Jolicraft + retro NES texture packs for Minecraft 1.2.4

My favourite texture pack, Jolicraft has now been updated for the 1.2.4 version of minecraft :) & I also came across a pretty cool NES themed pack, which I quite like the look of so far.
Check them both out below...
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Jolicraft can be found here - link
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Retro NES here - link
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Happy Minecrafting! ;)
Ja!

Make a garden bed, grow some food! A step by step guide :)

Yesterday I finally remembered to take my camera down to the yard & photograph the stages of prepping a veggie patch :p This is only one technique, it's a loose 'no dig' above ground style bed, it's one of the most common techniques used by Permie's cause it's quick, easy, cheap & it works! :)
So if you want to grow yourself some food check out these 4 easy steps to set up your own veggie patch ;)
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First of all, here are the materials you'll be needing-
*Something for hacking - I use a hand sickle, which we purchased from forestrytools.com.au, you can find them under 'fruit tools & grafting'
*Soil or Good quality organic compost - I used organic mushroom compost
*Lots of newspaper - For this small bed I used up 3 or 4 weekend papers 0_0
*Lots of organic mulch, any will do - I've been using organic pea straw mulch & it works beautifully :)
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I already had a crappy veggie bed set up here, but the same steps apply if you're starting from scratch. This is what it looks like to begin with... You can see it's all overgrown & messy (which isn't so bad :p) but not very productive, & therein lies the problem ':)
Get an idea of what size & shape you want, & mark it in if need be. I've used string, or sticks, or newspaper, whatever's handy, or I just wing it, which works fine too. Always remember to make the bed a comfortable size so it's easy to work, & consider things like strong winds, orientation to the sun, water, etc.
This bed is north facing at the top of a slope, so it will be a bit drier than others, & may be better suited to plants that don't require too much water :)
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My oh my what a mess :p but that's ok, nature know's what it's doing 'X) The stairs behind this particular bed are really handy for climbing plants, we attached some old chicken wire & it made a perfect climbing frame for beans. Look around & try to make the best possible use of everything around you ;)

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Step 1 - Chop & Drop.
Go to town on that stuff! Hack everything up nice & rough, & chuck it down. This green matter will all decompose & return nutrients to the soil, which will improve your veggie patch :) This technique should be used all the time, to continue building & improving your soil.
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I've chopped up old plants that were growing in the bed & laid them down too, but left any that were still productive.
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Step 2 - Add dirt/compost.
The thickness of this can vary, & depends what you want to grow & what you're starting on, for example if you're building one of these right on top of concrete (which can & has been done) you'll want this layer to be quite thick, but if you've already got decent soil below you can get away with less :)
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I pretty much just used what I had on hand. You have options at this stage, you can sprinkle down some old dry manure first, then soil, then well processed compost. In my case I just used organic mushroom compost, quick & simple :p If you like you could even build some kind of edging, using stones, logs, sleepers, whatever, but I would recommend a thick layer of newspaper first to help prevent unwanted plants taking over, also consider how the edging may affect the bed, ie. stones will gather & store heat, which may be a problem in hot dry areas, etc.
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Step 3 - Cover with newspaper, rinse & repeat.
Now cover the entire surface & edges with a good layer of newspaper, & lay it on nice & thick, at least 3 layers. Wetting it down as you go is highly recommended cause it'll help it all stay in place ;) Be sure to overlap really well so there are no gaps, plants are opportunists & they'll spring right through them! Layer it up, wet it down & you're ready for the final step :D
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I roughly worked around the existing plants & covered up around them as best as I could. I put scrap wood & a log on either end to hold the paper in place more & define the edges a bit :) This newspaper layer helps protect the soil, keeps moisture in, & creates a nicer environment for soil life to thrive.
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Step 4 - Lots of mulch!
The last step is the easiest to do, just cover the newspaper up with a good layer of mulch. Any mulch will do, we use organic pea straw mulch, & I personally prefer something with slightly shorter fibres, just cause it's easier to work with. The mulch layer also needs to be thick, at least half a foot all over. It's especially important to have a thick layer of mulch, because it also protects the soil, helps regulate temperature & holds moisture, if it's too thin it simply won't stand up to the sun & the veggie patch might suffer as a result. Once it's all covered give the whole bed a really good soaking & you're ready to sow some seeds & plant out seedlings! \[:D/
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I actually ran short of mulch ':D So mine isn't as thick as it should be, but you get the idea :p I'll post an update for this bed once things get growing a bit :) To plant it out just shimmy the mulch apart, poke a small hole in the newspaper, sow/plant whatever you like & cover back up with mulch. Easy! Time to plant some Autumn veg!

