permaculture

[Darren Doherty <darren@permaculture.biz>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Permablitz Melbourne <permablitz@gmail.com>
Date: 9 March 2010 14:37
Subject: Taste the Truth
To: Permablitz Melbourne <melb_blitzes@permablitz.net>


The summer hiatus is over. The permablitz season is back!  Bringing with it
some gastronomic, horticultural *truth.  *Choose it...
*
*
[image: http://www.permablitz.net/images/stories/tastetruth.jpg]

What does truth taste like?  A bitter pill?  On the contrary.  You see we've
been tricked.  Scammed.  By that thing in the supermarket that looks like a
tomato but doesn't taste like one.  By the shiny analogue of an apple,
making up for what it lacks in flavour and nutrition by a hidden load of
pesticides.

I can tell you this, brothers and sisters, the apple in the Garden of Eden
was no insipid, floury, waxed Jonathan.  But truth doesn't even come in the
form of one apple alone.  I want you to picture instead 60, 70 different
varieties of organically grown, heritage apples, available for you to taste
on the one day!

This is exactly what you get at the Heritage Fruit Society's Pettys Orchard
Apple Tasting Open Day on March 28.  After going last year, Kati
writes<http://www.permablitz.net/component/content/article/1-latest/122-apple-tasting-festival-at-pettys-orchard>"I
didn't know apples could have so many different colours, flavours, sizes,
textures etc."  It's like we're all living "in a world with no choices and
no truth.  So if you wanna *TASTE SOME TRUTH ... probs you need to come to
this."  *
*
*
*We're blitzing up the Open Day this year, and there are more blitzes coming
too.  The blitz at Petty's is already booked out but you can still come
along to the open day to enjoy the fun.  Book in to these others fast...*

In this newsletter we've also hard times permaculture bringing relief to
disaster zones and prisons, we've got urban honey, and we've got
the inimitable Costa on permablitzing, and we'll teach you new ways to pee.


~~~ Upcoming Blitzes ~~~

  Sun Mar 14 09:00AM - 04:00PM
West Footscray Fiesta
Blitz<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/14/122/14/OTZkYmQ4NzgzMjY4MTk4YzA1MjliY2IzODQ2ZDVmOTM=>
Sat
Mar 20 9:30AM - 01:30PM
Post-blitz working bee at Stewart
Lodge<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/20/124/14/YjY4MDg5MGJiMWY2YTM3YWNhYWIxNThmNGMxZWE2YWU=>
Sun
Mar 28 10:00AM - 04:00PM
Permablitz at Petty's Orchard Apple Tasting Open
Day<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/28/125/14/YmRjNTYyNzdmYzg1ZTk0NDFjNDM0OWM0YzY5MmU5ZmI=>
*
*
Been to three or so blitzes?  Want to get blitzed?  Contact
us...<permablitz@gmail.com>


~~~ Upcoming Courses ~~~

 Tue (tonight!) Mar 09 @06:30PM - 08:30PM
Beginners' Guide to
Chickens<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/09/126/13/OGJlZWVlZTQ0MTFiOTE5Y2UwYjZhZWQ4OTNkMzY3ZTU=>
Sat
Mar 13 @08:30AM - 05:00PM
All Seasons Permaculture Design
Course<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/13/118/13/NWFkYjQxYjJlOGFiM2RiYTA3NmJhNzRmZmZlYzY5MjA=>
Tue
Mar 23 @06:30PM - 08:30PM
Know Thy Soil: Practical Soils Workshop for
Gardeners<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/03/23/127/13/Mzg2MDVlY2YxMWJmMDg2NmE5ZDhhMDQxZjQ2Y2FkMjY=>
Sat
May 15 @09:30AM - 05:00PM
Two Day Intro to Permaculture (St
Kilda)<http://calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2010/05/15/129/13/YTg4MDUwOTlmNGE1ODk4ZmE4NWZkOWJjMTRkOGUyNmY=>

~~~ Permaculture in Prisons ~~~

>From Gavin on the permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org mailing list:

"As part of our food justice/permaculture work at Planting Justice, we teach
urban permaculture at San Quentin State Prison to 35 medium security inmates
in collaboration with the Insight Garden Program. Currently we have a 1000
sq foot native plant medicinal and flower garden that the guys have built
and tend to, and we have submitted a proposal to build a permaculture
inspired raised bed veggie/herb garden behind their dorms. Unfortunately,
prison rules will prohibit the guys from eating any of the food they grow,
so it will be donated to low-income families in Oakland, and we will attempt
to donate it specifically to the families of the guys we work with who live
in the area as a way to connect the guys inside with their loved ones on the
outside.

"It has been a tremendous experience, transformative for ourselves, and
especially transformative for the guys, who cultivate patience and
nurturance for themselves and those around them through their work in the
garden. Some of their reflections about their experience gardening in prison
are on our website at www.plantingjustice.org"


