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