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I hope that gives you all some ideas for starting your own veg patch, the last thing I can suggest is to plant quite heavily, & interplant multiple plant varieties & types, there's strength in diversity! Try to avoid incompatible combinations though, for a rough idea you can take a look at this Companion Planting Guide. For more information about this type of thing, along with loads of other food & planet-wise philosophy, check out The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.

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All the best everyone! :)

Some awesome new foodie sites full of recipes :D Many are Vegan & Gluten free!

Recently I found some great new foodie sites, & I've been reading through recipes virtually non-stop for the past 2 days. I'm so excited to start trying some of the awesome food ideas I've come across :D

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First up (& currently my favourite) is, Healthy.Happy.Life. This is a beautiful Vegan blog full of amazing recipes, many of which are gluten free, or can easily be adapted. Lots of incredible photos & creative ideas makes it an inspiring blog to help us all do more cooking from scratch & try new techniques & ingredients :)

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The family kitchen is another great foodie blog, it is neither vegetarian or gluten free specifically, but there are still many great ideas here too. I have come across a number of Vegan & Gluten free recipes, so it's well worth a look ;)

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I've also stumbled upon-

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A Dash of Compassion, which is another lovely Vegan blog. This one seems to be specifically baking, with a focus on desserts & sweet foods, but I haven't had a chance to investigate it thoroughly, yet.

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I've also found the Vegetarian recipes collection on Taste.com.au to be a really helpful resource for great recipes. There are various categories to help you find what you're after, & if all else fails the search tool should do the trick!

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Finally there's SBS Food. Recipes are categorised under their country of origin, which is really helpful if you happen to be craving specifically Indian or Chinese food. It's also a great way to discover new foods from countries whose cuisine you know little about :)

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Get busy cooking everyone!

Ja!

Vietnamese mint cuttings grew roots! :D

About a week ago we were given some cuttings from a nice big vietnamese mint plant & told that they should send out roots if we sit them in water for a few days. I wasn't sure whether this would work, but I was pretty keen to try it. Less than a week later all of the cuttings had sent out roots! :) I was pretty excited, & I've planted them all out now, so hopefully they take well & become big healthy plants like the original.
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 There are other cuttings in the jars with the mint, but I'm not sure it will work with them, no harm trying it though ':)

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I'll post an update later to show how they get along :)
I'm not sure how many plants this technique would work for, it could be that only herbaceous plants similar to vietnamese mint will successfully send out roots, but I plan on reading up about it a bit & trying a few different cuttings. It's pretty amazing, I'd recommend giving it a try if you're into propagating your own plants, but never tried this before, but check the plants which this works for, I doubt it'll work for anything & everything :p
Ja ne...

Cicada(?) doing yoga & new garden photos -veggies, flowers, saplings & more-

Last week when I went down to the garden I spotted a huge insect sitting on the wrapping of the pea straw mulch. I wasn't really sure what it was, I'm not sure I've ever seen one before, but a friend saw the photos I took & said it's probably a cicada. I think they're considered to be a pest & can be quite destructive to crops, but I left him in peace even if he is bad news for our veg, of course if he gets gobbled by a bird that's a different story :p
I enjoyed observing him though, he had very beautiful wings that resembled leaves, & he kept stretching his back leg up & down, not sure what that was about, but I decided he was doing his morning yoga ':)
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 There he is, chillin in the morning sun, look at those wings :)

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Cicada yoga?

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As for the garden, things are picking up since the rain has started, the zucchinis in particular are looking really good :D
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So a while back Eli's Dad gave us a bunch of young plants, most weren't labeled so we could only guess what they were. Looking at the leaves we knew these were either cucumber, zucchini or some other kind of squash, of course we still planted them, & just recently we've discovered that they are in fact zucchini plants :) I have no problem with this at all cause I'm pretty much addicted to these veg, & now that we've got 5 zucchini plants going on, it's likely I'll be getting all the zuccs I want :D The flowers are damn good too, light batter & deep fry, with some dipping sauce, & you got a crazy delicious snack ;)

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The all mighty golden zucchini! For some reason these have been more difficult to grow than the blacks, but they're starting to pick up now, so I'm really hoping we end up with at least a few good sized zuccs, cause I love them so, so much :'D... My favourite way to have them is in a simple white sauce with a good amount of garlic & butter.

