Soul Experiment Series : Asparagus and Cucumber Observations

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Eloisa

This is an observation Pete made while transplanting some asparagus.

He was transplanting a whole heap of little seedlings with much joy, love and excitement. Pete loves seeds and plants and planting. After filling a couple of rows he began to feel like he didn’t want to plant anymore and that he couldn’t be bothered. But he felt obligated and thought that it wouldn’t be okay to just throw a whole heap of little seedlings out and not transplant. So he continued to plant them but no longer with joy, love and excitement.

a few days later he went up to the nursery and he noticed this:

20120620 Asparagus observation

Where he had planted with love they were growing and thriving. Where he had lost his joy and felt obligated they all died (as can be clearly seen in the picture above). This is a reminder about what happens when we don’t want to do something or feel obligated. It is better to do it when we have an intention of love and a desire to do it, if we don’t, maybe look we need to look at the reasons why it is absent.

Observation of the cucumbers:

This was another observation Pete made. He loves cucumbers and so far all of them have been eaten or something has happened to them where they have not grown well, died, or decimated to oblivion (over the last 2 years).

This year he planted them with tree guards to protect them. He went out and noticed they had all been chomped up by various creatures in the garden (unfortunately I don’t have a photograph of the extent of the chomping, but I am sure if you have had a slug/snail attack you can imagine what it looked like, imagine half a leaf or so left). He decided that he would try an experiment. Pete took the guards off and put them just beside the cucumber plants as a wind break, the cucumbers did not get attacked and have grown and produced cucumbers this year without attack.

It would seem that his over protection created attack. Also the tree guards create a little warm micro climate for the slugs, snails and other little creatures to safely eat and be protected while doing so.

We don’t suggest not to use tree guards under certain conditions and circumstances but we do suggest to examine your intentions and feelings around plants that you plant. We are noticing when we have demands, expectations upon plants and the intention for them to grow for us so we can eat them rather than just love and grow plants that they often get eaten and attacked.

We are noticing that often just by realising these things that the results change. It is the feelings in us that dictate what happens around us we feel. Our soul is a powerful creator (and destroyer when out of harmony with love we are noticing). We are finding it a fascinating observation and experiment to notice how we affect the environment around us.

Cucumber (20121103)

cucumber with tree guard beside it as a
windbreak. (Nov 2012)

Same view as above with cucumbers and cucumber vine (Jan 2013)

cucumber from above (has tinged yellow leaves from being so dry – we do
not water our garden and it has been stressed with the extreme heat of late.)
This is a reflection of our soul condition also at this time. (Jan 2013)

Laneway Regeneration Project 2011

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Eloisa

This was one of our first swale experiments.

We had a huge amount of rain that eroded the laneway* leaving huge holes and cut outs. Some erosion on the property could literally fit a car in it (unfortunately we do not have photos of that section).

We decided that we needed to do something that would stop erosion and also regenerate the land at the same time. We decided on swaling the area, planting it out with primary regeneration flora, including wattles, and a variety of native trees and shrubs, mulching and watering the plants and swales we fenced the area off and left it to do what it does.

Below are some before and after images:

The swales just having been planted out 2011. (Top section of the laneway).

20130206 Photo of laneway regeneration project today

20130206 a swale with some trees doing pretty well so far

erosion after heavy rains 2011 (Bottom section of the
laneway).

erosion section after heavy rains 2011 (Bottom section)

The area we swaled and planted out, just after planting 2011
(Bottom section of the laneway)

The same section as above December 2012
(Bottom section of the laneway)

It has been really interesting observing this section of laneway. The trees have grown rapidly and well, there has not been a lot of loss of plants. There are many types of different grasses coming up of their own occurred and they are much taller than on other areas of the property.

We also observed some interesting links between plants and the people who planted them. In the top section of the laneway we planted a variety of native shrubs and trees. We noticed that the banksias in the top section were all getting eaten by animals. We couldn’t work it out as banksias are spiky and not the usual tree of choice that animals prefer, (they do not have the softest leaves). We were discussing it and found out that the person who had planted many of the trees had a favourite and those were the banksias. We found it interesting that the ‘favourite’ had been attacked and eaten.

We had another experience in a different section of the land where a similar thing happened. Many trees were planted and many of them died. It was interesting to observe that all those people who planted out the sections had the feeling when planting that they had to ‘get a job done’, there feelings were based on outcome and ‘get as much done as possible’ rather than taking time and having a desire to love and give to the trees and the land.

*A laneway is a fenced space like a roadway that links up many of the paddocks on the property and is easy for the stock to walk to and from the woolshed.

Creating Loving Eco-Systems – An Introduction

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Eloisa

Below is a document put together by AJ/Jesus on ‘Creating Loving Eco-Systems – An Introduction’. It is very useful to read before undertaking any environmental projects at home, or in general. It helped us to at least intellectually understand more about what our souls (you/me) are creating and causing to happen in ‘our’ garden or on the land (both the land that we live on, the country we live in and the how we affect the land the world over, souls are large and global not small and local, smile). It gives information about the systems God creates and we need to replicate in order for us and the environment to be in harmony.

Below is the document as written, it can also be found on the Divine Truth website>Learning Centres>Learning Centre Visit Requirements>Outline or the link below will take you to the original PDF at the same source. There are also audio recordings you can download and listen to on the same webpage.

http://www.divinetruth.com/PDF/Event/2012/20121031%20Creating%20Loving%20Eco-Systems%20-%20An%20Introduction%20(Outline).pdf

Creating Loving Eco-Systems – An Introduction

Introduction

Some people are still struggling to love each other

Need to examine the reasons for this
But seem to think they have an easier time loving animals, creatures and the Earth But is that even really true?
How much of our addictions are really present even in our work with the environment?

What is an Eco-System?

