled newspaper pots togrow them in and we…
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Building Wicking Beds for Schools
Wicking beds are a useful teaching aid and a hands-on way to introduce your students to gardening. The tips in this guide can also be used for home gardens, but this article refers to materials that comply with school regulations. Choosing and Preparing the Site Find a position that gets at least six hours of…
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Consequences of Misconceptions in Wicking Bed Designs
Many so-called “wicking beds” found on the internet fail to wick properly. Unfortunately, even reputable sources like the ABC have promoted flawed designs. These issues stem from two major misconceptions. Misconception 1: Soil Filling the Reservoir Some believe that rain or excess surface watering will cause soil to fill the water reservoir. This only happens…
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Making a Styrofoam Wicking Box
Converting Styrofoam boxes into wicking boxes is a cheap and simple way to grow at least some of your own healthy food at home. They are portable and smaller boxes fit on a 1.8 m table, so even patios and concrete slabs can become useful places to grow. They can be made with common household…