9th Australian Permaculture Convergence March 2008

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/

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 value of presenting for a diploma is the advantage to a student of deepening knowledge and experience, and measuring that by putting a portfolio together. The value to the permaculture movement should be great. However, in most cases, we do not learn of the valuable information channelled through the Diploma nor who the examiners are. To remedy this, Gaia University, Chaordic Institute and the Scandinavian Convergence model all seek to share the knowledge obtained by the publication of the diploma topic and details of the applicant. The processes for conferring diplomas is transparent in these cases. The Gaia University, Chaordic Institute and Accreditation processes all belong in the field of formal education and as such meet a need for formal recognition in a world increasingly demanding certification.

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

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

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

Spring Newsletter 2007

Welcome to the Spring Newsletter 2007 for the Blue Mountains Permaculture Network. Here we have some of the articles that have already made it into the new format. To read the articles, just use the links below:

Working Bee - Space Invaders - Maryanne Bell
Working Bee - Bed building and weeding - Pete Sharman
Of Course You Couldn't Feed the World with Permaculture! - Maryanne Bell
Creating a Kitchen Garden at School - Lizzie Connor

You may also notice on the right keywords. You can use these to find previous articles that contain these words. Just click on the word and the article/s will appear on your screen.

Finally, you will notice at the end of each article there is a link called comments. You can leave your comments or questions on the article and the author will (hopefully) reply. Other people may also reply. These will be moderated, and comments should relate to the article they are posted against.

We hope the Summer Edition will be completely in this format. And we would like your feedback - just use the comments option at the end of this article and tell us what you think. Do you have any suggestions for improvement? What do you like / dislike about the new format ?

You might like to submit an article for publication? Easy to do ! Email Pat on bmpermac@iinet.net.au as before and send your draft in. The Edit team will work on it and it will appear here in the Summer Edition.

Happy reading
Pat, Celeste, Maryanne, Pete, Lizzie and Sue G.

Working Bee - Space Invaders

This article illustrates the importance of controlling invasive weeds by describing a recent working bee at my house in Hazelbrook. Last year I completed the PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate) course in Katoomba delivered by Rosemary Morrow and guest lecturers. It was a comprehensive and well designed course that has given me the knowledge to help rejuvenate the land, starting with my own backyard (pictured) and it has put me into contact with like-minded people who are willing to provide time, muscles and knowledge.

THE WORKING BEE & NEIGHBOURLY CO-OPERATION

On Sunday the 15th of July, three volunteers: Peter, Celeste and Francoise, helped me clear much of the weeds that were coming through the wire fence from the adjoining property. To do this, my neighbour gave us permission to work in her yard to clear a metre buffer zone along the fence line.

We moved an old rabbit hutch, a tyre, dug out agapanthus and "oyster plants" and bagged up the carpets of trad or "wandering dew or jew". Peter worked the mattock both sides of the fence, Celeste and Francoise removed the trad from the neighbour's side and I delegated duties. Oh, and I worked too! I used a rake hoe and secateurs to cut down the agapanthas and oyster plants in preparation for Peter's mattock.

My neighbour was appreciative of the work. Over the years she has watched me working in my yard and has always taken an interest in its transformation. She was pleased to meet my "permies" and later Celeste commented that this "working bee" was a good method to meet and maintain good relations with neighbours and perhaps influence their gardening practices.

ZONE 5 HABITAT & COMBATING INVASIVE WEEDS

It has been said that a definition of a weed is "a plant in the wrong location"; well I think that is misleadingly simplistic. If one adopts a wholistic view of our environment rather than just our fenced properties, we soon realise that weeds displace native vegetation; compete with useful plants for water, nutrients and light; pollute ecosystems; poison humans and domestic animals; and do not provide food for living creatures, be they beneficial bacteria or blue tongue lizards.

