Back On The Central Coast...
As stated on my first post I am now back on the Central Coast of NSW where I grew up. I must
say it has been good catching up with all the family and the friends that remain. Without my own garden and room to grow in though it can be depressing at times. I cant wait to be doing it again and building
up from scratch.Just have to keep looking for the right land-not easy at the moment. And its amazing how things look the second time around, being back where I began. There are some great events coming up in QLD and NSW which I have lined up over the next month. I also found a local group of permaculture growers and attended the first meeting tonight at Tuggerah..
Central Coast Permaculture Meeting
A thriving permaculture group on the central coast - I never would have imagined! But I am so glad I found these guys. Tonight's guest speaker was Sandra Norman of the Hunters Biodynamics who gave us an overview of Biodynamic principles. What I knew about biodynamics was from its founder, Rudolf Steiner and its "homeopathic type" essence you make up for your garden. Also how important it is to plant with the full moon. The Hunter Biodynamic gardeners are very passionate with this stuff and I now have the contacts with them to follow up on these methods further.
There is also a DIY day coming up in May with the man himself, Jerry Coleby-Williams, who is one of my big inspirations, (but more on Jerry shortly), so I am certainly going to be there to listen to Jerry and try my hand at cheese making. The members also swap cuttings, stories of their own gardens success and help each other with projects. Its so good when you find other people so into gardening and sustainable living!
Jerry Coleby Williams Garden Tour
I booked my ticket with Australia's open garden scheme months ago. For anyone in Brisbane or who is keen to make the trip, its going to be a great to see Jerry's amazing garden that you have likely seen on Gardening Australia. This open garden happens on May the 17th, 2008. I missed out on seeing this last year and was not going to miss out again. There are still tickets if you can make it, It is highly recommended. Click here for more info. I am so happy to be making up for lost time and catching up with Jerry twice in May! I never stop learning of this guy...
living school permaculture course canceled this weekend...
For anyone in and around Raymond Terrace who was thinking of doing the living school intro to permaculture this weekend, I found out yesterday that this has been canceled due to lack of numbers. These guys run courses in and around Sydney and am yet to check them out fully. The website looked good with some good info to download. Check it out here.
Looking For A New Spot...
On a recent trip North I started to look for my new place to start over. My new dream is a total solar passive design house with the permaculture garden. At this stage though, anything would be a start. There is barely much room and sun here to grow much as winter creeps in. I was in Kyogle looking in every estate window and was shocked at prices. How can it be just as much out there as it is to buy on the Central Coast, an hour North of Sydney!! It seemed that way and sure sent me back to earth pretty quick. Its not going to happen overnight. Time to keep saving and do what I can over at mums - fix up my old garden I was talking about. I have some photos I took last week of what remains. The highlight of the Kyogle trip was, as always, Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery.
Going to amuse myself fixing up my first ever garden. If I fix things in time for this weekend, I can do some testing of planting seeds on the full moon this Sunday, the 20th of April.
