Permaculture Out West

Author Archive

Maribyrnong City Council is now exploring ways to work with the community to increase food production in the municipality. Residents are invited to post a comment on the blog and contribute perspectives in regards to:

• The role the community could play
• Home gardening
• Possible landscape settings

Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comment http://maribyrnonghealth.blogspot.com/

Tired of tasteless vegetables from the supermarket? Tired of paying too much for your vegetables? Then this is the short course for you. Learn from practical experience how to create a successful Kitchen Garden using sustainable gardening practices.

Learn the skills necessary to:

• construct a garden bed
• create healthy soil
• choose seasonal plants
• understand companion planting
• water efficiency
• grasp fertilising and mulch
• control pests and diseases organically

Our course presenter, previous horticultural consultant to ABC TV  – Gardening Australia is a professional who has been involved in the research, writing and teaching of gardening practices for over 20 years.

Course Location: VU Footscray Nicholson

School: School of Foundation, Community And Indigenous Programs

Duration: 6 hours – 3 hours for 2 consecutive Saturdays

Course Code: VNGAR

Course Dates: 3 September 2011 & 10 September 2011

Course Times: TBA

Fees: $180

Admission Information: There are no prerequisites for this course

How to Register: ph: 9919 8545 or email: urbangreen.hub@vu.edu.au

You’re invited to our Community Launch of the fabulous Volcano Dreaming Victorian Volcanic Plains Grasslands panorama.

With support from the Environment Protection Authority, Iramoo has worked with local artists, Inherit Earth, to create this stunning environmental education resource, celebrating the precious biodiversity of native plants and animals of the Victorian Volcanic Plains,arguably Australia’s most endangered ecosystem.

Volcano Dreaming comprises more than 3000 photos, melded together to create an ecological panorama depicting the magnificent splendour of the wildflower grasslands, which stretched from the banks of the Yarra River and metropolitan Melbourne to the Grampians.

Plants and animals such as bandicoots, Sunshine Diuris Orchids and Legless Lizards leap out of the canvas, revealing the secrets of the landscape.

Measuring 12m wide by 2m high, Volcano Dreaming is innovative in its design portability, enabling touring in regional and metropolitan areas, revealing grassland biodiversity to all ages and communities, and raising awareness of conservation issues.

You’re invited to our Open Day

Date: Saturday 25 June, 2011

Event: 11am to 3pm

Launch Ceremony: 12 noon

Location: Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre,

Bldg 1J, Kirner Road North-South, Victoria University —

St Albans Campus. Melways: 25K3

A great day out with displays, tours, free activities, music and

a sausage sizzle…lots of fun for everyone. All welcome.

Contact us on 9919 2029 / 2815 or email Iramoo@vu.edu.au

Child’s Play Permaculture (CPP) is dedicated to providing educational programs on sustainable gardening, sustainable crafts and outdoor activities. Our programs are rich, holistic activities that link ecological, social and cultural learning. We believe in education that is experiential, relevant and provide usefull skills.

We offer a range of educational services with adults and children. These include sustainable arts and crafts, experiential camps, adult education on lifestyle and well being, community and school gardens and gardening workshops.

School Holiday Program

Our Program

Location
The program will run at the Abbotsford Convent, at the Sophia Mundi Steiner School.

For more information about Child’s Play Permaculture: http://www.childsplaypermaculture.com.au/index.html

Join us again for our regular gatherings aimed at building a resilient, nurturing and empowered community in the west.

This month’s drinks will be on Sunday 19th June from 3 to 5 pm at the Dancing Dog Cafe, corner Raleigh and Albert Streets, Footscray.

This month’s theme is Sharing = Community.

Neesh Wray will share her stories and experiences of local community sharing projects, including establishing the Western Urban Harvest Swap Meet and other commmunity initiatives.

EmPOWering Community Drinks will be held on the 3rd Sunday of each month from 3-5pm. Each gathering includes a speaker or activity around a topic, as well as time to share your thoughts and to enjoy a drink with and meet other locals.

Everybody welcome. Drinks at bar prices. If you are interested in helping organise these events on an ongoing basis, email Katerina: membership@pow.org.au. We’d love to have you on board!

Wednesday 15 June

Maybe the world is ending and we’re all going to perish from flood,
flame, famine and possibly even higher fuel prices.

What’s funny about that, you ask?
Join us for an evening’s entertainment with comedian Rod Quantock as he
gives his take on climate change and the future of the planet.

Date: Wednesday 15 June, 7PM – 8.30PM
Location: Maribyrnong Council Offices, Cnr Hyde and Napier Streets
Footscray
Presenter: Rod Quantock, Melbourne and Western Suburbs comedy icon.

Bookings Essential
It only takes one minute to book online at
www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/greening

Through the 3 Pillars Network a National Sustainable Food Summit was held in Melbourne on 5th and 6th of April 2011.

Speakers included:

Talks can be viewed through Vimeo link http://vimeo.com/23244839

A conference Report is also available through the 3 Pillars Network Website: http://www.3pillarsnetwork.com.au/p8_Knowledge-Base.html?&entry=444

Join us again for our regular gatherings aimed at building a resilient, nurturing and empowered community in the west.

This month’s drinks will be on Sunday 19th June from 3 to 5 pm at the Dancing Dog Cafe, corner Raleigh and Albert Streets, Footscray.

This month’s theme is Sharing = Community.

Neesh Wray will share her stories and experiences of local community sharing projects, including establishing the Western Urban Harvest Swap Meet and other commmunity initiatives.

EmPOWering Community Drinks will be held on the 3rd Sunday of each month from 3-5pm.  Each gathering includes a speaker or activity around a topic, as well as time to share your thoughts and to enjoy a drink with and meet other locals.

Everybody welcome. Drinks at bar prices.

If you are interested in helping organise these events on an ongoing basis, email Katerina: membership@pow.org.au. We’d love to have you on board!

Council is currently undertaking a review of maintenance of Council’s Parks and Reserves.

An online survey has been established to allow residents and visitors the opportunity to provide feedback to Council to assist with the review.

The link below is for the page on Council’s website which provides some background to the survey and an outline of Council’s intentions.  http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=5117

You are encouraged to provide frank and honest feedback to assist with the planning for future maintenance practices.

Thank you to all of you who came to our second EmPOWering Community Drinks and made it such a success.

Thanks to Carol and Kate who created an event with such a buzz!

It really was a wonderful feeling in the room and great to see people swapping ideas and information about their neighbourhood.

Our next drinks will be on the 19th of June from 3-5 at the Dancing Dog. The theme will be sharing and swapping resources.

After that Carol has committed to organising one more the following month. But if we are to continue these wonderful events we will need a group of people to help.

So if you’ve enjoyed our drinks and want more; or if you’ve been wanting to get involved with POW and wondered what you can do; or if you have ideas on how we can improve our events, then please join us at the Dancing Dog on Friday 27th June at 2pm.

If you can’t make it to the Dog at that time, but would like to be part of our working group, please email membership@pow.org.au and we’ll keep you in the loop.