It is a complete ecological environmental system where:

Each part operates in harmony and balance
No single part is dominant or overwhelms another
Each part benefits the whole and assists abundance in the whole
No single part can properly survive without the other parts

What is a Loving System?

These are the systems God creates, and we need to replicate where:

Human Love & understanding is available to all parts of the system
Humans learn and replicate that God has done
Humans understand how we have destroyed the system & desire to change
Humans understand what emotions within us have contributed to destruction
Humans honour the intelligence inbuilt in each organism within the system
No human addictions are supported by the system created

Lesson 1 – Love Effects & Controls The Entire System

For anything to flourish Love must be present

We must understand how our soul condition is reflected the environment
We must understand that God is always bringing more love into the system
We often resist God’s efforts to bring more love into the system

When our Love is present, the following occurs:

All organisms and the entire system itself flourish
There is abundance for every part of the system
The system will be in perfect balance

When our Love is absent or addictive (given only for personal benefit):

Aggressive organisms express arrogance to the system when loved addictively

They feel themselves to be superior (due to the attitude of the human)
They attack and destroy the organisms felt (by the human) to be inferior
They demonstrate a reflection of mankind’s dominance
E.g. A domestic cat killing animals and birds even though it is well fed
E.g. Domestic goats eating everything even when they must have eaten enough

Aggressive organisms multiply when being attacked

They go into hyper-drive with reproduction
They feel competitive and aggressive towards other organisms in the system
They are aware of negative feelings from humans, and respond to survive
E.g. Insects that people want destroyed will feel will increase reproduction
E.g. Insects that people want destroyed will attack people
E.g. Insects will reflect the fear in humans that causes humans to attack

Passive organisms express meekness to the system when loved addictively

They feel themselves to be inferior (due to the attitude of the human)
They are attacked and destroyed by aggressive organisms
They demonstrate a reflection of mankind’s submission and unworthiness
E.g. A precious shy marsupial that we “love” will be attacked by our own cat Passive organisms regress and reduce reproduction when being attacked
They first attempt to flee the area completely
They do not feel “safe” to breed and multiply E.g. A watered (& weeded) garden is all about fear and favouritism. There should be no need to water a garden. If things are created with love and as a complete system – the system will support life without our intervention.

All organisms desire survival, and will adapt to survive

An attitude of love does not force adaption through negative events
An attitude of love allows change and growth through positive events
E.g. Organisms without enough to eat will adapt and eat other material
E.g. Organisms without enough of their “normal” diet will change their diet
E.g. Organisms not loved will understand they are under attack from the system
E.g. Organisms that are “loved” will drop their defensive actions

All organisms respond to emotions of fear and anger

Fear creates:

An automatic struggle to survive
A system that involves lots of work
A system that is without abundance
Destruction of areas of the environment that we are afraid of
Competition with areas of the environment that we are afraid of

Anger creates:

Everything that fear creates (since anger is the result of suppressing fear)
Aggression within the entire system; a desire to attack and destroy
Destruction of the system through natural events (fire, flood etc)

God is always trying to bring love back into the system

Each one of God’s Laws is created in order to expose the condition of love
Each one of God’s Laws has the effect of bringing more love back into the system
Each one of God’s Laws is attempting to correct the human’s unloving condition
If a loving system is left alone by humans, it will always maintain balance
If a loving system is attacked by humans, it will always become more unbalanced

Lesson 2 – The Human Soul Interconnects With The Entire System

Humans need to understand that everything around us is connected to us

How organisms respond is completely dependant on our own soul condition

Soul condition is the sum total of our beliefs, emotions, desires, passions, longings, assumptions, intentions, reasoning etc.

Soul condition determines the effectiveness of our effort to restore eco-systems
Organisms will work against us if our soul condition is not adjusted
Organisms’ inbuilt instinct will be to expose & correct unloving behaviour in us
Our condition will affect any organism connected to us for any reason
E.g. Plants that supply my coffee will be connected to me if I drink coffee
E.g. Plants that supply my sugar will be connected to me if I consume sugar

Our soul condition has a huge bearing on how systems respond

Even our observation of a system changes how the system responds
Our environmental choices & decisions are caused by our own condition
Our addictions create unloving actions perpetrated towards the environment
The environment will respond to these unloving addictions to correct them

I need to become aware of how I am destroying eco-systems around the world through my soul condition

The choices I make to satisfy my own addictions through food, will result in the destruction of eco-systems all around the world

E.g. My desire for eating meat (McDonalds hamburgers for example) results in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil
It is pointless fixing eco-systems in our direct neighbourhood while at the same time destroying eco-systems in other countries
We need to examine more honestly how our demands are satisfied
We need to see the laws of supply and demand in operation
We need to change our demands if we want destruction to be averted

What systems we currently have around us are not indicative of the actual system that God created, or their normal operation

We cannot assume the following:

That how organisms currently work is how they would normally work
That how organisms currently act is how they would normally act
That how organisms currently respond is how things normally would respond

We can assume the following:

That our interaction with an organism will change how the organism responds
That our actions have a direct bearing on the evolution of an organism
That each organism has inbuilt intelligence (instinct)
That an entire system will respond to our desires, beliefs and actions
That we cannot assume what is currently present is normal; or what would normally exist if we were not present

E.g. When we look at some land, we cannot assume that what is currently on the land will be what was or would normally be there

E.g. We cannot assume that current methods of farming are the only way to farm

Lesson 3 – Eco-Systems Need 3 (Three) Basics For Survival & Abundance

Almost every living thing has three basic requirements for survival (that humans have control over)

Water
Food
Shelter
Note: many other things are needed for survival, but most of these are naturally provided through the atmosphere, and are not directly under the control of individual humans.

