Dec 27

Permablitz Part 2 and Post 100

Post 100? Wow!

A bit of a milestone for this little blog that started life as an experiment to get some blogging and website experience and then morphed into a sustainability and appropriate technology site.

So what to post? Why not a couple of random photos showing a taste of the backyard food forest bursting forth after our earlier permablitz and some of the produce.

fruit tree panorama-2014-lores

pears-loquats-olives-2014-loresA couple of panoramic shots of the some of the fruit trees showing the lush growth after installing the mulch pits. You can see Pears, Olives and one of the Loquat trees in this shot.

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Peaches and Apricots galore!

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The Grapes along the side fence are also doing very well.

 

 

jams-2014A selection of produce and the Plum and Apricot jams I made this afternoon. And there is so much left on the trees, I will be able to bottle a several kilos of the apricots as well. I love apricots 🙂 .

Even the Squash is taking over!

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Quite Literally

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Well there you have it, a small selection of pictures showing some of the amazing results of the Permablitz. We have so much fresh goodies growing in the garden. And that doesn’t include the eggs and the honey.

The funny thing is we have been really busy over the last three months and have hardly had a chance to work in the garden/food forest so it is significantly under producing! We expect that, in 2015 we will have a huge surplus and the food forest will become almost self sustaining.

And that is simply awesome!

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Dec 26

Only 364 Days Until Christmas

christmas-leprechaun-parties-christmas-painted-by-parrot-79204Well, Christmas has come and gone. The presents have been given and received. Most have been unwrapped and warmly received, some have been returned and exchanged.

Families have come together or been torn apart waiting only for New Years Day to forgive and forget.

The boxing days sales are over and the cricket is on at the MCG. Overfull tummies are starting to ease and the hangovers starting to recede.

The lazy, hazy days of summer continue down under as we get ready to welcome in the new year.

In all of this craziness and consumerism I look on with some amusement (and, I admit, bordering on condescension, like that of a reformed smoker)  now that I have jumped off the crazy merry-go-round of Christmas Cheer at any cost, to focus on family and friends. But no matter how you chose to spend the Christmas break, I hope it was all you wanted it to be.

One of the highlights again this year was our recycled Christmas tree. Well, not so much recycled as, built from recycled materials. You may recall that our living Christmas tree, we had for many years, died suddenly two years ago. In it’s absence, and we created a Christmas tree from recycled tinsel and other recycled items (see here).

Well we haven’t got around to getting another living tree yet so, at the last minute we (well Terri really) created this beauty from recycled Christmas decorations and an old lamp shade. Just Brilliant 🙂

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So now we have 364 days to actually go out and get another little tree for Christmas, or not… we’ll see how we go :).

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How will you decide to celebrate Christmas next year? Will you be in a state of panic and desire for that perfect day and special present for everyone you know, or simply get together with family and friends and celebrate another year together. Whatever you choose, there are only 364 days to make up your mind 😀

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Dec 12

The Good Earth Podcast November 2014

I have finally posted the November edition of The Good Earth podcast on the website

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Click on the link, turn up the sound and re-live the madness

http://www.wwmn.net/2014/12/the-first-day-of-the-last-month-of-spring/

Remember you can find all the previous podcasts at

(http://www.wwmn.net/category/the-good-earth/)

 

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Dec 09

Google Grant for Timor Leste Work – The Result

You may recall, I posted recently here about the ATA entry in the Google Impact Challenge and asking for your support.

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Well the good news is that the judges at the presentations in Sydney were so impressed with the standard of entries that they awarded grants to the six finalists who did not receive the main awards. The ATA received a $250,000 grant to continue the good work ATA is doing in Timor Leste.

 

 

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This result is a tribute to all the hard work the ATA and their supporters (like you) do and everybody involved should be congratulated!

You can read more about the result on the ATA website.

 

 

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