Sustainable Living Festival

Ahhh - feel the love. Late Feburary 2010 I helped out on the Permaculture Melbourne stall at the sustainable living festival. There was some great talks. I had a good chat to David Holmgren, Permaculture co-originator. He argues we're going to need all our back yards for urban agriculture, and we may regret Gov policies to build multi-level residential. Especially as half our houses are empty at any one time. I guess I agree to an extent, but Melbourne is also one of the worlds lowest density most sprawling cities. He's got a new booklet on peak oil and climate change, online at: www.futurescenarios.org/. A very thought stimulating read.

Frank Fisher hosted a good workshop on how we have the power to think as groups. Apparently there are some 750,000 NGO's in Australia alone, who'd have more impact together (this must include every gathering of more than one person).

I did a wee presentation with Mal on Permaculture.

Where are we up to today?

This is the what the front garden looks like on 15/2/2010 (tilt head to right). Summer's tough. Water disappears in my sandy soil, despite the constant building with compost. Tomatoes haven't done well, nor much else. It's been a bit disheartening, but that's life on the faaarrrm.


Is that a telly tubby or a spud? I think it's winking. What's it worth on Ebay (actually, I have to credit the spud to Tom's dad, but why spoil a good story)


Chooks aren't our only food producing live-stock. These worms are very busy making the source of all life. Is what they do for a living more valuable than what I do?


Help! Pumpkins are taking over the world (or at least the washing line area) but so far not producing that much. One good one anyway.


Always space for jumping

Chook Blog

All the babies turned out to be roosters, suprise suprise. We swaped three for pullets, but the last, I killed and ate (June 2010). It's not a pleasant thing.



Fluffy, now the proud mum, teaching the chicks to stratch. We did lose one. Don't know where, but we're down to four.






Then in Feb 2010 Fluffy (the white Araucana) went truely broody. We shoved an egg under, and I went to Vic Market and bought five chicks for $10. We swapped the baby chicks for the egg and hey-presto luckily she adopted them.


In the begining, there was one Araucana from Harry and two Isa Browns, to pump out the eggs.


Ben's into digging too (this is on the beach, not our garden, though we do have sandy soil).

The Permaculture Design Course

What appeals to me about Permaculture most? Designing things that work with nature, not against it. Cycling everything - energy, water, nutrients. Getting three uses out of every element. Designing systems so they're easy to run. It shows how energy decent could be fun.

Whilst this blog focusses on growing food, permaculture is about much more. It's about meeting peoples needs sustainably, so we create more energy than we consume. So it's about passive solar housing, relative location of items, mobility and EVERYTHING.

I did my Permaculture Design Course over 13 Sundays with Cam Wilson, at a property in Ringwood, an Eastern suburb of Melbourne in 2009.

The property where the course was held had had a permaculture design and make-over. This oversize worm farm - saves turning compost, and think of the juice!


Tagasaste or Tree Lucerne. Chop and drop it to build soil in the orchard. These trees are between fruit trees, on swales.


Trellises run N-S to protect from sun.


After the course I did a design for my place

Here's a basic intro to permaculture, by its founder, Bill Mollison. Visit Utube for the next part.

Making things...

Some slave labour building a path - lots of new edge. Hopefully the ground either side won't get so compacted now.


Bike port - and it's straight! All made from spare bits of timber and iron off the nature strip.


Pump house not so straight. The pump's new. Lots of pressure to the hoses and washing machine. I put the 6000L water tank in a few months ago.


A cubby for the natives - thanks Fiona


Now for some energy. This'll keep the lights going - not. Next time I won't use a motor from a washing machine. A car alternator is apparently better because it has permanent magnets.


Anyone for compost? Iron off-cuts from Geoff - ta.


Just drifting along


And time to relax in Bermagui, late 2009

In the beginning...

This used to be our front garden. What's the point of this bit of grass. It's a non productive, all consuming useless bit of space. It takes my time, my water and petrol for mowing; for what? I spent good money buying this, so I may as well make the most of it eh?



In late 2007 I read an article about Permablitz (www.permablitz.net) and got in touch. They had some Permaculture Design Certificate students who needed some practice, so in February 2008, it was on for young and old. I was gob-smacked on the day when 30 people turned up to do our garden. Such generosity. What a fantastic concept. This was the start of my permaculture adventure.



The designers were great and talked us also into chooks, which the kids loved. We got a white Araucana from Harry and a couple of Isa Brown Pullets.



So this was what it looked like 18 months later. On reflection, I've had heaps of produce out of it. Tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, beans, brocolli, dill, beatroot, lettuce galore, basil, tat-soy, silverbeat, warrigul greens, other herbs like sage, oregano, rosemary, three mints to name a few off-the-top.


The system doesn't exactly work as intended, with the chook dome rotating around mandala beds. The chooks live mainly in the back garden because they like the space and there's an existing shed for them.

I wonder what my wife, Marg, makes of all this? (Actually having been married 10 yrs we don't need to talk. I imbibe what she's thinking, and she thinks it's all pretty cool so long as I don't ask her to do too much. After all, it's more family friendly than the alternative - going off on m'bikes).