"By developing an awareness of your land and its needs, you can develop effective weed-control strategies that avoid the use of herbicides completely." Earth User's Guide to Permaculture 2nd Edition 2006 Rosemary Morrow. This is why I have chosen to manually clear the land on both sides of our fences, taking care to remove the obstacles that provide havens for weeds and hinder easy access. I had thought to insert a physical barrier between our properties but now see that weeds are an indication of disturbed or unhealthy environments and therefore I intend to continue improving the soil and will plant appropriate plants and continue sheet-mulching any exposed soil.

Rosemary taught us that one of the most important points to consider when creating a design was firstly to provide a healthy habitat along its boundaries for beneficial wildlife; and this will necessitate looking over the fence and talking with your neighbours.

That Sunday, the weather was kind to us and two sun filled hours flew by. We finished with coffee, savoury scones, Peter's veggie quiche and conversations that helped to reinforce our permaculture practices. Bring on the next working bee, I'm ready!

Maryanne Bell

Working Bee - Bed Building and Weeding

On Sunday 8th July we enjoyed a successful working bee at the Sharman house. Four keen permies, namely Kathy, Celeste, Maryanne and Pat turned up bearing a vast array of gardening implements, along with piles of newspapers for mulching purposes. The grown-ups were abley supported by Addie and Laurie (the kids).

The brief was two-fold;
1) To weed the back garden, and;
2) To build a third vege garden on the north-east side of the house to complement the existing two.

The back garden comprises mainly exotics and it had become quite overgrown. It needed weeding, mulching and a general tidying. The permie army did a fantastic job of clearing approximately 20m2 which was then covered with several layers of saturated newspaper, to prevent light reaching the weeds.

The trusty (and rusty) wheelbarrow served as the vessel to hold the water in which the newspaper was soaked. Once the soaked paper was applied several layers thick and overlapping, we mulched heavily with lucerne and the garden was beginning to resemble it's former glory.

The fine working crew can be seen assembled in the photo at top.

On the other side of the house Celeste and I were building the new vegetable garden. The design was to match the other two beds which were constructed using 100 x 12 x 1800mm hardwood timbers stacked three high and screwed into 50 x 50mm posts driven into the ground. Hardwood was used instead of treated pine to avoid potential contamination of the soil and veges. We toiled hard, often having to dig through sandstone in order to embed the posts. However the work was satisfying given the weather was a tad chilly.

By knock-off time we had achieved much. We now had one quarter of the back garden cleared and mulched and a third vege garden well on its way. We then downed tools and headed inside for a delicious lunch of chicken hot pot, vege hot pot, roasted potatoes, quiche and cake. After tea and coffee it was time to bid fond farewells and look forward to the next working bee.

Permie Pete

"Of course you couldn't feed the world with such a hippy-dippy, hunter-gatherer, landscape system like permaculture."

13 February 2007. David Blume had cause to write in defence of permaculture and he seemed well qualified from a theoretical and practical perspective; having certified more than 400 people in permaculture design since 1997 and he was a permaculture production food farmer for 9 years.

I found his arguments fascinating and I hope you can find the time to visit his site http://www.permaculture.com/ to read the full text. All comments are welcomed of course. NB Subheadings are mine.

PERMACULTURE IMPROVES SOIL
"On approximately two acres - half of which was on a terraced 35 degree slope - I produced enough food to feed more than 300 people (with a peak of 450 people at one point), 49 weeks a year in my fully organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) on the edge of Silicon Valley."
David goes on to say that he built his soil from cement-hard adobe clay to an impressive state at over 22% organic matter with a cation exchange capacity (CEC) of over 25.

CEC is an indirect measure of soil humus or the ability of the soil to hold nutrients available to crops. The higher the number, the more nutrients are stored and available. For reference (in America), Class 1 commercial agricultural soil is "lucky to hit" 2% organic matter - the dividing line between a living and dead soil - with a CEC around 5.

PERMACULTURE EFFICIENTLY USES SUNLIGHT UPON POLYCULTURAL PLANTINGS
Another issue that David addressed was the superiority of organic polyculture practices as opposed to the established commercial chemical monoculture practice of crop growing. He cites two reasons: the benefit of mycorhyzzal symbiosis (mycorrhizas are highly evolved, mutualistic associations between soil fungi and plant roots.)http://www.ffp.csiro.au/research/mycorrhiza/intro.html#whatand solar saturation.

