Weekend Happenings

 Our sourdough workshop went well, starting with the making of the' Plant' which is now in it's new home, where it will be fed up over the next couple of weeks until it reaches maturity and can be used to make the first of many sour dough loaves, by  a participant of the course. We fed, stirred, kneaded and baked away the morning and then tasted the beautiful bread, fresh from the oven. Yum!

Then off to finish the Transition Town wonder rug. Sorry no photos unfortunately as I'm just not a natural photographer and I'm always forgetting the camera. I will get a photo of the rug before it's raffled and post it then.

Sunday was Sustainable House Day and I spent it at Rebecca and Aaron's place. They are a young couple with their first child now 6mths old. They bought an ordinary house in an ordinary suburb and retrofitted it to be more sustainable.

Water tanks , worm farms and liquid fertilizers in the back corner.

They have put in water tanks which gives them enough water for house and garden for about 9mths of the year and when they run out they have the ability to switch over to town water, They installed solar panels and solar hotwater. There are pull down shades for any windows affected by summer sun, a toilet that has a hand basin over the cistern so that when you wash your hands you fill the cistern, and so much more. My interest, and why they asked me there to talk was their backyard.They have chickens, vegie gardens, herbs and fruit trees. Most of the time there is more food growing than they can use and they often share it around with family and friends.

The hens live in  stylish quarters built by Aaron. They free range in the backyard throughout the day.

A propagation house built by Aaron allows summer crops to get a head start.

As a new mum, Rebecca also displayed a collection of earth friendly baby products.

These nappies are produced locally here in the Hunter and are a great nappy according to Rebecca.

Rebecca was lucky enough to get these nappies from Freecycle. She's sure there about $1000 worth of nappy in the bundle she picked up from a mother who had finished with them.,

Here is my little display with brochures about our upcoming courses. A backyard vegie production workshop and a Permaculture Course.

I had a small activity set up making newspaper pots and potting up a little tomato seedling. Little eco managed to master the pot making and made about 8.

My talk was on Permaculture. My emphasis was on the Earth as an organism and how what we do to one part effects all the rest, about how all things are connected in the web of life. And that as a design method, Permaculture can be used to to build on all these connections, from the ground up to address all the challenges that we face at present. Using Rebecca and Aaron's place as an example of how we can live a very fulfilling, content, peaceful,purposeful life and have a positive effect on the environment and those around us without it costing the Earth.