BK Farmyards – a Subversive Urban Farming Concept
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor November 22, 2009
Here’s a worrying trend – people growing food in back yards! Whatever next!?
Stacey Murphy is obviously an enemy of all that is good in our consumption-oriented world. Almost certainly a deceptively slippery character, she positively oozes with dangerously contagious enthusiasm in this clip about her Brooklyn based urban guerilla BK Farmyards network, who, like the Portland, Oregon YourBackyardFarmer people I wrote about last year, are growing food for urbanites right in customers’ own back yards.
NYC’s Cool New Backyard Farms: Growing More Than Just Produce from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
Don’t let that smile and the gorgeous back yard greenery fool you. Let’s face it, this just plain doesn’t make sense. We, the human race, persistently tried backyard farming for thousands of years. We grew food right where we lived and laboured. It didn’t work, of course, and we headed into the bright new age of the ‘Green Revolution’ instead. How do I know it didn’t work? Well, it’s obvious. It’s because we’re not doing it any more – duh!
Comments (2)Permablitz Gold Coast – Saturday 21 November
Community Projects, Developments, News, Social Gatherings, Urban Projects — by Leah Galvin November 17, 2009
We are having a Permablitz this weekend here on the Gold Coast, below are the details.
Event: Permablitz Gold Coast
Date: Saturday 21st November
Time: 9am onwards
Venue: Ingleside State School, 893 Tallebudgera Creek Road, Tallebudgera Valley QLD (15 minutes drive from Burleigh Heads Beach).
Details: Come along for a morning of gardening. We will be revamping the school’s existing garden beds and replanting. The school is super keen to get their veggie garden going! If you have any manure, compost, tools, and a plate of food to share… bring them along! There will be morning tea provided!
If you need more details, please contact me on leg30 (at) hotmail.com
Comments (0)Tigger Does Mullumbimby Community Gardens
Comedy Break, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Swales, Urban Projects, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor November 13, 2009
Regular readers will have noted a couple of posts – here and here – covering the new and developing Mullumbimby Community Gardens project underway not so far from Zaytuna Farm (about half an hour east, if travelling by car, or a day’s ride on horseback).
Readers of those posts will have seen the panoramas I took to try to keep track of progress. Well, despite clambering up onto their shipping-container-come-tool-shed to take those shots, I always thought that I wasn’t quite high enough to really do the place justice.
So, this time I thought I’d go along with a pogo stick in hand! I had to use a super-fast shutter speed, as travelling at these heights does make for shaky hand-holding of the camera. After several attempts, and not a few bumps and bruises, I managed to get a couple of publishable shots.
Taken after the fifth bounce, when I had a bit of a rhythm going
Letters from Melbourne – Cam and Jesse’s Urban Retreat
Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Structure, Trees, Urban Projects, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor November 10, 2009
An urban hideaway managed by Cam, Jesse and Yarrow Wilson
(Yarrow was taking a break for this shot)
All photographs © Craig Mackintosh
On my recent trip to the Bill Mollison/Geoff Lawton course in Melbourne, that I forced myself to miss so I could go on site visits in the area, Cam Wilson kindly offered to be my guide – giving me very knowledgeable insights into the places we visited. As well as the Dalpura Farm site we just posted about and giving me the heads up on Angelo the Wizard, covered in this post, Cam took me to see the very cool stuff he’s doing on an urban block currently under his expert control in the ‘burbs of Melbourne.
Comments (8)Build it Up – Permaculture Mound
Land, Urban Projects — by Sarina Kilham October 4, 2009
Editor’s note: This story comes to us from the black sandy soils of NSW’s mid-north coast, about 10km outside Forster.
For several years, I looked at the scrubby bit of grass on our sloping black sand back yard and imagined the amazing garden that could be – if only we had a bit more cash to buy the sleepers for raised garden beds, if only I could build a nice flat terrace, if only I was a big strong capable builder, instead of a student who has trouble hammering a nail in straight.
So the garden stayed in my imagination until last year when our permaculture guru friend Tiny came to stay.
Comments (7)Magic in Melbourne
Courses/Workshops, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Trees, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor October 3, 2009
There’s alchemy and magic afoot in Melbourne, where we take a look at Bill and Geoff’s PDC and the garden of a certain urban magician called Angelo.