Solar saturation is defined as the point at which a plant's photosynthetic machinery is overwhelmed by excess sunlight and shuts down. In practice, this means that most monoculture crop plants stop growing at about 10am and don't start again until about 4pm. Various members of a polyculture shade each other, preventing solar saturation, so plants metabolise all day.

POLYCULTURE vs MONOCULTURE, AN EXAMPLE
David gives the example that when you look at a simple Mexican permaculture field growing the typical "three sisters" of corn, beans and squash, you get close to 90% solar efficiency as opposed to approximately 30% from a chemical monoculture field.

Whilst finding a suitable illustration of the 3 sisters I thought I should also include a description of this method of companion planting. Follow the link for further information.


"Three sisters grow together in a farmer’s field. The sisters are close and protect one another. The first sister, standing straight and tall, provides support for the second sister.The second sister is a climber. She adds nitrogen to the soil, feeding and nourishing the other two. The third sister covers the soil with broad leaves, preventing weeds from growing. In these ways, each sister helps the others. The sisters grow faster and stronger with each other’s help. Here is how you can plant the three sisters — maize, beans and squash — on your land. Make a small hill of soil. The hill should be one foot tall, and twice as wide. Plant five maize seeds in a circle in the hill. Plant the seeds an equal distance apart. When the maize is a little taller than your ankle, plant four climbing bean seeds in the hill around the maize stalks. Finally, the last thing to do is to plant four squash seeds in the hill around the maize stalks. As the three sisters grow, observe how they help one another. You only have to prepare the soil once. But you harvest THREE crops! I think you will notice that your maize will not be damaged by pests. And you will harvest more food from less land." http://www.farmradio.org/

MANUAL & MECHANICAL LABOUR
It is now estimated that 80% of the world's arable (read European-style ploughed) agricultural land is now in the hands of multi-nationals, who then choose to adopt monocultural farming practices because it utilises the least amount of labourers. Harvesting "the three sisters of corn, beans and squash" could not be accomplished with a combine harvester, instead it would require many labourers and that could mean a reduction in profits.

MULTINATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF GRAINS OR THE EVIL SOYBEAN
Lastly, David's article discusses the "neo-liberal formula" of the IMF and the World Bank and the detrimental effect they are having on the developing nations; and restorative agricultural practices that would replace the inefficient corn-soybean agribusiness. (Bill Mollison has much to say against the soybean not least that 100% of the patents on soy beans are owned by three companies". Sixth International Permaculture Conference and Convergence, Perth and Bridgetown, WA 27 September to 7 October 1996. http://www.rosneath.com.au/ipc6/ch01/mollison/index.html)

This article by David Blume contained many ideas and I suggest following the links for more details. Maryanne Bell 14 July 2007

Creating a kitchen garden at a local school

I am now the proud ‘grandmother’ of twenty kindergarten children at Katoomba Public School. Each Friday at noon (weather permitting) I turn up at the school, hopefully with dear friend Sue (Girard) in tow, to add a bit more to a steadily growing garden, carefully chosen for its closeness to the classroom and its north east aspect. We work with four at a time for about fifteen minutes, while the others do a Round Robin set of activities inside.

The first bed was built on top of the kikuyu, following Rowe Morrow's great diagram. The children helped at very stage – deciding what vegetables (and fruit) they liked to eat, talking about whether they would grow in Katoomba, marking out the first bed, wetting and laying the newspaper, adding a layer of lucerne hay, then a layer of almost compost (they enjoyed identifying the various vegetable remains although a few didn't want to touch or smell them), then a layer of straw and wetting it thoroughly.

Finally we made holes for pockets of good soil, and each child sowed two peas or beans or planted a potato seedling or a lettuce. Then they added tags with their unsteadily printed names. I explained that some might die or be eaten (just as well, for by the next week the slugs had found two of the lettuce - we put in a substitute straight away in each case).

