permaculture

[April Sampson-Kelly <askpv@ozemail.com.au>]

Paul 
I have had the opposite and I too am in NSW, I urge you to move.
unless you grew up in that region or have family nearby
OR have so many plants that to leave them would break your heart.
This is our second site, yes it was hard to move, but mainly 
because we were on a sunless site, had very conservatie neighbours,
and were running out of space for gardens, we did it.
I dug up a lot of plants and took them to the next site, they all survived.

We are over 30 now and figured we wanted an established canopy
as we didn't want to wait another 15 years, we chose a village that
had a truly diverse population, a few radicals and some greenies,
hard nosed commercial types etc.  We have had always had respect
if not support and encouragement.  I give a lot of produce away 
where possible as this really helps to build community spirit.

I gather from your post that your not living on site, it really helps to
be living ON SITE
as others nearby feel that you are one of them and will help
you seeing you are there to defend yourself and them if need be.
 
Have you spoken to others in the canberra permaculture association?

Find peace, join a caring community and build your haven.  
from this you can get the energy to move onto bigger challenges.
April
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~askpv.index.html

PS I see someone wrote: If you stay, I advise you to bring every conceivable 
form of wrath down on
the people who are harassing you.  The meek won't inherit the Earth if they
are already dead.  

well you can't fight fire with fire and Australia is quite different
from the USA, 
I have a permie friend in California who is regularly shot at
but those "rednecks" and still hangs around.
Permaculture teaches harnessing of energies, working with not against
the nature of things and this includes yourself
WORK where it counts, work on projects that give you great satisfaction.
Does fighting for tenancy over a piece of land gives pleasure when
each moment we wonder is this peace before a storm?
After driving to Perth AND back
I can tell you there is a lot of land here to find challenges in.
It is family, friends and community that you can find peace with.
April


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From:   Paul Gill[SMTP:pgill@random.tpgi.com.au]
Sent:   Monday, 13 January 1997 8:53
To:     permaculture-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
Subject:        Harassed Permies

Hello all,

This is my first post to the mailgroup, so I will apologise in 
advance for any stuff ups I make. They are not intentional, either in 
this message or future messages and relate entirely to my own 
incompetence. I will also apologise now for spelling.

I am looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience to that of 
my friends and I, trying to establish a permaculture property in New 
South Wales, Australia.

In the time we have been trying to do this, since 1984, we have 
become the targets of harassment from various people in the local 
community. We have always gone out of our way to assist the community 
and to avoid any difficulties. And most of the people concerned have 
had little to do with us anyway, so it isnt like we have upset them.

The harassment has included killing of livestock (which led to a 
local police officer facing charges of perverting the course of 
justice) and last week, the caravans at the farm were doused in 
diesel and set alight. Total damages bill, around $50000, possibly 
more.

We are having a meeting in the next few days to decide if the best 
option is to rebuild or to move to another district.

If this is widespread sort of thing, then I guess moving solves 
nothing. If it is isolated, then it does solve something.

So is this the sort of thing that is happening to others?

Paul Gill
Canberra Australia
pgill@tpgi.com.au