The 9th Australian Permaculture Convergence [APC9] will be held in Sydney over the Easter break from 20-25 March 2008.
Please fill in a pre-registration form which will assist us with planning and costing of APC9. Accommodation on site is strictly limited and at this stage we are offering pre-registration to PDC graduates. The forms can be returned via post or fax and a deposit is required to book accommodation on site. Deposits are refundable if bookings are cancelled before 15 January 2008. Full details are on the form which is available on the home page of our website http://apc9.org.au/ by clicking on "register your interest here".
We are asking teachers and educators to please send the pre-registration forms to past and present students. I would be grateful if you could also forward to other PDC graduates you may know of who are not on the usual lists.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.
With thanks,
Robyn
CONTACT DETAILS
Robyn Williamson
APC9 Secretariat
Ph/Fx: (02) 9629 3560
Mobile: 0409 151 435
http://apc9.org.au/
11 December 2007
9th Australian Permaculture Convergence March 2008
Different Ways of Obtaining a Diploma
By Rosemary Morrow
More items from International Permaculture Convergence 8 (IPC8) - Brazil May 2007.
At IPC8, there was much discussion and several presentations by various people from the 'developed world' representing organisations for accreditation, diplomas and PDC's. People from developing countries were generally more preoccupied by the urgency of permaculture outreach and need for basic resources for the poor and disadvantaged people they work with.
There are now five routes to obtaining a diploma:
- Gaia University in USA which offers a range of courses and mentoring for diplomas - I think face-to-face and on-line.
- The Chaordic Institute based in Spain which is particularly interested in diploma subjects as valuable information for permaculture worldwide and which offers its supervision on line.
- The Accreditation process to diploma in Australia which takes candidates through four levels of certification.
- The Scandinavian Convergence model.
- Australia the Permaculture Institute will confer a diploma for $75 by submission of a portfolio of work and refereed by someone known to the Permaculture Institute.)
The Scandinavian Model proposes that a diploma candidate work under supervision for two years with two mentors. When ready, the candidate presents their work to their regional Permaculture Convergence at specific sessions. Their colleagues hear/see the presentation, can learn from it, and know the candidate. Also people known to be doing challenging permaculture work could be asked to submit work for a diploma so we can all learn from them. This model appeals to me as the most democratic because appraisal by colleagues is the most appropriate, transparent and fair evaluation.
I am a fervent advocate of non-formal education. From my committment to poor and disadvantaged people, and work in Cambodia, Viet Nam and Afghanistan, where people are often illiterate or unable to find the fees necessary to be appraised, yet are doing brilliant permaculture, I suport the Convergence Model as enabling them to be recognised instead of overlooked. It is the most revolutionary model because it by-passes the formal education stream.
I was originally impressed in my PDC course by the Permaculture Institute saying that after the PDC we did not need more courses in case we get addicted to them instead of "doing" permaculture. Fundamentally I still agree with this. However I also believe that recognition is important.
As we have the PDC still existing informally throughout the Australia and the world, alongside other permaculture training so I would like to see candidates for their Diplomas, if they wished, able to choose this route through the Convergence Model. This increases diversity in learning and presenting. I'd like to discuss this more at Australian Permaculture Convergence 9 to be held in March 2008 (APC9). Would you be interested at a future APC (not this one) in attending a session where diploma candidates present their work?
Rowe Morrow
Cherish the Earth
Information on Accredited Permaculture Training in Australia can be found at www.permacultureinternational.org/apt
Pat Rayner
10 December 2007
Summer Newsletter 2007
Welcome to the first complete e-version of the Blue Mountains Permaculture Network Newsletter.
In this edition there are articles on insects, seedsavers, energy, water, the upcoming 9th Australian Permaculture Convergence and much much more.
To read these articles, simply click on the linked title of the article of interest. If you want to leave a comment on the article, then use the Comments link at the end of each article. You can always find you way back to this article, by using the keyword summer on the right hand side.
Seedsaver Report Dec 2007 - by John McNaull
Different Ways of Obtaining a Diploma - by Rowe Morrow
New DECC Policy on Bottled Water - by Pat Rayner
A Different Prespective on Pests - Food for Thought - by Susan Girard
Rebates for Rain Water Tanks, Hot Water Systems and Insulation - by Vanessa Steele
FreeCycle - by Vanessa Steele
A Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home - by Lizzie Connor and Susan Girard
Working Bees : Permaculture in Action - by Celeste Salter
PV and Solar Hot Water System - by Rowe Morrow
Post Carbon Professionals - Accredited Training in Byron Bay - by Pat Rayner
9th Australian Permaculture Convergence March 2008 - by Robyn Williamson
If you would like to submit an article at any time for the newsletter, please contact Pat.