We talked about the difference between the fresh peas and beans that we eat and the dried-up peas and bean-pods that we use to get new plants. The most dramatic moment was opening up some dried old pods of Scarlet Runner beans to reveal the delicately coloured beans inside. We sowed them even out of season just to see what happened.

As the peas grew we attached them to tripods, and we also gave all the plants a dose of Charlie Carp (after a smell of the bottle). We also had to weed out the wheat as it grew out of the straw, and keep pulling back the kikuyu. The name tags haven’t worked very well because some names have washed off – even though we used what I thought were the right markers. Any ideas?

We have now added a wall of bubble-wrap on the south east of the bed (it's protected to the west by the school building), after talking about how plants get cold in winter too. And we are just about to make our second bed, with two keyhole sections. This time we'll have to cut off the kikuyu around the edge and then pull out all the runners. Great fun, as long as the ground isn't too wet. Then I'll give it a bit of a hoe, and we'll sow a row of carrots and some rainbow chard - we have already looked at the seeds (brought by Sue).

I expected them to be interested in the physical gardening activities such as planting, watering and seeing the plants grow (of course a few just like being outside), but I have been excited by the interest some of the children also have in what might be called the intellectual element in the exercise – the why, why not and how? One of these children is not quite five.

We've already had other teachers wanting to have a similar garden, and the P & C have agreed to raise money for hay, straw etc, so all we need is some volunteers. Of course we could do something similar at other schools as well. The project is part of the just established Katoomba-Leura Climate Action Now group, which hopes to consolidate the activities of various local groups.

Let me know if you would like to join us, grandmother or grandfather or auntie or uncle. Everyone welcome to what could become an active network. From little things big things grow.

Lizzie Connor

The Vege Tank

Some years ago my sister bought a house which included an old colorbond water tank for which she had no use. She happened to mention the seemingly superfluous tank to my brother one day who, after a moments consideration said........”I'll take it!”

Fast forward a few years and the old tank is now in sections and supporting crops of various vegetables. The soil level is at a manageable waist height and the style of the veggie tanks ties in with the colorbond roof of the house.

Here is how a water tank can become a series of veggie tanks:

Step 1. Sit the tank on the ground and using a marker or spray can, mark around the full circumference where you wish to cut it. This will depend on the depth you want the bed to be.
Step 2. Plug in your angle grinder (complete with new steel cutting disc) and don your safety gear - ear muffs, gloves and eye protection are a good idea.
Step 3. Make a cut with the angle grinder and follow the line around from start to finish.
Step 4. Remove this section and repeat process until you have separated all sections.
Step 5. The cut edges of the tank will be sharp and a danger to small fingers. To avoid any accidents, take a length of garden hose, wrap it around the tank and cut it to the length of the circumference of the tank.
Step 6. Using a sharp stanley knife, slit one side of the hose the full length.
Step 7. Insert the slit hose over the top edge of the tank and press on firmly.
Step 8. Drill a series of holes in the side of the tanks, just above the base for drainage.
Step 9. Admire your handy work with a cleansing beverage in hand.
Step 10. Fill the tanks with soil, compost, manure and blood and bone.
Step 11. Plant out with veggies of your choice and water in well.
Step 12. Repeat Step 9.

The above project yielded 3 small veggie tanks.

Article posted by : Pete

Grey Water Filtration in Action

The grey water from the upstairs shower and bath is intercepted by an inverted funnel into an inspection port in the drainage pipes. This water is collected in a tank below and then released into a system incorporating three preformed plastic drainage/sump baskets.

The idea was to imitate a homemade charcoal water filter that I read about. The first basket contains a layer of large lumps of charcoal, the second contains small aggregate type stones and the third contains large grained river sand. They are angled so that the water reticulates downwards. The idea is that by the time water passes through the system is will have been filtered enough to enter a larger 'wild-life' pond and bath down slope.

Frogs spawn in all three baskets and also in the pond and bath, so I am more than confident that it works.

Article posted by : Susan