If one of these elements are missing, abundance is not possible

Living organisms go into hibernation, waiting for times of abundance
Living organisms can survive many years, some even thousands of years in this state
The system remains “pregnant” with life, but only as a possibility

Almost every living thing multiplies with abundance

The proximity and abundance of these three basic things will effect how prolific and healthy the living thing is; i.e. the easier the access, the better for the organism

E.g. If food, water, shelter are near each other, reproduction results

Almost every living thing struggles with scarcity

Any living thing that doesn’t have sufficient amounts struggles to survive Much more “work” is required With more “work” comes less “free” time, time for pleasure E.g. If food, water, shelter are far from each other, reproduction is inhibited E.g. If remove just a single requirement, the organism will struggle to survive

We must not judge the system as what we currently have

Huge amounts of destruction have occurred to the earth over 1000’s of years
We cannot state that what we now have is “normal”
Very few humans in the past 4,000 years have actually personally seen “normal”

Lesson 4 – All Living Organisms Have Inbuilt Intelligence

Anything living that God has created has its own intelligence

Intelligence can be individual (e.g. mammal) or collective (e.g. insects)
Each organism knows how to create abundance for its own survival
If man leaves each organism alone, it will create its own abundance in time
Man does not see nor acknowledge the intelligence in the system
Man can either speed up or slow down the organism’s ability to create for itself
The intelligence already placed in the system will correct the environment
All we need do is learn how to support the system and use the intelligence
When we have millions of different creatures all working for us, our environment will change rapidly and flourish without huge amounts of hard work

All organisms are geared to assist the life-cycle of living systems

All processes & creatures turn dead things into the basis of life for more living things
All dead things form the foundation for living things
Man tries to prevent this from happening
E.g. We design a home out of “dead” matter & react angrily when living things attack
E.g. We poison & destroy living intelligent creatures that are telling us truths
E.g. We kill the organisms that are responding in love
E.g. We must work harder to create systems without intelligence

To create loving eco-systems we must understand the intelligence

Most soil based creatures know more than we do about how to fix the soil
Most water based organisms know more than we do about how to fix the water
Most food based organisms know more than about their own abundance than we do
Most systems are struggling against man’s desires
This also means that most humans feel a sense of struggle against the system
When we understand and love, these living things work for us repairing the system

Once we recognise the intelligence, we will understand the support it brings

Mankind can be fully supported by the entire system without much work at all
Initially correcting the unbalanced systems will require work
Once imbalance is corrected, then work will not be required
Each system will be fully self-supporting and self-maintaining
Man will be free to play, rather than eke out an existence

Lesson 5 – Understand The Role Of Organisms In System Recovery

Primary organisms in system recovery are those with collective consciousness

Understanding the role of recovery organisms is essential to eco-systems
Most primary organisms have collective rather than individual consciousness
Most of these creatures do not have a central nervous system
Most of these creatures do not have a spirit body

These include:

Bacteria, fungus, microbes, soil-based creatures (worms, ants, white ants etc) Plants that prepare the environment (weeds, trees seemingly without “purpose”) Above ground and airborne creatures (insects, spiders, etc)

Secondary organisms in system recovery are those with individual consciousness

Without assistance from recovery organisms, no secondary organisms can survive
Humans cannot survive without the primary recovery organisms
Other creatures with individual intelligence also cannot survive
Secondary organisms can only survive without human intervention once there is abundance created by the primary recovery organisms
E.g. Introducing larger creatures to an environment without having properly prepared the environment will result in these larger creatures either dying, subsisting, or being dependant on human intervention for survival (larger creatures meaning any creature larger than the biggest earth or air based primary recovery organism)
E.g. Introducing trees and other plant life that requires specific soil and environment elements, without also having a system that supports their existence, will result in constant maintenance being required by humans

Lesson 6 – Understand The Basics Of Creating A Healthy Eco-System

All parts of the system must be loved equally

Unless we love & care for all parts of the system, the system will become unbalanced
This requires changing our heart felt attitudes towards all parts of the system
This is particularly the case with parts of the system that we view as “pests” If we love the system equally, each part of the system will work “hard” for us

Life is not created in the soil by adding dead material

Dead material is the food of living creatures that create life in the soil
Dead material is essential, because it is a part of the support structure
But we must understand that its role is to support life of the living creatures
Dead material that does not support life will finish up taking from the system
E.g. Adding fertiliser only has long term benefit if it supports living creatures, adding fertiliser every year without supporting living creatures creates a condition where more and more fertiliser is required for the same result

Don’t worry about correcting deficiencies in the soil

Intelligence IN THE SYSTEM will correct the soil
It will be faster to create the living systems than trying to correct the dead system
Anything else will just create incessant work for us

Systems must be created to support primary recovery living creatures

These creatures will turn dead material into material that can support all life
This creates a system that supports all creatures and animals, from aphids to lady bugs, ants to marsupials, grasses to trees, birds to large animals
When creating and supporting systems, don’t start with the plants; start with attracting the creatures by providing them with dead material (food), water & shelter
Even in a desert it is possible (start with shelter, add water collection, then food)
If you don’t have soil or air based primary recovery organisms, then create the environment to attract and support them, then transport them if you have to

We have the potential to have an environment where seeding and fruiting occurs all year round

This doesn’t happen now for a number of reasons

Fear that drives selfish ‘taking’ attitudes from our environment
Denuding of the environment has caused changes in the climate, seasons, and a lack moisture and warmth retained in or near the earth
Systems can only work when there is abundance, which is generally seasonal

Lesson 7 – Understand & Develop Techniques For Recovery

Techniques include:

