December 2011
1 post
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September 2011
1 post
August 2011
3 posts
Solar Approaches Grid Parity Fast →
There are some great charts and stats here from as recently as 2010.
This year, the U.S. industry may install 2 gigawatts of solar. The last nuclear power plant to come online in the U.S., Watts Bar 1, has a capacity of 1.1 gigawatts — but that took 23 years to complete, not two years.
July 2011
2 posts
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June 2011
1 post
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Djanbung Gardens Open Day 2011
Toni Talks about Weeds Julian Exploring the Inner Landscape Jenny gets into gourds Jenny weaves some magic for the crowd
April 2011
3 posts
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My Backup System
My Backup System I have invested some time and money in a peace of mind data backup system recently. Losing all your stuff is a bit of a rite of passage for anyone that uses computers. Which is everyone. The Nature of the Universe is that things are breaking down. Unless you are consciously putting energy into your backups, sure as the Sun, one day you will lose your digital work. With that...
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Hut Med is Happening
I finally cleaned up hut med, and it is beautiful! Sitting up here in a comfy chair on my land, looking over the McKellar Ranges, my house, my garden and my trees. I feel so blessed. There is still work to do on it, the door needs securing with two long pieces of ply. There are several holes in the fly wire. But on the whole it is awesome and comfortable. We moved the big comfy chair (the...
2 tags
A change in the seasons
The loquets are flowering, we have never beaten the birds to the fruit. Maybe this year? Bath Frog has moved back in after an extended and unexplained absence from the faucet. See the full gallery on Posterous Other friends of the house are back too, looking for a place to stay for the winter but still catch the sunny days. See the full gallery on Posterous
December 2010
8 posts
1 tag
Clean up as you go
This is a new principle that I have been working on and is grounded in the three permaculture ethics. Care of People Emotionally cleaning up as you go. This means dealing with the stuff that comes up when relating to others in the moment, not leaving it for later when it has gone stale or festered. Emotional Energy is powerful. It can make people uncomfortable, but it is there to make our lives...
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The swollen northern rivers
We’ve recorded about 200 mm of rain in 3 days. When it eased a bit we took a drive around some of the rivers crossings. Our first stop was the luminous heart community on Oxbow Rd. On the way a stream was emerging from the paddock. This is where a tributary to hanging rock creek crosses the road. It’s comforting to know we have a home on both sides of the water. Next we went...
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Charity: Water's fine taste in mandatory annual...
This Charity: Water doc is the only financial report that I have ever enjoyed reading, I am actually looking forward to seeing what they produce for this financial year. That’s the power of good design. I’ve already donated.Check it out, it’s beautiful. Download 2009 Annual Report
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Lion's Tail harvested from the Nimbin community...
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Rampant tropical overgrowth
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Homestead Tour Updated
The Homestead Tour has just been updated for 2010. If it has been a while since you’ve taken it, have another look! Click the Door to begin.
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He sleeps in the faucet
He’s been there for a month but we still get a surprise when we first turn the tap on in the morning and he crawls out.
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A birthday cake
To live for vegan raw chocolate cake Centre 300ml rice milk 1 teaspoon of agar 500 g soft tofu cap of vanilla 200g of dark chocolate Fruit Base 200g choc biscuits (subst ground nuts, seeds, grains etc) 75 ml macadamia oil Method: Centre: Warm the milk and dissolve the agar. Add the tofu and stick blend smooth. Melt dark chocolate through. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt to taste. Base: Crush...
November 2010
5 posts
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Other places cicadas like to shed
If you stand still for long enough
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Twins!
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Working away on the NImbin Food Security Project
I’m retro-actively cleaning up the project management and making sure that all the expenses and activities are accounted for. It’s not the most exciting part of the job but it is a great way to reflect on what we have done so that I can clearly present it to others.
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A Naked Lady in the garden!
I love this time of year, these gals come out in the most unexpected places.