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 Chard & chillies both growing well, the chard is really nice, very tender & not stringy at all, with really great flavour, good to add to omelettes & the like.

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 Garlic sprout <3 Tis the season, so I really need to plant more, but the ones I've put in have shot right off :) One tipped over, but that didn't stop the little bastard, it just turned at a right angle & grew up towards the sun anyway... I love plants -w-...<3

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 Borage making a comeback after being smacked down by the summer sun, this is still the only borage plants I've managed to grow, despite sowing several batches of seed :c but I'm still hoping I can get some going down in the lower beds as well.
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 Super close up of the head of our Giant Russian sunflower. Unfortunately the cockies are going to town on it :/ Guess those seeds are pretty irresistible ':) As long as they leave some for us I'll refrain from netting it, nice to share with the locals I guess.

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 & these are a sapling & fern-type plant that I acquired on a walk with my dogs, I couldn't resist, especially the wattle, we really need more trees, & wattles are great cause they're hardy, fast growing, short lived, & they drop loads of leaves & stuff, which is great for building soil :) It will also provide good shade for other more sensitive plants.

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I'm pretty damn proud of this one, it's an avocado sapling that I managed to grow from seed :) I planted half a dozen seeds, but this is the only one that's made it to sapling stage. I'm doing my best to take really good care of this one, cause I'd freakin love to have an avocado tree one day - w - <3 I'm planning on protecting it from frost during the winter & my hope is to one day plant it somewhere on our own property (when we finally get one)
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Time to head out & get some things done outside,

Ja~

2 things you can do every day to help the planet -Valuable waste-

I found this video very inspiring, basically it's about dealing with our waste more responsibly, & yep, I'm referring to pee & poo here...
Most people freak out when you start seriously discussing ideas like composting toilets, we prefer to flush our waste away (using fresh drinkable water no less!) & never think about where it goes or what effects it has on our home (ie. the planet) We've been trained to live & think this way, but it's no good, this planet is finite, there are only so many resources, & only so much room, & we're running out of both. We need to take a close look at ourselves & try to live much more carefully & truly be responsible for ourselves by cutting down the amount of waste we as individuals produce & consciously dealing with the rest in a responsible way.
For many years I've wanted to switch to a better system, like a composting toilet, however until we get our own place that probably won't happen, however this video did prompt me to start saving pee. Human urine is very clean & perfectly sanitary, so there's no need to be scared of it :p (unless you have some rare condition which affects your pee) & what many people may not realise is that, once diluted, it's really good for the garden! So what did I do? Quite simply I started wizzing in a bucket 'X) Yep, I decided that I wouldn't waste my pee any more, I'd put it to good use. I dilute it about 1:5, 1 part pee to 5 parts water, then I tip it near the garden beds (not directly onto them) so it can soak in gently & not actually go on any of the plants (It's not a good idea to tip it directly onto plants)
If you're interested in doing something like this then take a look around online, there heaps of great ideas for how to use your pee, rather than flushing it away for someone else to deal with. It may seem scary or odd at first, but it's really no big deal, it's already going somewhere anyway, in many cases into the ocean! So do the planet a favour, check out this video & consider that your waste could actually become a useful resource...
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More here - permaculture.org.au
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All the best everyone~
Ja!

Real estate 4 ransom -Real estate trends + housing bubble explained-

As housing prices continue to rise & more & more people are priced out of the market, owning your own home is becoming an increasingly difficult & risky prospect. If like me you've wondered why this happens, this insightful & important short documentary might answer some questions. It's about real estate trends, & a simple change that could help solve the ridiculous 'boom & crash' system we've all suffered through for many many years.

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The film can be seen on vimeo here -
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Real estate 4 ransom FILM
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I hope people find this interesting & spread this film around, the more people who are informed about this situation the more chance we have of changing it for the better.

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Thanks all!

