Manifest your blitz
~~~ Upcoming Blitzes ~~~
May looks to be all quiet on the blitz front, but do look forward to these two to enliven the blood in June:
JUN 01 Blitz #43 @ Noble Park
You are cordially invited to Noble Park's first Permablitz! Come and help Ileana, Gavin and baby Michaela transform their backyard into a fruit, vege, herb and chicken egg producing wonderland. No skills required. New-comers to Permablitz are welcome. Workshops and action a-plenty!
More: <http://permablitz.net/…>
JUN 22 Blitz #44 @ West Preston
Stay tuned… <http://permablitz.net/…>
~~~ Upcoming Intro Course ~~~
Last week's course at Ceres was joyous. A wonderful group of people, and big thanks due to Trav, Steven, Neil and Linda (who delivered a curry from Gisborne!)
We're announing one more:
Permablitz Intro to Permaculture Course #5 June 14-15
@ Port Phillip Eco Centre in the St Kilda Botancial Gardens and the course will be tailored to people interested in suburban permaculture. Topics covered will include an introduction to Permaculture Ethics and Design Principles, urban animals, water catchment and use, caring for soil and heaps more. Hands-on activities include marking out contours and making a good compost pile. You'll receive a handout covering all the topics on the course and a certificate of completion.
Here's what the punters said about the last one:
"Excellent! It exceeded my expectations. I only had vague goals, but have gained so much I couldn't fit it all on the page. I walk away with so much enthusiasm."
"Great. I expected enthusiasm and knowledge but didn't really expect such good teaching styles."
"It gave me confidence and a positive outlook."
"I lost 12 kilograms and feel 67 again!"
April 6 @ Eltham. A wonderful blitz! You have got to see it to believe it. Lots of VP (visual progress).
Pictures: <http://permablitz.net/…>
April 12-13 @ KooWeeRup was an instant classic in the annuls of the blitzes. It was the occassion of an overnight blitz kickstarting a community garden at Kooweerup hospital. Inspiring community spirit on show. Tens of cubic metres of donated materials. Free help from tradies and donated worm farms. A history lesson from Charlie volunteer gardener, Maurie organic farmer explaining his profession, Leonie the vice president of the high school, guest speaker from Swinburne Uni Chris Allenson on food and nutrition, Stu the local cop on the bobcat, and it went on. We had a lot of fun and made a lot of paths, cleared a lot of kikuyu, sheet mulched about city block worth and made lots of garden beds. Brilliant. We hope to return
Full report: <http://permablitz.net/content/view/59/1/>
April 20 @ Brunswick was an action packed blitz with compost bays built, lots of garden beds, a renter-friendly compost loo installed, and a special visit from permaculture luminary Darren Doherty leading a compost workshop. Brilliant stuff. Pictures coming soon! And since there wasn't much of a celebration at the end Trav and housemates will be inviting people back for a bit of a miniblitz and party soon.
~~~ Guerrilla Gardening ~~~
Surreptitious activities of the horticultural kind. I can say only this much: on saturday a number of people who may or may not have been permablitz veterans may or may not have converged on a kikuyu grass overgrown creek bank somewhere on the Darebin Creek. They may or may not have planted lots of fruit and nut trees. Someone, call the quince police!
Pictures: <http://permablitz.net/…>
(Note: Special Jamie Durie-izing technology has been used on these images to protect the identities of the innocent.)
~~~ Global food crisis ~~~
Well it's here. And it's not pleasant. From rice rations in the US and the whole nation of Japan running short of butter, to millions more people now actually struggling not to starve as basic food prices increase by a devastating 50% in twelve months. The best thing we can do is to withdraw ourselves from the industrial food chain as much as possible, reduce our dependency on a destructive system and leave as much food to others as we can. If we can do that in a way which makes us healthier and happier, all the better.
Link: food news on Energy Bulletin <http://www.energybulletin.net/news.php?cat=37>
~~~ Guild Meetings ~~~
Renaissance church designers had a subtle tool with which to add to the awe they inspired in the faithful; doors and walkways high above the nave, with no visible access. The effect was to insinuate to church goers that there are places off limits, hidden powers. It is in that spirit entirely in which I report back from the guild meetings. The guild is a meeting group for people who have a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), the basic 72 hour permaculture course. All permablitzes have design input from someone with a PDC. As a guild we're starting to get together to work on designs for permablitzes, form a learning circle and discuss related stuff. The first meeting was about 3 weeks ago and there was another one tonight. If you have a PDC and would like to be on the mailing list let us know. If you'd like to get a PDC check out here: http://www.permacultureinternational.org/pccourses
One of the many things to come out of the meeting tonight was that there are a lot of people keen to do blitzes, and currently a lack of places to do designs on (quite a turn around and a turn up!) If you would like to be blitzed read on…
The afore mentioned APL (acknowledged permaculture legend) Darren Doherty is teaching varios farm scale permaculture related workshops with David Holmgren and Dave Griffith over the next couple of months.
They are all located on a demonstration property called Dalpura which is located in the Eastern Otways region of Victoria. Check out www.dalpura.com.au or www.permaculture.biz
~~~