We look forward to reading your comments!
The BMPermac Newsletter Team
(Pat, Susan, Lizzie, Pete, Maryanne and Celeste)
PV and Solar Hot Water System
From Rosemary Morrow
Just a quick note to say that when I followed up an advertisement in the Gazette for a 1 kw PV and solar HWS the supplier quoted me $4,265 for my place because I already have a heat pump hot water system and because of the low amount of energy I use. My bill is about $95.00 per quarter - say $100 i.e. I spend $4000 over ten years if there are no price increases.
So I reckon that with paying no bills and selling excess energy back to the grid it would return the outlay to me in maximum four years. If electricity bills go up and the return to private providers is increased, it is possible to be well ahead and USE NO COAL. The quote included all electrical work.
I wonder if there are people who would like to be part of this venture and bulk buy. We could then get a group price of $3,900 - $3,999 if five people want to be part of this.
Post Carbon Professionals – Accredited Training in Byron Bay
The Permaforest Trust - Centre for Sustainability Education, in partnership with National Environment Centre campus of the Riverina Institute of TAFE, is now offering accredited, specialist sustainability training for transition to a low carbon future from its Byron Bay campus in northern NSW, Australia.
Learn permaculture skills, relocalisation strategies and systems thinking to proactively meet the challenges of peak oil, climate change and other limits to growth in positive and strategic ways.
Permaforesttrust’s accredited Certificate 4 and Diploma courses start in March 2008 and include permaculture theory and practice, energy descent planning, community climate change strategies, relocalisation and bioregional planning, food security, community gardens and post carbon transition.
For more information contact Permaforesttrust
info@permaforesttrust.org.au
http://www.permaforesttrust.org.au/
Ph: (02) 6689 7579
A Different Perspective on Pests - Food for Thought
As summer arrived early in the Mountains I saw lots of emerging moths and beetles, and remembered that this traditionally was a time of plenty for the early indigenous residents. Then in my research I discovered a new word Entomophagy - the eating of insects. Over 1200 species of insects are used as food by people throughout the world.
The cultural bias in the modern Western world against eating insects is interesting. In the Torah with all its culinary rules, Moses says that eating locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers is acceptable under Jewish law. King Solomon is rumored to have fed locusts to his wives and in the New Testament, John the Baptist is said to have dined on honey and locusts. Roman and Greek scholars such as Pliny the Elder, Herodotus, and Diodorus also recorded instances of insect-eating.
Today, largely because of our agricultural practices, most of us see an insect and think only of pests, although there are exceptions of course. After all this modern bias is contradictory to the popularity of honey, which could be defined as ‘bee vomit’.
Locally significant in the Blue Mountains is the Bogong moth. These are the medium-sized brown/grey moths that hibernate in cracks and crevices up here on the escarpments, and then migrate down to the Canberra region, where they breed. Their arrival in Canberra is often publicised as they take over and cover city buildings and lights.
The larvae of these moths are known as cutworms. They eat more than twice their weight a day in leaves and in enough numbers they eat everything right down to the ground. If you ate as much each day as a 65kg Bogan moth does you would be eating something like 30 loaves of bread, 3 kg of butter, 18 dozen eggs and 3 hams, and drinking over 100 L of milk. This is obviously why they are seen as a pest!
But this is also why they were an important food source to the Gundungarra and Dharug peoples - an impressive 27% protein and 20% fat. By comparison possum and goanna have a mere 3% fat.
Another local aboriginal food source was the legless larvae of the Longicorn Beetle that attack Black Wattle trees. They are usually referred to as ‘witchetty grubs’ but this is an all-encompassing term that Europeans gave to the immature larvae of both edible beetles and moths. Originally the name came from the moth larvae that infest the Witjuti bush (Acacia kempeana) of Central Australia. There are in fact over 1000 species of Longicorn Beetles.
The Dharug called our local species burradhan. These grubs have 33% fat and traditionally are eaten raw or cooked on coals. A friend tells me that raw they have a pleasant almond-type scrambled egg flavour; while the cooked version has a crispy chicken skin texture.
Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, suggests there are no fewer than 34 reasons to explore insects as a food source, including their impressive nutritive value, the easy of breeding them in captivity, and their high birth-rate. She goes so far as to suggest enriching foods with insect flour in order to make them more nutritious.
