Dear Permaculture Melbourne member,
We don’t write to you very often (outside PIE mailings) but we thought this was special…
We want to make sure you know about the Sustainable Living Festival at Federation Square and the river promenade, next weekend from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 February.
In case you haven’t seen the programme, there’s an extraordinary array of events, workshops, discussions and sessions. It seems so much more diverse than last year (and last year’s was good too). I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything as comprehensive in Melbourne presenting on community and sustainability. Take a look at the programme http://festival.slf.org.au and you’re likely to want to attend 80% of what’s on. And it’s all free! (though you may well want to make a donation).
Tell your friends about it! This is really a wonderful thing that Melbourne has, and all built from the commitment of the SLF organisation and Stephen Ingrouille who started the Going Solar shop 30 years ago.
What Permaculture Melbourne is doing at the SLF
Permaculture Melbourne will have a stall again this year, and will present a number of activities & workshops. Our stall will have a seed and seed-saving theme and the workshops will cover a variety of topics.
FRIDAY 19th (schools day)
We’re doing a workshop with two school groups on “Permaculture Design for Schools – an exercise in Participatory Design for Sustainable Schools”
SATURDAY 20th
10.00-11.00 A discussion forum on “Food Security & Urban Agriculture for Melbourne” at the Leisure Dome tent
11.30-12.30 David Holmgren signing copies of his latest book “Future Scenarios” at the Permaculture Melbourne stall
2.00-2.45 A Design Studio workshop “Drafting Permaculture Ideas for Your Block” at the Green Roof Space
PLUS a scarecrow-making activity for families
Would you like to help us?
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* Assist at the stall. Stall activities include answering public enquiries and assisting with the seed saving and scarecrow making. There are still a few gaps in the roster so if you’re interested contact John McKenzie jlmckenzie@optusnet.com.au or 0421 699 306
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* Provide display materials. We could use some more display materials on permaculture designs or pictures or promotional material on seed saving, permaculture events and local groups etc. Contact John (as above) or you can bring it in on Thursday or Friday.
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*Attend and contribute to the Urban Agriculture forum
(Sat 10.00-11.00 at the Leisure Dome tent)
Tell others what you and your local group are doing and help consider the next steps for urban agriculture in Melbourne.
For those interested and active in Food Security and Urban Agriculture. This session will try to identify the gaps in what currently exists and consider possible links and collaborations to fill them. Permaculture Melbourne member Geri Overberg will facilitate the session and we’ll hear from Pablo Ermini who works on a national program seeking to improve food security through Urban Agriculture in Argentina, and from Pam Morgan who for many years has been a champion for food security with community development in Melbourne and in Latin America. This session is scheduled early in the day before the crowds arrive to attract those specifically interested and to allow stall holders to participate.
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* Assist with the Design Studio workshop
(Saturday 2.00-2.45 at the Green Roof Space)
Do you like the ‘designing’ part of permaculture? Then be a support and ideas person at the “Drafting Permaculture Ideas for Your Block” studio, helping people as they play with design ideas for their homes.
What might your residence look like if it had a permaculture design? This will be workshop with a number of permaculture designers present. Opening presentation gives a rundown on some simple design concepts and permaculture ideas: Make use of your opportunities with soil, water, sun to be environmentally productive. Grow food. Grow nearest the house what you need most of. Then each person is challenged to consider their own place and what could be done there. Paper will be available to sketch sites and members of Permaculture Melbourne will be available to discuss options and workshop in small groups. This will be a quick moving workshop-studio event. The session will bounce back and forth from group presentation to small group and individual work.