In May 2018 I was invited to work in Western Australia, which was quite the milestone for me, as it was the last state in Australia for me to say I’ve worked nation wide in permaculture design and installation. It was meant to be a short trip, only 5 days, to repair a leaky dam, which seemed a bit odd for me to fly from the east coast to the […]
As the world continues turning into a new calendar year, many people may be reflecting on what actions they can personally take for a healthier year ahead, both on a personal and an environmental level. The European Commission seems to have made ending deforestation one of their new year’s resolutions, with a newly-published report aimed at ‘stepping up EU action against deforestation and forest degradation’ (1). This can be seen […]
Geoff’s message is about creating wealth and abundance through ethical design while walking through his home, Zaytuna Farm, home of the Permaculture Research Institute. The next farm tour at Zaytuna Farm will be held on the 2nd of March 2019, the Autumn Tour. Click here to view all tours courses and events
If you follow our project you will probably know that I like to name our gardens after concepts and terminology from the classical period of Ancient Greece or at least you may have noticed that the gardens have weird names . Ezekiel who joined us last week asked why the market garden did not have a such a name which prompted me to fix that, so from now on the […]
In crop gardens, we sometimes get into a spatial race with weeds, and the solution is to replace the weeds with “designed weeds” to take up the space. This can be done with green manure mulches to fertilize the gardens and supply quality mulch. This is an example of how understanding the inner workings of weeds allows us to harmonize with natural systems to both repair the earth and create […]
I have often found myself wincing as I hear people talking about saving the planet. It’s felt wrong! I can hear the voices of condemnation screaming at me now … ‘What a horrible person you are not to agree with saving the planet.’… but let me explain. I’m the same age as Geoff Lawton! Though I think he’s doing better than me! I was brought up in the 50s/60s. I had two […]
Compost toilets are extremely efficient and don’t use any water, unlike flush toilets which use 30,000-plus liters of water per person each year. Instead, we can turn humanure into a sustainable waste system. Compost toilets can be made with materials found just about anywhere. For a wheelie bin toilet, begin by drilling a hole at the bottom of the bin to attach a ball valve that will allow […]
Samuel Alexander, University of Melbourne and Brendan Gleeson, University of Melbourne Suburban affluence is the defining image of the good life under capitalism, commonly held up as a model to which all humanity should aspire. More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities. Yet with the global economy already in gross ecological overshoot, and a world population heading for more than 11 billion, this way of living […]
Sharing with you today this great resource website. http://www.anthropocene.info/index.php The website tells the story of our planet since entering the Anthropocene, Taking us on a timeline showing the major events associated with the Anthropocne idea as well as discussing in great visuals the Planetary Boundaries that have been crossed as a result of human activity from climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change and altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and […]
The winter has arrived, two days of sub zero temperatures and some strong wind and there is not a leaf left to vouch for the growing season. It’s just a short cold spell we are having here and it’s expected to be mild until the new year, so we’ll use the last of the good weather to make some final planting in the gardens and then go into hibernation until […]
We’re super excited to announce The Polyculture Project, a research project dedicated to developing and promoting practices that provide nutritious affordable food while enhancing biodiversity. With your help we hope to expand and excel our experiments with various regenerative/permaculture practices and publish our records with aim to supply solid empirical data for the community. Please check out our crowdfunding campaign and if you appreciate our work please donate and share the […]
Permaculture is not just about garden design. Even if you don’t have land or access to land, looking at life from a permaculture perspective can help you to make life decisions and take actions towards upholding the ethics of permaculture in your daily practices. This article series will take a look specifically at one of these practices which we all share, examine the benefits of changing our habits from a […]