Water flow and storage based contouring
Water management and collection
Water health, prevention of water stagnation
Shelter systems for primary recovery organisms
Begin where such systems already are naturally starting
Create locations of high fertility, either in or on top of the soil
Understand water and nutrient migration (elevation and flow speed)
Do not destroy systems that have already been started naturally
Do not burn off; use the material for the creation of systems
Focus on watering, feeding & sheltering the system first, then feeding yourself
Focus on a NO MAINTENANCE WORK system; self-supporting
Most techniques can be scaled up or down according to area size

Climate considerations include:

Cold Climate

Generating heat and warmth is a primary part of creating shelter
Use rocks, decaying matter; any material that will generate heat naturally
Usually have plenty of water, but not all year around (due to ice, snow dry conditions)
Manage and use the water for winter (need warm areas that do not freeze)
Allow water to flow during summer (do not want marshy conditions generally)

Hot Climate

Remember that shade and the ground provide shelter
Create conditions were organisms can retain moisture
Collect the water and retain it when it is available
Stop evaporation and prevent soil based distribution of water
Create contours and swales that collect and retain moisture
Initially plant plants that survive in harsh low water based conditions
Plant weeds that are naturally growing in the area

Tropical vs Temperate Systems

Obviously different conditions and locations require different methods
Water, food and shelter is abundant at different times in these different systems
Create systems that provide a year round solution to abundance of the three basic elements (water, food and shelter)

Creating Micro-Climates

Contours
Swales
Fertility locations (holes and mounds)
Holes
Mounds
Ponds
Shelters

Sloping Land vs. Flat Land

Use the slope of the land to maintain the system
On flat land, the systems will need to have a completely different design

Conclusion

Obviously, this series of seminars are just an introduction to the subject We could talk for many hours about the different techniques Learning Centre projects will now focus on these different techniques Remember this is about Loving ALL of the parts of the system

Key points

Bring love for all elements into the system through actions & changes in soul condition
Understand how the human condition (beliefs, emotions, demands etc) dominate the interconnectivity between systems and their effectiveness
Understand everything needs food, water and shelter to survive
Understand every living organism has inbuilt intelligence that can be utilised to recover & maintain the system
Focus on supporting firstly the key recovery organisms in the system Use techniques that suit the environment, climate, location, elevation and topography

Thank you to AJ and Mary and the Divine Truth Website for this information.

‘Summerfest 2012 Project’

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Eloisa

We recently held ‘Summerfest’, a week long project that included different projects with the intention that those who came could learn techniques based on love that are logical and beautiful* that are applicable to their backyards or acreage. It was a project with lots of different learning experiences so that those who attended and volunteered their time could leave with skills and knowledge on how to do what they learned at home and teach it to others. Below is a summary and thank you to those who volunteered and contributed their time, expertise and energy to these projects.

The week of the ‘Summerfest 2012 Project’ – 28th November to 3rd of December 2012, held at Kyabra Station (Kyabra Learning Centre, Kentucky, NSW), was a great week full of various fun filled activities.

We began and ended with a focus on large scale soil improvement and water management, demonstrating methods using contours and ponds to redirect and retain water, building living eco systems to provide fertility and regenerate soil, and seeding of grasses and re generation plants to prevent soil erosion. This project took longer than expected with some of the pond walls needing adjustments to hold water properly.

There is still some work to be done in this area to complete the project but a lot of headway was made and we are so grateful for all volunteers time in beginning the project.

the site – Standbye Paddock

Alternate View of Standbye Paddock

Bedrock the beginnings of erosion at the top of the paddock

Alternate view of bedrock erosion

Erosion, contours, ponds

Site for contour planting, ponding and living fertility systems:

Contour

Close up of coutour

You can see where the water held and was slowed down
in a shower we had pre-seeding the contour

Harrowing hand planted seeding on the
contours.

Contours at Site (Standbye Paddock):

Digging the Fertility pits

Living Fertility System hole on a contour

The various materials and ‘food’ for the living fertility systems – use what you
have on hand and have an abundance of. We are wanting to create systems
that are self supporting and that can be done with low cost using what is
available.

Filling up the Fertility pit

Tractor moving ‘dead matter’ into place

An almost finished Living System – needs some more hay and
matter around the logs so they will break down faster and encourage life
to live there feeling protected and ‘safe’.

Fertility pit complete

Volunteers working at a Living System

Standbye paddock Site showing ponds:

Just dug pond

After a rain. The soil here as you can see in the background is prone to heavy
erosion after rain. The soil is light and fly-away- when exposed.

Working on the bank of one of the ponds. Creating a dam wall to prevent
erosion and cover as much bare soil as possible. (Begin from the bottom up
when creating a dam wall).

Harrowing the dam wall

Adding sticks into erosion cracks and at overflow to manage and
slow down water.

Lomandra grasses planted either side of logs – logs
purpose to slow down water flow.

Dam bank complete

Other projects during the week consisted of tending to the swales planted out last year and filling them with gathered matter to transform them into living systems in order to create fertility and improve soil conditions.

Our many thanks to everyone who was on the ‘food’ team for all the living systems spending your days carrying and carting dead wood matter and treading lightly to place it in an already re-generating area. Thank you for your time and care to disturb as little as possible the new plants and creatures that have been moving in over the last year. Thanks also to our neighbors and Bunnings for supplying much of the ‘dead’matter used to feed the living systems.

‘Food’ for the Living Systems – Thanks Guys for your help pre – summerfest!

More ‘food’ for the systems

shredding paper for ‘food’ for the living systems and
getting the worms going.

shredded cardboard and paper

Other Projects:

Waterless home Gardening project: demonstrating several techniques including fibonacci system to maximize sun and water usage of any area, designing water flow in your garden, techniques to minimize or completely remove the need for watering, mixed planting incorporating natives both flowering and mulching, fruit trees and vegetables. (More detailed information on the Waterless Garden can be found in the blog post titled the same).

