G'day,

I've been wanting to write a post for about a month now. I'll fit as much as I can in the time I've got with internet.

On the 17th of October we moved on to Carl's new bit of land (yeah, the one in the photos). Before this time, I was still WWOOFing at the Southern Permaculture Institute, as well as visiting a few other permaculture inspired properties in Victoria (see the photos along the side). Once we moved on, we set up camp and cooking facilties (although the first thing I did when I got out the car was casting my fishing rod into the dam, but to no avail).
  The first job that needed to be done was digging a trench, with an excavator, to set up irrigation from the higher dam (via a 2 inch poly-pipe) to our base in the hay shed (right next to the lower dam in the top photo of this blog). Sorry, just before this, the same excavator ripped all the dry cow shit and blackberry bushes out of the hay shed (giving us a huge pile of fertile decomposed manure for gardening). And I should mention that Carl hired a very experienced permy, bushman, and fucking gentleman called Dave, who we both met at the PRI up in NSW to come down for a couple of weeks, to basically pull us out the shit (as chefs so eloquently put), and guru us through times of confusion and frustration. I would like to say that since then, Dave has taught me a bloody lot. His work ethic, simplicity, humility, and apparent ability to naturally balance lateral on logical thinking has been a sincere source of inspiration for me.
  After the trench from the top dam was dug, a trench was dug for a header tank, in order to gravity fed the rainwater we would harvest from the main tank next to the shed (which both arrived a couple of weeks ago).  Getting running water to the house was the first of hopefully many successful rivers crossed. The next earthwork was connecting a swale* to the lower dam. Because of this connection the swale instantly filled, and a has stayed full of water (though it needs finishing on the farside).
  The next day, a concrete slab was laid by the 3 of us (Carl, Dave and myself, but mainly Dave, cos he knew what he was doing... poor guy, he's 15 bloody years older than me) to cover 1 third of the hayshed floor (the rest was filled with gravel, as concrete is expensive and, as I have now realized, bloody hard work). A sliding door was fitted (we have an awesome second hand scrap yard about 20 minutes away) at the back of the shed, any holes in the shed have been patched up with tin, any leaks in the roof sealed (though there is still one leak that we haven't figured out yet) a tin wall has been placed between the concrete slab and the gravel inside the shed, in the hope of enclosing off a comfortable living area.
 With the excavator, Dave has also made a mound around the shed to divert rainwater, coming down the hill, into the dam (Carl has turned this mound into a herb garden and Medetirranean tree grove). Shortly after this he used it to rip up a compacted, rocky area, designated to for a veggie garden and food forest.
  After this, Dave built a rocket stove (please google) for hot water via a wood oven made of clay and bricks (to me at least, it's a bloody master piece).
 
In the time that Dave hasn't been here, I've created a small veggie garden with raised beds on contour (to evenly catch rainwater), attempted a 'berkeley method' compost pile (hot compost. Which seems to look and smell quite good, and should be ready in a day or 2), worm farm, rough nursery and am currently working on a hopefully fox-proof chicken coop.

Carl, at times has gone through much stress, largely by being totally dicked around by the phone company (I could mention it's corporate name, but most people know what I'm talking about). Long story short, we had to thread a wire through a 250 metre long pipe that was underground, which took us over 6 hours. It seems to be all sorted now. All we need is electricity.

A few days ago we had a "celebrity" appearance via Dan Lawton (Geoff Lawton's (please google) son) who came for a couple of days to help us install the solar system (that should be ready with a bit of technical wiring by an electrician). He also taught us a lot about fire, and one evening, within a couple of hours, he gathered material from our scrapyard and built a 'pocket-rocket' (a mini rocket stove made of tin designed to be used as a heater; another masterpiece in my eyes). Dan was another massive source of inspiration and a pleasure to have. I should also mention that during the time he was here I somewhat nailed the heat control of of my newly bought dutch oven (camp oven) with a roast leg of lamb and veggies. Seeing as I've only got a 2-ring gas burner to cook on, I very much cherish this piece of equipment.

