ALS members Blogs

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to changeI'm one for trying out different things, and I like to see what we can get away with before committing to something bigger and 'better'. Fridges and freezers are one of the biggest energy consumers in the household - usually behind heating / cooling and hot water systems.Our upright freezer to fridge conversion in actionWe've trialed a number of fridge systems here before settling on the upright freezer conversion.First we used an old 150lt bar fridge that used around 670Wh per day Then we bought a 150lt chest freezer (using around 466Wh per day) for preserving bulk food - with the idea of a possible conversion. Our bar fridge died two weeks later so we used ice from our freezer to create a 'ice box bar fridge' We then tried a smaller old Engel fridge (about 50lt) that I had...

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregateWell, it's come around to that time of year again. Sunday May 5th is International Permaculture Day and we'll open the property up and happily show people around from 1pm till 4pm. You can see the details for our event here. If Seymour in Victoria (Australia) is too far out of your way, then check the above website for something closer.I've asked Peter Lockyer, the builder / architect that I worked with on the construction, to join me - so if you've got any technical questions or are looking to build yourself then Pete's your man. Our north facing deck with recently constructed trellisI'm going to ask for a gold coin donation this year, all proceeds being donated to Permafund - supporting permaculture projects internationally. We'll have permaculture publications on offer on the day with net proceeds from sales tithed to Permafund. This...

Principle 3: Obtain a yield & Principle 4: Apply self regulation and accept feedbackLife has been very busy lately. I've been flat out on redeveloping the Permaculture Principles website which is now online. As part of the rebuilding of the website I have been working with Charlie Mgee in integrating his interpretations of the permaculture principles into song with the website. He launched his album last night with his constantly evolving band at CERES (most appropriate) along with this video clip featuring the 'Obtain a yield' principle - which I love. I took the family down for the event and finally met Charlie in the flesh - the latest effervescent permaculture ambassador. A fantastic night that gave me hope for a resurgence of interest in permaculture.While working on the new website I've been trying to keep the water up to the garden during this unrelenting dry season. In the...

Principle 9: Use small and slow solutionsMy mate Brian gave me a grape cutting that he'd nurtured as a house warming gift not long after we moved in. Two and a half years later we got our first harvest, 9.2kg for the season - not bad... and they were superb!Seedless grapes on a two and half year old vineFortunately we didn't need to harvest all of the grapes at once, as they weren't all ready at the same time. By planting the vine along the laneway on the east side of the block, near the water tank / cellar / carport, different parts of the vine were shaded at different times - which (I think) helped distribute the harvest time. Still, there were times when there were more ready than we could eat, so we gave some away and decided to dry the rest in our solar dehydrator....

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregateClearly we are not the only people doing this type of thing. I recently discovered this 'linky list' which collects a whole host of blogs that are doing similar types of things as us. If you write a 'Sustainable, Simple, Slow Living Blog' then you might be interested in including your own on there too. Original linkOriginal author: Richard...

Principle 10: Use and value diversityI've been asked several times why I named our place Abdallah House. The simple answer is that the house is located on Abdallah Road, and I wanted a name for the house. But there is a bit more to it...We are located in Seymour, in rural Victoria (Australia). Since settlement the town has a predominately Anglo past, and the name 'Abdallah' is quite unusual for this area. I was attracted to the name to challenge the stereotype of the town as being purely Anglo. Interestingly this is changing and there is a noticeable increase in migrants in the area with the controversial proposal for a mosque on the outskirts of Seymour recently approved by council.I'm not sure why the road was named Abdallah, but I did discover that on of the early pastoral holdings in the region (from the 1850's), known as 'Glenlyon' was also...

Principle 9: Use small and slow solutionsI was thinking about which principle to use to illustrate this, and decided on use small and slow solutions, I've been realising that home grown food is a fantastic example of this principle. It's also a good example of obtain a yield.I was given a large watermelon last year by a friend that grew it at the Seymour Community Garden, it was so delicious that I keep some seeds. This year I raised some seedlings and planted a few of them out. One of them took off and eventually produced a single enormous watermelon. It was so big that Kai couldn't lift it (about 8kg).Kai trying to lift our first watermelon, that came in at around 8kgHow did I know when to pick it? Well, I asked around and was told that I should pick it when 'you knock it and...

