School gardens are enjoying a growing revival currently, which is great because they have the power to be pretty transformative places. Since meeting Aaron Sorenson, I’ve begun to understand just how a good school garden can truly intersect with more aspects of learning than perhaps anything else that happens in a school day.
At this point in my ongoing research into school gardens I thought I’d share my 3 current favorite books that focus on how to start your own. Crucially, from my perspective, all of these titles focus on permaculture school gardens where the emphasis is on gumption, ideas, biomimicry and building community, as well as the growing and the eating. Read More »
In our reading room this week, it’s all about interconnection. The vast, unseen webs of mycelium running through the soil, and the tangled and huge implications of Genetically Modified Organisms.
The World According to Monsanto is a book that really scratches the itch. Which itch? That itch that tells you that you really should get a decent understanding of the whole GMO situation, so that when you’re next in a conversation about GMOs, you can fully and accurately express just how scary their implications are. Read More »
November 24, 2009 – 10:00 am
Getting organised has been an ongoing process at Milkwood – from planning our planting cycles for our kitchen garden to trying to figure out how to build that cottage of ours (getting there!). To keep track of everything that’s going on we use a combo of online organisational gizmos, whiteboards, luck, guesswork and of course, my ol’ faithful, hardcopy diary. And if i had to pare everything back to one organizational tool, it would be my diary – it doesn’t need plugging in and even better i can tuck it under my arm, throw it in a wheelbarrow or use as a flower press for strange unidentified clover-like plants, if needed.
I mention all this because our friends Michelle Margolis + David Arnold have once again compiled a most fabulous Permaculture Diary and also Calendar for 2010. Both publications are building on last years efforts and are chock full of lush images of Permaculture in practice from all over the world, plus planting charts, personal stories, community initiatives and even a wee entry on our Rocket Powered Shower, featuring Nick in the nick – ha. This years’ diary is also printed on a textured, recycled paper stock which will be a pleasure to write on throughout the year.
Water woz ere. A clearly hydrated landscape thanks to good hydrological design at Strathcona Community Garden, Vancouver Canada
We’re all becoming acutely aware of the value of water. And so we should, as water’s role in our lives and in the planets’ cycles cannot really be understated. When designing and planning a Permaculture system, it’s top of the list – the order goes: Water, Access, Structure. Design and sort out your water catchments and systems before you design anything else. Give them priority. Water is not an optional extra. Without water, you’re stuffed.
So it’s very strange to consider that, in most temperate and dryland urban biospheres (and, god help us, many rural ones), water is not top of the list in terms of how living systems are designed, and therefore how our lives are led. Designing water into our landscape is still seen by many as an optional extra in terms of habitat and urban design. Because worst case scenario, you can just turn on a tap. Or a drill a hole down to the shrinking ground water. Water is still seen as someone else’s problem, or something we deserve to be handed on a plate with no conditions or responsibilities. Read More »
Plan for our Rocket-Powered hot water system for the Basecamp shower + bath block
Spending all your day gathering sticks for a hot shower is just no fun. No fun at all. Mind you, anything that results in a hot shower (or even better, a hot bath) has to be considered a priority at Milkwood.
So when Nick finished converting the old ‘Sunbeam Sheep Shower’ structure (basically a new-fangled sheepdip) to a shower block with a little wood-fired, home-made firebox thingamy to heat the water for the shower and the bath, that’s what we did. Lots of stick-gathering.
The romance of wood-fired hot water quickly wears thin, however, if your water-heating system is not terribly efficient. Because this means the system requires a fair deal of wood to heat the water, which therefore releases a corresponding amount of CO2.
And also results in lots of stick gathering. So Nick went searching for the most super-efficient, super-simple and super-funky heating system idea he could find, which could then be converted to a water heating system. And thus we discovered the glory that is the Rocket Mass Heater.
Hey, there’s an update to this system! Read our Rocket Stove Water Heater Redux to have a look at this system, 2 years on…
Read More »
This is a great little book, and one that we used as inspiration (and practical advice) when building our Rocket-Powered Shower at Basecamp. It’s practical, straight-forward, and explains the premise and how-to of the concept clearly… and what a funky concept it is!
We look forward to many future Rocket Stove projects… the possibilities are just about endless. This title is a darn good read for anyone interested in efficient, ethical and responsible heating, cooking or drying techniques.
Where to get a copy:
October 2, 2008 – 10:03 am
“The Transition Handbook: From oil dependency to local resilience” – front cover
The reason I am brandishing this book about at the moment is *not* because it crushes the reader with an avalanche of undeniable evidence. I feel that we’ve all been beaten about the head a fair bit with how the media portrays Peak-Oil and our society’s utter and complete dependence upon this black sauce. Not to mention Global Warming. And/or a potent combination of the two. It’s enough to make you go and find a large rock to wedge yourself beneath.
The reason I am brandishing this book about at the moment *is* because it is a template for community-level solutions. It ain’t a call to run for the hills, nor is it a treatise on how to greenify your life. This book describes (and very well, I think) possible ways to set up structures for community awareness, organization and implementation of action that will make a community more resilient to massive change. Read More »
October 1, 2008 – 11:38 am
How good are these? You probably don’t know, so I’ll tell you – they’re great! Oh and though this looks like a shameless plug saying, basically, *buy stuff*, I’m afraid I have to mention it because they really are splendid. And really, how many other 2009 diaries will you find that contain the gruff but pertinent quote:
“there are two sorts of people in this world – those who poo in drinking water, and those who don’t…”
Ok, a little background… the 2009 Permaculture Diary + Calendar have been put together by Michele Margolis + David Arnold over the last 6 months or so. During this time, they invited contributions from people + groups all over to contribute projects and images for the two publications. I recently bought one of each to see how they turned out, and they are really, really good. Read More »
September 20, 2007 – 12:00 am
Out in the rural areas of NSW (and probably in other states of Australia as well) this book has been causing a minor furore. Country town bookstores were selling out of all their copies in a day, everyone was talking about it, everyone wanted to read it, everyone was ordering in a copy for their father/wife/husband/themselves because the word on the street was that it contained mighty important information about how to drought-proof your land. Read More »
School gardens are enjoying a growing revival currently, which is great because they have the power to be pretty transformative places. Since meeting Aaron Sorenson, I’ve begun to understand just how a good school garden can truly intersect with more aspects of learning than perhaps anything else that happens in a school day.