For example 100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamine, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, and 3.10 mg. of niacin. And with a mere 5.5 g. of fat this is high in nutrients but with far less fat than either of the earlier examples.
Then there’s another new word I have learnt - Heliciculture - snail-farming. I hadn’t realised that the common garden snail that plagues our vegie patches is in fact a Mediterranean import that went feral. It is actually one of the French ‘escargot’ snails. All that we would need to do is feed them properly and purge them before cooking.
Since my family are omnivores and as a participant in Margot’s Sustainable Brunches (see Autumn 2007 Newsletter) I may just have to look into this a bit more.
References for further reading
Stockton, E (ed), 1996, Blue Mountains Dreaming - The Aboriginal Heritage, A Three Sisters Publication, Winmalee, NSW.
Ramos-Elorduy, J ,2000, Creepy Crawley Cuisine, Park Street Press
Snail Farming www.dpi.vic.gov.au
Wikipedia
Sue Girard
Rebates for Rainwater Tanks, Hot Water Systems and Insulation
Did you know that there’s a new rebate incentive program that the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) have recently launched called the Residential Rebate Program? It has been established to help people make their homes more water and energy efficient.
The rebates are additional to any other rebate or incentive offer currently available to NSW residents. Hot water systems, insulation or rainwater tanks installed to comply with BASIX (the Building Sustainability Index) for new homes and major renovations are not eligible for the rebate.
In brief the rainwater tank rebate provides up to $1500 for rainwater tanks connected to toilets and washing machines. The hot water system rebate provides up to $1200 to switch from electric to solar, heat pump or gas hot water systems. The insulation rebate provides half the cost of installing ceiling insulation in your home, up to a maximum of $300.
For more information go to
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/rebates/index.htm
Vanessa Steele
Sustainability Consultant
FreeCycle
Recycling not only saves precious resources, energy and greenhouse gases, it can help other people and that fits in nicely with the ethics of Permaculture.
Have you heard of FreeCycle?
It's a grassroots and entirely non profit movement involving people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. (How good is that?)
For more info on our region and how it works go to…
http://www.freecycle.org/
Follow the links to the area you live in (i.e. there are Blue Mountains and Penrith Groups plus many more). By giving freely with no strings attached, members of The Freecycle Network help instill a sense of generosity of spirit as they strengthen local community ties and promote environmental sustainability and reuse.
Vanessa Steele
Sustainability Consultant
3 December 2007
New DECC Policy on Bottled Water
Don't laugh this is serious
The following is an email that was distributed by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW). While you may not agree with all the reasoning the fact that a Government Department is taking action must be applauded.
Pat
The environmental costs of bottled water (producing, transporting refrigerating and disposing of the bottles) has led the DECC Executive to eliminate all non-essential bottled water purchases from the Department. Of course staff can purchase their own bottled water, but please think twice, and consider refilling your water bottles from the tap.
Did you know?
- Australians spent $385 million on 250 million litres of bottled water in2006 (AC Nielson). It takes a whopping 141,666 barrels of oil just to make the resin for the plastic bottles (Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET). Then another 314,465 barrels of oil are used to convert the PET to plastic bottles, bottle, transport and refrigerate the water. This much oil adds up to over 60,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. So every time you drink a litre of bottled water, you're using 200 ml of oil (Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment & Security).
- And then only 35% of bottles actually make it to a recycling depot (Plastics and Chemicals Industry Association 2005-06 report). And for those bottles that are recycled, the recycling process uses another 1,600 barrels of oil each year.
- If everyone in DECC bought one 1 litre bottle of water each week, this would result in 52 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - from the production, transport and refrigeration of the bottles. So think about turning on the tap instead
- Tap water costs around $1.20 a tonne but bottled water costs $3000 a tonne!
- Tap water contains fluoride which significantly improves dental health.
- Some people do not like the taste of chlorine that is added to tap water for disinfection – but it's easy to remove if you sit the water in an open jug or bottle for a few hours.
- Marketing campaigns from bottled water companies sometimes claim that bottled water is safer than tap water – which can be the true in some countries, but all major centres in NSW have a clean reliable water supply.
DECC is leading NSW by example
Seedsavers Report Dec 2007
By John McNaull - Mid Mountains Seed Savers Group
Mid Mountains Seedsavers Group - Next Meeting December 9 2007
WE ARE NOW ONLINE!!! This text can be found at http://midbluemountainseedsavers.wikispaces.com/ This is a collective responsibility website that everone who joins can edit, contribute and maintain. Please try it out and let me know what you think and any suggestions for turning it into a useful tool.