Waterless garden before

fibonacci spiral marked out

volunteers creating various systems in the garden

Nature box project: constructing from flat packed pre made kits, painting and positioning boxes for animals and birds according to their particular needs, providing shelter close to food and water. Scouting for suitable locations and some tree climbing to place boxes.

Pre packaged nature boxes, thank you to everyone who made these for us
in Queesland. We are so grateful for all your time and efforts!

Constructed from pre- packaging

eco painting in process

Nature box in place up a tree

‘Reptile Heaven project’: Reptiles are often forgotten or even shunned members of vital ecosystems. This activity focused on providing habitat for reptiles by placing shelter, food and water in close proximity, providing safe transit zones. We utilized above ground living systems to incorporate suitable living shelters and abundant insect life. We also planted various native shrubs, legumes and grasses for protection and mulching. There have already been an increase in numbers of lizards and frogs into the area.

Reptile Heaven ‘before’ – looking up the hill

Reptile Heaven ‘after’ – looking up hill

Reptile Heaven ‘after’ looking down the hill

Reptile Heaven in progress

Some little frogs who have moved in near by

Worm nursery and breeding centre: Setting up optimal conditions for worm breeding farms and educating about lovingly caring for worms and soil creating creatures.

worms – we love worms!

Worm Breeding Centre under construction –
For more information see blog post on the same
subject.

Worm slurry in the field to add to the living systems to
get the worms started.

We had a marvelous time in the woolshed each evening learning new things in presentations from Jesus and Mary and reflecting on events during the day, as well as much fun dancing, singing and being entertained by wonderful musicians and singers. Our thanks to Jesus and local singer/song writer Fabio Tolli for the evening entertainment. Thank you so much for all the time and gifts to all who planned, prepared and attended these events! We hope you learned heaps and enjoyed it as much as we did!

We want to thank God’s Way of Love Organization (no longer in existence) for all the wonderful contributions they made, Jesus and Mary, the team leaders and supply teams and everyone who participated and volunteered giving their time, resources and efforts to helping us love the land some more.

We would like to acknowledge the amount of time and effort that went into things such as organizing and pre making animal and bird boxes. We are grateful to everyone who came and made this event such fun and worthwhile this year. We look forward to seeing you again sometime in the near future.

Thanks again

From the Lytton-Hitchins Family

For more information or if anything in this takes your interest please feel free to contact us at eloisalh@gmail.com or phone 67787458 or check out www.divinetruth.com for more information on creating loving eco-systems.

* We found out how illogical some of us were or how we sacrificed logic for beauty or beauty for logic rather than having a beautiful balance of both.

Nesting Box Project

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Eloisa

The nesting box project is an ongoing project that was begun at ‘Summerfest’ Nov/Dec 2012.

Volunteers from Queensland made up all sorts of boxes for various species, those that live here and those we want to encourage. In total there were nesting boxes for thirty-two different species including but not limited to: pardolotes, finches, ringtail possums, glider possums, micro bats, kookaburras, swallows, scarlet breasted robins, and robins in general, small birds, quails, and various other smaller creatures that lack hollows and nesting places.

We hope to continue this project to encourage breeding and construct homes and food sources near water supplies so it is easy for animals and birds to breed easily and abundantly all over the learning centre.

We are feel so excited with each new creature we ‘discover’ and see, each one that moves in and we hope that each creature will feel they can have a home here that is safe and secure away……

We would like to create habitat and release programmes for endangered creatures and creatures that are threatened. Also ones that used to live here but that have been moved on due to grazing, habitat clearing etc…

Pre packaged nature boxes brought down from Queensland

A constructed nature box

A nature box with its final coat of eco paint

nature boxes painted and drying in the sunshine

bat box in place

nature box in place

Creating Loving Worm Farms: For Optimum Breeding

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Eloisa

Thank you to Paige Willoughby for creating this document and many thanks to Paige and Kerry for being the ‘keeper of the worms’, correcting and setting the worm farms up lovingly during ‘Summerfest 2012 Project’. Our many thanks for all your time and efforts!

This outline is designed to help you develop an appreciation for the worm and its role in land restoration and repair. It will step you through the process of creating a Loving environment for rapidly breeding worms, with the

view of recycling organic matter and incorporating these intelligent creatures into other Loving Eco-Systems, such as fertility holes, veggie gardens, food forests, native forests or planting beds- just to name a few.

Some Facts About Worms:

The worm is one of God’s “soil scientists” AND a fertiliser genius
Worms are integral in the restoration of damaged or degraded land, particularly as a result of mining, stock-carrying compaction, clear felling, and plantation agriculture
Through a life spent burrowing, eating, excreting, copulating and reproducing, worms fertilise the soil, increase nitrogen availability and microbial activity within the soil
The Worms burrowing action help to open the soil structure, therefore increase the amount of aeration and drainage in the soil, where water absorption and infiltration can be 4-10 times greater in paddocks with worms
Worms ingest half their body weight per day in organic matter – 1kg worms will consume 500g of food
Worms break down organic matter; food scraps, manure/excrement, leaves, lawn clippings, grass/hay, peat moss/coconut shavings, cardboard, paper, wood, ash/coals, even sand and clothes!
When the worm excretes the digested organic matter, in the form of casts, they significantly increase the amount of minerals available and accessible for uptake by plants and other intelligent creatures in the eco-system
These minerals include Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc- creating ideal planting and recovery conditions

Creating The Worm Farm

Basic Materials Required:

Container
Star droppers, bricks, rocks or crates to elevate container for clear drainage and worm liquid collection
Bucket or Container for collection and storage of Worm Liquid Fertiliser
Shade Cloth
Rocks for drain hole
“Bedding”- Peat Moss or Straw/Hay
Starter worms, approx 1 kg (compost worms optional)
Soaked Manure- sheep, horse, cow, human (vegetarian or vegan diet only)
Moist Newspaper/paper, sheets or shredded
Soaked Cardboard
Food Scraps (no citrus, pineapple, large seeds, or onion family)
Covering- Carpet or cardboard blanket plus Hessian or Shade Cloth

