Images from our 3rd Workshop

1. Laying down the wet newspapers over the grass

2. Jo and Mandy working on getting the top fence post in

3. Hans the fencing professional came along to lend a hand

4.Nearing the end of laying the newspapers, and laying down the lucerne hay over the top of the newspapers.

5. Liam testing to see if the post hole is deep enough!

6. Laying down the last of the lucerne hay

7. Will and Liam working on one of the post holes
8. David showing us the drip irrigation system 9. A family effort!10. Mei and May are very impressed with the sprouted seeds!

11. Brittany, Mei and May checking out the sprouted seeds that we planted at the first workshop

12. Sue-Ann helping Mei plant out one of the seedlings into its own pot

Useful websites

You might like to point your browser at Kay Gee's Global Garden website at www.global-garden.com.au . It has lots of useful tips.

Oh and don't miss the site of Permaculture Southern Highlands at http://www.permaculturesouthernhighlands.info/. There are lots of articles from the last fifteen years of the journal, The Permacultivator.

Dave

PS Thanks for the huge effort at the workshop today. Lettuce are tucked up and watered in the glasshouse. I guess we were a bit ambitious with intentions today but we still got lots done. Great to see all ages pitching in and getting dirty.

REMINDER

Our next workshop is on this Saturday, 23rd August, 1-3pm at the school.

We will be:

*mulching the fruit tree garden
*putting in the fence around the garden
*planting out the seedlings we planted at our first workshop
*planting berries
*turning the compost

Please bring along:

*as many newspapers you can!
*work gloves
*things to add to the compost
*any old hay you might have for mulching
*any stable mulch you might have

See you there!

WORKSHOP #2

:SATURDAY 9TH AUGUST 2008:

:PENROSE PUBLIC SCHOOL:

1pm ~ 3pm

Many hands really do make light work! At our last workshop we saw a huge transformation and made major progress in the establishment of our no-dig garden. In the space of just an hour and a half a large area of unused lawn was transformed into a well-designed base for a very productive garden.

1. THE DESIGN
David had worked with the students during the week to figure out ideal dimensions of the garden. No point in having a garden with beds beyond children's reach and too-narrow paths! David had measured the average reach of the students so that all parts of the beds could be accessible, and also the length from their knees to their toes when kneeling, so that ample space could be planned into the garden paths.
The figures: garden beds 1 metre wide, and paths 60 cm wide.

2. THE PROCESS
*The entire area was marked out with a few wooden pegs
*A small, dead Wollemi Pine and the fortress surrounding it was gently removed
*The bathtub (kindly donated by Reviva! Resource Recovery Centre) was filled with stacks and stacks of newspapers and then enough water to cover them was added
*A thin scattering of agricultural LIME was thrown down directly onto the lawn to assist in DEACIDIFICATION of the soil (Penrose soils are typically rather acidic)
*Very well decomposed SHEEP MANURE was also scattered over the area
*The wet newspapers were then laid down OVERLAPPING over the entire area. This is to prevent further growth of lawn and encourage the existing lawn to die off. By using wet newspapers, we can mulch and eventually plant directly into the garden, because the newspapers will disintegrate into the earth.
*STABLE MULCH (consisting of straw and alpaca manure from Alvaston Alpaca farm)was then laid down where the 1 metre beds are to be, and woodchip (TBC) was laid down where the paths run. We didn't have enough stable mulch to cover all beds, so David raced down to Penrose Landscape & Rural who kindly allowed us to purchase several bales of lower-grade Lucerne Hay at cost
*Everything was watered down well (including anyone who happened to be standing near the many holes in the hose)!

3. AQUACULTURE (not fish pond, as I first thought!)
The bath was then moved to a horizontal position at the top of the garden so that any water that needed to be drained could flow out onto the beds. A poly pipe (50mm) was fitted into the plughole for easy drainage, then the bath was half-filled with layers of decomposed sheep manure, sieved sandy soil (sieved sand makes for easier harvesting), and a sprinkle of lime. These layers were then saturated with water, so that a shallow depth of water remained on the surface.

What will we be planting in here? Water chestnuts, river bamboo, arrowhead, lotus root, and perhaps wasabi. All deliciously edible, easy to harvest and prepare, interesting foods!

I have loads of questions for David about the aquaculture, and if anyone else has any questions you should make a note of them so I can include them in here (so I'm not the only one who appears to have no idea!).

Questions:

1. How do we actually plant into the aquaculture? Seeds, seedlings, or roots?

2. Where can we buy these?

3. Do the plants need any kind of fertiliser (apart from what we have already put in the layers)?

4. How long does it take to grow things in the aquaculture (and how long is a piece of string!)?

5. It seems like a fairly stable environment to grow things in - what kind of things do we need to take care with (pests/frost/birds)?

DON'T FORGET OUR NEXT WORKSHOP!