We also recently got a visit from 2 (1 from Colombia, 1 from North Carolina)  really good friends from the PRI and had a pretty good chuckle and a sharing of ideas. Hopefully another diamond geezer (from NSW), who was a long-term WWOOFer at the PRI is coming down to live here for as long as he wants. He is easy going, passionate and quite the social/environmental/political activist. Also, a really cool guy we toured with Amma with, from North California also should be coming for at least 3 months (like Carl and I, I think he might be a bit jaded by the people around Amma, but I could be wrong?)

Some people may (or may not particuarly) be impressed or inspired by what I've just written in this post, but it's probably also fair to mention that the small amount of progress we've made has come with a lot of pain, stress and discomfort at times (certain events that I've not gone into detail about). I am nonetheless enjoying it and learning a lot and sincerely wish to progress with Carl, and hopefully more, with efficient (and beautiful) design.

Once we get internet (touch gumwood; it's everywhere) I'll at least be more diligent with photos on the blog.

* - a level trench, usually a few metres wide, along the contour of the land with a soft mound on the lower side, designed to capture and passively soak water with the assistance of trees (and other plants if wished) planted along the soft mound (the tree roots assist the soaking and get effortlessly irrigated at the same time. 

Gidday,

I've been at the Southern Cross Permaculture Institute for over a month now. I am thoroughly enjoying this lifestyle (I'm also cooking a lot which I haven't done for a while on a regular basis) and slowly but surely learning about the initial things I set out to (gardening, chicken keeping, building a poly-tunnel and chicken coop), as well as getting more of a feel of connections in a system (e.g each element performing multiple functions and trying to correlate that element positively with other elements. An example of this maybe a food forest garden acting as windbreak, a food source and an economic source (if you were selling surplus yield). An example of positive correlation may be chickens running around the food forest floor, perhaps one of the best ways to imitate the natural habitat of their ancestors. There, they would be weeding, fertilizing with manure and eating fruitfly larvae in fallen fruits, thus breaking the growth cycle of the fruitfly. I could go into the other functions of the chicken and try using my brain to connect it to another element, but I don't need to cos you get the idea right?).
  Seeing and understanding what's going on in a well-thought out system, small or large is very satisfying (largely cos it minimizes human effort, but also because it's an efficient closed loop. This means that like a natural ecosystem, every niche, through the multi-functional symbiosis of diverse elements, is filled and sustainability is the final result... maybe I'll elaborate on this slightly 'woowoo' statement if/when I know fully what I mean by it, hopefully through my own experience).
  A kids movie springs to mind (I can't remember which one, I haven't been a kid for quite a while now, though some may disagree with that) where a morning alarm cuckoo clock in a bedroom goes off, which hits a swinging pole on a pivot, which then hits a ball on a shelf, which rolls... ,does a lot of other stuff I can't remember and eventually cracks an egg into a hot pan and serves it with toast and coffee for the inventor who has just woken  (Maybe this memory was a mish mash of old movies where lots of this kind of stuff happened. I found these silly, totally unrealistic designs so satisfying as a kid)

Carl seems to be in the final stages of getting his property (this whole thing has been very harrowing and stressful for him; "yay, we're gonna get it, shit what about this, yay we're gonna get it, shit what about this. He says he feels he's aged ten years). He's often asked me if I think he's mad for wanting such a large piece of land (it's got some downsides on a practical level, as well as some upsides). All I can sincerely say is that because his heart is so set on it, I kinda trust in that (but what the fuck do I know? it could be a terrible decision).

