Get Ready for the 11th Australasian Permaculture Convergence (APC11)!

Last calls!! We still have some spots left, but be quick if you don’t want to miss Oceania’s premier permaculture experience!

Permaculture Aotearoa welcomes you to:

Resilience by Design — 11th Australasian Permaculture Convergence (APC11)

When: Wed 11th to Sun 15th April 2012
Where: Turangi, Central North Island, New Zealand
Website: apc11.co.nz

Confirmed Speakers:

Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex,
the solutions remain embarrassingly simple. — Bill Mollison

Nicole M. Foss is Senior Editor of The Automatic Earth, where she and co-author and Editor-in-Chief Raúl Ilargi Meijer chronicle and interpret the ongoing credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of the world’s current multi-faceted predicament. Prior to the establishment of TAE, Nicole was editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance. She also ran the Agri-Energy Producers’ Association of Ontario, where she focused on farm-based biogas projects, grid connections for renewable energy and Feed-In Tariff policy development. Nicole is also an international speaker on energy and global finance.

Charles Eisenstein, (beaming in via Skype) author of “Sacred Ecology, Money Gift and Society in the Age of Transition”. “I consider Charles Eisenstein one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time. Rarely have I met a person who combines such philosophical and spiritual depth with such practical insights into the cultural and institutional origins of the potential terminal dysfunctions of modern society, and the potential solutions.” (David Korten, Author of The Great Turning)

Albert Bates, author of The Biochar Solution: Carbon Farming and Climate Change, The Post Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook and numerous books, films and new media on energy, environment and history. A former environmental rights lawyer, paramedic, brick mason, flour miller, and horse trainer, received the Right Livelihood Award in 1980 as part of the steering committee of Plenty, working to preserve the cultures of indigenous peoples, and board of directors of The Farm, a pioneering intentional community in Tennessee for the past 35 years. A co-founder and past president of the Global Ecovillage Network, presently GEN’s representative to the UN climate talks.

Michel and Jude Fanton founded The Seed Savers’ Network in Australia in 1986. It quickly attracted national attention. In 1992 they began to take the message of the need to conserve traditional varieties of food plants to over thirty other countries. From 2010 they are focussing on Malaysia and Europe.

Kay Baxter realised something a few decades ago that others were overlooking. The major industrialisation of our agricultural systems meant that we were losing the diversity of our vegetables, fruits and flowers. Many varieties were discarded and what remained was mostly hybridised. Rather than sit back and watch it all be lost, Kay consciously did something about it. That journey has now become legendary.

Toru Sakawa was an early and enthusiastic advocate of permaculture in Japan and he continues to be a key figure in the Japanese permaculture movement. He and his family make their living from farming rice, vegetables, chickens and pigs organically. His prefecture, Iwate, was badly hit by the recent earthquake and Tsunami. Being inland Toru’s farm was not badly affected, so Toru and his friends mounted their own relief effort for the devastated areas on the coast in true permaculture fashion.

… plus many others from Australia and NZ giving their time and expertise in a wide range of issues….

Venues and cultural context

APC11 would like to thank the Tuwharetoa people our Maori host

• Te Kura O Hirangi (total immersion primary and secondary school) and adjacent
• Hirangi Marae for dining
• Awhi Farm Centre for Sustainable Practice – practical workshops

Hands-on workshops

• Basket Making
• Roundhouse building
• Gardening strategies
• The Art of Scything
• Compost toilets and Showers

Pre- and post-event courses: courses for teachers, farmers and permies

• Outdoor classrooms
• Running Dynamic Groups
• Quality environmental education
• Outreach seminars (Low input farming etc)

Gardens and food and food provision

APC11 would like to acknowledge the following people for their work in growing food for the event:

• Awhi Farm – fresh vegetables and potatoes
• Mary Smallman– fresh vegetables and potatoes
• Gary and Emily Williams are growing chooks, steers and lambs
• Carol lambs, David – trout
• Hunters will be out to bring in venison and wild pig
• Fruit – this is our weak spot – we would welcome apples, pears, persimmons, autumn berries, citrus etc.
• Katerina Mataira is likely to be anchoring the kitchen of Hirangi Marae and we expect the same superb catering we experienced at the 2010 Permaculture hui.

The team

On the ground:

Bryan Innes, Joanna Pearsall, Lisa Isherwood, Bomun Bok-Chung, Sam Halberg and other volunteers.

In the ether:

Kelvin Aris and Liz Redding – project managers.

Supporting people:

Trish Allen (Trustee, accounts and wise head), Sarah Adams and others of the permaculture community, Laurence Boomert, Helen Dew and others of the Living Economies community.

Accommodation

Anything from tents to 5 star lodge — check out the website — you are responsible for booking your accommodation.

Tours

For details, head here.

The Awhi Farm Vision for supporting the convergence

• 20 campervan sites, 10 tent sites, 16 people in 4 roundhouses
• Gardens hooting, chooks, ducks, pigs
• Earthbag buildings completed, cordwood building completed
• Marae gardens pumping

Huge thanks and please think about what you may like to do during the open space sessions and tell us!!

See you Soon
The APC11 Team