SATURDAY 23 AUGUST

1-3PM

BRING YOUR GLOVES & WARM CLOTHING

PLEASE BRING ALONG ANYTHING YOU CAN TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMPOST HEAP

Sustainable Living Festival

Only 8 weeks to go! Don't forget to mark in your diaries and calendars
the 28th September for our inaugural
Sustainable Living Festival. It's going to be a very exciting, informative, FUN event that will have the whole of the Highlands talking!
Start telling everyone about this fantastic must-see NOW!
Anyone interested in helping out with preparations and/or on the Big Day,
please contact:
Janene Weber 48844196 / tkjw@tpg.com.au
Jo Davidson 48844577 / cherry@hinet.net.au
Alex Watanabe 0437031334 /awatanabe1107@hotmail.com
Melinda Sperzel melindasperzel@yahoo7.com.au

Workshop #1

Date: 26th July 2008

Location: Penrose Public School

Time: 1.30 ~ 3.30pm



Welcome to our Permaculture for Everyone blogspot, where you can access information about our workshops. We will be posting a summary of each workshop so that we can all refer back and refresh our memories about what we have learnt each fortnight. It is also a forum for any questions or comments you may have about past or future workshops.

Summary of Workshop #1

What a successful beginning for our permaculture garden! We achieved so much on just our first day, and I'm sure everyone learnt something - I know I did. Everyone must be looking forward to our next workshop when we will see how our compost heap has developed!



1. Introduction
Our first workshop began with David explaining our aim for the workshops: To establish a productive permaculture garden within the school, with the intention of attracting enrolments for 2009 and beyond. The garden will be a "Food Forest" - produce grown and harvested by our children will of course be prepared and eaten by them, and waste products will all be integrated back into the system. With a focus on sustainable living, Penrose Public School is offering an education with a real advantage!



2. Group work
David then divided our large group into smaller ones and we brainstormed key features of a successful school garden. Ideas included:



Central location

Non-traffic area

High visibility

Easy + safe access

Drainage

Close to water

Full sun

North aspect

No large tree roots

Wind protection

Protection from rabbits, birds, etc

Close to future kitchen

Reward (i.e. delicious, interesting, easy-to-grow & harvest produce)



3. Selecting the site
We then walked around the school grounds with this information in mind, and pointed out sites which we thought appropriate. The final site decided on was the front of school, in the area in front of the old canteen/bubbler area. This is a gently sloping grassed area (one small and dying?dead? Wollemi Pine will have to be removed) which meets most of the above criteria.



4. Composting

The next step was to begin creating our compost heap. Our compost needs to be ready for our next workshop (9th August), so it was essential that it was a large construction! David taught us that to break down successfully, compost needs to have both CARBON and NITROGEN components.



Carbon components include: leaves, straw, animal hair...



Nitrogen components include: food scraps, manure...



LIME or DOLOMITE (composed of calcium and magnesium carbonate) is a useful additive. I can't remember why, so can somebody please comment!


BORAX was mentioned as a useful additive to compost, but after looking at http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumers/other-food-topics/borax-and-boric-acid/ I'm not sure why... this is something I'll have to check with David about!



Everyone helped heap leaves, various animal manures, straw (stable compost), dog hair clippings, into a huge pile, about 1.5 metres high! (name) was in charge of the hose, and did a great job watering the compost down and giving everyone a refreshing spray every now and then! (Like we needed it!)

Useful link for info on quick composting: http://permaculture.org.au/2008/07/26/18-day-compost-the-appliance-of-science/#more-430

5. Planting
Next we planted some strawberries into a styrefoam box which was filled with some commercial potting mix (TBC!). We also planted some seeds - rocket, lettuce, mesclun (also TBC) into boxes filled with the potting mix and COCO PEAT. Coco Peat is a natural by-product of coconuts, and helps retain water. Commercial, regular PEAT is not recommended, as it is not a renewable resource (TBC).
For more info re: Coco Peat see http://www.cocopeat.com.au/default.asp

6. Grafting
Our final lesson for the day was grafting. David showed us his OMEGA grafting tool, which takes the risk of slicing fingers away, and neatly creates an omega shaped cut which makes grafting easier. We will have dwarf varieties of fruit trees in our food forest (to make maintenance and harvest easier for the children), so David did some grafting of regular apple onto a dwarf variety rootstock. (I'm just guessing now - I don't know any terminology, nor can I remember clearly that last bit of the day). It would be great if someone can help out a bit here, as this was a really interesting topic! Any info would be greatly appreciated!

SEE YOU AT THE NEXT WORKSHOP! EVERYONE WELCOME!

9TH AUGUST, 1 - 3pm, AT PENROSE SCHOOL

*We'll have organic tea/coffee and hot chocolate with local organic milk before we start, so come a little early if you like!

*Don't forget your gloves and a WARM coat!

*We are also collecting NEWSPAPERS for mulch, so bring along anything you can