News

Permaculture Tasmania member and PT social media volunteer Lisa, recently guided us through a virtual tour of her yard, and systems she uses to grow food and obtain a yield.

Lisa’s urban property is a 10 minute bike ride from the Hobart CBD, in the foothills of kunanyi.

The property is approx. 1200 metres squared and on a steep southerly slope and consists of habitat for wildlife, a food forest, raised vegetable beds, a green house, compost bins, worm farms, chickens and quail. In this virtual tour you will get insights into all these areas.

Contributors: Alexia and Karen (Transition Tamar)

Did you know a new Transition group has formed in the North?
Transition Tamar kindly provided some details about how they started, who they are, what they hope to do. Oh, and there is a BIG permaculture connection…

Way back in (what seems a decade ago) 2018, David Holmgren (you’ve probably heard of him) visited Launceston as part of the tour for his new book ‘Retrosuburbia’, and at the presentation a handful of people put their names down to say they were interested in forming a Retrosuburbia book club. A particularly brave soul offered to host strangers in her house, and the date was set: the first few chapters of ‘Retrosuburbia’ were read, the host cleaned house and cooked a few pizzas, and then… one of the eight invitees arrived with her daughter – but nobody else made it along. After some delicious food and good conversation, the two decided to try once more, listing an event on our local permaculture facebook page to see if anyone was interested… and this time twelve people came together, bringing amazing food, drink, flowers, produce, seeds, connection and conversation about how to live more sustainably.

As we got to know each other, it turned out that at least half of our book club members had moved to Tasmania from mainland Australia over the last few years, with the hope of living a lifestyle that would reduce their carbon footprint and make a difference to climate change. As we continued to meet, one spring afternoon – a year after David’s presentation – a small speech and a nervous invitation to gather for a different reason was made by one of the members: how did we feel about doing SOMETHING? Would people consider gathering to explore Transition and whether it was something they’d like to be involved with? 

Transition Tamar was formed over more food, videos and discussion – everyone who ended up being involved being super-passionate about what we could do to bring community with us on this journey. In that spirit, after only three meetings, an open invitation to the permaculturalists gathering at the Launceston PDC earlier this year (also feels like a decade ago!) was made, and our Committee literally doubled overnight! This extended group only got the chance to meet twice before lockdown occurred, but Transition Tamar has leant on the resilience and adaptability that Holmgren’s book is saturated in, and moved swiftly online, meeting fortnightly since to continue organising the “unleashing”, co-ordinate grant applications, relate conversations with councils, like-minded organisations & people, brainstorm publicity opportunities and move ahead with initiatives that we can launch even if we are still in isolation.  Our ideas for ways to bring food, beauty, connection and wellbeing to our community still remain, we just have to be more patient or more creative about how we go about them.  In that spirit, a decision was made to start a Facebook group to reach out to community and start sharing ideas whilst we couldn’t meet in person. From a tiny book club meeting, to the seeds of hope for a more resilient community, to launching online in a time of crisis. What a rollercoaster!

Transition Tamar still hope to unleash later this year. We are the local face of a worldwide movement co-created only a little over ten years ago by an English permaculture teacher called Rob Hopkins (you’ve probably heard of him too). Local groups, networked together, but on their own trajectories to create resilient communities around our world in response to the climate and ecological emergencies facing us. Transition communities adapt to the changing environment through skill-sharing, sustainable living, localised food production, circular economies and regenerative development. If it is good for the community and the planet we are for it! If it feels familiar to you, it should be: Transition has been described as permaculture on steroids! 

If you live in the following municipalities (Launceston, West Tamar, Georgetown) we would love to have you join our fledgling community online whilst we are in lockdown. You can find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Transition-Tamar-100482251613946/

Residents of these councils are also eligible to vote for us in the Regional City Challenge:  https://launcestontogether.com.au/activity/the-great-regional-city-challenge  where we have put an application in for some funding to help us launch and start projects – we’d love your support! Voting closes May 31st. 

We hope to keep you regularly updated through the space being so generously made for us in Permaculture Tasmania’s newsletter. If it wasn’t for the people at Permaculture Tas organising David Holmgren’s book tour, this page would likely be blank, 12 friends would not have met, and the communities along our beautiful Tamar Valley would not be able to look forward to coming together later this year to plan a transition to a low-carbon, connected community for all. Thanks PT ☺️

With Covid-19 we’re all having to change the way we engage with each other to ensure everyone stays safe. As per Tas govt. regulations, PT face to face activities have already ceased.

Many will be doing food swaps/barters or sharing of goods and services such as books, tools etc. through their networks, which is a big part of permaculture ethics & community. 
Please continue to follow Covid safety including hand hygiene (wash/sanitise before/after handling items), contactless drop/swap and not engaging in swaps at all if you are unwell or have potentially been exposed.

