Lots happening today! We started with a session on greywater - reviewing a range of systems from commercial to DIY home based ones. I'm very excited by some of the possibilities for a simple system at our place. I definitely want to get one of these happening in the next few months. We also talked a bit about simple aquaculture systems.
The next session was looking at options for 'retrofitting' the urban landscape - including treasure in skips, options for guerilla gardening (LOVED this part of the session) as a community building exercise helping to reclaim unwanted urban spaces.
This afternoon we had the intro to our design project - we'll be working in groups of 5 on 2 real life design projects for members of commonground. My group are looking at creating a permie-plan the urban house (run down) and land in Seymour town. I've got a great group with diverse skills and experiences so I'm really looking forward to working on our design. Lots of exciting possibilities. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the site visit and talking to our 'client' about his plans and visions for the site.
Tonight is a night off (bliss) so will probably do some notes / planning for the project. Tomorrow is another site visit to Violet Town.
Showing posts with label retrofitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retrofitting. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Day 6 - pests, social and economic permaculture, and retrofitting
If that sounds like a lot to take in in one day - you're right!
The morning was taken up with sessions on plant and animal pests in the garden, and different strategies for dealing with them anything from crowding out unwanted plants, to vaseline on trees, to pureed bug sprays, home made bug traps and attracting beneficial insects.
After another excellent lunch the team from Commonground (where we are staying) they spent some time talking about their community. It started with an exercise on power, and a discussion about the different types of power and how it can be expressed. They then talked more about the way it's organised, how they make decisions and manage the property.
The last session of the day was about housing design and retrofitting, which included a walk across to the straw bale house on the property - which is FAB. Loads of character - and I was particularly excited to see the beginnings of a reed bed (see pic - coming soon to our place I
think!!!).
Tommorrow we're off to Hepburn for a few days, including a visit to David Holmgren's property - should be inspirational, to say the least!
The morning was taken up with sessions on plant and animal pests in the garden, and different strategies for dealing with them anything from crowding out unwanted plants, to vaseline on trees, to pureed bug sprays, home made bug traps and attracting beneficial insects.
After another excellent lunch the team from Commonground (where we are staying) they spent some time talking about their community. It started with an exercise on power, and a discussion about the different types of power and how it can be expressed. They then talked more about the way it's organised, how they make decisions and manage the property.
The last session of the day was about housing design and retrofitting, which included a walk across to the straw bale house on the property - which is FAB. Loads of character - and I was particularly excited to see the beginnings of a reed bed (see pic - coming soon to our place I
think!!!).
Tommorrow we're off to Hepburn for a few days, including a visit to David Holmgren's property - should be inspirational, to say the least!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Day 5 - Reading the landscape
Already 9:15pm and I had to skip the last dinner session as my brain is so fried that I can't take any more in. The design flaw in the course is a derious absense of time to actually mull over what you are learning. It's full on from 8:45 until oftem 9:30 at night, with only meal and coffee breaks. A lot of peopel are hitting the wall now - so to speak.
Today was another day of sessions with David Holmgren - he's a great teacher. This morning we talked about different climate types, and looked at examples, and then did a session on retrofitting the suburbs - looking at how suburbia has changed since the 1950sw, and how it might look in the future (there's a paper on this on his website if you want to read more).
We also did a couple of sessions on reading the landscape - and had an outdoor exercise in groups of 5 where we went out to the grounds to look at the landscape and see what we coudl learn just by observing. I found this ecercise really interesting. We went to a gully which had quite different characteristics on each side (moss on one side, leaf litter on the other, signs of regorwth post fire on one side, but different characteristics on the other). It was really amazing how much you could pick up just in 20 minutes walking around and really loooking at different features - both large and small.
The last session of the day was a look at a range of landscape photos David had taken in various places, and looking at how we could read them and what they said about climate, conditions and past soil use. Again very interesting (and there were some great photos too).
Sorry this post isn't more detailed, but I just don't have the brain energy for anything more. And it's an early start tomorrow (the only way to get some personal time is to get up early!).
Today was another day of sessions with David Holmgren - he's a great teacher. This morning we talked about different climate types, and looked at examples, and then did a session on retrofitting the suburbs - looking at how suburbia has changed since the 1950sw, and how it might look in the future (there's a paper on this on his website if you want to read more).
We also did a couple of sessions on reading the landscape - and had an outdoor exercise in groups of 5 where we went out to the grounds to look at the landscape and see what we coudl learn just by observing. I found this ecercise really interesting. We went to a gully which had quite different characteristics on each side (moss on one side, leaf litter on the other, signs of regorwth post fire on one side, but different characteristics on the other). It was really amazing how much you could pick up just in 20 minutes walking around and really loooking at different features - both large and small.
The last session of the day was a look at a range of landscape photos David had taken in various places, and looking at how we could read them and what they said about climate, conditions and past soil use. Again very interesting (and there were some great photos too).
Sorry this post isn't more detailed, but I just don't have the brain energy for anything more. And it's an early start tomorrow (the only way to get some personal time is to get up early!).
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