“Beekeeping has suddenly become popular again, having been in decline for more than half a century.

Honeybees have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: collapsing colonies, pesticide poisoning and parasitic mites – and all this bad news seems to have triggered an almost primitive desire in people to want to help and nurture this vitally-important insect that – despite all our scientific advances – we still do not fully understand.c

Ever since I can remember, beekeepers have been regarded by the media as harmless, doddery old men (mostly), who do strange things with wooden boxes full of bees, while dressed in sartorially suspect garb. However, this image is beginning to change, with more and more women and young people being attracted to the idea of learning this ancient craft and a new urgency in the air about preserving our honeybees for their important role as pollinators, as well as for their own sake…”

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“The further you enter into it; the deeper it becomes”, Dante

Imagine if you will, having been shrunk down to a microscopic size. You are now smaller than an ameba, but larger than a bacterium. You live in the ground, in a microscopic world of one celled and larger creatures. Some of them are living in the thin film of moisture around the soil particles. As you roam around, knee deep in the water layer around a large grainy sand particle, you see in the water film a multitude of animals and algae floating around in the tiny currents in this small world of water. Some of these small microscopic creatures are animals, catching the algae and bacteria and eating them. Some of the bacteria are dining on algae, and also the dead bodies of the animals that live in this film of water clinging by static action to the sand grain.

You however are large enough to leave this film of water and venture to another particle nearby. This one is up against the sand grain; it is a particle of compost. This particular piece is so decomposed that it is not possible to distinguish what it once was. But now it is a piece of humus, decomposed plant or animal matter. It is a fluffy segment larger than the sand particle. As you get closer to it you see that is so open and porous, its many cavities and cracks are full of tiny organisms. Some are the same as were around the sand, and some are different. This piece also has water in and around it, but since it is so porous it has soaked up water in mush the same way a sponge would. Its’ many cracks and fissures are full of water, in fact this piece of detritus is carrying more water than its’ own weight. And in all this water and organic matter there is a veritable colony of organisms at work, digesting the organic compounds of the compost, as they work at it their own waste products are released into the water in the particle. These compounds are worked upon in turn by even smaller creatures, and some substances from them form acids that help to etch the soil particles and hasten the breakdown of the material…”

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Adam from Permablitz Melbourne shows Sydney how its done!

Adam Grubb founded Permablitz as part of a crew of Melbourne permaculturalists in 2006. Since then, Melbourne Permblitz has delivered many, many successful permablitzes in the greater Melbourne area, and the concept of Permablitz has spread to Sydney, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin, Canberra, Tasmania, Bega, the Sunshine Coast, California, Montreal, Istanbul and Uganda.

So what is a Permablitz?

Permablitz (noun): An informal gathering involving a day on which a group of at least two people come together to achieve the following:

- create or add to edible gardens where someone lives
- share skills related to permaculture and sustainable living
- build community networks
- have fun

Permablitzes are free events, open to the public, with free workshops, shared food, where you get some exercise and have a wonderful time. To be defined as a permablitz each event must also be preceded by a permaculture design by a designer with a Permaculture Design Certificate.

The network runs on reciprocity, and in order to qualify for a permablitz you usually need to come to “3 or so” first, although there can be exceptions in this case.

Many thanks to Milkwood for putting on this great free event!
Filmed at Alexandria Park Community Center
Mon, 16 Jan, 2012

A bridge in Meghalaya constructed by the living roots of Fig Trees.  Simply amazing!

Permaculture Lifestyles writes… “Interesting idea to help keep your pond from freezing.”

“…If stress or physical limitation has changed your quality of life, before you decide to go to a ‘specialist’ and expend resources (produce no waste) to get specific advice think about your own power (use and value renewable resources & services) to educate yourself somatically (use small and slow solutions) and take a holistic approach  (integrate rather than segregrate).

By slowing down (creatively use and respond to change) and taking notice (observe and interact) how your body functions, you gain feedback (apply self regulation and accept feedback) upon which your nervous system can build enhanced self-awareness and improved functioning (design from patterns to details).

This approach seems to align well with the sort of cognitive approach that I would argue each of us functioning within community needs to adopt in order to develop richness, responsibility and resilience…”

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“…So what can you do in the winter?

*Observing – Observe and Interact is one of the key permaculture principles (there are 12 total).  This principle posits that the best thoughts and designs come from just simply observing nature and even your own systems to see how they are working and what can be improved.  So why do this in the winter?  Well for one, many things become quite obvious.

For one thing, a good deal of the vegetation will be gone, allowing mostly unobstructed views of your property.  You can clearly see how contours run and judge spacing more accurately.

For another you see the actual patterns that occur in winter.  If you aren’t actually out there during the harsh times you might not realize how harsh they can be on your plants or livestock.  Its important to get an idea of the big pictures.

Lots of things change in winter – wind patterns, precipitation types, sun angles.  You need to know these things.

*Clearing – The absolute best time to cut trees is in the winter.  If you are going to leave them lay and you want them to rot quickly you need to do it before this in early fall.  But in winter sap is dormant which means less chance of disease in trees and less stress on root systems for coppicing or pruning. Plus there are fewer worries about poison ivy or venomous snakes – both are prevalent in my area!

*Learning – Curl up with a seed catalog or good book (hear which book I recommend wholeheartedly).  A garden plan never survives contact with the actual garden.  So this is the ultimate time to plan and replan and then plan some more. You probably aren’t planting much so this will both quench your thirst for garden activities and it will make the resulting garden a better one.

*Building – All the equity and none of the sweat equity.  I love to build in the winter.  No insects landing on me and stinging or biting and I can concentrate.  When there’s too much green I get distracted.  There’s little else to do so why not utilize the time to build structures so you can avoid the heat in summer?…”

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permaculture.co.uk writes…

“Sepp Holzer and Bernd Müller  explain how a water retention landscape is constructed and the dramatic effects a landscape of this kind can have in a short time, even in an area that is being desertified using the Tamera ecovillage as an example. Sepp Holzer’s incredible work offers a local and natural solution to the global problem of water shortages, landscape erosion and polution…”

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