Bamboo progress, & a bouncy visitor

Since the rains of autumn have started our bamboo has really shot off & they're looking beautiful :D These are the Gracilis, which we bought a few months ago, & they've already grown so much. They're a good hardy all rounder, they make good screens or feature plants. This particular variety is a 'clumping' bamboo, which means it will only grow to fit a certain area, they will not spread & get out of control like 'running' varieties often do.
I'm loving these plants, if you've ever thought about getting bamboo I'd say, go do it! Do be careful to get a variety that suits you though, some can grown very very tall, some only like shade, etc, & be careful not to end up with a running variety unless you're sure you can take care of it.
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 The amazing misty blue colour of the new growth :)

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 Loads of new shoots

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& the little bouncy green fellow.

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Ja!

Washing ingredients -What I use on my clothes-

Following up from this post, I'm doing a quick update on exactly what I use now to do my laundry.
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The soap nuts can be used 6-8 times (2-4 times in warm wash), but I put in fresh lemon peel & lavender for each new wash. This is still very similar to what I was using a year ago, but a little refined & improved. I've read recently that lemon is a great natural stain remover, so I added some juice to kick up the cleaning power a little + add some lemony fresh scent. Apparently soaking clothes over night in water & 1 cup of lemon juice is great for getting rid of stains, I'll give this a try soon, & post the results : )
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More posts coming soon, I'll get them up as soon as I can (hectic month is hectic @_@)
Ja~

First potatoes :D

Last night I wanted to make a baked potato dish & decided it was time to go & see if there were many/any potatoes in the garden. For some reason I didn't expect to find anything, I'm not sure why, the potato plants grew like crazy :p They've pretty much completely died back now, & it looks like as though there was never anything there, but just below the straw mulch I found...

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Our first potatoes!

(Sorry for the poor photo, I was a bit flustered at the time)

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I was so excited, it was like they'd been placed there for me to find, like an easter egg hunt ':) just sitting in the soil. I wanted to dig them all up, but they keep really well in the ground, so I only took what I needed.

This puts potatoes on the record as one of our most successful veg, along with zucchinis & tomatoes :V

I've got a lot more to do out in the garden now that it's Autumn, so I'd better go get started...

Ja!

'Dodge!' -A shiny new Pokemon pic-

Recently I remembered the DMAP (Draw Me A Pokemon) event on dA, & decided I'd enter this week. I've entered a few times in the past, & my drawing have made it to the top 3, but I haven't won yet. But that's cool, gives me a bit of extra motivation to try harder.

Anyway, this weeks poke was good old Vaporeon, & here's my entry -

Looking through my gallery on dA I realised it's been ages since I'd drawn any pokemon related pics, I seem to remember deciding to try to cut back on the pkmn fanart, but seems like that phase may have passed...

Hopefully more pics to come! We'll see how long I can ride this drawing phase for ':I

*UPDATE*
More changes to more arts. Mostly colour adjustments this time.
Oh, I totally won with this entry too \[:D/<victory!

Enjoy!

Best parts of the garden

Summer is almost over, & the summer crops are begging to die back, so most of the veggie garden is looking pretty scrappy at the moment. However the plants along the western fence line are hanging in there, & actually doing very well. Happily it's rained vigorously recently, so that can only help :)

I have lots of plans for the garden now that we're headed into autumn, but for now I'm just gathering the last of the summer harvest so I can hack up the plants & lay them down as mulch. I'm hopeful that a lot of them will self-seed themselves for next year, but only time will tell...

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The most successful basil plant we've grown, I'm pretty sure this is one we grew from seed, but I can't quite remember for sure... In any case it's doing very well, I put it in a more shaded position & used a technique I thought of after watching a permaculture lecture :) We're looking forward to having some fresh basil pesto soon.

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This is the 2nd sunflower to bloom, & the 3rd one isn't far off :) It's a much smaller variety than the giant russian, so it reached full size & flowered in much less time. Before growing them I was never much of a fan of sunflowers, but now I love them, they're really beautiful plants, & the way they move around to face the sun is pretty incredible <3
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& finally the zucchini! Just for it's versatility alone it's like the king of vegetables, great in everything from pasta sauce to cakes, the mighty zucchini is definitely one of my most loved vegetables [:D If you take a close look at the photo you can spot one growing in amongst the leaves (it has 3 good sized zuccs on it at the moment)
I love this plant, I love zucchinis, & I love this garden, despite not yet being very productive I've still enjoyed it so much, it has easily been one of the most rewarding & satisfying projects I've attempted（*⌒ヮ⌒*）
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We also plan to get as many trees in as possible over the coming weeks to try to increase shade for next summer, as well as provide useful green mulch, etc.
I'll try to keep up to date with our efforts in the garden, & hopefully we'll begin to see some higher yields as we improve the soil :)

A sobering look at the likely future of humanity...

