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Completing the Cycle – PRI Graduate Comes ‘Home’ to Teach
Courses/Workshops — by Jesse Lemieux September 4, 2010
Course alert: Jesse Lemieux of PRI Canada will be teaching a two-week Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course, starting November 21 right here at our own Zaytuna Farm (PRI Australia) – and it’s only AU$1200, or AU$1080 if you book more than 30 days before the course starts.
Jesse Lemieux and Bill Mollison
I am inspired by the creative potential of every human being. If our collective society were to effectively access the “real time” creative potential of humanity, we would truly be a society of equity, peace and sustainable culture.
At the moment I am returning home to where I live in Canada after teaching my seventh Permaculture Design Certificate to my 148th student. I sit here in the pre-boarding area of the Saskatoon international airport and find myself contemplating the last five years of my life. I am considering how much my outlook, attitude and most importantly actions have changed. My focus these days is on nothing but the positive. I have truly been able to activate my creative potential. Through my work, permaculture education and design, I am inspiring others to activate there own creative and positive potential as well. Permaculture design gives us the frame work to change the world and together all of us permaculture freaks are changing it, as Geoff Lawton says, “one garden at a time.”
My life before permaculture was angry, guilt ridden, and passive. My life post permaculture has been positive, full of laughs and active. I have never before felt so full of meaning, creativity and positivism. I received my first PDC in October, 2006 under the guidance of Geoff Lawton and the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, and my second under both Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in January 2007.
Comments (1)Weekly Linkfest – Edition 009
News — by Patrick Blampied September 3, 2010
Welcome to round eight of our Weekly Linkfest, where we share the good, the bad, the ugly and the just plain interesting from what we’ve seen this week.
I would greatly appreciate readers getting involved in this weekly linkfest. Please email editor (at) permaculture.org.au with links (and ideally a summary sentence outlining the key point of each link) to noteworthy articles and news reports on the internet.
Off we go:
Good News (coz we all need it):
- Hollywood star Daryl Hannah is in cairns with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson’s eccentric nephew, Ned RocknRoll. They are both taking a PDC and attending the APC10.
- Sounds like permaculture – The Rainforest Alliance has launched a new certification aimed at helping cattle farms improve their environmental and social performance. "This can be accomplished by giving the animals a diet that is easier to digest – generating fewer methane emissions – treating their manure and conserving trees on pasture lots, in forest reserves or as live fences," Oliver Bach, Rainforest Alliance standards and policy manager, said in a fact sheet on the new standard.
- One of the lessons from BP is it doesn’t pay to lose focus on sustainability. In fact according to a new book large and small business must embrace green concepts to help the bottom line http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10669220&ref=rss
- US fast food giant Burger King said it would no longer buy palm oil from Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries after Greenpeace campaigned against the Indonesian group’s land-clearing practices.
- Poaching for ivory and increased conflicts between people and elephants because of their dwindling habitat are key problems faced by India’s wild elephant population, estimated at about 26,000. A recommendation has been made that India should protect its elephant population by creating new reserves, curbing poaching and restricting development in the corridors they use to travel between forested areas.
- Businesses are starting to see the advantage in green buildings. The Subway sandwich shop on Chicago’s State Street may look like any other new restaurant, but its tile, crown molding and most wall coverings are made from recycled materials. In the bathroom, sensors control water flow, timers manage lights, and the toilet has a low-flow option. A smart air-conditioning system normalizes temperature between the bread ovens and the eating area.
Would You Like to See a NSW Convergence?
Bio-regional Organisations, Community Projects, Conferences, Courses/Workshops, Developments, Networking Sites, People Systems, Social Gatherings, Village Development — by Penny Pyett
Dear NSW Permaculturalists,
For some time now Permies in NSW have been talking about having a regular NSW Permaculture gathering. The discussion has been gathering momentum lately and many of us feel it’s time to organize the first such event.
The idea is to hold a state convergence late next year on the August long weekend – Friday 30th July to Monday 1st August 2011 – at a desirable live-in venue. Permaculture Sydney (representing Pc Sydney North, Pc Sydney South and Pc Sydney West) has agreed to host the first event in Sydney.