Principle 4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedbackIn 2011 we took on the 'Binimum' challenge, successfully only filling one recycle and one rubbish bin for the whole year.In 2012 we set ourselves another challenge, to record how much we spend on food and drink for the year. We were curious as to how much we actually spend on food that we purchase at the supermarket (and elsewhere), with the idea that we could assess the information and look at where we could make improvements. We also were curious as to how much money we need to generate to live comfortably.All of our receipts from 2012The challenge was a bit of a nightmare actually, 100's of receipts to sort through. I went through the tedious process of recording the details into a ledger into various categories that made sense at the time. Sometimes it was difficult to remember where...

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to changeIt's been hot this summer, bloody hot - and virtually no rain for months. While we wait for our grapes to grow up our new trellis I added shade cloth to give some protection from the harsh sun. It's made quite a difference, helping to keep the deck cooler, reducing reflection inside and while ugly it's going to stay there for the summer.On really hot days 35º+ we close all the windows and curtains in the house. The pelmets and curtains inside work well, but we wanted to improve on that by reducing the amount of reflected heat coming in through the windows. Once the heat is inside, that's where it stays until we open up the house at night when the weather cools down.Playing around with shade cloth has helped me envisage what the future may hold for us, after...

Principle 2: Catch and store energyMake sure that you read the important update at the end!   It's summer here, and it's been really hot, often 35-40ºC. We've got tomatoes coming on and the freezer has filled up. The last thing I want to do during this time of year is heat up the house with more cooking inside, and I've been thinking for some time that it make sense to take advantage of the hot weather.I've been looking at how to make use of recycled materials to build a solar cooker. You can find out about the basic principles here. A point to note about my approach is that I am lazy and apply the proverb 'don't do what you don't have to' - seeing what I can get away with before trying to perfect the process. Or, if you prefer, Principle 7: 'Design from patterns to details'....

Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and servicesThe local campaign to support the proposed Cherry Tree Wind Farm has taken a step forward with the publishing and distribution of this flier that I put together with the help of Leigh Ewbank from Friends of the Earth and the team at BEAM. There will be a letterbox drop in the local area and the flier will also be distributed throughout the region.The flier has been put together in response to the misinformation that is being regurgitated by local anti-wind groups. One of the latestet claims of which is that Wind Farms should not be placed in high risk fire areas as they can start fires. This comes after news of a grass fire near the turbine site a couple of weeks ago, which (from what I've heard) was caused by a lightening strike to a tree.On investigation further...

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to changeI've been having fun transforming this 'weedy' tree into an adventure playground, a nice shady space for the kids to play in during summer. I built a platform a bit over a year ago, after prunning the tree heavily, the space evolves as the tree continues to grow. I experimented with bending the branches over to form a dome like space within the tree canopy, which would eventually grow leaves to hide the inhabitants. It has turned out better than I could have hoped.Left to grow after heavy pruning last year, the young branches were tied down in winter to form a dome - shown here as a work in progress.Inside, there is enough room for an adult to stand up and a few kids to cook up a storm.Six months later, the canopy encloses the dome giving Kai and...

Principle 3: Obtain a yieldDare I say it, my background is as a Graphic Artist in the advertising industry. I never really enjoyed working for agencies, I didn't find it very rewarding and sitting at the computer all day (and sometimes all night) was depressing and exhausting. I stopped working full-time back in 1996. Freelancing at agencies ceased when my son Kai was born, over 5 years ago now, though it died off almost completely a few years before that.Cape Range National Park on the West Coast of Australia 1997 -  Echidna in foreground and 'Tang' (Kombi) behindBack in 1996 my original plan was to spend a year on the road and find the ideal place to live. It was over 5 years by the time I returned. I worked a couple of times at agencies to keep me going, never more than a few months, living frugally from...