It's a scary thing to consider, but shunning the truth won't make it go away. Fact is that this is where we may all be headed, best to be informed in my opinion...
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zippBear VS balloon

I've hit another drawing mood, so here's a small sketch to get things going.

Little character I'm calling a zipperBear, or zippBear, having a confrontation with a scary looking balloon. I'll likely be doing more sketches of these guys in the near future.

Ja!

Update -our garden & our mistakes-

It's been a while since I posted anything here, I have had the flu, but it's largely a lack of inspiration/motivation that's kept me away (maybe also the heat @_@)
I do have a few ideas for posts, & I may get into some drawing again soon... I'm also planning to have a try at making an adventure map in Minecraft, I've wanted to for a while now, so why not :p I think I'll wait until after the next official update to get started, but I'm working on some ideas, as well as trying to get to grips with redstone (for the first time ':)

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For today though I have a couple of photos from the garden & a brief update on how it's all going out there, including a list of mistakes, which I hope will prove to be useful for others.

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 Lovely bowl of tomatoes I picked this morning. There are 3 or 4 varieties here, but the only one I remember is the large one to the left, I'm pretty sure that's a 'beefsteak' tomato, what a chunky thing it is (& tasty) ':p

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& our enormous sunflower has finally flowered, now it's even prettier [:o The angle is correct & not exaggerated, this plant is quite a bit taller than me, I look up at the flower... amazing

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As for the rest of the garden, things are ok, but summer has really taken it's toll. Many plants have been scorched by the long, direct sunlight :( & we even lost a few despite watering because the sun was too intense [: I
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To keep things simple here's a basic list of things we mucked up, & some ideas for how to do it better in future-

