Monkey Steals the Peach
What do you think of when you think of ninjas? Discipline, stealth like the wind, reserved fashion sense? How about barley wine, duck poo and mud? For they were, at least at first, a peasant resistance movement against oppressive taxes and land acquisitions. By day it was all hoes and birthing piglets, and by night all back-flipping from bamboo cane to bamboo cane and immobilising opponents with pressure points.
What is the first step to becoming a ninja? Start with the basics! Coming along to a most exciting permablitz. Learn the ancient arts of growing your own food. (We’ve even learnt how to take the drudgery out of it.) And never, ever look at the vegie gardener on the corner in the same way again. You never know…
Welcome again to another permablitz newsletter! We’ve got blitzes, courses (including a free one TONIGHT in Fitzroy), some very exciting global news stories and developments in the world of blitz.
~~~ Upcoming Blitzes ~~~
#61: Dandenong Blitz – chooks & all March 25, 2009 (From 10am)
All are welcome at Nigel and Hyacinth’s as we help convert their small, bare backyard into a source of vegies, herbs, fruit, berries, currants and eggs! More info…
Permablitz Geelong no 1! April 18, 2009
A Transition South Barwon event (www.geelongsustainability.
Been to a couple? Want to get blitzed? The time is ripe. [email protected]
~~~ Courses ~~~
TONIGHT! FREE!: Home Food Growing For Beginners
Yes, tonight. Yes, free! Come down for a cuppa at 6:45pm for 7pm start and a fun couple of hours of home food facts @ Kindness House, 288 Brunswick St. Fitzroy. Don’t be late, doors close at 7:15. There’s even seedlings to give away (see below!)
Sun 22 March Beginners Guide To Growing Your Own Food (Yarraville)
Everyone it seems wants to get started growing food, and most people want to do it chemical free. Come along to this fun 6 hour course starting a 9:30 in Yarraville.
Thu 26 March: Beginners Guide to Compost and Worms (Fitzroy)
Learn the art and science of how to team with worms and microbes to turn waste into rich organic topsoil. From 6:15 at Cubbies Adventure Playground in Fitzroy
Starting Sat 28 or Sun 29 March: Forest Edge: Permaculture Design Course (Heathmont)
Come and learn how to design permaculture systems amongst the fruit trees and clucking chickens of a beautiful ¾-acre working permaculture demonstration site in Heathmont. Two parallel courses, running over 12 Saturdays or Sundays, 72 hour Permaculture Design Certificates.
~~~ Very Edible Gardens ~~~
Permablitzers Dan, Paul, Nathan and Adam (your newsletter writer) have launched a tasty new business so we can earn a living doing what we love: making the city edible! Very Edible Gardens (VEG) can fully install organic raised garden beds, which come with our own Organic Gardening Guide and a monthly VEG Seasons seasonal tips newsletter — so it’s easy to get started. Q. How good is that? A. Very.
Check us out!
~~~ Sydney Permablitz ~~~
Good folks from the environmental group Friends of the Earth in Sydney have been running permablitzes in Sydney and have produced an excellent website with great resources.
Check out: permablitz.ning.com
And a super stylish documentary has been made about them!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Who says Sydney people are all fast paced soulless fashionistas trying to hide their convict heritage under designer shopping bags? Not I for one! And Permablitz Sydney are rocking the counter example!
~~~ Blitz Report Back ~~~
Over 40 people showed up to an incredibly productive, informative and inspiring day. We planted a tagasaste wind break, planted a banana, nectarine, lemon and apple tree and 2 currants, built 5+ grey water filtration pits, prepared two vege beds, added woodchip paths, and ran workshops on permaculture design and drought proofing gardens. And that’s only half the story. Read more…
~~~ Sustainable Living Festival and Welcome! ~~~
Welcome to the 250 people who signed up to the permablitz newsletter, down at the Sustainable Living Festival on Feb 20-22! And you’ll be happy to learn that according to my lawyer you can’t be personally held responsible for my RSI after typing all those names and emails.
We shared a great stall down at SLF, gave talks, helped Cam from Forest Edge Permaculture set up the garden for Southern Cross Permaculture Institute, we ran a couple of workshops for school groups, Dan did a Channel 10 appearance, and we met hundreds of people and had a great time.
~~~ Bush Telegraph ~~~
Dan and Adam were on ABC Radio National last week talking permablitzes. What natural talent. Listen in!
~~~ Thanks Leon! ~~~
Big thanks to Leon Borellie from Sunshine Nurseries (they supply CERES, Bunnings and others) who gave us trays and trays of free seedlings for permablitzes and to VEG. What a totally top dude. We’ll give some away at the course tonight.
~~~ Michelle Obama: Beneath the Asphalt, the Community Garden! ~~~
Two weeks ago the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, opened a community garden at US Department of Agriculture headquarters, sending a message that it’s now time for people to once again start growing their own food.
Permaculture co-originator David Holmgren said “For me this is one of the most exciting news items in 30 years.”
~~~ Yellow is the new Green ~~~
Is this a major cultural breakthrough? Does it mean ‘humanure’ (human manure) is now polite dinner party talk? Maybe not yet. But this great article the New York Times talks all things excremental and fertile:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
Check out our own local festival going composting toilet providers, Natural Event “Changing the World from the Bottom Up”: http://www.naturalevent.com.
~~~ Dark Optimism interview ~~~
In this fun and insightful interiew, UK based DarkOptimism.org blogger and author Shaun Chamberlin talks all things related to the Transition movement and mentions permablitzes as an example of people taking challenging information (like climate change) and turning it into positive action. Yay for us.
http://www.traydio.com/
~~~
Alrighty ho! See you at a blitz good people.
Adam @ Permablitz Decentral