~~~ Sweet city buzz ~~~

Ever thought about keeping bees? They fly around the neighbour stealing
other people's nectar and turn it into honey.  And it's totally legal!  What
a great scam, and you can get in on this one.  When they fly around stealing
nectar, they pollinate everyone's fruit trees too, so people think you're
doing THEM a favour.  And did you know that the city is a great place for
bees?  Everyone grows flowers to look pretty and smell nice all year long,
and the honey tastes great!  My last batch of honey is called 'Ten stings
honey' as that's how many Dan got when he came by for an hour to help.

Last year The Age printed this article about a young beekeeper:
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/jobs-fund-helps-bring-organic-market-to-cbd-20090927-g7px.html


~~~ Permaculture in Disaster Zones ~~~

Since permaculture focusses on using on site resources effectively, it can
be of use in disaster zones.  There's some discussion and examples
here<http://permaculturemagazineeditorial.blogspot.com/2010/01/permaculture-design-is-for-disaster.html>
.

Steve Cran is an Australian permaculturist, ex-military with experience
implementing permaculture systems post-tsunami in Aceh and other places.
 His current work is a "community sustainability project in the north of
Uganda near the Sudan border. Its a hot spot sometimes with cows guns and
dust. These people have been aid dependent for 40 years."  Follow him at:
www.globalsustainabilitycorps.org


~~~ Costa on Permablitz ~~~

[image:
http://media.sbs.com.au/home/upload_media/site_20_rand_861562993_costa.jpg]Costa
Georgiadis talks up permablitz in this great interview with Sydney's 2SER
show A Question of
Balance<http://www.aqob.com.au/details.php?p_id=598&search=permablitz&searchid=0&seo=%3Cspan_style=%27background-color:#EDF518%27%3E%3Cb%3EPermablitz%3C/b%3E%3C/span%3E_-_an_environmentally_sustainable_variety_of_garden_blitz>
.  [image: 
Play]<http://www.aqob.com.au/images/product/detail/costa%20permablitz12min19.mp3>
 Click the headphones to hear it!  (Thanks Costa!)

After Costa's customary enthusiasm, I did a relatively low key follow up
interview a few weeks later too... [image:
Play]<http://www.aqob.com.au/images/product/detail/adam%20grubb%2014min8.mp3>
 How the permablitz movement started in Melbourne



~~~ How to Repair the World ~~~

Brainiac comedian Steven Fry talks about permaculture and global repair...
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DeDgNd2ug9Zk


~~~ Storms in the Willows ~~~

A potentially controversial subject.  Willows are widely considered
environmental pests, yet they also offer some environmental services, as
Australian Story celebrity farmer Peter Andrews has most famously
demonstrated through his restoration projects.  Their unique root mat is
useful at capturing sediments, cleansing water of excess fertilisers, and
building up fertility in degraded gullies.

A recent paper by Michael Wilson from Centre for Environmental Management,
University of Ballarat states, "Research demonstrates that a cleared river
reach has significantly worse ecosystem benefits than either a willow lined
or mature native vegetation lined stream. Clearing will mobilise sediment,
nutrients and organic matter, will make heterotrophic streams more
autotrophic, will threaten habitat values for invertebrates and fish and
will threaten pool-riffle sequences. There is a better way to manage
willows; succession."