At this stage Permaculture Sydney would like to hear from Permies and representatives of local Permaculture groups across NSW about: a) Support for the convergence b) What you would like to see happen at the first State Permaculture convergence and c) If and how you would like to present or be involved in some way.
A State convergence provides many personal, social and professional opportunities:
Comments (1)Passion Wagons
Comedy Break, Energy Systems — by Marc Roberts
Click for full view
Courtesy: Marc Roberts
Comments (1)
How to Make an Egg Mobile
Animal Housing, Bird Life, Breeds, Building, Land, Livestock, Rehabilitation, Retrofitting, Waste Systems & Recycling, Working Animals — by Geoff Lawton
So, we wanted to make an egg mobile for egg laying chickens to follow behind our dairy cows and fertilise the pasture while scratching the manure that the cows leave behind. The chickens also leave behind their own manure whilst free ranging across pasture. This technique allows the chickens to supplement their diet and produce some good eggs for us to enjoy.
So, first we started off with a 6 by 4 foot derelict old car trailer. Here is the trailer in our workshop with our current internship students learning how to do some metal recycling work to create a good solid egg mobile. This egg mobile is of minimal size to work on a small farm.
Comments (6)Geoff in Early Observation Mode
Comedy Break — by Ecofilms September 2, 2010
Here’s a photo of a famous Permaculture person. Can you guess who it is? He was photographed with this shovel back in 1956 at the age of two. He is wearing a child restraint belt usually attached to a long cord as was customary in those days to prevent him from running away to play in the dirt. But he did run away to Australia. He will soon be appearing in a new Soils DVD – but with a bigger shovel….
Comments (2)September 20, 2010 Bill Mollison/Geoff Lawton Melbourne PDC Fast Approaching – Book Now!
Courses/Workshops — by Tagari
Bill and Geoff teaching in Melbourne, September 2009
Photos © copyright Craig Mackintosh
There is enough evidence of global problems, but still not enough models of practical solutions.
We can live in disorder and pretend order. We can live in lies and pretend truth.
To demonstrate life we act. It is not what any one of us achieves, this will be modest.
Comments (0)It’s Time to Colonise Earth!
Biodiversity, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Food Forests, Global Warming/Climate Change, Land, News, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Trees — by Craig Mackintosh
Ascension Island, in the Pacific Ocean (source)
It seems Darwin was a permaculturist!
In his days globetrotting aboard HMS Beagle, Darwin set in motion the transformation of a dead, volcanic island rock – Ascension Island, described by nearby islanders as "a cinder" – into a green, rain-creating oasis. How did he do it?
Comments (5)Liquid Democracy
Alternatives to Political Systems, Deforestation, Society — by Thomas Fischbacher
 Isn’t it time to imagine a new world? |
Perhaps it is impossible to write an article about politics without evoking strong – and maybe quite emotional – thoughts and responses. One particular all-too-human reaction to a novel concept or idea about which we have a strong "gut feeling" (good or bad) is to construct logically-sounding reasons to justify our initial emotions. For this reason, I would like to ask readers who would like to comment on this article to sleep one night over their reply before they post it.
Politics is all about defining the legal environment that guides society. It is this framework that defines to a large extent what is illegal and what is not, what is profitable and what is not – hence what sort of economic activities will be pursued. Evidently, political decisions therefore have a major impact on how well societies manage their natural resources. Some would even claim that sustainability is exclusively a question of politics. While I personally would not subscribe to this idea, there have been a number of people who became professional politicians out of a strong inner desire to move their respective societies away from their suicidal paths. Across the globe, some quite prominent politicians invested a lot of personal energy into this – often to ultimately fail in resignation. One might think, for example, of the German politician Herbert Gruhl, originally a member of the conservative party, who, cancelling his membership due to irreconcilable differences on environmental issues, became one of the founders of the German Green Party. In 1992, the year before he died, he published a sequel to his 1975 best-seller (whose title would translate as "Plundered Planet"), which roughly would translate as: "Ascension to Nothingness – the Plundered Planet at its End". In the U.S., Jay Hanson seems to have played a similar role. Resignation clearly speaks out of the last lines of his article ‘requiem’:
Comments (7)United Colors of Ho avy: Growing Trees and Growing with Them, Madagascar
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Food Forests, Nurseries & Propogation, Social Gatherings, Trees, Village Development — by Martina Petru
Editor’s Note: This is an update for the ho avy project in Madagascar. Previous updates here and here.