Principle 1 : Observe and interactWe've been interested in Home Schooling for our 5yo son Kai but have been put off by the fact that we couldn't find any support networks locally. Every parent that I've spoken to who has expressed interest in home schooling have raised the same issues.We don't feel ready to take on full time home schooling, but don't like the idea of sending Kai off to school five days a week (he doesn't either). We are stay at home parents and are flexible and willing to help our kids learn from home. We are not interested in creating school at home, I think that they would be better off at school if we were trying to do that - rather I see this as helping our kids learn  life skills according to their needs. A friend of ours was taking one of her children to...

Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginalArticle in the Seymour Telegraph 21st November 2012I've had an interest in the development of the community garden in Seymour since participating in a  meeting which discussed the concept and possible locations at the community house a few years ago. While I've been supportive, I haven't been very much involved. My focus has been on building our home and gardens here.I've watched with interest as Mark Padgett took on the project, originally as part of his Permaculture Diploma, working in collaboration with the Salvation Army. It certainly wouldn't have got as far as it has without the ongoing help of Greg, who kept the project moving when there was little interest or involvement from the wider community. While I don't know Rick, I hear that he has given the gardens a real push more recently and developed the Seymour Community Gardens...

Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregateA family visit to the wind farm near Dalesford in Feb 2012I've been feeling uncomfortable with the division that has been emerging in our community about the proposed Cherry Tree Wind Farm. These tactics, employed by the Australian Landscape Guardians, have been used before to divide the local community and create angst. Who wants their community divided? I don't like it, and have been looking at what the two positions have in common.The local newspaper, the Seymour Telegraph, has been publishing letters from both sides of the debate along with regular updates of how the planning application is progressing (or not) with Council / VCAT. The paper has provided an important outlet for the local community to express their opinion, but it tends to fuel more adversity. I've contributed a couple of letters recently - picking out elements of the 'anti-wind' letters that...

Principle 7: Design from patterns to detailsThe completed sphere made from scrap polypipe and recovered boltsMy friend Dylan spoke to me of making of making a sphere from polypipe, as a project for kids at the upcoming fete at his local primary school. He discovered the video below that explained how to do it, so we spent the day (my birthday) working on it. My best birthday yet!We soon realised that the project was a bit beyond the abilities of a primary school student. The key bits of information that we gleaned from this video was: using the soccer ball as a guide, the calculations for the lengths that we needed and the quantities of lengths.A soccer ball (football) is made up of 20 hexagons and 12 polygons, all of the stitching is the same length. We called this length 'Normal' (N). The diameter of the sphere...

Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to changeA couple of months ago I read an article by Michael Green in The Age. It spoke of a new target of 5kWh per person per day, the "Go 5" campaign. I was horrified. We used less than half that amount of electricity for a family of four! In the article there was a link where you could find out how much energy was typically used by a household in the same area with the same number of residents. For our household it was 18.1 kWh per day on average over a year. That's less than the target! What's the point of setting such a target if most of us have already made it? I wrote to Michael Green of my concerns and he replied with this:The idea is that we can bring down overall consumption by establishing a norm that's slightly...

Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and servicesBottles like this, filthy on the inside, can be cleaned with a bit of effort and good techniqueI've been home brewing beer off and on for more than 20 years. It was my first venture into fermenting and making my own anything. I used to turn up regularly to parties with a crate of homebrew. It's a financially rewarding pursuit, each bottle of beer costing about 70c to make, while they retail for $5 or more. The trick is to set yourself up right.Cleaning bottles is the least fun part of the process by far. It's the type of job that you only want to do once. To avoid going through this process more than once make sure that you rinse the bottles a couple of times to ensure that they are clean after you've used them, and stack them...

Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal The proverb for this principle "don't think you are on the right track just because it is a well-beaten path" seemed appropriate for this post.As a committee member of BEAM I helped write our submission to council with regards to the planning permit for the Cherry Tree Wind Farm. In our submission we raised some concerns that we felt needed to be addressed, but felt that, in balance "the overall benefits of the project outweigh the negative impacts", and were supportive of the proposal.At a Special Council Meeting held last night, just 2 days before the conclusion of the council elections (held by postal vote), BEAM was invited along with other people who made submissions to present their case to council. The extraordinary meeting was called as Infigen (the developer) had put their case to VCAT because council had not made...