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The Harvest Basket
Real organic food, no labels, certification or packaging. It’s a trust system & the custodians of this garden trust me. I record how much food I get from the garden. I only pick what I need. That is only what I can eat before the food dies. Eating fresh means harvesting more often, I like that, harvesting is my favourite part of gardening. The more often you’re in the garden the...
September 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Building the Deck Roof
The Need for a Roof. We tried to do without a roof over the deck for three years. The first year we had nothing. There are some great advantages to having an open air deck such as lying on your back and looking up at the stars. They aren’t worth the fact that every time it rains everything gets wet and around this part of the world, it rains a lot. Sometimes all day for a month or more. The...
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Building a Deck
Our deck was built in two parts. First the floor and sub-structure and later the roof. We did this because we needed the floor space quickly and couldn’t really comprehend how we were going to cover it initially. Our building skills definitely expanded during this project. We were also quite naive on how important it is to keep timber out of the subtropical weather and thought we might get away...
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Tools For Meetings
I created a set a cards to help the facilitator of a large meeting conduct it in an orderly way. It also helps cut through a little bit of the idle off topic chatter that can quickly derail a meeting. I first heard about speaking cards from the Co-housing Handbook by Chris & Kelly ScottHanson and then later it was introduced in a scenario at the Sustainable Settlements and Eco-villages course...
August 2010
4 posts
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Toilet Planning
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Open Day Planning Process
Djanbung Gardens has an open day annually on the second Saturday in June. Planning starts several months beforehand & the inaugural meeting and workshop was held on the 19th of April. Shortly before the session began, Robyn Francis and I sketched out a rough timeline and the key areas to cover: Project Open Day Planning Process Time Activity Required Materials & Space ...
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Swag Hut Plans
Here is a brief design I dreamed of over night and made in a couple of hours the next morning. It is based on heavy duty galvanised star pickets & designed to be able to built by one person in a couple of days or a couple of people in one. It is intended to be semi-permanent, non movable by easily dismantled. It may serve as a bed and kitchen space while building a larger house, or secure...
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Building Evaluation
Building Evaluation. Building has been a great challenge for me. It is a series of challenges. It’s an activity that manages to fill my entire consciousness, it is all consuming even entering my dreams. The creative process of bringing some new space into the world. The logical and logistical challenges of co-ordinating equipment, materials, labour. It tests every ethic and principle. There is...
June 2010
1 post
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Our Rainforest House
One of the very magical things about living in a place for years is that the plants that you like start to grow. Through a combination of selective watering, planting, weeding, feeding, experience & loving attention we slowly impress our influence on the landscape. Some plants die in this process, but on the whole our domain is growing to support us. We are cultivating our customised...
December 2008
2 posts
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About Us
We live on a land sharing community about 10 km from Australia’s alternative capital, Nimbin. I’ve moved from the city after several profound experiences motivated me to connect directly with my supply of water, air, food and energy. I’ve connected with others along the way too and been inspired to document our journey. I prolifically write, read and take photographs. This webpage is some of...
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Web Resources
Djanbung Gardens - Permaculture Education (Nimbin) Permaforest Trust - Permaculture Education (Byron Bay) Planting Milkwood - Building a sustainable life World Changing - Change your thinking Energy Bulletin - Energy news clearing house Blotanical - Where garden blogs bloom. Appropedia - Collaborative solutions in sustainability
November 2008
14 posts
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Brief Updates
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Compost Delivery
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Weeds
Weeds are opportunistic plants that develop in disturbed environments. Their action can bring balance to the topsoil mining nutrients from below and making it available. However some species in some conditions are so invasive they can slow the natural succession phasing of growth. In these situations, a small, considerate and deliberate intervention can restore health to the ecology. The most...
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Dry Stone Wall Building
Our share is very sandy and prone to erosion. To slow the hill from creeping onto our driveway, and to provide a flat bed for planting we decided to build some permanent stone retaining walls. The sand makes digging is made easy. The downside is the only stone we have on site is patchy sandstone. It is quite soft and at one time many millions of years ago I am told it was the bottom of the...