 Bill Mollison at Trinity College, Melbourne All photographs © Craig Mackintosh |
I had never been to Melbourne before this week, but from my very short exposure to it over the last few days, I can already sense that it is a very strange place….
Take yesterday for example. I was in town, and noticed someone had dropped their purse on the sidewalk. There was a lot of foot traffic, and so, standing at a distance, I watched to see what people would do – you know, once they noticed it. Would they pocket it and hurry off? Would they look around for its owner, or maybe a policeman to hand it to?
Comments (9)Project Thoreau: June-July-August Updates
Urban Projects — by Ezanee Cooper September 13, 2009
Editor’s Note: Ezanee keeps us posted on his latest efforts with ‘Project Thoreau‘.
Wow! I never realised it has been three months since my last update. First of all, a big thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions as to how to use Nasturtium leaves in cooking etc. I am pleased to say that I am now a regular consumer of Nasturtium, and don’t appear to have developed any adverse affects or grown any unusual appendages as a result. I mainly use whole leaves as a convenient base in sandwiches or on pancakes, upon which I can load whatever I want without fear of anything spilling over the edge, much like a natural saucer. The taste is certainly unique, with an aftertaste resembling wasabi, but without such a violent kick. Once again I am extremely pleased to have secured another reliable and prolific food source which can regenerate itself without much effort or maintenance.
Get Involved – Sunday 6th Permablitz on the Gold Coast!
Community Projects, Urban Projects — by Leah Galvin September 5, 2009
Hello fellow Permablitzers! This weekend we have another amazing Permablitz – this time at Stale and Caroline’s place in Parkwood! Come along… all welcome. Let’s have some fun in the garden!
We will be building four backyard garden beds for veggies. Come along to help and out and learn at the same time. The gardens will be the no dig style straight on to the existing grass backyard.
There are going to be paints and materials to get creative with in the garden, as well as music and sharing food together and a laugh afterwards…. Below is a list of materials that are still needed for the day. Bring along what you would like to share for the day or donate. Also, brng a plate of food or fruit to share! Lets aim for organic and local!
Please feel free to bring other materials you think will be useful.
Where: 7 Crampton Court, Parkwood (Just off Parkwood Blvd.), Gold Coast
When: 3-5pm, Sunday, September 6.
Contact details: here (PDF)
Materials Needed:
- Mulch…eg. woodchips, lawn clippings
- Compost
- Tools – just to use on the day… rake, hoe, shovel, pick, hand trowels etc
It’ll be wonderful to see you there!
Leah
P.S. Read about the Gold Coast’s first Permablitz here, and the origins of Permablitzes here.
Comments (3)In the Transition to Self-sufficiency, Suburban Food Gardens Have a Role to Play
Food Shortages, Society, Urban Projects — by Karen Sutherland August 30, 2009
In all my 25 years gardening and landscaping, I’ve never seen anything like the interest in food gardening of the last year or so.
About 18 months ago I changed the focus of my gardening and landscaping business from ‘ordinary’ gardening to produce gardening, and started Edible Eden Design. I had realized that I was happiest working with edible plants and decided to try to make them the focus of my work. I wanted (amongst other things) to promote the idea of using edible plants in an ornamental way. I had no idea at the time the changes that were happening in society and the interest it would generate.
Comments (7)Geoff & Nadia Lawton Launch Permaculture Sydney South
Community Projects, Developments, News, Social Gatherings, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor July 30, 2009
If you’re in the Sydney region on August 18, and aren’t otherwise engaged, you might want to pencil this date into your diary, so you can go along and support the birth of yet another important group – Permaculture Sydney South. This group covers Sydney’s central, southern and eastern suburbs, and will no doubt become a powerful influence for change as we seek to fast-track transition to a sustainable, post-peak oil world.
Click here for a PDF with full when, where and RSVP details.
Comments (7)The Gold Coast’s First Permablitz!
Community Projects, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor July 27, 2009
On Sunday, July 19, I thought I’d go along to the Gold Coast’s first Permablitz. In this case it was a mini-blitz – just working on a small piece of a residential section – a good idea for Permablitz newbies. But, despite it being a debut for the Coast, we had a good turnout with around 20 people showing up to help out.
