Permaculture Diary 2009-2012, end of an era

Gardening Australia host Costa Geordiadis celebrates four years of the Permaculture Diary with creator Michele Margolis.

Unfortunately for us the diary will not continue next year, but Micheles enthusiasm for permaculture continues. Her food forest and gardens will feature as one of Costas first stories for the new season and she will be running urban permaculture workshops in Sydneys inner west.

You can read Michele's message of thanks about the diary here. Gardening Australia resumes on ABC1 from Saturday March 24 at 6.30pm AEST. It can also be watched online on ABC's iview.

New Year Challenge: 'Binimum' - minimise your waste

During 2011 Richard Telford with his partner Kunie and two young boys decided to take the challenge of only using one rubbish bin and one recycle bin for the whole year, what they call 'binimum'. In their newly established home they thought that this mission would be next to impossible, but it wasn't. By applying the permaculture principles THEY DID IT, and believe that you can too! Find out more at abdallahhouse.com

If the task sounds a little too far fetched for your household then try putting your bins out when they are full, and keep track of how many you get emptied over the year in your calendar or diary. See if you can improve upon your total in the following year as you discover more creative ways to refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle waste - or grow and make your own and turn your left overs into compost!