Om Tat Sat

Gidday,

Just as my last course at Zaytuna Farm was ending (a few weeks ago), Geoff (the main teacher there) asked if any one had any questions before the course ended. I did have one, of sorts, but I waited until the end of class and spoke to him privately. I told him that I didn't feel I cognized all the large amount of information given, from either not having yet cultivated an eager interest in the paricular subject, or just by zoning out in the classroom (I was quite good at that, as I think I'm quite bad at learning in a classroom environment). I was kind of looking for some kind of hope from him. I don't remember everything he said to me, but he honestly didn't look at all worried about my statement. He seemed convinced that all the relevant information had gone in subliminally and it was just a matter of researching whatever was necessary for what I had to do in the future. He listed a lot of things that I don't necessarily need to have an interest in, with the exception of 'gardening'. I think when he said this, a penny dropped, so to speak.

Since then I have, at times, taken a sincere interest in botany. Recently, I've quite often fantasized about creating productive, diverse and beautiful kitchen gardens and food forests (also sometimes called forest gardens or agroforestry) attracting all kinds of life, which has motivated me to research about it (along with caring for chickens and ducks which can play a vital role in permaculture gardening, as well as the obvious of giving organic eggs and meat)

Another relieving aspect of not feeling 'I got it all' during the Permaculture Design Course, was Geoff constantly stressing throughout the course: "Getting an understanding of the mainframe of design is far more important than examples of techniques. The devil is in the details." When I caught myself paying no attention whatsoever, I often repeated the phrase 'get the mainframe' like a mantra (I also took notes on a lot of things I didn't follow or understand at the time).

Permaculture is rooted (rooted here, meaning it's the most important thing) in 3 ethics:
1. Care of the Earth
2. Care of People
3. Return of surplus (to the 2 above)
The next most important aspect is principles, then strategies, then techniques. Because Permaculture is synnergistic with so many different disciplines (gardening, farming and architecture, perhaps being the main ones, or some of them) it is clearly impossible to know everything covering this subject, and I for one, am not interested in taking in any information that I don't feel I need to know.

For over a week now I have been WWOOFING at the Southern Cross Permaculture Institute (www.southerncrosspermaculture.com.au) which is about an hour and half away from Melbourne. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I've mainly been weeding, pruning trees. Other odd jobs have been planting beans for the spring, helping build a new chicken house, digging water pathways for overflowing dams (this is a very high rainfall area as far as Australia goes) and shovelling manure. There's a wealth of relevant research material here for me to study and it's a conducive environment for me to do that. I'll you keep you posted. 

I've designed this blog mainly with the intention recording farm progress, but I'm happy to share things about my understanding in correlation with that progress. In that spirit here's some definitions of permaculture. It apparently has over 30 defintions. Here's some that I found just now:
"The development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient." (dictionary)

"A system of perennial agriculture emphasizing the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems." (dictionary)

"Permaculture uses a set of principles and practices to design sustainable human settlements." (Toby Hemenway)

"Permaculture is a sustainable design system stressing the harmonious interrelationship of humans, plants, animals and the Earth. The core of permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections between all things." (Bill Mollison)

"Permaculture is a way of life which shows us how to make the most of our resources by minimizing waste and maximizing potential. Conscious design of a lifestyle which is highly productive and does not cause environmental damage. Meeting our basic needs and still leaving the earth richer than we found it." (Graham Bell)

"Permaculture offers an understanding of how biological processes are integrated, and it deals primarily with tangibles: plants, soils, water, animal systems, wildlife, bush regeneration, biotechnology, agriculture, forestry, architecture, and society in the areas of economics, land access, bioregions and incomes tied to right livelihood. " (Rosemary Morrow) 

