Backyard Farming Forum
Bringing food production home

Hi all,
Good to see you guys at BYAP franchising your well developed and designed concept out to more than just AP - good work, I like the layout and groupings of this forum.

Anyway - I have been a long time member of BYAP and tried and expanded on several systems along with what ever earth gardening I could get hands on over the last few years. However now I am starting afresh on a new property, several acres, at the base of the foothills in the Swan Valley WA. I am yet to put the AP back together, but I have so far built a second chicken coup this time more fox unfriendly - I lost 4 Isa browns in the first week. We now have 2 Isa's, 2 Arucuana ( I think) and 4 Wyndottes (3 gold, 1 silver(rooster)) - all living happily in their electric chicken wire mansion. I would be keen to see pictures of how other people feed and water their chooks - whatever I try just doesn't seem to be that good of a solution. However today I hope to receive a small commercial water - so will see how that goes.

We currently live in a 1930's hot box, nice 12m single brick wall facing directly north with no eaves, ie full sun all day everyday. The last couple of weeks have been pretty ordinary with upwards of 38 degrees inside the house at 8pm. So we are starting the process of building something that will be more in tune with the environment that we live in. We are looking at all things sustainable - however the cost sometimes is just rediculous so we are happy to see and hear from other people's experience. A Blackwater system would have been great however we already a massive septic and leach drain system (less than 2yrs old) so outside of blackwater everything else is up for discussion.

An issue we are facing is the very strong easterly wind that comes through in the mornings throughout summer - I would be keen to hear from some of the other people in the hills about what sort of wind breaks they have put in.

That should be enough - I will have to get some chicken pictures into the poultry folder.
Jim

Hi Fizzy,

These two sites might help.

First one has heaps of useful info on permaculture in our area as they live just down the road from me. They also talk about cheap and environmentally efficent building methods such as earthship and strawbale houses.

http://www.small-farm-permaculture-and- ... index.html

As far as wind breaks and shade goes if you want natives you can't go past Lullfitz nursery in Waneroo, they grow a lot of the natives for other Perth nurseries but are cheaper by far and the plants are fresher so far less die after transplanting. They have specials on overstocked plants down to as little as $1.00 for plants in 13cm pots!!!!!

http://www.lullfitz.com.au/

_________________
___________________________________________________________________
Why did the chicken cross the road? ... To have her motives questioned.

G'day Jim - welcome to the forum.

Those easterlies are a bugger aren't they ? Haven't found anything yet that is a really good wind break - it's just too strong where we are. I do need to put up something soon to protect my soon to be started aquaponics system - I'm thinking steel poles, cross-beams and shade cloth.

Certainly sounds like the house needs some work - 38ºC inside - wow ! I can put you in contact with an architect who is good at using natural cooling methods, if your budget leans in that direction. He designed our place and we're happy with his work.

_________________
¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((º>
.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((º>

My Websites: http://www.chillies-down-under.com
http://www.bbq-down-under.com

Climbers are cheap shade. Run a little pig mesh along the wall and let the plant cover it. Or get concrete mesh and stand it up like a trellis leaving a walk way between it and the wall. Grow vines and it will stop a lot of heat from hitting the wall. I'm putting in a few here to stop the heat. I took a few jasmine cuttings and that will give me 30+ plants in a few weeks to cover the area quickly.

_________________
To think before you act is a wise option. But not as funny.

Welcome FJ,

Do you know about the Government's grant for installing ceiling insulation in houses? Up to $1200 per house. We've just had our farmhouse done and the installer told us it should lower the temperature by 10 degrees. Any insulation firm will have the details. It cost us just $300 for the excess on our 4-bed house.

The main thing is to keep the sun off the northern wall. A deep pergola with a deciduous climber is what most eco-designers suggest. But don't plant grapes as the fruit ferments and attracts bees and wasps. A glory vine (sterile grape) worked well for us at another property.

Good luck,

_________________
Granny Smith

Thanks for all the suggestions - always good to hear them. Love the lullfitz nursery picked up heaps of natives previously for a dollar each.

Not planning on making modifications to the exisiting house as it will be demolished in a year's time, but maybe some potted climbers could be an excellent idea for the north side. Have to pot them up due to the space on the north side being a carpark - which obviously doesn't help with the heat reflection onto the wall etc.
10 degrees from ceiling insulation - I would like to see that - however we already have it installed!

chillidude,
I put up some shadecloth for temporary horse shelter protection - it lasted 1 summer and wasn't even used as a windbreak. It was attached to 4x2 jarrah roofing rafters with lengths of steel strapping so that there wasn't any small points of attachment that would just rip out. For some of them that was enough for the shadecloth to stay attached to the rafter but not for the rafter to stay attached to the beams. The wind is that strong it just destroyed the structures. I now have the 4.2m poles just standing in paddocks with no roof structure - damn those easterlies.