Optional Extras:

Lawn Clippings, or finely chopped green waste
Decomposed straw or hay- must be easily digestible, therefore easily broken or pulled apart by hands
Once well established, clothing made from organic matter may be digested by worm farm

Construction:

Thank you to the internet for this
image

Thanks to the internet for this
image

1. Choose a container, with adequate drainage: Bath Tub, Old Fridge (de-gassed), Wheelie Bin, 44-gal Drum, Wooden Box, Feed bin, plastic tub, old suit case, old eski/chillibin, car tyres or draw…be creative. As a guide, minimum dimensions to accomodate 1kg of worms: 30-60cm deep x 80cm long x 30cm wide

elevation & gradient – liquid collector

2. Elevation and Gradient: Allow enough clearance, and gradient for a bucket or water container to collect the liquid that drains from the farm

– Worm Liquid Fertiliser is fabulous for giving new plants and gardens a nutrient boost

Drainage

3. Drainage:

–Place rocks over and around drain hole to prevent weight of worm bed contents block in the drain

shade cloth lining

–Line Container with shade cloth which acts as a filter preventing worm bedding and castings from washing down the drain

newspaper

–Lay wet newspaper two sheets thick over the shade cloth- also a filter

peat moss

4. Bedding:

–One block of Peat Moss or Coco Peat when hydrated should expand and fill one entire Wheel barrow (approximately 90L)

–Lay the moist peat moss over the newspaper to a depth of 4- 5 inches, or a hand span (finger tips to wrist)

–Options: Straw, hay or shredded newspaper may be used if peat moss is unavailable **Worms may be left, covered, on top of peat moss without additional food for a couple of days to de-stress, acclimatise and develop an appetite

worms

worm layer

5. Worm Layer

–If possible spread 1kg of worms on top of peat moss

** If intending to acclimatise worms for few days, cover with wet Cardboard Blanket, Carpet and Shade Cloth (Step 9&10)

manure layer (sheep manure in picture)

6. Manure layer

–If fresh manure is used, mix with chopped up hay or chemical free sawdust

–If dried, soak in water before layering over worms

–Use preferably aged manure

– depending on its source, it may need time to release any emotion stored in it from the associated animal or treatment the animal has received in its life. Allow it to rest in the weather for a month or so, and take note of any plants that seed from it. For Example, Stinging Nettle releases the emotion of rage. Allow the plants to cleanse the manure before feeding it to the worms- would you wanna eat angry food??? –Human Faeces may be used, only in the circumstances of a vegetarian or vegan diet. Flesh eaters have many bacteria that are not safe or suitable for such a process.

food scraps

7. Food Scraps

–Press the food down firmly, so it starts to decompose in contact with the manure –Remember not to over feed

–Store excess food scraps in a sealed container until needed

shredded paper with air pockets

8. Shredded Paper & Shredded Cardboard

–Soak the newspaper, paper and cardboard- particularly densely coloured pieces, weather them for a time if possible

–Tear the paper and cardboard into strips that can be scrunched to create air pockets

cardboard blanket

carpet

9. Carpet or Cardboard Blanket

– Carpet and/or two-three layers of soaked flat cardboard will created a nice blanket. Keep an eye on its moisture during the warmer months

-Creates a dark, moist, cool, safe environment

-Worms are shy creatures, if threatened or stressed or starving, they will not reproduce

shade cloth

10. Shade Cloth or Hessian Cover

-Helps to reflect the heat, if no shade

-Prevents Birds eating the worms

Worm Care:

Living Conditions:

Happy worms live in a Cool, Dark, Moist environment
The worm farms should not be smelly, if anything they will emit a sweet smell similar to the decaying forest floor.
Worms are living intelligent creatures; they are okay sharing their home with other living intelligent organisms (as they do in nature). Insects, beetles, flies, maggots, fungus, moulds etc only feed on dead, decaying materials. In fact these organisms’ help to decompose harsher organic matter, as worms don’t have teeth!
Maintain air spaces in the bedding, scrunch the moist shredded paper
Keep bedding moist, but not wet- worms don’t like swimming
pH is important, worms prefer neutral conditions- avoid citrus, pineapple, onion, garlic, leek, spring onions in food scraps
If too acidic (sour smell), add a hand full of garden lime (calcium CaCO3), ash from fire place (Carbon), or cardboard THEN reduce food scraps for a couple of days
Crushed egg shells or sea shells are also a form of slow release calcium

Food Supply:

Only add enough food scraps that the worms can eat in a few days •When there is evidence of worms eating the Cardboard Layer, it is an indicator that more food scraps can be given
Chop the food into finer pieces so it can be digested faster (optional)
Just like we may have tendencies to overindulge, thereby avoiding our emotions, so too can the worms in our care be overfed. Give them enough that they have a little more than they need, but don’t create “Food Coma” as they will not reproduce optimally in this state. Also look at why you feel you need to “Love” the worms with food
Worms tend to reside within the top 2-3 inches of the worm bed. Therefore ensure the depth of the food supply does not become too great. Worms will eat to the surface, in preference to deeper. Too much food supply may result in undigested food remaining in the middle layers of the worm bed- contributing to possible souring of the environment

Reproduction:

Thanks to Wikipedia for this image

Worms are hermaphrodites, meaning each worm has both male and female sex organs, therefore are neither male nor female, but both. Another awesome example of God’s true nature in our environment.
When a worm is approximately 4-6 weeks old, a white band forms around their head called the Clitellum, which contains sex organs, sperm and ova (eggs)
Worms require a mate to reproduce, even though they have both sets of sex organs
Worms join head to head, where the sperm can pass from each worm to the other and is stored in sacs
A Cocoon is then formed on each of the worms Clitellum. As the worm backs out of the developing cocoon, eggs and sperm are deposited within the cocoon, where fertilisation takes place.
The tiny yellow, lemon-shaped cocoons require the right conditions to hatch. If it is too dry, they lay dormant for years in the soil and hatch only when conditions improve- very cool!!

