permaculture

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

Hi Brian, Larry, Jack, Sal and friends,
our neighbouring city has been declared a disaster zone as you may know,
we just sent funds off to the PNG project never dreaming we'd be needed at
home.
so I'll be busy for some time I imagine.  Yes we had over 300mm of rain in 3
hours,
with flash flooding but no winds thank god.
Our only road through (in or out of) the village was cut by both flood at
the bottom and  mud-slide at the top.  I always have plenty of food for the
frequent visitors and
there's food outside if I can be bothered getting wet. plenty of duck eggs!!
they are
really happy.  but don't like sleeping in a pool.
our site is really messy and i hope that the visitors planned for friday
don't come.
however all the vegetation, even frail little parsley and clover beds are
intact,
all the unrooted matter such as mulch has had a slide!
If our site goes under water (we are 90m above sea level then it is goodbye
to Wollongong
for ever more!)
we are well protected by the road that swings around us on the high side as
it channels all the water from up higher.
50 homes have been destroyed but authorities have been praising the bravery
and sensible actions of people  which is encouraging.
My Dad has always been racing off to save lives in the State Emergency
Services,
and later when I don't have children under foot I'll join in.

recently i had a weirdo on the mailing list
call me a "well-fed-pampered child of a welfare state" (because I couldn't
be bothered encrypting my letters to the mailing list),
this is not the first time either.
but it has never come from Australians or NZ.  the Europeans have no notion
of pioneer
spirit so i didn't bother to retort, but it cuts me!!!
and now this, and so much bravery!!  Australians (and NZ's for that matter)
only have what
they have created, we haven't thousands of years of building and planting
and reaping
behind us, and on top of this we have this crazy weather.
I'd love to send it to him and his friends when they say stupid things like
that!!!
good thing I'm not a witch.
April

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Weston [mailto:bweston@xtra.co.nz]
> Sent: Tuesday, 18 August 1998 18:37
> To: askpv@ozemail.com.au
> Subject: Floods
>
>
> Hi April!
>
> We were just watching the news and saw all the flooding in your area.
> 8 inches in 3 hours! That's a bit much.
>
> Hope you and yours are fine.
>
>
> Brian
>
>