EcoExplorers Madagascar 2010 from Shannon Kohlitz on Vimeo.
Here we are past July’s time for fleece, hat and socks, wouldn’t you believe! Manintsy – cold (25/16 °C day/night or less) was the semiarid southwest Madagascar in winter; winter in the dry southwest where ‘it never rains’. Well, never say ‘never’ and/or be prepared for rain in the no rain season and for beautiful double rainbows arching gently over the glowing morning skies….
Since our last update in February, ho avy has been on a ‘high season rainbow ride’ – exciting in a way, admittedly speedy and bumpy some of the time – more like a downhill slalom race against time, where falling over exposed tree roots is unavoidable. Retrospectively, it’s been a valuable growing time: our trees are growing and we are growing with them.
We especially enjoyed the rainbow of colors left behind the pens, pencils and brushes of Eco-Explorers – talented undergraduate students of the University of Michigan’s School of Art and Design. These young students overflowing with creativity came to Madagascar expecting no rain. Although they got some, they seemed to greatly enjoy this mad ride, and so did we on ho avy & Madagascar Eco-Explorers’ tour and project service work in Ranobe.
Comments (2)Sustenance
Comedy Break, Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change — by Marc Roberts August 31, 2010
Click for full view
Courtesy: Marc Roberts
In a warming world pests migrate and flourish in previously inpenetrable habitats and latitudes.
Of course there are obvious problems with Frank’s position here – like what happens when your subsistence gets washed away by some other unpredicted AGW shitstorm.
As ever, Permaculture looks straight into the heart of things.
Further Reading:
Comments (1)Green Manure Resources
Animal Forage, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Rhamis Kent
Editor’s note: Red clover is a useful leguminous green manure. Growing taller than
other clovers, it can be easily cut down with a scythe or other when it starts to
flower, so that it doesn’t scatter seed where you don’t want it.
You can never have enough information about Earth Repair/Ecosystem Restoration tools, techniques, and strategies. As most of you know, a couple among the many in use are green manuring and cover cropping.
Over the past year of my really digging into this topic I’ve come across a number of useful links to downloadable PDFs that allow for easy access and use.
Comments (8)Swimming Pool to Garden Pool
Fish, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Health & Disease, Plant Systems, Urban Projects, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh
When I was in Australia over a year ago, Geoff mentioned that a former student and her partner were converting their pool into a fish farm. I didn’t have a lot of time to spare, but told him I had to go. A day or so later I was poking around Vanessa and Justin’s pool, fussing about with my camera and notepad. The resulting article has since become one of the more popular ones on the site.
Perhaps there are a lot of people out there with useless, empty swimming pools? If so, here’s even more encouragement to get busy and do something with it! This family has, apparently, become self-sufficient in food production in record time – just by making clever use of their disused swimming pool.
Comments (3)
Tumbling Dice
Comedy Break, Global Warming/Climate Change — by Marc Roberts August 30, 2010
Click for full view
Courtesy: Marc Roberts
Loaded dice and extra spots, courtesy of DotEarth.
Comments (0)Permaculture for Kids
Community Projects, Education Centres, Society, Village Development — by Paul Douglas
Editor’s Note: Please welcome new contributing writer, Paul Douglas of Victoria, Australia!
During my two week immersion into permaculture design, Bill Mollison was asked by a student, "How do we go about teaching permaculture to our children?” to which Bill replied something along the lines of, “I don’t believe we should be teaching Permaculture to children. They already have enough on their plates in terms of responsibilities and such, so we shouldn’t overburden them with yet another subject.”
True enough, if you take permaculture as the full 72-hour course that we adults tend towards. But I approach the idea that teaching children permaculture is vitally important to the sustainability of life itself and needs to be taught to youths so that by the time they are adults, permaculture is no longer a subject, but a way of life that is as natural as breathing.
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