Thanks to kingstonwormfarm.com
for this image

Baby Worms are a whitish colour, about half an inch in length. They are independent of their parents and begin eating as soon as they hatch.
Fed optimally, within 21 days, each adult worm will lay an egg cocoon containing 17 worms, predominately within the superficial paper layer of the worm farm

Harvesting:

When it comes time to harvest castings, about a week before its needed, layer food only on one half of the Worm Bed. The worms will migrate to that side, leaving a worm free section of castings that can be removed and used in the garden as fertiliser.

* This is an on going project begun at ‘Summerfest’ Nov/Dev 2012

Reptile Heaven Project – Begun ‘Summerfest 2012’

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Eloisa

Susan and Michael had a desire to create a reptile habitat in part of their garden. It was rather interesting because Susan who has had a terror of snakes for most of her life set her intention and desire for a reptile haven and pretty much a day later they literally began moving into the area. A lizard family moved in, then a snake rocked up onto her verandah and various other amphibians were found in the near vicinity.

From our personal experiences we feel that as soon as an intention is made that things feel that and begin moving in. I often feel they are drawn to the property and then wonder ‘where are out homes? our food supplies? We felt you wanted us to come here!’ and yet we are not quite ready for them, smile. The power of intention we are finding is amazing and so very powerful!!!

Susan and Michael’s garden is basically on rock with little topsoil and so not much grows. There are a number of purposes for Reptile Heaven. Firstly to create habitat and homes for some of God’s beautiful creatures (not everyone loves reptiles that much and we feel that if we love everything equally then surprising things can happen. We also realised that there is not that much habitat for insects or reptiles on the property so we have begun creating it.)

The area was designed with above ground living systems (as you can’t dig into rock so this was the obvious choice) two ponds, rockeries, pipes, stick/rock piles and piles of matter including wood chip, compost, crates, stones etc. It also has incorporated waterless veggie gardens made for the animals who move in and has reptile mansions, palaces, holes, crevices and various living quarters. As many diverse conditions were created for reptiles as possible, both as an experiment to see what they like and also to create homes for them in all weathers and environmental conditions. The focus was the basic needs, food, shelter, water…

Native legumes, grasses – tussock, lomandra, small wattles have also been planted in the area. These will become ‘self’ mulching. Legume shrubs and bushes were chosen that can be pruned with the intention being that branches are cut from them and laid on the ground to create more top soil. As the soil builds up then larger legume varieties that can be pruned will be planted until large trees can be planted that self mulch the area and create soil and living matter that ends up being self generating for the area.

More grasses and legumes will be planted to link up a neighbouring paddock to create a corridor for reptiles and animals so they do not have to venture over exposed land.

Before anything happened at Reptile Heaven Site

Before area where lower pond was put – plus materials for use in the garden

After volunteers had put in ponds, living systems, reptile homes etc

Stage one Near finished

Before view from the top pond with various materials to be used in the garden

in progress, top pond complete, planting and systems being created

Stage one Finished view from top pond

a small amphibian found near by

a small amphibian found nearby

Reptile homes. MAny of these are experiments to create varied conditions so reptiles have somewhere to go under all weather conditions

Wood, hay piles containing lizard, snake, reptile homes

Regeneration Legume -native

Native Legume – Regeneration Plant

Native Legume

Living Fertility System Mini Experiments

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Eloisa

This is an ongoing project begun in 2012. Below are some experiments we are doing with various things we had lying around we want to see what happens with different materials and how they decompose and what creatures are attracted to what. We are looking to see what ‘moves’ in and what lives here. We suspect that if creatures have a ‘home’ they move in. Also if you haven’t already noticed that usually under wood, stones, rock etc it is generally moister with more fertile soil. We have even noticed plants growing out from under rocks or from the middle of rocks.

Wind Fall branches cut up and piled up

Small living system – sticks, leaves, wood chip mulch

Tin with logs on it

pile of sticks from nearby trees

Hay

old pieces of concrete

below ground Living system – we dug a hole, filled it up with matter and
covered it – see blog post for more detailed information on this particular
project.

Above ground Living System – matter stacked up high, focus on
decomposition rather than composting to encourage living organisms

See blog post of Living Systems for more information. Over time as we document what happens we will add it to this page.

Breeding Aviary Project

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Eloisa

Some of our smaller friends

This Project is one of Michael’s passions* and began pre ‘Octoberfest’ 2011 and has been a continuing project since. It will be an on-going project that has and will be created in stages.

Stage one consisted of converting a calf house into the aviary. This consisted of knocking out stalls, putting up wire mesh, creating perspex windows, high step up doorways and sealing up any holes that possible rodents or reptiles could enter by. Putting down a sand floor, heating for the winter months, hanging nesting ‘boxes’ and creating water baths/drinking bowls and feeders.

When This was complete some feathered friends moved in. At present there are Star Finches, a Blue Faced Parrot (who will be getting a mate in the next couple of months), Long Tailed Finches, Masked Finches and Zebra Finches. There are expected new arrivals in the coming months.

Inside of calf house during conversion to aviary.

Almost complete inside view.

Outside view holding up window that will lead to first flight zone.

