Our photo-reporting of permaculture...
At the Southern Cross Permaculture Institute
The SCPI is an experimental and educational permaculture property held by Rick and Naomi Coleman, near Leongatha, in Victoria, Australia. It comprises about 4 hectares and is composed of fruit trees, a vegetable garden, 19 dams, a wood lot, various micro-cilmates and a chook house. A classroom as well as strawbale house for wwoofers have been built on top of the main house and the various caravans on site. Located the bottom of a yellow clay valley where water abunds profusely, this property is a local refuge for bio-diversity, vegetal and animal life.
Micro-Farming at Ari Fainchtein's
Ari is originally a software engineer, and decided to apply this skill to farming. He started building a farming system on a property located near the Turnpins Fall, Victoria, Australia about 6 years ago and applies a software to his farm which helps him in recording data for each plant, better predict his yields, and enables him to react faster and more intelligently to the evolution of his farming needs. He finds some of his inspiration in permaculture principles and techniques.
Please find his website on the following link: http://www.gingeros.org
Clio and Olivia have recently helped him in building garden beds, and will soon return to help him in building a rocket stove to heat his green house.
Berry Picking at Baw Baw Organics
Held by Lynda Hoare and her business partner Liz, Baw Baw Organics produce comes from three small West Gippsland farms, growing certified organic produce for a local CSA and Melbourne farmer's markets. They are highly active in trying to find different models to make small-scale farming more sustainable and more profitable, including thanks to the involvement of local community. While Lynda does not necessarily define herself as a permaculturist, in the sense that her property was not originally designed according to a permaculture pattern, her farm takes after many permaculture teachings, including the use of perennial plants, living fences, the use of various aniamls for mowing, grazing, soil restoration, fertility provision, water harvesting, and solar passive housing.
Intensive Learning at David Holmgren's and Su Dennett's Melliodora
As the co-founder of permaculture, David Holmgren has spent his life experimenting with permacultural techniques in various properties, including his own, in Hepburn Springs, Victoria, Australia. His extensive body of knowledge includes botany, soil management, natural construction, history, international relations, mechanics, husbandry, and countless others topics on which he self-edcuated himself. His work, and that of his wwoofers, includes taking care of Melliodora, as well as the public gulley down his property, which leads to a creek, which was dramatically damaged during the mining period decades ago. David follows closely the succession and natural and rehabilitation process, and voluntarily helps with the management of this natural resource, which inhabits a creek, leading to natural mineral springs. His work is one of experimentation as well as close obsveration, as he ultimately believes that permaculture leads to the management of natural resources and the rehabilitation of natural processes.
