Written by Contributor: Pete Menlo
After our last group group meeting I was asked to include some things about what was happening (courses etc) as it is easier to read some things than to just hear it in passing So here goes:
Soil Restoration Course
Dr .Sandra Tuszynska (a soil microbiologist and mycologist) is offering the Soil Restoration Course from the 1st of May, 2003. The course is a self-paced 20 lesson, video series covering the latest research on soil formation, ecology, microbiology, carbon sequestration and soil microbiome cultivation. Live Q&A sessions are also offered to participants. The Soil Restoration Course is designed for anyone wishing to understand the soil ecosystem, how it functions and the practices we can undertake to enrich the soil microbiome, particularly by cultivating soil fungi, largely missing yet so vital to get carbon and organic matter back into our soils. Sandra’s aim is to provide training, education, ongoing support and offer collaboration to help us grow nutritious foods, restore biodiversity, conserve ecosystems, sequester carbon and clean up pollution. The $500 course fee can be paid in instalments, contact Sandra directly if you’re interested.
For course details visit: https://coda.io/@sandra-tuszynska/giving-soil/soil-restoration-course-18
(For comparison US based Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School foundation courses alone cost around US$5000, which are often discounted, I think there is one going this year that knocks a couple of thousands of dollars off, but is still nearly US$3000. There is a payment plan available.)
Sandra is an Australian trained Agricultural Scientist who specialises in soil microbiology, she has completed Dr Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web courses including the microscopy component. She accepts soil and compost samples for quantitative analysis of the key soil food web organisms.
She has founded the Giving Soil initiative in which she provides education on the set up and operation of Worm Flow Farms (Continuous Flow Through (CFT) Worm Farms) created in up-cycled wheelie bins, designed to cultivate fungal dominated vermicompost, with the aim of donating the microbial inoculum to producers dedicated to chemical free, regenerative food production.
For more details on the Giving Soil initiative visit: https://coda.io/@sandra-tuszynska/giving-soil
To contact Sandra email: [email protected]
Aaron Meares – Lulu’s Perch Permaculture
Aaron started a permaculture set-up on his mother’s (Lulu) property at Pinbarren, near Cooran. He presented recently at the Mothar Mountain Community Day (held on the first Saturday of the month), and everyone enjoyed it, he is a very good communicator and able to get information across in a very understandable way. He has been doing PDC’s (Permaculture Design Certificate Course) for a little while now, and has another one starting on July 1, if anyone is interested.
Aaron started his permaculture journey after hearing about Geoff Lawton’s ‘Greening the Desert’ project in Jordan. He was so impressed he went out to Jordan to the site when Geoff opened it up to take international students.
Aaron and others were involved in the Monkland State School gardening program for some years, introducing kids to gardening, they did some fantastic things with the kids. He now is involved in the Cooran State School gardening program, which is closer to home (among several hats Aaron has had, one of them was as a school teacher).
Facebook: You can look up Lulu’s Perch Permaculture
Email: [email protected]
If people are looking/thinking about doing a PDC, we are very fortunate to have some excellent courses run nearby, besides Aaron’s.
Noosa Forest Retreat at Kin Kin start their next course on the April 14, so too little notice. Like most PDC’s the cost is typically above $1600, which may be more than people can afford. I don’t believe you have to do a PDC, but it is good if you are able to do one eventually, it pulls a lot of things together. There are other options available, some of which I’ll present here. They also run an online PDC, with the Introduction to Permaculture run for free as a taster. To complete the PDC costs about $900 if paying upfront, or $49 a week for 20 weeks ($980 all up).
Tom Kendall from PermEco
Also located at Kin Kin, has been running PDC’s for years now. He has a residential PDC at his farm later this year, but has also moved into the online world, offering an Online PDC that you can start at anytime, and work through at your own pace. His charge is by donation/pay what you can afford, which makes the course more available to those who can’t afford the typical course costs. He does ask that those who are able to pay more than the typical cost for an online course (usually around $1000) to please do so to help pay for others less fortunate.
Tom and his partner Zaia used to have solstice festivals at their farm, for people to get together and enjoy good music, good food, and good company. I haven’t checked if they are still doing that, but you can check it out yourself at their website PermEco. There’s lots of free information and videos, including about swales and building an earthen rocket stove, among other things. I don’t know if he still has the series of videos on his building a biogas generator, if he has, it’s worth a watch.
Anne, from the Gympie Permaculture Group (and the garden club) will be presenting next on Saturday May 6, at the Mothar Mountain community day. Presentations usually start around 10am. When I started going to the Gympie Permaculture meetings, I thought to myself, I’ve seen this lady somewhere before. I found out that she has presented a workshop in the past at the Blue House in Yandina, which used to run regularly on Saturdays before Covid, and I used to go to. Aha!, that’s where I had seen her before! Also check out her website, The Micro Gardener
Zela Bissett has regular gardening articles (and really interesting interviews) in the local Gympie Living magazine, available free at various venues in town. It;’s great to read something that is local, and not from Sydney, Melbourne or the USA (not knocking those), and so more relatable. Past issues are available online. Zela has a long history with the Gympie permaculture scene.
There’s a lot more available – books (from the library), magazine (PIP available at the library and on the online Libby reader – a very good resource with excellent articles on all things permaculture). Some really good information-sharing websites on everything permaculture, and other PDC courses a bit further afield, as well as other courses, such as those run by Milkwood for example. There are cheese-making/fermenting workshops run throughout the year by Elisabeth Fekonia from Cooroy (her courses are all over the state, keep an eye out for one near you), or check out her Facebook site, Permaculture Real Food, for a calendar of events. Mushroom growing courses, including online. The list goes on.
If you are interested to know about some of the resources above, especially if you are just starting your Permaculture journey, let us know and I will be happy to put some of the stuff I know about on the blog, but hopefully others may be able to do that instead, there’s a LOT of knowledge in that meeting room, I always come away having learnt something new I didn’t know before.
Reminder: Next meeting at the Art Gallery is 3/5/23 starting at 6pm with the harvest swap. Meeting then starts at 6.30.