We now have the following seeds in our seedbank:
- Coriander
- Blue popping corn
- Garlic chives
- Bush beans: brown beauty
- Climbing beans: mollys zebra, scarlet runner, white monarch, Mostollier wild goose, purple king
- Parsley: italian, triple curl
- Lettuce: perpetual curly
- Pumpkin: potymaron
- Dryland/winter cress
- Onion: max welsh
- Chillies (we still have to identify several of our chillies!)
- Sunflower: golden harvest
Also generously given out at the last meeting were tomato seedlings "Tommy Toe", beautiful iris plants, pink yarrow plants, and amaranth seedlings. Thanks to Louisa for the delicious home baked (and still warm) muffins and to everyone else who brought along sustenance.
Working Bees: Permaculture in Action
The Blue Mountians Permaculture Network seeks to implement Permaculture principles through interested members participating in working bees. The function of these events is to give all of us opportunities to review design principles, grow our knowledge of food growing practice, learn from others in the group.
In 2007 we have met, once a month for a couple of hours, to implement or further the plan of one person. This has meant clearing out infestations of invasive weeks, pruning trees, making growing spaces. What we have learnt at another's place has helped us at our own.
In 2008, we want to continue the process, and invite all of those who are interested in permaculture, in learning more, developing skills, seeing the progress of a design implemented, to participate. We plan to start again in February 2008. If you would like to be part of the group send Celeste an email and register your interest.
A Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home
In February 2008 Cittaslow - Katoomba/Blue Mountains plans to launch an ambitious but very exciting project "A Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home". As part of this project two members of the Blue Mountains Permaculture Network, Susan Girard and Lizzie Connor, conducted two free pilot workshops for beginners at the Blue Mountains Community Garden's Festival of Joy on 20 October. They were based on creating and maintaining a simple container-garden in a re-used styrofoam box with 10 easy-grow summer vegetables.
Lizzie and Sue prepared and presented the workshops as part of their work on Cittaslow's Kitchen Garden Project sub-committee; BMCC funded some bulk potting mix; and participants were also asked to donate $5 to go towards the cost of the seedlings. Three other members of Blue Mountains Permaculture Network, Vickie Walker, Belinda Selke and Maryanne Bell, also came along to help in various ways.
The workshops were aimed at people who had no vegetable growing experience, and were either renting or had no garden space. Information was distributed by flyers at community centres, the Korowal Eco-Fest, and by email to interested groups (including the Network's email list). Both were booked out and the participants gave enthusiastic evaluations. Several have been active in email Q&A since.
A word on our choice of container-gardens. This was the suggestion of another member of the sub-committee, John McNaull, but Lizzie and Sue embraced the opportunity to explore this way into growing food. The aim was for beginners to learn about how vegetables grow and what problems might occur, rather than for them to learn about sustainability as such.
David Holmgren's first two designer principles were the focus: Observe and Interact (easier if the plants are close to the house and within sight) and Catch and Store Energy (seeing how plants catch and store energy from sun, water and fertile soil). His third principle: Obtain a Yield, was relevant in the sense of beginning to understand what's involved in getting one. And his fourth principle: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback, was the underlying motivation for the whole project and for participants' attendance.
JUST ABOUT TO START
On Saturday 1 December Lizzie hosted a follow-up morning tea, which 6 people attended and for which 8 gave their apologies. They discussed what they had learnt so far and what they would like to do in the future, and also did a quick tour of Lizzie's container garden and larger garden in drizzling rain. 20 people have booked in for a shared harvest lunch at the Katoomba Community Gardens on 16 February 2008, with 2 apologies, and that morning we are also conducting a no-dig-garden workshop, at which we expect about 10 people.
The Cittaslow sub-committee is also planning another series of beginners workshops in March based on growing winter vegetables in containers. On Saturday 8 December Lizzie and Sue are conducting a similar workshop for 40 graduates of BMCC's Earth Works courses in 2007. BMCC are funding the costs of the workshop materials and also a modest fee for the two presenters.
We hope this will be just the start of an ongoing collaboration. If you haven't attended the Earth Works courses yet, we really recommend them, particularly the tour of Katoomba's Waste Management Facility (you also get a free compost bin). Email Lizzie for more information about this project.
Lizzie and Susan