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About 8 months ago I noticed an interesting looking plant with large furry leaves that had started growing in our garden. It had obviously been planted before we moved in and lay dormant until conditions were just right for it to burst forth from the ground.

The Yacón is still an unfamiliar food plant to many gardeners, but its popularity is rapidly increasing due to it being quite hardy, adaptable to a variety of soils and climates and with a unique flavour.

This is all from 1 plant!

The Yacón is yet another one of South America’s gifts to the food world. It is a root crop that has an incredibly sweet and crispy tuber that can be eaten raw or be prepared in a multitude of ways. In a sub-tropical climate like ours, we have a long growing season and it can be considered to be a perennial. When we harvested our Yacón, the leaves had started to die off. We made this short video to show you the difference between the edible tubers and the parts of the root that can be divided and replanted to make more Yacon plants!

I couldn’t resist peeling it straight away and tasting it for the first time. It was exactly how it had been described from internet searches I had done – juicy, with a delicate crunch, a sort of ‘underground pear or apple’.

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Sustainable Streets Organic Gardening Workshop

The Byron Shire Council in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia are providing the framework to empower residents to reconnect with their neighbours and to build resilient and sustainable communities.

The ‘Sustainable Streets’ program provides sustainable living information through a series of monthly sustainable living workshops where residents can also connect with neighbours, receive energy audits, free water-saving showerheads and shower timers and share seeds and surplus home grown produce.

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Challenging your Knowledge on Creating Fertile Soils…

Healthy soils are loaded with microorganisms such as bacterias and fungi that consume organic matter and produce readily available nutrients to feed plants. To grow healthy plants it is vital to create a healthy, diverse and alive soil ecosystem.

Soil bacteria and fungi under a microscope. Image: Soil Foodweb Institute

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For Greenies has entered the WWF video competition – Life. Nature. You. Make the Connection with this video entry – “A Day in the Simple Life”.

Hopefully this video helps to inspire you to reconnect with nature and to live a beautiful and simple life just like those on Ahus Island in Papua New Guinea.

If you like it, rate it and help us get to the CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival & Forum in India! Thanks!

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There is a small populated low-lying island visible from mainland Manus Island of Papua New Guinea that is shrinking because of climate change impacts. Life is becoming increasingly difficult for the 900 people of Ahus Island. Because of an increase in severity of weather and oceanic currents, the island that has sustained them for hundreds of years is slowly washing away and fish and other marine animals are becoming harder to catch.

The For Greenies film crew recently travelled to Ahus Island and recorded this climate change song written and performed by the Ponai String Band of Ahus Island.

Matthew Evans is a chef turned food critic who has moved from the big city to a small farmlet in Tasmania where he is discovering first hand what it takes to produce fresh and healthy local meat and produce. Learn about where the very best food comes from and what it takes to become a farmer as Matthew raises pigs and sheep, attempts to milk his cow and grows his own vegies whilst trying to make a living from it.

‘Gourmet Farmer‘ is on SBS One on Thursdays at 7.30pm