5 tags
Holy Goat Ranch
On Tuesday the 16th of October the Permaforest trust visited the Holy Goat Ranch intentional community in Dorroughby. We were hosted by the beautiful and dynamic Graham Jordan. It was awesome to have a guided tour of the past 25 years of his Life’s work. His insight and understanding of his home showed us the potential fruits of living in harmony with ones environment. He is a natural fit...
6 tags
Urban Permaculture Tour
Today we visited some urban Permaculture systems. One of these is sustainability and community education centre in Byron Bay called the Island Quarry. It is based on the site of an old bluestone quarry that hit a spring and closed down. The spring now fills an amazing body of water. Owned by the commonwealth it is managed by a not for profit in trust an experiment that is quite unique to the...
3 tags
Red Ceder Table
On the way home from dropping Robin and Jo at the airport, I called into a tender auction in Murwillumbah. There stacked in the corner was 5 camphor and 3 red ceder slabs. I put my bid in and cross my fingers. And I Won! With our parents coming up at the same time for a big lunch here - I wanted to make a beautiful table for us to all sit around. A friend supplied some of the tools I needed, and...
4 tags
Organic Gardening Training
Organic Gardening at the Permaforest Trust in Barkers Vale The trust maintains two main gardens; the commercial garden and the kitchen garden. These are both located on northerly slopes in the top ten “certified organic acres”. The soil is a heavy clay. They are both well fenced to keep out kangaroos and the bandicoots. There are extensive systems in place for their management. We worked on...
4 tags
Mulching Fruit Trees
Mulching and Weeding the Fruit Trees. There have been two large piles of woodchips at the front of Avalon for a few weeks. Slowly they have been shrinking. Today I joined in and collected two rubbish bins from other jobs around the block and made two trips filling them. This gave me enough mulch for: These trees are the citrus located at the top of the ridge; they are well established. This...
4 tags
Lismore
Composting for 30,000 people. Here at the largest worm farm in the southern hemisphere. It is a trial joint-project between the Lismore city council and Triton. The council implemented a system of green bins, Recyclables and landfill. They then deliver the green waste collection to the complex. The project started 15 years ago. There are problems with some contamination. In the first year 12% of...
4 tags
Ferments, Canning and Preserves ABT
Fermentation is a new subject for me although it is an ancient practice. It is a magical process performed by tiny organisms that eat sugars and turn them into alcohol and carbon dioxide. We made beer, based on the cascade brewers kit. In beer, malt is mixed with water and dextrose and a starter culture of yeast. It is very important to sterilize all the bottles and equipment it is a fertile...
4 tags
Compost Training
Composting 27th Febuary 2007 We constructed Four Compost piles to experiment with how the different variables manifested around the environment and what the effect was on the process. Also to gain experience and a feel for the art. There are four important factors that determine the quality of compost. Moisture; The ideal level is saturated and well drained. Compostion; The carbon/nitrogen...
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Composting Toilet
We guess that the final straw for the last people who lived here was when the long drop toilet filled up. That meant that when we arrived there was no toilet. This quickly became a priority in our lives, and I have learned that we live in the best possible climate to compost our own humanure. This is further reinforced because we collect our own water, making us conscious of this valuable...
3 tags
The Royal Enfield
“The overall name of these interrelated structures is system. The motorcycle is a system. A real system. …There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding. That’s all a motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There’s no part in it, no shape in it that is not in someone’s mind. I’ve noticed that people who have...
August 2008
1 post
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Animals Taking Over!
There has been a surge of spring time animals around our house recently! Click the adorable cuddling couple for a whole photo album of emergent wildlife we have seen.
June 2008
2 posts
2 tags
Koreelah
We just got back from the Queens birthday holiday weekend at Kirrah’s Parent’s new property in Koreelah. It is about 105km from our place. The drive takes about 2 easy hours. Click on any of the pictures for the full album!