• We were impatient & didn't build up the soil enough first with compost, etc
• Make sure your plants have room to grow. If the ground is compacted you can either build material up on top (make sure there is enough, around 2 feet deep) or the ground can be loosened (there are many ways to do this, even without digging, ie. large root crops, etc) The point is to make sure there is enough good soil for your plants to grow or they may struggle, especially when it's hot.
• Lack of shade! We need trees, etc to provide protection from summer sun
• When starting a garden it's a good idea to get pioneer plants in straight away. These are fast growing (often short lived) trees, shrubs, etc that provide shelter for your main crops. Pioneer plants often fix nitrogen into the soil, have leaves which are good for mulch, provide shade & protection from wind, etc. Using deciduous plants can be a great benefit too because they hold their leaves & provide shade during the summer & drop them & allow sun through in the winter.
• Again impatience caused us to jump ahead & skip cover crops -___-'
• Cover crops are also extremely helpful, these plants grow low & wide, they cover the ground & help suppress weeds, protect the soil, add nutrients, support main crops, etc. Some common cover crops are white clover, cow pea, lucern, & in large areas sweet potato are very helpful. These plants can be dug in to improve the soil or left to grow alongside your main crops.
• Some of the beds are too big, & thus difficult to work
• Plan all your garden beds as carefully as you can, make sure you can access them easily, if you're fairly little like me you won't want really wide beds because you'll have trouble reaching the middle. I find it easiest to work with short-ish, narrow beds, keyhole beds are also convenient & productive.
• We built the first beds too far from the house, they're inconvenient
• I imagine this may be a common mistake. As soon as you step out the door you can start making places to grow things. The closer & more convenient it is the easier it will be for you & the more you will enjoy it. Start as close to your door/s as you can, & work outwards.
• Not enough plants in most beds & not enough diversity
• I gave plants too much space & as a result many of the beds have ended up underplanted. I've learned that it's best to fill up the bed as much as you can with as many different types of plants as you can manage (ideally all types) Try to include root crops, cover crops, climbers, tall plants, short plants, herbs, etc all in the one bed. They assist each other in various ways, with some reading & experimentation you can find endless beneficial combinations.
• Lack of swales resulted in water loss due to runoff when it did rain heavily
• Ideally we would have swaled the entire backyard, however we won't be living here for too long, so we wanted to avoid digging & disrupting the yard as much as we could. However if you're in a more permanent location swales can solve a heap of water issues. Research well before you start digging, swales are relatively simple, but you have to know what you're doing first.
• We didn't stake any tomatoes, & as a result we lost a lot to rot/bugs
• Fairly obvious solution to this one. We've discovered that it's best to stake all tomatoes, even smaller varieties become too heavy with fruit & end up leaning all the way over & sitting on the ground. I estimate we lost close to 20% of our toms because of lack of staking.
• In some cases we did't dig, & compaction has stunted many plants
• We have observed many plants struggling in some of the beds. There are probably a number of issues (including too much hot sun) however I think the main problem is that the ground it too heavily compacted & overgrown with suffocating grass varieties (which are attempting to protect the soil from further damage). We should have either loosened the ground first, then built up some compost, etc on top, or made the beds above ground by building up a greater amount (around 2 feet) of compost, etc.
• Not enough mulch
• Mulch is super important for your garden beds, & when you first start you'll need a lot of it. Mulch protects the soils, helps retain water, & insulates. Cover crops such as lucern or cow pea can help reduce the need for mulch, but you'll still need lots. It's a good idea to grow your own mulch, the more the better. There are a number of varieties, buckwheat is often used as it grows quickly & can be slashed many times & added where it's needed. There are a number of good 'green manure' tree varieties as well.
• (observed mistake) Removing bio-mass from your property
• This is rarely (if ever) necessary or a good idea... Anything that falls from a plant, or which you chop off should not be taken away! It should be added back to the soil as intended. When you collect fallen leaves, excess material, dying plants, etc & take it away, you're taking away nutrients. Mulching or composting these materials is a much better option, it will protect the soil, aid other plants & return nutrients back into the ground. Some plants do contain lots of oil eg. eucalyptus, & their leaves, etc don't make good mulch because they surpress growth of other plants, that's why it can be difficult to grow things near these varieties.
• (observed mistake) Freaking out about 'weeds' I'll spray the bastards!
• Nooooo~ One of the first things you learn if you study a bit of permaculture is that plants which most of use consider to be weeds are actually reparative plants. They grow when they're needed to help the soil in whatever way it requires. If the soil is bare & exposed you'll get creeping cover plants that try to protect the soil & help hold in moisture, if the soil is loose, plants with fine hairy roots will grow to help hold it together & help prevent erosion, if compaction is an issue plants with deep think roots will grow to break through the soil & loosen it up (these are often thistles). Spraying these plants with a poisonous herbicide is NEVER the answer, you're killing plants which are trying to help whilst simultaneously poisoning the ground! Instead we need to imitate the function of the weeds, but choose a plant variety which we like, something that is pretty or bares fruit. try to understand what's going on in your garden rather than mindlessly charging through it, that only creates greater problems.

To follow on from the final point, synthetic, chemical sprays of any kind should be unnecessary. Any problem you're having in the garden is indicative of something, work out what the problem is & then find the natural solution, & there always is a natural solution. The best example I can offer to demonstrate this is naturally occurring instances of abundance, for example, forests, mangroves, swamps, reefs, etc, all of these natural eco systems thrive, they are full of life & there is no need for man-made sprays or poisons. Everything is in balance & regulates itself, we should learn from these examples & imitate them as best we can. One of the most common mistakes in gardens is lack of variety, strength comes from diversity, by including a wide variety of plants, interplanting them in a clever way & imitating natural systems we can often avoid many common problems.

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That's most of what we've done wrong (plus a few things I've observed others doing) & it's quite a lot! Somehow no matter how many books you read or informative DVD's you watch, nothing compares to actually doing something. Between the two of us Eli & I must have a fair collection of permaculture knowledge, but applying it is something completely different. By going outside & making vegetable beds, growing seedlings, planting, observing, harvesting, & so on, we've learned so much & realised so many important things that you can't absorb by only reading/watching.

So if you want to grow food (which I can't recommend highly enough) do a bit of research, get some basic knowledge & then get out & apply it! That's the best way :)
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I hope these observations are helpful, & that more of us start growing our own food in a natural, healthy way.
All the best everyone :)
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Ja~