For a good explanation of how the virus can be transmitted via surfaces click here – it goes into decent depth about the risks for different surfaces.

Take into account the travel & ‘stay at home’ regulations that are in place and we encourage members to check out the Tas govt regulations when making decisions about what they can/can’t do safely.  https://www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au/families-community/gatherings/gatherings-faqs

The PT Committee and local groups are working on a number of activities to keep folks engaged, share skills & knowledge, and continue building community resilience in the coming months. Stay tuned or get in touch sooner if you have an idea for activities too

Stay safe – and if any queries get in touch with the team via permaculturetasmania@gmail.com. Thanks for your support to PT and being a part of our great community 🙂

Contributors: Lauren & Oberon Carter at Spiral Garden

In January we hosted a cob oven workshop in our backyard, organised by Permaculture Tasmania and run by the lovely Clare.

Ten participants learned all the practical goodness and healthy fun of building an oven with natural and secondhand materials we had carefully gathered from as close to home as possible.

We provided nourishment and helped out where we could. Feet danced to mix clay, sand, water and straw, and hands crafted smooth render into beautiful spirals. There is something a bit magical that happens with these sorts of goal-oriented, educational working bees, especially when everyone is dedicated to their task and ‘gets it’. Such good vibes.

There are plans to carry the group forward to help each other build ovens, and probably share some pizza too! We can’t wait to fire our oven when it’s ready in a week or so, and to create a space around our oven for us to enjoy our garden and each other.

Contributor: Katie Kristensen
Photo sources: Serena King, Sam Ralph, WMNC, and Katie K

The Heemskirk Community Garden was on our permie group’s radar because for many of our members it is their closest community garden. Sadly, it was targeted by thieves last month and 6 trees were stolen from the August orchard planting. So a few of our group were really keen to lavish a little love on the garden to balance the scales.

Serena and I joined forces again to co-facilitate the day and found that working on a community space is a very different kind of ‘blitz.
Heemskirk Garden is a newly developing garden; located in Warrane and a project coordinated by the Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre (WMNC), it has been transformed from an empty block to the pictures you will see below.

Make no mistake, this progress has involved a lot of discussions by WMNC with community members, relationship building and networking, grant applications for infrastructure to begin and then more applications to fund the elements that make a garden look like a garden; the lovely beds, awesome fruit trees and other plantings. The Heemskirk Community Garden started visibly coming together at the beginning of 2019. Initial research and planning started as far back as 2015.

Leah (WMNC’s Project Officer) was so lovely to work with. She balanced our enthusiasm for working on permie elements from the original plan with reminders that they are still in the process of creating a new working committee to guide the progress of the garden into the future.
Serena and I focused on the priority of helping to make the garden look loved and welcoming in its current form for the WMNC’s Community BBQ day (to bring folks into the garden and encourage more community engagement). And into that brief we were able to work a food forest section on one of their growing mounds.

Our blitz day in photos….

There were lots of weeds to tackle in the orchard rows and pockets! We wanted to get to all of them because each tree has been sponsored by individuals, groups, businesses and government reps with links to the community.

We also sheet mulched part of a growing mound to start improving the soil for future plantings. One of our worker bees on the day had brought along some pigface so we also planted it here to start a living mulch cover until further decisions are made for this mound.

And the food forest… Serena and I are so grateful to Paul from Tiger Hill Permaculture who made the trip from Buckland to give us a hand with the day (with two of his current Help X’er’s in tow). Luise and Yayoi had collected a huge number of seedlings for us from Paul’s garden to plant out in the food forest and Paul brought his experience, which proved invaluable!

In hindsight it seems like such an obvious call but it wasn’t until we were discussing how we would plant out the growing mound that Paul suggested we start by creating swales on contour in the mound to help capture and slow down water and sink it in, rather than letting it run off the mound shape (as it would have). With his extensive earthworks experience, Paul dug out those swales on contour by eye, in what seemed like no time at all. They will have the water retention benefits but also the berms (upsides) created by the swales (dips) lend themselves to tripling the planting space – in their sides, along their top and of course in the swale itself. So good!

Massive thanks to everyone who came along and contributed time, labour, ideas, seeds, seedlings, food, tools, cheer and some great discussion. Extra extra special thanks to Paul (Ringo) for contributing all of the above! And to Serena, not only for her organisational prowess but for fueling us with the most incredible spread of food! 

This one was bigger than we expected but the takeaways for us were just as big.

Our top 5:

1. People really are incredibly awesome, creative, supportive and generous when working together towards a shared goal of creating community. It’s so good to be reminded of this again and again at these events.

2. Larger spaces can be deceptive, bank on much longer working times than we would think.

3. When it comes to out planting slopes – consider swales (on or off contour, depending on your soil type and purpose).

4. ‘Blitzes in community spaces are a more complex beast than a backyard permablitz.