This an important read for anyone involved in river restoration projects
(PDF)<http://www.fromthesoilup.com.au/images/stories/Sept%2009/wilson_nsf_willows.pdf>.
 It
tends to be a permaculture approach to look first to see if so-called weeds
might be doing a job healing a damaged landscape before eradicating them.
 Simple eradication can leave behind the very conditions in which the
'weeds' once again proliferate. Succession is the process of allowing
pioneer plants to build topsoil and improve conditions so that longer lived
and less 'weedy' species will grow through.  It's a longer term approach but
one which works.  More support for more sensitive treatment of willows from
various researchers and land restorers
here<http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2939&sid=fd41f591f246667a26b7dc61652ba948>
and
here<http://www.holmgren.com.au/DLFiles/PDFs/Willow%20Management%20Ag%20Landscapes3.pdf>
.


~~~ The pee bale goes mainstream ~~~

Instead of flushing urine out to sea, using this rich source of nitrogen,
phosphorous and other important plant nutrients can help us save water,
reduce pollution, while improving our soils.  And as healthy urine is
sterile it doesn't pose a health risk.  One simple method is to have a bale
of straw to pee on, which absorbs smells as it breaks down into compost.
 The method got some exposure in The Guardian last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2009/nov/13/composting-urine


~~~ Other events ~~~

The World’s Biggest Eva Vegie Swap 13th March City
Square<http://www.pow.org.au/?p=787>
Permaculture and alt health care in India doco 25th March
City<http://eco-shout.org/showevent.php?id=2829>


~~~

Ok that's it for this newsletter... see you at a blitz :)

Adam @ PB Decentral


_______________________________________________
melb_blitzes mailing list
melb_blitzes@lists.permablitz.net
http://lists.permablitz.net/listinfo.cgi/melb_blitzes-permablitz.net

www.permablitz.net



-- 
Hooroo,
Darren J. Doherty

UPCOMING EVENTS
2010 Regenerative Agriculture Workshop Series (Oceania & Beyond)
http://www.RegenAG.com

Permaculture Design Certificate Course, Ryde TAFE, Ryde, NSW, March/April
2010, (www.permaculturenorth.org.au)

Keyline & Carbon Farming Workshop, 'Taranaki Farm', via 'Woodend, VIC, AU,
12-14 April 2010 (www.fusionfarms.com)

Curso Maquinaria Pesada Keyline Cosecha de Agua (Heavy Equipment & Keyline
Water Harvesting Course), Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico, May 14-17, 2010 (
http://www.coas.com.mx/cms/calendario.html?task=view_detail&agid=87&year=2010&month=05&day=15&catids=36
)

2º Encuentro Internacional Amigos de los Árboles - 'Más Árboles ante el
Cambio Climático' - Institución Cultural El Brocense, Cáceres, Extremadura,
España (www.masaboles.org) 4, 5 y 6 de Junio, 2010

International Remote & On-site Broadacre Permaculture Design
Cost-effective GIS/CAD-based Land Development Plans & Design Treatments just
about anywhere....

_________________________________________
AUSTRALIA FELIX PERMACULTURE
Broadacre Permaculture Design & Development
International Certified Permaculture Education

Patron Fundacion + Arboles, España (http://www.masarboles.org/)
Project Manager Carbon Culcha, Australia (http://carbonculcha.com.au/)
Vice President New Soil Security Inc. (US)
Originator: Regenerative Agriculture Workshop Series (http://www.RegenAG.com
)

Web: http://www.permaculture.biz
PhotoLog: http://picasaweb.google.com/permaculture.biz
Blog: http://www.australiafelixpermaculture.blogspot.com/

skype: permaculture.biz
_________________________________________

Note: If you do not wish to be on this mailing list then please advice me
and you will be removed from future dispatches.....