Did you know that permaculture pioneered the ethical investments movement in Australia? Also permaculture inspired and supported the early formation of Australian Ethical, which recently (October 2014) was named the Best International Equities fund by the Australian Fund Manager Foundation. Australian Ethical beat finalists Perennial and Platinum, becoming the first ethical investment specialist to win …
Jaydon Inott, after making numerous eco-sensitive lifestyle changes, realised the institutions handling his money were bankrolling the very systems causing the problems. He decided to divest from destruction with a simple 4-step process and join the global movement for Divestment Day in October.
Ever gone to the effort of harvesting and making beautiful things with bamboo just to see it crumble away with a borer insect infestation? Many great building and crafting bamboo varieties are exceptionally vulnerable to being eaten out by the Powder Post Beetle (Powder Borer) or Bamboo Weevil after harvest and drying. When I first …
Christopher Nesbitt of Maya Mountain Research Farm in Belize shares some thoughts about woody agriculture, stacked polycultures and agroforestry systems. My experience is limited to the tropics, where soils tend to be poor, and easily damaged, and informed by my time working where I live. The land I am working was formerly citrus and cattle, …
Robyn Francis and Melian Fertl, representing PCA and Djanbung Gardens, joined over 420 delegates from 47 countries converging in Cuba for the 11th International Permaculture Convention, November-December 2013. Robyn reports on the experience.
My attention was first drawn to David’s work during Geoff Moxham’s final Workshop at Djanbung Gardens in 2009. In reviewing the course I noticed in photographs that Geoff was trying to draw our attention to the importance of innoculating the biochar before using it in the garden. In his words if we were going to …
Michele Margolis is passionate about grassroots urban permaculture, here she updates us on what happening in Sydney’s inner west. Cities are a bit harder than little towns in some ways but easier in others — and there’s plenty going on in Sydney in local communities within the huge Sydney megalopolis. Permaculture West is rocking! Tribes …
Bellamar Gardens is one of the exctiting new major permaculture projects in Cuba, located near Matanzas, just a hundred meters from the famous Bellamar Caves. I was invited to consult on the project when I visited Cuba in 2009 when the land had quite recently been secured by FANJ (Foundation for Nature and Humanity), Cuba’s …
Wildlife is welcome here but not cats or dogs…. It was twenty years ago that I made the momentous decision to take on a 5 acre degraded cow pasture and restore it to biodiversity and abundance as a permaculture education centre and wildlife sanctuary. I remember sitting in the middle of that barren landscape in …
The Eco-Social Matrix (ESM) developed by permaculture designer, Robyn Francis, provides a useful tool for bioregional planning, human settlement and ecovillage design, transition initiatives, and for thinking more deeply about the consequences of where we live in terms of accessing our needs and interacting with community