5. Take a photo of the fantastic working group all together at the beginning so there is at least one with everyone together!

For great information on how to organise a Permablitz check out these resources and get in touch with your local group for support!

Contributor: Alexia Thomsom
Image source: Kym B & Alexia Thomson

It was such a fun picnic in the park with the Tamar/Launceston Group today! It was great to hear people talking about easy ways to propagate tomatoes, awesome sustainability podcasts and epic planting fails. Thanks so much to everyone for sharing this amazing, diverse range of plants, produce and preserves! 

Clockwise from bottom left: rosemary, comfrey, banana passionfruit, jerusalem artichoke, saltbush, purple climbing bean seeds, onions, dill seed, okra, eggs, soap, rocket pesto, vietnamese mint and onion tops. 

Contributor Geoff Pyne (Bamboo Van Dieman)
Images source: Geoff Pyne

One year after beginning our Bamboo adventure, I wrote an article that touched on how being introduced to Permaculture had not only transformed but certainly enhanced my understanding of how useful a plant, is Bamboo. The Permaculture principles opened my eyes as to how the plant was fundamental in a closed loop ideal. Though I’m not yet qualified to state with certainty or experience that Bamboo is a planet saver, I firmly believe it has more potential to do so, than most other living things – especially the human variety! That makes it a win/win investment in the future – Bamboo 101

In the words of Permaculture guru Geoff Lawton – “it’s easier to say what you CAN’T do with Bamboo than it is to say what you CAN” and certainly, the well established Permaculture farms in the northern states of Australia have included Bamboo as an integral part of their permaculture designs and with good reason.

I’m going to cite 3 species of Bamboo in this article, that I believe provide the permaculturalist with an abundance of sustainable resources, even if only one of each were planted. From garden stakes through food, furniture and shelter to name a few, the following species of Bamboo are ALL cold climate tolerant and non-invasive. That is they will all survive the harshest of Tasmanian winters and they are completely contained within their own footprint and won’t invade beyond.

Bambusa Oldhamii  –  Beyond doubt my first pick for inclusion in a Permaculture Design. This beast grows beyond 15mtrs high in tropical and sub-tropical locations yet will withstand temperatures down to around -10deg C. Because Tasmania lacks the intensity of a northern summer, insufficent heat and humidity will restrict the potential height here. Frankly, I can’t put a definite figure on it but all my research would indicate that more than half those heights will be the norm in this climate. Our two year old plantation is producing 3.5-4mtr culms so at this stage (given a 4 yr to full height prediction) we appear to be on track. Oldhamii will produce culms (poles) up to 100mm in diameter but we are predicting a little less. That provides plenty of options as a construction timber and once established, nature will present 15-20 of these per plant, per year for a lifetime. If building is not your thing, that’s a good supply of firewood or biomass for producing excellent biochar or biofuel for those advanced enough. The drought tolerance of Bamboo also creates a wonderful source of forage for stock in the dry times when fodder is scarce and new shoots are a much sought after human food! Throw in the fact that as a windbreak, this plant has few peers and you’ll begin to realise what an amazing plant this truly is.

Bambusa textilis Gracilis  –  also known as Slender Weavers Bamboo, Gracilis adds another dimension to the resources stable. Boasting most of the attributes of Oldhamii (not as high and smaller diameter culms), this plant can be used for weaving projects like screens, matting or cob foundation, due to its long internodes. It’s pretty blue tinged new shoots are also edible and as a privacy screen, there are few comparisons. Very fast growing and tough as nails in Tassie conditions.

Bambusa multiplex Alphonse Karr  –  this plant has been around in Tasmania for a while and is completely different in structure and appearance. Both Oldhamii and Gracilis boast upright green statures whereas Alphonse Karr has a more typical fanning shape boasting golden culms and decorative green stripes.

Multiplex varieties produce a massive number of culms which are useful as garden stakes, straws, biofuel or small craft projects. Some of the more rebellious of us might even remember there efficacy as a form of punishment in days gone by!! The foliage as always, is excellent stock forage and the plant can be a stand alone feature or part of a lovely hedging screen.

There is no doubt that Bamboo has a major role to play in any Permaculture Design. From wind protection to producing biofuel and countless applications in between, every bit of the plant is useful. Just a couple of other benefits are that a stand of Bamboo produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees and its CO2 sequestration is second to none.

It was once known as ‘the poor man’s timber’ but is known these days as the Miracle Plant!

Bamboo Van Diemen offer PT financial members 10% discount on workshops, plants from the nursery, 100% Biodegradable Bamboo Toothbrushes, and off your first Who Gives A Crap premium bamboo toilet paper order (delivered FREE to anyone south of the Midlands and from greater Launceston through towns on Bass Highway to Burnie). Small fees apply outside these areas.