There is Loads of Free Info

Our Sister Organisation, www.PermacultureVisions.com  has bucket loads of information for

• you
  
• your family
• your home site
• your community

See the difference before and after a Permaculture design.
Build your skills by doing a Permaculture Design Course and then develop your experience by working on nearby permaculture sites.

Permaculture Giants

Permaculture Giants

Picture: April Sampson-Kelly and Bill Mollison

www.Permaculturevisions.org

www.Permaculturevisions.com

Permaculture - concise

Write to us for a full file

Core tenets

The core tenets of permaculture are:

Care of the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.

• Care of the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.
• Return of Surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness.
  

Permaculture design emphasizes patterns of landscape, function, and species assemblies. Determines where these element should be placed such that it provides maximum benefit to the local environment. The central concept of permaculture is maximizing useful connections between components and synergy of the final design. The focus of permaculture, therefore, is not on each separate element, but rather on the relationships created among elements by the way they are placed together; the whole becoming greater than the sum of it's parts. Permaculture design therefore seeks to minimize waste, human labor, and energy input by building systems with maximal benefits between design elements to achieve a high level of synergy. Permaculture designs evolve over time by taking into account these relationships and elements and can become extremely complex systems that produce a high density of food and materials with minimal input.

Remember, we stand upon the shoulders of those who came before us.

Maya Angelou said…”We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us”. Isaac Newton said…”If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants”.

Lets always give others credit for their work.

**

Redesign!

Mother of All R’s is “Redesign”

Here’s a dozen R’s and the most important is Redesign

When researching and writing about waste reduction and the ‘classic 4 R’s’ focused on in the 90’s we realised the importance of a 5th R: Redesign.
Since then our wonderful students have suggested more. Lela Copeland, now one of our graduates in Hawaii, wrote about Re-use by modification (Retrofit). Permaculture North Sydney had more and there were 10 R’s to consider. Now Flavia Reis and Shane Moon (students in our face-to-faced course) and another student Ben Clarke have suggested a few more.

• Refuse
  
• Reduce
  
• Redistribute (share) 
• Re-use
  
• Retrofit
  
• Repair
  
• Recycle
  
• Refurbish
  
• Redeem
  
• Restore
  
• Regenerate
  
• Rebuild. 
• Redesign

Redesign

Redesign for durability, ease of maintenance and repair, and use of materials that are easily re-used and re-cycled without high energy input or toxic by-products. The concept of designing in parts called modules is a design feature that usually increases waste. However, if the modules are small enough, they can make repair easy (replacing just a steel blade or a brush head). Modules in many modern products such as white goods and cars are self-contained, and can usually only be opened when broken. If we design for common parts, sizes and materials with ingenious combinations and application then the design has a much greater capacity for re-use and repair. Few cars or even computers have common parts from one brand to another, this has often been to enhance the uniqueness of the product, ‘It’s different, better, sophisticated and new’. When consumers demand repair-ability, items will be promoted less on uniqueness and more on their common-ness or ‘standards’ and availability of parts.
Permaculture is about re-design. Clever design finds multiple functions and use for the waste, which is simply unused output [Mollison]. We can re-design our cities into self-reliant ‘villages’ and our home systems into responsible multi-functional productive spaces.

Permaculturevisions responds to student needs.

www.Permaculturevisions.com were the first to teach permaculture online 18 years ago. Since then they have a long list of graduates, run an online yahoo group and are respected in the Permaculture community.

There has always been debate whether a practitioner needs to do a Permaculture Design course and or needs formal qualifications.

However if a practioner in Permaculture intends to treat permaculture as a life long activity, and teach others, then surely they need to be able to show due diligence and prove to prospective clients that they do indeed have the training to do so. The standard training is a PDC - Permaculture Design course.
Once a Permaculture designer has 2 years of implementation and experience they can then apply for a Diploma in Permaculture.

This is now being offered to students and graduates of Permaculturevisions.
It has 1 core requirement- Design implementation - and 10 electives.
Compliance is assessed by evidence of external and or self study, and students can then elect to be on the Permaculturevisions on-line register of graduates and Diplomats.
This Diploma takes Permaculture to a next level and will be highly sought after as a reference for future employers. You can read more on www.Permaculturevisions.com

growing water plants

People often forget that water plants are so easy to grow. Easier than plants in pots.

All you need is a few ceramic or metal containers. Now is the season to grow KangKong, it is cheap at Asian Grocery stores and all we do is throw it into water with a handful of soil.
Even the snails can't touch it!! it is wonderful in stir-fry dishes.

find a photo at http://www.science.edu.sg/

a few tips to reduce chemicals in the Garden

Bi-Carb soda is a very useful product, and in a recent ad for toothpaste I noticed it was mentioned.
It is so cheap, and 2 Tablespoons full of it , combined with 1 teaspoon of olive or cooking oil, with 1 teaspoon of detergent, mixed into 2 litres of water prevents fungicide on plants.

Bi-carb soda can be used on a cloth as a great cleaner and abrasive.
and to avoid blocked drains, drop a handful of bi-card soda into the drain , and follow up with a half cup of vinegar. leave for an hour.

and so is vinegar

If you have Algae on your fences or paths, try this.
Mix 1 part of vinegar to 3 parts of water and spray on.
Rinse off after a few minutes.