Hi All,

Please excuse me for not writing a post for so long. The only time and place I was able to do it at Zaytuna Farm was in the evening at a common room full of often bubbly (loud) people; a distraction that further impedes my, already lousy, typing skills (pathetic excuse maybe, but I thinks it's fair to call myself an easily distracted, non-multi-tasker. I personally, need to make my environment conducive for the task at hand, and nothing else. This could be as simple as moving a chair & table, or somehow blocking my access to the web, so I'm not tempted to watch 'The Mighty Boosh' (stunning British comedy) on YouTube, as an example).
After the PDC (permaculture design course) Carl and I did a week of WWOOFing then enrolled on the earthworks course, which ended a couple of weeks ago (I type that last statement with great satisfaction; as a fair few people know, I'm not much of a classroom person). Earthworks (mainly for water harvesting) is considered the skeleton of permaculture design. In a nutshell, the land is dug with dams and swales (a level trench on the contour of a slope, with a soft mound on the lower side that absorbs rainfall, in turn slowly and gently soaking into the soil down the rest of the slope), in order to catch and passively spread as much water and nutrients (rainfall coming of trees, for example, will have this) as possible. Earthworks also include any better road access, as well as any levelling of land for structures, like a house.
I thoroughly enjoyed my 7 weeks at Zaytuna farm; the people (of diverse backrounds around the world. I sincerely miss a handful of them) the farming system and it's principles thoroughly rooted in sustainabilty, the lifestyle of farming, and the charm of the place and area itself. Looking back, I'm suprised at how much fun I had there.
On the week after the earthworks course, we embarked on a fruitless property search around southern New South Wales. The next day on our way back through Victoria, we found a seemingly stunning property only 2 and a half hours away from Melbourne. Along with being beautiful, in a beautiful location, it ticks a lot of boxes on a practical level for efficient permaculture design, and is at a good price (I only compare that to every other property we've looked at). We are currently waiting on a couple of things for the owner to do before Carl can put in an offer. (Any person of faith, please pray that we get it! Joke, but please do if you want to)

When I got back to Melbourne there was so much I wanted to study (permaculture covers every bloody aspect of living sustainably. Examples beyond farming are: construction, cooking and food preservation, water havesting, aquaculture to name but a few), but I've honed it down to 2 priorities at the moment. These are organic gardening and chicken farming, as these will be the first things we will be doing (after any earthworks) when we move on to the property (I've suprised myself in the interest I've taken in soil and the importance of it's biology). I'm spending a large part of my days in the library researching these 2 things and if moving onto a property takes much longer I may see if it's possible to do some WWOOFing on a permaculture farm nearby (largely to get some more gardening experience and to see what grows well in this area).

Om Tat Sat

Gidday. I've been at the PRI, Zaytuna Farm for just over 3 weeks now. My course started yesterday, and my official WWOOFing (willing workers on organic farms) days are over, for now. Just being here is a learning curve in itself. As my shallow understanding of permaculture goes, one of the main principles is having everything rubbing of eachother (in a positive way) to utilize the maximum potential of energy from ones resources. An example of this might be fencing chickens in a squared off piece of land intended for sustainable crop growth, to just be themselves. By just being themselves they will be weeding (they love to peck, dig up and scratch the ground) fertilize the soil (by shitting) and producing eggs (there are a few more benefits from them, but you get the idea). In 2 weeks the soil will be complex and rich in a diverse range of micro-organsims (the main beneficial ones being mycelium, aerobic bacteria. Some one just told me those now). This is recognizable as a rich, decent soil even to the untrained eye, or just the way soil should be. People from diverse walks of life from all around the globe are here. The course itself is a truck load of info (I need to pace myself). I want to give more examples than the one above, but maybe that's a good start. 

Gidday, This is the first post on my new blog. I'm writing about my recent (temporary or indefinite) career change to farming. I'm writing this post from the 'Permaculture Research Institute' in North New South Wales. I am doing volunteer farming at the moment, before my Permaculture Design Course starts in 2 weeks, with the idea of gaining some hands on experience and understanding of a permaculture system. I am currently thoroughly enjoying myself; the work, the place, the lifestyle and the food, and although the work I'm doing at the moment is simple, I'm learning a lot. The work days are fairly long (7am-4pm), but there are plenty of breaks throughout the day and we have weekends off (I've just got back from a small nearby town called Nimbin; Australia's answer to Amsterdam, minus the red light district). In my next post I will write about my current understanding of this field. (My intention is to keep these posts shorter and more frequent than my previous blog, as blogger doesn't seem to permit spaces between paragraphs any more).