Before…
…a few hours later
Convert Your Eco-Unfriendly Swimming Pool into a Biologically Active and Attractive Fish Farm!
Animal Forage, Aquaculture, Biological Cleaning, Fish, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Natural Swimming, Plant Systems, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor July 21, 2009
Could converting swimming pools into fish ponds be another way to increase food security as we head out onto peak oil’s downhill slope?
A Permaculture fish pond in development
Swimming pools get a bad rap in enviro-circles, and for good reason. They cost a great deal to construct – using a lot of CO2 intensive materials in the process – they waste huge amounts of water and energy for maintenance, use chemicals to keep them clear and ’safe’, and they take up a lot of space that could be utilised for more productive purposes (like growing veggies!). Many people also just find them a lot of work to look after, which is especially annoying when their usage is often only seasonal at best.
But, what if you’re already lumbered with a pool and are trying to make the best of the situation? Maybe it came with your property, or hindsight has kicked in after you’ve shelled out thousands to install something you almost never use…. What then?
Comments (31)Permablitz Hysteria – Bring it On!
Community Projects, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor July 12, 2009
A resurgent community spirit combined with modern Permaculture techniques is systematically transforming Australia’s back yards into edible landscapes – so why not the world?
I haven’t watched television for a really, really long time, so can’t be sure if it’s still the case, but I do remember that, for the ladies at least, shows featuring average looking people getting drop-dead gorgeous ‘makeovers’ by professional make-up artists were once pretty popular. Transfer the thought of a facial renovation over to a backyard transformation, and you get Backyard Blitz, a popular Australian television show that ran from 2000 – 2007. Now, some more eco-savvy people – like Melbourne’s Dan Palmer and some South American friends he met by chance one evening – took this concept a little further…. The result being to take useless, high maintenance, no- or low-yield cookie cutter back yards and turn them into high yield, low maintenance edible landscapes, all in one day! The name for the concept ultimately, and logically, came to be: Permablitz!
So, how would you like to see a small army of people arrive at your house one morning, not to make trouble, but to get busy turning your back yard into an aesthetic and edible oasis? And, no, don’t worry, they won’t charge you a cent! All you need to do is spend a couple of fun and educational weekends being part of this same small army – and then it’s your turn to have your yard transformed as well!
Comments (8)Urban Design Patterns in Melbourne
Biological Cleaning, Land, Retrofitting, Society, Urban Projects, Water Harvesting — by Dan Palmer July 4, 2009
by Dan Palmer, Very Edible Gardens
As more and more people become aware of the many reasons to provide for more of their needs at home, we are finding more and more demand for permaculture design consultancies. We are currently doing two or three in Melbourne each week, and in this article I wanted to share some of the general patterns that are emerging as we go along.
To paint a picture of the average design brief we’re faced with, though the client group is diverse, including younger couples, older couples, single house owners, and young families, almost all our clients ask for some combination of the following:
- Intensive vegie gardens for salad green and kitchen herbs
- Larger vegie gardens for tomatoes, potatoes, corn etc (or the option of adding this in future)
- Water tanks to catch, store and redistribute rain water
- Fruit trees
- Chickens
- An open area for socialising / pets / children
- Simple greywater reuse systems
- Some natives
Rosina Buckman – Living Smart on the Sunshine Coast
Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 26, 2009
Rosina Buckman tells me she’s 72 years old. She looks honest enough, so I’ll take her at her word, but her youthful spirit and energetic stride did give me a moment of pause. And more than that – her urban homestead was overflowing with clear evidence of passionate and fruitful labours that belie her age. I’m not the only one that’s impressed either, as the Sunshine Coast Council have just presented Rosina with one of their 2009 Living Smart awards – she’s their ‘Edible Landscape Winner’.
Rosina, a New Zealander by birth, lives in Tewantin, a small suburb on the fringes of Noosa – a tourist hot-spot on the Sunshine Coast in south-east Queensland. This is a land of ululant lorikeets and cackling kookaburras. The bird life in particular seem intoxicated with life, and nature in general seems jubilant – either optimistic, or just plain carefree, in the face of all we humans are throwing at it.
And we are throwing a lot at it.
Comments (21)