Inside view – nesting bundles, food and water dishes,
heater and sand floor

A wee nest

Stage two consisted of the ‘first flight zone’. The ‘first flight zone’ has had tin dug into trenches to prevent anything from digging under it, and is fitted out with wire mesh to make an enclosure. This eventually will lead out to a greater or free flight zone with the wire mesh cut so the birds can come and go into a greater flight zone and then into the bush land beyond where they can ‘learn’ survival skills from the native non captive finch populations that inhabit the area. At present there is a small family of Red Brow Finches that come and go from bush land behind the flight zones.

first flight zone under construction

Earthworks for the ‘first flight zone’ under construction.
Digging the tin into trenches

Adding wire mesh to ‘first flight zone’ and beginnings of planting out

beginnings of planting out and construction of wire mesh zone.

The plants taking to their new environment and the beginnings of small
bird food abundance.

Same as above, different angle.

The intention is to eventually have a release programme for native and endangered finches (and small birds in particular) that educates the birds to care for themselves in the ‘wild’. We are in the process of planting a lot of spiky, dense native flora to create nesting and habitat for small birds.

We would also like to design and implement in future portable aviaries that can be taken to regeneration sites near food and water, with birds in them where they can create nests and ‘living’ quarters and be safe from predators while they get established. Once ‘educated’ by ‘wild’ finches (- to avoid attack and not be totally dependant and domesticated) the flocks established and flourishing we will remove the portable aviary and begin the process again.

In the mean time we are planting out seeding grasses that small bird and finches like and that attract insects, shrubs, bushes, trees for nesting and food near to permanent water sources to create habitat and as ideal conditions as possible to encourage breeding and support large populations of bird life.

For more information or details feel free to contact us.

* Though we all gain much joy and excitement from it.

Some of the small birds that are in the Breeding Aviary at this time

‘Octoberfest’ – Namoi CMA Project 2011

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Eloisa

panorama of part of ‘Octoberfest’ site

‘Octoberfest’ was a project that Teams from the The God’s Way of Love Organisation (now disbanded), gave their time and energy too in order to prepare for and plant 10,000* trees.

We (the Lytton-Hitchins’ family) had a grant from the Namoi CMA to create a wildlife corridor.

It was a fun filled week of activities consisting mainly of tree planting, building a breeding aviary*, working with draught horses, mediumship, karaoke, singing, dancing and sing-a-longs.

Our objective was to create a wildlife corridor, linking a highway bushland travelling stock route (TSR) with a timbered ridge line some 3km from the TSR. The nature strip follows along two creek lines which already had ample water and some established trees.

Activities of the week:

Preparing and planting 10,000 trees in total (we planted 5,000 over Octoberfest)
Built swales to improve hydrology (on a large scale with a crawler – already in place)
planted bushes, shrubs and trees for bird habitat, insects, bugs and creatures.
mulched to help feed and retain water for all the new plants
Our intention was to start the rehabilitation process in one planting.
Enjoy each others company and have fun

We wanted to give to the land rather than continue taking from it constantly. So we encouraged anyone planting to plant with love or to not plant at all.

‘Octoberfest’ was also an experiment about how our soul, Love, emotions, expectations, demands affect the environment around us (in this case plants).

The objective was to give love to the land in areas that it felt ‘tired’ and had been overly and excessively used for many years.

Looking up to the swale site (Oct 2011)

Walking to ‘work’ (Oct 2011)

Swales ready for planting (Oct. 2011)

Working on Swale projects (Oct 2011)

Swale Site (Oct 2011)

Pre-made swales ready for planting out (Oct 2011).

Some of the trees to be planted out during the week (Oct 2011).

Another part of the ‘Octoberfest’ 2011 Project was a very ‘tired’ paddock that lacks fertility and has been heavily grazed for many years. Hundreds of years ago this paddock was full of huge trees, a stump and some large holes (scars) are all that is left of it now. We swaled and direct seeded the area with wattle seeds (to regenerate the land and soil).

Some amazing things have happened over a year. The land has begun healing itself with a whole variety of different plants (weeds). Fleabone came up rapidly all over the place in abundance, amongst this was also thistle, dandelions and some very delicate flowers and other plants.

Swales just dug

volunteers seeding the area

a year on from a distance you can see the colour of the fleabone
healing the area

fleabone beginning to do it’s ‘job’ a few months after seeding

fleabone at the end of it’s cycle

A Year on we have noticed that many trees have died in certain swaled areas. We feel that they received a large amount of emotional projections in the form of expectation and demand upon them during ‘Octoberfest’ 2011 which caused them to die.

This can be seen clearly from swale to swale in that every plant and tree had the same planting conditions, the same amount of minerals, water, mulch etc, yet some trees have flourished and grown 6ft in a year and others are totally dead. The only difference in the planting on each swale was the people, so by process of elimination we feel that it has something to do with us the people.

We also noticed that the loss rate of trees from ‘Octoberfest’ was far higher than some of our ‘commercial’ plantings of the past and we feel that the ‘commercial’ plantings had much less investment from those that did the planting. Those who do ‘commercial’ planting are paid and contracted to plant, they don’t really mind what happens to the plants after they have done their ‘job’ of planting the trees.

We found this observation interesting and have been experimenting with it on smaller scales and other projects. An example is Peter’s asparagus planting and cucumber experiment.

Swales a year on – grass and ‘weed’ cover over them now

Swales a six months on

swales a year on in a very dry season

Swaled area a year on – we are beginning to add
dead matter to the swales to create living fertility systems
in the swales themselves. We feel this should have been
done at the time of the project last year.

Some living system ‘food’ Thanks Bunnings!

Some more food, Thanks Bunnings and Munzies!

A swale a year on with Living Fertility systems added

A flourishing tree six months after planting

some trees doing well in the swales

Swales dug and filled with water soon after

A year on swales grassed up and can hardly be seen
in the paddock they are now supporting.

*See blog post on ‘Breeding Aviary Project’

DEAR GOD…

Personal experiments and experiences along God's Way

Category Archives: Nature