The Power of Community
By Lis on July 3, 2009
There’s very little that could be more powerful than a group of people with the same goal working together. Last Saturday, after one hour of throwing ideas around, 12 of us permablitzed for 3 hours to transform a neglected patch of yard into a productive herb and vegetable garden. What was achieved in an extremely enjoyable morning would have taken the owner of the property at least 36 hours to achieve on his own … probably longer given that the group dynamic meant that energy levels were high and everyone was motivated to get the job done quickly. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Community, Permablitz, Pond, garden, permaculture | 3 Comments »
Habit is habit
By Lis on June 25, 2009
As I well know, it’s one thing to know how to do something but another thing to actually do it! On June 11th I set myself the challenge of gardening as if my life depended on it and since then I’ve been harvesting something from the garden every day. It had seemed as though it would be such an easy thing to do but, in fact, actually moving towards using, let alone producing, all your own vegetables requires a major shift in both thinking and behaviour. Suddenly, instead of just quickly throwing something together for dinner, I’ve had to think about what’s available in the garden and then about how to create a meal around it. I’ve had to, for example, take the time to make a stock with what I’ve got, rather than buying a packaged variety readymade from the shop. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Participants, plastics, recipes | 4 Comments »
In Grave Danger of Falling Food
By Lis on June 14, 2009
Who would have thought with the heavy frosts we’ve had and the constant attacks of raider birds like cockatoos, king parrots, bowerbirds and currawongs, that you could simply walk out into a Blue Mountains Garden on a freezing cold winter’s day and harvest a bowl full of these glorious crimson tamarillos … but that’s exactly what we did do today when our permaculture class visited Ken and Jan Goodlet’s inspirational Food Forest in Hazelbrook. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Food Forests, Forests | No Comments »
Trial and Error
By Lis on June 12, 2009
These are the other members of the Seedsavers Group I’m a part of – Francoise, Kate and Adele with Rosie standing in the front, and Francoise holding ….. This was obviously taken before the cold set in! The great thing about our group is that we meet every Wednesday and share gardening notes, seeds and, as often as possible, actually plant out containers of seed. Another great thing is that we share our trials and errors … with potatoes, for example, we all planted at vastly different times and have now been able to compare notes. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Alternative Technology, garden, potatoes | 3 Comments »
Gardening as if my life depended on it
By Lis on June 11, 2009
There is a most overwhelming smell that fills the air when nasturtiums die. Last night the temperature got down to -2.5C and my beautiful nasturtiums all collapsed. I checked my post last year and the photo is almost identical – the only difference this year is that the frost came 10 days later than it did last year. Thank goodness I experimented with making nasturtium pesto last Sunday before I lost them all. It’s high in vitamin C so has hopefully bolstered my immune system to cope with this cold snap. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Participants | 1 Comment »
Sequester Water AS WELL AS Carbon!
By Lis on February 26, 2009
“What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet”
David Suzuki
The distribution of atmospheric water vapor, a significant greenhouse gas, varies across the globe. During the summer and fall of 2005, this visualization shows that most vapor collects at tropical latitudes, particularly over south Asia, where monsoon thunderstorms swept the gas some 2 miles above the land. (Credit: NASA)
If humanity is to survive it is imperative not just to reduce future CO2 emissions but also to find ways to take CO2 out of the atmosphere AND to sequester water in the natural systems which stored and cleaned it so well for so long.
“We now think the water vapor feedback is extraordinarily strong, capable of doubling the warming due to carbon dioxide alone.”
The rehabilitation of soil and aquifers with water sequestration programmes may help us reduce climate extremes by helping us deal with one of the main consequences of global warming – desertification.
Click here to read the full article on the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute Site.
Topics: Participants | No Comments »
Shop Damn It Shop & Mercurio’s Menu
By Lis on January 17, 2009
I’m intrigued by the serendipitous nature of how knowledge spreads and how this knowledge can then alter collective consciousness. Take this photo for example. I first saw it on Reuters then went looking for a bigger file that I could download. Found it on the Carfree Tokyo Blogspot where I also found a Warning to the World, and in particular Australia, to not follow Japan’s mistake of building useless infrastructure projects to “save the economy”.
Topics: Participants | 5 Comments »
The Great Purge
By Lis on January 13, 2009
Well, everyone might be talking about the Greater Depression but all I can think about is the Great Purge – from detoxing to decluttering. And oh how every part of me wants to resist it. To give you some idea …. for months I’ve been collecting toilet rolls to use as planting tubes. This is such a perfect obsessive compulsive thing to do. I’ve collected trays and trays of them, which has made me feel extremely virtuous for reducing so much waste. I finally planted my first seeds in one tray – eggplant seeds. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Participants | 6 Comments »
Warrigal Greens and Rockpools
By Lis on January 8, 2009
We’re at the beach – the same beach we were at 3 years ago when we all started reading Tim Flannery’s “The Weathermakers”. You certainly can’t help pondering on life and its vagaries as you watch the tide move inexorably in and out each day, and as you gaze across the surging waters that link all of us on this planet.
Topics: Participants | No Comments »
2009 International Reconciliation Year
By Lis on January 6, 2009
Goodbye International Year of the Potato, Hello Year of International Reconciliation …. not to mention International Year of Human Rights Learning, International Year of Natural Fibres, International Year of Astronomy and International Year of Planet Earth. What a tragedy that this Year of International Reconciliation is kicking off with Israel attacking Gaza and killing over 500 people (including 87 children) and wounding more than 2,500 in just over a week. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Participants | 7 Comments »