If anybody would like copies of any of the films below, please contact me through this website to make arrangements. It's important for this kind of knowledge to be spread far and wide, so I am very happy to share the films and video's I have collected over the years. I do however need to cover my energy/time costs. Please note: The majority of the films below I feel would fall into 'anti-copyright' and need to be distributed. The rest I think have probably made their fair share and should be used for education and non-profit purposes only. Of course I [View Full Entry]

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The house is a passive solar design, meaning no heating/air con bills! It utilises the direction of the sun’s energy to maintain certain temperatures. The back of the house is South facing with lots of windows allowing maximum light. In the Summer, the doors, windows and blinds are closed during the day, and opened at night. This means that the house stays cool when it’s baking outside, and vice versa. The process can then be reversed during the winter. The windows allow the maximum amount of light in through. Also, the use of plants in and outside the greenhouse area [View Full Entry]

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Obituary for Joe Polaischer by David Holmgren http://www.holmgren.com.au/ It is with great sadness that I reflect on the death of Joe Polaischer. I met Joe only four years ago, although his reputation had well preceded our meeting. In recent years I have had the privilege of being hosted by many wonderful permaculture activists and teachers during a series of overseas teaching tours. Joe Polaischer and his legacy is one of the brightest points in my picture of the global permaculture community. No one who has met Joe could fail to be struck by his passion about nature and permacultur [View Full Entry]

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We had a great chat with David yesterday, about relationships. The conversation came about by me enquiring about the idea of applying Permaculture to relationships. I had been thinking about this idea for a while, as I was hoping to not repeat the same painful lessons learnt in my last relationship. I was speculating that by applying the ethos of Permaculture to my new relationship, I’d have a higher chance of sustaining it. But.. David disagreed (which I wasn’t expecting); maybe I hadn’t thought this through properly. From his experience, ‘alternative relationshi [View Full Entry]

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..happens to be one of my favorite subjects, and something I have discussed intensely with my wise old mother on many occasions. (Yes Mum.. you are old, but carry on like your 30 I reckon.. live fast, die old ;c) So when did the gender war start? Where did it all go wrong, and is there a connection between the rise of gender inequality and the machine age? Do we really have to go all the way back to hunter gather times to find families and communities in gender balance? As a young girl, I can remember being fascinated with my [View Full Entry]

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I recently discovered a great book called ‘Futures by Design, The Practice of Ecological Planning. It is a book for anyone who is interested in self-reliance, self-government, improved quality of life, and wise use of technology, social justice, and ecological health. It brings together the thoughts and experience of a remarkable group of social change activists. I found this extract particularly relevant: ‘In Ladakh I have had the privilege to experience another, saner way of life and to see my own culture from the outside. I have lived in a society based on fundamentally d [View Full Entry]

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It’s a really simple transformation, but can, and should be done gradually to achieve lasting results: (I’m sure most of you have heard all this before, but anyway..) 1. Try reducing the amount of useless polluting crap you consume, and start thinking about what you actually ‘need’. You may experience (like me) that you don’t actually ‘need’ to buy most of the things you impulsively want. I’ve been asking myself many questions every time I go to buy something, and 9 times out of 10 I’ve ended up walking away without it (I still get su [View Full Entry]

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So Dee and I said our goodbye’s to Sye, Marta, & Melbourne and made our way to Auckland. New Zealand has always interested me, especially from an environmental point of view. They appeared to be pretty good on that front, and I’d always heard that the scenery was jaw dropping. We had made the plan to hire a campervan and do a Permaculture Trail (this may not have been the most environmental choice I know, but unfortunately it was the most sensible option due to money and time constraints (that old chestnut eh? Yes yes.. I’m going to carbon hell, [View Full Entry]

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(I apologise in advance for any factual errors made, especially as I know this may be a sensitive matter for some). Today is national sorry day.. a day for all Australians both indigenous and non-indigenous to reflect and remember the ‘stolen generation’. But most importantly, the wait is finally over. The Australian Parliament is finally going to say sorry for the barbaric actions taken against the aboriginal people back in the late 60s early 70s. Most of you may have seen the film ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’, the story of how 50,000 aboriginal children were taken from [View Full Entry]

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Those familiar with Permaculture will know of a man called David Holmgren: http://www.holmgren.com.au David, along with Bill Mollison (another well known name in Permaculture circles) co-originated the concept of Permaculture back in the 70s. David and Su (his partner), and their son Oliver live and work at their beautiful homestead in Hepburn Springs near Daylesford. It’s about an hour and a half’s drive NW from Melbourne. It’s sOOoo gorgeous here. David, Su and Oliver have been extremely welcoming, and we pretty much felt like we were part of the family from day one. [View Full Entry]

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